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Ukraine Investigating Videos Of Apparent Beheadings; President Joe Biden Urges Northern Ireland To "Repair" Political Impasse; Emmanuel Macron's Pension Push Resetting French Politics; Food Shortages Mar Muslim Holy Month In Pakistan; Cyclone Ilsa Intensifies En Route to Western Australia; Beijing & Taiwan at Odds after Weekend Military Drills; Prince Harry to Attend Coronation without Meghan. Aired 12-12:45a ET

Aired April 13, 2023 - 00:00   ET

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

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[00:00:46]

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm John Vause. Ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM.

Russian forces in Ukraine apparently reached a new low in their sadistic, depraved and apart war crimes. New video showing Russian troops beheading still alive Ukrainian.

So, what was the point? U.S. President Joe Biden spent 15 hours in Northern Ireland, half that time asleep. For what?

And the most powerful cyclone Australia has seen in more than a decade, set to make landfall on the West Coast.

ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with John Vause.

VAUSE: When terror groups ISIS in Al-Qaeda commanded the headlines, the world bore witness to a steady stream of gruesome beheading videos, though gut wrenching and terrifying and that was the point to terrorize.

Now, Russian forces in Ukraine are being accused of sinking that horrifying level of depravity. At least two videos posted online show the apparent beheading of still alive Ukrainian soldiers.

CNN has made an editorial decision not to air those videos because they're simply too graphic. But a warning, you're about to see still images from the scene.

If children are watching right now, it would be best if they leave the room. These images again show just still shots but many will find them disturbing.

They were taken from video posted on a pro Russian social media channel last week and is now at the center of yet another war crimes investigation by Ukrainian authorities. It appears to show the bodies of two Ukrainian soldiers next to a

destroyed military vehicle. On the video, one person is heard laughing then saying in Russian, someone came up to the soldiers and cut off their heads.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described whoever could do this is beast.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): This video shows Russia as it is. What kind of creatures are they? They don't care about a human being, a son, a brother, a husband, someone's child. This video shows Russia trying to make it a new normal, this habit of destroying life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Ukraine's Human Rights Commissioner calls the video proof of genocide to the Ukrainian people. And one pro-Russian military blogger hinted there may be more similar videos eventually to be made public.

CNN's Senior International Correspondent Ben Wedeman begins our coverage.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In a war not short of images of brutality and horror, two videos purporting to show acts of unimaginable barbarism, too gruesome to air.

In this series of still frames, a man wearing military fatigues is seen using a knife to cut off the head of another man in army uniform. The victim is seen wearing a yellow armband typically worn by Ukrainian soldiers.

From the voices on the recording, it seems the victim was still alive as the beheading began.

The perpetrator's identity is also hidden, but he's seen wearing a white tie on his leg, a means of identification often worn by Russian fighters.

Ukrainian authorities say they're working to uncover where and when the incident might have taken place, as well as trying to establish the victim's identity and that of the other men in the video.

This is something that no one in the world can ignore, says President Zelenskyy. How easily these beasts kill this video of the execution of a Ukrainian POW. The world must see it.

Ask about the video during the daily call with journalists, the Kremlin spokesman acknowledged the footage was terrible, but added a caveat.

First of all, said spokesman Dmitry Peskov, in the world of fakes that we inhabit. We need to check the veracity of this footage.

At about the same time, another video also emerged on social media, this one believed to have been filmed in the last few days purporting to show the mutilated bodies of two Ukrainian soldiers lying next to the destroyed military vehicle.

Voices speaking in Russian claimed the soldiers had had their heads cut off. Images on the video appeared to show the soldiers hands and also been cut off.

Pro-Russian social media posters said the video was shot near Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, scene of the war's fiercest fighting, but CNN is unable to confirm the location.

[00:05:11]

The United Nations said it was appalled by the videos, but 14 months into Russia's full scale invasion, reiterated these are not isolated incidents.

MATILDA BOGNER, HEAD OF THE U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS MONITORING MISSION IN UKRAINE: We found that there have been significant violations on both sides, summary executions, torture and so on. And we call on both parties to the conflict to hold the perpetrators to account.

WEDEMAN (on camera): One Ukraine Intelligence official says he knows the motivation for the release of these videos, to frighten and intimidate. That at a time when Ukraine readies its forces to launch a major offensive aimed at driving Russia out of the country.

Ben Wedeman CNN, eastern Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Matthew Schmidt is a professor of national security and political science at the University of New Haven. Good to see you.

MATTHEW SCHMIDT, DIRECTOR OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS, UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAVEN (on camera): Good to see you, John.

VAUSE: So, an adviser to the office of the Ukrainian president made this point about the beheadings, it completely dehumanizes and demonstrates the essence of a terrorist country. But it is important to understand the purpose. This is a psychological operation aimed at intimidation.

You know, the Russian military has always had this reputation for brutality. And it seems to be another question right now are these horrific acts, raping mothers in front of their children, raping children in front of their parents, torture, execution of civilians, and now this, is this the end result of poorly disciplined psychotic soldiers who doesn't go much further than that? Are these atrocities condoned and encouraged from higher ups within the military or the Kremlin?

SCHMIDT: I'm going to quote Hannah Arendt, the great political theorist of the 20th century, who spent a lot of her career studying the Holocaust. She coined a phrase called the banality of evil, which is that you don't have to have squads of psychotic soldiers to do these things. You have to have people who are cowed. You have to have people who are quite ordinary, and will simply follow orders.

And I think that's what you see here. I think it's clear that there is a systemic process here that's ordering these rapes and these murders, and the torture and the kidnapping of children. I think we need to throw that in there.

And it is exactly what the Ukrainian say it is, it's intended to intimidate. It's intended to frighten.

But I think we also need to realize that some of this, perhaps all of it is also an initiation ritual. And it's designed to take troops that haven't been properly trained, that have no ethics training, like our troops do for instance. And it's designed to make them part of a team. And this is a disgusting and sick way to make a team but it is effective. Because once you commit a crime like this, once you witness it and don't seek to stop it, you're now complicit.

VAUSE: I want you to listen to the reaction from Ukraine's President, here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENSKYY (through translator): This is not an accident. This is not an episode. This was the case earlier. This was the case in Bucha, thousands of times, everyone must react, every leader, don't expect it to be forgotten, that time will pass. We are not going to forget anything. Neither are we going to forgive the murderers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: The level of depravity by Russian troops seems to be getting worse, the longer this war goes on. And then when you hear talk, like will not be forgotten, no forgiveness from Zelenskyy. Clearly, the time for negotiation if there ever was one to try and end this war. That train has now left the station politically and morally, it would seem negotiations at least as far as Zelenskyy is concerned. It's just simply not possible now.

SCHMIDT: That's right. What makes something like this beheading different is that you know, all war is a crime and killing people in war, even that is a kind of murder, but this kind of thing is intimate. And I think that's what you see reflected in Zelenskyy's response. You see the intimacy of the death of that soldier being thrown in Zelenskyy's face, being thrown in the faces of his people.

And the response is exactly what you say it is. It's resolved. It's not intimidation. It's saying we will fight this to the end, we will not forget, right? And I think we will not forgive is what really sticks when you listen to Zelenskyy.

Unfortunately, in the end, wars, have to have negotiations. I don't think militarily that the Ukrainians at this point are capable of expelling all of the Russians with force. And so, they have to look to some point in the future where they have created enough leverage on the battlefield to get the Russians to leave by political order. But that's a very difficult thing to see in the future, anytime soon.

[00:10:18]

VAUSE: So in the wake of these horrendous atrocities, which have been committed by Russian soldiers against civilians against Ukrainian soldiers, doesn't that -- or surely, shouldn't that be some kind of motivating factor for the United States, for NATO and the allies? I mean, they're already doing a lot but surely it's the chance (INAUDIBLE) moment, just step up and do even more?

SCHMIDT: I think it is. I think what you see happening for the last several months is that the West is frankly creeping closer step by step to more and more direct involvement in this war. And Putin is pushing in that direction with these kinds of acts by condoning this kind of systemic torture, right? And these systemic war crimes. He is -- he is pushing the West buttons, and he is essentially daring the West to get involved in the war, because that's the way that Putin is able to then bring leverage in to try to get out of the war, right, and to push harder and escalate the war in the way that he wants to escalate it. And I think that's the tension that everybody's facing right now.

VAUSE: A good point to finish on Matt, thanks so much for being with us. Appreciate it.

SCHMIDT: My pleasure.

VAUSE: The less political and more personal part of the U.S. President's trip to his ancestral homeland is now underway. Joe Biden arrived in the Republic of Ireland and was greeted by cheering crowds in County Louth, birthplace of his great grandfather.

In the coming day, President Biden will meet with the Irish president, no relation, and the prime minister also have no relation and address parliament.

In Belfast, a bilat between the U.S. president and British prime minister was downgraded to more of a by latte (PH). Joe Biden and Rishi Sunak chatted over a cup of tea. Both call for Northern Ireland's main political party is to end the political dysfunction, which has gripped the province for a year now.

The Northern Ireland Assembly has been suspended since February last year, with one of the main political parties refusing to enter a mandated power sharing arrangement. At the center of this dispute is a post-Brexit trade deal.

The power sharing arrangement is seen as being at the heart of the Good Friday Peace Accords, which ended decades 25 years ago, and Joe Biden marked while he was in Belfast.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The lesson of the Good Friday Agreement is this. In times when things seem fragile, or easily broken. That is when hope and hard work are needed the most. That's why we must make our theme repair, repair.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Live now to CNN's Kevin Liptak in Dublin at this early hour just after 5:00 a.m. Thank you for getting up for being with us, Kevin.

The president, he's traveling with his sister, right? As well as his son, Hunter. The NPT (PH) is seems to be suggesting it's kind of like a family vacation. So, how does the White House justify this?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER (on camera): Well, the White House was asked about that yesterday, and they make the point, you know, the Good Friday Agreement, certainly a legacy of American involvement overseas, something that President Biden was very eager to proclaim when he was in Belfast.

And here in Dublin, you know, he is meeting with government leaders. He's meeting with the president, with the Taoiseach. He's addressing the parliament. So, there are government matters, official matters that he will be discussing while he's on the ground here.

But it's hard to separate that from the optics of the president traveling around this island visiting some of his ancestral homes. It's something that previous Presidents have done as well, including President Obama, of course, President Kennedy in the 1960s.

But certainly, President Biden really relish his Irish identity far more than perhaps any president since Kennedy. And you saw that on full display yesterday when he was in County Louth. Thousands of people came out to the streets, three and four deep on the street in the pouring rain to see the president walked down the street. He visited a pub, he visited a little market place, really relishing his ancestry here in Ireland.

And in fact, he even said, I don't know why his ancestors even left, it's so beautiful. Of course, they left because of the famine. And he acknowledged that later in the day, he took a tour of the Carlingford Castle, and he was able to peer out from the -- to the port of Newry, which is in Northern Ireland. And that is where his great, great, great grandfather Owen Finnegan departed for the United States in 1849.

So, so much of this trip is really about the past. Today is really more about the present, present day (PH) Ireland, which really bears no resemblance to the Ireland that his ancestors left. It really doesn't even resemble the Ireland that JFK even visited in 1963. This is a much more progressive country. It's one of the top economies in the entire European Union.

[00:15:03] Of course, Ireland past referendums, legalizing same sex marriage and abortion really sort of throwing off the weight of the Catholic church that had been such a part of this Ireland's identity for so many years. So that's part of President Biden's identity as well.

So today, it will really be about more the present day Ireland before he gets back to his past, his ancestors, his roots on Friday, John.

VAUSE: Enjoy the vacation, Kevin. Kevin Liptak there for us live in Dublin. Thank you.

Max Bergmann is the director of the Europe, Russia and Eurasia program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He joins us this hour from Washington. Thank you for being with us.

MAX BERGMANN, DIRECTOR OF THE EUROPE, RUSSIA AND EURASIA PROGRAM, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES (on camera): Thanks for having me.

VAUSE: Great. Well, so I want you to listen to the leader Sinn Fein Mary Lou McDonald, who thought that maybe Biden's trip might just encourage the Democratic Unionist to end the year long boycott of the power sharing arrangement, here she is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARY LOU MCDONALD, PRESIDENT, SINN FEIN: I am very disappointed that as President Biden visits to mark this momentous achievement of a quarter of a century of peace that the DUP continued their boycott of government in Belfast, I think that is a missed opportunity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: So, given Joe Biden's history of being pro Republican here, was there any chance that, you know, the pro U.K. DUP will be influenced by anything U.S. president had to say or influenced by his mere presence in the region?

BERGMANN: Well, I'm not sure that was sort of the purpose of the trip. I do think that the harsh reaction from the DUP, I think, indicates that they feel a bit under a bit of pressure, and were essentially lashing out, I think, rather than a bizarrely extreme way against the president.

And what I really see the purpose of this trip is to highlight to the U.K. government, to the Irish government and to the world, that the United States really values the Good Friday Agreement and what happened 25 years ago with Northern Ireland, and will want to preserve that agreement and preserve peace in Northern Ireland, and that had been put under front by Brexit. And I think the U.S. staking out a pretty clear position in support of the Good Friday Agreement and maintaining a frictionless trade and movement between Ireland and Northern Ireland and Northern Ireland in Great Britain, it was really important.

VAUSE: Well, the U.S. president did meet with the U.K. Prime Minister, who says they discussed the exciting economic potential waiting for Northern Ireland, here's Rishi Sunak.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RISHI SUNAK, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: We spoke in particular about the incredible economic opportunities that are there in store for Northern Ireland. And we talked about the investment potential that is there, the companies that want to invest in Northern Ireland, I think that's incredibly exciting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Maybe an incredibly exciting doesn't seem as very substantive Number 10. So this was a formal bilateral discussion, the White House they seem to downgrade it from a bilateral to a by latte, you know, just coffee. Was there any substance to this meeting?

BERGMANN: I think so. I think this is Rishi Sunak greeting President Biden to U.K. soil, and probably discussing, you know, what messages might be -- might be useful.

Look, Rishi Sunak is trying to sell the agreement that he made with the E.U. And I think there's -- that's been embraced by the Biden administration, the U.K. Government kind of returning to more pragmatic approach to working with the E.U.

And look, this would benefit that Northern Ireland economically, the fact that it would both benefit from being part of the world's largest market, the European Union, and having economic access there, and being part of the U.K. and gives it sort of a special status, which would hopefully lead to more economic growth.

VAUSE: So big picture here, it seems like, you know, you believe that there was, you know, the president actually moved the needle here in some way, even though he was on the ground for like 15 hours and half that time he was asleep.

BERGMANN: Yes, look, this was a quick trip, I think much of the trip is going to be about Biden going to the rest of Ireland.

And look, the fact that Biden talks about his Irish roots, I think, rubbed some people, especially on the union aside the wrong way.

So, I don't think, you know, the White House ever sort of built this up that Joe Biden was going to arrive into Northern Ireland and resolve its governing problems.

But I do think that this is a moment to commemorate 25 years ago, that this was -- Northern Ireland was still at war, still in conflict. The troubles were incredibly a bloody and terrible for Northern Ireland, for the U.K., for Ireland. And that's something to commemorate.

Now, there's governing problems in Northern Ireland, that Joe Biden wasn't going to solve that. But I think this was about really highlighting the role that American leadership can play in the world and the positive role that it played in Northern Ireland. And that's something that I think any American president would want to commemorate.

VAUSE: We in the media tend to focus on the problems being nor the achievements. Max, thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate it.

BERGMANN: Thanks for having me.

[00:20:00]

VAUSE: France is bracing for another day of massive strikes and protests. It comes a day before the Supreme Court rules on President Emmanuel Macron's plans to raise the retirement age by two years.

Also ahead, for many in Pakistan marking the holy month of Ramadan. Breaking the daily fast is now struggle in itself. We'll explain why later this hour.

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VAUSE: Two boats counting about 1200 migrants have finally reached land after being rescued by the Italian coast guard. Both boats were buffeted by rough seas in the Mediterranean Monday. One is now docked at a port in Sicily, the other in Calabria in southern Italy.

Facing another surge in migrant arrivals, the Italian government has declared a six month a state of emergency. Amnesty International condemned the move, call for better systems to receive and process asylum seekers.

Hundreds of thousands of protesters are expected to march in cities and towns across France in the coming hours opposed to President Macron's move to raise the retirement age by two years and a day before a Supreme Court ruling on Macron's plan.

As many as 600,000 people set to walk off their job and march a 12th day of demonstrations similar to this one just a week ago. Many schools and businesses plan to close those day, millions in France are furious not just over the pension reforms, but also with the way Macron forced the reforms through Parliament. But speaking from the Netherlands Wednesday, the French president said protests are just a part of the process.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT (through translator): In the Netherlands as in France, we are carrying out difficult reforms which sometimes give rise to protests. Sometimes people in France think that there are only protests in our country. We have to support these changes and sometimes we have to accept the controversy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: The protests are also part of French politics, as CNN's Saskya Vandoorne tells us from Paris, the pension controversy may doom Macron's plans for other ambitious reforms.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SASKYA VANDOORNE, CNN SENIOR FIELD PRODUCER (voice over): Anger on the streets of France. Macron resign, protesters all united against a defiant president.

MACRON (through translator): If you want the pact between generations to be fair, this reform needs to be carried out.

VANDOORNE: Pension reforms were a landmark policy of President Emmanuel Macron's reelection campaign, but upping the retirement age from 62 to 64 may have been a step too far for too many.

Forcing the bill passed one of the two parliamentary chambers pouring fuel on the fire of popular anger. Much of that ire has come Macron's way.

DOMINIQUE MOISI, POLITICAL ANALYST: No, it is really against denunciation of the president himself. I don't think in the history of the Fifth Republic we have seen so much rage, so much hatred at all president.

VANDOORNE: With most French people polled supporting the protests, his approval ratings are nearly the lowest of his two terms at just 28 percent in March. It was only worse during the yellow vest protests, four years ago popularity at rock bottom hundreds of thousands in the streets weekly.

[00:25:18]

For Macron, the yellow vests protesting what they called economic injustices upset his first term, he now faces a similar risk.

The deficit balancing moves slammed by many as tone deaf will face its final hurdle here Friday. France is equivalent of the Supreme Court, it will either rubber stamp it or deny that some parts or indeed the whole thing is unconstitutional, which would be a further embarrassment for President Macron.

For the young reformer, pensions were supposed to be the first of several policy revamps. But his crusade of government reform now looks dead in the water. With little hope of energizing lawmakers behind yet more controversial policy rethinks and his legacy may be even more troubled, opening the door to the far right.

MOISI: The comparison was Barack Obama applies is paving the way to the coming to power of a populist leader and it will be remembered in history as the man who allowed Marine Le Pen to finally come to power.

VANDOORNE: With four years remaining in his term as president, we may still not know the true cost of Macron's hunger for reform for quite a while.

Saskya Vandoorne, CNN Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE) VAUSE: Iranian state media reports dozens of arrests in the west of the country over alleged plot to poison students. Wave of suspected poisoning at mostly girls schools have swept across Iran in recent months. Iranian politicians have suggested hardline Islamist groups could be targeting the girls, while activist believes school girls are being poisoned because many have been active in antigovernment protests.

Muslims around the world are mocking the holy month of Ramadan, for those who are able, that means abstaining from food and water from sunup to sundown for the entire month.

In fact, he said the custom is even more challenging this year because many families simply cannot afford the food to break their fast at the end of the day. Sophia Saifi has our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SOPHIA SAIFI, CNN PRODUCER (voice over): They lineup in their hundreds, men, women and children waiting in the spring heat for a free bag of flour. Many have empty bellies as people across Pakistan observe daily fasts through the holy month of Ramadan.

This year, a desperate food shortage means an evening meal is not guaranteed.

20-year-old tech worker Wakas Chaudry (PH) has been standing in this line since the early morning. He says it's the first time in his life he's had to rely on charity.

Everything has become so expensive, he says, that it has become incredibly difficult just to survive.

Few in this nation of 200 million had been spared by an economic crunch that is now hurting people across class divides.

Acres of farmland lie under water after catastrophic floods last summer. Food is scarce, prices have skyrocketed.

In just one year alone, the cost of flour, a staple of Pakistani diets has increased by over 100 percent according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.

The government's attempts to wrangle a billion dollar bailout package from the International Monetary Fund has stalled since November.

The sheer number of people lined up here is unusual and speaks to the seriousness of Pakistan's food shortage crisis.

Wakas follows the line as it winds its way from the busy road into a dark musty basement. On the floor flower gathers like dust. It will be hours before his done.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has announced a relief package early March, offering a bag of free flour to the poorest of the poor during Ramadan, Wakas never thought that would mean him. In the past month, close to two dozen people have died in Pakistan

while waiting for food, desperate women and children dying in the crush for a meal.

Pakistan's Commission of Human Rights accused the government of mismanaging food distribution. Charity is always a big part of Ramadan. Each year, soup kitchens layout free Iftars, the meal each enough to sunset to end the daily fast.

This year, the number of people relying on goodwill has doubled. There is little to celebrate for many.

We can't pay our children's school fees, this man tells me, we break our fast which is water and a date. Other delicacies are only things we can dream about right now.

The economic despair here won't end with a bag of flour, as so many in Pakistan go to bed hungry this Ramadan.

Sophia Saifi, CNN Islamabad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Still ahead here on CNN, Western Australia preparing for its most powerful cyclone in years. Cyclone Ilsa intensifying and expected to make landfall in the coming hours, we're tracking the storm with the very latest, in a moment.

[00:30:16]

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VAUSE: Welcome back, everyone. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

Right now, a powerful cyclone is barreling towards Western Australia. When it makes landfall in the coming hours, Cyclone Ilsa, expected to be one of the strongest storms to hit the region in more than a decade.

Authorities are piling up the sandbags, and residents are being urged to head to safer ground. Emergency services have been checking in on remote aboriginal communities, mines and tourist sites, warning them with the potential chaos which lies ahead.

Meteorologist Britley Ritz tracking the storm for us. So this is going to be really sort of a hit or miss. If it hits Broome slightly to the North, where it's expected to make landfall, it could be incredibly damaging.

If it misses, then it should be OK.

BRITLEY RITZ, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hopefully so, if that's the case. But we are watching it, and it's slowly taking its time moving toward Port Hedland right now. It looks like it will miss Broome. But one little jog to the right or left makes a big difference in the system. Notice the eye itself, looking to go through an eye wall replacement

cycle as though it already has and getting a well-defined eye. Around the center itself, deep convection, and that just means further strengthening just before it makes landfall.

The center of the eye about 300 kilometers from Port Hedland itself. Winds right now sustained at 215 kilometers per hour. Based on Saffir- Simpson scale from the Atlantic hurricane, that would be a low-end Cat 4.

Very strong system nonetheless, with gusts now of 100 -- or rather 260 kilometers per hour as it moves South Southwest, taking that dive. So again, there's Broome, and there's Port Hedland. The system itself expected to push inland, make landfall sometime late Thursday into Friday morning as a strong tropical cyclone, then weakening as it moves inland. As it hits that friction of the land.

There our gale warnings in place for the coastline South of Broome into Port Hedland. And further inland, gale watches. The winds themselves pushing onshore North of Port Hedland, some of the strongest winds coming in Friday morning local time, with winds gusting over 180 to 210 kilometers per hour.

Then again, the heaviest rain coming in late Thursday and into Friday -- John.

VAUSE: They'll bring a lot of rain and possible flooding, as well. So yes, big one to keep watching. Britley, thank you For that.

North Korea has launched another ballistic missile. This one set off an evacuation warning on the Northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. The Japanese government said this was not a false alarm, because the dangers of possible debris falling from the missile.

By CNN's count, this is the 12th day this year which North Korea has fired one or more missiles.

Taiwan's defense ministry says more than a dozen Chinese air force jets have crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait in the last 24 hours. This comes after a weekend of military drills by Beijing around the self-governed island.

CNN's Will Ripley has our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): China may be one step closer to attacking Taiwan, staging massive military exercises miles off the Taiwan east coast.

Senior defense officials in Taipei say 12 Chinese warships surrounded the island, simulating a sea and air blockade for the second time in eight months.

Taiwan's military says three days of war games reveal rapid progress by the Chinese navy. What appeared to be the first ever simulations of aircraft carrier strikes, with a highly advanced J-15 fighter fleet China calls the Flying Shark.

In the Taiwan Strait, China's Shandong aircraft carrier launched 80 fighter jet missions and 40 helicopter flights.

The drills came with an ominous warning China's military is ready to fight.

The Taiwanese military issuing a strong condemnation, saying it does not seek to escalate but is determined to safeguard its sovereignty.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR/CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Is Beijing, in your view, threatening Taiwan with war?

JOSEPH WU, FOREIGN MINISTER OF TAIWAN: Yes, indeed.

RIPLEY (voice-over): Taiwan's foreign minister Joseph Wu speaking exclusively to CNN, condemning China's military moves. Menacing imagery shows a barrage of ballistic missiles aimed at the island.

China launched real missiles over Taiwan for the first time last year.

WU: Look at the military sizes -- exercises and also their rhetoric. There seems to be trying to get ready to launch a war against Taiwan.

RIPLEY (voice-over): China calls the drills "a serious warning against the Taiwan separatist forces' collusion with external forces, and a necessary move to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity."

China's exercises, like similar drills last August, followed high- profile meetings with U.S. House Speakers Nancy Pelosi in Taiwan, Kevin McCarthy in California. Meetings the foreign minister calls crucial to counter decades of diplomatic isolation by Beijing.

WU: China cannot dictate how Taiwan make friends. And China cannot dictate how our friends want to show support for Taiwan.

RIPLEY (voice-over): Support including nine rounds of weapons sales to the island under the Biden administration alone.

U.S. intelligence believes the People's Liberation Army is acting on orders from President Xi Jinping himself. The PLA told to be ready by 2027 to take Taiwan by force. One U.S. general claiming it could happen even sooner.

In 2025, two years from now, a war that could involve the U.S. and its allies as this fragile island democracy fights to fend off a future Chinese attack. And next time, it may not be a drill.

Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Still to come on CNN, the will they or won't they attend the coronation of King Charles has been resolved. Kind of. Harry will go, Meghan will not. So who's happy? Who's not? Who cares? (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:40:35]

VAUSE: Harry and Meghan have done what they seem to always do. That's half in, half out. Buckingham Palace confirming Prince Harry will attend next month's coronation of his father, King Charles, but Meghan will stay in the United States with their children.

CNN's Isa Soares has details.

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ISA SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For weeks, there's been endless speculation here in the U.K. Will they, won't they? Well now, we know, for sure.

SOARES (voice-over): Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, says he will be attending his father's coronation on May the 6th, but he's going to be doing so alone. His wife, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, will remain in the U.S. with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.

We don't know why Meghan isn't attending. We know she was invited. But she has the excuse that it's Archie's birthday. It actually falls on the same day as the coronation.

Well, one thing is certain. Without Meghan here, it will be less of a media circus at a moment of such significance for the royal family, but it does show the rift within the family and the unresolved issues, as well as the tensions.

As for Harry, well, this will be the first time he will be seeing the royal family since his bombshell memoir, if you remember, "Spare" and its spectacular fallout and the interviews that followed.

In that memoir, if you remember, he talks about a desire to sit down with senior members of the royal family. We don't know whether that's going to happen.

We also don't know yet what role Harry will play in the coronation. Where he will sit? Will he appear at the balcony after the coronation?

All this, of course, will tell us whether their differences are being put aside.

SOARES: For now, perhaps, not being seen as a family reunion, but as a moment of reconciliation to see his father crowned as King Charles III.

Isa Soares, CNN, London.

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VAUSE: Proof now that Arnold Schwarzenegger is not just an action star; he's also a man of action. California's former governor tweeted this video showing him and if he was closest friends, filling in what he called a giant pothole.

It apparently had been a problem for motorists and bike riders for a long time.

Arnold said it was crazy, waiting weeks for it to be we filled in by city workers.

However, a city official said it wasn't a pothole at all. In fact, it's actually a service trench, used by a gas company with work set to finish next month. But, hey, it's done now. I

I'm John Vause, back at the top of the hour with more CNN NEWSROOM, but first WORLD SPORT starts after a very short break. See you back here in 17 minutes, 15 seconds.

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