Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Children Facing Starvation In Gaza As Supplies Run Out; U.S. Strikes Houthi Drones After Rebel Missiles Kill Three; Nikki Haley Suspends 2024 Presidential Bid; President Joe Biden Set To Deliver State Of The Union Address Thursday; Russia's War On Ukraine; National People's Congress; Returning To The Slopes. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired March 07, 2024 - 02:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:00:33]

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

Just ahead, famine looms over Gaza, children are now starving to death as food, water and other essentials remain in woefully short supply. And experts say if something doesn't change, conditions will only get worse.

Nikki Haley drops out of the U.S. presidential race and now the fight is on for Biden and Trump to woo her supporters.

And a near miss for Ukraine's president, a Russian missile striking dangerously close to him during a visit from the Greek prime minister.

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

CHURCH: Thanks for joining us, the international community is racing to address the deepening levels of hunger and suffering in Gaza right now. South Africa is asking the International Court to -- of Justice to take emergency measures against Israel in Gaza citing widespread starvation. The request comes on the same day a 15-year-old boy died of malnutrition in Gaza City.

The Gaza health ministry says the boy is one of at least 20 people to have died from starvation and dehydration since the war began. And it warns famine will claim thousands of lives unless the fighting stops and aid is allowed in.

Plans to create a maritime aid corridor at the top of the agenda when the European Commission president visits and meets with the president of Cyprus on Thursday.

And as CNN's Nada Bashir reports, parents are burying their children as hospitals run out of food and supplies. And while these images of their reality are very distressing, the mothers interviewed say they want the world to see them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): Tiny limbs, bones protruding. The constant sound of crying from children now facing starvation in Gaza. In this overrun hospital ward, anxious mothers watch on as doctors provide whatever care they still can.

But for some, there is nothing more to be done. 3-year-old Mila (ph), who had been suffering from acute malnutrition, now another victim of this merciless war.

She was healthy. There was nothing wrong with her before. Mila's mother says. Then suddenly, everything dropped. She wasn't eating anything. We had no milk, no eggs, nothing. She used to eat eggs everyday before the war. But now, we have nothing.

Across Gaza, too many are feeling the pain of this deepening hunger crisis. Small children emaciated and malnourished, these were little Yazan's (ph) final moments. His tiny fingers gripped in his mother's hand. He like Mila would not make it.

Others are still just barely holding on. But there is no telling how long they will survive.

Standing beside Mila's body, Dr. Ahmed Sanam (ph) says, many children at this hospital are now dying due to a lack of food and oxygen supplies. With limited aid getting in, many have grown desperate, searching for food wherever they can.

9-year-old Mohamed (ph) says he walks for about a mile every day to collect water for his family.

You seem sad, why, this journalist asked him. Because of the war, he says. It is all too much.

On Tuesday, U.N. experts accused Israel of intentionally starving the Palestinian people in Gaza. Noting that the Israeli military is now targeting both civilians seeking aid and humanitarian convoys. Israel has denied targeting civilians and says that there is, "No limit to the amount of humanitarian aid for civilians in Gaza." But the reality on the ground paints a very different picture.

[02:05:16]

There is no food, no water, no flour, cooking oil or anything, this woman says. Death is better than this.

According to a senior U.N. official, at least a quarter of Gaza's population is now said to be just one step away from famine.

With aid agencies facing overwhelming obstacles in getting the bare minimum of supplies into Gaza, and as Israel's ground offensive threatens to push further into the Strip's densely populated south, time is quickly running out. While international efforts to airdrop humanitarian supplies have provided some respite, it is simply not enough. With stalling negotiations leaving a little hope for an end to the suffering and hunger of the Palestinian people in Gaza.

Nada Bashir, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: For more on this, I'm joined now by Abeer Etefa, the senior Middle East spokesperson for the World Food Programme. Thank you so much for talking with us.

ABEER ETEFA, SENIOR MIDDLE EAST SPOKESPERSON, WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME: Thank you for having me.

CHURCH: Images of parents burrying their children are hard to watch, but send a critical message to the world that the situation in Gaza is desperate. And that action is needed and needed now. So, what is your greatest concern right now as children face starvation in the enclave and as supplies run out?

ETEFA: Well, hunger has reached catastrophic levels in many parts of Gaza, and specifically in northern Gaza. Children are dying of hunger and other preventable diseases. We already have reports from WHO and from people in the hospital seeing that this is becoming a trend, they are seeing more and more children who are dying because of malnutrition and because of hunger.

We have assessments that are ongoing in many parts of Gaza. And I think we are expecting some numbers soon that will show that we have famine conditions in many parts of Gaza.

Now, the situation is extremely difficult because of the huge limitations and access in getting food and the right supplies inside some parts of Gaza. It's extremely difficult at the moment and we need high volumes of food delivered to Gaza every day by road, we need more entry points into Gaza, including from the north, not just from the south. And the use of ports like Ashdod, safe and unhindered access is critical. And it's the only way that can save lives. And we are in a race against time.

CHURCH: Yes, and the world is of course watching as the U.S. and other nations drop food aid from the skies in the midst of this humanitarian disaster in Gaza, where most people are starving and famine is just on the horizon. Although you point out it is in some parts of Gaza. How bad is the situation right now and how much of an impact are these air drops making?

ETEFA: Well, it is really desperate in many parts of Gaza, and at times when hunger is a truly desperate levels that we're seeing right now, the World Food Programme and many others have to use every tool in the -- in our toolbox so that we can deliver assistance and save lives.

But while pursuing safe access via land routes is, you know, really important. There's nothing that can replace a convoy that -- to get over land. Air drops are our last resort. They are -- it's an option, but it's -- it cannot compete or replace truck convoys when it comes to the volume of food delivered and the cost.

It's not -- it's not as efficient as sending trucks over land filled with convoy. The quantities are extremely limited, but it gives people a sign of hope. And in some cases, it can help, you know, save lives, but very few people, very few people will benefit from these air drops.

CHURCH: Right. Some of these air drops to have ended in disaster as have some convoys because people are just so desperate to get hold of that food.

So, you're saying the best solution of course, is delivery by trucks and before this war, before October 7th, some 500 or so trucks were going in, weren't they with humanitarian supplies? It's nowhere near at those levels now. What are you saying come in at this point?

[02:10:13]

ETEFA: Well, we need -- we need access to Gaza over land and there are thousands of trucks carrying food and humanitarian supplies stuck around, you know, the Rafah area on the Jordanian side, on the Egyptian side and even from Israel into Gaza.

So, there's so much food that we have mobilized. It's like we have enough food that could feed Gaza, all of Gaza for the next three months, but it's not getting in.

So, it's the food is just like -- just few kilometers from the borders of Gaza. And the reality is that the only way that we can save lives that can prevent, you know, children starvation is by getting these supplies, we need access through all crossing points. We need access to Ashdod crossing point, access to Northern Gaza, not just the South.

But even the south, very limited supplies are getting in. And as you mentioned, before this -- before the 7th of October, we had 500 trucks every day getting into Gaza with food supplies.

So, imagine that immense needs now. We -- there is nothing that would replace this access from every border crossing point, land, sea, and rarely and if, if, if everything else fails, to some specific areas would be air drops.

CHURCH: I hear your frustration there, Abeer Etefa, thank you so much for talking with us and for all that you do, appreciate it.

ETEFA: Thank you.

CHURCH: Well, U.S. Central Command says it conducted strikes on two drones in a Houthi controlled area of Yemen because they presented an imminent threat to U.S. Navy ships and merchant vessels in the region.

The strikes came hours after Houthi missiles killed three crew members on a commercial ship in the Gulf of Aden on Wednesday. We're learning the two of them were Filipino.

According to U.S. officials, these are the first death since the Iran backed Houthis began their missile attacks in response to Israel's war in Gaza.

U.S. Central Command says it was the fifth anti-ship ballistic missile fired by Houthis in the past two days. One attack struck and damaged a Swiss owned container ship in the Gulf of Aden on Monday.

And CNN's Scott McLean joins us now live from Istanbul, in Turkey. So Scott, what more are you learning about this deadly attack?

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Rosemary.

Look, it was a couple of weeks ago that I actually spoke to the head of security for a large shipping industry association. And he was shocked that no one had been killed or seriously injured before and he said that it was only a matter of time.

Well, it turns out that that was very true. These are the first people as you said to be killed by Houthi attacks in the Red Sea or off the coast of Yemen.

As you said, two of them according to the Filipino government were Filipino citizens, two of the injured are also Filipino. And that's not surprising considering that people from the Philippines make up about one fifth of the global workforce of seafarers.

Now, in this particular case, the ship True Confidence is a boat carrier that's a ship that carries salt, grain, metal, things like that in bulk obviously, and bulk carriers along with tankers make up the majority of the ship traffic that is still using the Red Sea quarter, most container ships are now taking the long way around Africa.

The Houthi say that that ship ignored calls to change course, the Maritime Security Agency Ambrey or form I should say, Ambrey said that there are indications that the ship began to ship course before it went adrift.

The Houthi said that they targeted this ship accurately based on American ownership. But a U.S. defense official says that the ship was'nt American, it's Liberian. It was previously owned by a U.S. company but then was since sold to a Liberian company.

Obviously, we know that the Houthis have been targeting ships based on American, Israeli or British, any kind of links to those three countries in an effort to put pressure on the Israelis to end their war in Gaza.

And of course, the U.S. has been stepping up its strikes on Houthi targets, trying to degrade their capabilities. But as we heard from the State Department spokesperson yesterday, this is not something that happens overnight. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MATT MILLER, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: We have always made clear that this is going to be a long term process both to deter the Houthi attacks and to degrade their capabilities to carry them out. And that's a process that is continuing.

At the same time, we continue to talk to partners in the region about how they ought to make clear to the Houthis that these attacks are irresponsible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[02:15:08]

MCLEAN: So, there have been almost 50 ships that have been targeted by the Houthis over the last several months, many of them have hit their targets as well.

Now, in many cases, the ships are big enough that they can absorb the blow and continue to sail but not always.

Obviously, this ship was hit by an anti-ballistic ship missile, you had the M.V. Rubymar that was hit a few weeks ago, it slowly sank. We got confirmation of that over the weekend.

And then of course, you have the Galaxy Leader, the very first container ship to be targeted, and its 25 crew members are still being held hostage in Yemen.

Many ships are turning off their publicly available GPS trackers to try to make themselves more inconspicuous as they pass through this area. Others are writing on publicly available tracking platforms like MarineTraffic.com that they have no crew ties to Israel or the U.S. or the U.K. or that all of their crew is Chinese, for instance, or Russian or Indian or what have you.

And oftentimes, they're also mentioning that they have armed guards aboard. We are told by that head of security for that industry association, I mentioned that prior to the war, about 20-25 percent of ships passing through that area would have armed guards aboard. Those numbers, though, are only rising since the war began.

But of course, it is very difficult to prevent this kind of a thing. There is new industry guidance that suggests that ships should install physical barriers like barbed wire to prevent attackers from getting on.

But of course, this is a very risky part of the world, you cannot prevent without the help of a military attacks like this. And so, it is risky. But there is a financial interest in for not only the companies to take this risk, given the supply and demand and the fact that so many ships are taking the long way around. But also there's an incentive for the crew members as well who typically are paid double for going in dangerous areas, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Well, that's Scott McLean joining us live from Istanbul, many thanks. President Joe Biden is set to deliver his State of the Union Address

in the coming hours before a highly polarized U.S. Congress. He will make his case to American voters on why he is the best choice heading into the November election, especially since it's said to be a rematch with Donald Trump.

Both men are turning up the heat on each other in the wake of the Super Tuesday primaries. Biden says Americans have a choice to move forward or allow Trump to, "Drag us backwards into the chaos."

Meantime, Donald Trump claimed, "If we lose this election, we're not going to have a country." He's expected to wrap up the Republican nomination next week. Now that's an easier task with rival Nikki Haley formally suspending her presidential bid on Wednesday. She told supporters she has no regrets about the campaign.

Well, now the big question is where do her supporters go now? CNN's Jessica Dean takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): As she announced the suspension of her presidential campaign on Wednesday, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley had a clear message for her rival.

NIKKI HALEY, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: It is now up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it, who did not support him. And I hope he does that.

DEAN (voice over): Where will Haley support go now that she's exited the race? In Virginia, where she captured nearly 35 percent of the vote on Super Tuesday, we caught up with voters to ask, what will you do in November?

DEAN: Now that she's out and it's Trump versus Biden, what do you think?

BARBARA GREEN, VOTED FOR NIKKI HALEY: Oh, no question, Biden. We cannot have another four years of that man.

CAROLE COLBURN, VOTED FOR NIKKI HALEY: I at this point can't answer that question. I think that this country can do better than the choice we've been given. And I don't know how we can change that, but I think it's going to be a lot of difficult, thoughtful, for people to decide what to do in the future.

KELLY SCHOEFIELD, FAIRFAX COUNTY, VOTER: I think people are looking closely at the vice presidential candidate because it's a very probable possibility that they will be president by the end of the four years.

DEAN (voice over): So far, the former president has offered little in the way of an olive branch to Haley or her supporters, writing on social media, "Nikki Haley got trounced last night in record setting fashion," after weeks of lobbing insults in their direction.

TRUMP: Nikki Haley has made an unholy alliance with RINOs, never Trumpers. The people behind Nikki are pro-amnesty. You like that?

DEAN (voice over): CNN exit polling found among Haley supporters across five states, that 19 percent say they'd be satisfied with Trump as the nominee, and 79 percent dissatisfied.

And yet, her supporters could be crucial for Trump's chances of winning back the White House, especially in battleground dates where the margins are likely to be slim.

[02:20:05]

But still, some voters told us now that Haley is out, neither Trump nor Biden will win their support.

JIM FETGATTER, VOTED FOR NIKKI HALEY: I'm not going to vote for either one, Biden or Trump. I'd love to vote for her again. He's just lost me on these past few years, and I -- it's mostly -- it's mostly his attitude about foreign policy and Ukraine and the -- and the chaos. Biden, I just think is not fit for office.

SCHOEFIELD: I think it is not a sure thing that Donald Trump is going to win the general election because if you're a voter like myself, I'm going to write her in. I am not going to go to vote for Trump. I don't think he's going to be able to corral Nikki Haley supporters, and independent voters back.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN (on camera): So, the attention now turns to the likely general election matchup of Trump versus Biden, a redo of 2020. President Biden is going to have quite an opportunity on Thursday night with his State of the Union Address, likely one of the largest audiences he's going to have between now and Election Day in November.

And of course, he's going to try to fire up the base, but also can he persuade any persuadable? It's the question for him and for the former president, they're going to need all the support they can get.

Jessica Dean, CNN, Arlington, Virginia.

CHURCH: Larry Sabato joins me now, he is the director of the Center for politics at the University of Virginia. It's always a pleasure to have you with us.

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR OF THE CENTER FOR POLITICS, THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: It's always fun to be here.

CHURCH: So, President Joe Biden is set to deliver his State of the Union Address tonight as wars rage in Gaza and Ukraine, and just eight months away from the general election. What can we expect to hear? And what does the president need to say to counter his many critics, and, of course, the string of new polls showing he would lose against Donald Trump in November?

SABATO: Well, fortunately, for President Biden, he doesn't believe those polls, so I don't think it will depress his presentation. And that's important, the style and substance are important in a State of the Union Address, especially one being given in an election year, with the election about eight months off. This is late for a State of the Union Address as well. They used to be given always in January, occasionally, early February. But this is helpful to Biden because it is closer to the election.

Stylistically, he's got to show energy, he has got to dispel some of the -- what he would say as false impression about age. And he can do that, he's certainly done a good job before as he did last year. He's really shown in that State of the Union Address, partly by responding spontaneously to Republican catcalls.

He's been around politics a long time. And he knows how to do that, as do British politicians. So, the style is important to him. And he certainly has to focus on issues that really matter to people in their lives. That's the substance of it.

He certainly doesn't want to get into attacks on Donald Trump, he can make contrast with the Republican Party. That's easy enough to do. I'm sure he will focus on immigration, reminding the audience which is quite large, the largest he'll have until he's inaugurated again, if he gets that second inauguration.

But he needs to remind people that he did have a solution, a bipartisan solution to much of the immigration problem. And one person who happens to be his opponent now and was his opponent in 2020, he made the telephone call to Republicans in Congress, and instantly, the solution died. So, that's important to point out to people, I suspect he will do it once or twice.

CHURCH: And I do want to bring up those poll numbers again, because you say that Joe Biden doesn't take any notice of them, but are they sending panic through the ranks of the Democratic Party? And if so, what is the plan to turn the fortunes of Joe Biden around?

SABATO: It's long been said by Democrats that democratic activists are bed wetters. And I'm not going to go that far. But I would say they tend to be nervous, much more nervous than I've always found Republican activists to be.

And are Democrats nervous right now? Absolutely. Even if Biden were ahead by 20 points, they'd find something to be nervous about.

But it's pretty clear that Biden has ground to make up, he has not communicated well on many occasions. He hasn't gotten across to people what he's really accomplished, and it's quite a long list. So, this is a great opportunity for him to try to do that.

And when you accomplish something in a speech as public as a State of the Union Address, you can do something about those poll numbers too.

[02:25:07]

CHURCH: And meantime, in the wake of the Super Tuesday results, and Nikki Haley dropping out of the race, Donald Trump is solidifying his position as the presumptive GOP nominee for president with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell endorsing him despite years of tension between the two men, and the rest of the GOP uniting behind him.

Poll numbers appear to show Trump's support soaring. But what will Haley's support is likely due in November? Will they vote for Joe Biden? Or Donald Trump? Or perhaps not at all? With Haley saying it's up to Trump to earn her supporters votes.

SABATO: Well, they're going to be some Haley supporters at all of those baskets. A slice of the Hayley voters will in fact vote for Biden, I don't think it's a majority, but maybe a quarter or maybe 20 percent, something like that. And you'll have more than that, that ending up in Trump's column again, and you say, well, how can that be true? She said so many negative things about Trump.

And the answer is we live in a very partisan polarized era. And so, people gradually returned to the house of their mothers and fathers, the party I.D. that maybe they grew up with or adopted in college, and shortly thereafter.

It changes for some people, but it doesn't change for most people. What people claim they're going to do in March about their vote in October or November. Frequently, they don't follow through on that, they changed their minds. They don't recognize that now but they will toward the end.

So, Haley herself, I don't know whether she'll end up endorsing Trump. If she has a political future in the Republican Party, she'll probably have to, and I must say all of the Republicans who many of whom should know better, end up caving, some of them even grovel before Trump. It doesn't help them. It hurts them. At least those politicians who do it but they do it anyway. It's the path of least resistance.

CHURCH: Larry Sabato, great to have you back with us appreciate it.

SABATO: Always enjoyed, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Coming up, the Greek prime minister got a terrifying firsthand taste of war. How he and Ukraine's president escaped a Russian missile attack, that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Ukraine's president and the Greek prime minister narrowly missed being hit by a Russian missile on Wednesday. It happened while Mr. Zelenskyy was showing his counterpart around the port city of Odesa. The Greek leader says they were getting into their cars when they heard a big explosion.

According to a source, the convoy felt the impact of the strike just 500 meters away and saw a huge mushroom cloud of smoke. Ukrainian officials say at least five people were killed, and several more were injured in the attack.

Fred Pleitgen tells us more about the deadly attack on Odesa.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's not clear whether the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was the target of this attack, but it certainly appears to have been a pretty close call. Source with knowledge of the situation tells CNN that the impact of this missile appears to have been about 500 meters away from the Greek prime minister, which is essentially also the same area that the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was as well.

The Greeks are saying that the prime minister of Greece was in Odesa on a surprise visit, that he had been getting a tour of the port of Odesa from Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the Greek prime minister of the importance of that port for Ukraine, of course, for goods that the Ukrainians continue to want to import and export.

And the Greek side said that as the leaders were getting back into their car, that at that point, they heard a very loud explosion. The Ukrainian president, for his part, is going a step further even than that. He said that they saw the missile, and they even felt the impact because the impact was so close.

Originally, Volodymyr Zelenskyy had said that he knew that there had been killed and wounded in the attack. But he said at that point, he didn't have more information than that. Well, the Ukrainian Navy has since then come out and said that five people were killed and that there were people wounded even though they have not given specifics as to how many people exactly were wounded in all this.

Of course, Odesa, that port town in the south of Ukraine, has been taking a lot of hits from Russian drones and Russian missiles for the past couple of months. And just on March 2nd, there was a big drone attack that killed several people in that town.

The Russians for their part have acknowledged that they did strike Odesa and the port area. They claim that they hit a warehouse which -- in which were unmanned sea drones. Now all this comes not very long after the Ukrainian said that they had sunk a Russian warship using sea drones, so it's unclear whether or not this was retaliation by the Russians. But it certainly does appear as though this was a very concerning situation for the Ukrainians.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:35:10]

CHURCH: Day three of China's biggest political gathering of the year has turned to foreign affairs with the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, as well as US relations all in focus, as Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with reporters during the National People's Congress just a short time ago. He also addressed Taiwan and tensions in the South China Sea, and China's struggling economy remains a big talking point as well. CNN's Kristie Lu Stout joins us now live from Hong Kong. Good to see you, Kristie. So, with foreign affairs in the spotlight, one news comments on US-China relations raised eyebrows. What did he say?

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. The foreign minister of China, Wang Yi, accused the US of suppressing China to the point of reaching "bewildering levels of unfathomable absurdity." He was speaking at the sidelines of the National People's Congress, this morning among added that China opposes all acts of bullying.

Now in questions with reporters that happened this day one commented on the general nature the tone of the US-China relationship, which has been rather fractious in recent years, and he called for mutual respect. He also acknowledged that there have been some improvements in relations, especially since recent summits like the APEC Summit in Shanghai. But Wang Yi he also said this, take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WANG YI, CHINA FOREIGN MINISTER (through translation): But it has to be pointed out that US misperception toward China continues. And US promises are not truly fulfilled. The US has been devising various tactics to suppress China and kept lengthening its unilateral sanctions list, reaching bewildering levels of unfathomable absurdity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STOUT: Now, the US and China are at odds over a number of issues, including one you just mentioned, sanctions and access to technology, as well as South China Sea and Taiwan. Now in regards to the South China Sea, Wang Yi said that China will take justified actions to defend its rights there. He also said that China has been exercising a "high degree of restraint." This even after the Philippines accused China and Chinese vessels of dangerous maneuvers. This is something that CNN team witnessed this week in contested waters.

In regards to Taiwan, Wang said that China will continue to strive for peaceful reunification. And those are words we also heard from Xi Jinping this week. He was speaking to delegates at the NPC, the Chinese leader calling for peaceful reunification while rallying "patriots to reunify China."

This is according to state run media they quoted Xi saying that he urged a political group at the NPC to "unite all patriots from home and abroad, in and out of Taiwan to step up opposition against Taiwan independence, expand support for national reunification and jointly advanced the peaceful reunification of China."

Now, Xi is calling for peaceful unification as China's economy has been ailing. And in a bid to boost tourism, we heard from Wang Yi, China's foreign minister, that there will be a visa exemption for six more countries including Switzerland, Ireland, Hungary, Austria, Belgium and Luxembourg. This is going to be on a pilot basis starting from March 14th. And the United States, Rosemary, is not on this list. Back to you.

CHURCH: All right. Thanks to Kristie Lu Stout joining us live from Hong Kong.

Scientists have published alarming new climate change studies. Coming up the record setting temperatures warming our land and sea. We're back with that and more in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:40:59]

CHURCH: The earth just shattered heat records for the ninth month in a row. Last month was the hottest February on record according to the EU's climate monitoring service. The data shows global temperatures in the first half of the month were exceptionally high, with some days two degrees warmer than in pre-industrial times. Restricting global heating to well below two degrees was a centerpiece of the Paris Climate Agreement, which was signed by almost every country. Global sea temperatures were also off the charts last month, leading to more extreme weather patterns and posing a risk to marine life.

A new study shows dozens of us coastal cities are sinking at alarming rates. This map shows the cities that are sinking the fastest. They are in red. The analysis shows the 32 coastal cities studied were far more vulnerable to devastating floods and previously thought, particularly those along the Gulf of Mexico followed by those on the East Coast.

The study in the Journal Nature says almost 1,400 square kilometers of land and area a little less than the size of London could be exposed to destructive floods by 2050.

I want to thank you so much for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church, World Sport is next then I'll be back in 15 minutes with more CNN Newsroom. Do stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:45:17]

(WORLD SPORT)

[03:00:00]