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The Global Brief with Bianca Nobilo
Ukraine Front Lines Latest; Missing Journalist Investigation; U.S. Inflation Hits 40-Year High. Aired 5-5:30p ET
Aired June 10, 2022 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome. I'm Alison Kosik in New York. I am in for Bianca Nobilo. This is THE GLOBAL BRIEF.
Tonight, more than 200 soldiers are mobilized in the Amazon to find a missing journalist, and an indigenous affairs expert. We'll have the latest
on the investigation.
And rising costs of living push U.S. inflation to its highest level in more than 40 years. U.S. President Joe Biden blames Russia for the higher
prices.
And Ukrainian intelligence believes that Russia can't continue the war for another year, but also says Russian troops might be running out of modern
weaponry.
Brazilian police say they have found blood traces in a boat belonging to a suspect in the Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira disappearance. The court has
ordered a 30 day detention for that suspect.
This as President Jair Bolsonaro says he is mobilizing a further 200 soldiers to help in the search operation. The British journalist and
indigenous affairs expert disappeared on Sunday.
[17:00:00]
They were working in a remote and potentially dangerous area of the Amazon rainforest known for mining and drug trafficking.
Joining us now to discuss this is CNN's Shasta Darlington. She is live for us from Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Shasta, I'm wondering if authorities are giving you any idea if foul play is indeed involved here, and whether or not these men were actually
targeted?
SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you mentioned, Alison, without speculating we know that the suspect has been detained and we know
that traces of blood were found in the boat. We've not heard with the police discovered Wednesday tested those traces of blood. They don't have
the results yet, they say they're investigating all possibilities.
We also know, of course, that Pereira and Phillips were in a dangerous part of the far western region of the Amazon. They were in an area that was
supposed to be reserved for indigenous groups. Many of them on contact the tribes where there had been repeated land invasions over the last few years
with people trying to engage in illegal logging, illegal mining, illegal fishing, and hunting, as well as drug trafficking.
This is an area that is right next to the Peruvian and Bolivian border. So, we're obviously waiting for more news, but a lot of what's happened is
authorities just come under fire at home and abroad, for what critics call a slow and inefficient response. The feeling is that precious time was
wasted, because authorities did not join the rescue efforts immediately.
Now, Phillips and Pereira were headed out on what was supposed to be a two- hour boat ride Sunday morning and but they never arrived at the destination. So, indigenous groups, indigenous affairs groups immediately
searched up search and rescue teams because they say the dangers in that area were well-known. So, they immediately wanted to get somebody out
there.
Unfortunately, authorities didn't join those efforts until the next day Monday. They did not get a helicopter in the air until Tuesday. So, this
despite the fact that a colleague of Pereira's was killed in that region in 2019, both Pereira and Phillips had recently received death threats. So,
this just caused a lot of anger and frustration as a result. Britain's acting ambassador to Brazil, the human rights office, dozens of media
editors, even soccer legend Pele have all come out urging the Brazilian government to redouble its search and rescue efforts.
In the meantime, we saw that at the Summit of Americas, as you mentioned, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has defended the actions by authorities
and said that they had all been working tirelessly to find the pair. But the fact is with no sign of them, just this news that there are traces of
blood on a boat, it's obvious that people are concerned. Fears are simply growing, Alison.
KOSIK: All right. CNN's Shasta Darlington live for us from Sao Paulo, thanks very much for your reporting.
And as you were talking about, Brazilian President Bolsonaro is in Los Angeles for the Summit of the Americas, and though he had a frosty
relationship with U.S. President Joe Biden, the two leaders did have their first face to face meeting on Thursday. They spoke about preserving the
Amazon rainforest and Bolsonaro stressed that upcoming elections in Brazil would be free and fair.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAIR BOLSONARO, BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT: This year, we will be having elections in Brazil. We do wish to have honest, clean, transparent,
auditable, reliable elections, so that there be no shadow of a doubt whatsoever following the elections. And I'm quite certain that the
elections will very much be carried out in this democratic spirit. I came to office through democracy, and I am quite certain that when I leave
office, it will also be through democratic means.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: In the U.S., inflation is soaring to its highest levels in 40 years. The main consumer price index rose 8.6 percent year over year above
what economists had predicted. Markets are responding forcefully. U.S. President Joe Biden says Russia's war on Ukraine is keeping consumer prices
uncomfortably high.
And not just the United States, high inflation is a problem across the world, right now, including the eurozone, U.K., India and Turkey.
Matt Egan joins us now from New York with more.
Matt, good to see you. So, do these high inflation numbers mean that a recession is kind of inevitable, because the Fed is going to be force to
hear to raise more aggressively raise interest rates more aggressively, thus avoiding a soft landing for the economy, which would impact economies
around the world.
MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Alison, I think the odds of a recession has gone up for those reasons that you're talking about. The Fed is trying to
tame inflation without causing a downturn, what is known as a soft landing.
But, it's going to be harder to do not because inflation keeps going further and further away from the Fed school, which is 2 percent, now
unexpectedly rising in the latest reading.
[17:05:08]
And so that signals that inflation is in some ways spreading and a bigger problem and policymakers realize. To your point, this is not just a U.S.
problem. We are seeing high levels of inflation for the first time in a long time in major economies all around the world.
This is first because of COVID, which caused all of the supply disruptions and distorted demands. It's because governments around the world,
especially the United States, they responded forcefully with a lot of stimulus, central banks and fiscal authorities. And so, on top of that, you
had waves after waves of COVID that have done more damage to supply chains, and you layer it on top of that the war in Ukraine, which is obviously
causing energy prices to skyrocket. But it's also causing food prices to go up.
In the United States food prices rising at the fastest pace since 1981. Restaurant prices are rising at a fastest pace ever. So, I think if you put
all this together, this is going to be a very difficult task for the Federal Reserve, for central bankers around the world, and, Alison, this
would set up what could be a historic Fed meeting next week in Washington, two major Wall Street banks are now predicting that the Federal Reserve is
going to have to do something that it has not done since 1994, raise interest rates by three quarters of a percentage point in a single meeting.
But the problem, of course, is that the more the Feds know does, the greater the risk of an accident that causes a recession.
KOSIK: But won't the market regard and even tougher interest rate hike, three quarters of a percent -- would the market view that as good, with
since the Fed is trying to get in front of this because it's been behind inflation issue for so long?
EGAN: I would argue that if the fed surprises people and goes with a big interest rate increase, I think that they could be very good news for
mainstream. Yes, borrowing costs will go up. It would show that the Fed is really on top of this.
I don't know if initially would be great news for Wall Street, because markets don't like surprises. The Jerome Powell-led Fed has been careful
not to surprise investors by doing anything that it did not telegraph ahead of time. So, the issue is the Fed does not have time to telegraph ahead of
next week's meeting that it's going to go big.
So, that means it could rattle investors a bit if that's what actually happens. It's going to be very interesting to see how the Fed response, not
just next week, that all summer to this inflation crisis, Alison.
KOSIK: And we will be watching the moves from the Fed very closely along with you.
Matt Egan, thanks so much.
EGAN: Thank you.
KOSIK: The Biden administration says it will scrap a pre-departure COVID testing requirements for travelers entering the country. The move which
will be welcomed by airlines is expected to go into effect at midnight on June 12th.
Ukraine's military intelligence warns that Russia has the resources to continue the current pace of war for another year. It says Ukrainian troops
are significantly outgunned and everything now depends on what weaponry the West decides to provide. While Ukraine is fighting to hold on to two Donbas
provinces under attack, it's getting new pledges of support from Britain.
Defense Secretary Ben Wallace made an unannounced visit to Kyiv vowing the UK will continue to send lethal aid that meets current and future threats
facing Ukraine. He also said, quote, I think we can push Russia out of Donbas.
Britain and other countries are condemning death sentences issued to three foreign fighters in Ukraine. A court in the Russian-backed self proclaimed
Donetsk People's Republic found two Britons and one Moroccan guilty of being mercenaries. Ukraine says they were part of its armed forces and are
prisoners of war. The United Nations says it's concerned.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAVINA SHAMDASANI, U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS SPOKESPERSON: Since 2015, we have observed that the so-called judiciary in the self proclaimed republics has
not complied with essential fair trial guarantees, such as public hearings, independents, impartiality of the courts, and the right not to be compelled
to testify. Such trials against prisoners of war amount to a war crime. In the case of the use of the death penalty, fair trial guarantees are, of
course, all the more important.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: Let's go live to Ukraine and bring in our Ben Wedeman. He is live for us in Kramatorsk.
Ben, what are you seeing?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alison, what we are seeing is the real effects of this imbalance between Ukraine and
Russian forces that many people who live close to the front lines are starting to realize that perhaps the Ukrainian forces may not be able to
hold out much longer as they suffer from intense Russian artillery bombardments.
[17:10:01]
Some people are staying, that others are saying perhaps it's time to leave.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WEDEMAN (voice-over): The daily bread has arrived. Two loaves per person in the front line city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine. There's no gas here,
the bakeries don't work. So the loaves, 10,000, are trucked ten hours here every day.
Lyliya has come with her two grandchildren and says she tries to shield them from the sounds of war.
We tell them there are some guys playing with tanks, she says. How can I damage their mental health? You shouldn't do that. It's impossible.
That's the roar of outgoing Ukrainian fire.
Tetyana is a volunteer helping to hand out the bread, leaving Bakhmut is out of the question.
I have two children and four grandchildren, she tells me. I love them all. I want all of us to live here. It's our land. Everything will be fine, god
protects us.
Pavlo Diachenko's job is to investigate every strike, every damaged building for the Bakhmut police.
PAVLO DIACHENKO, BAKHMUT POLICE: Strike anytime. This morning, in the evening. We don't know when it's going.
WEDEMAN: He takes us to a school struck by Russian war planes Wednesday. Two passersby were injured, classes haven't been held for months.
Not far away, a complex of agricultural warehouses has been hit. Workers salvage what they can. Shrapnel tore into the roof of one warehouse
containing a precious resource.
We don't know the motives of the Russians for hitting this facility. It's been struck three times, most recently on Thursday morning. But one cannot
but wonder if all of this Ukrainian grain is the target.
Lyudmila and her two children have been staying at this city-run dormitory since March. They fled the shelling on her nearby town. She's pondered
leaving to a safer part of the country but doesn't have enough money and in the end asks, what's the point? The Russians are coming.
It's the same everywhere, she says. When they, the Russians, she means, are done here they'll go further.
Yet others aren't so fatalistic, reminded as they wait for the bus out of the city why they should go.
Igor, a beekeeper in peace time, is leaving with his cat, Simone Symonich (ph).
I left everything here, he says, my bees and my house with all of my belongings.
They load their bags on the bus. And go.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WEDEMAN (on camera): And, of course, when you wonder about where these people are leaving, the numbers really, Alison, say enough. For instance,
when Ukrainian official told the guardian that Ukrainian forces are allowed -- are able to fire between 5,000 and 6000 rounds a day compared to about
60,000 incoming rounds coming from the Russians -- Alison.
KOSIK: Ben, your piece was amazing. Showing what people are really going through there. Thanks so much for your reporting.
Still to come, evidence of a conspiracy. The U.S. House committee investigating the January 6th insurrection of the Capitol is pointing
directly to Donald Trump, saying he plotted to stay in office even after he lost the election.
And climate activists are joined by a familiar face to emphasize how women are affected by the climate crisis. That story next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:17:12]
KOSIK: London's high court has denied an injunction seeking to stop the UK from deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda. That means that the United Kingdom
can send its first flight of refugees to the East African Nation as soon as next week.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government is hoping it will dissuade people from crossing the English Channel into the UK.
But the plan is coming under massive backlash from human rights experts and is still under judicial review.
Let's take a look at the other key stories making international headlines today. Protests broke out across India on Friday and continued up road
against comments made by an official in the ruling party about the Islamic Prophet Mohammed. Police in New Delhi say they filed a complaint against
party officials for inciting people on divisive lines.
Malaysia is set to abolish the mandatory death penalty. The country's law minister says that serious crimes, which include drug trafficking will
instead have alternative punishments at the discretion of the courts. The move has been cautiously welcomed by human rights groups.
Over 3,000 prisoners convicted of cannabis offenses have been released in Thailand after the country legalize the growing consumption of marijuana in
food and drinks on Thursday. It's the first Asian country to de-list marijuana as a narcotic drug.
On Capitol Hill in Washington, it was the culmination of an attempted coup. That is how the chairman of a House committee investigating the January 6
riot is describing the day. The committee held a nationally televised hearing outlining how it says former President Donald Trump orchestrated a
multi tier conspiracy to hold on to his office, and that led directly to the violent insurrection at the Capitol.
CNN's Pamela Brown has the disturbing details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just had protesters at Peace Circle breach the line. We need backup.
PAMELA BROWN, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Chilling new aerial footage showing the moment that protesters breached the Capitol
grounds on January 6.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is now effectively a riot.
BROWN: The new video part of the debut primetime hearing of the select committee investigating the January 6th Capitol attack.
REP. BENNIE THOMPSON (D-MS): Donald Trump, the president of the United States, spurred a mob of domestic enemies of the Constitution to march down
the Capitol and subvert American democracy.
BROWN: The focus immediately turning to the role of the former president in those crucial hours when a mob descended on the Capitol.
REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): President Trump summoned the mob, assembled the mob and lit the flame of this attack.
BROWN: Committee vice chair, Republican Representative Liz Cheney, referencing then President Trump's alleged seven point plan to overturn the
2020 election, which a committee source said included possibly replacing the acting attorney general and instructing state officials to create false
electors.
[17:20:17]
CROWD: Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence!
CHENEY: Aware of the rioters' chants to hang Mike Pence, the president responded with the sentiment. Quote, maybe our supporters have the right
idea. Mike Pence, quote, deserves it.
BROWN: Testimony also revealed that it was Pence who called Joint Chief of Staff Chairman Mark Milley demanding that the National Guard defend the
Capitol. Milley had first there testified that the president's chief of staff called him to say that they needed to dispel the narrative that the
president was not taking action.
GEN. MARK MILLEY, CHAIRMAN, U.S. JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: We need to establish the narrative that, you know, that the president is still in
charge, and things are steady or stable or words to that effect. I immediately interpreted that as politics, politics, politics. Red flag for
me personally, no action. But I remember it distinctly.
BROWN: Previously recorded testimony from former Attorney General Bill Barr disputed the president's claims of election fraud was played.
BILL BARR, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: I made it clear that I did not agree with the ideas that saying the election was stolen and putting out
this stuff, which I told the president was bullshit.
BROWN: That was enough to convince the president's former daughter and advisor, Ivanka Trump.
IVANKA TRUMP, DAUGHTER OF DONALD TRUMP: I respect Attorney General Barr, so I accepted what he was saying.
BROWN: The committee says that the president had been told by at least four close aides that he lost reelection. Testimony revealed that at least
one associate of the campaign even told him that he was likely to lose the election.
JASON MILLER, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN ADVISOR: At some point in the conversation with Matt Oczkowski, who is the lead data person, was brought
on and I remember he delivered to the president in pretty blunt terms that he was going to lose.
BROWN: The committee placed a huge emphasis on the role of two extremist groups, the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers.
(CHANTING)
BROWN: Both groups were visibly present at the Capitol on January 6, and were some of the first break into the Capitol building.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am not allowed to say what's going to happen today because everyone is going to have to watch for themselves. But, it is going
to happen.
BROWN: Never before seen security footage from inside of Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's office shows the moment that everyone fled
the scene. A GOP source with direct knowledge said that McCarthy was scared that day. And Cheney stated that McCarthy was calling Trump's allies and
family members to try to persuade the president to intervene.
Now, McCarthy along with several other GOP members of Congress have come refused to comply with Congress to testify before the committee.
REP. ELAINE LURIA (D-VA): He is patently embarrassing himself. If you are truly a leader within the House, you'd want to get to the truth and facts,
which is where he started. But somewhere, he went off the rails on that.
BROWN: The committee also claims that multiple Republican lawmakers, including Representative Scott Perry were advocating for pardons in the
final weeks of the administration.
The committee also heard live testimony from documentarian Nick Quested, and Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards, who were both on the ground.
Many Capitol officers were in attendance watching on as one of their own testified about the extensive injuries she sustained as one of the first
officers on the scene.
CAROLINE EDWARDS, U.S. CAPITOL POLICE OFFICER: What I saw was just they were seen. I saw friends with blood all over their faces. I was slipping in
people's blood.
BROWN: Pamela Brown, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOSIK: Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai joined climate change protesters outside the Swedish parliament on Friday. She stood alongside
activists Greta Thunberg and Vanessa Nakate at the protests, which has been held every week since 2018. All three emphasized that women are
disproportionately affected by the climate crisis. Yousafzai mentioned how her own education was interrupted by climate change when her school was
flooded. She stressed that when girls don't have access to education, it can hold back efforts to curb the climate crisis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MALALA YOUSAFZAI, NOBEL PEACE PRIZE LAUREATE: The Taliban and their de facto government are continuing to find excuses to stop those from school.
We know that when girls do not have access to education, it can worsen the climate related events. There were also very activists in Afghanistan, as
well. They were young activists who were supporting the causes. They were highlighting how their committees were affected by the climate related
events.
[17:25:04]
And they're also highlighting that even though Afghanistan was the country contributing the least climate change, they were also receiving the worst
of its effects.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: The shipwreck of a royal warship has been revealed off the coast of England after being kept secret for more than a decade. The Gloucester sunk
in 1682. At the time, it was carrying the duke of York and he narrowly escaped to eventually become King James II of England.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was massive potential there. A lot of the items that we have been conserving comes from the chest. There could be a number
of other chests down there and what they contain and what they're going to tell us about life in the period of the 17th century is really exciting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: The discovery has been kept secret for the past 15 years to protect it from plunderers.
A mystery in the U.S. state of Texas is prompting speculation about what is prowling around there. Have a look. What do you think?
A wolf man? Or bigfoot? I don't know. This image was captured by a security camera at the Amarillo zoo last month. Now the city wants folks to guess
what is.
Some think that it is a coyote jumping the fence. Others are convinced that it is a werewolf or rocket raccoon from Guardians of the Galaxy, or even
Sonic the Hedgehog. Let me know if you think, tweet me or something. Read all about it.
Prince Williams was spotted on the streets of London some copies of a charity magazine. These photographs show Britain's prince wearing the red
cap and vest associated with "The Big Issue", a magazine normally sold by the homeless. "The Big Issue" offers homeless individuals a way to earn
income by selling it to the public.
While Prince Williams has declined to comment, he has often visited home shelters with his mother, the late Princess Diana, as part of her charity
work.
Thanks for watching. I'm Alison Kosik. And you can find me on Instagram and Twitter @AlisonKosik. Feel free to follow me there.
It is the weekend, enjoy it. "WORLD SPORT" is up next. I'll see you next week.
END
