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Biden to Meet with U.K. Prime Minister; Retired Ukrainians Refuse to Leave War-Torn Homes; Ukraine Littered with Unexploded Munitions; Medecins Sans Frontieres Condemns Hospital Incursion; Yellen Meets with Chinese Leaders; Japanese Soldier Suing Over Sexual Assault and Lack of Action by Military; Record Rainfall Against Northern India Triggers Floods and Landslides Killing 22 People. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired July 10, 2023 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello and welcome. Coming to you live from Studio Four of the CNN Center in Atlanta. I'm Michael Holmes. Appreciate your company.
Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, as Russia's unprovoked war grinds on, Ukraine is front and center at the coming NATO summit. The alliance seeking to boost its own defenses while Ukraine pushes for membership.
More than a third of the country's already littered with unexploded munitions, putting generations of Ukrainians at risk. We'll look at the challenges of clearing the bombs and the land mines.
And Haitians march to demand an end to the violence. Humanitarian crisis has already displaced tens of thousands of people.
Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Michael Holmes.
World leaders will be heading to Lithuania in the hours ahead for a critical NATO summit set to focus on Russia's war in Ukraine. That is, of course, grinding on right on NATO's borders.
Lithuania has been bolstering security ahead of the two-day meeting that kicks off on Tuesday, a meeting expected to present a key test for the alliance's so far remarkable level of unity after Russia's invasion.
High on the agenda, Ukraine's push to join the alliance, as well as Sweden's bid for a session. NATO leaders will also discuss the next steps for the war a month into Ukraine's counteroffensive.
The summit comes just days after U.S. President Joe Biden approved giving controversial cluster munitions to Ukraine. Mr. Biden is set to be a key player on a host of issues at the meeting.
Ahead of it, he's in London, where he will meet with the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, and King Charles in the hours ahead. And our own Nic Robertson following all the developments. He joins me now from London. Good early morning to you, Nic. Before we get to NATO, President Biden, as we said, meeting with Prime Minister Sunak first.
What are going to be the topics of conversation? I mean, there's no post-Brexit trade agreement yet. There's the disagreements on cluster bombs. What issues need repair?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, post-Brexit trade deal. That's not going to happen. There was an Atlantic declaration when -- when Prime Minister Sunak was in Washington, D.C., meeting with President Biden fairly recently.
And that was claimed as a first of its kind economic deal relationship with the United States. And there will be, we understand from Jake Sullivan, President Biden's national security advisor, that there will be continuing and follow-up discussions on that.
The two leaders have actually met six times, believe it or not, over the past six months. And I think this is why the White House is sort of characterizing this as an ongoing conversation.
They met in San Diego, where there was a deal with Australia, the U.K., U.S. on nuclear submarines for Australia. They met at the -- they met in Hiroshima at the G-7. They -- they met recently in Northern Ireland. I don't think there'll be any progress that they can talk about there achieved from President Biden's visit to Northern Ireland right now.
Maybe that's coming later. But that doesn't seem to be on the horizon. So it seems it's been characterized as ongoing discussions on the cluster munitions, the U.S. through Jake Sullivan is saying, look, we've got plenty of allies in France. We united on supporting Ukraine, and we're not seeing anyone criticize us on that.
But it was interesting that over the weekend, Prime Minister Sunak put out a statement saying, Look, Britain is a signatory to this deal that prohibits the production of cluster munitions and attempts to persuade others not the use them. How much that will be part of the discussion isn't clear, but undoubtedly, the prime minister will be asked, Did you raise that question with President Biden?
HOLMES: Yes, and turning to the NATO summit specifically. You know, obviously Ukraine top of the agenda. President Zelenskyy's fervent wish for membership, which isn't likely to be granted, or at least not yet. What do you see as the big talking points?
ROBERTSON: Well, it was interesting that on his way over here, President Biden spoke with the president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. This is interesting, because he's the real holdout at the moment, or perceived as a holdout, along with Hungary, on preventing Sweden joining NATO.
And what he's been hearing from -- what Erdogan has been hearing from Jens Stoltenberg, NATO secretary-general, recently, is look, Sweden has made all the steps that you want it to take.
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So it's been presented at the moment as a test of unity for NATO. We know that President Biden, while he spoke to President Erdogan yesterday on Air Force One, flying over here, they talked about the need and desire for Sweden and Sweden being ready to join NATO, and that will make NATO stronger.
They also talked about the F-16s, the fighter aircraft that Turkey wants from the United States. Are we seeing a quid pro quo deal here behind the scenes? It's not clear.
But what we understand is that that issue itself could potentially be resolved at this NATO summit, because President Biden is expecting to hold a bilateral meeting with President Erdogan.
But of course, these things require ratifications by government. Whatever stage it takes, it won't be this NATO summit at Vilnius, where Sweden is in lockstep, as everyone hoped, with Finland joining NATO.
But maybe there will be some language that creates the impression that this is closer than it appears at the moment. And of course, as you said, support for Ukraine is the huge and big issue.
And it's -- Ukraine won't get its NATO membership. I don't think anyone was expecting that. And certainly, the U.S. has played down that possibility.
But one of the things Rishi Sunak and President Biden will talk about here today will be what kind of security guarantees can be given to Ukraine individually by its allies, separate of NATO, that will give it the -- the sense of ongoing security. And that might just be in terms of commitments of munitions and weapons for a lengthy period.
HOLMES: Great wrap-up, as always. Nic Robertson there outside No. 10. Thanks so much, Nic. Appreciate it.
Now as for what's happening on the battlefield in Ukraine, President Zelenskyy says his forces have taken the initiative, and the country's military leaders claim Russian troops are on the defensive all along the front lines.
Both sides report fierce fighting around the Eastern city of Bakhmut, with dozens of skirmishes in the past day or so. And Ukraine working to consolidate gains in the South, clearing mines and pouring artillery on Russian positions.
And these images coming to us after a Russian air strike in Kramatorsk in Eastern Ukraine. Rocket fire damaging three houses and a shop, according to the Ukrainian governor of the Donetsk region but thankfully, no casualties, we're told.
Now for some retired Ukrainians living on the front lines of this war, neither blackouts nor constant shelling are enough to push them from their homes. CNN's Ben Wedeman spent some time with some to find out why.
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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A small flashlight is all that illuminates the cellar Olga calls her home. Her bedroom, a cramped, windowless storage space.
"I'd like to live under normal conditions," says Olga, retired schoolteacher, retired from 78 years old.
She's been living like this since shortly after the war came to her town of Siversk. Battered to smithereens by months of Russian bombardment.
Five hundred days of war have left this town and so many others a wasteland of wreckage and rubble. Despite that, some people refuse to leave.
We met 70-year-old Nina last March, when she told us happier days seemed a world away.
"What do we feel?" she asks. "Pain, pain. When you see something destroyed, you tear up. We cry. We cry."
Summer has improved her mood. I showed Nina and her friend Valentina pictures of the potatoes I grow back home in Italy, prompting Nina to show off her tiny garden of herbs and onions. Still, emotions flood back when I asked what she hopes for most.
"We're waiting for the day," she says, "the minute when the war ends."
On this day, Siversk was quiet. All we heard was the occasional faint thud of distant shelling. Russian lines are six miles away. Yet the air of tranquility is deceptive.
"It's not quiet," insists Valentina. "They were firing all night long."
Those who remain are in an eclectic group, like Sasha (ph), an aging rocker and great fan of '70s classics.
SASHA (ph), UKRAINIAN CITIZEN: Bee Gees.
WEDEMAN: Bee Gees, all right. "Staying" -- "Staying Alive."
WEDEMAN (voice-over): Oleksandr (ph) never goes anywhere without his dog, Malish (ph). Does he have high hopes for Ukraine's counteroffensive? No.
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"Putin," he tells me, "will keep pushing ahead even if he has to kill every last Ukrainian. Russians are like a bear. They sit and wait and then -- "
Olga has the task of distributing loaves of bread to her neighbors brought in by volunteers. The powerful will do what they will do. Here, the priority is staying alive.
Ben Wedeman, CNN, Siversk, Eastern Ukraine.
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HOLMES: But not all bombs explode. In fact, a frightening number do not. Instead, they lay in wait for a farmer to run over with his tractor or a child to step on in their village sometimes years, even decades later.
The U.N. development program says unexploded ordnance in Ukraine is now spread across an area twice the size of Austria. A third of the country. It says they've already killed at least 226 Ukrainians, including 17 children. And it says some 14 million Ukrainians are at risk going forward.
And while some 366,000 land mines have already been cleared -- that's an estimate -- it's not known how many more mines and unexploded bombs are still out there.
Now this is the big fear many have about the Biden administration's move to supply cluster bombs to Ukraine, basically adding to an already huge problem.
More than 120 countries have banned cluster munitions, because they shoot out smaller bomblets, some of which don't detonate and create a deadly hazard for anyone, including civilians who sooner or later might come across them.
Paul Hannon is vice chair of the Cluster Munition Coalition and the international campaign to ban land mines. The cluster munitions are giving us a good excuse to talk about the broader issue. They're in the headlines now.
But the Ukrainian prime minister has said nearly 40 percent of Ukrainian territory, a massive area, contains unexploded mines and munitions of various types. I mean, even without cluster munitions, how big of a problem is there already?
PAUL HANNON, VICE CHAIR, CLUSTER MUNITION COALITION: Well, it's a very big problem. And part of the problem is that it's -- the attacks have been going on in both urban areas and in rural areas.
So you have explosive weapons within -- used in populated areas, as well as in rural or agriculture areas. So you -- got different kinds of contamination to try and deal with. And you don't have a full picture of what is there, because there is ongoing conflict.
And I would say Ukrainian -- we generally consider Laos as the world's probably most bomb-contaminated country, and certainly was in the last century. But it's looking like Ukraine is now going to be the most contaminated country in -- in this century.
HOLMES: That's utterly -- it's extraordinary. I mean, the U.N. D.P. says -- I think it was nearly 400,000 land mines have already been cleared, around that number. But that's a drop in a very dangerous ocean. I mean, tackling and you
know this better than anyone, tackling such a huge task requires resources. What's needed? And are those resources available? The machines, the technology, the people who know what they're doing.
HANNON: Though certainly people are and organizations that know what they're doing. Whether or not they can ramp up at the moment is a big question. And financial resources are a key part of that. But protective equipment is another part of it and detection equipment.
People can do groups like Halo Trust and other humanitarian organizations can to clearance and work, and during conflict. But of course, lack of conflict makes life a lot easier to deal with that.
And all the -- particularly humanitarian clearance organizations, they all train people at the local level so they provide employment to people in a post-conflict situation, as well as being able to amplify and scale up much quicker than it would be if they were bringing in experts from other -- from ex-pats.
They gear up quickly. They train people. They make sure they understand the safety protocols. And of course, the people themselves also have a vested interest in cleaning up their own community. So it -- really well. But --
HOLMES: Yes.
HANNON: -- it's limited at the current time because of the conflict.
HOLMES: Yes, exactly. I mean, I want to ask you this, too. In 2016, I reported on clearing mines planted by ISIS around villages near Mosul.
In one village, a dozen residents have been killed in a matter of a week or two after returning. And it was interesting, because there was a program under way there to educate children about what not to touch. Little kids.
Are ordinary Ukrainians being educated? What are the risks to those little kids?
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HANNON: Well, children are always the most at risk and particularly at risk with cluster munitions. Because it's a very unusual -- an unexploded cluster munition might look like a tennis ball, might look like a can of soda. It might look like a toy.
Some of them, if they drop with parachutes, little parachutes attached, they really look like a toy. So it is a real danger to them, because it's alien and they don't know.
There is risk education that's going on. Obviously, it's very difficult in the situation. Because schools are -- it's kind of erratic and children being able to go to school. Same with going to churches or community centers. There's work being done on radio and television, as well. And
pamphlets circulated. But it's -- again, as I said earlier, conflict situation makes it much more complicated and slower and less effective.
HOLMES: I want to ask you. We're almost out of time. But you know, so having said all that about what the current situation is, how much worse are cluster musician -- munitions on the Ukrainian side going to make things?
HANNON: Well, it's going to -- it's going to increase all the contamination. It's going to increase -- decrease access to skill (ph) and infrastructure. It's going to decrease the ability to go -- get to their field, during the -- to markets.
It's going to increase contamination. It's going to increase the number of casualties. And it's going to deter Ukrainian soldiers from advancing through de facto mine fields that they've created using cluster munitions. So it's -- it's really a lose/lose/lose situation.
HOLMES: Yes, it is. The work of groups like yours and Halo and MAG and the others is so vital. Paul Hannon, got to leave it there, unfortunately. Thank you so much for the time.
HANON: You're welcome very much. Thank you.
HOLMES: Calling for a multinational security force to help restore order in Haiti, where violent criminal gangs continue to run rampant, with some even terrorizing a hospital. We'll get insight from the head of Medecins Sans Frontieres and their mission in Haiti when we come back.
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HOLMES: Israel is bracing for more massive protests as its Parliament prepares to take its first vote on the Netanyahu government's hugely controversial judicial changes.
Now, if the bill passes the initial reading, organizers say they will demonstrate Tuesday in what they're calling a day of resistance. Tens of thousands of protesters rallied on Saturday against the measure in cities across Israel for the 27th consecutive week.
Police you see there clashing with demonstrators in some areas, firing water cannon to clear a major highway in Tel Aviv. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warning the protesters he won't tolerate actions that he says infringe on the rights of Israelis.
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BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): The right to demonstrate in the framework of the law is sacred for every individual in every sector, and we strongly condemn any violence against demonstrators from this side or the other. This right is reserved both to the opponents of the reform and its
supporters. While the government has not considered restricting this right, it has requested to receive a report on what is the enforcement policy regarding violations of the law that infringe on the basic rights of millions of citizens, and which are carried out almost on a daily basis during the demonstrations.
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HOLMES: Now in the coming hours, Parliament is set to hold the first of three votes on a central part of the controversial judicial measures.
This one would reduce the court's ability to use what is called the reasonable standard. It enables courts to throw out edicts that they say are unreasonable and violate Israelis' rights, even if they don't violate any specific law.
Now U.S. officials and the U.N. officials rather are urgently raising the alarm about growing violence in Haiti, which is making ongoing humanitarian and security crisis even worse.
On Sunday, many people protested in the streets of Port-au-Prince, demanding an end to the relentless criminal gang violence. Late last week, the U.N. special representative for Haiti says that, in the two years since President Jovenel Moise was assassinated, Haiti has descended into a deeper political crisis with armed gangs terrorizing people in the capital.
And the U.N. secretary general repeated calls he made back in October for the Security Council to deploy a multinational force to help the Haitian police.
Here's what Haiti's foreign minister had to say about a U.N. special force.
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JEAN VICTOR GENEUS, MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND WORSHIP OF HAITI (through translator): The U.N. through the Security Council has a moral responsibility to prevent Haiti from sinking. The council's action is decisive in restoring hope in Haiti and enabling the Haitian people, especially the great suffering and silent majority, to hope for a better tomorrow.
ANTONIO GUTERRES, UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL: Using kidnappings and sexual violence as weapons to terrorize entire communities. And I've heard appalling accounts of women and girls being gang raped and of people being burned alive. The world must act now to stem the violence and instability.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Meanwhile, Medecins San Frontieres, or Doctors Without Borders has suspended all activities at one hospital in Port-au-Prince after about 20 armed men forcibly and violently removed a patient who was being treated for gunshot wounds in the operating room and threatening to kill MSF staff.
The charitable group strongly condemning the incident.
Jean-Marc Biquet is the head of mission in Haiti with Medecins Sans Frontieres, Doctors Without Borders. Thank you so much for being with us.
This incident was clearly outrageous. It wasn't even the first time something like that had happened. How bad is the security situation in Haiti for groups like MSF?
JEAN-MARC BIQUET, HEAD OF MISSION IN HAITI, MSF: Well, traditionally, MSF is quite well-respected here. It means that we are able to work OK. We have to -- take a lot of security measures but it's possible to work. Our concern is many of the Haitians for whom the life is really a nightmare since months, years now.
HOLMES: If MSF isn't, at least for now, operating at the hospital, what then is the impact on emergency treatment and health care access for the Haitians that have always relied on the facility? I'm sure you will start up again but not right now. How bad is -- are things?
BIQUET: Well, you know, in that specific hospital, we had received 500 bullet wounds in the last six months. And bullet wounds are only a part of the cases we are treating, and we receive a lot of traffic accidents.
And you know, the hospitals where they first send patients. So definitely, institutions are quite important in the offer of services, of health services in Port-au-Prince.
But so definitely, it's very bad news for the entire population of Port-au-Prince. But -- we are forced to suspend our activities. First, we have to recover to make sure that the staff is secure again. We have to try to understand what happened and who potentially made the -- the incidents.
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And then we have to set to the world and the federation, it's tough. We cannot accept that as institutions like ours are considered. There's a place where you can exert violence. Totally -- impossible to accept.
HOLMES: Yes, exactly. The U.N. special representative for Haiti, she said -- and you know, I'll just quote. She said, "Unprecedented breakdown of security, with criminal armed gangs imposing a regime of terror and violence."
She also spoke of what she said was sexual violence, including collective rape and mutilation. What -- what is day-to-day life like for Haitians?
BIQUET: For a Haitian, it's a nightmare. They speak for instance for our staff. Who has to come every day to work. Well, a majority of them has had to move and change of house at least once in the last years. Depending on the security and the quarters where they are living.
Every day they come to work, they have no clue if they can go back at night, at home. Just because security may happen again.
It means for them, being afraid that something is going to happen to their children, who go the school, who may have incidents on the way to school. And then you have, well, bullet wounds. You have terror globally in the city. So it's a nightmare for the Haitian population.
HOLMES: It must be frustrating for groups like yours. I mean, aside from the violence, the U.N. says nearly 3 million children are in urgent need of what they describe as humanitarian support and protection.
I mean, does it -- is it frustrating for you? Do you wonder where is that support and protection? What is needed?
BIQUET: Well, in fact, for this tracking here is to see the -- the matter of aid organization active. We are not that many. I can count on my fingers the number of active aid organizations.
That's difficult to understand because the needs are -- very important. As you said, the crisis is -- was multiple factors so the there's an economic crisis. Security crisis. Political crisis.
So all that has an impact on the life of Haitians. There is no jobs anymore. So people are -- not yet starving. But they have difficulties to survive.
And yes, we can be worried for the future. If things stay like it is, well, we may have more disaster. And on top of that, you know that Haiti is prone to natural disasters. We had the pandemic which is presently going on better than next time. We have earthquakes.
So life is definitely difficult, and there's a lack of assistance. Definitely.
HOLMES: Yes. A deeply troubled nation. We thank you for the work you're doing, Jean-Marc Biquet. MSF does incredibly important work. Thank you so much for being with us.
BIQUET: You're welcome.
HOLMES: The U.S. treasury sectary has wrapped up their visit to China, where she hoped to repair relations between the world's two largest economies. Did she accomplish her mission? We'll have a live report from Hong Kong after the break.
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HOLMES: U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is back in America after a four-day visit aimed at repairing strained relations with China.
Before she left Beijing, Yellen told reporters she had productive talks with China's new economic leadership, including Premier Li Qiang.
But after her meeting with China's vice premier, a report from China's official news agency seemed to suggest Beijing took issue with Yellen's comment that the U.S. would continue to take targeted actions, meaning sanctions, to protect its own national security interests and those of its allies.
All right. Let's bring in CNN's Kristie Lu Stout, joining me live from Hong Kong. Great to see you, my friend.
Janet Yellen went to China and hopes for a reset. But walked away with no agreement important to say. What did she achieve?
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR/CORRESPONDENT: The U.S. and China are still rivals. But at least they are talking. You know, after ten hours of meetings across two days in Beijing, the U.S. treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, said that she expects more regular communication between the U.S. and China.
She also added that the world is big enough for both to thrive. In Beijing, Yellen had what was described as direct and productive talks with China's economic leadership, including China's premier, Li Qiang and Pan Gongsheng. He's the new party chief of China's central bank.
And she said that the U.S. and China were on steadier footing, despite significant disagreements. Take a listen to this.
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JANET YELLEN, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: President Biden and I do not see the relationship between the U.S. and China through the frame of great power conflict. We believe that the world is big enough for both of our countries to thrive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STOUT: Now interestingly, within hours of that statement, U.S. President Joe Biden appeared to counter it in an interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria. Listen to this.
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FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN ANCHOR: You think he wants to replace -- he wants China to replace the United States as the leading power, the defining power?
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Oh, yes, I think he does. I mean you know, I'm confident he wants to have the largest economy in the world and have the largest military capacity in the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STOUT: So is there room enough for both? Open question.
Now, Yellen's trip marketed the second visit by U.S. cabinet official to Beijing in recent weeks as the U.S. seeks to stabilize this relationship. Tensions have flared over a whole spate of issues, including economic ones like trade, like targeted sanctions, like access to technology. Like advanced microchips.
The U.S. has curved China's ability to acquire advanced semiconductors, fearing that they could be used by the PLA. And Janet Yellen reiterated that the U.S. is not trying to decouple from China, which in her words, she said it would be disastrous and would be destabilizing for the global economy.
But she added that the U.S. would continue to protect its national security interests and the interests of its allies.
Now China is very concerned about U.S. restrictive measures. In fact, Chinese state media described the talks as productive but also said that the, quote, "overstretching of national security" does, quote, "no good" to normal trade relations.
Now Michael, the diplomatic push comes ahead of an expected visit by the climate envoy of the United States, John Kerry, to restart global warming talks.
We're still waiting about when that visit is going to take place.
And also ahead of that long-awaited possible meeting between Biden and President Xi Jinping, which could take place at the G-20 in New Delhi or at APEC in San Francisco in November.
Back to you.
HOLMES: All right. Great wrap-up there. Kristi Lu Stout in Hong Kong, thanks so much.
STOUT: Thank you.
HOLMES: Now, a survivor of sexual assault in Japan says she may have had a future in the military, if officials had taken her initial claims seriously. But they did not. And she says she was abused repeatedly for more than a year.
Well, now she's suing both the government and her alleged abusers in hopes of getting a true apology and changing the system for all women.
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MARC STEWART, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Rina Gonoi is a fighter. On the judo mat and for women in Japan.
RINA GONOI, SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVOR (through translator): I hope I'm able to give hope and courage to people in Japan and across the world with the same problem.
STEWART (voice-over): Rina was a soldier in the Japanese military. She quit after she said she was sexually and verbally harassed. Now, she's waging a different war, suing the government and her former assailants.
In response, the state would only say that harassment can't be tolerated.
Japan's big earthquake and tsunami in 2011 was Rina's call to serve after female officers came to her rescue.
GONOI (through translator): I thought they were really cool and admired the way they worked to support others.
STEWART (voice-over): Years later, she enlisted but found herself a target.
GONOI (through translator): They comment on my body and the size of my breasts. Or they come up to me in the hallways and suddenly hug me in the corridor. That kind of thing happened daily.
STEWART (voice-over): She says after enduring this for months, she asked for an investigation. Prosecutors dropped the case, due to a lack of evidence.
Rina quit. Rina fought back, taking her battle to social media. An online petition generated more than 100,000 signatures. A call to action that forced the military to re-examine her case.
The review found Rina was a victim, enduring physical and verbal sexual harassment daily.
Rina's entire saga prompted a wide sweeping defense ministry investigation on sexual harassment. It led to this remarkable moment. Military officials bowing in apology.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): This resulted in so much public outrage, surprising many people in the defense ministry. Without the power of public opinion, the chief of staff's apology wouldn't have been possible.
STEWART (voice-over): In addition, several officers have apologized but were dishonorably discharged. Three officers face charges.
But now, as Rina pursues a civil suit, four of the five officers have denied ever abusing her, despite their previous apology. The fifth has said he wants to reach a settlement.
GONOI (through translator): I felt like the perpetrators hadn't properly reflected on their actions. I want a sincere apology from the heart and for them to admit responsibility for what they did.
STEWART: Rina's case sparked so much anger here in Tokyo and across Japan, that the prime minister publicly committed to root out harassment in the military.
GONOI (through translator): I felt it was a little too late. When I joined the JSDF, I had a lot of dream of what I wanted to achieve there. Had the JSDF fully investigated what happened to me, I feel like I could have stayed on there. Everything came too late.
STEWART (voice-over): Yet undefeated, Rina seeks strength as she fights for other women. Marc Stewart, CNN, Tokyo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Coming up here on the program, historic rainfall across India triggering floods and landslides. Dozens are dead. We'll have the latest.
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HOLMES: Record rainfall across Northern India is triggering floods and landslides leaving at least 22 people dead. More heavy rain forecast for New Delhi and other areas on Monday according to Delhi's chief minister.
The city has already received 15 percent of the total rainfall for the entire monsoon season in just 12 hours.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES (voice-over): Waterlogged in New Delhi. Umbrellas offering little protection from days of heavy rain. Over the weekend meteorologists said Delhi received the highest amount of rain in a single day in July in more than 40 years.
And a lot of it still pooling on the ground, flooding streets and snarling traffic, and bringing many parts of the city to a standstill.
This man says he's stranded because his scooter won't start, and he's not sure how to get his bike and belongings out of the water.
Some residents are complaining on social media that the floods are a chronic problem in the capital, especially in monsoon season, and that the government should do more to fix the city's drainage problems.
SARITA GUPTA, NEW DELHI RESIDENT: We just came out to have lunch over here, but look at the state of the waterlogging. I don't know what government is doing about this. And it's not a matter of only one year. This happens every year.
HOLMES (voice-over): Delhi's chief minister on Sunday canceled leave for municipal workers and said the city's ministers and mayor would also be on the job, respecting problem areas caused by the rains.
Pumps have been installed in some areas to try to divert the water. The deluge is causing similar misery in cities across Northern India, with rivers bursting their banks, triggering landslides and flash floods.
The monsoon rains are a vital part of life in India, necessary for replenishing reservoirs and watering crops. Too much rain with nowhere to go at times doing more harm than good.
(END VIDEOTAPE) HOLMES: All right. Thanks for spending part of your day with me. I'm Michael Holmes. You can follow me on Twitter, Instagram and Threads, @HolmeCNN.
Do stick around. WORLD SPORT up next, and then Laila Harrak has the day's top stories. That will be in about 15 minutes.
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