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CNN International: 2000 Plus Killed as Fighting Enters Third Month; Pope Francis Released from Rome Hospital; Spotify & Archewell End Partnership; Several U.S. Agencies Hit by Hackers; Montana Emerges as Climate Battleground. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired June 16, 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 HOST: Hello, you're watching CNN "Newsroom", I'm Max Foster in London. Just ahead, explosions in Kyiv just as African leaders arrive in the Ukrainian capital on a peace mission. Ukraine's Foreign Minister says it's clear the attack show Russia is not interested in peace.

Then Chinese President Xi Jinping greets Microsoft Co-Founder Bill Gates as China's old friends. Their talks coming just hours before the U.S. Secretary of State travels to China for a high stakes visit and the first ever constitutional climate change trial in the history of the United States.

CNN meets the young residents of the U.S. state of Montana, fighting for a healthier environment. Explosions rocked the skies over Kyiv is even as several African leaders arrived in the Ukrainian capital hoping to mediate a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.

The African delegation, which includes South Africa's President, will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy today, then head to Russia for talks with Vladimir Putin. On Saturday, Ukraine's Foreign Minister tweeted that Moscow's missile attacks are a message to Africa.

The Russia wants more war, not peace. Ukraine says it down some 12 Russian missiles. Sam Kiley joins us now live from the capital Kyiv. Was there a message in these missiles landing at this time, Sam?

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Max, it's bizarre really if you think that Cyril Ramaphosa has suffered International in terms of Western condemnation for his continued relationship with Vladimir Putin. It wasn't very long ago that the U.S. Embassy in South Africa was alleging that South Africans had provided ammunition to Russia.

The Head of the South African Armed Forces has been in liaison with Russia. They've had joint exercises with Russia very angry criticism from Western allies of the South Africans for what they perceive to be a degree of support even and certainly not condemnation of Vladimir Putin.

Now, we have this missile attack against the city that these African leaders including the South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, visiting. They're coming with a peace deal, I think potentially that is something that the Russians are going to reject out of hand or perhaps they are sending a signal, perhaps their command and control isn't that joined up?

I suspect it's more of the latter. But if it is the former in terms of diplomacy, the African proposal is for a complete withdrawal of Russian forces, among other things, which of course, the Russians are ruling out, even as they head on to continue their discussions in Moscow, but six of the missiles fired here were the Kinzhal hypersonic missiles the most potent missile in the Russian armory.

They were all shot down when assumed by the American made Patriot missiles. The Germans have just announced they're sending another 40 of the missiles themselves, not the missile systems but the missiles themselves because of course above all the Ukrainians are dealing with Russian efforts to overwhelm their air defenses.

Soak up their capability to defend themselves and then try to hit both civilian and military targets in the future, which is why I think NATO partners are also donating more and more, short to medium range missile systems and ultimately, even F-16 aircraft which are look like they might be imminent in terms of donation to Ukraine. There are indeed Ukrainian pilots either in or soon to join, training programs to learn to fly those American made aircraft, Max.

FOSTER: OK, Sam Kiley, thank you for the update. Mine crew members who survived when a boat carrying hundreds of migrants capsized in the Mediterranean Sea have been arrested. The disaster earlier this week killed nearly 78 people with possibly hundreds more still missing.

The crew were arrested on suspicion of people smuggling manslaughter by negligence and causing a shipwreck for those who were rescued there's still a desperate hope for more survivors being found. This video shows the emotional moment two brothers were reunited following Wednesday's disaster.

The fighting in Sudan is now in its third month with no end in sight. More than 2000 people are believed to have been killed and the U.N. reports most hospitals near conflict areas are out of service. Doctors without borders describe the situation in the capital Khartoum has profoundly chaotic and violent fighting broke out in April between Sudan's army and the paramilitary rapid support forces.

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And CNN we'll take a closer look at the conflict throughout the day in an exclusive report CNN's Nima Elbagir reveals how the notorious Russian mercenary group Wagner is playing a key role in the fight is a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The fighting on the streets of Sudan is relentless. Ceasefire after ceasefire has not helped the RSS key ally than its words Russian mercenary group Wagner has been sustaining their fight and providing the impetus to slaughter innocent people by supplying arms. We're going to show you how.

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FOSTER: Well, you can see nevus full report later today 3 pm in London 4 pm in Khartoum, right here on CNN. The U.S. Secretary say Antony Blinken heads to China in just a few hours a trip that's been delayed for several months amid strained relations between the two superpowers.

Blinken was originally supposed to visit China in February but that trip was canceled when a suspected Chinese spy balloon was discovered floating over the U.S. Chinese state media has had little to say about what will be the most senior visit by an American official in five years.

A high profile American business leader met with China's President on Friday. Bill Gates sat down with Xi Jinping in Beijing. Gates is the first Foreign Business Leader Mr. Xi has met in recent years due to the COVID pandemic. Xi called the Microsoft Founder, an old friend of China.

Let's bring in CNN's Anna Coren in Hong Kong. But this wasn't about Microsoft, was it? This is more about his philanthropic work.

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely. But I think it's fair to say that Bill Gates was given a very warm welcome by the Chinese Leader in Beijing. Gates is in China to discuss global health issues as Co-Chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation specifically to renew its collaboration with the Beijing government to develop innovative therapies for infectious diseases.

As you mentioned, Max, Xi referred to Gates as his friend. And so they hadn't seen each other for many years, obviously, due to COVID, in which China, as we know, basically cut itself off from the world during the Pandemic. Xi spoke very fondly of Gates as someone who's done a lot for China's development. Let's take a listen.

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XI JINPING, CHINESE PRESIDENT: You're the first American friend I've met in Beijing this year. I often say the basis of China-U.S. relations is among the people. We've always placed our hopes on the American people. In today's world, we can engage in all sorts of activities beneficial to our two countries, to the people of the two countries and all of humanity. We're all pushing forward in this aspect.

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COREN: Now, Bill Gates, he arrived in China on Wednesday, as you may recall, Max, you know, he stepped down from the Microsoft board back in 2020, to focus on global philanthropy. The last reported meeting between Xi and Gates was back in 2015, at a forum in Hainan. Xi wrote a letter to Bill Gates in 2020, thanking him and his foundation for support for China's fight against COVID. Let's have a listen to what Bill Gates had to say today.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why is Xi?

BILL GATES, CO-FOUNDER OF MICROSOFT: Very honored to have this chance to meet. And we've always had great conversations and we'll have a lot of important topics to discuss today. I was very disappointed. I couldn't come during these last four years. And so it's very exciting to be back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: So Gates visit, Max, as you mentioned in your introduction comes in a time when tensions are very high between the U.S. and China. The U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will arrive in China this weekend in an attempt to reset relations but he has said that expectations are low.

His trip was originally scheduled for February but obviously postponed due to that suspected Chinese spy balloon that flew over the US airspace. Xi as we saw may have given a very warm reception to Bill Gates but it's uncertain if you will even meet with Antony Blinken, China and the U.S. neither have confirmed to in fact, Antony Blinken will be meeting with, Max.

FOSTER: OK, Anna Coren in Hong Kong. Thank you. Pope Francis is backing home at the Vatican after being discharged from a Rome hospital earlier on Friday. The 86 year old pontiff had abdominal surgery nine days ago to repair a hernia. The hospital staff gathered to say goodbye.

As he left Pope Francis joked with reporters saying thank you journalists. I'm still alive. One of those journalists is Barbie Nadeau. I mean, they never said this was a serious concern that people are obviously worried when he goes to hospital.

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BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, I think any 86 year old person with persistent health problems that undergoes a very lengthy surgery. The surgery was three hours under which time he was under general anesthesia. Of course you're going to be worried if it was a grandparent or an elderly parent or something like that.

But this is no ordinary man Pope Francis has proven time and time again that he has energy and stamina of a person far younger than his years. After he left the hospital, you know, joking with reporters and you know, greeting the so many people that were out there, some of them patients, some of them had come specifically to see him try to get a glimpse of the Pope. He went to the Basilica of St. Mary major here in Rome. That's a very important cathedral, where he always goes before and after his trips abroad. So he went there to pray. Before he went back to the Vatican City where he went right straight into Santa Marta where he lives and we expect him to be resting.

He's got a big day Sunday, Sunday noon, he has is expected to give his Angelus blessing out at the crowds who will be in full force I'm sure in St. Peter's Square that has been confirmed by the Vatican barring any changes, of course. So, you know, this is a very, very inspirational man to a lot of people and obviously, a man who wants to stay on the job, Max.

FOSTER: Barbie in Rome, thank you. At least 9 people have died and 23 had been injured so far after a tropical cyclone hit parts of India and Pakistan. People joy made landfall last Thursday in India's Gujarat state. Some areas along the coast have been inundated with heavy rain flash flooding, damaging winds and storm surges.

Heavy rainfall warnings are still in place for Northwest India through Saturday. Forecasters say people joy will continue to weaken as it moves further inland. In the U.S., more than 50 million people across a large swathe of the country around a severe weather threat. It comes just a day after a small Texas town took a direct hit from a powerful tornado on Thursday, leaving three people dead and dozens injured.

The tornado carved a path of destruction 2.5 kilometers long. According to Perryton's fire chief. Property damages extensive homes and towns. The town's fire department and some businesses impacted by the storm as well. Lucy Kafanov joins us from Perryton in Texas. I mean, the damage from those aerial pictures is really you know, worrying. How's everyone keeping?

LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A lot of folks are trying to figure out how to cope, Max. Sadly, as daylight breaks, the scale of this destruction is becoming more apparent down the street behind me is Main Street, that area took a direct hit. You can see in the distance, there's a search and rescue team.

Over behind me there's this mangled red and white structure. I want to draw your attention to that because that is a cell phone tower. It's supposed to be at least twice the height. It looks like a child's toy that's been snapped in half. A lot of folks here are trying to cope with what happened trying to understand the full scale.

The power in this town is still out a lot of the power lines have been destroyed. And look down this alleyway here you can see just how devastating the force of this tornado was. Residents that I spoke to said that there was no time to get away. People in this part of the country are used to bad weather.

They're used to tornadoes, there's even shelters here just for that purpose. But there was simply no time to escape to one. Take a listen to what one resident told me.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JAMIE JAMES, TORNADO SURVIVOR: It started raining a little bit. And it had a little bit of hail like five or six little pellets of hail every 1000 raindrops it was just barely sprinkling. And all of a sudden the tornado formed and it just dropped on us. It came out of nowhere. And there were no sirens. No time to get to shelter.

KAFANOV (on camera): Was there a moment where you feared you might not make it?

JAMES: Yes, ma'am. And there was a time where I thought that I was going to die and I was going to leave a lot of things I'm done. I know there are people here who died today. Serve in our community. The best people I've ever met in my life are here in this town wonderful, wonderful people.

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KAFANOV: Three people tragically lost their lives, dozens wounded, hundreds left without homes and they need everything right now, food, shelter, blankets, anything that you can possibly think of these folks need, Max.

FOSTER: We'll see. Thank you. Prince Harry and Meghan may be out of the podcasting business at least for now. Their company Archewell as ended his partnership with Spotify a joint statement said the decision to part ways was mutual. When the deal was announced in December of 2020, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex we're going to produce several programs.

However, a podcast and a holiday special were the only ones that came to fruition. This comes just two weeks after Spotify announced 200 job cuts.

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Still to come multiple U.S. government agencies hit by cyber-attacks but just how worried should we be?

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FOSTER: What we know about the cyber-attacks against parts of the U.S. government. The U.S. says it's assessing the damage from attacks on Thursday that impacted several government agencies, the breach is being blamed on Russian hackers known for extorting ransom from their victims.

These hacks come days after several large British companies were targeted in cyber-attacks, including British Airways. CNN's Cybersecurity Reporter, Sean Lyngaas is with us now. Just take us through how these hacks have worked, because it's extraordinary that these very large companies are being targeted successfully.

SEAN LYNGAAS, CNN CYBERSECURITY REPORTER: That's right, Max, I mean, something like this, when there's a software vulnerability, that software that's used across the world, major companies, banks, airlines, government agencies in the U.S. and elsewhere. Once there's vulnerability out there those hackers are able to weaponize and unbeknownst to the outside world, that there's this vulnerability, and they're able to burrow into these organizations, it becomes difficult to remediate. And the government and the private sector was playing catch up, in this case was very opportunistic.

These alleged Russian cyber criminals were hoping to hit as many organizations as they could, and from there to see who they could extort shakedown for ransom. I mean, they've been known to ask for audacious amounts of money tens of millions of dollars. They don't always get what they want.

But they certainly have had some success over the years otherwise they wouldn't be in this business. Now, in the case of the U.S. government, that again, this was opportunistic, so I'm not sure even the hackers want it to be in those systems because it invites extra scrutiny.

And they have said that they're not going to publish any data stolen for the government. It's more embarrassing for the U.S. government in terms of their defenses. They were the ones that warned about this vulnerability a few weeks ago. Now they're summoning all the resources they can.

They're trying to help the most vulnerable organizations, which in the U.S. here can be healthcare organizations or smaller financial institutions to recover to encourage them not to pay the ransom, because that just ends up fueling future attacks. So it's a very fluid situation, Max.

They're trying to assess the damage. And it of course, comes almost two years after President Joe Biden met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and urged him to rein in these types of hacks. But obviously, with bilateral relations, plummeting after the Russian full scale invasion of Ukraine, that kind of cooperation, if it ever was going to happen is certainly a distant prospect right now, Max.

FOSTER: As I understand it, in the U.K. example it was a hack into the companies.

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It was a hack into a company that supplied file sharing services.

LYNGAAS: That's right.

FOSTER: Just sort of got between those two companies effectively.

LYNGAAS: Yes, in the U.K., it was a payroll Human Resources firm that was hit, because they were using the software tool made by this U.S. Company. So it's like a nesting doll of vulnerabilities here. But the payment processor was hid. And the payment processor works with the BBC, British Airways.

And so it allowed the hackers to steal personal data belong to those employees. So those big companies are also trying to protect their employees in terms of credit monitoring, monitoring the dark web for extortion, that kind of thing. They have not commented, when CNN asked about any ransom demands, and I have received, Max.

FOSTER: That would suggest that they're negotiating or not. Sorry, just briefly.

LYNGAAS: It could, it usually that they will post the victims' names when the negotiations fail. So if those names aren't on the dark web shaming website, then it could mean that negotiations are ongoing, but we don't really have that information.

FOSTER: -- obviously, Sean Lyngaas, thank you very much indeed for joining us with that. Now ahead, you'll meet the climate kids who are fighting for renewable energy in Big Sky Country.

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FOSTER: As the U.S. Presidential race heats up Montana is emerging as a key climate battleground. Now there's a group of so called Climate kids who are taking on their state's addiction to fossil fuels. CNN's Bill Weir reports.

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BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In Big Sky Country, it's a story fit for a big screen. On one side 16 young people from ranches, reservations and boomtowns across Montana ranging in age from 5 to 22. On the other side, the Republican led state of Montana, which lost a three year fight to keep this case out of court.

But it is still determined to let fossil fuels keep flowing. Despite the warnings from science, that burning them will only melt more glaciers, black and more skies and ravaged more rivers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Based on the evidence you've seen. Does it point to harm for these you plaintiffs?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Climbed out and accelerating farm in the future.

WEIR (voice over): And the whole plot pivots around the Montana constitution that promises the state shall maintain and improve a clean and healthful environment for present and future generations.

NATE BELLINGER, SENIOR STAFF ATTORNEY OF OUR CHILDREN'S TRUST: They filed several different motions to try and have the case dismissed. None of those motions have been successful.

WEIR (voice over): While the first week included scientists testifying to the data.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dr. Stanford has fishing for bull trout and native cutthroat trout already been impacted by climate change?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, they're definitely.

WEIR (voice over): The emotion has come from plaintiffs laying out their stories of loss.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, it's really scary seeing what you care for disappear right in front of your eyes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How does it make you feel knowing that the state is not considering climate impacts in its permitting decisions?

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SARIEL SANDOVAL, PLAINTIFF OF OUR CHILDREN'S TRUST: Makes me feel like the state is prioritizing profits over people because they know that there is visible harm coming to the land and to the people. And they're still choosing to make money instead of care for Montanans.

WEIR (voice over): While the State's Attorneys briefly questioned the plaintiff's ability to connect her mental health to the climate, they've mainly saved cross examination for the experts.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If the judge ordered that we stopped using fossil fuels in Montana, with that get us to the point where these plaintiffs are no longer being harmed and your opinion?

STEVE RUNNING, PROFESSOR EMERITUS AT UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA: We can tell in advance because what is been shown in history over and over and over again, as when a significant social movement is needed. That often is started by one or two or three people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know that climate change is what -- .

WEIR (voice over): Judge Kathy Seeley doesn't have the power to shut down any extraction or usage of fossil fuels. But a judgment for the young plaintiffs could set a powerful precedent for Our Children's Trust.

BELLINGER: I think we're really at a tipping point right now.

WEIR (voice over): The Oregon nonprofit is also helping kids in Hawaii sue their state over tailpipe emissions. And they've revived Juliana v. United States, the Federal case that could end up before the Supreme Court.

CLAIRE VLASES, PLAINTIFF OF OUR CHILDREN'S TRUST: I just recently graduated high school but I think it's something everyone knows, is that we have three branches of government for a reason. The judicial branch is there to keep a check on the other two branches. And that's what we're doing here.

WEIR (voice over): Claire Vlases grew up in beautiful booming, Bozeman and like the other kids too young to vote, she sees the courts as the only place for someone like her to have a voice.

VLASES: It's hard knowing the power to make changes in the hands of other people, especially my government. And I hope that as a young person, we might actually have a chance to make a difference and for my life and for my kids life. You know, not all hope, maybe last.

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FOSTER: That was CNN's Bill Weir reporting. Thanks for joining me here on CNN "Newsroom", I'm Max Foster in London. I will be back with more news in "First Move" in just half an hour, but first "World Sport" with Don Riddell.

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