Actor John Hurt Dies At Age 77
HOWELL: Welcome back too CNN "Newsroom." I'm George Howell. We are covering the first week of the U.S. President Donald Trump. He is set to speak with the host of foreign leaders this weekend including a phone call with the Russian President Vladimir Putin. For more, let's bring in CNN's Ivan Watson live for us in the Russian capital this hour. Ivan, a pleasure to have you with us. So the Kremlin has really played down the significance of this phone call more as proper protocol rather than looking for any significance changes. Donald Trump also saying that it could be too early to talk about sanctions. What more do we know about this phone call and how important it is?</s>IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it'll be the first direct communication between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin since he was inaugurated to Kremlin. You're right, downplaying expectations, saying it's largely an opportunity for the Russian President to congratulate his American counterpart and saying it's unlikely that real substantial issues would be discussed in this first conversation between the two presidents. As for Donald Trump, he was asked about the possibility of lifting U.S. sanctions against Russia. Recall that the outgoing Obama administration in its final days imposed some additional sanctions, targeted some top Russian officials, expelling some Russian diplomats who were accused of engaging in intelligence gathering activities. And this is what Donald Trump had to say on Friday when asked about that.</s>TRUMP: As far as the sanctions, very early to be talking about that, but we look to have a great relationship with all countries ideally. That won't necessarily happen. Unfortunately, it probably won't happen with many countries.</s>WATSON: The Trump administration has made it very clear that it would like to try to cooperate with Moscow on battling against ISIS and battling against terrorism, but Donald Trump has seen significant opposition from senior members within his own party, in Congress, who've made it clear that they do not want to see Trump going soft on Russia for the role it has played in intervening and in annexing parts of Ukraine. And they want to ensure that the Trump administration continues to support European allies that are part of the NATO military alliance.</s>HOWELL: Well, there is that difference of opinion between Donald Trump and the people in his cabinet. But here's the question. So, the U.S. President has suggested he would like to see the U.S. and Russia work closer together against terrorism. But again, Russia, a nation that has been accused of essentially carpet bombing cities like Aleppo, resulting in a number of civilian casualties in its support of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Could the U.S. find itself conflicted if working closer with Russia in that fashion?</s>WATSON: Yeah, I mean there are whole host of areas where Russia and the U.S. have traditionally disagreed. And what the Trump administration has made clear, well, they want to find areas where they can cooperate together. And it seems, you did have an outspoken voice in the Russian parliament coming out with a series of tweets today saying, hey, we can work together in Ukraine, on resolving the Syria conflict, on battling against terrorism. Also, this is (inaudible) are also taking digs against long time critics in the U.S. of Russia, such as the Republican Senator John McCain, calling him a foe of Russia and saying that he was panicking at the possibility that sanctions could be lifted. You also had this intriguing tweet coming out from the Russian embassy in London, of course. The British Prime Minister was meeting alongside Donald Trump and indicated she didn't want sanctions lifted until Russia moved forward with a peace process in Ukraine. And this tweet is saying, "Engage but beware," Prime Minister said, "As far as we're aware, Cold War was long dead." So, there are real tensions still between Russia's critics, both in the U.S. and in Europe. And certainly, we see that the Kremlin would like to see Trump moving away from some of those critics, to opening up in their eyes, hopefully, a new era of detente between Moscow and Washington. It's still far too early to see whether or not Trump will be able to move forward. And whether that is in fact his vision. George.</s>HOWELL: A statement from the British Prime Minister Theresa May, "Engage but beware." The evolution of the statements from the President Reagan back in the '80s, "Trust but verify." Ivan Watson, live for us in Moscow. Ivan, thank you so much for reporting. His first week in office, President Trump's actions are already being felt across European capitals. Our Atika Shubert has more on that from Berlin.</s>ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well a message of solidarity from both the French President Francois Hollande and Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel as they face a dramatically different political landscape now especially with President Donald Trump. Take a listen to what Francois Hollande had to say.</s>FRANCOIS HOLLANDE, FRENCH PRESIDENT (through translator): There are challenges posed by the new U.S. administration in regards to commercial roles, in regards to the conflicts in the world. We, of course, have to speak to Donald Trump since he was chosen by the Americans to be their president. We have to do it with a European point of view and our interest and values.</s>SHUBERT: Just some of the challenges they face from President Trump during trade agreements but also saying NATO was obsolete and that the European Union was merely, "a vehicle for Germany," and that other countries in the E.U. would soon follow Great Britain out the door. So, Merkel and Hollande are already looking to see how they can unify the E.U., make sure it stands strong. Well at the same, they face their own internal challenges, populist parties that are espousing anti-immigrants and anti-E.U., policies have gained in recent polls. And of course, there are elections coming up in both France and Germany. Merkel, especially, is feeling the pressure because she is running for reelection again. Now incidentally, both Hollande and Merkel will be having their own telephone calls with President Trump where they will be able to discuss those issues. Atika Shubert, CNN, Berlin.</s>HOWELL: Two-time Oscar nominee John Hurt has died. The British actor played wand maker Garrick Ollivander in the first two Harry Potter movies. He started as a stage actor. He had a breakout role in historical film "A Man for All Seasons" in 1966. During his six- decade career, he had extensive movie and T.V. credits to his career, including "The Elephant Man," "Midnight Express," "1984," "Alien" and "Indiana Jones." Hurt was honored with numerous awards over a six- decade career. He was knighted in 2015. No specific reason was disclosed for his death, though. John Hurt was 77 years old. An honor student in the United States, she is also a Syrian refugee, coming up. We'll introduce you to an 11-year-old girl, hoping to make America better at the organization working to help refugees to rebuild their lives. We are live from Atlanta at this hour broadcasting to our viewers across the United States and around the world. You're watching CNN "Newsroom."