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CNN International: Expansion Issue Divides BRICS Leaders; Xi Jinping Skips Speech, Fails to Attend Business Forum; India Set to Land Spacecraft on Moon in Coming Hours; Ukraine: Russia Attack Grain Facilities in Odesa Region. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired August 23, 2023 - 04:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[04:30:00]

BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: We have a team covering this BRICS summit. Kristie Lu Stout is in Hong Kong focusing on China. But let's begin with our senior international correspondent David McKenzie who is in Johannesburg.

David let's focus on the question of expansion. Certain members, particularly China, have made it incredibly clear how they envisage these countries working together to break that Western hegemony. But what countries might be considering joining this bloc and what would be the stipulations of them doing so?

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well we're still trying to figure that out. What we do know is that multiple countries including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, DRC and others have formally applied to join the BRICS grouping.

Earlier today you've had Xi Jinping and Narendra Modi of China and India respectively, and the red carpets coming to the main day of the BRICS Summit. This is a very high stakes summit. It's an odd collection of countries with the world's biggest autocracies in China, the world's biggest democracy in India. Russia and South Africa, of course, and Brazil rounding it out. They all have different views on what exactly BRICS should be.

China, for its part, is very much focused on trying to expand BRICS. I think to expressly take on groups like the G7 and to increase its own power on the world stage both economically and politically.

It gets more complicated though as you go through the other countries. In the statements from the first day of the summit, you certainly had China pushing expansion and Russia, and the President of Russia, Putin, from a virtual camera saying that he wanted the de- dollarization of the world. That is not really realistic in the short term.

But you have countries like South Africa, India, Brazil, who are a bit more nuanced on their approach to this. They don't want to ostracize the European Union, the U.S. which are very important trade partners to them. And so, they're playing this kind of balancing act.

But I think while BRICS itself was seen not as an oddity but sort of as a strange collection of countries for some years and not necessarily taken all that seriously on the world stage, I think that that has certainly changed. This time there really is a sense that the world is paying attention to the summit and also that there is a potential for real change when it comes to these global south countries and in their worlds to break Western hegemony and it could have real impact in the coming years on world affairs.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: OK, thank you to David. Kristie, some mystery surrounding Xi Jinping, because there was a speech, wasn't there, that he didn't show up to.

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, very mysterious, Max. Xi Jinping was a no-show at this key BRICS business forum in South Africa. The Chinese leader skipped out on his own scheduled speech despite the presence of his BRICS counterparts. The leaders of Brazil, India, South Africa all in attendance there.

Now what we've also learned is that this is the first in-person summit of the BRICS grouping since the pandemic. This is only Xi's second international trip this year. It's also Xi's first trip to Africa and some five years. But be for the event on Tuesday, we did learn that Xi met with the South Africa President, Cyril Ramaphosa -- as you see there. He received an order of South Africa award from him and later in the evening he attended a dinner with BRICS leaders.

So China observers are wondering why did Xi Jinping then skip out on his own address. We reached out to Bonnie Glaser. She is the managing director of the German Marshall Fund. And she told CNN this. We'll bring it up for you. She said, quote:

It's 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 fail to show up at the opening event.

And also heard from Brian Hart, who's a fellow at CSIS and he says this, quote:

Xi's absence is highly unusual. Chinese leaders rarely go off script at high profile events like this. He added, Xi's disappearance is yet another reminder that Beijing can be a black box. Unquote.

Both analysts point out, not that long ago, China replaced its foreign minister, Qin Gang after his mysterious one-month absence from public view, without providing any explanation.

Now in South Africa Xi's prepared remarks were said delivered by the Chinese commerce minister. He delivered those remarks that commended the BRICS groups for -- you know, and called for development, prosperity for all. It also criticized the United States for hegemony and bullying acts and those remarks also insisted that the Chinese economy is resilient.

Now we are also monitoring Chinese state media. No mention of Xi skipping his scheduled speech. Back to you.

FOSTER: OK. Kristie and David, thank you both very much indeed. Wall Street is looking to rebound from a disappointing day. And sliding shares from retailers Macy's and Dick's Sporting Goods helped drag down the Dow. Bank shares also took a hit after another round of downgrades from S&P global ratings. There was plenty of more retail earnings reports from today from Abercrombie & Fitch and Bath and Body Works.

NOBILO: Still ahead, India is poised to make history as it tries to land a spacecraft on the moon in the coming hours. A live report from New Delhi is next.

[04:35:00]

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NOBILO: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Bianca Nobilo.

FOSTER: I'm Max Foster. If you're just joining us, these are our top stories today.

Four of Donald Trump's 18 co-defendants have surrendered to the Fulton County Jail in the Georgia election probe. And later today Rudy Giuliani is expected to meet with prosecutors to discuss a bond agreement. This as that Friday deadline just two days away now.

And the first Republican presidential debate will take place later today with eight candidates. Former President Donald Trump will not be there despite being the clear frontrunner. Instead he plans to spend the night at his New Jersey golf club.

NOBILO: Excitement is building in India as the Chandrayaan-3 space craft is just hours away from making a historic attempt to land on the moon.

FOSTER: If the mission is successful, it'll make India the fourth country to land on the moon after the U.S., China and the former Soviet Union. India's space research organization is already sharing stunning photos from the mission including a close-up of the moon's dusty gray terrain.

NOBILO: CNN's Vedika Sud joins us now live from New Delhi. Vedika, this is a huge moment for the country and potentially a moment of significant scientific breakthrough. Because one of the reasons of this mission, of course, is to essentially scout the other two unexplored areas of the moon and see if there's possibility for human habitation.

[04:40:05]

VEDIKA SUD, CNN REPORTER: Absolutely, it is significant. And I'll get to that in a moment from now. But as India reaches for the moon today, the scientists and the engineers at the Indian space agency known as the ISRO, will need nerves of steel.

Let me start with images that we've just tweeted out about an hour ago. These are images from the mission center down south in India. These are the men who have been working day and night to get that spacecraft closest to the moon as of now and about three hours or more from now, that attempt will be made to soft land on the lunar surface. An attempt made by the Russian spacecraft on Sunday and it failed. It crash landed on the lunar surface. And that's what the scientists here in India are not hoping for.

The people across India who are praying for the last two days for a soft landing on the lunar surface are not praying for, they want this to be a success. And that's essentially because in 2019 when the second moon craft was about to land on the lunar surface, it crash landed.

Now according to the scientists at ISRO -- which is the equivalent to NASA -- they've said they've learned from those mistakes. They've learned lessons and they've made a spacecraft that could be a much better one to land on the moon's surface today.

What does it mean for India? Like you said, if this is a successful soft landing which means a gentle and controlled landing, India would be the fourth nation across the world to achieve this feet. And not only that, India would also be the first country to soft land on the southern pole of the moon. This is a dark area. This is known as far removed area of the moon away from the equator of the moon and this is a space that is full of craters and rough surfaces because of which it has been very difficult for countries to soft land there.

So today is a moment that millions of Indians will be watching very closely. There are watch parties that have been prepared across India for that one moment. Back to you.

FOSTER: Fingers crossed. Vedika in New Delhi, thank you.

The Smithsonian is apologizing for how it amassed its vast collection of human remains. In a recent "Washington Post" op-ed, a top official from the museum addressed how the institution collected tens of thousands of body parts during the first half of the 20th century. Lonnie Bunch wrote that they were taken largely from Black and Indigenous people. Mostly without their consent. This comes after a "Washington Post" investigation revealed that the Smithsonian's natural history museum is in possession of more than 30,000 human body parts from people in the Philippines, Peru, Germany and the U.S.

NOBILO: News articles will soon look very different on X -- formerly known of course as Twitter. Owner Elon Musk confirms that headlines will be removed in news articles appearing on the site and instead pictures or other graphics from the link will show a lone under the user's post. This move is meant to limit what X users can see before clicking the link. And Musk says this change comes directly from him.

FOSTER: Musk's social media competitor, Mark Zuckerberg made an announcement of his own on Tuesday. A desktop version of Meta's new Threads app is coming soon offering users another alternative to X. Zuckerberg's profile is already up and accessible. The site will roll out over the next few days. NOBILO: Coming up, Moscow is again accusing Ukraine of launching drone

attacks in to Russian territory, that as well as Russia's latest attacks on Ukrainian civilians coming up next.

[04:45:00]

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FOSTER: A U.S. district judge has given Texas and the Justice Department a Friday deadline to submit closing arguments in the battle over the state's controversial border buoys. Texas deployed the barriers in the Rio Grande in July.

NOBILO: But the U.S. Justice Department wants them removed and has filed a lawsuit claiming the buoys were installed unlawfully. Texas insists it has the constitutional authority to deploy the floating barrier. Mexico's president has condemned the buoys as inhumane after two bodies were found in the waters. Although it's not clear what caused those deaths.

Russia is once again attacking grain storage facilities in Ukraine's southern Odesa region. Ukrainian military officials say drones attacked the city for three hours early Wednesday.

FOSTER: Air defense forces destroyed nine of them but officials say there were strikes on a complex where grain is stored for shipment causing a fire that crews were working to contain. There are no reports of civilian casualties.

CNN's Clare Sebastian joins us now with an update on that. And also on movements in the military.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so we're hearing this morning from via RIA Novosti, state media, an informed source, that General Surovikin, Sergey Surovikin, who commanded the operation in Ukraine for three months, up until January and was head of the Aerospace Forces. He hasn't been seen since the aborted Wagner mutiny. But apparently now he has been replaced in his role as the head of the Aerospace Forces. We still don't know where he is. This is just RIA Novosti citing a source, but they are state media and there have been other media that have been reporting this as well.

But obviously, after the mutiny, there were questions around what he knew, the "New York Times" reported, citing U.S. officials, that he might have known about Prigozhin's plans. There were then multiple reports from the Russian blogosphere about sort of cleansing, purges potentially happening in the military. Reports that he might have been arrested. They had of the CIA, Bill Burns, said recently, I don't think that he enjoys a lot of freedom right now. So this does not necessarily put paid to those rumors, but it does look like that he has now been replaced in this very high-profile role in the Russian military.

FOSTER: His connection -- just explain the connection he might have had to the insurgency. SEBASTIAN: Yes, so we -- I mean, obviously we don't know for sure. We

know that he had a fairly good relationship with Prigozhin leading up to the mutiny. This was not one of the generals that Prigozhin was railing against in the leadup to that mutiny. He didn't have a problem it seemed with Surovikin.

And then we saw Surovikin it is very stilted address as the mutiny was unfolding, telling Prigozhin to fall back. He looked -- it was sort of against a white wall. He looked sort of stilted and disheveled. And that was the last we've seen of him. And then, as I said, "The New York Times" reported, citing U.S. officials, that he might have known in advance about Prigozhin's plans which of course would implicate him in what happened. And you know, we still don't know. We haven't seen him since the end of June.

FOSTER: OK, Clare, thank you.

"The New York Times" is shedding light on a problem so common you may not even be aware that it's happening. We'll tell you all about screen apnea coming up ahead.

[04:50:00]

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FOSTER: American Laulauga Tausaga-Collins took gold in the women's discus of the 2023 World Athletic Championships in Budapest, Hungary on Tuesday. She won the competition with a throw of 69.49 meters, beating a previous personal best by nearly 4 meters. Winning the U.S. first ever world championship gold in women's discus. It's unbelievable, isn't it, how far they go?

NOBILO: Incredible form, You wouldn't want to play catch with her.

FOSTER: No.

NOBILO: You might get a broken nose.

And after already winning the 100-meter sprint at the World Athletics Championships in Hungary, American sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson is now looking to advance to the 200-meter semifinals on Wednesday.

FOSTER: There's nowhere to go but up really for the New York Yankees. The storied baseball franchise has lost nine games in a row. Their longest losing streak in 41 years The Bronx Bombers fell 2-1 to the Washington Nationals on Tuesday night. Yankees manager Aaron Boone says morale is low, unsurprisingly. But the team has to be ready for the next two games against Washington.

NOBILO: Now for the stories in the spotlight this hour.

Modelo Especial has sold out Bud Light in the U.S. on a year-to-date basis for the first time. And that's a significant achievement for the Mexican lager since Bud Light held the position of America's top selling beer for nearly two decades.

[04:55:03]

FOSTER: But Light's popularity has faded ever since the company sent a customized can to a transgender influencer. The move sparked a transphobic backlash among core customers and the company's tepid response, then angered supporters of the LGBTQ+ community.

Now a Shanghai based firm has announced plans to open 1,700 Popeye's restaurants across China in the coming decade.

NOBILO: Tim's China, the firm that also operates Tim Horton's coffee shops in China recently bought the franchise. The CEO says that food service retail sales have been a bright spot in China's post COVID recovery. Shares of the company were up more than 3 percent after the announcement.

And finally, if you are anything like the person who wrote this script, the wonderful Julie Hannigan, you are hunched over your computer right now furiously typing, checking emails and doom scrolling all at the same time. But one thing you are not doing is breathing.

FOSTER: It's interesting, isn't it? That's because of something called screen apnea. It's a term coined by a Microsoft former executive, Linda Stone, describing how people hold their breath or breathing shallowly whilst hyper focusing in front of the spring.

NOBILO: "The New York Times" just wrote about it in an article full of tips on how to stop breathing mindfully again as our lives are consumed by the blue lights of our phones and laptops. It's more important than ever to catch our breath. And people also don't blink as much as they should.

FOSTER: Is that right?

NOBILO: It is correct.

FOSTER: I'm going to start thinking about it now.

FOSTER: Straight from my optician.

FOSTER: So is it so bad then? It's not that it's just the bodily reaction to what you're doing.

Well, you get dry eye, and I think the reading is good for nervous system. It's good to oxygenate yourself to keep your energy up.

FOSTER: OK. I'll stick to the TV -- I would.

Thanks for joining us here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster.

NOBILO: And I'm Bianca Nobilo. "EARLY START" is up next right here on CNN. And we will both see you tomorrow.

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