Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Israel War Cabinet Discusses Efforts To Free Hostages Held In Gaza; Pro-Palestinian Protests Continue At Columbia University After Dozens Of NYPD Arrests; Opening Statements Set To Begin In Trump Criminal Trial; Zelenskyy Urges Rapid Delivery Of New Weapons After U.S. Aid Approval; Destruction in Nuseirat Refugee Camp aft er Israeli Operation; World Press Photo Honors 2024 Global Winners; China Hosts Foreign Navy Officers; Grim Forecast from the Weather Kid; Man United Set Up Final Rematch with Rivals Man City. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired April 22, 2024 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:00:23]
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes. Appreciate your company. Coming up here on CNN Newsroom. Israel prepares for next moves in Gaza, with their sights set on Rafah but still no evacuation plan for the densely populated city.
The war on women in Gaza where more than 6,000 mothers have been killed leaving behind nearly 20,000 orphaned children.
And we're just hours away from the first ever criminal trial of a former U.S. president as we learned the first expected witness in Donald Trump's hush money case.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN Newsroom with Michael Holmes.
HOLMES: The Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is vowing to land quote additional and painful blows on Hamas as Israel prepares for its next moves in the war in Gaza.
Mr. Netanyahu making that comment ahead of a meeting of the Israeli war cabinet, which focused on the fate of the hostages who remained captive in Gaza.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): On this Seder night, our hostages in Hamas captivity stand before our eyes, their suffering and the suffering of their families break our hearts and only strengthen our determination to return them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: The Israeli war cabinet also said to be turning its attention to an expected ground offensive in the southern city of Rafah where more than 1.2 million Palestinians have sought shelter. The exact plans of such an operation are not clear.
In the West Bank, mourners gathered for the funeral of 14 Palestinians that the health ministry says were killed during an Israeli military offensive at the Nur Shams refugee camp.
The Israel Defense Forces says 10 what they described as terrorists were killed and eight wanted suspects arrested in that operation, which has now ended.
And Israel's Prime Minister is pledging an increase in both military and political pressure on Hamas in an effort to free the hostages still held in Gaza. CNN's Jeremy Diamond with details from Tel Aviv.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: An Israeli official telling us that the Israeli war cabinet met Sunday evening to discuss the fate of those 133 hostages who remain captive inside the Gaza Strip. But as the negotiations to try and secure their release have really broken down over the course of the last week.
The key words now are military pressure. That is what the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu talked about in a video statement before that were Cabinet meeting saying that Israel will soon land quote, additional and painful blows and increase military and political pressure on Hamas in order to secure the release of those hostages.
The Israeli military's top general, General Herzi Halevi on Sunday conducting a situational assessment to approve plans for the continuation of the war in Gaza. Reading between the lines, what he appears to be talking about is a common ground offensive in Rafah and that was also the subject of this Israeli war cabinet meeting on Sunday evening.
Israeli officials last week told me that they had delayed plans to begin evacuating Rafah a key step towards a ground offensive as Israeli leaders debated a response to that Iranian attack last weekend on Israel. But with that military response now out of the way, Israel's workout and it appears to be turning its focus back on that common ground defensive in Rafah and we know that this will have potentially deadly implications for Palestinians.
More than a million Palestinians, many of them displaced from their homes elsewhere in the Gaza Strip, currently living in that southernmost city in Gaza. And there are still major questions about exactly where they will be evacuated to how that will all work. The Israeli government has provided assurances to the United States that people will be provided with food and shelter when they are evacuated, that these evacuations will indeed happen before military operations really begin in earnest in Rafah.
But now the question is, how soon could that potentially happen? We know that this is likely the next step, but it's unclear exactly how long that evacuation will take. And then when we will see Israeli troops actually move in to Rafah. Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv. (END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Health officials in Gaza say doctors were able to deliver a baby in an emergency operation after her mother was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the southern city of Rafah after the mother was killed.
[01:05:00]
The baby weighed less than two kilograms when she was delivered by a C section. She was born an orphan. Her mother had been 30 weeks pregnant when she was killed along with her husband and young daughter, the baby said to be gradually improving.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. MOHAMMAD SALAMA, HEAD OF NEONATAL INTENSIVE CARE UNIT, AL-EMIRATI Hospital (through translator): The baby is under medical care and she will stay here for three to four weeks in the nursery. And after that we will see about her leaving and where this child will go to the family to the aunt or uncle or grandparents. Here is the biggest tragedy. Even if this child survives, they were born an orphan.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now the U.N. reports more than 10,000 women have been killed in the Israel Hamas wars since October 7. Among them an estimated 6,000 mothers leaving 19,000 children orphaned. The latest alerts from the group U.N. Women on Gaza detailed the abhorrent living conditions including a lack of access to water, sanitation and hygiene services. The group says those basics are essential to women's health, safety and dignity.
Joining me now from Cairo, Egypt. Susanne Mikhail is the regional director of U.N. Women for Arab States. Thanks so much for being with us. We just heard that horrific story of a baby born an orphan after being taken from her dead mother's womb. This report says 10,000 women killed, 6,000 mothers. What stands out to you in those numbers?
SUSANNE MIKHAIL ELDHAGEN, REGIONAL DIRECTOR, U.N. WOMEN FOR THE ARAB STATES: Well, Michael, I've worked in the humanitarian field for close to 30 years now. And I have not seen anything like this when it comes to the extensive numbers of civilians killed in very short period of time.
U.N. Women estimates in its latest report, as you correctly stated 10,000 woman -- women killed to date, out of which six months -- 6,000 are mothers. That number leaves thousands of children orphans, either having lost one parent or both parents with nothing, many of them with no homes, no food, no water, and now deprived of the very essence of safety and security in their life, namely their parents.
HOLMES: Yes, it's a detailed analysis. This report, I read all of it on the reality of women and girls lives in the Gaza Strip. Yes, as you said, the reports is that 19,000 children have been orphaned it is a staggering number, every one of them a child. What is happening to them, particularly as the Israeli military continues to operate, and the bombs continue to fall?
ELDHAGEN: Well, many of them are desperate, they don't know where to go, some seek refuge with parents, but regret sorry with family members. But regretfully, in many cases, a large number of family members have also been killed. There is also another side of the story, and that's father being killed, leaving 8,000 widows behind again, U.N. Women estimates that the number increases per day. And these women are now solely responsible again of the protection and feeding their children.
And we are reached by witness stories on daily basis that are chilling just the other day, a woman who was solely responsible of five children desperately out looking for food under rubble, and coming back to her house just to see it rounded with all of the five children kill.
HOLMES: Just amazing. I mean, when it comes to this conflict in particular, I mean, the UN Women's executive directors pointed out that before this conflict 67 percent of all civilians killed in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, were men less than 14 percent were women.
Why do we see this inversion of numbers in this conflict?
ELDHAGEN: Usually, Michael, when you see the inversion of the sword, it's a clear indication of the very high civilian toll, and also the indiscriminate bombardment in this case. So the higher number of children and women, the more it indicates that the bombardment and the attacks are purely indiscriminate.
And this is why you U.N. Women and together with our sister agencies have repeatedly called for ceasefire. It is basically the only situation now we see ahead before or unless we want to see a procedure in this high number of civilians killed. Today is 37 mothers per day are killed. It is basically unacceptable. So the only needed intervention right now is an immediate ceasefire.
HOLMES: Yes, I mean, it's nearly two women am hour. I mean, the thing is and we're just discussing this with someone else last out that you know in complex that, you known these are numbers. They're horrific numbers but they are people
[01:10:07]
Do you worry that that gets lost in all of this the names the faces that they become anonymous numbers statistics?
ELDHAGEN: I am. I am. And that is also one of the reasons why U.N. Women try to dig deeper into those demographics to provide faces behind the numbers, whether it's a mother or a child or a father for that sense, it gives you an indication of the human being behind the suffering, behind the killing. And it's utterly important that we continue to do so.
HOLMES: Yes. It's been a lot of criticism that Palestinians have been dehumanized in this conflict. I mean, do you feel the long term impacts on Gaza as children because of what they've gone through losing parents, family members, injuries, of course, quite apart from the terror caused by months of bombing and shelling and so on. One imagine this was life changing for them even when there's conflicts over?
ELDHAGEN: Of course. So what we see now is a collective trauma that children and civilians in general are going through and this trauma will haunt them decades to come. In the long run, we also know from other conflicts in this region, that it has tremendous impact on gender equality and girls rights and specific girls and boys are pulled out of school in the future, many girls will not be able to enter the school system again, many will end up in early marriages, and many will not be able to fulfill their full potential in the society.
And we have seen that in conflict after conflict in the Middle East region. So these small strides that we have seen in the area of girls rights and women's rights will regretfully be pulled back and often by decades.
HOLMES: Horrific report important that people know about it, though. Susanne Mikhail, thank you so much there in Cairo for us.
Well, here in the U.S. President Joe Biden is condemning harassment of the Jewish community ahead of Passover. In a statement he said quote, blatant antisemitism is reprehensible and dangerous. He also said, quote, we must speak out against the alarming surge of antisemitism in our schools, communities and online. Silence is complicity, he said.
Meanwhile, Columbia University is tightening security for Passover as Pro-Palestinian protests continue on campus. The university says police will be present on campus during Passover on Monday and public safety will provide walking escorts if students need it.
A rabbi associated with the university is urging Jewish students to return home and the University announced that students can attend classes virtually starting Monday. New York Governor Kathy Hochul posted on X, that threatening Jewish students with violence is antisemitism. And here's what some Jewish students are saying.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SOPHIE ARNSTEIN, BARNARD COLLEGE: I consider myself a very brave person, but I won't deny that I've been physically intimidated and harassed. And so I want to say like safe is a mindset. I feel safe when I'm around my Jewish peers who create a safe space, but in general, the campus feels extremely hostile.
LILY ZUCKERMAN, BARNARD COLLEAGE: I feel reasonably safe I have since October 7. I do think that the protests could very easily escalate.
BEN SOLOMON, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: I've felt like this is not a welcoming environment. I think it's a very difficult time for a lot of tourist students.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: CNN's Polo Sandoval has been following developments at the University and has more details for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: all weekend long, we have seen demonstrations supporting the Palestinian people both on it off the Columbia University campus here in Manhattan. Behind me the one that's actually off campus, the students able to only make their way up to the fence as the campus itself remains restricted with access only allowed for students and staff because of these ongoing demonstrations.
On campus, there is still what's referred to as the Gaza solidarity and cabinet that continues to grow collection of people that have been gathering on the campus south lawn with that unified message with those protesters on the outside of the campus calling on Columbia University to divest from companies with Israeli connections.
The question now though, is exactly how long those protesters will be allowed to remain on the Columbia University given that it was just a few days ago that university officials called on the NYPD to make their way onto campus to clear out that encampment which resulted in well over 100 arrests and some students suspensions.
The question is, are we bound to see that yet again. Now over the weekend, I had an opportunity visit that encampment and things were peaceful and security looked on and really university officials not really intervening at this point.
[01:15:00]
But also over the weekend a separate vein in which they're now growing concerns among Jewish students at some Jewish students attending Columbia University, many of them saying that they feel unsafe coming to school because of these ongoing pro-Palestinian protests, so much so that Rabbi Elie Buechler with Columbia University's Orthodox Union Jewish learning initiative reached out on Sunday morning to well over 300 Jewish students saying that it is best that they simply stay home until the Columbia University and NYPD do more to make sure that they feel safe.
Now, the university for its part released a statement over the weekend saying that they are acting on these concerns. They also added that students do have the right to protest on campus so long as those demonstrations do not interfere with campus operations, and also that they do not intimidate any of their fellow students. Polo Sandoval, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: We are just hours away from opening statements in the first ever criminal trial of a former U.S. president. Donald Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts for his alleged role in a hush money scheme to conceal an affair with the adult film star Stormy Daniels. It will be increased security around the courthouse this week after a man set himself on fire in a nearby park on Friday in a protest seemingly unrelated to the trial itself. And a source telling CNN the prosecution's first witness will likely
be David Pecker on the left of your screen there. He's the former publisher of the National Enquirer, who was said to be a key player in the hush money plot. CNN's Marshall Cohen gives us a closer look now at several of the potential witnesses.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARSHALL COHEN, CNN REPORTER: What's finally here opening statements are expected to begin Monday morning in New York City in former President Donald Trump's hush money criminal trial. This is of course, the very first time in American history that a former president is standing trial for alleged crimes.
This is all about a cover up in 2016, Donald Trump paid $130,000 to Stormy Daniels the adult film star to prevent her from going public with allegations of an affair. He denies the affair. The alleged crime, the prosecutors theory of this case is all about the falsification of business records at the Trump Organization.
How Trump org paid back, Michael Cohen, Trump's attorney at the time, paid him back for that hush money payment. According to the prosecutors, the Trump Organization and Donald Trump at the head, falsified business records, falsely suggesting that those were routine legal retainers and legal services when really, it was a hush money payment intended to prevent the voters from learning about Stormy Daniels allegations.
It's a novel legal theory that will be tested and under the microscope for perhaps the next six weeks. That's how long we're expecting things to go.
So opening statements are Monday, and eventually we will get into witness testimony and there is a big cast of characters that are expected to swear to tell the truth in front of the jury. Michael Cohen himself in many ways is the star witness of this case, his credibility will be crucial.
There's also Stormy Daniels she is expected to tell her side of the story. There's also Hope Hicks, a Trump 2016 campaign official, Karen McDougal, who is a another woman who alleged an affair with Donald Trump. And then there's also David Pecker, he was involved with the National Enquirer, the tabloid that is central to this alleged scheme.
According to the indictment, Pecker and Cohen and Trump met shortly after Trump announced his campaign in 2015. And they all agreed according to the prosecutors that they would, quote unquote, catch and kill negative stories about Trump, basically paying people off buying their silence, agreeing to purchase the rights to their story and burying it so that the voters would never learn of those allegations.
And the voters did -- did not actually learn about the alleged Stormy Daniels affair until after the election after Trump had made his way to the White House. So that's what we're expecting from opening statements. The prosecutors will be telling the jury their side of the story for
the very first time and of course, Trump's defense attorneys have their own opportunity as well. It all starts New York City Monday morning. Marshall Cohen, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Many Ukrainians breathing a sigh of relief after the U.S. House approved a crucial aid package but will have helped turn the tide on the battlefield. We'll have details after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:22:05]
HOLMES: Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy is urging the U.S. to send weapons to the frontlines as soon as possible after the House of Representatives passed that massive aid package over the weekend. The bill, which is expected to be approved by the Senate this week, perhaps on Tuesday include $61 billion for Ukraine, and comes as Mr. Zelenskyy says the country's preparing for a potential Russian offensive in the coming months.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): This aid will strengthen Ukraine and send feminine powerful signal that it will not be the second Afghanistan. The United States will stay with Ukraine will protect the Ukrainians and they will protect democracy in the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: The passage of the long awaited a bill in the U.S. House is boosting morale among Ukrainian troops. They've been fending off Russian attacks for months now, with a dwindling supply of weapons and equipment. CNN's Fred Pleitgen with that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the relief certainly was palpable here in the Ukrainian capital of politicians from Ukraine, thanking the United States thanking the House of Representatives and thanking speaker Mike Johnson, after the House passed that Ukraine military aid package.
Now, the Ukrainians of course, have been suffering a great deal from a shortage of ammunition and also a shortage of weapons. And we're certainly looking for this aid package and try and boost their position on the front lines right now. The Russians are the ones who have the momentum on their side.
And we're actually able to speak to a couple of troops who are fighting on the front lines, and one of them who's fighting on the southern front said that the Ukrainians there had felt that their allies had all but forgotten them. And now of course, that's changed as morale has been boosted.
And other one who's fighting on this -- on the Eastern Front also said that this aid package definitely boosts morale for the Ukrainian forces. They say right now, they desperately need air defense weapons, as the Russians, of course, have launched a massive campaign against Ukraine's civilian and energy infrastructure.
And they also need artillery ammunition as well. The president of this country Volodymyr Zelenskyy, he also came out and praise the United States. Here's what he had to say.
ZELENSKYY (through translator): We appreciate every manifestation of support for our state and independence, our people in our lives, which Russia wants to bury in ruins. America has shown its leadership from the first days of this war.
PLEITGEN: The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, speaking there, and the Ukrainians believe that with this aid package, they'll not necessarily totally be able to reverse things on the battlefield, but certainly they believe that they'll be able to hold up some of those Russian advances.
We also got a message from Ukraine's Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba. And he said the following this is a quote, enabling Ukraine to push back Russian aggression is equal to preventing a larger war in Europe and averting the risk of all one of the aggressors plunging our world into chaos.
[01:25:10]
Clearly the Ukrainians trying to say that they believe that this aid package is not good only for them, but also good for the United States as well. Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Kyiv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Devastation and anger in Gaza. Ahead, Palestinian speak out as they tried to salvage what's left of their life before the war began.
Also, the World Press Photo Contest names of winners including photograph of the year. I speak with their executive director on how for photographers be down 1,000.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:28:03]
HOLMES: Welcome back. You're watching CNN Newsroom with me Michael Holmes. Now as Israel prepares for its next moves in the war against come out, Palestinians in central Gaza are digging through rubble and debris days after Israeli forces entered military operations in the area of one refugee camp. Many they are now searching for personal belongings and mementos anything from their life before the war began. CNN's Nic Robertson reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) NIC ROEBRTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): Like so many layers of paper, Palestinian homes pancaked. The Surat refugee neighborhood in central Gaza demolished during a week-long IDF raid.
Is this what threatens the Israeli army, wedding dress store owner Muhammad Asra asks. This was his store before the attack, he says. He opened it a year ago. I've put all my blood, sweat and tears and money into building this business, he says, now there is nothing. This is an indescribable feeling. The push of one button and they ended our lives.
The IDF destruction here as Iran attacked Israel but the world worried about regional escalation. Israel's war in Gaza though, not missing an ugly beat. This mother calling her children's school books from the rubble clinging to memories bravely bitter about those the Israeli military claims to target.
[01:29:44]
"I hate Hamas first and foremost," she says. "Don't cut my words, keep rolling. They brought this on us. This is not jihad. This is not resistance. Go resist at the border. Don't resist between the buildings and the people. They're destroying the people."
Meanwhile, in Rafah where the IDF says Hamas brigades are still hiding strikes continue and despite U.S. pressure, still no publicized plan of how to protect the 1.2 million Palestinians living there ahead of an expected Israeli assault.
At a Rafah morgue, wrapped in a single large body bag, an uncle brings the remains of several children who were among 12 of his relatives killed overnight.
"They were children" Abu Hasim Jamal (ph) says. the youngest, three, four years old. May God take revenge for them on Israel.
"No one cares", the aunt Susan Abu Touha says. "The Israelis are committing massacres while the world watches. Look at what they've done. We can't find whole bodies. only bits of them."
More than 34,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza now, according to the health ministry. Irrespective of who they blame, all here feeling helpless to hold back the seemingly inevitable IDF offensive in Rafah.
Over the past week, the IDF calling up to reserve brigades for operational activities in Rafah. And on Thursday two senior Israeli officials briefed President Biden's national security adviser on their planning, which until now at least has not satisfied the White House that civilians will be safe.
Nic Robertson, CNN -- Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Whether it's documenting war from Russia's invasion of Ukraine to the Israel-Hamas war, or covering pressing issues like climate change and immigration, photographers are there trying to record history and bring us the images. I want to take a moment now to focus on those at the front lines -- the photojournalists around the world who often risk or even lose their lives so they can provide us with indelible and thought-provoking images.
After reviewing more than 61,000 entries by nearly 4,000 photographers from 130 countries, the World Press Photo Foundation has honored four global winners for the top awards of 2024.
Joining me now from Amsterdam is the executive director of the World Press Photo Foundation, Joumana El Zein Khoury. And it's wonderful that you could get up early too for us, so we appreciate that.
The Photo of the Year, of course, was Mohammed Salem's heartbreaking image of Inas Abu Maamar who's holding the body of her five-year-old niece, Sally, killed by an Israeli missile that killed her mother and sister.
We're looking at that photo now. Devastation frozen in time. Tell us why it was picked, what it projects?
JOUMANA EL ZEIN KHOURY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WORLD PRESS PHOTO FOUNDATION: Well, I mean, first off if you look at it to just at the first glance, you see a really beautiful, almost Madonna-like image basically that reminds us of a renaissance images, et cetera.
But then when you take a step forward and you look at it deeper, you really see a woman and holding her niece in her arms.
What the jury really wanted to depict was a respect for these bodies. You can't see the faces. You can't see the corpse. You can just really immediately feel the devastation and the -- what human impact these wars, this (INAUDIBLE) war, the Israel war, but also wars all over the world have on people.
HOLMES: Yes, that is so well put. It does have a tragic, horrible beauty about it.
You know, before we move on, I want to -- I think it's important to put a face to Sally as well. So I want to put up a photograph and see the little girl that she was which Mohammed put up as well. And were going to put that up. You can -- and people who are watching can see. That's Sally there when she was alive. And it's important we see her.
KHOURY: Yes.
[01:34:45]
HOLMES: And we'll look at her while we talk about why Mohammed's work is important. Also in that it represents the world of so many Palestinian journalists because Israel isn't letting international media into Gaza. It's Palestinians who is showing the world what is happening there -- courageous, resourceful, talented people doing the job for the rest of us. KHOURY: Yes, absolutely. I mean, freedom of press today is under pressure all over the world.
But Gaza is a real case study because it has it all. It has the fact that they are not have -- letting access so journalists could not have access. Photographers and journalists are being targeted. Since the beginning of the war, 97 journalists have lost their lives. Most of them Palestinians, of course.
And I can't even start to tell you about the problems that they have in terms of Internet access, in terms of sending their images out, in terms of being directly targeted especially for the journalists who you can see immediately because of all of the equipment that they have.
Actually just one side note, on how much this photo is very personal for Mohammed because just a couple of days before taking this image, he had his third son who was born and whom he still hasn't seen since.
And when I spoke to Mohammed about this image He told me all around him there was the chaos of, you know, people crying, devastation, war, and then he just saw this woman holding Sally in her arm and didn't want to let go of her. And that's how he zoomed in immediately on her on that personal story that speaks to a universal tragedy.
HOLMES: It is so often the individual stories that tell the broader truth. A photo -- the photo story of the year showcases some incredible work by Lee Ann Olwage, a photo essay of a man with dementia cared for by his daughter in Madagascar. We'll show some of those for people that and tell us about those.
KHOURY: Yes. This work is really, well first of all, really beautiful. It's very personal. It links to a very big problem all over the world. Also very much on the African continent, but it speaks all over the world about how the elderly generation is not being cared off. And then just5 let go off and just isn't considered.
And here the story speaks about how a family cares for their elderly. How there's a very transition between one generation and the next. And it's that -- it's that also solution-driven, how actually things can work in that way, how you can bring different generations together and care for your elderly.
That really showcases this and puts a spotlight on this specific issue and a very different manner.
HOLMES: The long-term project award that's the Migrant Journey North. That's the focus of photographer Alejandro Cegarra. He has an impressive body of work and t very powerful too, because he is a migrant.
Briefly outline that and then I want to ask you a final question.
KHOURY: Yes. I mean, this work is incredible. But as you said, he himself is a migrant. What's very important for journalists and photojournalist specifically is to have trust. What is very important also is who is telling whose story. And here
the fact that he comes from this community, he has actually lived himself this experience, brings enough trust with the people that he is photographing. You immediately see in the images that are depicted.
And it tells, therefore, it tells, again, a much more personal story of something that we don't -- There's something called compassion fatigue that we just don't feel anymore.
And that's why in zooming in on the personal is so important in order to be able to understand how big this tragedies are.
HOLMES: Thanks, Joumana El Zein Khoury.
Still to come on CNN NEWSROOM, China's navy hosts officers from dozens of countries at a key conference ahead of U.S.-Philippines joint drills set to kick off on Monday.
We'll have that and more when we come back.
[01:39:16]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Top naval officers from more than two dozen countries are attending a four-day conference hosted by Chinas Navy.
The Western Pacific Naval Symposium began on Sunday, just one day before the start of joint U.S.-Philippine military exercises in the South China Sea.
CNN Beijing bureau chief Steven Jiang is at that naval conference and filed this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: We are aboard the (INAUDIBLE), Chinese guided-missile destroyer, one of the country's more than 340 warships & that number is expected to grow to an astounding 400 in the near future, according to the Pentagon's assessment.
That's why the Chinese Navy is now the world's biggest in terms of fleet size, surpassing the United States some four years ago.
Now, some analysts say quantity does not translate into superiority, but there are experts who say when it comes to naval warfare, the bigger fleet almost always wins. That prospect unnerving many officials and politicians, not just in Washington, but in many Asian capitals as well at a time when tensions are running high on the high seas of Asia-Pacific between China and the United States and some of its key allies with the Pentagon repeatedly accusing the Chinese military of conducting unsafe, unprofessional maneuver hoovers targeting the U.S. and its allies when they conduct so-called freedom of navigation operations in the region.
In more recent weeks and months, we have seen increasing confrontations and clashes between Chinese and Filipino vessels in the south China sea over disputed territory where the Chinese, obviously, outnumbering and outgunning the Filipinos.
And the Chinese, of course, have been pushing back all these allegations very strongly, pointing a finger at Washington saying it's the U.S. and using its allies to provoke troubles in the region trying to harm China's security and interest and containing its rise.
But nonetheless, the U.S. has been strengthening its military alliances with key allies in the region, including Japan, but also increasingly the Philippines. The U.S. army recently sent its newest missile launch system to the Philippines. And also on Monday, the two sides launching weeks-long, joint military drills for the first time involving the northern most part of the Philippines, less than 100 miles away from Taiwan. That's the island democracy claimed by Beijing as part of its own territory.
And the Chinese are not sitting idly by with their rapidly expanding military budget and massive shipbuilding capability. They're churning out more worships like this one, not just destroyers, but also submarines and even aircraft carriers.
So it is in this context that what brought us here on the ship, all the more timely and some would say relevant. The Western Pacific Naval Symposium hosted by China this year but gathering up naval commanders and officers from more than two dozen countries, including the United States.
Whether or not they're discussions or exchanges behind closed door's cutting to any meaningful dialogues that could have impact on strategic and policy directions remains a huge question mark about the increasingly contentious waters of East and South China Seas.
Steven Jiang on CNN -- Qingdao, China.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Severe weather battered paths of eastern China this weekend with wind, hail and flooding rain. That system now on the move, bringing rain east to Japan and south to Hong Kong.
CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar with that.
[01:44:43]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It was torrential rains, winds, and even some hail over the weekend across portions of southern and eastern China as a series of systems made its way through this area, dumping a very large amount of rain.
Most of the highest points were just north of Hong Kong. Again, you can see some of these numbers, 200 -- even 300 millimeters of rain in just a 48-hour time period. Again, not just the rain, but also those gusty winds you could even
see some of the small hail there in the video, but the rain was really what caused the most of the problems, especially as it kind of flooded over some streets and roads throughout many cities there.
And the strong winds, those bringing down some trees and even causing some power outages in a few locations.
Here's a look at the forecast though as we head into Monday. Notice there is still even additional showers and thunderstorms expected across southern and eastern portions of China.
It won't be quite as heavy as we saw before, most of these areas, maybe about 25 to 50 millimeters of additional rain at best. But even still on top of what they've already had, that could still exacerbate some of the already ongoing flooding.
So we do still have rain in the forecast, at least the first half of the day for Shanghai on Monday with a high temperature in the upper teens, but a lot of that rain is going to spread eastward.
So Osaka, looking at some rain showers in the latter half of the day, Monday. And then by Monday night, we start to see more of that rain pushing into Tokyo. But also rain chances in Tokyo for Tuesday and Wednesday as well.
Farther down to the south, again, notice Taipei and even Hong Kong, both looking at showers and thunderstorms in the forecast with a high in the mid-twenties.
And for Hong Kong specifically, notice rain chances don't really let up for much of the week looking at all of those days with a pretty similar forecast of showers and thunderstorms and those temperatures in the mid to upper 20s.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Allison Chinchar there for us.
Well as thrilling finish in England's FA Cup semifinal, the match went to penalties after Man United Blue are three-nil lead over Coventry City. We'll show how it ended coming up.
Also they're the meteorologists of tomorrow with a grim forecasts for the future. We'll speak with one of the Weather Kids about what the climate crisis could mean for her generation.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Monday marks Earth Day here in the United States where for more than 50 years, activists and educators have worked together to drive positive action for the planet.
"Planet Versus Plastics" is this year's theme with EarthDay.Org putting the (INAUDIBLE) about the harm plastics does both to humans and the environment. And they say recycling is not the answer. Instead the group has set a bold goal for the planet reducing plastic production by 60 percent by the year 2040.
Some of the ways they think this can happen include phasing out single-use plastics by 2030. It's sort of already been done. Advocating for the policy to combat the impact of fast action or clothes that includes fabrics made of plastic.
Finally the group is calling for larger investments in technology to find alternatives to plastic.
Now the meteorologists of tomorrow have a grim forecast for our future. Some climate-savvy kids have been taking over the airwaves in a new effort by the United Nations Development Program, where young people anchor special whether bulletins warning of the perils of climate change and its effects on global weather.
Our meteorologist Derek Van Dam spoke with Kaylee, the "Weather Kid" as she's known, about what weather could look like in her lifetime.
[01:49:54]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We are just so excited to have you here at CNN to, you know, potentially take over my job. I mean, this girl really knows what she's talking about but I think it's important that we highlight some of the planet that you will be inheriting from us.
One thing as important as the oceans, do you like to swim?
KAYLEE, WEATHER KID: Yes, I love to swim.
VAN DAM: What you're looking at here is actually video from when I went on a scientific expedition scuba-diving to learn about the state of our oceans, which are warming. And that has great impacts on the ecosystem, the marine life under water. With climate change, we've already seen 1.2 degrees Celsius of warmth. And a lot of that warmth is absorbed within our oceans.
KAYLEE: I thought the coral are supposed to be different colors and colorful. Why is it white?
VAN DAM: OH, you pay attention to your science teachers, don't you. You're looking at bleached coral and that's what happens to this living organism as our oceans continue to warm.
And by the year 2050, when you're probably going to be taking over my job at that stage, we could see up to 90 percent of the living coral disappearing.
So as the oceans continue to warm, we're also noticing sea level continued to rise. And I'm going to pass the baton to you, Kaylee, the Weather Kid and I want you to advance through the graphics and I want to show you what New York City and the Statue of Liberty could look like in the future planet as we continue to warm to three degrees Celsius, 4 Celsius. Check it out. What do you notice?
KAYLEE: The water has risen above the grass.
VAN DAM: And with communities and homes in the way of that water, this could be very impactful.
Check out the next graphic and tell me what city do you see?
KAYLEE: London.
VAN DAM: And this is Big Ben. This is the River Thames. And I want you to advance that graphic because I want to show you with this artist's rendition the future of what London could look like as sea level rise continues.
Notice how the water moves further and further inland.
Press it one more time.
How do you think this impacts people right here?
KAYLEE: The businesses and the homes are going to be destroyed by the dangerous floods that are rising and the sea levels that are rising.
VAN DAM: Well, she's spot on. You can't live in a flooded city and you certainly can't run a business. This is going to be an expensive future if we don't act now.
What have you noticed here in Atlanta as you've grown up?
KAYLEE: I've noticed that the summers has been really warm and has been getting hotter lately.
VAN DAM: Yes. Well, you know, it's becoming more and more uncomfortable to live in cities. Climate change is a reality that's happening now. But in the year 2050, we're going to see that temperature continue to rise. And there's a lot of direct evidence that we can link between these extreme weather events like heat waves, coastal flooding, heavy rain events with the impacts of climate change as well.
Kaylee, have you ever seen a hurricane before?
KAYLEE: No.
Ok. But you've seen it on Tv, right?
KAYLEE: Yes.
VAN DAM: Ok. They're impactful and they disrupt people's lives and their livelihoods and their business. They're also very dangerous as well.
And the future reality about the planet that you're inheriting is that by 2050, we may have more extreme typhoons, cyclones, and hurricanes across the planets, not necessarily increasing the numbers of hurricanes, but the severity of the hurricanes.
And just in 2023 alone Kaylee, get this, we set a record number of billion-dollar disasters. So every single little icon you see represents a billion dollars or more of a severe natural disaster.
Now, watch the difference between 2023 and the year 2050.
KAYLEE: it looks like more thunderstorms, hurricanes.
VAN DAM: More extreme weather, right?
KAYLEE: Yes.
VAN DAM: We will have more extreme events and they are costly. Climate change is expensive, but we can do something about it.
Thanks for joining me, Kaylee. I appreciate it. High five.
Nice.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Well Manchester United has made it back into the FA Cup final. But Sunday's semifinal match was a real nail-biter and not one that anyone expected. Man U lost a three-nil lead and wound up going to penalties against Coventry City, a team from a lower division.
World Sport's Don Riddell shows you how that happened.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: The FA Cup final is traditionally played in London at Wembley Stadium. But these days there could be an argument to play it 200 miles further north because for the second straight year Manchester City and Manchester United will play for the trophy.
But United only just made it into the final on Sunday. Their semifinal win against Coventry City was just incredible. With 20 minutes left to play, they were seemingly cruising with a three-nil lead, but then Coventry pulled one back and then another Callum O'Hare's wickedly deflected shot sailing into the top corner.
[01:54:50]
RIDDELL: And Coventry who play in the division below the Premier League, kept going, earning a penalty deep in injury time. And Haji Wright converted it to force extra-time.
Manchester United have really struggled this season. And this was about to go down as one of all-time charts. Right at the deck, there's penalties looming Victor Torp stuck out a boot to win it for Coventry, except he hadn't.
As the jubilation died down, the video review revealed an offside (INAUDIBLE) about a shoelace. So that meant a shootout and Coventry' ferocious resistance finally wilted. They missed two of their (INAUDIBLE) convert the winner.
United players hardly celebrated though. They knew that they were pretty lucky to have won the game.
HARRY MAGUIRE, MANCHESTER UNITED: I think we pretty much (INAUDIBLE). I mean, we have great control of the mat and actually played really well for the first 60 minutes and then we can see that go operating the small thing. We didn't really give them more talk (ph) today.
And then I don't know. I just feel like the world really (INAUDIBLE) and then we got the penalty laid on and then it was (INAUDIBLE) I think the boys really felt their ball (ph). We showed them great (INAUDIBLE) to make sure we stick with it.
We got our heads back and then to win the (INAUDIBLE).
So we can now look forward to another Manchester derby (ph) back at Wembley on May the 25th. Remember Man City won it last year, it was the second leg of their memorable treble. But that really was just an amazing game.
Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: All right. Don Riddle there for us.
Now, formula one champion Max Verstappen, has another victory under his belt. This time in China's. It's getting a bit boring, isn't it.
The Red Bull driver had a comfortable lead in Sunday's Chinese Formula One Grand Prix in Shanghai, finishing 14 seconds ahead of second place, Lando Norris in the McLaren. It was the first place in China since before the pandemic and also the home debut of China's first F1 driver, Zhou Guanyu.
Max Verstappen has won every race per season except the Australian Grand Prix.
A record-breaking performance at Sunday's London Marathon. Not only did reigning Olympic champion, Peres Jepchirchir win the women's elite race. She broke the women's only world record. A women's only event by the way, just doesn't have a male runner setting the pace. So you're all on your own.
Regarded as one of the greatest female distance runners of all time, the 30-year-old Kenyan smashed the old 2017 record by 45 seconds.
That's a lot.
Thanks for spending part of your day with me. I'm Michael Holmes. You can follow me on Instagram and X @HolmesCNN.
Stick around. My friend Lynda Kinkade picks up with more news after the break.
I'll see you next week.
[01:57:40]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
