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CNN International: 59 Dead After Migrant Boat Sinks Off Greece; Ukraine Claims "Partial Success" In Advances In South, East; Nottingham Rampage Leaves 3 Dead, 3 In Hospital; Two Dead In Attack At Military Training Facility; Mass Evacuations In India & Pakistan Ahead Of Storm; Former President Trump Pleads Not Guilty To 37 Charges During Historic Court Appearance; What's The Legacy Of Silvio Berlusconi? Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired June 14, 2023 - 08:00   ET

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

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MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to CNN Newsroom. I'm Max Foster in London. Just ahead, Russia launched multiple missile and drone attacks on Ukraine overnight. This comes as Kyiv reports progress in its counteroffensive.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump remains defiant after pleading not guilty to all 37 felony charges. And Silvio Berlusconi's funeral service starts in an hour. Thousands of mourners are paying their respects outside Milan's Cathedral.

But first, a rescue operation is underway this hour in the waters off Greece. At least 59 people have died after a boat carrying immigrants sank. The Greek Coast Guard has managed to rescue more than 100 people so far. Local media report the ship setoff from Libya, bound for Italy.

Let's get to Barbie Nadeau in Rome with the very latest. You know, sadly recurrent type of story.

BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes. You know, Max, I mean, we only really seem to pay attention to these stories when there are several hundred people on board and one of these boats goes down and it's visible and they'd called for help.

You know, we're understanding this boat left Libya en route for Italy. We understand that how it got into Greek waters is probably a matter of wind and lack of motor on this boat. They've saved 104 people. 59 bodies have been pulled out of the water, but we're hearing the number on that boat could be anywhere between 400 and 750 people. That is an enormous loss of life if that, in fact, is confirmed.

Of course, there are no passenger lists on these smuggler ships. There's absolutely no accountability whatsoever in terms of the real number. It'll just be basically the number of bodies they end up retrieving from the water. But this is all going on during, against a backdrop of negotiations across Europe right now and how to stop migration both from Tunisia and Libya. And there is talk of investing a lot of money in both of these countries to try to stop boats from coming.

But the boats are still coming, Max, and there are NGO rescue ships out there trying to save them. And these boats call for help. And authorities from both Italy and Malta and now Greece end up doing a lot of the work, but it's just another tragedy among many, Max. And, you know, this is just summers basically just starting. Max?

FOSTER: Yes, that's so sad. Barbie, thank you.

Russia launched multiple missile and drone attacks on cities across Ukraine overnight, prompting Kyiv to call for tougher economic sanctions to restrict Moscow's supply of weapons components. At least three people were killed in the port city of Odesa after Russia fired cruise missiles from the Black Sea. Three people were also killed in attacks in Donetsk.

Elsewhere on the battlefield, Ukraine stepped up its counteroffensive in the southeast and is claiming partial successes in some areas. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is praising the tenacity of his troops.

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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translation): Thanks to everyone who is fighting, who protects and advances our positions. For example, the Bakhmut sector, in particular, to the soldiers of the 80th Separate Brigade of the Ukrainian Air Assault Forces. There is forward movement in various areas. I thank you. Thank you for your extraordinary bravery.

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FOSTER: For the latest on the fighting, we're joined by Salma Abdelaziz. Of course, huge amount of bravery involved here, but actually how much progress are they making?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you have to remember that President Zelenskyy only just made clear that the counteroffensive is underway. I think for Ukrainian officials, they wanted to make sure the world understands there's no clear beginning or end to this fight.

They have been trying to soften Russian targets throughout. But what we are seeing is a difference or a shift on the battlefield is there seems to be more of a focus on the south. So that Zaporizhzhia, south of Zaporizhzhia and the Donetsk region where there seems to be an increase in fighting both sides, saying there is fierce battles underway.

Ukraine saying that it's made very modest gains to the south of Zaporizhzhia just about in the last three days, gaining about 1 square mile. They also say they've made some advances in Bakhmut, moving about 200 to 500 meters. Now we know that fight for Bakhmut has been ongoing, but Ukraine saying they're still very much in that battle despite Russian claims for victory there.

Of course, this is going to be a long fight, this is going to be a huge fight. And for Ukraine, it's not just a fight that's happening on the front lines. You mentioned, of course, those attacks, the Russian attacks that occurred overnight across Ukraine.

[08:05:01]

Some 20 projectiles, 10 drones, 10 missiles fired across separate parts of Ukraine. In Odesa, three people were killed, several others injured because of caliber cruise missiles being fired from the Black Sea. My point here being that for Ukraine, they're having resources depleted across the country while they're also continuing to push and try to gain this territory quite literally inch by inch.

And we're talking about tiny villages, tiny lease settlements where I don't think there are many people left. You'd assume most people have been evacuated, buildings destroyed. It is very much the grind of war here, an artillery conflict.

FOSTER: OK. Salma, thank you.

So national day of mourning in Italy, where in the next hour, a state funeral will be held in the land for former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Maxi screens have been installed in the city's main square as thousands of people are expected to come and say their final farewell. He was a highly divisive but dominant figure in Italy for more than 20 years. We'll have more about his life and legacy later in this show.

British officials now say that two of the victims in Tuesday's attacks in Nottingham were university students. The students were apparently stabbed by a 31-year-old man as part of a sprawling rampage that involves attacks with a knife and a stolen white van in various parts of Nottingham. Both students were 19 years old. One played field hockey and the other was on the University of Nottingham cricket team.

CNN Scott McLean following development in this investigation. Everyone wondering about the motive here, Scott, and it does increasingly look like it was just a random attack.

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so police say when it comes to the motivation, they are keeping an open mind. They say they are working with counterterrorism police, but that doesn't necessarily mean that this will, in fact, turn out to be terror related.

There have been several searches at locations across the city, but no one arrested beyond the 31-year-old suspect, who was tased by police as he was taken into custody. And what makes this crime especially unusual is the sheer, a, randomness of it and, b, the physical distance between the location of each of these crime scenes.

So you had two people stabbed in one location more than a mile away. You then had another person killed with stab wounds. And then a third location, you had people mowed down by a van, and then a fourth where the suspect was actually arrested. And all of these places are more than 1 mile apart from one another.

So this, obviously, took place across the city and across a considerable amount of time as well. We now know the names of the two victims, both 19 years old, as you said, both students at the University of Nottingham, Grace Kumar and Barnaby Webber. Kumar was a gifted field hockey player, so gifted, in fact, that she represented England on the under 18 team.

Webber was a cricket player. His parents said that he was over the moon for having been selected for the University of Nottingham cricket team. They wrote in a statement, in part, "Complete devastation is not enough to describe our pain and loss at the senseless murder of our son. He was a beautiful, brilliant, bright young man with everything in life to look forward to. As parents, we are enormously proud of everything he achieved and all the plans that he had made".

Now a third person in his 50s, we now know his name is Ian Coates. He worked at a local school and the school put out a statement saying that he was beloved, respected, and he always went the extra mile for students. It was apparently his van that was stolen by the suspect and then used to attempt to mow down three other people, one of whom is in critical condition in the hospital at last word.

Of course, the question here is why? This has left Nottingham, a city of 320,000 something people pretty shocked and searching for answers. The Home Secretary just gave a speech on this in the House of Commons. Obviously, she was asked about what we might know about a potential motive and she made clear that that question is still unanswered. But she pleaded with people not to rush to any judgment or not to draw conclusions before police have all the facts.

FOSTER: Scott McLean in London, thank you.

Japanese authorities are trying to figure out why a military cadet turned his gun on his instructors earlier today. It happened at a training facility in central Japan during a live fire exercise. Two soldiers were killed and another was injured. Gun violence is extremely rare in Japan and the military has canceled live fire exercises for cadets whilst they investigate what happened here.

Tens of thousands of people are being evacuated as India and Pakistan brace for the impact of a massive cyclone. The storm has been churning in the Arabian Sea. It's expected to make landfall near the India- Pakistan border in the next 36 hours. Urban flooding is forecast for Pakistan's largest city, Karachi, where businesses and shopping malls are shutting their doors.

And as much as 10 inches of rain expected in India's Gujarat state, raising concerns about flash flooding and landslides there.

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CNN Meteorologist Derek Van Dam is tracking the storm from the CNN Weather Center. A huge amount of worry for people living there.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Max. And I think the way that you just said it too churning across the Arabian Sea is a great way to say it, because this thing is moving about the same pace as you and I can walk, right? I mean, a very, very slow pace.

And that means that it's got a lot of time to pick up that energy from the warm ocean waters. But also it helps kind of stabilize the storm a little bit too, because we get this upwelling of the cooler waters from down below. But still, nonetheless, we're still at 160 kilometer per hour storm. That makes it equivalent to a category 2 Atlantic hurricane for some of our domestic audience.

This is tropical Cyclone Biparjoy by the India Meteorological Department. It's known as a very severe cyclone. And this continues to churn and move very slowly at a northeasterly clip at about 6 kilometers per hour. So, you can see what I mean. Basically, a walking pace of an average human.

Here's the Gujarat state. There's Pakistan. This is Northwest India. Just to give you some perspective. What can we expect? Well, there are several threats, not only the wind threat, but also the flash flooding and storm surge threat, all of which I'll cover here in detail. But you can see the forecast as we head into Thursday afternoon local time. That's when we expect the worst conditions to impact the Gujarat state.

South of Karachi. That's the good news because this area, of course, heavily populated in Pakistan, but the Gujarat state houses about 60 million people, one of the fifth largest states in India. And this will be impacted by strong gusty winds that will exceed 100 kilometers percent hour at times.

And then once it finally moves in land, we'll see the dissipation take place, but not before creating the storm surge conditions in the India Meteorological Department calling for 2 to 3 meters above that astronomical high tide. So the potential for coastal inundation does exist as this storm starts to push in all of the moisture and the water from the Arabian Sea.

Now the other threat, of course, the flooding, because the slow moving storm will produce in a rainfall totals in excess of 250 millimeters, perhaps locally, higher amounts. You can see -- I'll highlight this quite nicely for you here -- you can see in that Gujarat state, that's where we're predicting anywhere from 250 to 500 millimeters.

In such a short period of time, it doesn't take much to produce that localized inland flooding. And as that storm moves inland, you can see the dissipation. But we still have our flood threat as it moves inland and brings the rainfall along with it.

So Max, lots to talk about, very complex storm system. But one thing's for sure, the flooding threat will be real as the storm makes its slow progression into the coast.

FOSTER: OK, we're watching it closely. Derek Van Dam, thank you very much indeed.

VAN DAM: OK. FOSTER: Now only Donald Trump could turn a 37 count indictment into a campaign fundraiser.

That was a scene just hours after the former U.S. president pleaded not guilty to 37 federal charges in a courtroom in Miami. His speech to political donors and supporters gathered at his club in Bedminster, New Jersey, was full of misleading and downright false claims like this one.

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DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Whatever documents a president decides to take with him, he has the right to do so. It's an absolute right. This is the law.

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FOSTER: Federal prosecutors accuse Trump of illegally keeping classified documents at his Florida home, then hiding them from the FBI. He allegedly showed them to people without security clearances and even stored them in a variety of places, like a bathroom next to a toilet.

Katelyn Polantz joins us from Miami with the very latest. So we had that formal processing yesterday. What is the next stage?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: The next stage is the movement of this case toward trial. There are a lot of steps that have to happen. Yesterday was quite a solemn start. It was a proceeding that lasted about 50 minutes that put in place some restrictions on Donald Trump as he awaits trial, including some restrictions where he's not going to be able to talk to other witnesses or his co-defendant, Walt Nauta, a man accused of obstruction of justice alongside him.

He's not going to be able to speak to them about the details of the case in particular. And so that was what happened yesterday. He signed some forms agreeing to those restrictions put in place by the judge. He entered his plea of not guilty.

Walt Nauta is expected to enter his plea in about two weeks. He has to come back and find a lawyer that can practice in the state of Florida. But then it goes into the hands of Judge Aileen Cannon, the federal district judge that will shepherd this toward trial. And there could be lots of disputes that evolve along the way.

We can already see a little bit of a combative side from Donald Trump's attorneys dragging out this proceeding longer than I'm sure they expected it to be, because they argued against what the judge wanted to do, putting those restrictions on Donald Trump when he awaits trial.

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And so that could come up again. There could be additional issues that arise related to what's called discovery. So the turning over of evidence and then there are legal arguments, what actually can be happening in the trial and when the trial can take place, a very particular thing.

FOSTER: Katelyn Polantz, thank you so much for bringing us all the ins and outs of that.

Now still to come, live pictures here from Milan where thousands are gathered to pay tribute to former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. This is where his coffin will leave and head towards the cathedral in the city center. We'll take a look at why his legacy goes far beyond Italy though.

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FOSTER: In the next hour, Italy will bid farewell to Silvio Berlusconi. These are live pictures. Overhead is over his villa. What was his villa in Milan. His coffin has been resting there before the service and it looks like the vehicles are leaving there, presumably, the hearse carrying his coffin.

But Berlusconi died on Monday at the age of 86. He served as Italian Prime Minister for a total of nine years and was a billionaire who built his fortune in media, property and sports. His career was marked by a series of political and financial and personal scandals, many of which landed him in court.

A man with a flamboyant personality, no doubt. He was controversial, yet dominant in his country and indeed in Europe. In a piece written for Politico, my next guest says he was the man who seduced Italy.

Joining me now from Brussels is Jacopo Barigazzi, Senior E.U. reporter for Politico. Thank you so much indeed.

JACOPO BARIGAZZI, SENIOR E.U. REPORTER, POLITICO: Thank you.

FOSTER: We're looking at these aerial pictures of the procession leaving the villa heading towards the Cathedral. What sort of service do you expect we'll see when it arrives there?

There are already thousands of people waiting for the coffin to arrive in Duomo Square in Milan, where the funeral, the ceremony will be held. But Berlusconi managed to be a very divisive figure until the very end of his career, meaning even with his death, because the government, which is a centralized government, so the product of -- actually of Berlusconi politics, decided to give him some state national tribute.

And, of course, there is a big chunk of the political arena that disagree with giving paying such a national tribute to a figure who was convicted for tax fraud, was accused of links with the Mafia. And so, it's -- even in moment of his death, Berlusconi remains a very controversial and divisive figure.

[08:20:06]

And we're looking at these images of the coffin leaving his villa, heading towards the Cathedral, saying their people lining the street. A lot of them were clapping. You could hear the clapping on the sound there. We'll bring that up in just a moment as well. But are these fans or are these people who, you know, are there witness a moment of history? Whether or not they agreed with him, he has a certain place, doesn't he, in where Italy is today?

BARIGAZZI: Listen, both, because on the one hand, a survey just published an hour ago shows that his party, after his death, got something like three points in the service because again, he was still very popular among the big chunks of the population. A kind of popularity not easy to often to understand, also because if you look, for example, at the economic performance of the country in the last 20 years, the economy basically virtually -- there was virtually no growth.

So it's not that you say, OK, the guy made the Italians much richer, and that's the reason why they love him. No, actually, it's despite all of this that there is still this kind of affection for a figure that anyway managed to be, you know, both a politician, often because he's better than you, and some other times because he's like you.

And Berlusconi often was both things. He was better the average man, because he was a self-man made billionaire. On the other hand, he was able to come across as the average Joe because he was there cracking jokes and reflecting basically all the downsides of the average Italian.

FOSTER: Incredible scenes there, as you say, thousands of people gathered about outside the cathedral. We saw dignitaries, Italian and European dignitaries arriving there. Very short notice, though, for them, isn't it, to get there in time?

So it's not going to be a full complement of world leaders, but I imagine many of them would have wanted to be there, particularly many autocratic leaders, populist leaders around the world.

BARIGAZZI: Yeah, I mean, until recently, Berlusconi created controversy because it still described Vladimir Putin as his friend. And much of his foreign policy when he was prime minister was to actually attract Russia and Turkey into the west.

But at the same time, the relations with these populist controversial figures that sometimes have been actually indicated as either his product or very close to him, sometimes the relationships were not so easy. For example, many times there have been commentators drawing a parallel with Donald Trump.

And in an interview years ago, he actually described Trump as too arrogant. And when I tried to interview him about it, one of his -- one of the closest persons to Berlusconi told me he doesn't like talking about Trump because, you know, he thinks that he has a tacky taste. And Berlusconi is convinced to have a very good taste.

And at the same time, he thinks that he's a ferment made and Trump is not. Then it's true that there were many, there are many common points with these kind of figures, because Berlusconi comes from the star system, which is part of the reason why it still is so popular.

And in the star system applies a rule that are very different than the political system. So, for example, if a manager breaks his hotel room, he gets fired. If a rock star breaks his hotel room, it's cool. Which is one of the reasons why these kind of figures like Berlusconi, like Trump, who come from the star system, actually, they can get away with many things because different kind of categories are applied to them. And Berlusconi is the perfect example of that.

FOSTER: OK. Jacopo, thank you so much for joining us from Politico as we watch the guests arriving for Silvio Berlusconi's funeral due to start in just over half an hour. The coffin is on its way there in a procession.

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FOSTER: A moment in Italian history unfolding before our eyes as we watch the coffin of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. In the hearse in that procession there, roads cleared as the coffin heads towards the cathedral in central Milan. You can see the scene outside there.

This is a full state funeral, a huge honor given to Berlusconi and many of people, of course, didn't agree with what he stood for, but everyone accepts that he was this towering figure not just in politics, but in culture. He was a leading businessman. He was a leading sports club owner as well, former owner of AC Milan.

So this is someone that certainly has his place in modern Italian history and that's being reflected today. Let's just listen in for a moment because we keep hearing this clapping.

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FOSTER: So we've seen clapping along the routes as well, with people gathered along there. So I think there'll be quite an eruption of response there in the square. Thousands of people gathered when the coffin actually arrives there.

Huge amounts of fans, of course, but this was a towering European figure as well, someone many say set the scene, really, for many of the populist leaders that followed him in other states around Europe. But this is a big moment for Italian history. We'll be following it throughout the day for you and bring you the highlights, if I can call them that from the service. But I think high spirits almost for a funeral today.

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