Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Thousands Flee To Armenia After Azerbaijan Victory; Ukraine: Russia's Black Sea Fleet Commander Killed; Canadian House Speaker Apologizes For Praising Ukrainian Veteran Who Fought For Nazis In WWII; London Police Investigate New Allegations Of Sexual Abuse; Tentative Agreement Details Expected To Be Released Tuesday; Philippine Coast Guard Says It Removed Chinese Barrier In Disputed Area Of South China Sea; Biden Meets With Pacific Island Leader; Immigrants Take incredible Risks to Reach America; Search for Fossil Fuels Threatens Whales. Aired 12-12:45a ET

Aired September 26, 2023 - 00:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:00:40]

LAILA HARRAK, CNN NEWSROOM ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Laila Harrak. And on CNN NEWSROOM, a max exodus. Thousands rush to escape the Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh amid accusations about possible ethnic cleansing. Plus, one of Ukraine's boldest attacks. The strike that killed dozens of Russian officers including the commander of its Black Sea Fleet. And bad vibrations, the underwater sound waves that threaten to kill whales off of Australia's coast.

ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Laila Harrak.

HARRAK: We begin with the thousands of ethnic Armenians fleeing the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh. And you can see the long line of vehicles trying to exit the enclave that is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but has an Armenian majority. According to Armenian state media, more than a hundred bodies have been recovered from Nagorno-Karabakh following the Azerbaijani military operation. While meeting with a delegation of the US, Armenia's prime minister accused Azerbaijan of ethnic cleansing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKOL PASHINYAN, ARMENIAN PRIME MINISTER: The ethnic cleansing of Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh is underway, so that's happening just now. And that is very unfortunate fact because we are trying to urge the international community on that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRAK: Azerbaijan has denied the claims. Its president promised the people of Nagorno-Karabakh will be protected during talks with his Turkish counterpart.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ILHAM ALIYEV, AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT (through translator): The people living in the Karabakh region are Azerbaijan citizens, regardless of their nationality. Their safety, security, will be assured by the state of Azerbaijan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRAK: Well meanwhile, Armenian state media reports a powerful explosion at a gas station has wounded more than two hundred people. Many of them were trying to get fuel in Nagorno-Karabakh ahead of their journey to Armenia. It's not clear what caused the depot to go up in flames. Well the misery on the faces of many evacuees is plain to see.

They have been under a food and fuel blockade for months, and now are leaving Nagorno-Karabakh out of fear that an ethnic cleansing of their community will come next. CNN's Becky Anderson shows us what they're facing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A mass exodus raising fears for Armenia of ethnic cleansing by Azerbaijan, a charge Baku staunchly denies. So far, thousands of ethnic Armenians have fled the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh into Armenia, a tragic journey they've become all too familiar with.

SVETLANA HARAPETYAN, NAGORNO-KARABAKH RESIDENT (through translator): We've had three wars, three times we left and came back. And now we, I don't know.

ANDERSON (voice-over): Last week, Azerbaijan forced the surrender of ethnic Armenian fighters in the breakaway disputed region, closing a major chapter in a conflict that has simmered for decades. But like every war, the horrors don't stop when the fighting abates. Although internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh is home to about 120 thousand ethnic Armenians who make up the majority of the population.

Over the last three decades, the two countries have fought intense wars over the enclave, with a larger, more powerful Azerbaijani military ceasing increased territory. Russia, the traditional power breaker, says it's been delivering aid to the region's capital, Stepanakert, and that its peacekeepers on the ground will help escort civilians fleeing to Armenia. But despite Moscow's presence, Nagorno- Karabakh has been under a blockade for nine months.

Azerbaijan-backed forces blockading the Lachin Corridor, the only road connecting Armenia to the region. Preventing the import of food and aid and separating families and loved ones. On Saturday, just days after the cease-fire was signed, the first convoy of humanitarian aid enter the region from the International Red Cross.

[00:05:08] Its members also carrying out medical evacuations. There are still fears aid isn't reaching those who need it most, with thousands here having been surviving with little to no food and fuel for close to a year. And that is why many of those fleeing seem to prefer an uncertain future in Armenia over the bloody and vicious past in their homeland. Becky Anderson, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRAK: Gabriel Gavin is a reporter at POLITIC, and he is with us now from Goris, Armenia. Thank you for joining us. Give us an update, are people still trying to flee or are there people still trying to cross the border into Armenia?

GABRIEL GAVIN, REPORTER, POLITICO: Good morning. Well, all throughout the night, thousands of people have been flooding across the border. Over the past couple of days, we've been up at the checkpoint, it's the last stop on the road from Nagorno-Karabakh and there's just a never-ending stream of cars, trucks, opened backed vehicles that people have loaded all their possessions into.

Their bags, their suitcases, paintings, family heirlooms, whatever they can bring with them, and driven across the border even though the weather has been pretty awful and people have been huddling in some cases in the back of open backed trucks, covered in plastic to keep them safe from the rain.

That's continued overnight and the Armenian government says now six thousand five hundred people have officially crossed. I've spoken to people who are currently in Nagorno-Karabakh still in lines of cars, waiting to get out who say they've been there for over 20 hours. So at this point the exodus really is only picking up pace.

HARRAK: What have people shared with you? Give us a sense of what these past days, weeks, months have been like for those displaced from Karabakh, fleeing their homes and the journey especially that they had to make to make it to safety.

GAVIN: Well for the past nine months the region has been effectively closed to humanitarian aid so people already going into this conflict last week had suffered from a real shortage of food, fuel and other essential products. So people were already in a fairly desperate state. And then since the start of the 24 hour conflict last Tuesday, that's only worsened. The people that I'm speaking to here talk of massive shelling.

I met with a woman yesterday who said that her brother was seriously injured and in hospital, but she and her kids have been able to get out. People have taken shelter from the artillery barrage and drone strikes in basements across the city. And then the question was simply how can we get enough fuel together to load up our cars and get out. And that starts to come through when, like, the Red Cross and the Russian peacekeepers here laid on deliveries of petrol and diesel.

And since then, people have been taking matters into their own hands and done whatever they can to take them and their families to safety. I sat down with one of the first women to come across, she sat in the back of her brother's four by four, he'd been waiting for her at the checkpoint. She brought her two young kids with her and they just sat in the back of the car, and while the kids ate chocolate bars, something they'd not had for a very long time, she just wept and said, you know, we're here.

And that comes with a lot of uncertainty, because people are not just leaving their homes and their homeland, they're leaving their livelihoods as well in many cases. Farms, machinery, equipment, things that people made a living off. Those are no longer available to them and they now are in a country that is incredibly tense politically and its relationships with its neighbor, Azerbaijan. And there's no clear sense of what's going to happen in the long term for people who need housing, schools, and jobs.

HARRAK: My final question to you exactly is to that point, I mean this is a terrible situation for these families, and so much uncertainty, and a future that they don't know what it's going to look like. But can Armenia accommodate these displaced people in terms of resources, support? What do you see? I mean do these people even have connections in Armenia? Where do they, where do they go?

GAVIN: Well in many cases, people do have family in Armenia. I went to one house in a village, it's just actually on the border where people had received their relatives and we sat down with them there and they said, you know, we're going to stay for as long as we can. But in many cases, people don't have relatives, they don't have family they can depend on.

Armenia's vowed to take in 40 thousand families, but from where I'm sitting it's clear that there's not enough support going on. Just a day before this mass exodus, I sat down with the deputy mayor of this city, Goris, and I said what are you doing to prepare for a potential mass exodus, she said nothing. We're just simply pushing to make sure it doesn't happen. Which, as a municipal authority, is possibly not the best use of your time.

So effectively there's not enough support in place for people. I did interview Azerbaijani foreign policy chief Hikmet Hajiyev just yesterday, and he told me that Azerbaijan will guarantee the right of return for those people who were born there, have property there, it will respect property rights.

[00:10:07]

But certainly everyone I speak to here on the ground in Armenia tells me they think they've left for good.

HARRAK: Thank you so much for bringing us that update, Gabriel Gavin. Thank you. Ukraine claims it has killed the commander of Russia's Black Sea Fleet and 33 other officers. It happened in a Friday attack on Sevastopol in Russian annex Crimea. Ukraine's military says Russia is using the peninsula as a logistics hub, and operation "Crab Trap" targeted a senior leadership meeting.

Viktor Sokolov reportedly took command of the Black Sea Fleet in August of last year. Moscow has not confirmed his death and CNN cannot independently verify Ukraine's claim. The report comes as Russia launched more than two dozen drones and missiles and two supersonic missiles at the Ukrainian port of Odesa. Ukraine says the port infrastructure and an abandoned hotel were seriously damaged. More now from CNN's senior international correspondent, Sam Kiley.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAM KILEY, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ukraine dismissed this as a pathetic attempt at retaliation. A Russian bombardment of the port city of Odesa, with drones and long-range missiles. Two warehouse workers were killed, and abandoned hotels smashed in what could have been an almost routine attack by Russia, but for this. Kyiv now claims to have killed the commander of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, admiral Viktor Sokolov.

Ukraine says it also killed another 33 Russian officers in a missile strike against the fleet headquarters in Sevastopol on Friday. The Ukrainians have targeted senior Russian officers throughout this war, often using intelligence from NATO, and specialist units have been tasked by Kyiv with these killings. They're aimed at sapping morale, and undermining command systems.

CNN has no independent confirmation ofUkraine's claim to have killed Russia's admiral, but it would be its biggest success in this campaign, and part of an ongoing campaign to break through Russia's defense lines to ultimately strike at Crimea. They've included early attacks on Putin's navy and a bridge to Russia itself. The first batch of US donated Abrams tanks have also arrived in Ukraine. But they're not the strategic weapons the Ukrainians say they need.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The defense packages from the United States, including artillery, necessary shells, high marked munitions, air defense missiles, additional air defense systems, tactical vehicles, and some other types of weapons that will prove themselves on the battlefield.

KILEY (voice-over): Kyiv wants these ATACMS. Long-range missile systems to attack deep behind Russian lines, to kill more officers, and destroy logistics hubs. The US is yet to announce that Ukraine will get these missiles before the winter freezes over the frontlines where they are. Sam Kiley, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRAK: For more we're joined now by Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, he's a CNN military analyst and former commanding general of US army Europe, and Seventh Army. Sir, good to have you with us, we're seeing an escalation in fighting in the Black Sea. Let's start with Ukraine's claim that they killed the commander of Russia's Black Sea Fleet in an attack on the port city of Sevastopol. Is Kyiv opening another front with these attacks on Russian targets in occupied Crimea and what does this mean for Russia?

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yeah I'd say that -- and first off all, it's great to be with you, but I'd say that this is actually a deep battle strike doing multi-domain operations. So the Ukrainians are hitting the Russians on the frontline, trying to push through the various defensive belts that have been put in place by Russia, but they're also putting Russia on guard in their rear areas.

They've been doing this for months now, striking targets like ammunition dumps and command post headquarters and places where soldiers are. Logistic bases. But now what we're doing is taking it to the next level. This is a strategic strike against the Black Sea Fleet headquarters. Not unexpected, they've been hitting Sevastopol on multiple locations for the last several weeks. But this one certainly was a very good targeting methodology by the Ukrainian forces to hit the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet.

HARRAK: Well in return, Russia now struck the Ukrainian port of Odesa.

[00:15:02]

Can Ukraine absorb this type of retaliation by Russian forces? And how do these strikes compare to what you saw unfold in Sevastopol?

HERTLING: Well it's fascinating because what we're talking about the Ukrainians targeting are military targets. Key military targets as part of the battlefield. What Russia continues to do is conduct, truthfully, war crimes against infrastructure and civilian targets. Things that are contrary to all the Geneva Conventions and the International Court of Law in terms of armed conflict.

So what we see is just a very different approach by the Russian military, trying to affect the Ukrainian people, making their lives miserable, a strategic approach to try and get Kyiv to do what they want them to do. But it's not working.

We're going back into the winter months, there are indicators that Russia will attempt again during the winter to strike key infrastructure targets to make life miserable for Ukrainian civilians, while Ukraine continues to fight on the battlefield front. And I personally think that the approach that Ukrainians are using are much better than what Russia is using. The Russian approach is only making the Ukrainian people more resolute in terms of getting their sovereign territory back.

HARRAK: And the final question for you, I want to ask you in terms, you know, there's a lot of discussions going on in Washington and other European capitals, do you feel that there is a disconnect between what is happening on in the ground, the reality of war, and the conversations taking place in Western capitals about the counter offensives progress that it's going too slow?

HERTLING: Yeah, we've talked about that for quite some time. There's always, the military has a term for it Laila, it's called the six thousand mile screwdriver. What happens when people in government headquarters think that the military forces are not doing what they expect them to do. And yet there's a misunderstanding of what takes place on the battlefield. How difficult it is.

From the very beginning of the offensive operations, I've said this will be hard because of the opportunity Russia had of them placing mines and defensive belts. It's a whole lot harder when you have soldiers going against those defensive belts then it is talking about big arrows and circles on the map.

So yeah, I think early on there were some disconnects between the capitals in the West and what was happening on the battlefield by Ukrainian forces. But I think more and more as this has occurred, and we've seen slow but steady progress by the Ukrainian forces, I think the Western capitals, they're beginning to understand more how difficult it is and what is actually taking place.

HARRAK: Alright, Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, CNN military analyst and former commanding general of US Army Europe and Seventh Army. Sir, always good to have you with us. Thank you.

HERTLING: A pleasure, thanks Laila.

HARRAK: The speaker of Canada's House of Commons is apologizing for remarks he made during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's visit. On Friday, Anthony Rota praised a 98-year-old Ukrainian and Canadian veteran who fought during World War II. The Human Rights and Jewish Organizations pointed out that the man actually served in a Nazi military unit. Here's the House Speaker on Monday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY ROTA, CANADIAN HOUSE SPEAKER: I wish to apologize to the House and I'm deeply sorry that I have offended many with my gesture and remarks. This was a constituent who wanted to see -- who wanted to be here, and I recognized him. It was my decision, and I apologize profusely. I cannot tell you how regretful it is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRAK: Well Ukraine's president who is Jewish and other Ukrainian leaders have disputed Russian claims that it's trying to eradicate Nazi's from Ukraine. Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the Canadian parliament on Friday. Still ahead, we'll tell you why this member of the Philippine coast guard is using a knife to fend off Chinese claims in the South China Sea. Plus, the Writers Guild of America have reached a tentative deal with studios to end their strike. More on what that agreement could hold. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:21:24]

HARRAK: London's metropolitan police have launched an investigation into a number of allegations of non-recent sexual offenses committed in the city and elsewhere in the country. The police force says those allegations come after British media outlets published a joint investigation against Russell Brand. That report cited four women who accused the actor of sexual assault and at least one case of rape. Brand has denied the allegations.

London police are urging anyone who has been a victim of sexual abuse, no matter how long ago, to contact them. The Writers Guild of America has secured a tentative agreement with top Hollywood studios that will most likely end months of picketing. Details of the agreement are expected to be released on Tuesday but Hollywood won't be working at full steam just yet, with the Screen Actors Guild and many of the industry's top talents awaiting a deal of their own. CNN's Natasha Chen reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NATASHA CHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Writers Guild of America told its members this deal is, quote, "Exceptional", with meaningful gains and protections for writers in every sector of the membership. And I'm talking to some writers after this announcement I found that there's a general sense of relief, though some are holding out on fully celebrating before they see the actual terms of the deal that have not yet been released. The guild says it will share the details on Tuesday, and ultimately more than 11 thousand members would need to vote to ratify it before the strike officially ends.

As a reminder, writers have been on strike for nearly five months as they called for better residual pay on streaming shows and movies, protections regarding the use of artificial intelligence potentially creating content based on writers' ideas, having minimum staffing levels and duration of employment as studios have increasingly used smaller groups of writers for shorter periods resulting in wages that writers say make it very difficult to sustain a living. But ending the strike still doesn't mean TV and movie productions immediately start back up.

There are still 160 thousand actors on strike since July and their union, SAG-AFTRA, will still be picketing this week. There is some optimism that writers having an agreement with studios may spur a deal for actors as well and SAG-AFTRA said they look forward to reviewing the writers agreement while continuing to urge studios to return to the table to make a fair deal.

Meanwhile, the Milken Institute told me these double strikes have caused more than $5 billion in economic loss across the US, affecting not just actors and writers but so many small businesses that have had to lay people off since the productions they support through custodial services, catering, props, makeup and more, have been at a standstill.

Some of these small business owners tell me they're now wondering whether actors will also form a deal with studios in time for productions to start before the holiday season or if there may not be true income rolling in until the new year. Natasha Chen, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRAK: The Philippines says it has removed a floating barrier installed by China in a contested part of the South China Sea. The Philippine coast guard used knives to cut ropes holding the barrier in place. Its government says it poses a hazard to navigation. Parts of the South China Sea have been in dispute for years as nations in the region have conflicting claims to islands and reefs. Until recently, a nervous detente has existed. Let's get you more as

Steven Jiang is in Beijing. Steven, a volatile situation potentially, why did China install a sea barrier so far away from its coast in the first place?

[00:25:05]

STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: Yeah Laila, I think it's worth reminding our viewers, China actually claims almost the entirety of the South China Sea, quote unquote, based on historical proof, even though that claim has been rejected by an international tribunal. But, you know, that is 1.3 million square miles of area we're talking about which is why some of their claimed islands and atolls are so far away from the mainland coast. But, you know, as you mentioned, these have always been hotly contested waters.

What China does though is so extraordinary and increasingly aggressive compared to other claimants. And in the past few years through land reclamation and massive construction, they have turned previously uninhabited atolls and islands into man made islands equipped with airstrips and sophisticated radars and other equipment.

That really is the basis of why they're able to project an increasing military power not only through its navy but also its coast guard and sometimes and increasingly its nominally civilian maritime militia. And we've been following the story for years, but in the past few weeks and months we have seen this growing number of publicized incidents involving Beijing and other claimants, especially the Philippines.

We have seen the Chinese coast guards using water cannons, and what Manila described as dangerous maneuvers to chase and drive away Philippine boats. And Manila, of course, has also been accusing Beijing of destroying marine ecosystems in its exclusive economic zone through deliberate actions. Now Beijing of course has been pushing back all these allegations saying the only thing that's changed recently is a change of government in Manila.

The new president, Marcos, is now, basically, in their words, doing the US bidding, being a US pawn by instigating tensions in the region and they are especially angry at the fact the Philippines are bringing international media to witness some of those encounters and calling that stage performance falsely portraying China as a bully, trying to create a more favorable international opinion and narrative for the Philippines.

But Laila, at the end of the day, the fundamental question here is the Chinese ministry is now leaving the area. So how this dynamic is going to change and how do you change Chinese behavior absent of a war, Laila.

HARRAK: Steven Jiang, that reporting, thank you so much. Well, hoping to counter China's growing influence in the Indo-Pacific region, US President Joe Biden hosted the leaders of some 18 Pacific Island Nations on Monday at the White House. The group met for a summit meeting as Mr. Biden announced new

infrastructure funding and millions of dollars in other assistance. They also had a roundtable talk about the threat climate change poses to their region with US climate envoy John Kerry. Mr. Biden cited World War II to suggest America's commitment to the region is long term.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, US PRESIDENT: Like our forebears during World War II, we know a great deal of the history of the world was written across the Pacific over the coming years. And like them, we owe it to the next generation to help write that story together. To do the hard work, the stark work that General MacArthur said, and I quote him again, for which a better world for all will come.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRAK: Well a highlight of the summit was new US diplomatic recognition for two Pacific Island Nations. The Cook Islands and Niue. Still to come, reaching the US for better opportunities. That's the goal for this group of mostly Venezuelan migrants embarking on a long journey north. Details on the many challenges they face.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRAK: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Laila Harrak.

[00:31:10]

A U.S. border official says migrant crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border are expected to remain high in the near term. It comes as federal authorities have been grappling with a new surge of migrants, following the wave of newcomers last week.

According to a U.S. Homeland Security official, Border Patrol agents apprehended nearly 9,000 people on Sunday and more than 7,000 the day before.

But the border official says new deterrence measures from Mexico are expected to eventually help drive down the numbers.

Well, Venezuela is one of the countries where many of the migrants are coming from. CNN's Stefano Pozzebon reports now on why they are taking the incredible risks to reach America.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The journey for the American dream starts before dawn. At 4 a.m., this group of migrants is getting ready to cross the Darien Gap, the stretch of tropical force between Colombia and Panama.

In the darkness, a loudspeaker invites each migrant to sing the anthems of the countries they've left behind. The voices of the Venezuelans resonate the loudest. At sunrise, the gates of this makeshift migrant camp open up, and the

group advances into the forest. Panamanian authorities estimate that on average, more than 1,400 people have crossed this thick stretch of forest every day this year, already more than double the numbers in 2022.

Most of those crossings are Venezuelans. But migrants from Ecuador, Haiti, Colombia, and even China also attempt these routes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: China?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: China.

POZZEBON (voice-over): Hundreds of thousands of personal stories, but one shared goal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I have a lump in my throat, but I'm doing this for my family. For a better future.

POZZEBON (voice-over): The hike lasts several days across rivers and jungle mud. But the prospect of making it to the United States, over 2,000 miles North from here, is stronger than ever.

MARISELA SILVA, INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS: So the longer term mission, I think it's difficult to say right now, but what we -- we can work with what we see in terms of a trend, and the trend is that the numbers will continue increasing.

POZZEBON (voice-over): Venezuelans have been leaving their home country for years. But until recently, most of them headed towards other South American countries. What sets this year apart, is that hundreds of thousands of migrants are now traveling directly towards the United States.

Worryingly, according to the United Nations, a growing number of unaccompanied children are attempting the trek on their own. These little ones, instead, follow their parents, tied together, so they don't get lost in the crowd.

On the other side funneling Panama, a small group gets a passage on a boat down the river. Others heal their feet, wounded from the hike, before the journey continues North.

From the air, these soldiers can only monitor the record flow, but there is no way of stopping it, Colombian and Panamanian authorities say.

And for most of these people, there's no way of turning back. Despite recent economic reforms, Venezuela remains in deep humanitarian crisis, with over 80 percent of the population living below the poverty line, according to independent figures.

POZZEBON: With living conditions in Venezuela not showing any sign of improving anytime soon, and the rest of South America that is already struggling with their own problems because of the impact of the COVID- 19 crisis, inflation in the last few years, it's only natural that a growing number of people are trying to reach what is seen as the only place where they can have better opportunities. The United States.

[00:35:04]

For CNN, this is Stefano Pozzebon, Bogota.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRAK: An investigation is underway after Molotov cocktails were thrown at the Cuban embassy in Washington Sunday night. Cuba's foreign affairs minister is calling it a terrorist attack. He says the attacker threw two makeshift bombs at the building, but no one was hurt.

And the Secret Service says no one has been arrested so far.

It's the second time the embassy has been attacked. The first time was in 2020, when a man opened fire on the building with an AK-47 rifle.

Coming up, an Australian petroleum company wants to use underwater sonic blasts to scope out fossil fuel deposits. Why activists say the sound will be catastrophic for whales.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRAK: LEGO is abandoning plans to use recycled plastic bottles for its bricks. The toymaker says the process would create more pollution than anticipated, and it will continue to make oil based plastic bricks.

However, in a statement, the company said it's testing other ways of making LEGO bricks and added it is fully committed to making then from sustainable materials by 2032.

Australian activists are challenging an offshore gas project that's not only threatening to pump deadly fossil fuel emissions into the air, but may deafen the whales that live off Australia's West Coast.

CNN's Anna Coren explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is seismic blasting. It's a method fossil-fuel companies use to find gas and oil under the sea.

Air guns launch sound waves towards the ocean floor. How long it takes them to bounce back gives an indication of the fossil fuels trapped under the sea bed.

The bubbles and bangs may look harmless, but Greenpeace warns they can be deadly to marine life.

RICHARD GEORGE, GREENPEACE SENIOR CAMPAIGNER: And they're loud and (UNINTELLIGIBLE). And that's really problematic if you're a whale, because whales depend on their hearing for everything: to navigate, to find their mates, and to look for food. So a deaf whale is a dead whale.

COREN (voice-over): The Western coast of Australia is a whale super highway. It's also where energy giant Woodside Energy wants to blast this Southern spring, searching for gas for a huge new fossil fuel project known as Scarborough.

[00:40:08]

GEORGE: If it goes ahead, we're looking at emissions equivalent to 12 years of Australia's total greenhouse gas emissions. So it's a disaster for our climate, and it's a disaster for our oceans, as well

COREN (voice-over): Woodside provided CNN with its marine environment plan for the Scarborough gas project, dated this June.

"There will be no lasting effect on whales. However, there could be short-term hearing impacts," the report reads. Woodside "will have dedicated marine fauna observers and systems which can listen for whale song on some vessels," the company says, adding, "The presence of whales can postpone activities."

Another powerful concept is acknowledged in Woodside's report: the importance of the marine environment to the traditional customs and culture of indigenous Australians.

RAELENE COOPER, SUING WOODSIDE: Those animals represent a song. A dance. That we, as indigenous people, all life on this continent hold (ph).

COREN (voice-over): Raelene Cooper is taking Woodside to federal court, arguing she has not been properly consulted on seismic blasting.

COOPER: And it's our sacred significant areas that continually get hammered. Our people are being attacked. Our ancient history, our wildlife, our ecosystems, our water.

Those song lines, the rocker and --

COREN (voice-over): Earlier this month, Cooper won a temporary injunction against the blasting while her case is heard. Woodside could begin blasting on Friday.

In a statement to CNN, Woodside said, "We also welcome the federal court's proposal to hold a further hearing regarding Miss Cooper's challenge" and went on to say it had consulted extensively on its environmental plans, and met regulatory requirements and standards.

The Australian government continues to back the project, saying it will be good for jobs and energy security.

That is despite also pledging to be carbon-neutral by 2050. Scarborough is set to run two decades past that date.

Anna Coren, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRAK: I'm Laila Harrak. On behalf of all of us here, thanks so much for watching. I'll be back at the top of the hour with more CNN NEWSROOM, but first, WORLD SPORT starts after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:45:30]

(WORLD SPORT)