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Air National Guardsman Charged under Espionage Act; Japanese Prime Minister Evacuated after Explosion; Macron Enacts New Pension Law; Russia's Spetsnaz Forces Decimated in Ukraine; Abortion Medication Drug Access Extended while Supreme Court Considers Case. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired April 15, 2023 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from the United States and all around the world. I'm Michael Holmes. Appreciate your company.
Coming up here on CNN NEWSROOM, the young U.S. airman accused of leaking highly classified documents online, formally charged with violating the Espionage Act. We'll have an update just ahead.
Victory in court for French president Emmanuel Macron on pension reform. But at what political cost as the protests continue.
And in California, a winter of torrential rain and snowfall has revived a long dead lake and, in the process, destroyed vast stretches of farmland. We will take you to the scene of a climate catastrophe.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Michael Holmes.
HOLMES: The U.S. government moving quickly with its prosecution of that suspected leaker of classified documents. One day after his arrest, 21-year-old Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira formally charged under the Espionage Act.
The leaks exposed a wide range of highly classified information, including eavesdropping on allies and blunt assessments of the war in Ukraine. President Joe Biden says he has directed national security agencies to secure sensitive information.
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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have instructed the department to make sure that they get to the root of why he had access in the first place, number one.
And number two, to focus extensively on the extent to which it all occurred. And that's going on right now. I have nothing to report beyond what's already been reported.
QUESTION: How long do you think that will take?
BIDEN: Well, there's no way to predict how long an investigation will take. But I don't think it's going to take very long.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Pentagon correspondent Oren Liebermann, now with the latest on the charges and the continuing fallout from those leaks.
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OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a federal courtroom in Boston, 21-year-old Jack Teixeira faced his legal fate for the first time, charged through the Espionage Act with unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents and national security information.
The airman first class at the center of an investigation into a leak of top secret information.
In court, his father yelled out, "Love you, Jack."
The response, "Love you, too, Dad."
Outside the courthouse, Teixeira's family thrust into the spotlight with national security interests at stake, said nothing. Teixeira was an IT specialist with the Massachusetts Air National Guard. He enlisted before graduating high school. His senior year photo quote that now appears prophetic actions: Speak louder than words.
He's had a top secret clearance since 2021 and access to sensitive, compartmentalized information, in a job that requires a lifetime binding nondisclosure agreement.
GARLAND: People who sign agreements to be able to receive classified documents acknowledge the importance to the national security of not disclosing those documents and we intend to send that message, how important it is to our national security.
LIEBERMANN: One day earlier and one hour south, Teixeira was spotted on his back porch, reading a book. Moments later, an FBI tactical team closed in on to Teixeira, taking him into custody outside his house. Those who knew him growing up, described him as a bit of a loner and into guns.
BROOKE CLEATHERO, FORMER CLASSMATE OF JACK TEIXEIRA: He doesn't have a lot of friends. But like some of the friends he did have or also kind of in the same boat as him in a way but people are just wary of them.
LIEBERMANN: But on Discord, an online platform frequently used by gamers, Teixeira built his own group of friends and followers. He's believed to be the head of a chat server named Thug Shaker Central.
Court documents allege that, late last year, he began sharing classified information. A user in the chat group telling the FBI at first, it was just a paragraph of texts and then photographs of documents that contained what appeared to be classification markings.
ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: The fact is, it's quite easy to do if you are a person who has decided to violate your oath, to violate the training and the rules that you operate under and to proactively make a decision to break the law.
LIEBERMANN: In the days before his arrest, court documents say Teixeira used his government computer to search classified intelligence reporting for the word "leak" on attempt to find out if investigators were on to him.
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LIEBERMANN: After Teixeira's first court appearance on Friday, he'll have a detention hearing on Wednesday. This whole legal process, it seems, moving forward very quickly, about a week from when President Biden, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and others first learned about the leaks, to the arrest.
And the prosecution now moving forward for Jack Teixeira -- Oren Liebermann, CNN, at the Pentagon.
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HOLMES: Now we still don't know yet what might have motivated Teixeira to allegedly share those classified documents online. Here's CNN chief intelligence and law enforcement analyst John Miller with his analysis.
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JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Here is a guy who since he was a little kid, was interested in war, in guns, in weapons, in planes, in tanks, he carried books and magazines about that, based on the interviews that CNN has done with friends and during COVID, he assembles this group in this, you know, they're all locked down at home and they play their war games on the Discord server and they swap their stories back and forth.
But he is the guy who now has a cool job. His two worlds merge. In the daytime, he's going to work where he's working in a classified facility where the gamers aren't gamers, they're not playing. They're flying real drones in real war zones, targeting real terrorists, sending Hellfire missiles and Predator drones with Reapers and that's all going on.
And he is the guy in the background whose job it is to keep all those systems running technically during the day. But he's exposed all of that material. He brings it back into his pretend world and shares it.
Now his two worlds are basically colliding but once it spills outside his little group of 25 people onto the Internet, real documents with real classification markings, that was the spill, the leak into the World Wide Web that he couldn't stop. (END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now we're following a developing story out of Japan. Local media reporting that the prime minister, Fumio Kishida, has been evacuated from a venue after an explosion was heard as he was about to give a speech, according to public broadcaster NHK.
The prime minister was not hurt and a man was arrested at the scene. You can see that playing out there on your screen. CNN's Marc Stewart joins me now from Tokyo with more.
Confusing; tell us what more we know, Marc.
MARC STEWART, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Michael, again, let's stress that the Japanese prime minister is safe. In fact, he gave the political speech he was intending to make just a few minutes ago in the port city just south of Osaka.
Now as you can see from the video, there was certainly a lot of panic. People were gathered in an event venue. The prime minister was set to give a speech when several witnesses describe some kind of silver object flying in the air.
In fact, one witness told Japanese broadcaster NHK that they saw some kind of white and then the sound of an explosion. Immediately, the prime minister was whisked away, of course, surrounded by security guards.
At the same time that was playing out, several people in the audience, believed at least to be one police officer, tackled a man, who was described as wearing glasses, a mask; he had on a gray backpack.
That man is now described as the suspect. He was taken away and taken into police custody. He is facing an unusual charge, that being forcible obstruction of business. And that basically means getting in the way of daily affairs, according to Japanese law. But there are so many unanswered questions about this individual.
What was his intent?
What is his background?
Did he have any political tensions or rifes (ph) with the prime minister?
That we are trying to piece together as well as his age, his hometown, what he does for a living, basic questions that we're still hoping to get in the next few hours. Nonetheless, the prime minister has continued his political schedule.
But certainly, as you can see from that video, Michael, a lot of panic, just hours ago, just about three hours ago outside of Tokyo.
HOLMES: Yes, and real quick, Marc, after the assassination of former prime minister Shinzo Abe last year, security obviously was bolstered. But clearly Mr. Kishida was in a public venue, where people clearly had access to him.
STEWART: Right. This is -- this took place in a fishing port called Wakayama. And typically, here in Japan, not all officers are armed. But in the case of the prime minister, when he is traveling, he is with a very secure group of security officers who are armed.
The question is, were people who were allowed into this venue, did they receive typical security screenings as we see in other parts of the world, metal detectors and such?
That is not clear if that occurred here. But, yes, it certainly does bring back memories of what happened with former prime minister Abe.
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HOLMES: Yes, got close enough to throw something. Marc Stewart, appreciate the reporting. Good to have you there on the spot for us.
All right, let's turn our attention to France. Now in the past few hours, President Emmanuel Macron has enacted the controversial pension reform law. That move coming after the nation's highest constitutional court on Friday declined to block that law.
But the anger against Macron and his plan to raise the retirement age to 64 is still very strong. Union leaders vowed to continue the fight. At least one leader calling for historic protests on May the 1st, a day usually marked by big labor protests. CNN's Fred Pleitgen now with more on the story from Paris.
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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): The green light for French president Emmanuel Macron's pension reform bill met with red flares by protesters.
PLEITGEN: As you can see, the people here voicing their anger after the decision of the Constitutional Council and many of them are saying they will continue to go out on the streets and protest even after this decision.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): The ruling made by members of the French Constitutional Council known as the Wise Men gives Macron the go-ahead to raise the age of retirement from 62 to 64.
FLORIAN BRU, PROTESTER: Since his first election, he acted very badly. He acted always against us, against the people. He's not a democrat; he's an autocrat.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): The government is expected to enact to approve the bill into law this weekend, with an invitation for talks already extended to union leaders. Ahead of the ruling, police barricaded the country's highest constitutional authority after outbursts of violence on Thursday, the 12th day of demonstrations against this bill.
Following the ruling, the French prime minister said there is neither a winner nor a loser tonight. But opposition leaders are already urging Macron not to enact the law, with protesters also vowing to continue their fight.
BRU: Yes, we are going to keep protesting because we need to be respected.
JEAN BAPTISTE REDDE, PROTESTER: I don't see how people could just let it go and forget about it.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): The discontent on the street a sign that, despite this victory, Macron could still have a bumpy road ahead -- Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Paris.
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HOLMES: Joining me now is Bruno Palier, a researcher at Sciences Po and a specialist in pension and welfare reform in France and Europe.
So a pretty good voice to have on this topic. Some caveats from the court but overall a win for Mr. Macron.
How do you think this ruling played out in the big picture?
BRUNO PALIER, RESEARCHER, SCIENCES PO: So, I mean, this is a confirmation that it's possible in France to pass a law, even if the public opinion is against it, even if you have all trade unions against it.
So from a legal point of view, and the government has the means to impose the things, the premise whether this is also a legitimate decision that will be accepted by French public population.
HOLMES: The reality is the retirement age of 62 is pretty generous, compared to other nations. I read one analyst who said it's about more than the specific reform; it's about chipping away at the French way of life, which is cherished.
How important is that way of life to the French as a society, in a way, perhaps outsiders don't understand?
PALIER: First point to be made is that French, 62 is not so different from the other ones; for instance, in Germany, you can go and pension at the age of 63. What has to be compared is -- and the fact that we also have a 67 like in Germany, which means that, if you didn't contribute for enough years, you have to wait until 67 to have a full pension.
So that's more technical. But actually, the comparison needs to be made in that order. The thing is that, if you look at people in France around the age of 60, 62, 64, half of them are not working anymore. They've been sacked by their employers so they don't understand why they are asked to be working longer.
The other half is working hard, because there is a intensification of working in France, partly because you have less people at work. And so both sides don't follow the argument that one should work longer, either because you were not at a job anymore or because you're fed up with working.
So this is less about the way of life than looking at what happened in work, which is intensification actually.
HOLMES: I wanted to ask you more about the fallout. In the last election, many voters voted against the far right Marine Le Pen rather than for Emmanuel Macron. In the broader political landscape, could what's unfolding help the rise of a viable populist candidate, far left or far right in France?
PALIER: So far, it's the far right which is winning. If you look at the polls, if you look at some recent election.
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PALIER: You see that the variety is increasing and it's gaining from this blockage. It's not really the far left which is winning.
A lot of people said, you told us that we should not vote for this extreme right party. But now we are fed up with this government that we voted for without agreeing with it. So next time, we may turn to this kind of (INAUDIBLE). And this is not something that we should not consider that can happen in France. It happened recently in Italy.
So why not France?
HOLMES: Macron, the reality is, he's still got, what, four years until the next election. Voters can have short memories. These reforms were part of his platform in that last election, so people knew it was coming.
But do you think this will come back to bite his party in the next election?
Do you think voters are going to remember this?
PALIER: Yes, usually that this kind of pension reform, which is very visible and highly contested, lasting in voters' memory. This is not one of many reforms. This was really a momentum.
And we had in the past some previous pension reforms, which waited on the next election. So there will be traces of this series of events, especially if Macron continues to be totally deaf to what people tell him and in various ways, actually.
HOLMES: So when it when it comes to Macron and his determination to push the reformist agenda in the face of such public opinion, how do you see the evolution of the anti Macron movement and where it might be headed in the months ahead?
Is he going to be able to get anything of his agenda done between now and the next election?
PALIER: That's one of the problem, is that this reform may pass but it's very difficult to see how a new -- I mean, important reform could be passed because he cannot really rely on an alliance with the right wing party because they were weakened and didn't really support.
On the left side, he will not get any alliance. He cannot trade in a negotiation with the trade unions because they don't want to see him anymore. So it's very difficult to see how he will be able to do anything in the -- anything important, I mean -- in the coming months and perhaps years, so...
And there is a real blockage here.
HOLMES: Well, great to get you on and talk to you about this and get your expertise. Bruno Palier, thank you so much.
PALIER: You're welcome. Thank you very much.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Well, the U.S. President Joe Biden wrapped up his visit to Ireland. He's headed back home right now, as we speak. Highlights from his trip, including a moment of personal serendipity when we come back.
Also weeks after American journalist was detained in Russia, the U.S. says it still doesn't know what Moscow wants for his release. Coming up a U.S. hostage envoy speaks out about the case.
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HOLMES: U.S. President Joe Biden is heading home this hour after a four-day tour of Ireland that, in some places, resembled a campaign rally as much as a tour by a visiting head of state.
In County Mayo on Friday, Mr. Biden addressed the crowd of 27,000 people, according to the White House. He recounted a moment of serendipity earlier in the day when he encountered the priest who delivered last rites to his late son, Beau.
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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My son, Hunter, and my sister, Valerie, and I made several stops across Mayo today. We visited Knock Shrine, where I was hosted by Father Richard Gibbons.
We also met out of the blue -- we didn't know he was there -- a former military chaplain, Father O'Grady, who gave my son the last rites in Walter Reed Medical Hospital in Washington. It was incredible to see him. It seemed like a sign.
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HOLMES: Our senior diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson, is in Dublin with more on Mr. Biden's trip.
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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, a lot of the visit was about President Biden's roots, his Irish roots, his heritage, how his family, like so many others, commemorated in the great famine statues here, left Ireland for a better life.
His message in Northern Ireland was quite specific. It was broad. It was about the economy but it was also about politics. The Good Friday agreement commemorating that and the important institution of power sharing government.
And President Biden's message, he said he didn't want to be presumptuous and tell people what to do. But he thought that it would be better if the political parties were back engaged.
It was an indirect message to the Democratic Unionist Party that, at the moment, is refusing to be in that power sharing government. The leader of the Democratic Unionist Party reflected afterwards and he said he thought President Biden had been quite balanced.
When the president came south of the border, it was less diplomatic, less serious, much wetter. It was raining. He visited relatives in Carlingford and Dundalk and then on to Dublin.
And in Dublin, met with the president, met with the prime minister and gave a speech to the parliament, a joint session of parliament, which really seemed to hit all the tones that are important to President Biden. Why Ireland's important, why the relationship where United States relationship with Ireland is important, what he feels about the country.
He said. I'm home. I'd like to stay longer. And I think that was a sense that a lot of people here got from him.
But he had a sharp message for the British government as well, saying he wants them to work more closely with the Irish government on the Good Friday agreement.
And his last day here, going back to his roots, giving a speech outside the cathedral his great-great-great grandfather, Edward Blewitt, sold 27,000 bricks to help build that cathedral.
The money he received for that, in today's money about $25,000, was enough to buy the family tickets to emigrate to the United States, which included Patrick Blewitt, President Biden's great-great- grandfather.
So the whole journey will have had a lot of significance for President Biden at a personal level, a spiritual level, an intellectual level but I think, overall, the takeaway is his desire that the Good Friday agreement gets implemented fully -- and clearly he feels the British government in all of that needs to do more -- Nic Robertson, CNN, Dublin, Ireland.
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HOLMES: Ukraine says at least eight people are dead after a barrage of Russian missiles hit the city of Slovyansk. Emergency crews scrambled to find survivors after the missiles tore through this residential building.
Ukrainian officials say six other targets were also hit, leaving 21 people wounded in all. Meanwhile, the war in Ukraine has decimated Russia's clandestine special forces known as Spetsnaz. That's according to "The Washington Post," citing some of the U.S. intelligence documents recently leaked online.
They estimate that one Spetsnaz unit sent 900 troops to Ukraine but only about 125 are still active. CNN is unable to independently verify the reports.
A U.S. hostage envoy says Russia has not indicated what it wants for the release of American journalists, Evan Gershkovich. "The Wall Street Journal" reporter was detained last month on allegations of espionage, which he denies.
He is one of two Americans the U.S. has designated as being wrongfully detained in Russia. The other, of course, is the former Marine, Paul Whelan. On Thursday, his sister demanded more action from the White House to secure his release.
The U.S. special presidential envoy for hostage affairs says America is doing all it can but acknowledges there has been little progress in the Gershkovich case.
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ROGER CARSTENS, SPECIAL PRESIDENTIAL ENVOY FOR HOSTAGE AFFAIRS: Negotiations I've had in the past, not with the Russians, where the other side is actually, throughout secret channels, said we're doing something and, by the way, here's what we want to get out of this.
In this case, there have been no discussions of that sort. And we don't yet know.
We're not taking our foot off the gas. We're going to find a way to bring Paul and Evan home. But I want you to know that Evans and Paul -- and I'm going to say, Paul, because I've been working on this case for so long, they're front and center in our mind. We are going to find a way to get this done.
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HOLMES: Meanwhile, supporters of the jailed Russian opposition figure, Alexei Navalny, fear he has been poisoned again. Navalny was in court for two hearings on Friday. His team says prison officials were forced to call an ambulance last week to treat him for severe stomach pain and that he has been losing weight, a lot of weight.
Navalny was poisoned with a possible nerve agent back in 2020. His allies' theory he is been poisoned again, gradually, in small doses.
Access to a key abortion drug has been extended in parts of the U.S. But it might not be for long. We will explain the latest legal maneuvers in the ongoing dispute over medication abortion.
Also still to come, a day after North Korea tests its newest missile technology, the U.S. and South Korea conduct joint air drills over the region. Coming up, we'll have the latest on the maneuvers amid the tensions growing on the peninsula.
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HOLMES: Welcome back to our viewers all around the world. I'm Michael Holmes. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM.
Now the U.S. Supreme Court justice Samuel Alito has temporarily extended access to the abortion drug mifepristone while the high court considers an emergency appeal filed by the Biden administration and a drug manufacturer.
Significant restrictions on mifepristone had been set to go into effect early Saturday. Well, now that's been pushed back to midnight Wednesday, depending on what the justices decide. CNN justice correspondent Jessica Schneider explains from Washington.
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JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Supreme Court now weighing into the fight over the abortion pill mifepristone.
Justice Samuel Alito putting a temporary pause on any changes to the way the drug is currently administered but only until Wednesday. The Court giving itself more time to decide if restrictions on the drug will go into effect.
If the full court doesn't choose to act after Wednesday, doctors will be instructed to only prescribe mifepristone up to seven weeks of a pregnancy instead of the 10s weeks now.
However, doctors typically have discretion to ignore those instructions and it will get harder to access the pill. Women will have to see a doctor in person and pick it up instead of talking to a doctor online and receiving it by mail.
According to a newly published study, nearly one in 10 abortions obtained last year after the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade used mifepristone subscribed during a telehealth visit with a doctor. And overall, the drug is used in more than half of all abortions. The
Justice Department urged the Supreme Court to put all the changes on hold, writing, the FDA is trying to discern their legal duties and urgently demanding guidance.
DR. JENNIFER CONTI, PROFESSOR OB-GYN. STANFORD UNIVERSITY: Patients and providers shouldn't be panicking day to day trying to figure out what the law is today and how it's going to change tomorrow. And that's exactly what it's doing, it's causing a lot of confusion and chaos.
SCHNEIDER (voice-over): The Justice Department points out that mifepristone has been approved for more than 20 years, a scientific judgment that has spanned five presidential administrations and mifepristone, DOJ argues, is a drug the World Health Organization has included on a list of essential medicines.
The Justice Department also pointing out that mifepristone isn't only used in abortions but also for women who have suffered miscarriages, writing that, if any changes are made to the way the drug is dispensed, harms would be felt throughout the nation because mifepristone has lawful uses in every state, even those with restrictive abortion laws.
The case was filed by antiabortion doctors who contend they are trying to protect the health and safety of women and girls. It's a case the mainstream medical community argues should be thrown out, in part, because the doctors who sued aren't directly involved with mifepristone and didn't have the legal right to sue.
SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN), JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: There is a way for them, at least for now, to get out of this and that is by simply saying the truth, which is the people that brought this case, a very small number of doctors, do not have what we call standing.
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SCHNEIDER: At this point, the Supreme Court is only stepping in to keep the status quo on mifepristone into Wednesday night. That's when the court would decide whether to step in again and keep these changes once again on hold.
In the meantime, the underlying appeal on the merits of this case, including whether these anti abortion doctors even had standing to sue in the first place, that is moving rapidly in the 5th Circuit, with the first briefs in that appeal due at the end of this month -- Jessica Schneider, CNN, Washington.
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HOLMES: New details are emerging about the suspect in the murder of CashApp founder Bob Lee earlier this month. Surveillance video shows two men early together early on April the 4th before Lee's fatal stabbing.
And documents from the San Francisco district attorney reveal that the accused man, Nima Momeni, seen here on the left, may have argued with Lee hours before his death. Police say Momeni has been booked on one charge of murder.
And the San Francisco district attorney said her department has, quote, "proof beyond reasonable doubt" that Momeni is responsible.
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BROOKE JENKINS, SAN FRANCISCO DISTRICT ATTORNEY: At this point in time, we are still very much looking at first degree murder. This is a person who was in his vehicle with a kitchen knife. That's not something most of us carry around at all times with us and so that this was something that he intended to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Lee's family thanked the DA's office for bringing his killer to justice. Momeni's arraignment is expected to continue later this month.
Now the U.S. and South Korea conducted joint air drills over the Korean Peninsula on Friday amid tensions with North Korea, American B- 52 strategic bombers and F-16 fighter jets were deployed along with fighters from South Korea's air force. That's according to Seoul.
The joint drills come one day after North Korea claimed to have successfully tested a new type of ballistic missile that uses solid fuel. South Korea, though, appears to be skeptical of that claim. The South Korean defense ministry says it believes Pyongyang still needs more time and effort to complete its solid fuel missile technology.
Fresh off a three-day state visit to China, the Brazilian president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, will next tour the United Arab Emirates. While in Beijing, Mr. Lula da Silva met with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, and vowed to strengthen ties. Stefano Pozzebon reports on the agreements the two signed.
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STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva wrapped up a three-day visit to China on Friday by holding a bilateral meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping in Beijing.
Following the meeting, the two leaders assigned two joint statements, circling for deeper integration in economics as well as a strong concerted action to address climate change.
China is Brazil's main trading partner and Lula said that he intends to favor strategic partnerships with tech and infrastructure companies from China.
During the trip, which took place roughly two months after Lula attended another bilateral meeting with the U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House in February, the Latin American leader took aim at the U.S. dollar's dominance over international trade. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LULA DA SILVA, BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Every night I ax (sic) myself, why should every country have to be tied by the dollar for trade?
Why can't we trade in our own currency?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
POZZEBON: On the environment, both leaders vowed to cooperate strongly against the global warming. But China steps short of contributing to an international fund to protect the Amazon rainforest.
Brazil says it's key to reach emission targets all around the world. Xi and Lula also discussed the Russian invasion of Ukraine, saying that they hope for a peaceful solution to be found for the conflict in Europe. And Brazil reiterated that it supports China's sovereignty claim over the island of Taiwan.
And Lula will conduct another official visit to the United Arab Emirates on Saturday before going back to Brazil over the weekend -- for CNN, this is Stefano Pozzebon, Bogota.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: There are signs of hope in Yemen. Hundreds of families, torn apart by years of conflict, now being reunited after a landmark exchange of detainees. Coming up, how the agreement during the holy month of Ramadan is a glimmer of peace after years of brutal bloody war.
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HOLMES: A second round of flights returned more than 150 detainees in a prisoner exchange between Yemen's warring parties on Friday. Hundreds more have set to be exchanged. Families are now reuniting during the holy month of Ramadan.
The prisoner swap is giving hope to the people of Yemen that years of civil war might one day come to an end.
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HOLMES (voice-over): Flights of freedom; Yemeni prisoners greeted with smiles, hugs and handshakes in Aden, part of a deal brokered by the International Committee of the Red Cross to release and exchange nearly 900 detainees held by opposing sides in Yemen's eight years of civil war. These men, now back in government controlled territory after they were
detained by Houthi rebels, who have been battling government forces since 2014 and control the country's northwest and its capital, Sanaa.
The prisoner exchange is a glimmer of hope in what the United Nations says has been a brutal civil war. The U.N. says hundreds of thousands of people have died, either in the fighting or from hunger and disease, which has created one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.
Conditions, some of the released detainees say, can be even worse in prison.
SALIM SALEH AL-JAMZI, FORMER DETAINEE (through translator): I was in prison for three years and eight months. I feel such a great joy that I cannot describe.
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AL-JAMZI (through translator): We suffered a lot torture, lack of food as well as the psychological fallout. We ask God to free our fellow prisoners and all other prisoners.
HOLMES (voice-over): Similar scenes in Houthi-held territory after a plane arrives there, filled with prisoners once held by government aligned forces. One family says they've waited seven years for this reunion.
TALAL AL-NAZILI, FORMER DETAINEE'S BROTHER (through translator): We feel great joy today. The release of our brother has enlightened the whole world and I do not feel the ache I had in my heart. It feels clear now.
HOLMES (voice-over): After many dark years in Yemen, there is a cautious sense of optimism, especially after a truce made last year has largely held even after the agreement expired.
And the renewal of diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which could help end a proxy war between the two countries in Yemen, with Iran supporting the Houthis and the Saudi-led coalition backing the government.
Representatives say peace talks earlier this week between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis were productive and the prisoner swap is seen as a confidence building measure to encourage more dialogue.
The result is a shared sense of relief from prisoners from both sides of the battlefield, stepping off planes to the embrace of friends and family, hopefully one step closer to a lasting peace in Yemen.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Still to come, drought turned a critical part of California bone dry but the overwhelming precipitation this winter brought a dead lake back to life. But that's not necessarily a good thing. We will take you there next. (MUSIC PLAYING)
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[01:50:00]
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HOLMES: There is a clear picture emerging of how the climate crisis is not just a matter of getting warmer or colder. The reality is, we now live in a series of extremes. CNN's Bill Weir shows us how one critical spot in California went from nearly bone dry to drowning in water.
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BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In California's Central Valley, farmers have spent much of the last 20 years praying for rain.
But then came this winter of relentless rivers in the sky, enough to bring a long dead lake back to life and drown over 150 square miles of farmland and counting. So now, they pray for the water to stop.
WEIR: It is mind blowing to realize that if you'd stood here for the last couple of generations, you'd be watching the sunset over dusty fields of cotton or alfalfa or pistachio trees. And now it is waterfront property.
I had no idea Tulare Lake was once the biggest freshwater body west of the Mississippi but it was damned and diked and drained to build a $2 billion agriculture industry. And now it's back. It's proof that water never forgets.
And this may just be the beginning because, behind those clouds over there, the Sierra Nevadas are so packed with snow, 260 percent above normal and sooner or later that's going to melt, which is only going to make this flooding worse and last longer.
WEIR (voice-over): The last time it flooded this dramatically here was 1983 and it took two years to dry out.
WEIR: You were telling me about the effects in '83?
SIDONIO PALMERIN, COUNCIL MEMBER, CITY OF CORCORAN: Yes.
WEIR: The town hollowed out pretty much.
PALMERIN: Yes. I was on the school board at that time, in 1983 and we lost half our school population, about one-third of our city population. And a lot of the people that were field workers lost their homes, their cars.
WEIR (voice-over): And this time, in addition to the dripping time bomb in the mountains, Corcoran is many feet lower in elevation after years of over pumping groundwater to grow thirstier crops made this one of the fastest sinking areas in the nation.
DANIEL L. SWAIN, CLIMATE SCIENTIST, UCLA: So the ground has literally sunk in some places by 10 or 15 feet over the past decade. That has literally changed the topography of the historical lakebed. Some places are lower even than they were the last time there was a big flood event. So there's quite a few unknowns.
WEIR (voice-over): That is UCLA scientist Daniel Swain. And last summer, he published a paper that found whether whiplash will become only more extreme on an overheating planet. And worse case, Tulare Lake could grow into a vast inland sea.
SWAIN: That as disruptive and as damaging as this year's flooding has been, it's still nowhere near close to what we foresee as the plausible worst case scenario.
SHERIFF DAVE ROBINSON, KINGS COUNTY, CALIFORNIA: The levy that we're standing on is called the Corcoran Levy. It's a 14.5 mile levee that protects the city of Corcoran, the two state prisons, the residents here. There's about 22,000 residents and about 8,000 inmates.
And so the work behind us that you'll see over here, with the tractor work in the distance, they're actually building the levee up another four to five feet. And God-willing, that will protect the city of Corcoran.
WEIR: There's a race against the melt basically happening, right?
ROBINSON: That's exactly right. So we've been fortunate with a very slow, mild spring so far but we know the heat's coming.
MARTINA SEALY, CORCORAN RESIDENT: All of the crops are completely flooded and ruined. So that's -- it takes a lot of jobs from people. That's a lot of food that provide -- we provide for up and down California and all around the nation. It's pretty scary.
WEIR: And unfortunately, this is just the beginning, right, because --
SEALY: Very beginning.
WEIR: -- the big melt hasn't even really begun.
SEALY: Yes. This is just from the rain. The snow melts, there's nowhere for it to go besides here and --
WEIR: So Tulare Lake is back for a while?
SEALY: Yes, it's back and it may take over and put us out.
WEIR: Well, I met some young families like that one, who are thinking about leaving altogether. There are other folks, lifelong senior residents of Corcoran, now frantically trying to figure out how to buy flood insurance in a town that --
[01:55:00]
WEIR: -- would have been laughable for the last 20 years, it's been so dry here.
But you get just a little taste of why this disaster will cost at least $2 billion to the agriculture industry here in the Central Valley. These were mostly cattle and dairy operations around here. As a result, a lot of this water is contaminated.
And now the state has to try to figure out, can it get some of this into the aqueduct system?
Can they store it?
Is any of this recharging aquifers that have shrunk as all of this land has been tapped over the years?
So many questions and this is just the beginning of what the National Weather Service in Reno calls an ultra marathon of snowmelt -- Bill Weir, CNN, Corcoran, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Important reporting there.
Now the curtain is coming down for the final time on "The Phantom of the Opera."
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HOLMES (voice-over): After 35 years, the longest running play on Broadway closing on Sunday. The play has been seen by nearly 20 million people, grossing $1 billion. Producers say they had to close the play because they couldn't keep up with the weekly expenses after the pandemic.
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HOLMES: Thanks for spending part of your day with me. I'm Michael Holmes. CNN NEWSROOM continues with my colleague, Laila Harrak, in just a moment.
