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CNN International: Blinken & Lavrov meet on Sidelines of G20; Artillery Fire Heard in Chasiv Yar, Near Bakhmut; China Slams Potential $600M Plus U.S. Arms Sale to Taiwan; Why has the Alex Murdaugh Trial Gripped U.S. Audiences; Iranian Media: Nearly 900 Students Sickened by Poisoning. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired March 02, 2023 - 08:00   ET

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

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MAX FOSTER, CNN HOST: Hello, welcome to CNN "Newsroom", I'm Max Foster in London. Just ahead, the U.S. Secretary of State and the Russian Foreign Minister have just met on the sidelines of the G 20 summit. The first such meeting since the war in Ukraine began details on what they discussed just ahead.

A double murder trial in the U.S. is reaching its crescendo. We'll bring you the twisted tale of the case that's gripped America. Alarm in Iran over reports that hundreds of school girls have been poisoned we'll discuss with our Chief Investigative Correspondent.

Two of the world's most powerful diplomats sat face to face earlier on Thursday. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russians Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met on the sidelines of the G 20 meeting in New Delhi. A U.S. Official says Blinken underscored U.S. support for Ukraine during the roughly 10-minute meeting.

In prepared remarks earlier Blinken said the unprovoked invasion had marred the G 20 meeting of Foreign Ministers. He called it an attack on the core principles of the United Nations Charter. CNN's Kylie Atwood joins us from the U.S. State Department in Washington. Kylie, you've been speaking to your sources about what was discussed in that remarkable 10 minutes.

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN U.S. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. So this was a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers meeting in India, as you said. And there were essentially three things that the Secretary of State addressed with the Russian Foreign Minister. First was urging Russia to come back into compliance with new start.

Of course, that's the single lasting arms control treaty between the U.S. and Russia that Russia suspended just earlier this year. Second, he urged Russia to release an American who was wrongfully detained in Russia, that's Paul Whelan. And third, as you were saying earlier there he also reiterated U.S. support for Ukraine.

This is the first time that these two men, the top diplomats from the U.S. and Russia have met face to face and had a conversation since before Russia's invasion into Ukraine and they last met in early 2022. At that time, the Secretary of State warned Lavrov about the consequences that would occur if they did invade Ukraine.

Obviously they went ahead with that and we do know that they had one conversation at least over the course of the last year not in person, but by telephone. That was this summer when they were discussing negotiations to release Brittney Griner who was American wrongfully detained in Russia at the time.

But it's also significant, Max, that they've actually been in the same place at the same time, number of times over the course of the last year. You know, in Bali for another Foreign Ministers meeting at the United Nations. They've been in the same room. They haven't had discussion.

So the fact that the Secretary of State approached the Russian Foreign Minister, according to a Senior State Department Official is pretty significant because he clearly felt that there were messages that he wanted to portray in person.

FOSTER: OK, Kylie Atwood, thank you very much indeed for working your sources on that. Ukraine's Military says it's still holding its ground in the City of Bakhmut, but amidst its getting increasingly difficult. Ukrainian Officials report heavy fighting on the outskirts of the city and this suggests Russian forces have advanced within the city itself.

About 4500 civilians remain in the city, as Russian troops do close in. Ukraine also reports a series of Russian rocket attacks on a multi-storey apartment building in the City of Zaporizhzhia. The attack killed at least 3 people. Emergency crews managed to rescue 9 people including a pregnant woman.

About five kilometers from Bakhmut is the town of Chasiv Yar many Ukrainians fled there to escape the fierce battles in Bakhmut. However, the military fears if Bakhmut falls to Chasiv Yar will be next. Alex Marquardt is there.

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ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (on camera): This is the road on the way to Bakhmut, cars, military vehicles, bombing up and down this road going to and from the front. You see this armored vehicle right here? The V sign for victory there are still some people here not too many but some of these hardly residents have stayed behind.

This is the shop of --, who is here grilling meats about --. He actually fled from Bakhmut two months ago and has opened up the shop selling basics like bananas, beet root and candles. There's another man who here who we just met whose daughter is still in Bakhmut one of the thousands of people there who have been asked to evacuate but are still in the city amid this incredible fighting.

[08:05:00] MARQUARDT (on camera): You can see that they put up wood there to protect those windows so much destruction in this town. We were just farther in the center of town is called Chasiv Yar. This is one town over from Bakhmut with a large group of people at a bus stop waiting for a water delivery that never came.

Every few moments, you can hear explosions, the sound of what we believe to be outgoing artillery fire, Ukrainians firing at Russian positions. We spoke with an older woman named Valentina, who said that there is so much flying over their heads, that she is scared all the time those they are so close to the Russian positions.

That's more outgoing artillery fire. They're so close to the Russian positions that they can walk there. We also spoke with some Ukrainian soldiers like these ones who man one of those artillery positions. They told us that there has been no order to pull back from Bakhmut.

That they're fighting because if they give up Bakhmut, then this town Chasiv Yar, this would be next. And that is what everyone is thinking now that if Russia were to take Bakhmut, that they would have another foothold in this region from which to try to push farther into Eastern Ukraine. Alex Marquardt, CNN in Chasiv Yar.

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FOSTER: U.S. is condemning recent incendiary remarks by Israel's far right Finance Minister calling the comments repugnant and irresponsible. This after Bezalel Smotrich said the Palestinian town of Huwara "needs to be erased". It's the same West Bank town where two Israelis were fatally shot on Sunday. The State Department is calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reject the remarks.

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NED PRICE, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: His comments were irresponsible. They were repugnant. They were disgusting. And just as we condemn Palestinian incitement to violence, we condemn these provocative remarks that also announced to incitement to violence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Hadas Gold is in Jerusalem with more on that amid rising tensions in the region. I mean, all of this is feeding off each other, isn't it in terms of that tension?

HADAS GOLD, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and Max was adding to the controversy over Bezalel Smotrich's remark which I should note that Bezalel Smotrich himself is a settler leader. He has called for annexing the West Bank. It's that after those two Israelis were killed and who are out that is where Israeli settlers essentially went on rampages actually the chief, the top General, Israeli General for the West Bank calling them pogroms.

They were setting fire to homes and cars with people inside one Palestinian man were killed, several others were injured and the Israeli Military essentially saying they weren't prepared for those levels of attack. So to hear somebody, a Minister in this government, after those attacks took place where clearly those settlers were essentially trying to do what he's calling for getting erasing this village off the map.

That is why it got such a swift reaction from the Americans now Bezalel Smotrich in a tweet. And then a follow up statement kind of sort of tried to clarify, I don't know if I would call it a clarification necessarily. He says I did not mean to wipe out the village of Huwara, but only to act in a targeted manner against the terrorists and supporters of terrorism within it, and to exact a heavy price from them in order to restore security to the residents of the area.

Max, I should note that he was asked specifically on stage. What did he mean when he actually liked a tweet that essentially said the same thing? And he said, well, because I think the town of Huwara needs to be erased. So I don't understand how this clarification says. Well, I didn't really quite mean that.

Now, in terms of the reaction from the Israelis, the Former Prime Minister and Opposition Leader Yair Lapid called it essentially incitement to war crimes. We haven't heard directly from the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu specifically condemning these remarks exactly.

But there have been calls for the Attorney General to open an investigation to Smotrich because a different member of parliament actually had made similar remarks and they had a police file opened against them for incitement to violence. So now there are calls for this to be done against Bezalel Smotrich in terms of the internal politics.

So you have to understand that Smotrich is far right wing party is essentially one of the reasons if not the reason that Benjamin Netanyahu is even in power because Benjamin Netanyahu needs the seats that Smotrich's party holds in order to stay in power. If they somehow have some sort of disagreements and sort of fight and Smotrich threatens to leave the government. Then the government collapses and Benjamin Netanyahu is no longer in power, Max.

FOSTER: OK, Hadas thank you. Relations between Beijing and Washington could become even more frayed with the Biden administration approving a potential arms sale to Taiwan. The self-rule democratic Ireland could get more than $600 million worth of weapons including missiles for F-16 fighter jets like these ones.

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FOSTER: Beijing says the deal would undermine China's security interests and peace across the Taiwan Strait the unexplained sickness known as Havana syndrome is a bit more mystifying. A U.S. intelligence assessment couldn't link it to any of the nation's foreign adversaries.

The report comes more than six years after several American diplomats in Cuba's capital, began complaining of dizziness and extreme headaches. Hundreds of cases amongst U.S. government employees and their families have been reported since then, as well.

Airline passengers are safe after a terrifying experience in the air. One of them saying it felt like free falling off the top of roller coaster. Plates and glassware flew across the cabin after severe turbulence forced to Lufthansa flight heading from Texas to Germany to be diverted to Dulles Airport in Virginia.

7 people were injured they were treated on board and then taken to hospital. Lufthansa says clear air turbulence can occur without any warning. To Greece now where rail workers are on a 24-hour strike in protest against this week's horrendous train crash.

A security camera captured the moment when the passenger train carrying more than 350 people collided with a freight train on Tuesday. At least 46 people were killed and dozens more were injured. The Greek Prime Minister says tragic human error was the main cause of the disaster.

Let's get more from the scene though from Nada Bashir outside Larissa General Hospital where many of the injured are being treated. I mean, a lot of people saying it can't just be put down to human error. There is a systemic problem here with an aging railway system.

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Absolutely, Max, and in fact, when you just look at local media, today, there is a real sense of anger is a grown backlash against the government around why more wasn't done to prepare for something like this? Why the system is so poorly equipped? And of course many of them and this could have been avoidable.

Now we're outside Larissa General Hospital, many of the injured are here. Local Hospital Officials tell us that many of those involved in that deadly collision were young people and in fact, we were at the crash site a little earlier this morning. We were speaking to some of the volunteers they're working to support that recovery effort.

Of course, no further survivors are expected to be pulled out from the train wreckage, but they are still recovering bodies. They're the first two characters completely engulfed in flames. The third carriage turned on its side and they are slowly working their way through that record for sadly, one of the volunteer's victims told us that they have to rely on DNA samples to identify some of the victims.

Now at this stage, the investigation is still very much ongoing. Although one man has now been arrested the manager of a nearby train station believes to be responsible charged with causing mass deaths and grievous bodily harm through negligence and he is admitted to making mistakes and is still expected to appear before prosecutors.

But there are of course, questions around the safety measures put in place across the rail system here in Greece. In fact, yesterday, the country's Transport Minister announced his own resignation. He said that this was a mark of respect for those who had lost their lives but also said in admitted that the rail system and the safety standards currently in place were not up to the standard one would expect in the 21st century. Despite efforts by the Transport Ministry over the last three years and there was going to be a continued focus on this here in Greece and while certainly the investigation is very much focused at this stage on that human error, the Prime Minister describing this as a tragedy.

Questions around the safety measures put in place how stringently they are implemented are only going to continue to grow and there is a real sense of frustration anger here in Greece, growing towards the government too, Max.

FOSTER: OK, Nada thank you. Still to come, a double murder trial that has gripped the U.S. for weeks is - crescendo. Alex Murdaugh involves old money, fraud, deceit, and much more a closer look at the case after the break.

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FOSTER: Welcome back, for the past six weeks, Americans have been gripped by a murder trial in South Carolina. It centers on this man Alex Murdaugh, a high powered lawyer from a prominent family in South Carolina. He's pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder of his wife and son.

They were both shot dead at the family's estate in June 2021. He took the stand late last month, the trials taken a series of unbelievable twists and turns and it's winding down with more closing arguments set for today. And CNN's Dianne Gallagher has been following it all for us from South Carolina. I mean, it is an extraordinary story, isn't it when you fall day in day out, but those around the world who haven't done that, just explain what happened here?

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think the question for a lot of people is what makes this murder trial any different from any other murder trial and a lot of it has to do with the background of the defendant Alex Murdaugh. This is a story about privilege, power, reputation, money and murderers.

Murdaugh was a very prominent attorney here in the low country area of South Carolina. And he came from a family that had basically been the law here. They were the solicitors, which is like a prosecuting attorney for the state in this region for a century here. And so this was a family that had a lot of power.

There are several other mysterious deaths that surround the Murdaugh family that are either unsolved or have been unresolved at this point. And he's also accused of stealing nearly $9 million from his law clients over the past decade or so. He is facing nearly 100 additional charges on top of the charges that he shot and killed his wife and son at their hunting property back in June of 2021.

Now, once the trial itself got underway, just seeing the defendant in a murder trial take the stand especially one as high profile as this is extremely rare here in the U.S. and he testified for 14 hours dropping this bombshell that his alibi that he was never at the kennels where Paul and Maggie Murdaugh were shot and killed before he found their bodies that night was a lie.

Part of why he had to testify is because it was almost as if his son who was murdered was testifying from the grave. Defendants found a video on Paul Murdoch's phone, roughly 9 months after he was killed, they weren't able to get into his phone. And it recorded his father's voice minutes before the state says that he was shot and killed.

And so it really put Alex Murdaugh in a situation where he told people he was inside the house napping. He obviously was not at that time and so watching this happen. The case itself though, is a bit more precarious for the state. They don't have the murder weapon.

They say that the casings found around the bodies match those from older casings from family weapons, but we have no weapon. We have no eyewitnesses. There's a lot of circumstantial evidence here. And so we've watched the state prosecutors essentially use the digital footprint that all of us have.

We're talking GPS data from his car telling us exactly where he was, how fast he was going, and whether or not the car even slow down at any point in time during that night. We're using phone data as far as the last time the phones of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh locked to try and pinpoint the time of death.

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GALLAGHER: The defense team and I anticipate hearing a lot of this today, during their closing arguments, has said that this is a case of circumstantial evidence, plenty of reasonable doubt. And it's an example of an investigation that was messy and incomplete, Max.

FOSTER: Do you end up in this situation, don't you? When you're watching it, where he's changed his story many times, but as you say, there's no firm evidence against him. So legally, we just can't figure out what the ultimate result might be?

GALLAGHER: It is going to be difficult and I think that's why and I'm not sure how much you can see behind me here but there's a long line of people outside the courthouse. We're still more than an hour before closing arguments will begin. These are just members of the public who are lined up because they're so fascinated by this case.

It has been like this, every single morning here for nearly 6 weeks, as people try and get in here. So they can see this in person. There's almost a cottage industry here in the U.S., especially in South Carolina that has popped up around this trial. There are podcasts or several documentaries or people selling T shirts out here.

Sometimes it feels more like a carnival than a murder trial. But it's important to remember 2 people were killed and we should know within the coming days whether or not their husband, their father will be convicted for it.

FOSTER: Yes, well said Dianne Gallagher, thank you very much indeed for bringing us an update on that incredible story. Next deeply disturbing reports from Iran as schoolgirls are taking ill in the wave of alleged poisonings, we investigate next.

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FOSTER: Its growing concern Iranian schoolgirls are being targeted this after reading media reported a disturbing spate of alleged poisonings. Girls, schools across the country and Iranian lawmaker say nearly 900 students have been treated for poisonings over the past three months alone.

No deaths have been reported but victims apparently experience muscle weakness, nausea and fatigue, speculation and may be part of the campaign by extremists to close down the schools. CNN's Chief International Investigative Correspondent Nima Elbagir has been looking at all of this. And I mean there are just too many parallels between the different cases to avoid suspicion.

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely and just how widespread the cases are. We've been trying to tally the numbers and we believe it could be as many as 40 cases that have already been reported since November. We have finally been able to communicate with some of these school girls. And this is what one girl in a school Qom told us, Max. Take a look.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was a terrible situation. Girls had been falling on the floor and were crying. Some were unable to walk, really didn't want to leave one another.

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ELBAGIR: It just gives you a sense of the fear and the chaos and really the inability for authorities to assuage what is such a difficult time for many of these parents. The parallels are also there with what happened in Afghanistan with the school girls who were targeted there and parents that we're speaking to feel that it is not a coincidence that this comes as young women and girls are fighting for their freedoms in Iran.

FOSTER: So who might be behind it? And what are the authorities saying?

ELBAGIR: Well, I mean, at the moment it is speculation, but even the authorities believe that these are domestic extremist groups. Many of those we're speaking to believe that this is part of a plan to keep female students at home and that's what some of the parents are doing.

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ELBAGIR: They are that scared, Max.

FOSTER: But in terms of the parallels with Afghanistan it simply comes down to extremists not wanting girls to be educated, which is part of a wider push.

ELBAGIR: Yes, but also what complicates things here is that Qom which has been at the epicenter, this is part of the spiritual heartland of the regime. So when the Iranian Officials come out and say, we are very concerned about this, who should they be speaking to? These are their supporters in these areas. This is not an opposition stronghold.

FOSTER: Having spoken to some of the girls, I mean, what will be their response? Will there be an insistence that they carry on going to school despite their fears?

ELBAGIR: That's what we're being told that teachers are telling them that they have to come in that remote schooling is not an option. But at the same time, they're being dissuaded from speaking to the media. I mean, there is just so much bravery that we are hearing in their voices, even just being willing to communicate with us.

FOSTER: And when did you first hear about this? And how long do you think it's been going on for?

ELBAGIR: Well, it was picked up by Iranian media a couple of weeks ago and with the usual denials by the government, accusing the girls of hysteria, but actually the first case is go back as far as the end of November. This has been going on for months now and it doesn't seem to have stopped despite the increased international profile and scrutiny on this. There was a case yesterday with over 100 pupil targeted.

FOSTER: OK, Nima thank you for bring us that.

ELBAGIR: Thank you.

FOSTER: Finally, Prince Harry and Meghan had been asked to vacate Frogmore cottage the Official U.K. residents that's according to their spokesperson. No official reason was given but it comes after those explosive revelations about the royal family and Prince Harry's memoir, and the Sun newspaper reports King Charles has offered the house to his brother, Prince Andrew.

No comment from Buckingham Palace. Harry and Meghan have used the cottage sparingly since ditching their royal duties and moving to the U.S. back in 2020. Thanks for joining me here on CNN "Newsroom", I'm Max Foster in London. "World Sport" with Amanda Davis is up next.

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