Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Heavy Snowfall Batters Parts of U.S.; Murdoch Admits Fox News Pushed Election Lies; Sources: Assessment COVID-19 Leaked from Chinese Lab is a Minority View Within U.S. Intel Community; Hong Kong to End Mask Mandate; Russia has Staggering Losses in Ukraine. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired February 28, 2023 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world. You are watching "CNN Newsroom" and I'm Rosemary Church.
Just ahead, heavy snowfall along the West Coast leaves hundreds of residents stranded, and the situation across the northeast does not look much better. We will bring you the latest on the extreme weather pummeling parts of the United States.
A stunning admission under oath, the chair of the Fox Corporation, Rupert Murdoch, acknowledges that Fox News anchors pushed election lies on air.
And as Russian troops advance around Bakhmut, reports of crumbling morale and desperation within the Russian military.
UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Rosemary Church.
CHURCH: And we begin with extreme weather in the United States as a winter storm is pummeling parts of the country with heavy snow and rain. Nearly 50 million people are under winter weather alerts across the northeast. New York's governor says parts of the state could see up to a foot of snow. Schools in Connecticut and Rhode Island have already canceled classes for today.
In the west, a state of emergency was declared on Monday in San Bernardino County in California after several feet of snow over the weekend left some residents trapped. People there are also running out of gas, baby formula, and other vital supplies as they face road closures.
Meanwhile, cleanup efforts will be a major undertaking in Oklahoma where several tornadoes ripped through parts of the state on Sunday.
CNN's Ed Lavandera has more now from Norman, Oklahoma.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ED LAVANDERA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It has been a day of cleanup here in the central Oklahoma town of Norman, Oklahoma where an EF2 tornado, according to the National Weather Service, ripped through here Sunday night. The damage is extensive in the areas that were hit.
The good news throughout all of this is that the storm -- the storm -- the worst of the storm and the tornadoes that did touch down caused damage in very isolated areas. Outside of these areas, we are not seeing extensive damage. And that is staggering considering the wind levels and the wind speeds that we were seeing as this line of storms blew through the state on Sunday night.
In the Texas panhandle town of Memphis, Texas, the wind gusts were well over 100 miles per hour, staggering numbers, the kind of wind speeds we normally see in a hurricane, not in an area of a storm where there is no tornado involved.
But this scene here is a tornado. You can see a giant piece of plywood that was ripped off of a home somewhere near here ended up lodged into that tree. We've seen that play out in several places. Several homes shifting under -- shifted on the foundation and knocked over.
And we spoke with one woman who is a high school math teacher, who described being inside her home by herself, in an interior bathroom, and described what it was like when the house started shaking as the tornado blew through.
UNKNOWN: I went to Walmart maybe an hour earlier, groceries for the week and whatnot. Got home. Got them unpacked. Turned on the news because I knew there was weather. And I was like, oh, there is this one heading towards this way. I heard the sirens go off, and I'm like, I'm going to get to my safe place. So, I grabbed my cat. Get through like a second. Oh, I might not have a house.
LAVANDERA: Ed Lavandera, CNN, Norman, Oklahoma.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Now, to astonishing testimony from the media titan behind Fox News. Rupert Murdoch has admitted under oath that some Fox News anchors endorsed false claims on air about the 2020 U.S. presidential election being stolen.
These are the Fox anchors Murdoch said spread former President Donald Trump's lies about election fraud: Lou Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo, Jeanine Pirro, and Sean Hannity.
[03:04:58]
Murdoch made it clear that he doesn't believe the right-wing top network as an entity promoted the lies. But the Fox Corporation chairman admitted that he wished Fox News had issued a more forceful response.
Murdoch testified, I would have liked us to be stronger in denouncing it, in hindsight. And when asked what the consequences should be for Fox executives who knowingly allowed lies to be broadcast, Murdoch replied -- quote -- "They should be reprimanded. They should be reprimanded, maybe got rid of."
His shocking remarks came during a deposition taken by Dominion Voting Systems. The voting technology company is suing Fox News for $1.6 billion over unproven fraud claims from its 2020 election coverage.
And earlier, I asked presidential historian Douglas Brinkley about Murdoch's attempt to shift the blame away from the network and towards certain hosts.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Fox News is in deep trouble. Murdoch is trying to make a distinction between a few of his anchors, a few of his on-air personalities, and not the network as a whole. But it is very clear that Fox overstepped its bounds, that it promoted the idea that our election was stolen. It played into the Trump big lie.
And so, alas, I think Fox is going to have to clean up their act. This could end up going to the Supreme Court. It's hard to win defamation cases, you know, like Dominion Voting Systems is trying to do. But, nevertheless, the record is pretty clear that Fox knew that this whole Trump thing about the stolen election and the rigged election was bogus, but they run with it on the air anyway. It's a sad moment in cable TV history.
CHURCH: Yes, indeed. Now, I do want to turn to another big issue. The Ohio train derailment. House Republican committees are pushing to launch investigations into the toxic train disaster in East Palestine, eager to inject politics into this issue by accusing President Biden of mishandling the aftermath and forsaking that small town in favor of traveling to Kyiv in Ukraine to meet with President Zelenskyy.
Now, it has become a political flashpoint, which I don't think the White House thought would happen. What mistakes were made and where do you see this going?
BRINKLEY: Well, whenever there is an environmental disaster, I think about when the Cuyahoga River in Ohio caught fire 1969 or the famous Santa Barbara oil spill, and more recently, a BP oil spill. The White House has to act and speak quickly. Barack Obama got pummeled for not talking more forcefully when there was the BP oil spill.
So, the Biden administration did all the right things from a networking and legal safety point of view. But they got the optics wrong. I mean, Biden needed to, I think, offer a quick message to the people of Ohio in a dramatic way. Perhaps Kamala Harris. Certainly, Pete Buttigieg had been there sooner that he was.
So, the Republicans are going to dine out on this. East Palestine is on the Pennsylvania border. That's a very important voting area, Western Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio. And I think if the Biden administration had an opportunity, again, they would've done everything they did. They would have held the, you know, the rail -- Norfolk Southern accountable, but they may have done the spin, talking about it, the communication, the grieving (ph), a little more forcefully.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Douglas Brinkley, talking to me earlier. And shipments of hazardous waste from the wreck in East Palestine have resumed. The contaminated soil and liquid are being sent aside, certified by the Environmental Protection Agency in Ohio and Indiana.
The U.S. Department of Energy's new assessment about the origins of COVID-19 is making waves. Multiple sources in the intelligence community tell CNN the notion of a Chinese lab leak kick starting the pandemic is still a minority opinion in Washington, and the Biden administration still maintains there is no official conclusion on the matter so far.
CNN's Brian Todd has more from Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The mystery surrounding the origin of the virus that has killed nearly seven million people worldwide growing deeper. The U.S. Department of Energy in a newly updated classified intelligence report says the COVID-19 pandemic likely started from an accidental leak from a lab in Wuhan, China. But at the same time, sources tell CNN, the Energy Department said in that report that it has -- quote -- "low confidence" in that conclusion.
[03:09:55]
Our intelligence analyst, Beth Sanner, says what that really means is the Energy Department thinks the virus came from that lab but admits it could be wrong.
BETH SANNER, FORMER DEPUTY DIRECTOR, U.S. NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: Low confidence means that they have such fragmentary and inconclusive evidence, they don't have a lot of corroboration of reporting, they don't have anybody in the lab itself saying it has definitely happened. It adds up to looking like that, but they can't say definitely it is.
TODD (voice-over): And this latest report only adds to the divide within the U.S. government over whether the virus began with a lab leak or was started more naturally. Many in the scientific community believe a large, outdoor wet market in Wuhan is the most likely place where the virus started, jumping from animals to humans.
DR. PETER HOTEZ, DEAN, NATIONAL SCHOOL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE, BAYLOR COLLAGE OF MEDICINE: For me, the scientific evidence overwhelmingly supports natural origins. We know where the first cases of COVID-19 appeared in this pandemic, and they are all clustered around a specific seafood market in Wuhan. TODD (voice-over): The Chinese government also firing back at the idea that the virus came from a lab leak.
MAO NING, CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON: The relevant parties should stop stir frying the argument of laboratory leaks, stop vilifying China, and stop politicizing the issue of origin tracing.
TODD (voice-over): But analysts say the Chinese government's actions are a big part of why this mystery lingers.
HOTEZ: The problem is the Chinese are not being transparent. They are not allowing the full outbreak investigation. They destroyed the wet market after the virus emerged there. So, it is going to get harder and harder to trace.
TODD (voice-over): Also muddying the picture, some Republicans in Congress believe American funding for the Chinese lab, money from the National Institutes of Health, could be tied to coronavirus experiments at the lab.
MICHAEL MCCAUL, CHAIRMAN, U.S. HOUSE FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE: We need to stop using NIH dollars in experiments in Wuhan at this lab, and I think the people involved in this should be held accountable for what they did.
TODD (voice-over): Some Republicans have blamed Dr. Anthony Fauci for spearheading the funding at the Chinese lab. Fauci has said this.
ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, U.S. NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Maybe there is a lab leak, but it's not with the viruses that the NIH was funding. That is almost certain that that is the case.
TODD (on camera): Despite the ongoing intelligence debate over the origins of COVID-19, the U.S. intelligence agencies do have a consensus that as of right now, they don't believe there is evidence that the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 was created deliberately as part of a Chinese biological weapons program.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Hong Kong is set to end its COVID mask mandate, a restriction that has been in place from the start of the pandemic. As of Wednesday, masks no longer will be required outdoors, indoors, or on public transport.
CNN's Kristie Lu Stout reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is one of the last places on the planet where you still have to wear a mask. But after almost three years of both indoor and outdoor use in public, Hong Kong is finally dropping its mask mandate. I still have to wear this today because the mandate is not fully scrapped until Wednesday, March 1st. Hong Kong's top leader, John Lee, made the announcement on Tuesday.
JOHN LEE, HONG KONG CHIEF EXECUTIVE: In order to give people a very clear message that Hong Kong is resuming normalcy, I think this is the right time to make the decision.
LU STOUT (voice-over): For much of the past three years, Hong Kong and neighboring Macau both followed China's strict zero-COVID policy. Macau dropped its mask restriction on Monday.
According to Dr. Karen Grepin of the University of Hong Kong, face masks have played an important role in reducing community transmission in Hong Kong but now that almost everyone is vaccinated and most people have also been infected, dropping the legal mandate is past due. People can now do their own risk assessment to determine if they want to wear one or not.
(On camera): Hong Kong's move to scrap masks comes after the government launched its "hello, Hong Kong" campaign to bring back tourists and international visitors and business people. Starting Wednesday, they can breathe easy with the mask mandate effectively over.
Kristie Lu Stout, CNN, Hong Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Still to come, as the war in Ukraine enters a second year, new analysis reveals the staggering losses already suffered by Russian troops on the battlefield. The details, just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:15:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. In another strong show of support for Ukraine, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen traveled to Kyiv in a surprise visit as she stressed that aid to Ukraine is more vital than ever.
Yellen met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss U.S. economic assistance and efforts to impose severe sanctions on Russia. She also met with the prime minister, who said Washington is committed to provide more than $10 billion in budget support by September. That as Ukraine's budget deficit is expected to hit $38 billion this year.
CNN's Melissa Bell spoke exclusively with Yellen and asked her if she thinks Moscow is listening.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JANET YELLEN, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: I think they are listening. I think that we have imposed very serious costs on them this year from not only the United States but a large coalition, many allies, the moral outrage that we feel, and they see our determination to make them pay a price.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: To the east of Kyiv, Ukrainian military officials and even the president himself are describing a more challenging situation unfolding on the front lines of Bakhmut.
Ukraine says Bakhmut remains the epicenter of Russia's nonstop attacks as Russian forces gradually advance, making it harder for Ukrainian units to maintain access to the city.
[03:19:58]
CNN's Fred Pleitgen reports on how Moscow is portraying its progress on the battlefield.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Russian defense ministry video from the war in Ukraine showing Moscow's troops on the move, gaining ground, beating back Kyiv's forces.
But the reality, at least in some cases, seems different. These soldiers say they were mobilized from (INAUDIBLE) in Siberia and they're refusing to fight.
Due to the current state of affairs, we find ourselves in a desperate position as the commanders do not care about our lives, he says, and later adds, we ask for help, we have nowhere else to turn.
The video was published as the Ukrainians say they've decimated Russian forces trying to assault Vuhledar in Eastern Ukraine, and after a public spat between Yevgeny Prigozhin of the Wagner private military company and the Russian defense ministry over ammo supplies to Wagner mercenaries around Bakhmut.
Well, Prigozhin says the issue has been resolved. He took another swipe at the defense ministry.
A big number of former soldiers who are now part of Wagner came here because they were looking for more creative freedom, since everyone understands the army doesn't always enable that.
When we asked Prigozhin whether ties with the defense ministry have been restored, a snarky answer.
Guys, you CNN are enemy spies. Have a conscience. How can I discuss military issues with you on a social media channel?
Wagner's forces say they have gained ground around Bakhmut this weekend. Russian state media released this drone footage of the utter destruction there, and the Ukrainians claimed Wagner's losses are immense. Former Putin adviser Sergei Markov tells me he doesn't believe Prigozhin uses his forces as cannon fodder because he owns them.
SERGEI MARKOV, FORMER PUTIN ADVISER: But Prigozhin, according to my information, he tries to preserve their life because their lives -- he is profiting, and he is a businessman.
PLEITGEN (on camera): Their lives are his property?
MARKOV: Yes.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): But while progress is hard to come by for his army, Russian President Vladimir Putin shows no signs of backing down, instead proclaiming the Ukraine war to be a conflict with the west.
VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA (through translator): They have one goal. To break up the former Soviet Union and its main part, the Russian federation. For what? To push the remnants around and put them under their direct control.
PLEITGEN (on camera): We're hearing some similar things from Vladimir Putin on Monday when he congratulated the special operations forces of Russia, Special Operations Forces Day. He said that they were saving the Russian nation and Russian alliance from what he called Ukrainian neo-Nazis. We expect to hear more from Vladimir Putin on Tuesday when he is set to hold a speech to the FSB, the Russian intelligence service.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Moscow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: And CNN's Clare Sebastian is following developments for us. She joins us live from London. Good morning to you again, Clare. So, what more are you learning about Russia's staggering troop losses and, of course, the impact it is having on morale?
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Rosemary. We don't hear very much from the Russian side about troop losses, but there is a new analysis out from the Center for Strategic and International Studies which has looked at satellite images, open source information, social media, sources on the ground, they have been speaking to things like that to compile this analysis, and their conclusion is that Russia has suffered more combat deaths in the first year of this war than all of its war since World War II combined.
They estimate that the monthly death rate is some 25 times higher than it was in Chechnya and 35 times higher than it was in Afghanistan. Now, CNN has not been able to independently verify those numbers. It is incredibly difficult to do so since they are so fraught with misinformation in this war.
But it does show a sort of sense of what we've been hearing from the battlefield, that this has in a sense turned into sort of World War II-style trench warfare. Not only that, but the length of this front line, 500 to 600 miles, says the CSIS, on the both sides are sort of facing each other, burning through massive amounts of ammunition.
All of this backing up what we are hearing from the ground, particularly around Bakhmut where they've been fighting for the best part of six months with no real territorial gains on either side. If anything, it is getting more intense.
So, the question, of course, around morale is given that Russia is the aggressor in this war, can Putin still sell this to his people? I think it is important to note that he is and other Russian officials reframing, re-branding this war as a defensive operation where Russia is defending the people of Ukraine. Rosemary?
CHURCH: Clare Sebastian joining us live from London, many thanks. Still to come, an Israeli American killed in the West Bank, and outrage from Israelis after Palestinian homes are torched.
[03:25:02]
The latest on growing violence, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: An Israeli American was killed in a terrorist attack in the West Bank near the Dead Sea. The latest deadly shooting happened on a highway outside the city of Jericho on Monday, a day after Israeli settlers carried out attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank.
Officials say at least one Palestinian man died in those attacks, which came after two Israeli brothers were shot dead nearby.
[03:30:00]
An official from the Israeli military says they consider revenge attacks against Palestinians -- quote -- "actions of terror."
And CNN's Hadas Gold joins us now live from Jerusalem. So, Hadas, what is the latest on this increase in violence across the region?
HADAS GOLD, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Rosemary, what we are learning is that yesterday. Elan Ganeles, he is originally from Connecticut actually, and moved to Israel a few years ago but had been sort of back and forth, actually just recently completed his degree at Columbia University. He was driving along what's normally a rather peaceful route that actually many tourists use to reach places like the Dead Sea, to go visit Jericho.
And apparently, he was essentially shot while driving. He died of his wounds. He is now the 14th Israeli that's been killed in just about a month. This has been a very violent three days, and of course, we've had more than 60 Palestinian killed since the beginning of the year. His death comes after that night, on Sunday night where we saw Israeli settlers essentially rampaging through Palestinian towns, setting fires to homes and houses, one Palestinian man killed.
Those are being called both revenge attacks, but also acts of terror by the Israeli military, which is rather unusual I think for the Israeli military to essentially be in agreement with what many Palestinian officials have also called terrorist acts by Israeli settlers. Those were essentially called revenge attacks for what happened earlier on Sunday where two Israeli brothers were also killed in a shooting attack while they were driving near, and of course, the attack yesterday.
These two Israeli brothers, 19 and 21 years old, killed along a route that passes through Palestinian towns in the West Bank that's often a flash point. All of this of course coming during a very tense time, otherwise for Israel, for this region, as Benjamin Netanyahu faces many challenging fronts, not even two months into his term.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOLD (voice-over): Benjamin Netanyahu is the most experienced prime minister in Israeli history, but he is facing unprecedented multi- faceted battles on the nearly every front. Tensions and violence between Israelis and Palestinians at a 20-year high. On Sunday, the occupied West Bank burned two Israeli brothers shot point blank, killed while sitting in traffic and what officials say was a terrorist attack.
Then in what's been deemed revenge attacks by Israeli settlers, a Palestinian man shot and killed, houses and cars burned, just hours after Israeli and Palestinian officials met in the summit in Jordan, meant to calm tensions. A joint communique pledging to take steps to restore calm, seeking a just and lasting peace.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu's far right-wing coalition partner seemingly dismissing the summit in Jordan. Netanyahu biographer, Anshel Pfeffer, says much of the controversy around Netanyahu is thanks to these governing partners.
ANSHEL PFEFFER, NETANYAHU BIOGRAPHER: I think this is the least Netanyahu has ever been in control as a prime minister. He is not basically -- he is not running his government. His government is being run by the coalition partners who have him over a barrel.
GOLD (voice-over): Meanwhile, for eight weeks in a, row tens of thousands of Israelis have been taking to the streets to protest against Netanyahu's planned massive judicial reforms. The most sweeping of these changes would give the Israeli parliament power to overturn Supreme Court decisions.
Many critics arguing it's part of a ploy to help Netanyahu out of his ongoing corruption trial, something he denies. And Netanyahu faces increasing international pressure from allies, notably the United States, which has criticized not only settlement expansion and some of Israel's actions in the occupied West Bank, but also a rare presidential incursion into internal Israeli politics. President Biden urging a consensus to be reached on the judicial reforms.
PFEFFER: We have never had this kind of differences between Jerusalem and Washington. It's always been over the Palestinian issues, over the Iran issue. It's never been about the way the Israeli government is legislating on a democratic agenda. GOLD (voice-over): Looming ahead in the calendar, the highly sensitive
period of overlapping Muslim and Jewish holidays, of Ramadan and Passover, threatening to set Jerusalem aflame as well. Yet, another battle front for Netanyahu, Israel's ultimate survivor for now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GOLD (on camera): And, Rosemary, the Israeli military announcing that they will be sending an extra battalion to reinforce troops in the West Bank. And not only they say to go after these attackers that killed those three men, but also, they say to try and keep some sort of sense of calm between Israeli settlers and the Palestinians there. Rosemary?
CHURCH: All right. Hadas Gold, joining us live from Jerusalem. Many thanks.
[03:35:00]
And just ahead, the voting is done in Africa's largest democracy, but the anger and criticism over how the election was handled is growing, as many complain of voting irregularities. Back with that in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. A former Nigerian president accuses the country's electoral commission of corruption and is calling for a fresh vote in polling places disrupted by violence where officials failed to show up for Saturday's election. Complaints of voting irregularities continue to grow as the results slowly trickle in from around the country.
[03:40:02]
CNN's Stephanie Busari joins us now live from Lagos. So, Stephanie, what is the latest on these of voting irregularities, and of course the vote count itself?
STEPHANIE BUSARI, CNN SENIOR EDITOR, AFRICA: So, the voting -- the results still trickling in from all the states where the ruling party so far has taken the lead. But as you say, we've heard loud voices from the highest offices talking about how they are worried about the transparency of this process. They are worried that some results may have been doctored.
But Rosemary, we've heard about all of these, but what we must not lose sight of is the story of the resilience and the determination of the Nigerian people who were so determined to vote, some of them risk life and death to do so.
I'm joined this morning by a lady who was attacked at a polling unit just here in this area of Lagos known as Surulere. Her name is Jennifer Efidi Bina. Good morning, Jennifer. Thank you for joining us. I know you are in a lot of pain. So, you want to tell me a story. Tell us what happened to you. JENNIFER EFIDI BINA, VOTER: Yeah. Like every woman in Nigeria, I've been willing to vote. I've been championing like I want to (inaudible) need my vote to count in this forthcoming election. And I was happy that (inaudible) going to my polling unit which is not far from my house. I go there (inaudible). I was on the queue. Because of the long queue, I couldn't stand and I had to sit down. Some moments, not long after then, some group of guys walked in (inaudible) they left. So, after a few minutes --
BUSARI: And they attack you?
BINA: Yes. They came in back and were shooting (inaudible). I didn't see them. In fact, what I knew and felt was the huge impact on my face and some people running and I wait so I had to stand up and shout for help (inaudible) I've been injured. It was so bad when (inaudible) the house (inaudible) I would meet such an event, like such an occurrence that I almost lose my life or come back home defaced. This is really --
BUSARI: Well, you just wanted to vote.
BINA: Yes, I just wanted to vote. I am not -- I don't belong to any (inaudible). I am not a politician I just wanted to participate in the exercise and know I have done my own part. That was just it.
BUSARI: So, what happened to you after you thought you had been hit by bullet and your husband took you to the hospital? What happened after?
BINA: The cuts got sutured and I was given some medications and I was asked, you know, (inaudible) movement was restricted. They ask to come back home and go to the hospital on another appointment. So, on our way home, we passed the polling unit. I saw that voters had reconvened and voting was going on.
At that moment, I said this is what I wanted to do and they tried to deprive me from this. Of course, if I -- after all the struggles from getting registered, getting my PVC (ph) and coming out here, I just wanted to get this -- this injured. I don't participate in this exercise again.
BUSARI: So, you went back and voted.
BINA: Yes. I told my husband stop the car. I must fulfill my obligation (inaudible) more than I wanted and courageously supported (inaudible). I was like (inaudible)
BUSARI: Thank you, Jennifer. Rosemary, you heard that. She was taken to hospital, sutured, and that she still went back to that polling station to vote. Those actions have made her a national hero here in the country. Nigerians are flocking to her aid. They are donating money to her. They want to help her because she actually represents the symbol of resilience of the Nigerian people. They just want good leadership. They just want change. They just want a country that works, Rosemary.
CHURCH: Absolutely, fighting for democracy. Stephanie Busari, joining us live from Lagos. Many thanks.
Well, more than three years after Brexit became official, the U.K. and E.U. have finally struck a deal on how to handle trade in Northern Ireland, a thorny issue left dangling after the big divorce. The European Commission president acknowledge the lingering tension and said the Windsor Framework will let the two sides begin a new chapter.
The new deal replaces its problematic predecessor, the Northern Ireland Protocol, a Brexit addendum meant to prevent a hard border on the island, by keeping Northern Ireland aligned with the E.U. Under the Windsor Framework, trade will flow freely via green and red lanes. Mainland U.K. goods for the republic of Ireland go in the red lane. The check free green lane is for goods meant to stay in Northern Ireland.
[03:45:02]
The British prime minister said this decisive breakthrough will protect Northern Ireland's place within the union, while still safeguarding its sovereignty.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RISHI SUNAK, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: I also want to speak directly to the unionist community. I understand and have listened to your frustrations and concerns. It is clearly in the interest of the people and those of us who are passionate about the calls of unionism for power sharing to return. Of course, parties will want to consider the agreement in detail, a process that will need time and care.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: So far, there is cautious optimism over the deal, but the head of Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party is making it clear they are not yet on board.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEFFREY DONALDSON, LEADER OF DEMOCRATIC UNIONIST PARTY: We need to look at the legal text. We need to get legal advice on that. We need to make our own assessments to come to a considered view on this. I hope that we can do that within a reasonable timeframe, but let's face it, it has taken months to get to this point. And we will not be rushed, we'll not be pushed into a hasty decision. We want to make the right decision for Northern Ireland.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: The deal must also be approved by the U.K. parliament. And we'll be back in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:50:00]
CHURCH: A powerful new aftershock has collapsed buildings in southern Turkey, killing at least one person and injuring more than 100 others. The 5.6 magnitude quake hit on Monday, three weeks to the day after the massive Turkey-Syria quake earlier this month. That quake and its aftershocks have killed more than 50,000 people, and left thousands more homeless. CNN's Nada Bashir looks at what's being done to house quake victims.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NADA BASHIR, CNN (voice-over): Amid the rubble in Antakya, there is quiet, buildings teetering on the edge of collapse. The air thick with dust as excavations comb through the destruction. There are no more survivors to be rescued. Only bodies to be recovered.
For the living, life has changed forever. And all that remains is the trauma of the earthquake.
UNKNOWN (through translation): The moment the earthquake happened; our electricity was cut off. It started to rain and hail fell from the sky, (inaudible) tells me.
I pray no one ever has to witness such moments. Homes cracked and collapsed in front of us.
This family has lost everything. Three generations, now housed in the small tent in the nearby city of Iskenderun. They are among the hundreds of thousands of people displaced across southeast Turkey, with camps like this expanding each day. Every effort is made to provide families with a semblance of normality. Hot meals, medical care and even psychological counseling are provided at this humanitarian hub.
But there are also many smaller camps with a little in the way of infrastructure or even shelter.
Seventy-three-year-old Tahar (ph) (inaudible) tells me that he has not only lost his home but he has lost loved ones to. Now, his family is living on the street. Many of the families still waiting for a tent at this camp are Syrian. Already made refugees by a cruel war at home.
Now, some say they feel they are being sidelined in favor of Turkish families. They have given tents to the Turkish families here, but still no tents for us, Arwa (ph) says. Each day we wait but they say the Turkish families come first. Aren't we all one? Aren't we all brothers and sisters? This earthquake affected all of us.
Her sister-in-law, Danya (ph), says that the they, along with their young children has spent every day and every night on the streets since the earthquake struck. Accounts like this have been shared with us by numerous Syrian families here in Iskenderun. Though authorities and volunteers alike have told us that no distinction is made between Turkish citizens and Syrian refugees.
The hope for many now living in tents is that this will all be temporary. But aid workers tell us that these camps could be in place for years and the threats of yet another earthquake still hangs over this already shattered population. (END VIDEOTAPE)
BASHIR (on camera): And look, Rosemary, there is certainly mounting pressure on the Turkish government to provide a long-term solution for the hundreds of thousands of people who have been displaced by this earthquake. More than a hundred thousand people, survivors were pulled from the rubble following that initial earthquake on February 6, but hundreds more, of course, have had their homes completely destroyed, unable to return to their buildings. They have nowhere else to go and there are hundreds of thousands of people now living in these tents.
And as you saw there, there are so many who are also homeless and taking shelter in other locations. Now, the Turkish government itself has pledged to rebuild the affected areas within one year.
[03:54:59]
And we're already beginning to hear about construction work underway. According to authorities, there is excavation work already taking place in Gaziantep and other area hard-hit by the earthquake for the rebuilding of around 800 new homes for people displaced by the earthquake. But there has also been some criticism and backlash against the government, some are saying this is simply too hasty. There needs to be further preparation, importantly, further geological investigations to make sure that these new buildings will be safe. Rosemary?
CHURCH: Absolutely. Nada Bashir, we thank you for that report, joining us live from Istanbul.
And thank you for spending part of your day with me. I'm Rosemary Church. "CNN Newsroom" continues with Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:00:00]
