>> perhaps there's hope for you after all. a warning from pyongyang after getting hit with new sanctions. north korea says the u.s. needs to be more careful if it expects the two nations to get along. plus, over my dead body. that's the ultimatum the u.s. president's attorney is giving when it comes to mr. trump sitting down with the special counsel robert mueller. also ahead this hour, right wing protesters take over brussels as a violent demonstration erupts over the u.n.'s migration pact. live from cnn world headquarters in atlanta, we want to welcome our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i'm george howell. the cnn newsroom starts right

now. 2:00 a.m. on the u.s. east coast, new sanctions on north korea have prompted a sharp response, putting the relationship between the two countries into question. pyongyang saying the sanctions could block the path to denuclearization, and warn that the two sides could return to, quote, exchanges of fire. the u.n. sanctions -- new sanctions, rather, were placed on three north korean officials for alleged human rights abuses. let's get the latest live in hong kong. cnn's will ripley following the details of the story. will, tell us, how serious are these sanctions against north korea? >> reporter: these new sanctions in and of themselves not particularly significant in terms of their impact, but they are very symbolic in that the united states is naming three men who are very close to the north korean leader, kim

jong-un. i have seen them standing on stage beside him at events in north korea. they run his state security department, his organization and guidance department, and his department of propaganda and agitation. the department that, by the way, his own sister kim yo-jong also works for. she is not named here. no member of the kim family is named, and that is likely deliberate on the part of the united states because if they took it to the next level and actually named kim or a member of his family, that could take, you know, what is outrage, anger on the part of the north koreans, a reaction you might expect, and really amp it up to the next level. but the sanctions issue overall, sanctions that are in place over north korea's nuclear program and the issue of human rights which north korea calls nonexistent, despite reports from the united nations of thousands of people imprisoned in labor camps and no freedom of choice or freedom of speech or freedom to express one's political views if they differ from the sole ideological

statement of the workers' party of korea. the fact that these sanctions exist and the fact that the u.s. is continuing to add to them and enforce them is highly discouraging to the north koreans. it could actually be the red line for them that dee rails the denuclearization process. i think they thought that if things went well, if there was a friendly rapport between their leader and the u.s. president donald trump, that north korea would get some economic relief at this point and they haven't gotten that. of course, the u.s. thought that north korea would start getting rid of its nuclear weapons by now or at least being transparent about what they possess and that hasn't happened either. so both sides continue to have different expectations here. i want to read you what the north koreans said over the weekend about the sanctions. specifically it says, it will block the path to denuclearization forever, a result desired by no one. that could actually be true. this is an unprecedented opportunity where you have the u.s. president, north korean leader, they have sat down face to face. they might try to have a second

summit possibly, but the sanctions issue could be the deal breaker on the north korean side. >> will, to that point, it seems that the path to denuclearization goes through these leaders, goes through the u.s. president donald trump to the leader of south korea, of course, and to the north korean leader. the question here, could north korea be turned off by these sanctions with the meeting with the south korean president and also with the possible meeting with president trump? >> reporter: i think we have seen clear evidence of north korea's frustration and frankly reluctance to move forward with further conversations until they get a clearer picture of what's going to happen in terms of the sanctions issue. and, by the way, a formal treaty ending the korean war, neither of those things happened. there was supposed to be a meeting this month according to south korea's president moon jae-in between moon and kim jong-un in seoul. it would have been the first time a north korean leader traveled to the south korean capital. but a source told me last week that the chances of that actually happening now are close

to zero. there are a lot of reasons for that, some logistical. but others, it speaks to the fact it's unclear if kim really wants to russia head with this process now. that raises questions, if this second summit between trump and kim will happen in january or february as the united states has said it would. i know that there was a situation within the last couple of weeks where the u.s. side was trying to call the north korean side. sources said 10 or 20 phone calls and the north koreans never answered. so at this point there aren't conversations happening. and without conversations, you can't make plans for a summit. and without a summit you can't make progress on denuclearization. >> will ripley live in hong kong. we'll keep in touch with you. thank you. a chaotic year in washington winding down now with a tweet storm by the u.s. president, donald trump lashing out at multiple targets on sunday. the special counsel robert mueller, his investigation, democrats and, of course, the media, and of course his former fixer, michael cohen, the man

seen here. mr. trump angrily called his one-time personal attorney a rat for cooperating with prosecutors. and he got some back up from his current attorney as our boris sanchez reports. >> reporter: rudy giuliani, the president's attorney in clean-up mode, after the president's former attorney michael cohen was sentenced to three years in prison on friday and made some disparaging comments about the president over the weekend. giuliani trying to put some distance between cohen and the white house, suggesting that he could not be believed, aiming to discredit him, suggesting, for example, that those hush money payments made to stormy daniels and karen mcdougal, alleging affairs with the president, were not campaign contributions. keep in mind that some of the charges michael cohen pled guilty to in the southern district of new york were related to were those hush money payments, campaign finance violations that he made to those women. further, giuliani suggested the

only way to believe cohen's caims are to take his word for it. that's simply not the case. the southern district of new york has presented corroborating evidence to suggest michael cohen is telling the truth. we also know a.m.i., the company that owns the "national enquirer" which helped bury those negative stories about the president has corroborated what cohen has said as well. so there is what rudy giuliani is saying and then there's what's actually happened in court. now, one thing that's clear is that we haven't possibly heard the last from michael cohen. representative elijah cummings, the incoming chairman of the house oversight committee, told jake tapper over the weekend on state of the union that he would like to see michael cohen testify before congress yet again. listen to this. >> i'm hoping that mr. cohen will come before the congress where he can tell the american public exactly what he has been saying to mueller and others, without interfering with the mueller investigation. i think the american people just voted for transparency and

integrity in our hearings. they want to hear from him, and i certainly would like to see him come in the month of january to -- before the congress, and so that people's raemepresentats will have an opportunity to ask him questions. >> reporter: the other question that's out there following reporting from cnn last week that robert mueller was still interested in securing an interview with president trump and having him answer questions in person, despite those written answers to questions from the special counsel that were submitted last month, is whether the president would actually sit down for an interview. rudy giuliani was asked about that on sunday, and he sort of joked about it. listen to this. >> special counsel wants to interview the president? >> good luck. good luck. after what they did to flynn, the way they trapped him into perjury and no sentence for him, 14 days for papadopoulos, i did better on traffic violations than they did with papadopoulos. >> when you say "good luck" --

re: they're a joke. over my dead body, but i could be dead. >> giuliani struck a bit more serious tone saying he wouldn't comment on that cnn reporting, though he did say that there is an agreement out there between the president's attorneys and the special counsel that allows for more time and discussion over whether the president will answer more questions that may come from the special counsel. boris sanchez, cnn, at the white house. >> boris, thank you very much. now let's bring in scott lucas to talk more about this. scott, a professor of international politics at the university of birmingham and england. also the founder and editor of e.a. world view via skype this hour with us in birmingham, england. a pleasure, scott, always to have you. >> thank you, george. >> we have heard from mr. trump's attorney, rudy giuliani, speaking about whether the president should sit down for an interview with the special counsel robert mueller. giuliani now saying "over his dead body" in one interview on fox news. you'll remember the president has said before he would be open to sitting down, though he

worries about the possibility of being set up in a trap. so is this possibility a door that has been effectively shut from your view? >> well, certainly the white house are going to demand the barricades. let's be honest, it's because they fear a face to face encounter where you can't control the statements, donald trump could open himself to perjury. on the other side, i think robert mueller's side sees this as the final point where they want to bring everything together, lay it out before the president. if we do not have trump sitting down with mueller face to face, then i think it is a question of when the mueller team proceeds anyway to layout the full extent of what they have across a number of fronts. i think that might be in the spring. it could be a bit later. but let's be clear here. that impending investigation is reducing donald trump to a cross between jimmy cagney, you dirty rats, and king leer with rudy

giuliani playing the court jester. we're not just talking about one investigation here, george. please remember that michael cohen and the link of donald trump to criminal activity by the prosecutors did not come over russia, it came over the payoffs to women. new york state is investigating the trump organization. it was reported in the last week that the trump inaugural committee is under investigation. when you talk about russia, it's not just the political investigation now, it's the investigation that is linked back to trump's business with the claim of the pursuit of the trump tower in moscow. so when it's multiple investigations, it's much harder for trump to get control of the narrative back, and i think this is just going to spiral down and down till, like i say, within the next six months we have the final act. >> let's speak more about rudy giuliani. we heard him drop a bombshell about the trump tower moscow project, admitting now that the talks could have continued until shortly before the u.s. presidential election. how does this play into the

president's poll numbers? let's bring those into view to show our viewers in the u.s. and around the world what we're seeing at this point, the president's poll numbers. at this .43% approve, 54% disapprove. how does it play into that? >> well, those numbers have been pretty much the same, george, since early this year because i think, for two reasons. one is people can't comprehend the scope of what is happening. and, two, even though rudy giuliani -- don't rule this out -- when he makes statements like the trump tower talks could have gone until november 2016, that confusion, not only trump, but the white house, sometimes deliberate and intentional, some people don't know where we are. if you're with trump, you shrug your shoulders and say we're still with him. if you're against trump, you're still against him, but you just keep wondering when we're finally going to get clarity. >> so, all politicians, scott,

can say one thing at one time, pivot politically for reasons or evolve later. but there is a difference from simply bending the truth or lying. and you can't deny that this president has been caught telling a tale or two, or more than 6000 tales since taking office, according to the washington post reporting. what do you make of these latest poll numbers? the nbc news "wall street journal" poll, if we can bring that up into view, showing many americans believe the president is not telling the truth about the russia investigation. >> well, what's striking, george -- let's be clear, donald trump lies. i'm not going to use false statements, distortion. i'm going to tell you donald trump lies. what's interesting about the poll numbers now is that a higher percentage of americans now believe that donald trump is lying. for example, about the russia investigation, than actually oppose donald trump. that means that some people who are 43% that back him are effectively saying, even though we think donald trump is lying, we're still going to stand by

him. there may be multiple reasons for that. i won't go into that now. but what it means is that's what makes the task of robert mueller even harder. that even putting out the truth, the reality in evidence, evidence from witnesses, evidence from computer files, evidence from documents, even presenting that truth may not be enough to swing the trump supporter who says, well, you know what? if he looied a few times, so wh? >> some americans are against the lies and some are okay with it. we'll just have to, of course, see what is in store for the next year. scott lucas live for us in birmingham, england. thank you for your time. >> thank you, george. >> now to saudi arabia, denouncing the u.s. senate, after lawmakers voted to end u.s. military support for the war in yemen, they also voted to condemn the saudi crown prince in the murder of journalist jamal khashoggi. that move from the senate also a rebuke of the u.s. president who continues to support the saudi

kingdom. saudi arabia's foreign affairs ministry issued this statement. i'll read it here. the recent position of the united states senate, which has been built on baseless allegations and accusations, includes blatant interference in its internal affairs and the role of the kingdom at the regional and international level. in a few hours' time, the british prime minister will bring her latest brexit argument to parliament. coming up, the growing push for a second referendum. also, squaring off over immigration in brussels. thousands of demonstrators clash with police. stay with us.

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with two swappable batteries, at maximum suction the shark ion f80 has more run time than the dyson v10 absolute. or, choose the upright model for whole home cleaning only from shark. welcome back to cnn newsroom. i'm george howell. the british prime minister is set to speak out against a second brexit referendum on monday in the house of commons. it comes as theresa may is slamming one of her predecessors over his support and comments of a second vote. miss may accusing tony blair of undermining her negotiations on the divorce deal for the e.u. by advocating for a second vote, but blair says it isn't irresponsible or insulting to

look for an alternative way forward. theresa may's chief of staff was forced to deny that he was planning for a second referendum. that report again came from the sunday times. it says some of the prime minister's senior allies are getting ready for a second vote. let's bring in steven ehrlinger, the chief correspondent for "the new york times" live in europe from brussels, belgium. steven, a pleasure. >> thanks, george. >> look, there's been this growing chorus of people getting a bit louder about this possibility of a second referendum, all brought to a head by theresa may's predecessor tony blair who went to brussels to suggest that a second referendum is more likely now. theresa may accusing blair of undermining the negotiations. what do you make of this idea, though, of the second referendum? does it seem she has the political capital to stop & shop it? >> well, she's certainly trying to. i mean, her whole strategy is my deal or no deal.

my way or the highway. the problem is there is no majority in parliament for her deal. unfortunately, there's no majority in parliament for any deal, but there does seem to be a majority in parliament not to crash out of the european union on march 29th. so, some people, like blair -- and it could happen -- would want parliament to take over control of the process and vote despite the government's desires for a second referendum. now, there are lots of reasons why that would be complicated, why it would require delay, what kind of questions would you ask, would it be fair, who would get to vote, et cetera, et cetera. but if par limb can't decide, the whole idea of punting it whack -- back to the people to let them decide again is getting more traction, but it is not

what mrs. may wants. >> steve up, we were talking about this in the newsroom, just the different options around brexit. and the question here, as we get closer to march and the day the u.k. exits the e.u., is this a matter of theresa may effectively running down the clock? the closer we get to that date, does it put more pressure on mps to make peace with this deal, or be responsible for possibly leading to a hard brexit with no deal? >> well, that seems to be her strategy. this has been terribly mismanaged, i have to say. but at this point her argument is, you know, it's a very complicated deal. i've done my best with the red lines that i've had. it's not going to get any better, so either, you know, let's accept it and work on what really matters is true, is negotiating a future relationship with the e.u. over the next 20 months because, after all, even after march 29th, nothing will change for 20

months. there is a stand still deal. so, to some degree, her strategy is a bit like muhammad ali's used to be, witch like rope a dope. you lie back against the ropes and protect yourself and let people exhaust themselves by swinging at you, but you don't fall down. >> steven, that's theresa may. i don't mean to laugh. rope-a-dope, i've never heard that analogy brought into brexit. i guess it makes sense here. one other question -- >> it all makes sense. sure. >> jeremy corbett, seeming to stay out of the fray, ceiling the pressure of a vote of no confidence, putting a second referendum back to the people for a vote. >> jeremy corbin is in a strange position. he's actually a brexiter. his whole desire is to pull down the government.

it's a weak government. it is completely divided amongst itself. that's what you're hearing. you have every cabinet minister moving now to maneuver to succeed theresa may who has already promised to step down before the next election. and then you have jeremy corbin who is very popular with the young, but doesn't have enough support to really yet win an election. he should be, but the labor opposition, given the mess in the tory party, should be way ahead, and it isn't. he's being asked to push for a vote of no confidence. the problem is it is unlikely he would win it because the torys don't want a new election. and if there is a new election, he may not win that either. he's stuck. he's saying no to everything to undermine the government, and at the same time i think in his heart of hearts, he knows the timing isn't right for the labor party. >> steven ehrlinger. always a pleasure. thanks for your time and

perspective. >> thanks, george. >> the issue of migration remains a controversial issue across europe, and in brussels it resulted in major protests that played out on sunday. demonstrators, both for and against the united nations migrant pact, got into running street battles with police. atika shubert has this report. >> reporter: violent demonstrations erupted in the streets of brussels on sunday. as thousands of far-right protesters and counter protesters chanted, waved flags and ran from tear gas sprayed by police. the demonstrations quickly devolved into chaos when police detained 90 demonstrators after they attempted to storm the european commission building. the uprising dubbed, march against mar cash, was organized in response to belgium's support for the u.n. global compact on migration. after belgium prime minister charles initial express the confidence in the compact at a

u.n. conference last week. >> translator: we need european cooperation. we need international cooperation. we need to have courage. we need to have responsibility. this moment is important because it's a step forward. >> reporter: the compact has drawn global criticism from these far-right groups who fear an increase in european migration as a result. >> europe is dead because of euro political i cans, the european union and this commission building that sign this comeback contract for the immigration. that means that the european people will be dead. in our home. we want our home back. >> reporter: for some, it has aggravated a deep seated hatred towards ethnic groups. >> we want all the black [ bleep ] out of the country. all arab, all islam out. >> reporter: as these far-right groups see restricting migration as a means to preserve their way of life. >> it's not only for us, it's for the people.

we need to work until we are 67 years old. it's not normal. and they turn the money for the immigrants who will not serve our country. >> reporter: atika shubert, cnn, berlin. >> protests also breaking out in hungary's capital. take a look. cnn budapest, thousands of people taking to the streets. some clashing with riot police who fired tear gas. the demonstrators were angry over what they call a slave law, a slave law they say which would let employers ask workers to do 400 hours of overtime a year up to 250. from enemies to friends, the friends to enemies, president trump keeps changing his story on michael cohen. we track the history of their confusing stormy relationship. stay with us. t about paying for things you don't want? the-- paying. and what's the best part about getting things

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we're working to make things simple, easy and awesome. welcome back to our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. you are watching cnn newsroom live from atlanta. i'm george howell with the headlines we're following for you. this hour, north korea says new sanctions imposed by the united states could block the path to denuclearization. the u.s. treasury sanctioned three senior north korean officials last week for alleged human rights abuses. pyongyang warned the measures could return to, quote, exchanges of fire. the saudi foreign ministry says it rejects the position on the murder of jamal khashoggi. the 123459 condemned the crown

prince on the killing. it also led to saudi-led support for the war in yemen. the northern japanese city of sapporo, a explosion near a pub injured 42 people. you see the scene there, also one person critically. people living nearby say they smelled gas after the explosion. the cause of the blast is still unknown. the case remains under investigation. the washington post has obtained a draft of a report that's been prepared for the u.s. senate about russia's interference in the 2016 election. it describes it as the most sweeping analysis yet of russia's disinformation campaign. the report studied millions of social media posts provided by technology firms, and here's what it found. that russia used every major social media platform to help elect mr. trump. that's all moscow's messaging was intended to benefit the republican party and that on facebook alone, russia's campaign reached 126 million

people. washington post reporter craig timberg worked on that report and he discussed it earlier with my colleague brian stelter and anika brera. >> reporter: is this in many ways the report we've been waiting for. it's sweeping, comprehensive, uses the fullest data set that were turned over to the government they didn't turnover to somebody else. it doesn't exactly tell us things we didn't suspect or haven't heard. it puts it together in a any wow. it's very comprehensive and compelling. it's like they reverse engineered the report. >> the election meddling by russia is one dark cloud hanging over the u.s. president, but for his jailed associates, it is a very different story. the case in point, his former attorney michael cohen. cnn's brian todd has a look at mr. trump's shifting account of his one-time fixer.

>> reporter: president trump's hush money payments to stormy daniels and karen mcdougal, they once seemed embarrassing personally, but now they may threaten to harm him legally. experts say that may be why the president's story keeps changing from i don't know to it's not my fault to it's not illegal. in a new interview with abc, trump's former lawyer michael cohen said trump absolutely directed him to make the payments to daniels and mcdougal and did it with a specific purpose in mind, winning the presidency. >> he was very concerned about how this would affect the election. >> to help his campaign? >> to help him and the campaign. >> reporter: that, experts say, would be a violation of campaign finance law which may be why the president is now blaming his lawyer forbad advice, tweeting thursday morning, i never directed michael cohen to break the law. he was a lawyer and he is supposed to know the law. that argument hardly lasted half a day because hours after tweeting that, trump told fox news, cohen barely did legal work for him.

>> that was his title, a fixer. >> he did very low level work. >> why did you need him? >> he did more public relations than he did law. >> reporter: back in april the president had a different view of cohen on air force one when he denied ever knowing about the stormy daniels payment. >> mr. president, did you know about the $130,000 payment to stormy daniels? >> no, no. >> why did michael cohen -- >> you have to ask michael cohen. michael is my attorney and you'll have to ask michael. >> reporter: in august, his story changed again when trump was asked by, yes, another fox news anchor, if he knew about the payments. >> later on i knew. later on. but you have to understand, ainsley, what he did -- and they weren't taken out of campaign finances. >> reporter: experts say that argument may not hold water, especially because the president, according to a source, was at a meeting in august of 2015 discussing hush money payments with cohen and david pecker, the ceo of the

"national enquirer's" parent company. does it give him an out to say that i knew about it later? >> no, it doesn't give him an out that he knew about it later. once he knew about it, he was party to the violation. >> reporter: another shift in the story comes from trump's legal advisor rudy giuliani. on may 2nd, giuliani told fox that cohen, who had taken out a personal home equity line to pay for stormy daniels's silence, was paid back by trump. >> the president reimbursed him. >> the reimbursement comment, is that an admission that trump knew about the payments earlier? >> yes he, that's an admission he knew about it early '. why would he be reimbursing him if he didn't know about the payments? >> reporter: in that same interview giuliani suggested paying cohen back was not a violation of campaign law. >> sorry, i'm giving you a fact you don't know. it's not campaign money. no campaign finance violation. >> they funneled it through a law firm. >> funneled through a law firm and the president repaid it.

>> reporter: experts say the repayment of cohen, which prosecutors now say came in the form the fake retainer payments by the trump organization, still means there probably were campaign finance violation ands may have violated other laws, too. that may be why trump suggested another version of the story on thursday when he denied paying back media conglomerate a.m.i., the parent company of the "national enquirer," for its role in hush money payments to mcdougal. >> i don't think they even paid any money to that tabloid, okay. i don't think we made a payment to that tabloid. >> by not paying them back, you have a straight out corporate contribution to the campaign. >> reporter: in fact, it may make it worse, all of which, experts say, begs the question. are all these shifting stories taken as a whole a crime? >> they support the idea that he has committed crimes. whether it is the knowing willful violation because he's trying to hide it, showing he knows there's something wrong here, and it also can be an element of obstruction of justice. he's trying to influence other witnesses, if he's trying to

influence the jury with lies. >> reporter: but experts caution that there is also the possibility that all these shifting stories in totality may not prove obstruction of justice simply because we don't know everything that trump and his legal team have told the prosecutors. and they say that trump and his team could make the case that the president was confused about the law, confuse ed about what obstruction really means. even though he's always had lawyers to tell him that. brian todd, cnn, washington. >> brian, thank you for the report. it seems the president's new pick for white house chief of staff can't keep his story straight either. specifically on whether he actually likes the u.s. president. here's what mick mulvaney said just a couple of years ago. this video obtained by "the daily beast." listen. >> yes, i'm supporting donald trump. i'm sog as enthusiastically as i can. in fact, i think he's a terrible human being. >> mulvaney currently heads up the office of management and budget. a spokeswoman for that office released this statement that

provides some context. this is old news, it says. these comments were made in 2016 when he was a congressman and had yet to meet the president. it's a move drawing condemnation from around the world. china ordering the arrest of 100 christians. we'll have the very latest on the developments from beijing. ♪ acqua di giò. absolu. the new sensuality. giorgio armani.

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a prominent pastor is calling china's moves against christians a wicked unlawful action. wong yee is one of 100 christians taken into custody last month. western governments and civil rights advocates are condemning beijing for its mass arrest of its religious community. it is the latest move in china's stepped up crackdown on independent religious practice. cnn's steven zblohong is follow the story. steven, tell us more on what

compelled the chinese government to crackdown on these christians. >> reporter: well, george, particularly this very, very prominent pastor, wong yee, because he is unusually vocal and blunt critic of the government. unlike many of his peers, pastor wong is known to give fiery and really passionate sermons to his more than 500 followers in this early church in the southwestern city of chan do. he never shies away from sensitive topics. he really speaks against what he perceives as social ills and wrong government policies, criticizing the country's increasingly powerful xi jinping. for example, when mr. xi oversaw the removal of presidential term limits early this year, basically paving the way for him to rule the country indefinitely, pastor wong spoke against that. that definitely didn't sit well with the government. as you mention, after his arrest, his supporters posted several of his writings,

examples online, including one that basically -- in which he foresaw his upcoming arrest. but he says he's prepared to face whatever the government is going to throw at him, and he also says his followers should really continue to engage in civil disobedience. >> we're talking about christians. in this case, muslims also have been in question here. tell us more about the larger issue, steven, about religious crackdown across china. >> reporter: that's right. this is really the latest example that very disturbing broader trend of the government's increasingly harsh crackdown on all religions, especially christianity and islam. the two religions authorities deem most prone to foreign influences. now, under president xi jinping, he is really i think increasingly considering religions part of the western plot against china. that's why he is -- ever since he took power, you see more evidence of this kind of crackdown, including, for example, the demolition of

long-time churches or the forcible removal of hundreds if not thousands of crosses atop of church structures. and early this year, the authorities also banned the online sale of the bible. all these are really part of this larger story where the government is trying to crackdown on any organization with organizational capacity to potentially challenge the communist party's monopoly on power. and just to give you a bit of context, the government here is atheist and they only recognize five religions. followers of these religions have to practice and wrorship i government-sanctioned places. this place of pastor wong is not part of the government sanctioned system. that's why the government considers his religion illegal and the followers have been practicing the religion illegally. george. >> steven zhong live for us in beijing. thank you again for the report. now to india, a 3-year-old girl presently in the hospital after she was allegedly raped. a man has been arrested.

it happened sunday in delhi, and this exactly six years after a student was gang raped on a bus in the indian capital. our new delhi bureau chief kumar is following the story live for us. what more can you tell us on this case? >> reporter: well, george, the details are still only just coming through. the allegation and the allegation has been made by -- we've been told by the delhi commission for women, the chief of that statutory body for ensuring women's safety in union capital. she alleges that this 3-year-old was brutally raped by a man in a suburb of delhi yesterday, sunday, which as you say, it was the 6th anniversary of the brutal gang rape and eventual death of the para medical student, a case that brought out thousands onto the streets in india and turned the spotlight on the problem of sexual violence in this country. on that anniversary is when the attack is alleged to have taken

place. i should make clear, though, that the police are still investigating the case. they have arrested the man accused of this attack, but they haven't yet confirmed that this is a case of rape. they are waiting for medical reports to come through before moving forward in the investigation. the police tell us that the girl is in hospital, that she is stable. but taking a step back, because of, you know, because of the brutal nature of the allegations and, of course, because of the timing, the anniversary of the 2012 gang rape, it's once again turned attention on the problem of sexual violence in india and in the national capital new delhi, where i am. george? >> and that leads me to my second question here. we talk about the anniversary of what happened in 2012. but is there a sense that authorities are doing enough, are cracking down, and sending a strong message against these types of attacks? >> so, george, if you speak to

activists, lawyers who work in this area, they will point out that in the aftermath of that 2012 case, there were wide ranging reforms to the legal structure that governs the sexual violence in this country. it included things such as broadening the definition of what counts as rape. and this was done to make it easier for authorities to prosecute cases. and so they welcome all of that. they welcome the legal reforms. they welcome many of the policy changes. not all, but they welcome many of the policy changes that have taken place in subsequent years. what they keep pointing out again and again -- because this is not the first story, this is one in a series of stories that we've heard ever since about brutal attacks on young girls and women -- they point out that whereas policy changes have been forthcoming and whereas many of them have been very positive, the enforcement of those laws has lagged behind. and this is true not just sort of in the country side and remote parts of the country, but this is true in major cities, such as new delhi. and that's where the problem is. unless enforcement is fixed, the

problem won't go away. george? >> they lag behind, but the messages are being sent out, clearly not loud enough. kumar live for us in new delhi. thank you. we'll continue to follow the store and i stay in touch with you. a tropical cyclone is quickly gaining strength and making landfall on the east coast of india right now. we'll have an update from the international weather center as newsroom pushes ahead. stay with us. ♪heading west to where the sun sleeps♪ ♪city fallout let our lungs breathe♪ ♪can you hold me, i can't even speak♪ ♪oh my, here it goes♪ ♪'cause this is already bigger♪ ♪this is already bigger than love♪ [♪] dare to be devoted. jared®

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welcome back. you are looking at tropical cyclone patai and it's gaining strength and slamming the coast of india at this hour. it is ugly and it's moving in. the region will get a good soaking well into tuesday. let's bring in our meteorologist pedram javaheri tracking it in the weather center. pedram. >> this is the tale typically through april. we see tropical storms impacting india. some of the scenes out of janai here, seeing the brunt of the storm system as it moves ashore in the past couple of hours. of course powerful winds, powerful storm surge, and waves to go with it as well. people still getting on with their daily lives, but certainly not something you'd recommend sitting there on the coast as the storm comes ashore.

but this particular storm has now weakened. moving ashore at this hour making landfall officially 85 kilometer per hour winds. wind not a significant player, but this was a far weaker, much more disorganized system as it was approaching land. it's intensified a little bit and then made landfall in the last couple of hours across the state of pradesh. the population about 2 million people. seeing the brunt of the storm right now with powerful winds and, of course, the wet weather to go with it as well. our meteorologist weather producer michael and i looked into this and went back into the early 1990s and, in fact, now we are exceeding what is average for this time of year for tropical cyclones in the north indian oceans this number itself, number 14, it's the 14th storm of the season which means it's the most active season since 1998. just going right above average. been very quiet in recent years across the area with tropical systems. the wet weather pushes off the east coast and works its way to calcutta where heavy rainfall is expected towards the middle of

this week. from heavy rainfall to heavy snowfall, that's across the balkans in eastern areas of europe. look at this footage out of romania. significant snow, the most impressive event of the season across this region, bringing down tremendous amount of snowfall. and with it some very powerful winds as well here. we had gusts reported up to 100 kilometers per hour, so you bet disruptions widespread across this region. and we expect the snow showers to begin to really push through again over the next few hours here before conditions taper off. but you notice eastern europe arou around bukarest, just west of istanbul also getting snow there over the next couple of days. so very cold air to go with the system, at least through the next 24 or so hours. george? >> pedram, thank you. we'll continue to track it with you. and finally, a new miss universe has been crowned. katriona gray claimed the title beating contestants from 93 other countries. the 24-year-old won the crown

monday in thailand. ahead of the final, much attention was on miss spain, angela pots, the first transgender contestant in the competition's history. but she failed to make the top 20. thank you for being with us for this hour of cnn newsroom. i'm george howell at the cnn center in atlanta. more news right after the break. stay with us. ♪ acqua di gio absolu the new sensuality giorgio armani at dillard's. the style of christmas. ♪ can you feel it ♪ can you feel it amazon has everything you need for your holiday get together. with low prices and free shipping on millions of items, for everything you need this holiday, visit amazon. discover card. i justis this for real?match, yep. we match all the cash back

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north korea has a sharp message for the united states. ease up on sanctions or risk losing any progress toward lasting peace on the korean peninsula. also, when it comes to the russia investigation, the u.s. president's attorney says donald trump will never sit down for an interview with robert mueller. plus this. russia cracking down on rap. i'll tell you why the russian president vladimir putin doesn't seem to be quite a fan of rap music. we are live from cnn world headquarters in atlanta, and we want to welcome our viewers here in the united states and all around the