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Ten Killed In Racially Motivated Mass Shooting Buffalo; Calls For Social Media Accountability After Buffalo Shooting; More Than 260 People Evacuated From Mariupol Steel Plant; Security Guard Hailed As A Hero After Buffalo Mass Shooting; Man Buried Alive By Russian Soldiers Recounts Harrowing Tale; China's COVID Lockdowns Choke Global Supply Chains; Pennsylvania Republican Senate Race Goes Down To The Wire. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired May 17, 2022 - 00:00   ET

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

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[23:59:56]

JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm John Vause.

[00:00:01]

VAUSE: Ahead this hour, the racist massacre in a Buffalo grocery store appears to be months in the planning and if he have not surrendered to the police, investigators say the suspect wanted his killing spree to continue at other target locations.

Surrender at the Azovstal steel plant for 82 days outgunned and outnumbered, Ukrainian fighters in Mariupol held off the Russian military. But now that battle is all but lost.

And China's zero COVID policy being felt around the world. Get ready to pay more and wait longer for anything which is everything made in China.

ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center. This is CNN NEWSROOM with John Vause.

VAUSE: We begin this hour with new details about the 18-year-old accused of a racist hateful shooting in Buffalo, New York. Investigators say the gunman who opened fire in a supermarket killing 10 people traveled 200 miles to the predominantly black neighborhood two months ago and he was there this past Friday. Authorities believe carrying out reconnaissance just one day before the massacre.

New video shows the suspect taken into custody on Saturday. Police say he was heavily armed, wearing tactical gear with a camera live streaming his rampage.

Authorities say they have uncovered evidence this supermarket was not his only target. And if he have not been stopped, the death toll would have been much higher.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOSEPH GRAMAGLIA, COMMISSIONER, BUFFALO POLICE: Getting out of here to continue his rampage and continue shooting people. He'd even spoken about possibly going to another store.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: The scene of this massacre has the highest black population of any zip code in upstate New York. Before he sit out on his killing spree, police say the government posted a statement online, 180 pages long describing himself as a white supremacist.

We get the latest down from CNN's Omar Jimenez.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New details show the alleged gunman meticulously planned the attack months in advance. Investigators saying he's believed to have scouted the store in early March and prepared for a gunfight.

GRAMAGLIA: Because of the body armor he had on, he could have easily have retreated back into that store where there were dozens of other customers in that store, fleeing for their lives, which could have turned into another barricade and further slaughter.

JIMENEZ: Investigators piecing together the sequence of events from what authorities say was a racially motivated attack. The Erie County district attorney tells CNN the suspects seemingly plan on killing more Black people if he could.

JOHN FLYNN, ERIE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: It appears that way. Again, we need to drill down further.

JIMENEZ: Federal investigators drilling down further, going to the home where the 18-year-old suspect lived with his parents, as well as the gun store where the suspect purchased the Bushmaster assault rifle.

They're also looking into his planning ahead of the attack, including illegally modifying his gun to carry 30 round magazines.

FLYNN: We are going to look into everything that this young man was doing and thinking.

JIMENEZ: Including analyzing the alleged shooter's past. How last year, police paid him a visit after he did a high school project on murder suicides, according to the Erie County sheriff.

And analyzing his state of mind, just before heading to the market, he's believed to have written and posted a 180-page statement proudly labeling himself a white supremacist and outlining the attack.

The Buffalo police commissioner says he live streamed the horrific attack that has scarred this community, still grieving over the lives of 10 of their own, gunned down in a matter of minutes. Ruth Whitfield was 86 years old and on her way back from visiting her husband in his nursing home when she stopped for groceries. Her son called and called, no one ever answered.

You're looking for her, you find out, you go home. What's going through your head?

GARNELL WHITFIELD, JR., SON OF RUTH WHITFIELD: I'm angry. I'm hurt. She was a beautiful person. We still -- we still in the midst of this thing, one of the things we as a family wanted to ensure is that we call it what it is. It is white supremacy. It is hate. It is racism. It is bigotry and we got to call it what it is. And stop beating around the bush, and take it head on because it's proliferating. It's not getting better.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ (on camera): Now, Buffalo's police chief says this suspect had basically been doing recon, leading up to the shooting in the area as recently as Friday but as early as months ago back in March.

Now, over the weekend, he pleaded not guilty to first degree murder but no word yet on whether he will face any federal charges.

Meanwhile, President Biden is expected to visit Tuesday here to meet with the families of victims.

Omar Jimenez, CNN, Buffalo, New York.

[00:05:02]

VAUSE: Joey Jackson is a CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney. He is with us this hour from New York. Thanks for taking the time, Joey, good to see you.

Good to see you, John. Thank you.

VAUSE: OK. So, once again, you were looking for answers here as to why and how, a lot of the how. As in how could this happen? It's following on social media. I want you to listen to the governor of New York State.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. KATHY HOCHUL (D-NY): I'm calling out the social media platforms where this hate can be skewed. And people are learning how to create guns and violence and weapons.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: So, the governor can call out social media platforms as much as she wants. But beyond sort of naming and shaming, there doesn't seem to be much which can be done in terms of enforcement or regulation of violent and harmful content, right?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, that's absolutely right. You know, it's a very difficult scenario.

But John, as it relates to social media, you know, we have, of course, a robust First Amendment right. And that First Amendment right allows people to express views that you and I might find offensive, we may find it reprehensible, we may be in disagreement with it. But you know, what, under First Amendment principles, you're allowed to espouse it.

And it gets even more complicated than the First Amendment. Why? Because the fact is, is that these social media sites, you know, they're private entities, these social media people, and as a result of that, they're not even subjected, all right, to the First Amendment to begin with, because of the fact that the First Amendment is governmental in nature. And so, that gets even more complicated.

And at the end of the day, last point for this question, and that is, you know, social sites are even protected by the government and they have immunity with respect to users who are posting content, the actual site itself is not responsible for individual user's views. And so, that gives it even greater complexity.

So, while politically that may sound good, at the end of the day, it's a much more complicated problem than that, John.

VAUSE: Well, Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz was calling for tougher gun laws, like a lot of people have been doing and added this, we also need to revisit Section 230 to remove social media company immunity if they apply -- amplify rather, radicalization -- radicalizing content and conspiracy theories that promote violence, like we saw in Buffalo.

So, Section 230 was an amendment to the Communications Decency Act, which we told had two purposes. The first was to encourage the unfettered and unregulated development of free speech on the internet, as one judge put it at the time. The other was to allow online services to implement their own standards for policing content, and provide for child safety.

So, this is essentially for social media platforms, this is a get out of jail free card.

JACKSON: So, in some respects, it is. And so, backing up just by way of explanation, you have people who are using right, the byproduct of social media are so many people in the public square, who are using social media to really provide content to, to express views on, to do various things with respect to interacting with others.

And so, when you look at Section 230, it really says, well, if individuals are providing this content, and it's coming from all corners of the globe, why should the individual site be accountable and really be held to the standard of adopting views simply because they're providing a mechanism that is the form of social media for having those views expressed there?

And so, what Section 230 did was say we're going to immunize them, immunized who? Meaning, given immunity to actually the site provider. We're not going to blame the site provider for the individual who post content there. So it gets very difficult, right?

VAUSE: So, in terms of the why, one motivating factor appears to be this racist ideology replacement theory, which was either Democrats for the Jewish people are plotting to diminish the influence and the number of white people in this country.

This theory once only existed on the fringes of the internet, the crazy parts, but it's gone mainstream, at least within some factions of the Republican Party. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We know what the Democrats are up to here. They want open borders, this is exactly their strategy. They want to replace the American electorate.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For many Americans, what seems to be happening or what they believe right now is happening is what appears to them is we're replacing national born American -- native born Americans put to permanently transform the political landscape of this very nation.

This administration wants complete open borders and you have to ask yourself why. Is it really they want to remake the demographics of America to ensure there -- that they stay in power forever? Is that what's happening here?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: OK, so when it comes to the First Amendment, knowing what we now know about how there was a radicalization, you know, possibly of the shooter, how is what the Republicans have been saying there any different yelling fire in a crowded theater?

JACKSON: Yes, it's really problematic. We are in polarizing times, John. And at the same time, right, we have to recognize and respect that we're not all going to agree, we can have principal points of disagreement and that's what the First Amendment is all about.

[00:10:02]

JACKSON: Now, one thing to talk about, the First Amendment has limitations, even though we can argue with each other all day and all night, John, we could agree, we can disagree, you can't yell fire in a theater. Why? Because it could impair someone else. You can't defame someone that is state something false that impairs their reputation. Why? Because it affects someone else.

So, we have to really think about the First Amendment question in the context of what we're allowing, how we're allowing it, but at the end of the day, it's about decency and humanity. And if we have that, perhaps we could prevent tragic instances like what occurred in Buffalo.

VAUSE: If we had that. Joey, thank you. Great to see you.

JACKSON: Thank you, John. VAUSE: The long standoff at the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol is nearing its end game, Ukraine's military leaders says the combat mission is over. The priority now is to save the lives of the troops who held off the Russian military for 82 days.

Evacuations are underway from the steel plant. Officials say so far, 260 people have been able to leave. But what happens next is unclear. Many wounded being bussed through territory controlled by Russia and its allies.

Ukraine says the Red Cross is involved. Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister says a prisoner exchange was evacuees brought home. She also said on Monday some Ukrainian forces remain at the plant.

Azovstal has been surrounded by Russian forces under a relentless attack. The Deputy Prime Minister praised the defenders there, saying their sacrifice brought Ukraine critical time to call up reserves and regroup.

Here's the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I want to emphasize, Ukraine needs Ukrainian heroes alive. This is our principle. I think that every adequate person will understand these words.

The operation to rescue the defenders of Mariupol was started by our military and intelligence officers to bring the boys home, the work continues. And this work needs delicacy and time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Joining us now is CNN military analyst and retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton. Colonel, thank you for being with us.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: John, good to be with you.

VAUSE: OK, so the Ukraine general staff posted on Facebook, the Mariupol garrison has completed its mission. So, what did they achieve by holding off this Russian advance for 82 days? And how would you describe what the Ukrainians managed to do in military terms?

LEIGHTON: So, this is really interesting because what the Ukrainians ended up doing, John, was diverting a whole series of battalion tactical groups, the main Russian unit of force to Mariupol.

They withstood a large, long -- 82-day long siege and that very fact diverted enough troops, thousands of Russian troops from other areas, and it may have delayed the Russian offensive into the Donbass by a considerable amount, and it may have delayed it so long that it won't be as successful as it was originally intended to be.

So, from the military standpoint, this delaying tactic was something that not only bought the Ukrainians time, but it also bought the Ukrainian sympathy from the world at large. And that I think, is one of the biggest things.

This is kind of a Pyrrhic victory for the Russians. Yes, they get the territory, they get the plant, but the plant is a bombed out shell, as is the city. And that is something that is going to be almost impossible to rebuild if they don't get foreign assistance. And the only people that are going to get foreign assistance out of this war look to be the Ukrainians at this point.

VAUSE: And just a day ago, the Ukrainian fighters at the steel plant, they'd vowed to continue on to fight to the very end. But then, came this announcement. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This plant should evenly balance the task at hand with the preservation of life and health of personnel. Perhaps that's why war is called an art and not a science. And the task here is to preserve the maximum amount of personnel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: It's believed those Ukrainian soldiers are being taken to either Russian controlled territory inside Ukraine or across the border to Russia itself, it's unclear, but so what happens next?

LEIGHTON: Yes, that's a really good question, John. It's very unclear how this is going to work. But if the past is any guide to this, it looks as if these Russian efforts are going to result in a whole bunch of Ukrainian prisoners of war. And that's something the international community is going to have to watch very, very carefully.

But I do think that the Ukrainian soldiers are going to become prisoners of war at this point. And that is something that, you know, the International Committee of the Red Cross and other organizations are going to have to pay attention to. I don't see them being repatriated to Ukraine, at least not at this point.

VAUSE: But in the East, Russian forces have been unable to cross the next river. They're unlikely to make headway according to some officials at the Pentagon.

Also around Kharkiv, a Ukrainian counter-offensive has reached to the border very close to with Russia. So, how does the fall of Mariupol affect the rest of the battlefield, those gains which have been made by the Ukrainians?

LEIGHTON: So, I think this also gives the Ukrainians a way in which to rally around the flag, because this was really something that galvanized a way in which to rally around the flag, because this was really something that galvanized the entire Ukrainian nation, the resistance that was conducted at Mariupol. And now, the effort to save the lives of the last remaining defenders, is something that is a rallying cry, in essence for the Ukrainian nation.

[00:15:20]

LEIGHTON: So, what this does from a morale standpoint is one of those intangibles, as the Ukrainian commander mentioned in the piece we just showed, really, it's pretty clear that what you're looking at here is a morale factor in the effort to a -- to really give the troops this extra piece of, you know, the intangible that they need to carry out their missions. And that mission is to defend the Ukrainian soil as much as they possibly can. And I think that will spur the resistance, and it will give that an extra emphasis that it otherwise may not have had.

VAUSE: We had a recent assessment from British military intelligence, which said Russia has now likely suffered losses of one-third of the ground combat force it committed back in February, at the very beginning of its invasion.

So, about 150,000 combat troops were part of the invasion force. So, a third around 150,000. And the last estimate of the total number of Russian ground troops is about 280,000. My math isn't very good. But it puts the losses at the entire Russian combat force at higher than 15 percent, which seems quite staggering, and they are still believing.

So, instead of asking, how long can the Ukrainians hold out? Should we be asking how much longer can the Russians keep going?

LEIGHTON: I think we should ask both questions actually. The Ukrainians have demographic challenges, as do the Russians. But it's very clear that when it comes to morale and fighting spirit, the Ukrainians are definitely far ahead of the Russians.

The Ukrainians need western aid, they need the ability to continue to fight, you know, with the weapon systems that are provided by the West and with their tactics and techniques that the Ukrainians have developed. The Russians on the other hand, I have exhibited a whole series of weaknesses that really make it very clear that the Russian military structure is not up to the task at hand. And that task, of course, was to subjugate Ukraine, and so far, they have failed to achieve that goal.

VAUSE: Colonel, thank you very much for being with us. We appreciate your insights.

LEIGHTON: You bet, John, thank you.

VAUSE: Well, Russia's war is bringing an historic sea change for European security.

On Monday, Sweden formally announced that it will join neighboring Finland in seeking NATO membership. The move would reverse decades of military non alignment and mark a major expansion of the NATO alliance.

But those plans are already hitting some roadblocks. Turkey's president doubling down on his objections, accusing Finland and Sweden of housing Kurdish terrorist groups. Neither leaders have said they're confident Turkey will not block these bids, but membership decisions require unanimous consent from all 30 NATO states.

Meantime, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that the expansion would not be an immediate threat. But he did warn that moving weapons onto Finnish or Swedish territory would provoke a response. What that response is he did not say.

Still to come here on CNN NEWSROOM, he stepped into the line of fire Saturday and tried to take out the gunman at that Buffalo supermarket. We'll look at the life of a security guard Aaron Salter, a former cop who died a hero.

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[00:22:27]

VAUSE: More now and yet another mass shooting in the U.S., 10 people all of them black shot and killed on what appears to be a racially motivated killing spree in Buffalo, New York.

One of those victims tried to stop the killer. He was the security guy, a cop -- a former cop who died a hero and his name is Aaron Salter.

Here's CNN's Jason Carroll with this story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): He died while trying to save others. That's how those who knew Aaron Salter say he should be remembered.

BYRON BROWN, MAYOR OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK: He was a strong individual. He was a warm individual. A real caring person, cared about the community, someone who devoted a lot of his life to public safety to keeping the community safe.

CARROLL: Buffalo's Mayor Byron Brown knew Salter for years, back when Salter was a Buffalo Police officer.

BROWN: I remember first meeting him through his parents, Aaron and Carol Salter, very warm people. They had a business in the community. And I saw him as a loving son, always trying to take care of his parents, make sure his parents were OK. That's the kind of person that he was. He had a caring spirit and a desire to take care of other people.

CARROLL: That desire helped Salter rise through the ranks in the police department. He eventually became a lieutenant. His love of community and law enforcement was one of the reasons he went to work as a security guard at the top supermarket after he retired from the force. Saturday armed only with a handgun, he engaged the shooter.

GRAMAGLIA: He went down fighting. He came in. He went towards the gunfire. He went towards the fight. He shot the individual, but because of his armor plating vest, it had no effect on him.

CARROLL: Law enforcement officials say it is clear he saved many lives.

FRAGRANCE HARRIS STANFIELD, EMPLOYEE, TOPS SUPERMARKET: My daughter was crouched down in the front end for the entire shooting.

CARROLL: His actions gave Fragrance Harris Stanfield who works at the market with her daughter the time they needed to take cover.

STANFIELD: Everyone started running at that point. I grabbed my daughter, kept running and kept running until I got all the way to the back door.

CARROLL: Those who knew Salter say even though he retired from the force, he never stopped being a police officer.

BROWN: I think he would want to be remembered as someone who cared about his community, who cares about -- cared about his family, and someone that did his job and stood up when other people were in danger trying to keep others safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[00:25:06]

CARROLL (on camera): Salter was 55 years old and even though he was not a police officer at the time of his death, due to his actions, there is a movement in Buffalo to have a formal funeral for Salter as if he was an active duty police officer killed in the line of duty.

The mayor says he is behind that idea. He is simply waiting to hear from the family to do what is best.

Jason Carroll, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: And in another shooting on Sunday in Southern California, a doctor who was killed is also being praised for his bravery. The gunman opened fire (INAUDIBLE) church service wounding five people. While 52-year-old Dr. John Cheng was shot dead. Dr. Cheng's heroic actions helped save lives.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD BARNES, ORANGE COUNTY SHERIFF: It is known that Dr. Cheng charged the individual, the suspect, attempted to disarm him which allowed other parishioners to then intercede, taking the suspect into custody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Investigators have identified the shooter, 68-year-old David Chou, a U.S. citizen born in China. They believe the shooting was politically motivated. That Chou was upset over tensions between China and Taiwan. They believe he had no connection to the church or its parishioners.

Just ahead here, one Ukrainian man's extraordinary story of survival after Russian soldiers tortured him, buried him alive.

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VAUSE: Just a few weeks into the war in Ukraine, three brothers were taken from their home by Russian soldiers, interrogated, executed, buried and left for dead. But one survived. And now his case is one of thousands of alleged war crimes being investigated by Ukrainian prosecutors.

[00:31:09]

Here's his story, from CNN's Melissa Bell.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is where Mykola Kulichenko was buried alive. The blindfolds, he says, he and his two brothers were made to wear by Russians soldiers, still strewn by their shallow grave.

Mykola shows us where the bullet entered his cheek. His brothers, Yevgeny (ph) and Dmitro (ph), were killed, but he managed to escape their tomb.

"I had to live to tell the story, not to Ukrainians but to the world," he says.

The regional prosecutor's office says a war crimes investigation has been opened. This is Mykola's house, where he lived with his two brothers along with their sister.

On March 18, he says Russian soldiers came into the village, looking for men that they believed were responsible for an attack on one of their convoys. And that is when the family's nightmare began.

BELL: Three soldiers entered the house, looking for anything that might link the brothers to the attack on the convoy. They found nothing, but what they did find was something to link the family to the military, in the shape of their grandfather's military metal.

BELL (voice-over): They also found Vevgeny's (ph) military bag. Since as a reservist in the Ukrainian army, he was preparing to go and fight.

For four days, their sister, Iryna, heard nothing from her brothers heard nothing until Mykola came back from the dead.

IRYNA KULICHENKO, MYKOLA'S SISTER (through translator): I came home, and there was Mykola. I looked at his eyes and asked, "Where are the others?" He said, "There are no others."

BELL (voice-over): Mykola says that after being taken from their home, the three brothers were blindfolded and interrogated in a cellar for four days. They were than beaten and taken to the site of their execution. Two months on, he still struggles to speak. MYKOLA KULICHENKO, ALLEGED WAR CRIME VICTIM (through translator): What

do I think of the Russians? I hate them with all my soul. They are animals! They should burn in hell!

BELL (voice-over): It was only after the Russian withdrawal that a month after their execution, Yevgeny (ph) and Dmitro (ph) were given a proper burial, a tombstone, and the peace that Mykola has been denied.

Melissa Bell, CNN, Chernihiv region.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Well from loving it, to leaving it. McDonald's is pulling out of Russia for good, permanently closing and selling more than 800 restaurants there, making it one of the biggest global brands to exit the country since the war in Ukraine began.

The CEO says owning stores in Russia is no longer consistent when McDonald's values.

McDonald's first entered Moscow in early 1990, a symbol of change and openness in the last days of the Soviet Union. One data analyst says the company's exit represents a new isolationism of Russia.

Well, there's a $10 million bounty on the head of a deputy leader of the Taliban. The U.S. calls him a specially-designated global terrorist. And he's never spoken with the Western journalists, never shown his face on a TV interview. That is, until now! And that's after the break.

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[00:38:34]

VAUSE: The Red Crescent says at least 70 Palestinians have been wounded in Jerusalem during clashes with Israeli police. Violence erupted alongside a funeral procession for a man who was -- died after unrest broke out at the Al-Aqsa compound last month.

Israeli forces had set up roadblocks on Monday, preventing mourners from reaching the mosque and cemetery. Witnesses say Palestinians threw rocks and bottles at Israeli police, who then responded with tear gas and rubber bullets.

Police accuse hundreds of disrupters and rioters of turning a funeral ceremony into a violent march. Palestinian foreign affairs ministry condemned the police response as a heinous crime.

And now, to a CNN exclusive. Sirajuddin Haqqani is Afghanistan's acting interior minister and a deputy leader of the Taliban. He also has a $10 million bounty on his head. The U.S. says he's orchestrated some of the deadliest attacks on

American and coalition forces during the war. He's never spoken on camera with a Western journalist until now.

CNN's Christiane Amanpour asked him whether he considers America the enemy, or the Afghan government.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIRAJUDDIN HAQQANI, AFGHAN ACTING (through translator): In the future, we would like to have good relations with the United States and the international community, based on rules and principles that exist in the rest of the world.

And based on that arrangement, we have made commitment with them and, currently, we do not look at them as enemies. But based on their conduct, the Afghans have reservations about their intentions.

[00:40:05]

From our side, the freedom of the country and struggling for the country's defense is a legitimate right, in accordance with the international rules.

Currently, we do not look at them as enemies. And we have time and again spoken about diplomacy. We are committed to the Doha agreement. Like the rest of the world, we want relations with them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: The entire interview can be found at CNN.com, and for viewers of CNN International, part two of that exclusive interview with the deputy Taliban leader can be seen Tuesday on AMANPOUR. Tune in at 6 p.m. London time. It's 9:30 p.m. if you happen to be watching in Kabul.

I am John Vause at the CNN Center in Atlanta. WORLD SPORT is next for our viewers on CNN International. And, for those watching in the --

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[00:45:17]

VAUSE: A new deal between formula maker Abbott and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration could help resolve the baby formula shortage in the United States. Pending court approval, Abbott says it could resume baby formula production and have products in stores in six to eight weeks.

But the FDA commissioner says the U.S. does have enough formula. It just -- it's just not where it needs to be.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT CALIFF, COMMISSIONER, U.S. FOOD &I think there are always things we could do better. Our focus right now is just on making sure we got every infant taken care of around the country, which we do have adequate supply for at this point. It's just that the supply is not necessarily in the right place.

(END VIDEO CLIP) VAUSE: Abbott closed its Michigan plant earlier this year after investigators found bacterial contamination. The company says no formula from the plant was distributed to consumers testing positive for bacteria.

The FDA says it's making it easier to import -- import certain baby formulas to help address this nationwide shortage. This comes as analysts warn Americans are likely to pay higher prices this year for products made overseas.

Many of America's imports come from China, where weeks of strict COVID lockdowns have created a bottleneck, slowing the global supply chain. CNN's Selina Wang has our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SELINA WANG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (VOICE-OVER): When the world's factory shuts down, it ripples around the globe. China's COVID lockdowns are jamming ports, choking off supply chains, increasing costs for companies. That leaves American and global consumers waiting longer to get their goods and paying more for them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is going to be a painful time on prices from goods that come into America from China. That's a lot of goods.

WANG (voice-over): Shanghai, China's manufacturing and financial powerhouse, now a ghost town. Unused factories have been turned into quarantine centers.

This one, at the outskirts of Shanghai, medical trash bags are used to protect their beds from the rain. Some offices, now makeshift hospitals.

The world's largest container port in Shanghai has been running at about half its capacity for more than a month. One in five container ships are now stuck at ports worldwide, according to Windward (ph), and about 28 percent of the backlog is coming from China. Shipments from China to the U.S. are taking 74 days longer than usual, according to the Royal Bank of Canada, with no end to the delays in sight.

MARTIN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) will take a lot longer. If you thought it was bad in 2021, it's going to get worse in 2022.

WANG (voice-over): At least 31 cities in China are under full or partial lockdown, impacting up to 214 million people. American companies from Apple to Amazon, Starbuck's, Coca-Cola and General Electric have blamed Chinese lockdowns for squeezing earnings.

Foxconn, a major Apple supplier, temporarily halted production at its Shenzhen (ph) factory for a few days in March. Peditron (ph), an iPhone assembler, suspended operations in Shanghai and Quinsung (ph) Plains in April.

CEO Tim Cook said last month that China's lockdowns, along with the global chip shortage, could reduce quarterly sales by as much as $8 billion. But for small businesses, this is make or break it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My last order that I shipped to the United States, talking about four to five months. We've gone over a month without making, like, any money as a business.

We've also lost money from people wanting to place orders and not being able to ship them.

I'm terrified. I'm literally -- I'm terrified that -- that Black Shades could be over.

WANG (voice-over): Some factories have remained open by putting workers in a bevel (ph), with staff working and living in the factory.

Social media video show workers at Apple and Tesla supplier Quanta jumping over factory gates, a mass of workers protesting COVID prevention measures at the factory, underscoring how hard it is to keep factories open.

For decades, relying on China has kept prices for American consumers low. Now, that might be changing.

MARTIN: There will be short-term and long-term decoupling, things like zero-COVID that could knock you over. So you've got to move some production out of China.

WANG (voice-over): China's leadership is doubling down on its zero- COVID strategy, despite the devastating impact on the country's economy. And a slowdown in China will be felt around the world.

Selina Wang, CNN, Kunming, China.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: U.S. President Joe Biden is sending American troops back to Somalia to counter the terror group Al Shabaab. The order reverses a decision by his predecessor, Donald Trump, who withdrew all U.S. troops from the country in late 2020.

A senior U.S. official tells CNN less than 500 troops will be deployed, in consultation with the Somali government.

[00:50:06]

The Pentagon press secretary explained why the U.S. forces are now heading back.

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ADMIRAL JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: Our forces are not now, nor will they be, directly engaged in combat operations. The purpose here is to enable a more effective fight against Al Shabaab by local forces, which in Al Shabaab has increased, and their strength imposes a heightened threat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Al Shabaab has killed more than a dozen Americans in East Africa in recent years, including three at a U.S. military base in Kenya in early 2020.

The Biden administration also reversed some Trump era policies on Cuba.

On Monday, the U.S. announced a family unification program would return. Visas would be processed in less time. Approval to travel to the island would be expanded, and limits on how much money can be sent from the U.S. to family in Cuba will be increased.

Cuba's government released a statement, calling Monday's announcement positive "but of very limited scope" and then went on to criticize the U.S. embargo, which has been in place since the 1960s, as well as the additional sanctions enacted during the Trump administration.

Voters in five U.S. states are about to choose their candidates for November's midterms election. Tuesday marks the biggest primary night of the year so far, the so-called swing states of Pennsylvania and North Korea among those holding contests.

And in Pennsylvania, the Senate race has been full of twists for both Republicans and Democrats. CNN's Jeff Zeleny explains.

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JEFF ZELENY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A chaotic close to the Pennsylvania Senate primary. The leading Democratic candidate, John Fetterman, will spend election day in the hospital, recovering from a stroke he suffered late last week but his campaign did not reveal until Sunday, in this video with his wife by his side.

GISELE FETTERMAN, JOHN FETTERMAN'S WIFE: We hit a little bump on the campaign trail.

LT. GOV. JOHN FETTERMAN (D), PENNSYLVANIA SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: Yes, and it was on Friday. I just wasn't feeling very well. So I decided, you know, I need to get checked out. So I went to the hospital.

G. FETTERMAN: I made you get checked out.

ZELENY (voice-over): On the eve of the primary, in one of the nation's most closely-watched Senate races, far more drama and uncertainty on the Republican side, where it's a three-way fight to the finish.

A late grassroots surge from Kathy Barnette is threatening to upend a vicious months-long battle between TV celebrity Dr. Mehmet Oz and David McCormick, a former hedge fund executive and Army veteran. All three are trying to win over undecided voters.

KATHY BARNETTE (R), PENNSYLVANIA SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: I earnestly believe 13 months ago, that if Pennsylvanians knew they had a better option, you would have the good sister taken. ZELENY (voice-over): Donald Trump hangs heavy over the race, where his

endorsement of Oz has outraged many hardcore members of the MAGA movement, who are turning to Barnette. Her candidacy caught fire with a compelling personal story and repeated false claims that the 2020 election was stolen.

BARNETTE: I don't think we have any more room to just pick a warm body with an "R" next to their name and call that a win for us.

ZELENY (voice-over): In a radio interview today, Barnette would not commit to supporting the GOP nominee if she doesn't win.

ZELENY: Do you believe that's dangerous for the party, given how important this seat is?

DAVID MCCORMICK (R), PENNSYLVANIA SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: Well, listen, I believe the stakes are so high. I think we, as Republicans, have to win this seat. And so I believe I'm going to win this primary. But if I weren't going to win, then I would support whoever the candidate was that was selected by the voters.

ZELENY (voice-over): Republicans are not deciding whether to choose a candidate in Trump's mold. That's been settled. But rather, how Trumpian they hope their next senator will be.

DR. MEHMET OZ (R), PENNSYLVANIA SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: The 45th president of the United States, Donald Trump, is actually going to call in.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (via phone): He's a loyal MAGA person, and again, I've known him for a long time. He'll be your next senator. He's going to win it all.

ZELENY (voice-over): Oz has struggled to close the sale with conservatives like Rich Hohenshilt.

RICH HOHENSHILT, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: Donald Trump is not Jesus. He's capable of making a mistake. The stuff I've seen about Oz, he doesn't come across to me as a conservative.

ZELENY: Even President Trump's endorsement is not enough to sway you?

HOHENSHILT: No, it's not.

ZELENY: And at the final campaign rally of this primary season, Dr. Oz is making the case one voter at a time that he is a conservative candidate. That is one of the hurdles he is trying to crush.

Former President Donald Trump called into this rally, trying to make that case, as well.

His prestige also on the line. This is one of the most closely watched Senate races in the country. Democrats believe they can use this as a pick-up opportunity to fill the seat of retired Republican Senator Pat Toomey.

The voting is Tuesday, but all eyes will still be are on Pennsylvania come November.

Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Blue Bell, Pennsylvania.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Well, the young man who landed a passenger plane last week after the pilot became unable to fly is now sharing his story. Speaking with NBC, Darren Harrison says he was on his way back from a fishing trip when the pilot told him and another passenger he wasn't feeling well and then became unresponsive.

Harrison, who had zero flying experience, says in that moment, he knew what he had to do.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[00:55:07]

DARREN HARRISON, LANDED PLANE WITH NO EXPERIENCE: I knew if I didn't react, that -- that we would die. I knew if I went up and yanked that the plane would stall. And I also knew at the rate we were going, we were probably going way too fast, and it would rip the wings off the airplane.

When I was flying and saw the state of Florida, at that second, I knew I'm going to land there. I don't know what the outcome is going to be. I don't know how it's going to happen, but I'm going to have to land this airplane because there's no other options.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: He did have some help. An air traffic controller, who's also a flight instructor, helped Harrison land the plane.

Waiting on the ground, his wife, pregnant with their first child.

I'm John Vause with CNN Center in Atlanta. Please stay with us. I'll be back with more news after a very short break.

You're watching CNN. See you in a minute.

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