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CNN International: Haitians Grapple with Gang Violence; Mexico: Won't Accept People Deported from Texas; Members of India's Opposition AAP Detained by Police While Protesting Arrest of Arvind Kejriwal; India's Silicon Valley is Running Out of Water. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired March 22, 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: In the first steps to seize Mr. Trump's property in the event that he doesn't come up with the funds for his $464 million bond case.

FOSTER: Now to the crisis in Haiti. CNN has learned that one of the country's notorious gang leaders was killed in Port-au-Prince on Thursday night.

Haiti's national police have now confirmed that the man who escaped from prison about three weeks ago was killed in a gunfight with police.

NOBILO: Meantime, the U.N. is describing the gang violence, growing hunger and rising fear as quote, human suffering at an alarming scale. The humanitarian coordinator for Haiti says more than 2,500 people have been killed, injured or kidnapped over the past couple of months.

The U.N. says more than 5 million Haitians need assistance. More than 3 million of those people are children.

FOSTER: All of that's happening as talks drag on to form a transition government and provide some semblance of political stability. And the gangs have advanced into new areas of the capital Port-au-Prince in the past few days.

NOBILO: Now residents are fighting back against the gangs as CNN's David Culver reports. And we do want to warn you that some of the images may be disturbing to viewers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Oh, my god. It's a body just sitting right in the middle of the street there. People are trying to figure out the best way to get around it.

CULVER (voice-over): Across the street, this family rushes into a truck shielding their little one's eye, an effort to preserve what innocence is left here in Haiti. The gruesome sights slowing but not stopping the morning rush hour.

CULVER: And you can even see here, look at this, a police cars is just going right past and it will continue on. Doesn't even stop.

CULVER (voice-over): A neighbor explains how an overnight gang attack ended in vigilante killings.

CULVER: This is gunfire. Shooting here.

CULVER (voice-over): This man says he and more than 50 others immediately set out to find those terrorizing their neighborhood. They surrounded a man they didn't recognize.

CULVER: And you believe he was a gang member?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oui, oui. Gang, oui.

CULVER (voice-over): Carrying machetes he tells me they carried out justice as he sees it. The only way they know to defend themselves.

When they come in shooting all around, trying to scare us to flee, we won't just let them kill us. They have to die, he tells me.

CULVER: The way you see this is kill or be killed?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oui. Oui. Oui.

CULVER (voice-over): Police don't condone the killings, but they are overwhelmed and overrun, that they don't have time to stop them. There are daily gun battles in the capital as police struggled to push the gangs back. The officers have willpower, but little else. We see that firsthand as we patrol with Haiti's national police.

CULVER: There are no frontlines in this war. The boundaries are blurred and they're constantly shifting. And these officers know driving around in an armored vehicle like this. Well, they expect to be shot at. They're moving targets.

CULVER (voice-over): They cruise through gang territory, revealing a city in ruins and on fire. At this intersection, we find another gruesome scene. Three bodies half eaten by dogs and still smoldering.

People desperate for food and for shelter. Even if it is in the shell of what was once a government building.

CULVER: I mean, this is just a symbol of state collapse here. More than 1,500 have now occupied this building and made it their home. Mostly children from what we see.

CULVER (voice-over): And there were those who line up for hours trying to get visas to go anywhere but here.

CULVER: Your telling me there's no security, there's no jobs. You know. And not only there's no jobs, they're running after us wherever we are.

CULVER (voice-over): The gangs now targeting more affluent areas.

CULVER: What's left of an ATM is still in there. CHRISTOPHE ALPHONSE, VICTIM OF GANG THEFT: They're trying to show themselves as Robin Hoods or studs, but they're thieves. They're just thieves, they're criminals.

CULVER (voice-over): For street vendors like this woman who still have fruits to sell, no customers to buy them.

CULVER: Because folks can't afford most of these items.

CULVER (voice-over): More troubling for her the horrors she witnesses on these streets. Many people have died, she tells me. And they have to make trips to pick them up.

We see that for ourselves as we head back just before curfew. Medics clearing the remains of that suspected gang member. They hurry not to save a life but to pick up two more bodies on the same street.

[04:35:00]

Here in Haiti, humanity has disintegrated into a brutal fight for survival.

CULVER: And late Thursday a Haitian security source confirming to us that police were able to kill a gang leader, one of many gangs here in Port-au-Prince. However, this is a man who recently escaped from prison.

They also confirmed to us that several gang members were also killed. However, for police, it's always a question of how long they can hold the line. It's for that reason they're looking for reinforcements.

David Culver, CNN, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: The U.S. State Department says it was able to get more than 90 Americans out of Haiti on Thursday. About 60 of them were taken to Miami, Florida, and officials are urging U.S. citizens to reach out to the State Department if they want to leave Haiti.

Some 59 Haitian children with disabilities and 13 caretakers were transported by boat to nearby Jamaica on Thursday. Officials from a non-governmental organization say that they will take care of the group for at least two years.

FOSTER: The U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan is calling methods used by Sudanese paramilitary group deplorable and wants accountability.

NOBILO: The reaction came after a CNN investigation found that the RSF, or Rapid Support Forces, used intimidation, torture, and execution to recruit men and children in Sudan. The individuals were also denied food and medical aid. Rival factions have been fighting for control of the country since civil war broke out nearly a year ago.

FOSTER: Court documents say a senior leader of the MS-13 gang has been arrested in California after four years on the run. The suspect is accused by federal prosecutors in New York of being a member of the gang's board of directors.

NOBILO: Federal prosecutors say MS-13 allegedly runs military-style training camps, traffics in weapons and drugs, and has committed rapes, kidnapping, and murders. The gang was first established in the U.S. in the 1980s by Central American immigrants.

FOSTER: Amazing to think they've got a board of directors.

Authorities in El Paso, Texas, say the situation is under control after a large group of migrants breached a barricade on the border with Mexico. It's not clear what caused the rush, but officials describe it as an isolated incident. Between 400 and 600 people were arrested for illegally crossing the border between ports of entry. Additional personnel have been deployed to the area and patrols have been increased.

A government official says there hasn't been any significant rise in the number of migrants crossing into El Paso, which has averaged about 1,000 a day for the past few months.

NOBILO: Mexico is warning of, quote, substantial tension if a controversial Texas immigration law is allowed to take effect.

FOSTER: President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador says his country will not accept people deported from Texas under the state law SB4. A U.S. court is hearing appeals on the law, and Mexico has filed a brief, saying the measure interferes with its right to determine who enters its territory. Mexico's foreign minister calls the bill deeply unconstitutional.

NOBILO: Up next, a prominent Indian opposition leader could be facing corruption charges just weeks before the country's general election. Why his supporters are crying foul after the break?

FOSTER: And it's known as the Silicon Valley of India. But officials say it has a severe water shortage. What's causing the strain, and who's impacted when we come back?

[04:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: Protests erupted in New Delhi after one of India's top opposition politicians was arrested in an alleged corruption case.

NOBILO: Many members of Arvind Kejriwal's party were detained Friday as they demonstrated against his arrest weeks before the country's general election.

FOSTER: Local media reports say Kejriwal will appear in court on Friday where the charges against him will be made public.

NOBILO: CNN's Vedika Sud joins us now live from New Delhi. Vedika, give us some of the context of what is happening here and what the public at large think is really going on given the proximity to the election.

VEDIKA SUD, CNN REPORTER: Well, yes, we're just weeks out. The elections are up in another few weeks and we're going to see Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking a third term in power.

And just ahead of those elections, Bianca and Max, what we're seeing on the ground are protests by the Aam Aadmi Party, which is the political party of Arvind Kejriwal, the sitting chief minister of New Delhi, who was arrested Thursday evening after the Enforcement Directorate, which is the Federal Financial Crimes Agency, which interestingly comes under the Modi government, arrested him after conducting raids in his house. Massive security presence all around. And because of that, we're seeing protests on the roads in Delhi today, especially outside Arvind Kejriwal's party office.

Now, many of these leaders and members have been detained, but the concern here is, which is being expressed by these leaders, not only within his party but also other opposition leaders, is why has Kejriwal been arrested now? They're questioning the timing of it all.

And, of course, this comes at a time when Modi and his government, they've been facing fierce criticism over the clampdown and the crackdown on political leaders from the opposition party and critics of the Modi government just ahead of the elections. They claim that there is this attempt, and the BJP is attempting to orchestrate a situation where there's an uneven playing field ahead of the elections.

Now, these are serious charges against Arvind Kejriwal, according to the Enforcement Directorate, which has accused several Aam Aadmi Party politicians and Arvind Kejriwal. The charges that they're levelling against Kejriwal in this case is of corruption and for allegedly taking kickbacks from an alcohol licensing policy.

Now, Arvind Kejriwal has denied these charges, and so have his colleagues who, many of them, in fact, have been behind bars, some for over a year now.

A very prominent opposition leader, Rahul Gandhi, took to X and he put a post out. I'm going to quote him here. This was a comment against Narendra Modi where he said, and I quote: A scared dictator wants to create a dead democracy -- unquote.

Now, we have to understand this in the larger scheme of things, Bianca and Max. We're talking about the largest democratic process in the world, the elections in India, when Narendra Modi, like I said, will be seeking another term. There are, unfortunately, very few politically relevant parties in the last 10 years, ever since Modi has come to power.

Arvind Kejriwal's party is one of them. He's not only won Delhi two times over and governed it as the chief minister. His party has also won the state of Punjab recently.

So, for many critics and analysts, they see Kejriwal as a thorn in the government's side, and they believe that this is an attempt, ahead of the elections, to get him out of the way, put him behind bars. But that will not stop, according to the Aam Aadmi Party leaders and supporters, Arvind Kejriwal from governing New Delhi from jail is what his party leaders have to say.

But these are going to be interesting times and weeks ahead. We're going to see a lot of political drama unfold on the ground, and this is not the end of this particular drama, because the court will be hearing the enforcement directorate, as well as Arvind Kejriwal's lawyer in moments from now, where the lawyer will be seeking a stay on his arrest.

We'll bring you more on that in the next hit.

FOSTER: OK, Vedika, thank you so much for bringing us that.

NOBILO: A new U.N. report released to mark World Water Day today warns that a lack of access to clean water is threatening peace worldwide. It says water is often a tool and a target when it comes to warfare and regional tensions over water.

FOSTER: The report says more than 2 billion people don't have access to safe drinking water. It also says 3.5 billion people lack access to sanitation that's safely managed.

NOBILO: And with the climate crisis, nearly 1.5 billion people have been affected by droughts between 2002 and 2021. The report concludes the world is not on track to meet nearly 1.5 billion people have been affected by droughts between 2002 and 2021.

The report concludes the world is not on track to meet the U.N.'s goal of safe and clean water for everyone by 2030.

FOSTER: A lack of water is hitting one city in southern India in particular. As CNN's Kristie Lu Stout tells us, families there are struggling.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): India's Silicon Valley, its IT hub, is running out of water. Bengaluru needs about 2 billion liters of water each day and currently it's only getting around half of that according to the chairman of the Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewage Board. The result is a daily struggle for the city's nearly 14 million residents.

If there's no water and we're not able to bathe, we will get sick, mother of four Kumkum says. Her youngest child suffering through a fever. Families like Kumkum's are now reliant on water tankers like these and have to pay for the privilege.

Domestic worker Shusila says she earns just $24 per month and spends half of that on water. Pushing her finances to the brink.

The tankers are commissioned by the Karnataka state government but that's no guarantee that supply can keep up with demand. Meher Taj arrives to collect water for her family and seven children but is forced to return home empty-handed. There is no water here, she says. Even when I open the tap, there is no water.

Drought means the water supply from the city's Kaveri River and man- made lakes is dwindling. Bengaluru's deputy chief minister says thousands of the city's groundwater bore wells dug hundreds of meters into the earth have run dry. Authorities have responded by fixing rates for tankers and handing out fines to those caught misusing drinking water.

Kumkum says there has been little improvement. The local authorities tell us they have put in an application, have filed a complaint, but nothing happens, she says.

Bengaluru's population has ballooned in recent years as tech workers have flocked to the city's thousands of startups as well as international firms from Adobe to Infosys.

Experts say that boom alongside unplanned urbanization have contributed to the water crisis.

VISHWANATH, BENGALURU-BASED WATER RESEARCHER: If we do the distribution well and there's enough water if we tighten our belt for all of us. But if we don't do the distribution all the resources that come in will only go to a few.

LU STOUT (voice-over): As India prepares to go to the polls, the situation has turned into a political blame game. But that doesn't mean much to Bengaluru's poorest people, bearing the brunt of the water shortages even before the summer heat sets in.

Kristie Lu Stout, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: CNN has contacted Bengaluru's water supply and sewage board but has yet to receive a response.

FOSTER: More than 35 million people in the eastern U.S. will be under some type of flood alert, meanwhile, by the end of the day. Flood watches are already in effect for parts of Florida's east coast, including Miami. Excessive rainfall is also expected to drench the northeastern U.S. later today and into Saturday. More than 25 million people across the northern U.S. are under winter weather alerts.

NOBILO: And the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says this spring will be hotter than average for most of the country. The central plains are expected to see drought conditions worsen, while the southeast can expect more wet, soggy weather from April to June.

FOSTER: The bulls are running wild on Wall Street. Investors are still on a frenzy after the U.S. central bank signaled it would likely cut interest rates three times this year. All three major indices hit new record highs, as you can see. The Dow was up seven-tenths of one percent, now within striking distance of 40,000 points. The Nasdaq gained two-tenths of a percent, S&P 500 added a third of one percent.

NOBILO: I do appreciate when you talk about fractions. I think people need more of that.

FOSTER: It's crazy what's going on in the markets, these record highs when people are talking about a struggling economy.

NOBILO: The U.N. General Assembly has passed its first-ever resolution on artificial intelligence. The non-binding measure, adopted unanimously, is aimed at guiding AI's development globally, while also monitoring its risks.

FOSTER: There were fears AI could be used to hurt democracies, hinder human rights and steal personal information. Rogue actors can also use it for espionage and fraud.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[04:50:00]

LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: We're working on AI. The private sector, the business sector, is moving forward very, very quickly on AI.

And this is why we felt this resolution that we put forward was so important, that it lays a foundation for how AI will operate. So we see this resolution as putting some barriers in place, some walls around how AI can be used.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: Doctors in Boston have transplanted the first genetically modified pig's kidney into a living human being.

FOSTER: They what?

NOBILO: Well, it's important that it's genetically modified, for reasons that they might say. A 62-year-old man with end-stage kidney disease received the organ in a four-hour surgery that took place last Saturday at Massachusetts General Hospital.

FOSTER: Doctors believe the kidney could last for years but acknowledge there are many unknowns with the animal-to-human transplants.

The hospital says the transplant recipient is recovering well and is expected to go home soon.

That could be a real game-changer, couldn't it?

NOBILO: Yes, absolutely. And apparently the patient started producing urine immediately, which means that it took almost when the surgery actually occurred, which is incredible.

FOSTER: Bianca, leaving, coming up.

FOSTER: Oh, yes. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: There's many great things about this show. We do it all for the viewers, though, ultimately, and sometimes they give back.

Check this out. Rob Cabrera. This is a cartoon.

We need to tell the story, don't we? So there was this -- Bianca came up with this idea about who would be better in Apocalypse, and I decided, fair enough, I wouldn't be the cage-fighting front-line guy, but I would be the decision-maker, I felt.

NOBILO: You felt that the decision-maker with the big ideas. Actually, you are very decisive, but you tire very quickly of my big ideas and intellectual discussion. You give me about 30 seconds of it, and then you move on.

FOSTER: But you'd be great if I sent you to some sort of front-line, armed combat, hand-to-hand moment. So I think we'd be a good team, because I probably wouldn't be good in that situation.

NOBILO: We would be a very good team. So Rob Cabrera was picking up on that discussion.

FOSTER: The other thing about the show is, of course, everyone behind the scenes, one of which is Maura, our producer, one of our producers, great producers, and she's done a little special something for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: I'm Bianca Nobilo.

FOSTER: Hello, Sailor. I'm Max Foster joining you live from London. Carry on.

NOBILO: A giant panda is finally back home after spending two decades at a zoo in the U.S.

FOSTER: Bianca's favorite modern Christmas movie is turning 20 next year. Can you believe it?

NOBILO: I love it as much as you. We were just discussing this.

FOSTER: She loves it.

NOBILO: After a thrilling weekend at the World Cup, the remaining four teams are now gearing up for another round of drama.

FOSTER: You can't address, not address, what you're wearing.

NOBILO: Well, it just -- you know, subliminally, I want people to know I'm supportive.

FOSTER: Very subliminal.

NOBILO: Chef's kiss. Do you know what that is?

FOSTER: No.

NOBILO: Do you know the gesture?

FOSTER: Show it to me.

NOBILO: OK, so it's like that.

FOSTER: Does grammably mean anything to you?

NOBILO: No, don't do that. It's not that.

FOSTER: Grammable.

NOBILO: I'm assuming it means things that you have put up on Instagram. That's correct, isn't it?

FOSTER: Well, that was a very bad examples. That'll help. OK.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER (on camera): This is Bianca's Instagram. Look at that. You're very good on Instagram.

NOBILO (on camera): This is really embarrassing.

This is grammable.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[04:55:00]

NOBILO: The world's two most populous nations, both economic juggernauts and nuclear powers, China and India, are actually divided by an ill-defined de facto border which runs for about 2,100 miles and is referred to as the Line of Actual Control.

NOBILO: Good thing we're Burning Man people. But best of luck to everyone there.

FOSTER: I think I'd give a go. I can't imagine you there.

NOBILO: I'd rather be in the library.

NOBILO: One you can probably relate to. "It's Used To Be Young," a new single from Miley Cyrus. She says the song is dedicated to her fans for supporting every version of her over the years.

FOSTER: I hope you have a younger anchor one day who will rib you in the same way.

NOBILO: I think your fans are the same. They celebrate you through every version. FOSTER: As the wet garment clung to his chest.

Thank you, writers. It's one that many will never forget. Bianca, do you remember it?

NOBILO: I don't. That wasn't really my time. But I said that I think you have that sort of vibe for people that find you appealing.

FOSTER: I'll take that. A very large group.

NOBILO: It is. I think you should try wearing that on casual Fridays.

FOSTER: Shall I? Shall I do it on your last day?

NOBILO: Please don't.

FOSTER: Especially for you. We'll find a hot tub and I'll emerge out of it.

NOBILO: Oh, no, don't. My breakfast is coming up.

NOBILO: If something goes wrong once we're in the air, what do I do?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nothing.

NOBILO: Oh, wow. Oh, this is incredible.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: Thank you very much, Maura, for doing that. I'm feeling really emotional. You and I do so badly when we're feeling emotional.

I genuinely didn't prepare anything to say because I was thinking, can I say something clever or witty, you know, on brand. But then, actually, it's only very simple stuff that I feel. Like, I'm genuinely so, so grateful for you. Like, I can't get started on you because I'll get very, very emotional.

But for everybody in the studio that you don't see, who really is far more deserving of any kind of praise than I am, and I'm just going to miss everybody so much. And thank you for everybody that watched the show as well because, like Max said, and we were discussing this morning, we've had really loyal viewers of this program, and it means a lot. People who watch at 4 a.m. when they're working or when they're getting up, and it's all you can really hope for when you anchor a show.

And we can hear some of the producers downstairs now. So I just want to say from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much. I have loved doing this show.

I've absolutely loved working with you, and I can't thank you enough for being a friend and somebody who helped me from the very beginning.

FOSTER: Well, you're brilliant, and you're going to go on to great things. And this is exciting as well as sad. NOBILO: Yes. I'll be watching.

FOSTER: Thank you for everything.

NOBILO: Thank you all.

FOSTER: It's the last CNN NEWSROOM with Bianca.