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Army Drivers on Standby; World's Most Powerful Without Power; China Had an Airshow; Top Military Officials to Face Lawmakers; Volcano Continue with its Lava Flow; Leaving the Hell of Afghanistan. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired September 28, 2021 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
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ROSEMARY CHURCH CNN ANCHOR (on camera): Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church.
Just ahead here on CNN Newsroom. Army tanker drivers on standby this hour as the U.K. embarks on another day the petrol crisis. We're live in London.
New volcanic force parts of the Canary Islands into lockdown. We have an update from the weather center.
And R. Kelly found guilty. Hear the singer's reaction to news he could be spending decades behind bars.
Good to have you with us.
Well, the U.K. is struggling with major fuel shortages, long queues and panic buying because not enough petrol is making it to the pumps. But it's not clear which, if any, of the government's plans to get fuel flowing will work. Army tanker drivers have been put on standby to help with deliveries. And thousands of temporary visas have been offered to foreign truckers but they may not be interested.
All sorts of industries are feeling the impact of the pumps running dry and there are calls for key workers to get first crack at whatever fuel becomes available.
So, let's cross to CNN's Nina dos Santos. She joins us live from London. Good to see you, Nina. So, what's the latest on this? And how symptomatic is this of a broader problem facing the U.K.?
NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, thanks very much, Rosemary. As you can see thankfully behind me the keys are starting to die down. And we are now starting to see government ministers take to the airwaves in the U.K. saying that there's signs that this pandemic buying spree that has caused this blockage in this field supply to full ports like this one is starting to abate.
But it's something that has broadly as you pointed out symptomatic of the economic malaise that the U.K. finds itself in because there is concerns that, you know, the price of the pump here will rise from here. This amid an international energy crisis with natural gas prices rising, also feel that the pump currently near an eight-year high here in the U.K. according to industry bodies.
And people are worried about inflation. They're also worried about supplies and about a labor shortage problem. That means, that there is one million vacancies for jobs here in the U.K. for things like heavy goods vehicle drivers that deliver fuel to pumps like this. But also, in other COVID hit sectors like the coronavirus. s like the -- excuse me the hospitality industry that's been so hit hard by the coronavirus and also these labor issues exacerbated by Brexit.
So, the army has been put on standby, as you rightfully say, that means that about up to 150 military personnel can be trained to deliver flammable hydrocarbons to petrol stations like this. It isn't unnecessarily expected to be used now, Rosemary, but it's just a sign that the government wants to add more to that policy mix, if you like, after doing a U-turn on visas for truck drivers to temp thousands over before Christmas to try and even some of these blockages and the supply and labor chain. Rosemary?
CHURCH: Understood. Nina dos Santos joining us live from London, many thanks.
Well, experts say there are many reasons for the trucker shortage. Some blame Brexit which prompted thousands of lory drivers to leave the country. There is also the pandemic which delayed training new drivers. Then there is the job itself. Low wages, long hours away from home and difficult work. And the shortage isn't just in the U.K. Finding qualified drivers has become a struggle worldwide.
Edwin Atema is the head of research and enforcement at the FNV Union which is based in the Netherlands. He joins us now live. Thank you so much for being with us.
EDWIN ATEMA, HEAD OF RESEARCH AND ENFORCEMENT, NETHERLANDS-BASED FNV UNION: Good morning.
CHURCH: So, Britain has army tanker drivers on standby to help with fuel supply chain issues. But eventually, hopes to lure thousands of E.U. drivers with these short-term visas to do the deliveries. How is that likely work out, do you think?
ATEMA: We think it will not work out because who will quit his job in the E.U. to go for a temporary advance here in the U.K. We think nobody will do it.
CHURCH: Any extra money to make this worthwhile? To turn their lives upside down and relocate then?
ATEMA: Yes. So actually temporary (Inaudible) is never going to fix the fundamental problem but the rest of the -- of what's offered is also really uncertain.
[03:05:05] Workers speak to they really say why would we help the U.K. at the moment if our contracts will be terminated again at Christmas night when the work is done.
CHURCH: So how did the U.K. get itself into this bind? And why didn't they anticipate a lack of truck drivers?
ATEMA: So, the issue as such is not exclusively for the U.K. It is here all across Europe. And it's a clear of a broken industry. An industry where good, trained, and respected drivers left the profession simply because companies put them in competition with cheaper and cheaper and cheaper drivers from the east.
This profession became to a professional survival of the fittest where driver's exploitation became a business model, where fair companies lose market share and companies who fundamentally break the law and exploit drivers win market share.
Yet, this all happens because on top of the supply chain the multinational companies of this world never -- never took their responsibility in a stable workplace in the real transport industry. So now they harvest what they have sow for many years.
CHURCH: So now in essence these truck drivers have all the leverage they? I mean, they should be able to basically ask for the amount of money that they require for any relocation. And eventually they'll have the power with this, won't day?
ATEMA: Yes. On the short term they truly have. but we think together with our colleagues in the U.K. that the road transport industry in the U.K. needs a collective agreement which covers the whole industry because now you see on a daily basis that it's like the stock market. Today, they pay amount x and tomorrow they're not -- they pay less.
This is not a stable way to make an industry attractive for workers. More needs to be done. And in effect, the industry all across Europe needs a martial plan where companies on the top of the supply chain take their responsibility, corporate with unions to get to a sustainable industry again where workers are willing to join the profession and are happy and safe workers.
CHURCH: Right. So, I can see that happening across Europe but the problem for Britain of course is the English Channel between it. So, they have to figure out a way to lure people over to Britain and to offer enough money. What would be the advice you would give Prime Minister Boris Johnson to solve this problem that he has? Because he can't rely on the army long term, can he?
ATEMA: I agree on that. They analyze they cannot rely on the army. But something which is broken over one and a half decade already cannot be repaired overnight. So, what Boris Johnson and the British government must do shut down with trade unions because trade unions and workers have a clear vision on how the industry should look like.
Workers knowledge is really important to attract new workers. So, the answer is basically simple. They're not a quick fix in something what is broken a long time already.
CHURCH: We'll watch to see how they figured this out. Edwin Atema in the Netherlands, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it.
ATEMA: Thank you.
CHURCH: China is dealing with an energy crisis that's causing disruptions across the country. Businesses and residents are being asked to limit their use of electricity as the country faces shortages. And some factories too have reportedly been forced to cut production due to the new measures.
CNN's Steven Jiang joins us live from Beijing. Good to see you, Steven. So, how bad is this and what impact is it having on people across the country?
STEVEN JIANG, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER: well, Rosemary, we are starting to see more and more news reports on social media post the impact on their daily life and livelihood. For example, traffic lights have stopped in some cities. And the sales of candles are skyrocketing in many places.
But this crisis is the result of a perfect storm. Because on the demand side, you have soaring demand for electricity because of the country's export-driven industry-driven economic recovery after the pandemic involving low end manufacturing that is often power hungry.
On the supply side, you have many Chinese power plants actually generating less power because of a coal shortage, thanks to soaring prices of this commodity now helped by the Chinese government's boycott of Australian coal due to geopolitical tensions.
And all of this of course, is also happening at a time when many local officials are rushing to meet their annual emissions reduction goal because President Xi Jinping has now made this a top priority in terms of the country's carbon emissions peaking before the year 2030.
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So, you are starting to see a lot of political campaign style efforts to reduce energy consumption before the year-end. So, all of the -- all of those factors combined really leading to this almost unthinkable scenario of the world's emerging superpower seemingly running out of power. Rosemary?
CHURCH: Right. Steven Jiang joining us live from Beijing. Many thanks.
Well, people in Spain's Canary Islands have been waking up to this. The volcano on La Palma keep spewing ash and lava and it's entering a dangerous new stage. Residents on the east shore of the island were ordered into lockdown on Monday as lava nears the ocean. You are looking at live pictures here.
Experts warn that when the lava hits the Atlantic it could be explosive triggering enough force to shatter windows. On top of that it can launch plumes of toxic smoke. Thousands of people having been evacuated so far, but keeps getting cancelled due to the ash. We'll continue watching of course.
Let's go to our meteorologist Pedram Javaheri. So, Pedram, what are you seeing long term with this? I mean just how bad could this get. Because we've already seen so many homes, churches, basically gobbled up by that lava?
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You know, this volcano has erupted at least eight times, Rosemary, going back about 700 years' worth of data where the Spanish have kept data. And yes, they typically last at least three to four weeks. And we're about eight days into it here. And you see the perspective. The images coming in the lava flow or the eruption initially taking place. About eight days ago.
At one point we were seeing the lava flow at a rate of about seven football pitches per hour, a remarkable speed that has slowed down quite a bit, of course quite a bit of damage en route of where the eruption is taking place there. But again, things have improved just a little bit in that sense.
But you look at the satellite imagery, this is an island that's home to about 80,000 people. And of course, we know several thousand already evacuated. You see the images, you see where the lava flow is going to eventually end up into the Atlantic Ocean and that's the concern here where anyone with an even just close proximity, even tens of kilometers away could see some impact associated with the explosions that could be expected from that.
But when you look at the Canary Islands archipelago eight islands that are all made up of, because of volcanic eruptions over the course of millions of years. In fact, La Palma itself would not exist it wasn't for an eruption that took place, that submarine eruption that took place created a sea mount about three to million years ago and created the island we know today as La Palma.
So, these eruptions have continued, the most recent of which took place back almost 50 years ago to the day, October 26 1971, so about a month's time we get to the 50th anniversary of the last significant eruption on La Palma. And this eruption lasted about 21 days.
Again, we are only eight days into the current eruption but you'll notice that point some 200 homes were lost, 87 million euros were estimated to have been lost and damages there. About $100 million U.S. dollars, and of course this is the least of the concern because we know fatalities could take place with an area that is so populated.
But in the past two weeks, Rosemary, a remarkable almost 400 earthquakes have taken place, M2.0 or greater. So certainly, has been an act of trend across this region. The one good piece of news here, the steering environment in the atmosphere is such that the smoke and the haze is generally being pushed away from Morocco which is about 100 kilometers to the east. And of course, population picks up quite a bit once you push towards coastal areas of Africa. So, the winds at least pushing everything for now. Rosie? CHURCH: Yes, but those images of the lava just terrifying. Horrendous to witness for people there on the ground. I appreciate that, Pedram. Thank you so much.
And coming up here on CNN Newsroom. U.S. military leaders will be facing tough questions today from lawmakers who want to know how so much went so terribly wrong leaving Afghanistan.
Plus, this.
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SHAQAIQ BIRASHK, EVACUATED AFGHAN AMERICAN: Taliban members came and just smacked the front of the car and you know, kind of waved at us and said don't move. Stop here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH (on camera): The story of one women's escape from Afghanistan, a tale with close calls and the CIA. Her journey to safety when we come back.
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CHURCH (on camera): Chinese aircraft take to sky to mark the opening of airshow China, the country's airshow. But this year's event is a bit smaller due to COVID-19 restrictions. Several local aerospace and defense firms are attending the event, reflecting China's efforts to improve their own technology at a time of growing rivalry with the west.
Well, it is believed North Korea has conducted its third missile test this month. The South Korean defense ministry says the missile landed off the east coast of the Korean peninsula. The timing worth noting of course that the launch happened just minutes before North Korea's envoy spoke about diplomacy at the U.N. General Assembly.
And CNN's Will Ripley has reported on North Korea extensively. He joins us now live from Taipei. Good to see you, Will. So, what more are you learning about North Korea's latest missile launch? And of course, the timing of all of this? Because that is critical.
WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is critical, Rosemary. We have yet to see an official acknowledgment in North Korean state media of this launch. Usually it takes around 24 hours or so before the first images emerged. but here's what we do know. What happened around 6.40 a.m. local time this ballistic missile as the Japanese government described it, albeit a shorter range. One was launched from Chagang province which is a mountainous region that straddles the border with China.
It is most notable for an intercontinental ballistic missile launch back in 2017. This launch much shorter and following the usual trajectory for North Korean missiles heading over the northern part of the Korean peninsula and splashing in the waters off of Japan. It didn't enter Japan's exclusive economic zone or the waters that Japan would identify as being, you know, relatively close to the main islands of Japan. There were no ships, no aircraft affected by this. So just another routine launch, if you will.
And there been a number of them at least 10 so far this year. You mentioned three this month including earlier this month when North Korea launched a ballistic missile from a train and then South Korea launched a ballistic missile from a submarine.
So, these kinds of launches are the kind of thing that North Korea defends and they defended the United Nations when their ambassador Kim Song spoke at the U.N. General Assembly about 20 minutes after this launch, saying that North Korea has the right to test and develop weapons to defend itself from its enemies. Because other countries in the region they say are testing this exact kind of weapon as well.
But it does violate U.N. Security Council resolutions, Rosemary, against ballistic missile launches and also nuclear tests even though we haven't seen an intercontinental ballistic missile launch or nuclear tests from North Korea in several years now.
CHURCH: And Will, talk to us more about the political implications behind this move.
RIPLEY: Well, look, it's clearly, you know, we don't know the timing, we don't know exactly why North Korea did it just 20 minutes before their representative gave a speech at the United Nations General Assembly. But it is a way for North Korea to get attention to assert itself into the headlines.
But this kind of launch is not provocative enough to cause necessarily an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting to try to tighten the already, you know, its incredibly tight sanctions that exist on North Korea.
But what this does do is, it gets them back in the headlines, it gets people talking about them at a time that North Korea has been hinting at least that it might be willing to talk -- to, you know, to return to the diplomatic bargaining table.
North Koreans leader Kim Jong-un's sister, Kim Yo-jong who is arguably one of the most powerful figures inside that country aside from her brother himself. She talked about potentially restarting a dialogue with South Korea.
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The North Korean hinting they might be open to the possibility of another inter-Korean summit or perhaps even reopening the inter-Korean liaison office that she herself ordered to be blown up when the Korean detente was fast crumbling.
Right now, North Korea not talking seriously about engaging with the United States even though Kim Song, in his remarks, did say that they would be open to friendly overtures from the U.S. But from the North Korean perspective, Rosemary, from the overtures would mean the United States being willing to lift what Pyongyang considers a hostile policy of engaging in military exercises, routines ones with the south.
North Korea of course also engages in their own military drills. And also, the North one sanctions lifted. In terms of talks about denuclearization which South Korea just reiterated in the last couple of hours that they are committed to. The North has been hinting that that's going to be an increasingly difficult ask given that their nuclear arsenal is believed to have been growing all this time.
And other countries like the U.S. and China and others around the world have nuclear weapons. The North Korea feels that they should be entitled to have them as well, and should be considered and respected as a nuclear weapon state. U.S. not giving anything that they are willing to go there.
So, we'll have to see where all of this leads. Will it lead to more escalation of tensions or a return to dialogue?
CHURCH: All right. Will Ripley joining us live from Taipei, many thanks.
Well, more than 3,000 Haitians have been deported from the U.S. since September 19th. A U.N. group says they've been returned to Port-au- Prince on repatriation flights. The Biden administration is relying on a Trump era public health order to remove migrants mostly Haitians who had arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border. The order gives officials the power to turn them back and deny them the chance to see asylum.
Meantime, CNN's Melissa Bell spoke exclusively to Haiti's prime minister on the deportations. Take a listen.
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ARIEL HENRY, HAITI'S PRIME MINISTER (through translator): For us, all Haitians who returned to their native soil are entitled to be welcomed. And we welcome them as the best we can. We will make room for them and we will try to reintegrate him as best as we can into society.
Regarding the deportation we are not responsible for their deportation. What we are seeing is that as long as there are countries that are better off than others there will always be an appeal towards those healthier.
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CHURCH: And you can watch Melissa Bell's entire interview with Haiti's prime minister on CNN's First Move at 2 p.m. in London, 9 p.m. in Hong Kong.
The Afghan evacuation may have looked chaotic while it was happening but we are now hearing from some of the evacuees about just how challenging it was to get out.
CNN's Alex Marquardt spoke to one woman about the operation that brought her to safety.
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BIRASHK: You guys look, no more flag.
ALEXANDER MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): As the Taliban took over Afghanistan's capital, Shaqaiq Birashk was filming their fighters from her balcony.
BIRASHK: OK. So, they are trying to get into that person's house.
MARQUARDT: She was in a high-rise overlooking downtown Kabul as American and NATO forces were desperately trying to evacuate people just like here. And Afghan-American who worked for the Afghan government and on a U.S. funded project. Birashk was born in Afghanistan and moved to the U.S. at 13 years old. She returned as an adult spending most of the past four years working with local organization.
Now she's back in Denver after taking part in one of the most secretive operations in the entire evacuation, which a U.S. official tell CNN was in part run by the CIA.
BIRASHK: The airport was absolute chaos. It was -- it was as if you had gone to a Death Valley in order to make it and survive.
MARQUARDT: Birashk was in her apartment when she got a call from an American.
BIRASHK: And I said who is this? He said I'm a government U.S. government official.
MARQUARDT: No details about who we work for?
(CROSSTALK)
BIRASHK: No, he does not. No, nothing at all.
MARQUARDT: The American wanted Birashk to leave but she said she wanted to bring Afghans with her.
BIRASHK: He said, well, my priority is you. I understand that your -- you feel this responsibility towards the people that you have worked with, but unfortunately my priority is you.
MARQUARDT: Hours later, she changed her mind after a friend who is evacuated convinced her.
BIRASHK: I grabbed my passport and then I head downstairs.
MARQUARDT: A driver in a Toyota Corolla picked her up. But they didn't know exactly where to go. Just tell me where you are and I will help, the American texter. Birashk shared her location as they drove through the dark and to Taliban checkpoints.
BIRASHK: The Taliban came and just smacked the front of the car, and you know, kind of wave at us and said, don't move, stop here and then our driver was like I'm not going to listen to him. MARQUARDT: The American official was tracking them. I see you, he texted, just follow the road until you see a gas station then you will see my guys.
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BIRASHK: I wasn't scared because I wasn't -- I didn't have the time to be scared. I had no -- I'm -- I've being scared was not an option.
MARQUARDT: They went the wrong way. The American texted, you missed the left turn. Around midnight they finally arrived at Eagle Base, a CIA base just east of Kabul located by the New York Times where helicopters were faring people inside to the airport.
Birashk was met by Afghan special forces and then Americans including the American guiding her.
BIRASHK: I mentioned his name and I said, is this you. He said, yes, that's me. And then there was a sigh of relief at that point that I knew that we had made it. So, you know, there is no more checkpoints.
MARQUARDT: On the base, their phones were taken away. They were asked not to reveal the base's location. The next day, they're flown to Kabul airport and out of the country to safety.
What's your friends and colleague who are still in Kabul, still in Afghanistan telling you what they think the future is going to look like?
BIRASHK: They continue to say life -- Afghanistan is now a body without a soul. Seeing the way that everything that they had worked for the past 20 years has been just shattered in front of their own eyes. The promises of the international community never leaving them behind and now they are left with nothing.
MARQUARDT: Birashk says she, and others like her are now suffering from significant survivor's guilt.
BIRASHK: To this day, I'm still processing the information and processing the reality on the ground. It just feels like it's an ongoing nightmare that, you know, I haven't been woke enough from.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUARDT: Birash tells me that she feels blessed and privileged to have been evacuated the way that she was, as she says without a scratch. She knows that that is not the case for so many who were evacuated from the airport and many more who are still trying to get out of Afghanistan.
The State Department said on Monday on Monday that there are around 100 American citizens and legal permanent residents who are ready to leave. The biggest obstacle a senior State Department official says is the unpredictability of who the Taliban will allow to leave.
Alex Marquardt, CNN, Washington. CHURCH: Well, these are images from the U.S. capital where in just a
few hours from now Congress will be grilling America's top military leaders about the evacuation of Afghanistan. It's the first-time lawmakers have gotten to publicly question them about those chaotic days in August when the military evacuated tens of thousands of people from Kabul.
U.S. Joint Chief Chairman Mark Milley will be among those testifying to the Senate armed services committee. He's also expected to be asked about the waning days of the Trump administration when Milley was reportedly worried Trump might try to start a war as he tried to cling to power.
Well for more we can expect to hear at Tuesday's Afghan withdrawal hearing, I want to bring in CNN's Jomana Karadsheh. She joins us live from Istanbul. Good to see you, Jomana.
So, what is expected to come out of Tuesday's hearing. And what is the latest on the humanitarians crisis partly triggered by the U.S. withdrawal.
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, certainly all eyes are going to be on Capitol Hill today. Lawmakers are finally going to get to direct the questions at the country's top military leadership. The leadership that was in charge of planning and executing that chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Lawmakers have heard from the U.S. administration. They certainly know what the administration's position. Its arguments defending its decisions are. They had the opportunity to question Secretary of State Antony Blinken. And essentially the administration has made the argument that there was no alternative, that they have to withdraw by that deadline or the U.S. was going to get drawn back into a long and bloody conflict.
So, right now lawmakers are going to get to ask these questions if the country's military leadership. Did it have to be this way. Was there no other alternative? What did they advise President Biden? What was their advice on keeping residual force in the country? And we will likely hear them ask tough questions also about that end of August devastating U.S. military strike that killed at least 10 civilians.
Of course, as you've recalled, the U.S. military initially said it was targeting an ISIS-K facilitator and after media reporting an investigation including CNN they came out and admitted that it was a mistake as they called it and it was civilians who were killed in that strike.
And this is really going to raise questions again today. We expect, Rosemary, about the U.S. military's counterterrorism operations in the country. Their intelligence capabilities following the withdrawal from the country. How did they ensure that Afghanistan does not turn into a breeding ground for extremist groups? How its -- they ensure that it doesn't become a threat again to the U.S. homeland.
[03:29:58] But no matter what answers lawmakers get today, and no matter what insights we get from their answers today, Rosemary,
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this is not going to change the reality of the situation on the ground for the people of Afghanistan, who had been living through one of the world's worse humanitarian crises for years, for decades right now.
And the humanitarian needs have been -- they've become even more dire after the withdrawal, because you got the international community trying to figure out how it is going to deal with Afghanistan controlled by the Taliban.
And this has led to a lot of international donors withholding aid to the country. And this is a country were more than half the population is reliant on international aid just for survival. And we are starting to see the devastating impact of donors holding that aid.
In a lot of cases, they're trying to use this, of course -- some are trying to use it as leverage to try and get concessions and commitments from the Taliban, but the people are paying for the price. We've heard the warnings from international aid groups in recent days.
The World Health Organization saying that many hospitals had have to either shut down or scale back their operations because of the lack of funding.
The World Food Program, Rosemary, a couple of days ago said that about 93 percent of Afghan households did not have enough food this past week. And the list of these shocking and heartbreaking statistics goes on and on.
So no matter what comes out of this hearing today, it is really not going to change the reality on the ground where, you know, there is an urgent need as we heard -- you heard from these humanitarian aid groups to try and tackle the urgent needs of the country and humanitarian aid going forward, not just looking back at what went wrong.
CHURCH: Yeah. And sadly, you are right on that. Jomana Karadsheh, many thanks.
And still ahead, German Finance Minister, Olaf Scholz, may have led his party to victory on Sunday, but the hard work of cobbling together a coalition that's only just starting.
Plus, the jury's decision in R. Kelly's sex trafficking case? The singer's reaction to the verdict. That is ahead too.
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CHURCH: Welcome back to "CNN Newsroom." I'm Rosemary Church.
Germany's election might be over but the fight for the country's top job is just getting underway. Finance Minister, Olaf Scholz, is in a good position to be the next chancellor after his centerless Social Democratic Party won by a slim margin.
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But first, he has to form a new coalition government and staved off the conservative runner up attempts to do the same. In both cases, the king makers could be the green party and the FDP. But they don't always see eye to eye and negotiations could drag on for weeks, even months.
CNN's Frederik Pleitgen joins us now live from Berlin. Great to see you, Fred. So, what is the latest on efforts on form a viable coalition government, and of course, ultimately choose a new chancellor?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Yeah, Rosemary, those efforts are just to getting underway in Germany and they certainly seem to be getting underway with a force. In fact, Olaf Scholz, he was on German public television late last night and saying that he definitely wanted to form that coalition, he definitely wants to become chancellor.
He says that he wants to have those negotiations for coalition in what he called at atmosphere of trust. He says that he believes that he can get the Green Party to get a lot of their positions into that coalition, of course, the liberal Democratic Party as well.
And one of the things that you mentioned is exactly right. The Greens and the Liberals don't necessarily see eye to eye on certain issues. However, one of the things that has been happening is that those two parties have already been talking to one another to make sure that even if they are junior partners, either with the Conservatives or with the Social Democrats, that they would also be in a strong positioning and get a lot out of it for themselves and for their constituency, of course, as well.
Olaf Scholz is indeed very much in the driver seat doing that. He says that he's working full steam to try and get it done as fast as possible. One of the things that they said is that they want it to get done by Christmas but, of course, they would love to get it done a lot earlier than that.
And Yesterday, Olaf Scholz had a press conference where I asked him, you know, if he does become chancellor, he's obviously taking over from Angela Merkel, who has done so much on the international stage for such a very long time and how he thinks he will be able to measure up. Let's listen in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PLEITGEN: If you do manage to form a coalition and become the chancellor, how do you intend to fill those big shoes?
OLAF SCHOLZ, SPD CANDIDATE FOR GERMAN CHANCELLOR: I think the first topic for German politics would be to form a stronger and most sovereign European Union. And making this happen will have an influence on the international strategy and the foreign policy of Germany.
PLEITGEN: What sort of a partner will Germany be for the United States in NATO and on the international stage especially as the Biden administration continues to challenge China?
SCHOLZ: The trends of lending partnerships should is of essence for us and Germany and for a government that will be led by me. And so you can rely on the continuity in discussion. It is important that we understand outside of the democracies and that we see that in the world that becomes more dangerous, it is important that we work together even if we do have conflicts in one or the other question.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PLEITGEN: Today, you have Olaf Scholz saying he believes democracy is must stand together and promising to be -- for Germany to be -- continue to be a very strong partner for the United States and of course in NATO, as well.
Now Armin Laschet, the conservative candidate, he, of course, has not given up so far. He was at the press conference yesterday where he essentially promised the Greens and this Liberal Democrats a lot of things if they go into a coalition with him.
It seems to us as though, Rosemary, that bid however is losing some steam. There are a lot of Germans who are quite critical of Armin Laschet and don't believe that he should become chancellor. So that certainly is going to make things very difficult for him.
He also has a very difficult meeting ahead today of the parliamentary group of the Conservatives. And there's a lot of people in that parliamentary group who very soon are going to be losing their jobs, because the conservative block up so few votes in the last elections.
So he, certainly, I not going to get a very a warm welcome there. And that also is not going to good for his bid to try and become the chancellor, Rosemary?
CHURCH: Yeah, indeed. Frederik Pleitgen, joining us live from Berlin, many thanks.
Well, the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly wrapped up on Monday. And North Korea's ambassador used the opportunity to call on the U.S. to give up its quote, "hostile policy towards Pyongyang," if Washington wants peace and stability.
CNN's Richard Roth has that story and more.
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RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Another high level week of speakers at the United Nations has concluded. Most of the talkers brought up COVID and climate change. North Korea picked a familiar third topic, the United States.
Pyongyang blasting Washington for those military exercises and not recognizing it as a formal country. The North Korean ambassador to the United Nations offered this measure as to what the United States could do for better relations.
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KIM SONG, NORTH KOREA AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N. (through translator): If the U.S. shows it's a bold decision to give up it's a hostile policy, we are also prepared to respond willingly at any time. But it is our judgement that that is no prospect at the presence stage for the U.S. to really withdraw its hostile policy to us, the DPRK (ph).
ROTH: More interesting was who didn't speak towards the end of the final day of this general Assembly. Myanmar and Afghanistan after weeks of controversy on who would represent the new forces in power back home.
The Myanmar representative to the United Nations telling CNN, he elected not to speak and a U.N. diplomat said in exchange in the power deal, he gets to keep the seat of his country for now. The Afghanistan representative at the last minute decided to withdraw and not speak. He represents the ousted government in Afghanistan.
At the final moments, despite all the talk about peace and conciliation, China and Canada went at it with the Canadian Foreign Minister and a representative of its mission saying that the two citizens traded back from prison in China were not treated well.
China said it was a frame up disagreeing in its right of reply from the seat in the General Assembly Hall. At the end the General Assembly president thank the New York City people for an extraordinary hosting job. He shouldn't have talked to any of the people who had cars though in the city.
Richard Roth, CNN, United Nations.
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CHURCH: R. Kelly is facing 10 years to life imprison for his conviction on sex trafficking and racketeering charges. Prosecutors accused the R&B singer of using his celebrity to lure women and underage girls for sex for more than 25 years. And they said, Kelly had an entourage of enablers who helped him do it.
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JACQUELYN KASULIS, ACTING U.S. ATTORNEY, EASTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK: Today's guilty verdict forever brands R. Kelly as a predator who used his fame and fortune to prey on the young, the vulnerable, and the voiceless for his own sexual ratification.
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CHURCH: Sentencing is set for May 4th. One of Kelly's attorney said they would appeal.
Sonia Moghie reports on the trial testimony. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SONIA MOGHIE, CNN REPORTER (voice over): We heard from 50 witnesses during the course of this trial. Some of the women who say they were sexually abused by the singer when they were minors, testifying that R. Kelly knew their ages at the time and have sex with them anyway, in some cases even reporting those sexual encounters.
Now one victim we heard from multiple times from different witnesses was the late singer Aaliyah, married R. Kelly when she was just 15 years-old. Prosecutor showed a copy of her and R. Kelly's marriage licensed which shows her age at the time of 1994 wedding as 18 years- old.
But a witness testified that he bribes a local worker to make an I.D. for Aaliyah to make her appear older so that she could marry Kelly, on this trial which fell during the 20th anniversary of Aaliyah's death.
We also heard from former employees of the singer and former living girlfriend who testified about the strict rules he had in place at his home in Studio Four, he's female guests. Some witnesses testified that they were not allowed to leave rooms without asking for permission from the singer, his associates first, even to get the food, to go to the bathroom, something prosecution says was a coercive tactic to control his victims. But defense attorney say it was simply R. Kelly keeping his home which was also a recording studio safe.
On the first witness that we heard testify in this trial, a woman named Jerhonda Pace took to Instagram to speak shortly after the verdict. Saying, quote, "For years, I was trolled for speaking out about the abused that I suffered at the hands of that predator. I am thankful to stand with those who are brave enough to speak up."
Now, of course, we were not allowed in the courtroom for this entire trial. But CNN was one of the few outlet that was allowed inside the courtroom when the verdict was read and I watched R. Kelly's face as that decision came down. He was emotionless. He starred at one spot in front of him, did not move.
His attorney telling us after the verdict was read that he was not expecting this guilty verdict. Now, he does have several more legal battles ahead of him, a state and a federal case in Illinois, as well as the state case in Minnesota.
In Brooklyn, I'm Sonia Moghie.
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CHURCH: Still to come. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains how the most recent surge in COVID cases is forcing health care workers to make difficult choices. He's taking us inside the hospital where he works for a firsthand look.
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[03:45:00] CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Well, U.S. President Joe Biden is
once again touting the benefits of getting a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot when and if you're eligible. He got his third shot of Pfizer Monday at the White House with cameras rolling.
Mr. Biden said the shots can save the lives of people who get them and the lives of others around them. The booster rollout comes as the U.S. prepares to increase the number of vaccines that it will ship to other nations. Here is more from the president.
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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We are going to have well over billion -- 100 million shots and we are going to continue going. We are going to do our part. We've also given a great deal of funding to COVAX, which is a vehicle that does this.
So, we are planting plenty of opportunities to make sure that we get everyone in the world, the priority part, the largest part in the world to get everyone vaccinated.
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CHURCH: The president's booster shot comes as hospitals across the U.S. are overwhelmed by unvaccinated patients. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta shows us how this crisis is impacting the hospital where he works here in Atlanta.
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SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): How unusual is what we are experiencing right now?
ROBERT JANSEN, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, GRADY MEMORIAL HOSPITAL: So this is very unusual.
GUPTA: Grady Memorial Hospital, this is the hospital where I work, where I have been a neurosurgeon now for more than 20 years. It is a level one trauma center. I can tell you, there's almost nothing a hospital like this can't handle.
JANSEN: There was one Sunday evening, there were 27 gunshot victims brought to Grady within a span of couple hours, 27. We didn't go in to diversion there. But take the pandemic and a bunch of unvaccinated people, we can't do it.
GUPTA: Diversion is just what it sounds like. You have to divert patients away. And it is something chief medical officer, Dr. Robert Jansen, never wants to happen. But the thing is COVID-19 has changed everything here.
JANSEN: It's a 20 bed unit. This morning we had 14 COVID patients just on this unit alone.
GUPTA: Up in the intensive care unit, it is almost eerily quiet. There is no indication of the tremendous suffering that's happening behind closed doors. These yellow bags are full of PPE, and everyone knows those are the rooms with COVID patients.
How much of what you are seeing is truly root to the unvaccinated?
JANSEN: Ninety-five percent of our patients are unvaccinated.
UNKNOWN: It's more challenging than the first COVID wave we had because it seems like they are doing more quick. This variant is quick.
JANSEN: This is the board we use in the GCC to help coordinate ambulances.
GUPTA: We are now in the Georgia coordinating center. This is where they work moment to moment, trying to decide where ambulances can actually take patients.
JANSEN: If it is red, that means they are full, basically. And so, there are occasions when they are made to wait without taking the patients inside. It's called on the wall, where they actually kept outside of the emergency room with the patient back in the ambulance waiting to be able to go inside, and we don't allow that here.
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GUPTA: Even if you're vaccinated and done all the right things. Because of this pandemic, now the unvaccinated, it affects you.
JANSEN: Well, it is. We talked delaying surgery because we don't have a place to put you after the operation. That is a consequence of this pandemic in related directly to a lack of vaccination.
GUPTA: And its one hospitals around diversion that the toughest decision of all need to be made, who gets treated, who doesn't.
What's the practical impact on me is as I was driving here I got in a car accident?
JANSEN: You know, we do still take care on anybody who comes. So what we had to do is cancel patients who require hospitalization following surgery. And even now we cancelled other patients who require hospitalization. The downstream effect that has on patients is devastating at times.
Every morning when I come in, we go through every COVID patients, determine who is on ventilators. I have to report the deaths.
GUPTA: Even as we are talking, we learned that someone passed away around the corner.
JANSEN: Yup. Unfortunately, it's a daily event.
GUPTA: How frustrating is all of this for you?
JANSEN: Well, personally, it's frustrating that what I worry about is our staff. UNKNOWN: It is a natural humanistic part of you that says how much
more can you take. But what is in your heart to care, you keep coming. You keep coming.
GUPTA: Keep coming. Because that is exactly what the virus will do.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.
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CHURCH: The importance of getting vaccinated. We will be back in just a moment.
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CHURCH: Well, in just a matter of hours, London's Royal Albert Hall will host the world premiere of the latest James Bond film "No Time to Die." It will be the 25th time that 007 has grace the silver screen and the last time Bond will be played by actor Daniel Craig. After five Bond movies over 15 years there will be no more martini shaken not stirred for Craig. But he says he's going out on a high note.
A story from CNN's Max Foster.
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MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It may be no time to die. But for actor Daniel Craig, it's a good time to move on from the blockbuster movie franchise that made him an international star.
Craig's last bow as the smoothest operator in British intelligence is long overdue in theaters, pushed back several times from its initial release date in April of 2020 because of the pandemic. And there were reports the star was reluctant to reprise the role after injuring himself on the movie Specter, six years ago. But in the spirit of never saying never again, Craig is back as James Bond for a fifth and final time.
CRAIG DAVID, ACTOR: I'm so happy that I've got the chance to come and do this. We had tied up a lot of news loose ends and we tried to tell one story with all my Bond movies. So that they're all connected in some way. And this one is just sort of is the, you know, sort of capped it off.
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FOSTER: Craig made a dramatic entrance as James Bond in 2005, riding out the times in a speedboat. It impressed stunt that ended speculation over who would take over the roll from Pierce Brosnan.
DAVID: I would like to thank the royal marines for bringing me in like that. And scaring the (BEEP) out of me. But you know, apart from that it is something else. I can't tell you really. I'm a bit speechless.
FOSTER: But Craig quickly found his voice as 007. And the movies where a huge success. Sky Fall released in 2012 is the most lucrative of all of the Bond films, earning more than a billion dollars on the global box office. And the character under Craig become a more modern take on the poker playing gadget loving spy of the past. This one was fitter, grittier, and could even fall in love.
DAVID: It changed my life and my life will never be the same again and it is just amazing, a wonderful, wonderful thing.
FOSTER: Many actors are being rumored to be on the running to take over from Craig, with some fans saying it's time for a black actor or a woman to step in the iconic role. But producers say they won't discuss the replacement until next year.
Max Foster, CNN.
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CHURCH: Can't wait to see it. Well, a piece of never before heard musical history goes on sale Tuesday. It is a recording of John Lennon and Yoko Ono singing a song called, "Radio Piece." The song is part of an interview with Lennon and Ono in 1970 in Denmark. The interview was conducted by four schoolboys for their school magazine.
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KARSTEN HOJEN, SELLER OF JOHN LENNON RECORDING (through translator): We stepped into the living room and saw John and Yoko and the others sitting on the sofa. It was fantastic. We also sat down and we were quite close together. I was sitting next to Yoko Ono and John Lennon was sitting next to Yoko. And we were talking having a good time. He stretched his legs on the table with his wool socks. It was just cozy.
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CHURCH: How about that. In the interview, Lennon talks about his frustration with the Beatles only months before the band formally broke up. The recording of the interview and song are expected to fetch more than $30,000 at auction.
And thank you so much for your company. I'm Rosemary Church. Do enjoy your day. "CNN Newsroom" with Isa Soares starts after a short break.
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