church at cnn center. we want to get you to a news conference that the u.s. president barack obama is holding with vietnam's president to start his weekng tour of asia. let's listen in. >> the people of vietnam once again, i'd like to warmly welcome president barack obama and the high-level delegation of the u.s. government on your official visit to vietnam. mr. president and i had a very productive talk on bilateral relations, regional and global issues of common interest. we discussed the implementation of the joint statement on vietnam u. vietnam u.s. comprehensive -- and between the two countries in july of 2015. concluded between the high-level leaders of the two countries. we agreed that important

advances in bilateral relations have been made in recent years. both sides committed to implementing the principles of respect for each other's territorial sovereignty and political regime. during president obama's official visit, vietnam and the u.s. agreed to a joint statement on strengthening the comprehensive partnership with added substance, zdepth, and effectiveness. both sides agreed to place development cooperation at the center of the bilateral ties. on this occasion, important deals were also reached in terms of trade, health care, humanitarian assistance,

education and training, law enforcement, and judicial cooperation and people-to-people exchanges as well. both sides agreed to give higher priorities to addressing world legacy issues and committed to continue to work together in this regard. the u.s. will work with vietnam on -- airport after both side successfully conclude the clean up project . vietnam very much appreciates the decision to lift the ban on sales to vietnam which is the clear proof that both countries have competently normalized the relations. president obama and i also discussed the future directions of bilateral ties and measures to further deepen bilateral

cooperation. we underscore the importance of confidence-building and priority for developing cooperation in trade and investment, science and technology, human resource development, and addressing climate change. both sides reaffirm the commitments to promptly ratify the trans-pacific partnership agreement or tpp. with respect to regional and global issues, president obama and i agreed that we should set up collaboration at regional and international forums and that the u.s. will support vietnam in successfully hosting the 2017 apex summit as well as participating in u.n. pea peacekeeping operations. we also exchanged views on

recent developments in the south china sea. we reiterated continue cooperation on addressing climate change and sustainable use of the mekong water resources. we believe in robust growth in u.s./vietnam relations not only bring about benefits for each country but also contribute to peace, civility, cooperation and development in the asian-pacific and the world, and the asean-u.s. relationships as well. i want to thank president obama personally, the american leadership and people and american friends for their good will and significant contributions to the normalization and the continued development of the vietnam-u.s. relations. i wish president obama and the

members of your delegation a successful visit to vietnam, fond memories of our country, culture, and hospitality of the vietnamese people. once again, thank you very much for the presence of american and vietnamese press and media here today. thank you very much. >> good afternoon. thank you, president, for your generous words and let me thank you and the government and the people of vietnam for the sincere welcome and hospitality that has been extended to me and to my delegation. over the past century, our two nations have known cooperation and then conflict, painful separation, and a long reconciliation. now more than two decades of normalized ties between our

governments allows us to reach a new moment. it's clear from this visit that both our peoples are eager for an even closer relationship, a deeper relationship, and i was moved to see so many people lining the streets as we were driving into town today. i bring greetings and friendship of the american people including some outstanding members of congress who are joining me on this visit. and so many vietnamese-americans whose families bind us together and remind us of the values that we share. i've indicated before that one of my highest foreign policy priorities as president is to ensure that the united states continues to play a larger and long-term role in the asian-pacific which is vital to our security and to our prosperity. we believe the people of this region should live in security, prosperity, and dignity. in pursuit of this vision, we're more deeply engaged across the

asia pacific than we have been in decades, and that includes our comprehensive partnership with vietnam. if you consider where we have been and where we are now, the transformation in the relations between our two countries is remarkable. over the past two decades, our trade has surged nearly 100-fold, supporting jobs and opportunities in both countries. since i took office, we've boosted u.s. exports to vietnam by more than 150%. we're now the single largest market for vietnam's exports. american companies are one of the top investors here. with our fulbright programs thousands of our students have studied together and more than 13,000 people across vietnam are learning new skills as parts our young southeast leaders initiative. vietnam has become one of the top ten countries with students in the united states.

this year we've welcomed nearly 19 tho 19,000, the most ever. and last year vietnam welcomed half a million american tourists to this country, and i will assure you that more are on the way. our two governments are also scoop rating more closely than ever. as part of our asean, we're working together to advance regional stability. vietnam has welcomed american navy ship to your ports. our militaries are conducting more exchanges and partnering on maritime security. together we're pursuing the transpacific partnership, not only to support trade but to draw our nations closer together and reinforce regional cooperation. we're doing more to meet global challenges from preventing nuclear terrorism to promoting global health security so that outbreaks of disease don't become epidemics. and with this visit, the united states and vietnam have agreed to a significant upgrade in our cooperation across the board. we're taking new steps to give

our young people the education and skills that they need to succeed. and i'm very pleased that for the first time, the peace corps will come to vietnam. our peace corps volunteers will focus on teaching english, and the friendship that our people forge will bring us closer together for decades to come. american academic and technological leaders including intel, oracle, arizona state university and others will help vietnamese universities boost training in science, technology, engineering and math. harvard medical school, johnson and johnson, g.e. and others will join in vietnam universities to improve medical education. and now that the government of vietnam has granted the necessary license, we can say that fulbright university vietnam, this country's first nonprofit independent university can move forward and open its doors and welcome its first class this fall. we're increasing trade with

vietnam's announcement on multiple entry visas it will be easier for americans to come here and travel. the president and i attended a ceremony where you saw that american and vietnamese companies are moving ahead with companies worth more than $16 billion. boeing will sell 100 aircraft. pratt & whitney will sell advanced engines. deals like these are a win for both of our countries, helping to fuel vietnam's economic growth and supporting tens of thousands of american jobs. we agreed to work to ratify and implement the trans-pacific partnership as soon as possible because it will support vital economic reforms here, further integrate vietnam into the global economy, and reduce tariffs on american exports to vietnam. and we discussed the high standards that vietnam has committed to meet under tpp on labor, the environment, and

intellectual property. and i conveyed that the united states is prepared to offer technical assistance to vietnam as it works to fully implement these standards till the tpp delivers the benefits that our peoples expect. with regard to security, the united states will continue to do our part to address the painful legacy of war. on behalf of the american people, including our veterans, i want to thank the government and the people of vietnam for the many years of cooperation to account for americans missing in action. solemn efforts that will continue together. we'll continue to help remove unexploded land mines and bombs. and now that our joint effort to remove dioxin, agent orange, is nearly complete, united states will help in the cleanup at the air base. we've agreed to continue deepening our defense cooperation including patrol boats and training for vietnam's coast guard and to work more closely together in responding

to humanitarian disasters. i can also announce that the united states is fully lifting the ban on the sale of military equipment to vietnam that has been in place for some 50 years. as with all our defense partners, sales will need to still meet strict requirements including those related to human rights. but this change will ensure that vietnam has access to the equipment it needs to defend itself and removes a lingering vestige of the cold war. it also underscores the commitment of the united states to a fully normalized relationship with vietnam, including strong defense ties with vietnam and this region for the long term. more broadly, the united states and vietnam are united in our support for a regional order, including in the south china sea where international norms and rules are upheld, where there is freedom of navigation and overflight, where lawful commerce is not impeded and where disputes are resolved

peacefully through legal means in accordance with international law. i want to repeat that the united states will continue to fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows, and we will support the right of all countries to do the same. even as we make important progress in the ways that i've just described, there continue to be areas where our two governments disagree, including on democracy and human rights. and i made it clear that the united states does not seek to impose our form of government on vietnam or any nation. we respect vietnam's sovereignty and independence. at the same time, we will continue to speak out on behalf of human rights that we believe are universal, including freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, and freedom of assembly, and that includes the right of citizens through civil society to organize and help improve their communities and their country. we believe and i believe that nations are stronger and more prosperous when these universal

rights are upheld and when our two countries continue to discuss these issues as part of our human rights dialogue in a spirit of constructive and cooperative effort. and finally the united states and vietnam are expanding our cooperation in ways that benefit the world. under our growing climate change partnership, we'll support vietnam as it works to meet its commitments under the paris agreement. because our two countries and others have committed to joining the agreement this year, we're within striking distance of it entering into force before anybody expected. in the meantime, we'll help communities in vublg regions like the mekong delta to adapt and assist vee fam's transition to a low carbon economy. that includes that which will come with our cooperation on civil nuclear power. as vietnam prepares to deepen its commitment to u.n. peace keeping, the united states is proud to support vietnam's new

peace keeping training center. again, thank you for your hospitality. thank you for our work together. i'm looking forward to the opportunity to visit with the vietnamese people. maybe i will enjoy some ca fay sweda. i believe that the relationship between the vietnamese people and the united states can be one of the most important in this critical part of the world, and i believe that the upgrade in our ties that we've achieved today will deliver greater security, prosperity, and dignity for both of our peoples for many decades to come. >> translator: thank you, president obama, and now it's time for questions. the floor is open. i invite mr. zuc from vietnamese agency. >> translator: i'm from the vietnam news agency. i have a question for president

quiang. could you advise us and make some comments on the notable advances in vietnam-u.s. relations over the past two decades. thank you. >> translator: thank you for your question. i want to affirm that over the past two decades, since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, in july 1995, vietnam vietnam-u.s. relations have made great strides in many fields. in terms of politics and diplomacy, vietnam and the u.s. are former enemies turies turne friends. now we are comprehensive

partners. the high-level leaders of the two countries often pay a visit to each other, and the relations have growing very well bilaterally and multi laterally. we share the common interest regarding a regional and international issues, and our common interests grow day by day, particularly in relations to peace, development in the region. with respect to economic cooperation, i'm very pleased to inform you that the two-way trade has grown to 44.5 billion u.s. dollars last year. the u.s. is currently the seventh largest investor in vietnam, and i hope that the u.s. will soon become the biggest investor in vietnam as the ambassador once mentioned. the bilateral trade between the

two countries has enormous potential to grow, particularly once the tpp enters into effect. regarding education and training cooperation, we have obtained many important progression. take, for example, vietnam has recently received its operating license, the number of vietnamese students studying in the u.s. has grown to 28,000 students, the highest number among the asean countries. security continues to grow in line with the needs of both sides. the cooperation in the world legacy is now growing more substantively. the two countriies have recentl completed the phase one environment cleanup at the airport, and we will continue to

implement the second phase of the project at various other sites, together with the progress in bilateral ties, vietnam and u.s. are working together and enhancing the cooperation on regional and international issues of common interest and international forums. the advances in the bilateral relations stem from the fact that we increasingly share common concerns and interests, and both sides have fully realized to respect each other's independence, sovereignty, political regimes. the visit of president barack obama to vietnam will surely create stronger momentum for the development and promotion of vietnam-u.s. relations in the future, contradictiibuting to p

cooperation, and development in asia pacific and the wider world. thank you very much. >> i'm with reuters. thank you. i have a question for both presidents about the lifting of the arms embargo. to what extent do you see a need to build up vietnam's military deterrent against the behavior in the south china sea as part of this decision. could this include expanded u.s. access to vietnamese ports including cameroon bay. directly for president obama, to what degree will the u.s. decide on weapons sales based on human rights considerations? and for president quang, how do you respond to the u.s. push for improved human rights situation in vietnam? >> well, matt, the decision to

lift the ban was not based on china or any other considerations. it was based on our desire to complete what has been a lengthy process of moving towards normalization with vietnam. a process that began with some very courageous and difficult conversati conversations decades ago, including led by our current secretary of state, john kerry, and senators tom carper and john mccain and a whole bunch of other vietnam veterans as well as their counterparts in the vietnamese government. and over time what we've seen is a progressive deepening and broadening of the relationship. and what became apparent to me

and my administration at this point was that given all the work we do together across the spectrum of economic, trade, security, humanitarian efforts, that is was appropriate for us not to have a blanket, across-the-board ban. now, every sell that we make to everybody is viewed as a particular transaction, and we examine what's appropriate and what's not, and there's some very close allies of ours where we may not make a particular sale until we have a better sense of how that piece of equipment may end up being used. so we're going to continue to engage in the case-by-case evaluations of these sales. but what we do not have is a ban that's based on an ideological division between our two countries because we think that at this stage, both sides have

established a legvel of trust ad cooperation including between our militaries, that it is reflective of common interests and mutual respect. in fact, one of the things that's happened through this comprehensive partnership is a dialogue between the u.s. and vietnamese military that we hadn't seen in a very long time. and, you know, we already have u.s. vessels that have come here to port. we expect that there will be deepening cooperation between our militaries. oftentimes around how do we respond to humanitarian disasters in this region. there may be, you know, occasions in which that means that additional u.s. vessels might visit, but i want to emphasize that we will do so only at the invitation and with the cooperation of the vietnamese government, fully respecting their sovereignty and

their sensitivities. now, there is, i think, a genuine mutual concern with respect to maritime issues between the united states and vietnam, and i've made no secret of that. vietnam, along with asean, met with my invitation in california, and we put forward a very clear statement that it is important for us to maintain the freedom of navigation and the governance of international norms and rules and law that have helped to create prosperity and promoted commerce and peace and security in this region. and it's my belief that with respect to the south china sea, although the united states doesn't support any particular claim, we are supportive of the notion that these issues should be resolved peacefully, diplomatically, in accordance

with international rules and norms and not based on who is the bigger party and can throw their weight around a little bit more. at the same time, as i indicated in my initial statement, the united states is going to continue to fly and set courses for our ships as international law allows. our hope is that ultimately various claimants and various disputes can be resolved, and we'll do everything that we can to promote that. in the meantime, part of our cooperation with vietnam is to improve their maritime security posture for a whole host of reasons. but i want to emphasize that my decision to lift the ban really was more reflective of the changing nature of the relationship. last point with respect specifically to human rights, as i indicated in my opening statement, this is an area where we still have differences. there's been modest progress on

some of the areas that we've identified as a concern. tpp actually is one of the things that's prompting a series of labor reforms here in vietnam. they could end up being extraordinarily significant. but that is not directly tied to the decision around military sales. >> translator: thank you very much for the question. i just want to make some comments on the human rights cooperation in the general relations between the two countries. exlencies, ladies and gentlemen, the consistent position and viewpoint of the vietnamese state and government is to protect human rights. this is clearly qualified and

stipulated in the national constitution of vietnam in 2013. we are now institutionalizing the regulations into our laws and documents to respect to promote the human rights in vietnam. over the past 30 years of reform in vietnam, vietnam has achieved remarkable progress in socioeconomic development, defense, and security, especially in protection and promotion of human rights and the rights of every citizen in vietnam. those achievements have been highly recognized and appreciated by the international community. one of the examples, very good examples, to showcase vietnam's progress that vietnam has been elected as a member of the u.n. human rights council. as president obama mentioned

earlier, between the two countries, vietnam and the u.s., we do have some differences in some fields, and it is very easy to understand particularly on human rights. we are of the view that based on the respect and the spirit of mutual understanding, we need to work closely together, expand our dialogue together, and by so doing, we can narrow the gap in understanding and narrowing the differences between the two countries, especially on human rights. i invite other questions. mr. quang from vietnam television, please, you have the floor. >> i'm from vietnam television. i have one question for president obama. you have visited over 50 countries during your term as

u.s. president, and vietnam is among the last few on the list. so what does that say about the vietnam-u.s. relation, and how important does the u.s. view vietnam in its foreign policy? thank you. >> well, i would have liked to have gotten here sooner, and maybe one of the ways of thinking about it is we have an expression in the united states. we save the best for last. so it's a remarkable country. it's a beautiful country, and i've told the president that unfortunately when i visit, i'm usually in meetings all day long. so hopefully when i'm no longer president, i can come here with my family, and i can spend a little more time and travel the country a little bit more and get to know the people and eat the food and have a more relaxing schedule.

but the reason i'm here is because vietnam is extremely important not just to the region but, i think, to the world. first of all, i think highlighting the changes that have taken place between our two countries, how just a generation ago we were adversaries and now we are friends, should give us hope. should be a reminder of the ability for us to transform relationships when we have a dialogue that's based on mutual interests and mutual respect and people-to-people exchanges. second, vietnam is a large, vital, growing country in a large, vital, and growing region of the world. i've said this before. the asia pacific region is growing as fast as anyplace around the world. it is a young and dynamic

region. it is full of entrepreneurial spirit, and you're seeing new companies and new jobs being created constantly. so the united states wants to be a part of that, and we historically have had good relations with many countries in this region. we want to make sure that as vietnam grows and becomes more prosperous and achieves greater opportunity, that the young people of vietnam have a chance to partner with the young people of the united states, trading, exchanging ideas, working on scientific projects, starting businesses together. because i think that will be good for both countries. and we think that it is important from our perspective that as a leader in asean, that we engage vietnam bilaterally

because we want to continue to strengthen our cooperation with the multilateral organizations like the east asia summit and asean where we think we've seen some very real progress over the last several years on everything from commercial issues to disease control to humanitarian issues. one of the things that we increasingly discover is it's harder and harder to solve problems by ourselves. it's much easier for us to be able to tackle big problems like climate change or the outbreak of disease or responding to humanitarian disasters when we have an architecture of cooperation already established. so on all these fronts, we've seen remarkable progress. the announcements that we're making today, i think, should

give people an indication of the next stage of the u.s.-vietnamese relationship. these are big deals, all the things that we mentioned here today. and it indicates a broader and deeper relationship that i'm confident will continue to grow in the future. >> our final question comes from angela keen with bloomberg. >> thank you. president obama, the transpacific partnership seems fairly stalled in congress. other countries are looking to follow the u.s. lead in terms of how they advance their approval of the agreement. with the deals today announced for boeing and g.e. and your visit here to vietnam, are you looking to change your strategy and how you seek approval for the trans-pacific partnership in congress, and do you think that the agreement should be amended to address currency manipulation? secondly, president obama, can you comment on the killing of taliban leader mullah mansour and pakistan's concern about

that strike happening on its soil? can you also comment on whether this signals a new offensive in afghanistan and whether you're concerned an even more hard line leader might take his place. for president quang, are you concerned about the lack of enthusiasm for the transpacific partnership in the u.s. congress and what that means for the deal in the end? and how do you respond to china's criticism of the u.s. pursuing what china says is a one-sided, selfish agenda in asia that risks regional peace? >> so first of all, on tpp, angela, i haven't been around as long as senators carper or secretary kerry, but i've spent enough time in the senate to know that every trade deal is painful because folks are always seeing if they can get an even better deal. and especially when you have

multiple parties involved, folks are going to be scrutinizing it. they're going to be debating it. and in an election year, you can anticipate that some folks are going to try to score political points off it. having said that, i remain confident we're going to get it done, and the reason i'm confident is because it's the right thing to do. it's good for the country. it's good for america. it's good for the region. it's good for the world. and i know i've sold this to you before, but let me reiterate. this is the fastest-growing part of the world. this represents an enormous market for the united states. most countries here already sell their stuff to the united states, and we have relatively low tariffs. in other words, we put relatively low taxes on goods that are coming into the united

states. in contrast, tariffs are significantly higher for u.s. goods being sold here. so a deal that gets rid of 18,000 taxes on u.s. goods into the largest, fastest-growing markets of the world, that's a good deal for american businesses and american workers. number two, one of the biggest complaints about trade deals historically has been that it opens up our markets to count countries with lower wages, harsher labor practices, less environmental regulation. well, if you're signing up for the trans-pacific partnership, you are making commitments that are enforceable to raise labor standards, to ensure that workers have a voice, to attend to environmental problems.

and so this gives us the ability to engage with a country like vietnam and work with them on all those fronts. the precise things that people in the past have been concerned about when it comes to trading with other countries. so i have not yet seen a credible argument that once we get tpp in place, we're going to be worse off. we are dem on straably better off. american workers and american businesses are better off if we get this deal passed. i'm confident we will get it passed. now, the politics of it will be noisy. that was true when i, for example, inherited the korean free trade agreement or the columbian and panamanian free trade agreements when i came into office, but we got them

done. and i'm confident we'll get this done this time as well although there will be ups and downs and bumps along the way. with respect to currency manipulation, we have provisions in tpp that advance the transparency and reporting functions that allow us to monitor whether we think that currency manipulation is taking place. one of the debates that took place -- and there have been some who argue that we should have enforceable provisions that if you see currency going down too far, that we should be able to impose tariffs on that country. the problem is, is that it's very hard to sort out sometimes why a currency is going down and whether it's actually being manipulated. and frankly for us to bind other countries to commitments about their monetary policy would mean we were also binding our federal

reserve to the claims of other countries in terms of how it implements our monetary policy, and that's not something that we would do. we would not give up sovereignty with respect to our monetary policy in that way. but we have strengthened a number of the provisions that are already contained in tpp that will allow us to put on notice folks who we think are engaging in competitive devaluations. finally on the taliban leader, mr. mansour. it has been confirmed that he is dead, and he is an individual who, as head of the taliban, was specifically targeting u.s. personnel and troops inside of afghanistan, who were there as part of the mission that i've set to be able to maintain a counterterrorism platform and

provide assistance and training to the afghan military forces there. so this does not represent a shift in our approach. we are not re-entering the day-to-day combat operations that are currently being conducted by afghan security forces. our job is to help afghanistan secure its own country, not to have our men and women in uniform engage in that fight for them. on the other hand, where we have a high-profile leader who has been consistently part of operations and plans to potentially harm u.s. personnel and who has been resistant to the kinds of peace talks and reconciliation that ultimately could bring an end to decades of

war in afghanistan, then it is my responsibility as commander-in-chief not to stand by but to make sure that we send a clear signal to the taliban and others that we're going to protect our people. and that's exactly the message that has been sent. >> translator: let me respond to this question concerning the trans-pacific partnership, tpp. in our view, tpp is a significant trade and economic linkage contributing to sustaining the dynamism and the role for economic growth in our country as well as in the asia pacific region, and for vietnam. tpp and vietnam's participation

in tpp is one step undertaken by vietnamese government in our process of -- >> i'm sorry to interrupt. we're not getting a translation. >> testing, one, two, three. can you hear, mr. president? >> okay. >> testing, one, two, three. >> i'm sure that he was saying something very wise and important, and we want to make sure we all heard him. >> translator: so i add that vietnam together with our tpp countries have been making efforts to narrow differences, to promote cooperation and the spirit of mutual understanding and mutual respect, and we always try to reduce differences in the spirit of constructiveness and understanding and paying attention to one another's

legitimate interests and the finalization of tpp is also the successful outcomes of all 12 members of the tpp rather than any individual effort. and we are prepared to ratify tpp and we stand ready to honor all the commitments under tpp. >> your excellency, now we have a technical problem with the translation system. so, mr. president, president quang, could you repeat again your answer. and, yes, i want to redirect my comments on the tpp. in our view, the tpp is a very significant threat and economic linkage contributing to the sustainment of dynamism and the role as a driver of economic growth in asia pacific region. as for vietnam, tpp is one step forward in implementation of the

country's different and comprehensive international integration policy which aims at promoting the national economic growth of veet flam. vietnam has worked together with other member countries to narrow the differences in the spirit of constructiveness, understanding, and paying attention to one another's interests. the finalization of tpp is also the result of endeavors from 12 members of the agreement rather than the individual effort of any single country. and vietnam is now very actively promoting and accelerating the ratification of the tpp and vietnamese committed to fully implementing all the clauses and provisions of the tpp. thank you very much, president quang, and president barack obama. ladies and gentlemen, with that, i declare the press krenconfere

adjourn the. please stay in the room for departure of the two. s. thank you very much. >> from adversaries to friends. the words there of u.s. president barack obama. the u.s. will lift its embargo on arms sales to vietnam in an effort to forge closer relations with vietnam. that the big headline out of this news conference. president barack obama there with the vietnamese president. and we heard from vietnam's president. he said that the two had productive talks on bilateral relations, on trade deals and regional security, and president obama said the u.s. will play a long-term role in the asia pacific region and be more engaged than ever before. that of course the backdrop to that is china flexing its muscles in the asia pacific region. >> that's right. the u.s. president making the point when pressed, saying that the lifting of the arms embargo had nothing to do with china. rather it was part of a long

effort to normalize relations. that, though, hard to believe considering the tensions in the region and the pivoting of power. the u.s. would like to enforce there. he also mentioned that g.e. and boeing will benefit from some trade deals just signed today. he is pushing the tpp, that trans-pacific partnership, saying that it will actually help enforce against trade manipulation. that's one major part of his agenda this week. also saying the u.s. peace corps will be heading to vietnam, and he did publicly speak for the first time on the killing of the taliban leader mullah mansour saying he posed a direct threat to u.s. interests. covered a lot of ground in this. >> and of course confirmed his death. a lot of people wanting to hear that confirmation. let's turn to cnn white house correspondent michelle kaczynski. she is live in hanoi, vietnam. let's start with the lifting of this arms embargo, that of course being the big headline

here, but so many other things covered as well. >> reporter: yeah, i mean i think that was surprising. in talking to white house officials prior to this trip, they discussed it, but they really made it seem like that was going to be something that happened over time. and they seemed to tie it to the human rights issue. i mean they said that would be something that would come up and would be discussed at these talks. so we were quite surprised to see that first, president quang announced that it was lifted. i mean in the press room everyone turned to each other and said, did we hear that correctly? did he just say it's fully lifted, and then waited for president obama to reiterate that fact. because in the fact sheet, a sort of statement on paper that the white house e-mails around during the press conference, there was really no mention of the lifting of the embargo. so there was some thought that this might even be a mistake. and then after a little while of president obama speaking, he finally did say that, yes, he is fully lifting this arms embargo that's been in place for decades. i mean this would have been

unheard of, such a surprise to hear this happen decades ago. you know, these two countries were such enemies, after such a bloody and prolonged war. so to hear this happening now, that either means that, you know, these talks went very well, that they've agreed on a number of things and the u.s. decided that this was the right time, or in the progress leading up to this meeting, enough had happened and they realized it was appropriate or that the time was just right given events in this region that now the u.s. is saying, okay, on a case-by-case basis, yes, we will sell lethal arms to vietnam. >> very interesting point, all of that. also i do want to go back to that point the u.s. president made when he said that the u.s. will play a long-term role in the asia pacific region and be more engaged than ever before. and of course you can't really take your eye off the situation

there with china as it tries to extend and expand its territorial influence in the region. >> reporter: right. and as much as the white house says certain things are not all about china, well, that's true. there are plenty of other influences involved. but you can't ignore china. i mean really these trips, virtually every move the u.s. makes in this region either affects or is affected by the u.s.'s relationship with china. i mean the u.s. and china want to work together as much as possible but at the same time, there's no mistaking the fact that the u.s. wants to counter china's influence. and the white house often says that if the u.s. doesn't step in with this large-scale trans-pacific partnership and play a real role in shaping trade and the rules of trade in this region, then who else is going to do it? yes, china will. >> yeah, so much to cover. a lot coming out of that news conference. michelle kosinski joining us

there live from hanoi, vietnam. we will of course talk to you again next hour. many thanks. we do have much more of the world's biggest stories coming ahead for you this hour. bernie sanders takes aim at the democratic national committee. why he says he's not a fan of the chair woman, let alone controversial super delegates. stay with cnn. ering] keep it going!!!! if you sit on your phone, you butt-dial people. it's what you do. todd! if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. it's what you do. i know we just met like, two months ago... yes! [crowd cheering] [crowd cheering over phone]

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welcome back. u.s. democratic presidential candidate bernie sanders is hitting the campaign trail hard in california just two weeks ahead of that state's primary. all the while he's been engaged in a growing feud with the chairwoman of the democratic national committee. >> sanders tells cnn if he's elected president, he would not reappoint congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz as chair. the vermont senator has been critical of the super delegates and the nomination process. he spoke earlier to cnn's jake tapper. >> she has more votes than you and she has more pledged delegates than you. and the question is just a simple yes or no. should the candidate with the

most pledged delegates at the end of the process, june 7th, after new jersey and california, the last contests, should the person with the most pledged delegates be the democratic nominee? >> well, i think if that was the only criteria, then you get rid of all of the super delegates, which may not be a bad idea. but you do have super delegates. you've got 700 super delegates, and i'm not a great fan of super delegates, but their job is to take an objective look at reality. and i think the reality is that we are the stronger candidate. so we will see what happens, jake. >> so you actually think it would be okay for the pledged delegates, the majority of democratic voters, to pick one candidate and then the super delegates to actually go with a different candidate? you're not suggesting that? >> well, it's very funny. it's very funny that you ask me that question when you had 400 pledged delegates come onboard clinton's campaign before anyone else was in the race. that's called an anointment

process. that's called the establishment talking. that's called the big money interest. this is what we want to be president. we are where we are right now, jake. where we are is we are fighting to win the pledged delegates. so before i can answer your question, let's see what's going to happen. but if you do have -- if your argument is let's get rid of all the super delegates, that may not be a bad idea. >> thanks for watching this hour. i'm rosemary church. >> and i'm errol barnett. back with a full hour of the day's biggest stories next. don'tlive in tokyo. when you airbnb, you have your own home. so, live there. even if it's just for a night.

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the search for answers. a submarine joins the hunt for the wreckage of egyptair flight 804 in the mediterranean. barack obama in vietnam. the u.s. president announces the lifting of the arms embargo with an old enemy. also coming up. ♪ i only want to see you laughing in the purple rain ♪ >> madonna and stevie wonder pay an emotional tribute to prince at the billboard music awards. >> a big welcome to our viewers

watching here in the state and those of you tuned in all around the world. i'm errol barnett. >> i'm rosemary church. thanks for joining us. this is "cnn newsroom." investigators are hoping a submarine will be able to find the so-called black boxes from egyptair air flight 804. >> though some wreckage and personal items have been recovered about 290 kilometers north of alexandria, egypt, they're considered key to finding answers to what went wrong. >> ian lee joins us from cairo with the very latest. ian, this is the new development, of course, the submarine. what are the chances that it will find something. everyone wants to find the fuselage at this point and of course those black boxes. >> reporter: that's right, rosemary, and they are searching for those. those black boxes have a signal that goes out to help locate

them. once they're able to pin that location, this submarine will go down. there's cameras on it. there's claws on it. it will be able to manipulate the area around it to get to those black boxes, and that is crucial in determining what exactly happened, what caused that plane to go down. this is a submarine, we are told, that is on loan from the ministry of petroleum here in egypt, and it should be starting its search very soon. but talking to the minister of civil aviation, he said, yes, it is important to get to these black boxes. it's important to get to the fuselage. but he said their number-one priority is also getting to the bodies, to get them back to their loved ones. and so there is a lot to go through here, a lot to do out there on the mediterranean. >> and, ian, i wanted you also

to talk to this story. we know at this point that this plane was vandalized two years ago. vandals wrote on it, "we will bring this plane down." talk to us about what authorities there in egypt are saying about that. also so many people asking if this was terrorism, why has there been no claim of responsibility at this point? what's being said about that? >> reporter: so we got to remember two years ago was right after the 2013, the july 3rd, 2013 overthrow of then president mohammed morsi by the military. it was a time of turmoil here in egypt, which pitted the supporters of president mohammed morsi, which a lot of them come from the muslim brotherhood, against the security services. and hundreds of people had died

in the clashes between the two, more so on the side of the muslim brotherhood. there was a lot of tension there. so people were vandalizing, you know, this is the report we're hearing that they vandalized this plane, which expressed the frustration after all of that. security has been stepped up at egypt's airports, especially after last october when the metrojet plane was blown up by isis over the sinai peninsula. and so if this was a terrorist attack, if this was a bomb, there are a lot of questions to be answered. there hasn't been a claim of responsibility, which makes a lot of analysts and terror experts believe that it most likely wasn't a terrorist attack. but we can't rule that out. but if it was one, they would have to look at the origin of the flight, and that goes to paris and was it possible that a bomb was put on the plane there?

we do know paris has had some recent attacks, and so that would probably be where the focus would go. >> absolutely. and we need to emphasize here we don't know what the cause was. it's still possible it could either be terrorism, possible mechanical problems, or fire. we don't know at this point. our ian lee reporting there live from cairo. many thanks to you. austria's presidential runoff election is so close, absentee ballots could decide who wins the race. >> the contenders are a far-right anti-immigrant party leader and a pro-european union independent candidate. >> and despite that almost even split so far in the vote count, nationalist norbert huffer is promising victory. >> translator: i want to tell you what i have learned in my life. man must go on and on and on along his path. and when basic values are right, when it is clear to you regardless of what you do,

regardless of the outcome, that austria is our greatest concern, then success will come on its own. maybe today, maybe tomorrow. maybe the day after that. life is short but long enough to serve austria. >> a victory for hofer would make austria the first country in the eu with a far-right head of state. sources in al qaeda and the taliban now confirm that taliban leader mullah mansour was killed by a u.s. air strike. pakistani officials expressed anger at only learning of the strike after it happened. >> now, take a look at this video. it purportedly shows the aftermath of that strike in pakistan. this is near the afghan border. speaking to reporters in jordan, the head of u.s. central command emphasized how big a blow this was to the terror group. listen. >> well, he's the leader of the taliban. mansour played a key leadership role in not only orchestrating the taliban but orchestrating a

variety of other organizations who were perpetrating operations against not only u.s. but coalition forces and afghan forces for a long period of time. he's -- he's an individual who's been in that structure a long time. i'm glad he's gone. >> pakistani officials called the strike a violation of their country's sovereignty. meantime in iraq, the government says an extensive operation is under way right now to retake fallujah from isis. >> the key city is in anbar province, just under 60 kilometers from baghdad. regular security forces along with pro-government militias are expected to take part in the offensive. >> for more on fallujah and what's happening in iraq, cnn's joe man na ca rad shea join is us. jomana, how much danger are the residents of fallujah in during this very difficult operation? >> reporter: errol, there's a

lot of concern when it comes to the civilians inside fallujah. as you mentioned over the past couple of days, we have been hearing from the iraqi military, telling people that they should leave the city ahead of this operation. as you mentioned, it is under way right now, saying that they have created safe corridors for them to leave through and that there are hotlines they can call into if they need to leave. but it's not as simple as packing up their belongings and leaving the city. we have heard from groups like human rights watch. we've heard from the united nations all in recent weeks saying that the population of fallujah, tens of thousands is the estimate, are still inside that city. they're besieged by government forces and pro-government militias. in addition, they are also trapped inside the city by isis. reports that people who have tried to flee in the past have been executed. so a lot of concern about these civilians and how they will manage to get out of the city if they can. errol. >> also, jomana, just explain the sectarian dimension to this

and the major risks the iraqi government is taking by going in with shiite militias. >> reporter: it's a huge risk. we've seen this in other cities like tikrit, for example, last year. fallujah is a predominantly sunni city in the sunni heartland, anbar province. and the forces that are lining up to go into fallujah that have been amassing around the city for weeks now are predominantly shia forces. and a lot of concern here, errol, if you recall over the past year or so, we have been hearing accusations when it comes to these iranian-backed shia militias. they have been accused of human rights violations. they have accuses of reprisal attacks in these sunni cities after they're liberated from isis. a lot of concern about these forces, how they will act if and when they go into fallujah in what is expected to be a very bloody fight. so a lot of concern about what will happen. of course the iraqi forces are

trying to reassure people with reports that it will be the iraqi security forces who go inside the city with the militias on the outside. but we will have to wait and see how this plays out and of course the concern is that this could inflame sectarian tensions, something that iraq cannot afford right now. >> yeah. and jomana, meantime as isis has been placed on its back foot in fallujah and other areas, what's been happening back in the capital of baghdad? >> reporter: well, as we've seen in the past three weeks, errol, it would seem that isis has kind of changed its tactics or reverted back to what used to be the style of its predecessor, al qaeda in iraq, the kind of suicide bombings, the stepped up violence, the attacks against soft targets, if you will, when it comes to the shia population. it is that old tactic of these sunni extremist groups that try to reignite the sectarian tensions in the come, to try to

reignite the sectarian war that engulfed the country. if you look at anbar province, for example, isis has lost significant territory there. we were talking about a year ago, isis controlled more than 70% of anbar, and they have lost a lot of territory there to the iraqi security forces, iraqi militias backed by the u.s.-led coalition air strikes. and so of course now the concern is what will isis do as it's losing all this trortd in western iraq? the concern is the stepped up attacks as we have seen this taking place in and around baghdad and what this could mean and what the outcome of these attacks could be, errol. a lot of concern about that. >> in any case, the fight against isis continues. jomana karadsheh watching all of this for us. 11 minutes past 10:00 a.m. there. jomana, thanks. another story we're watching closely, 18 schoolgirls are dead after a fire swept through a boarding school in northern thailand. the blaze broke out in the

middle of the night with 38 children asleep in the dormitory. >> police managed to rescue 20 of the girls, but still don't know what caused this fire. all of the victims were between the ages of 5 and 12. new polls show it's currently almost a dead heat in the race for the white house. but that might be because most people say they don't like the candidates. the latest coming up. also the u.s. has just lifted a decades-long ban on arms sales to vietnam. you watched this happen live on cnn last hour. we'll talk about what this decision means for relations between the two countries and the region after this short break.

u.s. president barack obama says the u.s. and vietnam have agreed to strengthen ties. both countries have agreed to deepen their commitment to regional security and trade. >> and mr. obama announced that the u.s. is lifting the decades-old ban on lethal arms sales to vietnam. >> cnn white house correspondent michelle kosinski joins us live again from hanoi, vietnam. michel, great to talk with you again. now, when we spoke last hour,

you explained the surprise of most reporters attending the news conference to that announcement that the u.s. will lift its decades-old arms embargo on vietnam. tell us more about that reaction in the room. and also what the lifting of this weapons embargo will mean for the region. >> reporter: this is mainly based on how white house officials talked about this ahead of this trip. they were asked plenty of questions about it. this is kind of one of those big issues that was overshadowing this visit. but officials would always say, well, it's something that will be brought up. it will be discussed. kind of indicating that that was down the road, that it's a work in progress so to speak. so everybody was pretty stunned that it was announced right off the bat by president quang of vietnam during this press conference. in fact, because there's a translator, there was a question as to whether that was even accurate. i mean nobody was too eager to tweet it out or to report it out immediately. we wanted to get some confirmation from the u.s. side

at the very least. was this true? was this really being announced right here and right now? and it took president obama several minutes in what he said too in his opening remarks before he finally got to that. he kind of buried the lead here. but he did confirm that, yes, the embargo on selling arms to vietnam is fully lifted. and to be fair, this is something that has been discussed for a long time. the u.s. fartially lifted the embargo two years ago. and now it's complete. this is a big gesture in deepening and strengthening the ties between these two countries. lifting that embargo is something that would have been unheard of a few decades ago. now it's a reality. you know, the white house said that it has been worked on for quite a long time. clearly they had intended to announce it this trip. they didn't want to let on, though, that it was anything more than a discussion. maybe they wanted to leave kind of the element of surprise in it

for us, rosemary. >> interesting. and, michelle, as well as forging this closer, deeper relations with vietnam, president obama said the u.s. will play a long-term role in the asia pacific region and be more engaged than ever before. what does that mean exactly, and how much does that have to do with the increasiing strength o china in the region? >> reporter: the white house never says that this is a direct result of china, and clearly there are many influences involved. you look at trade. i mean obviously the u.s. wants to be a part of emerging country's trade. especially here in vietnam, they have this booming middle class. the u.s. doesn't want to miss out on these opportunities. but a big part of that is china, and the white house often says that if the u.s. doesn't get in now while these trade deals are developing, while middle classes are growing and there are so many new opportunities, then china will be the one to really shape the rules of the road moving forward.

so this has been the big intent of president obama's pivot to asia. you know, something that he's been trying to deepen for many years now, that he wants the u.s. to be a constructive force in this region, to work with china but also to counter china's influence in both trade and security, rosemary. >> all right. it is 3:20 -- 2:20, i should say, in the afternoon there in hanoi, vietnam. michelle kosinski following president obama on his trip to vietnam. many thanks to you. a few fresh new polls are out, and they show the 2016 race for the white house is in a statistical dead heat. >> but they also reveal some very unfavorable numbers for both hillary clinton and donald trump. andrew spencer has the details. >> reporter: the political attacks go both ways.

>> crooked hillary clinton is the most anti-gun, anti-second amendment candidate ever to run for office. >> i find what he says, the kind of candidacy he's presenting, to pose a danger to our country. >> reporter: and the attacks seem to be working. two new polls out on sunday show more than half of likely voters have an unfavorable view of both donald trump and hillary clinton. both "the washington post," abc news poll and the "wall street journal" poll also show the two candidates in a statistical tie against each other. their respective leads both within the margins of error. a fact clinton brushed aside on nbc's "meet the press." >> you know, polls this far out mean nothing. they certainly mean nothing to me. >> reporter: senator bernie sanders admitted to cnn's state of the union he's a long shot candidate at this point. >> it is a very, very uphill fight to go from 46% where we are today to 50% in the nine

remaining contests. >> reporter: but his numbers heads up against trump are much better than clinton's. >> i'm not saying she cannot beat donald trump. i think she k. i think it's a good chance she k. i am the stronger candidate because we appeal to independents, people who are not in love with either the democratic or the republican party. >> reporter: for now, trump is happy to play up the democratic divide. >> i think bernie should run as an independent, okay? let him run. >> reporter: i'm andrew spencer, reporting. >> for more on all of this we're joined by cnn political commentator peter beinart, peter, senator sanders says he's more popular among independents than hillary clinton. how much, though, will that really matter come november? >> well, it's probably not going to matter very much to bernie sanders because he's not likely to be the democratic nominee on the ballot in november. when one talks about independents in american politics, it's a bit of a

misnomer. what political scientists have shown is that the vast majority of so-called independents actually vote very steadily for the republican or democratic party. they're really democrats or republicans in disguise, which is part of why the elections these days in the united states really come down less to turning out truly independent -- less to convincing truly undecided voters and really more to turning out people who have already made up their mind. >> like the ability to fire up the base is more substantial. well, on that point, hillary clinton now is statistically tied with donald trump. this has been found in a number of new polls out over the weekend. why is that, though? do you think it's a result of the republicans finally coalescing around trump now that he's the only one left, or is it because the clinton/sanders battle is showing to do real damage? >> well, look, historically polls this early on don't tend to mean very much. i think that what we've seen is that there has been -- since

trump -- de facto won the nominati nomination, there's been a coalescing around him among republicans. because there's still a race going on between sanders and hillary, she's not benefited from quite that same consolidation. i think the likelihood by the time we get to the conventions, when sanders essentially drops out and hillary is the presumptive nominee, that you will see the democratic coalescing gives hillary an advantage again in the polls. but it's also important to remember that you can only do a poll when you model the electorate, when you make certain assumptions about who's likely to turn out. so a great deal depends on whether the democratic party can get the same turnout among african-americans and latinos and young people. if it can do that, it becomes almost impossible for donald trump to win. if it can't do that, then donald trump is at least -- has some chance. >> now, both clinton and trump have very high unfavorables in one poll taken.

64% of americans say both of them are not honest and trustworthy. do you think, then, that makes the v.p. selection process even more important for the both of them? >> there's not a lot of historical evidence that vice presidential choices really matter very much in how people actually vote. it may matter a little more for trump because people know less abouthim. he hasn't made a lot of consequential decisions on the national stage obviously since he's never run for office before. but i suspect at the end of the day, that those things will not be decisive. i think the debates will probably matter. >> that was an interesting article put out by politico over the weekend noting that politics have really shifted permanently, both the democrats and republicans, because of the leading candidates and specifically for donald trump and what he's done to the republican base and how much it differs from the republican establishment. do you think that republican politics at least have certainly

changed forever with trump as the nominee? >> you know, it's hard to know. one of the things that makes american politics different than, you know, parliamentary systems is that essentially a presidential candidate, once they win the nomination, they recast the party in their image. but then if they lose the election, in some ways it's all up for grabs again once you have a new presidential candidate. so it certainly looks right now that the republican party has been fundamentally, irrevocably changed but if donald trump lost badly and that created an environment in which marco rubio ran again and ultimately ended up winning because people felt like the trump path had been tried and failed, then the republican party might end up looking quite different four years from now. so i think it's a little bit too early to tell. >> all of it really is just so highly unpredictable, but that's what makes it that much more

fascinating. cnn political commentator peter beinart, thanks for your time today. >> thank you. for those of you tuned into cnn international, you'll be able to get an inside look at america's remarkable race for the white house with our new program, state of the race with cate baldwin, tuesday through friday at 2:30 p.m. in hong kong, right here on cnn. u.s. president barack obama says the u.s. and vietnam are dedicated to regional order in the south china sea. but those who make their living in the disputed waters find themselves caught up in a high-stakes political tug-of-war. we'll take a look at that when we come back. stay with us. wanna drink more water? with sodastream you turn plain water into sparkling water in seconds. and because it's so delicious, you'll drink 43% more water every day. sodastream. love your water.

welcome back to our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. i'm rosemary church. >> and i'm errol barnett. let's update you on our top stories this hour. austria's presidential runoff is too close to call. the race between a far-right anti-immigrant candidate and a pro-european independent has become a dead heat. europe's migrant crisis and the huge influx of migrants into austria has been a big issue. >> the u.s. and vietnam have agreed to strengthen ties. in the last hour, mr. obama announced that the u.s. is lifting the ban on weapons sales to vietnam. both countries have also agreed to deepen their commitment to regional security and trade. >> the iraqi government says a military operation is underway to retake fallujah. pro-government militias and iraqi security forces are taking part in this effective. isis has held the key city in

anbar province since early 2014. a submarine is joining the search for the wreckage of egyptair flight 804 in the mediterranean. debris and personal items have been spotted about 290 kilometers north of alexandria. the all-important flight data and cockpit voice recorders are still missing. now with more on the investigation at the origin of the flight -- that's charles de gaulle airport, max foster joins us from our paris bureau. max, how much confidence is there among european officials that the lead egyptian investigator will be transparent with all of his results considering terrorism is a possible motive and he was the lead on the metrojet investigation? >> reporter: well, i just want to bring you some information we just had, errol, and that's that the french patrol ship ises has actually arrived over there in the egyptian search zone because

what the egyptians really need is this expertise in undersea search for the body of this aircraft. so on this patrol ship, you have experts from the coast guard, also from the military as well. experts in undersea search. so that's going to help possibly boost this effort because the huge frustration here amongst the families. there was a meeting amongst the families and officials here in paris on saturday. huge frustration of course is that there's no information out there. we still haven't had confirmation of the cause of the downing of this aircraft, and families just want whatever information they need, and just to express how they're feeling. one of the big questions they had on saturday was did their family members suffer on the aircraft? it's a huge frustration not to have any information. also difficult for french officials because the egyptians are leading on this, and they can't really give french victims' families the information they're looking for. so that's the latest

information. france offering what it can to this information. also u.s. and the u.k. as well offering their expertise. but a huge amount of frustration at this point, errol, that there's not more the families can be told. >> and that frustration, max, understandable. we are days after this plane going missing now. debris has been found. egyptian officials say they have sent a new robotic submarine to where they think the plane may be. if we all remember, the autonomous underwater vehicle used to try and find mh370 turned up empty in the end. what can you tell us about that angle of this search considering the french vessel is also there? >> reporter: well, obviously the priority at the moment, apart from picking up human remains, is to find those black boxes which are expected to be in the main part of the aircraft as it lies on the bottom of the ocean. so once they have those black boxes and they can analyze them, they can finally find the cause

of this accident, if it was an accident. so that's the priority really, finding the bulk of the plane is they can find the black boxes and bring them back to the surface. and egypt may not have the expertise to analyze them. that decision will be made by the egyptian authorities. so those black boxes might have to come to france or to the u.k. to be analyzed. so again more frustration for the families. they have to wait if they want fully confirmed information for the results of those black boxes. >> max foster live in paris for us. just past 9:30 in the morning there. a french vessel now has joined the search for the missing egyptian airliner. thanks, max. >> while relatives wait for official word on what happened to flight 804, they're grieving for the family members they've lost. >> that's right. the family of the plane's pilot is now sharing memories of a man who loved flying from an early age. ian lee has their story.

>> reporter: mohammed's first love was flying. the pilot of egyptair flight 804 received a flight simulator at 18. he was hooked. >> he loved to be a pilot. this was a major part of his life. he loved to be on egyptair. >> his cousin hoped maybe he could introduce him to his second love. they spoke before his flight. >> he asked me to give him sometime sleep, and he will come with me to see the girls that he was -- i was planning for him to marry. >> reporter: the 36-year-old was known as the family comedian and having a bit of a baby face. his last contact with greek air traffic control was described as light-hearted. but when it came to flying, he was serious. according to egyptair, shoukair racked up over 5,000 hours in the air, including over 2,000 on the airbus a320. even though he's missing, the

mourning has begun. it's tradition in egypt to offer your condolences to a family immediately after someone has died, and that's what you're seeing here tonight. what makes this more painful for them is that once the body is found, if it's found, they'll go through these raw emotions all over again. these emotions reflected in his father, who says whoever took away my only son, may god take the light of their eyes. as search crews scour the mediterranean for wreckage, they'll focus on recovering shoukair and the 65 other passengers and crew onboard egyptair flight 804. >> actually is the priority, especially in our part of the world, it is the number-one priority. >> reporter: and even though shoukair is gone, his legacy will live on. >> my kids, always they want to be a pilot like him. >> reporter: his love of flying passed down to the next generation. ian lee, cnn, cairo.

still to come this hour, both indonesia and costa rica were hit by major volcanic eruptions over the weekend and the danger there is far from over. we'll bring you details coming up. plus vietnamese fishermen say they're being bullied by chinese ships trying to stake a claim in the dispute the waters of the south china sea. their story next. if you have allergy congestion muddling through your morning is nothing new. introducing rhinocort® allergy spray from the makers of zyrtec®. powerful relief from nasal allergy symptoms, all day and all night. try new rhinocort® allergy spray. all day and all night. jack knocked over a candlestick, onto the shag carpeting... ...and his pants ignited into flames, causing him to stop, drop and roll. luckily jack recently had geico help him with renters insurance. because all his belongings went up in flames.

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the united states and vietnam are united in our support for a regional order, including in the south china sea, where international norms and rules are upheld. where there is freedom of navigation and overflight. where lawful commerce is not impeded and where disputes are resolved peacefully. >> that was u.s. president barack obama indirectly addressing the u.s. and vietnam's dispute with china over territorial rights in the south china sea. >> now, for vietnamese fishermen

who rely on the disputed waters for their livelihood, there is no steering clear of the turmoil. saima mohsin has their story. >> reporter: like his father before him, laitan makes his living from the sea. he's fished these waters for 31 years but lately his job has become a lot more dangerous. trn >> translator: first they took our fish, then the essential equipment. if they liked it, they took it. if they didn't, they threw it away. >> reporter: he describes a day when chinese men boarded his boat, stole his equipment, and threatened him and his sons. this happened last year, but he says his boat has been targeted four or five times over the past decade. >> translator: once they tasered my son three times in his spine. >> reporter: tan says he's been targeted because he fishes in the pair i sells, a chain of islands claimed by vietnam,

china, and taiwan. vietnamese authorities say hundreds of fishermen report being intimidated, beaten, or robbed by men on chinese-flagged boats within the pair i sells. despite the danger, the local government says it's encouraging men to keep fishing these waters, calling them defenders of vietnamese territory. the chinese foreign ministry says it has no knowledge about vietnamese fishermen being beaten or chased away and the pair i sell islands are its sovereign territory along with most of the south china sea. china is building manmade islands, laying down airstrips, deploying surface-to-air missiles in defiance of competing claims by other regional players. and the u.s. has waded into the fight, challenging china by running freedom of navigation operations in the region and

calling for an end to the militarization of the area. washington's message seems to have done little to sway local opinion. >> concerning america's idea of a peaceful solution between vietnam and china, even with this peaceful solution, the rights of vietnam to these islands are undeniable. >> reporter: cnn wasn't allowed to speak to the fishermen without a government minder present. but vietnamese officials are keen to show them off as victims of china's aggression. >> translator: we protect our country for the next generation. >> reporter: it's an elevated calling for the fishermen of a remote island in its ongoing dispute with china, vietnam is mustering defenders wherever it can find them. saima mohsin, cnn. indonesia's mount sin abong erupted on saturday killing at least seven people. nearby villages are now covered with ash. just look at this. officials say more eruptions

could be coming. meanwhile, costa rica's volcano registered two major eruptions. the resulting ash is triggering health warnings in the country's capital, san jose. let's get more on all this volcanic activity with pedram and a ha javaheri. >> they're on high alert across indonesia. independent knee va is one of those places, they think of the most active place on our planet for active volcanos. so explosive that in europe it went on 1816, a year later became the year without a summer. so the ash spewed into the upper atmosphere, traveled around the world and in parts of the world, the clouds were literally hayesed ovhayes hazed over from ash. so the potential there is very high for this part of the world. so the pictures there really show you what occurred. this is out of indonesia where

we had mount sin bon erupt in the past several days. what's fascinating in recent days when you take a look at the precise location, northern sumatra where we've had multiple eruptions in recent weeks across this region. but when you look at the broad perspective of this, only eight eruptions have occurred since the year 1600. now, from the year 1600 to the year 2010, there were zero eruptions on mount sinabung. from april 2010 to this past weekend, we had of course eight eruptions take place. so this kind of shows you the incredible nature of the activity that's picked up across this region. you know you're entering an active period if you go sigh silent for 400 years. the red triangle, that is exactly where the mountain is located. notice the rainfall aaround. we know in october of 2014, this volcano erupted again. there was actually a four

kilometer, two and a half mile perimeter that officials put in place there. they took 5,000 people out of this region, said the threat zpoen is way too high to reside here. you have to permanently move out of this area for the for seeable future. unfortunately people went back in in recent months since october 2014. people worked their way right back to attending to their belongings and their properties nearby the mountain. officials are saying some of these fatalities that occurred potentially could have been in line across this region for people that have come back into the danger zone. notice how many volcanos are across indonesia, 147. 76 of which are active. again, that is the highest number in the world of active volcanos for any country in the world. this is something they're used to but again it is very scary, very dangerous. >> absolutely. thanks so much. >> thanks, pedram. still ahead, a night marked by tribute and triumph at the billboard music awards. and one winner who had trouble holding all his trophies at one time. we'll take a look at that. stay with us. "ow..."

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you won't see these folks they have businesses to run. they have passions to pursue. how do they avoid trips to the post office? stamps.com mail letters, ship packages, all the services of the post office right on your computer. get a 4 week trial, plus $100 in extras including postage and a digital scale. go to stamps.com/tv and never go to the post office again. welcome back. veteran british director ken loech took home the top honor at the cannes film festival. he won the palm dor.

here's the big moment. >> this year, the palm dor goes to "i daniel blake." >> he noted it was strange to receive an award in such opp yew lent surroundings given the miserable living conditions featured in his movie. >> we must give a message of hope. we must say another world is possible and necessary. >> the winning film showcases the struggles of a drown trodden carpenter and a single mother trying to obtain government assistance and scrape by in britain. well, from film awards to music honors. britney spears kicked off the billboard music awarded sunday with a provocative medley of her hits. the evening came to a close with an emotional tribute to prince led by madonna. >> the weeknd was the big winner of the night. he sent this tweet with a picture of himself with his --

count them -- eight awards. >> for more about the billboard music awards, kim serafin joins us now from los angeles bureau. hi there. always good to talk with you. so who were the biggest winners at this billboard music awards, do you think? >> this is a big night for so many artists, so many great performances and so many amazing winners. justin bieber had some of the biggest nominations of the night. he had i think 12 nominations. he won top male artist. so that was fantastic. he did a fantastic performance. adele won a couple of awards including top artist. but she wasn't there. unfortunately she's on her tour so she wasn't there to actually get her award. the weeknd got one of the first awards of the night and it was nice to see him get up there and kind of dedicate his award to prince. you can see a lot of similarities between the two of them so that made sense. you also had some of the awards that were given out to some of the performers who were noted in advance like britney spears, for

example, opened the show. she was receiving the millennium award. she did a fantastic performance of a medley of her hits. then celine dion received the icon award and she got out there and performed an amazing, emotional performance. this was her first televised performance since she lost her husband. she received it, stood there with her son, who frepresented award to her. she was holding her son's hand. an amazing night for her as well. >> very powerful. then right at the end of the show, talking about emotional, a tribute to prince from madonna despite many of his fans not wanting her to be the one to do it. and then stevie wonder making an appearance. how was that tribute received? >> reporter: this is an amazing tribute. i don't see how they could have done a better tribute to prince. there was the announcement that madonna would be doing this tribute. a lot of people were not happy with it. there was a lot of controversy. some of prince's fans started a change.org pe tigsz because they did not want madonna doing this

tribute. the producer had to come out and say don't worry. it really was respectful. madonna came out. the whole stage was lit up with a purple light. she twirled around on a crushed velvet purple seat dressed in kind of a lavender suit, sang "nothing compares to u." there were nice images in the background of prince, same amazing words like hope, immortality, and steefb i have wonder came out and the two finished with purple rain. it was really, really emotional for anyone watching this. it was a perfect way. madonna, who really had a parallel career in so many ways to prince, i think it was a perfect tribute to him. >> i thought it was powerful as well. then kesha got to perform. that was after dr. luke's label gave her permission to so long as she not use the stage as a platform to talk about her sex abuse lawsuit. so how did that go? >> reporter: yeah, this was an amazing performance, i think, by kesha. she paid tribute to bob dylan. she was initially not going to be allowed to perform because

there were rumors that she was going to use this to talk about or to address this issue, the ongoing saga, legal saga, with dr. luke. but then she was assuring everyone this would not happen. the label gave her permission to do this performance. i think so many people were so happy to see her get out there and perform, and she looked grown up. she looked very different. she looked like she was in control. and she got, i think, some of the biggest applause of the night because everyone knew about everything that's been going on with her. it was great to see her get out there and be able to perform, and she really showed people why she is such a great performer and why she deserves all the attention. >> certainly very symbolic. what a night. it was quite a show in fact. kim serafin, always a pleasure to chat with you. thank you so much. >> reporter: great. thanks so much. and thanks to all of you for joining us. i'm rosemary church. >> and i'm errol barnett. thanks for kicking off your week with us. we always appreciate it. you can connect with us anytime on twitter. "early start" is next for those of you in the states. >> for everyone else, stay tuned

for another edition of "cnn newsroom" live from paris with max foster. >> see you. . .

happening now. an under sea search to find the black boxes of egyptair flight 804 as we learn new information on what happened in the cockpit before the jetliner crashed from the sky. we are live. breaking news this morning. president obama lifting a 50-year-old ban to sell weapons to vietnam. a move sure to anger china. we are live with what the repercussions could be. and new this morning, iraq begins a new fight to take back a critical