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Ex-national Enquirer Publisher David Pecker Testifies About Catch-and-kill; U.S. Senate Passes $95 Billion in Aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan; Congress Passes Legislation That Could Ban TikTok in U.S.; Mount Ruang in Indonesia Has Erupted at Least Seven Times in the Past Week; How Indonesia's Volcano Eruption Could Impact Weather; Sahara Desert Dust Casts Orange Sky Over Athens; Unusual Snowfall Brings Parts of Finland to a Standstill. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired April 24, 2024 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello and welcome. I'm Nick Watt in Los Angeles. Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM. A sweeping foreign aid bill heads to President Joe Biden's desk after the U.S. Senate finally passed the measure, providing billions in vital military assistance for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
A new deadline has been set for pro-Palestinian protesters to leave an encampment at New York's Columbia University. The school's president is threatening alternative options to have them removed.
And the self-described eyes and ears of Donald Trump's first U.S. presidential campaign took jurors deeper into the hush money criminal case against him.
Urgently needed supplies of ammunition, artillery rounds, air defense systems and long-range missiles are expected to be airlifted to Ukraine within days. After the U.S. Congress finally approved a military aid package which had been stalled for months by Republican lawmakers. Ukraine will receive nearly $61 billion from the $95 billion foreign aid bill which was approved by the Senate just a few hours ago.
The rest will go to Israel and Taiwan. President Joe Biden says he will sign the bill into law in the coming hours. In a social media post, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed his gratitude for the Senate's passage of the bill. Ukraine has been losing territory to Russia since December when U.S. military assistants dried up. After the vote, Senate Majority Leader Democrat Chuck Schumer and Minority Leader Republican Mitch McConnell addressed the chamber.
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SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): We tell our allies, we stand with you. We tell our adversaries, don't mess with us. We tell the world, the United States will do everything to safeguard democracy and our way of life.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): It's time to reaffirm some basic truths. Alliances matter. Foreign nations' respect for American interests depends on our willingness to defend them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT: The passage of this funding bill through the Republican- controlled lower house to the Democrat-controlled Senate was a difficult and complicated process. CNN's Manu Raju is following the developments from Capitol Hill.
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Now, as saga coming to an end that had divided the Republican party for months, what to do about aid to Ukraine because of divisions within the ranks, because of the outspoken voices of the far right of the Republican conference and because of the fact that the former president, Donald Trump, has been skeptical about more aid to Ukraine. This has changed how a lot of Republicans view whether or not the United States should have a more robust presence in the world, whether they should pull back from it's -- for its support of foreign wars.
This debate between the so-called national security hawks and the isolationist wings of the Republican party had played out for months and months and months. It had really stymied action on all of this. Now, one person who has been in the forefront on pushing this aid has been Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell. He, of course, shepherded it through a $95 billion aid package, along with Democratic leaders a couple months ago, two months ago.
In fact, that plan included aid to Ukraine, Taiwan, and to Israel. Then, essentially, he went nowhere in the Republican House for more than two months until Speaker Mike Johnson decided to make a move and try to move on a similar plan, what's the modifications, with some changes, and send that back to the Senate on Saturday (INAUDIBLE) ultimately leading to Senate's final action early this week.
Now, McConnell, as he was discussing all of this pinned the blame on the former Fox News host Tucker Carlson for stoking that anti-Ukraine sentiment within the GOP.
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MCCONNELL: I think the demonization of Ukraine began by Tucker Carlson, who, in my opinion, ended up where he should have been all along which is interviewing Vladimir Putin.
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And so, he had an enormous audience which convinced a lot of rank-in- file Republicans that maybe this was a mistake.
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RAJU: Now, this all comes as Mike Johnson, making that decision to move ahead on aid to Ukraine and only angering folks on the right who have been concerned about some of his deal-making already. Whether it was to keep the government open, whether it's to reauthorize a foreign intelligence surveillance law as well as to actually move ahead on authorizing national security problems -- programs as he did under the National Defense Authorization Act late last year.
All these actions over the last six months since becoming speaker have prompted this rebellion on the far right including lead right now by Congressmen Marjorie Taylor Greene who has called for his house to threaten to call for such a vote but there's a belief that Johnson being able to survive such a vote if it were to actually come to a head on the House for because potentially Democrats could come to his defense.
And also, the former president himself Donald Trump defending the actions of Mike Johnson in an interview earlier in the week. So, a lot of questions about Johnson's future but the moment there is a belief and there's a relief among supporters of Ukraine aid on Capitol Hill that after months of battling finally this chapter is done for now.
Manu Raju, CNN Capitol Hill.
WATT: Ukraine is also getting a fresh supply of cruise missiles as part of a $618 million aid package from the U.K. The long-range storm shadow missiles are among more than 1600 strike and air defense missiles which will allow Ukraine to hit targets deep into Russian- held territory. Britain's aid package also includes 60 boats comprised of offshore raiding craft, rigid raiding craft and dive boats.
Also in that package more than 400 vehicles including armored mobility huskies which can be used as command logistics and resupply vehicles and for removing casualties. Dozens of all-terrain vehicles are also being sent.
With ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas at an apparent standstill fighting across Gaza is intensifying. The IDF is warning people to leave dangerous combat zones across northern Gaza. Residents there and in other parts of the enclave report nearly non-stop bombardments and some of the heaviest shelling in weeks. The Israeli military says it's using extreme force against terrorist infrastructure and subversive elements.
And a Hamas spokesperson is calling for continued attacks on Israel in response. Rocket alert sounded in two Israeli border towns on Tuesday although no casualties were reported.
Meanwhile, the U.S. is urging Israel to get more humanitarian aid to Gaza.
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DAVID SATTERFIELD, U.S. SPECIAL ENVOY FOR MIDDLE EAST HUMANITARIAN ISSUES: The risk of famine throughout Gaza is very high especially in the north. And the volume of assistance entering into and most importantly distributed within Gaza has increased significantly but we know much more aid is needed.
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WATT: Meantime, Israeli leaders are criticizing reports of U.S. plans to sanction an IDF unit criticized by others inside Israel and accused of human rights abuses against Palestinians in the West Bank long before the October 7th Hamas attacks.
CNN's Nic Robertson has the details.
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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): Palestinian-American Amar Assad was 78 years old when IDF soldiers from the ultra-religious Netzah Yehuda battalion detained him then witnesses say they left him to die. That was more than two years ago. His younger brother is still struggling with the family's loss.
AMER ASSAD, BROTHER OF OMAR ASSAD: He was a father to me, not just the brother. He was our happiness, he was our happiness.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): The troops were internally investigated criticized by IDF commanders for a moral failure. Two officers were reprimanded but not prosecuted. They said they thought Omar Assad was alive when they left.
Abu Mohammed was also detained that bitter January night high in the occupied West Bank mountaintop village of Jaljulia.
ROBERTSON (on camera): Like this. They're pushing you down like this. Walking up the road like this. Pushing, pushing.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): He shows me how he says the troops rough handled him. Pushed him into the yard where Omar Assad lay on the freezing ground.
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This photo taken that night published in an Israeli newspaper Abu Mohammed says shows him next the Omar Assad's prone body. Neither were accused of or had committed a crime. The IDF says they were stopped for vehicle inspections. Abu Muhammad clearly remembers the moment he discovered Omar Assad was dead. A soldier put his hand on his neck to check for a pulse, Abu Muhammad says, then left in a hurry. When I was sure they were gone, I checked him. He had no pulse, and I sent for the doctor.
ISLAM ABU TAHER, DOCTOR, ARABIC MEDICAL CENTER: Someone knocked the door and shouting, doctor, doctor, we need the help.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): It was 3:00 a.m., Dr Taher says. He rushed to help, tried CPR, but says Omar Assad overweight with a heart condition was already dead.
TAHER: No vital signs was on the patient.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): He says he has seen the autopsy determining Omar Assad died from a stress-induced heart attack and shows me his own report of his actions that night. His conclusion is shocking. The soldiers could have saved Omar Assad.
ROBERTSON (on camera): It says he lost consciousness for which he was ready army, escape from the site and left him without giving him any --
TAHER: -- medical help. Yes.
ROBERTSON (on camera): If they'd given him help, could he have lived?
TAHER: Yes, mostly.
YEHUDA SHAUL, CO-DIRECTOR, OFEK: The killing of Omar Assad is just one case that Netzah Yehuda was involved in.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Yehuda Shaul is an army veteran, has tracked the unit for years, says their reputation for violence precedes them.
This video that caught them beating two Palestinians in the occupied West Bank two years ago quickly went viral. The IDF discharged the soldiers involved. Netzah Yehuda Battalion was originally designed to allow the ultra-orthodox to join the army. But Shaul says it's become home for ultra-nationalists who underpin Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing government.
SHAUL: They kind of took over the unit and it became very aggressive.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): After U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said determinations were being made about cutting all U.S. weapons and funding from the Netzah Yehuda Battalion over alleged human rights violations leaked several days ago. Netanyahu and his ministers have been hitting back at America. For Shaul and many others here who worry about the IDF's apparent impunity, the sanctions should be a pivotal moment of reckoning.
SHAUL: What we need to do is to start a behave and start to behave morally and start to have serious mechanisms of accountability in the IDF.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): For Omar Assad's family, sanctions won't bring him back or mend his wife who was broken by his brutal death.
ASSAD: It's been their time in jail.
ROBERTSON (on camera): You want to see the person who did this, the people responsible get in jail?
ASSAD: Go to jail.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Omar Assad's grave, like so many others, witnessed to the lessons the IDF might learn and the cost of failure.
Nic Robison, CNN, Jaljulia, the West Bank.
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WATT: Officials at Columbia University in New York are urging students behind the pro-Palestinian protests on campus to dismantle their encampment. The school had set a midnight deadline to get the issue resolved. Then earlier this hour, the editor-in-chief of the school newspaper told us that the deadline was extended to 8:00 a.m. local time. No comment so far from the school on that.
Now video from our affiliate WCBS appears to show just a handful of tents were taken down just before midnight. The rest remain. CNN's Jen Sullivan looks back at the developments on Tuesday.
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JENN SULLIVAN, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): Protests erupting on New York's Columbia University for a seventh day in a row. Pro-Palestinian protesters taking over this quad and setting up tents of violation of university policy. Students demanding a ceasefire in Gaza. The turmoil on campus causing many Jewish students to feel unsafe.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is not a welcoming environment.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's reached a boiling point in terms of anti- Semitism.
SULLIVAN (voice-over): Classes now being offered online for the rest of the semester. The university saying Tuesday that the safety of our community is our number one priority. The protests at Columbia inspiring similar demonstrations at other campuses.
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At New York University, students and faculty clashing with police. The NYPD arresting more than 130 people.
MAYOR ERIC ADAMS (D) NEW YORK: There is no place for hate in this city.
SULLIVAN (voice-over): Similar protests staged at Yale University where dozens of students were also arrested. Pro-Palestinian students at MIT condemning Israel's actions in Gaza.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a genocide going on.
SULLIVAN (voice-over): The protests sweeping across the country. On Berkeley's campus in California, students setting up this solidarity encampment.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's time that the university implement real protective measures for their Muslim, Palestinian, Arab and pro- Palestinian students.
SULLIVAN (voice-over): The White House says President Joe Biden is monitoring the protests, but won't say if he believes New York officials should deploy the National Guard to restore order.
In New York, I'm Jenn Sullivan reporting.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) WATT: Joining me now is Sarah Huddleston, University News editor with the Columbia Daily Spectator. Sarah, so I just want to start with some of the scenes we've been seeing on the campus there. I mean, scenes that we haven't seen in my lifetime and I'm not a young man. The introduction of the police. Now, I've spoken to people on University of Kansas out here, administrators, who've been very keen not to get the police involved because they feel that that just inflames and, in fact, makes it all grow. What's your take on the impact of the police in what's happened at Columbia?
SARAH HUDDLESTON, UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITOR, COLUMBIA DAILY SPECTATOR: For sure. Our university president Minouche Shafik's decision to authorize NYPD personnel on to our campus was the first time that the University president has authorized such presence in over 50 years. So, it's definitely something that is presented at Columbia, but is certainly not regular. As we have mentioned, it leads to a increase in tensions, distrust towards the administration, et cetera.
Speaking to students, immediately following those arrests, it certainly did shock the community. Speaking with faculty as well, faculty really did rally in support of students who were both arrested but then also suspended by the University for their involvement in the Gaza Solidarity encampment as organizers title it.
WATT: Now, the administrators' justification for the action they're taking is that, you know, they say that the campus is not a safe place for some people, for Jewish students. I mean, what's your take on that? I mean, this certainly looks -- and I've been at some of these protests, not on -- not on Columbia but where there is certainly an atmosphere in which Jewish students do not feel safe. What do you say to that?
HUDDLESTON: Based off of our reporting recently, the difference really comes with ongoing on-campus protests which are organized by students or affiliate groups such as faculty or staff and ongoing off-campus protests that while they are happening right outside of our Columbia gates are mainly organized by autonomous unaffiliated, perhaps individuals or organizations, and that's really has been a site of anti-Semitic rhetoric or incidents that make it so -- that some Jewish students report feeling unsafe when walking through those protests, through onto campus.
WATT: So, just to be clear, you were saying that that kind of atmosphere is being created by kind of off-campus groups outside rather than the student protesters actually on campus.
HUDDLESTON: Currently, that seems to be more so the sentiment that we are hearing just because ongoing off-campus protests have continued for the past couple of days. In regards to on-campus reports of anti- Semitism or anti-Semitic harassment or language, there certainly have been reports of such things happening on our campus. However, in recent days, most of those reports are happening from outside of campus.
WATT: Got you. Now, I mean, what do we think is going to happen? I mean, I've just got a letter that the president put out today. She's saying that there have been, you know, talks between, you know, administrators and student groups and that there's a deadline midnight tonight to reach an agreement. I'm going to quote, "I very much hope these discussions are successful. If they are not, we will have to consider alternative options for clearing the West lawn." Do you know how successful those talks have or haven't been?
HUDDLESTON: Yes. It's a great question. We actually did just run an article breaking this news. And it is something that is top of our minds as we move forward into the future and the uncertainty of this current moment.
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In regards to the negotiations themselves, we have been aware that they have been ongoing. They are mainly between student organizers and members of our administration and members of our university senate, which is a shared governing body on campus. As for the content of those negotiations. They're less known to us at this time. However, student organizers have been adamant that they will not, that they will remain on campus or on those lawns until that they're -- until their demands are met.
And the demand for these student organizers is divest -- university divestment from companies with ties to Israel.
WATT: Well, so it's going to be an interesting week at Columbia. Sarah Huddleston, thank you so much for your time.
HUDDLESTON: Thank you for having me.
WATT: The so-called Eyes and Ears of the first Trump campaign takes the stand in the historic hush money trial. What a former tabloid king told the court about the catch and kill agreement with then-candidate Trump.
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WATT: A dramatic day in the Donald Trump hush money trial with the judge telling defense attorneys their "losing old credibility with the court." That warning came during a hearing on whether Trump has repeatedly violated a gag order that bars him from publicly discussing witnesses and other key figures in the trial. The prosecution is urging the court to fine the former U.S. president $1,000 per violation and remind him that incarceration remains an option.
But the highlight of the day was another key witness actually on the stand, the former publisher of the National Enquirer. David Pecker testified about how his tabloid used a catch and kill strategy to buy and then bury unflattering stories about Trump that could hurt his presidential bid, specifically offering to flag instances of "women selling stories."
CNN's Paula Reid explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker back on the witness stand where he shared details of his decades-long friendship with Donald Trump and how he eventually used his position to help Trump in the 2016 election. Under questioning from prosecutors, Pecker described a meeting he had with Trump and his former attorney, Michael Cohen, in 2015, where they asked, what can I do and what my magazine could do to help the campaign?
Pecker testified that he responded saying, what I would do is I would run or publish positive stories about Mr. Trump and I would publish negative stories about his opponents. I said I would be your eyes and ears.
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He told the jury he saw the agreement as mutually beneficial. It would help his campaign and it would also help me. Pecker said he began meeting with Cohen a minimum of every week and if there was an issue, could be daily. He said he would go directly to Cohen when confronted with a negative story about Trump. The prosecution questioned Pecker in detail about a doorman who tried to sell a story about Trump allegedly fathering a child with another woman, as Trump sat in court and shook his head.
Pecker said he directed the editor of the Enquirer to negotiate a number, a price, to buy the story and take it off the market. The doorman was paid $30,000 for the story, even though it later proved to be false. Pecker told the court if the story got out to another publication or another media outlet, it would have been very embarrassing to the campaign. Pecker claimed if the story were true, it would probably be the biggest sale of the National Enquirer since the death of Elvis Presley.
But then admitted if it were true, he wouldn't have published the story until after the election. But before Pecker even took the stand, the proceedings have began with a heated hearing on the gag order imposed on Trump in this case. The prosecution asked the judge to order Trump to remove specific posts they allege violate the gag order and find him $1,000 for each of the alleged violations and remind him that incarceration is an option should it be necessary.
The defense attorney Todd Blanche argued that Trump did not willfully violate the gag order and claimed Trump believes reposting others assertions or content is not a violation. But the hearing became heated at one point with the judge telling Blanche, you're losing all credibility with the court.
Paula Reid, CNN, New York.
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WATT: Shan Wu was a defense attorney and former federal prosecutor and joins me now from Alexandria, Virginia. So, two real sections to the court proceedings today, the gag order hearing and then the actual trial. Let's start with the gag order hearing. So, former President Trump has called the jurors Democrats, he's called his former fixer Michael Cohen a liar, all apparently violating the gag order.
The judge seems furious but do you really think the judge is actually going to put Trump in jail for that stuff?
SHAN WU, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, definitely not at first. I think the hearing that you're right, the judge was quite furious, although a lot of it was directed at Trump's lawyer as well. I think most likely the judge is going to want to make a record here of the violations. And the judge may start with saying, yes, these are all violations, there are 10 or a dozen of them. I'm going to find you whatever it is, a thousand, two thousand per violation.
Really, what he's doing is sending a message to Trump that he's not playing around. These are our violations and probably will tell them, as you know, this could result in jail if you continue to do this. But I think at first, he's probably going to say, there's like a dozen violations here, you've done all of these and this is the warning shot for you.
WATT: I mean, not a great idea for a client and a defense attorney to irritate the judge quite so deeply on in a case, right?
WU: Absolutely. Trump obviously has his reasons for wanting to irritate the judge and to make these statements. The real problem for them in terms of the trial strategy from this irritation is -- there's a long ways to go in the trial and the judge already said to Trump's lawyer, you know, you've lost all credibility. So future legal arguments that they're making, they're really starting off at a disadvantage. So, it is very cool where it started things.
WATT: OK. So, moving on to the actual meat of the day. David Pecker, former National Enquirer, pretty smart move for the prosecution to get him up there early on?
WU: I think so. He's not as volatile of a witness, potentially doesn't have the kind of potential cross-examination fodder that Michael Cohen has for the defense. And most importantly, I think that Mr. Pecker sets the stage for the overall strategy which is -- the important strategy was they had this idea of trying to capture and kill -- catch and kill, damaging stories. And so, he is the one that was doing that.
He had actual conversations with both the CEO, excuse me, the CFO for the Trump Organization of Weisselberg as well as Michael Cohen and even Trump.
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So, it is a very good witness to start with, not going to be too many fireworks, and very integral part of explaining how that plan was supposed to work.
WATT: And listen, obviously, it is crucial here that the prosecution proves that the Trump organization or Trump was paying this money to keep Playboy models and porn star is quiet, not to save Melania's delicate ears, but as a way to basically keep this information from voters. There is one quote from Pecker today that I'd like you to sort of dig into.
So he is talking about a meeting in 2015 at Trump Tower, Pecker said at the meeting, Donald Trump and Michael Cohen, they asked me what can I do and what my magazine could do to help the campaign, to help the campaign, pretty crucial words there, right?
WU: Absolutely, that's really a gold nugget for the prosecution, that kind of phrase. I would point out that the prosecution doesn't have to completely defeat the idea that Trump was embarrassed or didn't want Melania to find out. Those can co-exist with the notion that they were also trying to help his campaign chances because what is embarrassing for him to reveal to Melania is obviously very embarrassing to reveal to the voters too.
But that particular conversation, that phrase goes to the heart of the case, which is that the reason they were trying to cover up the payments was to help influence the elections. So that's a really critical piece of testimony.
WATT: Shan Wu, thank you so much for your time and talking us through what was another historic day for America. Thanks again.
WU: You are welcome.
WATT: Now, TikTok's days in the U.S. could be numbered after the U.S. Congress passed legislation that could force the app's Chinese owners to sell their stake or face a U.S. ban. We'll discuss what TikTok could do next.
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WATT: More on our top story this hour. Much needed weaponry, air defenses, long-range missiles, and artillery will be headed to Ukraine in a matter of days after the U.S. Senate approved a long-awaited $95 billion foreign aid package late Tuesday.
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WATT: The bill which is also includes aid for Israel and Taiwan, had been stalled for months in Congress, held up by Republican lawmakers in the House. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed his gratitude for the Senate's passage of the bill. Israel's foreign minister has also thanked the Senate. President Joe Biden says he'll sign it the bill into law in the coming hours.
Included in that aid package is legislation that could result in a ban on TikTok in the U.S. unless its Chinese parent company sells the social media app. CNN's Kristie Lu Stout joins me now with more. Kristie, any reaction yet from the Chinese side of all this?
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No reaction yet from ByteDance or the ministry of foreign affairs. Its daily briefing will kick off and just about half an hour from now, so we will be monitoring for reaction there. But the pressure is on and the clock will be ticking for ByteDance to either sell TikTok's U.S. operations or to shut it down completely. Now, TikTok is of course, the very popular social media platform. It is based in Los Angeles and Singapore. It is a unit of the Beijing- based ByteDance, which is the privately-owned tech giant based in the Chinese capital. And that is why it's been fueling fears across the U.S. that Beijing could be using it to spy or to shape public opinion in America. TikTok and its CEO have denied that saying, look, it is an entertainment app, it doesn't allow the Chinese government or any government to influence its recommendation model.
But what is next for TikTok after this legislation being pushed forward? Can it be sold to someone else? So, the Chinese government has said it is against a sale. It does not want ByteDance to give up TikTok's algorithm. The Chinese government may allow TikTok to be sold without the algorithm, but that would strip TikTok of its core technology and the secret to its success.
And analysts say, what could happen next is profound. If you look at the ramifications here, the entire tech world could be further split into two tech spheres, one aligned with the United States and the other aligned with China. I want to share with you this commentary that CNN received from Alex Capri. He is with the National University of Singapore. He is a lecturer at the business school there and he tells CNN this, "A ban is a loss of soft power for Beijing, what little it has in the West. But a ban in the U.S. will spark renewed efforts to spread Chinese digital footprint in Southeast Asia and other mostly developing markets worldwide."
Now, again, Nick, we are awaiting comment from the ministry of foreign affairs, we are also waiting any comment from ByteDance based in Beijing. TikTok meanwhile has said it plans to challenge this legislation in court. Back to you.
WATT: Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong, thanks very much. Climate scientists are monitoring a volcano erupting in Indonesia. Coming up, how ash and toxic gas from the volcano could impact weather.
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WATT: Scientists are right now watching to see if the powerful eruption of a volcano in Indonesia will have an impact on the weather. Mount Ruang has erupted at least seven times in the past week, sending ash and volcanic gases tens of thousands of feet into the air. And ash from eruptions can stay in the atmosphere, causing a temporary cooling effect as it blocks out sunlight. Some gases from Mount Ruang climbed so high, they punched into the stratosphere here, the second layer of Earth's atmosphere. But, scientists say Mount Ruang's eruption will likely have minimal impact on climate.
People in Athens, Greece were treated to an other-worldly scene on Tuesday. Take a look at these stunning images. Dust from the Sahara Desert turned the sky over Athens orange, making it look like a Martian landscape. The huge cloud of dust swept across the Mediterranean Sea, prompting officials in Greece and Cyprus to issue health warnings. The spread of the dust is expected to gradually decrease beginning Wednesday. Afar a (ph) different landscape in Finland, where a spring snow storm brought public transit to a standstill. More than 20 centimeters or nearly eight inches of snow fell. In some areas it left tramps stranded, and delayed bus and metro services all across Helsinki. It also caused flight cancellations and delays at the Helsinki Airport. While snow is common in Finland's winter months, officials call this late-April snowfall unusual.
Thanks for joining us. I am Nick Watt. I'll be back at the top of the hour with more "CNN Newsroom." "World Sport" is up next.
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