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CNN International: Norfolk Southern Reopens Track from Springfield Derailment; DeSantis Takes "War on Woke" to Florida Schools; Iran's Supreme Leader on Suspected Poisonings; Kemal Kilicdaroglu Named as Opposition Bloc Nominee in Turkish Presidential Election. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired March 07, 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]
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Unions and opposition party say they are hoping to bring France to a halt with new nationwide strikes that are under way right now. You are looking at workers demonstrating in Calais currently. They are furious over the government's pension reform plans which would raise the retirement age by two years to 64 for most people.
BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Lawmakers are still debating the bill. This is the sixth round of demonstrations just this year. Huge disruptions to public transportation are expected and the main education union says around 120 schools will be closed in Paris.
Just ahead, we'll have the latest developments from Saturday's train derailment in Springfield, Ohio as investigators arrive at the scene and begin their work.
FOSTER: Iran is offering new explanations for why thousands of schoolchildren have fallen sick over the past few months. Stay with us for details.
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NOBILO: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Bianca Nobilo.
FOSTER: I'm Max Foster. If you're just joining us, let's bring you up to date with the top stories this hour.
Officials in U.S. and Mexico are working to track down four Americans believed to have been kidnapped by a Mexican cartel in the city of Matamoros. Family members say that they were there for a medical procedure. And sources tell CNN that they've had been caught in the middle of fighting between two cartels.
Former Vice President Mike Pence is asking a judge to block a grand jury subpoena for his testimony about the January 6 Capitol riot. A source says that he claims he's protected by the Constitution speech or debate clause.
NOBILO: Norfolk Southern has reopened the track affected by Saturday's derailment in Springfield, Ohio with traffic at reduced speed. The company has also announced a new six point safety plan that was designed in the aftermath of the toxic East Palestine derailment back in February.
[04:35:04]
National Transportation Safety Board investigators visited the crash site and met with local officials in Springfield on Monday. The NTSB chair spoke to the "Washington Post" about what her agency would be looking into during this investigation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENNIFER HOMENDY, NTSB CHAIR: The numbers are trending upward on accidents overall and also for Norfolk Southern. With that said, we're going to look at Norfolk Southern's overall accident history. We're going to look at culture in the company, safety culture. We will look at management practices and policies. We'll really dig in. So the what of an accident investigation is usually immediately available. It's how we got here, that what's take time to really dig into and get the facts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: The Florida state legislature will be back in session today with the agenda of Republican Governor DeSantis front and center. We've already seen a major focus on what can and can't be taught in schools and political analysts say it's all a preview of his 2024 presidential campaign. CNN's Leyla Santiago reports.
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GOV. RON DESANTIS (R), FLORIDA: The bill prohibits classroom instruction about sexuality or things like transgender.
This is inappropriate.
Florida is where woke goes to die!
LEYLA SANTIAGO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One of the latest targets for Florida's war on woke, the classroom. Republicans introducing bill after bill aimed at changing education.
DESANTIS: And I believe parents in the state of Florida should be able to send their kids to elementary school without having an agenda jammed down their throats.
ANNA ESKAMANI, FLORIDA STATE HOUSE DEMOCRAT: I believe firmly that public education is the ultimate equalizer. And if we erode and restrict access to that, then we are shifting the trajectory of the future of this state.
SANTIAGO (voice-over): As lawmakers head to the capital this week, a wish list for Governor Ron DeSantis and his allies pushing to reshape education from pre-K through college.
On the table, a bill that eliminates diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives at public universities, prohibits instruction on gender studies and critical race theory. It also ends protections for tenured faculty.
DESANTIS: No more discrimination. We're going to promote merit.
SANTIAGO (voice-over): This proposed legislation bans any requirement to use pronouns deemed incongruent with the person's sex in schools, and it also bans classroom instruction related to sexual orientation or gender identity until ninth grade.
DESANTIS: They should not be teaching a second-grader that they can choose their gender. That is wrong.
SANTIAGO (voice-over): This proposal creates a new statewide standard for sex education, requiring teaching that, quote, biological males impregnate biological females.
DESANTIS: We need to spend time on teaching kids the basics and when there are things that are injected, that are clearly inappropriate, you know, make sure that we're not doing that.
SANTIAGO (voice-over): This bill establishes a universal school choice voucher program and expands who is eligible to receive a school voucher scholarship.
DESANTIS: That basically raises the bar for everyone.
SANTIAGO (voice-over): With the Republican-controlled legislature, the bill could add to the list of political victories for Governor Ron DeSantis to tout, as he gets set to embark on an expected 2024 presidential campaign.
DESANTIS: I think we've gotten it right on all the key issues, and I think these liberal states have gotten it wrong. I think it goes back to this woke mind virus that's infected the left and all these other institutions.
ESKAMANI: Everything is about out-trumping Trump, which means the policy before us are incredibly extreme, and not necessarily popular among every Floridian, but more attempting to appeal to a conservative base.
SANTIAGO (voice-over): Education has become the battleground for students, teachers, and for politicians.
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NOBILO: In about six hours, the Mississippi State Senate will take up a controversial bill that's being compared to apartheid. Republican House lawmakers passed a measure that would expand a special district near the state capital to encompass about a third of the city's population.
FOSTER: It will be placed under the control of capital police officers expanded district. But also include the most densely and wealthy white neighborhoods and it would have a separate court system. NOBILO: Jackson as a whole is 83 percent black and critics say that
the bill is an attempt by the white minority to gain control. Republicans say that reforms are needed to stem a spike in violence.
Still to come, Turkey's president now has a challenger in this year's elections. Does he have enough support to stay in power or is the country overdue for a change in leadership.
FOSTER: Plus Iran supreme leader calls it an unforgivable crime. We'll the latest Tehran's investigation into the suspected poisoning of thousands of schoolchildren.
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NOBILO: Afghan women were barred from attending universities on Monday as the new academic year began. Some of them protested their exclusion by reading their books on a sidewalk in Kabul.
FOSTER: They were literally out in the cold while male students resumed classes indoors. It follows a decision by the Taliban in late December to ban women from higher education. The move has received heavy international condemnation.
The U.S. State Department is calling for an international fact-finding mission to determine if a rash of suspected poisonings in Iran is related to women and girls taking part in protests.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NED PRICE, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: These reports of continued poisoning of school girls across Iran, they are unconscionable. These poisonings need to be stopped immediately. Women and girls in Iran and women and girls everywhere for that matter have a universal human right and the universal right to education.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Tehran is investigating what has sickened more than 5,000 schoolchildren over the past few months, mostly girls. Iran's interior ministry reports no sign of dangerous poison in any of the hospitalized students.
NOBILO: One official claims more than 90 percent of the students showing symptoms were affected by anxiety. Iran deputy health minister says that no deaths have been reported and that most children were released from hospital within a few hours. More now from CNN's Nima Elbagir.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Furious parents outside in education office in Bahan challenging Iranian authorities desperate for answers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translated text): Officials, come out, come out! Right now, my 8-year-old is at home. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translated text): I am scared. I am scared.
ELBAGIR (voice-over): After what is believed to be the worst day of incidents of suspected poisonings at girl's schools.
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These videos were filmed on Saturday which marks the start of the school week in Iran. For months now Iranian schoolgirls and their families have been speaking out about incidents of suspected poisoning.
The numbers of incidents reported to CNN in the dozens. Then over the weekend, dozens more. CNN was able to verify these new incidents using video and witness testimony across 10 provinces.
The U.S. and others are calling for Iran's authorities to investigate these incidents. But speaking to CNN medical sources say, they have been barred by hospital administrators from sharing details of symptoms and test results even with the patient's parents. We dubbed this doctors voice for his safety.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I'm inside Iran. My phone is being monitored. I can't share any more with you.
ELBAGIR (voice-over): Iran's interior minister after months of vague statements now says suspicious samples have been found and are being assessed at laboratories. Parents though say they don't trust authorities to investigate.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): To hell with this country and its rulers, we would be better off without a leader, this is our country. They don't know what they're doing. They don't even have medicine.
ELBAGIR (voice-over): All the incidents begin in a similar manner as described to us by students -- a noxious smell and then --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I felt dizzy and fainted. I had dimness of vision and heart palpitations. All of us had identical symptoms, palpitations, my hands and legs were numb and frozen. I was shaken. We had tears coming out of our eyes.
ELBAGIR (voice-over): With no one so far held to account and parents no closer to answers, many continue to risk their lives to challenge Iran's authorities.
Nima Elbagir, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: Turkeys opposition bloc has nominated a candidate to run against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the coming election. 75- year-old Kemal Kilicdaroglu is the leader of the Republican Peoples Party. And if he wins, it would signal the end of Erdogan's 20-year grip on power.
FOSTER: It comes as the country grapples with the devastation of last month earthquake. Officials are reporting 46,000 people dead and billions of dollars worth of damage.
CNN's Nada Bashir joins us from Istanbul with more. So there'll be two different narratives presumably on how to move forward in the aftermath of this earthquake.
NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Absolutely. And we have seen that vocal criticism from the opposition since the moment the earthquake struck against the government. They say that the government didn't move swiftly enough to respond to the devastating destruction which was brought by the earthquake across the Southeast. And also of course in terms of the response that we've seen following that, hundreds of thousands of people now living in temporary accommodation.
And look, President Erdogan himself has vowed to rebuild the affected areas within one year. We're already beginning to see that building, while the excavation work already underway in parts of the country. But that has also drawn criticism. The opposition and others say it's simply too hasty, there needs to be more investigations done, there needs to be more preparations done to ensure that this area is safe.
And of course, this is a country that is already going through a worsening economic crisis, inflation at 55 percent. People across the country struggling with their day-to-day expenses. So there is certainly a lot on President Erdogan's plate. And in fact this could be the biggest challenge that he has faced over that more than two decades in power.
And for the longest time now the opposition has struggled to present a unified front. We are talking about six opposition parties now forming this nation alliance. And it's quite a remarkable alliance, it has to be said. We're talking about parties that are center-right, far-right, Islamist, secular, all coming together under the slogan of "United We Will Win." They believe that their commitment to the country that their principles, that their goals overarching remain the same. That they will be able to lead the country into a different future together.
So, this will be a significant challenge for President Erdogan. They now have announced the leader who will carry them into that presidential election in May. And of course it remains to be seen whether this is enough to pull President Erdogan out of power after more than two decades -- Max, Bianca.
FOSTER: OK, Nada, thank you. We'll be watching that closely. The election is huge.
NOBILO: And Kilicdaroglu is going to become a name that everybody needs to know. And he's very different from Erdogan as well. He's referred to as Turkey's Gandhi. Mainly because of a physical resemblance but also because he is very softly spoken in contrast to Erdogan's much more fiery, kind of charismatic appeal. And obviously as not a was saying, his stance are completely different ideas and approaches.
NOBILO: OK. Now the wife of actor Bruce Willis is pleading with the paparazzi to back off as her husband battles dementia. We'll have her emotional request when we return.
[04:50:00]
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NOBILO: Japan's space agency says that it ordered the launch of its new rocket moments after liftoff. Scientists sent a self-destruct signal to the H-3 rocket when they determined that there was, quote, no possibility of achieving the mission.
FOSTER: Public broadcaster NHK reports the second engine had failed to ignite. The rocket was supposed to carry a government satellite into orbit and take supplies to the International Space Station.
NOBILO: It looks like Weightwatchers is hoping on the Ozempic trend. On Monday the company announced it's buying Sequence Telehealth Service that connects patients with doctors who prescribe weight loss drugs -- that includes Ozempic. The medication for type II diabetes has exploded in popularity as a weight loss tool. A similar drug Rybelsus has already been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for weight loss.
And you hadn't heard about this, have you. But it's become -- it's just exploded in to public consciousness in the last few weeks. And essentially it slows down the food leaving the stomach and stops your blood sugar from spiking.
FOSTER: So, you feel full.
NOBILO: Exactly. That's how it works.
FOSTER: Genius.
NOBILO: Apparently plenty of celebrities are using it, but there don't seem to be serious filed effects.
FOSTER: Wow, the wonder drug that everyone is looking for.
NOBILO: Potentially.
[04:55:00]
FOSTER: Now the wife of actor Bruce Willis is pleading with the paparazzi to keep their distance and give them space as her husband battles dementia.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EMMA HEMING WILLIS, WIFE OF BRUCE WILLIS: This one is going out to the photographers and the video people that are trying to get those exclusives of my husband out and about. Just keep your space. I know this is your job. But maybe just keep your space. (END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: That request from Emma Willis comes after a recent incident where photographers swarmed her husband and tried to speak with him whilst he was out for coffee with friends.
NOBILO: Last year Bruce Willis's family announced that he was stepping away from acting after he was diagnosis with aphasia which affects the ability to speak and that condition has since progressed into a form of dementia. Bruce Willis is 67 years old.
FOSTER: I hope they listen.
NOBILO: I really hope so. We were discussing it if there were any protections legally in place for people's health is impacted by that kind of constant attention -- paparazzi.
FOSTER: Now this next video may be a little tough to watch and a warning it's a little graphic as well. Boston Red Sox infielder Justin Turner is out of the hospital after being hit in the face with a pitch.
NOBILO: It happened in the first inning of the spring training game against the Detroit Tigers. Turner got 16 stitches. Ouch. And Red Sox are monitoring him for a possible concussion. His wife says that Turner's scans came back clear -- which is great -- and he didn't suffer any facial fractures.
FOSTER: It really gets your stomach, doesn't it, when you see that.
Now to the NFL, the New Orleans Saints with a new quarterback. Derek Carr has signed a four-year deal worth a reported $150 million. Carr was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in 2014 and his spent his entire career with the team. He led them to the playoffs twice and holds the franchise records for passing yards and touchdowns. Saints head coach Dennis Allen praised Carr's talent calling him one of the most productive quarterbacks in the league.
Thanks for joining us here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster.
NOBILO: And I'm Bianca Nobilo. "EARLY START" is coming up next right here on CNN.
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