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Blinken Walks A Diplomatic Tightrope To Beijing; Hundreds Of Pakistanis Dead In Mediterranean Migrant Boat Disaster; Alexei Navalny Facing New Extremism Charges; Sudan's Warring Sides Agree To New 72- Hour Ceasefire; Hundreds Of Bodies Found In Forest Linked To Starvation Cult; British Parliament to Decide If Johnson Misled Lawmakers; Supreme Court to Issue Several Major Rulings; U.S. Youth Dying from Suicide and Homicide at Highest Rate in Decades; Brazil Death Toll Increases to 13; Airlines Struggle to Reach Sustainability; Pope Delivers Sunday Prayers Post Surgery. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired June 19, 2023 - 01:00 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: Welcome to all of our viewers watching from around the world. I'm Laila Harrak, ahead on CNN Newsroom. Walking a diplomatic tightrope. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrapping up his trip to China, an effort to far frosty relations between the two nations. But will his visit do much to ease the tension?
Pakistan in mourning, as we learned that hundreds of Pakistanis are among the dead after a boats packed with people sank off the coast of Greece. Plus, Boris may be out of power but the partygate scandal lives on. New video emerging that shows Johnson's aides partying at the height of the UK's COVID lockdowns.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from CNN Center. This is CNN Newsroom with Laila Harrak.
HARRAK: And we begin this hour in Beijing where the top diplomats from the U.S. and China have sat down for talks amid efforts to tamp down tensions between the world's two largest economies. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken held closed door discussions with China's top diplomat just a short time ago.
And this hour he set to begin roundtable talks with American exchange students and business leaders. On Sunday Mr. Blinken held talks with China's Foreign Minister who accepted an invitation to Washington.
Mr. Blinken's two day visit is the first by a U.S. Secretary of State to China in five years. Both sides have come into these meetings with a goal of improving their deeply strained relationship, but are playing down expectations of a major breakthrough. CNN's Kristie Lu Stout live in Hong Kong for you this hour with more.
Kristie, what's next now for Antony Blinken in Beijing and what have the U.S. and China discussed so far?
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Laila, this is the final day of Antony Blinken's visit to Beijing is both sides seek to improve and destabilize the relationship. We understand that he is still in a meeting with China's top diplomat Wang Yi. They've been having discussions for some three hours now at the Diaoyutai guest house in Beijing.
And he may and want to underscore may have a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping later. If that takes place I would be confirmed closer to the date. That is something we need to watch in the hours ahead.
But Antony Blinken is the first U.S. Secretary of State to visit China and some five years and before the meetings that took place today, he met with the Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang on Sunday they had what was described as candid talks that span for some seven and a half hours. And they agreed to maintain high level ties and Qin accepted an invitation to the U.S. and he called for stable relations, which is significant.
Now, China also address concerns and make clear the Taiwan is the core issue. I want to share with you a readout from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs saying this quote, Qin pointed out that the Taiwan question is the core of China's core interests. The most consequential issue and the most pronounced risk in the China-U.S. relationship unquote.
Now, expectations were low going into this high stakes visit. Before the talks began, U.S. officials said that they saw little chance of a breakthrough on the many points of contention between the U.S. and China including Taiwan, including access to sensitive technology like semiconductors, including territorial disputes and the flow of fentanyl source or precursor chemicals from China. And senior U.S. officials they have said that Blinken 's main goal here in Beijing is to just reestablish channels of communication to reestablish lines of communications between these two superpowers, especially direct military to military communications.
Also on the table global issues where these two nations have shared interests like public health, like climate change, like global economic stability.
Over the weekend, we did hear from the U.S. President Joe Biden, he said that he believes that Blinken's trip to China could ease tensions and the audit also said this, he added that he hopes to meet President Xi and quote the next few months. Back to you, Laila.
HARRAK: Kristie Lu Stout reporting from Hong Kong. Thank you so much.
And joining us now from Singapore is Bert Hofman. He was a World Bank Country Director for China and now the director of the East Asian Institute at the National University of Singapore and he's also professor Practice at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.
[01:05:04] A very good day, Mr. Hofman. Mr. Blinken's visit takes place, of course at a crucial time when there's this major trade spat brewing between the world's two top economies. Explain what is contributing to bilateral tensions?
BERT HOFMAN, DIRECTOR, East ASIAN INSTITUTE, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE: Well, I think there's issues from both sides. On the one hand, China feels that the United States and its partners are increasingly forming a containment strategy to China and specific interests. There are technology that the trade war unleashed by Donald Trump and more.
The United States having declared that it wants to compete with China is increasingly fearful that accidents may happen and the lack of communication, the lack of interaction could lead to in adverted conflict that everybody wants to avoid.
So there's this tension. And then there's tensions around Taiwan, the status of Taiwan, of course, the visit of Pelosi last year was adding to the tensions, the military exercises that China unleashed afterwards, it was a source of tension. There's lots of issues that such meetings need to discuss.
HARRAK: Right. I want to focus on trade with you because of your background. How is China approaching this visit? I mean, you touched upon it is all about the economy reaching?
HOFMAN: No, definitely not. I mean, there's a lot about China status in the world sovereignty about China's rise as a global leader. But of course, trade and the economy is not unimportant. And I think that is -- that was one of the key interests that drove China to taking the meeting with Blinken to restore some confidence also for international business.
It was striking that Bill Gates was visiting just before Blinken and actually got a meeting with Xi Jinping, which is quite rare.
China's economy has been affected by the Trump tariffs and now better technology restrictions that the United States has imposed upon it. But China is trying to work around it. If (INAUDIBLE) I'm here in Southeast Asia. And as lots of Chinese investments now coming here and producing for the U.S. market and for the European market, if you want to sidestep those economic sanctions that are imposed on it.
HARRAK: You referenced it and we were running also footage of Mr. Gates a meeting with the Chinese leader which was exceptional to see. He obviously is no longer -- he no longer has Microsoft. But still, it was very striking to see. How would you compare that to the reception that Secretary of State Blinken is getting?
HOFMAN: Well, Blinken got a business like reception is quite according to protocol, the way he was received at the airport. He is seeing his main counterpart Qin Gang. He is seeing the main leader on foreign policy Wang Yi, the director of the Communist Party Foreign Affairs Commission. So that's all good. And the meetings have been substantive. I heard that the meeting too
late yesterday was five and a half hours an hour longer than scheduled. And it was a two-hour dinner. So that is all fine. Of course, everybody has a lot of debate on whether Blinken must get a meeting with Xi Jinping.
Frankly, I think that would be nice. It would be an icing on the cake. And the meetings have gone this far, quite well. But I believe that Xi Jinping would rather choose a moment when the relationship are at a more stable level. Right now we're working towards that stable level.
HARRAK: I mean, yes. And that brings me to in terms of deliverables. I mean, is it possible to separate politics from business? I mean, is it possible to compartmentalize?
HOFMAN: Frankly, that's very hard both in China as well as in the United States. And China one of the key political concerns is national security. And that seems increasingly to affect the way China manages its economy. Of course on the United States, I just big partisan agreement on an anti-China sentiment and that the administration has to therefore balance with whatever it agrees with China, it also has to look over it shoulders, what is happening back home, and that's a difficult balancing act.
HARRAK: And in a few words, I just want to get this in here, you know, with the U.S. trying to decouple from China and trade being that crucial sticking point for Beijing. Can they bridge that gap? Because we heard Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen saying earlier this week describing decoupling from China as disastrous.
HOFMAN: So, I think the United States has changed its tone. Last year it was Jake Sullivan in September gave his speech was quite hawkish, and really talked about technological decoupling. More recently, Yellen, and also Sullivan himself have now talking about de risking, and really von der Leyen the EU president has promoted that term.
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Now the G7 is also talking about de-risking that is much more manageable and much more targeted if you want then a full decoupling and yellowness, right? Full decoupling from the Chinese economy was such a central role in manufacturing in global supply chains would be very, very damaging.
HARRAK: Bert Hofman, thank you so much.
Pakistan's government says more than 300 of its citizens are among the dead after a ship carrying migrants sank off the coast of Greece last week. The country has declared a national day of mourning.
Joining me now is CNN's Sophia Saifi in Karachi. Sophia, what questions are being asked by people in Pakistan after this boat tragedy that has resulted in the loss of so many lives of so many Pakistani nationals?
SOPHIA SAIFI, CNN PRODUCER: Laila, there's a sense of shock here in Pakistan. The kind of numbers that we're seeing I've only just started coming in. There is a lot of grief. There is a day of mourning across Pakistan. Pakistan's Prime Minister has called for an investigation. There are traffickers, human traffickers were being apprehended in Pakistan sports city of Karachi, as well as various airports.
Now there has been this crackdown, but this is still a very large death's door. There is an economic crisis that has gripped this country. There is an IMF loan that has been pending since last year, the rate of inflation as is at a record high across Pakistan.
Pakistan's major newspapers have put out editorials this morning here on Monday, on Monday in Pakistan, criticizing what they call a Europe (ph) xenophobic policies. They've accused the Greek authorities of not sharing enough information. And this is what we're hearing from political commentators here in Pakistan.
Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs came out and said that there have been about 12 survivors amongst the people who have survived from this horrific tragedy that has occurred. There are a lot of people grieving her in Pakistan, the majority of the people who are on that board. We're getting information from the provinces of Punjab on this -- on the -- in the east of Pakistan, and then in the north of Pakistan, in Kashmir.
300 people, according to the chairman of Pakistan Senate, those are 300 families that have been affected, and we're slowly getting their testimonials, because they're only just getting information about the number of people who have died about their family members who have been lost in this horrific tragedy.
There hasn't been a confirmation from the Greek authorities or what the exact number is. We're not -- we haven't received an exact confirmation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of what the exact number is, but this is definitely a huge tragedy that is going to have an impact here in Pakistan, Laila.
HARRAK: Indeed. CNN Sophia Saifi in Karachi, reporting there for you. Thank you so much.
Both Ukraine and Russia are reporting fierce fighting along the frontlines. Ukraine's president says the toughest battles are happening in the south but they're also raging in the east.
These Ukrainian forces are firing on Russian positions near the eastern city of Bakhmut. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says his troops are repelling Russian attacks around that area in the direction of Avdiivka. He says defense forces are making strong progress.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Russia will lose the occupied territories. There is no and will be no alternative to our steps for the occupation. Our troops are advancing position by position, step by step we are moving forward.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HARRAK: While the Russian side is giving conflicting reports about its possible losses. A Russian backed official in the Zaporizhzhia region says Ukraine has taken back one village on that front. But Russia's Ministry of Defense denies it saying they've repelled several of Ukraine's attempted advances around Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk.
And officials in Moscow are accusing Ukrainian forces of shelling inside Russia saying three settlements of the western region of Kursk came under fire on Sunday, causing damage to several buildings, while small, hastily organized groups of Ukrainian fighters were instrumental in blunting the original Russian invasion to seize Kyiv.
Well now those soldiers have evolved into a critical component of Ukraine strategy to push the Russians out of the country. CNN's Sam Kiley spoke exclusively with Ukrainian special ops team in Bakhmut on their efforts to tame Russian troops. Here's his report.
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SAM KILEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): A Special Forces night operation, the objective to bring a special kind of misery to Russian troops. As they arrived alongside Ukrainian regulars, the Russians attacked. A night vision recording of a routine assault that the Special Forces needed to shrug off.
KILEY (on camera): How long did you spend under fire like this before you could move?
"BRABUS", UKRAINIAN INTELLIGENCE SPECIAL OPS: The attack lasted about half an hour.
KILEY: And then what do you do?
BRABUS: After that, we took up an observation position and we watched them. We got to work.
KILEY (voiceover): Electronic surveillance pinpointed their victims. First, they killed two paratroopers approaching on their left flank to get to the group's main targets Russian commanders near Bakhmut, a sterile record of an all too gritty event in March.
First, one officer is shot. Then another down. He says radio intercepts revealed that the Russians lost two officers and five others to their sniper team that night.
BRABUS: The result of our operation was the demoralization of the Russian airborne unit because they lost their top leader.
KILEY: Formed when Russia invaded Ukraine last year. This team of experienced veterans works in a secret realm under the intelligence services. Their tasked with tactical work seeking strategic effect as Ukraine's counteroffensive takes shape.
Here using a modified heavy machine gun in a hidden bunker last month close to Bakhmut. Drone operators more than a mile away a directing Brabus onto Russian troops.
KILEY (on camera): How many Russians have you killed in this war?
BRABUS: A lot of. A lot of. A lot of. For example, here a lot of Russians.
KILEY: This is when you're on the (INAUDIBLE). How many more or less there?
BRABUS: I don't know. We didn't calculate.
KILEY: It's the Russians they want to do the counting. Because Ukraine's best hope is that Russian troops run rather than fight. Sam Kiley, CNN in eastern Ukraine.
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HARRAK: Meanwhile, we're seeing more environmental fallout from the collapse of Nova Kakhovka dam in Odesa, southern Ukraine. Beaches have been closed off after floodwaters washed downstream posing what officials call a genuine health threat to residents.
Debris from destroyed houses is washing up on shore. And authorities say Odesa's coastline is turning into a garbage dump and animal cemetery. While the water is turning up traces of salmonella, worm eggs and dangerously heightened levels of E. coli are further east in the Mykolaiv. Officials are warning residents against drinking water or swimming. They say they're detecting ammonia and the bacteria that causes cholera.
The United Nations is slamming Russia for blocking international humanitarian aid access to occupied regions. And here you see Russian volunteers pumping out water of people's homes and distributing bread in Russian occupied areas of Kherson. Residents are worried that no one will be brought to justice for the dam collapse.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We have no hope. We've managed to live until today. And thank God, no one thought it could happen. We didn't think. The most important thing now is that no one will be punished for that. No one. Not one person in the world will be punished for this torture we're going through this terrible catastrophe. That's what frustrates me, but no one will be punished for that.
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HARRAK: Well, jailed Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny is facing new charges that could keep him behind bars for several decades to come. Mr. Navalny is due to appear in a Moscow court via video link in just a few hours to turn the first hearing in a new extremism case against him.
The outspoken Kremlin critic is already serving two prison sentences for alleged fraud and parole violation or charges that Western governments and rights groups say are politically motivated. If he's convicted on the new charges he could be facing another 30 year term.
Still to come, the chilling investigation into a mass grave found in Kenya linked to a religious cult. Why police are calling what happened at the church disturbing and inhumane when we return.
Plus, tens of thousands of people flee Sudan, a look at the conditions they're facing in refugee camps.
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HARRAK: A 72-hour ceasefire has taken effect in Sudan following intense clashes Saturday night. Residents say there was a lull in fighting on Sunday in the capital Khartoum. The latest truce comes as the United Nations is set to host a donor's conference in the coming hours to raise funds for the war torn country. While meantime, thousands of people displaced by the violence trickling into neighboring Chad.
Nearly 2 million people have been internally displaced as the fighting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces enters its third month. Tens of thousands of Sudanese are also fleeing to South Sudan, a country already stretched for resources. And as CNN's Nima Elbagir finds out conditions in the refugee camps are dire, lacking even in basic facilities.
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NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (on camera): This is Africa's largest refugee crisis. And you can see the conditions here for yourself. The people here are being largely ignored by the world. Aid agencies are doing what they can, but it is simply not enough.
ELBAGIR (voiceover): South Sudan is one of the poorest countries in the world. They barely have enough to feed and shelter their own returnees. And they're also being asked now to absorb fleeing Sudanese and other foreign nationals with limited support from the outside world and it is almost impossible.
With rainy season starting what you see here, it's only going to get worse. So many of those speaking to us say that they feel a sense of humiliation that the message that they're receiving from the world from the international community is that they are not worthy of something (ph), and until aid arrives here in meaningful quantities. It's hard to argue with that. Nima Elbagir, CNN, Renk, South Sudan.
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HARRAK: Days after a brutal massacre at a Ugandan school, the families of the victims have begun laying their loved ones to rest.
At least 39 of the 41 victims were students and some of them were as young as 13. Six students are still missing from the attack and are considered abducted. The president of Uganda sent his condolences in a tweet and said the attackers would be hunted into extinction.
On Sunday, he ordered more soldiers to Western Uganda to pursue the rebels. An Islamist group known as the Allied Democratic Forces has been blamed for the attack. According to the U.S. State Department's they've had ties with ISIS since 2018.
Hundreds of bodies have been found in Kenyan forest as part of an investigation into a religious cult that pushed its members to starve themselves in exchange for salvation.
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According to court documents, the cult's leader encouraged members to quote neglect the children to starve and die. CNN's David McKenzie spoke with families affected by the group's practices. And we warn you, his report does contain disturbing material and may be hard to watch.
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DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): He called it the wilderness, luring his flock to a remote corner of Kenya. We've come to try and understand how over many months so many could die. In the Shakahola forest the data is still being found. Forensic teams carefully remove the remains of members of a Christian death cult from shallow graves. They have already unearthed more than 300 people, many of them children may be showing signs of starvation.
FRANCIS WANJE, FATHER OF CULT MEMBER: It's painful. It was so painful. This is my daughter.
MCKENZIE: Francis Wanje says his daughter and son-in-law, both abandoned good jobs and took their children to the forest cult. What happened next is hard to comprehend.
WANJE: In which we die to meet Jesus. And they have to start with the children.
MCKENZIE (on camera): The members of the cult including your own family, they were starving the children.
WANJE: Yes.
MCKENZIE: And then when the children didn't die quickly enough --
WANJE: They suffocate them.
MCKENZIE: They suffocate them.
WANJE: They suffocate them. Yes.
MCKENZIE: And this is your own blood.
WANJE: And I wonder where my children or my child my daughter could change to be such an unknown. A world unknown to kill her own children. MCKENIZE (voiceover): Pastor Paul Mackenzie began his cult in Malindi.
MCKENZIE (on camera): This is the church where Pastor Mackenzie had a huge following in his sermons.
MCKENZIE (voiceover): He amplified his message online. He preached a doomsday prophecy for at least a decade, calling on the faithful to reject modern society. Pull children from school avoid hospitals. He demanded total devotion.
You must deny yourself. You must reject yourself. You must reach a point of ending your life he says, for the sake of Jesus. His anti- government stance got him arrested and detained but never prosecuted.
In 2019, the church was closed down. Later the pastor started his forest community. We found a former cult member in Malindi. We agreed to hide her identity for her own safety. She escaped the forest last year.
MCKENZIE (on camera): Why did you move your whole home and all your children and move into the forest?
MCKENZIE (voiceover): The pastor used to call me she says he was calling me telling me, my daughter you are being left behind. And when the Ark is closed, it will be too late. So I decided to go.
When the COVID pandemic hit, she says many saw it as evidence that the prophecies were real. Mackenzie charged her family $80 for a piece of land in Galilee. There were seven other biblically named settlements in Shakahola with more than 1000 followers she says.
Still, cult members made regular trips to a nearby village for food and water. In December, those trips suddenly stopped, says this (INAUDIBLE) elder. The starvation had begun. He says they alerted authorities but they did nothing. Even after hungry children started escaping to the village.
It's been called the Shakahola massacre has shocked this nation. Pastor Mackenzie and his closest followers are being held under terror laws.
MCKENZIE (on camera): What happened in the forest with your followers?
PAUL NTHENGE MACKENZIE, CULT LEADER: I can tell nothing about thatBbecause I've been in custody for two months. So I don't know what is going outside there. Have you been there?
MCKENZIE (voiceover): Francis Wanje says there needs to be justice. He mounted a rescue mission to get his grandchildren out. When they found his grandson Ephrem, he was close to salvation. His two brothers were already dead.
WANJE: He went through hell. He went through hell and killing, in fact, when he was rescued he told them that if you could come here, maybe late -- a bit late already (INAUDIBLE) had already gone to see Jesus because the grave was there. MCKENZIE: The very highest levels of the Kenyan government have apologized for their inaction. And the pain it has cost. The scale of what happened in the forest is still being understood.
[01:30:02]
Hundreds are still missing and many more mass graves need to be exhumed.
David McKenzie, CNN -- Malindi, Kenya.
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LAILA HARRAK, CNN ANCHOR: And we'll be right back.
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HARRAK: Welcome back to our viewers all around the world. I'm Laila Harrak and this is CNN NEWSROOM.
In the coming hours British lawmakers are set to vote on whether to endorse a report which found that former prime minister, Boris Johnson misled Parliament about parties during the height of the coronavirus pandemic. Well, the parties were known for breaking Johnson's own policies on COVID lockdowns in a scandal that's been dubbed Partygate.
Well now, new video has emerged showing more government aides in attendance. Well, Johnson himself was also pictured at one of those events but he told parliament multiple times quote, "Guidance was followed and the rules followed at all times."
Well now, after resigning as both prime minister and as an MP, he faces more criticism for awarding top honors to allies accused of taking part in these parties.
CNN's Scott McLean has now more in the Partygate scandal from London.
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SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Now Boris Johnson is not in this video nor was it shot at Downing Street. But it is a timely example of lockdown rule-breaking within his own Conservative Party.
This video was published by the British tabloid, "The Mirror". It was shot at Conservative Party headquarters in December 2020 at a time when social distancing restrictions were enforced and two households were not allowed to mix indoors. Now there were exceptions for work but this was clearly not that.
The fact that the party took place at all has been reported by CNN before. But this is the first time that we've seen a video of it. Here's part of it.
Now London's Metropolitan Police has handed out fines for lockdown parties in the past. The force told CNN that it is aware of this footage and considering if the Conservative Party previously said that it had disciplined some of the people involved.
Conservative cabinet minister Michael Gove was also asked about this video on Sky News today and said it was completely out of order and terrible, in his words.
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MCLEAN: Now the gathering was organized by the campaign staff of London conservative mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey who previously apologized and resigned as the chair of a committee that he led at city hall.
Oddly enough though, Bailey was just given a peerage this week, meaning he has a lifetime appointment to the House of Lords, the U.K.'s version of the Senate. The man who made that appointment is Boris Johnson.
Now the video's release also comes just days after a parliamentary committee report found Johnson deliberately misled Parliament about his own separate lockdown parties. The report found that Johnson gave unsustainable interpretations of the rules that he helped to write.
For example, he insisted and continues to insist, in some cases, that the parties were essential for work purposes.
Now, parliament was scheduled to vote Monday on whether to accept the findings of the report which could have landed him a 90-day suspension. But since Johnson resigned as an MP in advance of the report's release calling it a witch hunt they will now debate whether he should even get the customary former members' pass to enter Parliament at all.
Scott McLean, CNN -- London.
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HARRAK: In the U.S. the Supreme Court is entering the final weeks ahead of a self-imposed deadline to issue rulings on several high- profile cases by next month. And these decisions could have far- reaching implications for many Americans.
CNN's Ariane de Vogue has more.
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ARIANE DE VOGUE, CNN U.S. SUPREME COURT REPORTER: All eyes are on this conservative Supreme Court to see just how fast and how far the conservative want to go to move the court to the right.
One big case they're considering concerns Affirmative Action and asked the question whether colleges and universities can continue to take race into consideration as a factor in admissions plans.
It has to do with plans out of Harvard and the University of North Carolina. The schools say that they want to be able to consider race in order to make sure that their campuses are diverse. They say that the campuses are often a pipeline to society, and it's a better academic environment to have a diverse academic experience.
On the other hand, challengers say that it violates equal protection. They say it amounts to racial discrimination and it shouldn't be allowed.
The Supreme Court in this case will consider whether to overturn decades' old precedent.
There's another case having to do with President Biden's student loan forgiveness plan. The plan was put in place to give relief to millions of borrowers in the wake of COVID. Some of them will get up to $20,000 of relief.
But here Republican-led states said that the Biden administration didn't have the authority basically to erase billions of dollars of debt. They said in that case it would have to be Congress that stepped in. And at oral arguments the conservative justices seemed very skeptical of the Biden administration's position in the case.
Finally, there's a really important case that's important to the LGBTQ community. It involves a Web site designer. She wants to expand her business to make Web sites that celebrate weddings, but she does not want to create them for same-sex marriages.
And here the LGBTQ community comes in and says that if she wins, then businesses would have a license to discriminate.
But on the other side she says, the Web site designer, she look to this through a lens of free speech. She says that the government can't force her to create a custom product with a message that goes against her religious beliefs.
Ariane de Vogue, CNN -- Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRAK: Scientists say access to gender-affirming care can be key to improving the mental health of transgender adults. Researchers say it also significantly decreases depression and risk of suicide.
The study is still undergoing peer review and has not yet been published. But the research comes as state legislators across the U.S. debate proposed restrictions to gender-affirming care for transgender youth.
Meantime a new CDC report is painting a disturbing picture of the mental health crisis among youth in the United States. The report says young people in the country are dying from suicide and homicide at the highest rates in decades.
CNN medical correspondent Meg Tirrell has the details.
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MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: The CDC report is alarming on a number of levels. If you look at suicide rates among people ages 10- 24 they've really been increasing back to 2007, up 62 percent in that time and the rate now at about 11 out of 100,000 is the highest since 1968.
There are also alarming trends in the homicide rate which is now similar, 11 out of 100,000. That jumped about 30 percent or more in the first year of the pandemic.
[01:39:58]
TIRRELL: That's a trend we've been seeing even more broadly than just in kids and young adults. But it is one that we see here as well in the data and it's something that is very concerning to public health experts.
Now to put those numbers into real numbers that's about 7,000 deaths per year from each suicide and homicide in the United States in this age group.
So it's just incredibly concerning that homicide rate is the highest since 1997. Now, if you dig into the data and look at it by age group, some really scary trends emerge there as well particularly in the youngest kids they looked at here.
Between ages 10 and 14, the suicide rate tripled between 2007 and 2018. So this is something that public health experts are paying extremely close attention to. Just this week, the American Medical Association called children's mental health a, quote, "crisis situation" and voted to adopt a new policy to advocate for their mental health.
You know, that really includes ensuring that kids get access to care. There have been studies that show that nearly half of young adults don't receive mental health services that they need.
There's also a shortfall in the workforce to provide mental health care to kids. So that's something that the AMA is really focused on as well. You know, not just the AMA, the surgeon-general actually put out a report in 2021 focused on youth mental health.
So this is something that the public health community as a whole is looking at very closely. And these numbers are a reminder about how important it is.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRAK: Sustainability and airline are not to words that traditionally go together, at least not yet. So we will talk with a travel industry expert about the alternative fuels and other innovative technology that one day might help airlines be part of the climate solution.
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HARRAK: The death toll from Friday's cyclone in southern Brazil has risen to 13. Among the dead are a 14-year-old and a 4-month-old baby.
CNN's Rafael Romo has the story. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Civil defense authorities in Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul say that in addition to the people who died, the extra-tropical cyclone has also left 3,700 people homeless and 700 displaced. A 4-month-old baby is among the dead in the city near Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul's state capital.
The baby's family was apparently unable to get medical help when here she was choking during the storm. A 14-year-old was swept away by floodwater in Quarai (ph).
Local officials say at least 20 people are still missing in the same city and another one nearby called (INAUDIBLE). The cyclone caused heavy rains and storm winds in southern (ph) Santa Catarina state. According to a report by the official Brazilian government news agency.
[01:44:50]
ROMO: The damage was even worse in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil's southernmost state located just north of Uruguay. The heavy rains were followed by flash floods and landslides that affected as many as 41 cities in those two states.
Rio Grande do Sul's Governor Eduardo Leite said the firefighters sent to the affected areas have rescued around 2,400 people over the past few days and are still trying to help more victims.
Rafael Romo, CNN -- Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRAK: A church in Mexico submerged for about 60 years has reappeared. No apparent divine reason for the change. Climate change is more like it.
The area where the church is located was flooded in the 1960s after the creation of a nearby dam. But high temperatures and droughts in Mexico have dried up the water exposing the structure once again.
Tourists say they are enjoying exploring the ruins but local fishermen say it is hurting their business.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIGUEL GARCIA AGUILERA, FISHERMAN (through translator): The water is very high. The temperatures very hot. So what it does was kill the fish. The fish can't resist. So that's where we are having a lot of losses.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRAK: Now, in the past, parts of the church have been visible when water levels were low. But this is the first time it's been fully exposed. Conservationists in England are warning of disastrous conditions for
wildlife after a river in one of the country's wettest locations dried up. Parts of England's Cumbria Region have been hit by prolonged drought conditions for a third year in a row.
Now officials are working to find restoration strategies to help mitigate the effects of climate change in the area.
"Sustainability" isn't a word one normally associates with the airlines but with the number of air passengers now close to pre- pandemic levels, many flyers are demanding the airlines adopt eco- friendly practices. And they're doing it in different ways.
Some in Europe are cutting back on regional flights that use more fuel or promise to stop using fossil fuels on domestic flights by the year 2030.
Other allies are looking to alternative fuels such as the biofuel SAF, electricity and hydrogen. Some others are cutting down on single use plastics. The challenge is well understood but with most passenger planes built for fossil fuels, progress is difficult to achieve.
And as one environmental expert says if airlines were a country, it will be one of the world's top 10 sources of greenhouse gases.
And I'm delighted to welcome now Simon Calder. He's the travel correspondent for "The Independent" and he comes to us now live from London.
Simon, thank you so much for getting up so early for us. Greatly appreciate it.
Now with the summer travel frenzy underway a lot of people are flying, you know, more than ever. What makes flying especially harmful to our climate?
SIMON CALDER, TRAVEL CORRESPONDENT, "THE INDEPENDENT": It simply depends on fossil fuels which are incredibly energy dense. That means that they are absolutely the best way for getting us into the air and flying us either long or very short distances.
And actually interestingly that over the weekend, we had Qantas, the Australian airline outlining its plans for what is probably going to be the first flight ever which is a nonstop flight from New York and from London direct to Sydney. A flight of over 20 hours, which is probably going to burn more fuel than any other previous flight simply because it needs to carry so much fuel to carry the fuel for later in the flight.
So yes, here we are getting back to the pre-pandemic numbers. We have 38.9 million flights in 2019. We won't quite get there this year but the trend is most definitely towards more flying which of course means more environmental damage.
HARRAK: Can flying ever, Simon be climate-friendly? CALDER: Well, that's exactly what the airlines say. For instance, the
International Air Transport Association says that by 2050 the industry will be net zero. It will not contribute more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere that it actually takes out.
And there are several ways of looking at this. One that a lot of people are landing on is sustainable aviation fuel. This is made from waste products, it's made from renewable biomass.
And the trouble is, a couple of things. First of all, it doesn't actually necessarily reduce your emissions significantly.
Secondly, there's hardly any -- of all the fuel used last year only one part in 1,000 was from sustainable aviation fuel.
The other hopes for the future are hydrogen although that is still some way from getting significant traction, and electric aircraft.
[01:49:46]
CALDER: And in fact, probably in terms of the largest number of airlines saying we are going to do something about this whether they are big global carriers such as United or small regional operators such as Wideroe (ph) of Norway, they are saying 2028 is when we will start having commuter jets powered by electricity and that hopefully, at least on the very short hops will work.
The trouble with batteries is that they are pretty good for powering cars but the energy required to get an aircraft off the ground is astronomical. And then you've got to carry the battery, unlike fuel it doesn't get burned off as you fly.
HARRAK: So very interesting ideas there that the aviation industry is considering. But are these more like ambitions? Are they more aspirational in nature? Or is it also part of, you know, green watching project.
CALDER: Well yes. There are a lot of cynic out there who say actually that having a deadline of 2050 is convenient, a lot of the executives who are making that decision, because they know they won't be executives in 27 years' time.
And actually Akbar Al Baker, who is the chief executive of a very big airline, Qatar Airways, says no, this is really just green washing. Aviation is essential to the world economy. Yes, it makes a mess but we jut have to get used to it.
The chorus from a number of the airlines is that yes, we are doing our best. Other people have pointed out that single use plastics, it's great to get rid of them, but it's not quite on the same scale as reducing the number of flights.
And if I may maybe, you mentioned the French example of we're going to get rid of any flight under two and a half hours where you could cover it by rail. Well, unfortunately, what France has done is not (INAUDIBLE) at all
because it just fly on a connecting flight to Paris Charles de Gaulle. Those are still going from cities such Lyon and Bordeaux at (INAUDIBLE) in France because Air France we need to connect traffic.
HARRAK: And a few words I guess the best solution, Simon, is just to not fly at all. But is that realistic?
CALDER: Well look, increasingly good rail services, particularly in Europe and in China, that is reducing the need for aviation. But the U.S., I'm sorry to say is a long way behind.
HARRAK: From London, Simon Calder travel correspondent for "The Independent", thank you.
CALDER: Thank you.
HARRAK: And still to come, how fast can you solve a Rubik's Quick Cube? One21-year-old just set a world record that will shock you. That is next.
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HARRAK: A large crowd gathered at the Vatican City for the Pope's first Sunday prayers since being discharged from the hospital on Friday.
CNN's Barbie Nadeau has more from Rome.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBIE NADEAU, CNN REPORTER: Pope Francis looked good and sounded strong as he delivered his Angelus over a crowd that had gathered in St. Peter's Square on Sunday morning. That is just two days after he was released from the Gemelli Hospital in Rome.
The Pontiff, 86 years old, underwent surgery on June 7th, a three-hour procedure and was convalescing in the hospital ever since. He was not strong enough to give his Angelus on Sunday from the hospital, but he looked good this Sunday. He looked strong.
Now the Vatican has canceled his Wednesday audience and will keep his schedule light. However he is scheduled to meet the leaders of Cuba and Brazil in private audiences during the week.
[01:54:59]
NADEAU: Normally the Pontiff does not hold Wednesday audiences in July, so he will be keeping a lighter schedule. All of this ahead of two very important trips he has coming up. The first week of August he's expected to go to Portugal for World Youth Day, and the end of August, he has an apostolic voyage to Mongolia.
Barbie Latza Nadeau, CNN -- Rome.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRAK: Well, for most of us solving a Rubik's Cube at all is no easy feat, but for one speed cuber from California it is a walk in the park.
That is speed cubing legend Max Park and he made history last weekend by solving a Rubik's Cube in just -- get this -- 3.13 seconds. That's right, seconds.
The 21-year-old now holds the Guinness World Record for the fastest time ever at solving the cube. The champion's father spoke about his son's achievement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCHWAN PARK, FATHER OF MAX PARK: I don't think, he sort of really is impressed with the pageantry and the fame that comes with it.
I think he is just so much more focused on the actual times and beating the times and his goals. It is funny because I think maybe part of his autism just prevents him from really understanding the fame or the adulation.
I think he intellectually understands it, but I don't think he feels it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRAK: The Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series continued on Sunday with its second event taking place along the banks of the Seine River in Paris.
Romania's Constantin Popovici and Australia's Rhiannan Iffland took two top honors in the men's and women's categories respectively, earlier this month. They also won the first event of the world series in Boston. The next event is scheduled for July 2nd in Italy.
And finally, sausage dogs unite. Dachshund owners in Melbourne, Australia are celebrating after breaking a Guinness World Record on Sunday for walking on the largest walk by a single breed. Devoted to a Dachshund rescue group organized the mass walk. The group's leader said she thought it was time the dachshund got the title of top dog.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADELE GULLICK, EVENT ORGANIZER: The current record is 1,029 beagles in the U.K. So we are hoping today that we can beat the beagles.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRAK: And they did just that. The official tally was almost 1,400 dachshunds beating the old record set in April of 2018.
Good stuff.
Thanks so much for spending this part of your day with us. I'm Laila Harrak.
Do stick around. My colleague Rosemary Church will be back with more news in just a moment.
I will see you next time.
[01:57:56]
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