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Lawmakers Passed a TikTok Ban Bill, App to Decide Whether to Divest from ByteDance or Ban Permanently in the U.S.; Israeli Strikes Hit UNRWA's Food Center in Rafah; A New Report Says Humans May Face Extinction Threats from Artificial Intelligence; CNN Commemorates My Freedom Day to Put an End to Forced Labor; Adidas to Bounce Back from Last Year's Loss. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired March 14, 2024 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT AND ANCHOR: Hello and a very warm welcome to all our viewers watching from all around the world. I'm Paula Newton, live in Atlanta, ahead right here on "CNN Newsroom".

U.S. lawmakers passed a bill that could possibly ban TikTok. So what happens next and what is China saying? We are live in Beijing.

Plus, the U.N.'s top aid agency says an Israeli strike hit a food center in Gaza, killing several people, including a staff member.

And later, a warning from experts. Humans could ultimately face an extinction-level threat from artificial intelligence.

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

NEWTON: U.S. lawmakers in the House of Representatives have voted overwhelmingly to pass a bill that could lead to a nationwide ban against TikTok, one of the world's most popular social media apps.

Now the bill passed with bipartisan support, 352 to 65. It faces, though, its next test in the Senate, where its future is less clear. If the bill becomes law, TikTok's Chinese parent company ByteDance will have roughly about five months to sell it. If it doesn't, companies such as Google and Apple will need to remove TikTok from their app stores or face steep fines. TikTok's CEO says it's a deeply flawed bill.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHOU ZI CHEW, TIKTOK CEO: This bill gives more power to a handful of other social media companies. It will also take billions of dollars out of the pockets of creators and small businesses. It will put more than 300,000 American jobs at risk, and it will take away your TikTok.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(VIDEO PLAYING)

NEWTON: For TikTok's roughly 170 million users in the United States, this isn't exactly a popular move by U.S. lawmakers. CNN's Lauren Fox tells us what comes next.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A bill that could potentially ban TikTok in the U.S. now heads to the Senate after the House overwhelmingly passed their plan that would require TikTok's Chinese parent company ByteDance to sell the popular social media platform or face a ban.

REP. DAN KILDEE (D-MI): At the end of the day, for me, it really came down to whether or not we can take some action to try to deter this malign influence of the PRC.

FOX (voice-over): But the bill wasn't without its detractors. 65 members voted against it, including 50 Democrats.

REP. DAN BISHOP (R-NC): The answer is not to go selectively banning the flow of information from a particular nation. The way we defeat China is being more American, not less.

FOX (voice-over): Those backing the bill argue they did so for national security.

REP, MADELEINE DEAN (D-PA): I know we're getting plenty of phone calls that young people really love TikTok. And I lift that up. I think that's terrific. But I want to protect them from a foreign adversary collecting their data and manipulating it.

REP. DAN CRESHAW (R-TX): TikTok is owned by ByteDance. ByteDance is in China. In China, any company has to subscribe to the National Intelligence Law of 2017, which says you have to be our spy if we tell you to.

FOX (voice-over): Already, President Joe Biden has said he would sign the bill if it passes, even though Biden's campaign is on TikTok. Opponents argue that could be a political mistake.

FOX: Do you worry at all about the political implications for Biden, for Democrats in the election over supporting this legislation?

REP. RO KHANNA (D-CA): I don't know why you want to upset young people and 170 million people on a platform when there's least restrictive ways, less restrictive ways of achieving the goal.

FOX (voice-over): Donald Trump once called for an outright ban on TikTok.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We'll either close up TikTok in this country for security reasons or it'll be sold.

FOX (voice-over): But now he's against the House bill. TRUMP (on the phone): Frankly, there are a lot of people on TikTok that love it. There are a lot of young kids on TikTok who will go crazy without it.

FOX (voice-over): The bill's future in the Senate now less certain.

SEN. DICK DURBIN (D-IL): I haven't come to a final decision as to whether or not it should be banned.

FOX (voice-over): Senators Marco Rubio and Mark Warner, top members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, committed Wednesday to, quote, "working together to get this bill passed through the Senate and signed into law". But Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has not committed to putting the bill on the floor.

[03:04:53]

FOX: And following that House vote, TikTok released a statement saying that they were encouraging senators to consider the facts, listen to their constituents and realize the impact on the economy. Seven million small businesses and the 170 million Americans who use our service.

There's also no guarantee that the House bill will come to the Senate floor. That's because Maria Cantwell, a leading Democrat on the Commerce Committee, says she is looking at a different approach to try and rein in TikTok. That could take weeks, even months, to put together. And again, Chuck Schumer, the Majority Leader, has not said whether or not he's going to put that House bill on the floor.

For CNN on Capitol Hill, I'm Lauren Fox.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: For more now, we go to Steven Jiang in Beijing. Steven, good to see you as we continue to parse exactly what happened on Capitol Hill and what it means. Now, China has said that it views the move there by lawmakers as bullying, but I am really curious on the wider reaction here, even in state media, for instance.

STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: Yeah, Paula, the state media has been covering the story extensively, obviously closely, echoing what the government has been saying, really focusing on how this is American resorting to hegemonic tactics when they cannot win in a fair competition, and also, of course, highlighting the so-called American hypocrisy when it comes to freedom of expression. And this is also a top-trending topic on Chinese social media platforms.

But the irony is many users, especially the younger generation, presumably, don't seem to be aware of the fact that their government has also long banned U.S. and most other Western social media platforms because some people are calling their government to retaliate by banning these platforms only to be told, oh, the government is way ahead of you, Paula.

NEWTON: That is an interesting point, which we will get to in terms of the fact that there is no reciprocal relationship here.

You know, TikTok has argued that it would be difficult to sell the U.S. version of its app to a U.S. company. But I want you to listen now to this lawmaker who points out, like, look, it has been done before. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. RAJA KRISHNAMORRTHI (D-IL): This is not without precedent. Let me just point out one thing. Grindr, a very popular LGBTQ dating app, was once owned by a Chinese company. Once the United States government recognized that the CCP had access to sensitive data about LGBTQ members of the U.S. military and the government, it forced the divestment. Now, this happened very quickly, and there was no disruption of service for the users. And I suspect the exact same thing will happen with regard to TikTok.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: So, you know, as we were just talking about, given the fact that those platforms, whether it be Facebook or X or Instagram, they're blocked in China. Is there any retaliation here that China might consider if TikTok is forced to sell to a U.S. company?

JIANG: Yeah, I think China has been pretty clear that they are firmly opposed to any such sale. And then, of course, they have other options to make American business here feel the pain, for example, outside of blocking social media platforms, since they don't have that option.

But it's also worth pointing out the congressman's remarks you just played. It is a bit like comparing apples to oranges, because Grindr, despite its popularity among the LGBTQ populations, it really pales in comparison when it comes to its reach, its influence.

Look, when you put it next to TikTok, not to mention Grindr was originally developed in the U.S. only to be bought by a Chinese owner. So I think it's a fairly different scenario we are talking about.

The Chinese, of course, have not been helping themselves, as you have heard in Lauren's pieces, how, especially under the leadership of Xi Jinping, they have been really reasserting the ruling Communist Party's absolute control over every aspect of society and passing these increasingly sweeping national security legislatures, including that newly revised counter-espionage law that gives the security apparatus very broad powers to obtain and inspect any data from companies operating in this China.

And not to mention, a top priority of this government in recent years has been to disseminate the so-called China narratives to really have Chinese values and positions being heard around the world. In the past, they had to rely on U.S. and other Western platforms outside of their borders.

Now, of course, for the first time, they have this China-owned, China- developed platforms that really, in a way, aligns with that strategic goal. So that's why it's very difficult to see them let that go. And I think at the end of the day, though, Paula, a lot of experts have also pointed out the crux of this fight is not just one app and its algorithms, however effective that is. It's really about technologies, control of them between two competing superpowers.

NEWTON: Yeah, and they're going to continue to compete in that sphere. Before I let you go, I do want to point out that TikTok proved its own point, right? They weaponized the app, really, by asking its own users to lobby those representatives. It certainly worked in one measure.

[03:10:00]

But what I want to ask you is, you know, would you rule out the fact that China would weaponize the app, you know, from the data perspective, launch influence operations in the United States? And do you really think that China is looking at this and thinking it's in our strategic interest to keep TikTok in the hands of China?

JIANG: I think that is really a billion-dollar question because you mentioned that infamous move TikTok made that really backfired on them. And that is now being used as proof or evidence by many lawmakers and politicians in the U.S. to push their agenda to basically divest this company from its Chinese owners.

And of course, as you say, the Senate process of this is uncertain. But from the Chinese perspective, as I said, they really do not want to see this happen because this is indeed the first China-owned app that really has that kind of reach and that kind of influence in the U.S. and around the world.

NEWTON: And it is possible to get this done without it having really much effect on the users of TikTok at all. Steven Jiang for us. Thanks so much. I really appreciate it.

Now, Russia is coming under new military pressure at home just days before its presidential election. Ukrainian sources say Russian oil facilities were struck by drones for a second day in a row.

The latest targets included four refineries that were hit overnight Tuesday into Wednesday. Now, among them was this one, southeast of Moscow. Russian officials say it caught fire, but the blaze was later put out. Two people were reportedly injured there.

Ukrainian sources say oil processing facilities are being targeted to limit the flow of oil money to the Kremlin's war machine. But Kyiv may also be trying to bring home the impact of the war to average Russians ahead of the election beginning on Friday. That is, in fact, expected to hand President Vladimir Putin an historic fifth term.

But Mr. Putin has a warning for the U.S. ahead of the election. He says there's a line that Washington shouldn't cross in Ukraine, implying there may be a high price to pay. CNN's Fred Pleitgen has our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Moscow's troops claiming they're on the offensive, releasing this video purporting to show Russian cluster munitions destroying three Ukrainian combat choppers, even though CNN cannot independently verify the authenticity of the video.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, in an interview with Kremlin- controlled media, directly warning the U.S. don't send troops to help Ukraine, even though the Biden administration has never even come close to saying they do that.

We know what American combat troops on Russian territory are. They are interventionists, he said. That is how we will treat it, even if they appear on Ukrainian territory.

And Putin even taking his threats nuclear, saying Russia would have the edge over the U.S. in a war using atomic weapons on land, in the air using strategic bombers, and at sea with Moscow's powerful fleet of nuclear-armed subs.

From a technical point of view, of course, we're ready for nuclear war, he said. The missiles are constantly combat ready. Secondly, and this is accepted by everybody, our nuclear triad is more modern than any other triad. Actually, only us and the Americans have a triad.

Struggling on the battlefield, Ukraine says it has hit Russian oil refineries, including this one just over a hundred miles outside Moscow with long-distance drones.

Putin calling this attempted interference in the upcoming Russian presidential election he's set to win by a landslide.

The main goal is to, if not disrupt the presidential elections in Russia, he said, then at least to somehow interfere in the normal process of expressing the will of citizens.

Ahead of that vote, and after the death and burial of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Navalny's supporters say the Kremlin's crackdown is escalating.

The former head of Navalny's anti-corruption foundation, Leonid Volkov, assaulted and beaten with a hammer outside his home in Lithuania. While the Kremlin hasn't commented so far, Volkov blaming Putin for the attack.

It was another obvious, typical, classic gangster hello from Putin, from the St. Petersburg gangster. Vladimir Vladimirovich, hello to you too. What else can I say? Continue working against Putin. That's what needs to be done. Let's go on.

And Lithuania's intelligence services believe the attack on Volkov was likely, quote, "Russian-organized".

All this as the war in Ukraine continues and civilians bear the brunt of Moscow's full-on invasion. Several killed and dozens wounded by Russian drone and missile attacks in the past days. Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[03:15:04]

NEWTON: Joining me now is Steve Hall, CNN national security analyst and former CIA chief of Russia operations. Steve, good to see you.

I've actually been really interested to try and get your opinion on this. Do you believe there's merit in the strategy for Ukraine right now to take the battle to the heart of Russia, mostly with drones, but also with missiles, and hit that infrastructure tactically? It may pay dividends, but it also is because of, unfortunately, the fact that Ukraine has now fallen back on the front line. This is a new strategy for them, you know, to make up for losses.

STEVE HALL, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST AND FORMER CIA DIRECTOR OF RUSSIA OPERATIONS: Yeah, no, Paula, I really don't think there's a downside from their perspective or really from anybody's perspective with regard to them using drones and whatever methodologies or what other weapons they have to reach inside Russia and try to hit critical infrastructure. After all, that is, of course, what Russia, you know, has been doing ever since it invaded Ukraine a few years ago.

I think one of the things that's important to remember is why they're doing this. Part of it, I think, is because they're unsure as to the funding stream specifically from the United States and also, you know, from other NATO allies and the E.U., although some recent packages have been, you know, forwarded by the Europeans recently that is going to help in that matter.

But there's still a big question mark over whether or not the United States will come through with the money that they need. So what that's forcing them to do is think differently, not so much about necessarily the conventional style of warfare, but perhaps going to this new thing. And it's new for the U.S. military as well as other Western militaries.

So they're really trying to feel their way here in the wake of not only being questioned about how they're going to fund this thing, but how they're going to move forward with the war strategically and tactically.

NEWTON: Yeah, certainly a testing ground for new methods of war. At the same time, you know, we've all noticed at times it looks like World War I in some of those trenches. I want to ask you, though, what could be the consequences of this strategy in terms of escalation? I mean, Steve, look, they hit a refinery, oil prices went up for a few hours at least, given what happened there. Do you believe Putin would really use this as an excuse to escalate further?

HALL: I think from the Ukrainian perspective, their question is, well, you know, short of a tactical nuclear weapon, which we can also talk about, you know, how is it going to make it any worse for us? They think that, and I think from my perspective correctly, that the more they can do to shake Russian infrastructure in effect to increase the price of this continued occupation and continued invasion of Ukraine, the better it is for them. And the only potential downside, you remember during the early days of the war, you know, the West expressed concerns about striking, about Ukrainian striking on Russian soil.

But I think as Russia has escalated and has not retreated, has not decided to end this invasion, a lot of those Western concerns have fallen by the wayside. And so I think Ukraine sees no downside to going ahead and targeting, you know, hitting targets inside of Russia.

NEWTON: Yeah, they definitely have a freer hand. This would have been something that would have been difficult to feature in the first few weeks of this war. Putin certainly now on the verge of winning yet another term. Do you think this will embolden him to confront though the West more aggressively now or do you believe that conversely it will actually make him more confident, right?

He seems to have recovered from the Yevgeny Prigozhin incident and that challenge to his leadership. Do you think he will move now to consolidate? And perhaps we might see a little bit more of a conciliatory Putin.

HALL: I think that the so-called elections, which of course they're not, that are going to occur soon is sort of a stage play in Russia in a couple of days.

I think Putin probably spends, you know, on average of about a minute a day thinking about it. It's going to change absolutely nothing because nothing will change because of the elections. I mean, Vladimir Putin will continue to be in power in Russia for essentially as long as he wants to be, unless, you know, members of his inner circle or others might think about ousting him. And I don't think that that's likely right now.

So, no, the election isn't going to change anything. Putin continues to be very aggressive vis-a-vis the West.

But I think that that doesn't come from an increased sense of strength on the part of Russia. As a matter of fact, I think it's a deep-set insecurity inside of Putin. And I think that that's about the only thing that he feels that he has left, is bluster, push, not try for any type of, you know, agreement or conciliatory gestures to the West. That just doesn't make any sense in his playbook at this point.

NEWTON: All right. And we will leave it there. Steve Hall for us. Thanks so much. I really appreciate it.

HALL: Sure.

NEWTON: Now, right here in the U.S. state of Georgia, a Fulton County judge could make a decision this week on whether to disqualify the district attorney from prosecuting the election subversion case against Donald Trump.

[03:20:01] And while Fani Willis waits for that decision, the judge threw out six of the dozens of charges against Donald Trump and his co-defendants. CNN's Nick Valencia reports from outside the courthouse in Atlanta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The judge was clear in his decision. The Fulton County district attorney's office did not provide the necessary detail of the underlying crime these defendants were allegedly trying to solicit. Enough detail to get these charges to stick in this indictment.

The charges have to do in part with the fake electors' scheme. That's the so-called fake electors team trying to subvert the electoral college and unlawfully elect a slate of presidential electors. But it also has to do with that infamous phone call on January 2, 2021, when the former president and his former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, called Georgia's Secretary of State and asked him to find them more votes.

But the judge in this order saying the D.A.'s office simply just didn't include the detail needed to have these charges stand. And this is what he's saying in part of his order.

Quote, "these six counts contain all the essential elements of the crimes, but fail to allege sufficient detail regarding the underlying felony solicited. They do not give the defendants enough information to prepare their defenses intelligently".

The order goes on to say this does not mean the entire indictment is dismissed. So let's pick up from there. This entire indictment is not dismissed. In fact, the judge left the door open for an appeal from the D.A.'s office, but that would mean they would have to fill in the detail that the judge is looking for and then try to get another indictment.

That would require them to put this in front of another grand jury, which was just inevitably lengthen this process. All of this, of course, happening as we're waiting for that monumental decision from the judge. Will Fani Willis stay or will she go? The judge telling us earlier that he's on track to make a decision by the end of the week.

Nick Valencia, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: So CNN legal analyst Norm Eisen weighed in on the charges dismissed by the judge. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NORM EISEN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I think the important thing here is that the brunt of the indictment remains intact. The top charge, the RICO charge, has not been touched.

And this call is still a part of that RICO charge. It is not at all unusual when you have a big indictment like this for the judge to find some fault with a few of the counts. If the D.A. is disqualified, I think that's also unlikely that that would be an opportunity to also appeal this. But having hit the DA today, I think it makes it a little less likely that the judge will do that twice in one week.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: Okay, an American woman living in Gaza wants answers after her home was hit by an Israeli airstrike.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEBORAH DROLL, AMERICAN CITIZEN LIVING IN GAZA: I'm not throwing bombs. I'm not shooting anyone. Why did they come and target me? I need an answer for that. Joe Biden, I need an answer. Why are you letting them target Americans in Gaza?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: We'll hear more of her story and why she doesn't plan to leave Gaza.

Plus, the U.N. is building a humanitarian air bridge to safely bring aid to people in Haiti amid a political crisis and widespread gang violence. Details after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NEWTON: International calls continue to grow for Israel to open additional land crossings so more aid can reach Gaza, especially in the north.

That call was issued by the E.U., U.S., UAE, U.K. and Qatar in a joint statement Wednesday. It comes as the first shipment of humanitarian aid to Gaza by sea is now apparently just hours away. An aid ship carrying 200 tons of desperately needed food is expected to arrive on Thursday night.

World Central Kitchen says a temporary jetty being built ahead of the vessel's arrival is now almost 60 meters long and will be used for the ship to dock and to then transport pallets of food.

Now, the war rages on amid the desperate need for humanitarian aid. Gaza's health ministry said on Wednesday another 88 people were killed over the past day alone. The U.N.'s Relief and Works Agency says that the number of children reported killed in four months of war in Gaza is higher than the number killed in four years of conflict worldwide.

CNN's Nada Bashir is following developments for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): Small but vital pockets of peace above war-torn Gaza.

Yet another round of humanitarian airdrops from international donors.

Civilians on the brink of famine desperately scramble to see what has arrived today.

Yet, amid each delivery, the war continues.

More homes destroyed, more people killed.

Deborah, an American woman living in central Gaza, says she has lost count of the number of wars she has lived through in the besieged strip. But this time, she almost did not survive. An Israeli strike, she says, left her crushed in the ruins of her home for hours. Rescued and treated without anesthesia, she now wants answers.

DROLL: I'm not throwing bombs. I'm not shooting anyone. Why did they come and target me? I need an answer for that. Joe Biden, I need an answer. Why are you letting them target Americans in Gaza?

BASHIR (voice-over): The English teacher says there is nowhere safe left in Gaza. Some of her neighbors being buried as she speaks. Yes, I could run.

DROLL: I could go back to America. But I would feel like it was not right to do that. I should stand beside them. I should try to help them.

BASHIR (voice-over): A voice of solidarity with those in Gaza trying to survive the unthinkable.

Nada Bashir, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: Now, the head of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency is calling for accountability and an investigation into the attacks against U.N. facilities that coming after the agency says an Israeli strike hit an UNRWA food distribution center in Rafah. The hospital director says five Palestinians were killed and UNRWA says at least one of its staff was among the dead. Now, CNN has reached out to the IDF for comments.

CNN's Paula Hancocks is following all of these developments and she joins us now from Abu Dhabi. Good to see you, Paula. And what more are we learning given what apparently happened and what the IDF says took place?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Paula, at this point we do have the statement from UNRWA itself saying that they had given coordinates to this particular facility to both parties in the conflict, they say, so clearly Hamas and Israel on a daily basis. They say they had given the coordinates to Israel just the day before, so Wednesday, when this strike took place.

And Philippe Lazzarini, the director of UNRWA, has been saying that he wants accountability. He wants an investigation into not just this particular strike but many strikes against these U.N. facilities in Gaza that have happened over the months.

Now, he also had some quite sobering statistics in the statement that was released saying at least 165 UNRWA team members have been killed since the war in Gaza started. More than 150 facilities have been hit. That includes these food distribution centers, also schools.

And more than 400 have been killed while seeking shelter next to these facilities. We have been seeing on a number of occasions many of those displaced have been staying near or within the compound of a U.N. facility, whether it is a school or a food center, believing that they would be safer in that area.

[03:30:00]

Israel, though, has said that they have reportedly found tunnels beneath some of these facilities. They've also said that they believe some members of UNRWA have been affiliated with Hamas and affiliated with the October 7th attacks. There is an investigation ongoing within the U.N. at this point.

Now we also know on Wednesday that the IDF says they did carry out a strike and they say that this was to target and kill a particular Hamas member, Mohammed Abu Hazna, who was involved, they say, in taking humanitarian aid and delivering it, distributing it among Hamas terrorists.

Also saying that they believe he was responsible for an intelligence room where he was monitoring IDF troops and giving that information to Hamas members on the ground as well. So that's what we've heard from the Israeli military at this point. We are waiting for more details and for answers to our questions about specifically this UNRWA strike. Paula?

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT AND ANCHOR: Paula Hancocks for us. Thanks so much. I Appreciate it.

Now, meantime, in occupied West Bank, health officials say two Palestinian men were killed in an Israeli military raid in the city of Jenin.

Videos obtained by CNN show Israeli military vehicles and bulldozers in the city destroying streets and sewage lines.

The IDF says fighters uncovered and destroyed charges planted under roots with the aim of harming troops. The director of the Jenin government hospital, meantime, says the men killed Wednesday were standing in front of the emergency department when Israeli soldiers shot at the group. CNN has reached out to the Israeli military for comment.

More than 200,000 children and 7,000 new mothers in South Sudan are at risk of dying from malnutrition. That's according to the United Nations Office of Humanitarian Affairs.

The U.N. is reiterating the World Food Program's warning that Sudan is becoming the world's largest hunger crisis, with about 18 million Sudanese facing acute food insecurity.

The U.N. also says some 3.7 million children are right now suffering from malnutrition. And it noted the urgent need for aid in the coming months when food pantries are depleted before the next harvest.

And as well, the U.N. plans to open an air bridge between Haiti and the Dominican Republic so aid and crisis management staff can safely reach Haiti amid the political crisis in that country. The announcement comes after widespread gang violence forced Haiti's prime minister to resign, paving the way for a transitional council.

CNN's Patrick Oppmann brings us up to date.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A source close to outgoing Haitian prime minister, Ariel Henry, says to CNN that Henry intends to return to Haiti just as soon as a security situation there allows. As well, Henry's office telling CNN in a statement that Henry believes that even though he is planning on resigning, that he still has the right to approve the transitional council that would pick the next prime minister of Haiti.

That seems to indicate both of these statements that Henry plans to remain engaged with Haitian politics, which could come with complicated efforts to replace him. Henry has not been able to return to Haiti since gangs rose up and forced him to remain in Puerto Rico. It's simply too dangerous for flights to come in and out of the country, and much of Haiti is on lockdown now as the gangs have taken the streets.

The challenge now for the U.S. State Department is getting these different groups, different political groups, and civil groups within Haiti to decide who is going to be part of this transition council that will then pick a prime minister.

There is a lot of infighting going on, although the State Department continues to maintain the process is moving forward and that there will be a transition council that will help navigate Haiti's political impasse.

For the moment at least, Kenyan troops that were supposed to come in and restore security and peace in Haiti are on hold. They are waiting, according to that country's president, to see what happens with the political situation. The Kenyan president spoke with Secretary of State Antony Blinken by phone and assured him that the Kenyan troops will head to Haiti, about a thousand of them, just as soon as there is a new government in Haiti and the political situation stabilizes there.

But in the meantime, with no clear replacement government for Henri and no sense of when those Kenyan troops will arrive, the gangs in Haiti continue to have the upper hand.

Patrick Oppmann, CNN Havana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: To Nigeria now, where gunmen are threatening to kill nearly 300 school children they kidnapped if a ransom is not paid.

And they're demanding nearly $622,000. The children were taken from the school you see there in that building by armed men on motorbikes. That was last week.

[03:35:03]

While Nigeria's president says the kidnappers will be brought to justice, his government is in fact refusing to pay the ransom. According to one resident who lives close to the school, the kidnapping is revenge for the killing of gang members by government security services.

Europe gets proactive in regulating A.I. Still ahead, a landmark law is set to reshape how we use the technology as a new report warns of its dangers. I'll speak with one of the authors next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NEWTON: European lawmakers gave final approval Wednesday to a landmark law governing the use of artificial intelligence. Now it is a first- of-its-kind law and it is poised to impact everything from health care and education to policing.

It imposes blanket bans on some, quote, "unacceptable uses of this technology while putting in place stiff guardrails for other applications deemed high risk. It also requires all A.I.-generated deep fake videos and images to be clearly labeled as such". The sweeping legislation doesn't take effect for another two years.

In the meantime, a new report warns the dangers of AI are very real and time is running out to avert disaster.

The report from Gladstone A.I. was commissioned by the U.S. State Department and it says the most advanced A.I. systems could in a worst-case scenario, quote, "pose an extinction-level threat to the human species".

Researchers warn of two central dangers broadly posed by A.I. First, the most advanced systems could be weaponized to inflict potentially irreversible damage. Second, there are private concerns within AI labs that researchers could lose control of these systems with potentially devastating consequences to global security.

Joining me now is Jeremy Harris. He is CEO and co-founder of Gladstone A.I. and as well certainly authoring this type of a report that again gives us some really chilling headlines being that A.I. could at some point in time pose an existential risk. Can you lay this out for us because certainly this is a very comprehensive report that's out now.

JEREMY HARRIS, CEO AND CO-FOUNDER, GLADSTONE AI: Yeah, and you know out the gate I think it's really important to emphasize that we should all be really excited about the promise of A.I. We're talking about a technology here with hugely transformative potential economically. We're talking about something that could help us cure diseases and make scientific breakthroughs. It is really, really exciting.

[03:40:00]

At the same time this is a technology that comes with certain risks, right? And we've seen increasingly warnings from some of the top researchers with the three top-sighted A.I. researchers on planet Earth saying this technology could come with risks such as loss of control. That is a real thing and there's a lot of evidence backing that proposition. That's part of what we explore in the report.

And there's also the risk that these systems could be weaponized, like used to intentionally cause harm and increasingly as the capabilities of those systems increase so does the potential destructive footprint of bad actors who weaponized those systems.

So we can start to think about things like automated cyberattacks, swarms of autonomous cyber agents that can prowl the internet and do whatever to collapse potentially critical infrastructure. That's one dangerous use case.

And there are other things like bioweapon design and development. There are election interference strategies that people could deploy these technologies for. So as systems become more powerful, as A.I. becomes more general purpose and able to plan over longer time horizons, these risks start to surface and we're hearing a lot of those early warning signs echoed and flagged by researchers at Frontier Labs.

Again, many of whom spoke to us on condition of anonymity.

But one last thing I really want to frame. These labs are very kind of safety minded. These are good actors. You think about labs like Anthropic that have made amazing contributions to safety and security.

One of the challenges is that they're all locked in a race to scale, to build these more and more powerful systems because of the economic incentives at play. Because of the risk that their competitors will win out and potentially use safety strategies that they don't think are necessarily good to use.

NEWTON: You know, Jeremy, you're articulating the problem really well and it is incredibly sobering. But I want to ask you, we've heard many people articulate the problem. I think you know, you and those you work with have gone kind of down the road of trying to explain to us what a solution might look like.

HARRIS: Yeah. And at the core of this solution, this action plan, which was developed with input from over 200 members of the A.I. community at Frontier Labs and national security experts and WMD technologies in U.S. government, at the core of it are three ingredients.

So first off, we need to find a way to stabilize the racing dynamics that are currently existing among top A.I. labs. They're causing us to basically barrel ahead without necessarily the safety forward approach that we need.

Second, we need to strengthen the U.S. government's ability to respond to these risks and to detect them if they start to emerge. That's through strategies like education, but also indications and warnings frameworks, contingency planning, that sort of thing.

And finally, we need to scale. We need to look at ways to formalize the safeguards that we set up and internationalize them. But it does no good if the U.S. government sets up a bunch of safeguards, introduces regulation and legislation, for example, that introduces liability, criminal and civil, on companies that maybe recklessly develop A.I. systems if the rest of the world doesn't follow suit, right?

So this is about essentially how do we internationalize, how do we build consensus about what risks actually exist in the international community, and then how do we set up at varying degrees of trust, because we're going to have to deal with adversaries as well who won't want to slow down.

So how do we establish trustless systems or ways to build that trust over time that are realistic and practical? And that's been a big, big focus of the report.

NEWTON: And I know that the new E.U. legislation just approved. It certainly can't set out to do all of that. But do you accept it as a template? Because we have seen that the European Union many, many times is at the forefront of trying to regulate not just A.I., obviously, but a lot of the tech industry.

HARRIS: Yeah, I mean, I'll be honest. I'm not a big pro-regulation guy. I think the GDPR that the E.U. put out had some issues. I was a startup guy at the time. I've been building A.I. startups at A.I. companies forever. But there are good things about this particular piece of proposed legislation.

And one of them is how they deal with general purpose A.I. systems. They really flag this idea of it's not necessarily that you just want to regulate the application because there are systems that are so generally powerful that you can't necessarily predict what applications they'll be put to.

And the potential risks associated with them could rise to that kind of weapon of mass destruction level risk. There's a lot of evidence to suggest that. So you want to kind of regulate the development of the model itself, the system itself, rather than necessarily just the end uses. And one of the cool things about this proposal is it does both. Right? It has carve-outs for specific applications that are regulated.

And also, it has an approach that targets the actual general purpose systems themselves somewhat intrinsically.

NEWTON: It was, again, a key feature of the E.U. regulation. And now, of course, we await the response from the U.S. government. As you know, Jeremy, a bit more difficult, perhaps, there to get that legislation through. Jeremy Harris for us, CEO and co-founder of Gladstone A.I. Thanks so much. I really appreciate it.

HARRIS: Thanks, Paula.

[03:45:02]

NEWTON: Boeing is facing criticism from investigators in the U.S. who say the company hasn't provided key information on the Alaska Airlines plane, which you'll remember lost its door plug mid-flight earlier this year. CNN's Pete Muntean picks up the story from there.

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PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: The woman leading this probe is once again putting Boeing on blast. Jennifer Homendy is the head of the National Transportation Safety Board, and she says Boeing's lack of a paper trail is hampering this investigation. Remember, the NTSB's preliminary report on this January 5th door plug blowout said this, Boeing did not reinstall the four critical door plug bolts before this 737 MAX 9 was delivered to Alaska Airlines.

The bolts were removed at the Boeing factory for corrective work on another part of the plane.

The NTSB says Boeing has not been able to produce the paperwork that details that work. Here is what Homendy says in her new update to the senators on the committee overseeing aviation. The absence of those records will complicate the NTSB's investigation going forward. She also underscored that Boeing has been unable to locate the security footage of that work. Boeing has responded saying it has supported the investigation from the start and it will continue to do so.

Pete Muntean, CNN, Washington.

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NEWTON: Now, meantime, the Boeing plane which went into a sudden dive in midair on Monday during a flight from Australia to New Zealand is on its way to Chile right now. The South American country sent aviation officials to look at the plane Thursday morning in New Zealand. That investigation is set to continue once they return home.

Chile is taking the lead on the investigation since the plane is in fact registered there. Dozens of people were injured in what officials are calling a technical event during the LATAM airline's flight. They're set to examine the plane's cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder to try and find out what was the cause of that problem.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is showing off his military muscles. State media reports he guided a training exercise Wednesday. If you look closely here you can see him there in the driver's hatch of what KCNA claims is a new type of main battle tank. It also says Kim expressed great satisfaction in the training quote, "fully demonstrated the perfect capability for actual war". Okay, still to come for us, CNN marks our eighth annual My Freedom Day

with the help of students from right around the globe. We're live in India after a short break.

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UNKNOWN: To me, freedom is not judging people, and having equity and (inaudible).

UNKNOWN: To live my life without limitations.

UNKNOWN: The ability to express myself offensively.

UNKNOWN: To me, freedom is the ability to freely express yourself without any hindrance.

UNKNOWN (translated): When the Harowa-Charawa liberated, I got the chance to attend school regularly. I study and play at school. I also attend a tuition class. I feel very happy. Happy Freedom Day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: Isn't she adorable? That little girl from Nepal has been freed from generations of bonded labor. Today she joins countless young people from right around the world to celebrate CNN's eighth annual My Freedom Day. A day of action led by students to raise awareness of modern slavery. Now we're covering student events all around the world today.

CNN's Vedika Sud is in India where students are using their talents to raise awareness of forced child labor.

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VEDIKA SUD, CNN REPORTER: I'm at the Genesis Global School in Noida near New Delhi, one of the many schools across the world marking My Freedom Day, a day of student-led action. As you can see here at this table you have students from a middle school who are busy making posters on a very relevant topic that has to do with modern day slavery which is child labor.

They've been making these posters as you can see very strong messages coming out of this one board and the captions itself speak to the problem that children face across the world when it comes to trafficking.

I want to take you through a few of them.

Crushed is one caption where Tarani Singh talks about how children are being burdened through child labor, through trafficking, while they should be in their homes with their families enjoying their childhood.

Many colorful posters here but talking about a very serious issue.

And then there's one more that talks about how child labor should stop through awareness, through empowering people and through protecting young children.

I want to now talk to two young girls here who've been working on their posters. Coming to you first, the caption of your poster says, Books Not Burdens. Very quickly, what are you trying to say through your poster here?

AGRIMA SAXENA, STUDENT: Well, in my poster you can see this young child is indulging in fantasy novels, Alice in Wonderland specifically. And the burdens that child labor brings suppresses their dreams and these enchanting aspirations that young children have. So that's the message we're trying to get across.

SUD: What about you, Kiaana? What are you trying to say through your poster here?

KIAANA SIKKA, STUDENT: So, in my poster, it's particularly showing that every child has a right to family, friends, education, health, and house life. Because in child labor particularly, there are many kids that are not having their childhood properly. They don't have family, they don't have friends, they don't have education, they don't have anything. So I think I want to create awareness about this because it's a global issue turning in India specifically.

SUD: Right. Strong messages there through those two young girls.

In India, according to government data available from the year 2022, eight children were trafficked every day in the country. Those are staggering numbers.

But I don't want to end on a negative note. I want to end with something positive because these young children here are trying to make that difference. So, as Tarani Singh out here says, speak out against child labor. Let's lift the weight off their shoulders. This is something that we, as a community across the world, need to do.

Back to you.

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NEWTON: Our thanks to Vedika there. And now, post your message to boost the fight against forced labor using the hashtag MyFreedomDay on social media. And go to cnn.com/MyFreedomDay for more information. And we will be right back.

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[03:55:00]

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NEWTON: Tech stocks are looking to rebound after a down day for the Nasdaq. The composite lost half a percent as shares of chipmaker Nvidia fell. The Dow managed, you can see there, a tenth of a percent of a gain. And the S&P 500 was off about two-tenths of a percent.

Adidas, or if you say it, Adidas, is hoping to put its best foot forward after a disappointing year in 2023. The company is reporting a net loss of $63 million with sales in its second largest market, North America, falling 16 percent. And a lot of that heartbreak, in fact, stems from its relationship with Kanye West.

CNN's Anna Stewart explains.

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ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, ending the Yeezy partnership hasn't been easy.

Adidas cut ties with Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, back in 2022, after he made a string of anti-Semitic comments.

Now, this was an expensive breakup. At one stage, a Morgan Stanley analyst estimated the Yeezy line contributed up to 40 percent of the company's profits. And the strategy on how to deal with it was pretty foggy.

First, it suspended sales. Then, there was a plan to sell the sneakers without the logo, before deciding it would sell the brand with the logo with a significant amount of the proceeds going to organizations combating discrimination.

And it made Adidas some money, too. Yeezy managed to contribute more than $300 million to the company's operating profit last year, according to Wednesday's earnings report.

Adidas also suffered from a huge tax spill last year and a sharp decline in sales in North America, which it expects to continue into this year.

The Yeezy debacle didn't help those sales, but there is also a broader demand problem at play, with Nike facing similar issues. In fact, Nike recently announced it would be laying off around 2 percent of its workforce. Some good news in China, though. Sales increased 8 percent last year and Adidas expects it to hit double-digit growth this year.

East not quite making up for Kanye West, but Adidas hopes the Yeezy problem will soon be behind it.

Anna Stewart, CNN, London.

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NEWTON: I want to thank you for joining us. I'm Paula Newton in Atlanta. Another hour of "Newsroom" is just ahead. Stay with us.

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