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Death Toll from the Strongest Earthquake in Taiwan Rises, Tsunami Warnings Raised in Japan and the Philippines; Death of WCK Aid Workers Sparked Outrage Worldwide; Dozens Killed at an Istanbul Nightclub; Biden, Trump Wins Wisconsin Primaries; Biden, Xi Tackles U.S.-China Relations in a Phone Interview; Last Two Survivors of the Tulsa Massacre Pleads for Justice; Caitlin Clark's Popularity Could Lead to Fan Frenzy in Women's Basketball's Future. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired April 03, 2024 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
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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, frantic rescue efforts underway in Taiwan after a deadly earthquake jolts the island, hundreds injured and dozens trapped in the rubble.
The deaths of World Central Kitchen aid workers in Gaza trigger outrage in the Biden White House and around the globe.
And dozens of people killed in a nightclub fire in Istanbul. We will have the latest on the investigation.
UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Rosemary Church.
CHURCH: Thanks for joining us. Rescuers are scrambling to keep the death toll from increasing in Taiwan after its strongest earthquake in 25 years.
Officials say at least four people are dead and more than 700 others injured. Rescue operations are underway for dozens of people thought to be trapped in the island's 125 damaged buildings.
The 7.4 magnitude quake struck around 8am local time off the east side of the island. That led to tsunami warnings and evacuations for not just Taiwan but also parts of Japan and the Philippines. All of those warnings have since been lifted.
CNN's Hanako Montgomery is live in Tokyo. She joins us now. So Hanako, in the wake of this powerful earthquake and aftershocks, what more are you learning about casualties and damage done as well as those rescue efforts to try to find those still trapped under the rubble? HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Rosemary, we have some
details about actually the four people who have been confirmed dead in Taiwan as a result of that very, very powerful earthquake Wednesday morning local time and the subsequent aftershocks.
So we know that three of those people were actually hiking in a very popular tourist hotspot in Taiwan, actually in Hualien County, which is on the eastern side of the island.
It is known to be very, very popular among international and domestic tourists. It's also a rural area and where most, actually Taiwan's earthquakes take place. We also know that one of the people who died was a truck driver who was hit by fallen rocks.
Now, like you mentioned, 77 people are still trapped underneath collapsed homes and buildings and rescue workers are desperately trying to get to those people and pull them out from under the rubble. Now, most of the damage, the significant damage that we've been seeing is in this part of Taiwan, Hualien County, where schools and work have been suspended because of these really powerful aftershocks that we've been seeing.
The Taiwanese government has been warned that we could be seeing aftershocks with magnitudes ranging from 6.5 to 7 in the next three to four days. So still very, very powerful and alarming to residents there.
We also know that in Taiwan, the defense ministry has dispatched military workers to try to get people out safely. They've been working with local governments to try to get people to these safe locations.
But a main road leading from Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, to Hualien, this county that's seeing a lot of the significant damage, has been damaged quite severely. So it's been difficult for aid workers to get there, to get people to safety.
But we are seeing the Taiwanese authorities try to get people out from under this rubble. We also know that across the island, more than 91,000 homes are without electricity.
We're also seeing reports of how people are still trying to find their loved ones, of course, in this trapped rubble and still trying to communicate just to see who exactly is safe.
Now, we are still waiting for more updates from the Taiwanese government about how many deaths and how many injuries we're seeing in this island.
But in terms of international aid and support, the Japanese Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, has given his condolences to Taiwan and the Taiwanese people, saying that if need be, if any assistance is needed, Japan will be there to help Taiwan. Rosemary.
CHURCH: All right, Hanako Montgomery, bringing us the very latest live from Tokyo. I Appreciate it.
Israel is apologizing for what it calls a grave mistake after a military strike hit a convoy of aid workers in Gaza.
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Seven members of the World Central Kitchen team were killed on Monday. An explosive weapons expert tells CNN the heavy damage to the vehicle seen in video from the scene is consistent with the use of highly accurate drone-fired missiles. Israel's top general offered this explanation as to what happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. GEN. HERZI HALEVI, CHIEF OF GENERAL STAFF, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: I want to be very clear. The strike was not carried out with the intention of harming WCK aid workers. It was a mistake that followed a misidentification at night during a war in very complex conditions. It shouldn't have happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: The World Central Kitchen identified the seven people killed, saying these heroes were just returning from a full day's mission. Most were foreign nationals.
The organization says it's now pausing its operations in Gaza and will assess its future there. And now, a country director for American aid group ANERA says the group is also halting its operations in Gaza as staffers fear they could be targeted.
And CNN's Nada Bashir is following development. She joins us now live from London. Good morning to you, Nada. What's been the reaction from U.S. President Joe Biden and other world leaders to Israel's deadly attack on these aid workers in Gaza?
NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Rosemary, there has been an outpouring of condemnation. We did hear quite a firm message from U.S. President Joe Biden yesterday, writing that he was heartbroken and outraged to learn of the killing of the seven aid workers from the World Central Kitchen.
He issued a statement acknowledging this is not a standalone incident and that Israel has not done enough to protect civilian lives in Gaza. He acknowledged, of course, that the Israeli Defense Force has said that they are carrying out an investigation, but also said that this investigation must be swift, that there must be accountability and the findings of this investigation must be made public.
Now, there has also been condemnation expressed here in the United Kingdom. The Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom has been summoned, the British government expressing its unequivocal condemnation. The Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, spoke to his Israeli counterpart yesterday, saying condemning the killing of the World Central Kitchen aid workers, including, of course, three British nationals, and saying that the situation is growing increasingly intolerable.
Now, we have heard also, of course, condemnation expressed by a number of humanitarian organizations, including U.N. agencies. It is important to underscore that we have also heard from the humanitarian coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, acknowledging once again, noting that this is not a standalone incident, that countless aid workers and humanitarian workers have been killed since October 2023, 196, according to those figures, up to March 20th.
It is a staggering figure and this has, of course, raised a huge amount of concern amongst not only world leaders, but also, of course, humanitarian organizations.
CHURCH: Our thanks to Nada Bashir joining us live from London with that report.
And joining me now from Cairo is Abeer Etafa, Senior Middle East Spokesperson for the World Food Programme. Thank you so much for joining us in the wake of this tragedy within the community of humanitarian aid workers.
ABEER ETAFA, SR. MIDDLE EAST SPOKESPERSON, WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME: Well, you know, thank you for having me. I mean, we're deeply saddened and shocked by the tragic death of the World Central Kitchen team while traveling and delivering life-saving assistance in Gaza.
This attack on humanitarian workers in Gaza is unacceptable. World Central Kitchen is a key player in the food security sector and they have been instrumental in providing essential food supplies to the people in the war-torn strip. They have been providing half a million people every day with hot meals and their work is really vital for keeping people alive.
We and other aid organizations, we need safe, secure access to all parts of Gaza and to halt the impending famine. We are really on the doorstep of famine and the safety of aid workers is paramount. And the safety of also those who come to receive aid. Humanitarian workers should never be a target.
CHURCH: Yeah, your work is critical and Benjamin Netanyahu has apologized and calls this a tragic case of Israeli forces unintentionally hitting innocent people.
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But the World Central Kitchen was coordinating its movements with the IDF to ensure the military knew where they were and their vehicles were clearly marked as they traveled through what they called a de- conflicted zone along the Gaza coastline. How disturbed are you by all these details, given the IDF is capable of precision targeting?
ETAFA: You know, it's very, it underscores one important thing, is that the only way for aid workers to operate safely in all affected areas in Gaza is that we do need a humanitarian ceasefire.
We cannot operate and save lives in the only spot in the world where you have one million people, one million people in the doorstep of famine without a humanitarian ceasefire. You cannot be closing on or closing in on a famine when you have bombs and airstrikes and fighting left and right.
So this is really, it's a very important moment to recognize that we would need immediate ceasefire, a humanitarian ceasefire, to be able to distribute safely and without human loss, whether it is for the staff or the beneficiaries, the people who need and gather to receive this aid.
CHURCH: Right. And of course, we don't know when that ceasefire would come. Efforts are underway to put one in place, of course, but aid groups are now pausing operations in Gaza in the wake of the killing of these World Central Kitchen members by Israel. Is that an indication that these aid groups don't trust that the IDF will protect them?
ETAFA: I think everyone is very concerned about the safety of their staff. And again, this, the tragic death of the World Central Kitchen staff highlight the urgency of ensuring the safety of humanitarian personnel in Gaza.
The World Food Programme is going to continue with the operations, including our daily efforts to send convoys to the north. People are dying and it is essential that we continue to provide assistance to them because as famine closes in, we need humanitarian staff and supplies to be able to move freely and safely across Gaza.
Access is crucial. But of course, the psychological mark that this incident and this accident, terrible accident, has left on many of the aid workers will be felt for weeks and months to come.
CHURCH: And you have said that it's going to be difficult to do any of your critical work until there is a ceasefire. But is that what you're expecting, that a lot of these groups may pull out until there's a ceasefire in place? Or would you expect some to resume their critical work of feeding desperate Palestinians caught in the crossfire of Israel's war with Hamas? Talk to us about just how bad that situation is on the ground too.
ETAFA: Well, I think the situation is pretty desperate. That's the only spot that we have in the world with over 1 million people who could be actually in a famine situation. And the choice is clear. We don't really have many choices. It's either we surge and scale up our assistance or it's going to be starvation.
And this is why we need Israel to allow more routes into Gaza, including from the north. We need the safety, the paramount, it's paramount to have safety of staff and for aid workers, whether it's NGOs or U.N., whoever is working, everyone needs the safe space so that you can deliver.
We need to use Ashdod port. We need, you know, staff to move freely, humanitarian staff and supplies to move freely.
And to the people of Gaza, the civilians who need this assistance, who are hungry, who are starving, to be able to access this assistance safely. You know, the other thing is that as famine closes in, any Israeli
land offensive in the south of Gaza would make our task extremely hard. We need a humanitarian ceasefire.
CHURCH: Abeer Etafa, thank you so much for joining us. I Appreciate it. And we salute the work you do as well. Thank you.
ETAFA: Thank you for having me. Thank you.
CHURCH: The Biden administration is pushing back against claims that it was involved in a presumed Israeli strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria. A top U.S. official is warning against any retaliatory attacks by Iran against American forces in the region. But Tehran says it holds the U.S., quote, "answerable due to its support for Israel".
CNN's Ben Wedeman has more.
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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Tehran is vowing to respond to Israel's Monday airstrike on Iran's embassy complex in Damascus, a strike that left 13 dead, including two senior officers with the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC.
One of them, senior commander Mohammad Reza Zahedi, was responsible for IRGC operations in Lebanon and Syria, the highest ranking Iranian official to be killed since the Gaza war began.
Israel has refused to claim responsibility for the strike. But Tuesday afternoon, the U.S. Defense Department spokesperson said the Pentagon assesses Israel indeed did it.
U.S. officials insist they did not have prior knowledge of the strike. Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Ibrahim Raisi have said the strike will not go unanswered.
How that response will come, where and when, is unclear.
Until now, Iran has targeted Israel and U.S. forces in the region through allied militias in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen, but has always avoided a direct attack.
But now Iran's prestige is on the line. If it doesn't respond forcefully, it will appear weak before its friends and its foes.
If it does respond directly and forcefully to Israel, the war that rages in Gaza could spread across the Middle East.
I'm Ben Wedeman, CNN, reporting from Beirut.
(END VIDEOTAPE) CHURCH: Coming up, a nightclub fire in Turkey claims the lives of 29 people. The suspects detained as part of an investigation. We'll take a look.
Plus, Ukraine answers Russian attacks by striking at the heart of Russia's war machine with fiery results. We'll explain.
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CHURCH: Welcome back everyone.
Turkish authorities have detained eight people in connection with a deadly nightclub fire. At least 29 people were killed when the fire started in the club's basement, which was undergoing renovations. All the victims were construction workers. Another eight people were hurt in the fire.
We go live now to Istanbul and CNN's Scott McLean. So Scott, what's the latest on this fire tragedy?
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Rosemary. Yeah, so this happened in the Besiktas district on the European side of Istanbul. This is a tidy, nice part of the city. There are bars and restaurants, but on this particular street where the nightclub is located, it's quite residential and so it definitely looks out of place.
On the surface, it looked, at least at first, like this would have been a relatively minor fire. It was contained to the lower levels in the basement of this building, but only afterwards did it become apparent that this was not minor at all. Because as you said, there were renovations going on at the time and there were plenty of workers inside.
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One neighbor who lives in the building next door told us that in the initial panic, she actually climbed down her balcony to try to get out as quickly as she could. And when she got down to the ground to safety, she realized that it wasn't her building on fire. It was the one across the way. And she said with the smoke and the flames, it looked like she had arrived in hell.
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MCLEAN (voice-over): The camera trembles as neighbors capture the raging fire across the road.
Hours later, the human cost becomes tragically apparent as firefighters pull bodies out one by one.
All afternoon, police, investigators and exhausted firefighters came and went, wondering what went wrong. All told, at least 29 people were killed. All of them were workers doing renovations on a nightclub housed in the bottom of this 16-story apartment block.
The slick masquerade nightclub looks out of place on the ordinary looking residential street. Seema Sohanca lives next door and heard screams when the fire first started.
I used to go to the nightclub from time to time, she says. The bar had one entrance and an exit. There's only one way in and one way out.
MCLEAN: From here, you can see quite clearly where the fire would have started on these lower floors and then raced up the side of this building. There have been several people detained already as part of this investigation, including the business manager of the club and the person responsible for doing the metalwork renovation inside. Now, in addition to the fire crews on scene, there are also three occupational safety experts here doing their own investigation into what went wrong.
MCLEAN (voice-over): Across the road, the neighbors invite us to see the aftermath from their vantage point. They ask not to be identified. It's like a maze inside.
There are so many casualties because they couldn't escape, she says. The workers were kids trying to earn a bit of money. I cried a lot because I saw these young guys entering the club in the morning before I went to the doctor. I am so sorry this happened.
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MCLEAN: That neighbor calls them kids, Rosemary, because some of them were quite young in their 20s. The youngest was just 17 years old, according to Turkish state media TRT.
The oldest was 64. The bodies have been now sent for autopsies and the names have been released. One of them was a foreigner that we don't know yet from where.
As I said, eight people have been detained and among them are business partners involved in that nightclub. There are also questions now about the safety or the fire safety certification, which according to the newly re-elected mayor, Ekerman Mimolu, was granted in 2018 that of course, the question now will be why that was granted at all, considering that this club was underground, sort of a labyrinth, and there was only one way in and one way out.
And in this case, for these victims, that one exit was not available to them.
CHURCH: A tragedy for the families there, Scott McLean. Many thanks for that report.
Well, shock in Finland, as a 12-year-old student opened fire at a primary school outside Helsinki. The country's national police say one child was killed and two others seriously injured. CNN's Sebastian Shukla has details.
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SEBASTIAN SHUKLA, CNN PRODUCER: Really disturbing scenes north of the Finnish capital, Helsinki, at the Viitala School in the Vantaa district of the Finnish capital, where a classmate, a 12-year-old boy, turned on his other classmates, also 12 years old, where he killed one and severely injured two others.
The classmate and the boy has now been remanded in custody, but he will be questioned by social services rather than the police, given the age of the boy in question.
It is not clear just yet what exactly the motive is behind this, and the police are still trying to establish that. The Finnish prime minister, who spoke publicly about this particular incident, described it as being deeply shocking and that the authorities are still working to determine the story behind this tragic event.
But he also acknowledged that one incident is one incident too many, even in a country like Finland, which is incredibly rarely sees incidents like this compared to other nations in the world, such as the United States.
Finland's last school attack or school shooting of this type came in 2008, where a student who was slightly older turned a weapon on his other classmates. This, though, seems to be very much an open case at the moment and a deeply shocking and disturbing one, particularly as children were returning to school after the long Easter holiday break.
[03:25:06]
And I'm sure that there will be more to uncover in this story as the police continue their investigation.
Sebastian Shukla, CNN, Berlin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: We're expecting a landmark verdict in the next hour from a court in Uganda. The hearing is now underway for a case challenging anti-gay legislation that's considered among the harshest in the world.
The country's anti-homosexuality act was signed into law in May of last year. It outlaws gay marriage and punishes same-sex relations with life in prison. A social justice non-profit in Uganda told CNN in June it had recorded more than 300 human rights violations against Ugandans suspected of being gay.
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This is the moment a suspected Ukrainian drone struck its target in Russia, 1,300 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.
Russian officials say Kyiv launched several drone attacks southeast of Moscow on Tuesday. A Ukrainian source tells CNN they targeted a drone factory and one of Russia's largest oil refineries in one of their deepest operations inside Russian territory.
Ukrainian officials say those strikes are a direct and justified response to Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilians.
We saw one such attack on Tuesday. At least 18 people, including five children, were injured by a missile strike on the city of Dnipro in eastern Ukraine. It happened while students were in school. Local officials say they were hiding in a bomb shelter which saved their lives. Here's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Dear Ukrainians, rescue operations are currently underway in Dnipro after a Russian missile strike. In particular, buildings of a college and a kindergarten have been damaged. All services are on site. The Russian terrorists are receiving responses to their strikes. Each time, longer range responses.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: As Ukraine strikes on Russia's territory, it's struggling to fill the front lines with fighters. In order to make it easier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy just signed a law lowering the country's minimum conscription age from 27 to 25.
Parliament approved the measure nearly a year ago. At the time, lawmakers said it was inappropriate that citizens fit for service could not be called up.
Now men as young as 25 could be drafted into service. Under the law signed on Tuesday, the mobilization age when soldiers can be sent to the front lines to fight is still set at 27. But Ukraine's parliament is also considering a law that would lower that to 25.
Billions of dollars of military aid for Ukraine are currently in limbo in the U.S. House of Representatives. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson says he will call for a vote on the issue in the coming days. But it's not clear how he will sell it to the far-right members of his party. In the past few days, Johnson has said he is considering new ideas, including parroting Donald Trump's idea to make Ukrainian aid conditional.
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REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: If you could use the seized assets of Russian oligarchs to fund that, that's a no-brainer. That's not taxpayer dollars to do that. We talked about the loan concept. President Trump has talked a lot about this in recent days, where if we're going to do foreign aid, we do it in terms of a loan instead of just a gift.
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CHURCH: At least one far-right Republican, Marjorie Taylor Greene, is threatening to oust Johnson from his speakership if he moves forward with funding for Ukraine. She scoffed at the idea of a loan, posting on social media, quote, "It's absolutely ridiculous and laughable to even try to tell the American people that Ukraine will ever pay us back".
Just in, the death toll from the Taiwan earthquake is now up to seven. The latest numbers coming in just moments ago, more than 730 people are injured, according to Taiwan's National Fire Agency, and dozens of people remain trapped in the rubble.
Still to come, US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke over the phone in an effort to strengthen ties between the two nations. Details on their conversation after a short break.
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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back everyone. U.S. President Joe Biden and Donald Trump now have enough committed delegates to earn their parties' nominations. But some states are still sticking to the schedule, with Connecticut, New York, Rhode Island and Wisconsin holding their primaries on Tuesday.
Donald Trump won Wisconsin's 41 Republican delegates unchallenged. He also won the battleground state in 2016's presidential election, but President Biden took it in 2020.
Mr. Biden ran unopposed as well in Wisconsin, but some voters chose a quote uninstructed delegation option on both Republican and Democratic ballots. It's similar to the uncommitted option in other states, where voters can allow delegates to pick whichever candidate they like, sending a message to political parties that voters are unhappy.
Well Donald Trump also spent Michigan and Wisconsin speaking to voters. CNN's Kristen Holmes breaks down his comments and strategy.
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KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Former President Donald Trump in both Michigan and Wisconsin, two critical battleground states, states he won in 2016, lost by narrow margin in 2020, and states that he and his team believe are important or necessary to win if he is going to take back the White House in 2024. And a part of what Donald Trump's messaging is, is trying to paint the status quo under President Biden as so terrible in order to energize voters to come out and vote in November.
They know that in 2020, there were a number of Republicans, this is going to be critical in a state with a narrow margin like Wisconsin, that didn't come to vote because they were tired of four years of Donald Trump. They are trying to re-energize those voters and they're doing so by hitting home, by ramping up that anti-immigrant language. Take a listen to one of the things he said today.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The Democrats say, please don't call them animals, they're humans. I said, no, they're not humans, they're not humans, they're animals.
HOLMES: Donald Trump has been linking immigration to violent crimes. Of course, as we have reported, all the data shows that migrants or immigrants are far less likely to commit a crime than citizens are. However, there have been a series of high profile cases in the news that Donald Trump has really latched onto. He is stoking fear in voters' minds, saying that the country was safer when he was president. And this is coming at a time where voters really believe, we're seeing this through the polling, that immigration is a top issue in the 2024 election.
So he is hoping that just like in 2016, the issue of immigration, this talk about expanding his hardline policies, is going to propel him to the White House in 2024.
Kristen Holmes, CNN, Green Bay, Wisconsin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Meantime, President Joe Biden spent time speaking with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday. The two leaders spent nearly two hours on the phone together, their first conversation since meeting in person in November. CNN's MJ Lee has details.
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(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MJ LEE, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping speaking on the phone for the first time on Tuesday since their last in-person summit in California in November, coming in front of the backdrop of some serious global turbulence.
And as U.S.-China relations had hit rock bottom last year, and as officials on both sides are trying to defuse some of those tensions, the two leaders said to have discussed a myriad of issues, including the wars that are ongoing in Gaza and in Ukraine, some issues that have strained historically the U.S.-Chinese relations, including the situation in Taiwan, and provocations that we have seen recently from Beijing in the South China Sea.
Also discussed are areas of potential cooperation between the two countries, including countering narcotics and the issue of artificial intelligence.
According to a readout that we received from the White House of the call, it said the two leaders welcomed ongoing efforts to maintain open channels of communication and responsibly manage the relationship through high-level diplomacy and working-level consultations in the weeks and months ahead.
Now, you'll recall earlier this year that CNN had exclusively reported that when the two leaders saw each other last fall, Chinese President Xi had told President Biden that China had no intention of interfering in the 2024 U.S. election.
But interestingly, a senior administration official telling reporters ahead of this phone call, I don't think we ever really take the Chinese at their word when they say they will or will not do something. It is about verifying.
Now, the last time that President Biden and President Xi met in person in November, again, U.S.-China relations had pretty much hit rock bottom. And coming out of that meeting, the two leaders had basically agreed that what they wanted to do going forward was to be able to pick up the phone and call each other more and try to avoid situations that could be dangerous in terms of misunderstandings that could take place between these two superpowers. So certainly a significant phone call and a continuation of an attempt to rebuild and strengthen communication between these two countries.
MJ Lee, CNN at the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: A new government report is blaming Microsoft for a cascade of avoidable errors that allowed Chinese hackers to breach the email accounts of senior U.S. officials last year.
The U.S. Cyber Safety Review Board says the hack was preventable. It blames Microsoft for not doing enough to sensitive cryptographic key that let hackers remotely sign into their target's Outlook accounts.
The hack gave Chinese operatives access to some 60,000 emails, including the account of U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns. Hacks like this are happening with increased frequency. Ransomware attacks in which cyber criminals lock the computer systems of targets and demand payment in order to reopen them have disrupted services at several state and local governments in recent years.
Joining me now to talk more about this is Dr. Tim Stevens, Associate Professor at King's College London. Appreciate you being with us.
DR. TIM STEVENS, ASSOCIATE PROF., KING'S COLLEGE LONDON: Thanks for having me.
CHURCH: So it is hard not to feel uneasy about the spate of recent cyber attacks here in the United States and across the globe. When a massive telecommunications company like AT&T can't protect our social security numbers and other personal data, what does that mean for smaller companies and what might it signal to the enemies of this country about America's vulnerabilities?
STEVENS: Yeah, it's an important question, a one that's going to plague us, I think, for a long time to come. And I think the first step to all of this is the awareness on the part of large companies and small companies that there is a problem and that they need to invest resources into better cyber security.
And that can mean better software, better defending teams, so the actual security teams of these organizations, but also risk management plans for what you're going to do when something is going to happen, because inevitably it will.
CHURCH: Well, let's go a little deeper into that, because these big and small companies are vulnerable and perhaps that's inevitable. Individuals are as well, aren't they? So, in all, how does everyone protect themselves against cyber attacks and what are the biggest cyber threats to be looking out for right now?
[03:39:55]
STEVENS: Yeah, well, in terms of protection, there's a couple of different levels, as it were. It's good that people, individuals like you and me are aware of our personal security issues and that we do things like make sure that our things are password protected, that we have, sounds fancy, but two-factor authentication is something your viewers may have heard of, and we have to employ that on our devices.
But ultimately, it's not down to the individual to secure the broader networks and systems, that's up to organizations, both public and private sector.
So, investing in good cyber security, making sure that they have plans in place, both for investment and for responding to incidents when they happen, to reassure their customers that they have their best interests at heart and they have data protection plans in place.
The threats, of course, to these systems are many and varied. Despite all that we've heard of state actors, the most, the principal threat, if you will, is cyber criminal. And you mentioned ransomware earlier, and when it comes to particularly municipal governments, public sector organizations, healthcare and so on, this is probably the number one threat, because this is criminals trying to extract money from organizations to return their data.
But there are also a host of state threats out there as well. So, more in the espionage space, in which very proficient and capable cyber actors from countries like China, Russia, North Korea, Iran and elsewhere attempt to infiltrate sensitive systems and then remove data that they can then use for intelligence purposes.
CHURCH: And what are the main vulnerabilities within most company computer systems? Because you can have all of the changing of the passwords and all of the other systems in place, but it can just take one employee hitting the link of something and everything can go south, basically, can't it?
STEVENS: Yeah, exactly. Yeah, well, this is the problem. And one of the cliches of cyber security is that, you know, the weakest link is human, as it were, because you can put all these security controls in place.
But then if someone gets duped into providing passwords or other information that allows an attacker to access these systems, then that's the opportunity that an attacker needs.
And this is really, really difficult.
Now, I mentioned two-factor authentication earlier on, this means that there have to be two points of failure in any kind of access control. And that means it's much, much harder for an attacker to get access through, you know, you and I making a mistake. But that's almost impossible to control out of a system, which is
where awareness and training and security education come in. But at the end of the day, it does just take one person to allow an attacker access.
And of course, there's a lot of other technical ways that attackers can access these systems too, which are flaws in the way that software, hardware systems are configured.
CHURCH: Right. And of course, you did touch on this, but why are most of these cyberattacks carried out? What is the main motivation and how big a problem are state-sponsored cyberattacks as opposed to those motivated purely by money?
STEVENS: Yeah, well, I mean, I still think volume wise, cybercrime is the biggest threat to American and indeed other countries.
But we're seeing, you know, a range of state actors now who are emboldened by the fact that they can act almost with impunity in global networks, because this is all done remotely. Of course, it's not like in the old days where you had to insert an agent into a foreign country, and they had to obtain physical access to data.
These days, you can do it from the other side of the world. And because the networks are so complicated, because it's so easy for you to obscure your identity, and it's so easy to deny it if you get caught, that almost foreign actors, if you like, are acting with impunity, which means, of course, it's very attractive.
You know, you don't have to have much of a risk appetite to launch an operation against the country on the other side of the world if you fear that you're never going to be caught.
CHURCH: Yeah, indeed. Dr. Tim Stevens, thank you so much for joining us. I Appreciate it.
STEVENS: Thank you.
CHURCH: Still to come, more than 100 years after a horrific race massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma, two survivors of the attacks are continuing their fight for justice. Their stories, after the break.
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[03:45:00]
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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone.
Attorneys for the last two survivors of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre pleaded their case before the Oklahoma State Court on Tuesday. Both women are 109 years old and are fighting for a chance to argue for reparations from the state for what happened more than a century ago. Here's what we know about what sparked the massacre. It started after allegations that a 19-year-old black man had
assaulted a 17-year-old white woman in an elevator. He denied the rumors, but it didn't matter. White residents of Tulsa banded together while black residents rushed to prevent the accused from being lynched.
In the following hours, an estimated 10,000-person mob descended on Greenwood District, completely destroying the area known as Black Wall Street. CNN's Omar Jimenez spoke with one of the survivors still fighting for justice.
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OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What do you remember about the time?
VIOLA FORD FLETCHER, TULSA RACE MASSACRE SURVIVOR: People getting killed in houses, property, schools, churches, and stores, getting destroyed with fire. And then someone in the neighborhood saying to leave the neighborhood. If not, we're going to kill all of the black people. It just stays with me. It's just the fear that I have lived in Tulsa since, but I don't sleep all night living there.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): 109-year-old Mother Fletcher, as she's known, is one of only two people alive who remember firsthand what the 1921 Tulsa race massacre was like, sitting with us alongside her grandson and niece.
JIMENEZ: How do you think your life would have been different if this had not happened?
FORD FLETCHER: I would have gotten an education to where I could get a better job, like especially being a nurse.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): It's part of why Tuesday, lawyers for these survivors argued to the Oklahoma Supreme Court that Tulsa has to look at what the massacre survivors lost and make things right.
UNKNOWN: And we're hoping this court will give us the opportunity to prove our case.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): Back in 2022 was when a judge initially allowed part of their case to move forward.
REDD VAN ELLIS, TULSA RACE MASSACRE SURVIVOR: A change is coming.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): Fletcher's younger brother, known as Uncle Redd, also was a survivor. But in May 2023, on Viola Fletcher's 109th birthday, she was back in court fighting a new motion to dismiss the case.
FORD FLETCHER; I didn't feel very nice about it, but I'm willing to do that again, you know.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): And she's being tested on that because a few months later, the case was dismissed. So the families appealed to the Oklahoma Supreme Court, where the defendants argued in part. UNKNOWN: These individual plaintiffs lack standing to bring a claim
for public nuisance.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): Now a new chance for the survivors. But Uncle Redd died before he got that chance. He passed away in October 2023 at 102 years old. His daughter is carrying on his fight. But the direct ties to what happened in Tulsa are quickly shrinking.
JIMENEZ: This now replica home represents really the only home built in the 1920s still standing. It was actually built in 1926 after the original owner's first home burned down in the 1921 race massacre. It really represents what life was actually like for many of those living in this community at the time.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): The community did rebuild after the 1921 massacre. And then this highway, built right through the heart of the district as part of federal highway acts in the '60s, dealt it a final blow.
[03:50:08]
MICHELLE BURDEX, PROGRAM COORDINATOR, GREENWOOD CULTURAL CENTER: The highway separated the business district from traffic flow, from access.
JIMENEZ: What does this highway represent to you?
BURDEX: The second destruction of Black Wall Street.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): It adds up to about a century lost for families trying to do what families are supposed to do. Give the next generation a solid head start.
IKE HOWARD, OLDEST GRANDSON OF VIOLA FORD FLETCHER: Instead of having a leg up for my father and my father having a leg up for me, we have setbacks.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): And he says it can be traced to his grandmother in 1921. Now, throughout the interview, his grandmother's hearing wasn't always perfect. He often had to check that she could hear my questions.
But as we wrapped up.
JIMENEZ: All right, you look great. You sound great.
FORD FLETCHER: Well, good.
JIMENEZ: Oh, you heard that.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): She still has hope.
The other 109-year-old survivor is Leslie Benningfield Randall. Her family told CNN, in part, we plead for this case to advance. Let us honor them while they're still with us.
FORD FLETCHER: I think we should get justice to be fair. I think the court should feel the same way.
YVONNE KAUGER, OKLAHOMA SUPREME COURT JUSTICE: When I went to high school, I knew about the Trail of Tears, but Greenwood was never mentioned. And so I think regardless of what happens that you're all to be commended for making sure that that will never happen again, that it will be in the history books.
JIMENEZ: Regardless of what happens. Well, it's now in the hands of the Oklahoma Supreme Court justices to make this decision. And it's not just the city of Tulsa that's being sued here. It's also the Tulsa Regional Chamber, the Oklahoma Military Department, basically any other department or group that these survivors feel are responsible here. But just to put things in perspective, we're not just talking about if the Supreme Court justices agree, then the survivors get their reparations and then it's a happy ending for them.
This is just for the right to go to trial, because if the Supreme Court justices' side with these survivors, it just goes right back down to a lower district court. And then they begin the process toward a trial, which, as we know, takes time. And both of these survivors are 109 years old. It's time that they may not have a lot of left.
Omar Jimenez, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Coming up, Caitlin Clark has been wowing Iowa basketball fans with her skills on the court for years, and she's hoping to create a fan frenzy that could change the future of the sport. That's next on CNN.
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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. The final four in the women's NCAA basketball tournament is locked in after another pair of thrilling games in the Elite 8. ESPN says Monday night's 41-point performance by Iowa's Caitlin Clark led to record ratings for a women's college basketball game.
CNN's Brian Todd has the story of the unprecedented moment for women's basketball.
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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They're on a roll like never before. Superstar Caitlin Clark and her Iowa Hawkeyes team just advancing to the final four and shining a brighter spotlight on the game of women's basketball overall.
[03:54:57]
Clark, who's broken most of college basketball's scoring and three- point shooting records, scored 41 points Monday night as Iowa defeated rival LSU in the Elite 8 round of the NCAA tournament.
CAITLIN CLARK, UNIVERSITY OF IOWA BASKETBALL PLAYER: We don't want this to end, and we want to keep coming back and working hard with each other and fighting for one more week.
TODD (voice-over): Fans of women's basketball don't want this to end either.
DAVE ZIRIN, SPORTS EDITOR, "THE NATION" MAGAZINE: Women's college basketball has never been this popular. It is a national sensation. Every corner bar was watching Iowa versus LSU. Every college dorm room was watching Iowa versus LSU.
TODD (voice-over): It's all placed enormous pressure on the 22-year- old senior from Des Moines, pressure that her coach says Clark doesn't shrink from.
LISA BLUDER, HEAD WOMEN'S BASKETBALL COACH, UNIVERSITY OF IOWA: When the stage is the brightest, when the spotlight is the brightest, she's at her very best. She loves this. You know, some people wither in the moment. She just gets stronger in the moment. When it's her time, I mean, she's going to just shine.
TODD (voice-over): According to Axios, the cheapest ticket to the women's college basketball championship game this year is 61 percent more expensive than the cheapest ticket to the men's championship game.
Analysts say this spike in popularity is almost entirely due to Clark and her on-court rivalry with LSU star Angel Reese. One of the most debated moments of last year's championship game was when Reese made the you-can't-see-me gesture to Clark as LSU was closing out its victory over Iowa for the title.
In an emotional news conference on Monday night, Reese spoke about what she's gone through since then.
ANGEL REESE, LSU BASKETBALL PLAYER: I've been through so much. I've seen so much. I've been attacked so many times. I've been death threats. I've been sexualized. I've been threatened. I've been so many things, and I've stood strong.
JEMELE HILL, WRITER, "THE ATLANTIC": Let's be honest. There's a racial element as well. And so she's had to shoulder all of this ever since they won the national championship. Anytime you summon her name, it is just anytime I even tweet something about her, the level of reaction, people calling her ghetto, a thug.
TODD (voice-over): All of this comes on the heels of the most talked- about event at the NBA All-Star Game in February, when Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry barely beat Sabrina Ionescu of the WNBA's New York Liberty in a three-point shooting contest.
ZIRIN: Expect more of that in the future. If it's Steph versus Caitlin Clark, they might need to hold it in a football stadium.
TODD: Will women's college basketball be as popular once Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese leave it? Analyst Dave Zirin believes it will be, mostly because of freshman sensation Juju Watkins. Zirin says between Watkins' scoring heroics and the fact that she plays in a major TV market at the University of Southern California, expect her to add to what Clark and Reese have built.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
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CHURCH: Incredible. And thank you so much for your company. I'm Rosemary Church. Have yourselves a wonderful day. "CNN Newsroom" continues next, with Max Foster.
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