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CNN International: Race Intensifies to Find Missing Sub; Examining the Construction of the Titan Submersible; Biden Hosting India's Modi for State Visit; One Palestinian Killed in Settler Rampage; Idaho Prosecutors: DNA Found at Crime Scene is Statistical Match for Suspect; Lab-Grown Meat Cleared for Sale in U.S. Aired 4:30- 5a ET
Aired June 22, 2023 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Bianca Nobilo.
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Max Foster. If you're just joining, us let me bring you up to date with our top stories this hour.
The search and rescue efforts to locate the Titan submersible is at a critical stage, as oxygen on board the vessel may soon run out. The Titan lost contact with its mothership on Sunday on its way to explore the wreckage of the Titanic.
Severe weather is hitting the central U.S. with more than 100 storms reported Wednesday. At least 11 tornadoes have been reported so far, with that number reported to increase.
NOBILO: Back now to our top story. Search and rescue crews are putting out all the stops to find Titan, the high tech, supposedly, deepwater submersible that went missing Sunday during a sightseeing drive to the Titanic shipwreck. Canadian surveillance planes picked up unspecified banging noises Tuesday and early Wednesday, but nothing has been reported since. Five people are aboard the sub, including OceanGate CEO, Stockton Rush, whose company designed and built the vessel.
FOSTER: More questions are emerging about the Titan's construction and seaworthiness. CNN's Gabe Cohen spoke with an expert who raised a number of concerns as the sub was being built.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILL KOHNEN, PRESIDENT AND CEO, HYDROSPACE GROUP: We are all in a position right now saying what could we have done?
GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Will Kohnen remembering back to 2018 when he says he penned a letter first obtained by "The New York Times" to OceanGate CEO, Stockton Rush warning that what he called the company's experimental approach could have serious consequences.
KOHNEN: This is an extremely difficult situation to be in. COHEN (voice over): Kohnen who heads the submarine committee of the Marine Technology Society was concerned that OceanGate wasn't following the same safety standards as other vessels because the Titan hadn't gone through independent testing and wasn't certified by an industry group. Which he says isn't required to dive in international waters, but is an industry standard.
KOHNEN: There are 10 submarines in the world that can go 12,000 feet and deeper. Out of those 10, all of them are certified except the OceanGate submersible.
COHEN: You believed this expedition would be too dangerous without being certified?
KOHNEN: Yes.
COHEN (voice over): He says he spoke to Stockton Rush and voiced those concerns.
KOHNEN: We agreed to disagree, and many of us do feel that it may have been preventable if the vehicle had been certified.
COHEN (voice over): In a 2019 blogpost, OceanGate defended the company's decision saying certifying Titan could take years and stifle innovation and while they've used those standards as a benchmark in the past, quote, by itself classing is not sufficient to ensure safety.
STOCKTON RUSH, CEO OCEANGATE EXPEDITIONS: Acrylic Plexiglas.
COHEN (voice over): Rush, who is one of the missing crew has touted his maverick approach to innovation.
RUSH: You know, I've broken some rules to make this.
[04:35:00]
I think I've broken them with logic and good engineering behind me, the carbon fiber and titanium. There's a rule you don't do that, well, I did. It's picking the rules that you break that are the ones that will add value to others and add value to society.
COHEN (voice over): But that approach drew criticism from some of his own staff. CNN has learned two former OceanGate employees -- neither of whom are engineers -- raised safety concerns when Titan was built.
In a counter lawsuit, one claimed OceanGate hadn't performed adequate testing on the Titan's hull to check its structure. And the other told CNN he was concerned when that carbon fiber hull arrived and was only five inches thick rather than seven inches as he says the company had assured. Both said their concerns were dismissed by Rush and OceanGate management.
And the company faced lawsuits in recent years seeking to recoup payments from those who had hoped to go on Titanic excursions after several equipment or weather issues caused the trips to be delayed. As the frantic search intensifies, Kohnen says there is one component he wishes were on the vessel, a working beacon.
KOHNEN: It would be making a huge difference if it had a beacon so that someone could direct themselves in that direction.
COHEN: And CNN has reached out to OceanGate about these various claims. So far, the company has declined to comment.
Gabe Cohen, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in Washington for his first state visit, where in the coming hours, he'll address Congress, hold a rare news conference when U.S. President Joe Biden and attend a state dinner.
FOSTER: The White House is pulling out all the stops to welcome Mr. Modi, hosting him for a private dinner Wednesday night. During his visit, the two countries are expected to deepen defense ties, as the U.S. views India as a crucial partner amid growing tensions between Washington and Beijing.
NOBILO: And on Wednesday, Mr. Modi indulged in some yoga diplomacy in New York, calling for one earth, one family, and one future at the U.N. yoga event.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NARENDRA MODI, INDIAN PRIME MINISTER: Let us use the power of yoga to build bridges of friendship, a peaceful world, and a cleaner, greener and sustainable future.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: For more, let's go to CNN's Vedika Sud live in New Delhi. So, we were hearing there, Vedika, what the U.S. is getting out of this. What does Modi want from the trip?
VEDIKA SUD, CNN REPORTER: Well, in one sentence, I would say, Max, to deepen strategic defense and cultural ties with the United States of America.
But just look at it. I mean, it's a three-day visit, and it started with Modi at the U.N. headquarters. You have a state visit, only the third of Biden's presidency yet. You have a state dinner, you have long talks at the Oval Office. You also have Modi addressing the Congress later today.
I mean, Bidens really rolled out the red carpet for the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. But the U.S. president and the White House are also conscious of the fact that back home in India, Modi does face criticism over democratic backsliding, over shrinking press freedom. Over controversial laws that have impacted more than 200 Muslims in India. So, Biden and the White House are aware of all the criticism that the Indian government and the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi face back home and internationally.
But I think the White House is also very clear about how they need Modi and India, especially for their strategy in Asia. And equally, how Modi needs the United States of America to even go ahead and strengthen defense deals that could help India at the border with China.
In the last few years -- or decades, rather, militarily, India is the only country that's taken on China at the border. And Biden and the White House are aware of it, and so is Modi. So the strengthening of defense ties is clearly going to be on top of this agenda. There will be other issues, tech issues, education, culture, all of that, of course, will also be a part of the agenda on both sides.
But what we're also going to see today is going to be very rare, which is the Indian Prime Minister not only giving out a joint statement with President Biden, but also answering a question that will be put to him from the media, a very rare moment. Back in India, we've never seen this happen as Modi being Prime Minister. Internationally, yes, it happens once in a while. But like I said, it's been very rare.
So this is going to be one of the highlights for the Indian media, of course, along with media internationally will be watching out for.
Russia, of course, will be on the agenda. One of the biggest challenges that Biden and his administration has had in the past is trying to convince Modi that he needs to move out of the non-alignment space. Until now, India has not taken sides in the Ukraine Russia war, and that has been a huge challenge for Biden and his administration. Back to you.
[04:40:00]
FOSTER: Vedika in New Delhi, you'll be watching, I know. Thank you for joining us.
NOBILO: And let's not forget too that Narendra Modi -- I think it was in 2005 -- was denied entry to the United States for almost a decade on grounds of suppressing religious freedom. And I think he might be the only person ever to be denied entry for that reason.
FOSTER: But I think it was the point that was really interesting, I was speaking to Indian students about how he never faces the media in India these days. And how the Indian journalists at the White House will for the first time, have their first chance, recently to actually ask their own Prime Minister questions. He had to go to Washington to do it.
The White House is making no effort to walk back an unscripted comment from President Joe Biden, comparing Chinese leader Xi Jinping to dictators. Mr. Biden made the remarks during a campaign fundraiser in California on Tuesday.
NOBILO: The White House says the candid assessment should come as no surprise, and the State Department says the U.S. will continue to be blunt and forthright. Beijing had a different take. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAO NING, CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON (through translator): The remarks seriously contradict basic facts, seriously violates diplomatic etiquette, and seriously infringe on China's political dignity, which is an open political provocation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: The comment comes just a few days after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken reported progress during a meeting with President Xi Jinping in Beijing.
NOBILO: It's curious, blunt and forthright, but they are supposed to be diplomats as well.
FOSTER: Absolutely.
NOBILO: The cycle of violence engulfing Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank extended into Wednesday, as the IDF blew up a vehicle that it said was carrying a terrorist cell. It was a rare attack, in that the IDF used an aerial drone to target individuals. The Islamic Jihad says three Palestinian militants were killed in the strike.
FOSTER: It happened after a night of violence by Israeli settlers, who rampaged through several Palestinian towns. They attacked residents, battered homes and shops with stones, and set fire to fields and vehicles on fire. Some Palestinians complaint that IDF soldiers stood by and did nothing. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday attacks by anyone will not be tolerated.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): I give full backing to the Israeli police and the security forces in their action to control law and order. We will not accept any provocations to the police or the security forces in these places or anywhere else. We are a country of law.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: One Palestinian was killed in the rampage, and hundreds of people turned out Wednesday for his funeral. Palestinian TV identified him as 27-year-old Omar Quttain.
FOSTER: Still to come, police in China are investigating a deadly gas explosion at a restaurant. We'll bring you the latest.
[04:45:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: At least 31 people have been killed in a gas explosion at a barbecue restaurant in northwest China. According to state media the blast, late Wednesday, was caused by a leak in a liquid gas tank. Nine people associated with the restaurant have reportedly been detained over this with their assets frozen. At least seven people were injured, one critically. Chinese President Xi Jinping calls the incident heartbreaking and has ordered an investigation into the cause of it.
Investigators in Paris are looking into a powerful gas explosion that rocked the center of the city.
FOSTER: Hundreds of firefighters rushed to the scene on Wednesday following the blast. At least 37 people were hurt, four critically and at least two people are believed to be missing in the rubble.
NOBILO: The exact cause of the blast is unclear, but the Paris prosecutors said early signs to suggest that it came from within the building that houses the Paris American Academy.
The man charged with the stabbing death of four college students in Idaho last year has not been linked to the crime through DNA.
FOSTER: And that's according to the latest court filing by prosecutors who spent months trying to identify a sample of genetic material found at the scene. CNN's Jean Casarez has the details.
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In this newly filed document, the prosecution is stating as fact that once Brian Kohberger was arrested, they got his DNA through a buccal swab which is normally within the mouth, a cheek swab of his DNA. And they compare that to the unknown DNA on the knife sheath. They say in the document here, the filing, that it was a statistical match. So Brian Kohberger's actual DNA, with STR testing with the unknown DNA of the knife sheath left at the murder scene, statistical match. Now here's what the document actually says.
The comparison showed a statistical match specifically, the SPR profile, is at least 5.37 octillion times more likely to be seen if the defendant is the source.
And they're saying rather than anyone in the universe, basically. They go on to say in this document -- it's the first time that they have admitted to this. That they actually did genetic genealogy. They say the FBI took it over. They say the FBI went to a public database or public databases. And they took that unknown DNA from the knife sheath and put it in there to see if there were any matches, even very, very remote matches to that DNA. They then did -- according to the document -- old-fashioned investigative work. Social media sites, public databases, birth certificates, death certificate looking for geographical location.
And the document states -- the motion, quote, the FBI then sent local law enforcement a tip to investigate the defendant.
Now, the whole point of this document is that the prosecution believes that the defense should get no information on genetic genealogy because there are parameters of it. The FBI just has their working notes, it says. And that those are not subject to discovery. Now the defense has not responded to this at all. There is a gag order so they cannot publicly comment. But we should look for a filing where they are refuting what the prosecution is saying in this.
Jean Casarez, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Now you may have heard of fox table dining. But how about lab table? Companies are cooking up plans for cultivated meats which is now approved for sale in the U.S.
[04:50:12]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: You're next chicken dish could come from a lab not from the farm. Cultivated meat, also known as a lab-grown meat has been clear for sale in the U.S.
NOBILO: At least two companies plan to start selling meat grown from live animal cells and cultivated with nutriment in the giant vat like you find in a brewery. Supporters hope that it will help fight climate change by reducing the need for traditional animal agriculture which is one of the biggest producers of greenhouse gases and is worse than transport. But how does it taste?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UMA VALETI, FOUNDER AND CEO, UPSIDE DOWN FOODS: It'll taste exactly as you expect the chicken to taste. So the part that is remarkable about it is that we didn't have to raise and slaughter a chicken to get real chicken meat out of it. And the part that's unremarkable is that it takes like chicken. It's what we've been used to eating for thousands of years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Restaurants in Washington D.C. and San Francisco, will be among the first to serve up lab-grown cuisine. And some day supermarkets could be selling it as well.
I remember years ago I did an interview about the first piece of meat that was growing in a lab. What I find is sort of baffling, it's like vegetarian sausages is not actually meat. So why make it look like meat?
NOBILO: I think in this case it is meat because it's cultivated from animal cells. So it is the animal meat, it's just no killing required.
FOSTER: I guess if they grow it locally it would be a solution to environmental issues.
NOBILO: Yes, it would and also ethically a lot of people will be more comfortable. Like I'd like to be a vegetarian but I require the protein.
FOSTER: Yes.
NOBILO: And now a few stories in the spotlight.
[04:55:00]
Wednesday marked the first day of summer in the northern hemisphere and as they've done for thousands of years, people flocked to Stonehenge for summer.
FOSTER: This is actually where I'm from, these are my people.
NOBILO: Are they!
FOSTER: Yes. The ancient structure has long been associated with both summer and winter solstices because of the stone's alignment with sunrises and sunsets on those days.
NOBILO: This year's festivities attracted thousands of visitors from all over the world. And it is the second time that gatherings have been allowed since the pandemic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We should buy a smaller table than that.
KEVIN COSTNER, ACTOR: I remember a time when every seat at this table was filled.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now you know is that --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Kevin Costner's seat at the table will be empty before long. "Yellowstone" cocreator, Taylor Sheridan, says he's disappointed Costner is leaving the show but it won't change the ending for his character John Dutton.
NOBILO: Paramount confirms that "Yellowstone" will end with season five. The final episodes have not been written yet because of the writer's strike.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Basically everything that men do in your world, women do in ours.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The president's here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am, you're welcome.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Barbie is a doctor and a lawyer.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And it's much more than that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Help me discontinue.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: Getting another look at the new "Barbie" movie with bringing the famous Mattel doll to life in just a couple of weeks.
FOSTER: The new trailer gives us a look at the characters featured in the film and their stomping ground, Barbie Land. Warner Brothers who produced the movie and CNN are part of Warner Brothers Discovery.
I mean, it's getting so much bigger isn't it this movie? I think because of the way it looks.
NOBILO: I wonder if they're going to have a Barbie theme day, because you know, because of the parent company. Sometimes they do special events downstairs.
FOSTER: Have to dress up.
NOBILO: Exactly, and I might have to do something.
FOSTER: I may as well.
NOBILO: That will not be happening. But you kind of look like Ken. I don't have Barbies anymore.
FOSTER: But you had them, didn't you?
NOBILO: I have Manchu (ph) man.
FOSTER: You're obsessed.
NOBILO: Thanks for joining us. I'm Bianca Nobilo.
I'm Max Foster. "EARLY START," up next here on CNN.
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