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Same Grief at Different Location; NRA Conference Saw Protesters; Police Training Not Applied in Actual Event; E.U. Iron Out Details to Cut Russian Oil; Fighting Intensifies in Donbas Region; President Zelenskyy Visited Kharkiv; Two Sides Can't Agree on Bipartisan Gun Laws; Flag Day in Jerusalem Ended in Violence; Central America Bracing for Bad Weather; Losers Don't Feel Like Losers; Queen Elizabeth in Her Historic Reign. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired May 30, 2022 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world. You are watching CNN Newsroom. And I'm Rosemary church.

Just ahead, the U.S. President and first lady in an all-too familiar role comforting those grieving from a mass shooting. We'll tell you the message people in Uvalde received from the president.

Plus, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy moves to the front lines of the war as his nation fights for critical territory in the east.

And conflict erupts in Jerusalem amid a controversial celebration. We will take you there for a live report.

Emotional day in Texas as U.S. President Joe Biden and the first lady try to comfort the heartbroken community of Uvalde just days after a mass shooting inside an elementary school. The two met with families and local officials and laid flowers at a memorial outside Robb Elementary School, where 19 students and two teachers were killed.

This is the second time in less than two weeks Mr. Biden traveled to the site of a mass shooting to meet with grieving families.

CNN's Arlette Saenz is following developments and has more now from Uvalde.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Biden spent about seven hours on the ground here in Uvalde, Texas, on Sunday, trying to offer some sense of solace and comfort to the families grieving the loss of those 19 young children and two teachers gunned down here at Robb Elementary School just last Tuesday.

The president and the first lady spent about three hours meeting with survivors of that shooting as well as the families of the victims. And CNN spoke with one of the family members who was in that meeting, Vincent Salazar who lost his young daughter Layla Salazar, and talk to us about his conversation with the president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VINCENT SALAZAR III, LAYLA SALAZAR'S FATHER: It was really just all about my daughter. You know what I mean. That's all we talked about. Like I said, they are very gracious, they showed compassion. And that's all we were here for. He listened to everything, and we listened to him. He shed some tears, we shed some tears.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: The president also spent some time here in Uvalde meeting with first responders and law enforcement officers who responded that day of the horrific shooting. But even as the president had those moments grieving with the community, he also faced some calls to action when he visited the memorial site here at Robb elementary, he had the opportunity to take in each of the life-sized photos, read the names of each of these children who were gunned down in that massacre.

But there were also some demonstrators both here and at the Catholic Church, Sacred Heart Catholic Church, who were urging the president to do more, to make -- take some type of action to try to prevent a tragedy like this from happening again. The president mouth backed to them saying we will.

Of course, there are so many questions about what exactly that action could look like in Washington and in states legislators. The president has said that he does not think there is much more he can do on the executive level, and the White House is pushing for Congress to act.

There are those early discussions among bipartisan group of senators to see if they can reach some type of compromise when it comes to gun safety measures, but there are so many questions about whether that will actually come to fruition.

But it is clear here in the community that there is frustration and that they do want to see more from this president, more from their elected officials when it comes to trying to keep their children safe in schools. But here in Uvalde, Texas, on Sunday, the president's main focus was really trying to extend that comfort to these grieving families dealing with these gut-wrenching losses.

Arlette Saenz, CNN, traveling with the president in Uvalde, Texas.

CHURCH: Another of those grieving families, the families of Ellie Garcia. She was among the 19 children killed at Robb Elementary just a few days shy of her 10th birthday. Her uncle Adrian Alonzo says he experienced joy then sorrow that day, first learning that his son made it out alive, then later hearing that Ellie did not. The uncle spoke with CNN about Eli. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADRIAN ALONZO, ELLIE ALONZO'S UNCLE: Ellie was a beautiful little girl. She was filled with so much joy, so much life. So much -- she had a good heart. She was never angry at anyone. She loved everyone. She was just such a good kid.

[03:05:04]

Birthday is next Saturday on the 4th. Yes. She would have been 10. She still will be 10.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's so tough.

ALONZO: It's very hard. I imagine that weekend will be a tough weekend for the family because her birthday is on the 4th, and two days later on the 6th we will bury her.

The school official told me that there's no more children here, they've all been picked up. Do you have a list, do you have a list of the students that were here? Can you check, can you check if her name was on there? And then that school official, I could see it in her eyes. Her eyes became glassy and teary. And she said, sir, they'll make a statement soon. My wife called me and said, they found her, she didn't make it.

BASH: I'm so sorry.

ALONZO: It's by far the worst day of my life. And I'll never forget that day. I hold no hatred towards him. I hold no hatred towards the law enforcement. There, yes, there were maybe some errors that were made. I am filled with anger, but I feel no hatred towards him. We were thankful to have Ellie for the nine years of her life with us. We will never forget her. She will always be a part of this family even in her death.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: That's impossible grief there. And the U.S. Justice Department announced Sunday it will review the police response to the mass shooting in Uvalde. The delayed police confrontation with the gunman and the conflicting accounts from officials have compounded parents' anger and grief.

A Justice Department spokesperson says, quote, "the goal of the review is to provide an independent account of law enforcement actions and responses that day and to identify lessons learned and best practices to help first responders prepare for and respond to active shooter events."

Last hour I spoke with Mike Baker. He is a U.S. national correspondent for the New York Times, and he has been researching the official training guidance for Texas police. He found the school district law enforcement officers carried out an active shooter training day just two months ago.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE BAKER, U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: The training was really detailed. It wasn't just a classroom theoretical training. It was roaming the hallways and sort of situational roleplaying with a bunch of different agencies trying to assess how they would best confront a gunman. And that's what the training teaches them to do is to confront the gunman.

So, there're -- there's a lot of questions still right now about why they made that call. The incident commander has reportedly said that, you know, to the state police that they were treating it as a barricaded subject situation or a hostage-type situation where they felt like they needed more time to assess before they went in to take out the gunman.

CHURCH: And as you point out in your article, critically this training states, and I want to read this out, that a first responder unwilling to place the lives of the innocent above their own safety should consider another career field.

So, what needs to happen going forward to make sure that future police understand their role in these active shooting situations and that the lives of the innocent come first? And if they can't accept that or they're not willing to do that, then they shouldn't be taking that particular job.

BAKER: Right. It's something we've seen a lot since Columbine High School massacre in 1999. I mean, this was sort of the training that emerged, that it was no longer a situation where police would stage a scene and secure the scene and then get their SWAT team in position to go take a -- take a tactical move and take out the gunman.

We've seen since then that the preparation is really get inside no matter how many officers you have and stop the bloodshed. Because, as we know, with the types of guns that are being used in these types of massacres, the death count rises rapidly. The number of -- the amount of ammunition being taken into these schools is so high that deaths can pile up by the second.

And so that call, that urgency is clear in there. But we've also seen since then even though that training is clear, we've seen situations where these officers are reluctant to go in to make that confrontation. We saw that also in Parkland, Florida, a few years ago in the school shooting there as well.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[03:10:05]

CHURCH: Well, this weekend's controversial National Rifle Association meeting wrapped up in Houston Sunday. The event was met with protests and controversy after the Uvalde shooting revived the national gun control debate.

CNN's Camila Bernal has more.

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The convention has come to an end. But over the weekend we heard and saw very different points of views inside of the convention many NRA members who were excited to be here. The NRA held one of its biggest events on Friday when we heard from former President Donald Trump. He did read the names of all the victims of the Uvalde shooting. But then he went on to talk about school safety, saying that schools

should only have one entrance. At that entrance there should be an armed guard. He also said that there are some teachers who should have guns. He then repeated one of the lines that Senator Ted Cruz had said earlier, which is that the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is with a good guy with a gun. A lot of NRA members sharing that point of view. Here's what one of those members told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL VAN HORN, NRA SUPPORTER: If we got rid of all the guns tomorrow, which can't happen, but let's say we could cause them all to evaporate, there wasn't a gun around, do people really think that's going to stop the violence? It's not.

JENNIFER WATSON, TEACHER: I'm really frustrated as an educator here in Texas that this continues to happen in our classrooms, and I'm really nervous, you know, about the upcoming school year, to be honest with you, because we know that things have not been happening as far as legislation is concerned. And the gunman, those who want to do harm to our children in schools, they also know that nothing is being done. So, we're fed up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERNAL: And voting has been at the center of these protests. A lot of the activists saying that that is the only way that they're going to be able to achieve change.

Camila Bernal, CNN, Houston, Texas.

CHURCH: On Sunday, CNN spoke with an NRA board member. Jim Acosta pressed Judge Phillip Journey on the NRA's track record of pushing for lax gun laws, and asked him if the group bears some responsibility for recent mass shootings. Here's a portion of that exchange.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Isn't the system flawed? Because your organization --

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIP JOURNEY, NRA BOARD MEMBER: That the system was right. If we could get --

ACOSTA: -- stands in front of just about any reasonable piece of gun control legislation that comes through the Congress? Don't you feel any responsibility in all of this?

JOURNEY: You know, if I could explain, if I could explain, if I could explain, the reality is that we've worked in Congress to have these systems in the individual states improved. We've urged the funding with the NICS Fix Act that was passed during the Trump administration to try to get the states, to get their records up to snuff. And the reality is that they're not. (CROSSTALK)

ACOSTA: But we're still having mass shootings.

JOURNEY: And if they don't put --

ACOSTA: Sir, judge --

JOURNEY: -- if they don't put the felony conviction in the system, they pass the background check.

ACOSTA: Judge, over and over and over --

(CROSSTALK)

JOURNEY: And there are instances where shooters --

ACOSTA: Over and over and over, judge.

JOURNEY: Yes, over and over and over.

ACOSTA: We have these mass shootings. Isn't it finally time to say that your way doesn't work? It just doesn't work.

JOURNEY: The way we're doing it doesn't work. But the way that we're not making it work is making the background system work effectively because the states will not do their share of the job. The federal government and NCIC over in West Virginia do a great job compiling the records, doing the background checks and making sure that individuals are barred from purchasing firearms.

But then, of course, they're not prosecuted for their attempt. Now maybe we should start prosecuting convicted felons who are trying to buy guns. Because we get thousands of them every month who are denying --

(CROSSTALK)

ACOSTA: I know, but, judge, we hear that all the time. And you have these 18-year-old kids shooting up shopping centers and schools and everything.

JOURNEY: You know, over 40,000 felons --

(CROSSTALK)

ACOSTA: They're not felons, they're just kids and they have access to an ocean of guns in this country. It's an ocean. We're swimming in guns.

JOURNEY: There were over -- well, we do have per capita a high number of firearms in this country.

ACOSTA: Yes.

JOURNEY: But, you know, the vast majority of them are not AR-15s that you're complaining about. There's very little difference functionally between that and any other semiautomatic firearm that's been around for over a hundred years.

ACOSTA: If there's nothing different, why do they use them to shoot up shopping markets and schools? The AR-15 is the weapon of choice. They're used to hunt people.

JOURNEY: You know, I can't read their minds. I guess you'll just have to ask them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Well, still to come, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visits troops in eastern Ukraine. His first appearance outside the Kyiv region since the war began. We will explain why he made this move now.

Plus, another day means another chance to make a deal with E.U. leaders set to meet to discuss a possible ban of Russian oil imports. We will break down what's holding the agreement. Back with that and more in just a moment.

[03:15:05]

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CHURCH: We are following Russia's relentless offensive to control Ukraine's eastern Donbas region. In the city of Severodonetsk two people were killed and five others were wounded in Russian attacks on Sunday according to Ukrainian officials. Fifty homes were also destroyed.

The city has been the focus of fierce fighting for weeks, and the head of the Ukrainian military administration in the region now says Russian forces are advancing into the middle of the city.

Now, this comes as Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov told French media on Sunday, quote, "the liberation of Donbas is an absolute priority for his country."

Meantime, the Ukrainian military says it has launched a counter offensive in the southern region of Kherson. It published this video of artillery strikes and claims Russian forces were pushed back nearly 10 kilometers. CNN has not verified this report.

[03:19:56]

Well, back in eastern Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited troops on the front lines Sunday in the Kharkiv region. The area has faced intense bombardment during the war.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh has our report.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's visit to Kharkiv an interesting choice, frankly, given the turmoil happening in the lower parts of the country in the Donbas region. Kharkiv a comparative success story, still a mixed picture. But Ukraine has been very successful in pushing Russian forces away from Kharkiv, the second biggest city in Ukraine's center.

But still, Russia's managed to push back in certain areas too, and occasionally shelling does hit that city center. The pictures released of Zelenskyy's visit show him visiting destroyed column of Russian armor. But from the earliest days of the war here and also seeing the damage done and also in his daily speech, he referred to the dismissal of the local internal security service head there, saying that he had been pursuing his own interests, and not that of Ukraine.

A bid clearly there for the president to look like he's personally invested in the fight on the front as he is, and also seem in control of the minor details of who's doing what but a mixed day of news certainly. Ukraine boasting in the south with minimal detail, or I should say at this stage evidence that it's made counter offensive in the southern areas around Kherson.

But quite clear they are also experiencing losses around Severodonetsk in the Donbas, Donetsk and Luhansk regions, an important fight there, Severodonetsk becoming so symbolic because Russian forces are fighting so hard to move into it.

We were there just this day to see clearly how Russia's gaining a little more ground and also threatening the neighboring town Lysychansk under heavy shelling while we were there, and signs possibly that Russia's moving to encircle those two towns, an increasing edginess in that entire area, frankly, amongst Ukrainian forces defending it.

They look like they're digging in for a protracted fight but in various positions around that area. So, a day of, frankly, mixed news, increasingly negative noises coming out of the Donbas area from Ukraine, and President Zelenskyy's trip to Kharkiv perhaps a bid to highlight a comparative success story but a time really where Kyiv's messaging has shifted toward a much more negative tone, as we see events -- events unfold in their interest in the Donbas.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Dnipro, Ukraine.

CHURCH: Leaders from the European Union meet in the coming hours to try to agree on the terms of a Russian oil embargo after failing to see eye on eye on Sunday. It is the latest attempt to deal another blow to Russia's economy. The only problem is some European countries are completely reliant on Russian oil, making it more difficult to cut the cord.

Nadar Bashir joins me now from London with more on all of this. So, Nada, how likely is it that E.U. leaders can reach an agreement on a Russian oil ban, and what are the consequences if a deal can't be reached?

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Well, look, rosemary, E.U. member states were talking about this back in March on an agreement to ban Russian oil imports. Now they are looking at the final terms of that far agreement. This is of course a key aspect of a potential sixth packet of sanctions on Russia. It's been a key sticking point for some time now. We know that E.U. ambassadors met yesterday. Those meetings are continuing this morning ahead of the E.U. council summit, where E.U. leaders will be meeting to discuss these issues. And an agreement wasn't reached last night. But there are still discussions ongoing, focusing on those finer terms and details around the technicalities of a total ban on Russian oil imports into the European market.

And we've heard from European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen. She has said that the European Union is committed to a gradual phasing out of that dependency. But as you mentioned there, there are some issues because some states are simply more dependent on those Russian oil imports than other states, particularly countries like Croatia, Hungary, Bulgaria, to a lesser extent the Czech Republic, for example.

They are quite concerned about what this will mean for their energy supplies, for those oil imports. They are heavily dependent on those Russian oil imports. And so, they want energy security guarantees from the European Union. And so, until these finer details can be ironed out by the European leaders today and tomorrow in this European Council summit, it could mean a further hold on that sixth packet of sanctions.

But what we've heard from an E.U. diplomat speaking to CNN yesterday, they said that there might be a possibility of an agreement on a broader term on this -- on this potential ban on oil imports, and that could then leave space for the technicalities to be ironed out at a later date. Rosemary?

[03:24:58]

CHURCH: We'll continue to follow that, of course. But also, nada, we mentioned, Russia's Foreign Minister Lavrov saying Moscow's priority now is to liberate Donetsk and Luhansk. So, what does this reveal about Russia's goals now and what more did he say on this matter?

BASHIR: Well, look, we've heard from western intelligence from NATO officials several weeks after Russia began its invasion, pointing to the fact that Russia seemed to be refocusing its efforts and its energies on the eastern part of Ukraine.

Now, of course we're learning from the foreign minister Sergey Lavrov that Russia is looking, in his words, at liberating the Donetsk and Luhansk region. He described this as a matter of self-defense, as a matter of self-determination. The Russian federation has previously recognized these regions as independent states.

But this of course stands in contrast and in contravention to the facts and norms on the ground recognized by the west by Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaking on Saturday said that the Donbas region will once again be Ukraine. Ukrainian armed forces will liberate that region.

So clearly, we are seeing an intensification of military bombardment in that region. But, as we understand it, the Ukrainian armed forces will -- are not giving up on those territorial demands that we're seeing from Russia. Rosemary?

CHURCH: All right, Nada Bashir, thank you so much. Joining us live from London.

Well, CNN has obtained new satellite imagery that allegedly shows a Russian freighter full of grain stolen from Ukraine, arriving at the Syrian port of Latakia. Now this image was captured on Friday and provided by Maxar Technologies. This is one of three ships that has been spotted loading grain in the Crimean port of Sevastopol since Russia invaded Ukraine. It was last seen in Sevastopol on May 19th.

And still to come, U.S. laws restrict public access to certain data on guns. I will speak with the legal expert about their reach and whether it's time they were changed. back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: U.S. President Joe Biden and the first lady travel to Texas to meet with grieving families after last week's horrific mass shooting. The Bidens also laid flowers at a memorial in front of Robb Elementary School in Uvalde where 19 students and two teachers were killed.

Less than two weeks ago, the president and first lady were in Buffalo, New York, meeting with families of another mass shooting. In Washington, lawmakers are under intense pressure to take action in the wake of the gun violence. But late last week a domestic terrorism bill failed to advance in the Senate, underscoring the challenges of any kind of major policy change.

Well, shootings like this bring a lot of attention to U.S. gun laws, especially areas where many Americans see a need for reform. But finding information on guns and gun violence in the U.S. is also contentious with much of that information protected by law. They are known as the Tiahrt Amendments.

According to the Giffords Law center to prevent gun violence, they restrict public access to what's referred to as trace data collected by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to the public. They also require the Federal Bureau of Investigation to destroy all approved gun purchaser records within 24 hours.

Lastly, the amendments prohibit the ATF from requiring gun dealers to submit their inventories to law enforcement. Not surprisingly, the NRA is among the groups in support of keeping the Tiahrt Amendments in place. The group argues many points including the release of information serves no useful purpose, adding data itself could be biased.

Trace information also remains available for use by law enforcement on both the federal and local level. And traced guns are not always used in crimes despite the limiting labels in request. The NRA points out firearms may be traced for unrelated reasons.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Joining me now for more on this is Robyn Thomas, the executive director of Giffords Law Center. Thank you so much for talking with us.

ROBYN THOMAS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, GIFFORDS LAW CENTER: Thanks so much for having me on.

The NRA continues to support these Tiahrt Amendments, so essentially shut down access to critical gun data. So, what needs to happen to this Tiahrt Amendments and what is being done about them?

THOMAS: So, ideally, the Tiahrt Amendments, the restrictions that they place on sharing trace data, so information about the origin of guns that are used in crimes would be repealed, would be taken off the books so that the appropriate data that needs to be shared so our government officials and law enforcement can properly trace the source of crime guns, especially when it traces back to traffickers, whether it's dealers or specific individuals.

And that information is absolutely crucial to present -- to preventing the flow of illegal guns. You know, Texas, interestingly, is one of the states, maybe not surprisingly, that traffics huge numbers of guns into Mexico. So, identifying the source of those crime guns would be incredibly useful.

The Tiahrt restrictions have been loosened a little bit in 2008, 2010 where now at least law enforcement agencies are able to share certain data that help them identify trafficking patterns. But researchers don't have access to that information, the public has no access to that information. It can't be used in any way in litigation to try and assess liability for those that are causing harm.

I think the American people are really fed up. I think they've had enough of inaction at the federal level when we see shooting after shooting and they're not taking any steps to protect our children sitting in their classrooms to protect our communities. So, I think we are reaching a tipping point, as you said. And I think they're feeling that in Washington, D.C.

CHURCH: Yes. And what is very unusual is that Mitch McConnell appears to be on board with this. We will continue to watch that, of course, to see what the strategy perhaps is. But how much do you worry that if Congress fails to get this done in the next two weeks that the momentum will be lost yet again?

THOMAS: You know, that's always a concern that people's attention doesn't stay on an issue. And so, they're basically intentionally trying to wait it out. They're trying to push it off long enough that people are distracted by something else, and the pressure is lightened.

[03:34:58] I think this is different. I think, like in a similar sense of what happened at Sandy Hook elementary school in 2012, I think a classroom full of children really gets people up off their couches, out into the streets demanding change. I certainly think the longer they wait to take this vote, the more difficult it is to keep the pressure on senators.

But I think this is a moment, and I hope it lasts into whenever they have this vote where the American people are really speaking up. You know, the images we're seeing on television of protests, the amount I'm seeing happening on media, on social media, I think this is a very, very crucial moment. And I think as long as people stay energized, stay focused and demand change, this could be a moment where we see it happen.

CHURCH: Yes. I mean, we do hope this will be a different moment in time. Of course, I did want to ask you this because the NRA and others justify no action on gun control with their catch phrase, the only thing stopping a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. But of course, we know now that in Uvalde there were lots of good guys with guns, but they failed to act. So that line of thinking, it doesn't work.

But do the Tiahrt Amendments make it easier for the bad guys with guns to fly under the radar while making it hard for some law agencies to track their firearms as you pointed out?

THOMAS: Absolutely. One of the aspects of the Tiahrt Amendment is that it requires ATF to destroy records within 24 hours of a background check being completed. And so we don't have records of sales in a way that allows us to quickly ascertain, you know, where guns are going and who has guns, which is something that is very, very useful to law enforcement.

We do have some recordkeeping in California, and it's been incredibly useful to law enforcement when somebody becomes prohibited from having a gun because of one of the criteria under the law. We know how to go ahead and make sure that person has their guns removed so that they don't present a risk to the communities.

The Tiahrt restrictions don't allow for that at the federal level. And so we really are tying our own hands when it comes to the ability to access that information, identify those people, and keep our communities safe.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Robyn Thomas, executive director of Giffords Law Center, speaking to me earlier.

Well, coming up, an annual march through Jerusalem sparked violence between Israelis and Palestinians, the controversy around the demonstration and the blurred lines between peaceful and provocative. That's still to come. Stay with us.

[03:40:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Thousands waved Israeli flags for the controversial Jerusalem Day March on Sunday. Some chanted death to Arabs while others said they want peace. The annual demonstration drew protests and sparked fresh clashes between Israeli police and Palestinians.

The Red Crescent says 80 Palestinians were injured in Jerusalem, while more than 160 were injured in the West Bank.

Journalist Elliott Gotkine is in Jerusalem and joins us now live. Good to see you, Elliott. So, what more are you learning about this?

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: Rosemary, according to police, there are more than 70,000 people taking part in the annual Flag Day parade. The streets of the old city of Jerusalem, you know, turning into a sea of blue and white. Inevitably, though, as you say, there were clashes not just between Israeli security forces and Palestinians but also between some of the Israeli marches and Palestinians as well.

Now, among the Israelis marching through the streets of the old city of Jerusalem to celebrate what they see as reunification of the city after Israel captured the eastern part from Jordan in 1967, were some extremist groups.

And indeed, Prime Minister Neftali Bennett called them out, particularly one called La Familia which has its roots with the Beitar Jerusalem football club. And there is another as well called Lehava which is an extremist group which is against coexistence between Israelis and Arabs.

So, they -- Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said there will be no tolerance against those groups and warned of prosecution. Foreign Minister Yair Lapid describe them as a disgrace. Now of course before this march took place, there were concerns that we might see what happened this time last year which is when we saw rockets being fired by Hamas from the Gaza strip into Israel and then a war effectively breaking out between Israel and the Hamas controlled Gaza strip.

Now, Hamas had warned beforehand that if the march went ahead, it would indeed fire rockets towards Israel. That didn't happen. There were IDF jets circling above the Gaza strip, but concerns that things would descend into this kind of wider-scale conflict that we saw around this time last year proved unfounded.

I should also note that as well as the clashes between the Palestinians and the Israelis yesterday, there were also journalist who came under attack from some of the marches including one of my colleagues. The only thing in the end that was seen flying overhead, the old city of Jerusalem, that wasn't expected was a small drone carrying a Palestinian flag as a kind of rebuttal to the Israeli flag- waving going on below. Rosemary?

CHURCH: All right, Elliott Gotkine joining us live from Jerusalem, bringing us new details there. I appreciate it. Well, leftist former guerilla and a popular social media star are

headed for the next round in Colombia's presidential election. Left- wing Gustavo Petro will face off against the self-proclaimed king of TikTok Rodolfo Hernandez on June 19th. Their runoff comes after the first round of voting finished on Sunday.

Stefano Pozzebon filed this report from Petro's headquarters in Bogota.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEFANO POZZEBON, JOURNALIST: Colombia took a step towards the unknown on Sunday with two political outsiders progressing to the second round of the presidential election. The left-wing candidate Gustavo Petro on his third bid for the presidency, won the largest share of the vote with about 40 percent of the ballots.

In the second round which is set for June 19th he will face off against 77-year-old populist entrepreneur Rodolfo Hernandez who won about 28 percent of the votes. While Petro is a veteran of left-wing politics in Colombia, he has run for the presidency before. And if elected, he would be the first progressive president in this country's recent history.

Hernandez is a relative newcomer who mounted a campaign without a support of traditional parties and who has been compared to former U.S. President Donald Trump for his focus on social media. Whoever comes out on top of that challenge on June 19, Colombia, which is one of Washington's strongest allies in South America, really seems to have entered a new chapter in its recent history.

For CNN, this is Stefano Pozzebon, Bogota.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[03:44:59]

CHURCH: Authorities in Nepal say they have located the crash site of a missing plane and recovered 16 bodies. The Tara Air flight crashed on Sunday with 22 people on board. Authorities believe the crash was caused by poor weather in the area. The flight was traveling from the city of Pokhara to Jomsom when air control lost contact. Officials say the search for survivors continues.

Well, more than 50 people are dead after heavy rainfall in northeastern Brazil, and that death toll is expected to rise. The rain-triggered landslides and floods, wiping out neighborhoods, thousands of people have been forced out of their homes. And the search continues for the dozens of people who are still missing. Brazil's president has promised help for those impacted. Meantime, schools have been set up as temporary shelters for those displaced.

A hurricane warning is in effect in parts of Mexico as Agatha has intensified in the last 24 hours. The storm is now just shy of a category three hurricane. Agatha is expected to strengthen into a major hurricane in the coming hours before making landfall Monday evening near Santa Cruz, Mexico. Experts say the storm is likely to quickly fall apart on land, but could redevelop later in the week.

Well, New Mexico's governor is encouraging residents to stay on high alert for changes in evacuation orders this Memorial Day. Red flag warnings remain in effect throughout the state as dry air, gusty winds, and drought fuel raging wildfires. Thousands of firefighters are battling multiple blazes, including the Hermit's Peak Canyon wildfire, the largest in New Mexico's history. It has scorched almost 315,000 acres and is 50 percent contained as of Sunday.

CNN's Tyler Mauldin joins me now with the latest on all of these stories. Tyler, as always, it seems, a lot to cover.

TYLER MAULDIN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, absolutely. You know, we're going to start here in the Pacific where it is hurricane season here in the Pacific. We have Agatha, 110-mile-per-hour hurricane at the moment. It is getting sheer depart, though, right now as it approaches Central America.

It is still expected to gain intensity and become a major hurricane before making landfall late in the evening on Monday. It will rain itself here across Central America, and that's going to cause some flooding in the area. Then once it goes into the Bay of Campeche, we expect it to redevelop. And if it does redevelop and gets named, it'll actually become the first named storm of the Atlantic season, and that'll be tropical storm Alex.

We've got days before that could potentially happen. So, we've got plenty of time to keep an eye on it if you live in the Caribbean or maybe you live in the state of Florida. Those are the areas that we should really keep an eye on.

Now, it is Memorial Day here across the U.S., the unofficial start to summer. For the most part, the nation's weather looks fine, but there are a couple of trouble spots. We'll start here with this storm system moving across the northern plains in the Midwest. We have a tornado watch in effect as well as a severe thunderstorm watch in effect. That's going to last for the next several hours.

You can see that we have a very potent line already pushing through here with tornado warnings and also severe thunderstorm warnings. Once we get into Monday, late Monday, we are going to see more in the way of intense weather push through. And with this round we're looking at level four out of risk here across portions of South Dakota, North Dakota, and Minnesota.

We're talking hurricane-force wind gusts, large hail, and also strong, long-lived tornados, tornados with intensity of EF-2 or higher. Then that threat continues to push down to the south and east as we get into Tuesday.

Now, Rosemary, you did mention the red flag warnings across the southwest. That's going to continue for probably the next couple of days. I mean, we've got really hot air out here. We've got the ongoing drought. We got gusty winds so we got to watch for critical fire weather here across the southwest. Again, that does include New Mexico, unfortunately. Expanding the view, what else are we looking for a Memorial Day? Well, you're going to see some scattered showers and thunderstorms unfortunately if you're going to Florida and spending some beach time there. And then yes, we're also looking at rain and a little bit of mountain snowfall in the northwest. Rosemary?

CHURCH: Wow. A lot to cover there, Tyler Mauldin, and you did it well, as always. I appreciate it.

Well, just ahead, it wasn't the outcome they were hoping for, but the Reds got a hero's welcome home after the Champions League final. We will have a report from Liverpool. Back with that in just a moment.

[03:50:00]

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CHURCH: In the Spanish capital, fans packed the seats at Real Madrid's home stadium. The team pulled out all the stops to celebrate the club's 14th Champions League title. Back in England, although Liverpool came up short in the game, their fans turned out to celebrate their returning heroes.

Ravi Ubha has more now on that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAVI UBHA, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Overcast and gloomy skies greeted Liverpool on Sunday before a spell of sunshine. The mixed conditions matching the bittersweet feelings of Liverpool fans as they came out in force for a victory parade. The parade was announced in mid-May after Liverpool had already won the Elite Cup, EFL Cup with the club still on course for that historic quadruple.

But the margins of football and sports are often thin. The Reds won those trophies on penalties, missing out on the English Premier League by a point, coupled with defeat in Saturday's Champions League final by a single goal, many fans had been left to ponder what might've been.

UNKNOWN: It was really disheartening and especially we hadn't got over the heartbreak of last week either. So, it was really difficult. But I think this parade now has given us something to look forward to and to just remind us how lucky we are to be Liverpool fans.

UNKNOWN: We thought it was going to be full, a full, but it's only, sadly enough it's just. But two is better than none.

[03:55:02]

UNKNOWN: Although a lot (Inaudible), I'm happy, though because we won two trophies. We've played all the games we could have. We played our best. But you know, next season, we get all four.

UBHA: These fans will be back rooting on Liverpool next season, the quadruple in the rearview mirror. And the last time they lost the Champions League final in 2018, they won it the following year in 2019. And next year's championship final is only going to be held in Istanbul. (Inaudible) of a massive comeback against AC Milan in 2005. Now, this season will take a little more digestion before they (Inaudible) will go again in August.

Ravi Ubha, CNN, Liverpool.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And how the losers cheered. Well, before we go, one British cafe is preparing for the queen's platinum jubilee with a celebration that's gone to the dogs. This corgi cafe let dozens of these short dog breed have free range on Sunday with plenty of dog biscuits and Puppachino for all.

Britain's Queen Elizabeth has owned more than 30 corgis over the course of her reign. Attendees said it was a fun way to celebrate the queen's favorite canine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANCESCA SHORTALL, CIVIL SERVANT: I love the jubilee, I love the queen, and I love that the queen's got corgis. So, yes, it was great. I feel proud to be British.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Britain is set to honor the queen's platinum jubilee, marking an historic 70 years of service, with four days of pageantry and celebration beginning Thursday.

And thank you so much for spending part of your day with me. I'm Rosemary Church. CNN Newsroom continues with Isa Soares, next.

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