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New Ukrainian Drone Strikes On Two Regions In Russia; South African Authorities Investigate Building Fire In Central Johannesburg; Pope Francis Visits Mongolia; Powerful Pair Of Typhoons Barrel Through Northwest Pacific; Pyongyang Begins Lifting Tight Covid Restrictions; African Union Announcing Plans To Suspend Gabon From All Activities Until Constitutional Order Is Restored; Coup Leaders To Be Sworn In As President On Monday; Trump Pleads "Not Guilty", Waives Arraignment; U.S. Government Seeks To Block Titanic Expedition; Taylor Swift Brings "Eras Tour" To Big Screen; Last Night To See A Blue Supermoon In This Decade; Five Million Been Blanket Highway In Canada.. Aired 2-2:45a ET
Aired September 01, 2023 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[02:00:00]
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: And welcome to all of you watching us around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. Ahead on CNN Newsroom. Ukraine's forces are up against one of their toughest challenges in the counteroffensive against Russia. Heavy fortifications and new criticism that their progress is too slow. A wake-up call for Johannesburg. Dozens are killed in a fire inside what officials are calling a hijacked building. And Hong Kong braces for a powerful typhoon that could bring serious flooding. Already, hundreds of flights have been canceled.
UNKNOWN (voice-over): This is CNN Newsroom with Kim Brunhuber.
BRUNHUBER: We're getting word of new Ukrainian drone strikes on two regions in Russia. Officials say air defenses intercepted one drone headed to the Moscow region, while two others hit a city in the Kursk region Friday morning causing damage. But across the border, Ukraine says its troops are edging towards what could be the toughest line of Russian defenses in the south.
Now, it's happening near the village of Robotyne, which Ukrainians recently captured. But now they're up against a maze of heavily fortified trenches and obstacles that Russia has been building for months. A Ukrainian brigade in that area acknowledges there is a tough fight ahead. Ukraine has faced criticism that its counteroffensive is too slow, which prompted an angry response from its foreign minister on Thursday. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DMYTRO KULEBA, UKRAINIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: Criticizing the slow pace of counteroffensive equals to spitting into the face of a Ukrainian soldier who sacrifices his life every day moving forward and liberating one kilometer of Ukrainian soil after another. I would recommend all critics to shut up, come to Ukraine, and try to liberate one square centimeter by themselves. Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Meanwhile, President Zelenskyy says Ukraine has successfully used a new weapon that hit a target from 700 kilometers away. Now, he didn't give any details about the weapon or the target, and CNN couldn't independently verify his claim. For more, Katie Polglase joins us from London. Katie, what more can you tell us about this counteroffensive?
KATIE POLGLASE, CNN INVESTIGATIVE PRODUCER: Well, Kim, as you mentioned, it has been slow. It's in its third month now. But clearly this is a sign of hope. There is some light here that they are continuing to make progress. They, last week, captured Robotyne, that small village on the southern front here. With Russia now continuing to press forward. And that in and of itself speaks to a confidence here. They're not standing still, they're not retreating, they are pushing forward.
Despite the continued counterattacks by Russia, and as you mentioned, the heavily difficult fortified trenches, this is a difficult landscape really to navigate. Heavily mined as well and heavily defended by Russia. And it's been clear that while the progress, the land gains have been difficult, one of the key tactics by Ukraine has been to push the pressure into Russia elsewhere, move it away from the front line and push it into Russia's territory itself. And that is why we've been seeing these drone attacks earlier this week, some of the most intense drone assaults in Russia really since the beginning of the war and across a wide range of areas.
And it's worth noting that Ukraine's drone manufacturing capacity has dramatically increased in this period. Just in the last month, we've seen the number of Ukrainian drone manufactures jumping from 200 last month to 300 this month. At the start of the war, it was just 30.
This is a clear investment by Ukraine in drones as a way of taking this war forward and it's interesting bearing that in mind that the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said yesterday quite mysteriously that a Ukrainian long-range weapon had successfully hit a target 700 kilometers away. That's about 435 miles.
Now, he didn't say what it was and we can't independently verify it. But it is interesting because one of the drone attacks earlier this week on Russia was in Pskov, a region just north of Moscow, about 700 kilometers away from Ukraine. Could it be that? We don't know. But it's interesting and it shows that drones are an investment that Ukraine is taking forward as the counteroffensive clearly has some challenges. Kim.
BRUNHUBER: All right, appreciate the update. Katie Polglase, thanks so much. South African authorities are investigating a terrible fire that claimed 74 lives in central Johannesburg. Flames began tearing through the building on Thursday around 1:30 A.M. local time while many of the hundreds of people inside were still sleeping.
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Twelve of those killed were children. Some of the little ones who survived had been dropped out of the windows by the parents. The five- story building had been home to a women's shelter and served as a court during apartheid but it had since been filled with informal settlements and been labeled a, quote, "hijacked building". The South African president visited the demonstration and called it a wake-up call. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CYRIL RAMAPHOSA, SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT: The lesson for us is that we've got to address this problem and root and everything else, root out those criminal elements because it is these types of buildings that are taken over by criminals who then levy rents on vulnerable people and families who need and want accommodation in the inner city.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: CNN's David McKenzie also traveled to the site of the tragedy and has this report.
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DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A woman's whale pierces the streets of Johannesburg. More than 70 people are now dead and dozens injured after a brutal fire tore through a five-story building in the center of the South African city.
WISEMAN MPEP, SURVIVOR: Listen, people are easy. They make noise. Yeah, it's fire, fire, fire.
MCKENZIE: Survivors like Wiseman and Pepper say he was woken up by screams in the early hours of the morning and raced to get out of the building. But the gates were locked.
MPEP: So, I come back in the gate. The fire is full, full. After that, I don't have any plan. I just sit.
MCKENZIE: The smoke quickly smothering him.
MPEP: The smoke is coming to me. After that I just fall down. Then from there I don't know anything. Authorities quickly on the scene, moving through the building floor by floor. And pulling out charred bodies. Many though still remain missing. I have brother, sister.
MCKENZIE: And his sister?
MPEP: Yeah, she's husband, sister, husband.
MCKENZIE: You don't know where they are?
MPEP: I don't know. MCKENZIE: Another survivor who lost three sisters describes how her
niece was thrown out the window and caught by people who already made it outside.
OMAR FOART, SURVIVOR: My in-law -- she just hit the window and threw the daughter outside. The people, they just took my daughter while it was hot on the air.
MCKENZIE: If you look at this building behind me, you can imagine the chaos and the terror that ensued. People desperately trying to get out of those packed apartments, floors of it totally gutted as people were burnt to death. This is what's known as a hijacked building in South Africa, taking over by gangs and mostly leased to poor migrants.
HERMAN MASHABA, FORMER AMYOR OF JOHANNESBURG: This is not an accident. This for me, it's made a capable homicide because it was bound to happen. We are actually -- what you see in this building, I can tell you, I can take you to buildings that are west of Langs, as well, this, where people live were west on peaks.
MCKENZIE: This tragedy tangled into the deeply ingrained inequality across the country. Many of the people lived here were migrants just hoping to start a new life. Instead, emergency services now sorting through the ashes of the little that is left. David McKenzie, CNN, Johannesburg.
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BRUNHUBER: Earlier, the city's former mayor told me the national government was well aware of the hijacked buildings problem. So, now, to discuss this with more from Johannesburg is Lebogang Maile, the Provincial Minister for Human Settlements and Infrastructure. Thanks so much for being here with us. Just -- just first, I mean the stories we're hearing about this tragedy are quite horrific. I want to get your thoughts first on the human cost of this devastating fire.
LEBOGANG MAILE, PROVINCIAL MINISTER FOR HUMAN SETTLEMENTS AND INFRASTRUCTURE: Good morning. Thanks for having us and we firstly want to convey condolences to the bereaved families and also, I wish those who are in hospital well and speedy recovery. This is horrific, it's tragic and beyond any measure. And we are saddened by what has happened. And we will be working with the municipality to ensure that we don't only focus on these hijacked buildings.
And we also focus on abandoned buildings, because there are buildings that have been abandoned by individuals and private sector, and people end up taking over those buildings. And in most cases, those buildings are not there in habitable conditions. But over and above that, we've got criminal syndicates who prey on the vulnerability of the poor, desperate people who need the houses. And these criminal networks, they actually collect money from people who are living in these buildings.
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BRUNHUBER: Yeah. MAILE: So, what it means is that the people who live in these buildings can afford to pay, but perhaps there isn't enough rental stock that is affordable and habitable and safe for them to live in. And that's what we need to look at in terms of utilizing these empty, unoccupied or abandoned --
BRUNHUBER: Yeah, I do want to ask you about solutions but first, to the accountability here. As I understand it, this particular building had been raided earlier by the city. Can you tell us some more about why the people weren't rehoused, the building shut down, and those behind hijacking it imprisoned?
MAILE: Well, I wouldn't know because the city of Johannesburg owns the building and I'm in the Gauteng Provincial Government, but they have indicated in the meeting we had with them that they know how many buildings they own in the city, which ones are hijacked, but they also know which ones are privately owned and in fact, the number is shocking, about hundred buildings are owned by private individuals or companies that they are abandoned and in most cases, illegally occupied, meaning that if we don't act quickly, we are heading for another disaster which could be even worse. So, we have to make sure that we act quickly.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah, those figures jive with what the former mayor of Johannesburg told me, that there were still hundreds of buildings that were like this abandoned and being possibly hijacked. I mean, we heard the South African president say this is a wake-up call, but it begs the question why then has the government been sleeping on this issue for so long?
MAILE: The government has not been sleeping. Maybe they have not acted fast enough. We have been acting, by the way. And that's why the city has been able to evict people in some of the buildings. That former mayor himself, he did evict some of the people. Subsequent mayors said that they say current administration is doing that. But as I'm saying that some of these are privately-owned and abandoned.
So, you need to go to the courts for the courts to give you authority to take over those because you can't just take over anybody's property without authority from the court. So, it's not like government is not doing anything at all. The problem is big because our profits is an economic hub. Every year there's about 230,000 people coming here. As we speak, there's about 1.2 million people who need houses. So, it's not like we're not doing anything. The resources at our disposal are also limited. And the problem is big.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah, the problem is big. The solutions aren't easy, but certainly much more needs to be done on this issue. Really appreciate your time talking about this. Lebogang Maile in Johannesburg. Thank you so much.
MAILE: Thank you very much.
BRUNHUBER: All right. We have much more ahead on CNN Newsroom, including preparations for what could be the strongest storm to hit southern China's coast in the past five years. We're live in Hong Kong with the forecast. North Korea finally lifts its COVID restrictions and reopens its border, but only to certain people who explain who's being invited back and who's not. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: For the first time ever, a pope is visiting Mongolia, which is home to one of the world's smallest Catholic communities. Pope Francis arrived in Ulaanbaatar a few hours ago and is expected to take part in several events this weekend. Mongolia has a Buddhist majority and it's believed there are only around 1400 Catholics living there. The visit also presents a chance for the Vatican to improve relations with Mongolia's powerful neighbors Russia and China.
A powerful pair of typhoons are barreling through the northwest Pacific at this hour, threatening major population centers. Saola is bearing down on Hong Kong and China's Guangdong province. Forecasters say it could be the strongest storm to hit the region in the past five years. And another typhoon is a bit farther out to see, but is expected to bring heavy rain to Taiwan this weekend.
Live now to talk about it in Hong Kong is CNN's Kristie Lu Stout. So, Kristie, take us through what's heading your way and how prepared our folks there for what's coming.
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kim, Hong Kong is hunkering down in advance of the arrival of Typhoon Saola. Signal number eight has been raised already, which has effectively shut down the entire territory. That is the reason why I'm here reporting from my home office. You know, businesses are closed. Schools are closed. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange is closed.
Cathay Pacific, the flagship carrier here in Hong Kong, has canceled virtually all of its flights. We have a statement to share with you from Cathay. This is what they said. They said this, quote, "With the exception of CX 840, September 1 to New York JFK, all Cathay Pacific flights arriving in and departing from Hong Kong between 2 P.M. on Friday, September 1 and 10 A.M. September 2nd, Saturday, have been cancelled." Unquote.
Now, the Hong Kong Airport Authority has also informed us that some 366 flights have been cancelled, an additional 40 more flights have been delayed and we continue to monitor the situation inside mainland China. It was on Thursday when authorities there raised the typhoon threat level to its highest level. We have learned that schools in Guangzhou and Shenzhen have been closed.
In Shenzhen, markets and businesses will be closed starting from 4 P.M. local time. That's less than two hours from now. Also in Shenzhen, residents there have been urged to stay indoors. Xinhua is reporting some 4000 train services across Guangdong province have been suspended. Authorities in China are not taking any chances because of recent
history with extreme weather events. As you may recall, in recent months, Beijing and surrounding Hubei province was absolutely battered and struggled through record rains and floods that took the lives of dozens of people that displaced some 1.2 million people.
As for conditions here in Hong Kong, as we await the arrival of typhoon Saola, it is starting to rain, but it is not the heavy rain and heavy winds that we are anticipating when it does, near Hong Kong, that's expected to happen this evening a couple hours from now. Residents here have been advised to stay indoors. Back to you, Kim.
BRUNHUBER: All right, so as we wait for a typhoon Saola, if we pop up the map there, we'll see another typhoon also expected. Where is that one expected to hit? There are two typhoons that are targeting the region right now. You have typhoon Saola and also another one that's burning up. That's typhoon Haikui. And typhoon Haikui is approaching Taiwan.
It's expecting to make landfall there in Taiwan on Sunday and bring with it some very heavy rains. Then afterwards, it's going to move towards the East Coast of China, hitting Zhejiang province, just about 100 -- 200 miles south of Shanghai. When it makes landfall, it's anticipated it'll be equivalent to a Category-1 or Category-2 hurricane. Not a super typhoon, but still a pretty strong storm, nonetheless. Back to you.
BRUNHUBER: All right. We'll keep monitoring both of those. And in the meantime, as you say, hunker down there, Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. We appreciate it.
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LU STOUT: Yes, will do.
BRUNHUBER: North Koreans who have been stranded abroad for the past three years will finally be able to return home. That's because Pyongyang has begun lifting the tight COVID restrictions that effectively sealed its borders. CNN's Paula Hancocks is in Seoul and has our report.
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PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): North Korea's athletes are back on the global stage. Its taekwondo team headlined at the opening ceremony of the World Championships in Kazakhstan this month, believed to be the first overseas sporting engagement since its borders reopened. Pyongyang confirmed its borders are reopening to allow citizens stranded outside the country for more than three and a half years to return, one week quarantine required on arrival.
North Korean restrictions were among the harshest in the world. It is considered one of the last countries to reopen its borders, and even then they're only opening a crack with some international flights with China and Russia. Tourism, though, is still a dream. Koryo Tours, which specializes in taking Westerners into North Korea, says they've heard nothing beyond plans to repatriate its own citizens. Quarantine alone makes tourism impractical.
SIMON COCKERELL, GENERAL MANAGER, KORYO TOURS: So, there's business people, diplomats, workers, wait staff, free cutters, students, all kinds of people, essentially marooned outside of their country, with, in most cases, no way to contact family for three and a half years. Bart van Genugten went on a tour of North Korea with his father one year before the borders closed. He created YouTube videos of his experience.
BART VAN GENUGTEN, YOUTUBER: You go and everyone hopes maybe that they will see a bit more of the real North Korea, which won't happen. Like, they show you the places that they want to show you and it's the best of the best. All the loyal people live in Pyongyang, the wealthy people among all the North Koreans. So, no, you're probably far from certain realities.
HANCOCKS (voice-over): He does see value in North Koreans seeing foreigners in their country, but acknowledges useful interactions with the people are rare. Western tour operators, already a niche market, are likely to be among the last to be invited back.
COCKERELL: The tourism market in North Korea, over the few years prior to the shutdown, exploded hugely to the point where the North Koreans brought in a limit on Chinese visitors of a thousand per day to Pyongyang. And that limit was routinely breached.
HANCOCKS: One other group waiting to be allowed back in, diplomats. The vast majority of them left during the pandemic, unable to send supplies in or rotate staff out. And so far, only Russian and Chinese officials have been invited back to Pyongyang since the restrictions eased, showing Kim Jong-un's political priorities. Paula Hancock's CNN, Seoul.
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BRUNHUBER: Items from the store shelves becoming deadly weapons in Ukraine. Still ahead, how civilian drones became the tools of warfare in the hands of some unlikely operators. Military junta that took over Gabon is moving to cement its hold over the country by installing a new president days after staging a coup. We'll have a live report about that after the break. Please stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: And welcome back to all of you watching us around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN Newsroom. A quick update on developing stories in Ukraine. Russia claims it foiled a Ukrainian sabotage operation in its western Bryansk region. Russian officials say these weapons were seized from a sabotage group whose members were killed or detained. The Ukraine Security Service dismissed those claims as fantasies.
Meanwhile, Ukraine is urging people in its occupied territories not to vote in upcoming local elections led by Russian-appointed officials. Ukraine says four occupied regions will be holding early voting in the coming days.
Russian officials say Ukraine launched a new wave of drone attacks overnight and early Friday morning targeting both the Moscow and Kursk regions. It's the fourth day in a row Ukrainian drones attacked inside Russia. Now, ordinary commercial drones are proving indispensable in Ukraine's war effort, often flown by some unlikely pilots. CNN's Christiane Amanpour reports.
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CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN ANCHOR: Any support is welcome in Ukraine, especially if it appears blessed by Jesus, say these drone students, set up in an abandoned church, working on their simulators, and convinced their cause is just.
YULIA: We do whatever we can now to resist, because Russians want to kill all of us. This is genocide.
AMANPOUR: Next door in the construct and repair class, Yulia solders and tweaks and teaches. This part is fairly simple and fun, she says.
AMANPOUR: And did you study engineering? What are you in normal life?
YULIA: I'm a writer and a film director.
AMANPOUR: You're a writer and a film director.
YULIA: Yes.
AMANPOUR: And now, you're a drone operator.
YULIA: Yes.
AMANPOUR: We're not allowed to disclose the location where Yulia and the others put theory into practice. Here in this innocuous-looking field with a rudimentary obstacle course, this could almost be child's play but with deadly results, of course. These are all civilian drones that the Ukrainians are repurposing for their current war effort. They can be bought off store shelves. But this signifies a turning point in the conduct of modern warfare.
A $500 drone that's been weaponized can take out vehicles and weapons systems worth millions. Software engineer Lyuba Shipovich started the Victory Drones initiative.
LYUBA SHIPOVICH, CO-FOUNDER, VICTORY DRONES: The most advantage is it's one of the most cost-effective weapon. And it's also weapon and it could be used as reconnaissance. For reconnaissance purposes, if you see the enemy, you can hit enemy, you can hide your soldiers.
AMANPOUR: But enemy can see you? SHIPOVICH: Yeah, if you don't use security measurements.
AMANPOUR: Like hiding or disguising their signals because the Russians are adapting fast. She says they're mostly crowd-funded and have deals with the Ukrainian military to train frontline troops, tens of thousands, so far, in what's become indispensable strategy.
That was just practice, dropping a water bottle full of sand. But just a few days ago, the group says one of their former trainees took out this Russian tank on the Eastern Front. They can also wipe out artillery positions and troop carriers.
AMANPOUR: How long did it take you to learn to fly? Many of these citizen soldiers are women busting stubborn myths. And Yulia, of course, agrees. In fact, she assembles the drones, her husband flies, too. And a lot of women have taken up this fight.
YULIA: We are real people and we are fighting for our existence. Christiane Amanpour, CNN, Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: More condemnation for the military coup in Gabon, with the African Union announcing plans to suspend Gabon from all of its activities until constitutional order is restored in the Central African country. The military junta that took over Gabon on Wednesday says the general who led the coup will be sworn in as transitional president on Monday. Meanwhile, Gabon's current president, Ali Bongo, is being held under house arrest. CNN's Larry Madowo has more on the story.
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LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're getting the first indication about how Gabon's new military rulers intend to govern the country. They call themselves the Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions, and they are saying now that they will honor all foreign and domestic obligations of the gabonese government.
They are reassuring development partners, creditors, everyone who has business with the government of gabon that they intend to guarantee those oppositions. And they also talked about when the subsequent leader, General Brice Oligui Nguema will formally take office.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) COLONEL ULRICH MANFOUMBI MANFOUMBI, REGIME SPOKESMAN (through translator): Finally, the president of the transition will be sworn in as the president of the republic in front of the constitutional court on Monday the 4th of September 2023.
MADOWO: General Oligui Nguema is not new to leadership. He was the aide-de-camp to former Gabon President Omar Bongo until his death in 2009. He is the head of the Republican guard, this elite unit in the military, and now he gets to lead gabon.
But opposition parties say that the people of Gabon should be grateful that the military junta took over power but it should be open to talks about the best solution forward for the country. They say that President Ali Bongo was wrongfully declared the winner of the election on Saturday before it was complete, and they believe they won the election rightfully.
So that is an interesting development and this crisis, the entire coup began because the opposition and many in Gabon saw that the third term of Ali Bongo was illegitimate after a sham election. Larry Madowo, CNN, Nairobi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: And for more on this, joining us now from Nairobi, Kenya, is Kwesi Aning. He is the director of the Africa security analysis program at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping training center in Accra, Ghana.
Thank you so much for being here with us. It is always hard to judge from here but looking at the pictures of the people in Gabon celebrating the fact that this one family has ruled the country for decades. Is it fair to say that not many tears are being shared in Gabon about the President being removed?
KWESI ANING, DIRECTOR, AFRICA SECURITY ANALYSIS PROGRAMME IN GHANA: Not many tears are being shed, but also that this doesn't reflect a welcome for the military. This is an internal family quarrel that has spilled over, but also because of external interference.
France certainly does not want the opposition leader who is seen as extreme, and a radical, to take over power. So bringing in General Nguema is some type of a middle decision. This does not bring stability to Gabon at all.
We will see further instability within the military itself, and the family struggles continuing. This does not help in deepening the democratic processes.
BRUNHUBER: Certainly not, and I mean, the African Union, as I said, has condemned Gabon, suspending it. But we are seeing in general a more nuanced reaction from other countries. At least compared to the recent coup in Niger.
That said, we heard from Nigeria's President saying the coup in Gabon confirmed his fear that copycats would replicate the coup in Niger. And he went on to say that if we do not wield the big stick we will all suffer the consequences together. So do you think the lack of that big stick so far against the leaders of the coup in Niger has emboldened forces in Gabon, behind the latest coup?
ANING: No. Very far from it. And I think his excellency Tinubu has gotten it totally wrong. What people are asking for is a form of governance that speaks to their lived experiences, that provides jobs, health, education, security.
But even more importantly, it is an inclusive form of governance of strong institutions, capable of dealing with issues of corruption, bias, ineffective institutions and all people who flout the rules, are punished.
The big stick must be used in protecting democratic processes. What we are seeing on the alternative, in Burkina Faso, in Mali, in Niger, are people raising up to say, we need to change the postcolonial structures that have been established.
BRUNHUBER: Let me jump in. You raise a great point. We are seeing, more broadly, eight coups in former French African colonies since 2020. But you say people want democracy, people want accountability, but these coups aren't popular uprisings that are sweeping leaders from their posts, this isn't an Arab Spring, or an African Spring.
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These are coups, generally, orchestrated by the military.
ANING: Yes, but what I am foreseeing is that we are going to see a more widespread, social uprising, saying we want a better form of governance. You mentioned the African union earlier on.
We have seen quite a number of African countries that are governing their people in ways that are not representative of the tenets of good democracy, or good governance. And the classic example is the government of Senegal.
The international community is quiet while the Senegalese government oppresses the opposition, places its leader into prison. And the question is what kind of democracy and what forms of governors are we looking for? The demographics of the continent --
BRUNHUBER: Altogether, you talked about, before we go I did want to ask you this because this is massively important. You talked about the destabilizing effect it is having in Gabon, but in the region itself, what effect does that have. Certainly it is harmful in the fight against Islamic extremism. What are the knock-on effects here?
ANING: I think far from it. I think the narrative about the extremists coming down south, or expanding, raises fundamental questions about the nature of security force assistance. What kind of assistance focuses solely on fighting extremists, but does not engage the recipient government in saying build institutions, provide social welfare, be accountable to your people.
If security force assistance from our partners is delivered in such a matter that builds a military, that creates accountability systems, that ensures that parliaments play their oversight rules and holds government accountable, and the young people feel that there is a hope for them, we will turn back the tide of coup leaders. Our partners are part of the failure of democracy of local governors around the continent.
BRUNHUBER: Certainly an interesting perspective. We will have to leave it there. But thank you so much for sharing it with us. Kwesi Aning, in Nairobi, Kenya, thanks so much. Donald Trump won't appear in court next week for his arraignment in the Georgia election interference case, Trump waved the arraignment on Thursday as he formally filed a non guilty plea.
It is the fourth time he's been forced to respond to multiple criminal charges since June. The judge over steering the Fulton County case says he intends to allow TV cameras and live streaming of all proceedings as the case moves ahead.
Meanwhile a judge could rule at anytime on a motion by codependent Mark Meadows, Trump's former chief of staff, who wants his case moved to federal court. A ruling in Meadow's favor could dramatically alter the dynamics of the Fulton County case.
It was not a bird or a plane in the sky that caught the attention of people across the world for the past few nights, it was a blue super moon. We will tell you why it is called that after the break. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: The U.S. federal government has filed a motion in federal court to stop an expedition to the Titanic planned for next year. The voyage is being organized by RMS Titanic, the company that owns the exclusive salvage rights to the ocean liner's remains.
But the government's motion sights a law that protects and preserves the shipwreck as a grave site. The legal battle comes a few months after a submersible went missing as it dove to the ship, and suffered a catastrophic implosion killing all five people on board.
Pop star, Taylor Swift, is taking her record-breaking Eras tour to the big screen. The mega star rolled out the trailer for her upcoming concert film on Thursday. It is called, Taylor Swift, The Eras Tour Concert Film. Starting October 13th, it will splash onto screens in the United States, Canada, and Mexico according to a news release from one theater chain.
Tickets are already on sale. Swift also posting this reminder, singing and dancing along in Eras attire is encouraged. Last night in august was the last time we will see the rare, blue super moon for a while. Look, people gathered behind the lighthouse in coastal Spain to look at the phenomenon on Thursday night.
It's not actually colored blue, as you can see, but like the old saying, it only comes once in a blue moon. The super moon appears bigger and brighter than a regular full moon because it reaches the closest point to earth in its orbit. Blue moons happen when there are two full moons in a calendar year.
And, bad news, you will have to wait another 14 years to see another blue super moon like this one. It was quite a sight on a Canadian highway near Toronto, have a look at this. Authorities rushed to capture 5 million bees, which spilled out of their crates and onto the road.
It happened on Wednesday when police say the straps attached to crates carrying beehives got loose. It took more than half a dozen local beekeepers about four hours to get the insects back in their hives. One beekeeper was stung repeatedly, but police say no other injuries were reported. Thanks much for joining us, I am Kim Brunhuber, WORLD SPORT is next.
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