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Uvalde Teacher's Aide Wants Deposition From Firearm Manufacturer; U.S. Gun Debate; Russia's War On Ukraine; U.S. Economy; Tropical Storm Alex; Tiananmen Square Massacre Anniversary; China's Brutal COVID-19 Enforcers; Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee. Aired 5-6a ET
Aired June 04, 2022 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hello and welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and all around the world, I'm Kim Brunhuber.
Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, new details are emerging about the terrifying moments teachers first realized a gunman was on campus in Uvalde, Texas.
We're live in Hong Kong, where police closed off parts of Victoria Park ahead of the commemorations of the Tiananmen Square massacre anniversary.
And pomp and pageantry as the queen celebrates 70 years on the throne. We have a preview of the upcoming celebrations.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.
BRUNHUBER: We begin in Uvalde, Texas, where frustration is growing as we learn more chilling details about the mass shooting at an elementary school where 19 young students and two teachers were gunned down.
We're getting more information on the 9-1-1 calls made from inside the classroom while the attack was underway and the pleas from a student as gunfire rang out. There's growing criticism of police actions and inactions and scrutiny of the company that made the murder weapon.
And CNN is speaking with the attorney for a teacher's aide from Robb Elementary. She's sharing her side of the story after police falsely blamed her for leaving the door open that the shooter used to enter the school. CNN's Omar Jimenez begins our coverage.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was supposed to be an end of the year class party before it became a nightmare.
DON FLANARY, ATTORNEY FOR EMILIA MARIN: She saw everything from the time he wrecked to the time she was taken out of there.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): Special Education Aide Emilia Marin was meeting a coworker with food before she sees a car crash. So she prompts the door open to get her phone and call 9-1-1 to report the crash, her lawyer says, before returning to the door.
FLANARY: And she looks over to the funeral home to her right and the two men are yelling, he's got a gun. And she looks and sees him and he has a weapon that she can't identify but a big weapon flung over him and he hops over the fence and starts running toward her.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): So she kicks the door shut.
JIMENEZ: And does she expect it to lock?
FLANARY: Yes, absolutely. She thought it was going to be locked.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): Marin scrambles into a nearby classroom as she begins to hear gunshots.
FLANARY: He's inside now. She hides. The 9-1-1 call drops. They don't call her back. She doesn't attempt to call back because she doesn't want to make any noise. There's some sort of counter that she gets under but it's exposed. She said that she thought that at that point she was going to die and she made a piece of that.
JIMENEZ: So she hears every single gunshot?
FLANARY: Every single gunshot.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): But she was one of the lucky ones who survived. Days later though, she hears law enforcement say she had left the door the shooter used open.
JIMENEZ: And she's second guessing herself?
FLANARY: Right. Yes, it even made her second guess her own memories. And she had already spoken to the FBI and the rangers and told them what happened.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): The Rangers eventually publicly corrected the record.
As the community grieves, a flurry of unanswered questions linger, including more about Texas School Police Chief Pete Arredondo, acting as incident commander during the shooting.
ROLAND GUTIERREZ (D), TEXAS STATE SENATE: That I had been told that this person did not have -- this person being the incident commander did not have radio communication and I don't know as to why.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): At question if the 9-1-1 calls were properly relayed to first responders on the scene, CNN has calls out to Arredondo and law enforcement to confirm. All as documents to prepare death certificates were released listing the grim realities of what was at stake, multiple gunshot wounds, gunshot wound to the head and more.
Outside that horrific day, the teaching aide, Emilia Marin, has now filed legal documents to get a deposition from Daniel Defense, the manufacturer of the gun used in the shooting, with our attorney saying because, the shooter got the weapons on his 18th birthday, he was likely planning the purchases beforehand.
FLANARY: So his motivations to get that gun was when he was a minor. Are there, you know, gun companies that are marketing to minors?
Is that what they're doing?
And how many mass shootings do we have to have by 18-year-old men?
It's cookie cutter. So what are they doing to change?
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JIMENEZ: Now it's worth noting the presuit petition does not formally accused the gun manufacturer of wrongdoing. Instead, it's looking to investigate whether Emilia Marin has a basis to file a claim against Daniel Defense -- Omar Jimenez, CNN, Uvalde, Texas.
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BRUNHUBER: The White House was illuminated in orange for National Gun Violence Awareness Day. President Biden says he's being briefed constantly on congressional negotiations to pass gun reform and vowed to do what he can to bring about real progress.
He gave a primetime address this week to put pressure on the Republicans to do something about the epidemic of gun violence in America. The president proposed a ban on assault weapons and went on the offensive against gun manufacturers as well. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We should repeal the liability shield that often protects gun manufacturers from being sued for the death and destruction caused by their weapons. They're the only industry in this country that has that kind of immunity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: One of the victims in Texas was 10-year-old Amerie Jo Garza. Attorneys representing her mother sent a letter to Daniel Defense, the maker of the weapon used in the massacre.
It demands the company, quote, "preserve all potentially relevant information related to the Uvalde shooting, which includes but is not limited to all physical electronic and documentary evidence potentially relevant to the company's marketing of AR-15 style rifles."
But using legal action to go after U.S. gunmakers is often an uphill battle. I asked law professor Jessica Levinson to explain. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JESSICA LEVINSON, LOYOLA UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL: Well, I think it's had an enormous effect. This is a 2005 law. As you said, it was passed under George W. Bush. And it was passed basically to protect gun manufacturers from civil liability.
And that's because, starting in the late 1990s, people were filing suits against gun manufacturers under the theory that they were actually causing a public nuisance, based on the way that they were manufacturing and selling and allowing to be sold guns. And some of these cases were dismissed but a lot of them settled.
And the gun manufacturers started lobbying very aggressively to say, we need some protection here. Now we have seen some exceptions to this particular law, where we've seen some successful settlements.
But it's really changed the ability of people to try and hold gun manufacturers liable.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, I think the way to win seems very specific, because, as you say, despite that law earlier this year, the families of several victims of the Sandy Hook shooting got a $73 million settlement against Remington.
But that was really the first time that a gun manufacturer was held responsible for a mass shooting in the U.S. like this.
So will that be a precedent or maybe a legal template for others to follow here?
LEVINSON: Yes, and we'll see. So part of this law says that you can be held liable if the gun manufacturer is violating a separate federal law or state law.
And what the victims of Sandy Hook, what their families said, is, in fact, the gun manufacturers violated a Connecticut law, based on how they advertised the guns and what type of use they were for.
And so that was a successful argument there. It was part of an exception built in to the law. We haven't seen other cases really define how broad that exception will be. That's what we're waiting for.
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BRUNHUBER: Our thanks to law professor Jessica Levinson.
A vigil was held for four people killed at a medical clinic in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Wednesday. People gathered to remember Dr. Preston Phillips, whom the shooter intended to kill. Also remembered were Dr. Stephanie Husen, receptionist Amanda Glenn and patient William Love.
Survivors and relatives of victims in the Uvalde and Buffalo shootings are set to testify on Capitol Hill next week. Now this as staff level discussions on gun policy continue and Republicans double down on mental illness as the root cause of gun violence.
In an interview with "Politico," Texas senator John Cornyn emphasized the need for, quote, "identifying people with criminal and mental health problems that are a threat to themselves and others."
And yet when it comes to actual support for mental health services, the senator's home state is behind the curve. Here is CNN's Tom Foreman.
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TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the wake of mass shootings, there appears to be a blueprint for some Republican leaders. Brush off talk of gun control ...
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): It's never been about guns.
FOREMAN (voice-over): -- call the killers crazy ...
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DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT: We need to make it far easier to confine the violent and mentally deranged into mental institutions.
FOREMAN: -- and insist mental health is what matters.
GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R-TX): We, as a government, need to find a way to target that mental health challenge and do something about it.
FOREMAN: Yet, there is little evidence of top Republican lawmakers broadly supporting such efforts.
In a 2017 survey of how much a state's budget goes to mental healthcare, the state that is led the pack went Democratic in the 2020 presidential race, outpacing those that led Republican. In terms of number of adults seeking care, low out of pocket costs and providers per capita, another ranking found not one of those red states in the top 10.
SETH NORRHOLM, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: We certainly know as mental health providers that our healthcare system is flawed and the resources not there.
FOREMAN: Neuroscientist Seth Norrholm suggests it's all a bit of a red herring anyway because he says the vast majority of shooters are not mentally ill.
NORRHOLM: In most cases, what you're seeing is planned out. Somebody who is cruel to animals or a history of violence, that's more a personality trait. That's more who they are.
FOREMAN: What's more, the claims are not evenly applied. A study of more than 200 mass shootings found, in the media, white shooters were framed as good people suffering from extreme life circumstances and were 19 times more likely to be framed as suffering from mental illness, compared to Black shooters. Still, within days of the Buffalo and Uvalde shootings, the beat on the Right went on.
TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS HOST: Look, Gendron and Ramos were very obviously mentally ill. The people around them knew that.
FOREMAN: And even as Texas faces yet another slaughter, Republican Governor Greg Abbott keeps holding on to that idea.
ABBOTT: Anybody who shoots somebody else has a mental health challenge, period.
FOREMAN: Certainly, there are Republican leaders who support mental health care. And Governor Abbott's office told CNN he's put a lot of funding and effort into it. Yet when an advocacy group ranked the states in terms of access to mental health care, Texas was dead last -- Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.
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BRUNHUBER: If you would like to give financial support or blood donations to victims in communities of mass shootings, including the Texas school shooting, please go to cnn.com/impact and find several ways you can help there.
We'll be right back.
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BRUNHUBER: Russia's military has been attacking Ukraine for more than 100 days and neither side shows any sign of giving up. The International Red Cross said the level of destruction defies comprehension.
Britain says Russia's slow advance in the Donbas has been aided by air support but added that the Russian aircraft failed to make a meaningful impact on the conflict. The most intense fighting is at Sievierodonetsk. Ukraine claims they regained control of half the strategic city.
Moscow continues to press the assault across the Donbas region. Ukraine says Russian troops are amassing for a renewed assault on Slovyansk.
To the south, Ukraine say they have reclaimed several kilometers of Russian-occupied territory in Kherson.
The human toll in Ukraine is unimaginable. Some 12 million Ukrainians have been internally displaced by the fighting, according to President Zelenskyy. Even if the war ended right now, many of these people have no homes to return to. CNN's Ben Wedeman is in Kyiv with the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Russia's invasion of Ukraine has now hit the 100-day mark. The critical battle is now in the eastern Donbas region.
Ukrainian officials concede that Russian forces now control up to 80 percent of the city of Sievierodonetsk, until now, the easternmost city under Kyiv's control. It's been under intense and steady Russian artillery bombardment for weeks and weeks and weeks.
Now most of the civilians have fled the city but as many as 800 people are still huddled in bomb shelters in the city's chemical complex.
Elsewhere in the Donbas region, Russian forces are amassing for a renewed offensive against the city of Slovyansk, that according to the Ukrainian high command. The first 100 days of this war have shattered Moscow's ambitions.
Friday, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed in his words that victory will be ours. Yet victory -- or just an end to this war -- is still nowhere in sight -- I'm Ben Wedeman, CNN, reporting from Kyiv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Australian military analyst Malcolm Davis says fighting in Eastern Ukraine will likely remain static for the next few weeks.
He says Russia appears to have learned lessons from its mistakes earlier in the war and that has allowed them to gain territory. But Ukraine will soon get more advanced weaponry from the West and that could be decisive. Here is how he explained it when I spoke to him last hour.
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MALCOLM DAVIS, SENIOR ANALYST, AUSTRALIAN STRATEGIC POLICY INSTITUTE: Look, I think the situation is very fluid. Our ability to understand what's playing out is very difficult to figure out.
The fog of war is very clear in that there's going to be battles running back and forth, advances, retreats, counter offenses. This is the nature of the conflict going forward the next few weeks.
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DAVIS: But I think it's very clear the Russians have started to regroup, starting to apply what's known as combined armed tactics, which is allowing them to be more effective on the ground.
So the Ukrainians are fighting back furiously but it's quite likely that the Russians will, in fact, take Sievierodonetsk in the next few weeks. BRUNHUBER: OK, so then if they do take it, can Russia hold it, given
the influx now of high-tech Western weapons that might help Ukraine retake it?
DAVIS: I think that is the key question. And it depends largely on how many weapons come in. We've seen a lot of long-range rockets. So really it does depend on the amount of weapons we send the Ukrainians and how effectively they can apply them on the battle space.
If they can bring those bear, also armored fighting vehicles, you start to see the potential for the Ukrainians to push back the Russians. If they can't bring sufficient force to bear, then the Russians can probably hold onto Sievierodonetsk and start to think about pushing forward to Kramatorsk.
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BRUNHUBER: Our thanks to military analyst Malcolm Davis, who was speaking to me last hour.
Russian president Vladimir Putin is pushing back against accusations that he's using food as a weapon of war. Ukraine says half of its grain exports are held up because of Russia's blockade of ports.
But Putin claims Russia isn't stopping Ukraine from exporting its food. He suggested Ukraine mind its own ports, not Russia. The Russian president also said Russia can increase grain production next year to help fill gaps in global supply.
Still ahead, another former Trump adviser is indicted for failing to cooperate with the January 6th investigation. We'll explain the charges against Peter Navarro next.
And from rising gas prices to food costs, how inflation is impacting summer travel for many Americans. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and all around the world, I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
Former Trump adviser Peter Navarro has been charged with criminal contempt of Congress for refusing to answer questions about the Capitol insurrection. Navarro says he was arrested at a Washington area airport on Friday.
He faces two contempt accounts, one for not producing documents demanded by the House committee and the other for failing to show up for subpoenaed testimony. He claims he was unable to cooperate because former president Trump has asserted executive privilege.
But the committee argued many of the topics had already been written about in his book.
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RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Department of Justice informing the January 6th select committee it will not indict the former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows or his deputy Dan Scavino for criminal contempt of Congress, despite that the two men did not comply with the subpoena request.
This is a blow to the committee as they try to put some weight behind the subpoenas they've handed down. They still have a number of subpoenas outstanding at this point, including five subpoenas for Republican members of Congress, that these Republican members have defied up until this point. And the committee has not said how they plan to enforce.
While that was certainly a blow to the committee to lose out on the Meadows and Scavino subpoenas and criminal contempt referrals, they did have some success in that Peter Navarro, a former White House trade advisor, openly defiant of the subpoena, was indicted by the Department of Justice and will now face criminal prosecution.
And if convicted, he could face up to two years in prison and fines of around $200,000. This all comes at an important time for the committee. They begin their hearings, their big public hearings, Thursday of next week; the first one in prime time, 8:00 pm Eastern.
That's where the committee promises they will reveal much of what they've been working on behind closed doors, essentially lay the groundwork for what will be a month's worth of hearings on a number of topics, different parts of their investigation and what they have learned.
This could be an important part of their public relations strategy as they try to reinvest the American people into what happened here on January 6th and why there needs to be changes and people held accountable. Of course, they're still planning on issuing a final report sometime this fall -- Ryan Nobles, CNN on Capitol Hill.
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BRUNHUBER: The U.S. economy keeps churning out new jobs, despite fears of a recession. Employers added 390,000 jobs in May. That's lower than the previous few months but still more than twice the monthly average from before the pandemic.
The unemployment rate remains at 3.6 percent, near record lows, but inflation is near 40-year highs, raising concerns about a recession. President Biden is striking an optimistic tone, insisting the U.S. is well positioned to combat rising costs. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's no denying that high prices, particularly around gasoline and food, are a real problem for people. But there's every reason for the American people to feel confident that we'll meet these challenges.
Because of the enormous progress we made on the economy, the Americans can tackle inflation from a position of strength, still a problem. We can tackle it from a position of strength.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: None of that will immediately help lower the sky-high costs of everyday goods like groceries or gas. The current rate of inflation in the U.S. is 8.3 percent. President Biden admitted this week there's not much he can do to lower prices in the near term.
Now the high inflation rate, along with staff shortages, is throwing a wrench in summer plans for many Americans. CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich looks how the hospitality industry is managing all that.
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BRIAN KNOEBEL, CO-OWNER, KNOEBLE'S AMUSEMENT RESORT: We got a steam powered carousel and a food stand and a couple of games of chance. And little by little, we're now 60 rides.
VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Since 1926, Knoebel's Amusement Resort in rural Central Pennsylvania has been a summer tourist destination.
KNOEBEL: See the train slowing down, so there should be some squirrels around.
YURKEVICH: Or little chipmunks. Oh, little chipmunks.
KNOEBEL: Have a little chipmunk. Yes.
YURKEVICH (voice-over): The park is free to enter and rides like the Pioneer train or pay as you go.
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YURKEVICH (voice-over): But even prices at this family run park surrounded by idyllic farmland aren't exempt from high inflation.
KNOEBEL: The rising cost of everything from, gasoline to chicken to rolls electricity. We had to increase our prices.
YURKEVICH (voice-over): Inflation is gripping the nation's pocketbook with prices at a four decade high, a pain point for President Biden as most Americans are sour on the economy. Still an estimated 39 million Americans were expected to travel Memorial Day weekend, most by car up from last year.
TIMOTHY DOWHOWER, MARKETING DIRECTOR, SUSQUEHANNA RIVER VALLEY VISITORS BUREAU: When I hear inflation, that's where we're going to spend our ad more locally. So that's where we're going to be focusing on the backyard tourists. The locals will spend more reaching people within a two to three hour range.
YURKEVICH (voice-over): People like Rebecca Kent, who usually makes a day trip from Philadelphia. She says gas prices won't cut her summer plan, they'll just be scaled back.
REBECCA KENT, PARK VISITOR: The one year we were coming up here, I think we made it up here 26 times in the summer.
YURKEVICH: Do you think you're going to dial it back a little bit?
KENT: Not 26 but probably pretty close to a dozen or more.
YURKEVICH (voice-over): Valerie Bloom says she's being mindful of higher prices elsewhere like groceries so she can still give her kids a great summer, meaningful after two years of COVID.
VALERIE BLOOM, PARK VISITOR: What are you going to do?
I mean, like, you got to live, you got to have, yes, have fun, it's summertime.
YURKEVICH (voice-over): But more customers means the need for more workers. Despite rising wages, labor shortages persist with a near record 11.4 million open jobs in the U.S. And inflation is hitting employees here too. So the park is launching a cost-effective shuttle to save employees gas money and ensure the park is staffed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So it's more money in the employees' pockets.
YURKEVICH (voice-over): In smaller communities, places like this are economic drivers, supporting other businesses in town.
KIMBERLY COOPER, DOLLAR GENERAL MANAGER, ELYSBURG: For our success here in town is pretty critical of our sales will go up once they start.
YURKEVICH (voice-over): And despite also having to raise prices in store, Kimberly Cooper says the crowds are still coming and buying.
COOPER: It doesn't seem to have made a difference here so far this year.
YURKEVICH (voice-over): Vanessa Yurkevich, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Millions of people in southern Florida, Cuba and the Bahamas are under tropical storm and flash flood warnings right now. They're bracing for the system already in the area to gain strength and possibly become tropical storm Alex in the coming hours.
Now it's already slammed Cuba, where one person has been found dead and 50,000 people in Havana are without power. The system is expected to bring even more heavy rain, flooding, possibly even tornadoes. (WEATHER REPORT)
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BRUNHUBER: Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, we'll look at how police in Hong Kong are trying to stop people from publicly commemorating a massacre more than 30 years later.
Plus, a look at China's COVID enforcers. They're known as Big Whites. And some of them are doing things that are sending shock waves throughout the country. That's ahead. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: It's the anniversary of a tragic, historic event, the Tiananmen Square massacre, which took place 33 years ago in Beijing, China's capital.
It began peacefully with large, pro-democracy protests in April of 1989. Thousands of students gathered at Tiananmen Square to mourn the death of a former Communist Party leader, trying to reform China.
As it drew international attention, China started halting newscasts in Beijing, including CNN. Then on June 4th, Chinese troops killed hundreds of people in Tiananmen in a bloody crackdown. The exact number killed in the massacre still isn't known.
Hong Kong police hoped to prevent what they called unauthorized assemblies commemorating the Tiananmen Square massacre. Since 1989, crowds have gathered to mark the occasion. And pictures show police searching pedestrians on the street Friday. They say they'll target those inciting others who gather.
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BRUNHUBER: Now for more on all that, let's bring in CNN's Ivan Watson, joining us in Hong Kong.
Ivan, I can see you're at Victoria Park. Take us through what it used to be like in these anniversaries compared to what you're seeing there now.
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. For every year for 30 years, you would have a candlelight vigil here commemorating the people killed in Tiananmen Square. It's not illegal. There's no law against discussing that in Hong Kong right now.
But the annual vigil has been banned now for three years. The previous two years it was on public health grounds because of the COVID pandemic. Now the police say, well, there's no permission. It's an illegal assembly.
So instead, they have blocked off the park tonight. You can see some police here. But there's a tremendous security presence.
I would estimate, by the number of police vehicles around here, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of police ringing this, frisking them periodically, as an effort to stop any kind of gathering from taking place here.
Again, there's no law against discussing the victims of June 4th, 1989, but there has been a move to kind of remove monuments in honor of the victims from the campuses of two Hong Kong universities over the course of the last year.
A museum that was dedicated to them has been closed. Now I was here in 2019. There were, according to the organizers' estimates, 180,000 people who gathered here peacefully, for candlelit ceremony, stages.
The next year there was no permit to organize that event. And people still gathered nonetheless. And a number of the organizers of that unofficial event have been prosecuted, part of a broader crackdown that we have seen in this city over the course of the last two to three years.
BRUNHUBER: It's an interesting contrast that you paint with the past and the present. And you talk about that larger crackdown, as I understand it, not just about stopping this Tiananmen Square remembrance but clamping down any form of dissent in Hong Kong, is that right?
WATSON: Yes. I have not seen a sanctioned demonstration or protest in this city in at least two years. That is supposed to be one of the freedoms that people enjoy here. But the authorities introduced a national security law.
They have cracked down hard on members of the former political opposition, many of whom have been arrested and are being prosecuted on a number of different charges. People have fled. Newspapers have been shut down here.
And the end result, I can see as a journalist, people are afraid to talk in Hong Kong about politics, about the government in a way that they were not afraid three years ago, four years ago.
And that is part of the, I think, suffocation of certain freedoms that this city used to enjoy, freedoms that the government insists are still here but have clearly changed over the past couple years, as Beijing has tightened its grip on this former British colony.
BRUNHUBER: Really interesting to get your perspective on the scene there in Hong Kong. Ivan Watson, thanks so much for that.
North Korea has accepted an offer of COVID vaccines from China and has begun administering them. North Korea hasn't been known to accept imported vaccines even though it's eligible through the global vaccine sharing program COVAX.
COVAX scaled back North Korea's allotment in February because the country failed to arrange any shipments. North Korea also failed to respond to vaccine offers from the U.S. and South Korea.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said earlier this week that conditions there are improving, a claim disputed by the WHO
Now China itself has seen some easing of pandemic restrictions but many of its stringent zero COVID policies are still in place, enforced by workers clad in hazmat suits and known as the Big Whites. Some are behaving in ways that are shocking the nation. A word of warning, you may find this shocking.
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SELINA WANG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is a common sight in China, armies of COVID workers and full bodied white protective gear. Shanghai may be exiting its harsh lockdown but China's COVID war is not over.
Since lockdowns began in cities across China, hazmat suit workers have become symbols to many of brutality and authoritarian excess. In this Shanghai community, a COVID worker repeatedly beats a man with a stick.
This COVID worker forcefully shoves a woman to the ground.
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WANG (voice-over): She hits the pavement that clutches her head in pain. In another video, a COVID worker kicks and slaps a man to the ground.
And a brigade of COVID enforcers drag this woman out of her apartment in Shanghai. She screams that she will go with them if she can just get her shoes. She tries to resist with all her strength but in vain.
CNN was not able to verify the identities of the people involved or the circumstances in these videos or even if they all related to COVID control and authorities did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Most of the Big Whites are health care workers, volunteers and police officers genuinely trying to help their communities. While extreme violence from these COVID enforcers is rare, these viral videos have sparked outrage underscoring people's growing frustrations with Chinese zero COVID policy.
This video in particular horrified Shanghai residents earlier when they were locked down. It shows nine police officers in hazmat suits, surrounding a man in a Shanghai community, with some relentlessly beating and kicking him.
He tries to run away but they catch him and continue to throw their punches. CNN geolocated where this meeting happened. I called the local police station.
WANG: And so she seems to have seen the video. She knows that the video exists she says she's going to call over her colleague who's going to give me a call back.
WANG (voice-over): But I never got the call back, so I tried again.
WANG: (Speaking foreign language).
He told me that this never happened. And then he just hung up.
WANG (voice-over): This isn't the image of COVID control that China wants. This is more desirable. Government propaganda has called COVID enforcers "Big Whites," a nod to the cute and inflatable robot from "Big Hero 6."
(VIDEO CLIP, "BIG HERO 6")
WANG (voice-over): Like Baymax, the Big Whites in state media videos are lifting people spirits, they're leading dances and quarantine centers, helping the elderly even climbing ladders to deliver COVID tests.
But the innocent image of the "Big Whites," solely by the horrific behavior of some, were possibly empowered by the anonymity under their white suits.
Numerous videos showed them beating residents, barricading them in their homes, breaking doors to take people to quarantine, climbing into houses through windows to disinfect, even beating pets to death.
Chinese social media have even started calling the COVID enforcers White Guards, referring to the Red Guards of the Cultural Revolution through savagely beat, tortured and killed.
But most of these videos of brutality from the Big Whites are gone, censored from Chinese social media. In their place are fluffy heroes. But the "Big Whites'" cruelty, already seared in just so many minds, shaking people's faith in the Chinese government -- Selina Wang, CNN, Beijing.
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BRUNHUBER: Coming up, we go to London for the queen's Platinum Jubilee. Find out what celebrations are happening today and if Her Majesty will be attending. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: "Keep calm and carry on."
And that's exactly what the U.K. is doing amid the queen's Platinum Jubilee, despite Her Majesty's absence. On Friday, hundreds gathered in St. Paul's Cathedral to give their thanks to Britain's longest reigning monarch and her 70 years in service.
Prince Harry and Meghan were there after being absent for most Jubilee events but were met with a mixed reaction. It was their first appearance together at a royal event in two years.
And there are much more Platinum Jubilee festivities to come this weekend. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will visit Cardiff Castle in Wales. Later is the Derby at Epsom Downs. But Buckingham Palace says the queen will be unable to attend that event as well.
The Derby will be followed by the Platinum Party at the Palace concert, featuring an all-star line-up from the worlds of music and dance.
CNN's Anna Stewart is live from London.
Anna, yet another day without the guest of honor.
ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Without the guest of honor, which is terribly sad, I think particularly for the queen herself actually, because she loves horse racing. To miss the Derby will be a big blow. We're told she will be watching from home on the television.
And the rest of the royal family, as you said, are very busy today, scattered across the U.K. All the senior members visiting the four nations. Princess Anne in Scotland, Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge in Wales and Prince Edward and Duchess of Sussex in Northern Ireland.
It all culminates with a party at the palace which will take place right outside Buckingham Palace. The rehearsal is underway, which is why we have been kicked out. We're out in the elements and I have my umbrella ready. We just heard thunder. It could be a wet, blustery affair.
But already hundreds of people are flocking down the mall to try and see it. I hope they have wrapped up warm.
BRUNHUBER: Absolutely. I heard you name checking some of the royals there. You didn't mention Harry and Meghan.
Are we expected to see them today?
STEWART: Well, of course, we saw them yesterday. And it was the first time anyone has seen Meghan in the U.K. since the very high profile exit. You mentioned a slightly mixed response.
Today lot of the newspapers pointing to the fact they were sat far apart from Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge.
Is there still a rift there?
Lots of speculation.
[05:55:00] STEWART: The fact that Prince Harry and Meghan had a very prominent role, arriving right before Prince William and Kate, suggests the royal family want to show they're an important part of it and particularly that sort of event.
Now tonight for the party at the palace, we're expecting Prince William and his wife to be there. I wouldn't be surprised if at all if we see Prince Harry and Meghan as well.
It's also Lilibet's first birthday. We believe those kids are in the U.K. So perhaps the queen, while resting at home, might get to meet Lilibet, her great-granddaughter, for the very first time.
BRUNHUBER: That's great. Hopefully, the weather will stay, at least not pouring for you there. We'll follow throughout the day. Thanks so much, Anna Stewart in London.
Well, it's not just the queen's loyal subjects joining in on the festivities but dogs as well. Some 100 corgis and their owners celebrated Her Majesty's seven decades of service to the British crown and dressed up for the occasion, wearing costumes and Union Jacks.
Very cute. Queen Elizabeth owned, of course, more than 30 of these pint-size pups throughout her reign.
Well, that wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. Viewers in North America "NEW DAY" is next. Rest of the world, it's "AFRICA AVANT-GARDE."
