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Migrants Found Dead Inside Closed Trailer Van; Russia Hit Civilians in Ukraine's Shopping Mall; G7 Focus to Pressure Russia; Moscow Had its Default After a Century; President Zelenskyy Wants War to End; Train Wreck Killed Three in Missouri; Chlorine Spill Killed 12 in Jordan's Port. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired June 28, 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)

NICK WATT, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. You are watching CNN Newsroom. I'm Nick Watt, live from Los Angeles,

Just ahead, stacks of bodies, authorities in Texas find dozens of suspected migrants dead inside a truck. Details on the investigation.

Searching for survivors, Russian missiles strike a shopping mall in central Ukraine far from the fight. And CNN exclusive interview with the U.S. vice president, why she says that this is just the beginning of attacks on reproductive and possibly other rights in America.

We begin with that developing story out of southern Texas where authorities say that 46 suspected migrants have been found dead in the back of a semi-truck in San Antonio. Sixteen others some of them children were found alive at the scene and taken to hospital for treatment. San Antonio's fire chief described their conditions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHARLES HOOD, CHIEF, SAN ANTONIO FIRE DEPARTMENT: They were suffering from heatstroke, heat exhaustion. No signs of water in the vehicle. It was a refrigerated tractor trailer, but there was no visible working AC unit on that rig.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATT: San Antonio's police chief says officers were alerted to the scene Monday evening when someone heard a cry for help coming from the trailer. The U.S. National Weather Service says that temperatures outside were hotter than 37 degrees Celsius, around 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Here is what the city's mayor had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR RON NIRENBERG, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS: So, the plight of migrants seeking refuge is always a humanitarian crisis, but tonight we are dealing with a horrific human tragedy. So, I would urge you all to think compassionately and pray for the deceased, the ailing, the families. And we hope that those responsible for putting these people in such inhumane conditions are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATT: There have been more than 14,000 searches and rescues along the U.S. border with Mexico just since October.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez says that this is the exact situation that the U.S. government has been trying to prevent.

(BEGIN VOICETAPE)

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN REPORTER: This comes at a time of a surge of migration at the U.S.-Mexico border. We do not know the nationalities of the migrants, and it is unclear whether this is human smuggling. But smugglers do often use rigs to transport migrants and this is something that the Biden administration has been doubling down on. They have been cracking down on human smuggling in recent months and this is what they warned about and have feared.

(END VOICETAPE)

WATT: And stay with CNN for the very latest on this story as new details become available.

U.S. President Joe Biden is set to meet with the leaders of Germany, France and the U.K. in about an hour. Those talks are happening on the sidelines of the annual G7 summit, which wraps up later this morning. From there, leaders head to Spain for a meeting with NATO allies, Russia's war on Ukraine dominating both agendas.

In Germany, the G7 outlined new ways to step up pressure on Moscow, including plans for a price cap on Russian oil, the goal to squeeze Russia while also lowering costs back home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHARLES MICHEL, PRESIDENT, EUROPEAN COUNCIL: With G7 countries, we all share the same goal to cut the oxygen from Russia's war machine while taking care of our economies and the economies of our partners. The E.U. will stand by the people of Ukraine for the long haul to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity and to defend our common democratic values.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[03:05:00]

WATT: Ukraine now wants the U.N. Security Council to meet to discuss Russia's recent string of deadly airstrikes on civilians. The latest killed at least 18 people at a shopping mall in central Ukraine on Monday. A toll that authorities say will likely rise. Many more are wounded in the strike, nowhere near the front lines of the fighting. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says up to 1,000 people were

inside the mall when the air raid sirens sounded and many managed to get out. He said, quote, "only totally insane terrorists who should have no place on earth could carry out such calculated attack."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (through translator): Today's Russian strike at a shopping mall in Kremenchuk is one of the most defiant terrorist attacks in European history, a A peaceful city, an ordinary shopping mall with women, children, ordinary civilians inside.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATT: CNN is covering this story from every angle. Our Salma Abdelaziz is standing by in Kyiv with the latest. CNN's Clare Sebastian is tracking details on Russian sanctions from London. But let us start with Fred Pleitgen live in Germany. Fred, a show of unity, anything else coming out of this meeting.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes. First of all, the show of unity, and I think the show of unity is something that was pretty important, especially to the European members of the G7. You look at, for instance, the United Kingdom, Italy, but then also France and Germany of course as well, Nick.

And especially for the Germans right now, because there is a bit of fatigue right now within German society. And there's a lot of fear quite frankly within German society as well, exactly what we are hearing from in that soundbite, with the European saying, look, yes, the pressure on Russia, they believe it needs to be ramped up, but at the same time, also they need to keep some of those adverse effects away from their home economies.

And I think that is something that was really a big topic here at this G7. It was very important for President Biden to, for instance, praise the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, he's been under a lot of fire here in Germany, from the one side saying that he is not doing enough to help the Ukrainians, the other side saying that Germany needs to take care of its own economy. Of course, one that is heavily industrialized, and heavily reliant on fossil fuels. And I think that was the big thing that these G7 nations really tried to work out.

The other thing is of course, you know, that long term help for the Ukrainians. And there, there was a clear statement by the G7, saying that they are in it for the long haul, that they are going to continue to support Ukrainians in the long haul. And I think it's something that you've seen a little bit step up over the past couple of weeks, with for the first time the Germans giving some pretty heavy Howitzers to the Ukrainians.

Of course, the French have been doing so for quite a while. Six additional Howitzers recently and then of course the U.S. making, you know, at least saying that they want to get a missile defense system to the Ukrainians so important, especially when we talk about what's going on in Kremenchuk.

But at the same time, of course, no one is under any illusions that this is going to be a very difficult thing to achieve going forward. We heard that President Zelenskyy of Ukraine was saying that he wanted to have this war end by years end, before the winter sets in. That's something that is certainly going to be very difficult to achieve.

Nevertheless, the G7 nations are saying that they are in it for the long haul, they're going to continue to support Ukraine, while also realizing that it's taking a toll on their own economies and of course, it's generally very difficult for the Ukrainians as well. Nick?

WATT: Thanks, Fred. I want to bring in now Clare Sebastian from London to talk about the sanctions. Now Clare, Russia has just defaulted on its foreign debt for the first time in just over 100 years. The last time they were dealing with the aftermath of a revolution.

Now the White House says that this is going to prove that sanctions are working. But what's been the reaction from Moscow both on the apparent default and on the newest round of sanctions?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Nick. So, Moscow says this isn't a default. They have kept that line all along even as we've approach what many experts believe was inevitable default given the freezing of Central Bank assets which happened very early on in the conflict. They say that they have the means to pay, but in this case the funds were apparently, according to the Kremlin frozen in euchre (Ph), which is a Belgian financial services, sort of a clearinghouse or bank that traditionally funnels the money from Russia to investors.

So, they say nothing to see here. We now have Moody's, the ratings agency has confirmed the default, they say more defaults on coupon payments on bonds are likely coming, because Russia has said that going forward it will pay in rubles, which will according to Moody's be considered a default. So that's the default.

In terms of practical impact, not much really for Russia. They were already locked out of financial markets. They were already locked out of international borrowing. But what the G7 is discussing in terms of an oil price cap could be much more impactful to Moscow.

[03:10:00]

Because so far during the conflict, they have been making more money, not less from their energy exports despite some energy sanctions already in place, despite a lot of self-sanctioning that we've been seeing because the disruption that the conflict has cost to the oil markets has pushed the price up, Russia has been benefiting.

This is what the G7 is trying to fix through an oil price cap, there is a will to do it, there is a balancing act in terms of how they do it. Listen, Nick, to what the E.U. Commission president Ursula von der Leyen had to say about this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

URSULA VON DER LEYEN, PRESIDENT, EUROPEAN COMMISSION: We are discussing an oil cap generally for Russian oil, to make sure that we find the cap at a level where there is still an incentive for Russia to produce oil, but at a reasonable price. And this would have a domino effect. First of all, it would empty Putin's war chest, and secondly, having a reasonable price for Russian oil would be an enormous relief for other vulnerable countries who are really having a problem now with the high oil prices.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEBASTIAN: Although there was a lot of skepticism out there about exactly how they are going to do this. And that any potential friction added into the energy markets could push prices up even higher and be damaging to countries already facing generational highs in inflation. Nick?

WATT: Clare Sebastian in London and Fred Pleitgen in Germany, thank you both very much.

Joining me now is Matthew Schmidt. He is a professor of national security and political science at the University of New Haven.

So, first of all, Putin going to Tajikistan. I mean, what does that tell us about what he is trying to project to the world, that he is not alone that he can go to Tajikistan?

MATTHEW SCHMIDT, PROFESSOR OF NATIONAL SECURITY AND POLITICAL SCIENCE, UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAVEN: Well, Tajikistan and his company is pretty much like being alone. Right? It's not great company. And this is less like a diplomatic trip than a mafia boss going out to, you know, to meet his lieutenant. This doesn't give him a lot of comfort on the world stage.

WATT: OK. But you know, he is trying to show us in the west that he is not alone and that he's perhaps trying to show his own domestic audience something that he is not alone and that the west is against him and others, is that what's going on?

SCHMIDT: Right, he is going to two countries that were part of the Soviet Union, that the Russian public sees as part of those other peoples that are engaged in this fight against the west and this is really directed as in propaganda towards his own people, in order to keep them in the fight.

Because remember, there is a good bit of dissent in Russia right now. There are plenty of anecdotal reports, and more that suggest that Russians are not racing to join the army, that Putin is having to reach out and recruit 30 and 40-year-old men that have fought in Syria, or in Chechnya, because he does not have time to train younger men who have been more effective on the battlefield.

So, the situation in Ukraine is more dire than I think we often think and you can see that by the fact that he can't go to other places than, you know, his own backyard. Tajikistan and Turkmenistan are not going to buy more oil to give him more money, to build more weapons, to train more people.

WATT: And speaking of oil, I mean, there is now talk from the G7 of putting a price cap on Russian oil, and of course extending the sanctions that are already in place, Russian gold, et cetera. I mean, is that going to have any impact or is it going to have any impact quick enough to make a difference in Ukraine?

SCHMIDT: I think that's exactly the question. War is about tempo, it's about time. And what they are actually talking about doing is mandating that the level of insurance that can be provided on the price of a barrel of oil is less than say, a $100. If they drop that mandate of insurance, that a replacement cost to $50, then eventually world buyers will demand that Putin can only sell that barrel of oil for a lot less than it cost him to produce it.

But that takes a lot of time to take effect, and in a war, you need to have the weapons and the ammunition and the money to train people now. So, if the full effect of these sanctions takes a year to bite, then, you know, Putin is still able to operate, still able to produce these things between now and then.

The real question on the battlefield is how are they going to regenerate forces, both on the Russians and the Ukrainian side?

WATT: President Zelenskyy was saying today that he thinks, hopes that this war will be over before winter sets in, before the end of the year. I mean, is that at all realistic?

[03:14:58]

SCHMIDT: I think it depends heavily on how fast the west can flow weapons in and weapons of the right kind and in the right amount. One question we don't know is how many fighters that Ukraine can put on the frontlines. The last -- the last verifiable number that we have is 50,000 from the start of the war. I have seen numbers as high as 800,000 or a million for his total men under arms right now. But we just don't know what that frontline is comparing to with what Russia has on there, and we don't know about how well these forces are training.

We don't know, in other words, how combat effective Ukrainian forces are against Russian forces. And I would expect that both sides are quite exhausted right now and that the tempo fighting will go down over the summer and pick up in the fall as weapons flows and troops are trained flow into that theater more.

WATT: And finally, I just want to ask you about the G20 which is going to be taking place in November in Indonesia.

SCHMIDT: Yes.

WATT: The Indonesian president has invited both Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy. How is that going to play out?

SCHMIDT: Well, the other G19 aren't happy about it. This gives Putin a chance to stand on the world stage to play that propaganda back to his people and say, look, I got to be here with all the other, you know, big and important states. And I get to control what's going on in the world. I get to control the narrative. I get to show that Russia is great again, right? That Russia has power. And so, it's a bit like having like a (Inaudible) at the party. And Putin is very excited about that and the rest of them are not.

WATT: Matthew Schmidt, thank you very much.

A surprise hearing is now set for Tuesday by the U.S. House committee investigating the January 6th attack. The committee has not revealed why but sources tell CNN, we should expect to hear live testimony from a key Trump inner circle witness.

CNN's Ryan Nobles has the details.

RYAN NOBLES, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The January 6th select committee is ready to hear publicly from a very important member of the Trump White House, who has the potential to reveal a lot of information that we have not heard up until this point.

Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to the former White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, has agreed to testify in a public setting and will do so in a hearing set to take place on Tuesday afternoon on Capitol Hill. Now, Hutchinson is somebody that we've already heard from. Part of her taped closed-door depositions had been played as part of the January 6th select committee hearings.

But the fact that she's willing to testify publicly, and the fact that the committee has rushed to add a hearing that was not previously scheduled shows that Hutchinson may have new information to reveal that could be an important part of this investigation.

You'll remember that last week the committee have said that they were ready to take a break. That they have taken in a lot of new information, that they were on to process that information and they weren't planning on any more hearings until the middle of July.

Well, that all changed on Monday afternoon when they announced that they had plans to hear from another witness and reveal new information. Now, the committee did not reveal Hutchinson's name in part because there were security concerns related to her appearance. And in fact, the committee has had plans to change the hearing room to a certain degree on Tuesday to make sure that she remained safe.

However, the information was revealed originally reported by Punchbowl News, and then confirmed by CNN. Cassidy Hutchinson will appear before the January 6th select committee on Tuesday.

Ryan Nobles, CNN, Washington.

WATT: And you can see the entire hearing plus in-depth analysis right here on CNN, starting at 1 p.m. in Washington, that's 6 pm in London, 1 a.m. in Hong Kong.

Still to come, the U.S. Vice President reacts to the Supreme Court Roe reversal in an exclusive CNN interview. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: The court actually took a constitutional right that has been recognized for half a century and took it from the women of America. That's shocking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATT: More from Kamala Harris ahead as we track the ripple effects from the ruling across the U.S.

Plus, details on a deadly accident at a port in Jordan when a crane dropped a storage tank full of chlorine.

[03:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WATT: Women across the U.S. are grappling with the new reality after the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe versus Wade. In its wake, some states are moving to safeguard abortion rights, including here in California where lawmakers passed an amendment that could add women's reproductive rights to the state Constitution.

But in a number of other states, officials have moved to ban or severely restrict abortions, creating a new patchwork of laws across the country. In South Carolina, the governor welcomed the states 6- week abortion ban after it was reinstated by a federal court on Monday. He said on Twitter, the decision by the Supreme Court was an important one.

Meantime, Vice President Kamala Harris says that the administration will do everything within its power to defend access to abortions. And in an exclusive interview with CNN's Dana Bash, she also said she believes more rights are at risk after Justice Clarence Thomas called on the Supreme Court to reconsider rulings related to contraceptives and same sex marriage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: I definitely believe that this is not over. I do. I think he just said the quiet part out loud. And I think that is why we all must really understand the significance of what just happened.

This is profound. And the way that this decision has come down has been so driven, I think by the politics of the issue versus what should be the values that we place on freedom and liberty in our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATT: Harris would not say whether the administration would support eliminating the filibuster to pass federal legislation codifying Roe versus Wade. Federal investigators will arrive on scene this morning at a deadly

train derailment in rural Missouri. At least three people were killed and 50 injured.

CNN's Alexandra Field reports.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The deadly crash happening in a rural part of Missouri and claiming three lives right in the middle of farm country. Its cornfield as far as the eye can see and then the Amtrak train. Seven of the eight cars flipped on their side.

The train derailing after a collision at a crossing with a dump truck, the driver of the dump truck killed as well as two other people on the train. There were more than 200 people on board. Dozens of them injured when the train derailed, at least 18 people sent to hospitals, the other passengers taken to a nearby high school.

The train had been traveling from Los Angeles to Chicago. Investigators say they still don't know what caused the crash. But it happened at what's called an uncontrolled crossing. That's a crossing without those flushing warning lights, it also doesn't have the electric arms that you might see -- that you might be used to seeing at many train crossings.

However, this type of crossing is common in the area. The NTSB points out that there is a stop sign here as well. A team of National Transportation Safety Board investigators now deployed to Missouri. In the morning they will be starting their investigation on the ground, looking at all elements that could have contributed to the crash.

[03:25:09]

We know already that they will be interested in the speed data from the route. Other data reported by the train and any video that Amtrak can turn over.

In Mendon, Missouri, Alexandra Field, CNN.

WATT: The Jordanian government says a toxic gas leak in the port of city of Aqaba is now under control. At least 12 people were killed and nearly 300 were injured Monday when a crane loading a tank full of chlorine mistakenly dropped, sending a huge cloud of yellow gas across the port.

Journalist Atika Shubert joins us now with the latest. Atika, what do we know?

ATIKA SHUBERT, JOURNALIST: Well, the incident happened at around 4.15 p.m. yesterday. And what we know is largely from the CCTV camera at Aqaba port that captured this. You can see the crane actually hoisting up this tank and then the tank slipping onto the deck of the ship that was import and this huge cloud of bright yellow gas billowing out.

We now know that gas was chlorine. According to Jordan's Center for Security and Crisis Management, of course it's highly poisonous especially when inhaled in large quantities. And you can see in that video a number of dock workers fleeing for their lives as the cloud rolls out across the port.

Immediately after the incident authorities warned residents to stay inside to keep their windows and doors closed. There was also some concern because Aqaba not just it doesn't just have a port but it's a very popular beach tourist destination. So, there were some concerns that the chlorine could drift to some of those beach resorts.

Fortunately, however, authorities say there wasn't as much wind so, they were able to contain the chlorine gas that was going out. We saw workers in Hazmat suits cleaning up the area. And Jordanian authorities now say it's under control and there is no further danger to any residents or to anyone else around the port area. So that's good news. A number of the people that were hospitalized are also expected to be released today, Nick?

WATT: Atika Shubert in Istanbul, thank you very much.

Still ahead on CNN Newsroom, the rush to train volunteer soldiers in Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER: So, if you weren't here, would they be able to use this weapon or not?

UNKNOWN: That was actually one of the problems before I got here is they were not able to use this weapon system.

ABDELAZIZ: Wow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATT: We are live in Kyiv with a look at who is doing the training and how long it takes.

[03:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WATT: Let's get you updated on one of our top stories this hour. Ukraine is reporting heavy fighting in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions. Russian forces are making steady progress in the east. And Ukraine is rushing to get its soldiers and volunteers trained on new weapons.

CNN's Salma Abdelaziz reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ABDELAZIZ: When Russia invaded his country, Yuri Filatov quickly went from ordinary civilian to soldier in training.

YURI FILATOV, MEMBER, UKRAINE'S TERRITORIAL DEFENSE: On the first day when it all starts, I packed my families and sent them to the west of the country and roughly 26th of February I joined the territorial defense. ABDELAZIZ: At an undisclosed location, these members of the

territorial defense are learning to fight. Once a local volunteer militia, it is now a branch of Ukraine's armed forces authorized for deployment to combat zones.

FILATOV: We have all came here to protect our homes, our families.

ABDELAZIZ: Anyone can join. And with the country starved for fighters, anyone can end up on the battlefield.

"They work in I.T., they are drivers, teachers, they know nothing about military affairs," he says, that's why we decided to create this training program.

One hundred to 200 Ukrainian soldiers are dying every day, officials say. These men are not professional warriors, their commanders admit they don't have enough training. Still, they could be used on the front lines.

JACKY, INTERNATIONAL LEGION OF UKRAINE: Hey, I'm Jacky.

ABDELAZIZ: Among the instructors here is Jacky, he's from California, he says that he served in the U.S. military for eight years.

JACKY: So, I'm here with these men to help train their instructors so that they can train their men and gain experience as quickly as possible.

ABDELAZIZ: There are other American volunteers fighting for Ukraine, two of them, Alexander Drueke and Andy Huynh are detained by Russian- backed separatists in Donetsk. A third American, Grady Kurpasi, is missing, Jacky says he's had his own close call.

JACKY: I was shot conducting operations with a legion in Kyiv back in March through the wrist and into my liver. It was pretty touch and go. I know my doctors tell me that they weren't sure if I was going to live or not.

ABDELAZIZ: He shows me why he believes he is needed here.

JACKY: American weapons, the big one is this guy right here, M2 .50- caliber Browning machine gun.

ABDELAZIZ: So, if you weren't here, would they be able to use this weapon or not?

JACKY: That was actually one of the problems. Before I got here is they were not able to use this weapon system.

ABDELAZIZ: Wow.

JACKY: Volunteers like me luckily, we're here to kind of fill some holes, but it's not a good system.

ABDELAZIZ: Facing a superior military power determined to crush Ukraine, these men say that they have no choice but to fight back.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABDELAZIZ: Now there are serious questions as to how long Ukraine can sustain this fight, this ferocious battle against a much more powerful military might of course from Russia, already they're on the back foot, they're losing territory to Moscow's troops. They're losing troop, they're losing some of their most experienced soldiers who are dying on those front lines every single day. And they are losing weaponry. Yes, of course, the west is trying to step in to help, but it's not enough yet to change the tide.

WATT: And Salma, many miles away from the front lines, the Russians just attacked this civilian shopping mall in the middle of the country, do we know why?

ABDELAZIZ: Well, if you ask President Zelenskyy, he will tell you that Russia is intentionally targeting civilians. That it is trying to terrify Ukraine's population. Remember, there is no strategic target here, this is a shopping complex, people were going on about their business, going on about their daily lives, nowhere near the battlefield as you said.

Now there were air raid sirens that went off and that allowed some people to evacuate, and so thankfully that death toll right now stands at 18, but officials still worry that that number could go up. There was 1,000 people inside that mall when that air raid siren went off who were trying to escape, trying to get to safety.

But this is really a continuation of what we have seen in recent days, which is Russia really stepping up its aggression, widening the scope of its attacks, making Ukrainians feel like they could hit them at anywhere at any time. We saw a barrage of missiles that hit Kyiv the other day. We're seeing of course what's happening on the front lines.

[03:34:54]

Also, in Kharkiv, several attacks, and Russia is attacking Ukraine from multiple sides here, air, land, and sea, from Belarus, from Russian territory, from Crimea. It's something that Ukrainian forces right now simply cannot sustain.

One of the pleas you hear from President Zelenskyy is more air defense systems to try to protect these civilian areas. Nick?

WATT: Salma Abdelaziz in Kyiv, thank you very much.

Ahead on CNN Newsroom, as the depth of the pandemic fades into memory, China takes its zero COVID policy to extremes, sometimes even defying science.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WATT: People in Afghanistan are sifting through what remains after last week's devastating earthquake in the east, at least 1,000 people were killed when the 5.9 magnitude quake struck. Hundreds more were injured and many lost their homes.

The World Food Programme has sent a convoy carrying food, water and other emergency supplies to some of the hardest hit areas. But they are in urgent need of more international support.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHELLEY THAKRAL, AFGHANISTAN SPOKESPERSON, WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME: Afghanistan was already reeling from decades of conflict and years of drought, the pandemic and now this crippling economic crisis. So, the earthquake to the east of the country has really added additional burden to resources to food assistance and this is why we appealed to the international community to please not forget Afghanistan and please to continue to support the people here who desperately need your help.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATT: The earthquake has farther compounded the plight of the Afghan people who already facing widespread food insecurity and a deep economic crisis.

Chinese senators are busy screaming the internet for any mention of a misleading quote claiming zero COVID restrictions would stay in place for the next five years. But Beijing is also trying to convince the public that zero COVID is the only way to go from detaining protesters to over-the-top shows of hygiene, it's quickly becoming a chore to keep up the facade.

CNN's Selina Wang reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a North Korean public health video censored in China as Pyongyang battles an explosion in COVID cases, this state video explains that most Omicron patients will have mild symptoms, only serious ones need to go to the hospital. That's common knowledge.

But here in China, the government continues to shut down entire cities over one COVID case, all positive cases and close contacts are sent to government quarantine. Authorities quickly scrubbed the North Korean video and news of the country lifting its COVID lockdown from Chinese internet.

[03:40:08]

But that's not stopping many in China from praising the hermit kingdom for being more scientific than China. One post said, suddenly I realized, we are the most pathetic. The Chinese city bordering North Korea has been under lockdown for more than a month. Videos online show Chinese CDC workers placing what appear to be rows of air monitoring machines along the Yalu River that separates the two countries. Those machines, they're testing the air from North Korea for COVID. State media even ordered residents to stay away from the river and

close their windows on windy days. They fear the wind blowing in from North Korea might spread the virus despite no scientific evidence. Local governments have not responded to CNN's questions about the warnings or air monitoring machines.

Just days after Shanghai exited its brutal two-month lockdown, many are being sealed back into their homes. This Shanghai community is protesting the endless cycle. "We are being illegally imprisoned," the man's loudspeaker says. Police arrest the man and push him into the police car. As residents shout, "why arrest people, freedom, democracy, equality, and the rule of law." One resident even shows his middle finger to authorities, refusing to back down.

CNN reached out to multiple Shanghai police departments, they all declined to comment. And for those of us not fenced up, we are also constantly COVID tested. I need one at least every 72 hours to enter any public venue. That's a rule across all major cities in China. And they can be a hassle, often waiting in long lines like these.

And it's not just people that are relentlessly COVID tested. Videos of stray cats, dogs, mail packages, seafood, sewage, and newborn infants being COVID tested have gone viral. That's despite international health officials saying the risk of transmission from animals and services is extremely low. Yet COVID workers continue to disinfect everything in sight, streets, the open air, even each other.

MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASE RESEARCH AND POLICIES: This is more hygiene theater, and it's not based on any science. The risk of transmission from services is at best theoretical, not even measurable at this point. It's useless, meaningless and distracting from the real source, zero COVID policy simply will not work.

WANG: The government claims zero COVID is the only way to save people's lives, even though many of their policies run contrary to scientific evidence. That's because China's supreme leader has tied his leadership to zero COVID. So, politics trump science and logic.

Selina Wang, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATT: And finally, a sight you might not expect to see in The Netherlands. A tornado ripping through a coastal town about 150 kilometers southwest of Amsterdam, killing at least one person, the first fatal twister to hit the country in three decades. Roofs were blown off of houses, trees were toppled. Authorities have been busy trying to find shelter for people whose homes were damaged.

Thanks for joining us. I'm Nick Watt, live from Los Angeles. The news continues with Isa Soares in about 15 minutes. But first, it's Inside Africa.

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(INSIDE AFRICA)

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