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CNN International: A Polka Dots Takeover; Navalny Moved to Harsher, Solitary Confinement; U.S. to Expand Military Base Access in the Philippines; Why is Iran Jailing a Couple over a Dancing Video; Louis Vuitton & Artist Yayoi Kusama Launch New Campaign. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired February 02, 2023 - 08:00   ET

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

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BIANCA NOBILO, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome to CNN "Newsroom", I'm Bianca Nobilo in for Max Foster and just ahead, rescue workers search for survivors after a Russian missile hits Kramatorsk in Eastern Ukraine. This is EU leaders arriving Kyiv the head of a wall summit on Friday.

Then the U.S. gets expanded access to military bases in the Philippines as fears grow over China's aggressive posture toward Taiwan. And multicolored dots are taking over the world of fashion. French powerhouse Louis Vuitton collaborates with Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama for a campaign that's creating an unprecedented buzz across the globe.

Eastern Ukrainian City of Kramatorsk is under fire once again just hours after Russia's deadly missile attack on a residential neighborhood. A local official says three people were killed and eight wounded on Wednesday night strike. A rescue operation is underway right now for at least two others who may be buried beneath the rubble. To the south, officials say that Russian shelling has killed two people in and near the liberated City of Kherson. CNN's Sam Kiley described the scene earlier on.

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: About every 5 to 10 minutes, I'd say we can hear a barrage usually of Grad missiles being fired from the Russian controlled side of the river where I'm standing here is in Freedom Square. This was where you'll remember, there were those enormous celebrations.

Just a few months ago, when this city was liberated from Russian occupation the Russians are about 500 meters in that direction, straight down the main drag on the other side of the river and they're firing into the town very regularly.

NOBILO: CNN's Scott McLean is joining us now to get into these developments. Scott, we were just hearing from Sam, who's in Kherson, there's heavy shelling there. We've also been hearing from Fred Pleitgen and his team on the ground that is in Kramatorsk, not only about the missile strike last night, but also about further attacks today. What do we know?

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This was a very close call way too close for comfort, frankly, for Fred Pleitgen and his team on the ground there. They had just arrived to the site in Kramatorsk, where this apartment building had been struck by a Russian missile. And as you said, where these rescue operations are still very much ongoing when they heard a missile strike very, very close by.

It was only about a minute or two later that they saw a second explosion. And we're talking about 50, maybe 100 meters away from where they were actually standing. They saw afterwards a huge crater that was in the roadway there. Now frankly, everyone on the team is OK, but obviously the strikes sent people in the streets running for cover.

And Fred and his team were close enough that they actually got a - of dust and debris, they were that close. And their armored vehicle, the bulletproof window of their armored vehicle was hit with some debris as well. And so this is especially sort of concerning because there is not an industrial area, really anywhere in the vicinity that you might expect that maybe there are some legitimate military targets.

What there is close by though is about 300 meters away; there is a hospital there where we presume that people are being treated from this earlier strike yesterday. Now we're about 18 hours in, the officials as you mentioned, said that there could be two people trapped under the rubble still, but the clock is ticking. And if you imagine that not only are these people likely hurt, but you have temperatures that overnight were below freezing.

Right now they're just around freezing still. And so it's very difficult for anyone to survive in these kinds of conditions. We're still waiting to get more firm update on whether anyone was hurt or killed in this latest batch of strikes. But look, this is you know, a really concerning situation, especially since it is not clear at all, what the target may have been, if there was even any legitimate target that the Russians were actually aiming at.

NOBILO: Making it even harder to predict when might be safe to put yourself in your family or indeed your crews when you're in Ukraine.

MCLEAN: Yes, and one of the things I mentioned just really quickly is that the air raid sirens had not gone off at that point. And so it was only after that they went off but also considers that it's not maybe that uncommon for that to happen considering that Kramatorsk is maybe only 25 kilometers or so from the frontlines.

NOBILO: Scott McLean, thank you so much for giving us the latest. Imprisoned Russian Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny is being transferred to harsher, solitary confinement for six months. The Kremlin's most vocal critic says he isn't allowed to see his family.

And do the social media posts said that even maniacs and serial killers have the right to receive a visit but I don't. Navalny is serving a nine-year term for charges that he says are politically motivated. His daughter spoke to CNN's Anderson Cooper and said Russian President Vladimir Putin is slowly destroying her father.

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DARIA NAVALNAYA, ALEXEI NAVALNY'S DAUGHTER: Vladimir Putin and the Federal penalty service continue to practice their lawlessness and are slowly torturing and killing my father. They deliberate a flee, infected him with the flu through intentionally placing a sick person in his cell. They prescribed my father with antibiotics which may seem fine but it was such a huge amount, such a high dose that he lost 7 kilos or in pounds I think 15 or 16.

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NOBILO: Israeli F-16 warplanes struck the Gaza Strip early Thursday. The Israeli Military says it was targeting a chemical production site and weapons manufacturing facility owned by Hamas in response to a rocket fired overnight from Gaza into Israel. No injuries reported either in Gaza or Israel.

Although there are some reports of damage to streets and homes, especially in Gaza the strikes come after a recent spike in violence on both sides. And despite calls for calm this week by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who just left the region CNN's Hadas Gold joins us now live from Jerusalem. Hadas, are we hearing anything else from the international community trying to put diplomatic pressure on the region to calm and quell this violence?

HADAS GOLD, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, the Secretary of State barely left the region. And it seemed as though things just sort of went back to the levels potentially not as high levels as before, but to what we were seeing before. And so as you noted overnight, a rocket was fired from Gaza into Israel and as Israel has a policy to respond to every single rocket.

Israeli fighter jets responded with striking what they said were, as you noted, Hamas chemical storage and weapons manufacturing. We haven't heard of any casualties, injuries caused by the rockets or by the missiles overnight other than some homes and being damaged in Gaza and a street being damaged by shrapnel from the projectile in Southern Israel.

Hamas also saying it fired anti-aircraft missiles Israeli jets. But as we noted so far, there was no reports of damage to the Israeli jets. It is the second round of rockets and then airstrikes just in the past week, because we had this on last Thursday after that military raid in Jenin.

It is concerning if it's becoming more of a regular occurrence, because, of course, the flare ups between Gaza and Israel, those can lead to quite a bit of damage. Now, we do know that the Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called on his senior staff to stay in the region to continue the conversations. And we also know that he asked the Egyptians to get involved as well. He mentioned this in his press conference. And what are actually interesting are just the last few hours, the Hamas spokesperson announced that Hamas senior leadership is actually headed to Cairo. So we can only assume that this is part of these overall diplomatic push to try to keep the situation calm.

Meanwhile and other diplomatic moves that are related to this region, the King of Jordan is in Washington D.C. today. He's supposed to have lunch with President Joe Biden. Jordan also playing an important role here in this region they are the traditional custodians of the holy site in Jerusalem known as the Al Aqsa Mosque compound or Haram al Sharif for Temple Mount.

They are the traditional custodians of that site. They have seen as an important figure also in trying to keep the dialogue going keep the calm of some kind. And then later today, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he is going to be in France to have dinner with the French President Emmanuel Macron.

And the French President's office said that during the meeting, France will express solidarity with Israel in the face of terrorism but will also address the growing tensions calling on everyone to avoid measures likely to fuel the cycle of violence. And Macron they say will express his availability to contribute to the resumption of dialogues will be interesting to see if Macron offers himself up as a negotiator to try to calm this recent spike in violence, Bianca.

NOBILO: Hadas Gold, thank you. Police in Pakistan have lowered the death toll from Monday's bomb attack on a mosque in Peshawar. The local Police Chief now says that 84 people died in a suicide attack. He previously reported 100 but he says that some victims were counted twice.

The Police Chief also says that the Pakistani Taliban known as the TTP was behind the attack. The group first claimed responsibility and then denied it. Today, Pope Francis is encouraging young people to build a new peaceful future for the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Earlier he spoke to thousands of young people in Kinshasa, urging them to keep the Congo out of the grip of corruption, violence and instability. It comes a day after the pope met with victims of the long standing conflict and the country's east after hearing their harrowing stories of rape, killing and kidnapping. The Pope said that he was left without words.

The United States will soon gain access to four military bases in the Philippines. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced the expansion during a visit to Manila. The U.S. is increasing its security options in the region with an eye toward China.

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NOBILO: Dozens of people opposed to the U.S. Military presence held demonstrations to send a message to Secretary Austin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TEDDY CASINO, BAYAN MUNA SPOKESPERSON: Philippines do not need additional American troops and facilities in the country. It will only serve to increase the tensions in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait. And deploying additional facilities and troops in the Philippines will drop the country into the conflict, which is between China and the United States.

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NOBILO: Oren Liebermann joins us now with a look at this expanded access. Oren talks us through the strategic advantages for the United States to have access to these former military bases in the Philippines in this area in the South China Sea and near Taiwan.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: It's a big step for the United States, especially as we see it as an ongoing part of the shift towards the region, the shift towards the Indo Pacific and China. Now neither the U.S. nor the Philippines have said exactly where these bases will be. But it clearly gives the U.S., a greater foothold in that area right on the edge of the South China Sea perhaps and closer to Taiwan.

We know from November when a Philippine Military official said the U.S. was looking at a number of options in the Northern Philippines are on the Western edge of the Philippines that this would give the U.S. Military a presence closer to China. And Beijing views that as provocative especially given the other steps.

We've seen the U.S. recently make announcing a greater U.S. Military presence on the Island of Okinawa in Japan, just about 200 miles from Taiwan across the waterway there. This if it's in the Northern Philippines could be even closer about 185 miles or so somewhere in that range from Taiwan. And that's why China views this as such a provocative step.

In addition, the U.S. Marine Corps is also or rather officially announced the opening of a new base on the Island of Guam, which is east of the Philippines. So what's known as the second island chain, an island chain used for the deterrence and containment of China and that's why this is such a big step.

It is the continued ongoing pivot towards China with the ability when this goes through, and when those U.S. forces arrived in the Philippines for rotational presence there. It's the ability to put forces closer to China, especially with growing concerns over the potential for a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.

And it's, part of this presents the ability of the U.S. to get forces closer to China, a bigger presence in the region and it underscores to Beijing that the U.S. has its allies, has its partners in the region. And it's growing closer to those despites what it views as Chinese aggression and provocation in the region.

NOBILO: Oren Liebermann, thank you. As Oren was alluding to China has responded to the agreement saying it will just aggravate tensions in the region. Marc Stewart joins us now from Hong Kong with that part of the story. Marc, talk us through how this agreement is being interpreted by China and any official response we've had so far.

MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Bianca is not a big surprise, but the response from China from the government could be described as both sharp and strong. It was a big topic at its regular briefing with the press today, the Foreign Ministry briefing take a listen to ups remarks made by the Chinese government Spokesperson earlier today.

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MAO NING, SPOKESPERSON OF CHINESE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS: The U.S. which clings to a zero sum mentality continues to strengthen its military deployment in the region out of its own interest. It is aggravating regional tension and jeopardizing regional peace and stability countries in the region should stay alert and avoid being coerced by the U.S.

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STEWART: And the words that are getting a lot of attention Bianca, just to emphasize where the phrase is jeopardizing regional peace and stability. Let's talk about the timing of all of this as Oren; mentioned Secretary Austin was in the region.

But as we look ahead, Secretary of State Antony Blinken will be traveling sometime in the near future to China on a diplomatic mission. It will be interesting to see how this dominates the conversation when he meets with his counterparts in Beijing, Bianca.

NOBILO: Very interesting indeed and of course will keep U.S. posted. Marc Stewart in Hong Kong, thank you. And still to come, a romantic twirl captured on camera. But this story has the opposite of a happy ending more and what happened to this young Iranian couple after they shared this video.

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NOBILO: A young Iranian couple who have filmed dancing in the streets of Tehran had been given lengthy jail sentences, why? Let's look closer. Here is the video you can see the couple dancing in Tehran's main square. You might also know that the young woman is not wearing a headscarf and both of them are well known presences on social media.

Now the couple, each of them was charged with spreading corruption and vice so to discuss this story further. CNN's Salma Abdelaziz joins us now. Salma to a Western viewer, looking at that video, it seems innocent and joyful, but take us through the cultural context and barriers that the couple are facing by just performing that dancing in the street. This is something of course that you know, professionally, intellectually, but also personally too.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: To the Iranian government, to hardliners to the religious and conservative establishment in that country. That dances eat very quiet, beautiful clip that seems romantic and simple is a threat, a statement of a different type of life the type of life that many young Iranians who are taking to the streets want to see it.

And let me just play that video again, forgive me but I really want to go through it moment by moment. You see this young woman Astiyazh Haghighi with her fiance Amir Ahmadi. They're both in their early 20s. I think 21, 22, he is holding her around the waist, he is twirling with her, you see her hair flowing around in a circle, and they are standing in the most prominent place in Teheran.

As the day square translates to freedom square, and you brought up those charges. They are charged with spreading corruption, on in vice, not just charged with dancing in the square, but with possibly promoting the idea of women's liberty, women's freedom, women getting to choose how they dress and who they love, and where they love that person, openly and publicly.

And they were brought this couple after this video, it went viral, it was shared widely on social media, the response of the authorities was to raid their home or arrest this couple. And eventually they were brought to a very notorious judge, Bianca. Judge, Abolqasem Salavati and I say his name because he was specifically sanctioned rather by the United States.

So called judge of death, because he hands down these really awful long sentences to protesters, even the death penalty at times clearly a message here from the Iranian government that it sides with hardliners but its sides with these conservative views, and that anyone making a statement against them. Well, they could face up to a decade in prison just for dancing in the streets.

NOBILO: And Salma, obviously, it's very challenging to get an authentic barometer on popular sentiment inside Iran. But where is the populace? When it comes to the sentencing harsh sentencing to a Western observer? 14 people who are dancing in the street? Would they be more sympathetic to their sentencing? Or would they be more sympathetic to the statement that the couple is clearly trying to make within the context of what's happening in Iran?

ABDELAZIZ: That's a very good question. And of course, I have to start by explaining there are very strict.

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ABDELAZIZ: Essentially censorship rose right now in Iran. We cannot gain access to the ground, a lot of the information we are obtaining are through protesters and eyewitnesses and human rights groups. So it's extremely difficult to give you accurate numbers in figures.

But stories are, of course seeping out from people who have fled the country, particularly to areas in the Kurdish region of Iraq, stories of sexual assault in violence at the hands of authorities. And what's important to remember here is, of course, this ruling government, the Islamic Republic does have a conservative class in Iran that backs it and supports it.

And it has been speaking directly to that class by promoting this very hard line and brutal crackdown. A crackdown that has led to hundreds of people being killed, thousands being arrested, according to rights groups and the way that they address that hardline, address that conservative element anxiety is rhetorically by saying, look, we understand if you are a religious person in Iran today and you see a woman walking in the street without her headscarf.

Remember, of course, the hijab law, that's fundamental. That's what these protesters are about. If you see a woman walking in the street without a headscarf that could be offensive to you to your religious beliefs, we're going to crack down on your behalf.

But there's also something else to remember here. This is an unprecedented protest movement, Bianca. And we say that because its demands are bigger than just a woman walking down the street without a headscarf, bigger than just scrapping one law. This is in that video shows a call for a very different type of Iran a country where one can choose whether they wear a hijab or not wear religious establishment is not the one determining the rules of the country.

NOBILO: Salma Abdelaziz thank you so much for joining us. A world famous Japanese artists Yayoi Kusama are connecting the dots will take you to Paris where tourists and shoppers alike are mixed about seeing spots.

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NOBILO: Larger than life Mannequins human looking robots and lots and lots of dots. See what happens when luxury brand Louis Vuitton collides with world famous Japanese artists. CNN's Kristie Lu Stout has more.

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KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In a world where people are bombarded by ads on TV, social media and billboards, a building decorated in polka dots by a world renowned artist is hard to ignore.

PRIYANKA BAGOLIA, TOURIST: I stopped by and it did catch my eye you know, and I usually like you know, I was just admiring the building and stuff but when I looked at that, I was like, a, that's very interesting.

STOUT (voice over): The flagship stores of luxury brand Louis Vuitton in Paris, getting a fresh coat of whimsy as part of its collaboration with Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. It's part of a promotion for a new collection from the French label featuring Kusama's signature polka dots on its bags, shoes, clothing, and other accessories.

Kusama is considered to be one of the world's most famous contemporary artists, sometimes called the Princess of Polka Dots. And at 93, she's been creating art for decades, from sculpture to painting and even infinity rooms. This is her second collaboration with Louis Vuitton, the first more than a decade ago when she explained a constant theme in her work eternity.

[08:25:00] YAYOI KUSAMA, JAPANESE ARTIST: I believe the moon is a polka dot. The sun is a polka dots and the universe is polka dots.

STOUT (voice over): What's also universal is the eye catching marketing campaign. Harrods in London has caught the bug, along with Tokyo, which is one of many stores featuring a life like robot of the artist. New York's Fifth Avenue a photo stop for visitors captivated by the colorful swatches.

HOLLY PHELEN, TOURIST: I think its great marketing. And I think it just changes the brand for Louis you know, it brings it to a different level.

STOUT (voice over): The collection is a hit with some celebrities, but polka dots aren't for everyone. One loyal Louis fan says she's sticking with the tried and true.

THAIS FERRAZ, TOURIST: I admire and I love this collab. But I actually I love it so much the classic model of the brand.

STOUT (voice over): New look or old, it's a cheery way to brighten up a city block and perhaps channel some of Kusama's vibe to try to keep a classic brand timeless. Kristie Lu Stout, CNN.

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NOBILO: I'm Bianca Nobilo in London and "World Sport" is up next in a few minutes. But first we're going to take a quick break then my colleagues CNN this morning going to interview someone who knows superstar Quarterback Tom Brady. Well, Robert Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots.

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