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Japan's 7.5 Quake Damages Buildings, Disrupts Power & Transport; Local Officials: At Least 4 Killed From Japan's 7.5 Quake; Biden Touts Economic Indicators In NYE Message; Houthi Boats Attack Maersk Ship; U.S. Navy Kills Rebels; 9-Year-Old Journalist Captures Reality On The Ground In Gaza. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired January 01, 2024 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[15:00:00]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's such a great moment for the host city and for the organizations involved. It's so cute to see them out there with their families, right?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Got - you got to love like the two-year-old ice skaters. They're amazing.

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's so sweet.

KEILAR: Yes.

MANNO: And a very happy New Year to you as well. I have to go. College football beckons, but I hope you have a great New Year and hopefully you'll be watching too.

KEILAR: We will be watching. Carolyn Manno, thank you so much.

Frightening scenes coming out of Japan on this New Year's Day. Japan's west coast reeling after a powerful 7.5 magnitude earthquake caused widespread damage. It cracked roads. Highways are shut down there. Collapsed homes with people possibly still trapped under the rubble. We're going to speak to famed theoretical physicist, Michio Kaku about the fallout from all of this ahead.

Plus, "remarkable resilience," that's how many experts characterize the U.S. economy in 2023 despite fears of a recession. So what should you be expecting in 2024? We're going to show you the optimistic signs and the challenges ahead in the New Year.

Also, Chicago's mayor says that Texas governor, Greg Abbott, continues to sow seeds of chaos. Saying this after Abbott has sent hundreds of asylum seekers by plane to Illinois overnight. I'm going to speak to a Chicago lawmaker about this latest move coming up.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

And it is the top of the hour, I am Brianna Keilar. Boris Sanchez is off. President Biden says he and the First Lady are praying for the people of Japan after an earthquake there that we are now learning has killed at least four people, according to local officials.

A 7.5 magnitude quake what the USGS labels as very strong. It devastated the Western prefecture of Ishikawa and the surrounding areas. This is video showing the intense shaking in a neighboring region.

Another video shows people huddling together at a supermarket after the quake hit at 4:10 pm local time there in Japan. Local outlets reporting that people are trapped, including 1,400 stranded on bullet trains.

This quake crumbled buildings like this home. It cracked open roads. It left thousands in the dark without power.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOTOKO RICH, TOKYO BUREAU CHIEF, NEW YORK TIMES: It's not a particularly populated area, probably a lot of older people there, which is definitely a worry. We heard a report earlier this evening about one of the evacuation centers was itself a nursing home and that's very concerning.

I've covered other events, earthquakes and other disasters, where that's one of the biggest troubles is trying to evacuate people who might not have a lot of mobility, might have some problems with dementia, so they might not be responding to commands or orders to evacuate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: CNN International Correspondent, Marc Stewart, is tracking this story from Seoul for us.

Marc, what are you learning now about the people who have died in this quake?

MARC STEWART, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right, Brianna. Japan has such an earthquake, preparation culture, but unfortunately, despite the best of intentions, these forces are very strong and very severe. And as such, we are now getting official reports of four confirmed deaths in the Ishikawa Prefecture, seen as the center of where this earthquake first hit, as well as two people who are seriously injured.

As the day moves forward, I think there is hope that we will be able to ask some questions to government officials and emergency responders to get an assessment of where this situation is. We know that people are stranded and we know that people are trapped. And at this point, we don't have any kind of exact number or what the plan of attack may be.

We do know that the government is clearly trying to mobilize resources. We know that 1,000 soldiers from Japan's military have been activated, with as many as 8,500 other soldiers on standby. But even with that assistance of manpower, there is this other issue of infrastructure.

As we saw, this quake was strong enough to shake a house literally down to the ground. We know that it has damaged five highways, as well as many other roads. One airport has a crack in the runway. The other airport is dealing with cancellations in that nearby area.

So it is going to be a challenge of getting rescue people to and from those areas, as well as supplies.

[15:05:00]

We heard one story about doctors trying to help wounded individuals, but they could not get to the hospital in order to help them. So that's going to be the challenge.

Sunrise is just before seven o'clock in Japan, about two hours or so away from that. But we are hoping that in these hours ahead, we can ask rescue workers some of those questions.

Brianna, you did mention that bullet train, the Shinkansen, 1,400 people are stranded there. That's very telling about the intensity of this quake, because this is a system that Japanese officials have vowed is strong and secure.

The fact that there is a disruption in service there is very telling about the intensity and the scale of this disaster.

KEILAR: Yes. Look, a 7.5 magnitude is big. This is strong, only six miles beneath the Earth's surface. Marc, do you know what they're going to do to rescue people off those trains?

STEWART: I'm not sure. I'm not sure about how that will take place. The one thing which is interesting about this rail system is that unlike U.S. rail lines, where we have crossings and we have different stations along the way, the Shinkansen is much more continuous. So it could be a bit challenging to get people.

In some places, many places in Japan, the track is elevated. So I think it's going to have to depend exactly where they are. I mean, this is a train system that's been around for 50 years, and earthquake prevention or precautions is a big part of their DNA when they operate the system. But at this point, no specific plan or sequence of events how this is going to be resolved.

KEILAR: Yes, it's sort of a very unusual occurrence here. Let's hope that they are safe.

Marc, thank you for that report.

I want to talk about this now with Dr. Michio Kaku, who is a professor of theoretical physics at The City University of New York. He's also the author of "Quantum Supremacy: How the Quantum Computer Revolution Will Change Everything." Dr. Kaku, so we are learning here - I mean, that four people at least have died. I don't know that that's surprising, considering we've seen some of these buildings just pancaked and certainly people you would expect were inside some of them. What is your main concern at this point?

MICHIO KAKU, PROFESSOR OF THEORETICAL PHYSICS, CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK: Well, yes, we're looking at the after effects where we have to realize (inaudible) two weeks, there could be aftershocks and more casualties.

And about that train that derailed, that caused 88 people to be injured. Now, believe it or not, there is a small silver lining to the disaster news. First of all, there was a nuclear power plant there, the Shika Nuclear Power Plant. It was shut down before the earthquake took place. So there's no danger of another Fukushima-type disaster there.

Next, Tokyo - Tokyo is about 180 miles away from the western part of Japan, where the epicenter was and that means that Tokyo is spared. Now, that's great news, because, of course, Tokyo is one of the most densely populated areas on the planet and (inaudible) catastrophic.

And next, Japan has one of the strongest programs to teach children, and young people, how to evacuate, how to deal with these earthquakes. And also, its codes, building codes, are some of the strongest on the earth.

But even with all this good news, we have to realize that, yes, people have died and bodies are still being recovered from the rubble, and the accident is not over.

KEILAR: Yes. No, it certainly isn't and there are going to be injuries. There's no way around that when we see the pictures that we're looking at here.

What is your main concern at this point when you're thinking about aftershocks and already compromised buildings?

KAKU: Well, one possibility is that people get overconfident. They think (inaudible) therefore they can go back to a normal life again and then an aftereffect - an aftershock hits them. We've had so far over six major aftershocks and they're unpredictable. You don't know when they're going to happen and they could be as strong as a seven. So in other words, overconfidence is one danger.

We have to be prepared for the unknown, because earthquakes do obey the laws of physics. But in this situation, there's so much chaos involved that it's almost impossible to predict exactly how many aftershocks there are going to be and when.

KEILAR: Well, the when is really a question, right? Because as we understood, there'd been a swarm of earthquakes here recently, some of them very small. I bet people didn't even feel them. And there's an expectation that there could be earthquakes continuing up to up to a year after this. [15:10:04]

KAKU: Yes, you have to realize that Japan is one of the most vulnerable for these aftershocks and earthquakes. You have to realize that the Japanese islands sit on top of the juncture of three major earthquake faults. And so that's why Japan is one of the leading centers for earthquakes and the probability of another earthquake or another aftershock is quite high.

And remember that an earthquake in Tokyo would be an earthquake beyond comprehension in terms of the density of that town. And so we're dealing with the unknown in this situation.

KEILAR: Yes, we certainly are. As you raise that specter of Tokyo, it's a very, very scary thought.

Dr. Kaku, we always appreciate you being with us. Thank you so much and Happy New Year.

KAKU: Thank you.

KEILAR: So now to Washington and the first day of what is sure to be a roller coaster political year, but will it be a smooth ride for the economy? That's what economists and business executives are hoping as the Federal Reserve hints that interest rates cut - interest rate cuts could be coming.

As 2023 came to a close, President Biden leaned into his economic message.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We brought a lot of jobs back to the United States. People are in a position to be able to make a living now. And they've created a lot of jobs, over 14 million. And I guess, what I'm - I just feel good that the American people got up. They've been through a rough time with pandemic, but now we're coming back. They're back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: And we have Matt Egan here to talk with us about the economy.

All right. Pretty optimistic there. Kind of classic Biden. Is his optimism warranted, Matt?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Brianna, a president fighting to get reelected is pretty much required to be optimistic. What's interesting, though, is that a lot of the investors and economists I talk to, they're also pretty bullish on America right now, especially relative to a year ago when there was all that gloom and doom. And many people assumed that a recession was basically inevitable. Of course, they were wrong.

Looking at 2024, there's a lot of reasons to be optimistic, first of all is inflation. A lot of people thought it would cool, but very few people thought inflation would cool this fast. One economist is praising it as a remarkable cool down of inflation.

And because of that, the Fed is now preparing to cut interest rates maybe as soon as March. That means lower borrowing costs, mortgage rates, credit cards, car loans. All of this has fired up Wall Street. Blockbuster stock market returns in 2023. A lot of that is fueled by real optimism about the economy.

And despite all these recession warnings, the jobs market is historically strong. Layoffs are very low. Hiring is robust. Lastly, paychecks are finally catching up to prices and that is very important.

None of this, Brianna, is to say the economy is perfect. Even White House officials will concede there are real affordability challenges, especially around housing. Still, though, this economy is in a much better place than a year ago. In fact, a lot better place than a lot of people even thought was possible.

KEILAR: And what are the stress points that we should be watching, Matt?

EGAN: Well, Brianna, the last few years have shown us that we should pretty much just expect the unexpected. As economist Justin Wolfers told me, basically a million things could go wrong. A few things on my radar list, you have to look at consumer debt. We know Americans have been shopping aggressively. But there's questions about how much of that is being fueled by credit cards and buy now, pay later.

Another concern is when the Fed spikes rates, it tends to break things in the financial system. We saw that with the bank collapses a year ago. It's too soon to say whether or not there may be more cracks in the financial system. And then you have to look at the geopolitical situation.

Obviously, everyone's watching the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, because that has the potential to undo some of the progress on inflation. And then lastly, there's the election itself. Of course, the economy is going to influence who wins the race for the White House. But it's also possible that the opposite is true.

Moody's economist, Mark Zandi, he told me that he's concerned about a contested election that causes uncertainty or even social unrest that hurts the economy. But Brianna, it is amazing when you think about how many hits this economy has already taken, whether it's inflation or the Fed or the wars and it just keeps going.

So really, anyone who's bet against the economy over the last year has lost money and it's just a - it's a losing bet at this point. So hopefully some of these optimistic factors play out in 2024.

KEILAR: Yes, let's hope. We can all use some more optimism here.

Matt Egan, thank you.

Let's talk now with senior contributor for The Hill, Kevin Cirilli, about the political impact here. Okay, so Kevin, 2024, you have this economic message of Biden's and he is continuing to persist with it. It seems like the strategy is that that sentiment may get more in line with some of these positive indicators.

[15:15:04]

Do you see that happening?

KEVIN CIRILLI, SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR, THE HILL: Absolutely. It's all about momentum. And President Biden's trying to project momentum heading in to the election year. But look, the last couple of months in Washington have been dominated by geopolitics.

Now, the sources that I talk with close to the President, as well as Democratic strategists, what they're saying is that once they're able to turn that conversation, hopefully, back to the economy, that they'll be able to have more success in the polls. I was just looking at The Hill's decision desk 2024 polling and they're down in some of these battleground states like Pennsylvania, for example.

And so they have to try to turn that around. But they're hoping that once the president's able to hit that campaign trail in states like Arizona, Ohio, Pennsylvania, talking about the implementation of the CHIPS Act, for example, that they'll be able to have a winning economic message.

You mentioned Fed chairman, Jay Powell. The market is anticipating that he will begin to lower interest rates at the end of Q1 or into Q2 and that's something that, again, could boost this economy as well.

KEILAR: And for Biden, I mean, that's the hope for him, right, is that this kind of catches up with the indicators. If he keeps getting low marks, though, on the sentiment side of things, at what point does he have to, I don't know, break glass? What does that look like? What do you think?

CIRILLI: Well, just two quick points. First and foremost, former president, Donald Trump, when you look at those polls, he's beating Biden on who Americans trust more with the economy. That's a problem for the White House heading into a reelection year.

But secondly from that, Republicans are continuing to hammer home this issue of inflation. Now, inflation has been coming down, but that is a tax on Americans that they can feel. That's a very real inflationary tax that they're getting when they go to the grocery market, for example. But overall, I mean, I was just looking at the Bloomberg indicators and you've got the S&P that was up 25 percent last year, and the Nasdaq up 45 percent last year.

But six in - or four in 10 Americans, rather, aren't invested in the stock market. So the stock market, as Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Brianna, has said, is not always the best indicator of American sentiment on the economy.

KEILAR: And so here we are, two weeks out from the Iowa caucuses. I wonder how you are seeing things. And I say I never like to - I like to be careful about having hubris about how things are going to turn out. But these poll numbers for Trump are pretty overwhelmingly in his favor. How are you viewing this primary season?

CIRILLI: When I was talking to sources close to former president, Donald Trump, heading into Iowa, they are disciplined. They have an operation now that began back in 2015. Remember, he lost the Iowa caucus to Sen. Ted Cruz in that 2016 cycle. I remember covering that. And that launched them into New Hampshire where they really established a ground game, so to speak, in New Hampshire. But this time they're leaving nothing to chance.

And they feel that coming out of Iowa, heading into New Hampshire, that they'll be able to pick up not just momentum, but inevitability. And hopefully, from their perspective, an endorsement from the likes of someone like Vivek Ramaswamy or a Florida governor, Ron DeSantis.

But for the DeSantis campaign, it's all on the line. They've got to overperform in Iowa in order to justify the case for them to stay in the race.

KEILAR: All right. We'll be watching along with you. Kevin, thank you so much for being with us.

CIRILLI: Happy New Year, Brianna.

KEILAR: All right. Happy New Year to you as well.

A deadly confrontation in the Red Sea. The U.S. military sinking three boats operated by Iranian-backed rebels as attacks on merchant ships continue. Ahead, what this means for rising escalations in the region.

Plus, Israel intercepting several rockets fired from Gaza just minutes into the new year. Why the IDF is starting to draw down its troops in the region.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:22:45]

KEILAR: All right. New dramatic developments in the Middle East. For the first time since the October 7th Hamas attack on Israel ignited broader regional tensions, the U.S. Navy engaged and then killed Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. This happened after the U.S. says those militants launched an attack on a Maersk ship. So a shipping - of the shipping giant, Maersk, in the Red Sea over the weekend, Houthi rebels launching several attacks, of course, on commercial vessels in this very important shipping channel over the last few months here.

I want to go to former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, CNN Military Analyst, Gen. Wesley Clark.

General, thank you so much and this seems to be a little different here, what we're watching. How are you reading this action that the U.S. Navy has taken? GEN. WESLEY CLARK, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I'm seeing it totally in keeping with the policy that the United States enumerated. We said we would protect shipping. Now, in this case, instead of firing missiles or using drones to attack shipping, they went out with boats, four boats loaded with infantrymen, fighters intending to board a vessel. I guess take command of it after they had first struck it with something from a drone. And so the vessel asked for help and the United States responded.

It's totally in keeping with the mission that we'd given the ships there. And it's totally in keeping with international law. Really, these people from Yemen, these Houthis are acting - behaving as pirates and naturally, they have to be repelled.

KEILAR: Okay, so that's really interesting. You're saying it's very much in line with the policy, so nothing really changing there.

The White House doesn't want this to escalate. It's not up to just them, of course. At what point could the actions of these rebels force an escalation?

CLARK: Well, this is the interesting thing. I don't quite understand the purpose of the messaging from the White House. Because if you don't want it to escalate, then who are you telling that to. If you tell it to the Houthis and the Iranians, they're like, oh, they don't want it to escalate, well, let's do it again and make them escalate.

If you're addressing the American people or the Congress or Republicans who are accusing you of being seeking a war in the Middle East or something, fine.

[15:25:03]

I understand that messaging.

But actually, if you want to stop the escalation, you're going to have to dominate the cycle of escalation. And in this case, what that means is not only going after the ships that are - little boats that are coming after you, but make a more dramatic move, cap the escalation yourself, dominate it by going after the fleet, however many of these little ships there are, wherever they are, I'm sure we know them. Take them out. That'll stop it.

At least it'll put the onus of responding back and stop the tit for tat. It'll put the onus back on the Houthis.

KEILAR: So you're saying because, of course, look, the Red - there's so much at stake here, right? This is a huge shipping channel. Maersk is a shipping giant. It says it's going to pause operations there.

So you're saying that the U.S. Navy should actually be considering looking at where the Houthis are launching these boats from and attack that area so that they never get off dry land? I mean, is that sort of what you're saying?

CLARK: Take it out. Take them out and be prepared to take out the launching sites for the drones, the factories where the drones are produced and so forth. I'm sure we're building target folders on this. It's just a question of what the policy is going to be.

And we've signaled very clearly we don't want to escalate, okay, so if they if they wanted to avoid the escalation, they wouldn't keep doing what they're doing. So they must be inviting us to do something. And when we hold back and say, oh, no, no, please don't make us respond. We're actually encouraging more strikes. And that's going to ultimately result in tragedy, I think.

So we have the superior power in the region. We have international law on our side. It's time to take decisive action.

KEILAR: If the U.S. were to do that, do things more broadly get worse before they get better?

CLARK: Well, I think it - decisive action here is a good way to show Iran that it's time to stop the tit for tat escalation in, for example, South Lebanon. And as long as the United States is holding back and say, oh, please don't do this to us, oh, please stop. It's like saying to the bully on the street, oh, please don't hit me again. It's going to hit you again.

So you have to, at this point, with the Houthis, there's really no better opportunity than this. Take decisive action against the boats.

KEILAR: All right. We'll be looking to see if that is what the Navy does.

Gen. Clark, thank you for being with us.

CLARK: Thank you.

KEILAR: Israel Defense Forces say they will begin to pull some of their troops out of Gaza. This is a move that according to the IDF is to help them prepare for prolonged fighting farther into this year. And this comes just days after Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said the war against Hamas is going to continue for months.

All of this happening as journalists try to capture the reality on the ground in Gaza. Among them, a nine-year-old reporter who is documenting the challenges of being displaced and being under siege in Gaza.

Meet Lama Jamous.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAMA JAMOUS: I got ready and wore my armor and helmet to report on the war on Gaza.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SHAMA NASINDE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): At just nine years old, Lama Jamous is one of the youngest Palestinians reporting on the reality of life under siege in Gaza. After Israel launched its military response to Hamas' October 7 attack.

Lama and her family had to flee their home in Gaza City because of Israeli airstrikes. They fled once to Khan Younis in the south and again to a shelter in Rafah. She has amassed hundreds of thousands of followers online for reporting on the daily challenges of living through war, which she shares to her Instagram.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMOUS (through interpreter): I wanted to show and make it clear to the world that the children of Palestine are being tortured.

There is no food and drinks. They don't have anything.

Today I am here at the hospital to see children of Gaza who got bombed and injured.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NASINDE (voice over): From interviewing kids injured by shelling at hospitals to documenting the difficult living conditions at school shelters, Lama is a voice for some of the most vulnerable in Gaza, children.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AHMAD, UNCLE OF LAMA JAMOUS: When the war started, we noticed she had something to say. She grabbed the phone and started making vlogs to talk about the situation in Gaza, the bombardment and displacement of people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NASINDE (voice over): Lama's father told CNN that he is very proud, adding that we are suffering from the war like other people in Gaza. Her message is clear to the whole world, please stop the war and return back to normal life.

Official death toll figures from inside the Gaza Strip, which can't be independently verified by CNN, suggest that children account for 8,000 of the civilians killed since October 7. That's a third of the total dead.

[15:30:00]

Despite the dangerous conditions, Lama courageously continues to report to the world and inspire hope in a new generation.

Shama Nasinde, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)