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U.N.: At Least 9 Killed In Strike On Gaza Shelter; U.N.: 1.3 Million Displaced People Crowded Into Rafah; Israelis Push Creation Of "Buffer Zone" Around Gaza; Man Sentenced To Death For Mass Killing At Animation Studio; France Debates Bill To Enshrine Abortion In Constitution; Drought Forces Panama Canal to Limit Ship Transfers; Jon Stewart Returning to 'The Daily Show' as Part Time Host. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired January 25, 2024 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN HOST: Coming up on CNN, the mystery deepens over who or what was on board a Russian transport plane that was brought down just miles from the Ukrainian border.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These strikes are hitting protected installations.
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VAUSE: While Israel denies a U.N. building was hit by tank fire, the military offensive in southern Gaza ramps up, with civilians caught in the crossfire.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's really someone who's able to cut through the political noise.
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VAUSE: And he's back. Jon Stewart, the most trusted name in fake news, just in time for the 2024 presidential election.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN Newsroom with John Vause.
VAUSE: At this hour, there remain more questions than answers about a deadly plane crash in Russia, just miles from the border with Ukraine. We know the military transport plane came down in the Belgorod region. We cannot confirm Kremlin claims that all on board, 65 Ukrainian POWs, six crew members and three Russian officers were killed.
Images posted on social media show the four engine Ilyushin 76 plunging towards the ground, followed by a huge fireball erupting behind a number of buildings in the distance. Two Russian officials say the pilot changed course to avoid a nearby village.
Russian state media released images from the crash site showing debris scattered across a snowy field. Ukraine's military is not confirming it shot down the plane and does not know who was on board and is not saying if it did. But it does say it regards any Russian military aircraft approaching Belgorod as a legitimate target. And Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is now calling for an international investigation.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translation): It is obvious that the Russians are playing with the lives of Ukrainian prisoners, with the feelings of their relatives and the emotions of our society. It is necessary to establish clear facts as much as possible, given that the plane crash happened on Russian territory that is beyond our control.
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VAUSE: More details now on all of this from CNN's Fred Pleitgen reporting in from Eastern Ukraine.
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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): The final moments of the Russian military planes flight diving to the ground, seemingly out of control. After the impact, the jet explodes in a giant fireball.
I heard only two explosions, this eyewitness says. The first one was a dull bang, then an explosion, then big flames. Russian media showing debris scattered across a large area at the crash site. Authorities say no one on board survived, including 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war sick to be exchanged the same day. Moscow blaming Kyiv for the incident.
The Ukrainian side launched an air defense missile from the Kharkiv side, Russia's foreign minister said. It targeted the airplane and was a fatal strike.
The Ukrainians haven't denied shooting the plane down, but Kyiv says the Russians never told them they'd be flying the Ukrainian POWs to Belgorod, holding Moscow responsible for the loss of life and the failed exchange.
Landing a transport plane in a 30-kilometer combat zone cannot be safe. And in any case, should be discussed by both sides, because otherwise, it jeopardizes the entire exchange process, a military intelligence statement says. Based on this, we may be talking about planned and deliberate actions of the Russian Federation to destabilize the situation in Ukraine and weaken international support for our country.
Ukraine says Russia often uses the IL-76 cargo jets to transport missiles used to target Ukrainian cities and civilian infrastructure. A recent attack killing and wounding scores in Kharkiv in Ukraine's northeast.
When the missile attack started, I kneel down near the washing machine, this woman says. Look, something hit me here, glass, glass, but I'm alive. Some people died and my flat is gone.
The Ukrainians have vowed revenge for missile attacks like these and say, they consider Russian cargo planes transporting missiles to be legitimate targets.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN in Eastern Ukraine.
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VAUSE: Joining me now is Mark Hertling, CNN Military Analyst and a Former Commanding General of U.S. Army Europe and 7th Army. General Hertling, good to see you.
LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Good evening to you, John. Good to see you, too.
VAUSE: Thank you. Now, I want you to listen to a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry with the Kremlin's version of what happened.
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IGOR KONASHENKOV, RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON: The Ukrainian leadership knew very well that, according to established practice, today Ukrainian military servicemen set to be exchanged would be transported by military transport aircraft to the Belgorod airfield.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The Ukrainians say there was no advance notice from Moscow, adding "This may indicate deliberate actions by Russia aimed at endangering the lives and safety of prisoners. Landing a transport plane in a 30-kilometer combat zone cannot be safe, and in any case should be discussed by both sides, because otherwise it jeopardizes the entire exchange process."
So does this all just go down as a tragic loss of life during the fog of war, or is there more to it? And if that's the case, only one side wants an international investigation here, and that's Ukraine.
HERTLING: Yes. John, I think there's a whole lot more to this. You know, the initial reports from both sides have been muddled and muted. There's confusion about this entire incident. All indications to me. And, of course, I'm applying a little bias to this. But indications are that the Russians have used this plane for other purposes.
And, in fact, it was tracked the 24 hours before going into Iran picking up some type of equipment, passing over Egypt and the Red Sea and even into Syria before it came into the Belgorod airspace. In addition to that, I am unfamiliar, I don't think Russia has any -- has done any prisoner exchange using aircraft. They like to put the Ukrainians on a bus, ship them from wherever they are, make it as uncomfortable as possible as they're sending them back to Ukraine. So actually taking a transport plane and not filling it completely up, by the way, there were 63 allegedly prisoners or 65, I guess, and seven crew members on the said aircraft will hold over 200 passengers. 278 I think is the load. And having been on an IL-76, they're not going to waste that kind of aircraft on just that limited number of personnel.
VAUSE: Well, Russia's foreign minister insists this was in fact a prisoner exchange. Here he is with more details.
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SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): The Ukrainian prisoners of war were transported to the Belgorod region in order to conduct yet another swap, which was agreed between Moscow and Kyiv.
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VAUSE: We also have this from the Russian Defense Ministry, "The plane was destroyed by an anti-aircraft missile system deployed in the area of Liptsy in Ukraine's Kharkiv region, some 50 miles, 80 kilometers, from where the plane came down. It said radar equipment had detected the launches."
Now, 50 miles is beyond the range of most Ukrainian ground to air missile systems, which raises the question, where did the missile come from?
HERTLING: Well, I would say most, but not all. There are systems that Ukraine has, to include the Patriot, with their PAC 2 systems that can reach further than that. So, yes, it could have been a Patriot strike. Don't know where the IRIS launchers were. That's what Russia initially said, that it was either a Patriot or an IRIS.
But I'll say one more thing. It reminded me when I saw Lavrov talking. He talked about the prisoner exchange. Open sources also indicated the list of prisoners that Russia provided. Of those prisoners, 19 of them that were listed on the list that were allegedly on that plane were prisoners that had been released weeks ago.
So it was a list of names, but some of those had already been part of an exchange. So again, it seems to me there's a lot of indicators that this needs an investigation. Someone, an independent organization, needs to look into this crash, much like the MH17 crash back in 2014 that caused so much upheaval in Ukraine.
VAUSE: The U.S. Defense Secretary attended a meeting of allies Tuesday via video link and with funding from the United States for Ukraine on holding Congress. He made this appeal to allies.
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LLOYD AUSTIN, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: I urge this group to dig deep to provide Ukraine with more life-saving ground based air defense systems and interceptors.
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VAUSE: Clearly there remains a huge need for these air defense systems by the Ukrainians, but is there an impact on what the allies are willing to give, you know, after incidents like this plane being shot down, whether it was friendly fire, we don't know, and also the attack on a marketplace by a Ukrainian missile strike, which killed a number of civilians just a few days ago?
HERTLING: When you count the number of rockets, cruise missiles, aircraft and helicopters that the Ukrainians have claimed they've shot down, it runs in the thousands. And when you're talking about that, not every missile is going to have a hit. So you're talking about the expenditure of a massive amount of air defense weapon systems.
And what we're also suggesting is the allies have a limited source on the shelf beyond what they need for their own defenses in case of conflicts around the world. So what Secretary Austin was doing in the Ramstein conference was saying, hey, dig deeper, see what you can do, get your productions line working a little bit faster because that is in fact what the U.S. is attempting to do to provide more missile systems for Ukrainian air defense.
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VAUSE: Yes, good point to finish on, General. Good to see you. Thank you, sir.
HERTLING: Thank you, John. Appreciate it.
VAUSE: Well, as Israel intensifies its military offensive on Hamas militants in Gaza's second biggest city, Khan Younis, U.N. officials say one of their buildings being used as a shelter has been hit by tank fire, killing at least nine people. Thick black smoke was seen billowing from the building. A training center turned refuge for almost 1,000 displaced Palestinians.
But Israel says it was not responsible and has currently ruled out the incident was the result of an aerial or artillery strike by Israeli forces. And as suggested instead, the building may have been hit by Hamas.
Also in Khan Younis, Palestinian health officials report two hospitals and the surrounding areas currently besieged by Israeli forces and say those trying to flee those areas have come under fire from Israeli tanks and drones.
More now from CNN's Ben Wedeman.
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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With what little they can carry, they try to flee Khan Younis to safer ground. That ground doesn't exist in Gaza. Israeli forces, intensifying their offensive against Hamas, ordered civilians to leave the western side of the city, where three of the last few functioning hospitals in Gaza are located, and where thousands of people had taken shelter.
Another 800 were sheltering in a U.N. vocational training center, hit, according to the U.N., by two Israeli tank rounds.
THOMAS WHITE, DIRECTOR, UNRWA AFFAIRS: The reality is that these strikes are hitting protected installations, protected facilities. They're hitting facilities that are housing, sheltering civilians or, you know, where you have medical personnel attending to people who are wounded and injured and sick.
WEDEMAN (voice-over): This man managed to escape Khan Younis under shelling. He asks his children, have you eaten today? No, they respond.
Hovering over the agony of this war is this specter of famine, warns Michael Fakhri, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food.
WEDEMAN: How would you describe the food situation in Gaza at the moment?
MICHAEL FAKHRI, U.N. SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON THE RIGHT TO FOOD: Every single person in Gaza is hungry. So that means 2.2 million people are going hungry, a quarter of the population are starving, they're struggling to find food and drinkable water, and famine is imminent.
WEDEMAN (voice-over): Since October, Gaza has become a land of nomads, moving from place to place, desperate as the war moves further south.
More than 100 days I've been in the street, says Mohammed (ph). We don't know where to go. They say it's safe in one place, and then it's dangerous with shelling and shooting. We go to another place, and it's the same thing.
Hundreds of thousands have fled to and more are fleeing every day to Rafah on the Egyptian border, now crammed with more than 1 million displaced. There are a few spots left in the sand. The only place after that is the sea.
Ben Wedeman, CNN, reporting from Beirut.
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VAUSE: Joining me now is Yaakov Katz, a senior columnist at the Jerusalem Post and senior fellow at the Jewish People Policy Institute. Good to see you again.
YAAKOV KATZ, SENIOR COLUMNIST, JERUSALEM POST: Thank you, John.
VAUSE: OK, so the U.N. continues to insist Israeli tank fire hit that building in Khan Younis and say this is not the first time. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JAMES MCGOLDRICK, U.N. HUMANITARIAN COORDINATOR FOR THE PALESTINIAN TERRITORY: There have been a number of incidents over the last month or so which makes us wonder whether the deconfliction system itself is actually working to an optimal level. And this is yet another incident whereby a building which has been used for humanitarian purposes been -- seemed to have been damaged or struck.
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VAUSE: So Israel says the building was not hit by Israeli fire at least at this stage. But overall, as the death toll continues to climb once again, the Israeli military ramping up this operation in southern Gaza. So what happened to low intensity, more targeted combat operations? We seem to be returning to the early days of the ground offensive here with, you know, these sensitive sites being hit by hospitals, U.N. buildings, and, you know, a great number of civilians being trapped in the crossfire?
KATZ: You know, this is a live war zone, and wars are very difficult and complicated, but Israel has so far said specifically about this one incident, this U.N. compound that it wasn't its air or artillery forces that already ruled that out. It's checking and investigating whether to see if it was maybe someone in the ground forces as you raise that possibility of tank fire.
So Israel is looking into that. But it also hasn't ruled out the possibility of a Hamas errant rocket where we saw a number of times.
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And according to Israeli estimates, about almost a quarter of the rockets, if not more that are fired by Hamas and Islamic Jihad actually land prematurely inside the Gaza Strip. So that's always a possibility. We saw that happen with, for example, the hospital strike that Hamas blamed on Israel very early on in this war and was actually a rocket that had been fired by Hamas. And that was verified by the U.S. and other intelligence agencies.
So, we don't know, Israel's looking into it. But, again, this is a complicated war zone that is still ongoing and is going to see difficult situations.
VAUSE: It is an ongoing and complicated situation. So with that in mind, here's the Israeli Prime Minister speaking in Parliament, or the Knesset, on Wednesday.
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BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: There is not, nor will there be, any compromise on what affects the safeguarding of our existence and future for generations.
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VAUSE: So narrowing that down more specifically, that seems to include creating a buffer zone around Gaza, which is what, 21 Israeli soldiers were essentially doing when they were, you know, demolishing buildings and they were killed on Monday. You know, buffer zone, which Netanyahu and others believe is crucial to Israeli security, right?
KATZ: The buffer zone is essential because what we had up until October 7th were literally Palestinian homes inside Gaza that were up against adjacent the border fence. And from there, they were able within minutes to cross into the Israeli towns and carry out the massacre, that barbaric, monstrous massacre of October 7th, in which over 1,200 Israelis were murdered inside their homes and communities.
So to prevent that from happening, Israel is saying we have to create this buffer zone that pushes back any prospect of that happening. So Israel would have early intelligence, would be able to see if something like that is being launched once again above ground and be able to have enough time to scramble its forces and prevent that from happening.
You know, obviously, this is going to be very controversial because anything that sees a -- the raising of homes or the pushing back of civilian population is going to raise the ire of a lot of people around the world in the international community.
But this is meant to be able to provide security for Israel. Let's remember, Israel was the one that was attacked on October 7th. They're the ones who need to be able to continue to provide security for their citizens.
VAUSE: And with that in mind, I think you know what's coming next. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken laying down a marker on what is and is not acceptable. He's speaking Tuesday. Here he is.
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ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We've been very clear. Our opposition to the forced displacement of people about maintaining in effect the territorial integrity. We've been clear, we remain clear about not encroaching on its territory.
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VAUSE: All up, Gaza covers about 365 square kilometers at its widest point, 12 kilometers wide. So there's not a lot of buffer and buffer zone, which is why Arab neighbors and allies and as well as the U.S. are opposed to this idea when it comes to taking land away from Gaza itself.
You know, why not create -- is there wiggle room here for the Israeli government? Because you constantly say this is a war with Hamas, not with the Palestinian people of Gaza. So why the Palestinian people of Gaza? Why should they continue to suffer for what Hamas has done? Can there be negotiation over any of this?
KATZ: John, Israel is facing bad options, right? And I think we all recognize that. One option, for example, which I think no one wants is for Israel to remain inside Gaza. To reoccupy Gaza. Israel pulled out in 2005 to not to have to go back. Do we want Israel to stay in there? Israel doesn't want to. I think no one in the international community, and of course the Palestinians of Gaza, don't want Israel to be there.
Is there a possibility of some multinational force to come in? I wish, but when I look around and I look at the borders, I don't see Egyptians lining up, I don't see Saudis lining up, I don't see Americans lining up. No one wants to come and take over the Gaza Strip.
Israel has to be able to provide for the security of its citizens. So in absence of reoccupying Gaza and having Israeli soldiers inside that border zone, this is the next best option that is meant to provide security for Israelis and at the same time not have to see a permanent presence inside the Gaza Strip, as I think no one wants on the international and on the domestic stage.
This is not simple and the bad options and because of the barbaric attack of October 7th, Israel doesn't have good options here. It has to do the best that it can.
VAUSE: Yaakov, as always, thank you for being with us. Really appreciate your time.
KATZ: Thank you.
VAUSE: Yaakov Katz there in Jerusalem. Take care.
We'll take a break. When we come back, details from Tokyo on the death sentence just handed down by a Japanese court over one of the worst mass killings in decades.
Also, the right to an abortion could soon be enshrined in France's constitution. What would be a world first.
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VAUSE: Japanese court has sentenced Shinji Aoba to death after he was found guilty of one of the worst mass killings in nearly two decades. The 45-year-old set fire to the renowned animation studio in Kyoto back in 2019. 36 people were killed, dozens more were hurt. The judge determined the defendant was neither insane nor mentally incompetent at the time of the attack.
CNN's Hanako Montgomery is following this live for us. She joins us now from Tokyo. This has been a long time coming, this sentence. So, what was being the reaction there in Japan given that this was one of the worst mass killings the country have seen?
HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Good morning, John. You know, the reaction here in Japan as you mentioned, it's kind of very much expected. We were expecting Shinji Aoba to get the death penalty even though this was really a key point of contention throughout the entire case. We saw that the defense and Aoba himself argued that he wasn't mentally competent enough to hold full criminal responsibility for his actions. Aoba himself admitted that after committing the arson attack on Kyoto Animation, that he did it because he believed that the animation studio plagiarized his work. But, however, they argued that he should not be held criminally responsible, that he should not receive the death penalty. Of course, the prosecution, on the other hand, was seeking a very different sentence.
Since the beginning of this trial in September, they argued that he should be getting the death penalty. They said that even if he were delusional about Kyoto Animation stealing his ideas, that he should be held responsible for his actions. As we saw today, the judge has sided with the prosecution.
In the ruling, the judge said, and I quote, "The loss of 36 people is too serious and tragic. In an instant, they were engulfed in flames and smoke, and before they had time to escape, they fell on top of each other, or had difficulty breathing due to intense heat."
So really just illustrating how tragic and how difficult these last moments were for many of the victims inside. And as we know, 36 people died, 32 others were injured. Most of the people inside were young people. They were young animators who had hopes and dreams of becoming very successful creators. Of course, that was cut short.
Aoba himself also suffered severe damages and burns because of this arson attack. As we saw this morning, he was wheeled into the courtroom because he can actually no longer walk.
Now, the significance of the case is also due to the location of where it happened. Kyoto Animation is a beloved animation studio. They've made a number of notable work since 1981, one of which includes K-On!, which is something that many viewers, many fans watched nationwide across the globe.
So when this case happened, I mean, just an outpour of grief and loss for the Kyoto Animation Studio and for many of the victims who were lost due to this case, John.
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VAUSE: Hanako Montgomery there in Tokyo live for us. We appreciate the update. Thank you.
Well, Argentina's new president facing growing opposition to his sweeping economic reforms. On Wednesday, labor unions held a nationwide strike. Javier Milei's reforms include spending cuts as well as scrapping regulations for businesses and protections for consumers, as well as privatization of public companies.
Mr. Milei has made it a priority to take Argentina's inflation and try and bring it under control. Some Milei's reform have been put on hold by the courts, while others are slowly making their way through Congress.
To France now where debate is ongoing whether to make abortion any permanent right. Wednesday, French lawmakers discussed a bill which would enshrine a woman's right to an abortion in France's constitution. The measure is backed by President Emmanuel Macron, who recently promised that, quote, "Women's freedom to have an abortion will be irreversible."
CNN's Melissa Bell is in Paris with more on the debate.
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ALL: My country my voice. My country my voice.
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A heartfelt cry on the streets of France just days before the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Roe vs. Wade in the summer of 2022. A ruling that was to impact women in the United States but reverberate around the globe.
SARAH DUROCHER, PLANNING FAMILIAL (through translator): With what happened in the U.S., there was a strong reaction in France by politicians. Several laws were proposed and the Prime Minister came to see us here at family planning to tell us how worried she was about the right to abortion.
BELL (voice-over): A right as hard won in France as it was elsewhere. The procedure only legalized in 1975 after a battle led by the lawmaker and then health minister Simone Veil, a woman speaking to a parliament of men.
SIMONE VEIL, THEN-FRENCH HEALTH MINISTER (through translator): This is an injustice that must be stopped.
BELL (voice-over): Now France is looking to go further, making abortion a constitutional right.
EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT (through translator): This will enshrine the freedom of women to choose abortion and to be a solemn guarantee that nothing will ever limit or abolish this right because it will have become irreversible.
BELL (voice-over): Among those supporting the move, the singer Barbara Pravi. Her own experience of abortion at 17, so traumatic that she wrote a song about it.
BARBARA PRAVI, SINGER/SONGWRITER: I felt very alone because the woman who took me wasn't very good actually. She was very judgeful. Like, she was like, how old are you? Why are you here? You're not ashamed.
BELL: What difference do you think it'll make to have it inscribed in the constitution?
PRAVI: Having the right to do abortion cannot be like a condition of politics, you know. It has to be something we have and no discussion.
BELL (voice-over): Recent polls suggest that over 80 percent of the French population supports safeguarding abortion rights, but France too has its anti-abortion movement, with both sides taking to the streets over the weekend. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm really against it. And for the doctors practicing it, for the ladies living it, for the babies dying, and even for the fathers.
BELL (voice-over): But for those in favor of the change, it's about putting an end to the argument once and for all.
PRAVI: If you put something in the constitution, it automatically changed people's minds. It could take maybe years, like five, six, seven, maybe 10 years, but I know that my children will never think about the question about abortion.
BELL (voice-over): Barbara says she was able to put her loneliness and shame into song, but believes that France's constitutional change might help women in the future to feel neither.
Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: A severe drought has gripped the Amazon Basin for months now. When we come back, what's causing this environmental disaster and the impact on the region.
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VAUSE: The U.S. Supreme Court says it won't stop the execution, using nitrogen gas, of a death row inmate in Alabama.
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Kenneth Smith is due to be executed during a 30-hour window, starting about now for his part in the 1988 murder for hire of a woman on the orders of her husband.
Smith's attorney has asked the Supreme Court to pause the execution by nitrogen gas, because it would be -- it would amount to cruel and unusual punishment.
Protesters have gathered at the state capital building, urging officials to stop the execution. Some experts are concerned this new method could lead to excessive pain or even torture.
Execution by nitrogen hypoxia is a method approved only in Alabama, Oklahoma, and Mississippi. So far, none have used it.
Boeing 737 MAX 9 may soon be back in the air, possibly by this weekend for at least two U.S. airlines. Aviation regulators cleared the plane to return to service Wednesday, but only after passing specific inspections.
The planes were grounded after a door plug blew off in midflight on an Alaska Airlines jet earlier this month. Boeing CEO met with U.S. lawmakers Wednesday, insisting his company is not cutting corners on safety.
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DAVE CALHOUN, BOEING CEO: We need flight-safe planes. We don't put airplanes in the air that we don't have 100 percent confidence in.
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VAUSE: Despite the reassurance, the U.S. Senate announced a new investigation into Boeing's safety record, and regulators will not approve any expansion in Boeing's 737 MAX production until the company's quality control issues are resolved.
A new study finds the ongoing drought in the Amazon basin was made much more likely and more intense because of human-caused climate change. Low rainfall and persistent high temperatures have affected the region since June, leaving rivers at their lowest levels in more than a century, cutting people off from vital supplies and devastating crops and animals.
Scientists from the World Weather Attribution Initiative say El Nino played a role, but climate change had the biggest influence on the drought overall.
The drought in Central and South America is causing a bottleneck at the Panama Canal. It's already under strain because of additional ships avoiding the violence and instability in the Red Sea.
CNN's Patrick Oppmann reports many commercial ships now cannot rely on either waterway.
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PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As the Red Sea crisis forces cargo vessels to find alternative shipping routes, environmental threats are limiting the use of the Panama Canal, creating a complicated situation for maritime trade.
A severe ongoing drought is causing dangerously low water levels in the canal.
Some ocean carriers had chosen to reroute through the Suez Canal, which connects the Mediterranean to the Red Sea before Houthi attacks on commercial vessels in that region escalated.
But now many ships can't rely on either waterway, leading to shipping delays and price hikes.
ILYA ESPINO DE MAROTTA, PANAMA CANAL DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR (through translator): We have been forced to decrease by 24 vessels a day from the usual 36 or 38 in order to guarantee 44 feet depth. And we will keep this number of vessels until the the end of the summer.
OPPMANN (voice-over): The 80-kilometer shipping route connects the Pacific and Atlantic oceans but uses freshwater from surrounding lakes to fill its many locks. The U.S., China and Japan frequent the waterway for maritime trade. But an unfavorable combination of El Nino and global warming is
hurting the Panama Canal like never before, Espino says. 2023 was the second driest year for the waterway in its 110-year history.
Water use mitigation efforts, including treatment plans and saving tanks, have proven not to be enough.
El Nino now projected to persist until sometime between April and June, according to the National Weather Service.
ESPINO (through translator): We are realizing that, in a very, very dry year, these measures are not enough. So we have to look for an additional solution.
OPPMANN (voice-over): One idea, a dam on Rio Indio that would need approval from a government that's now in an election year, a plan that would impact more than 2,000 Rio Indio residents.
As a temporary solution, global shipping giant Maersk is using rail transport for some shipments to reduce its footprint through the water route.
But until drought no longer plagues the Panama Canal and violence eases in the Red Sea, this perfect storm of maritime trouble has global manufacturers and shipping companies at an impasse.
Patrick Oppmann, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Buckle up, Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Just in time for the 2024 U.S. election, Jon Stewart turns to "The Daily Show."
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VAUSE: This is the view from high above satellite images of the demolition of what was known as the Arch of Reunification in Pyongyang.
The late leader Kim Jong-il had the nine-story structure built in 2001, a sign of hope for future reconciliation with South Korea, but now his son, Kim Jong-un, has made clear that's no longer the goal, calling his country's constitution to redefine South Korea as a permanent enemy. And so the arch is gone.
The comedian is back. Jon Stewart returning to "The Daily Show" after nearly a decade away. Known for his cutting criticism of politicians, he'll take part-time duty hosting as the U.S. prepares
for this year's presidential election.
CNN's Brian Todd has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JON STEWART, COMEDIAN: We'll be right back. BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Late-night viewers, brace yourselves for the return of Jon Stewart. Just in time for this year's presidential race, the 61-year-old comedian returns to his former program, "The Daily Show" on Comedy Central, at least every Monday.
He'll executive produce the show and work with a rotating lineup of hosts for the rest of the week.
After nearly nine years away, viewers will once again experience Stewart's left-leaning brand of cutting humor about politics, corporate America, and the news media.
ERIK WEMPLE, "WASHINGTON POST" MEDIA CRITIC: I think his impact will be pretty big as far as one particular entity goes, he's always been able to jump on the absurd and really pound it and pound it.
TODD (voice-over): For 16 years as host of "The Daily Show," Stewart reached an audience beyond just political junkies.
WEMPLE: Everybody watched. Everybody tuned in. And a lot of people, especially young people, learned their news from "The Daily Show." He was an enormous force in American society.
TODD (voice-over): Increasingly, Stewart wore his politics on his sleeve, gravitating toward interviews with figures like senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.
[00:40:07]
STEWART: They've told you nothing!
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA): It's -- it's not bad exactly.
TODD (voice-over): Stewart left the show in 2015 at the height of Donald Trump's rollicking first presidential campaign.
STEWART: What the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) is wrong with him. It is hard to get mad at Donald Trump for saying stupid things. In the same way, you don't get mad at a monkey when he throws poopy at you at the zoo.
TODD (voice-over): Stewart turned to other projects, supporting 911 first responders; a movie project; and a short-lived show on Apple streaming service, while the show he once helmed lost much of its viewership and its voice.
WEMPLE: In terms of a ratings vehicle, which is how a lot of television execs keep score, it dropped a lot.
TODD (voice-over): Now, many Democrats are gleeful over the prospect of Stewart's potential broadsides aimed at the presumptive Republican nominee.
MARIA CARDONA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Donald Trump is going to give Jon Stewart so much golden material that the Joe Biden campaign won't be able to put a value on it.
STEWART: Whoa, Joe Biden.
TODD (voice-over): But Biden could be a big target, as well.
WEMPLE: People should remember that Stewart wasn't afraid to criticize both sides in his monologues, in his routines.
TODD: Media and political analysts say Donald Trump and his campaign will very likely do their own deep dive on Jon Stewart. Try to dig up some dirt on them and some punchlines of their own to hit back at the comedian, ramping up the sheer entertainment of this campaign to new levels.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Now to brewing tensions in the special relationship between the U.S. and the U.K. over Britain's national drink, a cup of tea.
When a U.S. scientist wrote a book over how to make the perfect cuppa, she crossed the line, recommending a tiny pinch of salt to block the perception of bitterness of the tea.
The suggestion has absolutely baffled and horrified the British public, as it should. TV hosts aren't afraid to fire back.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think the fact is, she's an American in her cup of tea.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Which by definition means she's not an expert.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The U.S. embassy in London had this response: "We want to ensure the good people of the U.K. that the unthinkable notion of adding salt to Britain's national drink is not official United States policy. And never will be. The U.S. embassy will continue to make tea in the proper way -- by microwaving it."
Those clearly are fighting words. Don't microwave it.
I'm John Vause, back at the top of the hour on CNN. But first, WORLD SPORT starts after the break. See you in 18 minutes.
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