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Greece still experiencing wildfires despite the heatwave in most of Europe; Second Day of BRICS Summit is underway; Srettha Thavisin is now Thailand's New Prime Minister but needs the King's approval before his Assumption of Office; Trump's Co-Defendants Surrendered at the Fulton County Jail; Canadian PM Criticized Facebook on the so-called Ban on News Articles in Their Country; Pakistanis Boarded a Cable Car were Rescued after 14 Hours. Aired 3-3:50a ET

Aired August 23, 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)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. You are watching "CNN Newsroom" and I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead, sweltering heat brutalizes southern and western Europe, making wildfires worse in several parts of the region. We are live in Athens for more on the deadly fires across Greece.

Grain facilities in Odessa become the latest targets of Russian drone attacks on Ukraine, more in a live report.

Plus were just hours away from India's spacecraft landing on the moon's surface, were live in New Delhi, where excitement is building for this historic event.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from CNN Center. This is "CNN Newsroom" with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Good to have you with us. Well, Europe's latest heat wave is breaking records with soaring temperatures and triggering raging wildfires in some countries. Italy is logging record highs, one of 20 European countries currently under heat warnings. Seven countries are under red heat warnings, the highest alert possible in Europe.

More than 100 extreme heat records were broken on Tuesday in France, with some areas registering more than 43 degrees Celsius. Officials have warned residents to keep a close watch on the elderly, young children and others to protect them from the heat. Here's how residents are coping.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN (through translator): I feel, I am very hot, very, very hot. It's 42 degrees. You really have to be forced to go out to actually go out. Otherwise, you have to stay in the shade, drink. It's unbearable. UNKNOWN (through translator): It's true that it's difficult. It

becomes difficult to bear, especially at night, when there are no big differences in temperature between day and night.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Meantime in Greece, firefighters are racing to contain dozens of wildfires. On Tuesday, crews battling the blazes found the charred bodies of 18 people in the northern part of the country. CNN's Melissa Bell has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA BELL, CNN PARIS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Helpless but being helped to safety, 200 hospital patients in northern Greece escaping wildfires that are now in their fourth day.

Firefighters struggling in the face of strong winds and searing temperatures to contain the flames as they spread towards the port city of Alexandroupolis. Church staffs were on hand to evacuate patients, joining in the more than four hour long rescue efforts at the two hospitals.

FR. CHRISTODOULOS KARATHANASIS, DIRECTOR, HOLY METROPOLIS OF ALEXANDROUPOLIS (through translator): We managed in just 4.5 hours to transport 200 inpatients from both institutions, saving them from the threat of fire. Some were able to walk and others were bedridden.

BELL (voice-over): Others were not so fortunate. The charred bodies of 18 people, who Greek authorities say, may have been migrants, were found in a village to the north of the town by firefighters.

In Spain, also, wildfires burning beyond control in Tenerife, with more than 12,000 people forced to flee their homes. The Spanish prime minister says the area will be declared a disaster zone as soon as conditions allow.

PEDRO SANCHEZ, SPANISH PRIME MINISTER (through translator): The next few hours are going to be very important. Let's hope that the weather helps us so that we can consider the fire stabilized in the next few hours or days. Hopefully the weather will be on our side.

BELL (voice-over): As some parts of Europe burn, others are baking, with temperatures reaching record levels and heat warnings in more than 20 countries.

French authorities say this could be the worst heat wave this summer. With the new records set Monday nationwide, some residents aren't hopeful that things can improve.

UNKNOWN (through translator): I think it's going to be worse and worse. It will increasingly get hotter and more frequent.

BELL (voice-over): As loss, devastation and sweltering conditions return to Europe for the third month in a row.

Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Let's go live now to northwest Athens in Greece, where CNN's Eleni Giokos is standing by. So Eleni, what is the latest on these deadly wildfires raging across northern Greece?

[03:05:07]

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I mean, you can hear a helicopter coming right now as we're speaking, putting out these fires that have been raging here in northern Greece. I'm in Agia Paraskevi, Menidhi. It is the lungs of Athens in Parnitha. This is one of the most important forest areas. And you can see the host, Rosemary, right below.

It is very loud, so I'll give it a second. You can see the smoke engulfing this area. We have seen so many fires just from this morning being put out by the helicopters that have been deployed. Five helicopters, two airplanes, over 200 firefighters, many firefighting trucks as well, Herculean efforts.

There have been evacuation orders for this area. But frankly, many people have decided to stay home. We've seen many youth hitting the streets, also trying to assist as much as they possibly can.

These homes are at risk. We've seen fires close to some of these homes, around 200 (inaudible) Rosemary that fires have been ravaging various parts of Greece since the start of the summer period.

We have seen record temperatures in the month of July and we've also spoken about what we've seen in the Alexandroupolis in the northern parts of Greece where they found 18 charred bodies and also forest area that has been absolutely decimated and destroyed.

Frankly we've been seeing the efforts we've been seeing to put out these fires have been very methodical. The civil defense services have also been trying actively over the last 24 hours, where there have been 93 new forest fires that have erupted across Greece.

The effort now is to try to contain, to try and ensure that the front lines remain far away from homes, and to secure the safety of people in the greater Athens area.

CHURCH: Absolutely, Eleni Giokos, joining us there, we appreciate it. Unbelievable, so dry in that region too.

Well, the extreme heat is not just limited to Europe. CNN meteorologist Jennifer Gray has more on what to expect in the days ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JENNIFER GRAY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We have intense heat building across the globe, mainly across Europe and Northern Africa as well as the U.S. So temperatures have been record breaking in both places with the heat really intensifying across France.

For Tuesday and Wednesday, of course, temperatures will finally start to ease by the time we get to the end of the week and the bulk of that heat will move east.

So over 100 records set or tied across France on Tuesday. In fact, across France were under heat related alerts. Those red alerts. So we had 43.5 degrees across southern France on Tuesday. So record- shattering across the board. But look at Paris. We go to 32 on Wednesday. Temperatures really start to back off 25 degrees by Friday. That's really close to normal.

Milan at 37 will drop just a couple of degrees by Friday. Madrid hitting 40 degrees. Madrid will actually, though, start to fall below normal by Sunday. So temperatures really warm Wednesday, Thursday and even Friday, but then we start to drop by the weekend even to below normal values.

So Rome 36, 37 degrees Wednesday and Thursday, and then temperatures really fall once again, Monday and Tuesday with the help of some showers and even thunderstorms in the forecast.

Moving over to the U.S., this has been a steady trend across the summer, the excessive heat anywhere from the Gulf Coast all the way up to the upper Midwest will we have heat alerts in place. Highs on Wednesday will hit 37 degrees in Minneapolis, 38 in Omaha, 40 degrees in Dallas, 40 in Phoenix, so temperatures are climbing there.

Heat index 46 degrees in Little Rock. This is a feels-like temperature. It will feel like 44 Chicago 46 in Saint Louis. We could see more than 400 records broken. This is for maximum temperatures as well as warm minimum temperatures, so the heat is going to continue for the next couple of days.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Tropical Storm Franklin is churning in the Caribbean, threatening to bring heavy rainfall and potentially life-threatening flash floods to Hispaniola on Wednesday. The center of the storm is southwest of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic and it's bringing with it strong, gusty winds. The Dominican Republic and Haiti have already issued tropical storm warnings and tropical storm conditions are possible in the Turks and Caicos Islands Wednesday night.

[03:10:01]

Well, day two of the BRICS summit gets underway in Johannesburg in the coming hours. The heads of state of Brazil, India, China and South Africa are expected to speak and answer questions from reporters.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is attending virtually because he would be subject to arrest on a war crimes warrant if he appeared. The summit is focusing on two main issues: whether to expand BRICS to include more countries, and how to create a trading and investment system that would not rely on the U.S. dollar. But it's not clear if it's going to make any substantial progress on either issue. Well, this is the group's 15th annual summit, but BRICS is still

trying to determine where it's heading and what it wants to be. Still, as David McKenzie explains from Johannesburg, its leaders are feeling more confident than ever that the organization has an increasingly important role to play.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well the critical BRICS meetings have gotten underway here in Johannesburg and you really get a sense with a growing portion of the world population and of the world economy of course underpinned by India and China that these leaders are feeling pretty bullish about their place on the world stage both economically and potentially politically.

A big question up for debate is whether BRICS will be expanded during the summit or whether this will be discussed. It's something that Chinese President Xi Jinping is looking for in particular to become kind of a de-facto alternative to the G7 group of wealthy nations and on that front there is talk of more economic integration.

Brazil's president saying that there should be, down the road, a currency used for trading amongst BRICS nations. Nothing like that will happen anytime soon.

Vladimir Putin, of course, is attending virtually because he faced arrest here in South Africa for the alleged crimes linked to the Ukraine war. But still, this venue is where he can get some sympathetic ears from world leaders and business leaders as well.

Whether there can be concrete action taking at this BRICS summit is unclear, but certainly there is a sense that BRICS is, in their mind, very relevant to the world conversation.

David McKenzie, CNN, Johannesburg.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: But China is clearly interested in expanding its influence in Africa and beyond, as its rivalry with the United States intensifies. In fact, a statement from President Xi Jinping, read out by China's Commerce Minister in Mr. Xi's absence, accused the U.S. of hegemony and of crippling developing nations.

CNN's Kristy Lu-Stout is in Hong Kong. She joins us now. Good to see you again, Kristy. So an unusual first day for China's delegation at the BRICS Summit, Xi Jinping skipping his scheduled speech. What more are you learning about that and why he didn't appear?

KRISTY LU-STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, it's been raising a lot of eyebrows. Now, Xi Jinping unexpectedly didn't show up at a key BRICS business forum event in South Africa. He skipped his scheduled speech despite the presence of his BRICS counterparts, the leaders of Brazil, India, South Africa, all in person in attendance.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin, he was there but only virtually. Now this is the first in-person summit of the BRICS grouping since the pandemic. This is only Xi Jinping's second international trip this year. And it's also Xi's first trip to Africa in some five years.

So the stakes are pretty high. Before the event on Tuesday, Xi did meet with the South African president. Later on in the evening, he attended a dinner with BRICS leaders. But China observers are why. They're wondering why. Why did Xi skip this key BRICS event?

We reached out to Bonnie Glaser. She is managing director of the German Marshall Fund, and she offered this insight. She pointed out, quote, "it is extremely unusual for a Chinese leader to show up in a country hosting a multilateral meeting, especially one that China is deeply invested in, like BRICS, and then fail to show up at the opening event," unquote.

Brian Hart, a fellow at CSIS, says this, quote, "Xi's absence is highly unusual. Chinese leaders rarely go off script at high profile events like this." And he added, quote, "Xi's disappearance is yet another reminder that Beijing can be a black box." Unquote.

Both analysts point out that earlier this year, not that long ago, China replaced its Foreign Minister, Qin Gang, after his mysterious one-month absence, an action that was taken with zero explanation. Now, Xi's prepared remarks were instead delivered by Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao.

And in that statement, China commended and praised the BRICS Group and called for development, and called for prosperity for all. But the statement also dissed the United States for hegemony and bullying acts.

[03:15:10]

And the Chinese statement that was read out also insisted that the Chinese economy is resilient. But, Rosemary, we continue to monitor Chinese state media. There has been no mention of Xi skipping his scheduled speech. Back to you.

CHURCH: All right. Kristy Lu-Stout, joining us live from Hong Kong. Many thanks.

Still to come, members of Ukraine's elite sniper unit speak to CNN in a rare interview about their dangerous missions on the front lines. Their story in their own words. That's next.

Plus, violent clashes erupt in the West Bank as authorities investigate claims that Israeli police shot an unarmed Palestinian in the back of their head.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: It's been a busy morning already in Ukraine and Russia with each country accusing the other of attacks on civilians. Ukraine says Russia launched a three-hour-long drone attack on the southern Odessa region where a grain storage facility caught fire. Ukraine also accuses Russia of firing guided bombs into residential buildings and a kindergarten in the city of Kherson, injuring six people.

Meanwhile, Russia claims its air defenses down three Ukrainian drones flying near its capital, one of them crashing into a building in the Moscow business district. CNN's Clare Sebastian joins me now live from London. Good morning to you, Clare. So what more are you learning about those three Ukrainian drones Russia downed over Moscow just a short time ago?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Rosemary, two of them were apparently shot down to the west of Moscow in relatively suburban areas, but one, the Ministry of Defense is saying, was jammed using electronic warfare and crashed this into a building that was under construction in the Moscow city area of the capital.

This is an area that has now come under attack by drones on a number of occasions. I think not just that, but this is now the sixth consecutive night that we've seen Russia come under attack by drones. In all cases, Russia says that it managed to avert them, but not avoiding some damage. You can see the hole in the building there, one of the high-rise buildings that characterizes this section of Moscow.

A glitzy, instead of the luxury business districts that had come to symbolize, you know, under Putin that Russia was sort of opening up to Western businesses becoming more westernized in a lot of ways. I think that this, you know, really sort of in part symbolizes that is now also in reverse.

So look, you know, the damage is superficial, no casualties reported as of now, but this clearly, even though Ukraine hasn't said anything explicitly about this, looks like a strategy to destabilize to target, you know, the Russian capital now with increasing regularity.

[03:20:02]

CHURCH: And Clare, European nations are shoring up support for Ukraine after President Zelenskyy's European trip. What is the latest on that?

SEBASTIAN: You know, I think, Rosemary, it's an unwelcome juxtaposition for the Kremlin, right, that President Zelenskyy has been in four different European countries in the last week, multiple high-level meetings, while President Putin, by contrast, has not been able to attend the BRICS Summit in South Africa because of the risk of arrest.

So President Zelenskyy is hailing this trip as a major success. He comes home, of course, with the promise, the commitment by two countries, the Netherlands and Denmark, to provide F-16s. Greece will also participate in the training there. There were talks in Greece around the transport of grain as well, which is something that Ukraine is now carefully looking at after the collapse of that grain deal.

But I think political support was also a key factor here. This is a moment in the conflict coming up to the 18-month mark, with the counteroffensive moving relatively slowly. The fear of fatigue setting in political circles is clearly ever-present. So I think for Zelenskyy to be able to come home with all of this support is something that will definitely help morale in Ukraine. And that he can use to show that the Western backers are still very much behind Ukraine.

CHURCH: All right. Our thanks to Claire Sebastian joining us live from London.

New video offers a glimpse into an elite Ukrainian sniper unit. The thermal images show the snipers targeting Russian soldiers on the front lines. Members of the unit spoke to CNN about their experiences and their approach to the war.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh reports from Zaporizhzhya in Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They're never seen and heard fire only once. Their targets just drop.

Ukraine's elite sniper unit from the security services, the SBU, are usually invisible. Like the U.S. Delta Force, chosen for fitness and intelligence.

Unlike Delta, fighting for their homeland survival for nearly 18 months.

They gave CNN a rare interview as they honed their sniper scopes to broadcast the damage they say they've been doing to Russian front lines.

It's sniper terror, he says. That's when we hit every target we spot. It demoralizes them and kills their will to do anything against us.

But it's not always one-sided. Five weeks ago, they stumbled at night into a Russian recon group.

We were in the gray zone between our lines, the commander says, using a guide from another unit. But we ran into a Russian assault group doing pretty much the same thing as us, moving towards our front position. We opened fire. Our guide was wounded. We suppressed them, pulled him out, called in artillery, and then watched them fall back with their wounded.

They do not always escape. Sasha knows that too well.

I've lost many people, he says. The best ones leave us first. His upper lip folds in slightly from an injury when a large shell hit his chest, legs, and face last March.

It was unpleasant, he says, but I had 16 operations to rebuild my bones and teeth, and I got back into the fight.

Western help has kept them afloat, they say. This anti-armor Barrett sniper rifle, a donation used so often that its suppressor has come loose and detaches.

These machines and men, working at a tempo they were probably not designed for. They know why they are here though. My son is growing up, Sasha says. He's little, but he already trains,

already knows who the enemy is, and that is Russia, hoping each single shot brings Russian defeat closer.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Israeli border police say they are reviewing the details of a shooting in the West Bank that left a Palestinian man in critical condition. A witness says the man was unarmed when Israeli forces shot him in the back of the head.

More now from CNN's Hadas Gold in Jerusalem. And a warning, the report includes some disturbing images.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HADAS GOLD, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: A violent few days across the occupied West Bank, leading to several deaths, putting an already tense region even further on edge. It began Saturday when an Israeli father and son who were in the Palestinian village of Hawar running errands were shot and killed while at a car wash. CCTV video being shared widely by Israeli media shows the moment the two were killed in a seemingly ambush-style attack.

The shooter fled the scene and a massive manhunt is still underway by Israeli security forces trying to find that shooter. Now, while militant groups have praised that attack, no one has yet taken direct credit.

[03:25:05]

But as a result of that, manhunt clashes have broken out in and around the town of Hawar, including in the Palestinian village of Beita, when Israeli security forces say they enter to apprehend what they called a wanted suspect. And they said clashes broke out.

But during those clashes is when we see and also have learned from eye witnesses that, would appears to be, an unarmed Palestinian men was shot in the head from the back. We have videos of the moment he was shot. You can see that there is a group of men trying to help another man onto a stretcher and this man in white jogs down towards them when he is shot from behind and falls forward.

An eye witness that CNN spoke to, said that this man was not involved in the clashes and that he was unarmed at the time of his shooting. The Palestinian Ministry of Health saying that he is still in critical condition in hospital.

Now the Israeli border police saying that the incident is under review that the security forces were in the village of Beita to apprehend a wanted suspect when they said violent riots broke out. They said as the riots continued in intensity, they intensified their response, which they said included live ammunition, and they acknowledged that hits were identified. Also, an Israeli woman was shot and killed, and another man was

injured while they were driving south of Hebron. That brings the total number of Israelis killed across the occupied West Bank since Saturday to three.

Now overnight, the Israeli military saying that they had apprehended two suspects that they said were directly connected to that shooting. And during clashes that broke out in several other Palestinian villages while the Israeli military was going on arrest raids, the militant group Palestinian Islamic Jihad said one of their fighters was killed in those clashes.

Now Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a statement alongside the Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that they are in the midst of what he called a terrorist onslaught that he directly blamed on Iran, saying it's being financed and being carried out by Iran and its proxies. He said that they are working around the clock to catch what he called murderers, and he said that all options are on the table.

Hadas Gold, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: The polls are open in Zimbabwe as the country votes in presidential and legislative elections. The economy is the main issue in the impoverished southern African country. Official figures show inflation at 101 percent, although some economists say it's much higher. Food is expensive and public hospitals are short on medicine.

The U.N. estimates about two-thirds of Zimbabweans are under age 25, and many of them are looking for new leadership.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TINOTENDA MANDIZHA, ZIMBABWE RESIDENT (through translator): I'm appealing with the authorities to hear our cries and address our concerns. Our cries are not being heard as young people. We do not have jobs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The incumbent is 80-year-old Emmerson Mnangagwa, who has been in power since 2017. His party has been criticized for rights abuses, and the U.S. State Department is urging free and fair elections.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EMMERSON MNANGAGWA, ZIMBABWEAN PRESIDENT: We need more, more time for us to build our motherlands. Zimbabwe is ready to scale up the implementation of social economic development for our motherlands. We are determined to lift more and more of our people out of poverty into higher quality of life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The opposition candidate is 45-year-old Pentecostal preacher Nelson Chamisa. He is popular in Zimbabwe's capital and other cities and his warning voters to be on the lookout for cheating in the election.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NELSON CHAMISA, ZIMBABWEAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Number one, Mr. Mnangagwa is not preparing to win. He's plotting to leak. I told (inaudible) that he stole the election in 2018, but this time I will not accept to allow him to steal the election again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The polls are scheduled to be open for 12 hours with results expected within five days.

Well, after months of deadlock, Thailand's parliament has chosen real estate tycoon Srettha Thavisin to be the country's new prime minister. He was the only candidate put forward by the populist Pheu Thai party on Tuesday, securing 482 votes out of a possible 747.

Pheu Thai was the runner-up in the May elections but is now forming a government with pro-military parties after the election winner, the Progressive Move Forward Party, was stifled by Thailand's conservative elites.

[03:30:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: What kind of Prime Minister do you want to be?

SRETTHA THAVISIN, NEW PRIME MINISTER OF THAILAND: People's Prime Minister.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Srettha is a relative newcomer to politics, having joined Pheu Thai just last year. He still needs to be endorsed by the king before he can officially take office.

Well, back here in the United States, two more co-defendants have surrendered in the Georgia election subversion case. We've just learned in the past few minutes that former state Republican chairman David Schaeffer and former Coffee County Republican Chair Kathy Latham have been processed at the Fulton County jail.

Attorney John Eastman, who advised after the 2020 election and another co-defendant surrendered on Tuesday, two others, including former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, have filed motions to move their cases from state to federal court. Donald Trump's one-time personal attorney Rudy Giuliani is set to meet with prosecutors today. Multiple sources tell CNN, he would discuss a bond agreement.

Well, thousands of people in Canada's British Columbia and the Northwest Territories are being impacted by raging wildfires. Why Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is blasting Facebook as the country responds to the crisis.

Plus, after a 14-hour ordeal, eight people, including six children, have been rescued from a dangling cable car in Pakistan. We'll have details of the rescue after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. Well we are tracking another scorching heat wave that's now affecting 20 countries across Europe. The high temperatures have sparked wildfires in Spain where firefighters raced to save an observatory on the island of Tenerife. More than 14,000 hectares have been scorched by the blazes so far.

Meantime in Turkey hundreds of people have been evacuated from one northwestern province. The government has deployed more than 1,000 emergency personnel along with dozens of helicopters and water tankers to fight the fires.

Not everyone is heeding evacuation orders as wildfires rage near the capital of Canada's Northwest Territories. The mayor of Yellowknife says about 1,600 people in the area have yet to leave their homes. She's urging them to get out while highways and airports are still open. Thousands of others have already left.

Meantime, some 30,000 people in neighboring British Columbia have been impacted by evacuation orders over the past day or so.

[03:35:05]

But some restrictions have now been lifted. Officials say the area of West Colona has seen the worst of the fire damage. Many families have lost everything.

Well meanwhile, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is criticizing Facebook for blocking news as Canada's wildfires rage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUSTIN TRUDEAU, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: Right now in an emergency situation, where up-to-date local information is more important than ever, Facebook's putting corporate profits ahead of people's safety, ahead of supporting quality local journalism. This is not the time for that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Facebook says that new legislation in Canada has forced it to end access to news content and that people have still been able to share up-to-date information without it.

For more on this, we turn to Catherine Tait, President and Chief Executive of CBC and Radio Canada. Appreciate you joining us.

CATHERINE TAIT, PRESIDENT AND CEO, CANADIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION/RADIO-CANADA: My pleasure. CHURCH: So Canada's Prime Minister, as we just heard, Justin Trudeau,

is accusing Facebook of choosing profit over safety throughout the country's wildfire crisis. What's your reaction to that accusation and how likely is it that Meta, Facebook, will reverse its news ban?

TAIT: Well, I can't comment on the Prime Minister's position. I run the Independent Public Broadcaster. I can say that we have also appealed to Meta to lift its ban, especially in these communities that are under such extreme pressure and threat at this time. As of now, we have not received an answer from any of the leadership at Meta to our appeal.

CHURCH: What percentage of residents in the remote areas of the NorthWest Territories hit by these wildfires would have been relying almost solely on news from CBC on Facebook to find out what was happening with these fires?

TAIT: Well, it's important to understand that in the North, this is a vast region over 440,000 square miles with 45,000 population, very, very isolated, small communities, and we broadcast in eight indigenous languages in the region.

So to lift that connection is absolutely critical. The percentage of Canadians that are Facebook users is around 80 percent, so 30 million of our 40 million population. It is much higher in these remote communities, closer to 90 percent of those residents would be using Facebook to access CBC News, but also other local news sources.

CHURCH: And why do you think it is that Meta can't work out a system of paying news organizations for content instead of banning news altogether considering the billions of dollars that the company is making?

TAIT: Well, this isn't just a Canada issue. This is a global issue. And Facebook's position right now is, news is not a priority for our users. Well, we clearly see that is not the case.

During emergencies in an evacuation order, Facebook is a critical platform for residents to be able to get news about where to go, what's safe, what's not safe, where the fires are located. So it is a little bit disingenuous on the part of the Meta leadership to say that somehow news doesn't matter to its users.

However, clearly, their objections to the legislation, which we call Bill C-18, is really about the thin edge of the wedge, will Facebook be required to pay publishers of news for their content, not just in Canada, but around the world?

So that's really what their concerns are. We say put those objections aside. We're in a state of emergency and really we need that platform to be responding because it's a humanitarian crisis.

CHURCH: So, what action could and should be taken against Facebook if it's shown that harm was caused by its decision to block the sharing of news articles on its platform as wildfires devastated large parts of the North West territories and indeed British Columbia. [03:40:00]

TAIT: Well, CBC/Radio Canada has joined the Canada Media Association, which is a group of all or many of the news organizations, large and small across the country, as well as the Canadian Association of Broadcasters in an appeal to the Competition Bureau for anti- competitive behavior.

What we have here is a platform that has enormous market power and it is leveraging that power because it objects to sovereign state legislation and we have no ability to respond except through the competition bureau.

CHURCH: Catherine Tait, thank you so much for joining us. I Appreciate it.

TAIT: Thank you.

CHURCH: A bus crash in central Mexico has killed at least 16 people and injured 36. Officials say the bus was traveling on a highway when it collided with a tractor trailer. Prosecutors say they will investigate what led up to the crash and whether anyone should be held liable. Local officials are committing state and federal resources to help support the victims.

Well, there's relief across Pakistan after eight people, including six children, were rescued from a cable car dangling hundreds of feet over a valley. Officials say they were traveling to school Tuesday when one of the cables snapped, leaving them stuck. They were finally rescued after a 14-hour ordeal.

But as CNN's Ivan Watson reports, it was not an easy task for the rescuers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A lone cable car hangs 900 feet over a ravine in a mountainous region of Northwest Pakistan, with six children and two teachers trapped inside.

The students between ages 10 and 15 were on their way to school Tuesday when one of the cables snapped, leaving the car dangling by a single cable over the valley below. Officials say that the cable car had done multiple trips Tuesday before the cable broke partway through its journey. It was a race against time to save the passengers who were said to have no drinking water, two of them reportedly slipping in and out of consciousness.

Pakistan's military scrambled to help save the group. But initial rescue attempts by helicopter failed, after strong winds made the car too unstable. A large crowd on the mountainside watched in horror as the cable car was left tilted at a steep angle. Rescue personnel were able to give the passengers nausea medication after getting reports of the children vomiting. One child was also given heart medication, according to officials.

The crowd cheered with joy as a special forces officer hanging from a helicopter carried one of the students safely away from the valley.

Several hours later, another two children were brought down with the help of local zip liners. One of the trapped teachers, aged 20, called a local broadcaster from the cable car.

UNKNOWN (through translator): The authorities should rescue all of us as soon as possible. The cable broke off.

WATSON (voice-over): The situation grew dire as light fell, and authorities were forced to pause helicopter rescues. So, a makeshift stretcher was connected to a pulley. Soldiers and locals worked together, desperately pulling on the ropes until another student was brought down. And then another. Their efforts finally paid off. After more than 14 hours, all eight passengers were brought to safety, a harrowing ordeal for children just trying to go to school.

(on-camera): Now, some important context here. In some of these remote mountainous parts of Pakistan, these types of cable cars are a way to get around. They tend to be privately owned. They can make a dramatic difference for people trying to get from, one across a very steep valley.

But again, they're privately owned and they've had safety issues in the past. As recently as December of last year, there were local media reports in Pakistan of another cable car that got stranded. Fortunately, 12 children on board that were successfully rescued. The interim prime minister in Pakistan has now called for a safety review of all of these cable cars.

Ivan Watson, CNN, Hong Kong.

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CHURCH: 12 years after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Japan is poised to begin releasing some of the treated radioactive waste water in a controversial plan, the latest concerns in the region next.

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CHURCH: The Japanese government says it is moving forward with its plan to release treated radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean beginning on Thursday. And that's drawing a mixed reaction across the region.

Crowds gathered in Seoul on Tuesday to protest the move. Officially the South Korean government says it sees no scientific or technical problem with the plan, though it does not necessarily agree or support it. Critics say there's too much uncertainty around health and safety. Meanwhile, Taiwan says it respects the professional opinion of the International Atomic Energy --

Alright, we're going to say goodbye at this point. I'm getting information I can't hear beyond that. But thank you for joining us. I Appreciate it. I'm Rosemary Church, and see you tomorrow.

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