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U.S. Officials: Negotiators Closing In On Hostage Deal; Ukraine: 2 Killed In Missile Attacks On Donetsk Region; Concerns Grow After Series Of Drone Incident In U.S.; Earth Briefly Crosses Two- Degree Warming Limit For The First Time On Friday; Likelihood Of Volcanic Eruption Remains High In Iceland; Eagles Hang On For 21-17 Win Over Chiefs; Paris' Champs Elysees Sparkles In Holidays Lights. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired November 21, 2023 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[04:30:45]
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to "CNN Newsroom." I'm Max Foster. If you're just joining us, let me bring you up to date with our top stories this hour.
A federal appeals panel appears inclined to restore the limited gag order in former U.S. President Donald Trump's federal election subversion case. A three-judge panel is hearing the case on an expedited schedule and are expected to issue a ruling soon but the exact timing is unclear.
Family members of some of the hostages being held by Hamas are pushing the Israeli government to do more to bring their loved ones back. And there were intense exchanges, where they met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of the Israeli war cabinet in Tel Aviv on Monday.
U.S. officials say negotiators are close to a deal to release some of the hostages Hamas adopted on October the 7th, but the caution the details are still being worked out.
And as CNN's Alex Marquardt reports, sources tell us the deal in the works could leave quite a few hostages still in Hamas's hands.
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ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: There is a sense of optimism about the hostage negotiations that we haven't heard before U.S. officials indicating that they are closer to a deal than ever before. Now, officials do continue to caution that things are extremely fluid that they can change quickly. And of course, that the fighting in Gaza does continue. But the White House's John Kirby says that they believe the negotiations are quote, close to the end.
Take a listen. JOHN KIRBY, NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL SPOKESPERSON (on-camera): And we believe we're closer than we've ever been. So, we're hopeful. But, but there's still work to be done. And nothing is done until it's all done.
We are laser focused on the American citizens that we know we're being held hostage and we want them out all of them. Everybody should be out now. But here we are in a negotiation. And we're getting closer to the end. We believe that negotiation. So again, I'm, I'm going to be careful.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): So, what would a deal look like? Well, in the latest draft of an agreement, Sources tell CNN that Hamas would likely release 50 hostages, women and children. And that would happen over a four-to-five-day period during which time Israel would stop its military operations in Gaza. We understand Hamas has also demanded hundreds of trucks of humanitarian aid per day to go into the Gaza Strip. So, there are questions over how that can be implemented. And there are also questions of whether Israel would also release Palestinian prisoners at the same time and how many of them?
(on-camera): So the gaps are getting narrower, and this release could come very soon. But remember, even if 50 hostages are released by Hamas in Gaza, around 80 percent of them would still remain.
Alex Marquardt, CNN, Washington.
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FOSTER: And now to the war in Ukraine, search crews are looking for people that could be trapped under rubble after Russian forces launched missile attacks in eastern Donetsk region overnight. A Ukrainian official says at least two people were killed and eight others wounded. This comes as Germany's Defense Minister Boris Pistorius is visiting Kyiv, his second trip since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Germany is the second largest provider of military aid to Ukraine after the U.S. Pistorius' visit comes a day after U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin unveiled a new $100 million military aid package for Ukraine during a surprise trip to Kyiv. Austin visited Poland today, where he met with U.S. troops and Polish officials.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces say they've won a key foothold underneath Dnipro River.
CNN's Anna Coren shows us how they managed to get this when.
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ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Meandering through the marsh lands of Kherson region in southern Ukraine is the mighty Dnipro River. Now the new front line in Ukraine's war against Russia.
In recent weeks, Marines have managed to cross this expanse of water using inflatable boats, establishing a tenuous foothold on the left bank of the river.
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COREN (voice-over): Hey, am I in Vietnam, asked the soldier sarcastically, rushing past tall grasses. A reference to another bloody conflict that ended before most of the soldiers were even born.
According to Ukrainian armed forces, they've pushed back the Russians three to eight kilometers two to five miles from the riverfront. Making it difficult for the enemy to fire mortars or positions on the right (INAUDIBLE).
[04:35:06]
However Russian drones artillery and aerial glided bombs are still landing and constantly. In exclusive access with drone pilot, Serhly, his night mission had just been aborted because the Russians had identified his units' position on the right bank. Hunkered down in his pickup hiding under trees from Russian birds above, the 32-year-old former journalist tells me they're under constant bombardment.
(on-camera): What are you hearing?
SERHLY OSTAPENKO, SOLDIER ON DRONE UNIT (through translation): Explosions. Now there is an attack on the place where I am. There are chemicals or drones I think it shower head rockets most likely grunts, more threats in tanks. It's always like that here.
Today, they're using guided aerial bombs. Do you hear it too? That's another one. I think it was a rocket.
COREN (voice-over): The job of his aerial reconnaissance unit is to provide cover for Marines crossing the river and to watch the enemy on the other side.
(on-camera): Do you feel safe where you are?
OSTAPENKO (through translation): No. It's dangerous here where we live and where we work. Every time I enter this zone, I say goodbye to my life. But I realized that my life can be ended at any moment. You get used to it, but it's unpleasant.
COREN (voice-over): The reason this left bank operation is so important for Ukraine is to open the road to Russian occupied Crimea and to protect the nearby city of Kherson. A year ago, the Russians withdrew from Kherson using the Dnipro River as a defendable natural barrier between the two sides. But in the last month, attacks on Kherson have intensified to the point where the region's military governor told me there was 700 incoming rounds in one day.
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COREN (voice-over): This is revenge and now it's felt more, he says, because our soldiers are already on the left bank and our civilians are feeling his revenge. Three hundred thousand residents used to live in Kherson, now less than a quarter remain, including 56-year-old Inna. She cares for invalid mother, and her four-year-old grandson.
INNA BALYOHA, KHERSON RESIDENT (through translation): Twenty-four hours a day, it's scary. When it's quiet, it's even scarier than when there is schilling.
COREN (voice-over): She says she lived through eight months of Russian occupation and will endure this as well.
Our main task is to survive, she explains. That was the priority during the occupation. And it's the same thing now we have to survive. A daily struggle for a population that's been constantly terrorized.
Anna Coren, CNN, Kyiv.
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FOSTER: Amazingly, no one was injured when this Navy aircraft crashed landed in Hawaii on Monday. Authorities say nine people were on the flight. The plane was attempting to land at a marine base when it overshot the runway. Forecast say -- forecasters say strong wind gusts and poor visibility may have contributed to the crash.
Recent incidents involving drones in the U.S. including one just days ago are shining the light on the growing threats they could pose from high above.
CNN's Pete Muntean has those details.
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PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The showstopper at last Thursday's Baltimore Ravens game was not a play but a drone halting the action at M&T Bank Stadium twice.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We saw him up there, drones. That's the first.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): And the Department of Homeland Security fears it won't be the last warning the threat goes beyond just hobbyists.
SAMANTHA VINOGRAD, ASSISTANT SECY FOR COUNTERTERRORISM & THREAT PREVENTION, DHS: A range of adversaries are using drones to advance their nefarious purposes.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): Just last year, the Justice Department said there is a very significant threat of a drone attack on a mass gathering in this country warning that it is only a matter of time. Congress has authorized DHS's counter drone authorities, but only until January.
VINOGRAD: In the Department of Homeland Security and our partners do not get an expansion, that will leave Americans more vulnerable to harm from drones. MUNTEAN (voice-over): Incidents are making headlines almost daily. In May police in Ohio charged three men with using drones to deliver drugs to prisoners. A suspected drone at London's Gatwick Airport cause flights to stop for hours. Drones caused delays at Pittsburgh's airport earlier this year.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maintain 4,000 reports of numerous drones now around the airfield.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): The solution is not a shoot down. DHS wants to ground hostile drones by interrupting the signal between the drone and the operator. Interference causes most drones to go into what's called a lost link procedure triggering a return to the operator.
SCOTT CRINO, CEO, RED SIX SOLUTION: Someone who say flies over a sporting event because they literally want to get the bird's eye view of that activity. Maybe putting the people on the ground in a harmful situation.
[04:40:03]
MUNTEAN (voice-over): The FAA man's drones within three miles of baseball, football and NASCAR stadiums. The agency says most drone operators are law abiding, but it only takes one to raise alarm.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They think they bought a toy but in reality, you've purchased an aircraft. So, safety is paramount.
MUNTEAN (on-camera): The FAA says drones are spotted near airports hundreds of times each month. hobby drones are big business in the U.S. and many of them are about to go on sale for Black Friday. The head of the TSA just told me that those who get them as gifts must know the rules or face a $30,000 fine.
Pete Muntean, CNN, Dallas International Airport.
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FOSTER: Still to come. The Earth briefly crosses a crucial warming threshold that scientists have been warning about for decades. That report just ahead.
Plus, residents of a fishing town in Iceland race to grab whatever they can from their homes with a likelihood of a massive volcanic eruption very high. The latest on that just ahead.
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FOSTER: The Earth briefly crossed a key threshold in the climate crisis last week. Preliminary data shows the global average temperature was more than two degrees Celsius, hotter than pre- industrial levels for the first time on Friday. Scientists say it's an indication the planet is getting steadily hotter and hotter.
CNN's Bill Weir has more.
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BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (on-camera): Of course, the Paris Accord was hoping to hold things at 1.5 degrees Celsius with a limit of two, one-third of the days this year, we're above 1.5 degrees. That's how hot the last 12 months have been. And yes, humanity reached that and read letter two degrees Celsius point. This is the really the troubling point scientist has always pointed to as a point where we start to see these tipping points where methane is released in the Arctic perhaps or ice shelves on the Antarctic might break off and things could happen suddenly. That of course might happen after decades above two degrees not just a short period.
[04:45:06]
But if you look at that chart from Copernicus, this is the UN's or the Europe's space and climate agency. You see the red line where we are, off the charts compared to all the decades that come before, the spaghetti at the bottom are 10-year periods going back to the 40s off the charts, warmest and 125,000 years. And on top of this, we just got a new projection from the UN that just looked at the plans for fossil fuel extraction already what's underway, what's in the pipeline, they say, well, warm us up to double right now, could be 2.9 degrees as well, that despite all the pledges to decarbonize, that emissions hit a record in 2022 over 57 giga tons of carbon put up into the sea and sky, it needs to come down at a rate of 29 percent by the end of this decade by 2030.
We're on track now, just with all the pledges met be less than 10 percent decrease.
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FOSTER: Thousands of people in Iceland remain on high alert because of a volcano that could be on the brink of a massive eruption. Scientists have warned the likelihood of that happening is still very high.
CNN's Fred Pleitgen is near an evacuated town close to a mountain that everyone is watching.
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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): It's a race against time. Residents only have a few minutes to gather some items then they have to get out of Grindavik fast. The town in southwestern Iceland is right in the path of a possible volcanic eruption.
(on-camera): You had to leave quickly or?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
PLEITGEN: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right (INAUDIBLE).
PLEITGEN (on-camera): What was that like? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That? It was horrible.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): The brute force of steam from a massive underground magma stream already bursting through the streets and homes here causing massive damage. Those rushing out understand their homes, their town, their community might soon be gone for good.
(on-camera): Are you hopeful about the situation that maybe the town will be spared if the big eruption happens.
ELIZABETH OLAFSDOTTIR, GRINDAVIK RESIDENT: We gutting our house? No, not really. Because the lava tunnel is laying very close to our house. So, I -- we are expecting to lose everything if it will erupt.
INGIBJORN GRETARSDOTTIR, GRINDAVIK RESIDENT: I'm not sure about the town that looks up. It's very hard to go there and see everything.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): Iceland is in what's called a hotspot where magma often breaks through the Earth's crust and can result in massive eruptions. And what happens here can affect large parts of the globe. In 2010, ash spewed into the atmosphere by a volcano in Iceland brought transatlantic air travel to a virtual standstill for weeks.
Iceland's government says this time around the effects could also be devastating with a geothermal power plant that supplies energy to the main airport in harm's way.
(on-camera): The authorities here are highly concerned about the town of Grindavik and of course has been evacuated a few days ago, but also about the geothermal power plant here in this area and they are working 24/7 to try and dig a trench to redirect the lava if it comes to the surface.
(voice-over): Government experts acknowledge they're not certain the barrier would prevent lava from damaging the power plant. Geophysics team from the University of Iceland is flying research missions with drones inside the danger zone. This eruption won't necessarily be the biggest but one of the most dangerous Professor Magnus Tumi Gudmundsson tells me.
MAGNUS TUMI GUDMUNDSSON, PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF ICELAND: The real danger is that eruption may break out somewhere to the north and the lava may then reach the town in a day, two, three, four days. And this is a scenario that we have to take seriously.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Reykjavik, Iceland.
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FOSTER: Now the last time the Kansas City Chiefs played the Philadelphia Eagles they came away as Super Bowl champions. Highlights from their Monday Night Football rematch just ahead.
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[04:52:55] FOSTER: Football fans have been waiting all season for the Super Bowl rematch between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles. The reigning champs jumped out to an early lead on Monday night as Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes hit Justin Watson in the endzone. Travis Kelce scored a second Chiefs touchdown, but the Eagles kept up the fight. D'Andre swift crossed the goal line once and Jalen Hurts ran for two touchdowns final score Eagles 21, Chiefs 17.
Now to the NBA where the Boston Celtics brought their six-game winning streak to Charlotte. Jason Tatum led all the players with 45 points but the Hornets wouldn't give up. LaMelo Ball score 36 for the home team sending the game into overtime. Miles Bridges drilled a three pointer with just six seconds left and Boston couldn't respond. The Celtics still have the best record in the league with 11 wins and only three losses.
And the stories in the spotlight this hour, two turkeys enjoying the good life spared from the fate of many others of their kind in this Thanksgiving period. It's all gravy now for turkeys, Liberty and Belle, who were pardoned by U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday. Then they return to their home state of Minnesota to begin their retirements.
So, over the weekend, the bird stayed at a luxury hotel in Washington, where they mingled with visitors and apparently enjoyed a bubble bath to prepare for their big day with the President.
Now it's that time of year in Paris when the famed Champs-Elysees is decked out in the holiday lights. There you go. Crowds cheered as the 400 trees lining the thoroughfare lit up for the first night of the season with the illuminated decorations on display until January the 7th if you want to pop over and see them. The dazzling spectacle is an annual tradition with music performances and cheer that attracts tourists from all around the world.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): I love it. It's really, really beautiful with the lights, the music, the atmosphere. I love it. I really didn't expect that and it's wonderful.
[04:55:04]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, that's right. Yes, because I haven't ever been in Paris before and it's like all right opportunity to see a beautiful city.
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FOSTER: Well, the city says the lights aren't only festival festive, but they're also environmentally friendly because you have the same amount of energy as a small family flat.
It's now been 100 years since traffic signals in the U.S. took a major step forward. That's when black inventor Garrett Morgan was granted a patent in November, the 20th -- on November the 20th, 1923, for an improved automatic signal the precursor to the modern-day traffic light. Morgan's three arm signal indicator one position that stopped traffic in all directions. Prior to that traffic signals were manually operated and only had two instructions which was stop and go.
Finally, sometimes you just need extra time with a good book. This library book about famous composers was more than 100 years overdue when it was returned to St. Paul Minnesota Public Library recently. The 1982 edition was discovered by a library patron whilst going through her mother's belongings. It was checked out several times according to the checkout slip at the back, but most likely lost in 1919.
Thanks for joining me here on "CNN Newsroom." I'm Max Foster in London. "EARLY START" with Kasie is up next.
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