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Ukraine's Outrage Grows Over Video Seeming To Show Beheading; U.S. President Visits Ireland His Ancestral Homeland; France Readies For 12th Day Of Pension Protests Ahead Of Key Court Ruling; Western Australia Braces For Strongest Cyclone In A Decade; Serial Rapist Fakes Own Death and Escapes Prison; Convicted Murder Fakes Own Death, Flees South Africa; Russian Fighters Looking to NATO Ally for Weapons; Bodycam Footage Shows Police Response to Bank Attack; U.S. Proposes Sweeping New Car Emission Standards; Mauritius Fights to Save One of its Most Iconic Species; Prince Harry to Attend King's Coronation without Meghan. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired April 13, 2023 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:00:23]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again, everyone. I'm John Vause. Ahead here on CNN Newsroom. The depravity of Russian troops in Ukraine, it's a new horrific low as video surfaced online, showing apparent mutilations and beheadings of Ukrainian POWs.
After 15 hours in Northern Ireland, half of which he was awake for, U.S. President Joe Biden now in the Republic of Ireland, enjoying his ancestral home. And party of one, Prince Harry will be at his dad's coronation next month, Meghan will stay home with the kids.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN Newsroom with John Vause.
VAUSE: When terror groups ISIS and Al Qaeda come out of the headlines, the world bore witness to a steady stream of gruesome beheading videos. So gut wrenching and terrifying and that was the point to terrorize. And now Russian forces in Ukraine are being accused of seeking to that horrifying level of depravity. At least two videos posted online show 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 just still shots but many will find them disturbing.
Though take a video posted on a pro Russian social media channel last week. 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 and then saying in Russian, someone came up to the soldiers and cut off their heads. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy described whoever could do this as beasts.
(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 in this habit of destroying life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Ukraine's Human Rights Commissioner calls the video proof of genocide of the Ukrainian people. One pro-Russian military blogger hinted that many more similar videos could eventually be made public. CNN senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman begins our coverage.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): 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 steel 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 perpetrators 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.
Asked about video during a 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 have to Ukrainian soldiers lying next to a 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 wars, fiercest fighting but CNN is unable to confirm the location.
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.
[01:05:09]
MATILDA BOGNER, UN 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): On Ukrainian 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, PROFESSOR OF NATIONAL SECURITY, UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAVEN: Good to see you, John.
VAUSE: So an advisor 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 a loaded 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, it 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. And 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 side 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 murders.
(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 then as a kind of murder, but this kind of thing is intimate. And I think that's what you see reflected in Zelenskyy's response is 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 his 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.
[01:10:05]
VAUSE: So in the wake of these horrendous atrocities which have been committed by Russian soldiers against civilians, against Ukrainian soldiers, doesn't that are 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, is this change the opportunity or moment to 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 the 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 into 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. 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 to be greeted by cheering crowds in County Louth, birthplace of his great, great, great, great, great grandfather.
In the coming day, President Biden will meet with the Irish president, no relation Prime Minister, also a relation, that also addressed parliament. In Belfast a bilat between the U.S. president and British Prime Minister seen to be downgraded to more of a buy latte. Joe Biden and Rishi Sunak chat over a cup of tea. Both call for Northern Ireland's main political parties to end the political dysfunction, which has gripped the province for a year.
The Northern Ireland Assembly has been suspended since early last year, with one of the main political parties refusing to enter a mandated power sharing arrangement at the center of the 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 of Ireland's 25 years ago, and was why Joe Biden stopped over in Belfast for a few hours.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: 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 Dublin with CNN's Kevin Liptak up early for us again. If you do the numbers on the back of an envelope, what is it? A 10-hour flight from Washington to Dublin, right, cost of Air Force One per hour, 175,000k per hour flight time. You got to go back there return flights. So there was -- that's $3.5 million for the Air Force want to go there and back? What are the American taxpayers getting for their money from the trip?
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, and that's just the cost and money. There's also the cost and time which, you know, that's the President's most valuable commodity. It's spending four days here on the island of Ireland. The White House does make the point that he's having many official engagements he talked about the Good Friday Agreement, a legacy of American diplomacy in Northern Ireland. He is meeting today with government leaders in Dublin, but it is hard to view this as anything else.
But it really kind of a homecoming for President Biden, something that many Irish Americans do trace their ancestral roots here on the island of Ireland. He has brought along with him members of his family, his sister, and his son Hunter.
You know, I think if the White House were to be asked this question, and they were asked this question yesterday, they would point out that these ties between the United States and Ireland are important. They're important culturally, they're important historically.
And certainly President Biden just want to reinforce those ties as he makes his way to these ancestral hometowns where his roots really lie, his Irish roots. And that is such a huge part of his political identity. It's really where he derives so much of his emphasis on, you know, the working class American, the blue collar American. He ties that back to these Irish ancestors who left this island during the famine seeking a better life in the United States.
And, you know, he talked about that yesterday when he was touring around a County Louth, he actually said, I don't know why my ancestors left. It's so beautiful here. Of course, they did leave because of the famine. He was able to climb up a tower view, the Port of Newari, where his great, great, great grandfather own Finnegan departed from.
So much about this trip is about the past. Today is really about the president. He'll meet with the president of Ireland to meet with the Taoiseach. This is such a different country than the one that his ancestors departed. It's -- even different country then-John F. Kennedy toured 70 years ago it's a much more progressive nation, it's one of the European Union's top economies.
[01:15:08]
So President Biden oh really certainly look to focus on President -- present Ireland today before he resumes this family touring tomorrow. John.
VAUSE: I'd like to go to Ireland too. Kevin Liptak in Dublin. Thank you for the report. Appreciate it. Well, two boats carrying about 1,200 migrants have finally reached land after being rescued by the Italian coast guard. Part of yet another surge of migrant arrivals in Italy this year, which has prompted the Italian government to take emergency actions. Barbie Nadeau has more now reporting in from Rome.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CONTRIBUTOR (on camera): Two large migrant vessels accompanied by the Italian coast guard arrived safely on Italian shores on Wednesday afternoon. One that had around 800 people on it when it was in distress at sea arrived in the Sicilian port of Catania, a second with Around 400 people arrived in a Calabrian port.
Now this comes as Italy declared a state of emergency over the migration crisis. This declaration has been met with some criticism from humanitarian groups. Amnesty International Italy warned that using the word emergency with migrants could really hinder public opinion and it could make it easier for Italy to expel people from the country. Barbie Latza Nadeau, CNN, Rome.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: The International Organization for Migration says the central Mediterranean Sea is the world's deadliest migration route. More than 400 people have drowned trying to make that journey so far this year, the most since 2017. The group says that figure is likely an undercount. More than 20,000 deaths have now been recorded in the Central Mediterranean since 2014.
Another clamp down on security in Jerusalem's old city. Israeli police has sharply curving the number of worshippers at a key Christian event this weekend. Authorities say they will allow a total, a total of about 300 worshippers to attend the holy fire this Saturday at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre as many as 10,000 worshipers attended in previous years.
It's the most important event on the calendar for the Eastern Orthodox Church with Easter, Ramadan, Passover all coinciding this year. Authorities say they are trying to contain potential flare ups of violence. But Orthodox Church leaders have been left furious and vowed not to cooperate.
Muslims around the world are marking the holy month of Ramadan and for those who are able, that means abstaining from food and water from sunup to sundown.
In Pakistan, this customer is even more challenging this year, because so many families simply can't afford the food to break the fast at the end of the day. Sophia Saifi has a report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SOPHIA SAIFI, CNN PRODUCER (voiceover): The 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 Jekwa Bevachaudry (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 on the 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.
SAIFI (on camera): The sheer number of people lined up here is unusual and speaks to the seriousness of Pakistan's food shortage crisis.
SAIFI (voiceover): What cause 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 funds.
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, because I 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 lay out free fast, the meal eat 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.
[01:20:04]
We can't pay our children's school fees, this man tells me. We break up fast with just water and a date. Other delicacies are only things we can dream about right now. The economic despair hell 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: Hundreds of thousands of protesters expected to take to the streets across France, head of a Supreme Court ruling on President Macron is controversial pension reforms, details in a moment. Also ahead, Western Australia in the path of a monster storm, the most powerful cyclone hit the region in years. They're also expected to make landfall in the coming hours.
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VAUSE: Hundreds of thousands of protesters expected to march in cities and towns across France in the coming hours opposed to President Macron's moved to raise the retirement age and a day before a Supreme Court ruling on those plants.
As many as 600,000 people said to walk off the job and march the 12th day of demonstrations similar to this one a week ago. Many schools and businesses plan to close Thursday. Millions in France are furious not just over the pension reforms, but also with the way Macron forced them through Parliament. But speaking from the Netherlands, Wednesday, the French president said protests are 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: Protests are also part of French politics. CNN's Saskya Vandoorne tells us from Paris, the pension controversy may do macrons plans for other controversial reforms.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SASKYA VANDOORNE, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER (voiceover): Anger on the streets of France. Macron resign protesters all united against a defiance 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 is has come Macron's way.
DOMINIQUE MOISI, POLITICAL ANALYST: Now 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.
[01:25:06]
Four years ago popularity at rock bottom hundreds of thousands in the streets weekly for Macron. The yellow vests protesting what they called economic injustice is upset his first term. He now faces a similar risk.
VANDOORNE (on camera): The deficit balancing moves slammed by many as tone deaf will face its final hurdle here Friday, Frances equivalent of the Supreme Court, it will either rubber stamp it or deem that some parts or indeed the whole thing is unconstitutional, which would be a further embarrassment for President Macron.
VANDOORNE (voiceover): 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 fall right.
MOISI: The comparison with Barack Obama applies is paving the way to the coming to power of a populist leader and he will be remembered in history as the man who allowed Marine LePen 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: By now pelvis cyclone is barreling towards Western Australia when it makes landfall in the coming hours. Cyclone Ilsa is 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 as well as mines and tourist sites, warning all of them (INAUDIBLE) chaos ahead. Meteorologist Britley Ritz tracking the storm for us. He joins us live. OK, compared to last hour, where is it?
BRITLEY RITZ, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It's sitting still 300 kilometers right off the coastline of Western Australia just north of Port Hedland. A lot of the rain bands now starting just smack broom and heavier rain and now moving into Port Hedland.
The system itself rapidly intensified. You saw that eyewall replacement cycle which indicates that strengthening, plus deep convection around the center itself when sustained right now at 215 kilometers per hour gusts up to 60. It's moving south southwest at 11 kilometers per hour. Very slowly as it moves inland.
It will weaken but still expected to be a category four storm based on the Saffir-Simpson scale out of the Atlantic basin. And what that means it's a very strong storm itself, strong gusty winds of 240 kilometers per hour over the next 12 hours as it makes landfall somewhere near Port Hedland by the time we get into Thursday night and Friday morning.
There's the weakening as it hits that friction of the land moving toward Alice Springs. Gale warnings in place from room down into Port Hedland. Gale watches extending inland where winds are expected to be at their strongest right there north of Port Hedland, where you're seeing the purple reaching about 180 to 210 kilometers per hour by Thursday night.
That Winfield stretches just north of Port Hedland want to show you just how small it is itself. But again the rain where we could pick up several millimeters here in the upcoming day. John.
VAUSE: We appreciate the update. Thank you. To South Africa now what seems to be a hand and head moment or head -- head and hands moment I should say on how could they be that incompetent. A convicted murderer and rapist escaped from a privately run prison almost a year ago.
Authorities only realized that happened last month. That's because while being held in solitary confinement, he faked his own death and fled the country along with his celebrity doctor girlfriend. Now South African officials are trying to escape responsibility. CNN's Larry Madowo explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): If this were the plot of a movie, it will be far-fetched and ridiculous. How did a convicted rapist and murderer in South Africa somehow fake his own death and escape a maximum security prison that the private company that runs G4S told parliament was one of Africa's most secure.
Thabo Bester somehow requested to be sent into solitary confinement. And they got that approval because he said his life was in danger. Three days later, does this fire at the prison and he escaped and he was living in the open with his girlfriend, a celebrity doctor until a local investigative outlet groundup started to raise questions. It turned out that he had so much latitude in prison they even had a laptop and the phone.
XOLA NQOLA, SOUTH AFRICAN MP: Thabo Bester was running a multibillion combined with inside a prison cell. What was the laptop authorized to do in a cell of a -- in a prison cell?
COBUS GROENEWOUD, DIRECTOR, G4S SOUTH AFRICA: They have the right if they are registered with a formal institution of learning to have access to a laptop and for that reason inmate Bester had access to that laptop.
[01:29:30]
MADOWO: Thabo Bester's has access to this laptop and phone speaks to how much power he seemed to have wielded within the Mangaung correctional facility in the free state province of South Africa.
After his case became clear that he had not died in the fire, he appears to have fled the country of South Africa after a manhunt was launched, and went through three or four countries and made it to Tanzania.
And according to South African authorities, he was just 10 kilometers away from crossing over into Kenya. He and his two accomplices are said to have had multiple passports that were not stamped, and it's a case that has just transfixed the entire nation because it seems so unbelievable.
Larry Madowo, CNN -- Nairobi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Still ahead here on CNN new revelations from leaked Pentagon documents -- Russian backed mercenaries fighting in Ukraine shopping around to buy weapons from a NATO ally. Details in a moment.
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VAUSE: Welcome back, everyone.
I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
New reporting this hour about who may have leaked highly classified intelligence from the Pentagon. The "Washington Post" reports the documents were posted in a chat room by a man who worked at an unidentified military base.
He's described as a gun enthusiast who was chatting with about two dozen people on the social media platform Discord, which is popular with video gamers.
CNN cannot independently verify the report. But the post cites an interview with a friend of the alleged leaker who is also a member of the Discord chat group.
A new revelation from those leaks is raising concerns about Turkey's commitment to NATO and the war in Ukraine. Document obtained by CNN shows Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group tried to buy weapons and equipment from Turkey early February. No evidence Turkey moved forward with any arms sales or if the government in Ankara knew about any meetings with Turkish contacts.
Members of the U.S. Congress though, are demanding answers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JIM HINES (D-CT): I'm glad to know that the State Department is reaching out to our allies and I'm glad to know that there's an investigation underway. But this is really serious stuff.
And you know what I didn't hear was something I expect to hear in the coming week or so, which is, you know, who did this? How were they able to do this? And most importantly, how can we make sure it never happens again?
And this is pretty key for our allies, right? You know, we rely on our allies to share intelligence and they need to trust us. And right now, for all the soothing tones that I heard from the Secretary of State if I were an ally right now, I would be wondering where the United States can keep their secrets safe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: CNN has not independently verified the authenticity of the document and has reached out to Turkish officials for comment. Russia is considering granting U.S. consular officials access to
detained "Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich. They haven't been able to meet with him since his arrest last month on spying charges.
[01:34:58]
VAUSE: Both the newspaper and the U.S. government say the charges are baseless. The U.S. State Department has designated Gershkovich as wrongfully-detained. He's the first American journalist arrested on espionage charges in Russia since the Cold War.
In Louisville, Kentucky they're coming together in the wake of Monday's deadly mass shooting at a downtown bank. Hundreds gathered at a vigil Wednesday evening to honor and remember the five people killed after a bank employee opened fire.
The state's governor lost a close friend in the attack and is now advocating for stricter gun laws. He read a list of the victims at the gathering.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. ANDY BESHEAR (D), KENTUCKY: Tommy. Josh. Giuliana. Jim. Deanna. Fathers, mothers, grandparents, children, friends. Each one a child of God.
These are irreplaceable Kentuckians taken far too soon by a senseless act of violence that is certainly making me feel heartbroken.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Police have now released 911 calls detailing the panic and fear during the shooting, including one call from the gunman's mother.
CNN's Shimon Prokupecz has our report. And a warning: you may find some of the video disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHOOTER'S MOTHER: I don't know what to do. I need your help.
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: A mom calls 911 after she was told her son had a gun and was headed to the Louisville bank where he worked.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My son might have a gun and he's heading toward the Old National.
PROKUPECZ: But she said she didn't believe her 25 year old son was a threat.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please, he's not violent. He's never done anything, please.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK and you don't believe he owns guns. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know he doesn't own any guns.
PROKUPECZ: But she would wind up being wrong and the call came too late.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my God, there's an active shooter there.
PROKUPECZ: Her son was already inside the bank where he worked -- shooting.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Maybe he had a rifle gun.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Has anybody been shot?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
PROKUPEZ: One 911 caller hiding from the gunman.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm in the closet. I hear, I hear gunshot.
PROKUPECZ: And bank employees watching the attack unfold on a video conference meeting.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We heard multiple shots and everybody started -- saying, oh, my God, and then he came into the --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, say --
PROKUPECZ: The gunman livestreamed the attack on Instagram. It was just one minute before he sat down and waited for police to arrive.
DEPUTY CHIEF PAUL HUMPHREY, LOUISVILLE METRO POLICE: He went to the front lobby after assaulting the victims in the office area. And he could see out where no one could see in.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please get people there fast, please.
PROKUPECZ: The shooter used an AR-15 style rifle he'd legally bought six days before the attack, according to police.
Body camera video shows Louisville metro police officers responding.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're making entry from the -- from the east side, pressing the main.
PROKUPECZ: And heading toward the gunfire.
26 year old officer, Nickolas Wilt is shot in the head and critically injured.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we have a gunshot wound of an officer.
PROKUPECZ: His training officer Corey Galloway takes cover, but is also shot before he returns fire and kills the gunman.
JACQUELYN GWINN-VILLAROEL, INTERIM CHIEF, LOUISVILLE METRO POLICE: The timing is, as we all know, is everything but not having officers to hesitate. But actually, really go in and say I need to stop this threat.
PROKUPECZ: No words can express our sorrow, anguish and horror at the unthinkable harm, a statement from the family's lawyers said. But they also said that he struggled with depression.
While the shooter like many of his contemporaries, had mental health challenges, which we as a family were actively addressing there were never any warning signs or indications he was capable of this shocking act.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Our thanks to Shimon Prokupecz for that report.
Well, what's been described as the most ambitious plans ever in the United States to reduce carbon emissions from vehicles has been announced by the White House. Under the proposal, up to two thirds of all new vehicles sold in the U.S. would be electric by 2032. The end result cutting car pollution that contributes to climate change in half.
The EPA says transportation accounts for almost a third of all carbon pollution emissions in the U.S., but right now only about 4 percent of Americans own an electric vehicle. Recent polls suggested U.S. consumers are still skeptical. The U.S. lags way behind Europe and China in terms of making the switch.
For more, let's head over to Los Angeles. Margo Oge is with us, chair of the board of the International Council on Clean Transportation. She also served as the former director at the U.S. EPA Office of Transportation and Air Quality and did a lot to clean up the air in L.A.
So it's great to have you with us.
MARGO OGE, CHAIR, INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL ON CLEAN TRANSPORTATION: Thank you, John. Nice being with you.
VAUSE: You wrote a very detailed piece for Forbes laying out the case for making this plan happen. I want to read part of it,
[01:39:59]
VAUSE: "Are EPA's tailpipe emission standards achievable? In a word, yes. They're realistic and aligned with both the policies of the world's major economies and the auto industry's zeal for electrification of its future production. I just wonder if the question should be not so much are these standards achievable? But perhaps do we have any other choice right now.
And when compared to Europe which is aiming for 100 percent zero emission vehicles by 2035, maybe another question should be are we doing enough right now?
OGE: That's a great question and a great statement.
First of all, let me say that the U.S. is behind China and we're behind Europe. So this is -- this is so important. We're behind and we have to catch up.
I think the plan that the president proposed today is absolutely the right plan. I think the industry is already there. You know, companies like General Motors has announced that they will phase out gasoline and diesel new car sales by 2035.
California and 16 other states have announced the same, that they're going to phase out the sales of new gasoline and diesel cars by 2035.
You know, California and the 16 states represent something like 40 percent of cars sold in the U.S. so what -- where we're going today with the EPA's proposal is the right direction because as you said transportation is the number one contributor of climate change.
But let's not forget that the industry is a global industry. They're not going to build a car for China or U.S. or Europe. They're going to build a car for the global major markets.
And today we know that by 2030 time frame the industry is going to spend $1.3 trillion in building electric cars, batteries and components for this electric cars.
VAUSE: I'd just like to get back to California because you mentioned this. It's California and those 16 other states represent about 40 percent of vehicle sales in the United States. So once California made this decision, which many people at the time just a short time ago, said was way too ambitious but now looks quite realistic. Was that essentially setting the de facto policy standard for the rest of the United States?
And in many ways the world because the way as California goes, so does the United States.
OGE: Absolutely. California for the last 50 years has led not just the U.S. but the whole planet, the whole world when it comes to clean cars and clean trucks and emission control systems.
So you're absolutely right. California's leading their way. But California by itself cannot do it. We need the federal government and we have seen that not just the companies are moving forward. Not just EPA's proposing this very strong standards, but we have this massive, massive investments that are going to put -- they're put in place by President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act like $370 billion for clean cars and investments across the country, including tax, you know, tax credits and incentives for tracks (ph) and so forth.
So there is a -- there is a great I think time for the country to move forward. We are (INAUDIBLE) to the planet. I mean, let's not forget John the U.S. represents just 5 percent of the population, the global population. It will contribute 25 percent of climate change pollution, so it's about time for the U.S. to move forward, and that's what this proposal is all about. VAUSE: On the other side of this equation, though, how important is it
to sort of be upfront with, you know, the American public that when it comes to zero emission vehicles, electric vehicles, there is still an environmental costs here. Those environmental costs are major in the manufacturing stage, and also you know where you actually get your power from to charge the vehicle.
So if you're getting your power from, you know, coal fired power plant your Tesla or your Prius isn't as green perhaps as you might think. And so that's why this is sort of an all, you know all of government if you like. All of the -- all of everything approach. And it comes down from the power plant to the production process to the car itself.
OGE: Yes you're absolutely right. We need the renewable energy to fuel this electric cars. But today in the U.S. regardless of where you are, you know the set of California where we have renewable energy on middle of the country where you have coal and you have natural gas an electric car still provides significant benefits over gasoline and diesel cars.
It's not 100 percent like what are we getting California but still better for the planet, better for the environment.
VAUSE: Margo Oge, you've done so much in terms of cleaning up the environment, cleaning up the air, decades of service. Thank you for being with us. We appreciate it.
OGE: Thank you, John. Thank you so much. Bye- bye.
VAUSE: Bye.
Well, when we come back, a royal reunion, kind of. Prince Harry will attend his father's coronation. Meghan won't. He'll be a party of one. Details in a moment.
[01:44:53]
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VAUSE: Welcome back, everyone
From elephants raiding crops to wolves killing livestock, human- wildlife conflict is one of the most challenging problems for conservationists around the world.
Today on Call to Earth, we see how the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation is trying to learn lessons from the island's past and secure a future for one of its most iconic species.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Isolated around 700 miles east of Madagascar, in the middle of the Indian Ocean, is the island nation of Mauritius. Known for pristine waters and tropical rainforest, it is home to a vast array of bird and marine life.
But the island is also synonymous with extinction for this was the final resting place of the last dodo.
VIKASH TATAYAH, CONSERVATION DIRECTOR, MAURITIAN WILDLIFE FOUNDDATION: The notion that extinction is forever and is not reversible came about when the dodo went extinct. You know, almost the birthplace of the consciousness over extinction is here on Mauritius. But also the birthplace of conservation is actually here on Mauritius because men realized that we had to protect the species and save them from going extinct.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now another one of the island's endemic species is at risk. The Mauritius fruit bat also known as the flying fox. Since 2015 the government has culled the population of this endangered species on four occasions. All in a bid to protect the country's fruit industry.
TATAYAH: In the first year of the cull, nearly 31,000 bats of the 90,000 that was estimated in that year were killed. That's a third just to the official cull.
To that we have to add numbers that have died due to electrocution and power lines. We had to add to what people have been killing illegally in their backyards or in orchards. So the figure was actually far higher than the 30 percent -- more than a third of the bats that have been culled.
Fruits like mangoes, longan and lychees are a major income source on the island and the root of much of the conflict with the bats. The Mauritian Wildlife Foundation has been working with England's Chester Zoo to help find a solution.
CLAIRE RAISIN, FIELD PROGRAMME MANAGER, CHESTER ZOO: It's a really complicated issue. It's not just a matter of bats are eating fruits, so we need to either diversify income or we need to get rid of bats. There's a lot more to it going on.
We've been working with research partners to get a much better understanding of exactly what the predation rates are on these fruits and how much bats are responsible for and how much other species are responsible for.
[01:50:01]
TATAYAH: We're doing some studies, and we've shown that around 20 percent of the crop is taken by bats. However this loss can be reduced to near zero if the trees are pruned and netted with commercial nets made of nylon and other materials.
The bats are not coming into our fruits because they love our fruits. It's because we've been chopping down their forest.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Along with helping farmers add netting around their crops, the foundation is educating locals and schoolchildren about the flying fox.
TATAYAH: So what we've tried to do is to say, let's try to understand the farmer. Let's try to understand the person who's got trees in his backyard.
Without bats we may not have much forest left on Mauritius because it's the only large distance seed disperser and large distance flower pollinators on Mauritius.
The children who are here today who are 15 year old, in 15 years, they will be the decision makers.
So what we're doing right now, but we see as sowing the seeds of something much bigger that would come in a decade or two.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Please let us know what you're doing to answer the call with hashtag Call to Earth. hashtag Call to Earth.
You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. We'll be right back.
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VAUSE: Buckingham Palace has confirmed that Prince Harry will attend the coronation of his father, King Charles next month. But his wife, Meghan, will stay in the U.S. with their kids. Relations between the couples of the palace have been strained after interviews, documentaries, a Netflix series, the release of Prince Harry's memoir, coffee mugs, T-shirts, in which he criticized members of the royal family.
Joining me now is royal commentator Sandro Monetti.
Sandro, good to see you. First reaction when you heard the news that Harry's going, Meghan's staying home.
SANDRO MONETTI, ROYAL COMMENTATOR: Well, this particular game of thrones has taken a very interesting turn. And you know, I just cupped my ear and I could just hear all the way from Buckingham Palace, the sound of a sigh of relief and a giant one.
It's the best outcome for everyone.
VAUSE: Well I often turn to the Hindustan Times for the most reliable the most fastest news on the British royals, the most latest. It reports on a royal cat fight between Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle over the coronation, with a conveniently placed question mark there right at the end of the headline. The get out of free jail card, you know, your get out of jail free card there.
You know, we're asking the question.
So to you now with this. Is this what they quote the author unauthorized biography author Tom Bowen as Harry and Meghan, saying that Prince Harry's decision to attend the coronation alone is an ugly compromise, saying, I think we must all be grateful that Kate in the end prevented Meghan coming and said we wouldn't have her there under any circumstances. Over at the "Daily Beast", however, they're reporting a kind of different take. Royal family relieved that Harry and Meghan coronation distraction now settled, Harry coming solo is seen as a reasonable solution.
So you think it's the best solution for everyone? Why is that?
[01:54:50]
MONETTI: Well, it's typical of the way the whole Harry and Meghan thing has been. It's half in half out. I think it's a relief from the royal family because King Charles will get to see his youngest son there, as he puts on the crown, which by the way weighs two kilos and was created in 1661 for Charles II and it's also good for the royal family, who are still bruised after being thrown under the royal bus by the book and the documentary because it's one less awkward conversation to have.
And it's good for Harry and Meghan, because you know he gets to still be there as sort of part of the family, but they still show the signs of protest that they're having that they're not both there.
And I think this is a fascinating universal story because all of us have been to these awkward family occasions, you know, and there's always like an awkward relative to avoid.
VAUSE: You know the same way -- isn't that the truth. The same article as the "Daily Beast" post (ph), a friend of Prince William's saying relations are so bad between the brothers that it would be a miracle if they look each other in the eye at Westminster Abbey. No one thinks they'll be meeting up for a quiet pint.
So clearly no family get together which Harry was talking about to try and clear the air. That's not just not going happen.
MONETTI: No and the trickiest job in London at the moment is the person designing the seating plan for this arrangement. You've got to consider the camera angles as well. We'll all be looking, you know, for them catching each other's eye.
I mean, you know, as Harry admitted, these two brothers came to blows over a banquet. Harry also said in the book that Meghan -- baby brain, and so what will be the next chapter in this royal saga? I can't wait personally.
VAUSE: Like "Dynasty". Sandro Monetti, thank you for being with us, sir. Appreciate it.
MONETTI: God save the king.
VAUSE: Absolutely. Cheers.
Arnold Schwarzenegger turns out not just and action star, he's also a man of action. California's former governor, tweeted video showing him and a couple of closest friends filling in what he called a giant pothole. It's apparently being a problem for motorists and bike riders alike. And he said it was crazy waiting weeks for the city workers to fill it in. And once it was done, he said, hasta la vista pothole.
No, he didn't. I made that up.
However a city officials said it wasn't a pothole at all. It's actually a service trench used by a gas company with work set to finish next month.
Hasta la vista pothole.
Thank you for watching. I'm John Vause.
CNN NEWSROOM continues with Kim Brunhuber in just a moment.
See you next week. ]]
Have a good day. Ok, I'm done.
[01:57:34]
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