Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Russia Accuses Ukraine Of Ramping Up Attacks In Moscow; Many In Niger Fear Sanctions Could Increase Misery; Abduction Of American Nurse And Child Shed Light On Crisis; Defending U.S. Champions To Face Portugal Soon; Donald Trump Campaigns Amid Mounting Legal Troubles; Doksuri Weakens Over China After Displacing Thousands. First U.S. Nuclear Reactor in Decades Opens in Georgia; China Creating Limits on A.I. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired August 01, 2023 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:01:04]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Coming up here on CNN, drone wars, Moscow hit again as Ukraine ramps up drone attacks deep inside Russia's borders.
Growing concerns for the safety of an American nurse and her baby kidnapped in Haiti, the latest victims of a surge in gang violence.
And a nuclear comeback. The first new nuclear reactor built in the U.S. in three decades goes online seven years late and $17 billion over budget.
ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with John Vause.
VAUSE: Thank you for joining us here on CNN NEWSROOM and we begin in Moscow which has been hit by another drone attack. City's mayor says a high rise building was damaged. The same building was hit just days earlier in a similar attack.
Ukraine and Russia appear to be ramping up attacks by air targeting key cities on both sides of the border. Kyiv says Moscow has carried out a new deadly strike in the hometown of the Ukrainian president. At least six people were reportedly killed, dozens were wounded when two ballistic missiles hit a school building and a residential tower. Official say a 5-year-old girl was among the dead.
Russia's Defense Minister said his country would respond to any kind of Ukrainian attacks by intensifying their strikes on Ukraine.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SERGEI SHOIGU, RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTER (through translator): Given the current situation, we took additional measures to improve defense against attacks from the air and sea. The intensity of strikes against Ukrainian military facilities, including those used to conduct these terrorist acts has been increased many times over.
(END VIDEO CLIP) VAUSE: The attacks in Moscow appear to be part of a bolder Ukrainian strategy to take the fight directly to Russia. CNN's Nic Robertson has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice over): Russia's war in Ukraine is increasingly blowing up. In Moscow, this Ukrainian drone attack Sunday night bringing Russia's war hundreds of miles away into the heart of its own capital, shocking citizens.
LIYA, MOSCOW WITNESS (through translator): My friends and I rented an apartment to come here and unwind. And at some point, we heard an explosion, and it was like, a wave. Everyone jumped.
ROBERTSON (voice over): Attacks like this in Moscow becoming increasingly common. Last week, another Ukrainian drone hit a Ministry of Defense building, a psychological blow for a population repeatedly told by Putin's state media they are winning the so-called special military operation.
POLINA, MOSCOW RESIDENT (through translator): I was asleep and woken up by an explosion. Everything started to shake and the whole building had come down.
ROBERTSON (voice over): This weekend, Putin was keeping up the pretense everything is OK, celebrating Navy Day. But behind the scenes, his officials appear rattled by Ukraine's refusal to be beaten.
ROBERTSON: Former President Dmitry Medvedev says if Ukraine's counteroffensive is successful, Russia will use its nuclear weapons.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin is dismissing the drone strikes, and Moscow, as an act of desperation, the defense minister calling them terrorist attacks. Reality, they've got Moscow's attention.
ROBERTSON (voice over): Ukraine's president is independent hinting more of these strikes to come.
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Ukraine is getting stronger. Gradually, the war is returning to the territory of Russia, to its symbolic centers and military bases. This is an inevitable, natural and absolutely fair process.
ROBERTSON (voice over): Zelenskyy is stating what is becoming increasingly apparent. Ukraine is ramping up drone strikes inside Russia.
In recent weeks, targets just over the border in areas vital to Russia's war efforts have increased, too. The impact even breaking through on Russia's state media. What is clear, Ukraine's fight on Russian soil is having effect.
[00:05:18] Nic Robertson, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Major General James Spider Marks he is a CNN Military Analyst and he joins us now from Washington. General, it's good to see you.
MAJ. GEN. JAMES SPIDER MARKS, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: John, thanks very much for having me.
VAUSE: Here's the threat from Russia -- former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, he posted on Telegram, just imagine that the offensive in tandem with NATO succeeded and ended up with part of our land being taken away. Then we would have to use nuclear weapons. There simply wouldn't be any other solution.
Is there a credibility issue simply because the threat is coming from Medvedev who has been a useful for Putin in the past? He says a lot of this stuff a lot of the time. And I guess, also, doesn't it reflect perhaps growing concern inside the Kremlin about Ukraine's counter offensive?
MARKS: John, I think it's both. To your first point, I don't think it's appropriate for any nation to take a nuclear threat as a Chimaera (ph), as a threat that really has no backing or legitimacy.
Look, Russia has a tremendous nuclear stockpile. Medvedev has said that he would use this before, he is the spokesman for Putin in this regard.
But I think it's important that we take this very, very seriously. And I can guarantee you that on the U.S. side, and I would hope on the other NATO partners that have nuclear weapons, that they are various -- you know, very serious about how they want to approach what their posture is relative to these threats. You can't discount them, you can't throw these threats away, you need to take them seriously, you need to make sure that you're prepared in case there is some catastrophic mistake that's going to take place.
To your second point, I think it is important to realize that what Ukraine is doing in Moscow right now may have an effect on Russian capabilities and command and control capabilities.
But also I think, at this point, it's a fool's errand. Ukraine doesn't need to be making strikes into Moscow. The results are, I would suggest, are probably sketchy at this point. And if it is demonstrating that Ukraine has the ability to do this, fine, now is not the time to do it.
Look, the only reason to conduct an event like this, strikes like this is to try to further weaken Putin's position, the best way to do that is if you can -- Ukraine can continue to achieve levels of success tactically on the battlefield, and start sending young men home in body bags, that will increase the amount of pressure that Putin feels.
VAUSE: What was interesting though in his threat, Medvedev also added this, our enemies should pray to our fighters that they do not allow the world to go up in nuclear flames.
So, there are nuclear weapons, and then there's short range tactical nuclear weapons. And that reference seems to be, you know, talking about a full nuclear strike with ICBMs and the whole works, that brought this reaction from us Republican Senator Lindsey Graham. To my Russian friends who talked about using nuclear weapons in Ukraine, you need to understand that would be an attack on NATO itself, given Ukraine's proximity to NATO territory.
And I guess in many ways, Putin is a lot of things out there, a lot of speculation about his mental health or everything else, but he's not suicidal, right?
So, any kind of nuclear strike in that regard would be the end of Putin and his regime.
MARKS: It's fair to say that, absolutely. And look, again, let's be honest with each other, calling a nuke a tactical nuke vise a strategic nuke, frankly, is a distinction without a difference. They are still in the nuclear bucket. And a strike with a tactical nuke in the -- in the vicinity of NATO nations is a strike against NATO.
And also, let's bear in mind, Putin is -- many would call him irrational, I would say he's incredibly irrational. He's very much a survivor. But he has not released nukes. He's letting others do the talking for him. And he has resisted the call to do that.
But I think it's important that we kind of put all this together, a nuke strike would be devastating for Russia, it would be devastating for Putin, it would mark the absolute end of the Russian Federation, as we know it right now. And Putin would be gone.
VAUSE: And with that in mind, the U.S. President was asked about Russia using nukes in Ukraine while he was in Helsinki last month. This is Joe Biden's answer, here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't think there's any real prospect. You never know, of Putin using nuclear weapons. Not only has the West but China and the rest of the world has said that's -- don't go there. Don't go there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[00:10:02]
VAUSE: I'm wondering how closely should we -- should we watch China's reaction to any kind of nuclear threat from Moscow as one of the best ways -- best ways to gauge how serious or credible that threat might be?
MARKS: Yes, that's a great question. But again, I go back to the point, nukes have not been used. Putin has not chosen to use nukes. I can assume that self-control on his part may be hard to believe. But also there's external control that's come from Xi Jinping.
I guarantee you, Russia is acting like a vassal state of China right now. So, I would imagine what we're not seeing is as a result of Xi Jinping's influence.
VAUSE: Major General James Spider Marks, thank you, sir, for being with us. We really appreciate your time.
MARKS: Thank you, John.
VAUSE: Less than a week after overthrowing Niger's democratically elected president, six senior officials from his party had been arrested by the military. The coup leaders are also accusing France of plotting military action to free President Mohamed Bazoum, who is apparently being held inside the presidential compound.
CNN's Larry Madowo has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LARRY MADOWO, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: France is denying that it's planning a military intervention to free ousted President Mohamed Bazoum. In fact, the French foreign minister saying it's absolutely not true that it's considered that, that response is necessary because the military (PH) in Niger has claimed that France has been meeting with former officials, ousted officials to try and get military and political authorizations to carry out military strikes around the Presidential Palace to free Bazoum.
To understand exactly what's going on, it's important to pay attention to what two key Western allies are saying about the situation, the French and the Americans. The U.S. State Department has still not classified this as a coup, a technical definition that will require it to stop military support, as well as aid.
In fact, a U.S. State Department official telling CNN that they still consider this a domestic dispute between the presidential guard and President Mohamed Bazoum, so some Western allies essentially believe that there's a path to restore President Mohamed Bazoum to the presidency.
But for ordinary people, they worry about the likely effect of the sanctions announced by the Economic Community of West African States for a country that's already had been through so much turmoil.
BOUNTY AMADOU DIALLO, RETIRED TEACHER (through translator): I think the sanctions were initially taken in the heat of the moment, and then apparently dictated by outside powers, because Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea were in the same basket as us before, but we didn't sanction them as heavily. They say they want to set an example. They want to make an example.
MADOWO: The clearest path out of this crisis in Asia appears to be the mediation efforts by the transitional president of neighboring Chad. If President Deby cannot get general tyranny and Mohamed Bazoum to agree on some path out of this, that it means ECOWAS has no option but to use force like they threatened.
And on Tuesday, they would have five days after that one week deadline to have some kind of military intervention.
Larry Madowo, CNN, Nairobi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: ISIS has claimed responsibility for Sunday's deadly suicide bombing in Pakistan, saying the attack was part of its ongoing conflict against democracy which it views as hostile to the principles of Islam.
Police say the attacker detonated explosives at a political rally near Afghanistan's border. They also say a dozen children were among the 54 people killed.
The U.S. is cautiously working to secure the release of an American nurse and her child abducted in Haiti. According to the United Nations, authorities have already registered more than a thousand kidnappings in Haiti this year, and the country's rapid gang violence is only getting worse. CNN's Jason Carroll has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALIX DORSAINVIL, AMERICAN VOLUNTEER KIDNAPPED IN HAITI: My name is Alex. I'm a nurse from New Hampshire.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Alex Dorsainvil's family and friends continue to pray for the safe return of her and her child. According to the faith based humanitarian aid group El Roi Haiti, the two were taken by captors from the organization's campus located near Port-au-Prince. That's where she had been working as a school nurse and her husband Sandro Dorsainvil is the director.
DORSAINVIL: Sandro invited me to come to the school to do some nursing for some of the kids who said that was a big need that they had.
CARROLL (voice over): In a brief statement, El Roi Haiti said the two were kidnapped Thursday saying in part, Alex has worked tirelessly as our school and community nurse to bring relief to those who are suffering.
Outpouring of support also coming from the school where she studied nursing.
ANTOINETTE HAYS, PRESIDENT, REGIS COLLEGE: Alex is very compassionate and cared very much for people who had great need. She was definitely a very special young woman.
Dorsainvil and her child taken it in the midst of ongoing gang violence, which has overtaken much of the country and forced thousands of Haitians to flee their homes.
The Biden administration says they are closely monitoring the situation. JOHN KIRBY, PRESS SECRETARY, PENTAGON: We don't want to do anything
and say anything that would put their safe return in jeopardy.
[00:15:03]
CARROLL (voice over): The U.S. last week ordered the departure of all non-emergency personnel from Haiti and told Americans to leave as soon as possible while trying to marshal international support.
ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We've been very focused on trying to put in place what's necessary for a multinational force, including finding a lead nation to take this on.
CARROLL (voice over): But the delay in creating that so called multinational force could make matters worse.
GARRY PIERRE-PIERRE, FOUNDER AND EDITOR, THE HAITIAN TIMES: The gang leaders, they feel that the days are numbered. I think now is the most dangerous time to be in Haiti because anything can happen to you.
CARROLL (voice over): And its innocent Haitians and people like Dorsainvil dedicated to helping them getting caught in the crossfire.
DORSAINVIL: Haitians are such a resilient people, they're full of joy and life and love and I'm so blessed to be able to know so many amazing Haitians.
Jason Carroll, CNN, Middleton, New Hampshire.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: An American woman has been arrested in the Bahamas and charged with conspiring to kill her husband, just months after the couple filed for divorce.
Lindsay Shiver is accused of plotting with the two locals to kill Robert Shiver on July 16th while the couple was visiting the islands, the three defendants are to remain in custody until a court hearing is set in October.
Still to come here on CNN, mounting legal troubles and legal fees for Donald Trump as the former president remains defiant on the campaign trail.
And the Women's World Cup the defending champions get ready for their next showdown, a live preview from Sydney, that's up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: The U.S. will face off against Portugal in the Women's World Cup in just a few hours. All eyes are on the defending champions.
CNN's Angus Watson live from Sydney with a look at the next round of matches. So, can they make it a three peat, are they are they on their way? ANGUS WATSON, CNN PRODUCER: John, one of the top teams in the competition, of course, Team USA, ready to face off against Portugal, they must win or at least draw to make sure that they get their place in the next round facing off perhaps Sweden or Italy there and the eyes of the world will be on the U.S. women's national team as they always are the best in the world at this stage as you say, double World Cup champions going for the three peat.
But as star player Megan Rapinoe said in a press conference just now, if you're the best, all you're looking to do is get better.
John, up against them though will be the Matildas, hopefully at some stage in the later rounds of this competition if you're an Australian fan here where I am at the Sydney fan zone, thousands of fans turned out to watch the Matildas in a do or die clash against Canada, the eyes of this nation right on them.
[00:20:02]
But if there was any pressure on the stars of the Australian side, it didn't show, four nil in the end against Canada. The Matildas soaked up the pressure early on, came out physical, won 50 battles in the midfield and made it count on the score sheet.
So, tonight, USA versus Portugal. We also have England versus China to see if the English can top their group coming into the next round. They might face Australia if they finished second to Denmark, John.
VAUSE: Angus, thank you. Angus Watson there in Sydney with all the very latest.
The grand jury investigating Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election is expected to meet in Washington in the hours ahead.
Meanwhile, the U.S. co-defendant in the classified documents case against the former president made his first appearance in Florida. CNN's Jessica Schneider has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN IRVING, REPRESENTING TRUMP'S CO-DEFENDANT: The Justice Department has unfortunately decided to bring these charges against Mr. De Oliveira. And now, it's time for them to put their money where their mouth is.
JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Carlos De Oliveira leaving the federal courthouse in Miami, Monday, escorted business his lawyer and federal agents. A 20-year employee at Mar-a- Lago, De Oliveira walked out of court on $100,000 bond after being charged along with former President Trump and Trump's close aide, Walt Nauta, with attempting to delete security footage from Mar-a-Lago after it was subpoenaed by a federal grand jury.
De Oliveira allegedly telling the director of I.T. at Mar- a-Lago, the boss, an apparent reference to Donald Trump, wanted to delete the server where security footage was stored.
CNN also reporting that another Mar-a-Lago employee received a target letter from federal prosecutors. Yuscil Taveras oversees the property's surveillance cameras and has met with investigators in recent weeks. It's unclear if he is cooperating. So far, he is not facing charges, but at latest some of the allegations in the indictment were based on information he provided.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: They're not indicting me. They're indicting you. I just happen to be standing in their way. That's all it is.
SCHNEIDER (voice over): Trump defiant as he continued campaigning over the weekend, even as he was charged with additional crimes in the special counsel's classified documents case.
TRUMP: If I weren't running, I would have nobody coming after me. Or if I was losing by a lot, I would have nobody coming after me.
SCHNEIDER (voice over): Plus, all signs point to another indictment soon out of D.C.'s federal court.
REPORTER: Can you tell us whether you expect to have an indictment this week?
SCHNEIDER (voice over): Likely against Trump and his allies for their efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
FANI WILLIS, FULTON COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: We're ready to go.
SCHNEIDER (voice over): And in Georgia, an indictment watch kicks into full gear. Fulton County's district attorney likely a week or two away from presenting her case to a grand jury and announcing whether Trump will be charged for trying to overturn the 2020 election results in that state. Ramped-up security measures are already in place around the local courthouse and a county judge just rejected efforts by Trump's legal team to toss evidence in that criminal investigation and to disqualify the district attorney.
WILLIS: Some people may not be happy with the decisions that I was making. And sometimes people, when they're unhappy, they act in a way that could create harm. The work is accomplished. We've been working for 2.5 years.
SCHNEIDER: And Donald Trump's legal bills are mounting so much so that sources have told our Kristen Holmes that his team is now creating a legal defense fund to help offset some of the costs.
Up to this point, it's been Trump's political action committee Save America that has been fronting those costs, already spending more than $40 million just this year to pay with the legal fees for Trump and many of his associates.
Jessica Schneider, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE) VAUSE: Still to come on CNN, China prepares for a six typhoon this year to make landfall but there's not a certainty there's an unpredictable storm path here, we'll tell you the very latest in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:26:10]
VAUSE: Welcome back, I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
As the remnants of Typhoon Doksuri weaken over China, hundreds of thousands of people now waiting to return to their homes. Torrential rains caused flooding across the country, forcing many to evacuate. Heavy downpours are expected to continue through Tuesday, increasing concerns about dangerous flooding as well as landslides.
CNN's Meteorologist Chad Myers has the very latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, the Western Tropics obviously heating up now, the waters warm, the storms are here, we had Doksuri making all of that rain into parts of China now dying off quite a bit, but it's still going to rain for a while. It's just spreading out now, moving away from where the main flooding was.
And obviously, the next storm system here, 215 kilometers per hour already. And it still could grow just a little bit.
But here are the numbers from the last storm from Doksuri, over 300 millimeters of rainfall, causing rivers to swell here, cars were floated by the waves, some pictures there we have there.
This is the area now that we're going to see the heavy rainfall with the remnants of Doksuri over the next couple of days where Beijing well down to the south away from the bulls eye there of the heaviest rainfall at least spreading out that rain a little bit.
But here is typhoon Khanun. This is the storm that is really concerning for places like Okinawa, north of the Philippines, east of Taipei, and also east of China.
Because the storm is moving to the west now will likely not continue, either stall, stop or possibly turn a little bit to the right and spend days over the islands here, very close to Okinawa and the like.
Why don't we know where it's going to go because this is what the model runs look like. Some of them take it to the south, some of them all the way to the North. And some just really just stop it there in the middle.
So, possibly day after day of wind, waves and of course, the possibility of very, very heavy rainfall. If this thing does stop, and then just keeps raining for days or hours, we are going to see some significant flash flooding even in these low lying islands. So, rain after rain after rain could be in some spots in the ocean
could be a half a meter to a meter of rainfall. That's not out of the question, if this thing's just sits there and stalls and rains and rains and rains.
So yes, it's heating up. The water is warm, and the storms are in play.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Thank you, Chad. Well, as the world faces a worsening climate crisis created by the rapid burning of fossil fuels. The U.K. has announced plans to drill for more oil and gas.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has committed to grant hundreds of new licenses for companies to expand drilling operations in the North Sea. He says it will provide the U.K. with its own domestically sourced energy as the country transitions to a net zero carbon emissions goal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RISHI SUNAK, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: 25 percent of our energy will come from oil and gas even in 2050. Far better than we get that from here at home. Better for the economy, better for our energy security, better for jobs and better for climate emissions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: But environmental activists say this plan will take a wrecking ball to Britain's climate change commitments.
Matthew Bunn is a professor and nuclear energy expert at Harvard University's Belfer Center. He joins me now from Watertown in Massachusetts.
Professor, thank you for being with us.
MATTHEW BUNN, PROFESSOR AND NUCLEAR ENERGY EXPERT, HARVARD UNIVERSITY'S BELFER CENTER: Well, thanks for having me.
VAUSE: OK, so one of the big concerns of renewable energy right now is capacity and during the transition from fossil fuels, nuclear power is seen as an option to kind of make up the difference.
And so, with that in mind, the first new nuclear reactor built in the U.S. is now online here in Georgia, operated by the Southern Company. And here's part of that announcement.
Today is a historic day for the state of Georgia, Southern Company and the entire energy sector. The project shows just how new nuclear can and will play a critical role in achieving a clean energy future for the United States.
[00:30:00] We'll look at the costs of nuclear power in a moment, but you know, yes, nuclear energy is carbon free, but spent fuel from a nuclear reactor remains radioactive for tens of thousands of years and using nuclear energy to lower carbon emissions, in the past, it's been said it's a bit like, you know, smoking to lose weight. Yes, it works, but it comes with a whole lot of other problems.
Well, I do think this is a historic day to have this new nuclear reactor connected, but as you say, there are many issues that nuclear energy has to address in order to grow at the immense scale that any energy source has to get to, to really be an important part of mitigating the terrible threat of climate change.
This particular reactor, unfortunately, has taken twice as long to build is expected, twice as much money, more than twice as much money as expected. And so the market is not that interested in the United States in building a whole lot more of this type of reactor.
VAUSE: As you mention, this nuclear power plant here in Georgia, seven years longer than the initial plan. It came in $17 billion over budget.
When we have -- when we compare this to wind farms, or a renewable energy source, where the World Nuclear Association puts the cost of building an advanced nuclear reactor north of $5,000 for every kilowatt of capacity, and according to the World Energy Information Administration, it says a new wind farm costs about a quarter of that.
So why not invest the billions of dollars that may go into nuclear into renewable, safe forms of clean energy, get more bang for your buck, and have a hole lot clear -- have true clean energy. Not -- no radioactive waste that can last for hundreds of thousands of years?
MATTHEW BUNN, PROFESSOR OF THE PRACTICE OF ENERGY, HARVARD'S BELFER CENTER: Well, to be fair, the great advantage of nuclear energy is that it is not intermittent, unlike wind and solar. You need something when the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow.
Now that something doesn't necessarily have to be nuclear. It could be geothermal. It could be fossil fuels with carbon capture. It could be a variety of things.
Batteries are extremely helpful for shifting from a sunny afternoon to energy you want to use in the evening, but they're not as good yet for being able to shift from July to January, when there's a lot less sun.
So having some kind of backup to intermittent energy sources is probably important for the overall energy system in the future as we move towards zero carbon.
VAUSE: And just to bring this back to the decision by the U.K. to max out its fossil fuel reserves, widely condemned by concentration groups and other groups like OxFam, "Extracting more fossil fuels from the North Sea will send a wrecking ball through the U.K.'s climate commitment, at a time when we should be investing in just transition to a low carbon economy and our own abundant renewables." That was part of a statement they released.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pushed back with this statement: "There are those who would rather oil and gas come from hostile states than from supplies we have here at home."
Yes, that seems to be a reference to Russia, obviously, which has weaponized its supplies of oil and gas. Doesn't true energy independence come from ending an addiction to fossil fuels and moving towards renewables, just ending renewables completely.
BUNN: Well, unfortunately, the world is not in a position to end use of fossil feels completely any time soon. The world remains extremely dependent on coal, oil, natural gas, especially in the transportation sector, but also in electricity and industry.
There's really an immense amount of work to do to get to that net-zero carbon that we all want to shoot for to limit the damage of climate change.
One of the things that's driving interest in reactors like the one that was connected in Georgia today is the desire to get of dependence on Russian national natural gas with the war in Ukraine.
So while there isn't much of a market for this reactor design in the United States, both Ukraine and Poland have expressed interest in building reactors like the one in Georgia. Whether they'll find the money to pay for it, especially Ukraine, is an interesting question.
VAUSE: Professor Bunn, thank you, sir, for being with us. We really appreciate your time.
BUNN: All right. Thank you.
VAUSE: UNESCO has recommended listing Venice as a world heritage site in danger because of deterioration and damage to building structures due to tourists and climate change.
Meantime, the agency has recommended that Australia's Great Barrier Reef not be placed on a list of places considered in danger but warned that the world's biggest coral reef ecosystem remained under serious threat, and urgent and sustained action is needed to save it.
[00:35:05]
Well, can A.I., artificial intelligence, and socialism play together nicely in the sand pit? The Chinese government seems to think so. So ahead, the new rules for regulating a key aspect of artificial intelligence.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC: THEME SONG FOR "PEE-WEE'S PLAYHOUSE") (END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: That's Pee-Wee Herman, brought to life by actor and comedian Paul Reubens, who died on Sunday.
Reubens was best known for the Emmy Award-winning "Pee-Wee's Playhouse" series, which spawned films, streaming specials, even a Broadway show.
But back in 2002, the actor was arrested in an adult theater in Florida and charged with obscenity. A much more serious charge was dropped during a plea deal.
In recent years, he fought a private battle with cancer and left a message to be released after his death, which was posted to Instagram. It reads, "Please accept my apology for not going public with what I've been facing the last six years. I've loved you all so much and enjoyed making art for you."
Paul Reubens was 70 years old.
Hollywood is also mourning Angus Cloud, a rising young actor best known for his breakthrough role in the HBO drama "Euphoria."
He played a sweet-natured drug dealer named Fezco and became a fan favorite. Cloud also had a few other projects in the works.
No cause of death has been released, but his family says he lost his father recently and struggled intensely.
Angus Cloud was 25 years old.
China has become one of the first countries to build some guardrails for the technology that powers popular artificial intelligence services.
China's top Internet watchdog recently unveiled new guidelines to generative A.I. that will take effect in about two weeks. CNN's Kristie Lu Stout has details now, reporting in from Hong Kong.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Meet Xi Giojiang (ph), a virtual idol, powered by artificial intelligence to sell burgers in China.
McDonald's hired GiaGia (ph) to interact with Chinese customers.
The U.S. may be curbing A.I. ship exports to China, but the nation is fast becoming an A.I. powerhouse. They country's home to top tech firms, leading the A.I. charge, like Alibaba, Huawei, Tencent and Baidu, creator of Xi Giojiang (ph), boasts that its chatbot Ernie has beaten OpenAI's ChatGPT on several metrics.
At the state-backed world A.I. conference in July, billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk praised Chinese A.I. prowess. ELON MUSK, ENTREPRENEUR: China will have very strong A.I. capability
is my prediction.
STOUT (voice-over): China has become one of the first countries in the world to regulate the technology that powers popular services like ChatGPT.
In July it unveiled interim rules to manage generative A.I., saying it needs to be aligned with the core values of socialism.
[00:40:02]
ANGELA ZHANG, CHINESE LAW PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG: The Chinese government is trying to ensure that the use and application of A.I. will be aligned with its own set of moral principles that underscores its political and social stability.
The government not only placed the burden on the service providers but also on the users of A.I. services.
STOUT: In January, China's new rules against deep-fake technologies came into effect. Chinese authorities have detained people for allegedly using generative A.I. to commit fried and create fake news.
STOUT: And while China is moving fast to regulate the industry, some critics warn that it may not be equipped to avoid an A.I. disaster.
BILL DREXEL, ASSOCIATE FELLOW FOR TECHNOLOGY & NATIONAL SECURITY PROGRAM, CNAS: Most societies kind of learn from disasters, but the PRC has a kind of propaganda machine that makes it hard to do that, where there's a sort of disaster amnesia. There's kind of a chronic culture of crisis mismanagement in authoritarian regimes generally, and China is no exception.
STOUT (voice-over): Drexel cites China's zero-COVID policy as a recent example of crisis mismanagement.
But the danger posed by A.I. is not limited to one country. Top technologists the world over, including China, have signed this petition to warn of the risk of human extinction from A.I.
SAM ALTMAN, CEO, OPENAI: As these systems get very, very powerful, that does require special concern. And it has global impact, so it also requires global cooperation.
STOUT (voice-over): China's new A.I. rules have a provision to encourage participation and global standard setting.
ZHANG: They are very keen to take part in shaping global recognition of A.I.
STOUT (voice-over): For now, Beijing is steering its own A.I. future with a heavy hand. To encourage Chinese tech success and ensure that artificial intelligence will not undermine the state.
Kristie Lu Stout, CNN, Hong Kong. (END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Well I guess that didn't last too long. The huge flashing "X" has now been removed from the building formally known as Twitter's headquarters.
The signage is part of Elon Musk's rebranding of the micro-blogging site.
But on Friday, building inspectors in San Francisco issued the company a violation notice for putting to sign up without permit after receiving at least two dozen complaints.
Now X will have to pay fees for the permits it did not get.
I'm John Vause, back of the top of the hour with more CNN NEWSROOM. But first, WORLD SPORT starts after a very short break. See you right back here in 18 minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:45:24]
(WORLD SPORT)
[00:57:39]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
