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CNN International: Israel Detail UNRWA Workers' Alleged Role in October 7 Attacks; Biden Pledges to Shut Down Border in Stunning Political Shift; LGBTQ+ People in Nigeria Targeted by Dating Apps; Russian Skater Kamila Valieva Banned for 4 Years. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired January 30, 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. If you're just joining us, let me bring you up to date with some of today's top stories.
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has been sentenced to ten years in jail. He was found guilty of revealing state secrets.
U.S. President Joe Biden met with his national security advisers Monday to discuss options on how to respond to a drone attack in Jordan that killed three American soldiers and injured more than 40 others.
And in France, the government is expected to announce a series of new measures to protect French agriculture today. Farmers have been demonstrating for weeks now over grievances, including environmental regulations and competition from Ukrainian farms.
Israel is revealing details of an intelligence report on the alleged involvement of some UNRWA workers in the October 7th attacks by Hamas. An Israeli official shared a summary of their investigation with CNN.
According to the report, more than a dozen employees of the U.N.'s main relief agency in Gaza were allegedly associated with the attack, participating in various capacities. They include helping to kidnap hostages, setting up an operations room and supplying logistics. It also alleges that some of them infiltrated Israel as part of the attack.
The summary, though, does not provide evidence to support its claims, and CNN has not seen the intelligence that underlies those allegations, so can't corroborate Israel's claims. CNN's Nic Robertson has those details.
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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): More than 110 days into the ugly war Hamas' brutal attack triggered, Israeli allegations 13 U.N. staff took part are themselves threatening to bring more suffering. According to a document shared with CNN, six UNRWA employees infiltrated Israel as part of the attack. Four were involved in kidnapping Israelis, and three additional UNRWA employees were, quote, invited via an SMS text to arrive at an assembly area in the night before the attack and were directed to equip with weapons.
Although it's not know if they showed up.
Israeli officials briefed U.S. counterparts Friday, who quickly paused UNRWA's funding. A dozen other countries have followed, raising concerns the agency's absence could escalate suffering in Gaza.
JAN EGELAND, SECRETARY GENERAL, NORWEGIAN REFUGEE COUNCIL: The impact will be devastating of cutting aid to the organization that is the backbone of services to Palestinian civilians. There is no other organization, including my own, we're all there in Gaza, that could take over what UNRWA is doing.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): UNRWA is the only organization bringing aid into Gaza. Most of Gaza's two million residents depend on them. They provide food, water and shelter. Desperation already so bad, aid trucks are often looted before they reach warehouses.
A cut in funding here is feared on a par with Israel's bombs.
ALAA KHDEIR, UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR (through translator): This will mean more starvation, poverty and deprivation, this university professor tells us, which ultimately means more death.
SUHAILA NOFAL, GAZA RESIDENT (through translator): This decision means killing us, killing the human being, she says. This is a death sentence, this is the only thing we live on, and you want to cut it?
ROBERTSON (voice-over): UNRWA has fired nine staff over the allegations and is investigating two others. One person is dead. The U.N. promising a comprehensive and transparent investigation.
Israel's foreign minister is calling for UNRWA's director, Philip Lazzarini, to step down and cancelled a meeting with him Monday. As other government lawmakers press for scrapping UNRWA altogether. A long-held aim for some.
DANNY DANON, KNESSET MEMBER: For many years we have said that UNRWA is involved with terrorism. They collaborated with Hamas for generations.
[04:35:00]
The U.N. is in charge of the UNHCR, which takes care of all the refugees worldwide. Why do you need a special agency for the Palestinian refugees?
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Egeland points to the ICJ ruling Israel must enable humanitarian aid for Gaza.
EGELAND: There will be epidemic disease because of this unless it is reversed. The stakes are enormous here, and I'm very disappointed with these donors who spent zero time in suspending aid to an entire organization for the sins of a few staff.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: As U.S. Senators get closer to a potential bipartisan border deal, former President Donald Trump is blasting the legislation, calling it unnecessary and saying it will make the border worse. Other Republicans are also echoing the same sentiments.
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REP. ELISE STEFANIK (R-NY): Texas is the first line of defense against this full-fledged invasion at our southern border. As Joe Biden and Secretary Mayorkas refuse to enforce our laws by rolling out the red carpet for illegal immigrants, Texas not only has the right to defend itself, but must take a stand for the sake of our country's sovereignty and future. I am proud to stand with Texas.
REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): We are ready, willing and able to work in a bipartisan way to address the challenges that exist at the border. But the extreme MAGA Republicans have been directed by Donald Trump not to work together to address the challenges at the border.
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NOBILO: 26 Attorney Generals have signed a letter to President Joe Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in support of Texas' fight to secure its border.
And in a stunning political shift, Mr. Biden is promising to shut down the border right now if given new powers by Congress. CNN's Melanie Zanona has the details.
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MELANIE ZANONA, CNN CAPITOL HILL REPORTER: The deal is already facing massive headwinds inside the GOP, particularly in the House.
Speaker Johnson has made clear that the deal, as he understands it, is likely dead-on arrival in the House. And today he put out yet another statement, taking aim at one of the reported provisions in this deal, saying on social media:
Any border shutdown authority that allows even on illegal crossing is a non-starter. Thousands each day is outrageous. The number must be zero.
Now, that is a reference to a provision we have learned is in the Senate deal that would automatically shut down the southern border if average daily migrant crossings reach over 5,000 in a one-week span. We've also learned that negotiators have agreed to a provision that would speed up the process for those seeking asylum to six months and also expedite work permits.
So those are some pretty significant concessions here from Democrats. In fact, this would likely be the most conservative immigration deal being discussed on Capitol Hill in decades. And President Biden has indicated that he would sign that package into law if it comes to his desk.
And yet, despite all of that, it is very unclear whether it will reach Biden's desk. And a huge reason for that is Donald Trump, the Republican frontrunner for the presidential nomination. He has been urging Republicans, both privately and publicly, to reject this compromise, in a large part because he wants to campaign on this issue. And he does not want to have Biden and Democrats a victory.
And many Republicans here on Capitol Hill, eager to follow his marching orders. And that is what you're seeing right now on Capitol Hill, which is leaving border security and aid for Israel and Ukraine hanging in the balance.
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NOBILO: A judge in South Carolina has denied Alec Murdaugh's request for a new trial. Murdaugh's legal team claims the court clerk in his murder trial 11 months ago tampered with the jury, and they say that they plan to appeal Monday's ruling. Murdaugh was convicted of murdering his wife and 22-year-old son in June of 2021.
Prosecutors said the killings were an attempt to distract from and delay investigations into alleged financial crimes, targeting his own clients and law firm.
In health news, a new study may have found evidence of medically acquired Alzheimer's disease. A report in the journal Nature Medicine says early onset dementia symptoms in five patients may come from the transmission of a protein that's a key component of Alzheimer's.
They're all connected to a now discontinued human growth hormone treatment that they received as children decades ago. The hormone was derived from cadavers between 1959 and 1985, and it was used to treat deficiencies in more than 1,800 children in the U.K. and was also used in the U.S.
Billionaire Elon Musk says the first human patient has received a brain implant device from his company Neuralink. He announced the news on Monday on X, adding initial results show quote, promising neuron spike detection.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave the company clearance last year to test its implant on humans. This picture from 2020 shows the surgical robot used to perform the procedure.
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The implant itself is about the size of five stacked coins.
Ooh, that's bigger than I thought. With the initial goal of allowing people to control a computer cursor or keyboard with their mind alone.
Still ahead, dating apps meant for the gay and lesbian community in Nigeria, but all too often the result is abuse, violence, and extortion.
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NOBILO: Just in to CNN. Israeli special forces have killed three Palestinian men in a West Bank hospital. The Palestinian state news agency says Israeli special undercover forces dressed as civilians and a medical team infiltrated a hospital in the city of Jenin. Israel says the men killed were terrorists linked to Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Hamas said they were Jenin Brigades fighters, an umbrella group of armed Palestinian factions.
Pope Francis is addressing the criticism of his recent consent for priests to bless same-sex couples. The pontiff says pushback from African bishops was a special case. Because for them, homosexuality is something quite bad from a cultural point of view and they don't tolerate it. The new Vatican guidelines have received strong support from bishops across Europe. Including Catholic clergies in France, Austria and Germany.
Homosexuality is illegal in many African countries where gay people face imprisonment, violence and death. In Nigeria, LGBTQ plus people are lured through an online relationship to a situation where they're physically or verbally assaulted and often extorted.
It's a practice called Keto. CNN's Stephanie Busari has more as part of "AS EQUALS," which is our ongoing series on gender equality. A warning that parts of her report may be difficult to hear.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They beat me up, stabbed me --
STEPHANIE BUSARI, CNN SENIOR AFRICA EDITOR (voice over): Izzy's (ph) story is hard to hear.
IZZY: I was being tied on my back, like my hands were on my back, so I could not do much, so. They did what they wanted to do. They had their way with me.
BUSARI (voice over): Raped, abused and extorted, all because of her sexuality, a practice known in Nigeria as Kito. For Izzy, whose real name is not being used for safety reasons, it began when she met a woman online, they exchanged messages, and soon agreed to meet in person at her date's house. Izzy says it all changed when there was a knock on the door. Two men came in and things quickly got violent.
IZZY: They stripped me naked forcefully and they were just playing with my private parts, playing with my body parts.
BUSARI (voice over): It soon dawned on Izzy that the woman she'd been dating had set her up.
BUSARI: But Izzy is far from being alone. CNN has spoken to 16 women here in Nigeria who describe being Kitoed. Lured through online relationships to meet people who then assault and often extort them. And these are just a fraction of the thousands of LGBTQ+ people subjected to this practice here, according to data shared with CNN.
BUSARI (voice-over): For Raffia (ph), it started with pressure from her parents to be straight.
RAFFIA: I was ridiculed, I was treated like a non-entity. I was extorted.
BUSARI (voice over): She moved in with a man she had met on Tinder, who knew she was gay. But he soon turned that against her.
RAFFIA: He would tell me that -- you know I know a thing something that people shouldn't really know about you. Do you know what they would find out -- what they would do if they found out you were like this?
BUSARI (voice over): In Nigeria's deeply religious and conservative society, where same-sex relationships are outlawed, members of the LGBTQ+ community are vulnerable to exploitation and attack.
AFOLABI AIYELA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, THE INITIATIVE FOR EQUAL RIGHTS: People in the community are regarded as lesser, and they don't have the same rights as everybody else. So, it's very easy to take advantage of that. It's very easy to extort. It's very easy to, you know, target people in the community.
BUSARI (voice over): With the focus of Nigerian law enforcement on queer people as the criminals, experts tell CNN Kito victims find it difficult to find resources to get help. Victims have instead taken things into their own hands, going online to warn each other of individuals who pose a threat, doing what they can to shine a light on the abuse, while many continue to suffer in the shadows, unseen and unheard.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's the most painful part when you're going through all sort of abuse because of who you are and you can't even say anything. It's a different type of pain.
BUSARI (voice over): Stephanie Busari, CNN, Lagos, Nigeria.
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NOBILO: And if you thought prices were higher at the grocery store, just wait until you hear the going rate for Super Bowl tickets now. That is next on CNN NEWSROOM. And I was shocked, shocked.
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NOBILO: A top Russian figure skater is looking at a four-year ban for an anti-doping violation. Kamila Valieva is just 17 years old now. During the Beijing Olympics in 2022, she tested positive for a heart medication that can boost endurance. She said that she ingested the drug accidentally. Valieva's Russian team finished first in the competition, but no medals were awarded at the time.
Valieva's ban is backdated now to December of 2021, when she tested positive. CNN sports analyst Christine Brennan broke the story at the time.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: One hopes that they will look at the way these young athletes are being treated in Russia. Basically, won and done. They're just thrown on the discard pile before they hit their 16th birthday. And it's outrageous.
But the International Olympic Committee and basically the entire Olympic world has allowed and coddled Russia to keep going because they never completely throw them out of the Olympics, which is, of course, what should have been done back after that big doping scheme and scandal stayed sponsored at the Sochi Olympics in 2014.
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NOBILO: The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee confirms the American team will win the gold, possibly at the upcoming Paris Winter Olympics. Japan will take silver and Canada, bronze.
Now, if you're hoping to get a last-minute ticket to the Super Bowl, expect to spend a lot of money. Right now, the average price for one single ticket is around $9,800, up 70 percent from last year. That is according to ticket resale website TickPick. At last check, the cheapest available seat is more than $8,000.
The Kansas City Chiefs play the San Francisco 49ers in Las Vegas on February 11th. Usher is performing the halftime show. And it is likely that Taylor Swift will be in the stadium to cheering on the Chiefs.
Seven-time Super Bowl champ Tom Brady recently poked a little fun at himself while down under. He was meeting the wildlife at an Australian zoo in Brisbane and petting kangaroos when the cameras -- put the cameras rolling. And then Brady's friend cracked this joke.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to find the Mahomes exhibit.
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Meaning the goat exhibit, obviously, as in G-O-A-T, the acronym for greatest of all time.
His friend suggesting Chiefs star quarterback Patrick Mahomes is the goat now and not Brady, even though Brady has played in 10 Super Bowls and Mahomes is getting ready for his third at the moment.
[04:55:00] A painting stolen more than 50 years ago by mobsters -- now, that is the start to every good story -- has been returned to its rightful owner. The FBI shared these images of the painting and that owner. The piece of art is called The School Mistress and dates back to the late 1700s. It disappeared in the late 60s and turned up in the 1980s when a man bought the home of a convicted mobster. That man didn't know its significance.
When he died, his family discovered the painting and then contacted the authorities.
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JONI MITCHELL, SINGER, SONGWRITER: Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got till it's gone. It's a paradise. Put up a parking lot.
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NOBILO: Singer songwriter Joni Mitchell has won nine Grammys in her storied career, but she's never performed at the award show. But that is about to change.
The 80-year-old legendary singer songwriter will make her debut performance at the Grammys this Sunday. To top it off, she's up for another award and she's not the only one who's making history.
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U2, IRISH ROCK BAND: Give me half a chance to ride on the waves that you bring ...
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NOBILO: U2 will provide the award show's first broadcast performance from "The Sphere." It's the world's largest spherical structure with the world's highest resolution wraparound screen. And it does look pretty cool. The Grammys will be hosted by comedian Trevor Noah and they air on Sunday night.
That does it here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Bianca Nobilo in London. "EARLY START" is next. I'll see you tomorrow.
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