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U.S. Evacuates Diplomatic Personnel from Sudan; Abortion Rights in the U.S.; Ukraine Calls for More Aid. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired April 23, 2023 - 03:00   ET

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

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[03:00:00]

LAILA HARRAK, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from the United States and all around the world. I'm Laila Harrak.

Getting out, the United States evacuates its diplomatic personnel and their families from Sudan. Fighting there is intensifying even as a ceasefire is technically in place.

And the U.S. Supreme Court has preserved access to a widely used medication abortion pill for now. How the country got to this place.

And the battle for Bakhmut, why Ukraine says it needs so much more military aid to defeat Russia.

France has begun evacuating its diplomatic staff from Sudan now, as well as other European officials as more fighting has erupted between rival forces in the capital, Khartoum. Well, comes hours after the U.S. also pulled out American diplomats from the country and announced that its embassy in Khartoum has been temporarily closed.

U.S. President Joe Biden spoke about the situation in the region, saying, quote, this tragic violence in Sudan has already cost the lives of hundreds of innocent civilians. It's unconscionable and it should and must stop. The belligerent parties must implement an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, allow unhindered humanitarian access and respect the will of the people of Sudan.

A U.S. defense department official says fewer than 100 people were pulled out of Sudan in what he called a fast and clean operation.

CNN's Kevin Liptak has the details.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: We did hear from John Kirby yesterday who said that if something like this were to happen, if the U.S. were to evacuate diplomatic personnel from Khartoum, it would come at President Biden's order. So, we can safely say that this was ordered by President Biden and you have seen him take steps over the last several days to prepare for this eventuality, including prepositioning military assets resources equipment in Djibouti.

The U.S. has a large military base there. But you've also seen this effort in Khartoum to consolidate the American personnel who are working there into the American diplomatic compound into the embassy. That's been described to me as a fortress-like structure. It has taken some time to get all of the personnel into that facility. The roads in Khartoum are extremely unsafe. And so that was sort of a process that took place over the last several days.

But we did hear from the State Department earlier today that all American personnel where accounted for and were in a safe location. We also did hear from an official with the National Security Council earlier today that said that they had made clear to both sides of this conflict, both of the warring factions, that they are responsible for ensuring protection of civilians and non-combatants.

So, certainly, everything was sort of building up to this moment. But we should be clear that the U.S. says -- has said that those preparations were for American diplomatic personnel, people who worked for the American government only. This does not include private citizens, Private American citizens who remain in Khartoum. And the U.S. has said that they has given ample warning to private citizens who may remain in Sudan that it is not safe, but that it does not have the resources at the moment to facilitate a broad scale military evacuation of private citizens.

HARRAK: CNN's Stephanie Busari joins us now with more. Steph, well, as we've just seen more evacuations taking place and other countries also preparing for more potential extractions, but what about the countless residents of Khartoum and those across Sudan that are still stranded and cannot leave the country and those trying to flee the violence?

STEPHANIE BUSARI, CNN SENIOR EDITOR, AFRICA: Good morning. Laila. It's a desperate choice that many Sudanese have to make. Do they stay in their homes with dwindling food supplies and water, no power, or do they try to brave it and try to get to neighboring countries?

[03:05:01]

We're hearing that some people are trying to make a bus ride to Egypt, a place called Aswan in Egypt, and taking a great risk to do that, because no government is coming to save them, like the governments of other countries such as the U.S., Saudi Arabia, who have gone into to evacuate their citizens and their personnel.

So, what we're hearing from people in Sudan is that they're having to make tough choices. Large families are having to decide whether to travel with elderly relatives or leave them behind or very young children. So, it's a really desperate choice that people are faced with. But the alternative is staying in homes where they're under heavy fire, whether it's little supplies and dwindling food and water supplies. Laila?

HARRAK: Now, it's been more than a week of deadly fighting and no truce, really, to speak of. Are there concerted efforts underway to address some of Sudan's the deepening humanitarian crisis that's unfolding right now?

BUSARI: Yes. The aid agencies, the International Red Cross, for example, is trying to help people and they're receiving desperate calls from people who are stuck in hospitals, where they're not receiving treatment, and stuck in universities where they can't they simply can't get out. But the fragile ceasefire is making it tough humanitarian -- a tough place for them to work in. They just can't get in to help these people.

So, the ceasefire, and that has been promised between these two warring generals, is really making this a very difficult situation for humanity aid agencies to help. Laila?

HARRAK: Stephanie Busari reporting, thank you, Steph.

And earlier, I spoke with Alex de Waal, the executive director of the World Peace Foundation and research professor at the Fletcher School at Tufts University. And I began by asking him what it would take to bring a pause to the armed conflict in Sudan. Take a listen. Here he is.

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ALEX DE WAAL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WORLD PEACE FOUNDATION: Well, it's remarkable that over the last few days, the days of the Eid, neither of the signs have felt it appropriate to follow international and Sudanese calls for an Eid truce. So, Sudanese are unable to celebrate the end of Ramadan and the Eid festival. And I think what that indicates is a determination by each of the sides to continue this war in, I think, what is the vein or illusory hope of landing and knockout blow on the other side.

I think there is an international consensus right across the board from the United States to Russia, to China, to the Arab countries, all the African neighbors that this war is not a good thing. Certain countries may have their favorites among the contenders, but nobody wants this war to proceed.

And I think what that tells us is that there is a need for an international coordination of common international position to make a set of demands on the two belligerents, beginning with humanitarian demands than a ceasefire and then moving on to political issues.

HARRAK: Now, so far, no truce has held. And I'm just wondering in terms of you know all these pleas for ceasefires, why do they keep falling on deaf ears? I mean, both generals are not receptive to calls for a truce. Could you describe for us in terms of the whole command and control situation? What's that like?

DE WAAL: Well, both sides at the moment have relatively coherent command and control that may not prevail as the war continues. I myself in my previous job working with the African union panel on Sudan and have very often been in the situation of dealing directly with generals on one side or the other who have decided to go to war.

And they have this fatalistic attitude that it is not within their decision to decide to start or end of war. They have this view that they can land a knockout blow, that they can have a decisive military victory. And when they get in that mindset, it is astonishingly difficult to get them to stop and to see sense. And I fear that is what the situation that we are in today.

HARRAK: But this pre-foreboding, though, especially for the people in Sudan. What's the way out?

DE WAAL: I think it's absolutely terrifying. And I think the kind of scenarios that we are looking at this war is not stopping very quickly.

[03:10:00]

Include the disintegration of the command and control on each side, certain foreign countries getting involved, a proliferation of armed groups, various sorts of military entrepreneurs taking up weapons , ethnic militia arming themselves, the war, which is currently a struggle for power, turning into an ethnic conflict with mass atrocity. I think it couldn't make Sudan absolutely horrific and ungovernable. And, therefore, I think it is absolutely imperative that the maximum coordinated pressure across the board be brought to bear two to stop this at once.

HARRAK: Well, let's hope those calls are answered for everyone's sake. Alex de Waal, thank you so much.

DE WAAL: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRAK: Abortion rights supporters in the us are nervously anticipating what comes next after the Supreme Court moved to preserve access to a commonly used abortion drug. The ruling allows doctors to continue prescribing Mifepristone in states that allow it. But there's almost no chance the protective ruling will be the final word on regulation of the drug.

The Texas case that challenge Mifepristone's 23-year-old FDA approval heads back now to the Fifth Circuit court for an appeal on May 17th. For 49 years, the ruling in Roe v. Wade protected abortion access across the United States. Federal law protected a woman's right to choose.

So, how did things reached the point where access to is being marginalized by the week? Isabel Rosales runs through the timeline.

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Summer of 2022, Dobbs v. Jackson, the Supreme Court reverses the constitutional right to an abortion, upheld for nearly a half century. Across the nation intense backlash and scrutiny follows.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Abortion bans are illegitimate. Forced motherhood is illegitimate.

ROSALES: Justice Samuel Alito writing for the court majority, called the original 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling egregiously wrong. Rebels from the Dobbs decision are felt across the country as so-called trigger laws take effect in about a dozen states, banning or severely limiting abortion in states like Mississippi, Texas and Oklahoma. Republican- controlled state legislatures race to outlaw the procedure.

Legal fights commence over abortion access. Some state Supreme Courts, like in South Carolina, step in and block abortion bans. In other states, the highest courts ruled the ban's complying with their state Constitutions. Meanwhile, others like South Dakota widen the scope, passing a law prohibiting the use of telemedicine to administer medication abortion.

Midterm elections.--

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to have to make it a federal right.

ROSALES: -- voters in many states reject the most extreme versions of abortion bans. In California, Michigan and Vermont, voters enshrined the right to abortion in their state Constitutions.

State legislatures return to session. Some states move forward on more restrictive measures. Just this month, in a first of its kind law, Idaho criminalizes out-of-state abortions for minors without parental consent, calling it abortion trafficking. And Florida Governor Ron DeSantis last week signed into law a ban against most abortions after six weeks. Opponents argue that's before many women know they're pregnant.

Nearly a year since overturning Roe v. Wade, another major decision on abortion access from the nation's highest court, the conservative majority court protecting access to a widely use abortion drug, Mifepristone, by freezing lower court rulings that place restrictions on medication abortion. The order means that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's approval of the drug will remain in place while appeals play out potentially for months to come.

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ROSALES (on camera): And this abortion medication cases with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and they're fast-tracking this case. They're sent to get those first briefs by next week and then by mid- May start to listen to those oral arguments. It will likely take weeks to months for a decision to come. And we're also expecting that case to end up right back with the Supreme Court.

Isabel Rosales, CNN, Atlanta.

HARRAK: Russian troops reportedly gained some ground in one sector of the eastern front. Still ahead, we'll get the latest on the battle for Bakhmut in a live report.

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[03:15:00]

HARRAK: More than 3,000 people in the Russian city of Belgorod are returning home after a second bomb scare in a matter of days. State media says they were evacuated on Saturday after the discovery of an unexploded bomb. Officials say it has now been removed but there's no word on how it ended up there in the first place. However, he was found in the same area that was rattled by this explosion Thursday night. State media said it was caused by another bomb that was dropped by a Russian fighter jet during a mid-air emergency.

Ukraine says its forces are holding their ground into hot spots in the east despite relentless Russian attacks. A military spokesperson says about two dozen infantry attacks ran into a wall near the towns of Avdiivka and Mar'inka on Friday. He also says Ukrainians are talking -- are taking, rather, non-stop artillery fire from the Russian side. His statement describes the situation in those areas as difficult.

But in nearby Bakhmut, the Russian offensive is reportedly gaining some traction. A Ukrainian commander says Russian troops went all-out trying to take the rest of the city with air support backing them up.

Let's get you more now. Barbie Nadeau joins us a life from Rome. Barbie, what more can you tell us about the latest Bakhmut?

BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, that is a really difficult situation.

[03:20:01]

They're calling it extremely difficult, extremely tense because Russia is really dedicating a lot of new assets to this battle, including paratroopers and special forces, and Ukraine says they're continuing, though, to keep a foothold in the city. But it will be difficult week ahead.

HARRAK: A very difficult week ahead, and Ukraine calling on allies for more support.

NADEAU: That's right. They say they need ten times more support. They want those countries that are already dedicating weapons to dedicate 1 percent of the GDP. But Zelenskyy, President Zelenskyy is also saying that they need to be tougher on Russia. Let's hear what he had to say.

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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: Every Russian scheme that makes it possible to bypass sanctions makes this war longer, adds opportunities for the aggressor. Accordingly, the tougher the sanctions regime against Russia, the more restrictions against the terrorist state and all related persons against the entire Russian war economy, the faster the end of the aggression will be. And I thank everyone in the world who understands this.

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NADEUA: And, you know, Laila, when you listen to him talking about that, it's not just that they need people to give more weapons, they need these countries to be tougher on Russia. Laila?

HARRAK: Barbie Nadeau, thank you so much.

And a CNN crew had a close call during a Russian missile strike in Southeastern Ukraine. Our Nick Paton Walsh and the rest of his team were headed to a town near the frontline earlier this week. And as you're about to see in his report, much of the incident was caught on video.

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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: (voice over): Close to Ukraine's imminent counteroffensive in the southeast, where Russia has long been brutalizing, pain is commonplace and the damage often everywhere and indiscriminate. The quiet is a blessing that rarely lasts.

We were warned of a missile strike incoming and leave. We can feel the pressure wave blast just behind armored car.

Matt John (ph), our producer, is in our second vehicle just past the smoke with driver, Igor Maglich (ph) aAnd isn't answering that. The missile landed right between our cars.

For ten seconds, we have no idea if they are alive.

She just said something. Matt, can you hear me?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I can hear you.

WALSH: That's them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you guys okay?

WALSH: We're fine. Just leave. Drive out the way we left.

We leave together. For so many, that choice of leaving is something imaginary that happens above ground. The only power and water in town are down here.

Life underground here has been hard for quite some time. But it will get harder when the counteroffensive begins pushing certainly in this direction.

If there is space for laughter, it's from this, a screechy slapstick Soviet-era comedy about a drunken goofball briefly bending the thick set grimaces here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE).

WALSH: Guardian angels seem here to flit by in a town where 50 died in the war and 200 were injured. Safety is just a word here and rubble is a place.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Orikhiv, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE) HARRAK: Still ahead, much more on the deadly conflict in Sudan, how countries are trying to evacuate their diplomats amid new wave of clashes.

And U.S. President Joe Biden pledges a half a billion dollars to help save the Amazon rainforest. But is it too little too late? We'll hear from a Brazilian climate expert.

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HARRAK: France has announced that it is evacuating diplomatic staff from Sudan hours after the U.S. did the same. The move comes as more fighting has erupted in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, despite a 72- hour ceasefire. Witnesses have reported loud explosions, gunshots and rocket fire around the military headquarters and presidential palace.

For more, I want to bring in CNN Military Analyst Colonel Cedric Leighton. So, good to have you with us. He's joining us from Washington, D.C.

I imagine everybody is breathing a sigh of relief.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Laila, they certainly are. This is one of the most difficult operations to plan because the detailed, the amount of intricate detail that you need to go through in order to make something like this work is really incredible. Everything from, you know, knowing which way the wind blows and what the temperatures are to actually knowing what the forces are like on the ground, what their disposition is, what their attitude is, you know, if there's been fighting within the last few hours, those kinds of things become incredibly important. And that's why these missions are so difficult to plan. They take so much time and even such preparations. It's very possible that something like this can go wrong, very, very quickly.

HARRAK: Exactly. Because -- and I want us to talk a little bit more and flesh it a little bit out in terms of what goes into planning, an extraction of diplomatic personnel like this one and their families in what is an active urban warfare, very chaotic, very violent, very unpredictable, and where not a single ceasefire has held.

LEIGHTON: Yes, that's exactly right. It is the most non-permissive of non-permissive environments. And the reason I say it that way is because, you know, in a normal situation, people can come in and go as they please, this is the exact opposite of that. And that very fact means that not only do all the logistical aspects of an operation like this have to be honed to the nth degree.

[03:30:00]

But the other part of it is this, they need to -- the military forces engaged in this need to know what the local commanders are doing on the ground, the local commanders, in this case, of the RSF and the Sudanese Army, they need to know what their attitudes are, what people are going to be doing, how much control they were exercising over their own people and whether or not they can trust them enough to, in essence, safe passage from the embassy compound to the airport, to that point of embarkation.

HARRAK: I'm wondering what lessons do you think that have been learned from the widely criticized Afghanistan evacuations might have been applied here.

LEIGHTON: Well, I think one of the key things is the timing of this. You know, I think, Laila, in one of these situations, you know, with the Afghan situation, in particular, there was a big delay before people were actually evacuated, where even the evacuation started. This is something that was done. You know, yes, it was a reaction to what was going on, on the ground, but it was more of a proactive approach to what was happening as opposed to a reactive approach. And that was something that I think it was partly due to lessons learned from Afghanistan.

And I think also what the Americans wanted to do was avoid the chaos that we saw in Kabul back in the (INAUDIBLE) of 2021. They wanted to avoid that as much as possible, extricate the Americans and then make sure that they were brought to safety before, you know, whatever happens next in the Sudanese conflict takes place.

HARRAK: My final question to you, I mean, these decisions, I mean, they raised some very, very hard and difficult questions, the decision about who to leave behind, because, obviously, there are still Americans, civilians in Sudan. You know, what about dual citizens? What about Sudanese staff who work at diplomatic -- U.S. diplomatic missions in the country that are stuck there?

LEIGHTON: Yes. This is, you know, often a very heartbreaking situation because, you know, in some cases, dual nationals will want to stay in the location like Khartoum in spite of the danger, but in many cases, they want to leave as well. And, you know, it becomes a question of capacity and the ability to get people in and out. So, it's a question as much of logistics is of desire.

You know, clearly, people want to help as many people as they possibly can, especially those that are worked for the U.S. embassy, but it becomes a matter of being able to do things safely. And this is where, you know, they need guarantees of safety for a larger group of people. It's one thing to bring out 77 or so personnel, it's quite another to bring out 16,000. And that, of course, is going to be a very, very tough ask no matter what happens next in this conflict in Sudan.

HARRAK: Cedric Leighton, thank you. Thank you very much.

LEIGHTON: You bet, Laila.

HARRAK: A federal judge in Ohio has temporarily banned some non- lethal crowd control methods. The restraining order comes as a grand jury decided not to indict eight Akron police officers in the death of Jayland Walker. An autopsy revealed he suffered from 46 gunshot injuries in under seven seconds. The judge's ruling is the result of an injunction filed by supporters of protest efforts. It means police cannot use tear gas, pepper spray and other types of so-called non-lethal force against nonviolent protesters. The injunction is valid for two weeks.

A startling scene now in Utah, as two houses slid from their foundations and off a cliff. The homes had been empty for several months. In a Facebook post from the city of Draper, Utah, said the buildings were deemed unfit for human habitation in October, because shifting of the ground below caused cracks in the foundation. Two adjacent houses have been evacuated and the rest of the neighborhood will be evaluated for safety concerns.

In the poverty stricken neighborhoods around Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, residents are accusing their government of environmental racism. Many are turning out to protest, tired of their proper -- tired of their poverty, lives and communities being ravaged by natural disasters. They say racism is the reason the government hasn't done more to mitigate the impacts of heavy rain, mudslides and other climate-driven calamities. While dozens were killed in landslides just last year, as a local state assembly deputy put it, quote, one shouldn't be afraid of the rain.

And Brazil's president has vowed to stop deforestation of the Amazon following four years of neglect under his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro.

[03:35:02]

And now, the U.S. president is vowing to help. Joe Biden this week pledged a half a billion dollars to the Amazon Fund. It's an international effort to prevent the further destruction of the habitat climate scientists say is vital to controlling global warming, while the goal is to completely end all deforestation in the Amazon by the year 2030.

Natalie Unterstell is president of the think tank, Talanoa. It's dedicated to climate change policy. And we're so happy to have you with us, Natalie. Tell us a little bit more about the Amazon Fund. What is its origin story and what are its goals?

NATALIE UNTERSTELL, PRESIDENT, TALANOA: Thank you. The Amazon Fund was created more than a decade ago, and basically, it rewards Brazil for results achieved in combating deforestation. It's really a mechanism that tries to save the rainforest and at the same time delivers the cheapest type of carbon reductions that one can find, much cheaper, for instance, than converting a power plant or investing in electric vehicles.

So, basically, if Brazil is able to prove that it has reduced deforestation from one year to the order, it can then claim payments from other countries. Norway, historically, has been the country that most contributed to that, over a billion U.S. dollars, and also some others, like Germany, were part of this effort. So, it's really about incentivizing Brazil to zero its deforestation and reinvesting in activities that will get to that. HARRAK: And how much progress is being made.

UNTERSTELL: Well, the fund was quite successful in its first decade. It releases support of Brazil in reducing 80 percent of deforestation around 2012. But then deforestation started to come up again. And, unfortunately, the past four years, both the policies that were to combat deforestation and the Amazon Fund, they got suspended by former President Jair Bolsonaro.

So, we got two very bad results in terms of Brazil's environmental policies. But here we are now restoring the fund and restoring the cooperation with various partners, including now the United States.

HARRAK: Yes. Talk to us a little bit about the President Joe Biden's pledge that he's made in terms of the Amazon Fund.

UNTERSTELL: Well, the U.S. president has pledged to invest $500 million in the next five years if Brazil is to achieve this real reductions in terms of deforestation. This is more or less what Norway invested annually in the past decade. So, it's not more than what Norway did but certainly it's a very significant move. And I think it can be a real game changer not only for the Amazon Fund, because it will possibly count with the significant resources but also for the efforts around ending deforestation in the world as well. If the U.S. moves, we know that a lot of other partners come as well. So, we are seeing this pledge by President Biden with very good eyes. It's very welcome.

HARRAK: Very welcome a move, but it still has to be rubberstamped by Congress. So, we'll still have to wait and see. But, hopefully, it will secure that approval.

Let's talk about Brazil. How much support is there for this initiative within Brazil?

UNTERSTELL: Well, Brazilian politicians, civil society organization, indigenous people, as well as the Supreme Court, they are very supportive, and they have called for the fund to be restated and now strengthened your government. So, the fund has had its come back on day one of the new government this year with President Lula. And now, we are expecting it to make a real good progress in the next months.

The level was support in total has been very high, both politically but also financially. This one has had more than $1.3 million U.S. from various partners since its inception, and now is the time to really go bigger and get deforestation under control.

Deforestation reaches 20 percent, so, quite close from where we are at the moment. The forest may reach a tipping point and no longer services us in terms of global climate regulation.

[03:40:02]

HARRAK: Natalie Unterstell, thank you so much.

UNTERSTELL: Thank you. HARRAK: An Earth Day protest in London has hundreds of climate change activists call for government action on global warming. Details after the break.

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HARRAK: Hundreds of climate change activists gathered outside Britain's parliament building in London to mark Earth Day on Saturday and to urged government action on global warming. The so-called Extinction Rebellion Group known for blocking roads, smashing windows and other disruptive tactics, changed things up a bit. It signed up thousands of people for family friendly rallies and marches instead. Climate scientists have warned the average global temperatures could hit all time highs this year or in 2024.

And as we marked Earth Day, CNN is putting a spotlight on our oceans, specifically a majestic place in Canada. It's in the heart of British Columbia Central Coast, where a first nation community has declared its own marine protected area. It's meant to help stop overfishing and preserve the fish stock that is so vital to their livelihoods. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Great Bear Rainforest is extremely special. I mean, I think it's probably one of the most biodiverse places on the planet. You still get wild things like bears and wolves and abundance of salmon and a bunch of different sea life. You still have old growth forest and these areas, in a large way, or untouched by industry, and so we want to keep it like that.

My name is Muq'vas Glaw, which my language means White Bear. My other name is Douglas Neasloss.

[03:45:00]

CRISTINA MITTERMEIER, CONVERSATION PHOTOGRAPHER: Doug Neasloss is one of those extraordinary leaders. He's been advocating for conservation and for the sovereign management of the coastal waters of his nation, which is the Kitasoo/Xaixais nation. So, they have created the Kitasoo/Xaixais Bay MPA. And it's amazing because that is their bread basket. And he's done an incredible job of not just leading his people but bringing the rest of Canada to his point of view.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, right now, we're just getting ready to enter Kitasso Bay, and that's the area is probably the most important area. It's a holding area for herring, so that's where they all gather.

I think indigenous knowledge is super important and I think it needs to be integrated and all of the management that's out there, whether it's wildlife management, fisheries management, oceans management. We have a belief that if you take care of the land, the land will take care of you. And so that's ingrained in all of our work here. It doesn't matter if it (INAUDIBLE) in tourism, if it's economic development. We want to make sure that we have a place that the world can enjoy. If we don't have protection, we know that we're going to be in trouble.

Kitasoo Ebay was declared by the (INAUDIBLE) chiefs, supported by the community, and it was launched. So, the rest the world knows about it. We've engaged provincial governments, federal governments. We've engaged stakeholders, letting everyone know that it's closed. We've left the document open to collaborate.

We're in this era of reconciliation and how do we work together. There're laws and practices that we practiced for thousands of years, and those practices are geared towards conservation and sustainability and stewardship. And so I think when we are writing our management plan, like the Kitasoo Bay management plan, that is our opportunity to indigenize some of these policies.

This island is called Marvin Island. This is probably one of the most important seasonal harvesting areas we have. And so herring eggs is super important for the community. It's one of the first foods you would have access to after a long winter. What happens when the hearing come in and lay all their eggs? People harvest the eggs and they would prepare him right here on the island.

MITTERMEIER: There's about 400 million indigenous people on this planet. They belong to about 5.000 different tribes, and they are the largest minority in the world. Together, they live in less than 20 percent of the land surface of Planet Earth, but they manage 80 percent of the biodiversity. So, should we be letting them make more decisions about how their territories are managed? Absolutely.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think just by designating Kitasoo Bay as an indigenous protected area and enforcing that, making sure that the conservation is there, sustainability is there, that stocks have a chance to rebuild and that our people will continue to have access to that. That bay has sustained this community for thousands of years, so it's really important that that bay survives. But I also hope that this provides a model for all these other protected areas all over the world. I think Kitasoo Bay is a very strong example of what we can do.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRAK: And this programming note, be sure to tune in for Bill Weir's report, How to Unscrew a Planet. It airs on the whole story with Anderson Cooper on Sunday night in the U.S., Monday morning in Asia.

Championship is not a word very often associated with Wrexham Football, but today, it is the. Club's two celebrity owners now have a glittering trophy and something even better, a promotion. More just ahead.

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[03:50:00]

HARRAK: And Indiana man's home security camera has captured a remarkable sight, a meteor plummeting into Earth's atmosphere and possibly triggering a sonic boom. The fireball lit up the sky as it careened toward Earth on Friday and a loud boom that accompanied it shook houses over a wide area.

A deep sea search team has found the wreckage of a Japanese merchant ship that sank during World War 2 while carrying more than 1,000 prisoners of war. An underwater vehicle discovered the S.S. Montevideo Maru about 4,000 meters beneath the surface of the South China Sea. Well, the ship was caring about 850 Australian service members along with some 200 others from 16 countries when it was torpedoed by an American submarine and sank in 1942. Australian authorities thank the team for bringing closure to those who lost loved ones nearly 81 years ago.

Now, three NFL players are banned indefinitely and two others have been hit with lighter sanctions after the league accused them of gambling. The NFL said Quintez Cephus and C.J. Moore of the Detroit Lions and Shaka Toney of the Washington Commanders are facing indefinite suspensions allegedly for betting on NFL games. While shortly after the NFL's announcement, the Lions released Cephus and Moore from their contracts.

Two additional Lions players Stanley Berryhill and Jameson Williams are suspended for the team's first six regular season games, but were not accused of betting on NFL games.

Now, for a little soccer team from a small town, it's a moment that could only come from Hollywood. Wrexham AFC marooned for 15 years at the bottom of British soccer, gets bought by two celebrities and has now won a championship and a promotion to the English Football League. Well, World Sport's Don Riddell explains why this is such a big deal.

DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: If you're a fan of the television show, Welcome to Wrexham, here's a spoiler alert, Season two is going to have a very happy ending. Wrexham have been promoted back into the Football League.

Now CNN Sports wouldn't normally focus on a team that plays in the fifth tier of English football, but this team now has a global fan base thanks to the involvement of their celebrity owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney. On Saturday, Wrexham were at home to Boheram Wood knowing that promotion was within their grasp, but they made a disastrous start, conceding a goal within the very first minute, but Wrexham have been brilliant this season, especially at home, and they equalized shortly afterwards when Elliot Lee was given a free header.

The Welsh club knew that they had to pick up three points from one of their last two games of the season to guarantee promotion, and it was fitting that their talismanic star, Paul Mullen, delivered the result with a couple of brilliant second half strikes.

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That's how they did it, a Hollywood ending, a 3- win, which unleashed scenes of unbridled joy at the racecourse ground. The owners were emotional, the fans were just delirious, and everybody here senses that this could be just the beginning of a wonderful story for this club and for this community.

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RYAN REYNOLDS, ACTOR, CO-OWNER OF WREXHAM: I'm not sure I can actually process what happened tonight. I'm still a little speechless. Know that the one thing that's running through my head over and over again, as people said at the beginning, why Wrexham, why Wrexham? This is exactly why Wrexham. Happening right now is why.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've put so much into this project. How does it how does it feel when it finally feels like it's paying off?

ROB MCELHENNEY, ACTOR, CO-OWNER OF WREXHAM: Well, I think we can hear how it feels to the town, and that's what's most important to us. I think this is a moment of catharsis for them and celebration. And for us to be welcomed into their community and to be welcomed into this experience has been the honor of my life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIDDENLL: You know, Rob McElhenney has always said that the goal is to get this team into the Premier League. And it might be rather difficult for some American sports fans to understand that. It would be like a single A baseball team working their way up into the majors. The Always Sunny in Philadelphia star told me that he knows people laugh at him when he says it, he knows they raised their eyebrows but he is deadly serious. That's the goal. And now fans all over the world must believe that anything is possible with this team. Back to you.

HARRAK: And, finally, the U.K.'s Prince Louis is celebrating his fifth birthday today. As part of the celebration, his parents, the prince and princess of Wales, shared these two photos of their youngest son. In one of them, he's seen being pushed in a wheelbarrow by his mother.

Prince Louis is a grandson to King Charles III and fourth in line to the British throne. Happy birthday to Prince Louis.

That wraps up this hour of CNN Newsroom. I'm Laila Harrak. Kim Brunhuber picks up our coverage after a quick break. Do you stay with us.

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