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Hope for Survivors Fading as Death Toll Tops 21,000; Russia Going on the Offensive in Luhansk Region; Ukraine Makes Do with Some of West's Obsolete Weapons; Mike Pence Subpoenaed in DOJ's January 6th Probe; Authorities Lay Out Detailed Timeline off Balloon Actions; Survivors Brave the Cold in Cars, on the Streets; Exiled Ethnic Uyghurs Discover Relatives Being Tracked, Detailed by Authorities; Russia's Wagner Group: No Longer Recruiting Convicts; North Korea Showcases Advanced ICBMs in Military Parade; Burt Bacharach Dead at 94. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired February 10, 2023 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM, as the voices under the rubble grow silent, he search for earthquake survivors in Turkey and Syria slowly becomes recovery of the dead.
[00:00:53]
So it begins. Russia's much-anticipated offensive appears to be underway, long before a Western-made battle tank arrives in Ukraine.
And Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Congress vote yes to condemn China for its spy balloon. But there is agreement on little else.
ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with John Vause.
VAUSE: As the death toll in Syria and Turkey soars, hopes are fading of finding more survivors from Monday's earthquake. More than 21,000 people are now confirmed dead, surpassing the death toll from a devastating earthquake in 1999.
Temperatures dipped below freezing again on Thursday night, as survivors stepped in their cars and on the streets.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: "God is great," they yelled. That is the sound of a miracle.
Rescue crews pulled a mother and her 6-year-old daughter from a collapsed house in Southern Turkey.
As the search goes on, though, the moments of celebrations are few and far between. Fire crews managed to save a 10-year-old girl in Hatay province. She was trapped under the rubble for 90 hours. And when she was pulled free, she asked for some milk.
And the moment a boy was pulled from the rubble in Aleppo, in Syria on Wednesday.
Most of the rescue work in the rebel-held Syria has been done by the volunteer group the White Helmets. After working nonstop for more than 90 hours, they say operations will continue until Friday.
Meanwhile, the first U.N. aid convoy has finally crossed from Turkey into Syria carrying desperately-needed supplies. A World Health Organization official says water supplies have been disrupted, along with fuel, electricity, communication, the very basics of life.
The U.N. secretary-general is urging member states to put aside their differences and the country's civil war and save people's lives.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONIO GUTERRES, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: This is the moment of unity, so the moment to publicize or to invite, but it is obvious that we need massive support. And so, I will be, of course, very happy if the Security Council could reach a consensus to allow for more crossings to be used.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: No matter how much aid is sent, it's nowhere near enough. One U.N. official says people in Turkey and Syria need more of absolutely everything. CNN's Jomana Karadsheh has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Endless lines on the road to Iskenderun, a devastated city's cry for help answered by a nation in shock, united in pain.
These men tell us they drove more than 8 hours, carrying diapers, water, and bread, whatever they can do to help strangers who need all they can get.
Destruction in every corner of the city. No building spared Mother Nature's wrath.
KARADSHEH: So even in this part of the city, where buildings are still standing. You can see that there are cracks all over these buildings. They've sustained damage, so we're going to have to walk through here really fast. We just don't know how stable these structures are right now.
KARADSHEH (voice-over): In seconds, life shattered, livelihoods destroyed. A city and its people, left broken.
SERVER ONEN, ISKENDERUN, TURKEY RESIDENT: I am confused. I don't know how to feel. Senseless.
KARADSHEH (voice-over): Server has been out here searching for his friend, the only one left under the wreckage of this apartment building. No professional rescuers are here, just volunteers, drawing floor plans for their search in the dirt.
ONEN: First day, I was really hopeful, but this is the fourth day. I'm -- I'm getting out of hope.
KARADSHEH (voice-over): Even happy endings here are overshadowed by the collective grief. Burak flew back from his home in London to find his sister and other relatives. It's a miracle they made it out. They were buried under the rubble for 15 hours, he tells us.
BURAK DIK, FAMILY RESCUED: I'm speechless, to be honest. I'm in a dream. Very bad dream. I'm here, and you know, so many of our friends dying here. So many relatives are dying. My feelings are all collapsed. I'm only breathing at the moment.
[00:05:10]
KARADSHEH (voice-over): Around the corner, we find Suheyl overseeing the search mission here. For days, he's desperately been trying to get his parents out.
[00:05:17]
SUHEYL SUMBULTEPE, EARTHQUAKE SURVIVOR: Our government helps, but it's not enough, obviously. So, we are trying to get our people by our own, and we need you. We need everyone who can come and help us.
KARADSHEH (voice-over): Suheyl's tells us he saw his mother's leg under the rubble.
SUMBULTEPE: I'm not able to reach her. She is there, I see her, but I cannot touch her. I understand my mother is dead. I'm trying to get my mother.
KARADSHEH (voice-over): With every passing hour, for many here, the agonizing wait ends as the gut-wrenching reality sinks in.
Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, Iskenderun, Turkey.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Gonul Tol was in Southern Turkey visiting family when the region was rocked by the 7.8 magnitude quake. She's now back home in Washington, where she is founding director of the Middle East Institute's Turkey program.
Thanks very much for joining us. It's good to have you with us.
GONUL TOL, FOUNDING DIRECTOR, MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE'S TURKEY PROGRAM: Thanks for having me.
VAUSE: Just first up, how are you dealing with your experience with everything that's happened, because I understand you lost some relatives in the quake. TOL: Well, yes. I just returned from Turkey, and it feels like it's
been a lifetime since I left my home in D.C. My heart and mind are still with family back home.
VAUSE: Yes. It's a difficult time for everyone, I imagine. It's more difficult for others than some, I guess. Now, here's Turkey's president speaking on Wednesday on the government's response to this quake.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN, TURKISH PRESIDENT (through translator): On the first day, we experienced some issues, but then on the second day, and today, the situation has been taken under control.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Would you agree with that assessment?
TOL: No, I was there only the first day that the earthquake hit. I was in Hatay, which is one of the worst-hit cities, and it was like a war zone. It was as if someone dropped a bomb and the city leveled to the ground.
And I had family members trapped under the rubble, and we waited and waited and waited. It took 48 hours for rescue workers and rescue agencies to show up, only to tell us that they could not help us, because they received orders from Alkarat (ph) that they had -- they had to focus their research efforts somewhere else.
And that's why I lost my family members, and so did thousands and millions of people.
VAUSE: Erdogan went on to say that no one could be prepared for this disaster, but I'm wondering, could the government have been better prepared than they were?
TOL: Certainly. Powerful earthquakes kill people. But research shows that -- that they are more deadly in countries like Turkey, where building regulations aren't enforced, unqualified loyalists fill key positions, independent state institutions do not exist, and civil society has been locked out. And that's exactly where Erdogan's new Turkey is right now.
When he came to power in 2002, he came shortly after another deadly earthquake in 1999. And at the time, he criticized the government's slow response to the earthquake, and he promised to fix things.
And in the 20 years that he's been in power, he hasn't. And in many ways, he made things worse.
In 1999 earthquake, I was there helping Turkish civil society provide aid to the victims, and at the time, the military had been dispatched to a critical role. There were 35 organizations. There are aid agencies, rescue workers. Sone of those teams were present there in Hatay in the first 48 hours. I think that's largely because of the missteps that Erdogan has taken.
VAUSE: I should say, he swept to power on the back of that poor government response to the 1999 earthquake. Could this earthquake sweep in from power?
TOL: Well, judging by the anger of the victims, I would say that that will all pay a political price for his government's slow response. But it's still too early to tell, he survived previous disasters.
This is not the first one, and he might survive this one depending on the next steps -- the next steps that he will take to -- to heal the wounds.
VAUSE: The World Health Organization is warning of another crisis brewing, potentially with a higher death toll than the earthquake. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ADELHEID MARSCHANG, WHO SENIOR EMERGENCY OFFICER: There is a secondary health crisis emerging in the aftermath, as underlying health risks will likely be exacerbated. I'm speaking about, and especially in the case of Syria, the real diseases, including cholera, respiratory illnesses, (UNINTELLIGIBLE), physical and mental trauma, and disability, secondary wound infection, et cetera.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Obviously, Syria is more at risk, but how vulnerable is Turkey right now, given the damage to the infrastructure and the amount of wounded people that are out there?
TOL: It's quite vulnerable, actually, because there are thousands of people. Remember, the earthquake affected 10 million people, several major big cities. And there are still thousands, if not millions of people, under the rubble, many of them dead.
That means the government has to -- has to act fast to pull them out of trouble. And so far, I'm not seeing that happening.
My family members pulled the loved ones out of the rubble with their bare hands. But if -- if necessary steps are not taken, all the problems will threaten Syria will be threatening the Turkish people.
VAUSE: Gonul Tol, thank you so much for being with us. So sorry for your loss. We wish you all the rest. Thank you.
TOL: Thanks for having me.
VAUSE: Ukraine's president made a heartfelt appeal for E.U. membership, telling lawmakers in Brussels that Europe is Ukraine's home.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy received a warm welcome and enthusiastic applause from the European Parliament on Thursday. He says Ukraine and Europe share the same values, and joining the bloc would be a homecoming of sorts.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): This is our Europe. These are our roots. This is our way of life. And for Ukraine, it's a way home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: President Zelenskyy went on to thank the countries which have sent weapons and aid, as well as the people of Europe, who have given shelter to millions of Ukrainian refugees who have fled Russia's war. He also met with the E.U. leaders and asked for military aid, including fighter jets. The president of the European Parliament says Ukraine's future is in the E.U.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTA METSOLA, PRESIDENT, EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: We have your back. We were with you then. We are with you now. We will be with you for as long as it takes. Freedom will prevail, peace will reign, you will win. (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
(END VIDEO
VAUSE: Ukrainian officials report an uptick in fighting on both the Southern and Eastern front, as well as a major Russian offensive near the occupied city of Crimea. The regional governor says while Russian attacks have reach maximum escalation around Crimea, Ukrainian defense lines have not been breached.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SERHIY HAYDAY, HEAD OF LUHANSK REGIONAL MILITARY ADMINISTRATION (through translator): There, our soldiers are constantly repelling a large number of attacks by the occupation troops. They have not had much success. There is no breakthrough, the situation is difficult, but it is still controlled by our defense forces.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: This could be the start of a major Russian offensive which Ukraine has anticipated in months. If it is, it's beginning slowly and gradually, building in scale and intensity and comes long before the first Western-made battle tank is expected to arrive.
And with many Ukrainian troops left exhausted and for residents close to the front line, once again, they must decide to stay or to go.
For the small town of Yeppo (ph), that decision was made for them. Police ordered an evacuation because of a Russian breakthrough of Ukrainian defenses was possible.
Live to Washington now and CNN military analyst, Colonel Cedric Leighton. He's been standing by.
Good to have you with us tonight. Thank you, sir.
COL. CEDRICK LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: You bet, John. Good to be with you.
VAUSE: I want you to listen to a little more from the Luhansk governor on that Russian offensive. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We can conclude that a certain escalation has already begun. And we can say, de facto, that this is part of the full-scale offensive that Russia has been planning.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: It seems here the plan by Moscow is to slowly build the offensive, gradually increase the intensity, but why? What's the point?
LEIGHTON: Yes, if I were doing this planning, John, I'd be doing it a bit differently. I would definitely start with a major move -- start with major movements in other areas, perhaps.
But what the Russians are doing, it seems to be a gradual approach that allows them to pin Ukrainian forces down in certain areas. But it doesn't seem to be followed up by things moving in, say, other areas or with a backfill to the forces that are moving forward.
So there's a bit of a problem with the way the Russians are doing this, and the Ukrainians may be able to defend their lines as a result of that.
[00:15:04]
VAUSE: Well, keep in mind, "Foreign Policy" magazine quotes an unnamed Ukrainian official talking about Russian forces inside Ukraine. More than 300,000 troops, 1,800 tanks, almost 4,000 armored vehicles, 2,700 artillery systems, 400 fighter jets, 300 helicopters,
Ukraine. More than 300,000 troops, 1800 e Ukraine. More than 300,000 troops, 1800 tanks, 4000 armored vehicles, 2,700 artillery systems, 400 fighter jets, 300 helicopters. You know, this just goes on and on. That's the Russian materiel inside Ukraine.
And the number of troops, that's about 100,000 more troops than the initial invasion. And that may explain why Zelenskyy is asking for this. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENSKYY (through translator): Ukraine needs artillery guns, shells for them, modern tanks, long-range missiles and modern aviation. I am grateful to everyone who provides such arm assistance. We have to enhance our dynamics of our cooperation. We have to do it faster than the aggressor.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: So, is this Russian offensive is underway right now, can Zelenskyy get anything that he needs within ten days?
LEIGHTON: Within ten days, that's really going to be a very difficult thing to do, John.
There are certain things that are already in the pipeline. Portions of the HIMARS systems that are, you know, being added to what we already have in Ukraine.
But the very fact of the matter is -- is that most of the weapons systems that are being discussed, the tanks, you know, other systems that have been talked about, those are not going to make it in ten days.
And it's going to be very tough for the Ukrainians to hold on because this quantity that the Russians have, this over-abundance of troops and equipment that you pointed out, that has a quality all its own, and that is going to be very dangerous for the Ukrainians in a few weeks.
VAUSE: And the Russians have made some small gains over the past week or so, but it's comes at tremendous cost in terms of lives lost. Some reports say 1,000 lives are being lost a day. A thousand Russia soldiers are dying every day. Losing that many men on any given day, that just seems unsustainable?
LEIGHTON: It is, and you know, I think this really points to a major weakness in the Russian strategy at this point. The idea of throwing personnel into these situations without keeping them alive, without having a major plan to keep them alive is costing them a lot.
And if the figure is correct, 1,000 a day that they're actually losing, that is going to be a significant drain on their resources. As great as the Russian resources are, they are not inexhaustible, and that is going to create a real problem for them.
So the Ukrainians may be able to grind them down in a way of attrition that, you know, can help them. But the Ukrainians also, of course, have to be very careful to keep their resources alive.
VAUSE: We're hearing that the total number of Russian troops have died since this war began. It's around 200,000. How much credibility do you put on that number?
LEIGHTON: Well, I think it's a bit high, but it is not impossible. I would put the figure perhaps at around 170 to 180,000, but that is -- you know, it's not beyond the realm of possibility that that's the case.
Certainly, a lot of Russian troops have been wounded, and even if they haven't been killed in action, many of them had to -- had to withdraw from the battlefield. And that, of course, renders them combat ineffective, and that could very well have a tremendous impact on the Russian ability to sustain any offensive at this point. VAUSE: Yes. It's a big loss each day, too. Cedric Leighton, thank you
very much, sir.
LEIGHTON: You bet, John, anytime.
VAUSE: Military aid from the U.S. and its allies have been a lifeline for Ukraine's military since the start of the war, but some of the weapons provided to Kyiv were made decades -- decades -- ago.
Sam Kiley reports on how Ukrainians are making do with military equipment from another era.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAM KILEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carrying weapons designed 75 years ago, these Ukrainians are grateful that they're training with an American vehicle, even if it's from another age.
They're a mixture of combat veterans and relatively new recruits, but all have been fighting in Ukraine's Eastern front with Russia in the cauldrons of Bakhmut and Soledar.
Their commander-in-chief, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has begged the West for modern NATO standard equipment, and he's been given some modern weapons but not the strategic weapons, like long-range missiles and jets that he says he needs.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's war is expected to intensify, and Ukrainians make do with old Soviet weapons. And workhorse hand-me-downs like these M- 113s, aluminum troop carriers, which the U.S. Army started using in 1960.
About 400 have been given to Ukraine by the U.S. and others. This has been patched up since it took a direct hit in Bakhmut, where the top gunner was killed.
"To say that it's old, well, it looks old, but it just looks battered. But it does the job, 100 percent," he tells me.
[00:20:07]
Ukraine has been given better air defenses, better artillery, better missile systems than they had before, but Zelenskyy said that's not enough in any way. It's not the best equipment, often, not even second best.
KILEY: The Ukrainian military are keen to stress that they're really, really grateful for all and any help that they're given. These armored personnel carriers from America are better than some of what they started the war with, and they're an important part of battlefield replacement. They've been here since the summer. This one already needs a new engine.
KILEY (voice-over): Ukraine captures a lot of what it needs from Russia. It's desperately cannibalizing ancient equipment for parts, like a 20th century nation under siege, not a nation that's backed by America and by NATO allies.
Making do is what Ukraine has done. Privately though, commanders here make it clear that it's going to take more than an iron will and hand- me-down weapons for them to win this war.
Sam Kiley, CNN, in Southern Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: A big legal move by the U.S. Justice Department investigating the insurrection on January 6th. A subpoena had been issued for the former vice president, Mike Pence. He of "hang Mike Pence" fame. Will he comply? What do prosecutors want to know? That's next.
Also, the FBI examining remnants of the suspected Chinese spy balloon. What they're learning as the political fallout intensifies.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence is now facing a subpoena from the special counsel investigating Donald Trump's role in the U.S. Capitol riot.
The Justice Department wants Pence's testimony about his interactions with Trump leading up to the 2020 election and on the day of January 6th itself.
CNN's Evan Perez has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR U.S. JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: A historic milestone in the Justice Department's investigation of Donald Trump and his allies for trying to overturn the 2020 election.
The special counsel, Jack Smith, has issued a subpoena to former Vice President Mike Pence, seeking documents and testimony in the January 6th investigation.
Prosecutors want the former vice president to testify about his interactions with Trump, leading up to and after the 2020 election, and the crucial days before rioters, who believed Trump's claims of vote fraud, attacked at the U.S. Capitol. This all follows months of negotiations between the Justice Department and lawyers for the former vice president.
Among the issues that we expect to come out, Donald Trump's claim of executive privilege, for conversations with his vice president.
Pence, who is considering a run for president, published a memoir in November in which he described some of his interactions with Trump, as the former president sought to overturn the results of his election, lost to President Joe Biden.
Pence's team knew that the book's publication raised the prospect that the Justice Department would likely seek information about those same interactions as part of its criminal investigation.
[00:25:12]
It's also notable that to a Pence's former aides have already testified to the grand jury, going in twice, after a judge compelled additional testimony overriding Trump's claim of executive privilege.
Evan Perez, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: The U.S. House has unanimously passed a resolution that symbolically rebukes China over its suspected spy balloon. Lawmakers called it a brazen violation of American sovereignty.
Although there is still a deep divide between lawmakers over the shootdown of the balloon, which many Republicans are angry over that it did not happen sooner.
Meantime, U.S. officials are divulging new details about the balloon's capabilities, as the FBI examines what's left of it.
CNN's Alex Marquardt has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Biden administration and Pentagon facing a bipartisan barrage of questions today on Capitol Hill, over the Chinese surveillance balloon.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You guys have to help me understand why this baby wasn't taken out long before.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): Accused of a lack of alarm and criticism over their decision to not shoot down the balloon sooner, when it was near Alaska.
SEN. LISA MURKOWSKI (R-AK): The fact of the matter is, Alaska is the first line of defense for America.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): In four different, often tense hearings, administration officials stood by their argument that it was safer to let the balloon cross the country while also gathering intelligence on Chinese capabilities. Many Democrats satisfied, many Republicans still rejecting the White House and Pentagon's positions.
SEN. DAN SULLIVAN (R-AK): Next time, you know, we're not going to wait for it to trend -- go all across my state, all across the lower 48, and then shoot it down.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): Officials now tell CNN there was a warning from the Defense Intelligence Agency, the day before the balloon entered U.S. air space near Alaska.
When it did on January 28th, fighter jets were sent up to I.D. the balloon, but it was decided to let it fly on, on a Northern trajectory and collect intelligence on it.
Suddenly, officials said, it took a strange turn South towards the lower 48 states, crossing into Idaho on January 31st and Eastwards across the country.
After it was decided to not shoot the balloon down overland, U-2 spy planes were sent up to monitor it. The administration determining that the balloon was no longer sending information back to China, sources say, and the U.S. trying to block it from gathering more intelligence on sensitive U.S. military sites.
This balloon, just a small part of a broader, years-long Chinese balloon program whose fleet the State Department says flew over more than 40 countries.
ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: The United States was not the only target of this broader program, which has violated the sovereignty of countries across the five continents.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): The balloon program run by China's military, officials say, in part out of Hainan province, the Southernmost tip of China.
China outraged at the shootdown, demanding the return of the remnants of the balloon. The U.S. refusing, instead sending the recovered pieces from the ocean to an FBI lab, where analysis has begun. So far, that includes the canopy, wiring and some electronics.
MARQUARDT: We have learned that the plane was carrying sophisticated electronics that are capable of surveillance of signals, like communications and orator. So far, what the FBI has collected has just been what was on the surface of the water off of South Carolina. An FBI officials said they haven't yet seen the payload where most of the surveillance equipment would be.
This is the first time that the FBI has investigated a spy balloon like this one, and officials say that they're analyzing the components for possible criminal charges.
Alex Marquardt, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: When we come back here on CNN, the latest on the earthquake disaster in Turkey and Syria. Thousand s of buildings have collapsed. Thousands more have been left damaged. Survivors now waiting outside their collapsed homes with body bags.
Also, a massive trove of hacked documents by exiled ethnic Uyghurs to learn what happened with the families. What have they learned?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The government documents told me that, yes, it is -- it is related to you, and it is your -- your fault.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:31:52]
VAUSE: Welcome back, everyone. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
The death toll has now risen past 21,000 in Turkey and Syria, and survivors say the earthquake did not kill them, but the freezing cold will.
More than four days on, there is still life beneath the rubble, while emergency crews say the chances of finding more survivors are slim.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Still, there is baby Helen, rescued after 68 hours, buried under debris in Southern Turkey.
Meantime, the U.N. is finally -- U.N. aid, rather, is on the way to Northern Syria, a convoy of six trucks blast through the only border crossing from Turkey on Thursday, carrying shelter supplies and nonfood items.
Gyms, mosques and schools have been open at night to offer some real relief from the cold. Some people huddled around fires on the streets. Diversity have nothing to eat, nowhere to go.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ABU BAKER, EARTHQUAKE SURVIVOR (through translator): We are four families staying in this vehicle. Thank God we came out fine, but the buildings we live in are uninhabitable right now. Not only us but all the entire neighborhood we live in is like that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: For those whose hopes have not collapsed, there is fear to them that they may, so they stay away. We have more now on the situation in Syria from CNN's Salma Abdelaziz.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A rescue worker sings to little Mina (ph), talks and shares stories with her. He goes on and on, chatting about anything to distract her from the horrifying reality that she's being extracted from the ruins of her home.
Mina (ph) is eventually pulled out safely. Her family has also survived. Rescued by members of the White Helmets, a group of first responders, seen as heroes in this rebel held enclave of Syria.
Nearly 12 years of war has made the group experts on the grim task of retrieving people from collapsed buildings.
Syrians living in opposition-controlled areas, battered by the government of President Bashar al-Assad, and feeling neglected by the world, have come to depend on only themselves, even in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake.
The result is catastrophic, here, there is a shortage of everything, even body bags. This man has arrived with just one bag to hold all four of his dead relatives.
"We hope that countries would come to our rescue," he says, "but there was only our community that came to help us. Nobody else. We have no one to help us."
And for the thousands of wounded pulled out of the rubble, they face a healthcare system on the brink, another volunteer group here is the Syrian-American Medical Society, doing its best to provide care on the ground.
[00:35:04]
But equipment and supplies are scarce, and countless deaths, they warn, could be prevented if they could just get the basics. And for those survivors unharmed but made homeless, vehicles are now sheltered, sidewalks are beds. Shivering in olive groves, is all that's left.
A crisis within a crisis, that's left those with nothing, somehow, with even less.
Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, Istanbul.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: If you're looking for information on how to help earthquake survivors, please go to CNN.com/impact. You'll find a list of organizations working on rescue and relief efforts. Again, CNN.com/impact.
After years without contact, several exiled ethnic Uyghurs are learning what is happening to their families. A new online tool allows anyone to search through a massive collection of hacked documents. The information reveals the scope of the surveillance apparatus Beijing uses to monitor the Uyghur population in Xinjiang.
Ivan Watson has details on this exclusive report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The search for missing loved ones.
ABDUWELI AYUP, HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST: I am putting in my younger sister's I.D. number.
WATSON (voice-over): Abduweli Ayup is a human rights activist and ethnic Uyghur from China's Xinjiang region. From exile in Norway, he looks for the first time at a Chinese police file from 2017 on his sister, Sedjita (ph).
AYUP: It's really in detail.
WATSON (voice-over): He hasn't spoken to her in years.
AYUP: She got arrested September 6, sent to education camp, stayed there about a month, and then sent to the detention center and sentenced 11 years.
WATSON (voice-over): The Chinese police file states that Sedjita (ph) Ayup is a two-faced or treasonous government official. Police apparently flagged the high school geography teacher because of ties to her brother, an outspoken critic, once jailed by the Chinese government.
AYUP: The government document called me that, yes, it is -- it is related to you, and it is your -- your fault.
WATSON (voice-over): Ayup got early access to this new search engine. It's linked to tens of thousands of files that were hacked from police computers in Xinjiang.
ADRIAN ZENZ, VICTIMS OF COMMUNISM MEMORIAL FOUNDATION: It's 830,000 different people are in these files, and it's clear from the files that tens of thousands of them are detained.
WATSON (voice-over): Adrian Zenz, a researcher with the Victims Of Communism Memorial Foundation, first released some of the hacked police files last year. The Chinese government as not denied their authenticity but state media has slammed his analysis of the data, calling it disinformation.
Beijing denies it committed human rights abuses while detaining up to 2 million ethnic Uyghurs and other minority groups in reeducation camps in Xinjiang, a campaign of mass repression the U.S. government claims amounts to genocide.
Zenz launched the search engine, hoping it will provide the Uyghur diaspora information about family members back home in Xinjiang.
ZENZ: The black hole is the most terrifying thing, and I think that's part of why the Chinese state creates this black hole. It's the most terrifying thing that can be done, that you don't even know the fate of a loved one is alive or dead.
Mamatjan Juma remembers June 12th, 2006, the last time he saw his family.
MAMATJAN JUMA, UYGHUR IN U.S.: I remember that day, I was passing the airport checkpoint, and they were waving. And I saw them -- Their images still in my mind, you know. The picture, it comes to me sometimes. That's the last time I saw my brothers.
WATSON (voice-over): Juma is now a journalist with Radio Free Asia's Uyghur language service in Washington D.C., which Beijing labels as an anti-China propaganda organization.
Unable to go home for fear of arrest and unwilling to even call his relatives for fear that they could then be punished.
JUMA: I'm going to search one of my brothers.
WATSON (voice-over): So now, he can only look at their police files.
WATSON: Did the files confirm the detention of any of your loved ones?
JUMA: Yes, detention of my -- three of my brothers, yes. And then, I found one of my brother's pictures in that -- in that file.
WATSON (voice-over): A mugshot of his younger brother, Esadja (ph), taken in detention.
WATSON: How does he look?
JUMA: He looked like he lost his soul. It gives you a feeling of guilt, you know, because -- because of that, they are tied to you and they're persecuted. It's not really kind of an easy feeling to digest.
[00:40:05]
WATSON (voice-over): A photo of Juma and his brothers in happier times.
JUMA: I wish I could go back to this moment, you know. I wish I could go back to this moment.
WATSON (voice-over): Today, Juma is left piecing together what happened to his family through the Chinese police files, and the level of detail, even on people who were never accused of crimes, is chilling.
JUMA: Fingerprints, DNA samples, voice impulse, profile pictures, bioscans. These are the biometric information they collected on my mother.
When you look at it, you see this perfect example of a full-blown surveillance state.
WATSON (voice-over): Half a world away, in Adelaide, Australia, Marhaba Yakub Salay just found a police file for her 17-year-old nephew.
MARHABA YAKUB SALAY, UYGUR IN AUSTRALIA: That's insane. That's -- that's terrible. No, I did not expect to.
WATSON (voice-over): The file states that in 2017, when the boy was only 12, police labeled him category two, "a highly suspicious accomplice" of a public security or terrorism case, and that's not all.
SALAY: This is my niece.
WATSON: Your niece has a police file?
SALAY: No way.
WATSON (voice-over): The file claims that, by the age of 15, Marhaba's (ph) niece traveled extensively, something her aunt denies.
SALAY: Argentina, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Dubai, Egypt, Pakistan, no way. Does that mean -- does that mean they are saying that she has been in this country?
WATSON (voice-over): So far, neither child has been detained, but Salay worries for their future.
Their mother, Mayila (ph), her sister, has already been in and out of detention for years, accused of financing terrorism for wiring money to her parents in Australia to help buy a house.
WATSON: If you could tell them something, what would you like to tell them?
SALAY: I am so sorry what's happening to them, and I'm so sorry what's happening to their mother, my sister. I am sorry I can't help them. They deserve so much better than this. They are innocent.
WATSON (voice-over): The more than 800,000 police profiles only provide a partial snapshot to the broader system of surveillance and repression in Xinjian.
They don't alleviate the survivors' guilt shared by many relatives living abroad, desperate to learn anything about their loved ones back in China.
Ivan Watson, CNN, Hong Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Russia's Wagner Group appear to be changing recruitment tactics. Ahead, the possible reasons it's no longer hiring prisoners to fight in Ukraine.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Welcome back. As Russian casualties mount in Ukraine, the Wagner mercenary group made a surprise announcement. It would no longer recruit Russian prisoners to fight in Ukraine.
[00:45:04]
Tens of thousands have already been sent to the front lines, and the reason for the sudden change is not entirely clear.
CNN's Fred Pleitgen has the story. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Wagner mercenaries in brutal battles around Bakhmut in Eastern Ukraine.
Among the assault force, convicts charging in waves, suffering devastating losses.
Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin often praises his group's battlefield efficiency, but now a sudden about face. "We have completely discontinued the recruitment of prisoners into Wagner PMC," he writes. "Those who work for us now are fulfilling all their obligations."
Ukrainian intelligence recently gave CNN access to two convicts recruited by Wagner, who the Ukrainians captured on the front line. They said they were speaking with us willingly, but we're disguising their identity for their own safety.
"There were 90 of us in our first assault," he says. "Sixty died in that first assault, killed by mortar fire. A handful remain wounded."
The men say they were essentially cannon fodder, but retreating was not allowed.
"We were given the task of taking a place, and we had to take it at any cost," he says. "We couldn't retreat without orders, because if we didn't comply, we'd be killed."
For months, Prigozhin personally went to Russian jails with his offer, even for murderers and rapists. Fight six months in Ukraine and if you survive, you'll be free.
"Only a handful in my unit came from money," he says. "Most came because they had long jail sentences, but there were also some who had only 12 days of their sentence remaining, and they went anyway."
The Ukrainians believe Wagner has so far sent around 50,000 convicts to Ukraine, with a massive attrition rate. As high as 80 percent killed, wounded, captured, or deserted.
Prigozhin, though, seems unfazed by the losses. "Their contracts have ended. They're going home," he just said.
But why would Prigozhin say he's changed what he feels is a winning formula? He didn't give any reason, but one possibility might be that the Russian defense ministry has sidelined Wagner and is now fully taking control of recruiting convicts. At least that's the view of prisoner advocacy group, Russia Behind Bars.
OLGA ROMANOVA, RUSSIA BEHIND BARS (through translator): Prisoners are difficult to deal with. Some Russian soldiers might not like fighting alongside prisoners in trenches. But there's big potential, and it's easy to recruit masses.
WATSON (voice-over): Russia's defense ministry didn't reply to our request for comment, but Ukrainian military intelligence believes there is a power struggle unfolding.
"The leadership of the Russian armed forces is going to belittle Prigozhin's role," he says. "So that he cannot strengthen his position in the Kremlin hierarchy."
PLEITGEN: Now, of course, there could be various other reasons why Yevgeny Prigozhin seems to be changing his strategy here in Ukraine and now says that he's no longer going to be using conflicts on the frontlines.
He could simply be running out of people willing to go, even in Russian jail. Certainly, it seems as though word is spreading that the attrition rate for convicts recruited by Wagner is extremely high.
It could also be a shift in Russia's strategy that makes that kind of warfare less effective on the front lines. It's really unclear, and certainly, we're not hearing from Moscow that's to what the reasons could be.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Kyiv, Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: More than 200 political prisoners in Nicaragua were released Thursday and flown directly to the United States. Most have been jailed during a crackdown on political opponents and critics of President Daniel Ortega, who says the release was not negotiated with Washington.
Still, after touchdown, they were welcomed at the airport by Nicaraguan expatriates and by U.S. officials. The State Department says it will continue to support the Nicaraguan people, calls the release a positive move.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLINKEN: The release of these individuals by the government of Nicaragua marks a constructive step towards addressing the human rights abuses in the country. This action opens the door to the discussion of other matters of mutual concern.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The former prisoners will be granted humanitarian parole for two years and allowed to remain in the U.S. and apply for asylum.
In South Africa, the ongoing electricity crisis has prompted President Cyril Ramaphosa to declare a national state of disaster.
South Africans have been experiencing severe power outages due to a lack of maintenance in power plants as well as corruption, causing people, businesses and even essential services like hospitals and funeral homes to arrange their work schedules around blackouts, what's known as load sharing.
Here's what the president said during his State of the Nation address. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CYRIL RAMAPHOSA, SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT: Our country has, for many months, endured a debilitating electricity shortage that has caused immense damage to our economy and to the livelihood of our people. Our most immediate task is to traumatically reduce the severity of load sharing in the coming months and ultimately to end load sharing altogether.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[00:50:16]
VAUSE: Ramaphosa also outlined anti-corruption reforms and said he would appoint a minister of electricity to oversee all aspects of electricity response.
South Korea is urging Pyongyang to immediately stop what it calls its illegal nuclear and missile development and return to negotiations. Seoul criticized the North for staging spectacular military parades and celebrations, while so many North Koreans are struggling amid a food crisis and a worsening economy.
CNN's Paula Hancocks has details from Seoul.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Missile after missile rolled through Pyongyang's main square Wednesday night, its biggest, intercontinental ballistic missile, Hwasong-17, presumed capable of reaching mainland United States.
No speech from leader Kim Jong-un this time, but this many ICBMs are a message in themselves.
LT. GEN. CHUN IN-BUM (RET.), SOUTH KOREAN ARMY: They've now gotten a good production line of this very capable, threatening missile system.
HANCOCKS (voice-over): And what some experts say may be a mock-up of a new solid fuel ICBM, which would make it quicker to lunch and easier to move.
IN-BUM: If this is the case, it gives them more mobility, flexibility, lethality and so forth.
HANCOCKS (voice-over): Kim Jong-un told the world he wanted a bigger and better nuclear arsenal, and judging from these images, provided by state run media, that seems to be exactly what he is doing.
Another first: the military parade was a family affair. Kim's wife and daughter were watching the missiles roll by. Believe to be called Ju- Ae, maybe nine or ten years old, this is the fifth public event for Kim's daughter since November, the only one of his children to be some in public, fueling speculation that he may be grooming her for succession. CHEONG SEONG-CHANG, CENTER FOR EAST ASIAN COOPERATION, SEJONG
INSTITUTE: In order to seize power in North Korea, gaining control of the military and their loyalty is the most important thing, so I think that's why Kim Ju-Ae is mainly accompanying Kim to military related occasions.
HANCOCKS (voice-over): Kim Jong-un's message has been we will strengthen the military, and we will be ready for war.
Paula Hancocks, CNN, Seoul.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: When we come back, composer, conductor, record producer, singer, the legacy and the music of Burt Bacharach.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC: BURT BACHARACH, "WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW IS LOVE")
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: That was music legend Burt Bacharach, playing one of his biggest hits in the movie "Austin Powers."
On Thursday, family members announced the acclaimed songwriter and composer had died. He was 94 years old. Bacharach wrote classic hits like "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head," "Close To You," "Do You Know the Way to San Jose," and so many more.
His songs were recorded by everyone from Dionne Warwick to Tom Jones to Patti LaBelle.
Here's Stephanie Elam with a look at an amazing life and amazing music.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Legendary tunesmith Burt Bacharach was one of the 20th century's most accomplished composers. His music spanned generations, providing signature hits for acts like the Carpenters, Dusty Springfield, Luther Vandross, Tom Jones and Dionne Warwick.
(MUSIC: "That's What Friends Are For")
[00:55:10]
ELAM (voice-over): Bacharach collaborated with other songwriters, including Carol Bayer Sager, the third of his four wives.
His second wife was actress Angie Dickinson. Their high-profile marriage lasted 15 years. Bacharach was born on May 12, 1928, in Kansas City, Missouri, as a
young man, he won a scholarship to the Music Academy of the West and had a short stint in the Army before becoming the music director for actress Marlene Dietrich, a prophetic sign for his career, where music and movies would intertwine.
(MUSI: "RAINDROPS KEEP FALLING ON MY HEAD")
ELAM (voice-over): He won an Oscar for "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head," the theme song from "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" and another for the movie score.
He took home his third Oscar for the theme song from the film, "Arthur."
(MUSIC: "THEME SONG FROM ARTHUR")
ELAM (voice-over): He also won six Grammys.
MIKE MEYERS, ACTOR/COMEDIAN: Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Burt Bacharach and Elvis Costello.
ELAM (voice-over): Bacharach's career experienced a resurgence in the late '90s. His music is heard in the "Austin Power" movies and "My Best Friend's Wedding."
And he teamed up with artists like R&B crooner Ron Isley.
He also paired with British rocker Elvis Costello on a song for the film, "Grace of My Heart."
(MUSIC: "GOD GIVE ME STRENGTH")
ELAM (voice-over): In 2012, President Obama paid tribute to the songwriting duo, Bacharach and Hal David, with the nation's highest award for popular music, the Gershwin Prize.
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What began as an occasional collaboration in the late '50s, quickly became a partnership that produced dozens of Top 40 hits. Burt and Hal have never been limited to one genre or even one generation.
ELAM (voice-over): Some criticized Bacharach's music as easy listening. He didn't seem to mind.
BURT BACHARACH, COMPOSER: There was a cartoon once that I saw or was sent to me of three guys waiting for elevators. One elevator was listed "Mancini." The other was "Maron" (ph). The other was Bacharach. So I thought, you know, that's very flattering.
ELAM (voice-over): Bacharach said his socks came from what moved him, and it was his music that over decades moved so many.
BACHARACH (singing): A chair is still a chair, even when there's no one near sitting there.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause. Michael Holmes will be back after a very short break with another hour of CNN NEWSROOM. Just singing along to Burt Bacharach.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
