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CNN International: Snow Creates Hazardous Conditions on California Roadways; Florida Governor Releases Campaign-Style Video; Nigeria Election Irregularities; Fruit and Vegetable Rationing Could Last Until May in the U.K.; Many of Turkey's Quake Survivors Living in Tents. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired February 28, 2023 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ORKO MANNA, KCRA REPORTER: Highway 50 here and Pollock Pines closed for hours because of the snow on the ground and the low visibility. Meanwhile drivers wondering when they will be able to get through.

MANNA (voice-over): For drivers heading up highway 50, it's hard to miss the heavy snow and strong winds those conditions have led to low visibility. Chains were required for much of the day Monday and Caltrans crews eventually had to block Highway 50 east of Pollock Pines and west of Myers because of multiple spinouts and near whiteout conditions. One by one travelers are being turned away. Many of them are praying they can get to their destinations.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm waiting for magic, you know. I hope I'll get to Tahoe. If nothing changes, I'll go home.

MANNA (voice-over): Trying to walk or ski your way through? That won't work either. Several drivers are parked right by the highway 50 on- ramp.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got to do what you got to do. So, here's my dinner. A little chicken Caesar salad.

MANNA (voice-over): And some are eating food to pass the time. But locals say this is a traffic nightmare.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just people coming up from Sacramento area or San Francisco trying to get up to Tahoe, making it horrible for us. So, I'm just going to say, you guys should stay home, don't come up here please.

MANNA (voice-over): Plows removed snow from the parking lot of the Pollock Pines Safeway and residents are wiping off their cars too.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm used to it.

MANNA (voice-over): But what a lot of people are not used to is snow falling like this in Placerville, some came to see the sights.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, I've just brought my granddaughter up for fun drive to see the snow. She's been wanting to get out and see it.

MANNA (voice-over): This little girl's agenda

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE CHILD: Throwing snowballs at grandma.

MANNA (voice-over): As crews work to clear the roadway most drivers are following the most basic rule.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're just taking it slow and easy.

MANNA: With even more snow expected Tuesday, officials are warning anyone who does not need to travel here in the Sierra to avoid the area if possible.

Reporting from Pollock Pines. I'm Orko Manna. Max and Bianca, back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Incredible scenes there.

Now in the coming hours the U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments in two cases challenging U.S. President Joe Biden's Student Loan Forgiveness Program and the decision is expected by late June or early July. The program has been on hold as legal challenges play out but promises to deliver debt relief for millions of borrowers.

NOBILO: Ahead of those legal challenges, student loan borrowers were among those who gathered outside the Supreme Court on Monday. Members of Congress also stopped by to push for action.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JAMAAL BOWMAN (D-NY): I hear the same thing from constituents up and down my district. 60 and 70 years old paying back student loans for decades and barely making a dent. So the Supreme Court tomorrow has to do the right thing and we need President Biden to speak up tonight and call on the Supreme Court to do the right thing and cancel student debt, all of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: Florida's governor has signed a bill that gives the state more control of the Disney's self-governing district in the Orlando area. Ron DeSantis is effectively publishing Disney for speaking out against a Florida law which limits the discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in classes. The news comes as the governor is eyeing a potential run for the White House as our Jeff Zeleny reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Florida Governor Ron DeSantis inching ever closer to a highly anticipated presidential launch with a new campaign style video.

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R), FLORIDA: Freedom is worth fighting for. ZELENY (voice-over): And a new book that serves as a road map for a potential 2024 Republican primary. In "The Courage To Be Free", obtained today by CNN, DeSantis plants his flag as a leading alternative to Donald Trump and pushes back against the former president's often made assertion that he alone is responsible for the governor's success.

I do not think Republican primary voters are sheep who simply follow an endorsement from a politician they like without any individual analysis. But I do believe that a major endorsement can put a candidate on the radar of GOP voters in a way that boosts a good candidate's prospects.

DESANTIS: And I stood for what I believe was right.

ZELENY (voice-over): He said it was his debate performance in his 2018 race that led to his come from behind victory. As the Republican presidential field takes shape, DeSantis is making an early splash.

DESANTIS: Florida is where woke goes to die.

ZELENY (voice-over): Holding up his Florida record as a blueprint for a national platform like the Parental Rights and Education Act, which critics have dubbed the Don't Say Gay bill that led to his feud with the Disney Corporation.

DESANTIS: Today, the Corporate Kingdom finally comes to an end. There's a new sheriff in town and accountability will be the order of the day.

ZELENY (voice-over): The governor went to Walt Disney World's backyard to sign a law, effectively punishing the entertainment giant for speaking out against a DeSantis agenda.

He uses that fight to bolster his view that big business, a longtime ally of the GOP, has become too woke in his characterization and should be called out by a new class of Republican leaders.

[04:35:00]

Corporate America has become a major protagonist in battles over American politics and culture. The battle lines almost invariably find large, publicly traded corporations lining up behind leftist causes, he writes. Adding, old guard corporate Republicanism is not up to the task at hand.

While DeSantis is not planning a formal campaign announcement until at least May, aides tells CNN he is trying to capitalize on a hunger among many Republicans eager to find an electable fighter. As Florida governor, he's become a combative figure in the culture wars, for which he offers no apologies.

DESANTIS: To always be on offense, because if you're not on offense, then you're basically a sitting duck, and you let these people come and just take pot shots at you all the time. ZELENY: Now the governor is not planning a formal campaign

announcement until at least May, aides tell me. That will be after the legislative session when he can have more bills signed in to law that he can tout out on the campaign trail. But the book tour is coming now. He's hitting the road going to Texas, California and points beyond trying to make the case to Republicans that he is in the view an electable fighter. Of course, that is drawing a distinction between him and the former president.

Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Washington.

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NOBILO: This spat between the governor and Disney is fascinating because Disney is part of this Reedy Creek Improvement District which is essentially a self-governing district within a state. So, they can decide what they want to do.

FOSTER: They've got the same authority as local authorities there with planning and things.

NOBILO: Yes, exactly.

FOSTER: And he's stripped it away. It's been there since the 60s. and one of the quotes was the corporation kingdom finally comes to an end, DeSantis said.

NOBILO: Yes.

FOSTER: It's going to be -- when's he announcing by the way?

NOBILO: Well, we don't know, but all this controversy is obviously helping to --

FOSTER: Allegedly in May.

FOSTER: But all this controversy is obviously just putting him -- getting him more name and brand recognition.

FOSTER: Yes, we are talking about him again.

NOBILO: We are.

FOSTER: Now a new study links high levels of a common artificial sweetener to increased risk for heart attacks, strokes and death. Erythritol is a zero-calorie sugar substitute used in a variety of foods and beverages often marketed to people with diabetes as well.

NOBILO: The Calorie Control Council -- which sounds extremely draconian -- argues that the study from the Cleveland clinic looked at people who were already at high risk for heart disease and that the results contradict decades of research showing that the sweetener is in fact safe. The researchers say that more study is needed for the general population.

FOSTER: Just ahead, the voting is done it in Africa's largest democracy, but the anger and criticism over how the election was handled is growing. We'll go live to Nigeria for an update.

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FOSTER: The former Nigerian president accuses the country's electoral commission of corruption and is calling for a fresh vote in polling places disrupted by violence or 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. Many polling stations still haven't uploaded their results more than 24 hours after polls had closed. We are going to speak now to CNN's Stephanie Busari in Lagos. I mean, this isn't quieting down this story about irregularities.

STEPHANIE BUSARI, CNN SENIOR EDITOR, AFRICA: Max, this one is going to run and run. This is the election that was supposed to launch Nigeria as a mature democracy, somewhere a place where they have a handle on running elections. There was a much-wanted new technological platform that would upload results in realtime, that would make the process transparent.

But as you say, a former head of state has come out to say that the results are doctored and he's not -- you know, not confident about the integrity of these elections. Let me read to you what President Obasanjo had to say about these elections, Max.

He said: It's no secret that INEC -- Independent Nigerian Election Commission -- officials, at the operational level have been allegedly compromised to make what should have worked not to work and to revert to manual transmission of results which is manipulated and the results doctored.

Now, Max, we haven't seen the evidence that he has seen to lead him to write this. There's a lot of unverified social media videos that show some results trickled out, scribbled out. But, you know, INEC is not listening to theses. INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu is saying take your queries, take your complaints to court. We are carrying on with the results announcement. 13 states have been announced out of 36 so far. And he's carrying on that process and not really listening to these complaints -- Max.

FOSTER: Stephanie, thank you for joining us from Lagos.

NOBILO: The British Prime Minister will be visiting a Coca-Cola factory in Belfast today and he's expected to speak about the new trade plans for Northern Ireland. And this is a contentious headache issue that's been lingering for years after Brexit, about 1,200 days I counted this morning. Rishi Sunak struck a deal with the EU called the "Windsor Framework." That the European Commission President says will allow both sides to begin a new chapter, it's hoped that the deal will resolve the issue of imports and border checks within Northern Ireland.

FOSTER: Imagine if he achieves that, extraordinary. It looks like he's doing pretty well. NOBILO: Yes, there's going to be some obstacles, but by and large, it looks like political success.

FOSTER: And we haven't heard from Boris which could be a good or a bad sign. Meanwhile British shoppers are facing critical shortages of certain grocery store staples which has led to rationing that could last until May according to a major food producer. CNN's Isa Soares has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ISA SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Row upon row of empty baskets. Empty shelves. A supply gap of fruit and veg has hit U.K. supermarkets. The shortages affecting shoppers nationwide.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I went for lunch and I couldn't find likes of tomatoes, cucumbers or lettuce.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's quite annoying when you want to have a day in and you can't get it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The fruit I wanted, they're gone. Nothing there.

SOARES: To deal with the shortages, major British supermarkets are imposing limits on items like tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers. The U.K.'s minister for the environment, food and rural affairs said the disruption should only last a few weeks. And meanwhile encourage people to eat more seasonally. Let them eat turnips, she said.

THERESE COFFEY, U.K. MINISTER FOR ENVIRONMENT, AND RULE AFFAIRS: I'm conscious that consumers want year-round choice and that is what our supermarkets and food -- and growers, food producing growers around the world are trying to satisfy.

[04:45:04]

SOARES (voice-over): Supermarkets are blaming the recent shortages on poor weather conditions in key growing regions. Britain produces a fraction of the food it consumes relying instead on overseas imports. And key supplies in southern Europe and North Africa in particular Spain and Morocco have seen harvests hit by extreme weather conditions.

But while climate change plays a significant role in warmer than average temperatures, the government faces another inconvenient truth. Brexit, the cause of widespread supply chain disruption.

LIZ WEBSTER, CHAIR OF SAVE BRITISH FARMING: Because of the interruption with trade and Europe, it's kind of underpinned our food supply. It means that there's less food coming in from Europe, we're producing less food, so basically our food security is in real trouble.

SOARES (voice-over): Labor shortages due to a lack of migrant workers and soaring energy prices following Russia's invasion of Ukraine have pushed the gap even wider as farmers struggle with front end costs. And those costs are passed on to the consumer. Consumers already grappling with record high grocery prices and the worst cost of living crisis in decades.

Isa Soares, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: Still to come, new efforts by the U.S. and Canada to ban TikTok amid security concerns, we'll have the details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:51:00]

FOSTER: As climate change continues to warm the planet, the strength and ferocity of hurricanes is also going to increase over the next 30 years. That's according to a new study from the nonprofit First Street Foundation.

NOBILO: Experts project that homeowners will have to pay more for repairs from the stronger storms. They also predict that hurricanes will move further inland inflicting greater damage on deciding like Charleston, South Carolina, Savannah, Georgia and even New York City.

FOSTER: A powerful new aftershock has collapsed buildings in southern Turkey killing at least one and injuring more than 100 others. The 5.6 magnitude quake hit on Monday, three weeks to the day after the massive Syria-Turkey earthquake early this month.

NOBILO: Back 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 those 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.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): The moment the earthquake happened; our electricity was cut off. It started to rain and hail fell from the sky, Manni just tells me.

I pray no one ever has to witness such moments. Homes cracked and collapsed in front of us.

BASHIR (voice-over): This family has lost everything. Three generations, now housed in this 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 Asdashowe (ph) 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've 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 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, Bianca and Max, this is a significant challenge ahead for the Turkish government, the scale of the destruction across southeast Turkey is hard to explain. It's hard to put into words just how vast this destruction has been. And of course hundreds of thousands of people are now living in these tent cities across the region.

Now President Erdogan and his government have pledged to rebuild the affected areas within a year, and we're already beginning to see that work under way. Reports of excavation work taking place in parts of Antakya. The government saying that they're going build at least 30,000 new apartments beginning in March. But of course there are concerns that these buildings may not be safe, some saying that this is too hasty.

[04:55:00]

NOBILO: Nada Bashir live in Istanbul, thank you very much.

FOSTER: Now the White House has told federal agencies they have 30 days to ban TikTok from all U.S. government-issued devices. The move brings the executive blanche into compliance with a bill passed by Congress last year. A spokesperson for TikTok calls the U.S. ban a little more than political theater.

NOBILO: Meanwhile, the Canadian government is banning TikTok from all official electronic devices over cybersecurity concerns. A review of the app found an unacceptable level of risk to privacy and security over fears that TikTok could be forced to share user data with the Chinese government.

FOSTER: Twitter is laying off another 10 percent of its staff. That's according to the "New York Times." Twitter had about 7500 workers before Elon Musk bought the company. That was last year. And the price tag was $44 billion.

NOBILO: Now the Twitter head count is under 2,000 people according to the "Times." Twitter didn't immediately respond to CNN's request for comment on the "Times" report. The social media company has been losing advertisers since Musk took over.

FOSTER: But as Musk reportedly fires more staff, he is once again the world's richest person. That's according to Bloomberg at least. Musk regain the title on Monday after a rally in Tesla stock.

FOSTER: And he was unseated for his richest person title by Bernard Arnault. Arnault is the CEO of French luxury brand LVMH. And when the markets closed on Monday Musk was worth about $187 billion which edges out Arnault who is worth about $185 billion. And this is extremely interesting because Musk actually broke the Guinness world record for most amount of money lost because of Tesla stock. So, it's quite the bounce back.

FOSTER: The rich keep getting richer.

NOBILO: Yes.

FOSTER: Thanks for joining us here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster.

NOBILO: And I'm Bianca Nobilo. "EARLY START" is up next right here on CNN.

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