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Supreme Court Preserves Abortion Drug Access for Now; Ukrainian Town Hoping for Counteroffensive against Russia; Hunter Biden Team to Meet with DOJ; Shooter's Motive: Gun Activism; Bail Denied for Charlottesville Defendant; Manhunt Underway for South Africa Mass Shooting Suspects. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired April 22, 2023 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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LAILA HARRAK, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Welcome to all of our viewers watching here in the United States and all around the world, I'm Laila Harrak. Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, access to a widely used abortion medication can continue in the U.S. for now.
A cease-fire in Sudan but fighting continues.
Who can bring a halt to hostilities?
And today is Earth Day, a day to focus on the health of our planet. Yet there are alarming warning signs linked to climate change.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Laila Harrak.
HARRAK: In a move that's being celebrated as a victory for the Biden administration and abortion rights supporters across the U.S., the Supreme Court has taken steps to protect access to mifepristone, an abortion medication that's been commonly used by women for decades.
Our Jessica Schneider has more now on the ruling and what comes next in the fight over the drug.
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JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: The Supreme Court stepping in to protect full access to the abortion pill, mifepristone, while the appeals process plays out below.
That means it will be status quo for the administration of this drug. Women can continue to take it up to 10 weeks pregnant. They can continue to receive it by mail and via telehealth visits with their health care providers. And the generic version will remain widely available. So this is exactly what the Biden administration and the FDA, what
they were asking for. They warned that, if there were restrictions imposed on this drug, that there would just be confusion and chaos. So now this chaos is being averted.
So the question is, where does this go from here?
The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals will be hearing arguments on the underlying issue in this case. And that is whether the FDA properly approved mifepristone in 2000. The first briefings in this appeal actually must be filed the 5th Circuit next week. And the case will be fast tracked with these arguments set for less than a month from now on May 17th.
But really, regardless what the 5th Circuit decides, any possible changes to this drug are being put on hold indefinitely by the Supreme Court decision, so women can continue to fully access mifepristone until the Supreme Court acts again at some point, which wouldn't be for months, if at all -- Jessica Schneider, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRAK: Well, the Supreme Court's ruling shows a willingness to step back, at least for now, from the decision it made last year while giving individual states the right to make their own decisions on the legality of abortion.
But it remains to be seen how long the high court's decision on mifepristone will stand. So while abortion rights supporters are celebrating Friday's victory, they're still preparing for what comes next.
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REP. BARBARA LEE (D-CA): It's safe and, again, it's the prominent method of abortions. And so we need to keep this in place. We need to not let politicians and judges try to make it illegal.
And so once again, I'm very relieved of this decision. But we have to stay vigilant because they want to establish a national abortion ban. And that is unacceptable. We're not going to go back to those days.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRAK: While the ruling changes the game for doctors who provide abortion medication to their patients, CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen explains why mifepristone is so important in these situations and how doctors are reacting to the court's decision.
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ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Obstetricians and gynecologists are breathing a sigh of relief after the Supreme Court decision Friday night.
That decision allows them, in states that allow abortions, to keep using mifepristone. Now mifepristone is one of two different drugs that are used to treat women who are having abortions or miscarriages.
If mifepristone had been taken off the market across the United States, that means that doctors in states that allow abortions would have only been using misoprostol. That's the second drug.
Now misoprostol can be used on its own for miscarriages and abortions but studies show that it doesn't work as well. It's not as effective and there can be more complications and more side effects.
And so doctors I've been talking to over the past two weeks have said, look, why should I be giving my patients a treatment that we know isn't as good?
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COHEN: I want to give my patients the best treatments that they can get. So again a sigh of relief. But this is only for a certain period of time. Things could change in the future as this case winds its way through the courts. Back to you.
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HARRAK: Joining me now to talk about this, Dr. Suzanne Gilberg-Lenz, an OB-GYN at the Women's Care of Beverly Hills.
Doctor, thank you so much for your time. The court seems to have bought itself some time.
As a medical professional, are you surprised by how the court went and what larger questions does this decision raise for you as a medical doctor?
DR. SUZANNE GILBERG-LENZ, OB-GYN, WOMEN'S CARE OF BEVERLY HILLS: Well, I mean, nothing would surprise me at this point to be perfectly honest. I'm relieved but I think, like everybody else is saying, I'm tentatively relieved because this is far from over.
How we feel is the way we felt yesterday and the way we felt six months ago and that is that we really have entered into a period of serious decline when it comes to what we are able to provide and the safety that we're able to assure our patients that they can have for this extremely important and needed medical procedure.
And it's a medical procedure and a medical decision.
HARRAK: What does access to the abortion pill look like right now and what impact have these events had on the availability of the medication?
GILBERG-LENZ: Well, that's a great question, because, when this first started coming down -- I'm here in California, where we have wide support and actually governor support for the procedure and for accessibility. But having said that, if a federal ban was to put be put into place, I
would actually be unable to secure the medication. And at this time, this medicine is so strictly regulated in a way that is so obviously political.
This is not a medication that I can write a prescription for and have a patient fill it at the pharmacy. So I, as the provider, have to stock this in the office. And as soon as it started happening a couple weeks ago, I went to our office administrator to make sure that we had enough supplies available for the foreseeable future.
It's very -- it's been very, very disconcerting and very concerning because, of course, my job and my life's purpose has been to take care of women and to keep them safe.
And when I can't even have tools that are FDA approved and legal in the state that I practice, to keep my patients safe, I really -- I don't even know what to say. I'm baffled after 26 years in medicine, you know.
HARRAK: Now, Doctor, as you alluded to there, briefly, this has become such a politically fraught issue.
What impact is this having on you, on your colleagues and how you practice and, most importantly, the women and the girls that you see?
GILBERG-LENZ: It's really had a very, very negative impact. And I have to say it's not newly impacting us. Any of us who provide abortions have been dealing with threats to our lives and our livelihoods for the entire time that I've been in practice.
I think the issue here is that people, the public has become more aware of what is really going on. So for a lot of people who lived in large cities where they had access to care, they really weren't aware of how difficult it has been in this country.
For the entire time that I've been in practice, I remember in medical school learning that 85 percent of counties in the United States at the time in the '90s did not have abortion services available.
So actually, this is not news to those of us providing care.
What's happened is that I've seen terrible things happening in Los Angeles, where people have access, people not understanding what is available to them, people making poor decisions, people not getting care on time, people being afraid to ask for help, even in a state where it remains legal.
There's been a lot of confusion. And I have dealt with things this year that I have never seen in my career, complications that never needed to happen. You know, threats to people's lives and health. It's very, very serious.
So this isn't a place where people actually still have access, it's so my colleagues in other states and places like Texas, Alabama, et cetera, they are suffering and patients are suffering. And women are being harmed. The obfuscation of the safety issue with
this particular lawsuit is insanity. The safety data is there. It is -- the FDA doesn't approve medications, especially medications like this, that are fraught politically without a lot of safety data.
The safety data is there and this is an incredibly safe medication and, in fact, pregnancy itself is far less safe than having a medical abortion. So the lawsuit is really frivolous when it comes to science and medicine. It's disgusting.
HARRAK: Doctor, briefly, if you can, what would you wish for more people to understand when it comes to this issue and abortion related subjects?
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GILBERG-LENZ: I wish they would have thought about it earlier, to be perfectly honest. But here we find ourselves now. They need to continue to fight. They need to continue to support initiatives in states where people are not getting access to care. They need to continue to support their colleagues, their doctors, their abortion providers.
And they need to avail themselves of the actual information. It's very easy to find. "The New York Times" has some really interesting stuff out there; CNN, you have put much information out there.
So people need to make sure they understand the facts and they understand how to get care and how to get support and help.
HARRAK: Dr. Suzanne Gilberg-Lenz, thank you for this conversation.
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HARRAK: Turn our attention now to Sudan, which is now on day two of a 72 hour ceasefire between the armed forces and a paramilitary group. But so far the agreement has failed to completely stop the fighting.
Civilians reported more clashes on the first day of the truce, which aligned with the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr. The U.N. says the clashes on Friday killed one staff member from its migration agency and overall the organization is reporting more than 400 deaths since the fighting began last week.
Meantime, the Red Cross says the violence has prevented the group from delivering much needed aid and it's urging both sides to grant it immediate humanitarian access. Earlier, Sudan's paramilitary fighters announced they were ready to partially reopen airports nationwide.
They said this would allow other countries to safely evacuate their citizens. The U.S. is making preparations to evacuate diplomatic personnel from Sudan but a final decision has not been made yet.
The White House says they are closely monitoring the volatile situation in the country and that preparations are ongoing for a potential evacuation. The State Department confirmed to CNN that a U.S. national has died in Sudan, although the circumstances around their death were not provided.
The White House warned on Friday that private citizens should not expect the U.S. government to get them out of Sudan.
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KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: When it comes to Sudan, this is a warning, a level four warning that we provided to them many months ago, basically telling Americans who were there to leave if they could and also not to travel, Americans not to travel to Sudan.
So we've been very clear on that. Again, it's not our standard procedure.
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HARRAK: And CNN's Kylie Atwood has more now from Washington.
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KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: We don't know any details about the death of this American in Sudan. But what we do know is that the State Department has been in touch with their family.
And this comes as there have been hundreds of Sudanese citizens who have died as a result of this recent outbreak in fighting. Now the State Department, the Pentagon, they're all watching the situation incredibly closely.
They're putting the resources in place to potentially carry out an evacuation of the U.S. diplomats who are in the country. They haven't made a decision to do that at this point. And one, of course, of the challenging factors here is the fact that there is this ongoing violence on the ground.
So State Department officials are watching closely to see if the ceasefire that has agreed to can actually be implemented on the ground. So far, that has not actually been the case.
And we know that the State Department is also not planning at this time for the evacuation of American citizens or in the country. There are about 16,000 Americans who are there. Of course, many of those are joint U.S. -- Sudanese American citizens.
And we heard from a State Department deputy spokesperson earlier today that those Americans should not be expecting any coordinated U.S. evacuation at this time. So we're continuing to watch that space.
They said that the State Department has been in touch with hundreds of Americans who are in Sudan -- Kylie Atwood, CNN, the State Department.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRAK: The leader of the Russian mercenary group, Wagner, is denying that its forces have any involvement in the Sudan conflict. Yevgeny Prigozhin dismissed a CNN investigation, which found evidence that Wagner has offered anti aircraft missile systems to help Sudan's paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces.
The RSF has also rejected the notion, saying instead that Sudan's armed forces are the ones aligning themselves with foreign groups.
Ukraine gets another boost from Western allies as Kyiv prepares for its expected counter offensive. Still ahead, tank units hone their battle skills on U.S. hardware.
And accused of bullying behavior, a senior member of the British government resigns but he's not going quietly.
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HARRAK: Ukraine's armored units are getting a shot in the arm from the West ahead of an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive. The U.S. says it will start training Ukrainians on its Abrams tanks next month.
The 10 week training will be held in Germany before 31 of those tanks arrive in Ukraine by the end of the summer. Kyiv's allies also planned to set up a maintenance center for the Leopard tanks in Poland which could be up and running by the end of May.
A number of Western countries have been donating the German made tanks to Ukraine. The decisions were announced at Friday's meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Germany.
And Ukraine's allies are bolstering its tank units with an eye on Kyiv's counter offensive, which is expected in the coming weeks or months. But for one town in southeastern Ukraine, it can't come too soon. Nick Paton Walsh has that story for you.
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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Studying the silence and the violence, that punctuates it. That's the job here, in Southern Huliaipole, where life in the ruins waits, for Ukraine's counteroffensive, to push the Russians, right out of their space.
Ludmila hasn't left since the war began and knows her artillery.
LUDMILA, HULIAIPOLE, UKRAINE RESIDENT (through translator): When there is incoming there is an echo. And when you hear the cracking sound, that's outgoing.
WALSH (voice-over): It's all they've had to do as they wait down here with only a radio. They say it brought their best news yet this day --
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WALSH (voice-over): -- learning the Russians have bombed themselves, by accident, in Belgorod.
Recently, Nina thinks she's noticed a change, in the banks.
NINA, HULIAIPOLE, UKRAINE RESIDENT (through translator): The shelling is not as heavy as it was. Maybe it is further way or different guns.
LUDMILA: The scariest was the start of the war. Now we are used to it. That's a bad habit.
WALSH (voice-over): Drive out into the plains earlier this week and the signs are there, in the tracks, in the berms, that Ukraine might be aiming south, to cut Crimea off from Russia.
It's quiet.
Then, loud.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): It's far away -- about two or three kilometers.
WALSH (voice-over): With the Russians firing from close by?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).
WALSH (voice-over): Drone operators fly in gaps between electronic jamming.
WALSH: In these open fields, here, each side, trying to spot the other, weaken the other, ahead of this counteroffensive.
WALSH (voice-over): One road is their target, the cars, the buildings, tiny changes and signs of weakness.
WALSH: Are they getting ready for the counteroffensive or just doing nothing?
OLEKSIY, DRONE OPERATOR (through translator): They are preparing all the time. Constantly digging trenches. New ones appear all the time. Vehicles moving all the time, including mechanics.
WALSH (voice-over): Yards, from his head, a Russian booby trap left behind. It's not clear if the Russians they're facing now have similar experience.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): They seem to be training. There is a rifle range there.
WALSH (voice-over): After 90 minutes, each drone parachutes down again, soon replaced by another. Fly, spot, shell and repeat. The waiting and watching will soon be over -- Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Huliaipole, Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE) HARRAK: Russia is reacting to NATO's statement that Ukraine will join the alliance at some point. On Friday, NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg reaffirmed that Ukraine will become a NATO member. But he didn't give any timeline.
In response, Moscow described a NATO membership as a carrot the alliance dangles in front of Kyiv so it would keep fighting against Russia.
Moscow also called Stoltenberg's statement "dangerous" and said it could lead to the collapse of Europe's security system. Russia has made it clear that one of its military goals is to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO.
Dominic Raab resigns as British deputy prime minister following reports of bullying. The allegations came from eight formal complaints about his behavior while he was foreign secretary, Brexit secretary and justice secretary. Bianca Nobilo has more now from London.
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BIANCA NOBILO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Dominic Raab has resigned as deputy prime minister and justice secretary following the outcome of an investigation into bullying allegations, which found that he behaved in an intimidating fashion with unreasonably and persistently aggressive conduct while at work.
Deputy prime minister is not a formal constitutional role but Raab is a big beast in British politics and in the governing Conservative Party, having held the roles of foreign secretary and Brexit secretary. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak launched this probe several months ago to address complaints about Raab's bullying behavior.
Raab had committed to resign if the inquiry made any finding of bullying whatsoever.
So Raab resigned Friday but said the report was flawed and in setting the threshold for bullying so low this inquiry is a dangerous precedent. He said that ministers must be able to give direct critical feedback on briefings and submissions to senior officials in order to set the standards and drive the reform the public expect of us.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak accepted the resignation and responded in a letter, writing, "As you say, you had rightly undertaken to resign if the report made any finding of bullying whatsoever. You have kept your word.
"But it is clear that there have been shortcomings in the historic process that have negatively affected everyone involved. We should learn from this how to better handle such matters in the future."
Raab's resignation is the third from Sunak's Cabinet since he became prime minister in October, 2022. The others, Gavin Williamson and Nadhim Zahawi had to resign because of allegations of bullying and a lack of transparency over tax affairs, respectively. This is a difficult look for a prime minister behind in the polls who committed to a government of integrity in his very first speech as leader of the country on the steps of Downing Street -- Bianca Nobilo, CNN, London.
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HARRAK (voice-over): And there's much more to come on CNN NEWSROOM, including exclusive details on a meeting next week between the U.S. Justice Department --
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HARRAK (voice-over): -- and Hunter Biden's legal team.
Plus more on what we know about the bank shooting in Louisville, Kentucky, earlier this month, amid reports of surging gun ownership across the country.
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HARRAK: Welcome back to all of our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Laila Harrak and you're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
Multiple sources tell CNN exclusively that lawyers for the U.S. President's son will meet with the Justice Department next week. Hunter Biden's legal team requested the meeting for an update on the agency's investigation. CNN senior legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid has the details.
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PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: CNN has learned that this meeting between Justice Department officials and Hunter Biden's legal team was actually arranged at the request of Biden's lawyers. They are seeking an update into the years-long investigation into the president's son.
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REID: At this meeting in attendance is expected to be at least one career Justice Department official as well as the Trump appointed U.S. attorney, who has been overseeing the Biden investigation.
But it's unclear if we're going to get any kind of update following this meeting on the status of that case.
CNN was the first to report last summer that the investigation was intensifying and that it had narrowed down to just a few charges, including some potential tax crimes and at least one charge of false statements related to the purchase of a gun. Now nothing has happened, though. Since last year in the recent
months, we've also seen Hunter Biden's legal team become a lot more aggressive and forward leaning in their strategy, also becoming a lot more litigious.
Now they're about to have another legal, potentially political problem as well on Capitol Hill, now that a potential whistleblower has come forward, writing to lawmakers, saying that he is an IRS agent who has overseen part of the Biden probe.
This individual alleges that he has evidence that this has been mishandled, that there has been political interference and even alleges that this individual has evidence that would contradict testimony by attorney general Merrick Garland, who has vowed that there would not be any political interference in this investigation.
But at this point, it is important to note this individual has not been granted whistleblower protections. This individual also has not presented any evidence to support these alleged -- these allegations against Biden.
So it's unclear exactly what will come of that. But we'll continue to watch what comes of this potential whistleblower testimony and what, if anything, it means for the criminal case -- Paula Reid, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRAK: Concern is growing that the Upper Midwest could see major flooding next week as several rivers continue to rise. The National Weather Service says, right now, 10 river gauges are measuring at major flood stage and another 43 are at moderate flood stage.
River flooding is fairly common in Minnesota and North and South Dakota in the spring as temperatures there rise and snow melts. But the region got above average and some record breaking snow over the winter. So flooding is expected to be severe in the coming days and weeks.
Dozens of residents of a south Florida condo have been ordered to leave their homes by Tuesday because it's not structurally safe. An inspection found the building had sagging floors, termite damage and a partially collapsed ceiling. Well, residents will be allowed in their units for a complete moveout at a later date.
About 55 people live in the Majestic Isle Condominium, which was built in 1960. Two years ago, you might remember, 98 people died when a condo partially collapsed in the middle of the night north of Miami Beach.
The Louisville, Kentucky, police officer who was shot in the head while responding to a mass shooting at a bank earlier this month has been transferred to a different hospital and is still in critical condition. And we're learning more about a possible motive for the shooting. CNN's Adrienne Broaddus has that for you.
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ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The shooter left behind two extensive notes. That's according to a CNN law enforcement source. One note was found at the home where the shooter lived. And the other was discovered on the shooter after police shot and killed him.
The goal, according to our law enforcement source, was to showcase how easily someone living with mental illness could purchase a firearm in America. For example, the shooter purchased this gun legally on Tuesday, April 4th. That was less than a week before the shooting.
And in Kentucky, the law only required that he filled out an ATF form and that he pass an FBI records check.
What's in that records check?
Well, one, the records check was to ensure that he wasn't a felon or the subject of a court imposed restraining order. Even though this gives some insight, it offers little comfort for people who are still grieving their loved ones who were killed, like A'lia Chambers. She and her family are getting ready to bury their mother on Saturday.
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A'LIA CHAMBERS, DAUGHTER OF WOMAN KILLED IN SHOOTING: This monster took away my mother. And that -- I'm hurt because my mother moved here to help me, a single mom with four kids.
And I only got two weeks with her here in Louisville. We are not from here. And to have two weeks with your mom in a city she knows nothing about breaks my heart.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROADDUS: If you take a step back and look, there is pain on all sides of this story. The shooter's family is grieving because they say they had no idea their son was --
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BROADDUS: -- capable of such violence, even though they knew and they say they were actively working to address his mental illness. And then you have families who lost people they loved, who are grieving -- Adrienne Broaddus, CNN, Chicago.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRAK: Well, the Louisville shooting is just one of a series of high profile shootings across the country in recent weeks and comes as gun sales are surging, especially with first time gun buyers. CNN's Miguel Marquez looks now at what's driving this trend.
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MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Meet Jenn. And Shelby. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why can't I get it?
MARQUEZ: They don't want their last names used. They are friends, colleagues, gun enthusiasts.
What gun or guns you own know?
SHELBY, GUN OWNER: I have a Ruger and a Rossi, both rifles.
MARQUEZ: Both from Long Island New York City adjacent, both professionals.
Jenn has her permit but has yet to buy a handgun.
And why do you want to buy a handgun?
JENN, PURCHASING FIRST HANDGUN: I've been wanting to buy one for years. I'm also someone that lives alone for a couple of years now, so probably for safety mostly but I do enjoy coming to the ranges and shooting. MARQUEZ: She's trying them out, seeing which one is the best fit for her. Shelby like many Americans, made the decision to arm up during the pandemic.
Do you feel safer having a gun?
SHELBY: I do.
MARQUEZ: Why?
SHELBY: Because I'm not sure the chaos is over and I just feel like a lot of people have guns and it would be good to have. I'm a single female. I live on my own. And why not protect myself?
MARQUEZ: The number of both state and national instant criminal background checks check required before one can purchase a gun and a rough indicator. How many people are either purchasing or possibly being issued a gun permit surged during the pandemic, from under 30 million to nearly 40 million today.
Today, in states like New York, officials say there's a backlog of gun permit applications with more applying every day.
MIKE MARINELLO, OWNER, SOUTH SHORE SPORTSMAN: The licensing agencies are inundated with applications. During COVID, the applications quadrupled.
MARQUEZ: Even in a state like New York, where gun ownership is highly regulated, business at South Shore Sportsman never better.
MARINELLO: Forty percent of my clientele comes from New York City.
MARQUEZ: From New York City, the five boroughs?
MARINELLO: Yes.
MARQUEZ: All five? MARINELLO: Yes, Staten Island to the Bronx.
MARQUEZ: And what are they buying?
MARINELLO: Handguns, if they have a license, like the gentleman that just left or, shotguns.
MARQUEZ: Right, by checking in the chamber.
For many, the constant headlines about crime drives them to gun ownership. For others, it's the mass shootings in the fear of not having a gun if everyone else does.
What effect do all these shootings and major events have on your business?
MARINELLO: In the immediate aftermath and most states, that would lead to an increase in sales because everybody looks at the news. And although that's a terrible event, they say the same thing. There's going to be a new law.
MARQUEZ: So there's a rush to get in to buy a gun.
MARINELLO: There's a rush to get the stuff that they think they're going to lose.
MARQUEZ: So who out there is buying guns and why?
We met a lot of people in the medical profession; retirees, housewives, all of them gun users. And it's not just concerns about the pandemic or about crime that is driving gun sales. It all becomes a bit of a feedback loop.
The more they see violence, the more they're concerned they are that everyone else around them is armed. The more they feel they, too, need a gun -- back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRAK: After saying for days they would drop the criminal charges against actor Alec Baldwin, prosecutors have dismissed the allegations officially, at least for now. Mr. Baldwin was holding the gun that fired the shot which killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the movie, "Rust," in 2021.
He has maintained he did not pull the trigger. The legal move comes after new evidence surfaced that the gun had been modified. The civil case against Mr. Baldwin by relatives of Hutchins is unaffected by Friday's move. And charges against Mr. Baldwin could be refiled, depending on a followup investigation.
A judge has denied bond for a man accused of participating in the 2017 white supremacist march in Charlottesville, Virginia. Tyler Bradley Dykes will remain behind bars awaiting trial because the judge says he doesn't believe Dykes will be on, quote, "good behavior" if he is released pending trial. The judge cited evidence that Dykes continued to participate in anti
Semitic incidents following the tiki torch should rally on the campus of the University of Virginia. Dykes is charged with a felony for burning an object with intent to intimidate. A second man is facing the same charge. Neither has formally entered a plea.
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HARRAK: Their lawyers declined to talk to reporters and prosecutors are still working to find those who participated in the march and hold them accountable.
Still ahead, a manhunt is underway in South Africa, police searching for one of the suspects in a mass shooting, which killed 10 members of the same family.
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HARRAK: A manhunt is underway in South Africa, as police search for one of the suspects in a deadly mass shooting. Authorities say gunmen stormed a homestead in the eastern part of the country and killed 10 members of the same family. CNN's David McKenzie has the latest now from Johannesburg.
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DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Even in a country that has become somewhat numb to violent crime and incidents like this --
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MCKENZIE: -- this was a shocking shooting in KZN province early Friday morning. Now the police say that community members told them in the very early hours of the morning on Friday they heard multiple gunshots in that zone of Pietermaritzburg, in KZN province.
The police did go to inspect several gunmen who were suspected in being involved. An entire family, say police, were killed; 10 people in that shooting, the youngest being a 13 year old boy; the oldest, according to police, over 60.
The police minister said that the quick work of community members to give a tipoff to police led them to several suspects they think may be linked to the shootings. They killed one in a action against the police or in their firing between the police and the suspects and they managed to arrest two.
One got away. It's unclear what the motive of the shooting is and, in South Africa, there have been several shootings like this or similar to this in recent months, both in that province and other provinces. I have to say, in recent reporting across the country and particularly
in Johannesburg, where I am based, there has been a sense by community members that they feel the police cannot help them in many instances with the levels of violent crime in this country, particularly with the resources that the police have.
The leadership of the police, again on Friday, said that they are doing their best and are looking to increase resources. But the murder rates in South Africa in last year was extremely high, more than 25,000 people in murders that the police know about. This is in a country already dealing with high levels of violent crime -- David McKenzie, CNN, Johannesburg.
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HARRAK: And we'll be right back.
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HARRAK: Happy Earth Day 2023. U.S. President Joe Biden marked the occasion by signing an executive order, creating the new Office of Environmental Justice. The order also directs federal agencies to work more closely with communities impacted by pollution and to tackle the impacts of pollution on people's health.
And this Earth Day comes with a sobering report on the state of the climate. A new health check finds that 2022 was a year of extremes for the planet, from droughts and floods to shrinking ice levels. CNN meteorologist Chad Myers has the story.
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CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Once every year, the World Meteorological Organization, the WMO, puts out its State of the Climate.
How did we do last year, 2022?
Well, in fact, the checkup for 2022 wasn't so good, had some failing grades. Now nine out of the past nine years have been the warmest on record. Now technically, 2022 did not break a new record but it was in the top three and so very close we're just splitting hairs here, hundredths of a degree difference.
Temperatures are rising, sea levels are rising. The ice loss is increasing. The glaciers across Europe were melting this year. Very little snow there and very big heat. Extreme weather events -- and there were many.
The water is warming in the ocean and also in the lakes. The humidity is going up. The glaciers are going down. The snow cover is going down in many spots. And the sea ice, of course, is not as thick as it was.
That doesn't affect sea level rise but anything that's sitting on land, if it melts, that does affect sea level rise. It affected tens of millions of people. Food insecurity boosted mass migrations and cost billions and billions of dollars.
So what happened?
Let's get to some of these. It was the warmest ever, over 40 degrees in the U.K. for the very first time, 40.3. Even Heathrow got to 104.4 degrees. That has never happened in any month in any year ever before since we've been taking temperatures; 1.2 degrees C above average now compared to where we were before we started burning fossil fuels.
When that happens, you get more humidity in the air. And when that humidity wants to fall out of the sky, you get floods, especially Pakistan. Some spots, over 400 percent of average. And when it monsoons in Pakistan, it rains. It truly comes down.
But in 2022, it was 196 percent of average. And then some of that water, that rain, that humidity, that warmth got up into the glaciers in the northern part of the country and melted those glaciers and put down in this Indus River.
Now hundreds of thousands of square miles of floods killed 1,700 people. Let me take you back. This is what it should look like, very fertile little area here; farmland. It wasn't fertile last year because it was flooded for a very, very long time.
Looking at China, the worst heat wave on record. It was hot almost the entire summer, triggered terrible drought and even had power shortages across that country.
Spots in the U.S., a lot of rainfall came down, one in a thousand year rainfall events happened many times across the U.S.
So what do we know?
Here's what we know about climate change. There's going to be heat waves. We're going to have coastal flooding because the oceans are rising. The oceans are rising for the same reason if you put your thumb on a thermometer, that mercury or that red alcohol will go up.
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MYERS: If you warm the ocean, it gets bigger. So it also goes up. The thermal expansion, very heavy rainfall and, of course, the droughts that come and go. If it rains, it rains. And if it doesn't, it doesn't. Those are those big extremes, that sometimes it rains and sometimes it just doesn't.
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HARRAK: An American style lager that, for years, has been marketed as "the champagne of beers" is getting a chilly reception by a group of French wine producers. On Monday, Belgian authorities destroyed a shipment of more than 2,300 cans of the American brew, Miller High Life.
A French trade group that guards the official use of the word "champagne," said the slogan on the label runs afoul of E.U. protections. The shipments intercepted in Antwerp at the beginning of February was headed for Germany.
And much like those cans, fans of Miller High Life are probably crushed.
I'm Laila Harrak. Thank you so much for watching. I'll be back in just a moment with more CNN NEWSROOM.
