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Tornado Devastates City In Mississippi; Tornado And Severe Weather Warnings Issued For Tennessee, Mississippi, And Alabama; Large Explosion Occurs At Candy Facility In West Reading, Pennsylvania; German Financial Institution Deutsche Bank's Stock Falls Due To Worry About European Financial Sector Stability; Gwyneth Paltrow Takes Stand In Lawsuit Resulting From Skiing Accident; President Biden Orders Retaliatory Strike Against Iranian-Backed Group Who Launched Drone Attack That Killed One American Contractor; Medical Professionals Attempting To Discover Reason For Increase In Colorectal Cancer Among Younger Adults; CNN Hero Runs Exercise Program For Those With Disabilities. Aired 2-3p ET.
Aired March 25, 2023 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:01:45]
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.
We start with breaking news. The governor of Mississippi issuing a state of emergency after a devastating tornado outbreak ripped through the south. At least 23 people are confirmed dead in Mississippi. Another person was killed in Alabama. Dozens more injured, and at least four others are still missing at this hour.
In a statement, President Biden said he has spoken to local and federal officials and is praying for the people who have lost loved ones. In the town of Rolling Fork, Mississippi, neighborhoods are simply decimated. Many residents are just thankful to be alive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRACY HARDEN, OWNER, CHUCK'S DAIRY BAR: -- community, and thank God we're alive. But also, we're so devastated by the loss. The whole trailer park behind the building is gone, and we don't know where everybody is. We don't know it's alive and who's gone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: CNN's Isabel Rosales is on the scene there in Rolling Fork. Isabel, what is the latest there in an area that is just hit so hard?
ISABEL ROSALES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fred, it's awful to witness this year on the ground. It wasn't clear overnight just how much damage there was. But once the sun came up, it was just completely unavoidable. I'm standing right now in what used to be a mobile home park, but now it's been completely leveled almost. You can see just the power of this tornado. If you look at that tree, those are metal pieces from the mobile homes here wrapped around the branches of the tree.
And as we keep looking over here, just reminders that these were homes, people's homes, mattresses over here, cars that have been busted and overturned. And if we keep looking in that direction as far as the eye can see, it almost appears like we're in a different world, Fred. One storm chaser called this apocalyptic, that's how they described this.
And FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said on your show, Fred, that they are still in life saving, life sustaining mode. And I can attest to the sort of frenzy right now, all this, all this heavy equipment that is being brought in, ATV, even law enforcement on horseback I have seen here, any which way that they can access these piles of debris to see if anyone is trapped underneath there.
And they're moving at this pace because they know that time is of the essence, every second counts. But it's not easy. It's hazardous. There are downed power lines, all sorts of debris, including pieces of wood like this with nails sticking out. Imagine if you're not paying attention, or if it's nighttime, and you step on that. Yes, very dangerous situations right now.
You mentioned the state of emergency that Governor Tate Reeves declared. That will be important, too, because that will bring in resources and money to get this community the help that it needs. Administrator Criswell also said that they're working on getting that over in the federal side of things to bring in that federal money as well.
We have also seen utility trucks working to replace the power poles, AT&T trucks, too, to restore the cellular connection, because, as you can imagine, it's so important in moments like this for first responders to communicate as their spanning across this mass area looking for anyone who might be trapped underneath.
[14:05:13]
I also spoke to the mayor of Rolling Fork here. His name is Eldridge Walker, who was trapped in his home with his wife last night when that tornado came in. Take a listen to how he described it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR ELDRIDGE WALKER, ROLLING FORK, MISSISSIPPI: It sounded like a freight train driving over my home. And it happened so quickly. By the time we responded to the alert, I got my wife, we got in the tub, covered our heads. By the time we did that the storm was coming over, and all we could hear was the house breaking apart.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROSALES: And Fred, it's also important to mention that Mississippi emergency management is saying despite what you're seeing and your desire to come here and help, they're asking people to please not self-deploy and volunteer that way. That might slow down the process. Instead, consider donating resources, water, to the Rolling Fork Civic Center. Fred?
WHITFIELD: All right, Isabel Rosales, thank you so much.
Let's go now to CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar in the Weather Center to see what else might be ahead.
ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: All right, because this was a lot. You have to understand there were a significant amount of tornado warnings. Now, not all resulted in a tornado, but if you look at some of these lines here, this one going straight from Rolling Fork all the way up just south of Huntsville. Weather service is doing storm surveys as we speak, trying to determine was this, in fact, one single tornado that just made it an extended prolonged period on the ground, or was it multiple tornadoes that ended up causing some of that damage?
One thing to note is that the storms are still ongoing. You've got to two separate areas here of concern. The first is still down to the southeast. You've got a tornado warning here, a severe thunderstorm warning behind it. This is that severe thunderstorm watch that you can see in yellow, so still active severe thunderstorms across the southeast as we speak.
And then to the north, you also have some severe thunderstorm warnings just to the southeast of Cleveland. So this is that secondary area in Ohio and Pennsylvania where we're also looking at the potential for severe storms. And that's for today. These two clusters that you see here where we have the potential for isolated tornadoes and also damaging winds.
One thing to note, by tonight most of those storms begin to push out, but a stationary front develops along the southeast. So you have yet another round of severe weather, Fred, that will develop tomorrow. And unfortunately, in some of these areas, it's the exact same locations that were hit in the last 24 hours by the previous round of thunderstorms.
WHITFIELD: Oh, no they cannot be hit more than once in that same region. All right, Allison Chinchar, thanks so much. Keep us posted on all of that.
All right, joining us right now, someone who saw that tornado as it hit Rolling Fork, Dr. Reed Timmer. He's a meteorologist and storm chaser who was there in Mississippi last night and is still there right now. So you livestreamed, right, Doctor, this storm on your YouTube channel? And what did people see?
DR. REED TIMMER, EXTREME METEOROLOGIST AND STORM CHASER: Well, it was a classic tornado outbreak for this time -- storms, fast moving tornados. And I'm standing on the river delta, and as soon -- thought it was -- -- and just off to on, it became a tornado producing machine. Very large tornado at that. And the storm was electrified, too. It had strobe lightning, just incredible lightning as it began to
become a tornadic as these storms often do, and you can see the whole structure of the supercell as well. A very large wall cloud, and then when one lightning strike happened on the backside it was suddenly a large wedge of about half mile in size.
And you could tell it was very fast moving. You could tell it was violent, had horizontal vortices -- people in the path of it in Rolling Fork because it was moving so fast and also the tornado sirens were not yet sounding there in town.
WHITFIELD: Right, I spoke with someone earlier who said he didn't hear the sirens but knew this was bad and it was dark. But there in the lightning strikes, you could also see imagery you know of this storm. You've been tracking tornadoes now for decades. How does this compare to others that you've seen?
TIMMER: Well, this is -- storms. You get these outbreak environments that set up over large, multiple state areas, and then you just get one storm that just steamrolls through the warm sector, sapping all the -- available to it. It's kind of like the Yazoo City, Mississippi, tornado, the EF-4 in 2010 that was almost a tristate tornado.
There was the Mayfield, Kentucky, tornadoes, those two tornadoes that went across Arkansas, of course large swaths of Kentucky -- often in the winter into the early spring over this portion of the country.
[14:10:05]
You get these really long track supercell storms, and you really fear for the people in the path of the storm, because you just know that these tornadoes largely are not survivable above ground, whether you're in a mobile home or a solid structure. You really need to be underground or in a tornado shelter.
And you saw with this tornado, vehicles orbiting around it as people just that were in their vehicles driving around in the path of the tornado. It was well warned as well. The National Weather Service does an incredible job hereto warning these storms, and they had a warning on it right when it approached the Mississippi River, and then the tornado touched down just on the east side of the river.
I'm right near the beginning of the path, and I'm about to survey this to see if it was that one continuous tornado track. I hear that it was continuous, at least from here all the way through Winona, Mississippi, which is another area that's been impacted by tornadoes so often. And some of the other communities impacted as well, Smithville, communities that were also hit during the super outbreak of 2011 out here. So this area just continues to get hammered by these tornadoes.
WHITFIELD: Terribly sad. It's an incredible account. Dr Reed Timmer, thank you so much for giving that to us.
To eastern Pennsylvania now, where crews continue to search for any possible survivors after an explosion at a candy factory in West Reading. According to police, the blast killed two people. Five people are still unaccounted for, but officials say one person was found alive under the rubble overnight.
CNN's Danny Freeman is live for us in west reading. So what's happening there now, Danny?
DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, the recovery effort still is ongoing at this time. There are a lot of first responders out here sifting through the rubble, sifting through the debris of this chocolate factory that exploded just yesterday. And I just want to say, you saw that video that you've been playing all throughout the afternoon. That's actually taken from a traffic camera that's on a nearby building, and it just got a perfect view of that horrific explosion.
Let me step out the way you can see what the scene is at this particular moment right now. You can see crews down there. They're taking debris out of the now vacant lot, basically, where that building used to be, that chocolate factor used to be, and they're trying to clear debris out of that spot so they can find, hopefully, survivors.
So here are things we do and don't know at this moment. We still don't know what caused yesterday's explosion to happen around 5:00 p.m. in the afternoon, but we do know two people have been confirmed dead, five are still missing, and of course, eight were taken to the hospital.
So I want to take you to just an idea of what we've been dealing with. The governor actually came to this site today, come back to me on camera, and he announced that there is a specialized taskforce on the ground right now called Pennsylvania Taskforce One.
It's an urban search and rescue. The state basically has been giving resources like canines, like structural engineers and other search and rescue specialists. They're the people who are out here trying to make sure that they find any survivors if they possibly can. Fred?
WHITFIELD: It's an incredible effort. Danny Freeman, thanks so much.
All right, still to come, President Biden and the chairman of the Federal Reserve say that all depositors' savings are safe. So are banks out of the woods? We'll discuss straight ahead.
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WHITFIELD: All right, there's a new wave of economic fears as concern is rising about the stability of yet another bank, German banking giant Deutsche Bank. The shares fell nearly nine percent at the close of European markets on Friday. President Biden says he is confident the recent banking turmoil on Wall Street will pass and that people's savings are secure. Here's CNN's Matt Eagan.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Banking jitters, they continue to rattle U.S. markets. Wall Street experienced yet more volatility on Friday as investors, they just wait for the next shoe to drop in this banking crisis. Investors are essentially going from the weakest link to the weakest link in the financial system.
Remember, first it was Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, then First Republic and Credit Suisse, and now all eyes are on Deutsche Bank. And Deutsche Bank shares, they tumbled almost nine percent in Germany with concerns about a spike in the cost to ensure the bank's debt against default. Of course, that is never a good sign.
I would note, though, that much like Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank's been in turmoil for literally years. But the bank failures in the United States earlier this month, they really cause investors to take a tougher look at banks everywhere.
Officials in Europe, they were quick to come out on Friday and say, look, there's nothing to see here. Everything's fine. The chancellor of Germany said there's, quote, no reason to be concerned about Deutsche Bank.
U.S. officials, they've also been keeping very close tabs on all of this banking turmoil. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen held a closed- door meeting with America's top financial regulators on Friday, and you've got to believe that Deutsche Bank came up.
All of this comes after the Fed pushed ahead with its war on inflation despite calls from some experts to pause and avoid adding to the stress in the banking system.
On Friday, I asked Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin about why the Fed raised rates in the face of all this turmoil. And he basically said the focus right now is squarely on fighting inflation. Listen.
TOM BARKIN, PRESIDENT, FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF RICHMOND: Inflation is high, demand hadn't seemed to come down, and so the case for raising was pretty clear. And the one thing that I hear loud and clear from everybody is that they hate inflation. They find inflation to be unfair. You get a raise, and then you have to go spend that raise at the gas station. It creates uncertainty. It's, frankly, exhausting.
[14:20:00]
EGAN: Of course, there are costs to getting inflation under control. Potentially job loss. Also, turmoil in the banking system like we're seeing now. And Barkin, he conceded that there is a risk that the stress in the bank system hurts the real economy by making it more expensive and harder for all of us to borrow. And he conceded that that could cause the Fed to stop raising interest rates soon.
But at this point no one, not even the Fed, knows exactly how all of that is going to play out.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
WHITFIELD: Lots of unanswered questions. All right, let's get some other questions answered right now of all of your economic concerns. Ryan Patel is a senior fellow at the Drucker School of Management at Claremont Graduate University. Ryan, good to see you again.
You were so great last weekend we had to have you come back to break down all the worries that so many people have, because the secretary of treasury, the Fed chairman, all of them said, you know what, don't worry about banks. Everything is fine. Should we be worried about particularly the regional banks?
RYAN PATEL, SENIOR FELLOW, DRUCKER SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT, CLAREMONT GRADUATE UNIVERSITY: When you say it that way, you make me scared. What is this true, you're worried about regional banking?
WHITFIELD: I'm not here to scare anybody.
(LAUGHTER)
PATEL: But I think it's important for everybody to understand why this is occurring, right? The regional banks are important to the U.S. economy. We can't have them fail. I think -- and we saw, let me just put some data. The Federal Reserve put some data out there, about $98.4 billion from accounts were collectively moved during the week of September 15th -- March 15th, sorry, from Silicon Valley and Signature Bank.
Why does that matter? So what happens is large institutions saw a deposit increase to $67 billion. So when you see that, people start to get worried. Small banks' money, can they cover all that? Can they hold and stay in the community? And so when you have the Fed and you have Janet Yellen coming out and saying they will do everything I think humanly possible to ensure that security, that trust, we're going to see that.
I think the other thing too, Fred, we've seen steady decline in the last year of deposits in general, about $582 billion. It's February,
2022. Where is the money going? Money is going to mutual fund, money market ratio funds. So how people manage their money, this is where we're talking about it right now.
WHITFIELD: So when big banks came to the rescue of for First Republic bank, propping it up with $30 billion, listen to what a top investor told CNN on Friday about his point of view and all that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEVIN O'LEARY, CHAIRMAN, O'LEARY VENTURES: Regional banks were set up 40, 50, 60 years ago to take care of the differences of the economies in different states. The state should eat it. But they have no use to me or anybody else anymore. So if you want to have little banks with $250,000 max in them, they'll never make money. And it's going to get a lot worse because these regulations are going to be increased after what happened to Silicon Valley Bank are going to make most of these regionals unprofitable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Do you agree or disagree with that? PATEL: Well, I can tell you there's many CEOs in regional banks who
really disagree with that. And I know some of them. I think one thing is you've got you know the 250 K that he's talking about in the FDIC insurance. If there is a co-owner, it makes it $500,000, each depositor gets 250, 250. I think there is a place for the U.S. bank, local regional banks for the community.
Do I think his statement of like, well, some will fail. Sure, there's always banks that will fail. But the regional banks are very meaningful to small business owners in certain places. You look in Oklahoma. You look in Texas. Go look at it. They can and serve the consumer and customer much better in that community than bigger banks.
Now, bigger banks right now, Fred, they had an increase of that flow. They have no choice but to take the money, not to say that they want the money either, because they have to deploy it as well. So I kind of have that balance to which the other side we should be talking to, Jamie Dimon and Jane Fraser who are great leaders in their own CEOs, but they're trying to manage. And why they came up and prompted it is because they can't have the whole system fail either.
WHITFIELD: So following this whole recent bank shakeup, does this mean that not just investors, but customers need to diversify, spread their money out to different banks. Don't put all of your liquid assets in one places, is that one takeaway from all this?
PATEL: The theme of this quarter I have to use is how do you manage risk. And I know we have tried to learn that for over the last two years, but it's pretty clear. We saw, even I was in Silicon Valley the past few days. Many CEOs that I spoke to had, unfortunately, maybe they're putting into one bank and have learned their lesson not to do that.
I think it's a really crossroad point for many investors and consumers, even no matter how much money you have, is to diversify your cash holdings across different places. If it is in money market, mutual funds, or other places that you can have liquidity to ensure that.
So I think we kind of went to this side. Do I think we're going to go back to where building that trust and having some predictability, that's what we need. We don't need unpredictability. We need predictability from the banking system, and that's what we need from the politicians, from businesses and government to be able to do that.
[14:25:01]
WHITFIELD: Everybody wants their confidence boosted a little bit more. All right, Ryan Patel, good to see you. Thanks so much.
PATEL: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: Coming up, Gwyneth Paltrow takes the stand in a ski collision trial. A man is accusing the actress rather of skiing out of control, causing the crash. But she says he's the one at fault and is countersuing. Her testimony next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: On Monday, actress Gwyneth Paltrow returned to the courtroom in a civil case over a 2016 snow skiing accident in Utah. And 76-year-old Terry Sanderson says Paltrow was skiing out of control and slammed into him, causing serious injuries. But yesterday, Paltrow took the stand and testified Sanderson skied into her.
CNN's Veronica Miracle reports.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good afternoon.
GWYNETH PALTROW, ACTRESS: Good afternoon,
VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Four days into her civil trial -
PALTROW: My legal name is Gwyneth Kate Paltrow Falchuk.
MIRACLE: -- actress and entrepreneur Gwyneth Paltrow took the stand accused of plowing into 76-year-old Terry Sanderson on a Utah ski slope in 2016. On the stand, Paltrow claimed she was the victim.
PALTROW: I was skiing and looking downhill, as you do, and I was skied directly into by Mr. Sanderson.
KRISTIN VAN ORMAN, PLAINTIFF'S ATTORNEY: And your nine-year-old son, you will admit, was on your left and up bit.
PALTROW: To my recollection.
MIRACLE: Sanderson claims Paltrow was distracted by her children and ran into him.
PALTROW: I was skiing, and two skis came between my skis, forcing my legs apart. And then there was a body pressing against me. And there was a very strange grunting noise. So my brain was trying to make sense of what was happening.
VAN ORMAN: He was still on the ground, right?
PALTROW: Yes.
VAN ORMAN: When you said, what are you doing?
PALTROW: Yes.
VAN ORMAN: OK, like why did you do that?
PALTROW: Yes.
VAN ORMAN: And he said, I think you skied into me.
PALTROW: Yes.
VAN ORMAN: And that's when you were furious and said, you skiied directly into my f-ing back at the top of your lungs.
PALTROW: Yes, I did.
VAN ORMAN: OK.
PALTROW: I apologize for my bad language.
MIRACLE: Before the 50-year-old star took the stand.
MARK HERATH, PLAINTIFF'S FRIEND: It was like a day and night as far as before and after the accident.
MIRACLE: Plaintiff's attorneys claim Sanderson broke four ribs, suffered brain damage, and was vibrant before the collision, but after, his brain deteriorated.
SHAE HERATH, SANDERSON'S DAUGHTER: This is not my dad. This is an alternate version of my dad.
MIRACLE: Sanderson's daughter recalled angry outbursts after the collision, like when he lashed out at his granddaughter while struggling to close the van door.
SHAE HERATH: She is just so belittled, and made to feel like she's stupid, and this didn't have to happen if he just listened to her.
MIRACLE: The defense, claiming Sanderson's prior medical issues, including a stroke like event, could have been a factor.
STEPHEN OWENS, PALTROW'S ATTORNEY: Do you agree that he adjusted his skiing to the right side of the slope because of his -- because of his vision issues?
POLLY GRASHAM, SANDERSON'S DAUGHTER: I think that was typical. He would -- yes.
MIRACLE: The only witness who testified to seeing the collision, a friend of the plaintiff, said Paltrow was to blame.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She hits him right directly in the back.
MIRACLE: Paltrow said on the stand he got it wrong.
PALTROW: I did not believe his testimony.
VAN ORMAN: Do you believe that he saw the collision?
PALTROW: No. I don't believe that he saw what he thinks he saw.
MIRACLE: Sanderson is suing Paltrow for more than $300,000 in damages. Paltrow is countersuing for a symbolic $1 and attorney's fees.
Veronica Miracle, CNN, Park City, Utah.
(END VIDEO TAPE) WHITFIELD: All right, Veronica, thank you so much.
Let's talk more about all of this now. Defense and trial attorney Misty Marris is back with this. Hey, Misty. So the trial resumes on Monday. What are you hearing so far? What do you think the potential outcome is?
MISTY MARRIS, DEFENSE AND TRIAL ATTORNEY: I think there's one critical piece of evidence and we don't know where it is. And that's this GoPro video. So Fred, let's take a step back. If this is a negligence case, negligence case, you have to prove that somebody did not act reasonably. That's the whole crux of this case. Sanderson against Paltrow, Paltrow in a countersuit against Sanderson.
A lot of this is going to hinge on who was uphill and who was downhill, because the people that are uphill or going to be the ones responsible. The downhill people have the right of way. so they're obviously in a position to see, correct. So if there is, in fact a GoPro video of this accident, well, wouldn't that just clear it up? So right now --
WHITFIELD: Where is that?
MARRIS: Where is it? No one's seen it. There's another aspect that makes this GoPro video, whether or not we see it or not, incredibly important. There's a standard in the law. It's called spoliation. It means that if a party fails to preserve evidence, either by neglect, neglectfully, or willfully, that an adverse inference can be taken by the jury. What does that mean? It means that the jury can assume it was negative to their case.
So if it's established that this video exists and somehow never made it into the courtroom, never was exchanged in evidence, well, that's going to be a real strong argument for Gwyneth Paltrow's team.
OK, and then there are at least two witnesses that might be called, right, especially for Paltrow's side, because she had at least a child who might be of age to speak to what he saw. And then what about her instructor who apparently was accompanying she and her children? What -- how important is the testimony?
[14:35:04]
MARRIS: The instructor is incredibly important. So first of all, remember, the instructor as well as the resort were originally a party. They were all dismissed from the case. So it's only going on against Paltrow. But as a witness, it is the instructor who filled out the incident report, which documents one of Paltrow's version of the events.
So that's what we call a contemporaneous document, and that shows what was reported on the day of the accident, not what's happening now. I mean, this is 2016, right, so years and years later, when memories have faded and there's less evidence as to what happened on that day.
So the ski instructor is going to be incredibly important. Not only that, the ski instructor can speak to Gwyneth Paltrow and her level, all of the precautions that were taken, her level as a skier, and what was happening on that day. I would say having an instructor skiing with you is already going to give you an argument that you were acting reasonably. As I said, that's the standard. What would a reasonable person do. She is skiing with an instructor, she's not distracted, and all of those factors that go into that.
WHITFIELD: Might there be any prejudice that initially the civil suit at a much larger, I guess, penalty, and now it's been reduced to a bit over $300,000, which I'm not saying is money to sneeze at, but there's a big difference between how it started out and what it's been reduced to now. Might the juror count on that?
MARRIS: The critical question here, one of the things you have to prove is damages. And when this case first began, it was $3 million. But of course, when push comes to shove, you've got to, in a case like this, justify all of those damages with medical records, corroborating evidence, so that award became much lower.
That $3 million initial demand and initial statement feeds into Gwyneth Paltrow's defense, which is I was targeted because I was a celebrity. Ski accidents happen all the time. It does not necessarily mean there is legal liability.
WHITFIELD: Interesting. All right, Misty Marris, thanks so much.
MARRIS: Thank you, Fred.
WHITFIELD: All right, and this quick programming note. Adam Sandler and his friends are coming to CNN. The Kennedy Center presents the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor celebrating Adam Sandler. Don't miss it, tomorrow night, 8:00 p.m. right here on CNN.
All right, coming up, President Biden is sending a forceful message as Iranian backed groups launch more attacks on U.S. troops in Syria. Details straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:41:43]
WHITFIELD: President Biden with some forceful words for Iranian backed groups that attacked U.S. personnel in Syria.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Make no mistake. The United States does not, does not emphasize, seek conflict with Iran, but be prepared for us to act forcefully protect our people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: The U.S. retaliated after the attacks in Syria that killed one American and injured several others. CNN's Oren Liebermann has more.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: A late night strike in northeast Syria, ambulances rushing to the scene as fire burns in the distance. U.S. striking what officials say were ammunition depots and intelligence sites used by militias linked to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The U.S. called the strike carried out by two F-15 fighters a proportionate and deliberate action after a one way drone attack killed an American contractor earlier Thursday near Hasakah in Syria. Five U.S. servicemembers and another contractor were wounded in the attack.
Early Friday morning another U.S. base in Syria coming under attack from a barrage of 10 rockets, the Pentagon said the U.S. placing the blame on Iran.
BRIG. GEN. PATRICK RYDER, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: Iran certainly, again, backs these groups. And by default, therefore, has a responsibility to ensure that they are not contributing to insecurity and instability, but clearly they continue to do that.
LIEBERMANN: Syria has become a crossroads of conflict in the Middle East. Iranian proxies have carried out rocket and drone attacks against U.S. forces. Russia has begun flying armed fighters over U.S. positions in the country. For the U.S. and its footprint of about 900 troops in Syria, focus remains ISIS.
JOHN KIRBY, NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL COORDINATOR FOR STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS: We don't seek a war with Iran. We're not looking for an armed conflict with that country or another war in the region. We do seek to protect our mission in Syria, which is about defeating ISIS.
LIEBERMANN: On Thursday, the commander of U.S. Central Command, General Erik Kurilla, told the House Armed Services Committee hearing that Iran and its proxies have fired drones or rockets 78 times at U.S. forces since the beginning of 2021, nearly one attack every 10 days.
GEN. MICHAEL "ERIK" KURILLA, COMMANDER, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: So what Iran does to hide it's hand as they use Iranian proxies. That's either UAVs or rockets to be able to attack our forces in either Iraq or Syria.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are these considered acts of war by Iran?
KURILLA: They are being done by the Iranian proxies is what I would tell you, Congressman.
LIEBERMANN: The U.S. has carried out attacks against Iranian proxies in Syria before, targeting either enemy infrastructure or launch vehicles used to attack U.S. forces.
Back in August, when there was a similar back and forth of strikes and attacks, the administration believed after that, according to a U.S. official, that deterrence had been restored in Syria. That's clearly no longer the case. The question for the administration is how to get there from this point.
We have seen the administration carry out a series of strikes. Is that the way forward here? The administration trying to avoid an escalation, but clearly knows it has to send a message with Iranian proxies in the region launching a series of attacks against a number of bases housing U.S. troops.
Oren Liebermann, CNN, at the Pentagon.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
WHITFIELD: Still to come, there's an alarming increase in colorectal cancer cases among younger adults in the U.S., and scientists don't know why. I'll discuss it with a public health specialist next.
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[14:49:23]
WHITFIELD: There's been an alarming increase in colorectal cancer cases among younger adults, and now scientists are racing to uncover why. According to new statistics from the American Cancer Society, about 20 percent of all new colorectal cancer diagnoses are in people younger than 55.
Primary care, physician, and public health specialist Dr. Saju Mathew joining me now with more on this. So why do we think this is? Mostly diet?
DR. SAJU MATHEW, PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIAN: The good news about screening for colon cancer is we know that if you have a family history, say your mom had colon cancer at 50, you want be diagnosed 10 years earlier. So that's a no brainer when they see me.
[14:50:03]
WHITFIELD: OK.
MATHEW: The problem is a fit, young, healthy patient that gets colon cancer, so that steep rise and young people. In fact, by the year 2030 it's projected that that will be the leading cause of cancer related deaths in the ages 20 to 49. But obesity, excessive alcohol consumption, eating a lot of feed, eating a lot of meat, not having a lot of fiber, these are some of the risk factors.
WHITFIELD: So already it was a leading, I guess, cause of death among cancers for people over what, say, 50?
MATHEW: It's 50, 60. It's usually a cancer that's diagnosed in older patients.
WHITFIELD: Yes. And so when we talk about at 45 now you should get your colonoscopy. I guess that probably scares a lot of people because they're thinking, wait a minute. I should be waiting until later. But they have to look at their lifestyles too, right.
MATHEW: You got it. The most important relationship is having that open dialogue with your primary care physician. We have moved the age from 50 to 45, really, because colon cancer now is being diagnosed in young people. I lost a friend, Fred, at 37 to stage four colon cancer.
She never told me about her alternating history of diarrhea and constipation, which brings me to tell you the symptoms of colon cancer overlap with a lot of other common conditions. Blood in the stool could be hemorrhoids, could be a bleeding polyp. Weight loss could be other signs and symptoms of other diseases. So when you have bloating, abdominal pain, weight loss, it doesn't necessarily mean you have colon cancer. So that's why primary care physicians are not as aggressive.
But what I do is I have a two treatment plan. If you if you have something where I know that there's a reason for the bleeding or the symptoms, I treat that, but I hand every patient a referral to a G.I. doctor. If you're not better, see the G.I. specialist and maybe get a colonoscopy.
WHITFIELD: And you think a lot of people don't talk about it, because they may think it's a little embarrassing. I'm not going to talk to my friend even though he's a leading physician, I'm not going to tell him about it because we're talking about you know your bowel movement. Who wants to have that kind of conversation? Or they think it will just go away?
MATHEW: People are scared. It's a very intimate part of our body. Even if you are comfortable talking to your doctor, it's not the topic that you are really at the forefront of your mind.
WHITFIELD: Right.
MATHEW: So the most important thing, like I said earlier, is having that conversation and knowing that you have options. Like my mom, my mom will never get a colonoscopy. She's too scared. So for patients like that --
WHITFIELD: Which is shocking. Her son, the doctor, you can't comfort her or allay her fears.
MATHEW: I've tried.
WHITFIELD: What is she and others are afraid of?
MATHEW: The colonoscopy itself is only like a 10, 12 minute exam. You get that anesthesia that Michael Jackson made famous, propofol. You have a great sleep. You wake up. The problem is getting ready for the colonoscopy, getting up for the colonoscopy.
WHITFIELD: The liquid, the drinking.
MATHEW: The drinking, the prep has to be completely clean. But you've got the option of Cologuard. I'm not necessarily pushing that, because with the Cologuard, it's a stool test, you could miss a lot of kind of small polyps.
WHITFIELD: Kind of doing it at home.
MATHEW: You send, you mail it in. You get an answer. Hey, either you have colon cancer or not, or either you have a positive test or not, and then you still have to get the colonoscopy. So why not get the colonoscopy first and be screened and make sure that if you have any polyps that can actually be removed, and then the doctor will tell you when to come back, whether it's five or 10 years.
WHITFIELD: Have your mom call me. I've had a few colonoscopies. It's easy. It's painless. And the worst part is drinking the prep.
MATHEW: The prep, that's the worst part. Fred, you'll probably be able to convince my mom.
WHITFIELD: OK, I'll try.
MATHEW: I'll have her give you a call.
WHITFIELD: I'll give her a call.
MATHEW: Yes, sounds good.
WHITFIELD: Dr. Saju Mathew, good to see you. Thanks so much.
MATHEW: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: All right, fitness, well, it's essential for healthy living as well. We know that from you because you're a fitness guru, but for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities who face a greater risk of obesity, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes, it's vital.
So this week's CNN Hero is a dad whose daughter had cerebral palsy, and for eight years he has made it his mission to get people like her moving through opportunities to build muscle, community, and a sense of pride. Meet John Watson.
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JOHN WATSON, CNN HERO: We want to lead people to a lifetime of fitness. Safety is first, but we want them to have fun. We want them to want to do it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I love it!
WATSON: When we connect with them on that level, they'll show up to exercise.
(APPLAUSE)
WATSON: We do Pilates, yoga, dance. We have a wide range of abilities. Somebody that might have limited movement, we specifically trying to get them to move to how they can. It's a goal system. Based on how many classes do you go to earn certain things. [14:55:03]
She might have a few challenges, but she never lets it stop her. Rafiqa (ph).
(APPLAUSE)
WATSON: We all want to be part of something. They just don't get the opportunity that often. We create a sense of pride, belonging, and love.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
WHITFIELD: All the important ingredients. To see John's full story and nominate your own CNN Hero, go to CNNheroes.com right now.
Thank you so much for being with me today. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. SMERCONISH starts right after this.
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