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Israel Defense Forces Begin Military Strikes in Gaza Again After Negotiations For Continued Ceasefire and Hostage Exchange Break Down; Amount Of Aid Allowed Into Gaza After Resumption of Hostilities Drastically Reduced; Centers For Disease Control And Prevention Reports Hospitalizations For Cases Of COVID-19, Flu, And RSV Increasing; Federal Appeals Court Rules Former President Donald Trump CAN be Sued In Civil Lawsuits Related To January 6th Capitol Riot; Co- Owner Of Convenience Store Where George Floyd Went Before His Fatal Encounter With Police Suing Minneapolis For Negligence Causing Damage To His Business; Authorities Believe Killer Targeting Homeless In Los Angeles; World Leaders Meet At COP28 Climate Summit in UAE; Artificial Intelligence Leading To Breakthroughs In Health Care And Military Intelligence And Surveillance. Aired 2-3p ET
Aired December 02, 2023 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:00:00]
JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, there. Thanks so much for joining me. I'm Jessica Dean, in for Fredricka Whitfield.
And we're going to start in the Middle East where fighting is intensifying after the expiration of a weeklong truce between Israel and Hamas. Israeli Defense Forces saying it's carried out more than 400 strikes in Gaza over the first 24 hours since the truce expired yesterday, and those strikes include targets in southern Gaza.
They're coming as negotiations over the remaining 136 hostages in Gaza have hit a, quote, dead-end, that's according to Israeli officials. Israel recalling its team of negotiators from Qatar. Hamas calling it a, quote, predetermined decision by the Israelis, but the Israelis are accusing the terror group of not fulfilling its promise to return all the women and children who are being held hostage.
CNN's Oren Liebermann and Matthew Chance are both tracking the latest from Tel Aviv. We'll start first with Oren. Oren, walk us through how these negotiations break down and what happens now.
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: So the negotiations to this point focused on a very specific group of people, women and children. That was what the agreement was, to release 50 women and children at the start, and then 10 women and children per day to extend the truce for 24 hours.
This is where the disagreement comes in. Israel and the U.S. believe that Hamas is holding at least 17 women and children which would allow for at least one more day of pause. Hamas says they're not holding women and children at this point and wanted to move the discussions on to elderly men as well as men and women who were soldiers. It is on that point that the discussions fell apart. Hamas insisting that the women they are holding are soldiers, a point that Israel denies and said, look, they fall under the initial agreement, and before we move to other discussions, they have to be released.
At that point discussions broke down. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he was pulling the Mossad team that was directing the negotiations out of Qatar back into Israel, and that effectively is the collapse of the ongoing diplomatic effort to keep this truce going that had been led by Qatar, the United States, and Egypt to have indirect discussions between Israel and Hamas.
Now the question, what does it take to get those back on track? The problem is, of course, in the meantime, Israel and Hamas promised they were ready to resume fighting, and that's absolutely what we have seen, with Israel carrying out strikes across Gaza, 400 striking what they call terror targets in the first 24 hours after the truce, including some 50 strikes in southern Gaza in the city of Khan Younis. The challenge there is to the south that Israel told Palestinians in the north of Gaza strip to evacuate to.
Meanwhile, Hamas has launched a barrage of rockets, some of them last night reaching us here in Tel Aviv, most of them directed toward the communities right around Gaza, as you see the force and the intensity with which this fighting has resumed.
Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris, who is in the region, backed Israel's right to strike legitimate targets in Gaza, but also added that Israel must do more to protect civilians. So far, according to health authorities in Gaza, some 200 Palestinians have been killed since the truce expired.
DEAN: Oren Lieberman for us in Tel Aviv, thank you so much for that reporting.
We want to go to Matthew Chance who is also in Tel Aviv, but he's in a different location. He's live from what's being called Hostages Square. And we see a big crowd there behind you, Matthew. There's a vigil tonight. What else are you seeing and what are you hearing from these families, these Israelis, focused on the hostages?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: As you can see, Jessica, a lot of people, thousands of people have turned out here in the center of Tel Aviv tonight for this vigil in support of the hostages that are still inside the Gaza Strip. Obviously, everyone here wants all of those hostages returned home as soon as possible. One of the big chants that people have been making is "Everyone now", that's what people have been chanting in Hebrew throughout the course of the night.
The big, I suppose, question is how best to do that. Lots of people that I've spoken to want the government to prioritize the release of those hostages over everything else, over prosecuting the war, over destroying Hamas. And there's some concern that the government of Benjamin Netanyahu is not necessarily doing that.
There are others, though, in fairness, that believe, like the government does, it seems, that the current hostage negotiation sort of phase has exhausted itself, and now is the time for more military pressure to put Hamas under pressure to get them to release more of the 130 or so hostages still believed to be inside the Gaza Strip.
But you can see so many people have turned out. It is an issue which has united the entire country. And it's a very political issue as well, as you can imagine, as well as a very emotional one. On the stage earlier tonight, we heard from actual hostages who had been released, and they haven't spoken much at all since they've been out, thanking everybody for the support, and encouraging everybody to continue.
[14:05:10]
DEAN: Matthew Chance for us there in what's being called Hostages Square, and Oren Liebermann also in Tel Aviv, thanks to you both.
While it's unclear just how much aid is entering Gaza now that the fighting has resumed, the Rafah crossing has emerged as a vital lifeline for a lot of Palestinian civilians. The Palestinian Red Cross Society says 100 aid trucks entered Gaza today through that key crossing. And I'd like to bring in Larry who is in Cairo. And Larry, you've been visiting the Rafah crossing. Take us through what you're seeing, what you're hearing while you're there.
LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jessica, the Rafah crossing has been the critical lifeline for Palestinians. It is the only way in and out of Gaza that is not controlled by Israel. And in fact, the Egyptians tell us it's been open 24/7 since October 7th, but that is only technically because nothing can come in without going through an Israeli checkpoint, which has been slowing things down considerably.
But one of the other ways that the Rafah crossing has become important is being able to bring the wounded, the critically wounded out of Gaza into Egypt to be treated. And I saw harrowing tales from people who have made that journey. This is why UNICEF is saying the Gaza Strip is now the most dangerous place in the world to be a child.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
MADOWO: Rose's innocent laughter as her family arrives in Egypt. Her sister born in Gaza during the war, too young to comprehend the horrors in her homeland. Their mom had her leg amputated just days before she gave birth. She says the miraculously survived when a missile hit the home.
RAWAN MADI, GAZA RESIDENT (through translator): In just one second, the house collapsed on us. We were lying down, and the ceiling was just over our heads. We were shocked. We started calling out to each other.
MADOWO: Rawan's leg could have been saved, but doctors were overwhelmed with more serious injuries. As a family, they have lost everything but their lives.
Dozens from Gaza arrive at the Rafah crossing with critical injuries. Not everyone makes it. Sometimes they go home in body bags. Fifth grader Yehia is learning to play Egyptian monopoly as he recovers from a broken arm, leg, and a fractured skull.
YEHIA, GAZA STUDENT (through translator): I wasn't injured in the first strike. I was injured in the second one. I was asleep and woke up to find myself in the hospital in this state. My mother and father are injured.
MADOWO: He doesn't know yet that both his parents were killed.
These Egyptian ambulances now crossing from Rafah into Gaza have brought back nearly 400 critically wounded to be treated at Egyptian hospitals. Hundreds of trucks on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing awaiting clearance to deliver much needed aid to Gaza hours before the truce expired that had allowed about 200 trucks in daily. Even with the pause in fighting, getting food, fuel, water, medicines, and clothes into Gaza was a painstaking process. After leaving Egypt, they go through an Israeli security check at the Nitzana crossing. Drivers say it can take up to three days to get cleared. Mahmoud (ph) has done the trip twice and is waiting to make his third aid delivery.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I am sad, annoyed, and frustrated. I want to do something to help, but my hands are tied. When I see that my brothers and sisters can't find food or water, I feel life is worthless.
MADOWO: But at Egypt's Al Arish Airport, planeloads of donations are flowing in day and night, turning this military facility into a humanitarian hub.
We just saw this Qatari military transport aircraft coming in. When we got here there was an aircraft from Singapore, another one from the European Union, all bringing essential aid as the world surges humanitarian supplies to Gaza.
The U.N. says all of this is still a drop in the ocean, and with the uncertainty of the truce, barely anything is going in.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
MADOWO (on camera): The Palestinian Red Crescent confirming that 100 trucks got in today through that Rafah crossing into Gaza from their partners in the Egyptian Red Crescent with food and water and relief supplies, medical supplies, and medicines. This is a big improvement from yesterday when the same organization said that the Israelis had prohibited any aid coming in until further notice, and that led to the intervention of U.S. officials to make this happen.
But U.S. officials, many here in the region, the Qataris, the Egyptians say the next step has got to be the reintroduction of commercial goods into Gaza, because this aid alone is not going to do it when there are 1.8 million people there displaced, Jessica.
[14:10:06]
DEAN: Incredible reporting from you, Larry Madowo, in Cairo there near the Rafah crossing. Thank you so much for that reporting. We have new health warnings from the CDC on the rise of respiratory
illnesses across the U.S. this holiday season. It is a surge that's sending an overwhelming number of children to hospitals. What's behind the strike and how concerned should we all be? That's next.
But first, we're introducing you to the 2023 top 10 CNN Heroes as you get to vote for your favorite. We're just about a week away from announcing the 2023 CNN Hero of the Year.
Post-pandemic, U.S. math and reading scores for all children fell to unprecedented lows. Black children have been particularly affected by this, with only 17 percent of black fourth graders reading proficiently. And for black boys, that number is even lower. Alvin Irby, a former first grade teacher, is tackling that crisis head on.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
ALVIN IRBY, CNN HERO: What's up, man?
We install a child friendly reading space in the barber shop. We literally asked little black boys, what do you like to read? And those are the books that we distribute to our national network of barbers. Use the opportunity when they're sitting in the chair to just even talk to them about books. Many black boys are raised by single mothers, so there's this opportunity to support barbers in becoming black male reading role models.
I'm just excited that we get to create a safe space for boys to do something that is really life changing. That's what I really believe reading is. It unlocks potential.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
DEAN: Alvin and Barbershop Books have distributed 50,000 books to barbershops nationwide. That's impacting more than 10,000 boys. It's incredible. You can go to CNNHeroes.com right now to vote for him, for CNN hero of the year, or any of your favorite top 10 heroes. Remember, you can vote for any or all of them up to 10 times a day every day. You only have a few more days left to do so. Voting ends December 5th.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:16:33]
DEAN: There is concern, growing concern about the spread of respiratory viruses as hospital beds across the country fill up. The CDC saying hospitalizations for cases of COVID-19, flu, and RSV are all on the rise. Overall, COVID-19 remains the main threat, with about 15,000 hospitalizations and 1,000 deaths every week despite the relatively low levels of the disease. For children, the CDC says it's seen a rapid rise in RSV infections. Weekly hospital admission rates have risen 69 percent since the first week of October.
And here with us now, primary care physician, Dr. Saju Mathew. Dr. Mathew, thanks for coming on. We're just kind of laying out the current state for everybody. And according to that federal data, about three-quarters of pediatric hospital beds are currently in use nationwide. It's the highest capacity since December of last year. Why are these viruses spreading so fast right now? And I can't help but notice it was December of last year when this was happening. Is this just seasonal?
DR. SAJU MATHEW, PUBLIC HEALTH SPECIALIST: I think part of it, Jessica, could be called something, the immunity gap. That's the scientific terminology that we use. We think that a lot of the COVID restrictions, keeping children away from other children, not letting them go to schools, basically prevented them from being exposed to these winter viruses, RSV, the cold, the flu. And now that most societies are wide open, we're seeing a rise in infections.
So it's not surprising. It is the season where you're going to see a barrage of viruses. And just as you mentioned, RSV in children, Jessica, is the number one cause of hospitalizations below the age of two.
DEAN: I can't help but notice, a couple weeks ago I had a cough. You start to go, oh, gosh, is it COVID? Is it the cold? Is it the flu? What is it? How are you kind of guiding your patients that you're seeing to know what they're actually dealing with? Because sometimes these respiratory viruses can kind of look the same.
MATHEW: It's a dilemma. It's a dilemma. Even today it's not really a true science. We listen to the patient. If a patient says, hey, Dr. Mathew, I feel like a ton of bricks hit me last night, sudden onset of fever and body aches, then most likely it's probably the flu. A lot of times I ask patients to get that COVID PCR test, which is way more accurate, so you can rule that out.
But almost always with flu, it's a sudden onset of fever and body aches. And now COVID-19 and the flu and cold have very similar symptoms. So really what you want to do is listen to the patient, listen to the onset of symptoms, the different type of symptoms that they have, and do some of these tests, like the COVID-19 test, the flu test, rule that out, and then decide what you think a patient might have.
DEAN: What are you dealing with. And with these hospital beds filling up, when do you think people should seek hospital treatment? When should they go to the hospital?
MATHEW: The good news is what I'm seeing right now in the office as a primary care physician is COVID-19 that is very treatable as an outpatient. But here is the deal. If you are high risk, if you're a young kid with RSV below the age of two, or you're an older adult above 60 with other comorbid conditions, you definitely want to keep more close attention to your symptoms, and along with your doctor can decide if you need to be hospitalized. Almost always, Jessica, patients feel extremely sick.
[14:20:00]
It won't just be the common cold or the flu where it knocks you down for a few days, you might be short of breath, you actually might have high fever. So ultimately, listen to your body and let your physician guide you as well.
DEAN: That is good advice for everyone out there as we get through this season of illness. Dr. Saju Mathew, thanks so much. We appreciate it.
MATHEW: Thank you.
DEAN: A federal appeals court has ruled former President Donald Trump can be sued over January 6th. What this means for the GOP frontrunner as he continues his presidential campaign. We've got details on that next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DEAN: A federal appeals court rules former President Donald Trump can indeed be sued in civil lawsuits related to the January 6th Capitol riot. On Friday, the court rejected Trump's claim he has presidential immunity in those cases. The opinion reading in part, when the president, quote, "acts outside the functions of his office, he does not continue to enjoy immunity. When he acts in an unofficial private capacity, he is subject to civil suits like any private citizen."
[14:25:08]
CNN's Marshall Cohen is joining us now. And Marshall, I know you've been tracking all of this since the very beginning. Later Friday a federal judge in Trump's election subversion criminal case also rejected those immunity claims, so we have the civil case, the criminal case. Tell us what the judge said in that criminal case.
MARSHALL COHEN, CNN REPORTER: Two monumental rulings yesterday, Jessica, that's right. In the criminal case, this was filed by Special Counsel Jack Smith. The trial here in D.C. is supposed to happen in March. But before we get to that point, Donald Trump and his attorneys are trying to throw out the indictment. They're trying to challenge it any way they can.
And this latest challenge from them was an argument that he had absolute immunity from the actions that he took while he was president. They claimed that everything in this indictment covers conduct that took place while he was the sitting president, and therefore he cannot be prosecuted.
The only problem with that is that the judge completely disagreed. Judge Tanya Chutkan here in D.C. resoundingly rejected that argument. She said it's not supported by the text of the Constitution. It's not backed up by any Supreme Court precedent. This was an extensive ruling. It was 48 pages long. She said that it did not fit with the intentions of our founding fathers. She quoted Alexander Hamilton and "The Federalist Papers," and even George Washington's farewell address where they made it clear the founding principles of this nation are that the president is not a king, that the president is not above the law.
Jessica, let me read for you one of the key quotes from Judge Chutkan's ruling. She said, quote, "Whatever immunities a sitting president may enjoy, the United States has only one chief executive at a time, and that position does not confer a lifelong get out of jail free pass."
There's just some strong words from the judge. But it won't be the final word. Donald Trump is sure to appeal this ruling. He may take it all the way to the Supreme Court, and they probably will want to weigh in. And as I said, the trial is scheduled for March.
DEAN: So much more to come on this. Marshall Cohen, thanks so much for walking us through the latest.
And coming up, several Minneapolis businesses where George Floyd was killed are now suing the city. Why they say the city has neglected the area and hurt business. The co-owner of the convenience store where George Floyd went before his fatal encounter with police joins us next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:31:58]
DEAN: The inmate accused of stabbing former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in federal prison has been charged with four counts, including attempted murder. According to a federal complaint, John Turscak, attacked Chauvin with an improvised knife, stabbing him 22 times, and told officers he had been planning the assault for about a month. Chauvin was convicted in 2021 in the murder of George Floyd and is concurrently serving two sentences of more than 20 years each.
Several stores at the location where George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police in 2020 are suing the city, accusing it of neglecting the area and hurting business. The businesses are seeking about $1.5 million in damages. The lawsuit accuses the city of creating crime concerns after Floyd's murder and alleges a loss of business due to barriers put up in the area.
CNN has reached out to the city for comment. In an email to CNN, the city spokesperson said, quote, "The city is aware of the lawsuit but has no comment at this time." The mayor's office releasing a statement Wednesday saying it did, quote, "everything possible to open the streets safely amid very tenuous circumstances."
Cup Foods is among the businesses suing the city. It's the convenience store where Floyd was suspected of trying to pass a counterfeit $20 bill which led to his fatal encounter with police. And we're joined by William Abumayyaleh, and he co-owns Cup Foods with his brother, and Michael Healey, who is the attorney representing the business. It's great to have you both.
William, I want to start first with you and get your reaction to that mayor's statement that we just read, that the city did everything possible to open the street safely. What do you think about that statement?
WILLIAM ABUMAYYALEH, CUP FOODS CO-OWNER: Absolutely not.
DEAN: Can you elaborate?
ABUMAYYALEH: Yes, when we first -- when the incident first happened, my brother had called our insurance company. Our insurance company had turned this down because they said that the people put up the barricades. And when we called the mayor, he insisted that it wasn't him until we got an email from one of his assistants, and they told us that they did put up the barricades due to the ongoing -- the crowd, how big the story was, they ended up putting up the barricades. And then also -- it was not true. I mean, he's been by our store a few times, he's never walked in. And it was a big mess.
DEAN: And, William, help people understand. What was the neighborhood and the business like before George Floyd had that fatal encounter with police, and how has it changed now?
ABUMAYYALEH: Complete 360. It was a family store business that we took care of, a community store that we took care of our customers in our neighborhood. And in one shot, one day, one night, it just went from upside down to completely no business at all.
[14:35:02]
So it was just a disaster, I mean, something that should have never happened.
DEAN: All right, and so -- go ahead.
ABUMAYYALEH: It was a good family-run business until that situation happened.
DEAN: What would you like the city to do differently?
ABUMAYYALEH: I don't think they can fix it. They ruined our name, they ruined our reputation, they ruined who we are. Like I said, we've been there for 34 years. Our goal, -- it was our father who opened up the store, and we wanted to pass it down to our kids like he did with him. And all of that is gone. You can't get that back. That's 34 years of hard work.
DEAN: Yes, and I understand you own the property still, but you've sold the business, is that right?
ABUMAYYALEH: Correct. My brother owns the property, correct.
DEAN: And, Michael, I want to ask you kind of about the legality of all of this and the lawsuit. The lawsuit is asking for $1.5 million in damages. How did you arrive at that amount, and are you hopeful you'll get that whole amount?
MICHAEL HEALEY, ATTORNEY FOR BUSINESS SUING MINNEAPOLIS: Yes, we're very hopeful. And I think one of the critical occurrences that happened here in this case, we're not talking about police who are delayed in getting to the intersection or sort of slow to respond. We're talking about dozens of phone calls from William and his brothers at the store during emergency situations in which they were told by 911 operators, we're not sending police. We believe they were instructed to tell the store owners that, my clients. And we're talking about total abandonment here by a mayor and a police force of an intersection. The violence at this intersection, by the way, included two murders over the past three years. In one instance, residents of Minneapolis had to carry a body, a dead body, to police about, I think, 100, 120 yards away, by some estimates, because they would not come into that intersection. So there was a total abandonment here.
DEAN: And I want to point out that we have reached out to Minneapolis police for a statement, and they told us that the department can't comment on the ongoing litigation. But, Michael, what I want to underscore from what I'm hearing you say, is from your perspective, from you all's perspective, the police department and the city just abandoned that block and wouldn't come in or do anything, even if there were crimes being committed. This is after 2020 and the killing of George Floyd. Am I understanding that right?
HEALEY: You are. And we have two major facts here in this case. One is with the barricades that essentially shut down traffic getting to the businesses at that intersection, and then the second major part of this is police refusal to come into the intersection. Again, we're talking about a dozen or more 911 calls over a period of two years in which the business owners were simply told we're not coming to help you. And Americans and the citizens of Minnesota deserve better.
DEAN: And, William, I want to give you kind of the last word here. If you're able to successfully bring this lawsuit, will that make you whole?
ABUMAYYALEH: Absolutely not. There's no way we can get our name back, we can get our defamation. We just look at it -- I mean, like I say, we own multiple businesses on that block. We've had to shut down three or four of them because nobody would be able to come in, nobody would be able to leave, and if they do come in, they were trapped. We've had our store broken into multiple times. We called the police, and they're telling us there's nothing we can do. We tell them, so they're supposed to just clean our store out completely? And they say it's a no-go zone, we're not allowed to come there. So it just didn't make sense. I've never in my life heard something like that where you call the police and they tell you we can't come here, it's a no-go zone. So they're basically robbing our whole store, and there's nothing we can do. It's something you've never even heard of.
DEAN: Yes, Michael Healey and William Abumayyaleh, I want to thank you both for making time. We sure do appreciate it.
ABUMAYYALEH: Thank you.
HEALEY: Thank you.
DEAN: And coming up, the search for a killer believed to be targeting homeless people in Los Angeles, what we're learning about that, that's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [14:43:51]
DEAN: An investigation is underway in Las Vegas after two people were killed and three others injured last night during a shooting at a homeless encampment. That's coming as Los Angeles officials say a killer is on the loose and targeting that city's homeless population after three people were shot and killed earlier this week. Now Los Angeles's mayor is warning residents to be vigilant and stick together.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR KAREN BASS, (D) LOS ANGELES: This is a killer who is preying on the unhoused. Our message to the unhoused community is clear -- do not sleep alone tonight.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: Police say they do not believe that the L.A. incidents and the Las Vegas incidents are connected. CNN's Camila Bernal is joining us now from Los Angeles. Camila, we heard from Mayor Karen Bass there. What else are you learning about this investigation?
CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Jess. So here in Los Angeles we have three men who were killed while they were sleeping, three men who were in open areas, whether it was a sidewalk or an alley. And police say they believe they are connected in some way. They believe it was the same killer who essentially walked up to them, shot them, and left.
[14:45:03]
They have released an image of who they believe the suspect is, and they say they're trying to identify this man who is seen in a hoodie in different areas here in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, the victims, three men, two Hispanic men ages 37 and 52, and a black man who was 62 years old. The first incident happened on Sunday at around 3:00 in the morning, the second happening Monday just at around 5:00 in the morning, and the third happening on Wednesday at around 2:30 in the morning.
So police trying to gather as much evidence as possible, trying to figure out exactly what happened here. And they say there's an outreach team that is going out to warn the unhoused population. There's also a task force where the police department is really trying to piece everything together to give us a suspect. And even the district attorney here is involved, saying that he, too, is working to identify this person. Here is what the D.A. had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE GASCON, (D) LOS ANGELES COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: It is important that we recognize that this is an assault on our entire community. These are some of the most vulnerable people in our community, and they're being singled out, appears to be, because of their status. But we must recognize that an assault on one of us is an assault on all of us. And it's important that we all come together to ensure that this individual is arrested quickly and that he will be vigorously prosecuted.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERNAL: So leaders here in Los Angeles concerned. You also heard from the Mayor Karen Bass, saying don't sleep alone. She also encouraged people here who have family living on the street to essentially reach out to them and warn them to seek help, to seek shelter so that they can prevent this from happening again.
In terms of motive, they say they do not have one at the moment, but they do know the people who are living on the streets are being targeted. Now, we do have word that there is an update, a significant update expected to come in about two hours, so we'll have to see wait and see what comes out of this next update. But as of now, they're asking the community for help in trying to find the person responsible, Jessica.
DEAN: We'll be looking ahead to that significant update, as you said, in a couple of hours. Camila Bernal for us in Los Angeles following the story, thanks so much.
And we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:51:47]
DEAN: The COP28 Climate Summit is now fully under way in the UAE, and the U.S. is making a grand entrance with the announcement of massive new funding. Vice President Kamala Harris representing the U.S., and followed that funding announcement with this dire warning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, (D) VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The urgency of this moment is clear. The clock is no longer just ticking, it is banging. And we must make up for lost time. And we cannot afford to be incremental. We need transformative change and an exponential impact.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: CNN's David McKenzie is at the conference for us.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In a made-for- TV moment, world leaders and royals entering a critical climate change summit hosted by the UAE, a major oil producer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We cannot save a burning planet via fire holes of fossil fuels.
MCKENZIE: We are already living in a climate crisis. A new U.N. report shows that global efforts to cut emissions are wildly off track. There are growing calls at COP28 for concrete plans to phase out the use of fossil fuels. Now in a major announcement from the White House, new rules from the Environmental Protection Agency to slash methane, a dangerous byproduct of the oil and gas industry, by nearly 80 percent.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got to get the receipts, make sure we're making the progress we need to make in this critical decade.
MCKENZIE: Are you hoping that these new rules will be inspiring other countries to follow suit?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely. We've seen that on the basis of strong domestic action in the United States, countries are coming along, adopting the same playbook and scaling those solutions worldwide.
MCKENZIE: Chief among them, China. The White House is hoping to build on the momentum of President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping's meetings last month.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: China has got to step up in a big way to take a chunk out of emissions.
MCKENZIE: Even as the Biden administration pushes the energy transition, U.S. oil production is breaking records, churning out more than 30 million barrels a day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's really hypocritical. Both the Emirates and the U.S. are saying they're committed to one-and-a-half degrees, but you can't be committed to the Paris agreement's temperature limit if you go on expanding fossil fuel production.
MCKENZIE: There are very bold pronouncements on one hand, and actions on the other. Are the two lining up?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, they're not. One of the big concerns that many have about the process here is that we're seeing an awful lot of announcements which are never followed up.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
MCKENZIE (on camera): The White House climate advisor says the key to the new rules are enforcement. He would not say whether the U.S. will commit to a fossil fuel phaseout. There are intense negotiations going on here. Scientists say that without deep emissions cuts, we could be facing a climate catastrophe. Jessica?
DEAN: David, thank you.
And this year the world woke up to the potential of artificial intelligence, the hopes and the fears of it.
[14:55:00]
This week on "The Whole Story" here on CNN, our Nick Watt digs beneath the headlines and asks if it's really so dangerous? And are the risks worth the rewards? One of the people he met was a man paralyzed in a bicycle accident who is now walking thanks to A.I. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Do you remember what happened?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, nothing, no.
WATT: You were on your bicycle and then the next thing --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The day they found me on the street, the police picked me up and dropped me at the hospital. And when I woke up, I didn't feel my legs anymore. So the doctor told me, like, I could touch my face with my left or right hand, and he said, whatever it is, it won't get better.
WATT: And how do you deal with that as a person?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I always said to my family that I would walk again. I told them one year, but it apparently needed 10 years.
WATT: Ten years for A.I. to catch up with the dream. Tech that began many years ago as a sci-fi sketch drawn on a napkin in a New York steakhouse.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I draw the brain and the spinal cord, there was a digital bridge to restore working after paralysis. But at this time, it was a dream.
WATT: Were you imagining this reading the thoughts?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I thought it was crazy.
WATT: Now reality. A paralyzed man is up and about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: That is incredible. CNN's Nick Watt is joining us now. Nick, is health care one of those areas where A.I. might actually help humanity? It certainly looks like that with that example.
WATT: Absolutely. And listen, people say that because of people like Hurt (ph) Yan (ph), we as humanity actually have an ethical obligation to continue with that kind of research. Yoshua Bengio, one of the godfathers of all this tech, he said that there is the potential that in 20 years with A.I. we could cure all human disease. Climate change, you just saw David's report, we met some guys in Switzerland, some physicists, who say with A.I.'s help, within the next decade or two, they could be producing cheap, endless, safe, clean power for all of us.
So the potential benefits are massive, which is why we're going down this road. The potential pitfalls, they're pretty scary. We try to get beyond the hype and fears and actually analyze. A lot of people are scared of some kind of terminator-style situation down the road where killer robots gun us all down. It's closer to home, it's closer to now. We've got an election next year. Can that be fair, can that operate in the age of A.I.? Will we in the age of A.I. have any privacy left? Will anything that's inside my head, your head, all of our heads, will any of that be secret anymore? We don't know.
DEAN: That is enough to make you a little fearful. It's definitely a double-edged sword. But you're going to investigate it all. Nick Watt, we look forward to it. We'll watch it on Sunday. Thanks so much.
Be sure to tune into an all new episode of "The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper." It's one whole hour, one whole story. It airs tomorrow, Sunday, at 8:00 p.m. eastern and pacific, only here on CNN.
And speaking of A.I., a key national defense forum is happening right now in Simi Valley, California, and a lot of the conversation there is about just that, artificial intelligence. CNN's chief national security analyst Jim Sciutto is there as a moderator. He's joining us now. Jim, A.I. is such a hot topic of conversation across so many different areas, but when it comes to national security and defense, boy, could it make a big difference.
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Listen, the headline is it's already here. I just finished a conversation with the chief of naval operations, an Air Force chief, the CEO of Lockheed, a member of Congress, and the point they make, and a point I hear consistently from defense officials and intelligence officials, is that the age of artificial intelligence is already here. It's already being utilized in ways we don't realize, certainly in military capacities.
I'll give you an example. There's a lot of talk about how it's used in what's known as ISR, intelligence surveillance reconnaissance. The head of a Palantir, which is a defense software company, made the point that if you're trying to look for something the size of a coke bottle, say, in a dessert, you would need a lot of human eyeballs to find that, right. But you could use artificial intelligence to look for anomalies and then eventually locate that.
So that kind of thing is already happening in some kind of degree. Where it becomes more concerning and raises many more questions, to Nick's point prior, is when you're talking about weapons systems. And these weapons systems integrating A.I. are being developed now.