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Haiti PM Resigns as Tensions and Violence in the Country Finally Eases; Princess Catherine Apologized After the Manipulated Photo that Sparked Global Outrage; Former Mar-a-Lago Employee Known in Court Documents as Trump Employee 5 Speaks to CNN; NZ Authorities Investigating the LATAM Airlines Flight that Experienced a Technical Event and Injured 50 Individuals. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired March 12, 2024 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:04]

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

Just ahead, Haiti needs calm. Those words from the Haitian Prime Minister who's now announced his resignation after weeks of violence across the country.

A grim start to Ramadan in Gaza. The threat of an Israeli ground incursion into Rafah looms and the dire need for more food and humanitarian aid continues to grow.

Plus, in a CNN exclusive, a former worker at Mar-a-Lago unpacks the truth. We'll hear from the key witness in the Donald Trump classified documents investigation.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Good to have you with us. And we begin in Haiti, where the Prime Minister has resigned after weeks of chaos in the country. Ariel Henry submitted his resignation Monday night, saying he will step down once a transitional council is in place.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARIEL HENRY, HAITIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translator): My government will leave immediately after the integration of the council. We will be a caretaker government until they name a Prime Minister and a new cabinet. Haiti needs peace. Haiti needs stability. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: His resignation comes just hours after regional leaders met in Jamaica to discuss a framework for a political transition. The country plunged into a crisis after powerful gangs carried out highly coordinated attacks across the capital Port-au-Prince last month.

Meantime, America's top diplomat says the U.S. will contribute $300 million for a Kenya-led multinational security mission to Haiti. Antony Blinken's announcement came after that high-level emergency meeting in Jamaica to discuss Haiti's political crisis.

And CNN's Paula Newton has been following the developments and has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This resignation was days in the making as political factions had warned that Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry would have to step down if a new political compromise could be brokered. Now, while the Prime Minister has resigned, he said he would only officially step down once a transitional presidential council could be formed and a new interim Prime Minister appointed.

I want you to listen now to how leaders at CARICOM, a regional bloc, what they said about this resignation, assuming they hope that it paves the way for a peaceful transition in Haiti. Listen.

IFRAAN ALI, CHAIRPERSON OF CARICOM AND GUYANESE PRESIDENT: We are pleased to announce the commitment to a transitional governance arrangement, which paves the way for a peaceful transition of power, continuity of governance, an action plan for near-term security, and a road to free and fair elections. It further seeks to assure that Haiti will be governed by the rule of law.

This commitment reflects hard compromises among a diverse coalition of actors who have put their country above all differences. To that end, we acknowledge the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry upon the establishment of a transitional presidential council and the naming of an interim prime minister.

NEWTON: Meantime, Henry does remain in Puerto Rico, essentially stranded, unable to guarantee his safety if he does try and return to Haiti.

Now, a peaceful transition is still quite a challenge, as you can imagine. Gang leaders there, they continue to spar with each other, but they are also saying that they must share in political power, and they are rejecting the idea of any international interference, including the expected arrival of Kenyan police, who are supposed to arrive to try and reestablish order.

Now, in the meantime, gang violence continues to hamper access in Haiti by air, land, and sea, and aid agencies are warning that the country will run out of key medicine, food, and supplies in a few weeks if the political situation is not resolved.

Paul Newton, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Israeli officials say an offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah is not imminent.

[03:05:05]

They say the IDF has not yet built up the forces needed for a ground incursion, and plans for a civilian evacuation have not been finalized. More than one million people are currently sheltering in the city. Israeli officials say although a potential civilian evacuation could take at least two weeks, an offensive into Rafah during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan has not been ruled out.

Meantime, the U.N. Secretary-General is calling everyone involved in the fighting to, quote, "honor the spirit of Ramadan by silencing the guns and releasing all the hostages in Gaza". Antonio Guterres is also asking Israel and Hamas to return to ceasefire and hostage release negotiations. And although the U.S. military airdropped more food and drinking water into Gaza, much more is needed. The World Food Program director says famine will happen if Palestinians don't get more aid.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CINDY MCCAIN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME: WFP is gravely concerned about humanitarian conditions across Gaza, particularly the north, which is in the grip of a humanitarian catastrophe. If we do not exponentially increase the size of aid going into the northern areas, famine is imminent. It's imminent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: CNN's Paula Hancocks is following the developments in Gaza and joins us now live from Abu Dhabi. Good to see you, Paula. So what more are you learning about efforts to get sufficient levels of humanitarian aid into Gaza?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, at this point, we are seeing the attempts continue by land. We are seeing more airdrops as well, and also some movement when it comes to a maritime corridor. So we can see countries around the world showing their frustration with Israel not allowing enough humanitarian aid trucks into Gaza and also the safe distribution. And they are looking for other ways in which to get the aid in. Now, there is a ship you can see there. This is just off the coast of Larnaca in Cyprus.

And this is a ship that was supposed to set sail yesterday. It has about three, sorry, 200 tons of food on board to be able to take to Gaza.

Now, the Cypriot government officials said that it was put on hold for some time. There were practical issues that had to be resolved. They have now been resolved. And you can see that ship moving very slowly towards Gaza.

Now, this is another area where countries are going to try and get their food in. We've heard from government officials in Cyprus that even before this particular ship set sail, there were many countries inquiring as to whether or not there would be more, whether this maritime corridor would be able to be used consistently.

We also know that the U.S. is in the process of bringing equipment to the area so that they can actually build a temporary floating pier. Now, the U.S. has been at pains to say they will not have U.S. boots on the ground in Gaza, so they will not have personnel actually on the ground, but they will have some kind of structure to be able to take the goods from the ship to those who need it on the beach because, of course, the ports themselves, there is a Gaza port.

It has been damaged in the airstrikes over recent months. So this is another way that countries are trying to prevent famine. Something that the World Food Programme head has warned is imminent if the amount of aid does not increase exponentially.

Now, she did say, Cindy McCain also, that there needs to be at least 300 trucks a day getting in via the land crossing to parts of Gaza to try and stave off this famine. Bear in mind, before October 7th, there were some 500 trucks a day that were getting into the Gaza Strip, and that was before there was a humanitarian catastrophe. Rosemary.

CHURCH: Paula Hancocks, live in Abu Dhabi, many thanks.

The United States says Israel has not presented a humanitarian or military plan for Rafah. U.S. officials say they've made it clear to Israel they should not go into Rafah without a credible humanitarian assistance plan.

U.S. President Joe Biden said over the weekend that Rafah is a red line. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he and Joe Biden are of like minds on the need to root out Hamas and evacuate civilians from Rafah.

[03:09:57]

Just last week, Mr. Biden was caught on a hot mic saying he's planning to have a come to Jesus meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister. When reporters asked him Monday if he's planning that meeting, he said, we'll see what happens.

"Haaretz" newspaper columnist Gideon Levy joins me now from Tel Aviv. Appreciate you being with us.

GIDEON LEVY, COLUMNIST, HAARETZ: Thank you for having me.

CHURCH: So after vowing to defy President Joe Biden's red line and invade Rafah by the start of Ramadan, Benjamin Netanyahu's officials now say an offensive is not imminent and that the IDF does not yet have a plan for civilian evacuations, which could be two weeks away or more. So what changed and what does this signal to you?

LEVY: First of all, we are not convinced yet that it's really changed. It was postponed. We don't know yet if Israel will really not penetrate into Rafah because invading Rafah will be a human catastrophe. There are no doubts about it. There is no way to save 1.3, 1.2 million people who found refuge there.

But if Rafah is saved, it is thanks to the American administration, which shows us again and again that if the Americans want to change, if they want to put an end to the war, if they would have put an end to the war, they could have done it a long time ago.

Israel depends now on the United States more than ever before. The only question is if the administration is ready to follow the advices and threats also by actions and measures.

CHURCH: We saw massive protests in Israel over the weekend with calls for Prime Minister Netanyahu to resign. This coming as a U.S. intelligence reporter says that Netanyahu may be losing his grip on power. How much pressure is there within Israel to replace him and what would be the likely outcome if that should happen?

LEVY: Benjamin Netanyahu, no doubt about it, is in the lowest point in his political career. But this does not mean necessarily that it's about to end.

The pressure on Netanyahu right now is not such a pressure which brings him to resign. There are demonstrations, but there were much bigger demonstrations before the war, let's remember it.

And there is some kind of feeling that as long as the war goes on, it's not time for changing prime ministers. And in any case, he leads a coalition which seems still quite solid. And as long as this coalition is solid, no demonstrations and no protests will bring him to resign.

CHURCH: Netanyahu says this war won't end until his mission to destroy Hamas is accomplished. How many lawmakers in Israel believe his mission is achievable and how much of this is about Netanyahu trying to stay in power?

LEVY: That's a very good question because nobody knows what does it mean at all, crashing Hamas or a total victory. Those are very, very vague slogans, which are aimed only to gain more time for Netanyahu to continue this war, maybe in an endless way.

You see, it seems that both parties, by the way, Hamas and Israeli government, don't rush right now, not for a deal for releasing the hostages and a certain pause and for sure not to end this war. The only time which is running out is the time of the hostages and the time of 2.3 million poor, suffering, starving population of Gaza.

CHURCH: Yeah, let's talk about that because humanitarian aid for Palestinians is currently being airdropped into Gaza, but it's not nearly enough. An aid by sea has been delayed, as we've heard. So how do most Israelis feel about the situation in Gaza right now with famine apparently on the horizon?

LEVY: I must be very rude and say that the Israelis couldn't care less. Most of them, not all of them, but most of the Israelis couldn't care less about humanitarian aid to Gaza, more than this.

I guess there is a majority, but sure, a very big part of Israeli public opinion who objects sending any kind of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Don't forget that the situation in Gaza is not shown in Israel. The images are screened all over the world, except of one place, Israel.

Israel doesn't want to look at the catastrophe in Gaza and Israel is not being shown the catastrophe in Gaza. And people, I'm afraid to say, couldn't care less, and it doesn't scratch their skin, it doesn't scratch their conscience.

[03:15:01]

People are concentrated in the hostages, in the victimization of us Israelis, in the killed soldiers, whose number is growing. But nobody cares about the situation in Gaza, unfortunately so.

CHURCH: Gideon Levy, thank you so much for talking with us, I appreciate it.

LEVY: Thank you.

CHURCH: Still to come, a plane bound for New Zealand experiences a sudden drop in mid-air. We'll bring you the latest from Auckland on the investigation and what passengers are saying about the frightening ordeal.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: The U.S. believes Benjamin Netanyahu may be losing his grip on power. A new intelligence report says Israel's prime minister is losing the trust of the public and may soon face more protests and calls for his resignation. That assessment came from US intelligence chiefs who presented their latest report on national security threats to the Senate on Monday.

CNN's Alex Marquardt has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Monday's worldwide threats hearing is a rare annual opportunity to hear from the most senior U.S. intelligence figures together answering questions. They hit on a whole range of topics, including, of course, Russia and Ukraine. The CIA director Bill Burns warning that now, two years into Russia's war in Ukraine, Ukraine could gain the upper hand offensively if the U.S. sends more aid.

Otherwise, he said, Ukraine could lose a significant amount of territory this year. He said Ukraine is not lacking in courage or tenacity, but in ammunition.

BILL BURNS, CIA DIRECTOR: I think down one road with supplemental assistance approved by the Congress lies the very real possibility of cementing a strategic success for Ukraine and a strategic loss for Vladimir Putin's Russia. Down another road, however, without supplemental assistance, it seems to me, lies a much grimmer future. Ukraine is likely to lose ground and probably significant ground in 2024.

MARQUARDT: China continues to support Russia's efforts in Ukraine. And this year's unclassified threat assessment said that China has more than tripled its export of goods with potential military use to Russia since Moscow launched its invasion two years ago.

Here in the United States, the terror threat, according to the FBI director, has soared since the October 7th Hamas attacks in Israel. Director Chris Wray told the Senate Intelligence Committee that it's on a whole other level now, a combination of different kinds of potential terrorist actors, both foreign and domestic.

CHRISTOPHER WRAY, FBI DIRECTOR: It's the first time I've seen in a long, long time the threats from homegrown violent extremists, that is jihadist inspired extremists, domestic violent extremists, foreign terrorist organizations and state-sponsored terrorist organizations all being elevated at one time. Since October 7th, though, that threat has gone to a whole other level.

[03:19:59]

And as a result of Israel's war in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's grip on power is slipping, according to this intelligence report.

His viability as a leader is in jeopardy because distrust has deepened across Israeli society, it says. According to the intelligence community, a different, more moderate government is a possibility.

Monday's hearing was the first of two days. On Tuesday morning, the intelligence chiefs will face the Intelligence Committee of the House of Representatives for more questioning.

Alex Marquardt, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: As aid for Ukraine remains stalled in the U.S., Russia's war rages on. CNN's Nick Paton-Walsh got a first-hand look at the dire situation on the ground, riding with Ukrainian medics to the front line. They say Russian forces have more weapons and more soldiers on the battlefield.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Light is also their enemy here.

Daylight brings the threat of attack drones, so it's hard to collect casualties from the front line. Dark is when they bring most wounded out. The medics hiding in the tree line.

The other light flashes from enormous bombs hitting the village of Orlivka and around. A tiny place of outsized consequence. It's Ukraine's defensive line, but Russia is raging hard for a breakthrough. The flash is constant. A seven-mile slog from there to here for the wounded.

MAKSIM, COMBAT MEDIC, 59TH INFANTRY BRIGADE (translated): There was a lot this morning. Six or four. But there were heavily injured. It depends on the day. Right now, it's relatively few. The Russians have more vehicles, more weapons, more men, and that's the biggest problem

PATON WALSH (voice-over): They wait underground for the radio. To say who, when, where. It feels almost mundane. Often hours of silence.

The thump of shelling hidden by TV series.

ARTEM, COMBAT MEDIC, 59TH INFANTRY BRIGADE (translated): Drones are a huge problem. We rarely execute during daylight. Mostly at night. We try to extract the heavily injured during the day too.

PATON WALSH (voice-over): Then it is time.

UNKNOWN (translated): One wounded to pick up.

ARTEM (translated): What's the condition? When and who delivers?

PATON WALSH (voice-over): They never really know what they'll find until they get there. And they too are targets.

But along this eastern front, these slick routines carry on. Minus one key thing. Hope.

PATON WALSH: Because of the intensity of the fighting here, this happens all night, every night. The desperate race to use dark, the cover of night, to get the wounded to hospital as fast as possible. Here comes some more.

UNKNOWN (translated): Put the camera away. Put it away.

PATON WALSH (voice-over): From one Humvee to another, the wounded of a war they're losing because the U.S. is dropping out.

UNKNOWN: I don't see blood. Roll the sleeve, brother.

PATON WALSH (voice-over): The force of a blast appears to have broken his upper arm.

UNKNOWN (translated): It's my bone.

UNKNOWN (translated): Yes, I can see it.

PATON WALSH (voice-over): It's going to be a painful drive until the drugs kick in.

UNKNOWN (translated): Bodya, drive slowly, no potholes, please.

PATON WALSH (voice-over): He says he only had stitches out four days ago from another injury, a Russian attack drone ripping into their armored vehicle two weeks ago.

One of the five men hit inside then is still in hospital. Tonight it was also drones.

UNKNOWN (translated): We were running four kilometers. Under the drones, under everything. They were waiting for us as soon as we arrived. Our two groups were pinned down by drones. The medivac was coming but we can't see it. It's also being shelled with everything they have. I just heard a bang right on my side. I fell down inside the Humvee couldn't feel my hand couldn't move the fingers. So the arm is still there, in its place.

UNKNOWN (translated): Can they fix it?

UNKNOWN (translated): Yes, there is nothing serious. You are lucky the artery isn't damaged.

PATON WALSH (voice-over): When they get to the hospital, all is blacked out and we cannot even film the doors. Russia is scouring the front lines for any part of the medical chain to hit, to make help harder and further away, just like American money.

[03:25:07]

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, near Orlivka, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Still to come, unpacking the truth, a former Mar-a-Lago employee speaks exclusively to CNN about the Trump classified documents case. Back with that and more in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Catherine, the Princess of Wales, is apologizing for the, quote, "confusion caused after releasing a photograph of her and her three children on Sunday".

Major news outlets quickly withdrew the picture after discovering it had been manipulated. While Kensington Palace has released an explanation for the mishap, it's done little to quiet concerns about Catherine's health. CNN's Richard Quest breaks down the controversy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS EDITOR AT-LARGE (voice-over): It was the picture that was meant to put to rest what is about Kate.

JOHN KAY, BBC BREAKFAST ANCHOR: This photo of the Princess of Wales and her children has now been pulled from circulation.

QUEST (voice-over): Only hours after the photo was released on Mother's Day in the U.K., the Associated Press news agency was the first to withdraw it, using what they call a kill notification.

The A.P. said, at closer inspection, it appears that the source has manipulated the image. By source, they mean the princess.

The problem is Princess Charlotte's sleeve isn't where it should be.

ERIC BARADAT, DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY, AFP: We have experts, Photoshop experts, like the guys sitting behind me, that it doesn't take a second for them to see that the image was altered and manipulated.

QUEST (voice-over): And her hair ends abruptly. The zipper on Kate's sweater is misaligned.

The other big agencies, Reuters and AFP, were quick to issue their own kill notices, telling news outlets not to use the image.

Then, more than 24 hours after she posted it, the Princess of Wales apologized, saying, like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing.

At one level, this is nothing more than an amateur photographer getting it wrong. But the underlying issue is the fact that the Princess of Wales has not been seen since having unspecified abdominal surgery back in January.

This grainy photograph, taken on Monday as Kate traveled to a private appointment with William, is one of the few images that surfaced since then.

[03:30:00]

We don't know what editing she did, and the Palace haven't released the unedited version.

So, is this just an amateur photographer's learning experience? Or is there something more to the picture that's fueled a thousand words of speculation?

Richard Quest, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: To a CNN exclusive now, a former long- time employee at Donald Trump's Florida resort is speaking publicly about the classified documents case for the first time.

Known in court documents as Trump Employee 5, Brian Butler worked at Mar-a-Lago for 20 years. He says he doesn't believe the criminal case against Trump is a witch-hunt, as the former president has claimed. But Butler says he believes Americans should know the truth about his ex-boss.

CNN's Katelyn Polantz has details from West Palm Beach, Florida.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SR. CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Brian Butler is Trump Employee 5 in the criminal indictment of the former president brought by the special counsel's office. That indictment accuses Donald Trump of maintaining classified records, mishandling them at his Mar-a-Lago estate. And the reason that Brian Butler is so pivotal in that indictment is that he heard things and he saw things.

One of the things that he saw, he's now saying publicly to CNN, he previously told investigators about, that is June 3rd, 2022. That's the day that the FBI and the Justice Department visited Mar-a-Lago to get a hold of all of the classified records that Trump wasn't turning back over to the federal government, putting them back into the federal government's possession after he left the presidency. On that day, when the FBI and Justice Department visited Mar-a-Lago to pick up everything, that was a day that boxes of classified documents essentially went out the back door.

Brian Butler spoke about Walt Nauta, the body man to Donald Trump, spoke about him to Kaitlan Collins, about how Nauta asked him oddly to borrow an Escalade, a car that later was used to move boxes, and that Brian Butler used that car at the airport here in Palm Beach to take boxes and put them on the plane. Here's a little more from that.

BRIAN BUTLER, FORMER MAR-A-LAGO EMPLOYEE: And then what happened is Walt left before me and he never goes directly to the plane. He's either in the motorcade when he goes there with the boss, the former president.

And I remember telling him he left the club with, I didn't know what he had in his vehicle, but he waited for me at a nearby business. And I told him I would tell him when I was leaving Mar-a-Lago.

So I left Mar-a-Lago. I texted him, hey, I'm on my way. He followed me. He pulled out and got behind me. We got to the airport. I ended up loading all the luggage I had, and he had a bunch of boxes.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: You noticed that he had boxes?

BUTLER: Oh, yeah. They were the boxes that were in the indictment, the white banker's boxes. That's what I remember loading.

COLLINS: And did you have any time, any idea at the time that there was potentially U.S. national security secrets in those boxes?

BUTLER: No clue. I had no clue. We were just taking them out of the Escalade, piling them up. I remember they were all stacked on top of each other, and then we're lifting them up to the pilots.

POLANTZ: So that's Butler speaking about the movement of documents. Here in West Palm Beach, Florida, onto the Trump plane in June, a pivotal moment in the investigation.

But he then becomes privy to conversations after that that were just as important, conversations he was having with a best friend of his, someone he worked with at the Mar-a-Lago Club for 20 years and now has had to cut-off contact with because that man, Carlos de Oliveira, is a co-defendant of Donald Trump's in this investigation.

Two times he had suspicious conversations with Carlos de Oliveira that are now part of the Trump indictment, that piece of paper that the Justice Department has taken through a grand jury and will try to get a conviction from whenever they take this case to trial.

In that, Brian Butler was speaking about how Carlos, his dear friend, told him that another man working with Trump, a third co-defendant of theirs, was interested in the surveillance tapes at Mar-a-Lago, how long they would be kept. Potentially they are accused of wanting to delete them, those surveillance tapes of them moving boxes.

He also spoke about Carlos de Oliveira being loyal to Trump whenever he was asked by people around Trump, would he be loyal or is he good? And Brian Butler told the Trump camp that his friend Carlos would be loyal.

Here's a little bit more there.

BUTLER: You know, he takes the call, we're standing in the food court, I think we went to sit down and he, I can't remember how long the conversation was, but I know at the end of the conversation when they hung up, Carlos said he's going to get me an attorney.

[03:35:01]

COLLINS: Did he tell you anything else that Trump said to him?

BUTLER: I didn't ask and I don't remember him saying anything else, but, you know, I was just told not that long, not, you know, too long before we're getting him an attorney by Walt and then he gets the call that he's going to get him the attorney.

POLANTZ: So now de Oliveira, Walt Nauta, the second co-defendant and Donald Trump are all headed to trial here in the federal court in Florida. Brian Butler is a likely witness to be called at trial to testify against these men. And he's saying that he's wanted to do this because he wants the truth to come out.

Katelyn Polantz, CNN, West Palm Beach, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: In the coming hours, Robert Hur is set to face questions on Capitol Hill about his investigation as special counsel into Joe Biden's handling of classified documents.

Hur, who's a former U.S. attorney appointed by then President Trump, will testify as a private citizen after finishing his work as special counsel last week. His report found that President Biden willfully retained classified information, but declined to charge him with a crime.

A United Airlines flight bound for San Francisco was rerouted back to Sydney due to a maintenance issue about two hours after takeoff. Flight 830 had to turn back for an emergency landing on Monday. None of the 183 people on board were injured.

The plane, a Boeing 777-300, is believed to have suffered hydraulic failure. That's according to CNN affiliate 7 News. This is the fifth emergency for United Airlines in the past week. On Friday, a United Airline bound for Mexico City diverted to Los Angeles after an issue with the plane's hydraulic system.

Authorities in New Zealand are investigating what's been described as a sudden mid-air drop on a LATAM Airlines flight, which injured dozens of people on Monday. A Boeing 787 Dreamliner headed from Sydney to Auckland suffered what the airline is calling a technical event, adding that the plane experienced a strong shake during the flight.

Here's how one passenger described what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN JOKAT, PASSENGER ON LATAM AIRLINES FLIGHT LA800: It was like a scene out of a movie when actually you're actually in the movie. I had dozed off and luckily had my seatbelt engaged and the next thing you know, the plane, as I've kind of learned to understand, dropped something to the effect of 500 feet instantly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: An ambulance service in Auckland says about 50 people were treated for injuries, including one in serious condition. Senior journalist Nick Truebridge with Newshub has the latest from the Auckland International Airport.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK TRUEBRIDGE, SR. JOURNALIST, NEWSHUB: Well, this is where all the action was at Auckland Airport last night. I'm standing just in front of the airside access security point here at the international terminal.

It was this time last night when ambulances were flowing through those gates to assist that flight that had landed from Sydney here in Auckland. What I can tell you tonight is four people remain in hospital. Of course, we know that 50 people in total required medical attention.

And it's also been confirmed in the last couple of hours that authorities in Chile will open an investigation into exactly what occurred on that airplane. They will be supported by authorities here in New Zealand. As we know, it's been a difficult start to the year for Boeing. Of course, they had issues with a flight, an Alaska Airlines flight on the west coast of the United States when part of the aircraft appeared to come off or detach during mid-flight.

We've spoken to local experts here in New Zealand today. They say what could have happened in this case was an issue with the autopilot. That has happened to other flights in this part of the world. In 2008, there was a malfunction with a Qantas flight in Australia. That was back in 2008. And 70 people were injured.

Speaking to people today, there is a real sense of fear over what's occurred. That sort of still feels surreal to them. They weren't sure whether they were going to make it through this incident. Obviously, they have. They were very glad to make it here back onto safe ground in Auckland. But of course, they, along with the rest of us here in this part of the world, now search for answers as to exactly what has happened.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Thousands of families in Nepal are thought to be trapped in an intergenerational cycle of debt and poverty. Next, the CNN Freedom Project shines a light on this practice of forced labor and what's being done to fight it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: An urgent search is underway in Nigeria, where more than 300 school students were abducted last week. Gunmen on motorcycles stormed their school in the country's northwest on Thursday and forced them into a nearby forest.

Police say a few students were rescued, but at least 287 are still being held. The government says it's doing everything it can to bring the students home safely and making progress. Ever since the mass kidnapping of the Chibok schoolgirls by Boko Haram nearly a decade ago, Nigeria has been grappling with bandits using the same tactic and demanding ransoms.

Former CNN anchor Isha Sesay joins me now from New York. She's also the author of "Beneath the Tamarind Tree, a story of courage, family and the lost schoolgirls of Boko Haram". Aisha, so good to have you back with us.

ISHA SESAY, FORMER CNN ANCHOR: Thank you. Thank you for having me.

CHURCH: So it has been 10 years since 276 teenage girls were kidnapped from their school in Chibok in Nigeria by the Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram. And you broke the story when it happened and have written a book about it. Now here we are again with nearly 300 students abducted from their school in northwest Nigeria. What more do we know about this latest kidnapping?

SESAY: I think what we can safely say is it points to the fact that the people of Nigeria, certainly certain parts of Nigeria and the north are no safer than they were 10 years ago. We know in quite eerily familiar fashion, having read some of the accounts of some of the kids who were able to escape, that suddenly they were surrounded by men on motorbikes who started shooting, herding them into groups and forcing them out of the school compound.

The understanding is that they were marched into the surrounding forest, which is eerily similar to what happened to the Chibok girls back in 2014, where the same thing. But in this case, clearly identified as Islamic militants stormed their school in the middle of the night, herded them off, set fire to their school and marched them into the forest.

And as of yet, no accounts of these almost 300 children aged between eight and 15, by all accounts having been rescued or having been returned to their loved ones. So just a lot of heartbreak, a lot of heartbreak from a devastated community.

CHURCH: Yeah. It is a tragedy indeed. And there have been other recent kidnappings in Nigeria in recent weeks. In fact, a stark reminder about the security crisis plaguing the country. How dangerous are conditions there right now and who should be shouldering the blame for the continued violence?

SESAY: Well, let's start with the conditions. Appalling, appallingly so. I mean, since the new president, if you will, Bola Tinubu, took office in May of last year, there have been over 4,000 abductions.

[03:45:02]

Now the situation is such that I spoke to someone who just returned from Nigeria, actually just a few hours ago. And he was in the capital of Abuja. And he told me that he went to a local restaurant with some friends. And as they left that evening, having had their meal, there was great anxiety as they walked to their car, their nearby car. This is in the capital of Nigeria, where we have actually seen abductions in recent months.

So, you know, what used to be an issue that was largely considered to be out of sight up in the north, in the northeast, you know, when we talked about Borno, Borno State, which is where the Chibok abductions happened.

It's now, you know, moving further and further down. And more and more people are being swept up in this, in what I'm calling really a kidnapping industrial complex, you know, and who's responsible for these atrocities, because that's what they are.

We have gangs, local criminal gangs referred to as bandits plaguing the northwest. And in the northeast, we're still talking about largely the same actors, Islamic militants.

Now, ultimately, who bears responsibility for all of this can only be the government. They have the social contract with their people to keep them safe. They're the ones who should have a safe schools plan that should be enforced so children can go to school safely. You can only point the finger at the government.

CHURCH: And Isha, your reporting on the Chibok girls was the driving force behind the global hashtag Bring Back Our Girls movement, which shone a spotlight on these abductions. Some of those girls escaped. Others were rescued. And tragically, some died, but more than 100 remain missing. Is there any expectation that those young women will ever see their families again?

SESAY: You know, it's so complicated now, because I'm still very close to some of the young women as they are now who were held in captivity. And I actually spoke to one today.

And we were talking about it and the fact that we're approaching the 10-year anniversary. And I asked how she felt. And she expressed great sadness that her sisters, and they all refer to themselves as part of a sisterhood, are still in captivity.

But I will tell you something which shouldn't surprise many. It is that of some of the young women who have escaped in recent years, and now the count is roughly 98 are unaccounted for. We don't know whether all of them are alive, but we know 98 remain unaccounted for.

Of some of the ones who escaped most recently, the conversation that is emerging and what I was told today, and only by one individual, is that of some of the women who remain with their captors, they don't want to come back.

And then there are those who this young woman also told me, who felt that even if they could escape, they are in such remote places, they wouldn't even know where to go. They're sort of lost in the wilderness. So it has taken on an even more heartbreaking context, this entire story, which I continue to follow, and continues to devastate me and their families, really, when you hear those details, such as I did today.

CHURCH: Yeah, so understandable. It's tragic for the girls, and of course, their families that would love to see them back home with them. Isha Sesay, thank you so much for talking with us. I Appreciate it.

SESAY: So good to see you, Rosie.

CHURCH: For generations, thousands of low caste families in Nepal have been trapped in a form of bondage. The families are forced to borrow money from landlords at illegal, extremely high rates, and they're stuck in a cycle of debt. Now, the CNN Freedom Project is shining a light on their situation. Matthew Chance shows you what's being done to liberate these people and provide their children with better lives.

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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A heavy fog hangs over southeastern Nepal.

Phuletiya Saday is here early every morning, tilling the fields and tending livestock that's not his own. Saday will see none of the fruits born from his sweat.

His work is going to pay off a debt first taken generations ago.

PHULETIYA SADAY, BONDED LABORER (through translator): The practice started during the time of our forefathers. My grandfather and my father continued it, and I have also been continuing it. I was told I had to work because my father and forefathers had not paid back what they had taken from the landlord.

[03:50:05]

CHANCE (voice-over): Saday is a member of the Dalit community and a specific group of people known as the Harawa Charawa. The words translate roughly into English as tiller and cattle herder.

The ILO estimates there are more than 100,000 Haro-Wacharoa across Nepal, and it's not just men working to pay off the loans.

CHANCE: Well, we've come to this village in southeastern Nepal where basically everyone's Harawa Charawa. You can see that the buildings are made out of bamboo, covered in mud and people's handprints they put on the wall as decoration.

But it's also, of course, incredibly poor, and everyone here is essentially in debt to a local landowner. And they have to work night and day, seven days a week, just to pay off that loan and to survive.

KOSHILA SADAY, BONDED LABORER (through translator): We are bonded to work for our landlord. The whole family is working for the landlord. We work for him and our children also work for him. We also want for our children to get proper education and for them to be able to earn and take care of themselves.

CHANCE (voice-over): A London-based NGO called the Freedom Fund has been working with the Harawa Charawa for more than a decade. They've helped the community organize and advocate for their rights. In 2022, the Haro-Wacharoa received a major victory, Nepal's prime minister announcing the liberation of the Haro-Wacharoa people. It marked the first time the government formally acknowledged the issue of bonded labor affecting them.

Still, despite the declarations, progress has been slow.

LEGENDRA SADAY, GENERAL SECRETARY, NATIONAL HARAWA CHARAWA RIGHTS FORUM (through translator): From the day the government announced our freedom, we have been facing more serious problems. People like us now have nowhere to go to look for work and we are compelled to go back to the landlord to ask for work. When we go there asking for work, the landlord now chases away with sticks.

CHANCE: Well, we've just come down the road from the village to the house of the landowner. And we're going to try and have a word with him about this Haroa Charowa bonded labor practice.

Hello, sir. Namaste. Are you the owner?

What do you say to those who accuse you and people like you, landowners in this area, of basically being slave owners, of using and exploiting these people for your benefit?

You don't agree? Why? That's what you're doing?

KRISHNA DEV YADAV, LANDOWNER (through translator): I tell them to go back home and stay there. I encourage them to go home and their children will provide them medicine and that they will take good care of you. But they don't go. They say they'll die if they go home. So what can I do? They are staying here on their own will. They have no pressure whatsoever to continue to stay with me and work for me.

CHANCE (voice-over): But for Phuletiys and Koshila, it's a dilemma. Their concern, like that of so many parents around the world, has less to do with their own future than their children's. Their hope is that with education and organization, the death that should have been worked off generations ago won't be shouldered by the next.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Nepal.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And be sure to join us this coming Thursday for My Freedom Day, a student-driven event to raise awareness of modern-day slavery.

Still to come, a record-breaking rally as Bitcoin soars to new heights. We'll look at what's driving investor confidence. Back with that in just a moment.

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[03:55:00]

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CHURCH: U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday released his annual budget proposal for next year. His plan asks for nearly $7.3 trillion to accomplish some big goals outlined in his State of the Union address last week. In addition to reducing expenses for middle and low-income families and reducing the cost of community colleges, the president wants to give more assistance to those in need of affordable housing.

He's calling for $258 billion to build and renovate homes. Mr. Biden also wants to build on the progress made on lowering the cost of prescription drugs. Part of his proposal calls for more drugs to be subject to negotiation in Medicare as well.

Bitcoin has soared to a record new high following a new decision on cryptocurrencies in the U.K. Bitcoin was trading at more than $72,000 Monday evening, surging 70 percent this year alone. Britain's financial watchdog has become the latest regulator to pave the way for more people to be able to invest in the currency. It follows a move by the U.S. regulator to allow funds holding Bitcoin to be traded on the U.S. stock market.

OpenAI says it's doing just fine without co-founder Elon Musk and is slamming the billionaire's lawsuit against the company as incoherent. Elon Musk is suing OpenAI for breach of contract, saying it has diverged from its original non-profit mission and is reserving its most advanced tech for private customers.

In a new court filing, OpenAI says those claims are frivolous and fictional. The company behind ChatGPT says there was no founding agreement with Musk to be breached. They accuse him of using the lawsuit to advance his own private business interests.

And thanks so much for spending part of your day with me. I'm Rosemary Church. "CNN Newsroom" continues next, with Bianca Nobilo.

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