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CNN International: U.S. President Visits Ireland, His Ancestral Homeland; Surge of Evictions in Parts of U.S.; France Braces for Another Massive Protest. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired April 13, 2023 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They might be used as a psychological operation to intimidate in this war.

BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Clare Sebastian thank you so much. Applying all of the caveats that you outlined, this is just the most visible and horrific display of what humanity can be capable of.

North Korea has fired another ballistic missile, and this one triggered an evacuation warning from Hokkaido, Japan. That warning was later lifted, but Japan's government said it was not a false alarm and that it was meant to inform people about possible dangers like falling objects from the missile. By CNN's count, this is the 12th day this year that North Korea has fired one or more missiles.

Right now, a severe tropical cyclone is barreling towards western Australia, where it makes landfall in the coming hours. It's expected to be one of the most powerful storms to hit the region in more than a decade and is currently headed towards the coast with the strength of a category four hurricane. Authorities are piling up sandbags and residents are being urged to get to safer ground.

From delicate diplomacy to a big dose of nostalgia. We're live in Dublin with the next stops on Joe Biden's tour of Ireland.

Plus, high inflation and rising rents lead to a surge in evictions in the U.S. Hear from some Americans finding themselves priced out of their homes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NOBILO: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Bianca Nobilo. And if you're just joining us, let me bring you up to date with our top stories this hour.

[04:35:00]

Historic rainfall is causing severe flooding in south Florida. Ft. Lauderdale International Airport is closed until this afternoon, and residents have been warned to stay off the roads.

And jury selection begins in the defamation trial in Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit against Fox News. The judge in the case has asked for a special master to investigate whether lawyers for Fox lied to the court and withheld evidence.

The U.S. president says being back in Ireland feels wonderful and feels like home. Crowds welcome Joe Biden to County Louth, the birthplace of his great grandfather. Today he'll meet with Irish leaders and deliver remarks to Parliament. This less intense leg of his trip follows a visit to Northern Ireland, where he called on the main political parties to end their stalemate and resume the power sharing agreement.

CNN's Nic Robertson is live for us in Dublin. Nic, obviously earlier in the week, we've been focusing on the delicate political dynamics in Northern Ireland. Now Biden is south of the border. Links between the U.S. and Ireland extremely strong. I read that 1 in 10 Americans identify as Irish. And what could be the practical importance of this visit and how it could bolster ties?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: I think the president being here obviously, very significant that he's addressing a joint session of the Oireachtas, the parliament here, the Dail in the Seanad. There's only been -- well, he will be the fourth us president, Kennedy, Reagan, Clinton who've done that here. So, I think the very fact that he'll be making a speech there to highlight those Irish ties, to highlight the connections with the United States, speaks to his sense of himself as being of one of those 1 in 10 in the United States, who really feels that they have strong Irish roots. And making those connections with real feeling.

Because it comes with President Biden, it comes from the heart. The practicalities of what he might achieve. Well, he might achieve endearing himself to those 1 in 10 Americans, which of course, is important come elections next year. But I think at a practical level for the president, this really is a trip that has been wanting to make as president. He came vice president. It's been important for him to try to shape the narrative over Northern Ireland.

But here it will be, as you say, about affirming those roots. Affirming their ties. There are so many American companies here that are investing in the Republic of Ireland that see the Republic of Ireland also as part of their roots and ties. And I think that's what we'll hear the president expressing today. But it will really, I think, a speech that will come from the heart.

NOBILO: Nic Robertson live for us in Dublin. Thank you.

We'll see if Wall Street can rebound when the markets open in just a few hours. Stocks gave up earlier gains Wednesday after minutes from the Fed's march meeting. Revealed fallout from the recent banking crisis could push the U.S. economy into a recession. But new economic data shows positive signs. The pace of U.S. consumer price increases continue to cool down in March from last summer's red-hot levels. Annual inflation dropped for the ninth consecutive month.

And we're also seeing positive signs for prices at the grocery store. Food prices finally dropped in March, falling for the first time since September of 2020. But housing costs remain sky high, and millions of Americans are

falling behind on their rent and mortgage payments. CNN's Gabe Cohen visited a housing court in Texas and spoke with some who face eviction from their homes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Once a week, Houston residents pack into one of the busiest eviction courts in Texas.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning.

COHEN (voice-over): On this day, more than 200 cases before noon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The plaintiff or possession of the premises to the plaintiff in favor of the plaintiff.

COHEN (voice-over): As landlords take back their properties and families plead to stay in their homes.

JONATHAN MORRISON, FACING EVICTION: It was me the most.

COHEN (voice-over): Jonathan Morrison is being evicted. He's been struggling with rent, he says, since his wife, the family breadwinner, died in December, leaving him to raise their daughter alone.

MORRISON: No place to go. My 10-year-old is scared too.

COHEN (voice-over): In several cities, including Houston, evictions are surging even beyond pre-pandemic norms. More than 5 million U.S. households are behind on rent. Experts blame a perfect storm. Rents keep rising amid high inflation. COVID moratoriums on evictions are ending, and pandemic programs, especially rental assistance, are running dry.

In mid-March, a Texas rent relief program had to stop accepting applications just two days after starting overwhelmed by the demand.

WINONA BROWN, FACING EVICTION: It's just a simple hard time.

COHEN (voice-over): Winona Brown says she fell behind on rent in February after losing her job.

[04:40:00]

A photo of her kids in one hand, an eviction notice in the other. She says she wants to pay off her debt but fears she may have to move.

BROWN: I've tried to make it and, you know, it's tough to do it on your own.

COHEN (voice-over): Some cities have bucked this trend, largely thanks to new tenant protections, like more funding for free legal assistance during an eviction, which few cities or states guarantee. Advocates say it's kept far more families in their homes.

Evictions disproportionately impact Black and Hispanic communities and can make it far tougher for families to find homes later.

Cathy Bonilla, a single mom, eight months pregnant with her fifth child, says she lost her government housing vouchers last year because of a paperwork issue. And now she's fighting a looming eviction with legal aid from a nonprofit.

CATHY BONILLA, FACING EVICTION: It's like someone got their hands around my neck. I want to give up, but my family like, don't give up. If you give up, what about your kids? But I had it up to here already.

COHEN (voice-over): Ericka Bowman is packing up her home to avoid packing into a courtroom. She said she struggled to keep up with rent in recent months since it went up more than $200 right as she started battling cancer.

ERICKA BOWMAN, FACING EVICTION: Everything just kind of hit all at once at that moment.

COHEN (voice-over): She and her kids need to be out in the coming days, unsure where they'll go.

BOWMAN: Trying to continue to stay positive and keep a smile on my face and to also not allow my children to feel the pressures of what I'm going through at this time has been extremely difficult.

COHEN: And a tricky piece of this puzzle is the lack of data. A lot of cities and states don't actively track evictions, and so we really don't know the full scale of the problem. Which advocates say can make it much tougher to find solutions.

Gabe Cohen CNN Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: Inflation is about to hit Americans in the mailbox. If approved, the U.S. postal Service will increase the price of first- class stamps from 63 to 63 cents in July. That would be a 32 percent price hike over the last four years. The price of domestic and international postcards would also increase. The Postal Service says the price changes are needed to cover rising costs due to inflation.

Fentanyl has been the main driver of U.S. opioid crises. But now officials are concerned about another drug called xylazine that is sometimes mixed with it. On Wednesday, the Biden administration declared this combination an emerging threat in the U.S. And that's because the mix of those two drugs has been linked to the skyrocketing number of overdose deaths.

Xylazine is an animal sedative. It's not meant to be used by humans. A top anti drug officials says the declaration will put drug traffickers on notice.

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DR. RAHUL GUPTA, DIRECTOR, U.S. NATIONAL DRUG CONTROL POLICY: Xylazine is one of the contaminants into fentanyl. But there could be others. So, I think with declaration of emerging threat, we're sending a clear message to producers and traffickers of illicit xylazine and illicit fentanyl that we're going to respond quicker. We're going to match the challenge of evolution of these drugs supply. And then we're going to protect lives first and foremost.

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NOBILO: Juul Labs has agreed to pay $462 million to six states and the District of Columbia as part of its largest settlement ever. The states accused the e-cigarette maker of contributing to the rise of vaping among young people. The settlement will force retailers to secure Juul products behind their counters and verify the age of customers. The company will also stop using younger people -- that's people younger than 35 -- in its marketing materials.

By the hundreds of thousands that will take to the streets again. French citizens furious over the plan to raise the age for pensions by two years. We'll go live to Paris next.

[04:45:00]

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NOBILO: Iranian state media reports that dozens of people have been arrested in western Iran over an alleged plot to poison students. Those detained reportedly intended to target students in several schools in the region. Iran has seen a wave of suspected poisoning at mostly girl's schools in recent months. Iranian politicians have suggested that hardline Islamist groups could be targeting the girls, while activists believe schoolgirls are being poisoned because many have been active in the anti-government protests.

French police are bracing for the 12th day of massive protests that they hope won't turn violent as this one did a week ago. Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to walk off their jobs and protests in the streets against President Emmanuel Macron's push to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64.

Many also are furious over his maneuvering to get the measure around Parliament. The country's highest court is set to rule Friday if the reforms are constitutional.

CNN's Saskya Vandoorne is live for us in Paris this hour. Saskya, we're expecting more people to be hitting the streets today. Are number of numbers dwindling at all? And what can we expect to happen after this much awaited ruling from the constitutional council?

SASKYA VANDOORNE, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER: Well, Bianca, we expect up to 600,000 people to take to the streets again today. In fact, I believe there's some protests that are already underway. We may have some live pictures of the one happening in Toulouse.

How does this compare to last week? Well, it's kind of a similar -- similar numbers. And what does that show you? Well, people still obviously want to voice their opposition at the pension reform. But as you mentioned the Constitutional Council is ruling tomorrow on the law. So, many people feel that this is their last opportunity to really make their voices heard and to perhaps put some pressure on those nine court appointees who will be voting tomorrow.

Now, what can the Constitutional Council do? They can either green light it, which means that the law would come into effect in September. Or they can deem that some parts or indeed, the whole of it is unconstitutional. But we'll have to wait for tomorrow to see what they say.

Now meanwhile, 11,000 police officers have been deployed across France. And according to police intelligence, we expect to see that kind of radical fringe, that violent minority taking part again in the protests, so we will see some scuffles.

Now the big question is, what happens after the Constitutional Council ruling. Will people still go out and protest? Trade union spokespeople have taken to the airwaves this morning, and they have said that they will continue to protest no matter what the ruling is that they will respect it, but that they will still go -- they'll still take part in these protests -- Bianca.

[04:50:00]

NOBILO: Saskya Vandoorne live in Paris for us. Great to see you, thank you.

Ahead, why shorter baseball games may mean more time to buy beer, although some fans might not need it.

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NOBILO: Welcome back. 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 children, although it's not exactly clear why. Relations between the couple and the palace have been strained after interviews, documentaries and the release of Prince Harry's memoir in which he criticized members of the royal family.

Now to a moment from professional sports that might be difficult to watch. A Minnesota Twins baseball player is heading for surgery after he was hit in the head with a fastball Wednesday in a game against Chicago. Here's a look at what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, farmer gets hit above the shoulders.

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[04:55:00]

NOBILO: That was a 92 mile an hour fastball that hit the batter, Kyle Farmer. His team manager says that he'll need surgery to realign his teeth and fix a cut on his lower jaw. But the manager says, it's, quote, probably some sort of miracle that Farmer didn't break any bones.

And trending this hour. Faster Major League Baseball games may mean more time to buy beer. Several teams have extended their beer sales by an inning, thanks to new regulations that have shortened the length of the average ballgame by about half an hour. The Twins, Diamondbacks and Rangers will now sell beer through the eighth inning. And quite fittingly, so will the Brewers -- the Milwaukee Brewers that is. That Palmer's explained to me by my lovely American colleagues.

And some of music's greatest songs may have been added to the U.S. National Recording Registry in the Library of Congress.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MADONNA, SINGER: Like a virgin, touched by the very first time. Like a virgin ...

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NOBILO: Madonna's "Like a Virgin" was one of 25 tunes to make the cut. Joining Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You." John Lennon's "Imagine." Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven." And even the theme from Super Mario Brothers, "The Game."

More than 1,000 songs were nominated. The library says the song is being preserved, are considered important examples of the nation's recorded sound heritage.

And the wizarding world of Harry Potter will get new life as a scripted television series on the new streaming service Max. Warner Brothers Discovery says the series will be a faithful adaptation of the beloved books and will feature a cast of fresh new faces. CNN and Max are both part of the same parent company. A release date has not yet been announced, but the new series is expected to run for 10 years.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(VIDEO OF HARRY POTTER TITLE)

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NOBILO: Magical excitement.

Well, that does it here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Bianca Nobilo in London. And "EARLY START" with Christine Romans is up to you next. I'll see you tomorrow with Max Foster.

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