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Iran State Media: 95 Killed In Blasts Near General's Grave; Fears Grow Of Wider War In Middle East Amid Deadly Attacks; White House Condemns Remarks By Far-Right Israeli Officials About Resettling Palestinians Outside Gaza; United States House Speaker Pushes Hardline Bill During Border Visit. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired January 04, 2024 - 02:00   ET

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

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[02:00:35]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world and to everyone streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

CHURCH (voice over): Iran is warning of a harsh response to deadly explosions near the tomb of a top Iranian general. CNN is in the region with an update on the blast and the rising tensions in the Middle East.

We'll look inside the newly unsealed documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Nearly 200 names including some accusers, prominent politicians, a royal, and more.

Plus, new details about the deadly airplane collision in Japan. We will have a live report with the latest on the investigation.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN NEWSROOM WITH ROSEMARY CHURCH.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Thanks for joining us. Well, Iran is now marking a day of public mourning and threatening retaliation for a pair of deadly explosions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

CHURCH: (voice over): Iranian state media says 95 people were killed and more than 200 injured, Wednesday, in twin blasts near the grave site of the late Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani.

Crowds had gathered to honor the general, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad, exactly four years ago.

So far, there is been no claim of responsibility. The U.S. says it was not involved and has no reason to believe Israel was either.

But Iran's president puts the blame squarely on Israel, warning the country will pay a heavy price.

The blast came just a day after a senior Hamas leader was killed in an attack in Beirut. Again, fueling fears that this latest violence could lead to a wider regional war.

It's a concern, Lebanon's foreign minister addressed in an interview with CNN.

ABDALLAH BOU HABIB, LEBANESE FOREIGN MINISTER: We don't want an escalation in the war. We don't want what's happening in the south to be spread to over Lebanon. We don't like a regional war because it's dangerous to everybody. Dangerous to Lebanon, dangerous to Israel and to the countries surrounding Israel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH (on camera): CNN's Nada Bashir is following the latest developments reporting from Beirut.

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NADA BASHIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL REPORTER (voice over): Scenes of chaos in the Iranian city of Kerman, an explosion sending crowds into disarray when a second blast rings out.

Thousands had gathered to mark the anniversary of the death of military commander Qasem Soleimani, who was killed by a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad four years ago.

The twin blasts less than a mile from Soleimani's grave, killing more than 100 and injuring many more.

Iranian officials say this was a terror attack. State media reporting that one of the explosions was caused by a bomb inside a suitcase in a car. Soleimani was Iran's revered top military general.

This attack on his supporters seen as a strike against the Iranian regime, which has many enemies, both inside and outside the country.

In Lebanon, the leader of Iran-backed Hezbollah commemorated Soleimani's death. But also use his speech on Wednesday to condemn Tuesday's killing of a top Hamas official on his own soil.

HASSAN NASRALLAH, SECRETARY GENERAL, HEZBOLLAH (through translator): Yesterday's crime was large and dangerous. This crime will not be left without a response and punishment between us and our enemies. There is time and the battlefield. BASHIR (voice over): The strike in southern Beirut targeted Saleh Al- Arouri and several others, in what Hamas has described as a cowardly assassination.

And while a U.S. official tells CNN that Israel was behind the strike, Israeli officials have so far been careful not to publicly take responsibility.

MARK REGEV, SENIOR ADVISER TO ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: Israel has not taken responsibility for this attack. But whoever did it, it must be clear that this was not an attack -- an attack on the Lebanese state, it was not an attack even on Hezbollah.

[02:05:05]

BASHIR: Hezbollah, perhaps, not the target in Israel's eyes. But the Iran-backed group has long warned that any attack on Lebanese soil would trigger a response of equal severity on Israeli territory.

From the outset of the war between Israel and Hamas, fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, has been largely contained to Lebanon southern border region. But the brazen strike in Beirut, in the heart of Hezbollah territory has raised fears among the United States and its allies that a full-scale war could break out between Israel and the Middle East's most powerful paramilitary force, or even more broadly across the region.

Nada Bashir, CNN, in Beirut.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Joining me now from London is Mohanad Hage Ali, deputy director for research at the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center. Appreciate you being with us.

MOHANAD HAGE ALI, DEPUTY DIRECTOR FOR RESEARCH, MALCOLM H. KERR CARNEGIE MIDDLE EAST CENTER: Thank you.

CHURCH: So, an assassination in Lebanon's capital, two deadly blasts in Iran, trouble in the Red Sea, all raising fears of a wider regional war reaching beyond the Gaza's borders. I want to start with the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, vowing retaliation a day after the assassination of senior Hamas leader, Saleh Al-Arouri in Beirut. How likely is it that the region is on the brink of all-out war in the wake of this assassination?

HAGE ALI: I mean, definitely more likely than what we've seen in the past months. But not as surely as many are trying to portray in the past 48 hours.

Nasrallah speech was very clear in saying that Iran is committed to the strategy or Hezbollah is committed to its strategy of just engaging in this conflict as a support and solidarity action rather than being center stage and taking away all the light from the Gaza Strip. And, actually, you know, renewing its belief that the Gaza Strip, Israel will not achieve its objectives, and Hezbollah will not allow it to try to divert the attention from its failures in the Gaza Strip.

CHURCH: And Israel has been very careful not to claim responsibility for the assassination of Al-Arouri, despite Prime Minister Netanyahu, vowing from the start to go after Hamas leaders wherever they are.

Why does Israel refuse to claim responsibility for this when the U.S. has said that Israel was behind it?

HAGE ALI: Yes. I mean, this deniability between Hezbollah and Israel has been going on for a while now. So, in the past, Hezbollah didn't claim responsibility for some rocket attacks from South Lebanon, letting Israel assume that it's just a Palestinian factions doing this.

And this would allow a kind of a restrained response in this regard. And I think the same gain is being put into play now, with Israel denying responsibility.

I mean, the Hezbollah has clearly assigned responsibility to Israel, and everyone knows that is the case. But this kind of helps in managing the reaction afterwards. And I think this is part of the subtle messaging between both parties in this conflict.

CHURCH: And the day after this targeted assassination in Beirut, central Iran was hit by two deadly blasts, Wednesday. Iran, blaming Israel and the U.S.

But experts suggest this was the work of a terror group. What's your reading of who may have carried out this attack? And how might Iran respond to it, do you think?

HAGE ALI: Difficult to say at the moment, who was behind this. And many parties in Iran have committed such crimes in the past are, anti- regime parties, whether Islamist Salafists, or those who are opposed to it, for instance, and a part of the opposition.

You know, these groups have carried such attacks in the past. But also, Israel has carried many attacks in the past. So, it's quite unclear now who is behind this. But the timing is very suggesting. And I think this is why Rouhani has been quite fast. The Iranian President has been quite fast to assign responsibility to Israel before the conclusion of investigations.

CHURCH: Right.

HAGE ALI: But, you know, at this stage, I think it's quite difficult to confirm who is -- who is behind it.

CHURCH: And meantime, the U.S. is criticizing extremist members of Netanyahu's Cabinet who calling for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza.

[02:10:00] How likely use it that this will push Prime Minister Netanyahu to choose between President Biden or the extremists in his own government? And what impact might this have on U.S. support for the war if Netanyahu ends up choosing the extremists?

HAGE ALI: I think Netanyahu cannot abandoned the extremists in his government that will, you know, this is a very tight calculation for him. And I think he would lose the majority in his -- in his Knesset and the -- and the parliament.

So, most probably, he'll try to balance out both, but he's tilting more towards the extremists than towards the Biden administration. And I think, you know, the way the military operations are going forward suggests that it's the latter agenda, the extremist agenda, which is being implemented now in the Gaza Strip.

CHURCH: Mohanad Hage Ali, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate it.

HAGE ALI: Thank you.

CHURCH: Wednesday marked another day of deadly fighting in Gaza with Israel striking several areas of the enclave, according to both the IDF and sources in Gaza.

We're told the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza was the site of a substantial explosion with a number of civilian casualties.

The Hamas controlled Gaza health ministry says the Palestinian death toll since the October 7th terror attacks now exceeds 22,300.

Meanwhile, the White House has issued a blistering condemnation of remarks by two far right, Israeli government ministers, as we discussed.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, and Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich in recent days, publicly pushed the idea of forcing Palestinians to leave Gaza for good.

Smotrich on the right, said Israelis could then "make the desert bloom," according to multiple news agencies.

The U.S. State Department has called the comments about resettling Palestinians inflammatory and irresponsible. And the White House National Security Council spokesperson added this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REAR ADM. JOHN KIRBY (RET.), COORDINATOR FOR STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS, NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: A statement does speak for the United States government and for this administration in terms of our complete refusal and rebuke of any forced displacement outside of Gaza of any Palestinians.

We have made that clear to our Israeli counterparts in private sessions, certainly made that publicly, and that's not going to change.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, and Britain's Prince Andrew are among the names appearing in newly unsealed documents in the Jeffrey Epstein case.

He is the multimillionaire accused of sex trafficking before his suicide in prison in 2019. Most of the information in these documents has already been made public. And it's important to note the inclusion of someone's name is not an indication of wrongdoing.

More now from CNN's Shimon Prokupecz.

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: The documents released by the court stemmed from a lawsuit that was brought back in 2015 against Ghislaine Maxwell, who is the former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein. It was a civil lawsuit for defamation. Eventually, they settled the case.

But finally, after years, the documents have been released. And some specific and pretty important information coming from depositions that were taken by the lawyers from an associate of Jeffrey Epstein, a woman who used to work for him, where she says that Jeffrey Epstein told her that former President Bill Clinton liked them young, referring to girls, she says. And she said they had a conversation about the former president.

Now, the former president has denied any wrongdoing and there are no accusations in the court filings of any kind of wrongdoing, or any kind of criminal activity on the part of the former president.

A spokesperson for the former president said that along as he did in 2019 that he denies doing anything wrong. He does admit to being on Jeffrey Epstein's plane, but he says that it's been nearly 20 years since the former president had any contact with Epstein and, of course, that Clinton has not been accused of any crimes or wrongdoing related to Epstein.

And also, in that same deposition from the former employee. We learned that she says according to her deposition that Jeffrey Epstein, they were on a plane together on one of Epstein's plane, heading to New York City and they couldn't land in New York, so they had to go to Atlantic City.

And she says while on that plane, Jeffrey Epstein told her that we'll call Trump and we'll go to Atlantic City, and she says they want him going to a casino. She doesn't remember what that casino was.

[02:15:01]

And again, the significance of this is that we're seeing, you know, two former president's names here being mentioned. These names being mentioned are not necessarily new, it's certainly something that we expected. And then, now, you know, in the coming days, we do expect to see more documents as the court and the attorneys work, there is some more of those filings and plan to release more information in the coming days.

CHURCH: Shimon Prokupecz reporting there.

And we should also note, Donald Trump is not accused of wrongdoing related to Epstein and the documents. CNN has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.

Attorney Areva Martin explains exactly what these documents are and why they are being released now.

AREVA MARTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: This has been an ongoing lawsuit for several years, the case actually went up on appeal, and a new judge was appointed to this case. And this judge has said, look, most of the information in these files has already been made public.

Many of the names that we'll reveal today are names that have already been in the public sphere. The judge did keep some of the names private for those individuals whose names have not been revealed.

But the judge essentially determined that the public's right to have this information outweighed any of the privacy issues that may have been asserted.

However, the judge did give everyone who's identified in these documents an opportunity to come forth. And to make any objections. It is important to note that Bill Clinton was in favor of the release of the documents, allegations regarding him, and his relationship to Epstein surfaced almost two decades ago.

So, there's nothing really new about Clinton other than this comment from someone who deposition about he likes young -- he likes the young, or something to that effect.

And if true, could be a very troubling statement if he's making reference to young girls.

CHURCH: A huge political showdown is brewing after Donald Trump appealed Colorado's ballot ban to the U.S. Supreme Court. Why his lawyers say the ruling should be overturned?

Plus, a fight over immigration in the U.S. Congress. The House Speaker pushes a hardline bill during a visit to the southern border. But what chance does it have in the Senate? That's next?

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CHURCH: All eyes are on the U.S. Supreme Court after former President Donald Trump appealed a Colorado ruling, disqualifying him from the state's Republican primary ballot.

State courts and election officials across the country have come to different conclusions on his eligibility to run.

Trump is accused of inciting the January sixth Capitol riot.

The U.S. Supreme Court is now facing mounting pressure to decide once and for all whether Trump can be disqualified from holding public office.

CNN's Evan Perez reports.

[02:20:02]

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump formally asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn an extraordinary ruling from the state Supreme Court in Colorado that ordered his name removed from the primary election ballot because he is an insurrectionist, based on his actions around January 6th, 2021.

Trump's lawyers say that the former president did not engage in insurrection. That the 14th Amendment of the Constitution doesn't actually mention the Office of the President, and doesn't apply to Trump, and that Congress, not the states should determine eligibility for the presidency.

They argue, "In our system of government of the people, by the people, and for the people, Colorado's ruling is not and cannot be correct."

The Colorado ruling came in a number of lawsuits tied to the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution in the state of Maine. The secretary of state similarly ordered Trump's name removed for similar reasons. A decision that Trump is challenging.

A number of other states have reached the opposite conclusion, and that increases the chances that the Supreme Court will take up the issue and try to settle once and for all for the first time whether the 14th Amendment applies to candidate for president.

For now, Trump remains on the Colorado ballot, while he continues this legal fight. And we don't know how quickly this issue will be resolved. Colorado votes in March.

Evan Perez, CNN, Washington.

CHURCH: The Biden administration is suing the State of Texas over the state's controversial immigration law set to go into effect in March.

The law gives local authorities the power to arrest and order the deportation of migrants. However, the enforcement of immigration law is a federal responsibility. And the Biden administration argues the new Texas measure is unconstitutional.

It's one of several controversial actions taken by Texas Governor Greg Abbott. The Republican governor has made it a practice to send asylum seekers to Democrat-led cities as a rebuke of the Biden administration's policies.

New York City has received thousands of migrants sent from Texas. And Mayor Eric Adams tells CNN how he feels about the lawsuit against the state. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC ADAMS (D), MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY: Extremely pleased that the Washington -- that D.C. is taking this action, the White House is taking this action. Is so important to send a very clear now message to the governor of Texas, who is just really aggressively attempting to destabilize our cities. And I think this action is extremely appropriate.

But it's also crucial, I need to say this, that this is a national problem. And all of these cities need help from the national government, a decompression strategy funding, making sure we allow people to work and pursue the American Dream.

And so, kudos to this important lawsuit that they put in place. But we still need the national government to solve this national problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson and many House Republicans are pushing a hardline immigration bill called, H.R. 2.

It passed in the Republican-controlled House, but lacks support in the Senate.

Among other things, it would renew construction of the wall on the border with Mexico and raise the bar on who's eligible for asylum in the U.S.

The White House and Democratic leaders call it draconian, and say it's a non-startup.

Johnson and dozens of House Republicans visited the border on Wednesday to put pressure on the White House and President Biden's border policies.

CNN's Ed Lavandera has the details from Eagle Pass in Texas.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Migrants crossed the Rio Grande into the United States as Speaker of the House Mike Johnson looks on during the Republicans tour of the southern border.

To highlight a crisis, he says the Biden administration is doing nothing to fix.

Migrants have crossed into the United States by the thousands. More than 225,000 alone In December, the highest monthly surge recorded since the year 2000.

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): America is at a breaking point, with record levels of illegal immigration. And today, we got a firsthand look at the damage and the chaos, the border catastrophe is causing in all of our communities. ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: We have a broken immigration system that is the one single fact about which everyone agrees.

LAVANDERA (voice over): Droves of migrants have come through this crossing in Eagle Pass, Texas. Despite the miles of razor wire, shipping containers and other barriers built up along the border.

A former Democratic state lawmaker and Eagle Pass, Texas says Republicans efforts to deter migration aren't working either.

PONCHO NEVAREZ, FORMER TEXAS STATE DEMOCRAT: Anybody that's walked or ridden a train car 3,000 miles and been robbed, beaten, and raped to make it to that side right there. Do you think this is going to stop them? And the answer to that as we already know is a big no.

LAVANDERA (voice over): The White House is increasingly facing pressure from both Republicans and Democratic mayors and governors on the need for real solutions to the immigration crisis.

[02:25:06]

And the Republican governor of Texas keeps ramping up the pressure as well, transporting tens of thousands of migrants unannounced to urban cities in blue states, straining their resources.

Most migrants say they are just trying to escape the hardships they left behind.

Like Kenny Contredas (PH) from Ecuador, who says his country is plagued by violence and extortion. And this migrant from Liberia who says he spent $15,000 to reach the U.S. border.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The U.S. have been my dream country since I was a young kid, you know.

JOHNSON: It's estimated that nearly 170 countries have people coming in and flowing across this border.

LAVANDERA (voice over): Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., Senate leaders are working toward a possible deal to change current immigration law, including the possibility of expedited removals of migrants who cross illegally and tightening rules on granting asylum.

The House Speaker tells CNN's Jake Tapper, the problem cannot be solved by allocating more money to the border.

JOHNSON: These are policy choices that got us in the situation. And what we are demanding is that the policies changed.

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LAVANDERA (on camera): What you did not hear from House Republicans in Eagle Pass is willingness to negotiate on immigration reform. And also, many Republicans also saying that they're not necessarily willing to sign on to the Senate border security bill compromise, and that they're willing to shut down the government to get what they want in terms of border security.

Ed Lavandera, CNN, Eagle Pass, Texas.

CHURCH: Twin blasts have killed nearly 100 people in Iran, raising fears of a wider war in the Middle East. We will have the latest developments.

Plus, investigators in Japan have plenty of new evidence to work with in the deadly plane collision on a runway in Tokyo.

We'll back with that and more in just a moment.

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CHURCH: Returning now to one of our top stories this hour. Iran's supreme leader is promising a harsh response to explosions that killed nearly 100 people near the grave site of the late Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani.

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[02:30:07]

CHURCH (voice over): Iranian state media says more than 200 were also injured Wednesday in the twin blast that happened as crowds have gathered to honor the general, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad four years ago.

[02:30:00]

So far, there's been no claim of responsibility. But the U.S. has denied involvement, and says there is no reason to believe Israel is responsible. Still, Iran's president is blaming Israel and warns it will pay a heavy price. CNN's Nic Robertson is following these developments from Tel Aviv.

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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: The casualty toll has continued to climb throughout the day, and it is the deadliest such attack in Iran for years. Iran's president is very clearly blaming Israel, saying that they will pay a heavy price. U.S. officials say they believe it was a terror attack. They say they have no independent information about it and have no reason to believe that Israel was involved.

No one has claimed responsibility. A number of different groups could've been behind it. ISIS could be one of them, an Iranian opposition resistance group could've been another potential culprit for this particular attack. The details that we do have, however, two bombs, the first one detonating 700 meters from where people had gathered around Qasem Soleimani's grave. That was in a suitcase and it was detonated remotely, Iranian officials say.

But it was the second explosion about a kilometer from the grave site that killed and injured the most people, according to Iranian officials. And it appears it was that second device that was timed and positioned to catch people that were coming in to help with the rescue and recovery effort after the first explosion.

This really does ramp up tensions in the region at the moment when they are already extremely high. But you have Iran openly saying that Israel was behind this, not presenting any evidence for it, and saying that it will pay -- Israel will pay a high price certainly does give the government here, in Israel, another very serious concern.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Tel Aviv, Israel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Russia and Ukraine have carried out what Kyiv is calling the largest prisoner exchange in the nearly two-year-old war. Ukraine says 230 of its soldiers and civilians were released from Russian captivity. They include seven soldiers who defended Snake Island from a Russian warship in the Black Sea when the war first began, as well as prisoners captured in the Chernobyl Nuclear Plant. Russia says 248 of its servicemen were returned from Ukrainian territory. Moscow credits the UAE for orchestrating the exchange.

Ukraine meanwhile is preparing for the next stage of the war, according to the country's foreign minister. Dmytro Kuleba is appealing again to allies for aid, saying Russia's missile and drone attacks in the past few days should be an alarm to the world. He calls it a reminder that something unprecedented is happening in Ukraine. Kuleba told CNN on Wednesday, his country will stay its course no matter what.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DMYTRO KULEBA, MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF UKRAINE: We don't have Plan B. We are confident in Plan A. Ukraine will always fight with the resources available to it. What is given to Ukraine is not a charity, it's an investment in the protection of NATO and in the protection of also the prosperity of the American people. Because if Russia theoretically prevails in Ukraine, other leaders across the world will be tempted to follow Russia's footprints. And securing -- and ensuring security in these parts of the world and deterring these leaders and their countries will require a much, much higher price tag for the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Now to Japan, where records show runway warning lights had been out of service for several days before that deadly plane collision. According to NHK, the pilots on the Japan Airlines passenger jet say they did not see the smaller Coast Guard plane on the runway before the crash.

Transcripts and audio recordings suggest the smaller plane was instructed to taxi to a holding point, but was not cleared for takeoff.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: JAL516, continue approach 34R.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cleared to land runway 34R.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: JA722A Tokyo Tower Good Evening. No.1. Taxi to holding point C5.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

CHURCH: CNN's Marc Stewart is following developments for us.

[02:35:00]

CHURCH: He joins us live from Seoul. Good to see you, Marc. So, what more are you learning about the investigation into this tragic collision and of course, the runway warning lights apparently not working?

MARC STEWART, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you, Rosemary. Yes, a number of things are at play. First of all, investigators are certainly going to be listening to these recordings between the Japan Airlines crew, the Coast Guard crew, and Air Traffic Control. But as you mentioned, they are also going to be looking at the runway lighting, specifically what are known as stop lights.

So, that's exactly what they are, a series of lights that will illuminate, telling pilots not to move any further onto a runway. According to a bulletin that was issued at the end of December, some of the lights at Haneda Airport were not working. Whether or not that had a role in this accident still needs to be determined. But, that certainly will be a key component of this investigation.

Another big task that is still taking place is locating what is known as the black box, the cockpit voice recorder as well as the data recorder on board the Japan Airlines Airbus. It can withstand the most intense of circumstances, such as a big explosion or a big fire as we saw with this aircraft -- with the Airbus. That still needs to be located. The Coast Guard's black box has been located though. So hopefully, we'll get some indication later today if the one belonging to Japan Airlines will have been found.

Not a surprise, as we've seen from some of the pictures, what remains today of that Airbus, the Japan Airlines Airbus, is just a shell. Not a surprise, there are some delays taking place at Haneda Airport, some delays and cancellations from Japan Airlines. We do know that investigators from Airbus, the French company that is the manufacture of that plane, are here -- are in Japan, I should say, and moving forward on their role in this broader investigation.

You know, Rosemary, despite these horrible scenes, air travel is the safest it's ever been. And that's because of redundancy, doubling down, extra steps to make sure that safety is not compromised. The key in this investigation is to see if there were any failures, anything that could've been prevented, so this certainly does not happen again. Rosemary? CHURCH: Yeah. Indeed, it's certainly still shakes the trust in the airlines though, doesn't it? Marc Stewart, joining us live from Seoul, many things from that report.

Still to come, it's been days since a deadly earthquake in Japan. The extent of the damage is still unknown. We will show you the conditions hindering recovery, after the break.

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CHURCH: The death toll from the major earthquake in Japan on New Year's Day has risen to 81, as the search continues for survivors. The bad weather, impassable roads, and frequent aftershocks are making the search more difficult. The latest now from CNN's Hanako Montgomery.

[02:40:00]

HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's hard to believe that the city of Wajima used to be a tourist hot spot. Each year, people would come here to enjoy the seaside town and this market that I'm standing in right now. But after a very powerful earthquake struck Ishikawa prefecture on New Year's Day, thousands were forced to leave. Right now, we're standing in a part of the city where hundreds of buildings used to stand.

But after that initial earthquake created a fire, all that remains are door frames and people's lives just among the incinerated debris. Those who do remain in the city are going house to house, trying to find any remaining survivors. And rescue operators who are coming to this prefecture are having a very difficult time because all the roads are either cracked or blocked off by landslides and trees.

Hanako Montgomery, CNN, Wajima City.

CHURCH: Southern England is in for another bout of rain, but forecasters say it will not be nearly as severe as Storm Henk, which inundated parts of the U.K. on Tuesday. It also brought winds of up to 130 kilometers per hour, knocking out power and interrupting train service. The Met Office has now issued a new severe weather warning for heavy rain, set to go into effect in the next few hours. Forecasters expect up to 50 millimeters of new rain across Southern England, which could cause more flooding and travel disruptions.

And before we go, they said it was impossible, but after 34 years, someone has finally beaten Tetris on the Nintendo Entertainment System, and it was a 13-year-old boy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIS GIBSON, BOY WHO BEAT TETRIS: Oh, oh, oh my God!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: It took Willis Gibson 38 minutes to reach a level no human has ever reached before, and to you play the game until it glitched out and hit its kill screen. So far, the only other player to beat the game was AI, which got to Level 236 by manipulating the game parameters. It takes patience, extremely quick hands, and some good old-fashioned luck to win this game. Now, we know it can be done.

(LAUGH)

CHURCH: He's still recovering.

Thanks so much for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. "World Sport" is next, and I'll be back in 15 minutes with more "CNN Newsroom." Do stick around.

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