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Israeli Strike Kills Hezbollah Commander in Lebanon; U.N. Calls for End to Israel-Hezbollah Cross-border Attacks; Nicaragua Accuses Germany of Facilitating Genocide in Gaza; Organization of American States to Discuss Mexico-Ecuador Tensions; Ecuador's President Defends Raid on Mexican Embassy; March Broke Heat Record for 10th Straight Month; German Chancellor Olaf Scholz Joins TikTok; Hundreds Marry in Mass Ceremony During Solar Eclipse. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired April 09, 2024 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[02:00:33]
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL 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, Benjamin Netanyahu says a date for the invasion of Rafah is set after the IDF pull out from Khan Younis reveals a city in total ruin.
Deadly Russian strikes across Ukraine as the Kremlin accuses Kyiv, of attacking the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant with self-exploding drones.
And from a special flight to see the totality to a mess wedding ceremony under the moon shade. How people across North America watch the solar eclipse.
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ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN NEWSROOM with Rosemary Church.
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CHURCH: Good to have you with us.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says a date has been set for a ground operation into the southern Gaza City of Rafah, despite strong international opposition to such an offensive.
More than 1 million displaced Palestinians are seeking shelter there. And the U.S. State Department says Israel has not presented a credible plan for dealing with those civilians or provided a date for an invasion of Rafah.
A source says CIA director, Bill Burns has presented a new proposal to try and bridge the gaps in the ongoing negotiations between Israel and Hamas during weekend talks in Cairo.
Hamas says its leaders will review that latest proposal from Israel, even though it doesn't meet their demands. Here is Mr. Netanyahu's reaction to that news.
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BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER, ISRAEL (through translator): Today, I received a detailed report on the talks in Cairo. We are constantly working to achieve our goals. And that will lead the release of all our hostages and achieving a complete victory over Hamas.
This victory required entry into Rafah, and the elimination of the terrorist battalions there. It will happen there is a date.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: But Israeli opposition leader, Yair Lapid, who is been meeting top U.S. officials in Washington, says although a deal may not be one Israel likes, it's "doable", and therefore, needs to be made to bring the hostages' home.
These developments come just days after the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Khan Younis., Palestinians are slowly returning to the southern Gaza City to find stunning scenes of devastation.
And CNN's Nic Robertson gives us a closer look at what residents of Khan Younis are facing as they return to a city in ruins.
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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice over): Khan Younis's highway of hell, shattered witness to four deadly months of Israeli occupation. Nothing untouched.
The Jaffa Mosque reduced to rubble. The AFA (PH) gas station destroyed.
Spreading out from the thoroughfare, a city sized stamp of destruction. Almost every building in the southern Gazan hub, once home to 420,000 Palestinians wrecked by Israeli troops, searching for Hamas.
The scale testimony of the ferocity of the fight, the graffiti left behind. Venom Gaza for the Jews, it reads. The IDF's sudden departure over the weekend, opening the way for residents to return to what's left of their homes.
Our house was bomb and bulldozed, Dhalia (PH) says. I got these clothes and this toy, pointing to her brother. The toy means a lot to us. It's a memory from home.
What are we to do? Mohamed Akhmad (PH) says. I'm pulling out a few clues looking through the rubble. Maybe I'll find something.
That was my washing machine, and that was my fridge.
Return is not victory here. It's resilience.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr.
ROBERTSON (voice over): Salim going back to his destroyed home.
I will put a tent on it, even if they destroy all of Khan Younis, we will stay here and we are steadfast.
At first, just that trickle of people coming back.
[02:05:02]
Many weary that withdrawal not what it seems. And with good reason.
A drive along the border fence where the troop pulled out, showing just that.
ROBERTSON: We've just seen two huge explosions over there coming from Khan Younis area. Looking along the horizon, I can see other detonations. In here, the fighter jets pulling off into the distance. It's clear, this is still a very active battlefront.
ROBERTSON (voice over): A mile away scores have recently withdrawn tanks and fighting vehicles parked up. The IDF saying the surprise move marks an end of ground operations in Gaza, in their current form, warning though troops out to recuperate and prepare for future operations.
LT. GEN. HERZI HALEVI, CHIEF OF THE GENERAL STAFF, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES (through translator): The war in Gaza continues, and we are far from stopping.
ROBERTSON (voice over): Whatever next for the people of Khan Younis, these days are a respite. Impossible to say if the IDF withdrawal, an inflection point towards a ceasefire and an end to the destruction and killing.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Jerusalem.
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CHURCH: In a significant step, the U.N. Security Council's president has referred the Palestinian authority's application to become a full member of the world body to its membership committee.
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VANESSA FRAZIER, MALTA'S AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: Accordingly, unless I hear a proposal to the contrary, I shall refer to the committee of admissions of new members, the request that renewed consideration be given to the application of the Observer State of Palestine during the month of April 2024.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CHURCH: The Palestinian mission first put in a request in 2011. But was granted only a non-member observer state status in 2012.
Take a listen.
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RIYAD MANSOUR, PALESTINIAN AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: How is it that the party colonizing and committing genocide can be a full member of these United Nations, and the party committed to the role of international law and just and lasting peace cannot?
Haven't we waited long enough? Suffered enough, endured enough? I asked you. Does the U.N. membership want us to be their fellow member? All we ask for is to take our rightful place among the community of nations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Meantime, Israel's ambassador to the U.N. criticized the move. Saying, granting full membership would be rewarding terror in complete violation of its charter.
The Kremlin is accusing Ukrainian forces of attacking the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant with self-exploding drones. The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that the plant's main reactor took three direct hits on Sunday.
Ukraine adamantly denies the allegation, saying, they take nuclear safety very seriously.
They accused Russian-installed officials at the plant of breeding incidents themselves as a form of nuclear blackmail. Here is what Russian officials have to say.
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YURI CHERNICHUK, RUSSIAN-INSTALLED DIRECTOR OF THE ZAPORIZHZHIA NUCLEAR POWER PLANT (through translator): The danger of what happens now around Safaree ship plant does not need any commentary. It is dangerous. Dangerous for the station, dangerous for the surrounding territory, and potentially dangerous for the whole world. All of humanity.
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CHURCH: Russian forces took over the plant in 2022. Both Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other of using the plant and the threat of nuclear disaster as a weapon of war.
Ukrainian officials say at least six civilians were killed and dozens injured in Russian airstrikes from North Eastern Ukraine, all the way south to Kherson. Guided aerial bombs caused this damage in the northern Sumi region, according to Ukraine's interior ministry, yet another deadly instance of Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure.
On Sunday, Ukraine's president warned that his country will lose the war completely if the U.S. does not send aid.
On Tuesday, lawmakers at the House of Representatives go -- representatives go back to work. Speaker Mike Johnson is under pressure from Democrats. The White House, and Ukraine itself to pass the aid bill is also facing pressure from his own party to ignore it.
Global affairs analyst Michael Bociurkiw, joins me now from Odesa in Ukraine. He is a former spokesperson for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. Appreciate you being with us.
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MICHAEL BOCIURKIW, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Good to be with you. Thank you.
CHURCH: And I do want to get to the future of military aid for Ukraine in just a moment. But first, let's look at what's happening on the ground right now. With deadly Russian strikes in Zaporizhzhia region, relentless bombings in Kharkiv, explosions in Odesa, where you are, with so many attacks on cities and towns across the country, what is life like for most people trying to live their lives in the midst of this conflict?
BOCIURKIW: Sure. Well, it's in some places like Kharkiv, its hell on earth. To put it bluntly. The feeling now is that the Russians are out to turn Kharkiv into another Mariupol, another grey zone where they flatten everything and people are forced out.
Now, the mayor there insists that people are going to stay, 300,000 or whatever that remaining. But life has become very, very tough.
As it as here in Odesa. I can't remember a time when we've had so many air raid sirens alarms, including overnight and including one just a few minutes ago. This causes a lot of fear, a lot of disruption. And let's remind everyone as well that where I sit right now in Odesa, the port here is a key component of the global food supply chain.
If the Russians continued to strike at electrical plants, the port ceases to function. That will report down to consumers all over the world. And It's a very sad state of affairs at the moment.
CHURCH: All right. And, of course, Ukraine's President Zelenskyy says that without the $60 billion of U.S. aid package, Ukraine will lose this war to Russia.
But that aid looks increasingly unlikely, doesn't it? With many Republicans opposed to the aid for Ukraine. And far right politician Marjorie Taylor Greene, threatening to oust Speaker Mike Johnson, if he supports any aid for Ukraine.
So, how likely is it that the Speaker would go ahead and pass any aid for the war-torn nation?
BOCIURKIW: Sure. Well, it doesn't look very good at the moment. He has a very slim majority. And there is talk of forcing a House -- a House vote on the floor of Congress to get this through. There is also talk of amending the bill so that those $60 billion goes to Ukrainians alone, which would, you know, add to its already mountain as debt.
You know, the stakes couldn't be higher, and it's really felt here in Europe. Lord Cameron, the British foreign secretary was actually in Florida, talking to Mr. Trump, trying to talk some sense into him to, you know, take away his opposition to this bill. And then Lord Cameron will go to Washington to lobby there as well.
Both Lord Cameron and the French Foreign Secretary wrote a very, very strong op-ed saying that not only could Ukraine lose if this funding doesn't come through, but the West will feel this. Putin will continue his relentless advance further into Europe, it would trigger NATO action, boots on the ground here. It would disrupt supply chains, very, very disastrous for the West.
So, again, the stakes could not be higher.
CHURCH: Yes, and of course, Republican resistance to any aid for Ukraine appears due to a Russian disinformation campaign with the Republican chairman of the Intelligence Committee, Mike Turner, warning that Russian propaganda is infecting members of the GOP, and influencing their views on funding for Ukraine. So, how does that even happen for starters? And how does Ukraine counter that Russian influence in the United States, within the Conservative Party?
BOCIURKIW: Yes. I know it's very difficult. Just become -- before coming on air, I went through the Twitter feed for #Ukraine, and you can see all of the disinformation bots at work there, calling Zelenskyy corrupt. Major -- Marjorie Taylor Greene, saying apparently, that the Ukrainians are striking at churches and Christianity, and things like that. Just ridiculous stuff.
Look, the bottom line here is that the Russians have had a major, major advantage, pumping millions and millions of dollars into disinformation campaigns. For years now, the Ukrainians are very far behind.
One of the -- Rosemary, one of the concepts in talks right now among Ukrainians is there are so many, for example, Ukrainian journalists who have been forced out of Ukraine that maybe it's time to get them motivated and hired to create high quality content to go around the world, to conquer this Russian propaganda.
That's the kind of stuff going on. But I have to tell you that it's very overwhelming the amount of disinformation on all of the social media platforms, and people sadly seem to be lapping it up.
CHURCH: Yes. So, we all need to learn how to source our information.
BOCIURKIW: Indeed.
CHURCH: It is critical people are forgetting how to do that.
Michael Bociurkiw, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate it.
BOCIURKIW: My pleasure.
CHURCH: Well, Monday's total solar eclipse was a spectacle that won't be seen in the U.S. for more than two decades.
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And we will show you what it was like as millions of people shared a moment in history.
Plus, the special counsel, prosecuting Donald Trump takes aim at one of the former president's key defenses. Details next on CNN NEWSROOM.
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ERIN PERDUE, ECLIPSE FLIGHT PASSENGER: It was incredible. I got to see the wonderful, beautiful eclipse. I got to see the moment of totality and incredible. And got to see -- the play was energetic. Everyone was so happy and so excited to just talk to each other. We are just interactive. The flight attendants were incredible.
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CHURCH: Two Delta flights took passengers on a special trip to see Monday's total solar eclipse from the air. Many people paid $1,000 or more for a seat. The flight went from Texas through the path of totality landing in Michigan, about 32 million people in the U.S. were able to witness the rare total solar eclipse.
NASA says those lucky enough to be in the middle of the path of totality saw an eclipse that lasted between 3-1/2 to four minutes. Incredible.
CNN's Bill Weir has more on the celestial phenomenon.
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BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Every day, the shadow of the moon bounces willy-nilly across the lifeless Milky Way. And when it hits earth, it mostly darkens ocean or ice with no human witnesses.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The darkness has settled into Kerrville, Texas.
WEIR (voice over): But on this day, random fate sent that shadow on a North American tour like no other. And from Mexico to the Maritimes, that shadow moved people to weep and cheer.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wow.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wow.
WEIR (voice over): Marry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I love you. WEIR (voice over): And propose.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will you marry me?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
WEIR (voice over): t moved animals, triggering both flamingos and penguins at the Dallas Zoo to bunch their flux tighter for nighttime safety.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The penguins are all clustered together. The flamingos are all clustered together.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Yes, all the birds are joining together --
WEIR (voice over): The swath of darkness over 100 miles wide moved clouds.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, it's amazing.
WEIR (voice over): And dropped temperatures by 10 degrees.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The chill in the air is getting cooler and cooler.
WEIR (voice over): But for science lovers --
REPORTER: What did you think of it all?
WEIR (voice over): -- there were chills for other reasons.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought it was incredible. You know, I've seen several solar eclipses. This though, one of the best I've ever seen. Because we saw the diamond ring effect. And then, Bailey's beads, you know, the sun coming through the mountains.
WEIR: And with the sun less blinding than normal, this was also a rare chance for NASA to use high flying planes, and a rockets to study the sun's corona.
[02:20:03]
And the massive eruptions of plasma happening as the sun cycles through its most active phase.
Solar storms have the potential to destroy satellites and fry entire electrical grids. So, scientists are hungry for clues that could help predict space weather.
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WEIR (on camera): If it is the sun's air and energy that hits Earth, much like that shadow, the results could be destructive, Elon Musk lost a couple dozen satellites to a solar storm. Recently, it can affect power grid. So, understanding what triggers that, what kind of notice we will get, vital these days as well. But there was a lot more wonder than worry on this one.
And just for perspective, newborns today will be old enough to drink the next time a full solar eclipse hit the United States 22 years from now.
Bill Weir, CNN, Atlanta.
CHURCH: And earlier I spoke to Sarah Treadwell, better known as Space Case, Sarah. She is a NASA Solar System ambassador and professional science communicator. And I asked her what moment stood out from Monday's eclipse. Take a listen.
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SARAH TREADWELL, SOLAR SYSTEM AMBASSADOR, NASA: The temperature change was one of the first things you really start to notice because it was actually pretty warm, and almost uncomfortable in the direct sun. And then, eventually you're like, oh, it's actually really comfortable out now.
And visually, you know, the moon, you can't -- you can't tell the moon is passing really in front of it without your glasses until it's completely covered. And then, it's just this -- these glorious rays from, you know, coming from the sun's corona shining out from like I said, that dark hole. And that was just so beautiful. And also, you have this 360-sunset around you. So, it's just this eerie kind of twilight feeling.
And, and then, I mean, just the coolest part for me was right when it ends, there is that diamond ring, and it was so, so pretty. So, you know that I'm still kind of trying to formulate all the right words to describe it all, because I'm still kind of in that like, wow, that was incredible.
CHURCH: I love it. So, how life changing can an event like this be for many people and for yourself? Clearly, it really made an impact.
Yes. I think -- I think one of the things that it can really do, and this is something I always try to emphasize to people when I'm talking to them about space, is that we're a part of space, we're on spaceship Earth. And we are a part of this grand cosmic universe, you know, adventure story.
And to see it in motion, like this firsthand, I think really puts you in a humbling place in a very good way. And I really hope that it can inspire other people to want to put themselves in the -- in the path of something like this themselves.
It doesn't necessarily have to be a solar eclipse. But these incredible moments that connect us to earth and to where we are in the cosmos, I think is something that this kind of event can do like none other. (END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: She is fabulous. Don't miss my full end of interview with Sarah next hour.
U.S. Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith is pushing ahead with his prosecution of Donald Trump, and his asking the Supreme Court to deny the former president's arguments on a key claim.
CNN senior U.S. Justice correspondent Evan Perez has details.
EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Special Counsel Jack Smith urged the Supreme Court to reject Donald Trump's broad claims of immunity from criminal prosecution.
The former president has been trying to avoid or at least delay a trial on charges that he attempted to subvert the results of the 2020 election. But Smith told the High Court that Trump's claims have no basis in the Constitution in the nation's history or in Americans understanding that presidents are not above the law.
The filing Monday night from the special counsel says the president's constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed does not entail a general right to violate them.
And Smith argues the framers never endorsed criminal immunity for a former president and all presidents from the founding to the modern era have known that after leaving office, they face potential criminal liability for official acts.
Now, so much is riding on the Supreme Court's decision on the former president's claims. A broad ruling for Trump could undermine not only Smith's election subversion case, but many of the other criminal charges that are pending against him.
Supreme Court will hear arguments on April 25, and a decision is expected by July. Evan Perez, CNN, Washington.
CHURCH: The trial is underway for 27 people accused in a tax evasion scandal known as the Panama Papers. Documents leaked back in 2016 exposed a number of high-profile politicians and celebrities who used offshore accounts to stash their wealth.
[02:25:10]
Iceland's former prime minister was forced to resign. And Pakistan's Nawaz Sharif was disqualified from office for life. Authorities say Panama has made progress in the fight against money laundering, but more changes are needed.
The Vatican names what it considers, quote, grave violations of human dignity in a new declaration issued on Monday.
The Dignitas infinita which means infinite dignity lays out the Catholic Church's stance on inherent and unalienable worth and rights afforded to every person. Things that would violate that dignity include issues like sexual abuse, surrogacy, abortion, and gender affirming surgery.
The document says, in part, "any sex-change intervention, as a rule, risks threatening the unique dignity the person has received from the moment of conception."
CNN Vatican correspondent Christopher Lamb has more details.
CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Gender theory, surrogacy, and gender affirming health care are all violations of human dignity, according to a new Vatican document. The declaration which is signed off and approved by Pope Francis lists the gender theory alongside other violations of human dignity such as abortion and euthanasia.
The document also includes, however, social issues such as the plight of migrants, the violence against women, and the death penalty, saying that these issues are also important, and the Catholic should not simply focus on abortion, and euthanasia.
Whilst the document is critical of gender theory, it does include a strong condemnation of the criminalization of homosexuality in certain countries around the world, something that Pope Francis spoke about in 2023, ahead of a trip to Africa.
Cardinal Fernandez presented the documents that he was shocked that some Catholics were supportive of these laws criminalizing homosexuality. The document appears to be a balancing of both Pope Francis's desire to maintain Catholic teaching and doctrine, but also his pastoral welcome to same sex Catholics and LGBTQ Plus believers.
This document comes in the months after the Vatican issued a groundbreaking text, offering blessings to same sex couples, something that sent shockwaves through the church, and allowing for trans Catholics to act as godparents, at baptisms.
So, with this document, we see a reaffirmation of Catholic teaching and doctrine, but at the same time, a desire to apply that in a pastoral and compassionate way.
Christopher Lamb, CNN.
CHURCH: Still ahead, fighting flares along the Israel-Lebanon border. We'll hear from some of the thousands of people forced to flee.
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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. The Israeli Military says it has killed a Hezbollah commander responsible for attacks against Israel. He reportedly died in an airstrike in southern Lebanon on Monday. This comes a day after the Israel Defense Forces said Hezbollah or an ally of Iran must pay an increasing price for its participation in the war in Gaza, adding that the IDF is in a very high state of readiness. Iran meanwhile has vowed retaliation against Israel for the recent strike on its consulate in Syria and U.S. intelligence sources now say an Iranian proxy would likely carry out the attack. The U.N. is urging all sides to halt the violence to prevent a wider conflict. Meantime, the ongoing shelling in southern Lebanon has driven tens of thousands of people from their communities. CNN's Ben Wedeman has the story.
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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These boxes of food are the difference between survival and desperation. Provided by Virginia-based non-profit Islamic Relief USA. They are lifeline to the around 90,000 Lebanese civilians who fled their homes along the border with Israel. Abu Fadel (ph) takes a box. He normally grows tobacco. He is grateful for the help, dubious about the source.
I'll think of this as Islamic, not American he says. If it were American, I wouldn't take it.
Since last October, Israel and Hezbollah have engaged in daily and often deadly exchanges of cross-border fire. As a result, most of the communities on both sides of the frontier have become ghost towns.
Murtada Hana (ph) juggles tasks in the operations room, overseeing relief efforts for the Southern Tyre Governorate. He worries, after six months, calls for more help are increasingly ignored.
At the beginning of the crisis, it was better he tells me. Now, the response is much less and much slower. Wafa (ph) and her sister rent a small room in Tyre's ancient quarter. It's been months since they've been home.
Honestly, we have lost a lot Wafa (ph) says. We've lost everything in our area. Their olive groves are abandon, the land left untended. But Wafa (ph) is lucky, at least she lives in a pleasant area. Tens of thousands of others are camped out in schools across the south.
10-year-old Zara (ph) spends her days scampering around the corridors with her friends. She told me she had to leave her home five months ago because of the war. The bombings scared her she says.
In another school, Mustafa Syed (ph) despairs over the loss of his livelihood. I had three horses, a cow, four sheep and 120 chickens (inaudible). They are all dead.
And thus they are left in limbo, waiting for the day when the guns go silent, when they can go back to their homes or what's left of them.
Ben Wedeman, CNN, Tyre, South Lebanon.
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CHURCH: Just over an hour from now, the International Court of Justice will resume public arguments in Nicaragua's case against Germany, which it accuses of facilitating genocide in Gaza. Nicaragua says Germany has violated the Genocide Convention through its sustained support of Israel and by providing weapons that could be used against Palestinians. Nicaragua also cited Germany's decision to suspend funding for the U.N. agency that provides aid to Palestinians.
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CARLOS JOSE ARGUELLO GOMEZ, NICARAGUAN AMBASSADOR TO NETHERLANDS: Germany is failing to honor its own obligation to prevent genocide or to ensure respect of international humanitarian law. In the present case, Nicaragua is also requesting the court to order that Germany should cease providing support to Israel and its (ph) campaign to the structuring (ph) of the Palestinian people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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CHURCH: Israel is not a party to the case. Germany will present its arguments to the court in the coming day.
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TANIA VON USLAR-GLEICHEN, LEGAL ADVISER FOR GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTRY: Germany rejects the allegations made by Nicaragua today. Germany does not and never did violate the Genocide Convention nor international humanitarian in law neither directly nor indirectly. On the contrary, Germany is committed to the uphold of international law and this is what we work for internationally.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: These proceedings are separate from South Africa's genocide case against Israel, which is being considered by the same court.
In the coming hours, the Organization of American States will meet to discuss the ongoing tensions between Mexico and Ecuador. Mexico broke diplomatic ties with Ecuador over the weekend after Ecuadorean police stormed its embassy to arrest a former Ecuadorian vice president. As journalist Stefano Pozzebon reports, Ecuador's president is defending his country's decision.
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STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN JOURNALIST: Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa said that he ordered an operation last week to detain Jorge Glas, the former vice president from the Mexican embassy in Quito because his country "Could not allow sentenced criminals to be granted asylum." Ecuador's police forced their entrance into the embassy to arrest Glas, who has been convicted of corruption twice and he is now facing new charges of embezzlement.
Many countries in the region have criticized the action, accusing Ecuador of crossing a diplomatic red line. Mexico has severed diplomatic ties with Ecuador, and its government is preparing a case against Ecuador at the International Court of Justice. But in an open letter published on social media on Monday, Noboa said he is open (ph) to resolve any difference with Mexico after the incident and that bringing Glas to justice was non-negotiable. Glas himself was taken to hospital on Monday after a fairly -- after refusing to eat, according to the prison agency of Ecuador. He denies the charges and says that they are politically motivated.
For CNN, this is Stefano Pozzebon, Bogota.
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CHURCH: Coming up, how the North American solar eclipse made hundreds of couples' dreams of romance come true. We'll get (ph) that story.
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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. New data from the European Union shows last month was the hottest March on record. The EU's climate monitoring service Copernicus says there have been ten consecutive months of record heat. It's part of the hottest 12-month period in recorded history. CNN Meteorologist Chad Myers breaks down the numbers.
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CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, the very latest is out from the Copernicus Climate Change Service for March of 2024. March 2024 was the warmest March ever on record. In fact, 1.68 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. We are trying to keep that number to 1.5. March of 2024 did not do a very good job of it at all.
Now, here's March 2024, but look at the line just underneath it. That is march of 2016, the last time we had a significant ending El Nino. And look what happens to that line, takes a big dive all the way down here, and that is good news. But, will 2024 do the same thing as El Nino is ending? We will just have to see. The water temperatures are doing nothing of the sort. There it is right there, 21.07 Celsius globally. Take all the water, all the surface oceans, and that's where you are and that's above normal again, above everywhere else.
Now, take a look at the Hurricane Development Center here in the Atlantic Ocean, well above normal, the warmest on record here in some spots. Now, not everywhere on the globe is the water the warmest on record, but right here, especially with a hurricane season coming up, that warmest on record does not spell good things for the Atlantic hurricane season.
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CHURCH: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is trying to reach a younger audience online by joining TikTok. But, he's already promised he won't be dancing. The new social media profile says it belongs to both Scholz and his team. They debuted this first video, a little over ten seconds long, showing the chancellor working in his office. Until now, the German government avoided the Chinese platform due to security concerns, but the team will post all videos from a special independent cell phone to ensure data security. In the U.S., many couples chose to declare their undying love under the twilight of the solar eclipse. More than 350 couples gathered at the "Elope at the Eclipse" event in Arkansas, tying the knot right before the moment of totality, when the sky went dark. One woman told CNN, she wanted to take advantage of this once in a lifetime opportunity and make it truly memorable. Other states held mass wedding ceremonies too, with couples making the start of their married lives just a little more unforgettable. Well done, congratulations.
Thanks so much for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. "World Sport" is up next. Then, I will be back in about 15 minutes with more "CNN Newsroom." Do stick around.
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