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Judge May Appoint 'Special Master' in Mar-a-Lago Search; NASA Postpones Artemis I Launch after Engine Issue; Two Air France Pilots Suspended after Cockpit Fight; U.N. Inspectors Head To Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant; Ukraine Confirms Offensive Operations In Occupied South; At Least Five Killed In Clashes In Baghdad's Green Zone; Pakistani Officials Estimate $10 Billion In Damage From Floods; Study: Sea Levels To Rise Due To Greenland Ice Losses. Aired 12-12:45a ET

Aired August 30, 2022 - 00:00   ET

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

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[00:00:21]

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, I'm Kristie Lu Stout live in Hong Kong and ahead right here on CNN NEWSROOM.

Ukraine strikes back, launching its long awaited counter offensive to reclaim territory lost to the Russians.

Live bullets and tear gas are fired inside Baghdad's Green Zone following clashes over a powerful Iraqi cleric quitting politics.

And Pakistan pleads for help, after devastating flooding leaves more than a thousand people dead and much of the country underwater.

We begin in Ukraine where a long awaited counter offensive appears to be underway with Ukrainian troops launching a series of attacks on Russian forces in the South.

A Ukrainian military source tells CNN that soldiers managed to break through Russia's defensive line and retake four villages in the Kherson region. Other sources says Ukraine's eventual target is the city of Kherson, a strategically critical port on Ukraine's Black Sea coast. Kherson was the first major city to fall under Russian control in early March.

A Western military gear is likely playing a key role in Ukraine's counter offensive plans. Long range weapons including rocket launchers from the U.S. have allowed them to destroy critical targets behind Russian lines in the South. While Ukrainian officials aren't sharing the details of their plans, they say the ultimate goal should be clear.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I am sure you all understand what is happening and what we are fighting for and what we want. Ukraine is returning its own and it will return Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, Crimea and definitely the waters of the Black and Azov seas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STOUT: Dangerous mission is also underway in Ukraine as inspectors in the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog make their way to the embattled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.

This as new images reveal some of the damage within the complex, including this, a massive hole in the roof of a building. At least three other holes have also been spotted. This comes after weeks of repeated attacks around the plant that have raised fears of a nuclear disaster.

CNN's Melissa Bell is in Kyiv with the latest.

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MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): For many it's a nightmare scenario. Shells landing just miles from Europe's largest nuclear plant. Zaporizhzhia has become a flash point in the war in Ukraine with both sides blaming the other for the artillery strikes that threaten the site and neighboring towns.

Nine people were injured in shelling in a nearby town of Enerhodar on Sunday night according to a Russian-backed official. Last week, shells landed about 100 meters from Zaporizhzhia's reactors. CNN is unable to verify who's responsible for the shelling.

Ukraine claims the site has been turned into a military base. Satellite images today show Russian armored vehicles hidden by a reactor, a demilitarized zone not under discussion according to the Kremlin, but some hope is perhaps on the way.

Early Monday, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, tweeted that a delegation of experts would arrive in Zaporizhzhia later this week. They arrived in Kyiv today. The mission of 14 experts headed by Grossi, one of the few diplomatic agreements to have come out of the war so far.

RAFAEL GROSSI, IAEA DIRECTOR GENERAL: I think now there is general recognition that we need to be there. We need to be there soon. Kyiv accepts it. Moscow accepts it.

BELL: Ukraine has repeatedly called on Russia to remove its troops from the site with Andriy Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian president's office describing Russia's actions as nuclear blackmail on Sunday.

In Zaporizhzhia, power has been a concern. With nearby fires twice briefly cutting the plant's external electricity, the power's critical functions last Thursday. A total loss of power would be disastrous.

PETRO KOTIN, ENERGOATOM PRESIDENT: If we have cut off power supply from outside and after that diesel generator stop, then there will be completely the same scenario like at Fukushima.

[00:05:03]

BELL: Grossi says that currently safety systems in place in the power plant remain operational, with radioactivity levels within normal range. Even so, authorities are not taking any chances. In Ukrainian controlled territory, exercises this month in case a nuclear fallout.

Near Zaporizhzhia, locals have been collecting iodine pills to defend against the effects of a possible radiation leak. In a land that's no stranger to nuclear disaster, prudence is worth its weight in gold.

Melissa Bell, CNN, Kyiv.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STOUT: And joining me now from Washington is retired U.S. Air Force colonel and CNN Military Analyst Cedric Leighton. Colonel, thank you so much for joining us here in the program.

We have Ukrainian forces who have been hinting at this for a while at this offensive in Kherson. So, are the Russians prepared for this? Or could Ukraine find a weak spot in Russia's armor?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, Kristie, the Ukrainians have definitely move forward in an interesting way here, the Russians should have definitely been prepared for this. The Ukrainians have been telegraphing this for months now. And it's been clear that the Russians don't seem to be quite ready for this.

You know, the Ukrainians can definitely find some weak spots in the Russian lines, they can go into areas that the Russians have defended perhaps weakly. And they can move in a way that perhaps challenges the Russian forces that are arrayed in the south especially.

So, that's going to be a challenge for the Russians. The Russians are, you know, potentially able to hold their own, but the Ukrainians have the advantage of moving forward in certain directions that the Russians may not anticipate.

So, it's going to be you know, just from a pure analytical perspective, it's going to be very interesting to see exactly how far the Ukrainians can go, and also what the Russians will do to counteract them.

STOUT: Yes, Ukraine is indeed moving forward early on in this offensive, it's made some early gains. Ukraine has also received a great deal of weapons and support from Western allies. Do you think that's going to be enough to make even more significant gains during this offensive?

LEIGHTON: It could be. I think the big difference, Kristie is, you know, the types of weapons that the Ukrainians have been able to employ in this offensive, they started using drones early on in this war, if they can employ a variety of drones and tethered them even more effectively to their command and control networks in their intelligence networks, they will have a force multiplying effects that they otherwise wouldn't have had. So that's going to make a difference.

I also think that weapons like the HIMARS system, which are absolutely critical from an artillery standpoint, are going to make another difference, they're more accurate, they have a longer range about 300 kilometers, that's going to make a big, big difference for the Ukrainians moving forward. And it could be something that the Russians will have difficulty responding to.

And then finally, if the Ukrainians employ air assets, as in fixed wing, manned aircraft against these Russian positions, that could also affect the Russians in a negative way.

STOUT: And as these weapons are being deployed, and troops are on the move in the background, you have the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. You know, that situation remains very fluid, very volatile, how could that affect the battlefield for both Ukraine and Russia?

LEIGHTON: Of course, if there is an accident, or the plant itself is hit, directly, or even indirectly by fire from either side, it could adversely affect the movements of either the Ukrainian or the Russian forces if radiation is spread throughout the region, that could limit the ability of the forces to move in certain directions.

Even the fear of an accident, like, you know, like Fukushima as was described by the head of the Ukrainian Atomic Energy Authority. And that could very well be a situation that calls for a different move, a different tactic, perhaps a different avenue of approach, when it comes to actually going after the Russian position, so it could have an impact, and it could potentially delay the Ukrainian advance.

STOUT: And a final question for you on Ukraine's bold battlefield ambitions, we know that the Ukrainian President Zelenskyy not only wants to clear Russian forces from the southern areas, but also from Crimea, which the Russians occupied since 2014. You know, can Ukraine achieve that and how?

LEIGHTON: It's going to be difficult I think, for Ukraine to achieve that with this offensive, they would need to have far more weaponry, far more troops, far greater number than they currently are. They would basically need about a three to one ratio at a minimum between themselves and the Russian defenders.

[00:10:10]

And in the present time, it seems unlikely that they will be able to clear all the way down into Crimea and clear the Russians from that area -- what that would mean is they can perhaps achieve victories in the south in the area that was occupied since February of this year. But whether or not they can get into Crimea and keep Crimea for Ukraine, that would be of course another question.

Eventually, I think they can do it. The problem is, is that they won't be able to do it in the near term unless they change tactics, become more maneuverable, and also, of course, achieve clear victories by using weapon systems that may not be on the battlefield at the present time.

STOUT: Always appreciate your very clear insight here. Thank you so much. Retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton, take care and thank you.

LEIGHTON: You bet Kristie, thank you so much.

STOUT: Now, Iraq's capital city is reeling from some of the worst violence it has seen in years.

Hundreds of protesters loyal to Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr stormed the heavily fortified Green Zone after al-Sadr announced that he would withdraw from political life.

The protesters clashed with security forces with at least five people killed, the military has imposed an open ended nationwide curfew.

More now from CNN's Ben Wedeman.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Iraq is once more teetering on the brink of the abyss with intense gunfire Monday evening inside the once secure Green Zone in Baghdad, home to the Iraqi parliament, government ministries and diplomatic missions, including the fortress like U.S. Embassy.

This latest outburst of violence followed a tweet by powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr announcing that he was withdrawing from politics and calling for the closure of most of the offices of his Sadrist movement, which won the largest block of seats in last October's parliamentary elections.

Iraq has been in a state of paralysis since those elections. The Sadrist having been able to form a government refusing to negotiate with the other main Shiite bloc, the coordination framework bloc, which has close ties with Iran. Soon after Sadr announced his withdrawal from politics, hundreds of his followers broke into Baghdad's Green Zone and into the Republican palace where the offices of the Prime Minister are located, and some took time to take a quick dip in the palace's pool. The Army has declared a curfew the Prime Minister has indefinitely suspended cabinet meetings and Moqtada Sadr himself is declared that he will fast until the violence ends.

Analysts believe Sadr who has called for the dissolution of parliament and early elections may be engaging in a bit of political brinksmanship. Monday's bloody clashes underscore the danger of going too close to the brink with much blood already spilled pulling back may prove difficult.

I'm Ben Wedeman, CNN, reporting from Rome.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STOUT: Abbas Kadhim is the head of the Atlantic Council's Iraq initiative and joins us now from Washington. Sir, thank you very much indeed for joining us.

First, let's gauge the temperature in Iraq which has been mired in political deadlock and now we have fresh violence. How dangerous is this moment for the country?

ABBAS KADHIM, SENIOR FELLOW AND DIRECTOR, IRAQ INITIATIVE, ATLANTIC COUNCIL: Thank you for having me. It is extremely dangerous. I think Iraq has not had this kind of level of violence or the threat of violence that is related to the government formation process.

Yes, Iraq has always taken its time to form a government after an election due to the demographic distribution of the -- of power and also the law itself and the regulations for forming a government which always has been peaceful and it was done through negotiation.

This is the first time we are seeing complete deadlock, and also the demonstrations, counter demonstrations and also, unfortunately, in the last few hours, the use of weapons and that led to casualties unfortunately.

[00:15:01]

STOUT: As you point out, even before these deadly protests, Iraq has been in this political deadlock, you know, since Sadr's party won the most seats last year, but not enough to govern with the majority.

So, what's the political outlook for Iraq going forward?

KADHIM: This is, again, we are 11 months almost into the post-election government formation process. And as time proceeds, basically, it gets even harder and harder. The problem with that even though Sadr won, but he has won is really a small margin, about 22 percent of the total number of parliamentary seats, it is nowhere near a majority to form a government much less the needed two thirds to elect a president and proceed with his own vision of a government.

So, I don't see any way that the vision that he is trying to impose and he is not relenting on which is forming a national majority government as he calls it, not a sectarian point across ethno- sectarian lines, there is no way it can be accommodated.

And therefore, the outlook of this and the only possible scenario is that for all parties to be convinced that reality on the ground will prevent anyone to impose their own vision of government formation and they will have to go back to a consociation and negotiations.

And finally, an agreement. The sad part is that the longer this drags on, the longer it takes for these people to realize this simple fact, the more unfortunately lives we are going to lose and the more time that Iraqis will live in these harsh conditions where their needs are not met by the government.

STOUT: And the reality on the ground is grim. We had these new deadly protests in Iraq taking place after Moqtada Sadr announced his resignation. Was his resignation a response to the retirement of Ayatollah Kadhim al-Haeri? KADHIM: Partly. Moqtada Sadr after he hand all his 73 seats to his opponents, was left without any political leverage. He is out of government, he is out of the constitutional legal process to form a government.

Therefore, the only thing he had left was the mobilizing his supporters to physically occupy the parliament and stop the government from conducting business, which he did.

Then, the Iranians came in and forced this grand Ayatollah, who has not much following in Iraq except for a significant number of followers from the Sadrist movement that follow him and therefore the Iranians wanted to illegitimate Moqtada Sadr using the retirement and the announcement that Ayatollah al-Haeri made, which was not only that he decided to retire, which is odd enough, normally, we don't have a history of people who have his position to retire.

But even with that, he did not just leave it at retiring but he took a couple of shots at Moqtada Sadr and his followers. And also, he ordered his emulators to follow the Supreme Leader of Iran, which added insult to injury.

STOUT: Abbas Kadhim, we appreciate your analysis. And thank you so much for joining us here at CNN.

KADHIM: Thank you.

STOUT: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. Still to come, Pakistan assesses the damage as massive flooding affects millions where one minister says this is among the country's worst disasters ever.

Plus, researchers say that the world's sea levels are set for a significant rise due to a melting ice sheets in Greenland.

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STOUT: Welcome back. Pakistani officials say deadly and widespread flooding has caused more than $10 billion in damages so far this year. Repeated floods over the summer months have swept away entire buildings and destroyed homes across Pakistan.

The International Rescue Committee says more than 70 percent of the people they've contacted don't have access to enough clean drinking water. And Pakistan's climate change minister says the flooding is one of the worst disasters the nation has ever seen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERRY REHMAN, PAKISTANI CLIMATE CHANGE MINISTER: Literally one-third of Pakistan is underwater right now which has exceeded every boundary, every norm we've seen in the past, we've never seen anything like this. Even the 2010 super floods which had literally wiped out half the country, it was better than this. I mean, we are much worse today than 2010. (END VIDEO CLIP)

STOUT: Now, CNN's Anna Coren joins me here in Hong Kong with the very latest.

And Anna, it's just gets worse and worse, the scale of the devastation continues to grow. Walk us through the latest.

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Yes, that's right, Kristie. I mean, you mentioned that financial toll of $10 billion thus far, and this is -- this is a country that is economically crippled as just being bailed out by the IMF.

So, this is something that Pakistan definitely does not need, as far as rebuilding cities and infrastructure.

But the human toll is what is catastrophic, officially and very conservatively, it stands just over a thousand but many believe that it is much, much higher. 33 million people have been impacted by the floods Kristie, that's more than 15 percent of the country's population. And we know that millions and millions of people are destitute, are homeless, are yet to receive any assistance, any humanitarian aid, as the country, you know, tries to deal with this unprecedented climate catastrophe.

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COREN (voice over): A young life hanging in the balance winched across rushing water in Pakistan's flood soaked Sindh province. Safely off the bedframe, it's an older man's turn. Lucky for some, but these floods have killed over a thousand people since mid-June, including over 350 children according to UNICEF.

ABDULLAH FADIL, UNICEF REPRESENTATIVE IN PAKISTAN: This is the calamity of proportions I think Pakistan has not seen. Some of the areas hit are also some of the most vulnerable areas of the country.

COREN: Pakistan normally goes through three to four monsoon rain cycles each year. It has had eight in that time. And the wet season will drag on through September. Extreme heat has baked the earth. The rain can't soak in, flash flooding comes next.

These satellite images show the Indus River swelling, nowhere for the water to go and few routes to escape it.

Highways through central Pakistan have been cut off, bridges broken as villagers wash away.

In the northwest of the country, army choppers rescued desperate people. Another person saved, others the scramble for the next helicopter.

FADIL: This is a climate crisis. Climate that has been mostly done by richer countries contributing to the -- to the -- to the crisis. And I think it's time that the world responded to support Pakistan in this time of need. COHEN: As Pakistan and NGO's appeal for international aid, the weather forecast is finally brightening. All are hopeful for a break in the rain, a chance to further assess the damage.

[00:25:05]

What is immediately obvious, the toll that climate change is taking. Pakistan's relatively low carbon footprint not enough to save it from the dangers of our warming world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN (on camera): Now Kristie, Prime Minister Sharif has just announced that he set up a flood response coordination center. I mean, we can see from those images. The military has been mobilized to help with evacuations. Obviously, aid centers have been set up, tents. Cities have been erected to try to help all those displaced but the aid is slowly trickling in despite the appeals from the Pakistani government for international assistance.

Aid is coming in from China, from Australia, from Canada and from the U.K. But as I say, the Pakistani government is saying they need as much help as they possibly can to deal with this manmade climate disaster, Kristie.

STOUT: Absolutely, Anna, a total devastation across Pakistan as it appeals, begs for international assistance.

Anna Coren reporting live from Hong Kong. Thank you, Anna.

Now, a new study finds that even if we stop emitting greenhouse gases right now, global sea levels could still rise nearly a foot. The research that was published in the journal Nature Climate Change predicts that more than three percent of Greenland's ice sheet will melt in the near future, and scientists say that it will cause at least 25 centimeters of global sea level rise.

Meteorologist Karen Maginnis joins us now with more on this concerning report, Karen.

KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Kristie, over the past decades, we've heard one climate report after the other, each ringing the bell of just how devastating the climate change is on the environment, economically, people's lives are so impacted.

Well, this latest study in regards to the Greenland ice sheet melting, more than three percent is equal to 110 trillion tons of ice, kind of hard to fathom what that actually means. But it translates into about 10 to 12 inches of water rise or ocean rise over the entire globe, or just about 25 to 30 centimeters.

All right, this could happen over the next 30 years. And that's alarming because we have seen a global sea rise over the past 100 years, but they're saying this is going to shrink down to a 30 year rise. And so, that's going to account about a foot of rainfall or a foot of

the rising tides and the ocean for a lot of these coastal areas. And it will be profound. It's also going to increase flooding events.

Here is my beloved Charleston, South Carolina. This is the Ashley River. This is the Cooper River. And if we were to see that rise, that water rise, it would look like this, devastating for humans, devastating environmentally, and devastating economically.

All right, let's take a look what's happening. Another aspect of global change are these intense typhoons. This has rapidly intensified. Here's Okinawa. This is racing along the Pacific. And as it does, it is going to linger we think over the next several days over Okinawa.As it does that heavy rainfall, we're going to see strong seas there before it starts to make its move more towards the north.

But this has really been fascinating Kristie, because we saw it yesterday at 100 kilometers per hour. That was the winds associated with it. Now it's over 215 kilometers per hour, devastating.

STOUT: Well, a lot to monitor this day, Karen. The storm on the move here in Asia and the global implications of the melting ice sheets in Greenland. Karen Maginnis, our meteorologists, thank you so much. We'll talk to you soon.

You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. Still ahead, NASA postpones its highly anticipated Artemis 1 launch, the latest on the reason for the delay and when the liftoff might be rescheduled.

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STOUT: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM, I'm Kristie Lu Stout.

[00:31:44]

We've got new developments in the legal battle over the FBI's search of Mar-a-Lago. The U.S. Justice Department has identified documents taken from the home of former President Donald Trump that potentially contain material covered by attorney-client privilege.

This as Trump's allies question the timing of the search. Sara Murray has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA MURRAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Justice Department's suggesting it's already well underway in digging through boxes of documents seized from Mar-a-Lago.

SHAN WU, FORMER U.S. FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: The point is well taken, which is this is too late. We're already looking at this material, and we've got a process in place to protect it.

MURRAY (voice-over): In a new court filing, DOJ says it has identified a limited set of materials that could contain attorney-client privileged information. The progress report coming after former President Donald Trump's team asking a judge for a special master to oversee the review of evidence uncovered in the search.

JAMES TRUSTY, DONALD TRUMP'S ATTORNEY: We have a lot of problems really accepting everything at face value that's coming out of DOJ these days. It's a very politicized place, I'm sad to say, and there's still a need for a judge to get involved on -- on every aspect of this.

MURRAY (voice-over): This, as the fallout continues over how Trump handled classified documents after leaving office.

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN): This guy, we now know, 184 classified documents, 25 of them top-secret. And by the way, countries that want to do us harm want to see these documents.

MURRAY (voice-over): Director of national intelligence Avril Haines telling Congress officials are conducting a damage assessment of the documents seized from Mar-a-Lago, including an assessment of the potential risk to national security that would result from the disclosure of relevant documents.

DOJ saying in its court filing it's working alongside intelligence officials to facilitate a review of classified materials.

REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R-IL): This is disgusting, in my mind, and no president should act this way, obviously.

MURRAY (voice-over): Some of Trump's closest allies, meantime, are leaping to his defense. Like South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham --

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): I'll say this. If there's a prosecution of Donald Trump for mishandling misinformation after the Clinton debacle --

MURRAY (voice-over): -- who suggested a Trump indictment would set political tensions aflame.

GRAHAM: -- there'll be riots in the streets.

MURRAY (voice-over): While New Hampshire Republican Governor Chris Sununu questions the timing of the Mar-a-Lago search.

GOV. CHRIS SUNUNU (R-NH): Former President Trump has been out of office for going on two years now. You think this is just a coincidence, just happening a few months before the midterm elections, about that sort of thing? So, you know, this is unprecedented.

MURRAY (voice-over): Republican Senator Roy Blunt also raising concerns about the timing but admitting Trump should've returned the documents immediately.

SEN. ROY BLUNT (R): I understood he turned over a lot of documents. He should have turned over all of them. I imagine he knows that very well now, as well.

MURRAY: When it comes to that potentially privileged material that came out of the search at Mar-a-Lago, a judge has said she's inclined to appoint a special master in the situation, but she's having a hearing on the issue on Thursday.

Sara Murray, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STOUT: Angola officials on Monday declared the winner of the country's most competitive election in its democratic history, the incumbent president and his MPLA party won just over 51 percent of the votes.

The win extends the party's 47-year winning streak going back to Angola getting independence from Portugal in 1975.

The victory comes despite rising disenchantment with the ruling party and the status quo.

[00:35:05]

Election officials say only about 6 million of the 14 million Angolans who registered to vote did so.

Colombia and Venezuela have reestablished diplomatic relations, marking a significant shift in South American politics. Colombia's ambassador met on Monday with Venezuela's authoritarian leader, Nicolas Maduro, in Caracas.

The two countries broke off diplomatic relations in 2019 when Colombia's former president, Ivan Duque, recognized Venezuelan opposition leader, Juan Guaido, as the country's legitimate head of state.

Colombia's new left-wing president, Gustavo Petrol, promised during his campaign to revive the relationship with Venezuela.

E.U. leaders plan to hold an American emergency meeting over its emergency crisis next week. They will be gathering in pretzels on September the 9th to discuss ways to tackle the problem as prices skyrocket across Europe.

Many E.U. countries blame Russia for the deepening crisis and worry about access to electricity and heating in the colder months. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz calls the issue a top priority.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OLAF SCHOLZ, GERMAN CHANCELLOR (through translator): We are in complete agreement that rapid action has to be taken, and I think that this will now succeed more quickly across New York than under other framework conditions, because we are naturally under pressure to act. And I'm sure individual countries will handle it separately, but that we will act in a coordinated and fast manner.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STOUT: Officials also fear that the energy crisis could trigger a deep recession. NASA is now hoping for a launch this Friday for its Artemis I rocket,

which will mark the U.S. space agency's first Moon mission in almost 50 years.

But first, the team will need to fix an issue with one of the rocket's four engines, which forced them to scrub Monday's lift-off. The latest now from CNN's Kristin Fisher.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ignition and lift-off of the Space Shuttle Discovery.

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Engine number 2058 has helped propel six space shuttles into orbit, starting with this flight back in 2006.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Scrub of the attempt to launch Artemis 1.

FISHER (voice-over): But today, the system that cools that engine was the primary culprit behind the scrub of the first test flight of the Artemis Moon rocket.

MICHAEL SARAFIN, ARTEMIS MISSION MANAGER: We need the engine to be at the cryogenically cool temperature such that when it starts, it's not shocked with all the cold fuel that flows through it.

FISHER (voice-over): NASA says it's too soon to determine when it will try again. But Artemis mission manager Mike Sarafin gave a classic NASA response when addressing if the next launch opportunity on Friday is still in play.

SARAFIN: There's a non-zero chance we'll have a launch opportunity on Friday.

FISHER (voice-over): The Artemis rocket, or SLS, has been cobbled together using leftover parts from the shuttle program. The four RS-25 engines on Artemis I, combined, flew more than 20 shuttle missions.

NASA had hoped that, by recycling these old parts, they'd be able to build this new rocket faster and more affordably. Instead, the SLS rocket is six years behind schedule and billions over budget.

LORI GARVER, FORMER DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR OF NASA: We knew these shuttle parts were very finicky and expensive. And so it shouldn't have been any surprise that putting them together differently was going to also be expensive and take longer than we hoped.

FISHER (voice-over): Still, this rocket is the most powerful ever built. It's designed to return humans to the Moon by 2025, and someday, go on to Mars.

Thousands of people converged on the Kennedy Space Center today in hopes of seeing it fly for the first time, including Vice President Kamala Harris. KAMAL HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Today was a very

important day, and while a lot of folks might be disappointed that the launch did not actually happen, a lot of good work really happened today.

FISHER (voice-over): NASA administrator Bill Nelson, whose own shuttle flight scrubbed four times, reminded that these kinds of delays are routine for any spaceflight, but especially a first test flight.

BILL NELSON, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: This is a brand-new rocket. It's not going to fly until it's ready. Needless to say, the complexity is daunting when you bring it all into the focus of a countdown.

FISHER: Despite all of the technical issues, this rocket is still the only rocket in the world, as of now, that is capable of carrying people to the Moon and that's this close to being ready to launch.

SpaceX is developing a similar rocket, but it's not quite ready yet. Though that rocket, called Starship, is going to be fully reusable, which would make it much more affordable to fly in the future.

Kristin Fisher, CNN, at the Kennedy Space Center.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STOUT: Coming up next, a midflight fight in the cockpit. What happened, and what Air France is saying about the incident, is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:42:06]

STOUT: Welcome back.

Now, Air France has suspended two pilots after they were involved in a fight inside the cockpit during a flight across Europe.

CNN's Scott McLean has the details from London.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This actually happened back in June. This was a flight from Geneva, Switzerland, to Paris, France. A little over an hour flight time.

And there was some kind of a disagreement in the cockpit, which flared up into a physical altercation. We don't know what kind of physical altercation.

But in a written statement, the airline described it in a much more benign way, saying that the pilots exchanged inappropriate gestures, though they've also confirmed that the pilots were not giving each other the finger; this was something that turned physical.

Now, the airline, Air France, says that the flight continued on normally, that the issue was resolved. It's not clear when or how Air France actually found out about what

had happened, but it has gone ahead and suspended the two pilots while it looks into it.

This is not the only safety mishap for Air France in the news lately. Last week, the French air safety investigative agency, called BEA, released a report on an incident that happened back in December, 2020 from the Republic of Congo to Paris, France.

In that case, a -- there was a fuel leak, and safety procedure dictated that the pilot should have shut down the engine with the leak. But that didn't happen. And according to the report, that created a fire hazard.

Now, this was not an isolated case. The report detailed other incidents where pilots haven't followed the proper safety procedures. And taken together, it suggested there is a certain culture among some Air France crews which "encourages a propensity to underestimate the extent to which strict compliance with procedures contributes to safety.

Now, the report also tries to put things into context. And that is that Air France literally flies thousands of routes every day, and so the number of flights, the number of crews being investigated, in the grand scheme of things, is very small.

Scott McLean, CNN, London.

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STOUT: I'm Kristie Lu Stout. I'll be back at the top of the hour with much more CNN NEWSROOM, but first, WORLD SPORT begins after the break.

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