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CNN International: Polls to Open in Super Tuesday Contests Across the U.S.; Voters in North Carolina Dreading a Biden-Trump Rematch; Without Aid, Ukraine's Frontline Positions are in Peril; France Makes Abortion a Constitutional Right; Police in India Arrest Three Men Suspected of Raping Foreign Tourist; Malaysia Willing to Renew Search for Missing Jetliner. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired March 05, 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]
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster. If you're just joining us, here are some of our top stories today.
Israeli War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz will meet with U.S. Secretary of State Blinken in the coming hours. On Monday, he met with Vice President Kamala Harris during which they discussed the situation in Rafah and the need for a credible humanitarian plan.
The Supreme Court unanimously ruled to keep Donald Trump on the ballot in Colorado. It's a decision that follows months of debate over whether Trump violated the insurrectionist clause in the Constitution's 14th Amendment.
It's Super Tuesday in the U.S., the biggest day of presidential primaries with voters in more than a dozen states and territories preparing to cast their ballots for their party's nominee. Donald Trump is expected to emerge from today's primaries within touching distance of a third straight Republican nomination.
CNN's Jeff Zeleny spoke to voters in North Carolina, one of the battleground Super Tuesday states, as some are dreading another Biden- Trump rematch.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KIM BRAND, NORTH CAROLINA VOTER: I would vote for Joe Biden over Donald Trump in a heartbeat.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: What are you doing?
STACEY VAN GRONIGEN, NORTH CAROLINA VOTER: We're trapped with that mouthful of vomit, but I can't vote for Joe Biden.
ZELENY (voice-over): Kim Brand and Stacey Van Gronigen are both voting for Nikki Haley on Tuesday and dreading what likely comes next.
At a weekend rally in North Carolina, they watched Haley together.
NIKKI HALEY, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What a crowd.
ZELENY (voice-over): But parted ways that the notion of a rematch between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
ZELENY: Should she not win the nomination, what will you do in November?
BRAND: Cry.
ZELENY (voice-over): Brand, a retired banker, said she'll back Biden. Van Gronigen, a retired consultant, said she'll vote for Trump again.
VAN GRONIGEN: First time I did, you know, with joy. The second time I did with my nose plug. But ill do it again with my nose plug. I just can't believe though that that's what we had to choose from.
HALEY: We have to strengthen --
ZELENY: In the waning in days of the primary, conversations with Haley voters offer important lessons, perhaps less so for her own candidacy than for Trump, Biden, or even a third-party candidate.
BETH FEGLEY, NORTH CAROLINA VOTER: In November, if she's not on the ballot at all, I'm voting for Biden, because I don't want Donald Trump to be anywhere near my country.
GERRY ST. AMAND, NORTH CAROLINA VOTER: I've been intrigued for a while now at the whole notion of a legitimate third party.
HALEY: If you don't think you need that 30 or 40 percent of us, you are showing exactly why you're going to lose a general election.
ZELENY (voice-over): North Carolina, one in 15 states holding Republican contest Tuesday, is emerging as an early general election battleground. The fast-growing suburbs and college educated voters are in the sights of both parties as the next chapter of the campaign takes shape.
ANDERSON CLAYTON, CHAIR, NORTH CAROLINA DEMOCRATIC PARTY: We know that the state is 50/50.
ZELENY (voice-over): Anderson Clayton is chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party. It's been 16 years since Barack Obama won here, the last Democrat to do so.
Trump's margin of victory has narrowed, a little more than one point in 2020 down from more than three points in 2016.
CLAYTON: My job in my opinion, right, is to go chase every Democrat that from 2008 did not vote afterwards, did not see themselves represented in this party afterwards.
ZELENY (voice-over): Billy Ward is vice chairman of the Wake County Republican Party in Raleigh. He draws a different lesson in the booming population growth. BILLY WARD, VICE CHAIR, WAKE COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY: We see a lot of people that are moving in because even though they're Democrats, they're frustrated with the way the Democrats have been running their former states, their former cities and in many ways, the country.
ZELENY (voice-over): The big question is whether the fall election becomes a stark choice with Trump or referendum on Biden, the economy and more.
SARAH REIDY-JONES, FORMER CHAIR, MECKLENBURG COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY: I think people are ready to go back to what we have four years ago.
ZELENY (voice-over): Sarah Reidy-Jones misses Trump's policies and said she can tolerate all that comes with it.
REIDY-JONES: Suburban women are afraid they can't pay the bills. They're having to go back to work.
[04:35:00]
You know, at the end of the day, they're worried about personal safety and they're worried about providing for their families.
HALEY: Go out and vote on Tuesday ...
ZELENY (voice-over): As Haley weighs whether Super Tuesday will be her last stand, supporters like Brand and Von Gronigen brace for a long road to November.
ZELENY: So will you try and work on each other over the next eight months or your --
BRAND: No, we value independent thinking.
ZELENY: Of all the states voting on Tuesday, North Carolina stands out for what it could mean for the fall and those Nikki Haley voters who are squarely in the middle. Now, there's no doubt some of her supporters are anti-Trump, but we met many of them who are also anti- Biden.
The outcome of this Republican primary could expose Trump's vulnerabilities, particularly among college-educated voters in those fast-growing suburbs, where Biden also has considerable ground to make up if he wants to turn it into a winning battleground and earn those 16 electoral votes.
Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Iran just had its lowest voter turnout since the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution. Official data shows 41 percent of voters showed up to the polls for last Friday's legislative elections. This despite the regime making multiple pushes to get people to the polls. Early results show mostly hardline politicians won seats following the Iranian Guardian Council's decision to disqualify thousands of candidates.
Some in Tehran tell CNN that people didn't vote because of the country's poor economic conditions, its crackdowns on dissent, and a lack of trust in leadership.
Ukraine's military intelligence agency says it has destroyed a Russian patrol ship in the Black Sea that was reportedly worth $65 million. These images just coming in to us. The ship was operating near the Kerch Strait, which separates Crimea from Russia's coast.
Ukraine also says it is responsible for blowing up a railway bridge in southwestern Russia on Monday. The explosion took place in the Samara region, more than 800 kilometers inside Russian territory. Russian state media says there were delays to train services, but no casualties.
Kyiv says Russia used the railway to transport military cargo, including ammunition produced at a nearby plant.
By all measures, the situation on Ukraine's eastern front is bleak. Frontline towns are in danger of falling into Russian hands.
Ukrainian forces are struggling to hold the lines of defense, and the sound of silence is just as deafening and just as scary as the noise of Russian shelling. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh shows us why.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a lonely path ahead. The Russians have never been louder or closer. Occupied Bakhmut is just up the road. But now some Ukrainian tank guns are silent just when they're needed most here, they don't have enough shells.
WALSH: Sometimes they just won't fire at all for a whole day. Other days they'll be shooting constantly and after it, it is loud on the other side of that hill and it's sort of surreal to hear that sort of noise over there and see this tank unit having to ration their ammo.
YAROSLAV, 42ND MECHANIZED BRIGADE (through translated text): We have people, but without weapons. This is not a war you can win the a sword.
WALSH (voice-over): We learned they didn't fire a tool that day, or the day before or the next day. The silence here is what losing sounds like so to is what these soldiers had to say.
WALSH (through translated text): If the American's don't' give money, what's going to happen?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we're all good to die. Everybody who is here. We will be no more.
WALSH: Is this the worst you've seen it?
GARRISON FOSTER, U.S. VOLUNTEER FIGHTER: Yes. Yes, definitely. I think -- I think this year is going to be the worst year in the war. All I do know that there's certain units that they're running out of tanks.
WALSH: How angry does it make you?
FOSTER: Yes, I'm pissed. I'm absolutely pissed off. There's no point in trying to paint this in any sort of light where it's good for us that Russia takes Ukraine that's going to be very, very, very bad for us geopolitically.
WALSH (voice-over): It's here, Chasiv Yar, that already looks like defeat. Those left sounding like they'd be just about OK, when Russia comes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translated text): I want to see my granddaughter. She's in Moscow. My sister is in Kaliningrad. Half of Russia are my relatives. But I'm here alone.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translated text): No water, no gas, no power, no nothing. They (Ukrainian soldiers) drive straight to the house where people live. And they fire right from the house. They hide behind the civilians backs.
[04:40:00]
WALSH (voice-over): Further south near Avdiivka, homes that dealt with about 10 years of war just up the road are finally emptying out.
VALENTINA, ZHELANIE RESIDENT (through translated text): You know, the house shook four times already. It's made of clay and straw. They shell so hard, that every time I think that's it. We are done. The most scary would be if that horde (the Russians) come here. There can be no trusting people whose hands are covered in blood.
WALSH (voice-over): The skyline is bleak enough as it is but now rumbles with Russia advancing. Ukraine said it would hold steady at three villages near here after it left Avdiivka that hasn't happened. All three are now heavily contested at best and the noise of the Russian approach is louder.
VIKTOR, OCHERETYNE RESIDENT: Donbas was Ukraine, we were living a normal life. We had jobs. I will turn 70 soon. I've been married for 52 years. We will be buried together. Right here. Right in the ditch there.
WALSH (through translated text): Did you expect the Russians to get so close?
EUHENE, OCHERETYNE RESIDENT: We didn't expect it. We thought it would somehow settle, calm down.
WALSH (voice-over): Some units had enough shells. They said firing American rounds in a donated Paladin but still less than before. We didn't see much in the way of heavy defenses around here. And the worry is, was and will be that Russia does not stop. It may not be huge and southern enough to make the West pay urgent attention. But that's exactly what Putin wants anyway.
Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Chasiv Yar, Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Relief and jubilation in France as it becomes the first country in the world to make abortion a constitutional right. This was the moment the decision was made in Parliament.
Well, the vote easily cleared the three-fifths majority needed to amend the French constitution. The issue was raised in France as a direct response to the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe versus Wade. One lawmaker said the vote was a win for women around the world.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATHILDE PANOT, LAWMAKER, LA FRANCE INSOUMISE PARTY (through translator): We are celebrating a historic victory. Our vote is a promise made to the future. Never will our children, our grandchildren, our great-grandchildren have to relive the torment that has preceded them. Our vote is also a promise to all women around the world who are fighting for the right to have control over their bodies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Melissa Bell has more reaction to the vote from Paris.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Celebrations here at the Trocadero in the heart of Paris just after the joint session of Parliament that took place at Versailles and that was shown on that giant screen there voted overwhelmingly in favor of a woman's freedom to get access to abortion.
And what the French government had said as they tried to push this bill through was that in light of the reversal of Roe versus Wade in the United States in June of 2022, but also the reversal of women's access to abortion elsewhere, it was important that this become a constitutional right.
What the French government had argued was that it was important that future governments not be able to roll these rights back and that this debate should at least in this country be settled once and for all.
So, celebrations here at the Trocadero as France becomes the first country to place into its constitution that crucial freedom.
Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Police in India have arrested three men for allegedly raping a foreign tourist and assaulting her husband, as CNN's Vedika Sud reports. The case highlights India's decades-long struggle to curb sexual violence against women. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VEDIKA SUD, CNN REPORTER: The alleged gang rape of a female biker and a violent assault on a husband in India's eastern state of Jharkhand has led to outrage. The incident came to light after the couple, both foreign nationals, posted a video over the weekend on their Instagram page describing their ordeal.
They had stopped for the night in Dumka district when the alleged attack took place. CNN is not naming the female victim, who is of Brazilian-Spanish dual nationality, in accordance with Indian law that prevents the naming of victims of sexual violence. It's unclear if the alleged attackers have lawyers.
Here's an excerpt from their post.
[04:45:02]
RAPE VICTIM: Something happened to us that I do not wish on anyone.
RAPE VICTIM'S HUSBAND: We got assaulted in the store. We were beaten. We had a knife to our throats. I thought they were going to kill us. And (BLEEP) was raped by seven men. Sons (BLEEP) ...
SUD: CNN has watched a series of videos posted by the couple. In one video, the rape survivor shows her bruises. She says she thought she was going to die. In another video, her husband shows the deep cuts around his mouth. Some videos are no longer up on their page.
Sharing details at a press conference Saturday, the police told reporters the couple were found on Friday night by police officers on patrol. They were taken to hospital, where the woman told the doctor she had been raped.
In a statement to CNN, the Brazilian embassy said they are working closely with the Spanish and Indian authorities on this case. CNN has reached out to the Spanish embassy for comment.
According to government data, more than 31,500 rape cases were recorded in the year 2022, an average of 86 cases per day. Break that down further, and that's a rape almost every 17 minutes in the country.
And experts warn that the number of cases recorded are just a small fraction of what may be the real number in a deeply patriarchal country.
Despite amended rape laws and the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government saying it is committed to tackling sexual violence, India has struggled for years to tackle high rates of violence against women, with a number of high-profile rape cases involving foreign visitors drawing international attention to the issue.
Vedika Sud, CNN, New Delhi.
(END VIDEOTAPE) FOSTER: Well, still ahead, a new push to solve one of the greatest aviation mysteries of all time, the latest on the search for MH370, nearly a decade after that flight disappeared.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: Big hugs for NASA's SpaceX crew, Crew 8, after they docked with the International Space Station just a short time ago. Crew 8 includes three American astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut.
With their arrival, 11 people are now aboard the space station. That number will shrink in the coming weeks, though, when the four members of the Crew 7 return to Earth. Crew 8 is expected to stay for six months. They'll conduct hundreds of experiments and technology demonstrations.
Malaysia says it's willing to reopen its investigation into the disappearance of MH370. Speaking on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit, the Malaysian prime minister said if there is compelling evidence, new evidence, his country is willing to reopen the case.
It's been nearly 10 years since the Malaysia Airlines flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing vanished with 239 people on board, becoming one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[04:50:00]
ANWAR IBRAHIM, MALAYSIAN PRIME MINISTER: On the 370, we have taken a position that if there is compelling case, evidence that needs to be reopened, we will certainly be happy to reopen. Because I don't think it's an issue, a technical issue. It is an issue affecting lives of people and whatever needs to be done must be done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Malaysia, Australia and China reportedly spent at least $130 million on the largest aviation search in history, scouring the waters of the South Indian Ocean for wreckage, any clues as well as evidence about what might have brought down that flight.
Meanwhile, Malaysia's transport minister says the U.S.-based seabed exploration firm Ocean Infinity has made a credible new search proposal. CNN's Richard Quest has details on that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS EDITOR-AT-LARGE: The announcement by the Malaysian government that it is open to reopening the search for MH370 will be very welcomed by the families of those that perished on board. But Ocean Infinity is doing it on a no-find-no-fee basis, it's believed. In other words, if they don't find the missing plane off the Australian coast where everybody believes it is, then they don't get paid. There have been two previous attempts by Ocean Infinity to find MH370 and both failed. The hope is that new search techniques, new equipment and better understanding of what happened to the plane will make this search successful.
Despite all that's happened over the last 10 years, the real truth is we are no closer to knowing exactly what caused the plane to go missing.
Yes, we know roughly where it is off the Australian coast. The various bits that have washed up in Africa have confirmed that. But whether it was the captain, whether it was mechanical, whether it was some mass act of mass murder, that we simply don't know.
Richard Quest, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Next, breaking records and bringing new fans to women's basketball, the U.S. star who's making history at just 22 years old.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: U.S. College Basketball's top division has a new all-time leading scorer. Caitlin Clark set the record on Sunday as her University of Iowa Hawkeyes beat the Ohio State Buckeyes. These photos were taken right after the sharpshooting guard made a free throw to pass men's basketball legend pistol Pete Maravich.
That's right. Clark now holds the record for most points scored by either a man or a woman. Speaking to CNN, Clark's coach said that as a child, Clark was inspired by Minnesota Lynx legend Maya Moore.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LISA BLUDER, WOMEN'S BASKETBALL HEAD COACH, UNIVERSITY OF IOWA: It's terrific. And that's what it's all about, really. I mean, she was that little girl that Maya Moore took time to come over and talk to her when she was that little girl and Maya played for the Minnesota Lynx.
And so now Caitlin is continuing to give back and pay that forward and trying to be that role model for little girls and, quite honestly, a lot of little boys across the country. And so, I think it's just the one way that she can contribute to our game and keep promoting women's athletics.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: The man who watched the Super Bowl alongside Taylor Swift is retiring from the NFL.
[04:55:00]
You may have seen Jason Kelce standing beside Swift whilst his brother, her boyfriend, played in the Super Bowl. Jason is the man wearing the red shirt in these photos. But he's a star in his own right too. The Philadelphia Eagles' center announced his retirement on Monday.
In 13 seasons, Jason Kelce went to seven Pro Bowls and was named an All-Pro six times. In a tearful goodbye announcement, Jason said he couldn't have got to where he is without the support of his brother, Travis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JASON KELCE, RETIRED PHILADELPHIA EAGLES CENTER: There is no chance I'd be here without the bond Travis and I share. It's only too poetic. I found my career being fulfilled in the city of brotherly love. I knew that relationship all too well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: In 2023, the Kelce brothers were the first to ever play against each other in a Super Bowl. Jason's Eagles lost to Travis's Kansas City Chiefs. Of course, this year, Travis Kelce's team won again and Taylor Swift was there, of course, to congratulate him.
What's old is new again. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is now the world's richest person. Bezos' net worth is $200 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
That's $2 billion more than Elon Musk. Musk lost the top spot after Tesla shares tumbled more than 7 percent on Monday. Musk reclaimed the title in May of last year, edging out Bernard Arnault, the CEO of the world's biggest conglomerate of luxury goods. The three men often move up and down the list of the world's richest based on market performance.
Now, Apple is facing a massive penalty in Europe for its handling of music streaming services. The European Union is fining the tech giant nearly $2 billion for breaking the bloc's competition laws. EU regulators found Apple to be unfairly favoring its own music streaming app over rivals like Spotify. The bloc's antitrust commissioner said the company had abused its dominant position as a streaming app distributor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARGRETHE VESTAGER, EUROPEAN UNION ANTITRUST COMMISSIONER: Apple did so by restricting app developers ability to inform users of Apple devices, about alternative cheaper options to purchase music available on the internet outside of the App Store. This is illegal and it has impacted millions of European consumers. They were not able to make a free choice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Well, Apple says it plans to appeal the fine. This is the EU's first ever antitrust penalty against the U.S. giant.
Thanks for joining me here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Froster in London. CNN "THIS MORNING" is up next after this short break.
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