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CNN International: Ukraine: 5 Killed, 40 Injured in Wave of Russian Strikes; Ukrainian Troops Face Critical Supply Shortages; Large Crowds Visit Controversial Ayodhya Temple; Blood Test Could Detect Alzheimer's Before Symptoms Show. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired January 23, 2024 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Bianca Nobilo.
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Max Foster. If you're just joining us, let me bring you up to date with the top stories.
Israeli troops have suffered their deadliest day since the war began against Hamas. The IDF says 21 soldiers were killed in combat in southern Gaza on Monday.
Voting in New Hampshire underway in the first U.S. presidential primary of the 2024 campaign.
Former President Donald Trump is hoping for a decisive win against his Republican rival, Nikki Haley, who has vowed to stay in the race at least through next month's primary in her home state of South Carolina.
NOBILO: Ukraine says Russia launched a wave of strikes across the country today, killing at least five people and wounding dozens more. A gas pipeline and a school were hit in the Kharkiv region, according to local officials. They say rescuers are searching for survivors trapped under destroyed apartment buildings.
FOSTER: The other parts of the country were also targeted, including the capital Kyiv, where missiles damaged two high-rise buildings and a house. The U.S. ambassador to Ukraine called this the daily reality under Putin's war.
Ukraine's army says it shot down 21 out of 41 Russian missiles overnight, adding that they were a combination of cruise, ballistic, air and anti-aircraft guided missiles.
Meanwhile, Russia's foreign minister claiming that most of the U.S. aid set aside for Ukraine's military is being misused to strengthen the American military industry instead. The accusation from Sergey Lavrov came during a U.N. Security Council meeting on Monday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): Mr. Blinken emphasizes that the continuing assistance to Ukraine is a guarantee of creating new jobs in the United States. It's as though he's talking not about financing a war, which has already resulted in hundreds of thousands of lives lost in Ukraine, but about a profitable business venture.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: The deputy U.S. ambassador to the U.N. called Lavrov's comments, quote, conspiracy theories and baseless accusations.
Member countries of the U.N. issued a joint statement saying the meeting called by Russia was another attempt to distract from its war of aggression against Ukraine.
FOSTER: NATO has signed a $1.2 billion contract for ammunition for Ukraine. Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg says it's important that allies refill their own stocks as we continue to support Ukraine. He calls Russia's war in Ukraine a battle for ammunition.
NOBILO: CNN's Fred Pleitgen is in Ukraine and reports on what the troops are in need of.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Artillery is key as Ukrainian forces try to hold off massive Russian assaults on the eastern front, but Kyiv's ammo shortages are getting worse by the day.
This U.S.-provided M109 Paladin Howitzers near Bakhmut is often silent because they don't have enough shells to target the Russians, the commander tells us.
We cannot fulfill our tasks 100 percent, he says, although we really want to. My crew and other crews are just waiting for it and are ready to work around the clock.
But it gets even worse. Finally, resupply does arrive, but it's only four rounds. And this type of ammo won't hurt the Russians much.
PLEITGEN: This really illustrates the shortages the Ukrainians have to deal with. Four rounds. That's all they're going to get right now. And by the way, wait, they're not even explosive rounds. They're smoke rounds.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): These shells will barely explode on impact. It's almost like firing cannon balls in medieval times. But the commander says, sometimes, it's all they can do.
Every shell that is suitable for the Paladin, we use," he says. It's better than no shells.
The Russians face no such shortages in this area. Ukrainian military intelligence believes Russia produced around 2 million rounds last year and acquired around 1 million from North Korea. Massive barrages have laid waste to Bakhmut and much of the surrounding area. At the headquarters of the 93rd Mechanized Brigade's artillery division, the frustration is palpable. From their drones, they can see the Russians gather to continue their assaults on Ukrainian positions. But they often can't take them out because they need to conserve ammunition, the commander tells me.
The ratio is about ten to one, he says. Ammunition is very important to us. Russia is a country that produces ammo.
[04:35:00]
They have strategic reserves. Yes, they use old Soviet systems, but Soviet systems can still kill.
Even without enough ammo, the Ukrainians say they are stopping most Russian assaults here. And the M-109 crew did manage to fire at Russian positions. But they know they'll need a lot more firepower to stop Russian advances.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, near Bakhmut, Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: In the coming hours, the Turkish parliament is set to debate Sweden's bid for NATO's membership. That's according to sources. And approval by Turkish lawmakers would end a delay that has strained Ankara's ties with Western allies.
NOBILO: Sweden and neighboring Finland began the process of joining the military alliance back in 2022 following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
But Turkey, along with Hungary, kept Sweden waiting until it toughened its stance on local members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, Ankara deems terrorists.
FOSTER: Large crowds are visiting a controversial Hindu temple in India, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Ram temple in Ayodhya on Monday, fulfilling a key promise as he seeks re-election this year.
NOBILO: The temple stands on the site of a 16th-century mosque that was destroyed by Hindu nationalists in 1992, triggering nationwide riots that killed about 2,000 people.
FOSTER: CNN's Vedika Sud joins us live from outside that temple in India. The crowds are enormous. What's the atmosphere like today, Vedika?
VEDIKA SUD, CNN REPORTER: Max, I can barely hear you and that's because it's meters away from us.
There is devotional music blaring on megaphones that's just about started. But giving you a sense of where we are, we're about 500 meters away from the Hindu temple that was consecrated yesterday. Today, the temple authorities have thrown open the gates to the general public and the result is what you see behind me.
There's a massive crowd that's been building over the last few hours, but this crowd has been there since about 3 a.m. local time and they were allowed, some of them at least, to go in by about 7 o'clock. After which it was a total nightmare for the security personnel on this road and inside. They couldn't manage the crowds because of which they had to stop them from going in for a while.
Now, after three hours, they're being allowed to go in again, but that's after more security has been deployed in this area.
You see saffron flags around, you see homes that have been painted in saffron color, that's a color which is associated with Hinduism and with Hindu nationalism.
Wherever you go, Max and Bianca, around Ayodhya, you will see massive billboards of the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, because he is trying to send out this message that he's delivered on a promise, a decades-long promise, which is the Ayodhya temple, the construction of it, the consecration of it. And interestingly, this comes just months ahead of the general elections that India will see in the month of May.
A lot of people also crowding around us at this point, the roads are just packed, it's been a bit difficult to move around here. There's a lot of attention being given to cameras and the media.
But coming back to the Indian Prime Minister, like I said, it's something that just establishes him as a messiah for Hindus in a country where 80 percent of the population are Hindus.
But in the alleyways of this city, where, you know, there are Muslims also residing, it's not them who are rejoicing with the consecration of the Hindu temple. In fact, they feel pained is what they say, they say they feel like second-class citizens, not only in the city of Ayodhya, but in India, ever since Modi has come to power.
So we're expecting massive crowds through the day. We're expecting a lot of jostling happening, because most of these people have been here for days, not hours, waiting for this moment to enter the temple. Back to you.
FOSTER: OK, Vedika, thank you so much for joining us with that.
NOBILO: Still ahead, the recovery begins across the British Isles after the powerful winds and rain from storm Isha.
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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NOBILO: Fish tanks and light fixtures were swaying as a powerful earthquake struck northwestern China, and now hundreds of rescue workers are being deployed to the quake zone.
FOSTER: The magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck Xinjiang province early on Tuesday local time. The quake had a depth of 13 kilometers according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
NOBILO: Chinese state media reports that at least three people were hospitalized and a child was pulled from the rubble. And in neighboring Kazakhstan, authorities say 44 people were injured by the quake.
Meanwhile, Chinese firefighters are setting up disaster relief tents in hard-hit areas as crowds try to stay warm in the streets.
FOSTER: Overnight temperatures fell to minus 10 Celsius, or about 14 degrees Fahrenheit. The quake's epicenter is a remote, mountainous and sparsely populated area, about 3,000 meters or 10,000 feet above sea level.
The British Isles are recovering from Storm Isha after more than 1,200 reports of high winds over the last two days. The storm brought huge waves to the coast of England. Train services were disrupted, surprise, surprise, and hundreds of flights were cancelled or delayed. About 45,000 homes in Northern Ireland are still without power as of Monday.
NOBILO: Scotland was especially hard hit with wind gusts of over 140 kilometers per hour and all train services there were cancelled.
In the U.S., San Diego's fire chief says hundreds of people have been rescued amid flash flooding from heavy rains in the area. But not only people, rescuers also helped dogs trapped by the rising waters. San Diego's mayor declared a state of emergency on Monday amid the heavy flooding, urging residents to stay off the roads, but not everyone took his advice.
FOSTER: As you can see. The fire chief called one of the scenes they tended to chaotic. You can see the swiftly moving flood water there carrying away this car. A local business owner had to shut down his business because of all that risk.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now, we have to shut down right now because it's getting out of control to the point where, you know, we're not getting any more customers. There's too much water coming in. We can't afford, you know, our inventory, anything, you know, our machines, our ATMs, you know, our electricity to get ruined just because, you know, of the rain.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Well, city officials have opened a local high school and recreation center as temporary shelters for those who've been impacted.
NOBILO: More than 50 million people are under winter weather alerts from Kansas to interior New York. Moisture coming north from the Gulf of Mexico is battling with cold air over northern U.S., continuing to create dangerous icy weather. FOSTER: The biggest threats continue to be dangerous roads and power
outages. Some alerts are set to expire today, but others may stay in place until Wednesday.
The U.S. Coast Guard rescued more than 20 people after they became stranded on an ice flow in Lake Erie on Monday.
[04:45:02]
Officials say they may not have known the piece of ice they were on was floating in open water.
NOBILO: Rescued crews were dispatched with airboats, all-terrain vehicles and a helicopter. Some of the stranded people were able to repair their boat to get safely back to shore while the Coast Guard brought back the others.
FOSTER: Coming up, the surf spot in Portugal, famous for producing the world's biggest rideable waves at least, that means it is competition time. It's Isa Soares.
NOBILO: You know it. Why is it Isa Soares?
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FOSTER: Now, a new blood test could someday help doctors detect Alzheimer's disease years before symptoms start to show up.
NOBILO: The hope is that early detection and treatment may slow the progression of memory loss. CNN's Brian Todd reports on the promising research.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jack Driscoll began to notice memory problems and soon learned he has Alzheimer's
JACK DRISCOLL, DIAGNOSED WITH ALZHEIMER'S: They gave me some tests and said, well, you -- you're going to have it.
TODD (voice-over): Based on the test, Driscoll was able to prepare his family for what they could expect.
DRISCOLL: I talked to my wife and I talked to my kids and let them know that maybe down the road, I wasn't so going to be the same as I was then.
[04:50:03]
TODD (voice-over): Testing for Alzheimer's may soon become much easier. A new study shows that a simple blood test called ALZpath, could identify Alzheimer's in people before symptoms start to show.
DR. SAURABH SHARMA, NEUROLOGIST AND DEMENTIA SPECIALIST, MEDSTAR, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL: This may revolutionize a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. This blood test, it's going to make it easy and quick to diagnose this condition.
TODD (voice-over): The typical indicator of Alzheimer's in the brain is the buildup of proteins called beta-amyloid and tau. Until now, the way doctors look for those proteins was to use brain scans or spinal taps, but not everyone can get those tests.
DR. RICHARD ISAACSON, PREVENTIVE NEUROLOGIST, INSTITUTE FOR NEURODEGENERATIVE DISEASES: Pet scans are expensive. They have radiation thousands of dollars. Spinal taps are, you know, intrusive and they also cost a lot of money. A simple blood test can democratize care for people and really identify if a person as at risk for dementia before symptoms begin.
TODD (voice-over): The new study shows this blood test ALZpath compares well for accuracy with brain scans and spinal taps to be able to detect and possibly predict who has Alzheimer's even when a person appears to be normal.
SHARMA: Individuals who develop Alzheimer's disease, they develop the pathological changes in the brain up to 20 years before they may show symptoms. So, with this test, we can actually see those pathological changes in the blood. So, yes you may be able to capture this well before they develop this themselves.
TODD (voice-over): According to the Alzheimer's Association, more than 6 million people in the U.S. are living with dementia caused by Alzheimer's. And the number of people affected is projected to double in the U.S. in the next two decades. While there is still no cure for Alzheimer's --
ISAACSON: When a person is still at the earliest phase, it's called a mild cognitive impairment phase, we now several FDA approved drugs that have been shown to have some disease modifying or disease slowing effects.
TODD (voice-over): Which makes early detection with this blood test even more critical. Jack Driscoll has this advice to anyone who tests positive.
DRISCOLL: I would encourage them to keep their life happy as best they can.
TODD: The Alzheimer's Association tells CNN it believes this work is very encouraging. But a spokesperson for the association stressed to us that right now, this blood test is for use in research only and has not been approved yet by the FDA. And the spokesperson cautioned that further testing of the product is still needed in what he called diverse and representative populations.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: American Coco Gauff is the first player to reach this year's Australian Open semi-finals in the women's singles. Gauff was down one to five. Is that how we say it in tennis? One, five? FOSTER: Gauff was one, five.
NOBILO: One, five -- OK, I'm not down with the tennis thing -- in the first set, but rallied to win, beating Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk, 7-6, 6-7, 6-2. The 19-year-old Gauff is ranked fourth in the world and is on a 10-win unbeaten streak this year.
FOSTER: Just moments ago in the men's quarterfinals, number one ranked Novak Djokovic defeated American Taylor Fritz in a match that lasted nearly four hours.
NOBILO: And big wave surfers flocked to Nazare, Portugal, Monday, hoping to catch some of the world's most gigantic waves. They were summoned to the legendary surfing spot for the Tudor Nazare Big Wave Challenge tournament.
FOSTER: They were hoping to see swells of up to 50 feet or 15 meters, but the waves stayed in the 30 to 40 feet range, nothing.
A 28-year-old Brazilian surfer Lucas Chumbo Chianca won the competition for the third straight year. Great pictures.
Stories in the spotlight this hour.
Britain's Prince Edward is in South Africa on a working visit to support the country's wildlife and bird conservation. He toured the Pretoria National Botanical Garden on Monday.
NOBILO: His trip follows a state visit by South Africa's president in 2022 at the invitation of King Charles III. It also comes amid ongoing health concerns within the British royal family. Among them, King Charles is scheduled for treatment for an enlarged prostate.
In just a few hours, the Oscar nominations will be announced ahead of Hollywood's biggest night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CILLIAN MURPHY, ACTOR, OPPENHEIMER: And they won't understand it until they've used it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: Cillian Murphy is almost guaranteed a spot in the acting category for his title role as Oppenheimer in one of the year's biggest movies. It's expected to dominate the nominations as it has with other award shows so far.
But we can't mention "Oppenheimer" without bringing up its hit box office partner, and that would be "Barbie."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi Barbie.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi Barbie.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi Barbie. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi Barbie.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi Ken.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi Ken.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Barbie's director Greta Gerwig and stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling may get spots in the individual categories as well.
But they're up against the likes of Martin Scorsese's epic "Killers of the Flower Moon." We'll have to wait to find out who made the list later this morning. We'll be carrying it live later on.
NOBILO: We will.
[04:55:00]
But this is, I think, more entertaining.
FOSTER: This? Oh yes. Now to the worst films of the year, at least according to some people. The Golden Raspberry Awards, or the Razzies as they're called, have released their nominees with some Hollywood royalty in the line of fire.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HELEN MIRREN, ACTOR: Children stole the power of all the gods. This is very personal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Oscar winner Helen Mirren has been nominated for worst lead actress -- how dare they -- for her role in "Shazam! Fury of the Gods," which is also nominated for worst picture.
I haven't really heard of it, so that's probably part of the reason.
NOBILO: It was not as popular as the preceding "Shazam!" film, that must be said. I think Razzies are a bit of a badge of honor though.
But another film is receiving even more attention for its performance.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's fly, baby!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Brilliant.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: Sylvester Stallone's "Expend4bles" leads the pack with seven total nominations this year, including worst picture.
That category also includes "The Exorcist," "Believer," "Meg 2: The Trench," and the horror film "Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey."
FOSTER: Well, that should just win one for a bad title.
NOBILO: I mean, is it bad or is it kind of great on some level?
FOSTER: Do you want to see a horror movie with Winnie the Pooh?
NOBILO: No, I don't want to see horror movies at all, but I love those kind of bad action films where they put terrible one like this.
FOSTER: I was going to say, the Meg one I quite liked.
NOBILO: Yes, I want that kind of entertainment rather than gritty, depressing, phenomenal action.
FOSTER: Totally.
Thanks for joining us on CNN NEWSROOM, I'm Max Foster.
NOBILO: And I'm Bianca Nobilo. "CNN THIS MORNING" is up for you next. We will see you tomorrow.
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