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U.S. Aviation Crisis After System Failure, International Airports Prepare for the Ripple Effect of the Flights Delay in the U.S.; Ukraine Disputes Mercenaries' Claim Soledar has Fallen; ISIS Affiliate Claims Attack Outside Afghan Foreign Ministry; Extreme Weather Devastating California, Cleanup Underway After Back-To-Back Storms; Climate Crisis, Oceans are Warmest on Record for Fourth Straight Year; Biden's Legal Team Found Second Set of Classified Documents; Bills Hamlin Discharged from Hospital. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired January 12, 2023 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[03:01:19]
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I am Rosemary Church.
Just ahead here on "CNN Newsroom," thousands of flights canceled and delayed. Passengers stranded for hours after the U.S. System that provides pilots with crucial safety information fails. Ahead, why officials believe this was not a cyberattack.
Plus, Russian President Putin suddenly replaces the general overseeing his war in Ukraine. What that could mean to the battle of Soledar and beyond.
And in China, just a handful of people have officially died from COVID in recent weeks, but in reality, hospitals are overwhelmed with patients?
UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Rosemary Church.
CHURCH: Thanks for joining us. U.S. airports are trying to recover from their second crisis in just a matter of weeks but the latest chaos appears to be winding down. On Wednesday, the Federal Aviation Administration grounded all flights for about 90 minutes. Tracking site FlightAware says more than 10,500 flights were delayed that day and more than 1300 others were canceled.
The travel chaos was caused by an FAA computer problem. We are told that the system is now, "operational and stable." So far nearly 500 flights have been disrupted today, but it's not clear how many of those are spillover from Wednesday's meltdown.
CNN's Omar Jimenez reports now on the impact on airports across the United States.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNKNOWN: I'm sorry but like I said this is a nationwide issue, it is not just a local issue.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is how the day started, at airports across the U.S. on Wednesday, a nationwide ground stop from the Federal Aviation Administration, the largest since 9/11. The ripple effects of the ground stop are now affecting thousands of flights.
TAMARA WILLIAMS, STRANDED PASSENGER: We've been delayed three times, there are no more flights leaving today that will get us there on time, nor tomorrow, nor Friday.
JIMENEZ: The ground stop was because of a system outage and only lasted about an hour and a half, lifted by nine a.m. But it has left passengers throughout the day scrambling, and authorities questioning what went wrong. The Biden administration at this point says that there is no direct evidence of a cyberattack.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETE BUTTIGIEG, U.S. TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: But we are also not going to rule that out until we have a clear and better understanding of what's taking place. But again, no indication of that at this time.
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The FAA is working aggressively to get to the bottom of the root causes for a system outage, so that it does not happen again.
JIMENEZ: The White House adding that issues began to pop up on Tuesday.
JEAN PIERRE: The DLT and FAA report that yesterday, they were working through issues in the NOTAM system, which is used to communicate key safety information about runways and flight patterns with pilots.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JIMENEZ: The affected system is known as the notice to air missions or NOTAM. It's separate from air traffic control but sends alerts to pilots to let them know of conditions that could affect their flight safety, like if a specific runway is closed.
The flight chaos is a second in less than a month, after holiday travel was severely impacted tied to weather and a meltdown at Southwest Airlines due to outdated airline systems.
This time, Southwest is canceling 400 flights but still, nowhere near as bad as weeks ago when it had to cancel more than 16,000 over about a week. But now with an FAA failure, every airline is being affected.
BRANDON BEIGHTOL, TRAVELER: We booked our flight to Chicago with about a 10-hour layover just in case something happened and I'm glad we did.
JIMENEZ: Even with operations continuing to normalize, the next step for officials is making sure this does not become the new normal.
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RICK LARSEN, U.S. HOUSE DEMOCRAT: The situation begs the question about the current state of the technology infrastructure of the FAA, we're going to need to take a look at that.
BUTTIGIEG: Now that we have gone through the immediate disruptions of the morning, is understanding exactly how this was possible and exactly what steps are needed to make sure that does not happen again.
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CHURCH: Meanwhile, the global impact of the U.S. ground stop is unclear at this point, but some delays have been reported, CNN's Salma Abdelaziz reports from London's Heathrow Airport.
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: International airports bracing for the knock-on effect, the ripple effect from that FAA outage in the United States. We do understand in the U.S., there is going to be a ground delay program.
[03:05:09]
That means that all of those delayed flights, of course, will not take off at the same time, there is going to be a staggered system, that means again that ripple effect could impact international. Here at Heathrow Airport where we have already seen that there are some delays even to flights that are across Europe, unclear what is behind those delays but officials telling us that those flighting to the United States have already received some delays in their departures.
They are beginning to resume flights normally again, but also our producers working the phones, speaking to airlines, they've talk to Virgin Atlantic which says that some of their U.S. departures have been affected, unclear how deep that impact will be. British Airways says it's continuing as planned, but again, flights to the U.S. could be impacted.
We also understand from various airports, Amsterdam Airport, Charles de Gaulle in Paris, Frankfurt Airport in Germany that they as well are bracing for delays, yet not just the flights from the United States but across the system as a whole.
We did speak to one passenger here in Heathrow who was flying by American Airlines to Dallas from London. She said she waited on the tarmac here for three hours before taking off, again unclear if that has to do with this outage.
But it is important to remember when it comes to Heathrow in particular, this is an airport that has struggled over the last period, over the holiday period. They had very little staff, very limited staffing. They also dealt with transportation strikes, strikes by unions and groups across this country.
So, the latest disruption will only compound that very difficult travel season. Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.
CHURCH: CNN's Safety Analyst, David Susi, joins me now from PENSACOLA BEACH in Florida. He is also a former FAA safety inspector. Great to have you with us.
DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST, FORMER FAA INSPECTOR: Thanks Rosemary, good to be here.
CHURCH: So, about 10,000 flights were mostly delayed, but also canceled Wednesday, right across the United States, in what proved to be the largest ground stop since 9/11, apparently triggered by a corrupt file, how is a massive aviation system outage like that happen exactly?
SOUCIE: You know, that's a very good question. This system is incredibly -- immeasurably complex. Really, it takes information from hundreds of different other systems, all that information comes into it, and then it's disseminated out in a meaningful matter for the pilots, so that they don't have to go through all of that themselves to find out if they have everything that they need information wise.
So, it's a -- it's a bit of the challenge for them, but I think the trouble with it right now is that they are trying to tighten up on security. So, when they do and then they have one of these systems go bad, right now they're trying to tighten up that security, so they'll say, "Well, we have this bad piece of information," so they shut down the entire system for it as opposed to what they used to do, which is when they have that bad information, they would just put him notice out, a NOTAM itself, it says "We don't have information that the flight service," or "We don't have information from these other areas."
So, I think and honestly, I believe that it was an upgrade that they were trying to do, to make things better and saved her. But I think it actually backfired for them.
CHURCH: So, how does the FAA make sure that this does not happen again? Can that even be guaranteed?
SOUCIE: Well, I do not think it can be guaranteed. I think that the challenge is that these systems, because they are so long, they are what we call legacy systems. So, they've been in place a very long time and so as technology improves, as they add new technologies and new data comes into this older system, it is not being upgraded. That cost a lot of money.
The same system has been in place as long as I have been around of 40 years in the aviation industry, and the same system has been there, and they've just been patch working and adding to it.
So, I think that the problem is that they need to have a longevity in their FAA administrator then the development team that they have there, because they are not following through the entire development cycle of a system, and really upgrading it to be keeping up with today's technology.
CHURCH: Yeah, I wanted to talk about that because of course we know that southwest suffered major cancellations and delays over the holidays due, in the most, to part two outdated technology. This time of course problems were experienced by all airlines. So, how concerned should we be about this outdated technology across the U.S. aviation industry? Why haven't they updated earlier than this? Because they have had instances where really the red flags have popped up all over the place, haven't they?
SOUCIE: Yeah, even back in January, the FAA had a very -- nobody really talked about it, but back in January, the FAA system actually had some issues then but it was kept hush-hush at the time because it wasn't a big deal.
[03:10:07]
They didn't affect that many airplanes but it could happen, they caught it early and it didn't. So, that was another indicator of the fact that they really need to look at the systems. Now, my philosophy is and always has been with the FAA, that they need to separate out the development of these systems, and not have it done within the FAA channels.
The FAA has a very tight budget, and that budget is controlled specifically by the standards, by the safety standards, it doesn't need to be that way, and it really should have a separate report to the director of transportation, and that's where it should be part, and it should be handled rather the individual level of the FAA.
So, it is going to take some time, and it's going to take Congress to really understand what they are doing. They can't just keep throwing money at the system, they need to understand the infrastructure behind it and what it really takes to keep up with technology as it moves forward because they've not been successful so far.
CHURCH: It does always seem to get back to infrastructure in this country, doesn't it? A lot of things have been left to age and no effort is being made, it seems, to update things. And so, this is a file that got corrupted, and you are talking about this aged technology, but it also did happen in Canada, would you rule out a cyberattack completely in this instance?
SOUCIE: I would not rule it out, but it is typical that when programmers have similar systems, similar technologies, that they share from each other. They have certain parts of the system that they'll say, "Well, we need to take this particular subroutine and we are going to use that again in the software."
So, it's much like the viruses that we talk about in system design and infrastructure and technology, and information technology particularly. When a virus starts, it continues because there are similarities within each of those systems.
So, I am not ruling it out, but I really do not think that it is a cyberattack. If it was, it would be much more pronounced than this. So, I really am not going down that path at this point.
CHURCH: All right, David Soucie, thank you so much for joining us and, sharing your expertise with us. We appreciate it.
SOUCIE: Certainly, thank you rosemary.
CHURCH: Ukraine's military is pushing back on planes from Russian- backed mercenaries that the town of Soledar, in the Donetsk region has fallen. The head of the Wagner group, fighting from Moscow, says his troops have captured all of the salt mining town. But Ukrainian soldier tells CNN that his forces are hanging in there, despite the difficult situation, even the Kremlin is being cautious saying only that there was a positive trend in Soledar. Here is the assessment from the Russian Defense Ministry.
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UNKNOWN TRANSLATOR: The Russian Airborne Units blocked Soledar from the northern and southern parts of the town. The Russian Airspace Forces conducted strikes against enemy strongholds. The Russian assault detachments wage combat in the town.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Ukraine's president says Russia is exaggerating its claim in Soledar to boost support for its invasion back home.
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UNKNOWN TRANSLATOR: The terrorist state and propagandas are trying to pretend that some part of our city of Soledar, almost completely destroyed by the occupiers, as some kind of achievement of Russia. They will present this to their society in order to support mobilization and to give hope to those who are for aggression. But the fighting continues. The Donetsk front is holding.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And Russia is once again shuffling commanders for what it calls its special military operation in Ukraine. General Valery Gerasimov, head of the Russian general staff, will take over. He replaces Sergei Surovikin who was appointed in October and will now become a deputy for the commander.
The Kremlin says that it hopes to improve coordination among its military branches. and Russia is reporting a bigger than expected budget deficit for 2022, as spending climb and energy sanctions top their toll, CNN's Clare Sebastian is live this hour in London. She joins us now. Good to see you again Clare.
So, given this deficit, if there is no apparent end game on the battlefield, what will that mean economically? Can Russia keep funding its war especially under sanctions?
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Rosemary. It's significant not because of the size so much of the deficit, in absolute terms globally speaking, it's relatively small still. But Russia had been running a surplus really up until the end of November.
For the first 11 months of the year, Russia was still reporting (inaudible) but apparently tipped into the red in December, the same month that the energy sanctions, the EU embargo and seaborne oil and the G7 price cap kicked in. Also, we've seen energy prices falling which is taking a toll.
[03:15:10]
So, this is raising questions not only of the intensity of the war, but also the fact that Ukraine continues to be supplied with western weapons and Russia has to fight -- its military industrial complex has to fight and they keep up. It's how long they can keep this going without risking some kind of economic crisis at home? Take a look.
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UNKNOWN (VOICE-OVER): More than ten months into a war that he hoped to wrap up in days, President Putin is preparing his people for a long and costly battle.
UNKNOWN TRANSLATOR: We have no limits when it comes to financing, the country, the government, gives us everything it asks for.
UNKNOWN (VOICE-OVER): It's not just the high-tech drones and tanks, or the new frigate loaded with hypersonic missiles. According to an estimate in July from the British think tank, RUSI, at the height of the fighting in that Donbas, Russia was burning through ammunition in two days than the British military has in stock. The impact of that is clearly showing up in the Russian budget.
Now, this was the official estimate for last year. Defense spending was expected to have grown by about 30% compared to 2021. National security spending, meanwhile, by about 20%. But oil and gas revenues were expected to grow by about a third. They ended up coming in higher than expected according to the finance ministry, but so did spending. Tipping it into a higher deficit.
Now this year, we are looking at more defense spending, a rise of about 6%, that's roughly in line with inflation but add to that a 58% planned increase in national security spending, and a complete reversal of last year's oil and gas windfall, and this means budget cuts.
Roads, agriculture, even health care all getting hit.
ELINA RIBAKOVA, DEPUTY CHIEF ECONOMIST, INSTITUTE OF INTL. FINANCE: The money is not infinite unlike what President Putin says. And I think he understands this better than anybody else. Because these authorities were in power already in the 90s when Russia went through severe crises before denomination, devaluation. And I think they remember that. If that were to happen, it will be even faster way for them out of the office. SEBASTIAN: Keeping Putin in power and fighting a war is expensive. Next year, Russia has allocated almost as much to national security, which also includes law enforcement as it has to defense, according to the budget passed early last month. A sign of Moscow may still intensify its crackdown on protest and dissent.
UNKNOWN: we all know that European solidarity --
UNKNOWN (VOICE-OVER): And experts say even with an EU embargo on Russian seaborne oil, a price cap mechanism in place and lower energy prices, Russia is not facing an imminent budget crisis.
RIBAKOVA: Well, we did not implement energy sanctions up until now, right. The embargo just came in. So, what happens, Russian's current account surpluses last year was more than 200 billion. So, if you think about it, if you (inaudible) roughly 300 billion in reserves. Russia already accumulated more than 200 billion just last year.
UNKNOWN (VOICE-OVER): Pressure is still mounting, if the EU and G7 lower their oil price cap below $60 a barrel, that would likely hurt revenues. And technology sanctions make it harder for Russia to modernize its military. Still, behind the propaganda it's clear Russia has a financial plan to fund this war even as its people play an ever-increasing price.
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SEBASTIAN: So, sanctions are now pressing a real threat to Russia's key export, to its energy, it's clear that 2023 will be harder for Russia than 2022. It's simply they won't be able to repeat at that windfall, but you have to bear in mind, Rosemary, that in wake of the Crimea annexation, and the sanctions that followed that. Russia adopted this policy called and also dubbed, "Fortress Russia."
It started beefing up its banking, building up its reserves, coming up with alternatives to western credit cards and things like that. All of that is coming home to roost. Now, they do as I say have a plan to fund this war, even though the sanctions will limit the economic potential of the economy in the longer term.
CHURCH: All right, thanks to Clare Sebastian for joining us here, appreciate it.
An ISIS affiliate has claimed responsibility for an attack outside the Afghan foreign ministry in Kabul. ISIS-K says 20 people were killed on Wednesday, when one of its militants set off an explosive built at the ministries main gate.
CNN cannot independently verify that claim. Kabul police gave a different figure earlier saying five people were killed. A police spokesperson says that those behind the attack will be found and punished. Much more to come, including this.
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UNKNOWN: We've been working diligently to get people with medical necessities out first, as a priority.
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[03:20:02]
CHURCH: Emergency crews make a number of rescues as back-to-back storms hit California, and residents are preparing for more wet weather.
Plus, despite Iran's growing crackdown on hijab violators, women across the country continue their fight for equal rights.
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CHURCH: California is working to repair the damage from back-to-back storms before the next one arrives. Millions remain under flood watches, the storms caused widespread flooding, damaged roads, and thousands of people have been forced from their homes.
One official says that emergency teams made more air rescues in one day than perhaps ever before. At least 18 people have died. Some places, recorded 50% to 70% of the amount of rainfall that they would usually get in an entire year. Conditions are relatively quiet right now, but more storms are expected to arrive in the coming days.
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BRIAN FERGUSON, SPOKESMAN, CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR'S OFFICE OF EMERGENCY SERVICES: This disaster, one of the deadliest disasters in the history of our State, we are not out of the woods yet. While there is a bit of a break today, we continue to see additional storms prepared to come onshore in the next two days. We are continuing to be concerned about our streams, our culverts, and some of the areas are prone to mudslides, particularly among our central coast.
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CHURCH: We get more now on the extreme weather devastating California from CNN's Veronica Miracle in San Francisco.
VERONICA MIRRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The cleanup from a series of deadly, unprecedented storms continue from California.
UNKNOWN: It felt like an earthquake. The dog(ph) came running in. We could hear glass shattering and water pouring.
MIRACLE: Heavy rainfall triggered flash flooding.
UNKNOWN: So, it was shocking. It was really -- it was unreal, seeing that water just come surging up.
MIRACLE: In San Francisco, lightning and hailstorms, trees falling, power lines down.
UNKNOWN: I saw sparks everywhere around me. MIRACLE: Even a tornado briefly touched down near Sacramento. On Tuesday, California had one of its busiest days ever for air rescues. And at least 18 people have died in the storms.
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ELENI KOUNALAKIS, CALIFORNIA LT. GOVERNOR: That's more than we've lost in the last two years of wildfires. So, this is a very significant emergency.
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MIRACLE: And in San Francisco and other parts of northern California, the rain continues to fall.
UNKNOWN: If we flood more and more, it is not manageable.
MIRACLE: Some 5 million people are under flood watches in northern California. While parts of central and southern California are getting a much-needed break from at downpours, flooding, and mudslides.
DREW LANDERS, SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC WORKS: The ground is so wet, and the water is pulling up. I would say that this is the worst winter that I have seen in the short amount of time.
MIRACLE: In the sierra, 1 to 3 feet of snow has blanketed several ski resorts in the last several days. The snow closed a major thoroughfare in the State overnight, delaying shipments as trucks waited to pass.
[03:25:05]
UNKNOWN: We've got to get these stuff where it's supposed to go.
MIRACLE: The snow pack, which contributes roughly 30% of California's freshwater offer some relief amid lingering drought conditions in California.
UNKNOWN: it's a double edge sword because we've seen slides and stuff, but this State needs waters so badly.
MIRACLE: The unrelenting downpour is also filling some of the State's largest reservoirs.
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KOUNALAKIS: We've never seen anything like this. The State has been experiencing drought for the past four years and now we have storm upon storm.
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MIRACLE: The benefit of so much rain falling so fast.
UNKNOWN: We wanted rain, we got it. MIRACLE: Six storms in the last two weeks, and there is more to come. After almost 20 inches of rain in the last three days, even southern California's brief respite from the day luge will soon end. Another round of heavy rainfall is due this weekend with two more major storms to follow.
This is a prime example of what is happening all across the State. This used to be a dry hillside. Now, it looks like a waterfall is rushing down here and it's spilled debris and mud all across this roadway. It's dangerous situations like this that has officials asking people to stay at home during the storms if at all possible. Veronica Miracle, CNN, San Francisco.
CHURCH: Another planetary heat record for the fourth straight year, the world's oceans have picked the hottest temperatures on record. Experts say the oceans show the real impact of climate change and are less affected by deadly weather cycles. And warmer oceans, means more powerful storms of course.
Scientists from 16 institutes around the world looked at data going back to the 1950s for their study and say this warming trend will continue until we reach net zero carbon emissions.
President Biden's legal team has found a second batch of classified documents where they should not be. Sources tell CNN Mr. Biden's lawyers were searching for additional documents after they found an initial set of 10 classified documents in his former private office in November.
It's not clear where they found the second set, how many documents it contains or what is in them. The documents were from Mr. Biden's time serving as Vice President to Barack Obama. Republicans are pouncing on the issue, claiming there is a double standard for how the government treats politicians.
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KEVIN MCCARTHY, U.S. HOUSE SPEAKER: This is a man that's been in office for more than 40 years. This is a man who prides himself on knowing all than this. Why does he treat people different? This is the exact reason why we have to have a church committee. This is why we moved it yesterday and this is why we will get to the bottom of it because they treat people differently based upon their philosophical or political party.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: President Biden is now facing bipartisan scrutiny over the handling of the classified documents. The White House press secretary on Wednesday defended the president's legal team.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEAN-PIERE: He takes it seriously when it comes to classified documents, when it comes to information that is classified. He was surprised to learn about the records that had been there and again, he believes that the lawyers did the right thing and they immediately turned them over to the archives.
KATIE PORTER, U.S. HOUSE DEMOCRAT: Classified documents belong in classifieds settings and they should be treated as such. And if that's been a problem in this case, we should take corrective action. And I think we should take corrective action with regard to former president Trump who's violations on this principle are much more extensive, much more serious, and much more grave for the country's national security.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: U.S. lawmakers are asking the Director of National Intelligence for a damage assessment as well as a briefing on the documents. Some Republicans want a special counsel to investigate.
Buffalo bills player, Damar Hamlin, has been discharged from hospital and is now covering at home. The 24-year-old spent more than a week hospitalized, first in Cincinnati, then in Buffalo after suffering cardiac arrest during a Monday night football game.
Hospital officials say Hamlin showed signs of accelerated improvement ahead of his release and is safe to continue his rehabilitation at home. Well done.
Well, up next, Brazil reinforces its security as supporters of Jair Bolsonaro called for more protests. We will have the latest just ahead.
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CHURCH: Just days after this violence scene rattled the Brazilian capital, President resident Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is speaking out, calling the rioters who stormed all three branches of government on Sunday -- quote -- "group of lunatics." He also said any move against Brazil's democracy will be punished.
LUIZ INACIO LULA DA SILVA, PRESIDENT OF BRAZIL (through translator): What happened here, I wouldn't even like to think of as a coup. I would like to think of something smaller, like a group of crazy people who still haven't understood the election is over.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Those protests in Brazil have drawn comparisons to the January 6th attack here on the U.S. Capitol, a comparison seemingly supported by former vice president, Mike Pence. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE PENCE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It is evidence that what happens in the United States has repercussions around the world. I have no doubt that that tragic day in January of 2021 in this country played some role in sowing the seeds of what is taking place in Brazil.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Brazil has stepped up security across the country amid calls for more protests from supporters of former president, Jair Bolsonaro. But so far, there has been no sign of mass demonstrations.
CNN's Isa Soares has more from the Brazilian capital.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ISA SOARES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They said they would come, but they were a no-show. Pro-Bolsonaro protesters taking to social media in the day saying they will be protesting across the country not just here in Brasilia but also in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.
Well, I can tell you, just walking around the capital here, I haven't seen a single pro-Bolsonaro protester, and that could be for several reasons. They could have been rattled by the activism (ph) you've seen in the last few days. More than 1,500 arrested or so. More than 500 plus charged and could be facing up to 12 years. That is one of the reasons that one police officer told me could have stopped them in their tracks.
The other, of course, is the fact there is a new interim head of security for the capital who has really put in place a pretty impressive operation today. We have seen barracks, barriers being put out. We have seen police on horseback. We have seen ambulances. We have seen lines of different types of police, federal police, military police on show blockading pretty much this whole part of the capital.
It's a very different scene, of course, from what we saw on January 8th when they stormed through the three branches of power here in the capital and really putting at risk the threat of Brazilian democracy.
It is a huge job, of course, for the new head of security, but even bigger job, of course, for Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the new president who now has only been a week on the job but has to try to unite this deeply divided country.
Isa Soares, CNN, Brasilia, Brazil.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Iran's Supreme Court has suspended the death sentence of a protester who is due to be executed this week.
[03:35:03]
CHURCH: Demonstrators have been gathering outside the prison where they believe he is being held, chanting for his release. State media say the 19-year-old allegedly stabbed a security guard during the nationwide anti-government protests. Now, his execution is on hold, pending a retrial after an outcry from human rights organizations. Amnesty International says, I'm quoting here, "It is abhorrent that the Iranian authorities persist in their state-sanctioned killing spree as they desperately seek to end the protests and cling to power by instilling fear among the public."
CNN's Christiane Amanpour takes a look at what Iran experts are saying about the regime's brutal crackdown on protesters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: They are basically saying that the regime has bet on a very harsh crackdown, has doubled down and has kept doubling down to the point where it has been doing these, frankly, extrajudicial executions, and that has been done with the absolute intention of warning and scaring people off of the streets.
And it appears to be working right now. We don't know whether these demonstrations and protests have ended or are they just going underground, are they just going dormant, and will they keep popping up in the future, but it has been a very draconian response.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Meantime, Iranian police have reportedly been ordered to deal decisively with women who violate the country's hijab law. But those who oppose the law as well as other strict policies of the hardline regime remain defiant.
CNN's Jomana Karadsheh reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hijab or no hijab onwards to a revolution. They chant, death to the dictator. Those who know the regime know it will never give up the hijab, one of the pillars of the Islamic republic. But many say that is not what this is about. It is about their right to choose, their right to speak, to live with no fear, to be free.
The past few weeks, the world got to see just a little of how far the regime will go to silence its own people. Any voice, every voice can be silenced (INAUDIBLE).
Dozens of journalists like Niloofar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi are behind bars. The two were among the first to tell the world the story of Mahsa Amini. The regime has accused them of orchestrating the protests and being agents of foreign states.
Rights activist and blogger Hossein Ronaghi is no stranger to regime jails. He was violently arrested in September and reportedly tortured. This is what 64 days in the notorious Evin prison and a hunger strike did to Ronaghi, only out for urgent medical treatment.
(MUSIC PLAYING) KARADSHEH (voice-over): Many artists and musicians like dissident rapper Toomaj Salehi and rapper Saman Yasin have been arrested. According to the U.N. rights groups and state media, the two are now facing the death penalty.
And there are the voices that have been silenced forever. No one really knows how many. Hundreds, maybe more. For those mourning, their dead are also being harassed and intimidated into silence. This grieving mother walked the streets holding a book portrait of her 16- year-old son, Siavash Mahmoudi. She wanted people to see her boy's face and hear his name. They killed him. They shot him in the head, she cried. They told me to be silent. I won't be quiet.
They will not be silenced, they say. This is a battle to save the future, a battle for a free Iran. Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, Istanbul (ph).
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CHURCH: New details are emerging from the Paris train station attack. What we are learning from the investigation as police search for a motive. Back with that and more in just a moment.
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[03:40:00]
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CHURCH: We are learning more about Wednesday's attack at a busy Paris train station which left six people wounded. Prosecutors say the suspect was armed with a metal hook. He is in his twenties and could be from Libya or Algeria.
Melissa Bell has more on how the attack unfolded.
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MELISSA BELL, CNN PARIS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Six people were injured at one of Paris's busiest train stations early Wednesday when a man went on a bloody rampage.
UNKNOWN (voice-over): (INAUDIBLE).
BELL (voice-over): We saw two people on the ground, an onlooker told French TV. One was hitting the other. People tried to pull them apart and that's when the attacker pulled out his weapon.
The French interior minister, later at the scene, said off-duty police officers stopped the attacker, shooting three times. It was all over within a minute.
At 6:42 a.m., an extremely threatening individual attacked people at the entrance and then inside Gare du Nord, he said. At 6:43, he was neutralized by the police forces, by police officers, who are out of uniform.
(On camera): This is one of the busiest train stations in Europe. That attack that took place at 6:42 took place even as it was filling up with commuters. Beyond that perimeter is where it happened and it was in the space of that minute that the assailant managed to wound six people.
(Voice-over): The suspect now in police custody is also in a critical condition, the Paris's prosecutor's office said. His motive isn't known but authorities say this is not being treated as a terrorist attack.
Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.
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CHURCH: The World Health Organization says that China is sharing more data about its ongoing COVID outbreak. More information on viral sequencing is still needed to help identify new variance. The group also believes that China's reported death toll is nowhere near the actual number with hospitals and crematoriums overwhelmed.
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DR. MICHAEL RYAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WHO, HEALTH EMERGENCIES PROGRAMME: They still believe that deaths are heavily underreported from China, and this is in relation to the definitions that are used, but also to the need for doctors and those reporting in the public health system to be encouraged to report these cases and not discouraged.
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CHURCH: CNN's Selina Wang went to a funeral home in Beijing where signs of the rising COVID death toll are impossible to ignore.
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SELINA WANG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): COVID lockdowns may be over in China, but for many, there is misery at the end of zero-COVID. The virus is overwhelming hospitals across the country. The sick struggle to get help. Patients crammed into every available space, every hallway and corner of this northern Chinese hospital.
Not everyone survives the struggle. Bodies fill this funeral home storage room in Liaoning Province, but we don't know how many died of COVID. In Jiangsu, families in morning clothes flood the gate. And in Sichuan, families line up outside right next to coffins, waiting to cremate their loved ones.
China has only officially reported a few dozen COVID-19 deaths since reopening.
[03:45:00]
WANG (voice-over): But satellite images confirm the different reality we see on the ground. These images taken in late December and early January show crowds and long lines of cars waiting outside of funeral homes in six Chinese cities. The images from the outskirts of Beijing show that a branch new parking lot was even constructed.
We visited that funeral home. Rows of cars were already there.
(On camera): I am now standing in that new parking lot of this Beijing funeral home. This entire parking lot area did not exist a month ago. And as you can see, the roads are not paved.
(Voice-over): One van pulls in, unloads a body, and another follows. A man tells me that he waited hours for his brother's body to be cremated. But the wait is nothing, he says, compared to the crowds from a few weeks ago.
Experts say that Beijing's COVID outbreak has already peaked. In December, we filmed these body bags piling up in metal crates at another Beijing crematorium during the height of omicron's spike in the city.
This video CNN has obtained was filmed by a man who said that his father's body was lying in this overflowing Beijing hospital morgue for days. He said that his father waited hours for a hospital bed space. By the time a bed opened up, it was too late.
Cities are now scrambling to sight of fever clinics and increased ICU capacity. For weeks, it was nearly impossible to buy cold or fever medicine. They were all sold out because of the huge demand.
(On camera): Drug companies like this major (INAUDIBLE) manufacturer in Beijing, they are going into overdrive to increase supply after there was a shortage of medicine to treat COVID-19 symptoms. I asked the vice president if they received any advance warning from the government that they were going to abandon zero-COVID so they could prepare to ramp up their budget (ph). Well, he didn't directly answer my question, but it is clear that now, they are doubling down.
(Voice-over): The company told us they simply follow government policy. The drug shortage, overflowing hospitals, and crematoriums, they are images of a country unprepared for the sudden end of zero- COVID. So many families in mourning are questioning what the three years of sacrifice during zero-COVID was really all for.
Selina Wang, CNN, Beijing.
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CHURCH: And earlier, I spoke with Dr. Scott MiscoviSch, the president and CEO of Premier Medical Group USA, and I asked him how dangerous it is for China to keep its COVID infections under wraps.
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DR. SCOTT MISCOVICH, CEO AND PRESIDENT, PREMIER MEDICAL GROUP USA: When you look at Beijing, you know, when you look at China in general, it's 67% urban. When you have that kind of population density, it spreads.
Now, what does it mean for the rest of the world? Well, we have no reporting, we have no idea what variants unless we're kind of guessing what variants are coming out of China right now. And I think the bigger issue is that this is another step where the people of China, they know that they are losing loved ones, I think it is just giving them even less confidence in their government because they are not being forthcoming about COVID and what it is doing to their population. So, the rest of the world will still see.
CHURCH: China's CDC has informed the WHO that the coronavirus subvariant currently circulating in the country is mainly BA.5. What does that tell you given the U.S. and other parts of the world are now dealing with new subvariants, which are overtaking BA.5?
MISCOVICH: That is exactly -- basically, we have an older variant that we've all dealt with, we've all been through. And then we've had this (INAUDIBLE) variant of an advanced form, omicron, that's formed now in the United States, the XPP.1.5. And so, what that tells us is they're dealing with an older variant that we've already seen through the world.
So, if there is any hope right now, if you are seeing someone from China, you won't have as much chance of getting an infection from them, also because the (INAUDIBLE) vaccine we have in the United States and mostly the good vaccines around the world will cover it.
So, you know, basically, again, it goes back to say that like our XPP.1.5, if that gets into China, those people will not have any immunity from it even if they just contracted the current variant that they have, so they are at risk.
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CHURCH: Dr. Miscovich also compared the current situation in China with India, which saw a devastating death toll during the surge of the delta variant.
Well, former U.S. President Donald Trump might soon be allowed back on Facebook. Ahead, we get a closer look at how parent company, Meta, is making the decision. Back in just a moment.
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[03:50:00]
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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Well, after being let back on Twitter, former U.S. President Donald Trump could see his Facebook and Instagram bans reversed as well. Parent company, Meta, is due to announce its decision in the coming weeks.
CNN's Donie O'Sullivan has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): So, Facebook has a big decision.
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KATIE HARBATH, FORMER PUBLIC POLICY DIRECTOR, FACEBOOK: She gets to go first.
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O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Facebook is about to make one of the most consequential decisions in the company's history, should it let former President Trump back on its platforms?
MARK ZUCKERBERG, CEO, META: In general, I don't think it is right for a private company to censor Politicians or the news in a democracy.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Facebook banned Trump after January 6th and said it would reassess the decision in two years. Now, time is up and Facebook says the decision is imminent.
CRYSTAL PATTERSON, FORMER HEAD OF GLOBAL CIVIC PARTNERSHIPS, FACEBOOK: I have people say to me, if you guys will do anything for a dollar, you don't care, and quite the opposite was true. There was a lot of deliberation.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Crystal Patterson is a Democrat. Katie Harvest is a Republican. Both had senior jobs at Facebook's offices in Washington D.C. where they worked for politicians on using the platform.
PATTERSON: I think the decision to take Trump off the platform is overdue. We had a number of instances where he had posted things that for any other user would have been in violation of our community standards. He did the infamous post about banning Muslims from the country, when the looting starts, the shooting starts.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Katie agrees it was right to ban Trump after January 6th.
(On camera): Did you think in that moment, it is right to kick him off?
HARBATH: I found in that moment, it was. In the lead up to that moment, I was still defending keeping him on the platform because, as horrible as some of the things that he posted, I still just couldn't get myself past the point that I thought that people deserve to know what the people that are representing them have to say.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): While Trump's social media ban was welcomed by many in the U.S., it was also criticized by free speech advocates and some international politicians. In deciding what to do, Facebook says it is assessing the risk to public safety and risk of imminent harm in giving Trump his account back.
(On camera): The parameter is that Facebook assessed in terms of figuring out if he should be allowed back on. Essentially what it is, is the mood, the feeling.
HARBATH: It's a judgment call. I think it is very important to recognize that both of these decisions are going to have a ton of impactful consequences, and it would be foolish to think that either way is an easy decision.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Whatever Facebook decides will set a precedent for political speech on the platform. Elon Musk has already restored Trump's Twitter account, although the former president hasn't tweeted yet. Katie and Crystal disagree on what Facebook should do.
PATTERSON: This is actually where this mirrors a debate we've probably been having internally.
HARBATH: Looking at, is there imminent violence happening, which I think is a little different than incitement to violence. It's a nuance type of approach. And so, I don't necessarily see that happening. You don't see other January 6th, that it necessarily happened.
PATTERSON: I recognized that Katie is speaking a distinction between was it imminent and --
HARBATH: Incitement.
PATTERSON: -- incitement. He is willing to use this platform to create that kind of energy and activity, and I think that means he loses the privileges to have access to it.
I also think there has been no shortage of hearing from him. It's not like because he hasn't been on Facebook or Twitter that he has had any trouble getting his message out or had any trouble making sure people know how he feels about things. I don't think he is entitled to an account on there.
O'SULLIVAN: Tens of millions of Americans voted for Donald Trump. For those tens of millions of Americans, they are going to say Facebook is their platform of censorship.
[03:55:00]
PATTERSON: They can still talk about Donald Trump. They can still talk about the election. They can have all that dialogue.
HARBATH: I would be more inclined to let him back and then make sure that they have a very clear set of criteria about what are the thresholds that would require the company to either take down content or demote it or eventually take him off the platform for what he is saying. I don't think it should take another January 6th level event in order to do that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Our thanks to Donie O'Sullivan for that report.
The Royal Mail in the United Kingdom is asking users not to send letters and parcels internationally until it clears up what it calls a cyber incident. The postal service says it resulted in a severe service disruption and that means it can't send mail abroad. Now, it is not clear what the cyber incident was exactly. It has been reported to regulators and security authorities.
Prince Harry's memoir "Spare" is officially a bestseller. Random House group says his books sold more than 1.4 million copies in the first day of publication. That is just the English language version and accounts for all formats and additions in the UK, Canada, and the United States. This is the largest Thursday sales total for any non- fiction book ever published by England Random House.
Guitar great Jeff Beck has died. Here, he is playing "Hammerhead" at the Grammy Museum a few years ago.
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CHURCH: The 78-year-old's death from bacterial meningitis was announced on his social media accounts on Wednesday. Beck rose to fame when he replaced Eric Clapton in the band "The Yardbirds." He later started his own band, the "The Jeff Beck Group" featuring Ron Wood who later joined "The Rolling Stones" and Rod Stewart.
And one of the original 90s supermodels, Tatjana Patitz, has died of breast cancer. She appeared on the cover of dozens of fashion magazines inspiring George Michael to cast her in his music video for "Freedom 90."
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CHURCH: Patitz was born in Hamburg, Germany and raised in Sweden. In the late 80s, she became the muse for photographer Peter Lindbergh, who tweeted, we would like to salute Tatjana's kindness, inner beauty, and outstanding intelligence.
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CHURCH: And thank you so much for spending part of your day with me. I am Rosemary Church. "CNN Newsroom" continues with Max Foster, next.
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