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North Korea Slams U.S. Days After Launching New Missile; Jamie Spears Suspended as Conservator of Estate; Former Officer Wayne Couzens to Be Sentenced; Afghan Family's World Destroyed by U.S. Drone Strike. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired September 30, 2021 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[01:00:12]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello everyone. I'm John Vause. This is CNN Newsroom.
Ahead this hour, a cutting deception, North Korea's Kim Jong-un accuses the U.S. of deceiving the world, hiding its real hostile intentions with repeated offers of peace talks. And the sentencing of the police officer who murdered Sarah Everard, new details about how he looted her to her death.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a great day for Britney Spears. And it's a great day for justice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: victory for Britney, a judge suspense her father's head of her conservatorship, total freedom now just weeks away.
North Korea's Leader Kim Jong-un might just be trying to drive a wedge between the United States and its longtime ally South Korea. During his address to the annual session of Parliament, the brilliant comrade as he's known, described recent U.S. officer peace talks as a petty trick to deceive the world about its real hostile intentions towards the north.
For South Korea, though Kim expressed a willingness to restore the hotline between Seoul and Pyongyang as a way to promote peace. And North Korean state media is reporting eight new appointees to the country's top ruling body state affairs commission. Among them, Kim Jong-un's youngest sister, Kim Yo-jong.
CNN's Will Ripley, live in Taipei. So, Will, this is truly a cunning plan by the United States hiding his hostility and the military threats by offering these peace talks. In some ways, it almost seems like Kim Jong-un might be projecting. WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, look, North Korea conducts its own military drills. But whenever the United States and South Korea which have a military alliance conduct their own routine drills, North Korea uses that as an excuse, some might argue to engage in provocative activity, engaging criticism, accused the United States and South Korea of this hostile policy as North Korea sees it colluding to try to undermine their nation and their sovereignty, which is the justification that they use to continue testing increasingly powerful and dangerous weapons. And yet at the same time, there is this now kind of mixed messaging because even though Kim Jong-un was quoted in North Korean media saying that the Biden ministration, in his words, is more sly, more hostile than even the Trump administration. They also talk about potentially reopening communications with the south and they talk about how they feel the United States is being deceptive by offering dialogue without preconditions. And yet what the North Koreans have asked for is for some sanctions to be lifted before they even are willing to sit down and talk and they're asking for mutual respect from the south, even though it was just last year that they blew up the shared inter-Korean Liaison Office and hurled insults at the South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
VAUSE: A hypersonic missile, which was launched by North Korea is being clocked at 2.5 times the speed of sound. That's fast but not fast enough, right, to be consider the real hypersonic weapon.
RIPLEY: A hypersonic missile, by definition goes at least five times the speed of sound, which may explain why South Korea actually refuted North Korea's claims and said that this missile that was tested the Hwasong-8 could actually be detected and intercepted by existing military assets in the U.S. and South Korea.
But what we know John about North Korea is that the first iteration of a weapon is not necessarily the last and more tests and more developments could likely be coming, and this is a country that has beat the odds and surprise many observers with just how fast they've grown their arsenal.
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RIPLEY: If what North Korea says is true, this may be their most dangerous weapon yet a hypersonic missile. Analysts say it could change the military equation in East Asia and beyond.
Kim Jong-un's arsenal has exploded during these first decade in power. Analysts say the Hwasong-8 could be unlike any missile he's tested before exact specifications unknown. Hypersonic missiles can fly more than five times the speed of sound, roughly 4000 miles an hour or about a mile every second. At that speed, a missile could fly from Pyongyang to Washington in less than two hours. Some hypersonic weapons can theoretically fly four times faster, up to 20 times the speed of sound.
Many ballistic missiles already fly at hypersonic speeds, but they follow a set trajectory from point A to point B. North Korea says this new missile has a hypersonic glide vehicle making it highly maneuverable descending on target from a much lower altitude, experts say almost impossible to shoot down.
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GORDON CHANG, AUTHOR, NUCLEAR SHOWDOWN: N. KOREA TAKES ON THE WORLD": It would mean for instance that our ground-based interceptors in Alaska and California would not work against North Korea's missiles. That means North Korea would be able to intimidate the United States.
RIPLEY: South Korea says the North's newly tested hypersonic missile is likely in the early stages of development and can still be detected and intercepted by South Korean and U.S. missile defense systems at least for now.
JAMIE METZL, FOUNDER, ONE SHARED WORLD: We don't know yet about the full capacity of these hypersonic missiles. But when you connect these new missile capabilities, new launch capabilities and the miniaturization of nuclear weapons, it leads to the conclusion that North Korea will possibly or even likely have an increased strike capability and that's going to increase the threat that North Korea poses to countries around the world.
RIPLEY: Right now, just two nations have deployed hypersonic missiles, Russia and China. The U.S. is actively testing and developing hypersonic missile technology. Three world powers and now possibly North Korea, a new global arms race, escalating at hypersonic speed.
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RIPLEY: There's also big news coming out of Pyongyang about Kim Jong- un's younger sister Kim Yo-jong. We don't even know her exact age. She's believed to be at least 32. We don't know if she's married. But what we do know is that she has been by her brother's side at almost every high-profile event including those face-to-face meetings between Kim and former U.S. President Donald Trump, and she has now been promoted to a full ranking member of the state affairs commission.
There is a photo of all of the members of that commission, 10 of them all men, except for her and she is not only a young woman who has held various official posts since 2014, but believed to be one of the most, if not the second most powerful figure inside North Korea right now because of course, not only does she come from the pack to bloodline, but she also is one of her brother's closest and most trusted confidant. She is the one who was his emissary in 2018 at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, the first member of the ruling Kim family to cross into South Korea, and she is also the one who ordered that the inter-Korean Liaison Office be blown up in June of last year.
Now, John, she's in this high-ranking Committee, which means that the ruling Kim family and Kim Jong-un himself firmly has people in place who he trusts no challenge to his rule seen by outside observers whatsoever and these new weapons keep coming.
VAUSE: Possibly even a successor they're in place. Should he stand down one day. Will, thank you. Will Ripley, live for us in Taipei.
After 13 years, Britney Spears is now free from her father's legal oversight. Celebrations for her fans outside the Los Angeles courthouse on Wednesday. A judge suspended Spears' father Jamie from the conservatorship effected immediately, instead of it counted will take over the $16 million estate temporarily. Another court date set for November, we'll consider ending the conservatorship altogether.
In an Instagram post on her flying a plane for the first time, Britney Spears said the ruling put her on cloud. Camila Bernal has details now from Los Angeles.
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MATHEW ROSENGART, BRITNEY SPEARS' ATTORNEY: It's a great day for Britney Spears.
CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: After many calls for freedom ...
ROSENGART: I'm so pleased and proud to say Jamie Spears is no longer a conservatory.
BERNAL: Los Angeles Superior Court Judge suspending Jamie Spears from his daughter's conservatorship and designating a certified public accountant to oversee her estate. But not yet ending the 13-year arrangement that has motivated activism and created a movement
LEANNE SIMMONS, FREE BRITNEY ACTIVIST: A long time coming, and I think you know we wouldn't be here if we hadn't gotten to hear from Brittany directly publicly.
BERNAL: Since 2008, Jamie Spears has overseen many aspects of his daughter's life, including until 2019 control of her health, medical and financial needs. But over the summer the Grammy winner speaking out. During too emotional testimonies, she said she wanted to press charges against her father for conservatorship abuse, calling the arrangement cruelty.
Jamie Spears has maintained he has always acted in his daughter's best interest. He's seeking nearly $2 million to cover his salary overseeing her business dealings as well as his legal fees. But Britney's attorney has said that they will not agree to a settlement. In Los Angeles I'm Camila Bernal.
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VAUSE: Attorney for her father said everything Jamie did was with Britney's interests in mind and that he loves her very much.
To Los Angeles now Ashley Cullins is Senior Business Editor the Hollywood Reporter. Ashley, thank you. Welcome to the show.
[01:10:06]
ASHLEY CULLINS, SENIOR BUSINESS EDITOR, HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: Thanks for having me.
VAUSE: OK, so the battle now to free Britney from her father's control appears to be winding down. The legal case against her father is only getting started, it seems. He is the lead attorney for Britney Spears. Listen to this.
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ROSENGART: Jamie Spears and others are going to face even more serious ramifications for his misconduct.
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VAUSE: OK, so a certified accountant has been appointed temporary conservator for the estate, the entire arrangement was not immediately dissolved. So, does this suggest these ramifications are more likely to be a civil claim for fraud or financial wrongdoing? Or could there be criminal charges as well, which are kind of separate to these proceedings?
CULLINS: It could be either. That was Matthew Rosengart who is a very seasoned litigator, he knows what he's doing in a civil courtroom, but he's also a former federal prosecutor. So, he's been pretty clear that once he gets his hands on the financial books and the other documents that he hasn't had access to, he's going to look for every ounce of evidence that there was wrongdoing that he can find, and use that to either pursue civil action, which seems extremely likely at this point, or handed over to law enforcement in hopes that they will pursue criminal charges against him as well.
VAUSE: And this is why the whole arrangement wasn't dissolved immediately when her father was suspended as head of it, because they wanted to keep it intact, because if they dissolved it immediately, then there would be no other evidence to go through?
CULLINS: That's part of what we think Britney's team's motivation is for keeping it but that wouldn't have had anything to do with why judge Penny decided to rule on their petition to suspend. Jamie instead of Jamie's petition to end the conservatorship. Quite frankly, it's just a much larger, more complicated thing to do to end the conservatorship entirely. She probably wants more time to think about it, to have an entire hearing dedicated to it. There's nothing in California law that says what kind of evidence or how much evidence she has to consider in order to just end it, but I'm sure she wants to be careful.
VAUSE: One of a flurry of recent documentaries has led to that her father hired security firms to monitor and record her communications, to spy on her, what happened in her bedroom walls without her knowledge or consent. Her father would also threaten to take away her children. There's a lot of powerful stuff here. How could this go on for 13 years?
CULLINS: Well, that same documentary mentioned the NDAs, if everyone in Britney's life is agreeing to confidentiality and they're dealing with people with a lot of power and resources, then they would be afraid to come forward if they witness something that they thought was wrong. NDA is keeping off a lot of people quiet about all sorts of wrongdoing. VAUSE: Outside the court, Britney's lawyer thanked her fans for their support. He also had a sort of a reminder of how and why this ended up in court. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROSENGART: It's a great day for Britney Spears. And it's a great day for justice. And there's definitely something to celebrate. But it's also a solemn day. Britney Spears has been faced with a decade long nightmare, a Kafkaesque nightmare orchestrated by her father, and others.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Just go back 13 years, how is it this legal arrangement actually happened in the first place? And how is it that a court can order every legal right of one individual behind into another?
CULLINS: So first, typically, conservatorships are meant for people who don't have capacity to make decisions for themselves either because of a permanent disability or terminal illness. They're designed for people who are no longer going to have that capacity ever. They're not going to get better at any point. So, Britney Spears case is extremely unusual in that there hadn't ever really been anything quite like this. At the time, she had had a couple of very public breakdowns, there were multiple 51, 50 psychiatric holds. And the court believed that this was necessary in order to protect her and her interests. But that was a long time ago. And the conservatorship process has become really, really public, through Britney's pace, and that's not something people normally get to see. There are a lot of intricacies here and once something like this is set up, it's awfully hard to get out of.
VAUSE: Clearly, I mean for 13 years. I mean, it's incredible to think. Ashley, thank you so much for being with us. We really appreciate it.
CULLINS: Thank you.
VAUSE: And about six hours a judge in London is expected to hand out a life sentence for the brutal murder of Sarah Everard.
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Protesters demanding justice and highlighting violence against women have gathered outside the courthouse where former police officer Wayne Couzens will learn his fate. He confessed to killing and raping ever rather than burning her remains. On Wednesday, prosecutors say his authority as a policeman was key to carrying out the murder. Nada Bashir has now report.
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NADA BASHIR, CNN PRODUCER: Well, a series of shocking new details were revealed by the prosecution on Wednesdays hearing the first of two days in the sentencing of Wayne Couzens, the former police officer charged with the murder of Sarah Everard in March of this year. Among the shocking details the fact that Couzens use his police authority to abduct, rape and kill Everard as she made her way home from a friend's house late in the evening in South London. According to the prosecution, he stopped Everard on the street under the guise of enforcing coronavirus restrictions, and she was later handcuffed and driven away by Couzens in a private vehicle.
The prosecution was also able to reveal further details in the last few moments of Everard's life. A postmortem had previously shown that Everard had died as a result of compression to the neck. The prosecution on Wednesday was able to reveal that Couzens had strangled Everard with his police belt.
He confessed the killer kept his head down and eyes closed for much of the hearing early raising his gaze briefly when asked to do so by Everard's father. Her mother also gave an emotional statement to the court saying that she had been tormented by thoughts of what her daughter had been forced to endure by Couzens.
The court hearing is set to resume on Thursday with judges set to pass the sentencing of Wayne Couzens. The prosecution seeking whole life order which removes the possibility of parole or to the severity of the crime. But for now, questions remain over whether the police authorities and indeed the government are doing enough to prevent such acts of violence against women from happening across the U.K.
Nada Bashir, CNN, London.
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VAUSE: Still ahead on CNN Newsroom. It's called a Lava Delta, buildup of lava on the shoreline making the La Palma Island a little bigger than your piece of real estate has its own unique dangers, more on that in a moment. Also, how an Arab drone strike in Kabul missed the terrorist and devastating effect.
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VAUSE: The death toll from a prison massacre in Ecuador has reached 116 in counting with at least 80 people hurt. Ecuador's president said the death toll most likely rise as authority struggled to regain control of the prison from warring gangs.
Dozens of people gathered outside the facility hoping to hear word about relatives inside official say rival gang so class repeatedly in recent days armed with guns, grenades, as well as knives.
U.S. Defense Secretary and top generals are shining more light on the collapse of Afghanistan's government which caught so many off guard. They spoke to a U.S. Health Committee on Wednesday with the Joint Chiefs Chairman said he knew up to six years ago that the war was stalemated and there could be no military solution. CNN Alex Marquardt picks up the story.
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(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): A blunt assessment from the nation's top general opening the second day of congressional hearings on the end of the war in Afghanistan.
GEN. MARK MILLEY, U.S. JOINIT CHIEF CHAIRMAN: It was a tactical operational and logistical success, evacuating 24,000 people. The war was a strategic failure.
MARQUARDT: General Mark Milley making clear that after former President Donald Trump lost the election, he ordered an accelerated withdrawal of all U.S. troops before President Joe Biden took office, having already agreed with the Taliban to fully withdraw. It was a decision Milley says he was cut out of.
MILLEY: That's why I went over to the White House with Acting Secretary Miller and White House Chief of Staff Kash Patel to discuss that order. So, I wasn't consulted on it.
MARQUARDT: Republican lawmakers went after the apparent contradiction between the generals wanting 2500 U.S. troops to stay. And President Biden telling ABC News he didn't get that advice.
MARK ROGERS, U.S. HOUSE REPUBLICAN: In January of this year, were you of the opinion in your professional military judgement that we should have maintained 2500 troops, U.S. troops?
MILLEY: Yeah, my assessment that I read in the opening statement remained consistent. And --
ROGERS: Did that professional military opinion change over the course of the next few months?
MILLEY: Not until a presidential decision and I rented my opinions and there was a fulsome debate on all of that. And once decisions are made, then I'm expected to execute lawful order.
MARQUARDT: Milley was again attacked by Republicans for calls that he made to his Chinese counterpart in October in January. Milley said intelligence showed that the Chinese were worried about an American attack, so worried that the intelligence appeared in the President's daily brief and was shared with top national security officials.
MILLEY: That was significant, and there was a lot of it. It wasn't just a singular report. There was a lot -- I'll be happy to share that with you and go over it with you line by line.
MARQUARDT: According to the new book Peril, Milley told the Chinese that the U.S. would not attack China today. He said those calls were meant to convey President Trump's intent.
MILLEY: I said, hell generally I'll probably give you a call but we're not going to attack you, trust me. We're not going to attack you. These are two great powers, and I am doing my best to transmit the President's intent. President Trump's intent. MARQUARDT: Milley said he had no regrets about speaking with Peril, co-author Bob Woodward, insisting that it's important to speak with the pres.
MILLEY: I have done my best to remain personally apolitical and to try to keep the military out of actual domestic politics.
MARQUARDT: After repeated GOP calls for Milley to resign, Congresswoman Liz Cheney apologize to the general for her Republican colleagues.
LIZ CHENEY, U.S. HOUSE REPUBLICAN: For any American to question your loyalty to our nation, to question your understanding of our Constitution, your loyalty to our Constitution, your recognition and understanding of the civilian chain of command is despicable.
MARQUARDT (on camera): General Milley was asked when he knew that the war was lost. He wouldn't use that word himself. But he said that it was five or six years ago that he knew that there was no military solution that it was unwinnable and, in his words, stalemated. The answer, he said was a negotiated settlement with the Taliban.
Now since the Taliban signed the deal with the Trump administration last year, Milley said that the Taliban has stood by the condition not to attack U.S. troops but haven't honored any of the other conditions.
Alex Marquardt, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Meantime, these top military leaders say they knew within hours that civilians have been killed in a drone strike in Kabul that happened one month to go.
CNN's Anna Coren, live for us this hour in Hong Kong. So, the drone strike happened at the end of August around the 27th. We know that on September 1, they talked about others being killed in a strike. It wasn't until September 17. There was some recognition from the Pentagon that civilians were dead, but they knew within hours.
ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, John, the drone strike happened on Sunday, the 29th of August, and it does, it marks one month since 10 civilians were killed. There were stunning admissions from those top U.S. defense officials really exposing how much they actually knew about what took place on the ground in relation to this drone strike.
Remember, for weeks, they maintained that this was a righteous strike. They were the words used by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, just three days after that strike, but they defended that strike four weeks before finally admitting it to the public that they got it wrong.
John for the family, you know, that lost 10 family members this has just been an absolutely devastating month to add to their pain not one single person from the U.S. government has bothered to contact them.
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COREN (voice-over): Barking dogs and a faint call to prayer are the only sounds that punctuate the silence from this hilltop above Kabul.
[01:25:04]
Yet the serenity and panoramic views do little to ease the souls of those who've been forced to relocate here. We cannot go inside the old house because of the memories, a house full of life was turned into a graveyard.
A month ago, their world was destroyed when the U.S. military fighter hellfire missile into the family's compound. The target a white Toyota Corolla, with aid worker and family patriarch Zemari Ahmadi behind the wheel.
Ten family members were killed, including seven children, three of whom were toddlers. The U.S. had intelligence. The 43-year-old was an ISIS facilitator with suspected explosives in the car, posing an imminent threat to us troops in the final days of the airport evacuation.
After weeks of defending the strike, the military admitted their intelligence was wrong. And then this admission during yesterday's grilling of defense chiefs in Congress examining the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At what point General McKenzie, and this is for all three of you, at what point did you know that the strike was bad that it hit civilians?
GEN. KENNETH F. MCKENZIE, U.S. CENTCOM COMMANDER: So, we knew the strike hit civilians within four or five hours after the strike occurred. We did not know though that the target of the strike was in fact an error and a mistake until sometime later took us a few days to run that down.
COREN: Zemari's family says no one from the U.S. government has contacted them.
GEN. FRANK MCKENZIE, CENTCOM COMMANDER: I offer my profound condolences.
COREN: The only apology they've received is by U.S. Central Command General Frank McKenzie before the TV cameras almost two weeks ago.
MCKENZIE: And I offer my sincere apology.
COREN: They should have passed on their condolences, ask for forgiveness directly from us, says Zemari's brother. For 15 years Zemari worked as an engineer for U.S. based NGO NEI that provided soybeans for Afghanistan's malnourished and poor. NEI based in California has had a long history with the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, some of its life-saving programs were funded by the State Department.
SONIA KWON, SENIOR ADVISER, NUTRITION AND EDUCATION INTERNATIONAL: I don't know of any other job in the world where you can accidentally kill someone's entire family and then we call it a mistake.
COREN: Adding insult to injury, the U.S. military continues to maintain the chatter they've been monitoring for 36 hours before that fateful day came from an ISIS-K safe house.
CNN can confirm that the purported ISIS-K safe house is the family home of NEI's Country Director Dr. Walid. A pediatrician and father of three young girls and has lived here for 40 years.
Zemari had stopped at the house that morning to pick up Dr. Walid computer which he had forgot. It was from that moment the military began following Zemari's car and will continue surveillance for the next eight hours before launching the strike.
DR. WALID, COUNTRY DIRECTOR, NUTRITION AND EDUCATION INTERNATIONAL: I'm really shocked, why this house is labelled as a safe house for ISIS. It is absolutely untrue, but I do expect from the U.S. government to clear the name on my house.
COREN: In fact, Dr. Walid was granted a U.S. Green Card in 2018. It was reissued a few weeks before the strike. He now feels under threat and Taliban controlled Afghanistan, exposed as working for a U.S. based NGO plus being falsely associated with ISIS-K and wants to leave.
The U.S. military says it's looking into reparations for Zemari's family, but that's little comfort. NEI is engaging legal representation on behalf of the family and is also demanding their resettlement.
KWON: I just hope the U.S. government has the compassion to grant what they want, which is to resettle, and I think that they really deserve this.
COREN: For the surviving children, their smiles disguise their daily anguish and pain. Relatives say they often break down in tears, asking why their siblings and cousins had to die.
There isn't a single day where we don't shed tears to them says Zemari's Sister. Nothing is more painful, and nothing can relieve our pain.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN (on camera): And John ultimately, this family other than compensation, you know, moving to the United States, they want justice for their 10 family members. We know that there are two U.S. military investigations now underway to examine what went wrong, who should be held accountable if anyone should be, and also as to what needs to change, what policies methods need to change in this sort of warfare over the horizon, warfare with these drone strikes.
We reached out to U.S. Central Command that was in charge of this drone strike, John, and they declined to comment.
[01:29:26] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: No surprise. Anna, thank you. Anna Coren, live for us there in Hong Kong.
Well music has become the latest victim of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. Like much of the country, there's no music now heard at the capital, no longer heard on radio, no longer performed in the streets. There's no formal ban by the Taliban, but at this point they don't have to.
We have more details now from CNN's Clarissa Ward reporting in from Kabul.
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CLARISSSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This neighborhood used to be full of musicians and music stores selling instruments. Now you can see almost all of the shops here have been shut down.
Down the street we meet musician Mustafa Nouri (ph) who tells us he has been forced to sell street food since the Taliban took over.
"The entire area of Korabat (ph) is full of musicians," he says. "But since the Taliban and came, they stopped the music, and our work has ended."
As we're talking, a red car pulls out.
(on camera): It looks like the Taliban have arrived here?
Does it make you nervous to see them coming up and down the street like this?
"Of course, I'm afraid," he says. When we see them, normally we go into our houses.
(voice over): The Taliban haven't officially banned music, but the musicians tell us the fighters regularly threaten them not to play their instruments.
(on camera): The Taliban are here again, driving past us.
You can imagine how intimating that is for people in this neighborhood, just to have them with their weapons driving up and down the street.
(voice over): As we start to leave, a man invites as into his house. He says he hasn't taken his tabla out of its case since the Taliban took over.
(on camera): I imagine that music is part of your heart. It must hurt not to have, not to be able to play anymore.
(voice over): "If we can't play then we feel depressed and our hearts cannot breathe," he tells us. "Nothing is left. The music has ended." He says he doesn't know how
long they can continue to live like this. He starts to tap the tabla lightly, his reflexes take over and for a brief moment, he's free.
Clarissa Ward, CNN -- Kabul.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Still to come, as climate change worsens across the globe, the new generation is taking a stand.
Just ahead, we speak with an expert helping the youth make their voices heard.
[01:32:47]
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VAUSE: Welcome back everyone. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
The British government will deploy the military in the coming days, to deliver fuel and help ease their petrol supply crisis. A reserve tanker fleet of civilian drivers is already out there. The government says the crisis is from a lack of truck drivers. That's putting a problem on other key supply chains as well.
CNN's Nina Dos Santos explains.
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NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Petrol, Fresh produce and natural gas -- shortages of vital items are affecting day-to-day life in Britain.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This shouldn't be happening in our country like ours.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't have enough skilled workers, so that's going to be the problem.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hindsight is 2020, so it's very easy for me to sit and say oh they should've, could've, would've -- but we should do better.
DOS SANTOS: The government says the recent run on the pump is down to panic buying and plenty of fuel. Thanks to the pandemic and Brexit, there is however, a lack of truck drivers making it very difficult to get all sorts of goods to where they're needed most.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm ready to forgive them.
DOS SANTOS: Authorities hope to ease pressure on strained supply chains, by issuing thousands of temporary visas to people like Drazen Miljic from Bosnia. He has worked in the U.K. before, and would gladly return. DRAZEN MILJIC, TRUCK DRIVER: It sounds tempting for me because the
salaries are all very good, especially now when they are in crisis, in need of drivers. I know before, before the Brexit, before the crisis, salaries were good also in England.
So yes, it sounds ok for me. I would work there.
DOS SANTOS: But others like these drivers in Slovenia weren't so keen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Problem, customs, time. No good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Visa problem, passport problem.
DOS SANTOS (on camera): COVID-19 disrupted the examination process for tens of thousands of potential heavy goods vehicle operators in the U.K.
(voice over): Now the government has decided to try and ease the backlog by fast-tracking the qualification process. Here at this driving store on the outskirts of London, that means that they're busier than they've ever been.
(on camera): Here you are as a 29-year-old wanting to be a truck driver, why?
JOE CROOK, TRAINEE DRIVER: Just the opportunity of earning money is the main thing. It's very flexible within my family life for an English person to be doing I think it's a -- it's a big must and big need. I do try to tell people that were going upwards, you know, do it.
DOS SANTOS: Until Joe and many others like him can get goods around the U.K., customer patience is another thing that's in short supply.
Nina Dos Santos, CNN -- in London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Day 11 of volcanic eruptions in the Canary Islands and one river of lava has reached the ocean and formed what's known as a lava delta on the shoreline. Officials warn it could suddenly collapse even possibly explode.
Al Goodman has our report.
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AL GOODMAN, JOURNALIST: It was on the 10th consecutive of eruptions a volcano on Spain's La Palma Island that the red hot lava finally reached the Atlantic Ocean. That was just before midnight, the lava coming down the hill and falling off a sea cliff into the ocean.
Authorities had expected this since the eruptions began back on September 19. So an exclusionary zone was set up at sea to keep ships away and also land, people on the western side of the island, told to shelter in place, keep their windows and doors close because of what officials said was the danger of toxic gases coming and explosions when the lava hits the Atlantic Ocean.
By daybreak -- by daylight, the extent of the damage could be seen with officials saying the lava not just going underneath the surface of the ocean but forming new pieces of land. A kind of a delta sticking out in a triangular fashion from the coastline.
All of this on the western side of the island, away from the eastern side, where the airport is, which has been closed on and off due to the heavy load of volcanic ash, flights trying to get through there.
Officials say some 700 buildings have been affected by the lava flow. Hundreds of them destroyed, and officials say that this could go on for several weeks, even a few more months.
Al Goodman, CNN -- Madrid.
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VAUSE: Pause from -- praise, rather, from Pope Francis for young climate campaigners with a video message to the Youth for Climate event.
Thousands of young activists gathered in Milan, Italy to speak with lawmakers about the climate crisis. The Pope says participants there -- they're both the present and the future of the fight to save the planet.
Here's what one delegate had to say about the history (ph).
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DESMOND ABINWI FONTOH, YOUTH DELEGATE FROM CAMEROON: It was really amazing. First of all, connecting with youth from around the world. This is a great (INAUDIBLE). Being able to bring youth across all Africa, America, Pacific to come together and think about how we can save our planet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: With us now from New Delhi is Shagun Sethi, director of global leadership at One Shared World. Social activist with Pontoka which is advises environmental and sustainable strategies for businesses and opportunities for investors. Thank you for being with us.
You know, Greta Thunberg, made a lot of headlines recently when she lashed out at world leaders for what she says was 30 years of blah, blah, blah -- just talking about a crisis of doing nothing.
How can you and this movement of young activists avoid falling into that same blah blah blah trap? How do these talks in Milan ahead of the COP26, deliver some real change? SHAGUN SETHI, DIRECTOR OF GLOBAL LEADERSHIP, ONE SHARED WORLD: Thank
you so much for having me John. I think this is a very important question, and I completely agree with Greta when she says that what has happened over the last more than 30 years in my opinion is just blah, blah, blah because we've seen conferences and protocols like Kyoto where these conversation began really about the planet crisis and it's no longer about, you know, this is something that's happening in the future.
This is happening right now. This is happening in our every day. And so, with a movement like One Shared World, we are no longer saying that we need pledges in conferences and commitment. What we're saying is we need action.
We need tangible action and we as young people from across the world, you know from different countries, different ethnicities, and different demographics are coming together to say here is what we need you to do. These are the actions we need you to take and we need you to do it now because the future is not waiting for us.
VAUSE: Yes. Absolutely. Pope Francis, who is well known for his concerns about climate change. He thanked the 400 delegates in Milan for challenging world leaders.
This is part of what he said. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
POPE FRANCIS, HEAD OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH (through translator): It is a concern that is good for everyone. This vision is capable of challenging the adult world for it reveals that you are prepared, not only for action, but also for patient listening, constructive dialogue, and mutual understanding.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: I just wonder how much is your generation willing to listen patiently and have mutual understanding. It seems to me that ship has sailed?
SETHI: I don't agree I think. I think that the ship for, you know, kind of being patient has sailed for sure. But I think our generation is not just, you know, keen on just going on streets and sloganeering and campaigning, and making these empty promises.
I think what we want to do is listen to exports. Listen to people who have experience in the fields. Listen to scientists, but then also build tangible infrastructure to solve these problems.
We need knowledge and information to be disseminated to every one child. Education to these people (INAUDIBLE) -- because it's not just about climate, rising levels and kind of rising temperatures and melting glaciers anymore. It's also about the fact that so many millions of people are at the threat of losing their homes.
You know, because of the California fires. What happened in Australia. What's happening in all across the world on (INAUDIBLE).
And so I really think that our generation wants to take what, you know, the risk taker venerable kind of wisdom that these leaders have, and put it into practice by tangible actions and policies.
VAUSE: Very quickly, clearly the consequences of climate change will fall heaviest, before heaviest on those who did the latest heaviness who did the least to cause it. Your generation.
How frustrating is it to deal with science-denying adults, who won't be around to see the consequences of what has been willful ignorance?
SETHI: You know, it is very, very frustrating. But what's more frustrating, rather than thinking about what happened in the past, and the inaction in the past, is the fact that, you know, even in conversations today, we think of climate change, and people working towards climate change as if they're doing something morally good. And that's not the case.
I think that if you're not doing something for the climate, if you're not taking care of society, then that should be punishable. It doesn't put you on a moral high ground by saying that you will not pollute the environment. That is what you should do by virtue of existence. And if you're not doing that, that is what should be punishable.
So what's frustrating for me is that people think (INAUDIBLE) different things we make one of these different commitments at organizations like the U.N. and you know, country level kind of governmental bodies.
But what ends up happening is that there is nothing that those (INAUDIBLE) that comes out. There's nothing that happens after that. And we tend to, you know, say these things so that we can sleep better at night. But this is not something that's a moral problem anymore. This is not a social problem anymore.
It's something that is almost criminal. And if we don't act on it today, it should be punishable in the future.
VAUSE: Yes, I think it is criminal.
Shagun, thank you for being with us. We really appreciate your point of view.
SETHI: Thank you so much.
VAUSE: Well, China has a message for NATO. Stay out of the Asia Pacific. But is that an attempt to take advantage of the recent fallout from the AUKUS submarine deal?
We'll take a look at that in a moment.
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(COMMERCIAL BREAK) VAUSE: China paused on Thursday for Martyrs Day, to remember those who gave their lives for China's independence and prosperity. It's kind of a new holiday which began in 2014. It comes on the eve of National Day, when they celebrate the founding of the People's Republic of China.
In a very rare move, China's foreign minister has spoken with NATO Secretary General this week and said the alliance should stay out of the Asia Pacific. The foreign minister said in a statement, "In recent years some NATO members have sent ships and planes to the vicinity of China. But the Asia Pacific region does not need to establish new military blocs and should no longer cause confrontation between major powers, let alone forming small cliques aimed at instigating a new Cold War.
Ivo Daalder is president of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and for four years served as the U.S. permanent representative to NATO. He's with us this hour from Chicago.
Ambassador, thank you for your time.
IVO DAALDER, PRESIDENT, CHICAGO COUNCIL ON GLOBAL AFFAIRS: My pleasure to be here.
VAUSE: Ok. So there wasn't just a warning to NATO to stay out of the Pacific from China, there was reassurance that China would never be a rival to NATO as well as what might be described as a bit of friendly advice from the foreign minister.
He said "The key to pushing forward mutual ties between China and NATO is to see the other side objectively not to listen to disinformation and not be fooled by lies and rumors.
The United States was not mentioned but a nod is as good as a wink. And given all the ill feeling in Europe, the accusations of betrayal and deception after the U.S.-U.K.-Australia defense deal, would that message from China, from Beijing resonate a little more now with at least a few of the NATO member states? Is Beijing trying to wrest (ph) its leverage from this diplomatic fallout over (INAUDIBLE)?
DAALDER: Well, they are clearly trying to do that. Whether they will succeed is something else. Of course not to be forgotten is that the United States is a member of NATO. It's also a Pacific power. Canada is a member of NATO. It is also a Pacific power.
So the idea that somehow NATO has no interests in the Pacific and should stay away is a misnomer and is really not going to happen.
Whether the Chinese can succeed in furthering any divisions between the United States and its European allies is perhaps a different question.
Clearly the AUKUS deal has upset at least one ally in Europe, France -- both for commercial reasons because there was a major sub deal that it had signed with the Australians. But also frankly for reasons that have to do with, why don't you take our interests seriously? After all, France is a Pacific power as well.
VAUSE: Well, we are seeing right now the diplomatic relations between Washington and Paris are -- at least from appearances they appear to be on the mend.
[01:49:52]
VAUSE: But the French President Emmanuel Macron he continues to use this moment it seems to push his vision of a European defense strategy, which is much less reliant on the United States.
Here he is. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT (through translator): We would be naive, or rather we would be making a terrible mistake, if we did not want to draw all the consequences and see this for ourselves.
And so here too. It is with the same pragmatism, the same lucidity for our independence that we as Europeans must take our part in our own protection.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Here's the thing though. Looking forward, unless there is a significant increase in defense spending in the United States, American forces will likely, you know, be re-deployed away from Europe and sent to the Pacific as part of this focus on China, eventually I guess.
So wouldn't a Europe as an equal partner in defense and other issues be welcomed by the United States?
DAALDER: Yes. I don't know whether the United States presence in Europe is necessarily going to be significantly decreased. But I do think, to the larger point, I do think it's time for the United States to come out full bore and said yes, we do welcome a stronger, if necessary, a more autonomous Europe.
We would like it to be within the NATO framework. But we want to work with all of our European friends, starting with the French, to find out ways in which the European contributions to global security and, to security in Europe, and to security around the world is increased.
Frankly, this is something that the United States has been seeking for a good number of years, going back as far as Harry Truman and John F. Kennedy. And it's high time that Europe in fact does more on defense. And if we can help that by saying, that what France is talking about, a Europe that is more capable of defending itself, more capable of providing resources for common defense, more capable of taking on bigger responsibilities for security, even for economic well-being around the world, the United States will and should welcome that.
VAUSE: One of the reasons, you know, one of the rather the failure to include France in the AUKUS alliance, has been described as a major diplomatic blunder here. Is it too late to rectify that? At this point would France have any incentive to join AUKUS?
DAALDER: I think it was a major blunder. I do believe that France has a good reason for being upset if only by being kept in the dark for something that it had itself declared to be of vital interest to France.
So the question is how do we repair the relationship? I do think it makes sense for us to start thinking more in how do we bring the allies, the major advanced democracies in Asia together with the major advanced democracies in Europe, together with the major advanced democracies in North America.
The idea that we can continue to have in the United States a transatlantic policy that is divorced from our transpacific policy is shown to not be the case here.
We really need to bring European friends into discussions about Asian security, and frankly, our Asian friends into discussion of European and Atlantic security. In fact if you look at countries like Australia, it has fought alongside the United States in every war for the past 100 years. It has been a partner in so many places that are very far removed from the Indo-Pacific and starting to rethink how we bring together advance democracies of Asia, of Europe and of North America in a more common way to deal with security questions, including by the way, China and Russia is something that I would encourage.
VAUSE: If we go back to the first secretary general of NATO, he described the purpose of the alliance to keep the Soviet Union out, the Americans in and the Germans down.
It's been mission accomplish on that for quite some time. And ever since we've seen this growing divide in U.S. and European priorities, as well as interests, whether it's opposition to the Iraq invasion in 2003, an approach to Israel with, you know, the European wanting to take a little tougher approach. Maybe a softer approach Israel, the Europeans wanting a softer approach with Iran.
Different strategic goals are nothing new in this alliance. So when it comes to China, should that really be unexpected as well? It just business as usual?
DAALDER: Yes. I think there is adaptation in an organization like NATO that has been going on really for its entire 74-year history. And that will continue.
China is the next big item of discussion, it is now fully on the agenda. It was first brought on the agenda in the leaders meeting in London back in 2019. And then became a real topic of discussion again earlier this year when NATO had a summit when President Biden was there.
[01:54:50]
DAALDER: There is now a real sense with the NATO that it is no longer possible to ignore China. VAUSE: Ambassador Daalder, thank you so much for being with us.
DAALDER: Well, my pleasure.
VAUSE: Coming up here, jubilation outside the courthouse after Britney Spears' big legal win. We'll tell you that the people closest to the pop star are now saying.
Stay with us. We'll be back in a moment.
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VAUSE: A little more now on Britney Spears' big court win on Wednesday. That was when a judge removed her father as conservator of her finances.
Her fiance, Sam Ashgari took to Instagram to thank her fans. Quote, "Her fan base is called an army for a reason," he said.
Singer Dianne Roy, said "This is wonderful news. You can now breath. Britney, enjoy your life." And Cher said, "She has talked and prayed about this for years. I'm more than thrilled. Bless our superstar."
People are happy, so is Britney.
I'm John Vause.
CNN NEWSROOM continues with Kim Brunhuber in just a moment. You're watching CNN.
See you tomorrow.
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