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After More Than A Week, Un Aid Finally Reached Syria; UNICEF Fears Number Of Children Killed Will Keep Growing; China's Top Diplomat To Attend Munich Security Conference, Visit Russia; Four Killed In New Zealand Cyclone As Clean-Up Begins; Police Identify Slain Students, Search For A Motive; Fierce Fighting Rages On Front Lines In Eastern Ukraine. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired February 15, 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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LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to our viewers all around the world. I'm Lynda Kinkade, and this is CNN Newsroom. Coming up, more UN aid arriving into earthquake ravaged parts of Syria. A new border crossings are being opened up to facilitate the deliveries.
The latest from the ground in Ukraine a top U.S. General says Russia has already lost and a birth control pill for men. You had me write what we know about the new drug being tested, and how it could be a game changer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From CNN Center, this is CNN Newsroom with Lynda Kinkade.
KINKADE: Well, more than a week after that massive earthquake in Turkey, more UN aid convoys are crossing into Syria with desperately needed supplies. Secretary General Antonio Guterres says nearly 5 million Syrians are in need of food, shelter, health care and protection.
The UN is launching and appeal for nearly $400 million to help earthquake victims in Syria. UN trucks are now allowed to pass through three border crossings from Turkey. The Syrian opposition rescue group known as the White Helmets is criticizing the UN for giving Syrian President Bashar Al Assad authority over those aid deliveries.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONIO GUTERRES, UN SECRETARY-GENERAL: They have an urgent message to the international community. The human suffering from these epic natural disasters should not be made even worse by manmade obstacles excess funding supplies. Aid must get through from all sides to all sides through all routes without any restrictions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: More than 41,000 people in Turkey and Syria now confirmed dead after that powerful quake in that figure is still likely to grow. More than 13,000 people remain in hospital in Turkey alone. That's according to the Turkish president in hopes of finding people alive or fading.
And yet, a handful of survivors have recently been pulled from the rubble, including a 77-year-old woman who was rescued earlier. Several others were also saved Tuesday, each of them spending around 200 hours in the bitter cold buried under debris. The survivor reaching out a hand and waving.
Well, the tragedy is also taking a toll on those rescuing. These exhausted members of an emergency crew have been sleeping in the rubble and relying on campfires for a little bit of heat.
Well, the UN's children's funds as it fears more young lives will be lost due to the disaster. UNICEF estimates that around 7 million children in Turkey in Syria have already been impacted in cold weather is causing a rise in the number of kids suffering from hypothermia and respiratory infections. CNN's Nada Bashir caught up with one family fortunate enough to escape the danger zone.
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NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER (voiceover): The landscape permanently changed the death toll still rising. Those who made it out alive now grappling with a devastating new reality. For Semir and Emel (ph), it is a reality that's painful to come to terms with.
They fled their apartment with three-year-old Lina (ph), and seven year old Yousef seconds before the building collapsed. Now they found temporary shelter in the home of one generous Istanbul resident living overseas, but their trauma is difficult to overcome. And memories of the quake still hold this family.
SEMIR CEKIC, EVACUATED FROM QUAKE ZONE (through translator): Our friends and relatives are still under the rubble. The whole family is gone.
AMAL CEKIC, EVACUATED FROM QUAKE ZONE (through translator): Youself tells me Mom, I don't have a room. I don't have a house. No toys, no friends. I want to go back to school. Lena (ph) is constantly crying. She's my only daughter. She's changed a lot.
BASHIR: The chances of finding survivors beneath the rubble is getting slimmer by the hour. But in Turkey hope persists with more miraculous rescues over the past 24 hours.
[01:05:05]
But as the days passed by, the focus is shifting to recovering the dead and helping the living.
BASHIR (on camera): But as you can see here, these volunteers have formed a human chain to carry these boxes of donations into this truck. They're being loaded, ready to leave this distribution center in Istanbul and head straight in southeast Turkey. Now, according to coordinators at this center, there are some 20,000 volunteers working around the clock across two centers here in Istanbul. They've been working for the last week sorting through thousands of donations sent to people impacted by the earthquake.
BASHIR (voiceover): But coordinators here say they need more support and fear they will be forgotten by the international community.
BASHIR (on camera): Were you scared when it happened?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
BASHIR: Scary. Very scared.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
BASHIR (voiceover): Unwell acts of generosity may go some way to help. For those who have lost everything, the rebuilding is just beginning. Nada Bashir, CNN, Istanbul.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: China's top diplomat is on an eight day tour of Europe. Wang Yi will be in Paris Wednesday morning and meet with French president Emmanuel Macron. He will also visit Russia one year on the one year anniversary of Moscow is invasion of Ukraine.
Wang Yi will also launch -- be at the Munich Security Conference this weekend where U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to be present. It would provide a chance for them to meet in person for the first time since tensions flared after a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon entered American airspace.
The White House is sharing its leading theory about three airborne objects shot down over the U.S. and Canada's airspace over the last few days. Given the limited information they have officials believe the balloons were serving a commercial or otherwise benign purpose. Here's what the White House press secretary had to say.
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KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The intelligence community did say that they are considering or looking this at this to be potentially benign. The President is taking this very seriously. And he's receiving briefings regularly we are sharing as much information as we can as possible. But we do want to make sure that the Americans, American people understand that there's no need to panic.
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CNN's Oren Liebermann has more from the Pentagon.
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OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): After days of uncertainty about the flying objects in North American airspace, the White House put forward its leading theory balloons for benign purposes. Following the classified briefing on Capitol Hill, senators from both parties feel at ease but blasted the Biden administration for not being transparent about the objects.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): The briefing was helpful today. Again, I'm not unnerved by anything. I'm confident this wasn't a, you know, an attack on the country. And I think it probably served the country well to have the president explain what's going on.
SEN. RICHARD BLUMENHAL (D-CT): There is a lot of information presented to us this morning that could be told to the American people without any harm to sources or methods or our national security.
LIEBERMANN: This spate of shootdowns revealing new complications like what happens if a fighter jet misses its target. Top U.S. general confirming the first missile and AIM-9X Sidewinder missed the object over Lake Huron.
GEN. MARK MILLEY, CHAIRMAN, U.S. JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: The missile landed harmlessly in the water of Lake Huron. We set we tracked it all the way down, and we made sure that the airspace was clear of any commercial civilian or recreational traffic.
LIEBERMANN: New audio authenticated by the Air Force from the pilots trying to figure out what that object was over the Great Lakes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just some kind of dark object. You can see some strings or something hanging down below it. I can't tell if it's holding anything.
LIEBERMANN: The U.S. and Canada haven't yet recovered any debris from the last three objects shut down. Senior Biden administration official says it's possible they may never be able to.
MILLEY: They're very difficult terrain. The second one off the coast of Alaska is that's up in in some really, really difficult terrain in the Arctic Circle, with very, very low temperatures in the minus 40s.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: FRANK01. Splash one. TOI 1.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: HUNTRESS copy. Splash.
LIEBERMANN: Meanwhile, new audio of the moment and F-22 shut down that Chinese spy balloon.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is a T-kill. The balloon is completely destroyed.
LIEBERMANN: U.S. military has recovered a significant portion of that balloon.
JOHN KIRBY, U.S. NSC COORDINATOR FOR STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS: Divers were able to get into the water over the course of the weekend and were able to recover a significant amount of debris including some of the structure and some of the electronics. LIEBERMANN (on camera): As for the ongoing recovery efforts for the balloon off the coast of South Carolina the Chinese surveillance balloon, defense official says a quote significant portion of that balloon has been recovered. A Salvage Vessel has been on the scene there since Friday.
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But divers haven't been able to work everyday because of the conditions of the water. They're rough seas essentially. But they have been able to recover again a significant portion and that includes the structure and some of the electronics that will be analyzed by the FBI. Oren Liebermann, CNN in the Pentagon.
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KINKADE: Thanks to Oren. Well, at least four people including a child of dead after a new round of flooding, landslides and high winds on New Zealand's north island. Officials says 9,000 people have been displaced from their homes and millions of people have been impacted.
The country is still recovering from a devastating rains and flooding that hit Auckland last month. The recent damages are at least partially attributed to the effects of climate change. New Zealand's climate change minister addressed parliament on Tuesday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES SHAW, NEW ZEALAND CLIMATE CHANGE MINISTER: And I have to say that as I stand here today, I'm -- I struggled to find words to express what I'm thinking and feeling about this particular crisis. I don't think I've ever felt as sad or as angry about the last decades that we spent bickering and arguing about whether climate change was real or not. Whether it was caused by humans or not, whether it was bad or not, whether we should do something about it or not, because it is clearly here now, and if we do not act, it will get worse.
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KINKADE: Cyclone Gabrielle is the third national state of emergency in the country's history.
Police have identified the three Michigan State University students shot and killed on campus. Brian Fraser was a sophomore from Detroit. Arielle Anderson was a junior also from the Detroit area. And Alexandria Verner was a junior from the small town of course in Michigan.
U.S. President Joe Biden says Americans hearts so with the Michigan State students and their families.
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JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: It's a family's worst nightmare. It's happening far too often in this country. Far too often. While we gather more information there's one thing we do know to be true. We have to do something to stop gun violence ripping apart our communities.
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KINKADE: Well, more now on the investigation from CNN's Adrienne Broaddus.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to need multiple, multiple ambulances.
ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): The gunman first opened fire on the campus Monday just before 8:30 .p.m.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my god.
UNDIENTIFIED MALE: There's no people down there trying to get out.
BROADDUS: Shooting at two locations, the first inside a classroom at Berkey Hall.
CHRIS ROZMAN, INTERIM DEPUTY CHIEF, MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY POLICE: While the officers were managing that scene at Berkey Hall, we began receiving additional reports of another shooting at the MSU Union Building.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm coming down strairwell 13 with seven people.
BROADDUS: New video show students hiding in a classroom, reacting to a knock while on the phone with police.
One witness to the shooting says his fight or flight response kicked in.
DOMINIK MOLTKY, WITNESS: To the far side of the class and ducked down and he came in and shot three to four times in our classroom.
BROADDUS: Police released a photo of the suspect taken from campus security cameras and the caller's tip sent them to Lansing, Michigan.
UNIDENTFIEID MALE: It's going to be a suspect wearing red shoes and a backpack.
BROADDUS: The search ended just before midnight.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shots fired.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shots fired, 23:49. Subject down.
BROADDUS: Police said the gunman shot himself during a confrontation with police and die.
ROZMAN: We have absolutely no idea what the motive was at this point. We can confirm that the 43-year-old suspect had no affiliation to the university. He was not a student, faculty staff, current or previous.
BROADDUS: According to police, they are now investigating a two-page note found in the gunman's backpack, saying he's going to quote finish off Lansing and that there are quote, 20 of him who will carry out shootings, according to a source familiar with the investigation. Law enforcement now investigating a local residence where the government's father says he lived with him and two weapons.
The shooter purchased two handguns in Michigan in 2021. A law enforcement source tells CNN.
ROZMAN: We do have at least one weapon.
BROADDUS: The gunman had been arrested before. He was released from probation in May of 2021 after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor for possession of a loaded firearm. MSU students now dealing with what's next after spending hours hiding from a gunman.
GRAHAM DIEDRICH, MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY STUDENT: We took heavy furniture from around the library and just essentially barricaded ourselves in to a study room to make sure we were safe.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was like shaking in the bathroom and it was just terrible. It's just like preparing myself for like the worst thing ever,
BROADDUS: Despite the tough circumstances, there's one greeting among MSU Spartans that still unites them.
BROADDUS (on camera): Go Green. You guys smiled instantly.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As horrible and disgusting and tragic as that was like we are all in it together and like everyone was here for each other.
BROADDUS: And that's a greeting that made them smile today and it's one they learned during the freshman orientation. And it was needed especially as the students learn more about that 43-year-old shooter who police say had a note in his pocket, threatening not one but two schools in New Jersey, and out of an abundance of caution at least one of those schools did cancel classes on Tuesday, but police say there was no threat. They did say however, that 43-year-old shooter has ties to New Jersey. Adrienne Broaddus, CNN, East Lansing.
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KINKADE: In the coming hours, NATO defense ministers will be meeting for a second day in Brussels where the focus is the war in Ukraine. Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg says allies will continue to support Ukraine for as long as it takes as the war now nears the one year mark.
Ukraine's defense minister who was in attendance says Russia is the most significant and direct threat to countries in that alliance. NATO's chief reaffirmed its commitment to helping Ukraine.
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JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: NATO allies are providing unprecedented support to Ukraine to help uphold its right of self- defense. And from the start, we have been working very closely with the European Union the term to support Ukraine for as long as it takes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: Ukrainian forces and are locked in fierce fighting on the front lines in the east and president Volodymyr Zelenskyy is describing the situation there as extremely difficult. Ukraine says Russian troops are continuing offensives from the air and on the ground in the Donetsk region, Bakhmut is among the cities that have been targeted by Russian attacks. The U.S. Defense Secretary says he expects to see Ukraine conduct and offensive sometime in the spring. And the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs offered this assessment on Russia.
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MILLEY: Russia has lost. They've lost strategically, operationally and tactically and they are paying an enormous price on the battlefield.
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KINKADE: And it isn't just Russian military forces who are paying the price on the battlefield. Russia has also been sending prisoners to fight in Ukraine. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh has more now and what we're hearing from some former inmates sent to the frontlines.
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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (on camera): One of the more grim developments of Russia's invasion of Ukraine has been their decision to use Russian convicts Russian prisoners on the front line on the battlefield to make up for a chronic manpower shortage because of so many casualties.
We've been hearing stories that not only a private mercenary contractor called Wagner behind the recruitment of prisoners, the Russian Ministry of Defense may be getting in on the act as well. We've also been hearing stories of extraordinary mistreatment both on and off the battlefield of these prisoners.
WALSH (voiceover): Any joy here is fleeting. This dance could be the last. Russian soldiers most convicts here, living it up hours before being sent to the frontlines. They fight to be pardoned. But here over half died at the front survivors said, even some after they've lived through the battles.
Viktor Sevalnev was jailed for armed robbery and assault but taken out of prison and thrown into her worst fighting outside of Soledar. His unit joking here before they assault a factory the next day suffered catastrophic casualties he told his wife, Victor survived, but as he lay injured in hospital, he feared being dragged from his bed and executed for poor performance. This is his last message to his wife.
VIKTOR SEVALNEV, RUSSIAN PRISONER (through translator): The Ministry of Defense executes by shooting. I am being taken to be shot. I want to go back to where I was, but they won't let me. I lost a lot of people here. Remember this. Do not send more people here. It's enough. They want to kill us all.
WALSH: Days later, his wife got a closed coffin back after a call from a soldier who said Victor had died from shrapnel injuries. He's buried here outside Moscow.
There's something very different though about Sevalnev to many of the prisoners sent to the frontline to make up for marshes devastating casualties.
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Most are sent by shadowy private military contractor Wagner, who in this propaganda video are keen to portray rare survivors coming back, joyful, grateful even, and last week claimed to have stopped recruiting and prisons altogether.
But Sevalnev and several convicts CNN has spoken to said they were hired from jail directly by the Russian Ministry of Defense. It's a remarkable use of convicts directly by Moscow. And Ukrainian intelligence says it's captured them on the front line.
ANDRIY YUSOV, DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE OF UKRAINE (through translator): Even among Russian prisoners of war in Ukraine. There are now those recruited into the private companies of the Defense Ministry of the Russian Federation. They emphasize to us that they are not Wagner, but officially invited by the Defense Ministry.
Here we hear echoes of internal squabbles in the Russian military leadership. Wagner's presence is being diluted of convicts directly controlled by the defense chiefs Shoigu and Gerasimov.
WALSH: Recruitment has surged these government figures showing a sudden 27,000 drop in the prison population last year when the scheme was just underway with no apparent amnesty to explain it. A large proportion of died with this Wagner training video showing one of the reckless tactics prisoners are used for charging forwards together at the enemy.
Sevalnev was part of a unit called 08807 and its other frontline survivors know how hard it is to stay alive under the Ministry of Defense.
We spoke to several from their hospital beds hiding their identity. A former soldier jailed on drugs charges described being sent back twice to the front while injured.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We walk around with bullet wounds with shrapnel stuck in our legs. No one is being operated on. We were 130 people but have many amputees. There's probably less than 40 of us left.
WALSH: Another convicted on manslaughter, said half his unit became casualties. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were sent to the very front. I radioed our guys that they were firing mortars at us that they should aim a bit to the right. And they still shot at us from both sides than I understood they were deliberately firing at us.
WALSH: It's a recruitment scheme and snaring whoever it can. Some aren't even Russian. In this ghoulish ceremony, Wagner honors Tanzanian students Nemes Tamiro. He was detained on drugs charges while on a study exchange here at a Red Square Christmas event in a justice system that's notoriously corrupt. His family in Tanzania said they did not even know he'd been arrested when they learned he'd been killed in the war.
REHEMA MAKRENE KIGOGA, COUNSIN OF NEMES TARIMO (through translator): Since his childhood, Nemes was a very obedient boy. He wasn't a scamp. He was a very religious person. When he was alive, we never heard about it. But now that he's dead, we're told he was arrested for drug related offenses. It really hurts us as a family. He never even had a dream of becoming a soldier.
WALSH: His body was returned closed in to mean yet another story of how life has thrown away at the front.
WALSH (on camera): I should point out, CNN has reached out to the Russian Ministry of Defense for comments and we have not yet received the reply. But the idea they could be getting in on the act of this, again raises the prospect of competition of tension with the private mercenary company Wagner of friction within Moscow's military establishment over the massive misconduct and dwindling progress of the invasion of Ukraine and it shows to that there's nothing really Moscow won't stoop to in its bid to try and regain momentum. Now it's close to a year into this faltering invasion. Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, London.
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KINKADE: Well, still to come, the U.S. government could be just a few months away from defaulting on its debt. Just had the Treasury Secretary warning of catastrophic consequences if that happens. Plus, rising costs mean rising prices to fly certain airlines. CNN sits down with the CEO of Delta Airlines to talk about the soaring demand for travel. And later, Donald Trump has some new competition in the 2024 presidential race as his former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley throws her hat into the ring
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KINKADE: Welcome back. Well, we could get a better read on Europe's economic outlook in the coming hours. Central Bank President Christine Lagarde has said to attend the European parliament session in France. The European Commission is predicting the Eurozone will avoid a recession and posted better than expected growth this year.
Lagarde said earlier this month the economy had proved resilient. But she indicated the central bank would stay the course with interest rate increases in March.
Well, here in the U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is warning county leaders about the consequences of a potential debt default. She says the U.S. has paid its bills on time since the Treasury was founded in 1789. And it should stay that way.
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JANET YELLEN, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: It default on our debt would produce an economic and financial catastrophe. Many of your residents could ultimately lose their jobs. Household payments on mortgages, auto loans and credit cards would rise and American businesses would see credit markets deteriorate.
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KINKADE: Republicans in Congress are demanding spending cuts in order to raise the $31 trillion debt ceiling. Yellen has previously said the U.S. could run out of money to pay its bills by early June. The CEO of Delta Airlines says the demand for flights in the U.S. is unlike anything he's seen in his decade's long career. But Delta is having to spend more to keep its fleet up to the challenge, which means it's going to cost travelers more to fly to cover the difference. Here's part of his conversation was seen as Richard Quest.
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ED BASTIAN, CEO, DELTA AIR LINES: Our people are the ones that got us through this challenging time. It was a incredible year of creating stability in the U.S. air travel system. And now we're moving more globally as we end the year and going into 23.
Cost pressures are considerable. There's cost pressures across every class of costs you could imagine, particularly commodity costs with fuel prices, still meaningfully above anything that we were dealing with pre pandemic.
And as a result of that, we need to continue to be more efficient. We need to continue to ensure those costs of production make their way into pricing. And they do at the present time the demand has also been strong. So to some extent they're connected.
The inflationary pressures are partly due to the amount of money that's out there in the in the system that consumers are sitting with, which enables us to continue to advance our revenues in terms of having pricing keep up with those inflationary costs.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN, QUEST MEANS BUSINESS: You clearly do have pricing ability, you have the ability to recoup some of the higher costs of operations through the fares.
[01:29:41]
BASTIAN: Well, we need to. We need to. We can't justify growing our business is were not able to cover the cost of that growth and of that business. We are seeing, as you know, an amazing rebound in demand on the consumer front. The demand we're seeing here in the U.S. is unlike anything I've ever seen in my 25 years in this business.
And fares continue to be quite healthy because of that, combined with the fact that it's also difficult, relative to capacity, the OEM challenges of getting new planes, the training requirements to get pilots staffed properly.
So as a result of that, we're in kind of a great equilibrium between supply and demand, which enables us to pass through those cost pressures in terms of pricing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Well, Boeing has just landed a massive order from Air India. U.S. President Joe Biden announced the deal after a call with the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. And India is set to purchase 220 planes, valued at at least $34 billion. The bulk of that order is the Boeing 737 Max single aisle planes. This marks the third biggest sale of all time for Boeing. Mr. Biden said the deal would support more than 1 million U.S. jobs across 44 states.
Well, still ahead, the residents of a small town in Ohio are demanding answers and clear information about risks to their health and safety after a train derailment spilled toxic chemicals into their community.
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KINKADE: Welcome back, you're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Lynda Kinkade. Good to have you with us.
More than a week after the powerful earthquake struck Turkey and Syria, authorities are still finding victims and survivors underneath the rubble. More than 41,000 people have been confirmed dead, tens of thousands more have been injured.
Turkey's president says the government has enough shelters for more than 1.6 million people and rescue efforts are continuing. Just a short time ago, a 77-year-old woman was saved, 212 hours after the quake, surviving frigid temperatures. Turkish State Media says she was hugged by family members who were waiting at the scene.
And on Tuesday, more than three dozen U.N. trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered Syria including a newly -- including at a newly opened border crossing.
A search and rescue team from California is among the volunteers from around the world who jumped into action in Turkey. They said they felt compelled to help anyway they can.
CNN's Jomana Karadsheh reports.
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JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Deep in the heart of Turkey's disaster zone, these Americans are on a mission like no other they've known. As soon as the earthquake hit, volunteers from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department say they just knew they had to be here.
MIKE LEUM, MONTROSE SEARCH AND RESCUE, LOS ANGELES COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: It's the type of thing that we feel strongly about because we volunteer to do search and rescue back in America. And so, it's one of the things that is burning in our hearts to get out there and help people if we can.
KARADSHEH: They do mountain rescues, have responded to hurricanes and even traveled to Ukraine. They've never seen anything on this scale before.
COLIN LIEVENSE, MONTROSE SEARCH AND RESCUE, LOS ANGELES COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: The destruction here is incredible. We are in one city right now. Where there -- we could go to each and every building and just know that there is someone that needs help there, and there's not enough people to help them, even though there's over 100,000 rescuers. We would need 1 million.
And this is just one city in a very large picture of Turkey.
KARADSHEH: On Monday, they helped rescue a 17-year-old boy. The third life they saved this past week in hard-hit Hatay, but there is just so much to do here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are looking at a pile of rubble the size of this building behind me, and we're standing there just on a pile of rocks. We knew there were hundreds of people underneath us and getting to them is just near impossible.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We feel helpless and because so much devastation we witnessed. It breaks our hearts.
There's been times of complete happiness and joy because of people being found, so it's a rollercoaster of emotions.
KARADSHEH: The group says they are only here to support the people of Turkey reeling from their deadliest earthquake.
LIEVENSE: The people of Turkey are doing the hardest thing they've ever had to do. They're having to unbury their own community, their friends, their loved ones. some of the people that we're working with lost their entire family and they are helping to dig out -- and they're helping to dig out other people's families.
KARADSHEH: There is no giving up. Everyone here is searching for a 70- year-old grandmother, just one mission in one city in one massive earthquake zone.
Jomana Karadsheh, CNN -- Antakya, Turkey.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Kieren Barnes is the Syria country director for Mercy Corps and joins me now from Aman Jordan. Good to have you with us.
KIEREN BARNES, SYRIA COUNTRY DIRECTOR, MERCY CORPS: Thanks, Lynda. KINKADE: So even before the earthquake, northwest Syria was fragile.
Many there already reliant on aid for basic necessities. Explain the situation before and the need now?
BARNES: Yes, I mean this was certainly a crisis already prior to the earthquake. Most have been working in northwest Syria for a number of years. There are around 2.8 million people who are displaced from homes already, so that's people living in tents, temporary shelters.
They have no permanent homes. And for the last few years due to the conflict, they've been having to move around. Which means -- organizations like Mercy Corps, we provide things like water, blankets, mattresses, food and other such basic items. And that was all prior to last Monday.
KINKADE: So, the United Nations says the Syrian regime president has agreed to open these new crossing points from Turkey to the rebel held northwest. What is your team seeing on the ground? Has that happened yet?
BARNES: I think, I mean, we've been calling for this for the last week, to be honest. And I think there certainly are -- our teams are desperately wondering where is that support coming from?
I understand that the crossing points are open now, which is good. And it's positive that the U.N. has more options and more ability to move aid in.
But it's not just the U.N. that's acquired, it's also the commercial sector. The supply chain has been broken now for about a week. That has a knock-on impact into the markets.
So we've been out meeting with communities where we normally work and assessing the situation and about half our camps where we usually support are reporting that they're not having enough food and that the cost of food that is in the market is rapidly increasing and people can't afford to buy it.
And people need things like baby supplies, hygiene products, and fuel to stay warm in the winter. And so this is turning into a desperate situation, and really we should be tackling this much quicker and much sooner.
KINKADE: And I understand Mercy Corps works with 12 other organizations in northwest Syria. How many people do you reach? How many people are you helping?
BARNES: On a regular basis, our team directly on the ground, usually is reaching about 300,000 people on a regular basis. And we also, as you mentioned, work with a few partners as well.
And so this is our typical work, and what we've seen in the last week is trying to get back to the level that we were before. But we actually need to double the size of our response. And unfortunately, we still haven't -- we still yet to see the international community step up with the vital funds that are required. KINKADE: Does your organization have any concerns about aid going via
the regime of Bashar al-Assad? Like are they concerned that it won't get to the people who need it most?
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BARNES: This particular pocket of northwest Syria has multiple people in control. And it's an area we've worked for a number of years. We have very robust and strong systems to ensure that everything that we receive, that we're able to give out directly to people, and it's very closely monitored. I don't have concerns about that.
It's a constant issue that gets talked about, but from our perspective, we prioritize the people in need, and what they need and then make sure that we get it to them.
KINKADE: You mentioned some of the aid that you've been providing in terms of blankets and fuel, what more is needed in the coming days, weeks and months?
BARNES: Yes. And this is going to be critical. We're looking at the water supply. That's one thing that's been damaged by the earthquake, some of the (INAUDIBLE) holes where you take the safe water out and we deliver it by trucks to the communities because they're on the pipe networks that you would normally see. these have been damaged. The mud and soil are seeping in between. It's not safe to drink. We need to rapidly fix those and find other water supplies.
That's one key thing, as I mentioned, some of those hygiene kits that we're giving out, shelter repair. As much as possible for buildings that are damaged, but are repairable, we need to start working on that to prevent more people becoming homeless.
And in particular things like food and also cash, so that people can buy the specific things that they need in the market.
But again, we need the markets to be functioning, which means those supply routes need to be open.
KINKADE: All right. We wish you and your team all the best. Kieren Barnes with Mercy Corps, thanks so much.
BARNES: Thank you.
KINKADE: The Champions League held a moment of silence for earthquake victims, football players and fans paid their respects before two rounds of 16 matches in Italy and France on Tuesday.
European soccer's governing body, UEFA, says 20 matches this week will honor the quake victims, including a commemorative banner with the message, "We are together with you," in Turkish and Arabic. UEFA says they are donating more than $200,000 to support the humanitarian efforts.
For more information on how you can help the earthquake victims and survivors, go to CNN.com/impact. There you'll find a list of organizations working on rescue and relief efforts.
The White House says it's closely monitoring the situation in East Palestine, Ohio where a train carrying hazardous materials derailed earlier this month. Investigators are reviewing multiple videos of the train prior to the crash. Authorities say one video shows what appears to be a wheel bearing in the final stage of overheat failure just moments before the derailment.
Environmental activist Erin Brockovich spoke to CNN about the challenges residents there are facing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIN BROCKOVICH, ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVIST: They're very scared, they're very confused. They haven't been getting information. They've been getting misinformation.
This situation occurred February 3rd. As soon as early morning February 4th I started hearing from the community. They were being of evacuated. They were being told to shelter in place. It was a one mile radius.
They weren't getting the information they needed. They were concerned at that time, because there was reports of children who are having difficulty breathing. There was a bad smell in the air, children throwing up.
Parents were just panicking to get out. And so, as they were out, we still weren't getting much information about what had happened, how severe the contamination was.
They were worried it would explode, so they set their own fire to release the chemicals. So the situation started to really escalate. They are still very uncomfortable. They're now reporting that their chickens have died. There's reports that people raising the foxes have died. There's reports that their chickens have died.
There's many reports of thousands of fish that have died in the creeks, in the rivers, in the streams, and they are scared to death. And they're still not getting answers, only to return home and 11 days later being told, don't drink the water.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: Erin Brockovich there. Federal investigators have not yet determined what caused that disaster.
Still ahead, another contender in to the 2024 race for the White House. Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley going head to head with her former boss, Donald Trump.
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KINKADE: There is a new Republican contender for U.S. president in 2024. Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has just announced her bid making her the first major rival to challenge her old boss, former President Donald Trump for the nomination.
CNN's Kylie Atwood has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIKKI HALEY, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: I am Nikki Haley and I am running for president.
KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Nikki Haley telling her story to the American people as a presidential candidate for the first time.
HALEY: I was the proud daughter of Indian immigrants, not black, not white. I was different. But my mom would always say your job is not to focus on the differences, but the similarities.
And my parents reminded me and my siblings every day how blessed we were to live in America.
ATWOOD: The 51-year-old casting herself as the future of the Republican Party.
HALEY: It is time for a new generation of leadership.
ATWOOD: Urging the GOP to chart a new course.
HALEY: Republicans have lost the popular vote in seven out of the last eight presidential elections.
ATWOOD: And highlighting her accomplishments as a two term governor of South Carolina, the state where she was born and raised.
HALEY: Every day is a great day in South Carolina.
ATWOOD: Cutting taxes and leading her state through the aftermath of the 2015 deadly shooting by a white supremacist at the Mother Emanuel AME church in Charleston.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We turned away from fear towards God.
ATWOOD: At the time, Haley confronted a controversial issue, spearheading efforts to remove the confederate flag from the state capitol.
HALEY: The biggest reason that I asked for that flag to come down was I could not look my children in the face and justify it standing there.
ATWOOD: In her announcement, Haley also nodding to her experience on the world stage as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
HALEY: China and Russia are on the march. They all think we can be bullied, kicked around. You should know this about me, I don't put up with bullies. And when you kickback it hurts them more if you are wearing heels. ATWOOD: But no mention of former President Trump who tapped her for
that role.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I just want to thank Nikki.
ATWOOD: Haley's entrance prompting praise from Republican.
REP. NANCY MACE (R): She's got all the qualifications to run for president.
ATWOOD: Even as some are concerned that a crowded primary could benefit former president Trump.
MACE: To see someone, you know, see some of the leadership coming out of South Carolina IS exciting but I do have concerned if there are two many on the ballot by the time it gets to South Carolina, that you know, that lessens the chances of anyone else sort of coming out in this thing.
ATWOOD: And on Wednesday Nikki Haley will make her pick in person for the first time here in South Carolina, which is her home state. And then she is off to the races, headed to New Hampshire and Iowa to continue campaigning.
Kylie Atwood, CNN -- Charleston, South Carolina.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Disgraced U.S. Congressman George Santos is facing yet another accusation of bad behavior. This time it is coming from an Amish farmer in Pennsylvania. He says Santos bought two puppies from him with a bad check, not long after that sale five years ago, Santos was charged with theft after riding several other checks to regional dog breeders that also bounced. The case against him was later dismissed, although it is not clear why.
[01:49:53]
KINKADE: The embattled Republican's short tenure in Congress has been filled with questions over fabrications about his background, resume, and campaign finances. Santos is now facing multiple investigations.
Still ahead, scientists are developing a new experimental drug that could be a breakthrough in birth control for men. We will discuss how it would work. Stay with us.
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KINKADE: Musician Pharrell Williams certainly have something to be happy about. On Tuesday he announced he will be joining luxury brand Louis Vuitton as the new creative director for men's wear.
His resume boasts not only music but multiple collaborations with brands like (INAUDIBLE) and Chanel. Pharrell is the first person to fill the high-profile position since the death of designer Virgil Ablow (ph) in 2021. This very collaboration. The (INAUDIBLE) is set to debut in June at the men's fashion week in Paris.
Well scientists could be on the verge of a breakthrough in birth control with an experimental drug for men. Researchers at Cornell University say they hope to create a pill men could take shortly before sex.
It would immobilize sperm for just a couple of hours and the man would regain fertility about 24 hours later. They say the drug has been on percent effective at preventing pregnancy in the trials with mice.
Dr. F. Perry Wilson is an associate professor of medicine at Yale University. He is also the author of "How Medicine Works and When It Doesn't". Dr. Wilson joins me now from Cheshire, Connecticut, good to have you with us.
DR. F. PERRY WILSON, YALE UNIVERSITY: Thanks for having me.
So let's start with how this contraceptive pill for men would work. Just explain what you know.
WILSON: Well, to be clear, it has been tested in mice. So we have to be careful with that. But basically it leverages the fact that sperm have a switch that turns on when they are released and start that motor that starts them swimming.
And what this drug does is essentially lock that switch into place, so although the sperm are still alive they can't move and sperm that can't move can't get to an egg to fertilize it. That's how it works.
KINKADE: Incredible. So as you say, so far it's only been studied on mice, but for men the idea would be that they would have to take it an hour before sex and then it would wear off in a matter of hours, from what I have read.
It does not seem very long. Are there any side effects?
WILSON: Well it is a complete game-changer for men in terms of oral contraception. This has been tried in the past, but broadly speaking these were hormonal pills that needed to be taken for months in order to suppress sperm count. The idea of, you know, a pill that you could take just an hour before a sexual encounter is really attractive.
Side effects though, you know, we do not know exactly. There are some human men that are born without the enzyme this drug targets and they seem to have a higher risk of glaucoma as well as kidney stones.
But again, you are taking this drug, you know, infrequently, although I suppose some people might be taking it more frequently than others. But regardless, this isn't a medication that you are taking constantly. And the hope is that side effects would therefore be less common.
[01:54:49]
KINKADE: It is interesting, Doctor, when you think about the fact that the female contraceptive pill was launched over 50 years ago. Why are we still waiting for a male pill?
WILSON: Well, I think there are a number of reasons. You know, first of all I think there is an issue of trust between partners. And I think that there are many women out there, particularly if it is the beginning of a relationship, that might want to take matters into their own hands to be very sure that they are staying safe with regards to the risk of a pregnancy, even if a man says he is on a contraceptive pill. So there is that.
The other problem is that human males make a thousand sperm per second. This is a real challenge to overcome therapeutically when you have reinforcements getting made at that type of rate.
Finding a medication that can suppress that to the point that pregnancy becomes infeasible has been really, really challenging.
KINKADE: And to suppress that without using hormones is difficult, right, without impacting also the sex drive.
WILSON: Exactly. Most of the prior work has been, you know, blocking testosterone and things, and although it can be effective, it can seriously diminish the sex drive.
And in this case, by just switching off that molecular motor, the mice at least seem to have just as much sex drive. They expose the male mice to female mice, they had just as many sexual events with the female mice as mice not given this new medication. But they didn't result in pregnancy.
KINKADE: And so we mentioned at least one of the study that uses or looks at using hormones. But there are a number of studies underway looking at the different versions of male contraceptives that are being studied.
What is the most effective to date and why do you think there hasn't been more investment in this?
WILSON: Well, to date we have essentially two viable contraceptives for men. Those are condoms and vasectomy. And both are highly effective when done properly, when used properly.
Condoms of course, have the advantage across all of these different kinds of male contraception of being able to prevent sexually transmitted infections, which is something that no pill and not in the second week can do either.
A vasectomy is obviously highly, highly effective, but very difficult to reverse. It essentially should be considered a permanent form of contraception for men.
Beyond that it is all been these research studies and again, the side effects from long term exposure to hormonal contraceptives are at the very least unpleasant when you have these other options on the table.
But a one-time pill, an hour or so before, might be more attractive to some men who are willing to accept the risk of sexually transmitted infections.
KINKADE: All right. We'll leave it there. Dr. Wilson from Yale University, good to have you with. Thanks so much for your time.
WILSON: Thanks so much.
KINKADE: And thank you for joining us. I'm Lynda Kincade.
CNN NEWSROOM continues with my colleague and friend Rosemary Church after a very short break. Don't go anywhere.
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