Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Trump Wins Idaho and Missouri Caucuses; U.S. Begins Gaza Airdops; China-Taiwan Tensions. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired March 03, 2024 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers watching from around the world. I'm Lynda Kinkade.

Ahead on CNN Newsroom, Donald Trump wins big in Missouri and Idaho, defeating lone rival Nikki Haley in the Republican caucuses. We'll speak with an expert about what to watch as we head into Super Tuesday.

The U.S. begins airdropping desperately needed aid into Gaza as President Biden admits that it's nowhere enough to meet the need.

And later, heightened tensions between China and Taiwan, the recent flare up that has the region on edge.

We begin this hour focused on Super Tuesday now just two days away. That's when 15 states will hold Republican nominating contests with 865 delegates at stake. It takes more than 1,200 delegates to win the GOP presidential nomination.

And Donald Trump is on his way with more wins Saturday. He claimed nearly 85 percent of the vote in Idaho's Republican caucuses compared to just over 13 percent for rival Nikki Haley. Missouri's Republicans also held caucuses Saturday. Trump commanded a whopping 100 percent of that vote.

Trump now has 247 delegates compared to Haley's 24. Trump mostly ignored her during campaign stops on Saturday but couldn't resist taking some swings at his only remaining opponent.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I haven't heard about her. So, I won't even use -- people say, don't even talk about her, don't talk to her. But I have to, when I have some, I have to talk, front row Joes, because she's bad news. I know her very well, she's very average.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Nikki Haley is pressing on, despite the odds. She has vowed to stay in the race, at least through Super Tuesday. On Saturday, she picked up endorsements from two influential female Republican senators, Maine's Susan Collins and Alaska's Lisa Murkowski. She's also touting the findings of a new poll. Respondents of New York Times/Siena College poll preferred her over President Joe Biden by ten points. That same poll showed Trump leading Mr. Biden by only five points.

CNN's Steve Contorno has more from Virginia, a Super Tuesday State, where Trump rallied his supporters on Saturday.

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: Former President Donald Trump held rallies on Saturday in North Carolina and here in Virginia, two states that will vote on Super Tuesday. But even though their primaries are right around the corner, former President Trump was mostly looking ahead to a likely general election with President Biden. He spoke especially about his recent trip to the border and what he saw.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Biden's conduct on our border is, by any definition, a conspiracy to overthrow the United States of America. You know, he talks about democracy. He is a danger to democracy. He is. Number one, he goes after his political opponent, which nobody has ever done in this country. They do it in third-world countries very well. They do it. But they're not going to succeed with us. They're not going to succeed. It's making us stronger. It's making us stronger.

Biden and his accomplices want to collapse the American system, nullify the will of the actual American voters and establish a new base of power that gives them control for generations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CONTORNO: Meanwhile, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley on the campaign trail as well in North Carolina continuing to make the case that she would be more electable than President Trump in a general election, pointing to a new poll that showed her with a ten- point lead over President Biden.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALEY, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think there's another New York Times poll that shows us. I think Donald Trump squeaks by and we win by ten points. If you look at the Hispanic numbers in that, it's off the charts. It's double digits. We continue to make ground.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CONTORNO: Trump on Saturday also adding to his delegate lead over Nikki Haley. CNN projects that he has won all 32 delegates in the Idaho caucuses, all 54 delegates in the Missouri caucuses, and at a Michigan convention held on Saturday, 39 more delegates were awarded to President Trump.

[03:05:01]

His total now at 247, well on his way to the 1,215, he will need to secure the nomination. Of course, many of those delegates will be awarded on Tuesday.

Steve Contorno, CNN, Richmond, Virginia.

KINKADE: We want to tell you more about that New York Times and Siena College poll we mentioned earlier. It surveyed 980 registered voters during the last week of February, and the results were concerning for President Joe Biden.

Only 18 percent of respondents thought that they've personally benefited from Mr. Biden's policies. 40 percent of respondents say they did personally benefit from Trump's policies.

Still, a CNN poll shows the race for president right now is a toss-up. The most recent numbers in a general election matchup continue to show no clear winner between the two, with Trump at 48 percent and Biden at 46 percent.

Natasha Lindstaedt is a professor of government at the University of Essex. She joins us now from Colchester, England. Good to have you with us.

NATASHA LINDSTAEDT, PROFESSOR OF GOVERNMENT, UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX: Thanks for having me. So we know that Washington, D.C. holds its primary Sunday and then Super Tuesday, we'll see 15 states and 1 U.S. territory hold elections. Polls show Trump leading by double digits over rival Nikki Haley. If she doesn't do well, is this the end for her?

Well, you would think it would be the end. This might be because she just might not have enough money to go forward. And she spent a lot on her campaign thus far, about $100 million compared to only $60 million for Trump, and it hasn't led to any victories in any of the states thus far.

But she does have a strong backing among some moderate Republicans that may want her to stay in the race simply because Trump has so many issues going on, so many legal issues with 91 criminal counts, and also just due to the fact that he could make some sort of serious gaffe that might turn off voters.

Because of the X factor of a Trump candidacy, she may have support to stay in it, but there isn't really any path to victory here for her. She's so far behind it. If we look at Super Tuesday, these states are going to use a winner-take-all method. And she's been gaining some delegates here and there by coming in second place. And she's not going to be able to benefit from that. And the other problem is that the primaries really bring out more extreme, more passionate voters. And she's winning not really with Republicans, but with independents.

So, it's possible she may stay in the race because she's gaining some attention. It's benefiting her. She has a national platform and attention on her. Maybe she thinks she needs to stay in it because anything can happen, but the math really isn't on her side.

KINKADE: Yes. We heard from Trump speaking at a rally about his mug shot when he was indicted, saying that essentially it appeals to black voters. I just want to play some of that sound.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The mug shot, we've all seen the mug shot. And you know who embraced it more than anybody else? The black population. It's incredible. You see black people walking around with my mug shot. You know, they do shirts and they sell them for $19 a piece. It's pretty amazing. Millions, by the way, millions of these things have been sold. So, I don't know if I'm proud of it or not proud of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: I mean people laugh when he said that. What did you think when you heard him say that?

LINDSTAEDT: It's just an incredibly racist thing to say. Now, of course, he is doing better with African-American voters today than he was doing, when we look at the polls at least, than he was doing in 2020. Biden still has a lead with African-American voters, but I think it points out something about his criminal issues.

If you look at the primary voters, the Republican base, they don't care at all about his criminal liability here. There's a problem that he could be actually put in prison, that he could be a felon, that he could not even be able to vote. This almost seems to galvanize Republican voters and excites them, and that's been drawing in a lot more campaign funds.

But if we look at the general election, how do people feel about that, and we have at least about half of Americans that, according to a recent poll in February, said they do want these trials, these court cases to be finished up before the election, which is really important.

And if we look back at a poll that was taken in 2023, it was 62 percent of Americans that felt that if he were convicted of a serious crime, then he should be barred from running for president. So, while he is gaining some support from his hardcore voters due to all of his criminal issues, he's not going to win the general election if something serious happened and he were convicted.

KINKADE: Yes, there's certainly so many cases that we are continuing to follow related to Donald Trump.

[03:10:01]

But I want to turn to the battleground state of Michigan because we saw that push to abandon Joe Biden over his support for Israel in the war against Hamas in Gaza. More than 100,000 people voted uncommitted in the Democratic primary. People in other states are vowing to do the same.

How could Joe Biden's support for Israel in this war hurt him in this election?

LINDSTAEDT: So, it is hurting him definitely with Arab-American voters and with younger voters. And we saw that in the state of Michigan where 13 percent voted uncommitted. This compares to back in 2012 when there was a vote of 9 percent for uncommitted when Obama was running for president again.

So, there's definitely some angst, there's some disappointments and anger with the way that Biden has handled the war in Gaza. And he doesn't have a very good approval rating with younger voters, those that are say under 35, 70 percent disapprove with how he's handled the war in Gaza.

So, he has an uphill battle ahead of him because he's not going to be able to make a complete U-turn with the war in Gaza. And he doesn't seem to be able to resonate and connect with Arab-American and young voters on other issues.

And in these swing states, like you mentioned the state of Michigan, where there are 300,000 Arab Americans, this will make the difference. I mean, Biden only won Michigan by 154,000 votes. And there are Arab- American voters in Arizona, in Georgia, other important swing states.

And then, of course, the bigger issue is how does he bring out younger voters? He's not doing very well with them. There's very low level of enthusiasm for his candidacy. And if we look at to the recent New York Times poll, there was about half of Democratic voters that don't want him to run again, that would prefer another candidate.

That doesn't mean they won't vote for him come November, but he has a lot of issues bringing back this very complex coalition of different voters that were able to help him win office in 2020.

KINKADE: Yes. Professor Natasha Lindstaedt from the University of Essex, good to have you on the program, as always. Thanks so much.

LINDSTAEDT: Thanks for having me.

KINKADE: Well, a U.S. official tells CNN that Israel has, quote, basically accepted a six-week ceasefire and hostage release proposal in Gaza, where now negotiators are waiting for Hamas to agree to that plan. The U.S. is hoping to have a ceasefire in place before the start of Ramadan, which is about a week away.

And the first U.S. airdrop of aid is now on the ground in Gaza. Three American C-130s dropped 66 bundles of food over Gaza on Saturday. U.S. President Joe Biden says the amount of aid going into Gaza is not nearly enough.

Also on Saturday, thousands of protesters arrived in Jerusalem after a four-day march across Israel. They gathered outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's house and the Knesset. They're demanding the Israeli government do more to get the hostages home.

CNN White House Correspondent Priscilla Alvarez has more on the U.S. efforts to get more aid into Gaza.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: The White House on Saturday described a humanitarian aid drop in Gaza as successful, but cautioned that more still needs to be done.

Now, here's what we know about the operation that happened on Saturday. It included 66 bundles that were dropped in Gaza. It was done with the Jordanian Air Force, and in total, included 38,000 meals. There was no water or medical supplies that were part of this operation.

Now, U.S. officials say they chose the location based off assessments so that people were sheltering in that area and were in need. And after the fact, they saw that civilians did approach the assistance and that they began distributing it.

But administration officials made clear that this is not enough, that they want to flood the zone. That includes humanitarian aid drops, as well as exploring other avenues, like a maritime corridor. And they also noted that none of that is a substitute to the crossings into Gaza, making sure that those land crossings are also available to surge as much aid as possible into a region that has been grappling with a worsening humanitarian crisis.

Of course, all of this comes as those hostage deal talks continue, and a senior administration official told reporters on Saturday that Israel has, quote, basically accepted a framework. That framework includes a six-week ceasefire that would allow for the release of hostages who are deemed vulnerable. That includes women, the elderly, and the wounded, as well as more assistance to get into Gaza.

And over the course of those six weeks, the expectation is that officials could continue to hammer out some of the stickier points, like the release of hostages, who are also IDF members, as well as to establish a more enduring plan.

Now, this comes ahead of a meeting with Vice President Kamala Harris and Israeli War Cabinet Member Benny Gantz on Monday, where the two are expected to talk about all of this, as well as day after planning for Gaza, as the clock ticks for the hostage deal, but also to address this worsening crisis in Gaza.

[03:15:16]

Priscilla Alvarez, CNN, Washington.

KINKADE: Well, the Israel Defense Forces say they carried out what they called a precision strike on Islamic Jihad targets in Rafah on Saturday. But Gaza's health ministry says 11 people were killed, many more wounded in that attack, saying an Israeli airstrike hit a refugee camp next to a maternity hospital.

Palestinian officials say as many as 50 people were wounded, including children. The IDF says it targeted, quote, terrorists and terrorist infrastructure and that the hospital itself was not damaged.

Well, Islamic Jihad militants are calling on residents of the West Bank in Jerusalem to attack checkpoints and roads used by settlers during Ramadan. Joining me now is Dr. David Hassan, a neurosurgeon at Duke Health. He recently returned from Rafah and will be going back to Gaza in a few weeks. Doctor, good to have you with us.

DR. DAVID HASAN, NEUROSURGEON, DUKE HEALTH: Thank you, Lynda.

KINKADE: So, you have a wife and a seven-year-old daughter in North Carolina yet you've traveled all the way to Gaza to work as a surgeon. Just explain why.

HASAN: Lynda, being a human being and a physician and listening to all these news and watching some of the videos that are coming out from Gaza via social media or the mainstream media, you can't help it but just feel you have to do something and you're compelled to do something. That's the least thing you could do. So, I felt compelled to go help as much as I can of these innocent people in Gaza.

KINKADE: And, of course, you witnessed what is virtually the complete collapse of the healthcare system. How would you describe what you were able to do on the ground?

HASAN: We're very limited, Lynda, for many, many reasons. One, there's no sustained medical supplies over there, very, very few medications left, surgical equipment. On top of that, the number of functioning or partially functioning hospitals are dwindling rapidly. It's only like a handful hospitals are functioning.

So, we ended up many times performing surgeries without medications, anesthetics, or pain medication. Amputations were done without that. C-sections happen without anesthetics. Sometimes, lack of water, electricity, performing really in very, very primitive conditions.

So, all that together, in addition to the limited, very, very limited number of hospital beds available now, because, again, the number of functioning or partially functioning hospitals are very, very less than five or six at this point.

KINKADE: And, of course, Dr. Hasan, you spoke about the fact that you're working in conditions where you had issues with electricity, clean water, basic sanitation, but also the constant threat from incoming rockets or gunfire or bombs. Just explain some of those sort of situations that you dealt with.

HASAN: So, usually, about sunset, the bombing, an active bombing starts. So, most of these happen to be very, very close to the hospital premise, which has almost over 50,000 people using this hospital as a refugee camp.

So, when this bombardment, shelling happens, the buildings are kind of completely shaped, and you really can't function without, you know, feeling that imminent bombing is happening very soon and very close within the premise of the hospital.

So, that constant fear and terror of something going to happen in the next second just keep you on your toes, if you will. So, when you're going back there, really, at this point, there's a big, big, big decision to wait is whether the Israeli troops will, I mean, attack Rafah or not. If that happens, it's going to be a complete disaster, as 1.2 to 1.5 million people are just seeking refuge there, and they live in a tent.

So, if that happened, the borders most probably would be closed, and either you cannot go in or you get trapped in that area.

So, I'm hoping for, you know, that peace, at least at this table, would happen.

[03:20:00]

If that happened, it will give us a window of six weeks to go in safely and then plan to take quite a bit of medications, devices that have been donated from different NGOs to take with me to deliver to European Kaiser Hospital.

KINKADE: Dr. Hasan, can you describe for us the hardest thing you've had to do, the patients and their stories that stick with you?

HASAN: One of them is a two-year-old that showed up in the morning at 8:00 with many, many casualties. And by the time we got to him, he passed away. And I tried to find his family. I took a picture of him on my iPhone and stepped outside. And no one would claim him.

And I just -- it really hit me having a kid, a seven-year-old, that this kid had died. And we don't know his name. We don't know his family. He's going to be buried. No one knows him. No one can weep for him or cry for him or pray for him.

So, I don't have a son. I only have a daughter. So, I held him very closely to my heart. I named him to make him a person. I named him Jacob if I would have a kid and wept for him for a little bit and prayed for him and then and then wrapped him in a white cloth and they buried him.

KINKADE: Yes, some horrific experiences. Dr. Hasan, you have a heart of gold. We wish you all the very best on your trip back to Gaza and hope to hear from you on your return. Thanks so much for joining us and stay safe.

HASAN: Thank you so much, Lynda.

KINKADE: Well, heartbreaking story out of the Ukrainian city of Odessa, three young children dead in the rubble after a Russian drone strike. We'll have the details of that.

And later, nature hitting California hard with a major winter blast. We'll look at the blizzard conditions, bringing hurricane force winds and several feet of snow to the area.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:25:00] KINKADE: The death toll from a Russian drone strike at a residential building in the Ukrainian city of Odessa has grown to ten people. That's when the state's emergency service, which released video of its workers finding one the victims.

The burning story has got more tragic. The body of a child believed to be less than one-year-old was also found.

Earlier, emergency crews found a four-month-old baby and a toddler who was killed a day before his third birthday.

Today is a day of mourning in Odessa. Ukraine's president urged allies to step up and send in more air defenses.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: The world knows that terror can be opposed. The world has enough missile defense systems, systems to protect against Shahed drones and missiles. Delaying the supply of weapons to Ukraine, missile defense systems to protect our people, leads unfortunately to such losses and to the constant growth of the list of children whose lives Russia takes away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Well, CNN's Nick Paton Walsh, he has more on that strike and the pressure on Ukrainian troops along the frontlines.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Another night of airstrikes targeting Odessa, so frequent at the moment and so often deadly towards civilians, particularly troubling numbers amongst the rising death toll here, particularly Timofey (ph), a four-month-old boy, and Mark (ph), a toddler who would have turned three on Sunday.

Hard to tell often if this is the purposeful attack against civilian apartment blocks, like the ones that were hit over that night, or whether this is a mistake by the Russians who think they're hitting something else, or if they simply just don't care. But it's deeply frequent, deeply troubling, as you've just heard them claiming the lives of the very youngest.

It's also potentially a sign of what Ukraine says is one of the first things that will suffer because of a lack of western aid, and that's air defenses. Now, Russia is also fielding huge amounts of drones and aviation bombs at the moment. They seem to have a huge supply of those, and it comes too amongst troubling signs on the front line, particularly around the east near where I'm standing, near the town of Avdiivka, where Russia took that town about three weeks ago now and Ukraine withdrawing from it.

But since then they've been able to apply intense pressure, moving forwards and taking some of the villages to the west of that, three confirmed that we know of. But the area that Ukraine essentially declared its new defensive line now appears to be under intense pressure from Russian assault. Some geo-located drone footage suggesting, in fact, that one of the most important villages that Ukraine thought it would hold onto to defend that front line, or Livka (ph), may now be partially under Russian control, or at least destroyed beyond any kind of recognition.

This is troubling because it suggests Ukraine is not necessarily in control of its defensive backlines, and it may suggest greater Russian momentum than is being discussed publicly by Ukrainian officials.

Also too, the new commander of Ukraine's forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, for the second time, berated some of his commanders for poor tactics, saying that they had the staffing, the equipment that they needed, but they simply hadn't done their job, and so now he needed to send advisers in, or in some cases, make personnel changes.

Stark comments, frankly, in the middle of a pitched battle from the key commander here in Ukraine, new to the job after his replacement was taken out by President Zelenskyy. The second time that Mr. Syrskyi has indeed suggested that his commanders are not up to the job in this area, and it comes amid signs that Russia is really on the front foot here on the front lines, with territory changing hands.

Potentially, stark weeks or months ahead here for Ukraine, as western munitions and aid dries up fast, and they begin to see what that really means on the battlefield.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Eastern Ukraine.

KINKADE: Well, now to Moscow, where Russians are remembering the late opposition leader, Alexei Navalny. His mother visited his son's grave Saturday. She was accompanied by the mother of Navalny's widow, Yulia.

Their visit comes as hundreds of mourners brave long lines and fear of arrest for a second day to pay their respects to the dissident who was laid to rest on Friday. Some say they came out because they wanted to honor the legacy of the Kremlin's most outspoken critic.

[03:30:03]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've decided to come because I want to honor the memory of the man who has become a symbol of perseverance for me. And after what's happened, there's a feeling of a very deep sorrow. But as horrible as it may sound, it is still pleasant to see how many people came here, and this makes me feel some kind of communion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Navalny died in an Arctic prison last month, sparking accusations from his supporters that he had been murdered. The Kremlin has denied any involvement in his death.

Still ahead, two people are dead and countless cattle and structures destroyed, as the worst fire in Texas' history continues to tear through the panhandle. Conditions are about to get even worse. And the race is on to become Mexico's next president. It includes two candidates who could become the country's first female president. That story next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KINKADE: Welcome back. A late winter storm is slamming California. Parts of the Sierra Nevada Mountains have been hit with more than three feet of snow, and more is on the way. Blizzard conditions have reduced visibility on the roads, taken down power lines and created hurricane-force winds topping 75 miles per hour.

Winds on Mammoth Mountain reached 100 miles per hour on Saturday. 6 million people in the region are under winter weather alerts and tens of thousands are without power. The extreme conditions also forced parts of busy Interstate 80 to close for more than a day, and they will remain closed until further notice.

[03:35:02]

The storm system also created other dangerous weather. A tornado touched down in Madera County near Fresno Friday. An elementary school was damaged, but no students were inside at the time. The blizzard conditions are expected to remain throughout most of the weekend.

Well, CNN Meteorologist Elisa Raffa has more on what the west can expect in the hours and days ahead.

ELISA RAFFA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Impacts from this winter storm are extreme. The weather service is using words like dangerous and life threatening to describe some of these impacts. Look at all these deep purples in the Sierra Nevada. That's where we're looking at impossible travel from heavy snow and gusty winds.

That is not only making visibility tough to see, but it's even knocking out some power, whiteout conditions, damaging winds from those gusts and extremely heavy snowfall rates. We're talking up to four inches of snow per hour.

Some of these snowfall totals just through Saturday are measured in feet. We're talking 27 inches from Homewood Mountain and we're finding some totals already over 40 inches, 42 inches in Kingvale, California, Soda Springs nearing 40 inches. So, just incredible to see the feet of snow already falling and these blizzard warnings continue through a decent chunk of Sunday. So, expecting additional feet on top of that.

And you can see that too, where all that moisture comes in off the Pacific. You've got the rain showers along the coast, but once we hit some of that colder air and the higher elevations, you get that snow machine to keep pumping as we go through the day on Sunday, additional snow likely as we go into Monday as well.

Now, we're looking at totals possible up to 12 feet locally in some of the highest elevations over 5,000 to 6,000 feet. So, some of those highest peaks up to 12 feet of snow, but even in some of the lower elevations, we're still measuring that snow three to four to five feet, so, just really incredible.

And it's coming with winged gusts that have been just incredible, over 100 miles per hour, 114 mile-per-hour wind gusts that has been reported at Mammoth Mountain in California. Some gusts nearing 150 miles per hour near Alpine Meadows. So, this wind, that's where you get the damaging part of it, and you get the whiteout conditions and the blizzard conditions as well.

Now, we could continue to find these gusts upwards of 50 to 60 miles per hour in California as we go through Sunday. But the storm is so impactful that those winged gusts are spreading inland into the central plains. But we're looking at winged gusts up to 30 miles per hour possible from Albuquerque, Amarillo, and then up into the Oklahoma panhandle.

Now, a couple of those gusty winds with incredibly dry air. That's where that fire danger is continuing. You've got relative humidity values that are down to 20 percent or lower as we go through the next day or so.

So, that's keeping that fire danger elevated as we go through Sunday because we have the strong winds gusting up to 35 miles per hour. We have temperatures that are much above average and we have dry air with those relative humidity values pretty low.

Plus, we already have ground conditions that are already dry, burned scars, where we've had the biggest fire in Texas history over the last couple of days, burning over a million acres of land.

Here's a look at these temperatures. I mean, soaring into the 70s and 80s, a good 10 to 15 degrees above average. So, again, those two-point values are so low with the temperatures so high that's making that air just incredibly dry.

KINKADE: Well, the dry air and high winds will make an already terrible situation in the Texas panhandle even worse. Right now, more than 8 million people are under red flag warnings for critical fire dangers stretching from Texas all the way to Iowa and Western Illinois.

But it's not just the dry conditions threatening to make the worst wildfire in Texas history even more dangerous. A Texas fire official told CNN that because the regions saw above average rainfall over the winter, there is more grass, meaning more fuel for the fires to burn.

There are actually a number of wildfires burning in the Texas panhandle. The largest, the Smokehouse Creek fire, it's only 15 percent contained.

Well, in Mexico, the campaigns for the next presidential election have begun. That includes two candidates who could become the nation's first female president. Ahead of this summer's election, candidates are pledging to cut down on widespread corruption and deal with a rampant crime problem.

CNN's Gabriela Frias is in Mexico City with a closer look. GABRIELA FRIAS, CNN ANCHOR: For the first time in Mexico, a woman could become president next June when the biggest election in the country's history takes place. The presidential campaigns officially just launched.

Senator Xochitl Galvez, the underdog opposition coalition candidate, held an event in the violence-torn central state of Zacatecas right after midnight, centering her message and her campaign on her strategy to combat violence and insecurity, promising to bring back peace to its citizens.

[03:40:06]

Galvez, a computer engineer and entrepreneur, described her security strategy as one of bravery, heart and mind, one where hugs for criminals will be over, a play on President Lopez Obrador's phrase, hugs, not bullets, when describing his government strategy, using public resources to tackle social challenges at the root of the problem.

Galvez, who leads a main opposition alliance, also called for a new chapter of bilateral cooperation with the United States to combat what she called a common enemy.

Meantime, Claudia Sheinbaum, the candidate of the governing Morena coalition, held her campaign launch Friday afternoon at the Zocalu, main square in Mexico City, the capital she governed until she stepped down to run for president.

Sheinbaum, a chemical engineer, called the coming election a historic choice between continuing the transformation that President Lopez Obrador started or allowing corruption practices to come back. Sheinbaum presented 100 goals to accomplish what she described as the Mexican humanism, unique in the world, she said.

A third presidential contender, Congressman Jorge Alvarez Maynez from Movimiento Ciudadano or Citizens Movement, launched his presidential bid from the state of Jalisco, the first one to be governed by his political party and one torn by violence from competing drug cartels.

Mexico's general election will take place on June 2nd. For the first time, all 32 of Mexico State's will hold elections for local seats as well. Analysts expect three months of very intense and polarizing political campaigning across the country with a high risk of political violence in some cases.

Around 100 million people are called to cast ballots for more than 20,000 posts across country. Millions of Mexicans abroad are also expected to take part in the process. There is no re-election in Mexico. President Lopez Obrador's term ends in October.

Gabriela Frias, CNN, Mexico City.

KINKADE: Well, when we come back, thousands of South Korean doctors are demanding more pay and better working conditions. But the government is demanding they get back to work. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:45:00]

KINKADE: Well, South Korean doctors are marching in the country's capital today. Those doctors say they're overworked and underpaid. And the government plans to increase medical school admissions won't solve the problems.

Many South Korean doctors have been on strike for more than a week, disrupting major hospitals and forcing health care centers and emergency rooms to turn away patients.

Manisha Tank joins me now from Singapore. Good to have you with us, Manisha.

So, since Wednesday evening, about 10,000 residents, that's 80 percent of all the junior doctors, have turned to their resignations as part of these protests. Just explain why.

MANISHA TANK, JOURNALIST: Well, this is related to government plans to overhaul the healthcare system in Korea. Let me give you some of the economic context around this. So, many developing nations are staring down the barrel of aging populations, and they're wondering what they're going to do about it.

And the first departments that end up in the line of fire, of course, are healthcare. How are you going to cope with the increased needs of a more elderly population? What the Korean government is saying, South Korean government is saying, is they may face a shortfall of 15,000 doctors by 2035 if they don't address the problem now. And the solution for this is to train up more medical students. In fact, they want to train 2,000 of them by 2025.

Well, this is what the incumbent doctors are protesting against. And they're saying, we're already overworked, we're already underpaid. And in terms of overwork, some estimates put it at 100 hours a week in a five-day week. That's 20 hours a day. It's the system that's broken, fix the system first. It's not that we don't want reform, it's just look at the initial problems and also government. They want the government to give them the rationale for that 2,000 figure.

Obviously, this is impacting on the public. There are people being turned away from clinics in the midst of all of this. Here's what one university student has to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIM HYUN-JOON, UNIVERSITY STUDENT: I want the number to increase, but I hope that the medical industry and the government can discuss well and come to an agreement to resolve the current situation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TANK: Of course, he's referring to the number of doctors there. So, this is very much a standoff. These doctors have been told they've got to go back to work by Monday or they could face their licenses being revoked.

KINKADE: Yes. And, of course, Manisha, most of these doctors don't want to go back to work, even though they are being threatened with jail time and fines. And so now they're turning -- the government is turning towards military doctors and also community doctors to try and fill that hole. How are the hospitals coping?

TANK: Well, with difficulty. It is the fact that some emergency procedures can't be carried out. And I think that's a really important point.

One of the issues in the system right now is the higher pay amongst doctors is on services, like dermatology or plastic surgery. What the government is trying to do is to see that we have more qualified doctors in the essential areas, such as pediatrics, obstetricians, general practitioners. And this is very much about the economics of and resources that are given out to these various services in the big cities. The other big challenge they face is making sure that more doctors are going to rural and regional areas.

Now, this was part of a bill that was submitted in parliament, but it was blocked by the opposition, interesting ahead of an election on April 10th.

KINKADE: All right, Manisha Tank, good to have you on the story, joining us live from Singapore. Thank you.

Well, tensions between Taiwan and Beijing are high amid a series of recent incidents in the waters around the Kinmen Islands. There are a group of outlying islands controlled by Taiwan, but just a storm is thrown from China's shores.

CNN's Will Ripley has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Just off the foggy coast near Taiwan's front line Kinmen Islands, the Chinese Coast Guard intercepts a Taiwanese tourist boat. Taiwan's Coast Guard calls it an unprecedented forced inspection, triggering panic among passengers and the public.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was very scary. I was afraid that I might not be able to return to Taiwan.

RIPLEY: These are the waters where that incident happened, where the Chinese Coast Guard boarded the Taiwanese tourist boat and checked everyone's I.D., spooking a lot of the people on board. You can see how close we are to the skyline of the Chinese city of Xiamen. There are Chinese construction boats all throughout these waters. Pretty easy to mix up which side, the Chinese side or the Taiwanese side you're on when you're this close.

[03:50:03]

Cross straight tensions rising here ever since the Lunar New Year holiday. A Chinese speedboat capsized in a chase with Taiwan's Coast Guard, similar to this one several years ago, Chinese fishing boats accused by Taiwan of trespassing the island's territorial waters more than 1,000 times last year alone.

CHEN CHIEN-WEN, DEPUTY CAPTAIN, KINMEN COAST GUARD: As the speedboat was snaking, trying to evade inspection and even drifting, it capsized and four people fell into the sea.

RIPLEY: Two Chinese fishermen drowned. Two others survived, telling a conflicting story.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Even if we make quick turns we won't capsize. It only capsized when it was rammed into.

RIPLEY: An infuriated Beijing accuses Taipei of covering up the fishermen's deaths. Chinese officials blame Taiwan's ruling party, reiterating Beijing's sovereign claim over Taiwan, promising to step up patrols in the area.

Taiwan is deploying its own Coast Guard in response. Analysts say the mainland may be testing how far it can push Taiwan, trying to erode its ability to control waters long governed by Taipei.

We've been out on this boat for less than two hours and we've already seen at least four Chinese Coast Guard boats, including that one right over there, which just made a U-turn. Our captain says that means they're monitoring us just like we're watching them.

Rattling the nerves of Taiwanese tour boat operators.

Do you worry that this could be the place where there could be the beginning of a bigger conflict between Taiwan and Mainland China?

MR. CHANG, TOUR BOAT OPERATOR IN KINMEN: To be frank, I am concerned, but this is not what our people want. If there is conflict, both sides will be devastated.

RIPLEY: Both sides watching what happens next, surging tensions on the Taiwan Strait, threatening to spill over.

Will Ripley, CNN, Kinmen, Taiwan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: An L.A. Lakers star adds to his legend. Just ahead, how LeBron James shattered a league record while losing to another team.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:55:00]

KINKADE: Welcome back. Basketball's LeBron James can add another milestone to what's already a record-setting career. The man affectionately referred to as King James has become the first NBA player in history to score 40,000 career points.

The L.A. Lakers star hit that milestone during Saturday's game against the Denver Nuggets, notching the historic basket on a left-handed layup with 10:41 left in the second quarter. He's been the league's all-time leading scorer since last season.

And it was a remarkable day the racetrack for NASCAR driver Rajah Caruth on Friday. The Team Chevrolet driver won his first career truck series race in Las Vegas. And the 21-year-old became only the third black driver to win the NASCAR national series. He joins Hall of Famer Wendell Scott and Bubba Wallace.

Caruth, a native of Washington, D.C., is a graduate of NASCAR's Drive for Diversity program. Well done.

Well, I'm Lynda Kinkade. Thank you so much for your company.

CNN Newsroom continues with Kim Brunhuber after a short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:00:00]