Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Biden, Yoon, and Kishida to Discuss North Korea and China at the Camp David Trilateral Summit; U.S. greenlights F16 pledges to Ukraine; Wildfires Experiencing Now in Spain and Canada; ECOWAS Leaders are Threatening Military Intervention, Vowing to Restore Democracy in Niger; Barbie Opened in Saudi Arabia, But Not Most of the Middle East; Former New Zealand Prime Minister Reflects on How Her Country Got Her Hands to Co-Host the Women's World Cup. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired August 18, 2023 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to all of you watching us around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber, ahead on "CNN Newsroom."
U.S. President Joe Biden will host the leaders of Japan and South Korea at Camp David. Officials are hoping the show of unity will send a message to North Korea and China.
Moscow's mayor says Russia shot down a drone over the city, the latest incident of an attempted attack inside Russia.
And regional leaders are threatening military intervention to restore democracy in Niger. We'll have a live report, ahead.
UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN Newsroom with Kim Brunhuber.
BRUNHUBER: Camp David, the legendary presidential getaway in Western Maryland, will write a new chapter today in its already storied history. Later this morning, Camp David is where U.S. President Joe Biden will host the first trilateral summit between the U.S., Japan, and South Korea.
Now the summit will be brief, likely only several hours, but it could be hugely consequential. It follows President Biden's sideline meeting with the two leaders at the G7 in Hiroshima last May. And the goal here is pretty simple. Give two vital allies who've never liked each other very much a chance to work together with the U.S. to counter China's rising influence in the Indo-Pacific.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol had this to say as they prepared to depart for the U.S.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YOON SUK-YEOL, SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The Republic of Korea-U.S.-Japan Summit that will be held at Camp David will set a new milestone in trilateral cooperation contributing to peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula and in the Indo-Pacific region.
FUMIO KISHIDA, JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER (through translator): As the international norms built on freedom and openness are shaken, our bilateral relationships with the United States and South Korea will be the foundation of this historical opportunity to bolster the strategic relationship between the three countries.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: North Korea has reportedly condemned the three-way partnership as an Asian version of NATO, and it's widely expected to make a military show of force and protest.
As Will Ripley explains, that could include the imminent launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): All eyes on the skies over North Korea. South Korea's spy agency telling lawmakers in Seoul. Pyongyang is planning a provocative show of force including an intercontinental ballistic missile launch.
The military is detecting signs of possible ICBM launch preparations, monitoring active movement of ICBM launch-related vehicles in Pyongyang, expecting drills including tactical nuclear capable missile launches in the coming days.
The latest intelligence as North Korea faces growing International pressure. U.S. and South Korean military exercises begin next week. North Korea considers the annual drills a dress rehearsal for war. Those drills coming as President Joe Biden prepares to host the leaders of Japan and South Korea on Friday at Camp David. China and North Korea high on the agenda.
At the U.N. Security Council, the first meeting in more than five years on North Korean human rights.
A North Korean defector telling the council, the government turns our blood and sweat into a luxurious life for the leadership and missiles that blast our hard work into the sky.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights says many North Koreans face extreme hunger, acute medicine shortages, claiming the U.N. and NGOs remain barred from the country. Two nations not barred from North Korea, Russia and China. Two patrons with power to veto biting Security Council sanctions. Both sent high-level delegations to Pyongyang last month.
Leader Kim Jong-un showing off his latest ICBMs and drones, analysts say, bear striking resemblance to U.S. military models. Suspicion is growing. North Korea may have plans to secretly provide weapons for Russia's war in Ukraine. So far, no hard evidence. But South Korea's spy agency expects growing military cooperation,
warning of a possible transfer of Russia's core nuclear and missile technology to North Korea. For nations trying to contain the North Korea nuclear threat, analysts say the worst may be yet to come.
Will Ripley, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: CNN's Anna Coren is covering this for us live from Hong Kong. So Anna, that trilateral, they'll be discussing North Korea, but the main topic on the agenda, I imagine, China.
[03:05:02]
ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, absolutely. China will no doubt be the priority. But look, Kim, a few years ago, this summit would have been unthinkable, taken into consideration. The historical grievances and often hostile relationship between South Korea and Japan, America's two most important allies in the region.
And yet President Yoon and Prime Minister Kishida, they are putting that to the side to fly into Camp David a little bit later today in Maryland and meet with President Biden for this one-day summit.
We heard from the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier and he said that this meeting will give the three heads of state a chance to talk about concrete steps towards maintaining peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.
Look at its core, Camp David is about dealing with, as you say, North Korea, but more importantly, China. It's rising. It's aggressive. Beijing is making its military presence certainly felt in the region. Think about Taiwan, the territorial disputes in the South China Sea, the disputes over the Senkaku Islands, you know, with Japan.
And we heard from the U.S. ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel, earlier this week. He took part in a panel discussion at the Brookings Institute. And he said that China assumed that South Korea and Japan would never resolve their historical differences and basically get on the same page.
He believes that by doing this and embedding this mechanism of cooperation in what he calls the DNA of the three governments to create a new normal, that this will be a major deterrent for China. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAHM EMANUEL, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO JAPAN: I think it doubles down not only on our strength about alliance, but more importantly, it doubles down on the fact that we've created something that exactly what China was hoping would never happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP) COREN: Kim, obviously Beijing will be watching this summit very closely. The fear is that it could retaliate economically, which would be a big problem for Japan and South Korea. China is their largest trading partner.
We did hear from China's top diplomat last month, Wang Yi. He warned Japan and South Korea against aligning themselves too closely with the U.S. Let me read this to you.
He said, no matter how blonde you dye your hair, how sharp you shape your nose. You can never become a European or American. You can never become a Westerner.
Now at the end of this summit we're expecting to hear from the leaders. They will announce expanded cooperation not only in joint military drills and military information sharing but also in A.I. supply chains and cyber and economic security. The hope, Kim, is that this trilateral meeting will become an annual event, you know, in its own right. Kim.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah. Interesting, if that happens, one of the biggest stories will be watching today. Thank you so much for that, CNN's Anna Coren in Hong Kong.
Russian and Chinese warships on joint maneuvers near Japan's southern islands have triggered a strong diplomatic response from Tokyo. On Thursday, nearly a dozen ships from the two navies were seen transiting international waters together near Okinawa. The Russian military released this video of what it says were the ships on joint Pacific patrol. Now CNN can't verify these are the same ships. Japan's defense ministry denounced the maneuvers as a show of force against Japan and a threat to its national security.
Moscow's mayor says Russian air defenses shot down a drone over the city a few hours ago. Debris from the drone allegedly fell near the Moscow Expocentre. This marks the third time in the past month that this district of the capital has been struck by drone debris.
It's one of two incidents officials reported in recent hours. The Russian defense ministry says two of its patrol ships in the Black Sea repelled an attack from an unmanned Ukrainian gunboat late Thursday.
CNN's Nada Bashir is following the latest developments from London. So Nada, let's start there with the attacks on Moscow and the response.
NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Look, we have seen an uptick in the number of attempted drone attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces around this area of Moscow and targeting Russian territory in general over recent weeks, though Ukraine rarely admits responsibility for such attacks.
We've heard from the Russian Defense Ministry as well as the mayor of Moscow reporting on this latest incident. They say that the attempted attack took place at around 4.00 a.m. this morning. But that their air defenses were able to down the drone over this particular district of Moscow with no casualties being reported. However, as you mentioned, there has been some minor damage, according
to the Russian authorities, sustained by the Moscow Expocentre. Of course, no casualties, but there has said to be disruption to flights, both departures and arrivals in and around Moscow airport as a precaution.
[03:10:00]
Meanwhile, on the Black Sea, another attempted Ukrainian attack, according to Russian officials we've heard from the Russian defense ministry, they say that two of their patrol ships were able to repel a attempted Ukrainian attack on the Black Sea on Thursday night.
They say that their vessels opened fire on a Ukrainian gunboat, destroying the boat before it was able to reach its target. And of course, over the last few weeks, we have seen an uptick again of Ukrainian attacks on the Black Sea.
We've heard from the Ukrainian authorities, though no, they're not admitting full responsibility for these attacks. They warned that such attacks, particularly the use of maritime drones as well, will continue and will continue to increase so long as Russian forces remain on Ukrainian territory and in Ukrainian waters. Kim?
BRUNHUBER: All right, I appreciate you monitoring all developments for us, Nada Bashir, in London.
And the U.S. says it will give the green light to sending F16 fighter jets to Ukraine as soon as its pilots are trained. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made that commitment in letters to European allies. But despite that, Ukraine still doesn't expect to receive those jets until next year.
Nick Payton Walsh explains why.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK PAYTON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Getting Ukraine's F-16s was always going to be an ambitious complex task. You have to provide technicians inside Ukraine who are Ukrainian to do the vast amounts of servicing that these complex jets need between their flights to keep them operational. You need to train in English F-16 pilots. That training project was supposed to happen in NATO European allied nations.
The program for it was complex. It didn't move as fast forward as people necessarily hoped. So, the initial ambition from the Biden administration to see F-16s flying in Ukraine by the end of the year clearly has been stalled and that's been recognized by Ukrainian officials in the last hours here.
It's a huge deal really for Ukraine because while they wouldn't really necessarily impact the frequency of sirens that you hear in a population center like this, that's mostly because of long-distance missile attacks, they could have a big impact on the southern counter- offensive front line where Russia has air superiority and the half metric ton bombs that the Russians drop on Ukrainian positions have been slowing that offensive and causing enormous casualties.
So the F-16s were a chance of Ukraine redressing that balance. The idea it could happen this year, it's fair to say that was ambitious. The fact that it's not happening, well, possibly that's a reflection of how long these tasks have been taking inside of NATO itself.
We've seen ourselves when we're in the outskirts of Urozhaine, the town most recently captured by Ukraine, how important air superiority could be for Ukraine to push the Russians back to speed up that particular advance. Urozhaine, important, certainly, because it enabled them to keep moving south. At the same time, we've also been hearing from Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko talking about how they will not attack Ukraine and if they were attacked they could potentially resort to nuclear weapons.
Important to put that in context, Belarus has already been used for the invasion of Ukraine last year. Belarus doesn't have its own separate nuclear arsenal. It will rely on Russia for that. And so Lukashenko often making these statements to suggest they don't really want to be part of this war, but they shouldn't necessarily be considered to be weak at this stage.
He enjoys minimal domestic support, but was seminal to Putin in turning around the Wagner coup a few months ago, but still a deeply complex date for Ukraine where the thought of F-16s being delayed will be poorly accepted by so many here.
Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Dnipro, Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Patience is waning in West Africa, while a regional block is now threatening military intervention after the coup in Niger.
Plus, the latest in Donald Trump's legal problems and the safety risks now facing the grand jury members who recently voted to indict him in Georgia. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:15:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BRUNHUBER: Donald Trump is facing 91 criminal charges in four jurisdictions and some of his followers are allegedly causing problems in at least one of them. Report of names, photos and home addresses of the grand jurors who voted to indict him in Georgia are being circulated online.
CNN's senior legal affairs correspondent Paul Reid looks at the security risks facing that jury as well as the judge in a separate case.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Because I have four of them now, if you look.
PAULA REID, CNN SR. LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Former President Trump reacting to his Georgia indictment for the first time on camera and calling for his party to come to his defense.
TRUMP: They have no idea the anger they cause. The Republicans have to be tough. The Republicans are great in many ways, but they don't fight as hard for this stuff. And they have to get a lot tougher.
REID (voice-over): This call to action comes as the Georgia residents who served on the grand jury that indicted Trump for trying to overturn the 2020 election are facing threats and even getting doxxed online.
JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: These people were called to serve and do their civic duty by serving on that grand jury and now they've been basically put on the X by these disclosures.
REID (voice-over): Names, pictures, profiles and even home addresses purporting to belong to the grand jurors are now circulating on far- right websites. Their names were published on the indictment, a public document as is the practice in Georgia. But experts say --
MILLER: This is really a quirk of law in the state of Georgia that the names of grand jurors come out with the indictment. So this is really the first time we've seen this kind of thing come out in a national case.
REID (voice-over): CNN cannot independently verify the details and it's unclear if the information circulating online is that of the actual grand jurors or just people of the same name.
Former Georgia state senator and attorney Jen Jordan testified in this case. And she says these threats might impede prosecutors' ability to find a trial jury.
JEN JORDAN, FORMER GEORGIA DEMOCRATIC STATE SENATOR: Everyone is going to know who they are. Their lives are going to be turned upside down. And so just to be able to sit a jury of people who would be even willing to put, you know, their lives on the line is going to be really, really difficult.
REID (voice-over): And it's not just the grand jury under threat. Judge Tanya Chutkin, who is overseeing the federal election interference case against Trump, received a threatening voicemail earlier this month.
According to court documents, a Texas woman called Chutkin's chambers on August 5th and left a message threatening to kill anyone who went after former President Trump. She also allegedly threatened to kill Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, as well as people in the LGBTQ community. She is now in custody.
Over the last week, Trump has repeatedly posted to social media, speaking directly to the Fulton County grand jurors and Judge Chutkin, saying, will someone please tell the Fulton County grand jury that I did not tamper with the election? And saying that Chutkin, obviously, wants me behind bars, very biased and unfair.
(on-camera): Trump was scheduled to hold a press conference Monday to amplify his baseless claims of voting fraud. But now we've learned that's unlikely to happen after his advisors, who are currently negotiating his surrender in Georgia, told him that an event like that could just add to his increasing legal problems.
Paula Reid, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: A Brazilian hacker testified Thursday that former president Jair Bolsonaro asked him to hack into voter machines last year. Walter Delgatti Neto spoke before a congressional inquiry investigating Brazil's election results and the storming of government buildings in January. Delgatti testified Bolsonaro said he would pardon him if he got caught.
[03:20:02]
Bolsonaro's defense team denied the allegations, including Delgatti's claim that Bolsonaro told him they had wiretapped a Supreme Court justice who was investigating the president's attacks on Brazil's voting system.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WALTER DELGATTI, BRAZILIAN HACKER (through translator): Bolsonaro said in a phone call that this wiretap was carried out by agents from other countries. He said that I would have been promised a pardon and even said, if someone arrests you, I'll have the judge arrested.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Delgatti said the hacking plan didn't move forward because he couldn't get access to the source code for Brazil's electoral system.
Dozens of migrants are believed to have been killed in a boat disaster off the coast of West Africa. The International Organization on Migration says the boat left Senegal last week with 101 people on board. Some were able to be rescued, but most remain unaccounted for.
Our Larry Madowo has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There's a lot we don't know about this boat carrying the migrants, like where it was heading and what exactly happened. The International Organization for Migration estimates that at least 63 people are presumed dead.
It says there were 101 people on board, all from Senegal, except one from Guinea. It's a dangerous route, considered one of the world's deadliest. And this path coming from the coast of West Africa through to Cape Verde is something that we've seen a lot this year, and the Health Minister in Cape Verde has been talking about it.
FILOMENA GONCALVES, CAPE VERDEAN HEALTH MINISTER (through translator): It comes with a lot of pain, yes, but we know that migration issues are global issues, which require international cooperation, a lot of discussion and global strategy. Given what the world is going through right now with migratory issues, it means that we all, all the nations, have to sit down at the table and see what we can do so that we don't lose any more lives at sea.
MADOWO: This boat is believed to have left a fishing village about 90 miles north of Dakar in Senegal on July 10th. And the migrants were rescued -- were rescued on August 15th. So having been in the high seas for this long the risk of dehydration and hypothermia is very high.
The Spanish agency for migrant rights, Walking Borders, says at least 778 migrants have died in this path from the west coast of Africa trying to make it to the Canary Islands in Spain and enter European territory. It's another reminder of the risks, so many Africans take to try and run away from war and poverty in their countries hoping for a better life in Europe.
Larry Madowo, CNN, Nairobi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Crews continue to search thousands of burnt out homes and businesses as survivors hold out hope of finding and identifying hundreds who are still missing from the deadly fires that scorched parts of Hawaii. We'll have a report from Maui, just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:25:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is "CNN Newsroom."
In Hawaii, the administrator of Maui's Emergency Management Agency has resigned citing health reasons. He's been criticized for not activating sirens to warn residents about the wildfire danger. The fires devastated the historic town of Lahaina, killing at least 111 people with more than 1,000 residents still unaccounted for. Maui County's mayor tells CNN 45 percent of the scorched area has been searched.
CNN's Bill Weir reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Here on Maui, is that fatality count ticks up a little bit at a time, day by day. It's the number of missing that weighs so heavy on the hearts of people here and really around the world watching this story.
Over a thousand missing, according to the governor's last statement on that. And given the fact that a lot of the power is back up on the island, a lot of the communication is back up, you'd think we would have heard from those folks by now.
And what's especially grievous is when you think about how many children were home that day, (inaudible) again and again and again from kids. There was no school when the fire hit. A lot of young ones were with their grandparents or someone else while the parents worked. So you can imagine the agony in those families if they haven't found their children.
I spoke actually to a veteran urban search and rescue officer from FEMA in Hawaii from the Houston area, and he says of the some 90 disasters he's addressed in his career, this is unlike anything else.
UNKNOWN: What's been really powerful is the fact that there's a number of local firefighter and P.D. that have lost their homes, lost their everything, and they're out there working side by side with us. So this is something very personal for us because this could easily have been our community and so to be able to help them and to see them working in their own destroyed community is really powerful.
WEIR: He told me how they're searching sort of square foot by square foot with these dogs that are trained to detect human remains even down to cremated ashes and they want to be reverential and standing alongside of them, in a lot of cases, are Maui Fire and Police Department faculty who have lost their loved ones as well and are digging through that ash, trying to find anything to put some people's minds at ease right now.
The winds are kicking back up again. Nothing as strong as the firestorm tropical gusts that we saw last week, but a concern for the hot spots still in the upcountry Kula fire. There are two Chinook helicopters, according to the National Guard, ready to go to put out if they should flare up. But so many concerns, still playing out here. So much trauma.
Bill Weir, CNN, Maui.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: We're keeping a close watch on Hurricane Hilary. It's now a powerful category four storm and still gaining strength. It's located some 685 kilometers south of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and heading west northwest, but it's not clear just where the storm will make landfall and how strong it will be when it does. The U.S. National Hurricane Center predicts heavy rain will spread into California and the southwestern United States late this weekend.
Now to the dire situation in Spain where thousands have been forced to flee as wildfires ripped through the island of Tenerife. One regional leader called it the most complicated fire the Canary Islands has seen in 40 years. About 2,600 hectares have burned so far. On Thursday, officials reported the fires were out of control and they weren't ruling out more evacuations. Nearly 400 personnel and more than a dozen firefighting aircraft have been dispatched to help contain the fires.
And thousands of people are fleeing their homes or preparing to get out as wildfires race across northern and western regions of Canada. Have a look here, this was the scene in Northwest Territories where flames are within 17 kilometers of the capital city, Yellowknife.
Evacuations are well underway as the entire population of 20,000 people has been ordered to be out of the city within the next nine hours. And with a heat wave hitting the western province of British Columbia, evacuation orders and alerts are also in place for thousands of properties there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLIFF CHAPMAN, BRITISH COLUMBIA DIRECTOR FOR WILDLIFE OPERATIONS: This weather event has the potential to be the most challenging 24 to 48 hours of the summer from a fire perspective.
[03:30:00]
We are expecting significant growth and we are expecting our resources to be challenged from north to south in the province over the next 48 hours.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Back in the Northwest Territories residents are snarling the roads as you can see there as they try to reach a safe destination.
And residents of northern India are reeling from heavy rains and landslides in Himachal Pradesh state where dozens are dead. Vedika Sud is in New Delhi and has more on the devastation and the search for victims.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VEDIKA SUD, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): Home swept away, lives destroyed. Since Sunday, more than 70 people have died and more than a dozen are missing. After heavy rainfall, later landslides and flooding across India's northern Himachal Pradesh state.
In this video, man is heard repeating, Oh, Lord, Oh, Lord! Shocked as he sees flood water gushing through a valley.
Search and rescue operations have been underway since a desperate attempt to locate survivors buried under mud and debris.
For those who were lucky, the weight has been excruciating.
SUDESH SHARMA, FAMILY MEMBER OF LANDSLIDE VICTIM (through translator): We should get the missing members of our family back. We should get a glimpse of them for the last time and set their souls free. We have no doors left open for us now. We should get them back.
SUD (voice-over): With more heavy rain on the way, according to forecasts, Himachal Pradesh remains alert, sending residents to relief camps.
This monsoon has been devastating for the state. Since the start of the rainy season in June, 300 people in the region have died, according to Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu. On Wednesday, Sukhu carried out an aerial survey of some of the worst affected areas.
Like in many parts of the world, sites like these due to extreme weather are becoming more common.
Sukhu estimates the damage has caused losses over 1.2 billion U.S. dollars and could take a year to rebuild infrastructure.
But for some residents, it's more than just infrastructure. Lives will also need to be rebuilt.
Vedika Sud, CNN, New Delhi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Now to the coup in Niger, regional leaders are threatening military intervention. During a meeting in the Ghanaian capital, one commissioner from the Economic Community of West African States vowed to restore constitutional order in Niger, quote, "by all means necessary." He said if push comes to shove, ECOWAS will go into Niger with its own forces. But the West African bloc hopes that won't be necessary. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ABDEL-FATAU MUSAH, ECOWAS COMMISSIONER FOR POLITICAL AFFAIRS, PEACE, AND SECURITY: Military is not our option of choice. It is the last resort. We want diplomacy to work, and we want this message clearly transmitted to the leaders of the junta in Niger, that we are giving them every opportunity to reverse what they have done and to return the country to constitutional order. That feeling, all other measures will be on the table, including the military option.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Meanwhile, the U.N. humanitarian agency warns more than seven million Nigerians aren't getting enough food and soon may not know where their next meal is coming from. Now earlier, I spoke with an expert from Leeds Beckett University about this food insecurity and why that can lead to violence. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OYALINKA AJALA, SR. LECTURER, POLITICS AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, LEEDS BECKETT UNIVERSITY: Niger is a landlocked country and they depend on their neighbors for food importation. So immediately the borders were shut. As a result of sanctions from ECOWAS, the prices of food went up
immediately, and this could have severe consequences and further destabilize not just Niger, the entire region.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah, that's right and the coup leaders, I mean, they claim they took control of the country to improve the security situation that the government wasn't doing enough to fight the threat of Islamist insurgents, but it seems that threat is actually greater now those forces seem to be taking advantage of the political chaos.
AJALA: Yes, the threat is greater because Niger was very strategic in the fight against terrorist groups not just around this border, but even around the Lake Chad axis.
And we heard about the attacks yesterday by some Islamic insurgents. So, now, the threat is even greater now, because this is already causing a lot of distraction. The multinational joint tax force, which Niger is a part of, are members of this organizations like Nigeria are part of ECOWAS, threatening to use force.
[03:35:07]
So we are likely to see forces that were previously fighting side by side against terrorists now facing each other, which is going to have even severe consequences.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah, so there'll be a void there, and this will end up threatening more than just Niger. You touched on this. It's a regional threat as well. How precarious are things in the region with Mali, Burkina Faso, seeing growing threats?
AJALA: Yeah, it is very, it's a very concerning situation because when you look at the borders of Niger -- Niger shares border with seven other countries and many of these countries have various degrees of instability. You mentioned Mali and Burkina Faso, these countries have their share of insurgency. Then you have Nigeria, you have Libya as well. So all these countries around Niger, many of them are unstable at the moment. So any further destabilization would have consequences that would reverberate beyond Niger into these countries.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Reports of more than 1,000 people buried in mass graves in West Darfur as Sudan's civil war rages on. We'll talk to United Nations representative about the situation there. Please do stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BRUNHUBER: The United Nations says it's alarmed by the widespread violence in Sudan at the hands of the rapid paramilitary support forces. Since civil war broke out four months ago, RSF members have allegedly used rape as tools to punish communities. The U.N. says some of the atrocities are ethnically and racially motivated.
Now this comes after a CNN investigation uncovered evidence of a gruesome massacre carried out by the RSF in June in West Darfur. Here's how the U.S. State Department reacted to our report.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VEDANT PATEL, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT DEPUTY SPOKESPERSON: While these atrocities have been taking place in Darfur, reportedly have been committed by the RSF and affiliated militia, our view is though that both sides have been responsible for abuses and both the RSF and the SAF must cease fighting, ensure their forces, respect human rights and international law, and hold accountable those responsible for atrocities and other abuses, as well as allow for the unhindered humanitarian access as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Gillian Kittley is the head of office for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Sudan and she joins me now from Vallsta, Sweden. Thanks so much for being here with us. I just want to start with your reaction to the horrific revelation of these mass graves.
GILIAN KITLEY, HEAD OF OFFICE, UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN SUDAN: Good morning, Kim, and thank you for the opportunity to speak to you about this situation.
[03:40:02]
The findings of your colleagues, the journalists who investigated the attacks in Darfur align with the findings of our own human rights officers. This is extremely shocking what has been taking place in West Darfur and particularly in El Geneina. We have documented deliberate killings, sexual violence targeting civilian community in El Geneina, and particularly the communities belonging to the ethnic Mas'alit.
Hundreds of people have been killed and there's very strong allegations of sexual violence against many women, also in El Geneina, based on their ethnicity.
And the High Commissioner has spoken out very strongly against what has been happening there and called for the RSF to condemn and stop these killings and the attacks against the civilian communities there.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah, now we're sort of talking about the RSF, but you heard the U.S. State Department saying yesterday they blame both sides for atrocities. Is that your view as well?
KITLEY: In the broader conflict, yes, both parties, according to the information that we've been gathering, have committed violations of international humanitarian law in particular in the conflict, particularly in areas in and around Khartoum, including indiscriminate attacks against civilian densely populated civilian areas.
But in many of the cases, in particular cases of sexual violence, we have heard primarily allegations of responsibility by the RSF and by the associated Arab militias. BRUNHUBER: Yeah, and as you say, I mean, the growing problems of
sexual crimes and according to Save the Children, some 1.5 million children will fall into crisis hunger levels by next month. And the problem is aid workers are struggling to reach those in need often because they face being attacked, but also much more solvable problems. They can't get into the country because they can't get visas. I mean, the security situation is more intractable, but surely the bureaucratic barriers can be solved.
KITLEY: Yes, I'm sure they can do. It's been around four million people now have been displaced as a result of the violence in Sudan and around 31 percent of those from around the area around Khartoum. It has been very challenging for the humanitarian community to provide assistance to the communities affected.
They are doing their best in very difficult circumstances and some areas are very difficult to access and many of the areas where we were working before the conflict. Office supplies, whereas, it would be looted so we don't have the supplies available in those areas but the U.N. community is very much present in Sudan and doing what it can to assist those affected as well as other humanitarian agencies.
BRUNHUBER: And there have been at least, what, nine ceasefire agreements so far but none have held, i mean, what are the prospects for peace, or peace talks at least at this point?
KITLEY: We hope very much that there will be peace soon and a long- term peace agreement that can bring a resolution to this conflict. I know the neighbors, regional organizations and other member states are doing what they can to try and assist to bring their parties to the table to find a permanent solution.
At the moment, it's difficult to see an end to this conflict but, you know, the Sudanese people are very resilient and very strong. and we have received the report that support that they need in order to bring this conflict to an end.
BRUNHUBER: In the meantime, the conditions for those fleeing the country to neighboring countries, i mean, the conditions they're facing are pretty horrific as well.
KITLEY: Yes indeed it's been, I think, around 800,000 people now have crossed borders from Sudan into neighboring countries to seek refuge. This falls, of course, a lot of pressure on those countries doing an amazing job in welcoming people and trying to provide support to them, along with our humanitarian colleagues in those countries.
But the conditions are difficult at the border areas and there are a lot of people that are seeking refuge, who are also traumatized, and many of them also need medical care. So this is another challenge that we face and also the host communities.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah. So many challenges ahead. I really appreciate your expertise. Gilian Kitley, thanks for joining us.
KITLEY: Thank you. BRUNHUBER: All right, well New Zealand's footballers didn't make it
very far in the World Cup, but their former prime minister has some strong feelings about how they played. Coming up, her country, which co-hosted the tournaments. Our interview with Jacinda Ardern is just ahead. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:45:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BRUNHUBER: Well, it is not what you would expect or hope to see out of your airplane window. Have a look at this. Flames. The passenger says he shot from onboard a Southwest Airlines flight out of Houston, Texas, heading to Cancun, Mexico. On this video, the fire appears to be shooting out of the plane's right engine. The plane returned to the Houston Hobby Airport safely. A different plane eventually took the passengers to Cancun.
"Barbie" has now opened in Saudi Arabia to packed theaters, but it isn't Barbie-mania everywhere in the Middle East, as Becky Anderson reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR, CONNECT THE WORLD (voice-over): Scenes like these were unthinkable just a few years back. Saudi women packing cinemas to watch "Barbie," an empowering movie with feminist themes. But Barbie-mania is alive in the kingdom, which only ended its decades-long ban on cinemas in 2017 as part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's plans to transform the country.
JAMAL MOUSSA, EGYPTIAN LIVING IN SAUDI ARABIA (through translator): I asked people coming out of the screening. They told me it is an excellent film. It is a romantic film, the "Barbie" movie. It has a compelling story. So I thought to book for me and the children to watch it. And they were happy about it. An advancement we are witnessing every day. We can now see movies and a lot of things that we didn't see here before.
(VIDEO PLAYING)
ANDERSON (voice-over): However, the film will not be delighting audiences in every nation across the region.
Despite showing Barbie at cinemas for several weeks, Algeria took the decision to remove the blockbuster from screens for promoting homosexuality.
Oil-Rich Kuwait also banned Barbie to, quote, "preserve public ethics and social traditions."
Social media are washed with Kuwaitis joking about driving to Saudi Arabia to see the film and some even posting guides on the theaters closest to the border. The irony of the reversing cultural norms not lost on Kuwaitis who've
been used to Saudis making that journey in the past.
And in Lebanon, a country generally regarded as being more progressive towards the LGBTQ community, the Culture Minister moved in to ban the movie from theaters, saying it, quote, "promotes homosexuality."
JEAN CLAUDE BOULOS, LEBANESE FILMMAKER (through translator): The movie is being shown in Saudi Arabia and in the Arab world while we here are banning it. It started with all of us postponing it, but at the end, they chose to run the movie and we decided to ban it. This shows that we want to stay still, we don't want to develop.
ANDERSON (voice-over): While Saudi Arabia's socio-economic liberalization is moving at pace, there is still criticism of certain facets of that transformation.
Former head of Human Rights Watch, Kenneth Roth, tweeting that while Saudi women find much to admire in Barbie, they still need guardians' permission to marry and that there is yet no appetite for activism in the country.
Despite the progress still to be made, that this film is being shown in Saudi Arabia, a nation traditionally reinforced by the patriarchy, is a sign that bin Salman's vision is rapidly changing the country.
Becky Anderson, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[03:50:01]
BRUNHUBER: And we should add Warner Brothers Pictures, which is distributing the "Barbie" movie, is also owned by CNN's parent company, Warner Brothers Discovery.
The world's governing body of chess is under fire for forbidding transgender players from taking part in women's events. The International Chess Federation says starting Monday, players who have transitioned from male to female have, quote, "no right to participate in women's events." That's until the organization can analyze the situation further.
Now in response, the National Center for Transgender Equality based in the U.S. fired off this treat, quote, "really chess? This is so insulting to cis women, to transgender, and to the game itself."
And then there were two, and in two days there will be one, just one Women's World Cup champion. It will be either England or Spain in what's turned out to be an all-European final. The two sides are resting up and getting mentally prepared for Sunday's showdown in Sydney, and neither country has ever made it to the main event in this competition.
The former Prime Minister of New Zealand was pivotal in bringing the World Cup to her country, which co-hosted the event with Australia. Seven months after she stepped down, Jacinta Ardern is reflecting on how the tournament has turned out and got rather emotional over the football ferns first ever World Cup win.
And she spoke with CNN's Amanda Davies.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JACINTA ARDERN, FORMER NEW ZEALAND PRIME MINISTER: I feel incredibly proud to have seen New Zealand and New Zealanders just embrace this competition. I think when the government set out to host this event, you know, you make a bid and then you hand it over to the country and just let the country do what it does so well and that is host people and look after people and what a magnificent job New Zealand has done.
AMANDA DAVIES, CNN WORLD SPORT: Have you got a picture in your mind that you will kind of take with you from the tournament so far?
ARDERN: Oh my word, that opening match. That opening match. I felt slightly ridiculous because at the end of that game I started to cry and I did not stop crying for quite some time.
And when we went down to the dressing room, what a treat to be able to see the team. And you know, I just said to them, you cannot know in this moment in time the impact that you've had for the game and for, you know, women and girls and sport in New Zealand. It's just incredible. They are part of a revolution and what a revolution it is.
DAVIES: We were talking about the fight for equality and parity within national associations and federations. You are somebody used to dealing with policy. What would be your message to those associations? Those people who were reluctant to give their women's teams, the women's set up, parity with the men.
ARDERN: Right from the outset, it wasn't just about having a strategy, it was about saying to those governing boards, you need to have 50 percent woman on your governing boards because we've got to amplify the voice of women and girls and one place to do that is right at the top.
And so I think that was a really important part of the strategy. But then thinking about it at every level, as I say, it's not enough to think about how do we elevate people in those top tiers. If you haven't done the grassroots jobs, then you haven't got that pathway for people.
For me though, in policy making, it's always about bring the evidence and bring the lived experience. Talk to the people who know, who are going through it, who understand it.
DAVIES: Moving forwards, using your platform, what is the most important thing for you in the fight for equity and inclusion?
ARDERN: You know, I come back to these simple measures. You know, what kind of world is my daughter going to step into? My daughter's going to look to the future and she'll think that she can be an elite athlete because of the football ferns or the black ferns and she's seen it in real time.
It's about just continuing to break down those barriers wherever we see them. Everyone makes a little contribution in that regard every time they do something a little bit differently than it was done before. Every time they wear the consequence (inaudible). Every time they go out of their comfort zone and just push a little further along, you're laying that pathway for someone else. That's legacy.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: The world is witnessing a new era of space exploration. India's lunar lander is in its final stage before it attempts touching down on the surface of the moon in the coming days, but another country might beat them to it. Russia says its new spacecraft could land on the moon as early as Monday.
CNN's Michael Holmes reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The race is on to explore the far reaches of the Moon.
Russia launching its first lunar lander in 47 years with the hopes of beating out the competition and becoming the first country to make a soft landing on the south pole of the Moon.
[03:54:52]
If successful, the Luna 25 mission would be an astronomical comeback for Russia, reclaiming some of the glory from its Soviet-era space heyday and putting it at the forefront of a new push by several countries to explore the deep craters of the shadowy part of the moon that's believed to contain water ice.
The liftoff was delayed for nearly two years, partially because of the backlash over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, with the European Space Agency pulling key camera equipment from the project.
And even though Luna 25 is now aloft, it's not alone in its endeavors.
The Indian spacecraft Chandrayaan 3 is already in lunar orbit and on Thursday India's space agency announced the lander module had successfully separated from the propulsion module. Even quoting the lander is saying, thanks for the ride mate.
They're now eyeing a soft landing spot on the Moon on August 23rd, two days after Russia's ambitious target landing date. But both missions will have to avoid the fate of the Chandrayaan 2 in 2019, which crash- landed on the Moon's surface.
Other nations are in the moon race. Earlier this month, the crew of NASA's Artemis 2 mission inspected the Orion spacecraft that is set to orbit the moon with astronauts on board late next year.
Artemis 3 will follow with plans to land a crewed spacecraft on the lunar south pole, but NASA says this mission could be changed or delayed if a landing system created by SpaceX isn't ready on time.
China also says it plans to land astronauts on the moon by the end of the decade, something NASA says is worrying if they get to the moon's South Pole first and claim it as their territory.
BILL NELSON, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: So naturally, I don't want China to get to the South Pole first with humans and then say, this is ours, stay out.
HOLMES (voice-over): Both the U.S. and China in collaboration with Russia have advanced plans to build bases on the moon and finding water ice which could be used to make fuel, oxygen and drinking water will be important to sustain those sites and the long-term ambitions of several space agencies.
Michael Holmes, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Well, that wraps this hour of our coverage. I'm Kim Brunhuber. "CNN Newsroom" with Bianca Nobilo continues after a short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
