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CNN International: FDA Advisers Consider Over-the-Counter Birth Control Pill; Eastern Ukrainians Wait for Counteroffensive; U.S. Officials: Russia Using Hunger as Weapon; Japan Says It's in Talks to Open NATO Liaison Office. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired May 10, 2023 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: That pill, named Opill, uses only the hormone progesterone. The FDA's independent experts heard from the company that manufactures the medication on Tuesday, as it made its case for why the pill should be more easily available.

But scientists have expressed concerns including about the pill's effectiveness in women who are overweight or obese. The vote by the panel is nonbinding and a final decision by the FDA is expected this summer.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: A new draft recommendation says women should start getting regular mammograms after they turn 40 instead of 50. The U.S. preventative services task force says breast cancer is treatable when caught early and screening would reduce the risk of dying from the disease. CNN's Jacqueline Howard has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Max and Bianca, for women at average risk, the task force sees more benefits than risks for them to start mammograms at age 40. Now this is a draft update. It's available for public comment from now through June 5. But based on current incidences rates, it's estimated that 12.9 percent of women born in the United States today will develop breast cancer at some time during their lives. And it's important to catch these cancers early. That gives a better chance of survival.

Now meanwhile, this update does not change recommendations for women at high risk of getting breast cancer. Those women should still keep in contact with their doctors for what's best for them. But for all of us, for all women, it's important to discuss with our doctors our family history of cancer, whether you have dense breasts. Ask for a breast exam at your next appointment and talk to your doctors about when to start screening for you based on your own risk factors and how often. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Psychologists in the U.S. are calling for teenagers to undergo training before they enter the world of social media. The American Psychological Association released ten recommendations on Tuesday to guide parents, teachers, policymakers, health workers and tech companies.

NOBILO: They include imposing limitations on content that promote self harm and eating disorders. And also limiting screen time so it doesn't interfere with sleep or physical activity.

FOSTER: More than 4 million Americans will soon be getting checks from TurboTax as part of a $141 million settlement with parent company Intuit.

NOBILO: The New York Attorney General says Intuit pushed millions of low-income Americans away from free tax filing services by making those products harder to find in web searches. Instead, Intuit steered them towards TurboTax's pay services.

FOSTER: Impacted customers will get an email confirmation. Checks will be emailed out this month. Most TurboTax customers will get around $30 we're told.

Now still to come, the sounds of gunfire and explosions now part of everyday life. Our Nic Robertson speaks to people in eastern Ukraine seemingly numb to the fighting happening all around them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: The sirens have become such a background part of people's lives here living through the war. They don't even respond, take notice, flinch even. War is just ever-present.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[04:05:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NOBILO: The U.S. Secretary of State and the ambassador to Ukraine are both accusing Russia of using hunger as a weapon of war. They say that Russia is blocking ships from loading grain in Ukraine port and failing to inspect them as they leave to cross the Black Sea under the international grain deal.

FOSTER: Meanwhile, eastern Ukrainians living in villages near the frontlines are eagerly awaiting the expected Ukrainian counteroffensive to finally end the fear they've that been living under since the war began. CNN's Clare Sebastian is here in London and Nic Robertson is in eastern Ukraine.

NOBILO: Nic, beginning with you, the expectations from across Western governments don't seem to be particularly high for this expected counteroffensive. The idea that it's likely that this war of attrition will continue. There won't be a definitive result from it. However, Ukraine has surprised time and time again in the morale and resolve and you're seeing that where you are.

ROBERTSON: And this I think is perhaps part of expectations being played down by Western leader, allies of Ukraine. Because obviously, the support that they have from their populations that continue to spend so much money and support Ukraine is dependent on how those expectations are set. Ukrainian commanders very well aware of that particular dynamic.

When we talk to them, they are cautious. And they talk about how perhaps this is misunderstood in the West. That this is a counteroffensive that will be potentially very bloody. It's not like a war game, not like Hollywood, some of them say to us.

So, I think that there's a real understanding of that dynamic. There's a real hope here that they can break through. They have had a success over the weekend not far away in Bakhmut in the east of Ukraine. Able to take several kilometers of ground there. One officer involved in that told us that they intercepted Russian communications and that the Russians were surprised that they lost ground. Other reports saying that significant numbers of Russian soldiers and Wagner mercenaries killed in that particular offensive.

But I think when you step back from that sort of immediacy of the frontline and we're able to get insights often about how it looks and feels close to frontlines, we step back 12 miles -- 20 kilometers or so perhaps from the frontlines. So, take a look at people's lives there who are so close to the frontline in reality because shells and missiles can hit them and how they are getting on with their lives.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON (voiceover): A few miles from Ukraine's eastern front life is, well, sort of normal, although it's not outside of war who needs this much camo kit?

ROBERTSON: Thank you very much. Thank you. She gave me a nice woolly hat to keep me warm.

ROBERTSON (voiceover): People are friendly, not frozen in fear, even though they feel it. We don't know what's happening 30 minutes from now she says, let alone an hour. No worries shown in the town park either. Workers trim the grass as artillery shells tear up not so distant fields. Showing fear, it seems, is an abandoned indulgence. Air raid warnings passe now.

ROBERTSON: The sirens have become such a background part of people's lives here living through the war. They don't even respond. Take notice flinch even. War is just ever present, pervaded through people's lives.

[04:10:00]

ROBERTSON (voiceover): Outside of town, even closer to the front. This elderly couple nonchalantly tell us their home was shelled last month.

He even jokes. It's boring when there's no shooting. Both though hopeful Ukraine's coming counteroffensive will end their suffering. We believe Ukraine will go in there and beat them well, his wife says.

Further on pensioner Zinoviev (ph) is more worried about his weeds than the war. We don't understand anything about the counteroffensive, he says. We just hope for our Ukraine for our defense.

Where and when the counteroffensive may begin is one of the wars best kept secret so far. The mystery is exactly what Ukraine wants. Keep Russia guessing, stretch their supply lines, sack troop morale. Ukraine's victory rides on surprise.

ROBERTSON: Driving around near the frontlines here you can hear some shelling in the distance. And you can see plenty of soldiers around but what you don't get a sense of is any big build up for a counteroffensive.

ROBERTSON (voiceover): Farmers here are counting on their troop success. Sowing crops in fields they want to harvest in fall.

Mikala (ph) hopes the counteroffensive will secure his land but says he knows some of the soldiers around here knows how hard the fight will be, knows it will be a bloody battle.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON (on camera): And I think that really echoes what is we've heard from their commanding officer about it's not Hollywood, it's a real battle. And I think it gets to the point of expectations being made realistic in Western capitals. It's not going to be easy. But the Ukrainians are absolutely determined to do it.

NOBILO: Nic Robertson for us in eastern Ukraine, thank you.

FOSTER: And Clare, this lack of grain leaving the ports in Ukraine, effectively that grain deal appears to be dead right now.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's on the brink. It expires in eight days' time on the 18th. Russia only extended it in March for 60 days even though when it was agreed back in July last year, the agreement was that every time it was extension it would be for 120 days. They're now saying the U.N. has said that on Sunday and Monday there were no inspections of ships. They've restarted inspections on outbound ships that are leaving Ukrainian ports for the global markets through those sort of maritime corridors that were agreed.

But, you know, Russia is making this hard. There were expert level talks last week that did not end well. They're now moving to senior level talks. They're expected to start today in Istanbul with deputy foreign ministers from U.N. -- from Ukraine, from Russia and Turkey and U.N. representatives as well. To try to revive this deal. I think the problem for Russia is that they're saying that a separate agreement that was agreed last July which was supposed to help smooth the path to their (INAUDIBLE) exports to global markets is not being met. They're saying sanctions are getting in the way. Clearly there looking to have some of those sanctions lifted.

But I think, you know, this is also Russia at a time when it's clearly on the back foot on the battlefield struggling to defend as well as attack. It's trying to show Ukraine and the world that this is one area where it still leverage. FOSTER: Can we start a question about this Zaporizhzhia? A huge amount

of concern about the nuclear plant there. Because people are being evacuated in the area.

SEBASTIAN: Yes, so they're evacuating the families of the staff of the nuclear plant from Enerhodar, which is the town that's adjacent to the plant. Sort of like a feeder town into that plant. But we're now hearing this morning that they're not allowing the actual Ukrainian staff to leave.

Now we know that a number of Ukrainian staff have remained in the plant throughout this conflict. The plant has been occupied by Russia really since the first weeks of the war. They need them there to keep running it. Russia doesn't have people that they can just bring in just like that to keep running this plant. So that I think, what's going on here.

But it is extremely nerve-racking. We know that this plant is vulnerable. We know there's weapons on the site -- certainly according to the Ukrainians. But I think the most important thing here is what we don't know. We don't have a lot of visibility about what Russia has been doing there. How they've been running it. The amount of military equipment there. And that's certainly what's been worrying the Ukrainian side.

FOSTER: OK, Clare, thank you very much indeed -- also Nic.

NOBILO: Japan is in talks to open a NATO liaison office. The first of its kind in Asia. In an exclusive interview with CNN, the country's foreign minister says Russia's invasion of Ukraine has made the world less stable.

FOSTER: Marc Stewart joins us now from Tokyo. Potentially contentious move if you talk to diplomats of course.

MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Max. Hello there and good morning to you, Bianca. Let me first make it very clear, Japan is not looking to join NATO. But it does realize just how fragile the global landscape can be and how quickly things can change. Obviously, Ukraine is serving as a reminder.

[04:15:00]

But it does want to strengthen an already established relationship with NATO by helping it open a office -- an office here in Japan. Especially as a time when Japan faces its own threats closer to home here in Asia. Take a listen to part of our exclusive interview we conducted just hours ago here in Tokyo with Japan's foreign minister.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

YOSHIMASA HAYASHI, JAPANESE FOREIGN MINISTER: North Korea intensifying activities of missiles. Maybe the further provocation such as another nuke test might be possible. And also, China is a great challenge for us. So that's why including all those things are security environment becoming so severe and complex. (END VIDEO CLIP)

STEWART: No timetable has been established and NATO is being pretty low key about all of this. Other than to say it had a cooperative relationship with Japan. It is interesting when word of this became public, China issued a statement showing its disapproval toward a relationship like this or any further alliance -- further alliance with NATO. But these themes of security, especially in the Asia Pacific region, will be one of the many discussion points coming up at the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, that of course begins next week here in Japan -- Max and Bianca.

FOSTER: Marc in Tokyo, thank you very much for that.

Now still ahead, an 8-year-old boy's resourceful thinking helped him survive two days being lost in the woods. We'll tell you how they did it.

NOBILO: And in the NBA, two teams locked in a tight series game at a critical time in their conference semifinals.

[04:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NOBILO: An 8-year-old boy has been rescued after getting lost for two days in a Michigan state park. Police say that the second grader went missing Saturday while camping with his family.

FOSTER: Search party volunteers found him on Monday about two miles from the family's campsite. They say the boy surveyed by sheltering under a log, using branches and leaves for warmth and eating snow for hydration.

NOBILO: Who do you think would survive longer, you or I out in woods?

FOSTER: You.

NOBILO: Really? I was going to say you.

FOSTER: I think -- yes, why?

NOBILO: You're very proactive and positive. I just think you'd get on with things.

FOSTER: I think that I'd lie under a log and probably start searching.

NOBILO: Have a lot to learn from that 8-year-old.

It was a big shock for one family in New Jersey, when what's believed to have been a meteorite crashed in their house. Police in Hopewell Township are still trying to confirm exactly what kind of rock it is. But suspect that it is linked to a meteor shower that's going on right now. This is amazing.

FOSTER: It really is. The metallic object broke through the roof and bounced around a bedroom. Fortunately no one was in the room at the time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUZY KOP, RESIDENT: It hit the floor here because that's completely damaged. It ricocheted up to this part of the ceiling. And then finally coming down and resting just on the floor there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: You might not know that space rocks do strike quite regularly but they obviously don't home and bounce around the bedroom.

NOBILO: I don't want to alarm anyone, but it's how a lot of bad alien movies start.

FOSTER: Yes, or in cartoons.

And now to the NBA playoffs where two series that were once tied, now have clear frontrunners. The Denver Nuggets secured a big win at home over the Phoenix Suns. Final score 118-102 with 29 points for starting center Nikola Jokic. And the Nuggets Now Lead the series 3-2.

NOBILO: And in the Eastern conference, the 76ers also took a 3-2 series lead with time over the Boston Celtics. Joel Embiid sunk 33 points leading Philadelphia to a 115-103 victory on the road. And all four teams playing again on Thursday.

In the NHL playoffs, the Dallas Stars beat the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday leveling their Western Conference semifinals series at two games as piece. Game five in the best-of-seven series heads back to Dallas on Thursday.

FOSTER: Meanwhile, the Carolinas Hurricanes stormed past the New Jersey Devils beating them 6-1. Carolina is now just one win away from advancing to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 2019.

There is a new top dog at Westminster. Buddy Holly Burns the title of best in show, this year's Kennel Club Dog Show. It's the first time a dog of his breed, Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen, has taken the top prize.

NOBILO: More than 3,000 dogs representing 210 breeds competed this year. Winston, the French bulldog, was the crowd favorite going into the final round of judging. But ultimately it was Buddy Holly who won the big ribbon.

FOSTER: I know what his name means.

NOBILO: Tell me.

FOSTER: Petite is small. Bassett is low. Griffin is shaggy. And Vendeen is the area of France, where he came from -- and they hunt rabbits.

NOBILO: Do they? FOSTER: You learn a little thing every time you watch the show.

Nasa will use lasers to send high-definition video from the moon back to earth during the Artemis 2 lunar mission. The Orion spacecraft will launch in November next year carrying four astronauts on a roughly ten-day journey beyond the moon and back.

NOBILO: Traditionally NASA has relied on radio waves to communicate with spacecraft and return data to earth. Now the space agency will use laser beams to send terabytes of data in a single transmission.

FOSTER: What do you think of that? Does that change the way you view space?

NOBILO: It certainly does. Mind blowing.

FOSTER: Many years of speculation about a possible return from the dead as the ghost with the most is ready for more mischief.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WINONA RYDER, ACTOR: Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice.

MICHAEL KEATON, ACTOR: It's show time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: Just say his name three times and he shall appear. Beetlejuice is coming back to the big screen with a long-awaited sequel. Warner Brothers, also part of our parent company, say the film will feature original stars, Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder.

[04:25:02]

And welcome Wednesday's star Jenna Ortega. Beetlejuice II is set for release in September of next year. And saving the best stories for last.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(BEYONCE WORLD TOUR VIDEO)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: This is what I imagine you listen to.

FOSTER: I did see -- she is pretty amazing. She's always reinventing herself. Isn't she?

NOBILO: She is and I bought her eras.

Today marks first day of Beyonce's Renaissance world tour in support of her seventh album of the same name. The tour starts with two shows in Sweden.

FOSTER: Yes, very good choices. NOBILO: Before continuing around Europe to mostly sold-out venues and

then back to the U.S.

FOSTER: We're not going to get tickets, are we? Forbes reports Beyonce could make more than $2 billion from the tour in ticket sales alone. I mean, she's a businessperson as much as anything else.

That's more than the projected earnings from Taylor Swift's Eras tour. The singer-songwriter tour has stayed in the U.S. only so far and could earn Swift more than $1.6 billion.

NOBILO: I think that we're in the wrong industry. We should be doing live tours.

FOSTER: Do you think we'd earn as much as Beyonce?

NOBILO: I mean clearly --

FOSTER: I haven't seen your dancing.

NOBILO: you and I singing and dancing --

FOSTER: I've got the fashion. I just worry about your dancing.

NOBILO: I also worry about my dancing. But I was in a pop group back in the days.

FOSTER: No!

NOBILO: I was the rapper and that is a true story.

FOSTER: We're going to have to bring that back to the show. Is it on YouTube?

NOBILO: Why are you telling me that she's worth slightly buying in the show. These are my words coming with information. No, it's pre-YouTube thank goodness.

FOSTER: We'll find a wave getting it on there. Thanks for joining us here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster.

NOBILO: And I'm Bianca Nobilo. "EARLY START" is up next right here on CNN.

[05:00:00]