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CNN Gets First-Hand Look At Destruction In Central Gaza; Antony Blinken In Israel To Hold High-Stakes Talks To Ease Tensions; Joe Biden Courts Black Voters In South Carolina; Boeing To Hold All- Employee Meeting On Safety. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired January 09, 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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[02:00:21]

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

Just ahead, high stakes talks set to get underway in Tel Aviv soon. The U.S. Secretary of State meeting with top government officials as the U.S. looks to rein in Israel's war in Gaza.

Boeing's troubles seemed to be taking off the company coming under more scrutiny as airlines report finding loose hardware on their 737 MAX 9 fleets.

Plus, South Korea passes landmark legislation to ban the breeding and slaughtering of dogs for consumption.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, This is CNN NEWSROOM with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Thanks for joining us. It is 9:00 in the morning in Israel where America's top diplomat is kicking off high stakes talks aimed at reducing civilian casualties in Gaza and preventing the war from spreading into a wider regional conflict.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to meet with top Israeli officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the war cabinet in Tel Aviv in the hours ahead.

Now, this is Blinken's fourth trip to the region since Hamas's October 7th attack. And he's already met with top officials and several other countries before landing in Tel Aviv. The focus of the talks, keeping the war from expanding.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: It's clearly not in the interest of anyone, Israel, Lebanon, Hezbollah, for that matter to see this -- to see this escalate and to see an actual conflict.

And the Israelis have been very clear with us that they want to find a diplomatic way forward that creates the kind of security that allows Israelis to return home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: But continued violence may complicate those efforts. Israel's foreign minister says the country is responsible for the death of a senior Hezbollah commander. A Lebanese security source as the commander was killed by an Israeli drone strike on his car in southern Lebanon.

Tensions have been soaring along Israel's border with Lebanon amid fighting between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, even as Israel continues its operations in Gaza.

While we're now getting a firsthand look at what central Gaza looks like after more than 90 days of war. CNN's Jeremy Diamond traveled there and got a glimpse of the destruction and saw what is really forces have uncovered so far.

The team reported from Gaza under Israel Defense Forces escort at all times as a condition for journalists to join the embed with the IDF. Media outlets must submit footage filmed in Gaza to the Israeli military for security review. CNN did not submit its final report to the IDF and retained editorial control.

And a warning, some of the images you are about to see are disturbing. Here's Jeremy's report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After three months of war, this is a glimpse of Central Gaza. Buildings flattened or partially collapsed, others riddled with bullets or scarred by smoke. Civilians are nowhere to be found.

The outskirts of Al-Bureij now under Israeli military control.

DIAMOND: The Israeli military has now been fighting on the ground here in central Gaza over the last two weeks. And you can see all around me the results of that military campaign. Destroyed buildings, smokes still billowing from parts of central Gaza.

DIAMOND (voice over): As the fighting rages, the Israeli military is also uncovering the scale of Hamas's underground infrastructure, inviting CNN into central Gaza for the first time to show what they are uncovering.

Alongside now bulldozed farmlands and inside a nondescript building, the opening to a tunnel system.

MAJ. ARIEL, 188TH BRIGADE: We are standing in one of the main entrances to manufacturing terror center.

DIAMOND (voice over): Which the Israeli military says Hamas used to manufacture and transport weapons.

DIAMOND: So, this is the entrance to a tunnel that the Israeli military found in central Gaza. You can walk through here, and they say that if you follow this tunnel all the way down, you get a ventrally to what is a weapons manufacturing facility that Hamas has been using throughout the war.

[02:05:01]

DIAMOND (voice over): Inside that facility, Israeli commanders say Hamas builds rockets and mortar shells like these, and then filled them with explosive material like fertilizer below ground. The military did not allow reporters underground, saying that chemicals needed too dangerous. But provided this video, it says, was filmed inside that underground facility.

Steps away in a warehouse alongside a residential building, long-range rockets capable of reaching Tel Aviv, or Jerusalem.

REAR ADM. DANIEL HAGARI, IDF SPOKESMAN: What we are seeing is using the embedded civilians industries to build a rocket industry.

DIAMOND: But some would say that you are making this point that Hamas and civilians are embedded, that it's all happening in the same places to justify the enormous civilian casualties that we have seen in Gaza so far.

HAGARI: We are focusing on Hamas, not -- we are focusing on our war on Hamas. We are not fighting the people of Gaza.

DIAMOND: When you look at the numbers of thousands of children who have been killed in Gaza, are you doing enough to distinguish between Hamas fighters and civilians?

HAGARI: Every death of every child is a tragedy. We didn't want this war.

DIAMOND (voice over): More than 9,000 children have been killed so far. According to the Palestinian ministry of health. Like this girl pulled from the rubble in central Gaza, tens of thousands of civilians who fled the fighting in the north, now at risk here.

In Al-Bureij, the Israeli military dropped these warning fliers days ago, urging civilians to flee to nearby Deir al Balah, but the fighting is now raging there, too.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, inside Gaza with the Israeli military.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Joining me now from Berlin is David Sanger, CNN political and national security analyst. He's also the White House and national security correspondent for The New York Times. Thanks so much for joining us.

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Good to be with you.

CHURCH: So, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has a huge task ahead of him as he tries to prevent an expansion of this war while also trying to reduce civilian casualties in Gaza. How achievable is this high stakes diplomatic mission do you think?

SANGER: I think it's a pretty tough mission altogether. And as you say, it's got these two elements and they're interrelated.

I mean, we noticed a month ago when there was the pause and fighting during the exchange of hostages and prisoner releases and so forth, that the attacks beyond Gaza stopped for a while, the Houthis suspended their attacks. It was a little quieter on the border with Lebanon.

So, it's clear that the militias are tuning up their attacks to be a retaliation for what Israel is doing. But the Israelis make the case that if their central objective in the war is to destroy Hamas, endingly Hamas operation or ending the Gaza operation before they've achieved that will undercut their long term goal.

I think what you're going to hear the secretary argue to them is that they can at this point, do this with much more targeted operations, and could suspend the overall bombing. Clearly, Netanyahu's government does not agree with that.

CHURCH: Right. And that has been a request for some time now and Secretary Blinken is set of course to meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu and his war cabinet in Tel Aviv today, at a time when tensions between the U.S. and Israel are becoming increasingly evident, with some government ministers calling for ethnic cleansing in Gaza. How delicate will those conversations between Blinken and Netanyahu be as he tries to reduce civilian casualties in Gaza and of course to contain this walk?

SANGER: You know, I think there are three areas in which Secretary Blinken is probably going to be a lot more blunt and in private one would assume so than he has been in public.

One of them in the statements of these ministers about getting Palestinians to leave Gaza, which was one of the standards that Secretary Blinken on a previous trip laid down would not happen.

The second is Secretary has called for the Palestinian authority to essentially rule Gaza. And Netanyahu pretty much pushed that right to the side during the last trip that Secretary Blinken was on.

And then, I think the third issue is this question of strategy and how the degree to which the Israelis avoid the kind of bombings that have resulted in more than 20,000 civilian casualties.

[02:10:08]

And while the Israelis on this sound like they are willing to change their tune, it's not clear that their activity has altered that much. And I think that's the frustration that the Secretary is likely to run into.

CHURCH: And David, Israel's Foreign Minister now says that his country is responsible for the death of a senior Hezbollah commander, what could this potentially mean for rising tensions along Israel's border with Lebanon? And does this increase the chances of an expanded regional war now?

SANGER: I think it does. Marginally, you know, the two places that we've been most focused on and most concerned about are obviously Hezbollah in Lebanon and that border.

And then, of course, the Red Sea and the Houthis where we have all expected for some time that the U.S. was sort of waiting for another strike in order to strike back in Yemen, they issued a warning, a public warning last week that this was likely to happen.

I think this is sort of Washington's biggest concern, because they don't want Israel fighting multi-front war. And because the threat to both lives and shipping is so real.

I suspect you will see some expansion. I'm still hopeful that it will be a full scale broader war, but certainly, we're seem a lot closer to that now than we did say a week -- excuse me, a week ago.

CHURCH: Yes. And so, where does all this leave efforts to forge a deal with Hamas via Qatari negotiators to release more hostages from Gaza in exchange for a pause in fighting that seems further away now?

SANGER: It does, particularly because some of the Hezbollah leaders who have been killed particularly one last week in Lebanon were involved in the hostage negotiations. And I think as Israel steps up their action against Hezbollah, it makes striking that deal about the hostages are all the harder.

What we don't know is how much pain Hamas is feeling. And whether or not the pause that would come with the hostage negotiation might be more important to them at this point, and that they would be willing to let some more hostages out.

Hard to imagine they'd let them all out. Because that, of course, is their greatest defense right now against continued Israeli action. And I think it's one of the reasons the Israelis are stepping up the pressure.

CHURCH: David Sanger in Berlin, many thanks for joining us. Appreciate it.

SANGER: Thank you.

CHURCH: Well, U.S. President Joe Biden is feeling the heat from protesters calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you really care about the lives lost here, you should honor the lives and also call for a ceasefire in Palestine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ceasefire now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ceasefire now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Mr. Biden was speaking to voters at a church in South Carolina on Monday when he was interrupted. The small group of protesters was escorted out. The Biden campaign says the president will continue to listen and engage with Democrats who disagree with his policies in Gaza. And here's how the president himself responded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I understand their passion. And I've been quietly working -- and I've been quietly working with the Israeli government to get them to reduce and significantly get out of Gaza using all I can do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Mr. Biden is trying to firm up his support among African American voters who played a key part in his 2020 election. CNN's M.J. Lee reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

M.J. LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Tonight, President Biden returning to the state.

BIDEN: Thank you, thank you, thank you.

LEE (voice over): And the voters that he has credited for saving his last presidential campaign.

BIDEN: Thank you, South Carolina. We are very much alive.

LEE (voice over): Now as he seeks a second term at the White House, Biden is once again counting on South Carolina to have his back.

BIDEN: We've come too far from where we started. Nobody told me the road would be easy. I don't believe he brought me this far to leave me.

LEE (voice over): The storied Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston was where nine black worshipers were shot and killed by a white supremacist in 2015. Biden recalling visiting the grieving community as vice president just days after the death of his son, Beau.

[02:15:01]

BIDEN: We came here to offer comfort and received comfort from you.

LEE (voice over): As the Biden campaign starts to ramp up heading into the New Year, the president's advisers say they recognize the importance of shoring up support among communities of color, including and especially black voters.

With recent polls showing some warning signs of softening support, Congressman Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, a co-chair of Biden's 2024 campaign.

BIDEN: It's because of this congregation in the black community of South Carolina and not exaggeration and Jim Clyburn, that I stand here today as your president.

LEE (voice over): Ringing the alarm bell over the weekend.

REP. JIM CLYBURN (D-SC): We have not been able to break through that MAGA wall in order to get to people exactly what this president has done.

LEE (voice over): Attacking the so-called MAGA movement led by his predecessor Donald Trump is already emerging a central focus of Biden's re-elect, the president again invoking the January 6th insurrection of three years ago.

BIDEN: That violent mob was whipped up by lies from a defeated former president. Insurrectionists waving confederate flags inside the halls of Congress built by enslaved Americans.

For hours, the defeated former president sat in a private dining off of the Oval Office, and did nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing.

Losers are taught to concede when they lose. And he's a loser.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEE (on camera): And in so many ways, this was meant to be a promises made, promises kept speech. President Biden ticking through some of the things that he has done in his first term aimed at supporting African American voters like naming the first woman to the Supreme Court, lowering the cost of insulin and making investments in HBCUs.

And President Biden of course knows very well that this is a critical part of his base that he needs to convince one more time to turn up to the polls again, come November.

M.J. Lee, CNN, the White House.

CHURCH: France's Prime Minister is stepping down amid an anticipated government reshuffle. The French presidency announced Elisabeth Borne's resignation Monday, the government faced criticism last year following controversial immigration and pension reform bills. Borne was the second woman in France's history to hold the country's second highest office.

President Emmanuel Macron praised her work on social media. Borne will stay on until her replacement is appointed.

Still to come, Alaska Airlines finds loose hardware on some of its Boeing 747 Max 9 planes. The same type of aircraft involved in a midair scare last week. Details just ahead.

Plus, leaving China for the U.S. by any means necessary. Why more and more Chinese citizens are willing to risk a dangerous journey to flee the world's second largest economy. Back with that and more in just a minute.

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[02:20:19]

CHURCH: In the coming hours, Boeing is set to hold an all employee meeting on safety as the company faces scrutiny once again over the quality of its aircraft. It comes as Alaska Airlines says its maintenance technicians found loose hardware on some of their Boeing 737 Max 9 fleet.

That plane is the same type of aircraft that was involved in a terrifying incident Friday, when the fuselage door plug blew off while the plane was at an altitude of 16,000 feet. United Airlines says it too has found loose door plug bolts on some of its Max 9 planes.

Meantime, a Portland physics teacher who found the missing fuselage door plug is recounting how he discovered it in his backyard.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB SAUER, FOUND ALASKA AIRLINE'S FUSELAGE DOOR PLUG: This is the most exciting thing that's ever happened on the street as far as I know. I saw in the flashlight light that there was something gleaming back there which shouldn't have been there. Oh, that's curious. So I went back to look at it and it turned out to be that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: U.S. investigators say that door plug could be a key detail in the investigation of what happened during Alaska Airline's midair emergency. CNN's Pete Muntean has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: From inside the damaged airline to a Portland backyard, the investigation into the hole violently ripped in an Alaska Airlines flight has a new smoking gun. The National Transportation Safety Board has now recovered the part of the fuselage that ejected without warning only six minutes after Flight 1282 took off Friday. The piece tumbled 16,000 feet, only to be discovered two days later by a school teacher named Bob.

JENNIFER HOMENDY, NTSB CHAIR: I'm excited to announce that we found the door plug. Thank you, Bob.

MUNTEAN (voice over): Investigators are now matching up the bolts, hinges, and roller bearings of the door to the structure of the plane, to provide key clues about why it came off. The size of a refrigerator and weighing 63 pounds, the force of the rupture was strong enough to open the cockpit door 26 rows up. The noise of 400 mile per hour air, audible as pilots radio in an emergency.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Alaska 1282, we just depressurized, we're declaring an emergency, we do need to descend down to 10,000. MUNTEAN: Investigators say the explosion contorted seats, removed

headrest, and threw phone from passenger's hands to Portland streets below. Amazingly, nobody on board was seated immediately next to the hole or seriously injured.

EVAN SMITH, ALASKA AIRLINES PASSENGER: You heard a very loud bang.

EMMA VU, ALASKA AIRLINES PASSENGER: I just knew something bad was going on because the masks had come down and I have never experienced that before.

MUNTEAN (voice over): The plane, a new Boeing 737 MAX 9. It made its first flight just this past October, and has been used by Alaska Airlines on only 150 trips. The Federal Aviation Administration has temporarily grounded MAX 9s until Alaska and United Airlines can make emergency inspections.

JENNIFER HOMENDY, NTSB CHAIR: When you look at the manufacture, the design of this aircraft. But we go where the evidence takes us.

MUNTEAN (voice over): What is missing from the investigation is audio from the cockpit voice recorder which was not recovered in time to stop its automatic overwrite. Gone are the recordings of the loud bang heard by passengers.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: It's high time that we improve the amount of data we got out of these cockpit voice recorders.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MUNTEAN (on camera): Investigators have uncovered one more key piece of evidence, they say this Boeing 737 Max 9 had pressurization problems three times before this incident. A cockpit alarm went off just one day before the incident.

Following its own protocols, Alaska Airlines kept the plane from long overwater flights like to Hawaii. So far investigators say it's not clear if those alarms foreshadowed Friday's in flight blow out but right now they're not ruling anything out.

Pete Muntean, CNN, Washington.

CHURCH: Let's go to Israel now. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog as he begins a day of high stakes talks in Tel Aviv. Let's just listen to them.

ISAAC HERZOG, ISRAELI PRESIDENT: -- a long conversation with the vice president. A productive conversation. And I would reiterate what I told her on Thursday, a preceding will start in the International Court of Justice in the Hague, whereby the South Africa has sued Israel for supposedly genocide. There's nothing more atrocious and preposterous than this claim.

[02:25:03]

Actually, our enemies the Hamas in the charter call for the destruction and annihilation of the State of Israel, the only nation state of the Jewish people. The convention against genocide was enacted by the international community following the worst atrocities of humankind that show the Holocaust, which was aimed specifically against the Jews, the Jewish people in order to eliminate the Jewish raised, the Jewish people.

In Hamas's charter, it's almost identical in many, many ways. And here with the hypocrisy of South Africa, we will be there at the International Court of Justice and pre -- will present proudly our case of using self-defense and almost inherent right under international humanitarian law, where we are doing our utmost under extremely complicated circumstances on the ground to make sure that there will be no unintended consequences and of civilian casualties.

We are alerting, we are calling, we are showing, we're sending leaflets, we are using all the means that international law enables us in order to move out people so that we can unravel this huge city of terror underneath in people's homes, living rooms and bedrooms, mosques and shops and schools.

Yesterday, we unraveled a huge factory of tunnel underneath a humanitarian corridor which Israel is employing in order to help the civilians of Gaza.

So, I want to thank the United States of America, President Biden and the administration and you Secretary Blinken for your moral call of duty for the fact that you're standing steadfast with Israel in this battle which has to do clearly with humanity. And with the values of the free world. Thank you very much.

BLINKEN: Well, thank you, Mr. President. And, as always, we greatly value the president's leadership in these incredibly challenging times for Israel, for countries in the region, and especially for people who continue to suffer.

I've just come from a number of countries in the region, Turkey, Greece, Jordan, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and I want to be able to share some of what I heard from those leaders with the president, as well as with the prime minister in the cabinet later today.

And of course, we'll have an opportunity to sit with the families of some of the hostages and discuss our relentless efforts to bring everyone home and back with their families. And there's lots to talk about in particular about the way forward.

So, I look forward to these conversations, as always, very good to be with you.

HERZOG: Thank you very much.

BLINKEN: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, press.

CHURCH: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the start of his high stakes diplomatic mission to the Middle East there in Israel in Tel Aviv meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog.

And of course, his big effort there will be to try to prevent the expansion of this war into the region and also to prevent or at least reduce civilian casualties in Gaza. We'll be right back. ( (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:31:00]

CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. More Chinese citizens than ever before are seeking political asylum in the U.S. having spent a decade under the strongman rule of President Xi Jinping and they are using some unconventional means to do it. Sometimes paying smugglers to help them navigate a dangerous path through South and Central America to reach the U.S. border. CNN's David Culver spoke with migrants fleeing the world's second largest economy, who say not everything there is what it seems.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As soon as we pull up, they rushed towards us. My mic not even on, but that does not stop this crowd of Chinese migrants to venting to Producer Yong Xiong. They're angry having to wait in the cold for border patrol.

This is just one of three makeshift border camps we stop at in eastern San Diego County. Alongside migrants from Latin America, at each camp, we meet dozens from China. The numbers reflect the surge. From 2013 to 2022, CBP recorded fewer than 16,000 Chinese migrants illegally crossing the U.S. southern border. This past year alone, more than 31,000, that is roughly double the prior ten years combined. But unlike those fleeing countries in turmoil like Venezuela, Cuba, or Haiti, these migrants are leaving the world's second largest economy.

CULVER: What was the reason you left China?

CULVER (voice-over): Their answers vary. Most cite deepening financial hardships despite the Chinese government's narrative of a steadily rebounding economy.

CULVER: How did you get here? How did you get to Southern California?

CULVER (voice-over): Their trek north primarily starts in one Latin American country where Chinese do not need visas to enter.

CULVER: To Ecuador? How many -- how many of you here came through Ecuador?

CULVER (voice-over): To really understand their journey and how it differs from other migrants, you need to see it in action. We touched down in Ecuador's capital Quito, and standing outside of international arrivals, we notice this man, a hired driver, scrolling through photos and messages in Chinese. A few minutes later, passengers begin stepping out. They tell us they are from China and planning to go to the U.S. But most ask we not show their faces. The driver approaches this group, making sure he has got the right passengers.

CULVER: He has got a booking for them.

CULVER (voice-over): We uncovered an assortment of travel packages offered specifically to Chinese migrants. You can pay smugglers who promise to ease some of the planning stress. For $9,000 to $12, 000, flights, hotels, transportation booked for you. For $20,000 or more, it's a premium service, getting you to the Mexico side of the U.S. border, skipping some of the more treacherous crossings.

We drive through Ecuador's capital city with Luan Tuan Wey (ph), he shows us private homes and Airbnb where Chinese migrant stay where they arrive. Luan (ph) has lived here in Quito for five years and runs a travel agency. He has witnessed the recent surge in Chinese migrants and with it a spike in businesses catering to them, like this Chinese- run hotel. The owner estimates there are as many as 100 hotels in Quito that like hers host Chinese migrants headed to the U.S.

CULVER: Then take a look at this, they have essentially a how-to guide to go from here and to continue north. And they tell you here, how many days you should be preparing, vaccinations you might need, other documents you should carry with you. They even mention bringing $300 and hiding that amount of money because of presumably being robbed at some point and needing cash as a backup.

CULVER (voice-over): It is advice Zheng Shiqing could've used a few days earlier.

[02:35:00]

CULVER: Your parents still think you are in China? They have no idea that you left?

ZHENG SHIQING, CHINESE MIGRANT IN ECUADOR: Yeah.

CULVER (voice-over): We meet the 23-year-old back in Quito after he was robbed at gun point in Colombia.

I left China because I was not able to save any money. It was difficult to support myself, he tells me. He says some employers in China refused to pay him even after working. Even if they say the Chinese economy is strong, it is all about the upper class, he says. I wish I was never born. Living feels so exhausting.

After saving up enough to restart his trek, Zheng heads to this Quito bus station where ticket sellers hold up signs like this one in Chinese. It reads, "To Tulcan, Colombian border." More than a dozen Chinese migrants board the bus north. We go with them to the four hour-plus ride. On board, Zheng and the others plan their next moves.

CULVER: California. California, that is the ultimate goal.

CULVER (voice-over): Zheng plans to stay here in Tulcan for two nights, and then hire a cab to take him over the border.

CULVER: As a lot of the Chinese migrants are able to pay their way in taxi to get to the international bridge crossing from Ecuador to Colombia, we have noticed a lot of folks, migrants from Latin American countries like these over here not having the money to do that, so they walk.

CULVER (voice-over): In the cold rain, we meet Angel (ph) and Isabel (ph) from Venezuela.

CULVER: They say it's really expensive to try to cross, so they have to walk.

CULVER (voice-over): Tulcan residents tell me that they see hundreds if not thousands of Chinese migrants passing through each week. And because they are often carrying more cash, they are now prime targets for corrupt police and cartels. But like Zheng, they remain determined. As we return home, he updates us on his trek. Over two weeks, Zheng travels through five Central American countries, at times messaging Chinese-speaking smugglers who remotely coordinate with local cartels to get him and others on vans, buses, boats and on flights. It cuts his travel time down to about half that of most Latino migrants, but it is costly.

By the time he reaches Northern Mexico, he has spent more than $10,000, with one more border to go. A camera we set up facing the U.S. southern border captures weeks of crossings, thousands entering the U.S. through this gap in the wall, group after group, day and night. You can hear these migrants shouting in Chinese. They end up where we started, San Diego County, burning fires through the night to keep warm, and during the day, expecting border patrol to pick them up.

Just before New Year's, Zheng messages us that he too has crossed into the U.S. and is waiting to be processed for asylum...

SHIQING: America!

CULVER (voice-over): ...joining the thousands who have crossed before him, and the many more to come.

David Culver, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: South Korea's parliament has voted to pass a bill banning the controversial and rare practice of breeding and slaughtering dogs for their meat. That practice is centuries old but is not common anymore, as more people support animal warfare and keep dogs as pets. The bill also bans the distribution and sale of food products including dog ingredients. It does not include penalties for people who consume dog meat.

Still to come, the first U.S. mission to land on the moon since the Apollo Program is now in jeopardy. I will have details for you after a break.

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[02:41:10]

CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. What was supposed to be an historic mission to the moon took a dramatic turn on Monday. The company behind Peregrine, the first U.S. lunar lander to launch in five decades, says it has suffered critical fuel loss just hours after lift-off. The spacecraft then had trouble turning towards the sun, which it needs to do to charge its batteries. That means Peregrine may not land on the moon after all. It would be a major loss for NASA, which was hoping to collect data for future moon missions.

Rescuers have managed to save five people who were trapped in a cave in southern Slovenia. Two tour guides and a family of three went into the cave early Saturday. But heavy rain and high water levels made rescuing the group impossible for two days. The cave is usually accessible only by boat, but the water was so high a team of drivers had to be sent in. But by Monday, the water levels had dropped enough to get the group out safely.

I want to thank you so much for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. "World Sport" is coming up next and I will be back in 15 minutes with more "CNN Newsroom." Do stick around.

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