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CNN International: Supreme Court Indefinitely Blocks Texas Immigration Law; Bank of Japan Raises Rates for First Time in 17 Years; China's Richest Man Loses Billions in Nationalist Boycott; Inside Notre Dame's Restoration; Theories Circulate Amid Scheduled Breaks from Public Royal Duties. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired March 19, 2024 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. If you're just joining us, here are some of today's top stories.
Former U.S. President Barack Obama stopped by 10 Downing Street on Monday afternoon. He was there for a private visit with the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, and we're told that the meeting lasted for about one hour and covered a range of topics, including artificial intelligence.
Former Trump advisor Peter Navarro must report to a federal prison in Miami today after the Supreme Court rejected his request for a last- minute reprieve.
Navarro is set to become the first former White House official ever jailed for contempt of Congress.
And these are the images of a volcanic eruption in Iceland that began this weekend. Officials say the fissure is about two miles long. The towns in Iceland were evacuated just after the eruption was first detected, two of them. Authorities set up barriers to direct the flow of lava. And so far, those barriers seem to be working.
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Now, the U.S. Supreme Court has indefinitely blocked the state of Texas from enforcing an immigration law that would let officials arrest and detain people they suspect of entering the country illegally. CNN's Ed Lavandera has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The U.S. Supreme Court has once again decided to continue blocking, at least temporarily, the controversial Texas law known as Senate Bill 4. SB 4, as it's also known, gives local law enforcement officers the ability to arrest people they suspect entered Texas illegally.
And it also gives judges here in the state the ability to deport people to Mexico who have entered the country illegally. This law has been tied up in the court since it was signed by Texas Governor Greg Abbott back in December. Critics say that it creates a nightmare scenario for immigration law here, not only here in Texas, but across the country.
Those critics say that enforcing federal immigration law is the sole duty of the federal law enforcement agencies in the country, should not be left up to the states.
Texas officials, meanwhile, also argue that it has the sovereign right to defend itself from what it has described as an invasion of drugs and migrants into the state over the last few years. So these are the forces playing out as these legal arguments are being hashed out in court.
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court essentially ruled that it will continue blocking this Texas law from going into effect while it continues to deliberate the merits of the arguments on both sides.
Incidentally, there's also another court hearing expected in early April in the lower court where both sides are expected to hash out their arguments in this ongoing lawsuit over Senate Bill 4 here in Texas.
Ed Lavandera, CNN, Dallas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: The Bank of Japan has raised interest rates for the first time in 17 years. The central bank started its negative interest rate policy in 2016 in an effort to kickstart the country's struggling economy. But with inflation now at a healthy rate and wages on the rise, policymakers have decided to make a change.
NOBILO: CNN's Hanako Montgomery is here. Hanako, why have they decided to make this change now?
[04:35:00]
HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Bianca, they've decided to make this key policy shift for really two significant reasons. One, because we're finally seeing inflation in the country after years of deflation. And two, because wages are also finally going up.
So right now, the rate of inflation for core consumer prices in Japan that includes everything besides food and fuel is hovering at about two percent, that healthy number you want to see to indicate that the economy is growing in the right direction. And this is a huge break from the deflation that we've been seeing in the past few years. I spoke to an expert actually earlier who told me why this is so historic for the country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEIJIRO TAKESHITA, DEAN, UNIVERSITY OF SHIZUOKA GRADUATE SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT: Well, what we've been seeing is two decades of deflation, which is basically stagnating the economy and also the minds of the people, including the corporations and the consumer as well. So we have to get out of that doldrum.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MONTGOMERY: So in addition to this, we're also seeing wages increase significantly.
On Friday, Rengo, Japan's largest labor union comprised of the country's biggest companies, decided to increase wages by 5.28 percent, the highest pay raise that they've allowed in the past 33 years.
Now, this is a historic moment for Japanese workers in the country because they haven't seen their wages grow in the same way that they've seen in other OECD countries like the United States, the U.K., Germany, for example. It's seen a lot of stagnated growth.
So for these two key components to be met, it encouraged the Bank of Japan governor Kazuo Ueda to finally end negative interest rates, which will now set the economic agenda for the months to come. Now, it still remains to be seen what exactly will happen with the yen. Some experts I spoke to said that we could potentially see a stronger yen riding on the back of higher inflation rates.
But we saw today the yen actually fell. So it does again remain to be seen. But if we do see a stronger yen in the coming months, not immediately, but in the coming months, it would mean that input prices go down for Japan.
And Japan is a very resourceful country. It imports more than 90 percent of its fuel, of its energy, about 60 percent of its food. So if this yen does get higher, if it gets stronger and import prices do go down, it means the cost of living for people in Japan will go down.
Of course, it does mean for tourists visiting the country, Bianca and Max, it could mean that their vacation is slightly more expensive, but probably still within an affordable price range.
FOSTER: OK. Hanako in Tokyo, thank you so much.
China's richest man is under attack by critics who say he's not patriotic enough. The owner of Nongfu Spring bottled water has already lost billions of dollars.
NOBILO: And that's because detractors are slamming the company's packaging saying it's inspired by Japanese culture. CNN's Marc Stewart explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: If you live here in China, there's a good chance you drink Nongfu Spring bottled water. It's the country's biggest maker of bottled water and sold on almost every street corner, including here in Beijing.
The company is owned by China's richest man, but his wealth has been shrinking fast in recent weeks, thanks to an unexpected backlash.
Zhang Shanshan is facing online attacks accused of being not patriotic enough, in part because of the designs of some of his product packaging. On the bottles, you can see a temple, you can see a crane. Some Chinese people feel these images are inspired by Japanese culture.
Now that's upsetting to some people because of longstanding animosity between the two countries.
Some Chinese people even claim the red bottle cap resembles the shape of the Japanese national flag.
CNN has reached out to Nongfu Spring for comment.
STEWART (voice-over): A perfect storm that has triggered a nationwide boycott, with people uploading videos of themselves pulling Nongfu Springs water off store shelves, all in the name of patriotism. All of this is proving to be a heavy blow to business.
The online campaign has cut into Nongfu's sales as well as its share price, wiping about $3 billion off its market capitalization since the end of February, according to a CNN calculation.
But views on the streets are much calmer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We should have a fair and just attitude. We shouldn't be intensifying conflicts. That serves no good for our own government either.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Maybe it is inspired by Japanese architecture, but it could also be inspired by traditional Chinese architecture.
If you look back in history, didn't Japan learn from China too? I think it's wrong to be connecting product design to politics.
[04:40:00]
STEWART: As Beijing tries to rally behind the private sector in the midst of an economic slump, many worry this war on bottled water could see the business community's confidence dry up even further.
Marc Stewart, CNN, Beijing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: No prescription, no problem. Online sales have begun for the first ever over-the-counter birth control pill to be sold in the United States.
FOSTER: The company behind Opil says right now online orders will be filled within a day or two on Amazon or opil.com. Major retail pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens say they'll offer the pills in stores once they receive their shipments.
NOBILO: Drugmaker Perigo says that online orders will be sent in plain, unbranded boxes to protect consumers' privacy. A one-month supply of the Opil costs $20 and it's $90 for six months' worth. FOSTER: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning
about a dramatic rise in measles cases around the world and urging families travelling to an affected country to get their babies, even as young as six months old, vaccinated before they go.
The agency issued a health alert to doctors on Monday, asking them to increase awareness about the illness.
NOBILO: The warning comes ahead of the busy spring and summer travel season. The CDC says many countries, including Austria, the Philippines, Romania and the U.K., are experiencing measles outbreaks.
FOSTER: Richard Simmons may be best known for his passion for fitness and sweating to the oldies. The workout series from the 80s and the 90s. Bianca remembers it well, and she had the outfit.
NOBILO: I did not, but that is the only type of workout I could see you doing. But recent social media posts have raised concerns about the state of his health. In one post, the 75-year-old said, quote: Please don't be sad, I am ... dying, the truth is, we are all dying.
A spokesperson for Simmons later said he's, quote, very healthy and happy.
FOSTER: And the fitness celebrity himself sought to clarify his remarks, saying the posts were meant to be motivational, and that we should embrace every day that we have.
NOBILO: Well, that's a good sentiment.
FOSTER: It's true.
NOBILO: Isn't it?
Still to come, CNN goes inside the painstaking project to return the Notre Dame Cathedral to its former glory as it gets ready to reopen to the public. You were there, weren't you when it was burning.
FOSTER: Yes, in the 1800s.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: A royal source says King Charles is continuing with official and private business despite baseless online rumors of his death.
It comes amid intense speculation on his health, as well as the Princess of Wales after she withdrew from public appearances following surgery in January. CNN's Isa Soares has more details about how the royals are navigating the rumor mill.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ISA SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Princess of Wales was spotted near her home on Saturday, according to "The Sun's" Matt Wilkinson.
[04:45:00]
Yet those details fueled more speculation and conspiracy theories. Another weekend, another series of fake online rumors. This time drawing a firm response from Buckingham Palace.
A royal source telling CNN that King Charles is continuing with official and private business. And the British embassy in Kyiv forced to go as far as saying that online rumors about the king's death are fake.
It's all adding to an ongoing sense of crises and uncertainty facing the royals. It's been just over a week since this image of Catherine, Princess of Wales, and her children was released.
The family photo, which was supposed to celebrate Mother's Day in the U.K., quickly became the center of a controversy over trust and image manipulation with Catherine issuing a personal apology saying she edited the picture herself.
Speculation, also swirling about why she wasn't wearing a wedding ring. Buckingham Palace was already facing at the very least, a health crisis with King Charles stepping back from many of his royal duties as he fights cancer. And the Princess of Wales, taking an extended leave after abdominal surgery.
It's meant the royal families perhaps stretched more than it's ever been with just 11 working royals and only Queen Camilla and Prince William as senior members representing the King.
Combine that with questions over why the Princess of Wales hasn't been seen in public and calls for more details on Charles' condition. Its perhaps no surprise its led to such a dent in public trust.
BIDISHA MAMATA, BRITISH BROADCASTER & ROYAL WATCHER: This is the smallest crisis that the royal family has ever faced.
MAMATA: In the past, the royal family dealt with violent death, abdication, infidelity, all sorts of sins and crimes and scandals. Making your family photos look a tiny bit better is nowhere near anything on the scale of what the royal family have had to deal with before.
SOARES (voice-over): While that may be the case, the rumor mill only adds more unnecessary pressure on the Princess of Wales ahead of our next public appearance expected around Easter.
Isa Soares, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: It's been nearly five years since a catastrophic fire engulfed the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Many around the world watched in real time as its spire and roof burned for hours. But thanks to an immense fundraising effort and an ambitious restoration, the cathedral is set to reopen by the end of this year. Our Richard Quest has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICHARD QUEST, CNN ANCHOR, QUEST MEANS BUSINESS: My God, look at the scaffolding! Merci, monsieur. "Zut alors" as they say. Did they have to put the roof back? How much technical skill had to go into it? In France, we didn't build such spires since 160 years.
PHILIPPE JOST, PRESIDENT, REBUILDING NOTRE-DAME DE PARIS (through translated text): The oak structure known as "La Foret" burned to the ground. It is now rebuilt. We searched for thousands of oak trees in the forests of France.
QUEST: How much technical skill had to go into it?
JOST (through translated text): We had to find extraordinary skills and expertise but we found them.
QUEST: Really?
JOST (through translated text): Because in France, we have an extensive heritage which we maintain. So you have carpenters, stonemasons, sculptors and these people work on all the monuments.
In France, we didn't build such spire since 160 years.
QUEST: More people come to Notre Dame than the Eiffel Tower.
JOST: Notre Dame has a spirit that we don't find in -- it doesn't find in the monument as Eiffel Tower.
QUEST: All aboard.
JOST: And we're not just taking very important here. We have 2,250 companies and artists and 140 contracts.
QUEST: I've always been fascinated by logistics. People think it's boring, but it's logistics that make the whole thing work.
I think what really gets you as you see it is the size and scale and the fact that it's been done in what, four years. It is an achievement to have done this and it'll be the best part of a billion dollars.
As I understand it, none of the glass was actually broken. Is that correct?
JOST: None of the glass, it's correct. It's correct. We had a lot of luck because all big artistic works here were not damaged by the fire. Here we are --
QUEST: Not just fire.
JOST: Just under the spire, you see.
[04:50:00]
And to rebuild the spire, we had to build the scaffold which goes through the vault. QUEST: What percentage of completion do you think you are at now?
JOST: Oh, I think we are at 85 or 90.
QUEST: Wow.
JOST: We are finished the roof, the spire, we are all nettoyage --
QUEST: Cleaning.
JOST: Cleaning. We are -- we have cleaned all the inside, all these wood. We have cleaned the paintings in the chapel. You see that vault there, that vault. It was crushed.
QUEST: That vault.
JOST: That vault there.
QUEST: Yes, yes, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was crushed.
QUEST: So it comes down.
JOST: It's important that if we cannot identify what has been rebuilt because it's the same stones and the same type of work. We see the respect we owe to the monument.
QUEST: You and I in our lifetime have seen projects like this taking 20 years.
JOST: After the fire, a lot of people said, you will need 20 years for rebuild this cathedral.
President Macron said, he spoke with General Georges Vila (ph) and they said, we will do it in five years for 2024. And we are doing it. And we do it perfectly. Perfectly.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Unbelievable project.
Now thousands of fans in Hong Kong paid a lot of money to see Lionel Messi in action only to see him remain on the bench. And they remember that. Now they can get a partial refund. But there's a catch.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: Fans that paid to see football superstar Lionel Messi play in Hong Kong but didn't since he stayed on the bench, will soon get some money back.
NOBILO: But only if they don't pursue any legal complaints. According to news outlets, organizer Tatler Asia is now offering a 50 percent refund for last month's friendly between Messi's Inter Miami and their Hong Kong opponents. FOSTER: Messi's absence from the pitch caused an uproar amongst fans
in Hong Kong and in China who felt snubbed. But he insisted it was due to an injury and not for political reasons.
Now some stories on the spotlight this hour. A new mural is causing a buzz in a North London neighborhood. There it is. The artwork is made up of splashes of bright green painted directly behind a starkly pruned tree with no leaves on it. The anonymous street artist Banksy took credit for it. Crowds have been gathering to see the mural. Some saying it's not often the neighborhood gets this kind of attention.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAULINE FORSTER, RETIREE: I think he spotted something with the tree, definitely. Bizarre tree in the middle of this road. I mean, trees are pruned but this is a huge old tree still surviving. So he spotted something, you know, and did something with it. And the wall, you know, just behind it. I think it's very clever. Whoever did it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: What do you think it means?
FOSTER: I was going to ask you actually, Bianca, as the intellectual side of us on screen pairing.
[04:55:00]
NOBILO: You actually got onto Banksy very early on.
FOSTER: I did.
NOBILO: And you knew that he would be --
FOSTER: I'm amazed he hasn't been outed yet.
NOBILO: I went down a rabbit hole trying to find out who he was recently. There seem to be like three --
FOSTER: There are some theories, yes.
NOBILO: Residents say they hope the mural will stick around. Banksy's last known piece was stolen in December just hours after it was confirmed to be his.
FOSTER: The U.K. Royal Mint is out with the first in a new series of Star Wars collectible coins. First one features a silhouette of the Millennium Falcon along with a star bird symbol of the Rebel Alliance.
NOBILO: The Mint will also launch a series of bullion bars depicting Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and Han Solo. The first of those will be available in time for Star Wars Day on May 4th.
I'm guessing in the Venn diagram of people who like to collect coins and people who like Star Wars there is quite a lot of overlap in that.
FOSTER: Do you think?
NOBILO: I think there could be, yes. Saying that as a nerd myself.
Greece is marking the start of Lent with an unusual party. It's more of a war really. A flower war. Hundreds of people in a central Greek town dancing, marching and throwing food dyed cooking flour at each other.
FOSTER: It's a tradition believed to date back to the 19th century. At that time Greece's Ottoman rulers forbade carnival festivities. Locals would defy them by dancing in the street and smearing ashes on their faces. This version is a lot more colorful as you can see. Celebration was part of Clean Monday, the start of Eastern Orthodox Great Lent. Nice hats.
The FBI announced that a pair of stolen ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz has been returned to the owner.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GLENDA, THE GOOD WITCH, THE WIZARD OF OZ: You can close you eyes and clap you heals together three times and think to yourself there's no place like home. There's no place like home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: FBI agents also returned a single red sequin that was left at the scene of the crime almost 20 years ago. The iconic shoes are worth an estimated 3.5 million dollars, more than Bianca's shoes that she wears.
NOBILO: Is returning a red sequin the best use of FBI resources? And terror cells to disrupt and cyber hacking to start?
FOSTER: I wonder if they get a cut of the sale.
NOBILO: They were stolen from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota back in 2005. The owner of the ruby slippers announced that he's taking them on a world tour so fans can get a look before they're auctioned off later this year.
FOSTER: I did hear today that there are four of those shoes.
NOBILO: Well, it's weird because I remember doing a story about them before and they weren't the ones that had been stolen. So there's another really fascinating anecdote.
FOSTER: No, you're full of them.
Thanks for joining us here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster.
NOBILO: And I'm Bianca Nobilo. CNN "THIS MORNING" is up next after a quick break.
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