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Heat Wave Grips Western U.S., 40+ Million Under Heat Alert; Nasa Scrubs Artemis I Launch, Delays Mission For Weeks; Pakistan Enduring Worst Flooding In Decades; Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Plant Loses Main Connection To Power Grid; Tigrayans In Urgent Need Of Aid As Fighting Flares; Judge Weighing Trump's Request For Special Master; Trump Calls Biden "Enemy Of The State"; Chileans To Vote On New Constitution; White House Approves $1.1 Billion In Arms Sales To Taiwan; Hong Kong Marks Anniversary Of China's Victory In Wwii; Math And Reading For U.S. 9-Year Olds Worst In Decades. Aired 4-5a ET
Aired September 04, 2022 - 04:00 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): Welcome to all of you us here, in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber.
Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, it is shaping up to be a very uncomfortable Labor Day, the Western U.S. experiencing record-breaking heat that could put a strain on holiday weekend activities.
And the start of a new school year is a time of exciting new experiences. But for children in Ukraine, it is marred by the ongoing war.
And China warns of retaliation if the Taiwan arms sale package isn't revoked. We'll discuss the implications on U.S. relations with Beijing.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.
BRUNHUBER: We begin with two major weather events unfolding right now.
The first here in the United States, a dangerous and blistering heat wave continues its stranglehold in the Western part of the country. More than 40 million people are under heat alerts as temperatures soar 15 to 20 degrees above normal.
And electric companies in California are asking companies to turn off unnecessary lights and appliances in order to save energy.
And in Asia, a powerful typhoon is battering the southern islands of Japan with strong gusty winds and heavy rains. Luckily it skirted past Taiwan without making a direct hit. But rough waves hit the northeastern coast. Taiwan issued a heavy rain advisory for northern parts of the island.
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BRUNHUBER: A new launch date could be weeks away or even longer after a second failed attempt to send the unmanned Artemis I rocket beyond the moon and back.
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BRUNHUBER: Engineers couldn't fix a liquid hydrogen leak in time for a safe Saturday liftoff. So technical issues forced NASA to scrub the launch for the second time. The stakes are huge as NASA hopes future missions will return humans to the lunar surface. But the head of NASA says it is better to be safe than sorry.
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BILL NELSON, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: We do not launch until we think it is right. And these teams have labored over that and that is the conclusion that they came to. So I look at this as a part of our space program, of which safety is the top of the list.
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BRUNHUBER: Officials will decide in the coming days what is do next with Artemis I. The next available launch period is more than two weeks away.
A dangerous moment in the skies over Tupelo, Mississippi, on Saturday. Police have arrested and charged an airport worker that they say stole a plane and threatened to crash it. Pete Muntean has the details.
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PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is quite possibly the best possible outcome of this incredible story in Tupelo, Mississippi, where an employee of a local airport was able to get out onto the ramp, get into a twin engine Beechcraft King Air, a commuter plane that seats about six people, take off.
And then he said that he was going to crash into a local Walmart. Police in Tupelo finished a briefing, in which they laid out the scenario.
Around 5:00 am, they say that Cory Wayne Patterson called 9-1-1, laid out that he was going to crash the plane into a local Walmart. Police were able to put negotiators on the phone with him.
And then they brought in another pilot, who attempted to talk Patterson back to the Tupelo regional airport and try and have him make a landing. What is so interesting is that police say Patterson came within 100 feet of a successful landing but he went back around again, flew out to the northwest. They thought that he was going to run out of fuel. They lost contact
with him via phone. And then they regained contact with him via phone, when he said that he was in a farmer's field and the plane had crash landed.
Police showed up in Gravestown, Mississippi. They say that they were able to detain him without much incident and the plane is relatively intact.
What is so interesting here, is that Patterson was an employee of Tupelo Aviation, where he was fueling planes for a living.
So police say that he did have access to airplanes as part of his job. It is a harrowing story that he will now tell in a courtroom. Patterson is charged with grand larceny and making terrorist threats -- Pete Muntean, CNN, Washington.
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BRUNHUBER: Officials in Mississippi's biggest city say most residents should now have water pressure but the water in Jackson remains unsafe to drink. City officials say that there have been significant gains at the water treatment plant in the past 24 hours.
It has been nearly a week since the main water facility failed in part because of historic flooding. Tens of thousands are struggling to access clean water. One White House adviser says climate change denial has contributed to the problem.
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CATHERINE FLOWERS, WHITE HOUSE ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE ADVISORY COUNCIL: First of all, they have to acknowledge that there is a problem. I think what has happened is that lot of the fixes that are being used are fixes that were -- probably would have worked 20 years ago but they won't work anymore.
And we have to take into account climate change and we have to make sure that we build systems that can deal with flooding, deal with systems that can deal with rising water tables.
And all of these issues are not being addressed currently, especially in places that don't even acknowledge that climate change is real.
And until they make that acknowledgement and then make the adjustments in terms of working with the administration, with the bipartisan infrastructure plan to build systems that are resilient, then we'll continue to have these problems.
But as long as they think that poor people and people of color can live with these mediocre systems, we'll continue to have these problems.
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BRUNHUBER: And Jackson officials say repair teams from Georgia and Florida are also onsite.
The death toll from massive flooding in Pakistan has risen to almost 1,300 people, which leads to the question, why are the floods so bad this year?
Pakistan's chief meteorologist says climate change is a part of the problem and it is not just more intense monsoons; it is also melting glaciers. CNN's Jennifer Gray has the story.
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JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): Pakistan is coping with its worst flooding in living memory. More than 1,100 people have died, hundreds of thousands are homeless and tens of millions of people are impacted.
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GRAY (voice-over): And Pakistan's chief meteorologist is pinning the blame on climate change.
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SARDAR SARFARAZ, CHIEF METEOROLOGIST, PAKISTAN METEOROLOGICAL DEPARTMENT (through translator): Basically the reasons behind the floods were the factors supporting our rainfall.
Pacific Ocean temperatures, Indian Ocean temperatures and there has been excessive heat from March to June. And that excessive heating created low pressure and the monsoon access remained tilted to the south, which is why more rainfall occurred in southern Pakistan.
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GRAY (voice-over): The South Asian nation of 225 million people saw the heaviest rains on record with little relief since mid June. Some areas have seen five times their normal levels of monsoonal rainfall and the most by far ever recorded in one season in the country.
But climate change is not just affecting the monsoon; it is also melting glaciers, which is adding more water to the floods.
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SARFARAZ (through translator): This year in our northern areas, 16 glacial lake outburst flood incidents took place. Such incidents occur after glaciers melt due to rise in temperature. Normally there are five or six such events but this year there were 16. Climate change is the basic reason for such things.
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GRAY (voice-over): The flooding has had a devastating impact on a country that is responsible for just 1 percent of the world's planet warming gases, according to data by the European Union. The Global Climate Risk Index found that Pakistan is the eighth most vulnerable nation to the climate crisis.
ANTONIO GUTERRES, UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL: South Asia is one of the world's global climate crisis hot spots. People living in these hot spots are 15 times more likely to die from climate impacts.
As we continue to see more and more extreme weather events around the world, it is outrageous that climate protection is being put on the back burner as global emissions of greenhouse gases are still rising, putting all of us everywhere in growing danger.
GRAY (voice-over): Officials say the estimated cost of the recovery efforts could be $10 billion. And it may take years to rebuild -- Jennifer Gray, CNN.
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BRUNHUBER: If you want to help the millions of people impacted by the floods in Pakistan, you can go to cnn.com/impact.
Ukrainian students head back to school but it is hardly a break from the war. Have a look.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Emergency drills have become the new normal as the new academic year gets underway.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): And police people in Ethiopia's Tigray region urgently need help as hundreds wait in line every day for food. Coming up, the humanitarian crisis worsens as fighting escalates. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Ukraine's largest nuclear plant has lost its main connection to the power grid again, despite the presence of international inspectors. Ukrainian officials say artillery fire hit a working power line out of the Zaporizhzhya plant Saturday.
After that Ukraine says one of the two operating nuclear reactors was shut down and emergency procedures were activated but the other reactor is still delivering a limited amount of electricity through a backup line. Kyiv and Moscow have blamed each other for shelling at the plant. The
U.N. nuclear watchdog inspectors say a backup line can also deliver power into the plant which is needed to cool the reactors and prevent them from melting down. The facility temporarily lost connection to the grid last week as well for the first time in its history.
Ukraine says one person is wounded after a Russian rocket strike in the east.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): This was the scene in the city of Kramatorsk on Saturday after Russian rockets hit a local market. It also destroyed nine vehicles. And Ukraine says that it is pushing ahead with its offensive in the south.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Military officials say they have been striking Russian command centers, supply lines and pontoon crossings across the region. There are indications that Ukrainian troops have made modest gains, despite Russian counterattacks.
President Zelenskyy says Ukraine is also scoring victories in the skies. Here he is.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Today our air force has a good result, downed caliber missile, an attack helicopter of the occupiers, drones. Each such result is a saved life of our citizens and opportunity not to be afraid for all our people.
We will do everything so that Ukraine can fully defend its skies from Russian missiles and aviation. This is one of the fundamental issues for our country.
Ukrainian artillery is doing everything to destroy the striking potential of the occupiers so that every Russian headquarters and all their ammunition depots, all logistical routes in the occupied territory are neutralized.
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BRUNHUBER: For more, Melissa Bell is joining from us Kyiv.
First, let's get the latest on the shelling from the nuclear plant.
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The hope had been that because the IAEA inspectors are inside, that that might quiet things along. But yet it sits on the Dnipro River, which is the front line; on the right side, Ukrainian forces.
And the left bank, just to the south of Zaporizhzhya itself, lies that nuclear power plant, which has found itself since March in the hands of Russian forces. Now what had been imagined is that because those six inspectors are still there and due to deliver their report early next week, that might calm things around the plant.
Sadly, that has not been the case. So shelling once again switching off that fifth reactor according to the Ukrainian nuclear operator, which continues to operate the site, even though it is in Russian hands.
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BELL: So again, exactly what Rafael Grossi, the head of the IAEA mission had said when he was there Thursday, it is that that has to stop, given the dangers that are involved. And it is dangerous to do with the power supply that people are really worried about, because that is what has the potential to really cause those reactors unable to be coiled.
And a nuclear catastrophe could take place. So we'll hear from the nuclear inspectors, the IAEA inspectors, early next week. The idea is that a permanent presence remains but clearly that has not been enough to stop the shelling around the plant.
We don't know yet who is responsible. We're hearing this from the Ukrainian nuclear authority. They say it's Russian forces that are responsible. They had in the past been using the plant as something of a military base, from which to launch attacks, according to Ukraine. We don't know exactly from where the shelling has taken place.
BRUNHUBER: So despite this nuclear threat, despite all of the fighting, Ukrainians across the country are trying their best to get back to some semblance of normality.
Is that right?
BELL: That's right. It is quite a surreal situation, where most of the country, you wouldn't know was at war, apart from the odd siren. This has been the case for some time, ever since really Russian forces pulled back to their eastern positions and went on to take the south.
The counter offensive continues in the south. But Ukrainian authorities are being tight lipped about its progress, saying that they are making progress, not really giving any access to journalists for the time being.
But Kyiv and to the north of Kyiv that had known such violence at the start of the war, there was some return to normality for the country's schoolchildren.
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BELL (voice-over): Preparing for the first day of school is always nerve-racking, especially in Ukraine, where Hannah (ph) and Max (ph) headed back to class on Thursday for the first time since the war began.
ANDRII KOVALCHUK, UKRAINIAN PARENT (through translator): The truth is you never know where the missile will hit, the school or the house. We went to the school several times and examined the bomb shelter. We believe that everything will be fine with our children in terms of safety.
BELL (voice-over): It was to a school rebuilt that the children headed. Irpin was at the heart of the war when it began. Now over six months later, peace has been restored but the threat it might be shattered is never far.
The drill, more troubling for the parents, it seems, than for the children themselves.
NINA YASHUK, TEACHER (through translator): Here in Irpin, we have not forgotten that the war is going on. Every day we see destroyed houses and it is difficult. The smiling children I see today doesn't mean I'm having fun inside.
Children should not see what we adults are going through. But our hearts are breaking. We're in a lot of pain.
BELL (voice-over): For the children, it was a return to life as it should be. There is a list of games to be played in shelters should the need arise, to give them a sense of normality or at least as much as the war allows.
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BELL: And that for a lot of people matters a great deal, Kim, that life can continue as though nothing were happening. And yet all eyes very much in cities like Kyiv on what is happening in the south, that counteroffensive.
A great deal of hope pinned on the possible advances of Ukrainian forces. What we have been hearing from the head of the local military is that they believe that the offensive is happening in such a way that they are making progress.
But most of all, they are preventing referenda from taking place that would lead to annexation of a fifth of Ukraine that is now in Russian hands.
BRUNHUBER: Appreciate the reporting. Melissa Bell in Kyiv, thanks so much.
The U.S. special envoy to the Horn of Africa is expected to travel to the region on Sunday and then visit Ethiopia in the coming days. The trip comes amid renewed clashes between Ethiopian forces and Tigrayan fighters. Larry Madowo has the latest on the conflict.
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LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Queueing at this makeshift aid center in northern Tigray has become a daily task for these women in the town of Adwa (ph).
This video was captured in June and July by the Catholic missionary who runs the small aid distribution center says the situation has become even more dire since then.
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MADOWO (voice-over): The missionary says hundreds arrive daily, as early as 3:00 am, to only be told desperately seeking any food aid.
But every day is the same. Only small amounts of a porridge-like grains are available here. The United Nations says the civil war in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region has left more than 90 percent of the region in urgent need of assistance.
In March, a fragile humanitarian truce between Ethiopian troops and Tigrayan fighters finally allowed aid to start flowing in. But with little fuel to distribute supplies, the United Nations says what has arrived still has not, quote, (ph) translated into increased humanitarian assistance.
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STEPHANE DUJARRIC, U.N. SPOKESPERSON: Our colleagues are telling us that the humanitarian situation in northern Ethiopia continues to be alarming.
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MADOWO (voice-over): Much of the aid had been started to capital of the Tigray region, Mekelle, far from the areas where it is needed the most. But fighting flared again last week, raising new concerns about aid distribution.
DUJARRIC: We, of course, renew our call on the parties of the conflict to immediately facilitate the resumption of rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian workers and supplies into all of northern Ethiopia in accordance with international humanitarian law.
MADOWO (voice-over): One 38 year-old single mother of five told CNN that her kids are now weak and prone to illness without regular meals. Still, they join this queue early for whatever little nourishment they can get. On days there isn't enough, they skip school to beg door to door or scavenge for wild greens.
The head of the World Health Organization who's also from Tigray called what's playing out there the worst disaster on Earth (ph).
DR. TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: I can tell you that the humanitarian crisis in Tigray is more than Ukraine without any exaggeration. And I say that many months ago, maybe the reason is the color of the skin of the people in Tigray.
MADOWO (voice-over): The Ethiopian government lashed out in response, calling his comments "unethical" -- Larry Madowo, CNN.
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BRUNHUBER: Donald Trump's lawyers swore there were no more classified materials at Mar-a-Lago. But the FBI turned up more than 100 plus thousands of other important papers that belong to the government. We'll explain what happens next. Plus the British Conservative Party has chosen its next leader. The
winner will soon be the country's prime minister. A live report in London ahead.
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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber.
We're following a developing story in the state of South Carolina. Police in Charleston say at least six people were wounded following a shooting overnight. It happened in the early hours of Sunday just before 1:00 am local time.
Police responded to reports of gunshots in the downtown area and found multiple people had been hit. The victims are being treated at local hospitals but the extent of the injuries are unknown. It is not clear if police have identified a suspect and the investigation is ongoing, so we'll bring you the latest as we learn more.
A federal judge is expected to decide soon on Donald Trump's request for a special master to review classified materials seized from his home last month. But even Trump's former attorney general says appointing a special master is unnecessary. Marshall Cohen has our report.
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MARSHALL COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: New details in the Mar-a-Lago investigation, we're learning more about what the FBI recovered from former president Trump's south Florida resort during the unprecedented FBI search last month.
Federal agents found 103 classified documents. That is a startling number because, before the search, one of Trump's attorneys told the DOJ, in a sworn statement, that there were not any documents, any classified documents, left on the premises.
Investigators also seized more than 11,000 nonclassified presidential records; even though they are not classified, prosecutors say that they are government property and should not have been taken to Trump's resort in the first place.
And we're also learning how the documents were discovered. According to court filings, the classified materials were found intermingled with news clippings, magazines, even gifts and clothes.
This confirmed investigators' suspicions that classified documents were not being properly secured and siloed off at Mar-a-Lago. Meanwhile, Trump is still fighting in federal court to have a special
master appointed. The judge in the case seems to be leaning in Trump's favor. She asked some tough questions of the DOJ and she's already publicly signaled her preliminary intent to name a special master.
But outside of court, the Justice Department found an unlikely ally in former attorney general Bill Barr. Of course, he was a true Trump loyalist during his tenure. He has since been more critical of Trump. And in a FOX News interview, Barr backed up some of the Justice Department's main arguments in this case. Take a listen to what he had to say.
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WILLIAM BARR, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: I think the whole idea of a special master is a bit of a red herring at this stage since they have already gone through the documents. I think it is a waste of time.
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M. COHEN: But, of course, it is not up to Barr; it is up to a federal judge down in Florida. Her name is Aileen Cannon. She's a Trump appointee. She is handling this case and she could hand down her decision at any time -- Marshall Cohen, CNN, Washington.
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BRUNHUBER: Trump condemned the Mar-a-Lago search Saturday but he didn't stop there. Here is what he said about U.S. President Joe Biden at a rally in Pennsylvania.
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DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: He is an enemy of the state. You want to know the truth. The enemy of the state is him and the group that control him which is circling around him, do this, do that, Joe, you better do this, Joe, right?
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BRUNHUBER: That was the moment when a former U.S. president accused the current president of being an enemy of the state. Trump's counterattack was in response to President Biden calling Trump and his MAGA allies an extremist threat.
Trump was in Pennsylvania, campaigning for Senate candidate Mehmet Oz and gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano. But a former Republican Congress man from Pennsylvania says Trump's involvement can backfire on his party in the midterms.
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BRUNHUBER: Charlie Dent, who's now a CNN political commentator, spoke with me earlier.
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CHARLIE DENT, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It seems, Kim, that the country is hopelessly polarized. President Trump is in Wilkes-Barre tonight as you indicated. He's up there criticizing the FBI.
I have to be honest, any member of Congress, absconded with classified material, I can assure you that a G-man, somebody from the FBI, would have showed up at their homes and demanded that they return that information.
So I'm not so sure that the former president Trump did anyone any good with that speech tonight. Just by showing up in Pennsylvania, he is making the election much more about himself.
And of course, most Republican candidates don't want anything to do with Donald Trump in this general election. They want this to be about Joe Biden and the Democrats. But to the extent Trump inserts himself into this conversation, he's giving the Democrats a major gift right now.
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BRUNHUBER: That was former Republican congressman Charlie Dent speaking with me earlier.
The voting is over and the winner will be announced tomorrow in the race to become the next leader of the U.K. Conservative Party, who will automatically become the new British prime minister.
A broad field of contenders was whittled down to just foreign secretary Liz Truss and former chancellor Rishi Sunak. Outgoing prime minister Boris Johnson is expected to submit his resignation Tuesday to Queen Elizabeth. Scott McLean is joining us live from London.
So tell us what we'll expect over the next two days.
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For the vast majority of the people in this country, who will not be voting and have not voted for the new prime minister, this race is sort of percolating in the background over the last month or two.
The most exciting part actually happened in the first few days, when Conservative Party MPs whittled down the field; quite a large field down to just two, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, the man whose resignation arguably sparked the beginning of the end Boris Johnson in the first place.
The criticism of this system is that the wishes of MPs don't necessarily reflect the wishes of the broader electorate. And the Conservative Party members don't necessarily reflect the electorate in the U.K. more broadly.
Case in point, a 2008 study found that 97 percent of Conservative Party members were white, 71 percent male, 61 percent over 55. And these are the only people choosing the next prime minister. And they make up just 0.4 percent of the overall U.K. electorate. What is interesting, the same study also found that the other major
political parties had very similar numbers, when it comes to being majority male, more than 95 percent white and also quite affluent, compared to the rest of the population as well.
If you believe the polls, Liz Truss is likely to be named the new prime minister of the U.K. tomorrow. The talk shows in this country, political talk shows, are already talking about her as if this is sort of a done deal, looking forward to what she might actually do.
As for Boris Johnson, he has written a message to the country in a newspaper. And he is really calling for party unity.
And he wrote this in part, "This is the moment for every Conservative to come together and back the new leader wholeheartedly. This is the time to put aside the disagreements of the last few weeks, fascinating though they may have been, and put the national interest first.
"As I leave Number 10, after three tough but often exhilarating years, I know just how big and demanding this job is. I also know that either candidate is more than capable of delivering for the people of this country."
And, Kim, I have to tell you the challenges here are absolutely enormous. Not only do you have inflation but you also have the rising cost of energy, which is dominating the headlines here. You have unions going on strike. Of course, you have war going on in Ukraine. You have the state of the health care system, the list goes on and on.
What we're expecting from Liz Truss, according to the British press, is that she will make an announcement quite early on as to what she will do about the cost of -- rising cost of energy really hitting British households quite hard, an issue very likely that will one of the defining points of her leadership as prime minister.
BRUNHUBER: If she wins.
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MCLEAN: If she wins; of course, yes.
BRUNHUBER: Scott McLean, thanks so much.
MCLEAN: You bet.
BRUNHUBER: Polls open in Chile in just a few hours. On the ballot, a sweeping new constitution described by some as a Christmas tree of guaranteed rights for virtually everyone. Voting is mandatory and officials say there is no reason not to participate.
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MAYA FERNANDEZ, CHILEAN DEFENSE MINISTER (through translator): All the schools are ready.
[04:40:00] FERNANDEZ (through translator): As you can see, there is order and tranquility in the polling stations as there should be. We guarantee that citizens can exercise their right to vote, which is the right thing to do in a democracy.
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BRUNHUBER: The existing constitution was imposed during the Pinochet dictatorship more than 40 years ago. Nearly 80 percent voted to scrap it in October of 2020 but polling suggests support for the proposed alternative has cooled off considerably, with many people now concluding that its lofty goals are simply unrealistic.
China is warning of consequences over a new U.S. arms deal with Taiwan. We'll have details on the deal and what it means coming up.
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BRUNHUBER: China threatening what it calls countermeasures after White House promised $1.1 billion in new arms sales to Taiwan. The deal includes the sale of potentially hundreds of missiles and it comes after recent high profile visits by U.S. officials to Taiwan.
China is warning this will seriously jeopardize America's ties with Beijing.
For more, I'm joined by Alessio Patalano, he's a professor of war and strategy in East Asia at King's College London.
Thank you so much for being here with us. So this is the first arms sale to Taiwan under the Biden administration.
How significant is this for Taiwan?
ALESSIO PATALANO, KING'S COLLEGE LONDON: This is very significant. If anything, it is a powerful reminder of the fact that the military balance across the strait, it is a constantly moving target.
And since 2020, when the president was reconfirmed with a landslide victory, the military tension, the coercion fro China has been consistently and constantly increasing. So the Biden administration has played this very carefully to avoid precisely giving the impression of stoking up the fires of tensions across the strait.
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PATALANO: But given what we're seeing this past summer, the sale announced now, it is a powerful statement in that sense of the important role that the United States has to play in maintaining that military balance across the strait, with denial capabilities that are important in the air and maritime space that concerns Taiwanese defenses. BRUNHUBER: Yes, I want to ask you about that denial capability;
specifically the types of weapons that we're seeing, I understand there has been a bit of a shift in strategy to use smaller weapons that could be used to counter a larger force, kind of like we've seen in Ukraine, for example, a focus on missiles and mobile artillery rockets, the HIMARS systems.
PATALANO: That is an excellent point. The answer to your question has two elements to it.
First of all, the Taiwanese have changed, if you want, their strategic approach to their defense problem with the so-called porcupine strategy.
And it is exactly what you say. Rather than pursuing fewer high-end of the spectrum capability ideal for the high intensity kinetic context, what they are trying to do is to sort of increase the lethality and distribution of that across a smaller capability, which is are harder to detect.
So they put a lot more strain on the planning activity of the potential enemy but, at the same time, increase their survivability and therefore the denial effects, which is really what you want to have there. So you've got that on the one hand.
And the United States on the other has been sort of like playing a role in trying to support, particularly sort of in light of what is happening in Ukraine and what we've seen in Ukraine, both in Washington and Taipei.
There is a growing awareness that that change of that strategy that I mentioned, it is the right pathway and it is the one that really sort of gives a new attention, a new focus in terms of the type of capabilities.
And as you say, anything that allows to increase that sort of anti-air and denial maritime sort of space and also much stronger surveillance and early detection capabilities, because these are the ones that will make maximum beneficial effects of that sort of distribution over smaller denial capabilities.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, interesting how one conflict can inform another. Let's pivot to China's reaction, announcing that they will take countermeasures.
What form could that take?
And are we talking sort of short term or longer term do you think?
PATALANO: I think it will be both. And it must be said that the exercises that were conducted this summer, which also were represented by the Chinese as part of a response to the Nancy Pelosi visit, I think, you know, they were very large in scale.
They deployed considerable amount of -- a critical amount of capabilities but, at the same time, they didn't cover a whole sort of spectrum of other actions that could have been undertaken. For example, there was no amphibious assault exercise during that period of time.
This is to say what?
That the Chinese have been very strong with their narrative but also relatively careful in the way they opportunistically took advantage of the situation. So what we expect to see is more of the same.
We now have an idea that they have been pushing across the median line with an incursion in areas that put a lot of strain on Taiwanese defenses. More of that is likely to happen.
And we've seen also an increase in the number and proximity and deployments of naval maritime assets in the Taiwan state and around the island itself.
What we can also see is greater sort of stress on the offshore islands under Taiwanese control, which remain the next big step, if you really sort of expect an increase in that coercive action on the Chinese hands.
BRUNHUBER: Well, we'll have to leave it there. Really appreciate your expertise on this. Alessio Patalano, thanks so much.
PATALANO: Thank you.
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BRUNHUBER: As tensions grow over Taiwan, China's navy is showing its firepower in the Sea of Japan. Three Chinese warships conducted live- fire drills on Friday and they are taking part in the 2022 exercises, underway until Wednesday.
The armies, navies and air forces of several countries are taking part, including Russia, China and India. The exercises involve more than 50,000 troops.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong has marked the 77th anniversary of China's victory over Japan in World War II.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Saturday's ceremony included the raising of Chinese and Hong Kong flags as well as a gun salute and minute of silence. Victory over Japan was announced in China on September 3, 1945.
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BRUNHUBER: There is new information about how the pandemic may have impacted some children's education. Math and reading scores from 9- year olds in the U.S. had one of their largest declines ever. Gabe Cohen takes a look at how far this age group is falling behind.
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GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New test results from the National Assessment of Education Progress show math and reading scores for 9-year olds in the U.S. falling sharply between 2020 and 2022. The worst drop off for reading since 1990 and the first ever declined for math.
MIGUEL CARDONA, U.S. SECRETARY OF EDUCATION: That is very alarming. It's disturbing but it's not surprising keeping in mind 1.5 years ago, over half of our schools were not open for full-time learning.
G. COHEN (voice-over): Students who are already struggling in school showed the most dramatic dropoff.
MARTIN WEST, HARVARD EDUCATION PROFESSOR: Some colleagues of mine estimate that amounts to about nine months' worth of instruction.
G. COHEN (voice-over): Martin West is a member of the board that oversees this test.
G. COHEN: How long could it take these students to catch up?
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WEST: In my view, it is going to take a number of years before students are able to make up this lost ground in full.
NICHOLE, TEXAS TEACHER: I have students that are coming into 4th grade that are performing two and three grade levels below where they should be.
G. COHEN (voice-over): Nichole is a 4th and 5th grade teacher in Texas, who asked us not to show her face, fearing retaliation.
NICHOLE: I don't know that I can make up two years of growth in one year.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think that I'm overreacting. We will have to do better than what we were doing before the pandemic.
G. COHEN (voice-over): Schools nationwide have been trying to hire more staff, including tutors and psychologists.
WEST: I think the first step is simply to make up some of the lost instructional time that can come through extended school days, it could come through after school programming and tutoring or it could come through summer school programs.
G. COHEN (voice-over): But with teacher burnout and a shrinking pipeline, many schools face a teacher shortage especially in rural areas and those with more low-income families and students of color.
And the federal government is pumping more than $100 billion into relief funds in to schools. It is requiring them to spend at least 20 percent of that on learning loss.
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BRUNHUBER: A 2,000-year-old mosaic, called a key part of Rome's history, has been returned to Italy after decades in storage in Los Angeles. Depicting the mythical figure of Medusa, it's been cut into 16 pieces.
It was packed in special crates for its return trip home. A lawyer representing an anonymous client contacted the FBI to report the mosaic. They contacted Italian police. It's unclear how the client obtained the mosaic but the FBI says the mosaic belongs to the people of Rome. Once restored, it will be put on public display.
That wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. I'll be back in a moment with more news. Please do stay with us.
