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More Aid Routes to Open in the Gaza Strip After Biden-Netanyahu Phone Call; New Testimony Examines the 2021 U.S. Withdrawal from Afghanistan. CNN's Ivan Watson Visited the Quake Zone where the Deadliest Earthquake in 25 Years Happened; U.S. Treasury Secretary Returns to China Amid Trade Tensions; Illinois Town Prepares for the Solar Eclipse. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired April 05, 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]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT AND ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to all of our viewers around the world. I'm Anna Coren, live from Hong Kong. Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.
U.S. President Biden's stern message to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The humanitarian situation in Gaza is unacceptable. And now more routes to allow aid are opening up.
CNN exclusive reporting on the U.S.'s chaotic evacuation from Afghanistan. What we're learning about the pullout and the planning.
And high-level trade talks in China, as U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen presses Beijing on what the U.S. calls unfair trade practices. Those details in a live report.
It's 10:00 a.m. in Israel, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is apparently ready to make some adjustments to ensure the safety of aid workers in Gaza. A U.S. official says Mr. Netanyahu acknowledged the deaths of seven World Central Kitchen workers on Monday were Israel's fault.
The Prime Minister says he will improve the tracking of aid workers in Gaza to prevent a similar mistake from happening again.
The White House says President Biden insisted that Israel allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Well after that phone call, the Israeli Security Cabinet approved plans to reopen the Erez border crossing for aid shipments from Israel into northern Gaza. It's also allowing the port of Ashdod to be used for bringing in more humanitarian assistance.
A U.N. spokesperson called it positive news, but said a ceasefire and a massive influx of aid are necessary.
The White House praised the decision but warned its policy on Gaza could still change based on Israel's immediate actions.
Well CNN's Paula Hancocks is following developments and joins us now from Abu Dhabi. Paula, I would say that suddenly aid routes have opened up into Gaza after that tensed phone call between Biden and Netanyahu. Tell us more.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well that's right, Anna. This is the Erez crossing, that's always been the passenger crossing, it's where we go into Gaza over the years, and then Kerem Shalom in the south is where the goods go in. But this is now according to the Israeli security cabinet approving its reopening, going to be an area where humanitarian aid can get into northern Gaza.
And that's crucial because northern Gaza, of course, is the area where a U.N.-backed report said that half of the population there is on the brink of famine. Famine could happen anytime from mid-March to May. We're now in early April. So this is an area where the humanitarian aid is desperately needed.
This is what humanitarian aid groups have been calling for for months now to have another crossing open specifically to that area where aid has not been able to get to. And it's what we've heard as well from Biden administration officials from other world leaders.
But now just hours after Biden has given this ultimatum, if you like to the Israeli Prime Minister saying things have to change or the Israeli policy within the Biden administration may change, we are seeing that this is now going to happen.
Now, we don't have details. We don't have a timing. We don't have clarification on how much aid we'll be able to get through within this crossing itself. But the U.N. has welcomed it as a positive move, saying that they are waiting to see the implementation, of course, and also the port of Ashdod being allowed to get more aid through a maritime corridor.
I mean, we have seen maritime corridors in the past. Of course, the World Central Kitchen was the ultimate maritime corridor that was trying to get aid into Gaza itself.
But of course, this does beg the question that if Israel was able to so quickly decide and approve with its security cabinet to open this crossing, why was it unable to do so for many months as humanitarian aid groups and world leaders have been calling for more land crossings to be opened? Anna.
COREN: Paula, what else did Biden say to Netanyahu during their 30- minute phone call? And what can we expect to come from this ultimatum?
[03:05:00]
HANCOCKS: Well, I think the first thing we would assume has come is this openness to be able to allow more humanitarian aid in. And it's certainly welcomed by humanitarian aid groups, would be welcomed by the Biden administration, who said that simply not enough is able to get in, that Israel is not doing enough to try and stave off this humanitarian crisis that we're seeing in the Gaza Strip at this point.
Now, President Biden was said to be outraged and heartbroken after the deaths of those seven aid workers from World Central Kitchen. And within this phone call, according to a senior official within the Biden administration, those frustrations were passed on. And we are told that the US president was very clear with the Israeli prime minister that things had to change or US policy could potentially change.
Now, it's the first time that we've heard this kind of pushback from the Biden administration in the past, even when they were criticizing Israel for the high civilian death toll in Gaza. They also said almost within the same sentence that the military support would continue.
Now, it was vague what the policy change may be. There were certainly no specifics that were passed on publicly as to what might change. But of course, it also comes at a time when there's an imminent approval potentially from the Biden administration of up to 50 F-15 fighter jets from the U.S. to Israel, worth some $18 billion.
So at the same time as the U.S. administration is taking a harder line, potentially, we're also hearing that there are weapons deals in the offing. Anna.
COREN: Paula Hancocks in Abu Dhabi. Good to see you. Thank you.
Well, more on the deadly World Central Kitchen strikes. The parents of Jacob Flickinger are speaking out. He was a Canadian-American dual citizen and one of the seven slain aid workers. His father and mother are calling for an independent investigation into what they say was a deliberate act. Here they are speaking with CNN's Erin Burnett.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Do you believe your son was targeted?
SYLVIE LABRECQUE, MOTHER OF AID WORKER JACOB FLICKINGER: Absolutely. There's no doubt about it. And I think that the most important thing is to speak out, to express it the way we're doing it, the way that man did. I think it's important. And that way, we're hoping that it may change certain things, you know?
JOHN FLICKINGER, FATHER OF AID WORKER JACOB FLICKINGER: So yes, by all appearances, the facts, as they've become known and as presented so far, seem to indicate that it was a deliberate targeting of a food aid convoy. We would like an independent investigation.
We've asked everyone that we've talked to from Canadian government and from the U.S. government to persist in demanding for an independent investigation so that all the facts can be known. But from what we know now, you know, your viewers can make their own judgment. But all the facts point to that, yeah, this was a deliberate attempt to target aid workers.
(END VIDEO CLIP) COREN: Well, joining me now from Tel Aviv is Gideon Levy. He is a columnist for the Haaretz newspaper and a former advisor to the late Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres. Gideon, great to have you with us.
Let's start with the killing of those seven staff members from the World Central Kitchen, including Jacob Flickering. Do you agree that there needs to be an independent investigation, you know, with claims that this was a deliberate strike by the IDF?
GIDEON LEVY, "HAARETZ" COLUMNIST AND FORMER ADVISER TO PRIME MINISTER SHIMON PERES: I surprise you, Anna. I think there is no need for an investigation.
Those are not the first aid workers who were killed, and for sure not the first humanitarian workers who were killed in this war.
We faced killing of almost 100 journalists. We faced killing of dozens of medical teams.
We faced the bombarding of a hospital for two weeks while destruction of the whole hospital.
So what do you think will you learn from an investigation? Sure, the army knew who they are shooting. Those cars were so clearly marked that to think that the army, who knows so much, didn't know that those are aid workers is really ridiculous. It's the same like in Shifa. They believe there was a Hamas activist in the car and this is for them enough to kill all the rest.
[03:10:06]
COREN: Gideon, it would seem that it's the killing of foreign aid workers. I hate to be cynical, but this has finally forced President Biden to issue Benjamin Netanyahu an ultimatum on U.S. support for its now six-month war against Hamas. Are you surprised that it has taken this long for President Biden to use his leverage?
LEVY: Unfortunately, I'm not surprised because that's the way that the United States deals with Israel. It's always about condemnations and good advices and bad advices and never taking measures, and therefore Israel learned to ignore all those advices and condemnations, because if you don't pay any price, why would you bother?
The problem is that President Biden puts everything on the humanitarian aid, and by the end of the world, by the end of the day, there is no humanitarian aid that can save, really save the people of Gaza, because it's only about food and some medicines.
Those people are homeless now for half a year, 1.3 million people in Rafah who have nowhere to go and they are still in great danger. It's so much (inaudible). And here I don't see Biden putting his weight on this.
What we saw yesterday of the phone call just shows how big is the leverage of President Biden over Israel and how little it is used, relatively to what it should have been used, mainly to put an end to this war today.
COREN: Well, hours after that call, Gideon, as we know, the Israeli cabinet agreed to reopen the Erez border crossing into northern Gaza, allow the Ashdod port to be used for humanitarian aid. Do you believe that this is just the beginning of the flow of aid and has the Netanyahu government weaponized food and aid to the Palestinians?
LEVY: You see, Anna, it is a beginning as long as the Americans and the American administration will want it to be a beginning.
But I repeat, humanitarian aid is not the only problem in this war. And if you will supply the entire humanitarian aid of the world into Gaza, the people of Gaza will not be secure and the people of Gaza will not have any normal life because they are homeless and they are in great danger. There are so many civilians were killed in this war that the leverage should be used for stopping this war. Israel has to stop it.
COREN: Well we can only hope that this tense and very terse phone call will speed up negotiations for a ceasefire. Gideon Levy in Tel Aviv, we thank you for your time.
LEVY: Thank you very much.
COREN: Well tensions between Israel and Iran continue to rise as Iran's president blames Israel for the deadly strike on Tehran's embassy in Syria on Monday. Well now the Israeli prime minister says Iran has a history of acting against Israel and they're just retaliating.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): For years, Iran has been acting against us both directly and via its proxies. Therefore, Israel is acting against Iran and its proxies, defensively and offensively. We will know how to defend ourselves and we will act according to the simple principle of whoever harms us or plans to harm us, we will harm them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: The U.S. Pentagon says Israel was responsible, but Washington stresses it is innocent in the matter. CNN's Ben Wedeman has more on the escalating crisis.
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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Israel has suspended leaves for all combat units and has recalled reservists in air defense forces.
As concerns grow, Iran will soon retaliate for the Israeli strike Monday on its diplomatic complex in Damascus. Israel conceded Thursday it had also disrupted GPS services in large parts of the country for fear Iran and its regional allies might fire GPS-guided missiles and drones. Before that was revealed, however, drivers in Israel were reporting
their navigational systems showed them cruising through the streets of Beirut and Cairo.
The growing unease in Israel prompted an Israeli military spokesman to urge the populace not to panic, saying there's no need to rush out to buy food and generators or withdraw cash from ATMs.
[03:15:04]
The bodies of the Iranian officials killed in Damascus, including two senior commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, arrived back in Tehran Thursday, and their funerals will be held Friday.
Coinciding with Quds Day, or Jerusalem Day, marked across the Arab and Muslim worlds as a day of solidarity with the Palestinians and condemnation of Israel.
In Tehran, preparations are afoot for a large rally, and it's expected Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei will speak. And here, while here in Lebanon, rallies will also be held, and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah will also give a speech.
Their words, and possibly actions, will determine if the skirmishes raging since the Gaza War began between Israel and Iran's constellation of regional allies will escalate into something much, much bigger.
I'm Ben Wedeman, CNN, reporting from Beirut.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: Kyiv makes a new plea for air defenses as Russian airstrikes rain down carnage on Ukraine. Still ahead, a new pledge from NATO to try to help Ukraine protect its skies from Russian drones and missiles.
Plus, a new look into the scramble to evacuate civilians from Afghanistan after Taliban takeover. CNN obtains testimony showing just how much U.S. officials were caught off guard.
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COREN: A Russian strike on Ukraine's second largest city has turned into a heartbreaking family tragedy. Well, this is video of a firefighter in Kharkiv after he found out his father was killed in the attack on Thursday.
Ukraine says they both worked in the fire service responding to the first wave of drone strikes. But a second wave then followed, hitting the area where the father was working. The son immediately rushed there only to discover his father was already gone. Officials say five people were killed in Kharkiv, including three rescuers.
Well NATO countries will dig deeper into their stockpiles to try to find more air defenses that can be sent to Ukraine. The announcement was made after NATO's and Ukrainian foreign ministers met in Brussels on Thursday.
Well that's when Ukraine called for an urgent delivery of the U.S.- made Patriot missiles. Sources say Kyiv has been rationing its air defense munitions for about a month now because stocks are so low, a situation Russia is trying to exploit.
[03:19:59]
Meanwhile, the Kremlin now claims that NATO is directly involved in the war on Ukraine and that NATO's current relations with Russia have reached the level of direct confrontation. The alliance's chief reacted this way.
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JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: NATO is not party to the conflict and NATO will not be party to the conflict. But NATO is providing support to Ukraine to help them defend themselves. We don't have any plans of having any NATO combat troops inside Ukraine. There have been no requests for that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: NATO's Jens Stoltenberg there. Well, Russia has detained three more suspects in that terrorist attack on a concert hall near Moscow. Well, that's from a state news agency, which says the suspects transferred money to buy weapons and helped recruit accomplices for the attack.
Gunmen went on a shooting spree and caused a fire that partially collapsed the venue, killing at least 144 people. All three suspects are reportedly immigrants from Central Asia. So far, at least 13 people have been detained in connection to the deadly incident, which happened two weeks ago. Russia says more than 550 people were injured.
We're learning more about the chaotic U.S. evacuation from Afghanistan back in August 2021. The U.S. scrambled to evacuate tens of thousands of civilians after the capital, Kabul, fell to the Taliban. CNN has exclusively obtained congressional testimony that shows there was no clear plan on the table and many decisions had to be made on the fly as the situation sometimes changed minute-by-minute.
CNN's Kylie Atwood has this report.
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KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN U.S. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New transcripts exclusively obtained by CNN show the chaos on the ground as the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan mirrored the chaos behind the scenes at the State Department.
The department had no working emergency evacuation plan. That is the stark testimony from three State Department officials to the House Foreign Affairs Committee. And those three officials were rushed into Kabul in the days surrounding the Taliban takeover with virtually no time to prepare. REP. MICHAEL MCCAUL (R-TX), HOUSE FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN:
The Biden administration's failure to plan for their withdrawal threatened the safety and security of U.S. personnel and country.
ATWOOD (voice-over): The interviews are part of an ongoing investigation led by the Committee's Republican Chairman Mike McCaul into the chaotic evacuation that resulted in the deaths of 13 U.S. service members in a terrorist attack outside of the Kabul airport.
One official testifying quote, "we had to create from scratch tactical operations that would get our priority people into the airport". He added we were roughly as effective as we could be under the circumstances. Another saying he was never briefed on an established evacuation plan because quote, "we were already in the midst of executing an evacuation that substantially exceeded the scope and scale of what had been contemplated".
The top U.S. military generals suggested that the damage could have been mitigated if the State Department had called for an earlier noncombatant evacuation.
GEN. MARK MILEY (RET.), FORMER JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF CHAIRMAN: It is my assessment that that decision came too late.
GEN. KENNETH MCKENZIE (RET.), FORMER COMMANDER, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: We struggled to gain access to that plan and work with them over the months of July until we finally got a decision to execute.
ATWOOD (voice-over): Those accusations have been disputed by the State Department.
VEDANT PATEL, DEPUTY SPOKESPERSON, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT: The U.S. did not want to publicly announce planning for or the start of a neo so as to not weaken the position of the then-Afghan government, potentially signaling a potential lack of faith.
ATWOOD (voice-over): Another state official testified to the setbacks on the ground due to a bleak reality. The Taliban were largely in control.
Quote, "it was what will the Taliban allow? Will they let people move through? And how will they do it? And as someone who's worked in Afghanistan for 19 years, it's a little bit wild to tell people that you can trust the Taliban, hold up your American passport. But it did kind of work".
Those descriptions a far cry from what the department said at the time.
NED PRICE, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: My understanding is that things are moving quite efficiently at this hour at the airport at the airport now.
ATWOOD: Now, the committee investigators say that their goal is to get a report done on all of the interviews that they have conducted by the end of the year. And as important as the voices of these State Department officials are, Biden administration officials are highly cognizant of the fact that there is a political motive here.
This investigation, of course, is run by the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. And it's clear that Republicans want this to become an issue front and center around the time of the November elections so that when folks are heading to the polls, they remember what it was like, this catastrophic, chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan that occurred during the Biden administration.
Kylie Atwood, CNN, the State Department.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[03:25:03]
COREN: Earlier, I spoke with CNN military analyst, retired Colonel Cedric Leighton, and I asked him for his take on the chaos that played out as the U.S. was rushing to get civilians out of Afghanistan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: This was something that should have been foreseeable and should have been planned for. One should always go with a worst case scenario when it comes to planning for things like noncombatant evacuations, which is the type of evacuation planning that should have been used in this particular case.
And when you look at the different agencies involved, the U.S. State Department, the Defense Department, and some of the other agencies, it was very clear that they needed to work together at not only at the tactical level, but at the more strategic level to plan this type of an event, regardless of what we might have thought was the viability of the Afghan government. And it was pretty clear to anybody who was paying attention in Afghanistan that this government in Afghanistan, the one that existed at that particular moment in time, was not going to last a very long time.
And that became really clear by July of 2021 and certainly was clear to me before that. But that's the kind of thing that should have really led to some very clear planning and realization that there was a need for a noncombatant evacuation.
COREN: This was a deal that President Biden had inherited from Donald Trump. However, Biden had made it perfectly clear that withdrawing from Afghanistan was long overdue. He had maintained that position for many years. But I guess it was his announcement in April of 2021 that confirmed that the U.S. was withdrawing.
It certainly confirmed Afghan's fears on the ground and it set in motion what then unfolded. But I guess, why wasn't the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, the State Department, the Defense Department, as you mentioned, why were they not prepared and where was the breakdown?
LEIGHTON: Yeah, I think that's something that we really need to take a look at. And in many ways, it's a shame that this has become such a political aspect, as you mentioned earlier, because there is a lot of good that needs to come out of this in the sense that we need to learn a lot of the lessons so that if something like this were to happen again, and it certainly happened in the past, we need to be able to evacuate the people that we want to evacuate as well as safeguard our troops and our diplomats.
And this is something where the planning process clearly needs to be looked at not only within the State Department, but also in the Defense Department, as well as between those areas, and frankly, at the White House as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: Col. Cedric Leighton, speaking to me earlier.
Well, new legal setbacks for Donald Trump. An Atlanta judge upheld the criminal indictment against the former president in the Georgia election interference case. Judge Scott McAfee rejected the argument that Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election were protected by the First Amendment, saying the then president's language threatened to deceive and harm the government.
Sarah Murray has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARAH MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: A judge in Georgia is not buying the Trump team's arguments that Trump's activities trying to overturn the 2020 election in the Peach State should be covered under the First Amendment. Trump's team and his attorney, Steve Sadow, had argued that Trump's activities in Georgia were core political speech that should be protected and that the indictment against him in Georgia should be dismissed.
Judge Scott McAfee not buying that argument, he said in a Thursday ruling, the defense has not presented, nor is the court able to find any authority that the speech and conduct alleged is protected political speech. They went on to say that Donald Trump's activities in the state are alleged to be in furtherance of criminal activity, that Trump is alleged of having tried to deceive and harm the government in the state.
And so Scott McAfee is allowing the case to proceed. When it's actually going to proceed is an open question. The judge still has not set a trial date, even though Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has said she hopes to see this case go to trial as soon as possible, perhaps as soon as August. Again, a trial date still up to the judge.
Sarah Murray, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: Well, that wasn't Trump's only legal disappointment of the day. A federal judge declined Thursday to dismiss the charges against him in the Mar-a-Lago documents case. The former president is charged with illegally keeping classified documents at his Florida residence after leaving the White House. Trump claims he had the authority to keep the paperwork there under the Presidential Records Act.
Judge Aileen Cannon did not reference that act in her ruling, saying only that Trump's attorneys did not meet the legal standard to dismiss the charges. But she left open the possibility Trump could use the argument at trial despite the opposition of prosecutors.
Well, after the break, a father shares his story of heartbreak and hope nearly six months after his children were taken hostage by Hamas.
Plus, two days after Taiwan's strongest earthquake in decades, a frantic search for the missing. We'll have the latest from the quake zone.
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COREN: Welcome back. Let's get you up to date on our top story. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is acknowledging the deaths of seven aid workers killed Monday in Gaza were Israel's fault. The comments came during a phone call with US President Joe Biden. The White House says Mr. Biden demanded an immediate temporary ceasefire and more aid to Gaza. One official tells CNN Israel will reopen the Erez crossing and use the port of Ashdod to increase humanitarian shipments to the territory.
It's now been nearly six months since the Hamas terror attack and the father of two hostages is speaking out about what his family is enduring as they wait and hope to be reunited. He spoke to CNN's Melissa Bell.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELISSA BELL, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For Yechiel Yehud, time stopped on October 7th. He shows us into his orange orchard normally at this season, his joy.
YECHIEL YEHUD, FATHER OF HOSTAGES: This time, I can't enjoy the smell of the blossom from the -- from the trees. Yeah, like I can't enjoy of nothing.
BELL: It's so strong, though.
YEHUD: Yes.
BELL (voice-over): But nothing this year has been normal for Yechiel. On October 7th, two of his three children seen here at their home in kibbutz Nir Oz were kidnapped by Hamas.
YEHUD: Six months, I didn't touch them. I didn't smell them. I didn't talk with them. I didn't hug them. It's not six months. It's one long day.
BELL (voice-over): This, he says, is now his mission room where he and his wife Yael work for their children's return and try to stay sane, partly, he says, by not watching the news at all.
YEHUD: What kept us alive, that was keep us in our mission of life to get birth for the second time for our children. Without this hope, we can do nothing.
[03:35:02]
BELL (voice-over): His 35 year old Dolev was last seen leaving the shelter where his pregnant wife and their three children were cowering to see if the coast was clear. For six months now, he's been without his medication.
YEHUD: These pills, one pill without these pills, the body gets weak from day-to-day until a life danger. If they didn't kill him while they took him or in the prison, I don't know how he will come back to us.
BELL (voice-over): But it is his fear for his 28 year old daughter Arbel, who was also taken from the kibbutz that day along with her boyfriend Ariel, that take an even darker turn.
YEHUD: When I'm thinking about Arbel, my sole birth, what kind of sexual abuse she's passed, how fierce she's met every minute with men around her.
From time to time, I heard her in my mind, Abba, father, come to release me. Where are you?
BELL (voice-over): Some of the accounts of former hostages, like Amit Susana, who recently spoke publicly of the conditions and the sexual abuse endured which Hamas has denied, have only added to Yechiel's fears. He records them in a journal at night.
YEHUD: Because it's always on my mind. While I'm talking with you now, I'm thinking about Arbel. If she could hear me talking with you like that, and now she's hugging me from behind and give me power to continue to talk with you, to stay calm.
BELL (voice-over): Calm that he says he also finds by the tree his son was named for, the plane tree or Dolev tree in Hebrew. In its shade, he's waited for six months at once hopeful and fearful of news.
Melissa Bell, CNN, Rishon LeTsiyon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: Now to Iran's capital, Tehran, and images from moments ago of a funeral for those killed in an attack on the country's consulate building in Damascus, Syria on Monday.
Iran's foreign ministry says the strike killed at least seven officials, including a top commander in Iran's elite revolutionary guards, along with a senior commander. Israel has not claimed responsibility, but a military spokesperson said Israel believes the target struck was a military building of Quds forces. Iran is vowing retaliation, its supreme leader saying Israel will regret the attack.
Authorities in Taiwan say 25 people are missing more than two days after the island was hit by its strongest earthquake in decades. Dozens of people have been rescued from toppled buildings and remote areas cut off by landslides. Officials say four foreign nationals are among those thought to be missing in the mountains. Taiwan authorities raised the death toll to ten on Thursday. More than a thousand people were injured in Wednesday's 7.4 magnitude quake.
CNN's Ivan Watson visited the quake zone and has this story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN WATSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A daring mountain rescue. One day after Taiwan is pummeled by a powerful earthquake, emergency workers struggle climbing over treacherous landslides, trying to bring victims home.
Among those initially stranded, dozens of miners and two remote quarries.
On Thursday, authorities announced their successful rescue. Some choppered to safety.
There were too many rocks falling like bullets from above, this miner says. We didn't know where to run.
The aftermath of some landslides visible from a moving train. Many paved roads to the disaster zone are still blocked, but on Thursday the railways resumed service.
WATSON: It has only been a day since this powerful deadly earthquake rocked Taiwan and already this train to the epicenter is running on time.
WATSON (voice-over): In the small city of Hualien, residents still coming to grips with the earthquake's damage. Though there are some scenes of real destruction, it also feels like this earthquake-prone community is quickly bouncing back.
The city government set up this temporary shelter in an elementary school.
WATSON: This is your home?
WANG MEIFEN, EARTHQUAKE SURVIVOR: Living room.
WATSON: There's a there's a hole in the wall.
WATSON (voice-over): Wang Meifen is camping out here with her husband and mother.
WATSON: Do you feel safe staying in Hualien?
MEIFEN: I'm not afraid, I was born here.
[03:40:02]
WATSON (voice-over): Among those here, the mayor of Hualien who was injured in the quake.
WATSON: What happened?
WATSON (voice-over): A cabinet fell on me, he says. He attributes the relatively low death toll in his city to advanced preparation.
WEI CHIA-YAN, MAYOR OF HUALIEN, TAIWAN (through translator): Here in Hualien, we grew up with earthquakes. Our teachers and relatives always taught us how to react when earthquakes strike. So we've known about this since we were kids.
WATSON: This ruined building is a terrifying example of the power of Wednesday morning 7.4 magnitude earthquake. But look down the road here and you see that most of Hualien is not damaged. It is lit up, intact and very active.
WATSON (voice-over): Amid these scars, an impressive display of community resilience.
Ivan Watson, CNN, Hualien, Taiwan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: The U.S. Treasury Secretary is in China for high-level talks and we're told Janet Yellen is prepared to have some frank conversations about trade. We're live with the details.
Plus, U.S. President Joe Biden goes to Baltimore today to assess the personal and financial losses of last week's bridge disaster. More on that after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COREN: A rough ride on Wall Street this week. The Dow Industrial Average lost more than 500 points on Thursday, closing below 39,000 for the first time since mid-March. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 also lost more than one percentage point each. The markets went south after the Minneapolis Federal Reserve President said interest rates may not be cut at all this year if inflation stays high. Many investors were expecting the rate cuts to begin as early as June. The rising prices of oil and gold are also putting extra pressure on the markets.
The U.S. Treasury Secretary is meeting with the Chinese Vice Premier this hour and later they will be having dinner together. Well this is Janet Yellen's second visit to China with the Biden administration. The U.S. is looking to improve relations between the world's two largest economies while tackling what it considers unfair trade practices.
Well CNN's Kristie Lu Stout is covering the visit from here in Hong Kong. Kristie, Janet Yellen has returned to China and has a clear agenda. What is she seeking to achieve?
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. The U.S. Treasury Secretary, Anna, is back in China. She is there to further stabilize the U.S.-China relationship and also to press Chinese leaders on the threat of overcapacity. Janet Yellen has said that China is overproducing exports like solar panels, lithium-ion batteries and EVs, causing distortions in the global market and also harming workers.
[03:45:02]
And this is something that China, through state-run media, has dismissed as a notion.
Now she's making two stops in this latest visit to China, first Guangzhou, then Beijing. In Guangzhou, earlier today she met up with members of the business community, including the American Chamber of Commerce.
She also is meeting with, just now you saw that video of her, with Hu Li-Fen, China's vice-premier, that meeting underway at this very hour.
And earlier in the day, she had a bilateral meeting with the governor of Guangdong. In opening remarks before that (inaudible) with the governor, she stressed the issue of Chinese overcapacity. I want you to take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JANET YELLEN, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: Building a healthy economic relationship requires a level playing field for American workers and firms. This includes the issue of China's industrial overcapacity, which the United States and other countries are concerned can cause global spillovers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LU STOUT: Overcapacity is the key word here. The Biden administration has expressed its concern about overcapacity, concern that Chinese subsidies being used by China to shore up its economy are actually resulting in a glut of oversupply of cheap Chinese exports on global markets. You know, stuff like EVs, solar panels, etc. This is something that Chinese state media, including Xinhua, has called, quote, "hype".
But overcapacity is also a problem that the Chinese premier has acknowledged. In fact, we heard from Li Qiang when he delivered his work report at the beginning of the National People's Congress last month. He said overcapacity must be addressed.
Now, this current trip that's underway by the U.S. Treasury Secretary is a follow up trip to the visit she made last year in July to Beijing that resulted in talks with senior economic leaders that were, quote, "productive and direct".
More direct talks happening here. But also, Anna, we just learned that state media is praising Janet Yellen this day for her use of chopsticks. She was observed using chopsticks masterfully, according to state media. While eating at a famous local restaurant in Guangzhou. Back to you, Anna.
COREN: Good for Janet Yellen. She's mastered it. It can be tricky. Kristie Lu Stout, as always, good to see you. Thank you so much. Well, on to other news. A worker was killed in Fort Lauderdale,
Florida yesterday when part of a steel crane plunged from a high rise building under construction. Local officials say the fell along with the crane section, which landed on a bridge, damaging two cars. Three people on the ground sustained non-life threatening injuries.
Crew members were raising the height of the crane when the accident happened. The bridge has been closed for repairs while an investigation is underway.
President Biden will meet today with families of the six construction workers who died in the Baltimore bridge collapse. The White House previously announced he would be viewing the wreckage of the bridge, which collapsed last week after a massive cargo ship hit one of its support pillars. White House aide Tom Perez visited with some of the victim's families last week, saying their deaths were a gut punch both for the president and for the families.
Another close call in the air in the U.S. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating a southwest flight that apparently flew too close to the air traffic control tower at New York's LaGuardia Airport during a landing attempt last month.
CNN's Pete Muntean has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The bottom line here is this could have been so much worse. The Southwest Airlines flight 737 coming into land on March 23rd, a Saturday at LaGuardia Airport. The issue here was the weather was pretty poor. The visibility only down to about three quarters of a mile, according to air traffic control audio.
This flight went around once, aborted its landing there on runway four at LaGuardia. The pilots said they had a bit of a tailwind and were too fast and too high. They came back around for something called the ILS, the instrument landing system. That's a radio beam that beams out of the runway, gets the airplane on the glide path and lined up with the center of the runway. And the flight got down to about 300 feet above the ground, according to data from flight radar 24.
And this is the alarm that came across the radio from air traffic controllers. Listen.
CONTROLLER: Go around, go around, go around the heading, climb and maintain 2,000, climb and maintain 2,000, 2,000. Continue climbing Southwest 147 and when able, state a reason why you were like not on the approach.
MUNTEAN: The air traffic controllers went on to tell this flight, Southwest flight 147, that it was not lined up with the approach, that it was actually a little bit more east of the approach. And you can see the track here from flight radar 24, the line there pretty close to the control tower. Flight radar 24 tells us this plane was horizontally separated from the control tower by about 250 feet.
[03:50:05]
But that only factors into position of the antenna on the center of the airplane. When you factor in the wingspan, the tip of the wing may have been only about 65 feet away from the control tower. The FAA says it's investigating, looking into whether or not this plane truly did come that close to the control tower. The National Transportation Safety Board says it is gathering information. Ultimately, this flight that was inbound from Nashville, diverted to BWI in Baltimore.
Pete Muntean, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: A small city in the U.S. is hoping for big crowds next week. Cairo, Illinois, is in the path of the total solar eclipse. We'll see how the community is getting ready.
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COREN: The highly anticipated total solar eclipse in North America is just three days away. More than 20 million people across the U.S. are expected to travel for the big event.
The path of totality will cut across the continent. But within the U.S., it will occur along a 160 kilometer wide path from Texas to Maine, passing over cities like Dallas, Indianapolis and Buffalo, New York. But eclipse chases in some parts of the U.S. could face severe thunderstorms that are threatening to spoil the fun.
Our Gary Tuchman is in Cairo, Illinois, one of the small cities fortunate enough to be along the path of totality, where they're preparing for a big influx of tourists ahead of Monday's spectacle.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What is it like to be the manager of the only hotel in a city that is about to experience solar eclipse totality, the city of Cairo, Illinois? Well, it's pretty darn good.
TUCHMAN: Today, I think the rate is what, $80 a night?
UNKNOWN: Yep, it'll be $80 plus tax.
TUCHMAN: $80 plus tax. The night before the eclipse, how much is it?
UNKNOWN: It's around $500.
TUCHMAN: $500?
UNKNOWN: $500.
TUCHMAN: And it's sold out?
UNKNOWN: Yeah. TUCHMAN (voice-over): Cairo, named after the capital of Egypt but
pronounced differently, has had a pronounced economic decline over generations.
The once prosperous southern Illinois city sits adjacent to where the Mississippi and Ohio rivers meet. Cairo has lost almost 90 percent of its population from a century ago.
This is a look at downtown Cairo in the 1950s.
Now the same exact downtown street is almost abandoned. Rubble from some bulldozed buildings hasn't been touched in years.
Many businesses, including hotels, restaurants, stores, and a hospital have been shut down. There are still some elegant homes and museums of former homes. People we talked to who remain are very loyal.
GABRIELLE HARRIS, OWNER, G&L CLOTHING: I love it here.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Gabrielle Harris owns G&L Clothing with his wife Lawanda. Like the hotel manager, they're excited about the tourists coming to see the eclipse and what it could mean for Cairo.
TUCHMAN: Do you feel that this could be, this could perhaps make things better for your business in the weeks and months?
HARRIS: Oh, most definitely. Yeah, it's an opportunity to grow. You know, it's an opportunity to expose, you know, the core of what Cairo is.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Shemwell's Barbecue is one of only two sit-down restaurants that remain in Cairo. Brittany Harrell is a proud employee.
[03:55:01]
BRITTANNY HARRELL, SHEMWELL'S BBQ EMPLOYEE: We've been here for a hundred years, so I guess we do something right.
TUCHMAN: The best thing that you could tell everyone about Cairo right now is what?
HARRELL: That we have good barbecue and we have friendly people.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): And Brittany also tells us she has a wish, a wish that the solar eclipse could be a turning point.
HARRELL: I hope that one day we could be that thriving city that we once were.
TUCHMAN: You have lived in Cairo your entire life.
CAROL CHILDRESS, CAIRO, ILLINOIS RESIDENT: My entire life, 57 years I've been here.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): We meet Carol Childress and her husband Glenn in the city's only grocery store that opened about a year ago. After seven years of having no grocery store, they're also looking forward to tourists arriving for the solar eclipse.
CHILDRESS: It's a lot of people don't even know we're here, so people stopping in our little town just because of that, it makes my heart glad.
TUCHMAN: The glory days of Cairo, Illinois have been gone for a long time, but for a few minutes on Monday, in a very different sense, it will be most glorious to be here in Cairo.
(voice-over): Businesses are passing out eclipse glasses. Chairs will be set up in the business district for eclipse viewers who want a comfortable seat. Cairo, Illinois, the city of solar eclipse totality, is getting ready for its day in the sun.
HARRIS: Maybe the next time you come this way, you'll see a totally different change.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Gary Tuchman, CNN, Cairo, Illinois.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: Joining us on Monday for the total solar eclipse as it travels from Mexico through the eastern U.S. and into Canada. Experience the total eclipse from numerous locations along with plenty of science and excitement along the way. Our special coverage starts at 12 p.m. Eastern.
Well, galley proofs of the American edition of a rare unpublished version of Winston Churchill's "A History of the English Speaking Peoples" are for sale. The wartime British Prime Minister signed a deal for the book in 1932, but it wasn't published until 24 years later. The proofs are early printed versions of the pages used to make corrections and significant revisions to the manuscript were made. The galleys can be purchased at the New York International Antiquarian Book Fair for $225,000.
Well, thanks so much for your company. I'm Anna Coren, in Hong Kong. CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster begins after this very short break. Stay with CNN.
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