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FBI Assists with Manhunt for Cleveland Suspect Francisco Oropeza; Ongoing Clashes Between Sudanese Rivals Despite Truce; Thousands of Families Flee Khartoum; Gunfire Heard Near Khartoum's Presidential Palace; U.S. Government Organized Overland Convoy from Khartoum; Tensions in Darfur Region Reignited; Biden Defends Freedom of Press; Navalny's Health Deteriorating; 35+ Million People at Risk for Severe Storms; Search for Survivors Ends in Uman, Ukraine; Czech Republic Says, "Russia, Home!"; Pope Francis Bringing a Message of Hope to Ukrainian Refugees; Kevin McCarthy Travels to Israel to Address the Israeli Parliament; Millions head to the polls in Paraguay for the country's presidential election; Surge in Migration at the Southern Border; U.S. COVID-era border restrictions to end on May 11; Haitian Migrants Seeking Refuge; W.H.O. Tracking a New COVID Subvariant; Interview with UCLA Department of Epidemiology Professor Anne Rimoin; California Pilot Program Used Dogs to Detect COVID Infections; San Francisco-based First Republic Bank Facing Financial Earthquake; Biden Pokes Fun at Politicians. Aired 4-5a ET
Aired April 30, 2023 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Welcome to all of you watching here in the United States, Canada and all around the world, I'm Kim Brunhuber.
Coming up on "CNN Newsroom." the search is on for a suspected killer in Texas. Ahead, what we're learning about the victims of this latest mass shooting.
Plus, evacuations are happening in Sudan, but many say it's not easy to get out. Hear one woman's story about how the U.S. government did nothing to help her parents leave.
And later, journalists, politicians and reality TV stars mingled and mixed last night in Washington, but amid the jokes at the White House Correspondents Dinner, President Biden also had a serious message about press freedoms.
ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN center, this is "CNN Newsroom with Kim Brunhuber."
BRUNHUBER: And we begin in Texas where the Federal Bureau of Investigation is assisting in a manhunt follow a shooting rampage north of Houston. At least five people are dead after police in Cleveland, Texas says the victim's neighbor, Francisco Oropeza, opened fired on them in their home. Authorities are urging caution as Oropeza is still at large. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES SMITH, FBI SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, HOUSE FIELD OFFICE: We consider him armed and dangerous, and we're not going to stop until we actually arrest him and bring him into custody. But he is out there and he's a threat to the community. So, so I don't want anyone to think that's something different than that. He is a threat to the community and we need the community's help to hopefully locate him soon and take him off the streets tonight.
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BRUNHUBER: The five victims were all from Honduras, and some had just recently arrived at the home from Houston. Honduras' foreign minister is calling for justice in the killings, demanding on Twitter, "That the full weight of the law be applied to those who were responsible for the crime." CNN's Tina Kim has more.
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TINA KIM, CNN WRITER (voiceover): America's latest mass shooting erupted not at a public place but at this private home in Cleveland, Texas, all triggered by, officials say, a noise complaint. The San Jacinto County sheriff called the scene where five people, including an 8-year-old child, were gunned down late Friday night "horrific." He said, officers found some several survivors, some young children, covered with blood in the home but not hurt.
GREG CAPERS, SAN JACINTO COUNTY, TEXAS SHERIFF: Two of the juveniles were found up underneath two of the deceased women that were in the bedroom. In my opinion, they were actually trying to take care of them babies and keep them babies alive.
KIM (voiceover): The sheriffs also said everyone killed, including the 8-year-old child who was shot from the neck up, "almost execution style." Capers added, the victims are a family from Honduras. He said, the suspect, the next-door neighbor of the victims, was apparently shooting a rifle in his yard and was asked to stop.
CAPERS: The victims, they came over to the fence, said, hey, could you mind not shooting out in the yard, we have a young baby that's trying to go to sleep? And he had been drinking and he said, I'll do what I want to in my front yard.
KIM (voiceover): Capers said the gunman then opened fire. He's been identified as 38-year-old Francisco Oropeza, a Mexican national. His alleged rampage is now part at least 174 mass shootings so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archives, which defines a mass shooting as four of more people shot, not including the gunman.
I'm Tina Kim reporting.
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BRUNHUBER: A third week of fighting has begun in Sudan where clashes between the country's army and the paramilitary Rapid Defense Force continue despite a truce struck by both sides. A convoy of American evacuees organized by the U.S. government reached Port Sudan on Saturday after an overland journey from Khartoum.
Thousands of foreign nationals have fled with many traveling to gulf nations like Saudi Arabia or the UAE. More than 10,000 Sudanese families have left Khartoum for smalls towns to the north where locals have organized food, housing and medical care for them.
CNN's Larry Madowo has been aboard a Saudi naval vessel near Port Sudan. Saudi authorities are helping to evacuate more people and bring them back to Jeddah. And he filed this report.
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LARRY MADOWO, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're off the Coast of Port Sudan, and the latest evacuees just got on this Saudi warship. There's 52 of them.
To get here to Port Sudan, they have to make the arduous 500-mile plus journey across from Khartoum and territory that's essentially part of a warzone. They're now on the ship. They're getting processed, having their passports checked before another 10, 12-hour journey to Jeddah and Saudi Arabia.
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Jeddah has become one of the main landing points for so many people who are evacuating from Sudan and Saudi Arabia's key diplomatic player in Sudan but also, one of the biggest countries that's helping people leave from Port Sudan across the Red Sea into Jeddah.
The reason so many, thousands, are leaving to border posts across Chad and Egypt and Ethiopia and South Sudan is because there's no sense that this conflict is about to come to a close.
So far, all of the cease-fires between the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces have quickly fallen apart. And despite every international effort to try and get these two warring generals to agree to a (INAUDIBLE) hostilities, it does not look like it's about to happen, that is why so many people are leaving the country.
Larry Madowo, CNN, Port Sudan.
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BRUNHUBER: The evacuations are life altering upheavals for people fleeing Sudan. Some Sudanese Americans says they felt abandoned not knowing if help from the U.S. government was ever going to come. On Saturday, CNN spoke with Muna Daoud, her Sudanese American parents were trapped by the conflict before they finally made it to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Here she is.
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MUNA DAOUD, PARENTS WERE TRAVELLING TO GET OUT OF SUDAN: They left by themselves. We arranged a way for them to get out. They simply hopped on a bus to Port Sudan after of -- almost two weeks of barely no communication whatsoever from the American government. We've e-mailed, we've called, we've written to the White House, we've begged and pleaded for them to assist my parents who are both 66 and 69 years ago old who were on a visit to Sudan. And three days in, the fighting broke out and there was no way to get them out.
They basically hopped on a bus to Port Sudan. It took them around 12 hours. My father was held on -- help up at gunpoint by the RSF on the way there. It was a very difficult, emotional, traumatizing journey, and the U.S. government did not help at all.
Once they reached Port Sudan, they still have to go through a lot of trouble in order to get on the ships. Thankfully, the Saudis were very gracious and were assisting American citizens to get aboard the ships, and they are currently in Jeddah. But at no time during this entire harrowing process and journeys, two weeks, were my parents ever comforted or contacted by anybody from the U.S. government or assisted in any way, shape or form.
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BRUNHUBER: Early Sunday, a gunfire was reported near the presidential palace in near Central Khartoum. Senior Correspondent David McKenzie joins us now from Johannesburg, South Africa.
So, David, a supposed cease-fire, but the fighting continues, obviously.
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Definitely continues. And there has been fighting this morning, according to several eyewitnesses and CNN reporters also, over the weekend, on Saturday, substantial fighting in the northern part of the city, on the eastern bank of the Nile River.
This is an ongoing very scary situation for civilians trapped in the capital still, despite the cease-fire that was broken again by Saudi and U.S. officials on Friday for three days. So, technically, we're still in the cease-fire, but, really, it's only technically.
Just a short time ago, the Sudanese Armed Forces saying that they believe or have evidence of substantial convoys of the RSF, the paramilitary group, moving towards the western part of the Sudan towards the capital, presumably to reinforce their forces that are already there.
According to the military, they have managed to destroy several of those columns coming in. But it did speak to the danger of it, even further escalating conflict that really is looking very much like a civil war at this point, as we have more than two weeks of this fighting now.
There has been a substantial number of foreign citizens evacuated out of the country. Of course, thousands of them. It must be said that the U.S. government, in the last 24 hours, assisted a number of people getting to Port Sudan by bus. They will then be evacuated presumably through Saudi Arabia. But for those Sudanese fleeing the country, it's really been a very rapid decent of their country and they speak about the conditions they went through.
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MARWAN GHANDOUR, SUDANESE EVACUEE IN ABU DHABI: The situation is very bad. We didn't expect it. Friday, we were fine. Saturday, it all broke. And from that day, it was fire in the street, fire in the houses, in the cars. And after two, three days from that, the RSF, they start to had shortage of food, water and power. So, they start to invade homes.
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MCKENZIE: Just this morning, South Africans that have been evacuated by the combination of government services, the foreign office equivalent and a very well-known charity, have been landing here in O.R. Tambo Airport here in Johannesburg, certainly, relief from their families and loved ones, like there is relief all over the world, of those returning from Khartoum and from the rest of Sudan. But, of course, many millions of people are still facing the very scary prospect of an extended conflict. Kim.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, absolutely. All right. Thanks so much. David McKenzie in Johannesburg, appreciate it.
Well, the fighting has reignited a decades old conflict in the Darfur region. This woman had to give birth all alone as militias attacked her neighbors and her neighbors fled for the border of Chad. Luckily, her mother and sister found her and her new baby. The family together made the 18-mile or a 30-kilomter trek to the border, joining thousands of other Sudanese people and their relatives, safety of a camp in Chad.
Her sister described what happened. Here she is.
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SOURAYA ADAM, SISTER AND SUDANESE REFUGEE (through translator): People are fleeing the village from everywhere, and we were about to leave when a neighborhood told us that Zamzam (ph) had given birth. When we arrived, she had already given birth, and people had left her alone. I cut the child's umbilical cord and we cleaned her up. Immediately, we set out to walk and cross the border at sunset. We let her rest for a while and we continued on to here.
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BRUNHUBER: The U.N. says nearly a hundred people have been killed in renewed fighting in the Darfur Region since just last Monday.
President Biden used the annual White House Correspondents Dinner to defense freedom of the press and stressed the importance of telling the truth. He also lashed out against conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election. Here he is.
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JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: Lies told for profit and power, lies of conspiracy and malice repeated over and over again designed to generate a cycle of anger, hate and even violence. The cycle that emboldens history to be buried, books to be banned, children and families to be attacked by the state, and rule of law and our rights and freedoms to be stripped away, where elected representatives of the people are expelled from the state houses for standing for the people.
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BRUNHUBER: Biden also called for the release of Americans held abroad, including "Wall Street Journal" reporter Evan Gershkovich and another American reporter, Austin Tice, who is imprisoned in Syria. The president acknowledged the presence of basketball star Brittney Griner who was released from a Russian detention last year.
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BIDEN: Tonight, our message is this, journalism is not a crime. Evan and Austin should be been released immediately along with every other American held hostage are wrongfully detained abroad.
Brittney Griner is here with her wife, Cheryl. Brittany, where are you, kid? Stand up, come on. I love this woman.
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BRUNHUBER: Meanwhile, the daughter of jailed Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, is reiterating that her father's health is deteriorating. Speaking to CNN from the White House Correspondents Dinner, she described his situation as "incredibly difficult." She also says, the guards of this prison facility were taking away his food. Listen to this.
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DASHA NAVALNAYA, ALEXEI NAVALNY'S DAUGHTER: His health is deteriorating, and we are doing everything we can to get him the attention that he needs. And being at an event like this and representing my father and the movement is what's most important right now.
America, as a country, represents freedom of speech, freedom of political expression. And this is what my dad and the Anti-Corruption Foundation are fighting for. We want freedom of election. We want freedom to all political prisoners, especially Alexei Navalny, my dad, and we want freedom to political prisoners like foreign journalists.
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BRUNHUBER: Navalny, a prominent critic of Russian President, Vladimir Putin, is serving a nine-year jail term at a maximum-security prison near Moscow. All right. First, the good news, most of the watches and warnings in the southeast should clear up by Monday, giving way to sunnier and dryer conditions through the middle of the week. But today, heavy rainfall and severe thunderstorms are possible along the East Coast. More than 35 million people are at risk for severe storms, damaging winds, hail and tornadoes.
Florida and the mid-Atlantic states are in the crosshairs. I don't know if that sounds like a broken record. You're right, Saturday was the third day in a row of severe storms in Florida.
The National Weather Service says a survey of the damage is under way after a tornado touchdown in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida on Saturday. A twister flipped over cars and knocked down trees and power lines and left debris scattered. Police say some roads were blocked for a time. Fortunately, there are no reports of injuries.
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All right. Still to come, U.S. officials brace for a surge in migration at the southern border as COVID era restrictions are set to be lifted. What the Biden administration is doing to manage the crisis.
Plus, a Ukrainian city comes to grips with the death toll as emergency crews give up on finding more survivors after a Russian missile strike. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: A massive blaze allegedly caused by a Ukrainian drone strike in occupied Crimea is now under control. Pro-Russian officials say the fire burned four fuel tanks of a storage facility in Sevastapol and they're pointing it a drone strike as a possible cause.
Meanwhile, emergency crews are no longer looking for survivors after a Russian missile strike in a Ukrainian city of Uman. President Zelenskyy is making it clear, a Ukrainian counteroffensive isn't a question of if, but when. But some military analysts are warning will face a tough fight ahead.
So, for more, Salma Abdelaziz joins us from London. Salma, before we get to that counteroffensive, I want to start with the tragic news from Uman, no more survivors from that horrific attack. What more you can tell us?
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SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. This is one of the deadliest attacks seen in Ukraine in months. This is in Central Ukraine, about 125 miles from Kyiv. So, nowhere near those front lines. Still, at least 10 apartment blocks were struck, including one where at least 20 people were killed, Kim, struck by a cruise missile, a Russian cruise missile, coming from the Caspian Sea. The images are just harrowing on the ground. That missile striking at about 4:00 a.m. local time. So, you can suspect, families were sleeping, children were sleeping. And President Zelenskyy made it clear that there would be a cost. Take a listen.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (voiceover): We will do whatever possible to make the terrorist state answer as soon as possible for what it has done. Anyone who prepares such missile attacks cannot but know that he will be an accomplice in the murder. Anyone who guides and launches missiles, who handles planes, and ships for terror, not only those who give orders but all of you, you are all terrorists and murderers and you must all be punished.
And definitely, those who committed the primordial crime for which it all began, the crime of aggression against our people, against our state.
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ABDELAZIZ: So, you hear there, yet again, President Zelenskyy accusing Russia of intentionally targeting innocents, of intentionally targeting civilians. Kyiv really is, in some ways, came fighting a two-front war. Yes, you have the battle on the front lines, the push, of course, to reclaim Ukrainian land, but then across the country, spanning from border to border, it seems that Russia, at times, can strike anywhere, anyone.
BRUNHUBER: All right. Salma, you just mentioned the push to reclaim lands. So, any more insight about when the Ukrainian counteroffensive might begin?
ABDELAZIZ: Absolutely, Kim. I mean, at one point, we were calling this the spring counteroffensive. And definitely pressure is building on Kyiv to commence this counteroffensive that, really, there's been preparations for months now taking place, to try to prepare to push again along the front lines and reclaim Ukrainian territory, now Russian occupied.
It's expected that that counteroffensive would potentially begin in the south of the country. NATO, of course, has been pouring weapons into Ukraine to prepare for this. NATO is saying that 98 percent of promised defensive vehicles, so those all-important tanks, have been delivered to Ukraine. There's been this lightning speed process to train-up Ukrainian troops, to use these new NATO weapons.
But there are also huge challenges here, Kim. We have images to show you, satellite images of what Russia is doing to prepare. They've been preparing as well, for about six months. That means building up defenses near, of course, those front lines, putting in anti-tank obstacles, mine fields, trenches for troops that are pouring in from Moscow.
Regardless of Ukrainian's ingenuity, it's the motivation, that's been praised time and time again during the conflict, they're absolutely facing, at least quantitatively, a larger military force from Russia, one that absolutely has the air superiority.
So, for Kyiv, they cannot get this wrong, Kim. They say, yes, preparations are coming to a close, but it doesn't mean they're ready just yet.
BRUNHUBER: All right. Salma Abdelaziz in London, thanks so much.
The president of the Republic sent a blunt message to Moscow during his visit to Ukraine. On a Ukrainian military vehicle in the sea of Dnipro, he wrote, Russia, go home. In a follow up tweet, he said, Ukrainians will avenge the people they lost and regain their freedom.
On Saturday, President Petr Pavel also met with Ukrainians who lost their homes in the fighting and pledged to send more aid. Pavel also promise to make a new push for Ukraine's membership in the E.U.
A mural by a French artist, Christian Guemy, also known as C215, now adorns one of Ukraine's parliamentary buildings in Kyiv. It depicts Oleksandr Matsiyevsky, a Ukrainian soldier held as a prisoner of war who was killed by Russian forces on their custody last December.
The painting has the encryption, glory to Ukraine, the words Matsiyevsky reportedly said before he was brutally killed. Ukraine's parliament says Guemy street art has also appeared in Lviv, liberated areas of the Kyiv region like Bucha, Hostomel and Irpin and elsewhere.
And Ukrainian refugees are among those whom Pope Francis is bringing the message of hope, while in Hungary this weekend. This is the scene in the capital, Budapest, right now as the pontiff holds an open-air mass. Earlier it was a relatively more personal setting.
Some 600 refugees, poor and homeless gathered with Pope Francis inside a church with another thousand in the square outside. The pope heard one refugee's story of fleeing Dnipro with his family a year ago, saying he made a new home in Hungary because of the war.
The country has angered allies since the way in Ukraine began, refusing to back military aid for Kyiv while maintaining relations with Russia's Vladimir Putin.
U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy travels to Israel this weekend where he's scheduled to address the Israeli parliament. Only the second house speaker to do so. But McCarthy's visit comes amid a deep political and social divide in Israel.
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BRUNHUBER: You see their emotions boiling over in Tel Aviv Saturday, in the 17th week of protests against the government's plan to overhaul the judicial system. Tens of thousands once again protested legislation they say poses a threat to democracy and will weaken the Supreme Court. It comes two days ahead of the start of the summer session for the country's parliament, the Knesset, on Monday.
And Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his supporters say the judicial overhaul is necessary to check activists' judges. He's set to convene a weekly accountant meeting this hour.
In Paraguay, millions will head to the polls in the coming hours to vote in the country's presidential election with economy and corruption taking center stage. It's expected to be a tight race between the ruling conservative Colorado Party, which has been in power for more than seven decades, and a center left coalition banking on anti-incumbency and pledging to shake up foreign policy. It comes as the country faces a rising deficit, rising poverty and a slowing growth rate.
But many voters say they are still uncertain about both candidates. Listen to this=.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): It would be nice to have change, but happens is that the change comes with the same people. In other words, within the parties there is no change. So, there's no sign of a real change since they are the same people who have been in both parties for a long time.
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BRUNHUBER: Voters will also elect dozens of senators and 17 governors.
All right. Just ahead, the World Health Organization is tracking a new COVID valiant. I'll speak with a noted epidemiologist and see how much we should worry about it. That's coming up. Please stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and all around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is "CNN Newsroom."
American officials are bracing for a surge in migration at the U.S./Mexico border. It comes as the federal government gets ready to lift pandemic-era health restrictions on U.S. entry, and that means border authorities will no longer be able to quickly expel certain migrants.
The border city of Brownsville, Texas has declared a state of emergency falling a huge influx of migrants. Officials the majority are Venezuelan nationals.
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GLORIA CHAVEZ, BORDER PATROL CHIEF, RIO GRANDE VALLEY SECTOR: Yes. I want to say the first two weeks of April, they were -- we were averaging about maybe 1,700 Venezuelan nationals entering illegally into the country, through that particular area of Brownsville. And then, two weeks later, towards the end here, the last eight days, we saw an uptick of over 15,000 Venezuelans.
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BRUNHUBER: The Biden administration has been racing to set up new policies to stem the flow of migration. But even with those put in place, officials recognize it may not be enough.
CNN's Priscilla Alvarez reports.
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PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: A homeland security official tells me as of Saturday morning there were 20,000 migrants in Customs and Border Protection in custody along the U.S.-Mexico border. That is overcapacity.
And while the numbers fluctuate, it is an indicator that there is an increase in migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border ahead of the May 11th date. That is when Title 42, a COVID-era border restriction, will end. And since March of 2020, that restriction has allowed authorities to quickly expel certain migrants at the U.S./Mexico border. They will no longer be able to do that after the May 11th date.
So, that means that the administration will go back to decades-old protocols. Now, that is difficult at a time of unprecedented mass migration in the western hemisphere. And so, administration officials have been putting preparations in motion. That includes, for example, setting up regional processing centers so that migrants on their way U.S. and their porter (ph) can apply to come to the U.S., legally, doing the same thing with other programs for other nationalities so that they don't have to come to the U.S.-Mexico border and can apply to come from where they are.
But they're also reminding migrants that they will restore legal consequences when this Title 42 restriction ends. Now, of course, this is an issue that has been a political vulnerability for President Biden and has opened him up to criticism from Democrats and Republicans. So, all of this is front of mind as the administration moves ahead in trying to manage the flow of migration ahead of that May 11th date.
But even with all of that in place, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas anticipates that the next few weeks will be challenging and also noting that smugglers are prone to spreading misinformation.
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BRUNHUBER: Meanwhile, Haitian migrants arriving in Boston have been sleeping overnight at one of the city's major hospitals. About 55 people, mostly from Haiti, spent Wednesday night in the lobby of the Boston Medical Center. A hospital spokesperson says, the dramatic increase in the number of migrants arriving in recent weeks has stretched resources. So far this year, the center has sheltered more than 400 families, mostly from Haiti, for overnight stays.
In the next hour, I'll speak with two front line workers who were supporting migrants in the crisis. We'll hear about the impact it's having on young people and unaccompanied minors.
For more than three years since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the World Health Organization says it's watching a fast-growing COVID- 19 subvariant. The W.H.O. says it seems to be spreading faster than previous variants and escapes immunity, but it doesn't appear to cause severe illness. Last week, it accounted for an estimated 10 percent of COVID cases in the United States.
Joining me now is Anne Rimoin, a professor in the Department of Epidemiology at UCLA's Fielding School of Public Health. Thank you so much for being here with us.
So, first, what do we know about that new variant? How worried should we be?
ANNE RIMOIN, PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF EPIDEMIOLOGY, UCLA: Well, this new warranty is going to be a little bit more transmissible. These variants continue seem to be more and more transmissible. But what we're not seeing is a real difference in severity of disease, and that's really important.
We've seen little bumps of hospitalizations in places like India, Indonesia where this virus is spreading very quickly and the most dominant. But in general, we are not seeing more severe disease. So, I'm not particularly worried about this variant. We're going to expect to see variants continue to emerge over time. We just need to keep an eye on them.
BRUNHUBER: All of this is coming as the U.S. is dropping yet more of the protections that started at the pandemic, like we're now switching to tracking COVID the way it tracks the flu, for instance. Is it time, do you think, or are we losing too much protection and too much early surveillance?
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RIMOIN: Well, I think it's really important to be continuing to do surveillance. And our surveillance system has never been optimal, even for influenza, which has been relatively strong relative to other pathogens. But I do think that we need to be investing more in disease surveillance, in particular for these respiratory pathogens and to get in front of it.
You know, we -- as I've said to you many times over the course of the last three years, it's much easier to stay out of trouble than it is to get out of trouble. And in that sense, investing in good disease surveillance and being able to keep an eye on it is going to be really important. BRUNHUBER: Yes. Those are some of the lessons that we learned. And at this week, there's been a fairly scathing report out looking at the U.S. COVID response over the last couple years, saying it was divided, it was outdated, disorganized. Do you agree?
RIMOIN: I do. I think that the -- that this pandemic has really laid bare all of the weaknesses of our public health system, of our surveillance system, and the critical need to do better. Now is the time to get in front of disease surveillance, being -- preparedness, all of these things. You know, this is not the last pandemic that we will experience in our lifetime, most likely. And there will be other outbreaks and other epidemics. Investment in a strong surveillance system is going to be critical.
BRUNHUBER: Yes. And One of the lessons may be around are the way we handled schools. I mean, there's been plenty of focus on that, during this last week, especially, the head of the Teachers' Union testified before Congress about this.
So, knowing what we know, do you think closing so many schools for so long, was that a mistake?
RIMOIN: Well, I think that it's hard to say whether or not it was a mistake. I think, you know, we knew what we knew about the virus at the time. We made decisions that we made based on the lack of knowledge about the virus, lack of access to vaccines and, you know, really trying to protect the most vulnerable and the population.
My guess is, is that the next time that we encounter a respiratory pathogen that's going to spread quickly, we'll make different decisions based on what we've learned during this pandemic.
BRUNHUBER: All right. Thank you so much for being with us, Anne Rimoin, really appreciate your insights on this.
RIMOIN: My pleasure.
BRUNHUBER: A pilot program that used trained dogs to detect COVID infections at 27 California schools showed promise. Though a year later, there's talk about training the dogs to detect other diseases. Jacqueline Howard has the story.
JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: It was just last year, in April and May, when California public health officials included detection dogs in the COVID-19 screening programs for some schools. Two yellow labs, Scarlet and Rizzo, were trained to detect volatile organic compounds that are associated with COVID-19 infections. And then they were spent to 27 schools where kids lined up as the dogs smelled their ankles and feet.
The dogs were trained to sit when they detected what could be those volatile organic compounds that are associated with COVID. Then the person that the dog sat next to would need to complete a nasal swab antigen COVID test.
Now, as part of this pilot program, the dogs accurately detected 85 infections, ruled out more than 3,400, resulting in an overall accuracy of 90 percent. The dogs missed 18 infections. And the researchers say that the dogs do not necessarily replace nasal swab testing, instead, they can help indicate which person might need a test and which person doesn't. And that could help save on time and resources.
The researchers think the dogs could be trained to detect other types of diseases too. Here's Carol Edwards, executive director of the nonprofit Early Alert Canines. She works with the dogs. Have a listen.
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CAROL EDWARDS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, EARLY ALERT CANINES: We've talked about T.B., we've talked about flu, A and B, possibly for the next flu season, seeing if we can get the dogs to alert on that. It's just a matter of being able to figure out how to collect samples, how to train the dogs and then, to be safe and effective around those diseases, too.
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HOWARD: And the researchers say they're already exploring how the dogs could be used in nursing homes, too, especially if there's an outbreak of COVID or the flu. Back to you.
BRUNHUBER: Another U.S. bank that caters to the wealthy is in serious trouble. We'll tell you is reportedly bidding to buy First Republic and why. That's coming up. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: San Francisco-based First Republic Bank is facing a financial earthquake, but the federal regulators are hoping to resolve it this weekend.
First Republic's stock has fallen 97 percent since March 1st. On Friday, it hit $3 a share after it revealed depositors withdrew $100 billion during the first quarter. A $30 billion lifeline from some of the nation's largest banks clearly wasn't enough to stop the free fall. Reports say JPMorgan Chase and PNC Financial are in the process of bidding to buy First Republic.
University of Michigan economics professor, Justin Wolfers, says a deal could benefit both parties. Here it is.
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JUSTIN WOLFERS, PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: There's a real problem that arises for a very small number of banks, Silicon Valley Bank was among them and then, of course, First Republic was as well.
These are banks where they're mostly catering to very wealthy depositors. Deposit insurance certainly covers the first $250,000 of your deposit. So, these are banks that aren't covered by our usual deposit insurance, and that means if people get a little bit nervous, they start to pull money out, and that means that they can get caught without enough cash in the vault.
And that's really their problem. It's not that this is a completely unprofitable bank, it's not that it doesn't have assets, it's that it doesn't have enough cash in the vault. And one of the best ways of resolving, the worst way would be a bank run, the best way would be if another bank just came and took over and said, hey, we've got an even bigger vault, plus we like owning profitable businesses.
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BRUNHUBER: U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy says the White House isn't speaking to him about the debt ceiling bill the Republican- controlled house has passed. McCarthy and other Republicans say they're ready to negotiate, even though they also say they won't cut back their bill. It can mean deep cuts on Biden's top programs. And he calls the Republican bill debt on arrival.
The president says he'll discuss budget cuts but not in the context of raising the debt ceiling. And that is also the view of many other Democrats, including Senator Amy Klobuchar. And the house measure has little chance in the Senate. Without an agreement, the U.S. could default on its debt as soon as July with catastrophic consequences.
Alayna Treene has more from Washington.
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ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: This is a very consequential week for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and a huge test of his leadership capabilities. McCarthy has teed up a vote on his bill to raise the debt ceiling this week.
Now, this vote will not be easy, especially given Republican's slim majority in the house and divisions within the party. Kevin McCarthy talked about this on Sunday. Here's what he had to say.
KEVIN MCCARTHY, U.S. HOUSE SPEAKER: We do have a very small majority, only five seats, one of the smallest we've ever had. But I cannot imagine someone in our conference that would want to go along with Biden's reckless spending. We will hold a vote this weekend. We will pass it and we will send it to the Senate.
TREENE: Now, despite McCarthy's confidence, the key question is whether he can convince enough conservatives to get on board with this plan. As of now, many conservatives, like Congressman Andy Biggs, tell us that they're just not there yet.
As for the White House, they're insisting they will simply reject this measure outright. But going into next week, the president is facing pressure from some Democrats who think negotiations with Congress need to begin immediately. And now, to just quickly break down what's actually in this 320-page bill, it includes a series of cuts to domestic spending, including a plan to block Biden's Student Loan Forgiveness Program and rescind new funding for the internal revenue service.
But the bottom line to focus on here is that Congress is running out of time. Current estimates put the deadline for when a deal must be reached at some point this summer. And that has many members on both sides of the aisle on edge.
Alayna Treene, CNN, Washington.
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BRUNHUBER: All right. Still to come --
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BIDEN: If you find yourself disoriented or confused, it's either you're drunk or Marjorie Taylor Greene.
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BRUNHUBER: -- well, we've got some of the best zingers from the White House Correspondents Dinner just ahead. Please stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Well, it was an out of this world first for an Arab astronaut. Emirati spaceman, Sultan Al Neyadi, became the first Arab to complete a spacewalk after venturing out of the International Space Station on Friday. Al Neyadi joined NASA's Steve Bowen for the seven- hour walk. They were preparing for the future installation of upgraded solar rays. Bowen and Al Neyadi are on a plan six-month science mission on the Orbiter.
All right. Back to the White House Correspondents Dinner, which as usual, had fun moments, from voting machines to Former President Donald Trump to Joe Biden's age. Comedian and Daily Show Correspondent Roy Wood Jr. spared no one in his roast. Have a look.
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ROY WOOD JR., COMEDIAN: I love -- as a matter of fact, let me just say it right now, my favorite voting machine is Dominion Voting machines. When I go to the polls, I make sure is it is a Dominion machine that I use. If your election needs the truth, put Dominion in your booth.
The Trump arrest was like a pot brownie you ate four hours ago. Do I feel like justice? This don't feel like justice. Let me try one of them Georgia arraignment brownies, maybe that will hit.
Keeping up with Trump scandals is like watching "Star Wars" movies, you got to watch the third one to understand the first one, then you got to -- you can't miss the second one because this got Easter eggs for the fifth one, Donald Trump is the only politician whose scandals got spinoffs on Disney Plus.
We can all see Clarence Thomas, but he belongs to billionaire Harlan Crow, and that's what an NFT is.
Many of you, I don't even think you should be working that hard. We should be inspired by the events in France. They rioted when the retirement age went up two years to 64. They rioted because they didn't want to work until 64. Meanwhile, in America, we have an 80- year-old man begging us for four more years of work. Begging.
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BRUNHUBER: All right. Well, you remember the story of Freya, the enormous walrus, who captured hearts by sunning herself in Oslo, Norway, whenever the mood struck. When you weigh 1,300 pounds or 600 kilograms, you probably think you can relax wherever feel like it. She drew crowds. But officials said that was a safety hazard because humans weren't keeping their distance.
Well, she was euthanized last August. And the decision to put Freya down made people a lot of people pretty angry. So, they collected $25,000 to create a monument in her honor.
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CHRISTIAN RINGNES, RAISED MONEY FOR MEMORIAL (through translator): I think this is quite an important monument and then, it's artistically very well done. It's really about the human right to intervene in nature and then, also, to strange things that we don't quite like, that are a bit inconvenient for us, and perhaps especially where we get a little scared that we might get hurt. And then, there is this balance between nature's right and man's right, and this is a very nice symbol of that.
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BRUNHUBER: So, you'll see there a bronze sculpture in her memory was unveiled in Oslo on Saturday. And it's estimated Freya was about five years old.
Hundreds of members of the British Royal Household Division rehearsing for the upcoming coronation of King Charles. They marched in all the shot on Friday. Some of the traditions that will be performed during the ceremony date back a thousand years. And final preparations are underway for the crowning of King Charles III. And many are asking questions about what this moment and this man mean in the modern world.
Well, this week on "The Whole Story," CNN's Erica Hill ask those questions to some of Britain's leading scholars and journalists. Here's a preview.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is a great deal of similarity, I think, between the prince of Wales at times raging against the machine and saying, well, I want to do this and I want to talk about that. And by the way, I know what I'm talking about, and I'm not afraid to say it. Who does that remind you of? It reminds me massively of Harry.
ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: In his book, "Spare," Harry writes that Charles had always been discourages from hard work, he told me. He'd been advised that the heir shouldn't do too much, shouldn't try too hard for fear of outshining the monarch, but he rebelled. Is Charles a rebel? Does anyone feel he is?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wouldn't call him a rebel. I think that he has developed a sense of self-awareness and gone at things in a different way. But I wouldn't say that that would be -- I wouldn't call that rebelling.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think he'd like to see himself as a rebel and a revolutionary.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: King Charles is not rebellion, certainly not revolutionary. I wish he was, but I doubt he will do anything to rock the boat.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Charles had points where is he was absolutely raging against the machine in exactly the same way that Harry did. There are so many parallels.
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BRUNHUBER: And you could see "The Reign Begins: Charles & Camilla" this Sunday night in the U.S. and Monday morning in Asia. And be sure to watch CNN's special live coverage of the coronation on Saturday, May 6th. It all starts at 5:00 a.m. in New York, 10:00 a.m. in London right here on CNN.
All right. That wraps this hour of "CNN Newsroom." I'm Kim Brunhuber. I'll be back with more news in just a moment. Please do stay with us.
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