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Fewer Migrants at the U.S. Border than Expected Post-Title 42; Ukrainians Eye Major Counteroffensive after Gains in Bakhmut; Tropical Cyclone Mocha Heading toward Myanmar; Patriot Missiles Beat Hypersonic Missile in a Head-to-Head. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired May 13, 2023 - 02:00   ET

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

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LAILA HARRAK, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Welcome to all of our viewers watching here in the United States and around the world. I'm Laila Harrak.

Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, crowded but not chaotic. A day after the U.S. lifted its COVID-era immigration policy, the scene at the southern border remains relatively calm.

A breakthrough in Bakhmut: Russia acknowledges setbacks in the Ukrainian city after months of brutal fighting for every inch of territory.

Erdogan's toughest test yet after two decades in power. The Turkish leader is facing the very real possibility of defeat in this weekend's pivotal election.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Laila Harrak.

HARRAK: Good to be back with you.

So far at least, it appears to be the surge that wasn't. U.S. cities along the border with Mexico report fewer migrant crossings than expected on the first day since Title 42 expired.

The COVID-era policy allowed authorities to swiftly expel most migrants. In El Paso, Texas, the mayor said the city saw a spike in migrants seeking asylum in the days leading up to the policy changing. But he says it's been a smooth transition out of Title 42.

Federal officials say there was no substantial increase overnight or an influx at midnight Friday morning, when Title 42 expired.

As of Friday afternoon, more than 23,000 migrants were in U.S. Border Patrol custody, slightly fewer than earlier in the week. With Title 42 expired, authorities are leaning more heavily on the rules under Title 8.

That means those seeking asylum often face harsher legal consequences if they enter the United States illegally. Mexico's foreign minister said about 10,000 migrants are waiting in Ciudad Juarez, just across from El Paso, Texas. CNN's David Culver is there and spoke with the migrants about what comes next.

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DAVID CULVER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sunrise over the U.S. southern border, we watch as U.S. officials process a dwindling number of migrants technically already on U.S. soil, though not yet through the border wall.

Title 42 no longer, Title 8 now back in full effect, giving these migrants the right to claim asylum. But those who fail to qualify risk being banned from entering the U.S. for at least five years.

On this spot days earlier, more than a thousand migrants camped out. Most of them had illegally crossed the barbed wire and battled brutal conditions, the night's cold and the day's scorching sun and heat, water and food scarce. Those arriving Friday disappointed and turned away.

These migrants who had tried to cross into the U.S. but now here, they are realizing that Texas National Guard, Texas state troopers, along with CBP will not let them through the barbed wire fencing any longer. And so they're coming back to the Mexico side.

In Ciudad Juarez alone, Mexico's foreign minister estimates some 10,000 migrants are still waiting to cross, many of them living in sidewalk encampments and shelters like this one, where we find a familiar face.

CULVER: We recognize him from being on the train. He said from that train they came here to the shelter.

CULVER (voice-over): Two days before, we met Jose Mesa, his 15-year- old daughter, Daisy, and 23-year-old son, Roberto, on board a freight train, carrying migrants into Ciudad Juarez. The Mesa family fled Honduras. Roberto left behind two kids who got sick along the journey. The family now staying in this church-run shelter.

CULVER: He is saying that, as of now, they just want to take a beat, if you will, pause a little bit, because they're noticing a lot of people are trying to cross and, yet, a lot of people are coming back.

I said, what are you going to do the meantime?

He said, wait.

CULVER (voice-over): Simon Campos from Venezuela has been in Mexico for eight months. Three weeks ago, he tried to enter the U.S. under Title 42 but was immediately expelled.

[02:05:00] CULVER: He, like so many, saying the same thing, they want to do it legally; they want to do it the right way. But ultimately, he says, he's going to leave it in God's hands.

The shelter director says most here want to cross legally and spend their mornings trying to get an asylum appointment.

He said they've seen this coming now, going back at least six months. And he said the reality as he sees it is the U.S. hasn't been very prepared for this moment.

Seventy-seven people, including families with little kids, staying here for now. Pastor Javier says that's down from when we visited late last year, when some 150 crammed in. But he expects migrants will continue to come.

Driving back to the desert landscape along the border wall, down a sandy and rocky road, we find more activity across the river. One by one, U.S. officials call for the remaining group of single men. The migrants toss excess clothing in a dumpster and spread their hands against a fence.

U.S. law enforcement searched them. They then board a bus. Some will continue into the U.S., others likely to be sent back to this side of the river, Mexico, determined to find another way across.

CULVER: Most every migrant we've spoken with has told us they are on their own schedule when it comes to crossing over into the U.S. They're not going to try to follow any sort of deadline for any U.S. policy but, rather, what works best for their individual cases.

That said, all of them share the same goal. And that is to eventually cross. Most of them tell me legally but others say they're willing to do it however, so long as they can ultimately get to the U.S. -- David Culver, CNN, Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

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HARRAK: Joining me now from El Paso, Texas, is Alicia Caldwell, a reporter covering immigration for "The Wall Street Journal." She joins us from El Paso, as I just said.

With Title 42 now a thing of the past, you are at the Texas side of the border.

What have you been seeing these past days?

ALICIA CALDWELL, "THE WALL STREET JOURNAL": I am. The last couple days have been like the last couple of weeks. You have people surrendering on the south side of the border. Basically, they're coming across the Rio Grande but surrendering on the south side of the fence.

So in many cases, they've had to wait several days, if not longer, for processing. And for some of those folks, midnight struck Eastern time last night and they were still on the border. Folks still there this morning, in many cases.

So there's been an ongoing processing of individuals over the last, well, many months and weeks in terms of the end of Title 42, the last 24 hours. It's sort of status quo right now in terms of what the Border Patrol does on the front end.

The difference is how they get processed and how they get treated at the end of the process. There is no longer Title 42. So no one is being quickly expelled under a health law. But everyone now faces the potential for rapid deportation under traditional immigration laws.

HARRAK: Do you feel -- the people you've spoken to, are they deterred by this new measure?

CALDWELL: It's a little bit in between. Over the last several days, we've talked to a lot of people who made it in between the ports of entry without being inspected.

And they felt like they had heard enough information that they would be allowed to stay in the United States without any paperwork or they would get some sort of paperwork or permission to stay.

That wasn't accurate. So Border Patrol went through downtown El Paso over the last couple of days and handed out fliers that said, if you haven't been inspected by Border Patrol or other immigration authorities, if you haven't been released by the U.S. government, come down to the nearest Border Patrol station.

And there's one down the street from the primary shelter here, the Sacred Heart Church. Almost 1,000 people, I believe it was 917 people, opted, in the last several days, to walk down to that Border Patrol station and surrender.

The chief of the Border Patrol here in El Paso, the local sector chief, Anthony Scott Goode, told reporters that most were processed and released under Title 8 but without those penalties. They were allowed to proceed into the United States to pursue whatever claim, asylum claim or otherwise.

HARRAK: What are the stakes for people on both sides of the border?

How would you describe this moment for a border town like El Paso, where you are right now?

CALDWELL: So for El Paso and San Diego, Brownsville, Yuma, all across the southwest border, there was a big expectation that, come midnight on Thursday, there would be this kind of ooh-aah moment.

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CALDWELL: Or a shock and awe moment of a rush to the border. It was really a worry that had been discussed by the administration and others for weeks leading up to this.

You didn't see that. There was no shock and awe or ooh-aah moment of, oh, my gosh, all of these people are here. We've seen instead over the last several weeks, last week in particular, this significant rush to the border.

And in many cases, thousands of people walked up to the line, the Border Patrol fence. So they've been waiting, sometimes by the thousands, in the daylight heat and the evening cold for Border Patrol to come by and take them into custody and start processing them.

HARRAK: And from what you've witnessed and what you've seen in the past couple days, what does this all mean for U.S. immigration policy moving forward?

CALDWELL: It changes a lot of things. It is, according to advocates, at least it's a total return to the Trump administration policy of hardline limiting immigration.

The Biden administration will say that's absolutely not accurate, that it is a sort of new version of that, a kinder, gentler version, that allows people to make an appointment over an app, come to the border in an orderly fashion.

What the Biden administration said they want to do is process people in an orderly, humane fashion. But the reality is that there are so many people on the border at the moment in the last several days and weeks that border communities are facing a potential sort of inundation of migrants.

So far, the number of people crossing the border illegally has declined. It was about 12,000 over the last several days per day and it's now declined to under 10,000. So the big explosion or surge of people at the border that was anticipated has not happened.

And officials from every level of government are hopeful that it does not, that the messaging worked.

HARRAK: Alicia Caldwell, reporting, thank you so very much. Greatly appreciate it.

CALDWELL: Thank you.

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HARRAK: Russia is reportedly trying to push back against Ukraine's advances in Bakhmut. A Ukrainian officer in the city is reporting intense counter attacks as Russia tries to regain some of the ground it lost in recent days. Moscow is now conceding that it pulled back from some positions north of Bakhmut.

CNN has geolocated this social media video, which is apparently sped up. It appears to show Russian troops in a hasty retreat in the area. Russia described the pullback as a calculated move to take better defensive positions.

But the leader of Wagner mercenaries says that's a bold-faced lie, claiming the troops fled from the battle. He says Ukraine gained 5 square kilometers in Bakhmut on Friday and calls on Moscow to own up to its losses.

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YEVGENY PRIGOZHIN, FOUNDER, WAGNER GROUP (through translator): The occupation of Bakhmut gives nothing to the Russian Federation because the flanks are crumbling. The front is collapsing. And attempts by the defense ministry to make things look better are and will bring an overall tragedy for Russia. They need to stop lying right away.

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HARRAK: As Ukraine makes gains near Bakhmut, it is also keeping an eye on an upcoming counter offensive, aimed at routing Russians across a bigger front. Our Nic Robertson went to the trenches to see how Ukrainians are preparing for it.

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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): Amid shell-smashed trees, Ukrainian troops figure out how to get as close to the new hard-won gains around Bakhmut.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go behind me, distance five meters. He's going last.

ROBERTSON: How far from the Russian lines here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Close to 800 to 900.

ROBERTSON: Meters?

What lessons here about a much-anticipated bigger Ukraine counteroffensive.

You can see here how the ground is drying out, how wet it was before, how hard it would be for the armored vehicles to get through. The battlefield is changing. Now summers coming. And that's everything for the counteroffensive.

So we have to go a bit faster here, because they take a lot of incoming fire here.

If not for the war, it would be a lovely walk. A little cover here from shelling.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go, go, go.

ROBERTSON: We have a drone?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A drone.

ROBERTSON: Just coming here, we've heard a drone above, we've got some cover in here, hopefully, they won't see us down here.

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ROBERTSON: Getting closer and closer to the Russian lines.

This trench, one of several and a new minefield position to block Russian troops about 600 meters away from a counterattack out of sight. North and south of here, more Ukrainian troops advancing, building on the recent gains here.

Ukraine's Western allies say that shaping operations for the big counteroffensive are already underway. Commanders here won't say if this is part of that counteroffensive. But the gains they've had around Bakhmut are a huge morale boost for Ukrainian troops.

How does it feel to be in the battle now and to actually after all this time take more territory?

HONZA, COMBAT MEDIC: I love it actually. I love it because I'm with my family, with guys that are my family.

ROBERTSON: But success, not all that's binding appetite for victory. Mounting Russian atrocities fueling anger.

HONZA: We all just want to take our territory back and kill maximum possible Russians we can.

ROBERTSON: Do you think the Russians understand that?

HONZA: No, I don't think so. They're going to get killed, all of them.

ROBERTSON: It's going to be a tough fight for you then.

HONZA: Yes, also. But we're ready for this. It's our land.

ROBERTSON: As we leave, there are more explosions.

Then this --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Run.

ROBERTSON: We don't ask, we just run. And keep running.

We hear drones, so we're running.

They've got their armor troop transporter ready.

Yes, getting back in now, drones overhead, more artillery coming.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): It's ancient Soviet equipment. More modern NATO armor busy elsewhere on the battlefield.

ROBERTSON: There's going to be months and months and months, if not years, of warfare like this, (INAUDIBLE) taken back all those lost miles (ph).

ROBERTSON (voice-over): -- Nic Robertson, CNN, Eastern Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE) HARRAK: Russian officials are blaming Ukraine for a missile strike on the occupied city of Luhansk. They say six children were injured in Friday's attack, which reportedly damaged a number of homes and other buildings. There is no comment from Ukraine about the explosions.

But it says Russia launched a barrage of its own strikes across the country on Friday, including on this city, southwest of Bakhmut.

Israel ramps up its attacks on Palestinian militants. But as the fighting rages, ordinary civilians are paying the price. Ahead, how people in Gaza have been impacted by the strikes.

Plus about a million people are at risk as Tropical Cyclone Mocha gains strength and takes aim at Myanmar in Bangladesh. We'll get the latest forecast, stay with us.

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HARRAK: Israel's military launched new strikes in Gaza overnight, hitting what it says were two command centers belonging to Palestinian militants. On Friday, Defense Forces in southern Israel intercepted several rockets fired from Gaza.

They also launched another attack, which killed a commander of the Islamic Jihad militant group. At least 33 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the fighting began on Tuesday. Among the victims are women and children. Israeli forces say almost 1,000 rockets have been fired toward Israel this week.

On Friday, there was another barrage that targeted Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. CNN's Ben Wedeman has the details.

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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Revenge of the free: that's what the Palestinian militant group, Islamic Jihad, is calling this, a barrage of rockets fired from Gaza and, for the first time in this most recent flareup, toward Jerusalem.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, shrapnel coming down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just see pieces falling right over there.

WEDEMAN: Our team in Sderot, southern Israel, witnessed Israeli air defenses intercepting around 20 incoming rockets on Friday before taking shelter from the debris. Israeli strikes, meanwhile, hitting across Gaza. Cellphone footage obtained by CNN shows a house exploding in the city of Khan Yunis.

Another video shows fire raging in Gaza City on day four of what is the worst escalation of violence between the Israeli army and Palestinian militants in months.

It also claimed militants had launched nearly 1,000 rockets since the latest violence began. In an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank on Friday, people ran for cover as sirens rang out, a day after one person was killed in the Israeli city of Rehovot, when a rocket fired from Gaza hit this building.

Forensic experts today examining the scene.

Meanwhile, at least 33 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in less than a week. And there are more than 2 million civilians caught inside Gaza, whose lives are now on hold in the mortal danger, desperate for a ceasefire.

But a diplomatic source tells CNN the ceasefire talks are now, in his words, "on ice" -- Ben Wedeman, CNN, Sderot, Israel.

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HARRAK: Tropical Cyclone Mocha is gaining strength in the Bay of Bengal and heading toward Western Myanmar, where about 1 million people live in inadequate housing or shelters. The winds are expected to intensify in the next 24 hours.

Aid agencies are stepping up their emergency preparation and response for local and refugee communities. Some residents in coastal areas in Myanmar have already evacuated their homes and moved to shelters to ride out the storms. Right now, Mocha is on track to make landfall near the Myanmar-Bangladesh border on Sunday.

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HARRAK: The cyclone is expected to cause very dangerous flash flooding and a storm surge in the region.

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HARRAK: People in Turkiye have been living with some of the highest inflation in the world. Now voters will have their say in what could shape up to be one of the biggest elections in Turkish history. That story and much more when we return.

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HARRAK: A senior U.S. immigration official says there was no substantial influx of migrants at the southern border after the end of Title 42. The COVID-era policy that allowed authorities to swiftly expel migrants expired Thursday night.

So far cities along the southern border report fewer migrants are arriving than they initially expected. And the number of migrants in Border Patrol custody has dropped slightly compared to earlier this week.

Those seeking asylum now face more severe consequences for crossing the border illegally. That includes being barred from entering the U.S. for five years on the first arrest and possible criminal prosecution if they're arrested a second time.

More states are asking the courts to stop a federal policy, which would allow authorities to release migrants without a court notice or formal charges if facilities become too crowded. A Trump-appointed judge in Florida put the policy on hold on Thursday before Title 42 expired.

Friday's motion was added to an ongoing lawsuit in Texas by Republican attorneys general in 21 states, including Florida. The Biden administration says the ruling will result in unsafe overcrowding and it plans to appeal. CNN White House reporter Priscilla Alvarez has the latest from Washington.

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PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Biden is facing legal challenges from both ends of the political spectrum as the administration is trying to manage the U.S.-Mexico border following the lifting of the COVID-19 era border restriction known as Title 42.

Late Thursday, a federal judge in Florida temporarily blocked the administration from releasing migrants without court dates. That's a tool that the administration has used for some migrants, as it tries to alleviate any overcrowding in border facilities.

And then, two, the American Civil Liberties Union, along with other groups, filed a suit to block the administration's new asylum rule that would largely bar migrants from seeking asylum in the U.S. if they traverse through another country and didn't first try to seek refuge there.

They said that is against U.S. and international law. But the one with the immediate effect was the ruling in Florida. Officials said they're trying to assess all options as they again work to alleviate any overcrowding in border facilities.

Sources tell me that the litigation was considered baked into their planning with the assumption that there might be lawsuits, as there have been over the course of the Biden administration, over border policy.

They're also assessing how migrants are taking their next steps, as the administration rolls out top enforcement measures with the return to decades-old protocol. Of course, all of this, a challenge that the administration is still trying to navigate.

A Homeland Security official telling me that encounters on a daily basis still hover around 10,000, which is a record. Even though some custody numbers may be going down, it is still over capacity.

Homeland Security officials have been briefing reporters and saying they still see a challenge, though there was no substantial increase of crossings when Title 42 lifted. Still a long few days and weeks ahead -- Priscilla Alvarez, CNN, Washington.

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HARRAK: U.S.-made Patriot missiles have scored a win in the first head-to-head battle with Russian hypersonic missiles in Ukraine. Two U.S. officials say Moscow launched one of those missiles at a Patriot battery near Kyiv last week.

But Ukraine has managed to shoot it down using the U.S. weapon itself. While the incidents happened just weeks after they received the Patriot air defenses from its allies, Oren Liebermann has more.

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OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: It was only last week that we learned about the first successful known use of the Patriot missile system in Ukraine to intercept an incoming Russian missile.

According to the Pentagon, the Ukrainians used it to intercept a Kinzhal or Killjoy missile, a hypersonic missile, one of the higher end Russian missiles, that is effectively a air launched ballistic missile, a powerful and advanced system from Russia that we've seen used for the first time throughout the war in Ukraine.

Now we know what it is the Russians were targeting. According to two U.S. officials, they were targeting the Patriot missile system itself, trying to take out one of the more advanced systems, if not the most advanced system the U.S. has provided to Ukraine, a long range, powerful aerial defense system provided by not only the U.S. but also Germany and the Netherlands also providing some components, giving Ukraine two Patriot missile systems for long-range air defense.

According to the two U.S. officials familiar with the matter, the Russians were trying to take out the system itself, to cripple or destroy one of the most powerful air defense systems and long-range air defense systems that Ukraine has.

But Ukraine fired multiple Patriot missiles to intercept the incoming Killjoy missile and destroy it before it could destroy the system itself, allowing Ukraine to keep online one of its longest range and most potent air defense systems.

How is it that Russia knew where the system was only weeks after it arrived in country?

Well, the Patriot missile system uses a powerful radar to detect incoming threats at a long range. Just as the U.S. and Ukraine can detect enemy radars, so, too, can Russia detect where roughly this missile or this emission is coming from.

Once they have a general sense of where it is, based on the radar it emits, they can use satellites and other systems to zero in on that and target it. The Patriots (sic) who learned the system, learned the Patriots much faster than was anticipated, just several months instead of a year, were able to use the missile itself to defend the Patriot battery from this incoming attack -- Oren Liebermann, CNN, at the Pentagon.

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HARRAK: The Kremlin is declining to comment on CNN's reporting that the U.S. is exploring the idea of lifting some sanctions in exchange for the release of Americans Paul Whelan and Evan Gershkovich.

Moscow accuses both men of espionage but the U.S. doesn't have any Russian spies in custody that it could potentially trade. So the Biden administration is considering other ideas it hopes will entice Moscow to make a deal.

Besides possibly easing some sanctions, U.S. officials say they are exploring whether Russians held in other countries could be part of a swap for Whelan and Gershkovich.

Turkiye is facing a watershed moment this weekend in one of the most pivotal national elections in a generation. Voters will decide among the three remaining presidential candidates, including incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdogan. If no one gets at least 50 percent of the vote, a run- off will be held May 28th.

Also, at stake, 600 seats in parliament. The outcome there could profoundly affect Turkiye's role in NATO, its relationship with the E.U., its migration policy, its role in the Ukraine conflict and its tensions with Greece and Cyprus in the Eastern Mediterranean over sovereignty and natural resources.

Among the challenges facing Turks, crippling inflation is top of mind for many voters. Even though inflation is a global problem, many economists blame Turkiye's unorthodox fiscal policies for making it worse. CNN's Eleni Giokos explains.

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ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He's the self-proclaimed enemy of interest rates. Now Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan's unorthodox monetary policy could be coming home to roost.

The president believes that high inflation is caused by higher interest rates, the exact opposite of mainstream economic thinking.

SELVA DEMIRALP, PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS, KOC UNIVERSITY: Increased interest rate, increased the cost of borrowing, reduced demand and this way you reduce inflationary pressures. So in the unorthodox view adopted in Turkey, the idea was that because interest rate is an important cost of production, by lowering interest rates, we can lower the cost of production. GIOKOS: Since consolidating power in the 2017 referendum, Erdogan has pushed the central bank to aggressively cut rates. It's lead to skyrocketing inflation officially measured around 43 percent in April, down from its peak of more than 85 percent last October.

The Lira has lost over half of its value against the U.S. dollar in the last two years. And unemployment is at 10 percent.

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HAKIM EKINCI, BARBER (through translator): I used to be an AKP supporter but I'm not thinking of voting for them anymore. I want the dollar exchange rate to decline. I want the price of petrol and inflation to drop. I want to go back to the life I had five or six years ago.

GIOKOS: The opposition candidate, Kemal Kilicdaroglu has made fixing the economy a cornerstone of his campaign.

KEMAL KILICDAROGLU, TURKISH CHP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (through translator): Today, if you are poorer than yesterday, the only reason is Erdogan.

GIOKOS: Erdogan is on the offensive to shore up support ahead of the elections. Just this week, he hiked the minimum wage by 45 percent for 700,000 public sector workers. He's also introduced cheaper housing loans and lowered retirement age requirements for some.

And last month, he opened the Istanbul financial center, a $3.4 billion development that Erdogan's party is pitching as a future financial hub for the region. The government claims it will attract $250 billion in foreign investment by 2036. But the reality is foreign money has been pouring out of the country.

TIMOTHY ASH, STRATEGIST, BLUEBAY ASSET MANAGEMENT: You've seen a huge outflow of foreign money because basically, they don't trust monetary policy. They don't want to invest in a country where they don't trust the central bank.

They don't think the -- you know, the central bank is able to do the right thing -- kind of things in terms of interest rates to demand manage the economy to defend the exchange rate.

GIOKOS: But whether the economic crisis will be enough to ask Turkey, strongman is yet to be seen -- Eleni Giokos, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRAK: For our international viewers, be sure to watch the live coverage of the 2023 Turkiye elections, hosted by Becky Anderson. That's this Sunday at 7:00 in the evening in London, 9:00 pm in Istanbul, right here on CNN.

Jubilant supporters greet former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan after his release from custody Friday. The latest on events that have rocked Pakistan this week, straight ahead (MUSIC PLAYING)

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HARRAK (voice-over): Supporters of former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan celebrated as he returned to Lahore Friday evening. He was granted bail and released earlier in the day.

Authorities are barred from arresting him again on any charges before Monday. Khan warned that he won't be responsible for the reaction of his supporters if he is taken into custody again.

His dramatic arrest on corruption charges earlier this week, which the Pakistani high court ruled was unlawful, set off a wave of angry protests across the country. For more on all these developments, let's go to CNN senior correspondent, Will Ripley.

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WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Pakistan's former prime minister Imran Khan has at least some time at home now to meet with his supporters, his advisors and his wife, who he says now also is facing criminal charges.

Along with a long list of senior officials in Mr. Khan's party, the PTI, who had been rounded up and arrested in recent days, including PTI's spokeswoman Shireen Mazari, who appeared right here on CNN on Tuesday.

She's now locked up along with a lot of others who have been publicly calling these corruption charges against Khan bogus, saying that this has all been fabricated by a government that is working essentially for the military.

That's what Khan says. He blames the army chief, General Syed Asim Munir for his arrest. And he said that on Friday.

So in addition to these strings of senior PTI arrests, Khan believes that more charges against him will come up suddenly and that he will be taken back into custody. He says he knows it's going to happen; it's only a matter of time. So we'll see as far as that goes.

Now that could also have an impact, of course, on these protests across the nation, which have turned violent and have turned deadly.

And fears are really growing here, because the PTI has been calling for peaceful nationwide protests. Yet a lot of the supporters of this party, supporters of Imran Khan, they're young; they are passionate.

According to it, those on the ground who have lived in this story and covered Mr. Khan over the decades -- keep in mind, he is an icon in Pakistan, who has been in the public eye since the 1970s first as a cricket player, then as a politician.

But his platform, ironically, is anti-corruption and rule of law. And now he's the one facing corruption charges. But if his young, passionate supporters start to clash with the soldiers that have been called in to keep the peace -- and keep in mind, some of these soldiers have been fighting the war on terror that began after 9/11.

So more than 20 years of battlefield experience; very little, if any, training, I'm told by our journalist on the ground there; very little training in handling civilian protesters. Well, there is a lot of fear that things could get very ugly and very deadly on the streets of Pakistan this weekend -- Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.

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HARRAK: The former Marine who allegedly held a homeless man in a fatal chokehold on the New York City subway is free on bond right now. Daniel Penny surrendered to police on Friday morning. The 24-year old is charged with second-degree manslaughter.

The victim, Jordan Neely, was a street performer, who did Michael Jackson impersonations. He had long suffered from mental illness and homelessness. Neely was restrained on a subway in Manhattan after shouting he was hungry and thirsty and had nothing to live for.

His death sparked protests in New York. It also refocused attention on homelessness and mental illness in the U.S.

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HARRAK: We'll be right back.

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HARRAK: Buckingham Palace has released two new official coronation photographs. One shows King Charles with William, the Prince of Wales, and his son, Prince George; they're first and second in line to the throne. The second picture is of the king and Queen Camilla, with their eight pages and ladies in attendance.

Both photos were taken in the palace's throne room.

Internet sleuths want to know, did Meghan Markle actually attend the coronation in disguise?

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HARRAK: Some conspiracy theorists and online jokesters thought this man, seen at the ceremony, could have been Meghan Markle in an elaborate get-up. The Duchess of Sussex did not attend so she could stay in the U.S. with their children.

It turns out the mystery man is actually Welsh composer Sir Karl Jenkins, who wrote some music for the coronation. He spoke with "CNN THIS MORNING" about the mix-up.

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SIR KARL JENKINS, WELSH COMPOSER: It's been ridiculous this last week. People buy me drinks in pubs and (INAUDIBLE) pointing to me, saying you were at the wedding. So I admit I was there (ph), said, I wrote a piece of music. It was a harp concerto (ph), in fact, for the -- for King Charles when he was the Prince of Wales.

And he selected it as one of the pieces during the ceremony. So that's why I was there, as a composer.

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HARRAK: There you go.

That wraps up this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Laila Harrak. Do stay with us. I'll be back with more news in just a moment.