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Over 34,000 Dead From Quake In Turkey And Syria; U.S. Fighter Jet Shoots Down Airborne Object Over Lake Huron; Kansas City Chiefs Win Super Bowl Over Philadelphia Eagles. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired February 13, 2023 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Paula Newton, head here on CNN Newsroom. A week, one week after Turkey's deadliest earthquakes ever, anger is growing among survivors, who feel the government's response was too little, too late. And for the third day in a row, U.S. fighter jets shoot down an object from North American skies. What officials are saying about the most recent incident.
Plus, you think they're happy the Kansas City Chiefs are the new Super Bowl champions. We'll have a live report from outside the game.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN Newsroom with Paula Newton.
NEWTON: So a week after the catastrophic earthquake in Turkey and Syria, authorities have now confirmed the deaths of more than 34,000 people. Incredibly though, emergency crews are still finding people alive under the rubble of collapsed buildings.
On Sunday, they rescued this 44-year-old man more than 160 hours after he became trapped. It was a rare moment of relief and a time of overwhelming pain. That anguish has been most profound at funeral services like these were families mourned to the loved ones they lost in the disaster.
In other cases, agony is quickly turning into anger, as earthquake victims desperately wait for help that so far has not come.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Nobody came in no way did they come here. We called for help so many times, but nothing worked. We are so worn out that we gave up and into the debris ourselves. This is what I can say now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Amid calls for more accountability, Turkish officials say they are cracking down on the developers of collapsed buildings. They say 134 people are being investigated so far.
Meantime, a convoy of United Nations aid trucks crossed into northwestern Syria on Sunday through the Turkish border. The agency says the trucks are carrying comprehensive shelter kits. A top UN official tweeted from the border that the people of northwest Syria, quote feel rightly abandoned. He added that it's his duty to correct this failure as fast as we can. Rebuilding efforts have been complicated in the country as political fault lines run deep.
The sanctions have also created obstacles that humanitarian aid has to maneuver around. And it has been difficult so far.
Joining me now is Imene Trabelsi. She is a spokesperson for the Near and Middle East region of the Red Cross, which has been providing relief in Syria. And I thank you for joining us.
And you know, we have been showing our viewers the picture in Turkey. That is bleak enough, but what of Syria? Given the sanctions we just mentioned, and so much misery for more than a decade now. What does this tragedy mean for people living there?
IMENE TRABELSI, ICRC NEAR AND MIDDLE EAST REGIONAL SPOKESPERSON: Thank you. Maybe viewers from around the world don't necessarily know that the area that was hit by the earthquake in northwest Syria was already in a very dire humanitarian situation even before this catastrophe. We were talking about one of the areas that was mostly hit by the economic crisis, but also by the intensity of violence that took place around the northern areas in Syria over the last twelve years and therefore generated not only a very severe humanitarian crisis, but also an already existing displacement crisis, very fragile, crumbling infrastructure.
So you can only imagine what people were in the situation in which people were even before the earthquake.
Now with this earthquake, we are seeing a sudden increase of urgent needs that were already existing. So, the unsatisfaction of the population in terms of the aid, it's understandable due to the fact that they were already in need. And today we are talking about the most basic needs that are not being fulfilled, such as food, heating. The temperatures are dropping as we're speaking in northern Syria and people are left in shelters that aren't adapted optic to the winter or sometimes even sleeping in cars or in the streets because the capacity of the shelters cannot take the increasing amount of people who lost homes or also are unable to return to their homes because they are afraid of a sudden collapse.
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Today, what we are being able to deliver as humanitarian actors, as the ICRC, in partnership with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, is a drop in the sea of the needs that do exist in that area. And, of course, all support, all steps that could be done in order to facilitate, to channel further aids into the northern areas of Syria, the northwest of Syria. All areas, of course, are more than welcome because it's a matter of life and death today. NEWTON: You know, it's been heartbreaking what we've heard from
Syrians themselves. I mean, they really feel neglected, forgotten, and in fact, not worthy at certain points in time, they've told us. And yet you warn that the basics, food, medicine, whatnot is not enough, what kind of aid effort, sustained aid effort, will it take there?
TRABELSI: Absolutely. Thank you for bringing that point. It's very important today to bring the attention of the word that this wave of sympathy and solidarity with Syria should not be on the event linked over the last past years. Syria was referred to as one of the words forgotten humanitarian crisis because of the fact that humanitarian needs were on the rise, while at the same time the support in terms of funding for aid operation was decreasing and therefore, it was also decreasing the ambition of eight actors, including the ICRC, to be able to work on long term sustainable solutions, such by reinforcing the vital or supporting the vital infrastructure, especially in areas such as the north.
Today, we are talking about a massive dire humanitarian crisis across Syria. 15 million out of an 18 million population are in need of a humanitarian assistance. But the humanitarian assistance, it's not only food trucks and first aid kits.
Today, the population do need vital infrastructure. They do need access to water. They do need access to health. They deserve that after twelve years of conflict that exhausted their capacity to cope with their day to day reality.
So today, this is a call that -- a call from the ICRC, all aid actors on the behalf of the Syrian population that are more than exhausted because of 12 years of conflict, is to continue the support beyond the emergency phase. Today, when the rescue operation are going to stop the works, attention is going to shift away from Syria, and Syrian are going to go back to their initial humanitarian tragedy.
So therefore, it's important today to invest in long term solutions, long term aid programming, to support the vital infrastructure from collapsing and to help people rebuild their lives.
NEWTON: Yes, an important reminder. Already one generation has suffered from the war, and now they will be facing this. Imene Trabelsi, thanks so much, appreciate it.
Now for the third day in a row, .U.S President Joe Biden has directed the military to shoot down an unidentified object. This one was spotted Sunday over northern Michigan, flying about 6,000 meters in the air. It seems the Pentagon had been tracking it for at least a day or so. A senior administration official tells CNN the object was shaped like an octagon. It had strings hanging off, but apparently no payload.
This is now the fourth object shut down in North American airspace in the past week, starting with that suspected Chinese spy balloon last weekend. CNN's Kylie Atwood has more details now on Sunday's incident.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN U.S. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (on camera): The Pentagon now confirming that at 2:42 p.m. on Sunday at the direction of President Biden, U.S. military F-16s shot down an object over Lake Huron. That is according to Pentagon press officer Caesar Santiago. This object, according to the Pentagon, was traveling at about 20,000 feet above ground. That elevation meant that it posed a threat to civilian aviation.
And there was also a flight restriction by the FAA that went into place on Saturday in Montana. And the Pentagon is saying that there's reason to believe that this object is what actually triggered that flight restriction to go into place, based on the direction that it was headed in.
And this object was shot down because of the potential threat to flight aviation and also because of its potential surveillance capabilities. With the Pentagon saying that they are now working to recover this object after it was being shot down, still many questions.
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We don't know who or what was responsible for this object or what its motivation or its objective of being in the air over your airspace actually was. Kylie Atwood, CNN, the State Department.
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NEWTON: Of course, there's another important question here. Are these four incidents connected? We want to get some perspective now from CNN's Beijing bureau chief Steven Jiang. And Steven, it's an important question. We've all been asking it officials, and yet we haven't been getting the answers that we wanted either from the United States or Canada or NORAD, what about there in China? I'm curious as to what they are saying either officially or in media reports about at least the first incident with China said was their balloon.
STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: That's right, Paula. So far, of course, the Chinese authorities have not officially responded to the latest developments over the weekend over U.S. and Canadian airspace. But the same media here has reported the story and probably not surprisingly, portraying the U.S. Military actions as absurd and exaggerated.
The Nationalistic Global Times newspaper, for example, in their editorial, described these actions as a clumsy performance art, and I quote them here the grand takeoff of U. S. warplanes apparently satisfied some people's appetite for the China threat. And it goes on to say it is not a good sign for the world if the country with the strongest military is constantly surrounded by this kind of extreme emotion and sees everything as a threat and thus wants to destroy it.
So this kind of colorful language really echoing the official stance of the government that the U.S. overreacted after they shot down the first confirmed Chinese balloon, which of course, they insist was a civilian device that drifted off course because of the weather, even though U.S. officials and many experts very much disputed that.
And now, of course, the U.S. has announced sanctions against six Chinese entities related to the balloon, which, according to CNN's own reporting, is part of a sweeping global intelligence gathering operation run by the Chinese state. And the Chinese, for their part, have been pushing back very hard on all these allegations, and they're likely to condemn the latest sanctions and also issue their vague threat for countermeasures.
But there is one intriguing development over the weekend here that is the media on Sunday quoting local maritime authorities as saying they have spotted their own UFO off the coast of eastern China and preparation was underway to shoot it down, warning local fishermen to avoid a dangerous zone, but also telling them to take photographs for evidence, as well as potentially collecting debris if conditions allowed. That story obviously went viral, as you can imagine, given what happened in the U.S. and Canada and also given the Chinese military's previous promise to take similar actions after the U.S. shut down the first confirmed Chinese balloon.
But since the reports first came out, we have not heard much updates, but that kind of silence obviously generating even more curiosity and speculation. But, Paula, all of this is really just the latest signs of this downward spiral in bilateral ties. Paula.
NEWTON: Yes, and certainly not expected to get back on track this week as everyone tries to parse what these objects were and what it means. Steven Jiang for us in Beijing. Appreciate it.
And now we go to Kansas City's. Union Station lit up in celebration for their city, the champions. The Kansas City Chiefs, the new NFL champions, after a thrilling high scoring Super Bowl LVII. They beat the Philadelphia Eagles 38 to 35 on a late field goal. And, yes, there were just seconds left. The Chiefs needed a big second half comeback, and, yes, they made it happen.
Andy Scholes, who was at the game, he's still there now outside the stadium. Andy, I mean, look, to watch the momentum go back and forth between these two teams and then to see it all come down to just a few seconds and a field goal, I mean, it was crazy.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS: It was Paula, and you know, teams that were up by double digits at halftime in the Super Bowl were 26 and one. The only team that ever lost was the Falcons when they blew that big lead to the Patriots. So that's how big of a comeback this was for the Kansas City Chiefs. And you just can't say enough about Patrick Mahomes. He now has two Super Bowl titles and two MVPs in his first six seasons. He's the first quarterback to ever do that in NFL history.
But he did have to battle Jalen Hurts in Super Bowl LVII to get it done. It was Hurt's impressing the most early on. He actually set a Super Bowl record with two rushing and one passing touchdown, and he did it in the first half alone. He would get a third rushing touchdown later in the game. Now, the second half, though, it belonged to Mahomes, even on a bad ankle. He led the Chiefs on three straight touchdown drives, and with the
game on the line in the closing minutes.
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Mahomes had a big rush, even on that bad ankle in this game, right up the middle to get them in field goal range to win the game. And it would be chief victorious by the final of 38 to 35. Mahomes named your Super Bowl MVP.
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PATRICK MAHOMES, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS QUARTERBACK: It's hard, man. It hasn't even sink in. I don't think even yet appreciate it because of the failures. I mean, the failure of losing the Super Bowl and losing the AFC championship game. It gives you a greater appreciation to be standing here as a champion. Luckily, I'm going to Disneyland now, so I have Disney World and Disneyland crossed off and also makes them more parks so I can go around everywhere and do a world tour.
ANDY REID, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS HEAD COACH: He's seen the greats and he strives to be the greatest. I mean, without saying anything, that's the way he works. I mean, he wants to be the greatest player ever. That's what he wants to do. And that's the way he goes about his business and he does it humbly.
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SCHOLES: Yes. And what a performance from Chiefs head coach Andy Reid as well in this game. I mean, he was dialing up great play after great play. I mean, Chiefs wide receivers are just running wide open. This is Reid's second Super Bowl title. Really cementing him as one of the greatest coaches in NFL history. Congrats to him.
And you know, all week we talked about how this was the Kelce ball. No family was more invested in this game than the Kelce's. Mama Kelce, she was right there on the field right after the final whistle. And check out this moment here. Consoling her son Jason. He's an offensive lineman for the Eagles. He, of course, was on the losing end of this one, but then Mama Kelce had immediately turn around and turn that frown upside down and give Travis a big old hug and a smile and congratulate him on winning his second Super Bowl title.
So, I mean, Paula, it must have just been a roller coaster of emotions for the entire Kelsey family, but pretty cool to see how she handled it after the game.
NEWTON: Absolutely. She just changed her tone on a dime. And she knew there'd be one winner, unfortunately, and one loser, so she was well prepared. Andy, I can't thank you enough for bringing us the excitement of this game because it really will go down in the history books. Andy Scholes for us outside stadium. I appreciate it.
Now, tens of thousands are without power in northern New Zealand as cyclone Gabrielle bears down on the region with heavy winds and rain. That we'll have the latest in just a few moments. Plus, some obsolete western weapons get a new lease on life in Ukraine. How Ukrainian troops are reviving military hardware that has been around for decades.
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NEWTON: Post tropical cyclone Gabrielle is approaching northern New Zealand, bringing strong winds, heavy rain and large swells. At least 58,000 people are now without power right across the North Island. That's due to the storm.
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And radio New Zealand reports domestic flights in and out of Auckland have now been cancelled and that even stranded Prime Minister Chris Hipkins in that city. The storm is expected to weaken slightly on Monday and Tuesday.
We want to bring in our Newshub reporter Laura Tupou, live now for us from Auckland and give us a sense of what people have been told to expect from this storm, given its strength and the fact that it's moving relatively slowly unfortunately.
LAURA TUPOU, NEWSHUB REPORTER: It's been nearly 24 hours since we first had these red alerts put in place for the top half of the North Islands there. That's the highest alert level that the meteorological services can place on an area.
The top of the North Islands in a red alert, the bottom of the North Island and the top of the South Islands in an orange alert. If we start from the top of the North Island in Northland, I've seen severe flooding there today. Huge power outages, as you mentioned, which has also caused cell phone towers to be out of action, causing huge communication issues in that area.
In Coramandel, there's been some coastal inundation. The sea is literally just eating away at the earth there. It's actually turned the sea into this strange orangey brown color that you can see. There's also huge slips in the area, massive problems getting in and out of those towns. You either have to go over big mountain ranges or you have to take a coastal track. So, as you can imagine, both those routes aren't very safe at the moment.
In Auckland, where we are here today, it's currently Monday evening. We're expecting the eye of cyclone Gabrielle to hit around 1:00 a.m., which coincides with high tide. Unfortunately, it will be hitting Great Barrier Island, which is about 100 kilometers from here. First of all, before it comes into Auckland, Coramandel area and then sweeps out to the east of the country in Gisborne, where today they have seen huge flooding and slash blocking rivers there. It's a huge forestry area, so lots of logs have been coming down rivers there creating diversions in the normal waterway paths.
Here in Auckland and all over the top of the North Island, we've had a lot of communications around the cyclone. People have been preparing all weekends for it. We've been told to have supplies for three days, have food, water, medication, and people have really heeded that advice. Schools have closed, businesses largely have closed, trains aren't running, as you mentioned there. Domestic flights have been canceled. Most international flights aren't coming into Auckland Airport at the moment, too. So we're all sort of bracing for this. 1:00 a.m. Time frame here in New Zealand.
NEWTON: Yes. We'll continue to get updates from you. As you said, you guys continue to brace for the brunt of the storm, which is still a few hours away. Laura Tupou for us in Auckland. Thanks so much.
Now we want to get the forecast from CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam. You've been tracking this thing for a while, and it really, in some ways, is unprecedented. Right, Derek?
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Laura was talking about the red alerts. That's the highest level that the meteorological agency in New Zealand can place on a specific area just particularly talking about Northland and the Auckland region. That's where we have that highest level red alert as we speak. And this is the second time in under two weeks.
Remember, just at the end of January, we saw heavy flooding across this region. So, unfortunately, the ground is saturated. It won't take much more rain to cause destruction within this area weakened infrastructure.
Look at some of the wording they use. Significant flooding, impassable roads, and the potential for isolated communities because of the flooding that will occur with this.
Now, you're looking at the latest visible satellite, and there's a very distinct eye with Gabrielle as it approaches the northern coastline of the North Island of New Zealand. And the forecast wind gusts not looking that promising. Unfortunately, we should anticipate wind gusts anywhere from 80 to 120 kilometers per hour. There have been gusts higher than that already reported.
Right along the eastern coastline of the North Island, we have seen rainfall totals in excess of 300 millimeters. So the rain is starting to pile up, the wind is starting to pick up, so the brunt of the storm is still yet to approach this region as the eye wall edges closer and closer to the North Island of New Zealand.
Now, it's not just a North Island storm. We want to focus in on the South Island as well, because once the winds veer and change directions into more of a southwesterly wind, we're going to get a lot of moisture laden air from the ocean, and that will produce significant amounts of rainfall for places like Christchurch into Wellington as well.
Speaking of rainfall totals, look at this. In the North Island, we've already had some locations double their monthly average for the month of February, just in a 24 hours period. So an incredible amount of precipitation already starting to accumulate across this area. So on top of what fell two weeks ago, on top of what it's already falling within the past 12 hours, we have the potential here for another 150 millimeters, so certainly flooding a big concern.
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Not to mention, Paula, the significant wind gusts with this system.
NEWTON: Yes. And the context of the kind of weather they've already had in the last few weeks that's really important at this point. Derek, thanks so much. Appreciate it.
VAN DAM: Yes.
NEWTON: We are following developments from Ukraine where the military says Russian forces are keeping up a high rate of rocket attacks on the front lines in the east. Ukraine says nearly two dozen attacks were carried out in just a 24 hours period, primarily focused in several cities in Donetsk, and that includes Bukhmuts and in the Kharkiv region as well.
Ukraine's military also says Russia has set records for hitting Ukraine's east with artillery fire that includes the Luhansk region. The Ukrainian ambassador to the UK, meantime, says his country will wait and see if allies agree to Ukraine's request for fighter jets. His comments are coming after the Polish president seemed to cast some doubt on that possibility.
President Duda said a decision on sending fighter jets to Ukraine would have to be a joint decision among allies, and that for Poland with a limited number of jets, the decision was not an easy one.
A military aid from the U.S. its allies has been a lifeline for Ukraine's military since the start of this war. Some of the weapons provided to Kyiv were made decades ago. Sam Kiley reports on how Ukrainians are making do with military equipment from another air.
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SAM KILEY, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPOINDENT (voiceover): 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 M113s, aluminum (ph) 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. Ukraine has been given better air defenses, better artillery, better missile systems than it had before. But Zelenskyy said that's not enough. And anyway, it's not the best equipment. Often not even second best.
KILEY (on camera): The Ukrainian military are keen to stress that they're really grateful for all and any help that they're given. These arm of personnel carriers from America are better than some of what they started the war with. And they're an important part of the battlefield replacement. They've been here since the summer. This one already needs a new engine.
KILEY (voiceover): 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.
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NEWTON: Still ahead for us, the mother of two young boys killed in a ramming attack at a bus stop in Jerusalem is now pleading for peace and grace.
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NEWTON: And welcome back to our viewers all around the world. I'm Paula Newton. And you're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
And we want to go back to our top story out of Turkey and Syria. A week after this massive earthquake, the death toll has now surpassed 34,000. Even now, survivors are still being pulled out from under the rubble.
Two more people where rescued in Turkey on Sunday after 162 hours. The country's vice president says after search and rescue operations conclude the debris, of course, will need to be cleared.
Meantime, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. is urging the Security Council to approve two additional access points to try and deliver aid to parts of Syria impacted by the quake. The delivery of supplies has been complicated there due to the long running civil war.
CNN's NADA Bashir has more now on the relief efforts across Turkey and Syria.
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NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Reciting a prayer, hoping for a miracle. This time, their prayers have been answered. A weekend of remarkable rescues. Several survivors pulled to freedom after almost a week buried beneath the rubble.
In Hatay smiles of relief. Their son telling his mother, we are here. We are with you. And this little girl still in a state of shock, but free at last.
Time however, is quickly running out. This French rescue team, working overnight to retrieve the body of a six-year-old-boy. Retrieving the dead, this colonel tells his team, is also a crucial part of their job.
In northwest Syria, the grief is almost too much to bear. Rescue workers here say they are no longer holding out hope for more survivors.
This is a region already decimated by President Bashar Al Assad's brutal war now crushed under the weight of one of the worst natural disasters this region has seen in a century.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No matter how horrific this disaster was, no matter how big this crisis was, we've seen and lived through such terror before.
BASHIR: Aid has finally arrived in Syria's rebel held territories. Volunteers say it's simply too little too late.
Across the border in Gaziantep, life has been transformed. This elderly woman says she lost everything. But these are tears of joy. A phone call from her son to tell her that he is alive.
For others, hope is dwindling fast. This young woman sits waiting for news. Her mother and sister are still beneath the rubble beside her.
"They are dying under there," she says, "and I am dying here."
And now as the death toll continues to soar, grief for some, is turning to anger and calls for accountability are only growing.
Nada Bashir, CNN -- Istanbul.
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NEWTON: An Israeli raid in the West Bank has left a Palestinian teenager dead. Now, it happened Sunday in the city of Jenin. Israeli authorities say they were targeting a man accused of terrorist activity against security forces but said their forces came under attack during the raid and returned fire.
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NEWTON: Now, the raid comes after a so-called ramming attack at a bus stop in Jerusalem on Friday. A young man and a boy died at the scene. The boy's brother died on Saturday. Their father, injured and recovering in hospital.
The driver of the car has been identified as a 31-year-old Palestinian man. Now, the mother of the two boys who died is now calling for love and unity. Her plea for peace comes as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised a stronger Israeli response to Palestinian attacks.
CNN's Hadas Gold reports now from Jerusalem.
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HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: She has lost two of what she calls her most precious jewels. But somehow, Debra Pawi (ph) still has strength and her faith.
"These children were given to us as gifts. Treasures to cherish," she tells reporters as she clutches photos of 5-year-old Yakov (ph) and 8- year-old Asher.
Plowed down on Friday at a bus stop just around the corner in what Israeli authorities say was a terror attack, carried out by a Palestinian driver. Pawi says she reached the scene to see paramedics administering CPR on one of her sons.
"We understood we were getting close to the place of death," she said. Her two boys, buried side by side in Jerusalem, which has become the flash point in the current wave of violence sweeping the area.
But this grieving mother who believes her sons were killed for being Jewish, calling for peace and prayer.
"Don't look for someone to blame. Don't look for revenge with force (ph). We are in a place that there is a message from God. They have taken our sweet boys, the innocent, so that we will be stronger."
Pawi says she doesn't need to worry about her children anymore. Now in heaven. Asking for prayers for her husband, injured in the attack, still hospitalized, under sedation. Six other children at home.
She calls for these sacrifices taken from the people of Israel should not be sacrificed in vain. Take the sacrifice, she says. The sacrifice will bring God's redemption.
Hadas Gold, CNN -- Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: And we go back to a story we're following in the U.S. where President Joe Biden ordered a third flying object to be shot down in as many days. It is, in fact, the 4th airborne object the U.S. military has taken down in just over a week starting with that suspected Chinese spy balloon last weekend.
Now U.S. officials say they took action after that initial incident to enhance radar capabilities, which could explain why we've had this uptick in objects detected these past few days.
Military leaders say it's still unclear what the three most recent objects where, or where they came from.
CNN national security analyst Juliette Kayyem says these incidents are much more likely to happen with an increased tracking ability in the United States, but not every object detected in the sky is a threat, she says. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I want to put this in the categories of what we know and what we don't know. So what we know is that since the Chinese balloon incident a week ago and learning of other infiltrations by the Chinese of the balloon in years past, essentially, NORAD, NORCOM and another agencies essentially what we would call opened up the aperture of what they were looking for.
So they are getting lots of positives that they did not get before. Most of that is going to be known airplanes, whatever it may be. But there are now going to be lots more things that sort of raise the level of concern.
So, that's the first thing we know. These positives were anticipated, more positives.
What we can't answer now is, is this sort of bigger aperture picking up lots of stuff that has essentially been forgiven, sort of, you know, around in the skies, whatever else it is, because it didn't pose a threat? Or is it part of something organized for whatever surveillance?
To speculate about China in all of these incidents is just -- I'm sorry -- it is just not right, right now. We do not know what these objects are. They are -- two were described as VW-sized, one is now up-tangled (ph). We don't know if there's balloons attached to them.
So we need to just sort of understand what's going on. There is a wider lens of surveillance. That is picking up things. We don't quite know what they are and our tolerance for it after what happened with China is lower.
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KAYYEM: We're going to shoot it down if it is unmanned, if it's hurting commercial or a threat to commercial aviation, and shooting it down will not harm Americans in the homeland.
That is, essentially, what's going on. The speculation is really premature at this stage.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Now, U.S. officials confirm the latest object shot down on Sunday was not a military threat but may have been a flight hazard to other aircraft.
And we turn to North Korea now where Leader Kim Jong-un's daughter, recently made her fourth appearance in state media following her father on a day of military inspections and celebrations sparking speculation she's poised to become the country's first female dear leader.
CNN's Will Ripley tells us what else is known about her. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: At this lavish banquet for the North Korea Army's 75th anniversary, Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un with his wife and a girl around nine years old, a girl some say could be the chosen one. The one being groomed as the next North Korean leader.
"By showing some quality time with his daughter, it looks like he wanted to showcase his family, a good and stable," he says. "And to show himself as the leader for normal people."
Her life is anything but normal. Her name is Kim Ju-A. At elementary school age she already outranks a room full of senior military officers.
North Korean state media describing her as Kim's respected daughter, getting a standing ovation.
DENNIS RODMAN, FORMER NBA PLAYER: I call him my friend. He's my friend.
RIPLEY: We first learned her name from Dennis Rodman, the one-time buddy of the basketball-loving Kim claimed he even got to hold the pint sized princess in 2013, when she was a baby.
A few months ago, Kim's daughter made her big state media reveal for an ICBM test at Pyongyang's airport, inspecting her father's prize arsenal, an arsenal she could someday command.
A source with deep knowledge of the North Korean leadership threw cold water on the notion this was a successor reveal telling CNN, it is too early to make any assumptions or speak about any possible successor.
For sure, it is a clear signal Chairman Kim is sending to the world. A firm commitment to protecting his family and future generations with a nuclear program.
If chosen, she would be the first female and fourth generation of Kim family leadership, like her father, grandfather, and great- grandfather.
The family formula? Fear, control and a carefully crafted PR campaign, propaganda praising the future leader's power and prowess.
The successor can be a boy or girl, youngest or oldest. It doesn't matter. The only mission? Carrying on the Kim family's fortune and power.
For a while, Kim's younger sister Kim Yo-jong was viewed as Kim's possible, eventual successor. She's known for her fiery speeches. She once famously directed the country's armed forces to blow up a joint liaison office near the border.
Now, the eyes of the world are on Kim's daughter. Experts analyzing every picture, every article for clues about the possible next North Korean leader. All of it, likely before her tenth birthday.
Will Ripley, CNN -- Taipei.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: Still ahead for us, a massive trove of hacked documents lets exiled ethnic Uyghurs learn what happened to their families. But what they learn is often painful. That story, after the break.
[01:43:27]
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NEWTON: Now, after years without contact, several exiled ethnic Uyghurs leaders are learning what has happened to their families. And it's thanks to a new online tool that allows the public to search through a massive trove of hacked documents. The information, demonstrating the scope in fact of the surveillance apparatus Beijing uses to monitor its Uyghur population in Xinjiang.
CNN's Ivan Watson now with our exclusive report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The search for missing loved ones.
ABDUWELI AYUP, HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST: I am putting in my younger sister's ID number.
WATSON: Abduweli Ayup (ph) is a human rights activists 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, Sajida (ph).
AYUP: It is (INAUDIBLE) in detail.
WATSON: He hasn't spoken to her in years.
AYUP: She got arrested September 6th, sent to education camp, stayed there about a month and then sent her to the detention center and sentenced 11 years.
WATSON: The Chinese police file states that Sajida 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 documents told me that, yes, it is related to you and it is your fault.
WATSON: 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.
AYUP: It is 830,000 different people are in these files. And it's clear from the files that tens of thousands of them are detained.
WATSON: Adrian Zenz (ph) a researcher with the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation first released some of the hacked police files last year. The Chinese government has 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 two 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.
ADRIAN ZENZ, VICTIMS OF COMMUNISM MEMORIAL FOUNDATION: The black hole is the most terrifying thing. and I think that is part of why the Chinese state creates this black hole. It is the most terrifying thing that can be done. You don't even know the fate of a loved one is even alive or dead.
WATSON: Mamatjan Juma (ph) remembers June 12 2006, the last time he saw his family.
MAMATJAN JUMA, UYGHUR EXILE: I remember that day. I was passing the airport checkpoint. And they were waving. And I saw them -- their image is still in my mind, you know. The picture. It comes to me sometimes. That is the last time I saw my brothers.
WATSON: 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 they could then be punished.
JUMA: Let's see. I'm going to search one of my brothers.
WATSON: So now, he can only look at their police files.
Did the files confirm the detention of any of your loved ones?
JUMA: Yes. Detention of three of my brothers, yes. And then I found one of my brother's pictures in that file.
WATSON: A mugshot of his younger brother, Itsajan (ph) taken in detention.
How did he look?
JUMA: He looks like he lost his soul. It gives you a feeling of guilt, you know? Because of that -- they are tied to you and they're prosecuted. It's not really kind of an easy feeling to digest.
WATSON: A photo of Juma and his brothers in happier times.
[01:49:55] JUMA: I wish I could go back to this moment, you know? I wish I could go back to this moment.
WATSON: 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 samples, profile pictures, iris scans. 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: Half a world away in Adelaide, Australia Marhaba Yakub Salay (ph) just found a police file for her 17 year old nephew.
MARHABA YAKUB SALAY, UYGHUR: That's insane. That's terrible. No, I didn't expect that.
WATSON: The file states that in 2017 when the boy was only 12, police labeled him category 2, a highly suspicious accomplice of a public security or terrorism case. And that is not all.
YAKUB SALAY: Yes, this is my niece.
WATSON: Your niece has a police file?
YAKUB SALAY: No way.
WATSON: The file claims that by the age of 15, Marhaba's niece traveled extensively, something her aunt denies.
YAKUB SALAY: Algeria, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Dubai, Egypt, Pakistan -- no way. Does that mean they are saying that she has been in these countries?.
WATSON: 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.
If you could tell them something, what would you like to tell them?
YAKUB SALAY: I am so sorry what is happening to them. I am so sorry for what is happening to their mother, my sister. I'm sorry I can't help them. They deserve so much better than this. They're innocent.
WATSON: The more than 800,000 police profiles only provide a partial snapshot of the broader system of surveillance and repression in Xinjiang. They don't alleviate the survivor's 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)
NEWTON: And we will be right back with more news in a moment.
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NEWTON: The world of Harry Potter is getting new life. The highly anticipated video game, Hogwarts Legacy, released Friday to much fanfare and controversy.
CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In light of your unique situation joining us as a fifth year, we've devised something extraordinary to ensure your success.
VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Harry Potter is back. But not in the way diehard fans may be used to. In the new open world video game, Hogwarts Legacy, players can experience the world of Harry Potter but set in the 19th century and with new characters.
The player isn't Harry, Ron or Hermione but their very own witch or wizard avatar.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is pretty much like my dream of being in Hogwarts.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It feels like a real life Harry Potter --
[01:54:51]
YURKEVICH: Hogwarts Legacy made by Avalanche and Warner Brothers Discovery, CNN's parent company, has been five years in the making. After two rollout delays, the game is finally hitting the market.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The expectations are quite high. Not just from the consumers, but also from the game makers themselves.
YURKEVICH: Some estimates suggest the game cost $150 million to make. But in a $200 billion industry, bigger than film or music, the payoff could be huge.
JOOST VAN DREUNEN, PROFESSOR, BUSINESS OF GAMES, NYU: My expectation for this title is that is going to easily sell 10 million copies which puts it very much into the black, very quickly.
YURKEVICH: The game already broke a record on Twitch for being the most watched single play or game played by streamers who got it early. And it is the number one presale this week on the gaming platform, Steam.
Warner Brothers has 20 years of experience putting out Harry Potter video games but based on the movies.
How has Warner Brothers been in terms of a game maker? DAN MARTIN, GENERAL MANAGER, VIDEOGAMESNEWYORK: A little rocky. They
definitely put out some big titles and worked with some big franchises. But their games have been hit and miss.
This definitely feels as something new. You know, Harry Potter is --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold that thought.
YURKEVICH: One of two calls during our interview from someone looking for the game.
MARTIN: It is not a commercial risk so much as it is a cultural one.
YURKEVICH: J.K. Rowling, the creator of Harry Potter, has made a series of offensive comments about the trans community, forcing pushback from some of the movies' actors and fans, some who are boycotting the new game.
Warner Brothers Discovery says Rowling is not involved in the game, but stands to make a licensing royalty.
CAMILA RODRIGUES, HARRY POTTER FAN: I thought it was going to impact my view of the whole Harry Potter world but right now I'm able to separate the situation with J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter world.
YURKEVICH: But the controversy has turned some fans off.
Are you still a Harry Potter fan?
JACOB FORD, HARRY POTTER FAN: No. I think it has become weirdly divisive and I'm old now. So I don't care.
YURKEVICH: Divisive how?
FORD: Because of the weird tension between the creator, the fans.
MARTIN: It, perhaps, has room to develop something new. To iterate on the existing relationship with the fan base. So perhaps, you know, making it into these big production video games, allows the franchise to kind of save itself a little bit from the drag it has been experiencing culturally.
YURKEVICH: Vanessa Yurkevich, CNN -- New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: And that's a wrap on this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Paula Newton.
Stay with us. The news continues in just a moment with my friend and colleague, Rosemary Church.
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