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U.N. Officer Says Gaza Residents Are Starving, Famine Imminent; IDF Denies Targeting Civilians, Says War is Against Hamas, Not People of Gaza; Erdogan, Raisi Agree to Avoid Steps That Would Further Threaten the Security and Stability of Middle East; Study Shows That Climate Change Made Amazon Drought 30x More Likely; Drought Forces Panama Canal to Limit Ship Transfers; North Korea's Kim Jong Un Orders Demolition of Reunification Arch; FAA Moves to Allow Boeing 737 Max 9 to Return to the Skies; Jon Stewart Returning to "The Daily Show" as Part Time Host. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired January 25, 2024 - 02:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:00:19]

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

Just ahead, a Russian military plane goes down near the Ukrainian border. But exactly who was on board and what caused the crash is still in dispute.

A U.N. shelter where hundreds were seeking refuge comes under fire in Gaza, leaving several dead and many more wounded.

And a severe drought has gripped the Amazon basin for months now, what's causing this environmental disaster and the impact on the region.

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

CHURCH: Thanks for joining us, Ukraine is calling for an international investigation into a deadly plane crash in Russia near its border with Ukraine. Moscow is accusing Kyiv of a terrorist act by downing the military plane in Belgorod region.

Russia claimed 74 people were onboard, including 65 Ukrainian soldiers being transported for a prisoner swap, and all of them were killed in the crash.

And you can see here the plane hurtling towards the ground before it erupts in a ball of fire behind some buildings. Ukraine says it regards any Russian military aircraft approaching Belgorod as legitimate targets, but is not confirming if it shot down the plane.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): It is obvious that the Russians are playing with the lives of Ukrainian prisoners with the feelings that 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: CNN's Fred Pleitgen has details now from eastern Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

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 onboard survived including 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war set 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.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Joining me now from Brisbane to discuss, retired Major General Mick Ryan of the Australian Army. He's also the author of War Transformed: The Future of 21st Century Great Power Competition and Conflict. Thank you so much for joining us.

MAJ. GEN. MICK RYAN (RET.), AUSTRALIAN ARMY: Thanks, Rosemary.

CHURCH: So, Russia was accusing Ukraine of shooting down one of its military planes in the Belgorod region near the Ukrainian border and claims 65 Ukrainian prisoners were on board on route to a prisoner swap. But Ukraine says Russia did not request safe passage for that plane, and so far has not taken responsibility for the crash. What is your reading of this incident?

[02:05:04]

RYAN: Well, there's some big questions that remain to be answered. You know, if it was shot down, was it the Ukrainians or accidentally the Russians? And what was actually onboard this aircraft just because the Russians have said they have POWs there, I don't think we can take them at face value.

CHURCH: So, Ukrainian officials say Russia deliberately compromised the safety of the prisoners onboard that plane to destabilize and weaken Ukraine's international support. Do you think that's what's going on here? And if it is, will that work for Russia, do you think?

RYAN: I think it's unlikely to work for Russia internationally, but domestically is a different case. I think Putin will be using this in the build up to his March election to provide further evidence to continue the war against Ukraine.

CHURCH: And Ukraine's President Zelenskyy says Russia is playing with the lives of POWs, but at the same time, could not confirm the 65 Ukrainian prisoners were actually on board that plane. How likely is it that they were do you think? And who's at fault here, if they were?

RYAN: Well, it's interesting messaging coming out of Ukrainians. I haven't categorically denied there were POWs on board. They've talked about putting them at risk. So, possibly, they could have but we just don't know.

At the end of the day, that was a legitimate target by the Ukrainian, it was a military aircraft that was not declared as a transport for medical or POWs. So the Russians are definitely to blame here in either way.

CHURCH: Does this have President Putin's fingerprints all over it? I mean, is this a possible setup to make Ukraine look bad?

RYAN: It could be and it's always easy to see big conspiracies in here. But I think the simplest answer, this is probably a great big bureaucratic stuffer by the Russians to change the method of transport at the last moment and potentially being caught out by it. But there's a lot of things we just don't know about this question.

CHURCH: And how does this tragic incident impact the war at this juncture? And how would you assess Ukraine's progress so far in the war?

RYAN: Well, it's certainly if they weren't POWs on board, this is a tragedy for their families and for the Ukrainian people. And given the problems with funding at the U.S. Congress and the E.U. issue is more bad news.

Overall, the Russians appear to have momentum and the initiative they're attacking in the east and in the south at the moment. They're not taking a lot of ground, but they are making some progress in those attacks.

So, the Ukrainians are under pressure from the strategic front for funding the war, but also on the battlefield.

CHURCH: Do you see any off ramp here for peace talks? Or are they further away than ever before do you think?

RYAN: I don't see any prospect of them. The Russians have made very clear with the statements of Putin and Lavrov just in the last few weeks that they retained their maximalist objectives for the subjugation of Ukraine. They are keen to progress the war, they think they can wait out the West, and they'll continue to do so I believe.

CHURCH: Mick Ryan, we thank you for joining us and for your analysis as always, appreciate it.

RYAN: Thank you.

CHURCH: Slovakia's prime minister is mending fences with Ukraine after saying that Kyiv may have to cede some territory to Russia.

Prime Minister Robert Fico visited Ukraine on Wednesday and met with his Ukrainian counterpart. Ukraine later said they reached agreement on a number of issues despite their differences.

The statement said Slovakia will support sending more E.U. money to Ukraine, and it will allow Kyiv to buy weapons and equipment from Slovak companies. Mr. Fico is a pro-Kremlin leader who recently irritated Kyiv by saying it's unrealistic to expect Russia to leave all occupied territories in Ukraine.

U.N. officials report at least nine people are dead, 75 injured by Israeli tank fire on a shelter for refugees in southern Gaza. Video shows smoke billowing from the Khan Yunis Training Center, where the U.N. says one of the buildings was housing 800 people displaced by the fighting.

One official says safe access to and from the center has been denied for several days. Israel says it has currently ruled out the incident was the result of an aerial or artillery strike by its forces. It says the strike may have been Hamas fire. Israel has intensified its military offensive in and around Khan Yunis. Palestinian officials and paramedics report Israeli tanks and drones

firing at people trying to flee the area around two besieged hospitals. Many of those forced from their homes have fled to Rafah which the U.N. now says is crowded with 1.3 million displaced people.

[02:10:13]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We escaped death, I am not lying to you. Shrapnels were by the door, we escaped death. God helped us yesterday. The house was open. The bullets were above us. There are those who say take this road. Others say take the other road. There are those who say the Israelis are there. This is how we reached here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: In Central Gaza, a rare site outside the al-Aqsa martyrs hospital.

Those are Palestinian women and children chanting stop the war and holding placards that read, free the hostages. But women say their protest is not political and is not aimed against Hamas. But they say conditions are terrible. Their families are separated and they just want to return to their homes in the north, even if it means living in tents.

Protest to free the hostages also taking place in Tel Aviv. An Israeli officials tells CNN that contrary to reports, there's no concrete Israel-Hamas deal that has reached the negotiating table, the official says indirect talks are ongoing but there's still a long way to go before a deal is reached.

Israel's security cabinet is expected to discuss various truce and hostage proposals when it meets in the coming hours.

So, let's bring in journalist Elliott Gotkine following developments live for us from London. Good morning to you, Elliott.

So, what is the latest on that deadly strike on a U.N. shelter in Khan Yunis?

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: Rosemary, in peacetime this was a vocational training center run by UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the main U.N. body that helps Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

So, it was designed to help train young people to learn the skills they need to get better jobs. And overall in this complex, which at the start of the war on October 7th, in the wake of the Hamas terrorist attacks was converted into a shelter for displaced Palestinians.

Overall, in this complex, there are tens of thousands of Palestinians who have been forced to move from elsewhere in the Gaza Strip taking shelter. Now in this specific building, which was a carpentry workshop, there

were 800 people or so taking shelter. And as you say, the latest figures that we have from UNRWA is that nine people were killed, at least nine people killed and more than 75 injured. And we've seen those scenes of thick black smoke hanging over that building after the strikes on the building created a fire.

Now, we've heard from the IDF saying that it doesn't currently believe that these were strikes from either airstrikes or artillery strikes, and it is carrying out a thorough investigation. And it doesn't rule out the possibility that this could have happened or this could have been caused by Hamas itself.

Now, we've seen more broadly speaking in this war that Israel always maintains, that it doesn't deliberately target protective facilities, whether there are U.N. facilities or whether they're hospitals, but of course, unless they feel that there are perhaps clear and present dangers, threats, or militant activity happening in and around.

And certainly over the past two days, from what Thomas White, the director of UNRWA in the Gaza Strip has been saying there's been intense fighting in this particular part of Khan Yunis, that there was crossfire in his words, and that that is when this particular building was struck.

Clearly, there are more details to come. And we will wait to see what the IDF says in terms of its investigation.

But certainly, if Thomas White is correct and that it was tank fire, that presumably would be coming from Israeli tanks.

But as I say, we are waiting for Israel to come out with the conclusions of this thorough review, which it says it's now undertaking, Rosemary.

CHURCH: All right. Our thanks to Elliott Gotkine joining us live from London.

It was one of Japan's deadliest crimes and now the man responsible for setting a famous animation studio on fire has learned his fate. We're live in Tokyo.

Plus, France could become the first country in the world to include the right to an abortion in its constitution. Details from Paris after the break.

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[02:16:24]

CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. Authorities in China say a building fire that killed at least 39 people on Wednesday was caused during the improper renovation of a cold storage unit. That is according to Chinese state media.

Video from the scene and the city of Xinyu in the country's south east shows smoke pouring out of the building as some people inside jumped to safety.

Workers were refurbishing and the basement area when the fire broke out and spread to other floors. The workers were reportedly using fire illegally in some way, which officials did not explain. Authorities are holding 12 people in connection to the fire.

A Japanese man found guilty of carrying out the country's worst mass killing in nearly two decades has been sentenced to death. The 45- year-old defendant set fire to a renowned animation studio in Kyoto back in 2019. While dozens of people were still inside, 36 were killed with many others wounded.

Shinji Aoba was charged with murder and arson after telling police his work had been plagiarized, and that he used gasoline to set fire to the studio. The judge determined the defendant was neither insane nor mentally incompetent at the time of the attack.

Argentina's new president is facing massive pushback on the streets against his sweeping economic reforms. On Wednesday, the nation's labor unions held a nationwide strike against the policies pushed by President Javier Milei. They include spending cuts and ending some protections for businesses and consumers while making it easier to privatize public companies.

Mr. Milei has made it his priority to tame Argentina's skyrocketing inflation. This is how some protesters reacted to his proposals.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTA ALGANARAZ, RETIREE (through translator): It is a national disgrace what we Argentinians are going through, a country that has everything, we have everything. We lack nothing and yet we lack everything.

FABIAN FARQUETTE, HISTORY PROFESSOR (through translator): It is important to participate because it is a way to express that the people are present. Democracy is not a statistic on Election Day. Democracy is every day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Some of Mr. Milei's reforms have been put on hold by the courts, while others are slowly making their way through Congress.

France is now debating whether to make abortion a permanent right. On Wednesday, French lawmakers discussed a bill that 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, "Women's freedom to have an abortion will be irreversible".

CNN's Melissa Bell is in Paris with more on France's abortion debate.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

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 ministers Simone Veil, a woman speaking to a parliament of men.

[02:20:12]

SIMONE VEIL, FORMER FRANCE HEALTH MINISTER (through translator): This is an injustice that must be solved.

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 Barbra Pravi, her own experience of abortion at 17 is so traumatic that she wrote a song about it.

BARBRA PRAVI, SINGER/SONGWRITER: I felt very alone because the woman who took me was 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 baby's 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 mind. 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)

CHURCH: Time for a short break. When we come back, the threat of famine hangs over Gaza. We will speak with a U.N. official who says every single person in the territory is hungry.

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[02:25:41]

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Israel is denying responsibility for a strike that killed nine people at a shelter for refugees in Gaza. The U.N. says one of the buildings in the Khan Yunis Training Center housing 800 people was hit by Israeli tank fire, but the IDF says it has currently ruled out that the incident was the result of aerial or artillery fire from its forces.

The Israeli military has intensified its campaign in and around Khan Yunis in the past week. Maintaining there are Hamas militants located in hospitals in the area. The U.N. says the largest functioning hospital in the city will soon be forced to close down.

The humanitarian situation in Gaza seems to worsen by the day, with one U.N. official saying every single person in the territory is hungry. Aid groups say the fighting and communication blackouts have prevented them from safely delivering food. And more than half a million people are facing catastrophic hunger.

The city of Rafah near the border with Egypt is now housing more than a million displaced people and communicable diseases are spreading with respiratory infections and jaundice on the rise.

Michael Fakhri is the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food. He joins me now from New York appreciate you being with us.

MICHAEL FAKHRI, U.N. SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON THE RIGHT TO FOOD: It's a pleasure, Rosemary. Thank you.

CHURCH: So, more than 100 days into Israel's war with Hamas, you and other U.N. human rights experts say Israel is destroying Gaza's food system and weaponizing food. How is Israel doing this and why given Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists his mission is to wipe out Hamas, not Palestinian civilians?

FAKHRI: Well, first, let's see what's going on with the Palestinian people. Every single person in Gaza is hungry. One quarter of the population is starving and famine is imminent. We've never seen a population go hungry so quickly and so completely.

And the reason is, first of all humanitarian aid is being blocked. It's not reaching people in Gaza quickly enough, and to an adequate amount, it's just trickling in.

Second, to follow up on your point, the food system is being destroyed. What we know is that Israel has destroyed over 22 percent of agricultural land in northern Gaza. And as Israeli forces moves south, they're just throwing more and more agricultural land, greenhouses in orchards. 70 percent of fisher boats have been destroyed, so people don't have access to the sea.

And this is a long standing problem. This is -- there was a 16 year blockade. So, Gazans were experiencing food insecurity before the war. So, it was already a precarious situation.

And civic infrastructure has been destroyed. People don't have the necessities of life, their homes are destroyed, hospitals are destroyed. All civil infrastructure is being destroyed.

And you combine all of this and this is why we have this profound risk of famine in a way that we haven't seen before.

CHURCH: And you posted about all of this on X, formerly known as Twitter. But you went further, didn't you, saying this? I just want to read this portion out. Israel is intentionally imposing a high rate of disease, prolonged malnutrition, dehydration and starvation by destroying civilian infrastructure.

Now, you are suggesting that Israel is intentionally targeting civilians with disease and starvation go and beyond Israel stated military goal of wiping out Hamas, that's a serious allegation which Israel denies. But what evidence do you have to support your claim that this is intentional?

FAKHRI: On October 9th, the Israeli Defense Minister announced that Israel was going to impose a total siege against Gaza. And that imposed a total siege against Gaza. So, Israel is laying out its intent in very clear terms.

Moreover, Israel has used dehumanizing terms calling Palestinian animals.

[02:30:00]

So, the language and the rhetoric and the statements from palate -- from Israeli officials from the highest levels, but all the way down, makes their intent very clear, first of all. Second, if you look at the proportion, the proportionality of Israel's attack, so their stated aim, military intent, is to wipe out Hamas, which is not a very clear aim in the first place.

But let's look on the ground, what's been happening, the destruction is disproportionate against any military aim. So this degree of destruction, this degree of denial of humanitarian aid, it doesn't match any legitimate political or military intent, which is why we are in this humanitarian crisis.

CHURCH: So, that takes us to the next step and the next question, what should the international community be doing right now to prevent this war that is killing mostly women, children, and civilian men?

FAKHRI: As we saw on the debates at the Security Council, what is necessary is an immediate ceasefire and the unconditional entrance of humanitarian aid. So, what needs to be done is clear. How this needs to be done is still unclear. It -- we saw that politics did not move forward at the Security Council. We've seen the General Assembly push things forward. I think we're at this stage now, in which the international community has to put real pressure on Israel, so that we don't -- so that Palestinian people don't experience a famine.

CHURCH: Michael Fakhri, thank you so much for talking with us. We appreciate your perspective on this matter.

FAKHRI: Thank you very much.

CHURCH: U.S. military officials say Houthi rebels in Yemen fired three ballistic missiles at commercial ships operating around the Red Sea on Wednesday. U.S. central command says a nearby navy ship shot down two of them, and the third missile landed in the water. They say the missiles were aimed at a U.S. flagged, owned and operated container ship in the Gulf of Aden. No one was injured and the ship was not damaged. But the Iran-backed Houthis say they engage with a number of U.S. warships and claimed to inflict a direct hit on a commercial vessel.

The leaders of Iran and Turkey agreed to avoid any action that might jeopardize the stability of the Middle East. During a meeting in Ankara on Wednesday, Turkey has publicly expressed its desire for an end to the war in Gaza and prevent the conflict from spreading. Iran, however, has taken a different course. CNN's Scott McLean has more now from Istanbul.

SCOTT MCLEAN. CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The Iranian president's long-awaited visit to Turkey comes at a time when the region is in desperate need of dialog. Ebrahim Raisi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met in Ankara and agreed to strengthen economic ties, but it seems it is tougher to find consensus on what to do about the volatile situation in the region.

Both men are united in their very tough criticism of Israel, but while Turkey has aimed to prevent conflict from spreading across the Middle East, Iran's proxies in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen have used the war in Gaza as a chance to strike at Israeli and American targets in the area, even commercial shipping lanes. President Erdogan said the pair agreed on the need to end the war in Gaza and find a lasting peace, and agreed to avoid steps that further threaten the stability of the region. Though what that looks like in practice is far from clear.

The meeting comes at a time when Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini has called on Muslim countries to cut off political and economic ties with Israel, something that Turkey has given no indication that it is prepared to do. After the meeting with Erdogan, Raisi himself said that the primary issue of the Islamic world is the Palestinian issue, and Muslim countries need to do more.

Scott McLean, CNN, Istanbul.

CHURCH: A new study finds the ongoing drought in the Amazon Basin was made much more likely and more intense due to 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.

While 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 of the Red Sea route. CNN's Patrick Oppmann reports many commercial ships can no longer rely on either waterway.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

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.

[02:35:00]

OPPMANN (voice-over): A severe ongoing drought is causing dangerously- low water levels in the canal. So, motion 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 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 plants 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 DE MAROTTA (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 (inaudible) that would need approval from a government that's now in an election year. A plan that would impact more than 2,000 (inaudible) 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)

CHURCH: Boeing's beleaguered 737 Max 9 jets may be back in the air as early as this weekend, but that doesn't signal the end of trouble for Boeing. More on that in just a moment.

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CHURCH: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has destroyed part of his father's legacy. These are satellite images showing the demolition of what was known as the "Arch of Reunification" in Pyongyang. Late leader Kim Jong Il had the nine-storey structure built back in 2001 as a sign of hope for future reconciliation with South Korea. But earlier this month, Kim Jong Un made it clear that's no longer the goal, calling for his country's constitution to redefine South Korea as a permanent enemy.

[02:40:00]

CHURCH: Two U.S. airlines say some of their Boeing 737 Max 9 planes could be back in the skies this weekend. On Wednesday, aviation regulators cleared the way for the planes to return to service if they pass a set of inspections. The planes have been grounded since a door plug blew off midflight on an Alaska Airlines jet earlier this month. It left a hole in the plane's fuselage, the size of a refrigerator, but the pilot still managed to land the plane safely. Boeing's CEO met with U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday and said his company is not cutting corners on safety.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVE CALHOUN, BOEING CEO: (Inaudible) airplanes in the air that we don't have a 100 percent confidence in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: But that is not the end of the problem for Boeing. The U.S. Senate announced a new investigation into the company's safety record and the aviation regulators say they will not approve any expansion in Boeing 737 Max production until the company's quality control issues are resolved.

Comedian Jon Stewart is returning to "The Daily Show" after nearly a decade away. Known for his cutting criticism of politicians, Stewart will take on part-time hosting as the U.S. prepares for this year's presidential election. He will also serve as executive producer of the show, which is on Comedy Central. Stewart previously hosted "The Daily Show" from 1999 to 2015 and viewership has not been the same since.

During his time away, he focused on activism for victims of 9/11 and U.S. veterans, and hosted a show on Apple TV+ for two seasons, before it ended last year.

Well, tensions are brewing in the special relationship between the U.S. and the U.K. over Britain's national drink, tea. It comes after a U.S. scientist wrote a book on what she believes will create the perfect kappa. She says you need to add a tiny pinch of salt to block the perception of bitterness. Now, this suggestion has absolutely baffled and horrified the British public and TV hosts are not afraid to fire back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think the fact is, she's an American making a cup of tea. (LAUGH)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Which by definition means she's not an expert.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Ooh, cutting. Well, the U.S. Embassy in the U.K. was quick to respond saying, we want to ensure the good people of the U.K. that the unthinkable motion 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. And those, clearly, are fighting words.

Well, thank you so much for joining us this hour. I'm Rosemary Church. "World Sport" is up next, then I will be back in 15 minutes with more "CNN Newsroom". Do stick around.

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