Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Iran Warns Israel Any Attack Will Be Dealt with Fiercely; Security Council to Vote on Palestinian U.N. Membership; U.S. House Set to Vote on Ukraine Aid Bill Saturday; Third Night of Protests Amid Reading of Controversial Bill; Sudan Near Collapse and Starvation After Year of Conflict. Aired 12-12:45a ET
Aired April 18, 2024 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[00:00:00]
LAURA COATES, CNN HOST: Loving home of LAURA COATES LIVE producer Mike Figliola and his wife Audrey, we are sending them lots of congratulations and love from all of us.
Thank you so much for watching. Our coverage continues.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Right here on NEWSROOM.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): I want to make it clear. We will make our own decisions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Thanks for advice but Benjamin Netanyahu rebuffed Israeli allies urging him to stand down on striking Iran.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MATT GAETZ (R-FL): It's surrender. It's disappointing.
REP. TROY NEHLS (R-TX): I'm voting no. I've never voted to give any money to Ukraine and I'm not going to do it today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Ukraine now set for this weekend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELENI GIOKOS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I mean, just how deep and extensive this is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And Dubai can blame climate change for the extraordinary amount of rain. As for the flooding, that's another issue altogether.
ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta this is CNN NEWSROOM with John Vause.
VAUSE: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is standing firm on his government's plans for a counterstrike on Iran, rebuffing days of pressure from U.S. and European leaders to either limit or stand down on the attack.
Foreign ministers from the U.K. and Germany were in Jerusalem Wednesday. Netanyahu thanked them and other allies for helping defend Israel from hundreds of missiles and drones fired by Iran last weekend. But later during a cabinet meeting, Netanyahu was blunt. Thanks, but no thanks for the advice. Israel stands alone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NETANYAHU (through translator): I thank our friends for their support for the defense of Israel and I say this, both support in words and support in actions, they also have all kinds of suggestions and advice. I appreciate it, but I want to make it clear, we will make our own decisions and the state of Israel will do everything necessary to defend itself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The sharp rebuff to allies by Netanyahu could be a reflection of a political pressure from within his coalition government. In particular, the far-right finance minister and anti-Arab extremist Beget Bezalel Smotrich, urging an Israeli strike which would inflict a disproportionate toll and rock Tehran. In other words, risk starting World War Three.
Tough talk as well from Iran's leader wanting the slightest attack by Israel will be dealt with fiercely and severely.
CNN's Fred Pleitgen has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Iran showing off its combat drones and missiles at a massive military parade just days after launching hundreds at Israeli territory. Iran's president attending the event under tight security warning Israel not to strike back.
EBRAHIM RAISI, IRANIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): If the Zionist regime makes the slightest move to violate our territory and harm the national interests of the Islamic Republic, they must understand that they will face a severe and heavy response.
PLEITGEN: Iran trying to pile the pressure on the Israelis saying its waves of drones and missiles requiring Israel to team up with the U.S., France, Britain, and Jordan to shoot most projectiles down, and Hamas' attack on October 7th last year called Al-Aqsa storm show Israel is weak and vulnerable.
RAISI (through translator): The Al-Aqsa Storm Operation and Operation True Promise crumbled the Zionist regime's aura of invincibility. It proved that the strength of the Zionist regime and its backers are comparable to the strength of a spider's web.
PLEITGEN: Israel has said there will be a military response from its side, but the U.S. and other Western allies are urging limited action. The Iranians warning if the U.S. and its Middle Eastern allies helped Israel in any attack against Iranian territory, they too will become targets for Tehran's forces.
ALI BAGHERI KANI, IRANIAN DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): If anyone wants to support the Zionist regime in any way in this confrontation, we will target that country and its interests.
PLEITGEN: Tough talk as the Middle East wait, watches and braces for what could be a further escalation de-stabilizing the entire region.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Renewed warnings from the U.N. Agency for Palestinian Refugees about the spill of famine across Gaza and accusing Israel of blocking aid.
UNRWA's commissioner general told the Security Council request to deliver supplies to northern Gaza are repeatedly denied by the Israelis and he accused Israeli troops of detaining, beating, targeting, and killing UNRWA workers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHILIPPE LAZZARINI, UNRWA COMMISSIONER GENERAL: Across Gaza, the man- made famine is tightening and tightening its grip.
[00:05:05]
In the north, infant and young children have begun to die of malnutrition and dehydration. Across the border food and clean water wait. But UNRWA is denied permission to deliver this aid and save lives.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The deputy U.S. ambassador to the U.N. made clear about UNRWA's indispensable role in delivering aid to Gaza and called hot restrictions on its work to be lifted. Israel, though, has accused UNRWA staff of being involved in the October 7th attacks by Hamas and Israel's U.N. ambassador says the group cannot and will not be allowed to continue its activities in Gaza as it did in the past.
At some point over the next two days, the U.N. Security Council is scheduled to vote on a request by the Palestinians for full U.N. membership. If approved, it would be a de-facto recognition of a Palestinian state. But the White House has made it clear it does not support the bid, insisting Palestinian statehood should be negotiated directly between Israel and the Palestinians, and not at the U.N. General assembly voted back in 2012 to grant the Palestinians non- member observer status. Donald Rothwell is a professor of international law at the Australian
National University. He joins us this hour from Canberra. Thank you for being with us.
DONALD ROTHWELL, PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL LAW, THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY: You're welcome.
VAUSE: So the Palestinian befalling short here on number of firstly, the legal definition, I guess, of the state and a couple other things as well. But under international law, statehood requires a defined territory, a permanent population, a government, and an ability to enter into international relations. It doesn't have a permanent territory or defined territory. And this is doubts over whether I can engage in international relations.
There are procedural hurdles as well at the U.N., assuming the U.S. doesn't veto the application then it heads to the general assembly needing a two-thirds majority to pass. But it's a veto which I obviously the big issue here for the Palestinians in full membership.
ROTHWELL: Thats right. So as you identified there's a legal definition for what exactly is a state for the purposes of international law. And at the moment there's around 140 countries that recognize Palestine as a state. But as you pointed out, Palestine is not a member of the United Nations. And so there's this current process going through the U.N. in New York and about his expected on Friday in New York time to resolve this issue, at least for the time being.
VAUSE: The U.S. ambassador to the U.N. explained why the U.S. is so opposed to this move in the U.N., essentially recognizing Palestine as a state. Here she is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: President Biden has said categorically that we support a two-state solution. We do not see that doing a resolution in the Security Council will necessarily get us to a place where we can find a solution, a two-state solution moving forward.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: it I guess the problem with that argument is that for years now the Israeli government has rolled back much of the Oslo peace accord, which was the roadmap to a two-state solution. So it seems the U.N. right now is the only place where the Palestinians can be legitimately recognized as a state.
ROTHWELL: That's true, but I guess the point is, is that the United States, the United Kingdom, and some other leading members of the international community have very actively begun to revive the discussion around a two-state solution over the last few months.
And David Cameron, the U.K. foreign minister has been very proactive in this area in addition to the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. So I think what we've seen is a significant change in the position in terms of some of the leading states. And of course, the U.S. and the U.K., a permanent members of the Security Council but it's a gradual political process. And I think the preps, the view in Washington is that this decision in the Security Council at the moment is just a bit premature.
VAUSE: It just that there's so much more politics involved here than any kind of legal questions when it comes to international law. 12 years ago when the Palestinians were granted non-member observer status, joining Kosovo and Taiwan, that I've been a whole lot of international legal rights. So what are the benefits here of full membership? And how would that impact the ongoing conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis?
ROTHWELL: Well, obviously becoming a full U.N. member would inconclusively say that the Palestinian State exists for the purposes of international law. It gets all sorts of rights and entitlements under the United Nations charter and with a range of other U.N. agencies. And it resolves any ambiguity about Palestine's ability to become a party to many, many international treaties that its currently barred from becoming a party to so it will conclusively resolve that issue.
But as you also point out, there's a number of processes that need to be understood and resolved during that time. One of which is not only the status of the boundaries of Palestinian state, but perhaps most importantly, the status of Israeli and Palestinian interests with respect to Jerusalem.
VAUSE: Yes, these are the ongoing issues which also was meant to resolve, but clearly, Oslo is out in a deep freeze and a new whole new world there.
[00:10:04]
Donald Rothwell, thank you so much for being with us, sir.
ROTHWELL: You're welcome.
VAUSE: Ukraine's president once again pleading for air defenses by a deadly missile strike in the northern city of Chernihiv on Wednesday. Officials say at least 17 people were killed, close to 80 others wounded. The attack damaged a hospital and more than 20 apartment buildings. Volodymyr Zelenskyy says none of it would have happened if his outgunned military had enough air defenses to fight back and he's urging Ukraine's allies to ramp up their weapons production as well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): This is time that everyone endured in the free world. Needs to use to strengthen for more arms production, for more arms supplies, for the termination in general. The normal life of the world is based on determination. And Europe can definitely not lose this time for the sake of our common security.
(END VIDEO CLIP) VAUSE: U.S. House Republicans are finally moving forward with a Ukraine aid bill, which they've been blocking for months. House Speaker Mike Johnson says he'll put $61 billion package up for a vote Saturday, despite pushback from hardliners in his own party as well as threats to oust him from the job. CNN's Manu Raju reports they're warning the decision will cost Johnson his job.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Speaker Mike Johnson's decision to set up a high-stakes Saturday night vote and rely on Democrats to approve aid to Ukraine now putting his job on the line.
GAETZ: There's no other way to describe it. It's surrender. It's disappointing.
REP. TIM BURCHETT (R-TN): I'm very disappointed. I just think the speaker needs to get home and listen to our base.
REP. CHIP ROY (R-TX): I'm well past the point of giving grace here.
RAJU: Is it time for him to get out of office?
ROY: I need -- I need a little bit more time today, but it's not good.
RAJU: Do you have confidence in him?
ROY: It's not good.
RAJU: Will you vote to vacate him?
REP. ERIC BURLISON (R-MO): I haven't made up my mind yet. And he's pushing us to the brink here.
RAJU: Marjorie Taylor Greene, who was leading the charge to oust Johnson, says she's still weighing when to force a vote, but says support for effort is on the rise.
REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): It is growing and I think some people are becoming more angry than I am, but I don't know how long people are going to tolerate this because he's doing nothing but serving the Democrats.
RAJU: Johnson defending his plan.
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): I'm operating with the smallest margin in U.S. history. The only way to get a rule on the floor is that it requires a couple of Democrats.
RAJU: Johnson's move came after he shelved the Senate's $95 billion aid package for more than two months. Instead, he decided to split that aid package up into several pieces and to add to it other policy measures, such as a loan for Ukraine aid, and a potential ban on TikTok. Yet the House is expected to tie those bills together in one big package, and send it back to the Senate for final approval. The House will vote on a separate border security bill that won't be
included in the final package that will be sent to the Senate. All of which a major rebuke to his right flank. That includes Congressman Thomas Massie, the second Republican to join the effort to oust him.
REP. THOMAS MASSIE (R-KY): The strategy is not to try. I think the strategy is to fall on his sword.
JOHNSON: But with just two votes to spare, Johnson will need Democrats to salvage the bill, something likely to happen with President Biden announcing his support. Now the question, will Democrats save Johnson's job?
Does he still deserve to be saved if it comes to it?
REP. TOM SUOZZI (D-NY): Well, I'm already committed to do that. The bottom line is we have to show that this chaos caucus does not have the power they think they have.
REP. DON DAVIS (D-NC): I'll put it this way, if the speaker is the being as working to the better interest of the American people, I would definitely consider.
RAJU (voice-over): All as many Republicans warning hardliners not to seek Johnson's ouster.
REP. DAN CRENSHAW (R-TX): They want Russia to win so badly that they wanted to oust the speaker over it. They didn't want to be a minority, too.
RAJU: Now Democrats are not united on the idea of saving Mike Johnson as speaker. In fact, Pramila Jayapal, who's the leader of the progressives, told me that she would not support this idea because she's concerned about his conservative ideology and other one, Alexandra Ocasio Cortez, told me that they need to extract more concessions from Johnson before Democrats should entertain that idea.
And Democrats themselves will meet. 9:00 a.m. Eastern, Thursday morning to discuss how to proceed.
Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: fair trade and protectionism has emerged as another beta issue in this year's presidential election. President Joe Biden was critical of China's trade practices while campaigning in the battleground state of Pennsylvania. Wednesday he visited with steel workers union in Pittsburgh, the heart of America's steel industry or what's left of it. He called on the U.S. trade representative to consider tripling the existing 7.5 percent tariff rate on Chinese steel and aluminum.
The president says he's not looking for a fight with China. Just fair competition.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Because Chinese steel company produce a lot more still than China needs, it ends up dumping extra steel on the global markets on unfairly low prices.
[00:15:03]
And the prices are unfairly low because Chinas steel companies don't need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government subsidized them so heavily. They're not competing, they're cheating.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The president also talked about new efforts to crack down on China's bypassing tariffs by using Mexico to wrap up his Pennsylvania trip with a visit to Philadelphia later today.
Well, they tried to slowly returning to normal over Dubai after record storms caused all sorts of travel headaches. We have the very latest on that unprecedented downpour. Later, a controversial bill sparks a third night of protests in Georgia's capital. What are so many people so angry. Tell you in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Dubai now dealing with the cleanup and the aftermath after receiving almost two years' worth of rain in just one day. Inbound international flights are being allowed to land again at Dubai's international airport after many were delayed, diverted, or canceled. There's a huge backlog of travelers. That's after the UAE received its heaviest rainfall in 75 years since records actually started being kept.
CNN's Eleni Giokos shows us the impact.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GIOKOS (voice-over): Powerful storms, torrential rainfall bringing Dubai to a standstill, disrupting the lives of thousands. Among the towering skyscrapers, the rain fell so heavily and so quickly, streets were turned into rivers, highways into lakes. Cars submerged underwater. People stuck for hours on the main road to the airport, forced to abandon their vehicles as the floodwater rose.
And at Dubai International Airport, planes battled against flooded runways. Emirates Airlines halted all departing flights from Dubai on Wednesday with incoming flights being diverted to neighboring countries. Severe weather also affected other Gulf States. In neighboring Oman, at least 18 people died in flash floods, according to the country's National Committee for Emergency Management.
This region is known for its hot and dry weather. That is why scenes like this are completely unprecedented. We're talking about four inches or hundred millimeters of rain in the course of 12 hours. That is what Dubai normally experiences over one year.
Now this is also record rainfall since data began around 75 years ago. Dubai is known for its dazzle. It's known for its innovation but perhaps in many ways infrastructure has been overlooked because it's simply cannot cope with this type of rainfall and with climate change becoming a reality globally and also here in the Middle East, perhaps that needs to change.
(Voice-over): Rain is expected to taper off in the region. But a few showers may linger before dry weather returns.
Eleni Giokos, CNN, Dubai.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[00:20:09]
VAUSE: Joining us now from Boulder, Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with UCLA's Institute of the Environment and Sustainability.
Thanks for being with us.
DANIEL SWAIN, CLIMATE SCIENTIST, UCLA INSTITUTE OF ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY: Thanks for having me.
VAUSE: Is climate change to blame for this one in 100-year event or as some have suggested, was it cloud seeding, which is a scientifically dubious process where chemicals are fired into clouds to try and trigger rain? Well, a study published in the "Journal Nature" found global warming can profoundly influence the mean climate over the Arabian Peninsula. Results suggests that the annual precipitation is expected to increase over most of the UAE by up to 30 percent."
UAE officials also insist there is no cloud seeding at the time, so blame climate change for the rain. The flooding, though, seems to be a different issue altogether because the water had nowhere to go.
SWAIN: Yes, there's a lot of complex issues baked into this whole event. I think you touched on all of them in the introduction but I'll start from the beginning. As with any extreme other event, there are always multiple causative factors, so typically, the answer to, is this climate change is yes, but it's also other things as well. And of course, certain factors had to align meteorologically speaking, a low- pressure system that stalled out near the Arabian Peninsula, a record high amount of atmospheric water vapor, of course, also involved.
And really just a confluence of weather events that is not common but does happen occasionally over the Arabian Peninsula, conspired to produce what was truly an exceptional rain event. In fact, in Dubai specifically the amount of rain that fell was around a double that of the annual average and really shattered any previous record for the amount of rain than had ever been observed in a single day in this part of the world. So it's no exaggeration to say that this event was truly extraordinary and shattered records.
VAUSE: And one of the reasons why there was so much flooding is that Abu Dhabi just doesn't have the drainage. It doesn't have the infrastructure which seems to be a warning or a reminder or a wake-up call if you like, that global infrastructure was not built for a warming planet and there's so much to do to prepare for the coming increases in temperatures and the heavier rains and these extreme events.
SWAIN: Yes, that's an important point about flooding and indeed many disasters that we see, whether they're influenced by climate change as was likely the case in this instance or not is that an extreme weather event does not a disaster make on its own. It's the context that matters, the people who live there and the society, whether or not it's built for or adapted to the extremes we're seeing, and clearly a place like Dubai is not adapted to seeing six inches of rain in one day as we saw in this event.
And so it does I think illustrate that there are a number of heavily populated cities around the world, even advanced wealthy cities in many places that are not necessarily built to accommodate the extremes of today, let alone the extremes we will continue to see escalate in a warming future.
VAUSE: Just quickly on cloud seeding, it's been around for decades. China does it a lot, especially before big events back in like 2008, before the Olympic Games. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The Chinese say they can make it rain on demand to lower summer temperatures, to clear pollution, even to put out forest fires. It seems every cloud really does have a silver lining, although the very least is loaded with silver iodide.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Yes, that was me, you know, back in 2007. But yes, at best it seems a jury, the scientific community or whatever you call it, is still out on whether or not this stuff actually works, whether it's, you know, effective. So ultimately how dodgy is it though, as a practice?
SWAIN: Well, you know, there's a long and storied history going back well over a century of people who claimed they could essentially manipulate the weather. And from a scientific perspective, in almost all of those instances, it turned out not to be the case. In fact, there are many historical instances of rainmakers who were run out of town either when the rains didn't arrive or ironically when they did in great abundance, and then caused devastating floods.
I guess the good news and the bad news in those cases is these folks probably weren't responsible either for the lack of rain or the overabundance that followed because historically a lot of these methods probably just didn't do a whole lot. Now there are some methods in use currently, including what it purportedly is used in UAE as well in China and some parts of the Western U.S. and Australia to try and squeeze a little bit of extra moisture out of pre-existing rain or snow clouds.
Now this is not something that can create clouds or storms out of nowhere. You have to have an existing weather pattern that's highly favorable for precipitation. The hypothesis is that maybe you can get an extra 5 percent or 10 percent of moisture if you're in a drought or a dryer region that might be beneficial and cost effective.
[00:25:06]
Now the scientific debate is whether you can even get that much out of these clouds by seeding them. It's within the realm of possibility that you can, at least on a localized basis. But of course that's certainly doesn't explain multi-country scale, record-shattering precipitation events as we've seen here, and there's no question about whether it's really an efficacious or a cost-effective method to really even on smaller scales as well.
So clearly not a major player in what happened here. Even if indeed there was -- there were some seating activities prior to the event.
VAUSE: Daniel, thank you for being with us. Thank you for the explanations. It's good to have that insight. Good to see you. Thank you.
SWAIN: Thank you again.
VAUSE: Well, apart from melting glaciers, mass extinction of species, rising sea levels, destroyed cities, in the short term, climate change will also take a huge toll on the global economy. New study has found a short-term financial gut punch that's inevitable that all these devastating heat waves, floods, wildfires will result in about a 19 percent reduction in global income over the next 26 years.
The study is warning the expected economic hit won't be spread evenly. The poor will be harmed the most. South Asia and Africa could see a 22 percent plunge in income, and Europe and North America, it's around 11 percent.
When we come back, the humanitarian crisis the world refuses to acknowledge after a year of civil war and aid agencies have warned Sudan is in danger of collapse, millions facing possible famine.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Welcome back, everyone. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
Protests erupted for a third night in Georgia's capital with a controversial bill, which many say uses Russian tactics to crack down on free speech, making its way through parliament. Even though the vocal crowds and the country's own president oppose the bill becoming law, there's not much they can do to stop it.
CNN's Sebastian Shukla has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEBASTIAN SHUKLA, CNN INTERNATIONAL FIELD PRODUCER (voice-over): Protesters and police clashing on the streets of Georgia's capital Tbilisi. Skirmishes for the second consecutive year against a controversial foreign agent's bill, a schism between government and public, mass protests outside the parliament of this former Soviet republic and from within.
Georgian opposition seeing this bill as more than a smack in the face. The leader of Georgia's ruling political faction Georgian Dream being attacked by an opposition MP and a brawl ensuing.
Lawmakers have just passed a bill known as "On transparency of Foreign Influence" that would require all organizations that accept funds from outside the country to register as foreign agents or face fines.
[00:30:08]
Approved on first reading by a majority of 83 votes, in a parliament of 150. The country's division encapsulated by spontaneous applause and immediate dissent.
Protesters and the opposition united on their stance that Russia is at play here, even dubbing it the Russian law.
NIKA MELIA, OPPOSITION MEMBER OF GEORGIAN PARLIAMENT: They were in cahoots with Putin, to leave us without sovereignty. I can say definitely that Georgians -- the Georgian will cannot be defeated. No chance. Georgians will prevail over the Russian peoples.
TAMAR KHOJAMIROVI, OPPOSITION SUPPORTER: It's, like, copy-pasted from a similar Russian law against freedom of media, against freedom of organizations. And it's like we will receive same results as, now, Russians are facing.
SHUKLA (voice-over): President Vladimir Putin, spokesperson disagrees: "There is no way to link this bill and the desire to secure Georgia's internal politics with some kind of Russian influence. This is not the case."
Russia, Georgia's neighbor who it fought a brief war with in 2008, has a similar law on foreign agents and is widely viewed as being a suppression of civil society and press freedom.
Georgia's ruling party still aspires to become a full E.U. member, but the block has described the law as not in line with E.U. core norms or values.
President Salome Zourabichvili has promised to veto it, but the Georgian Dream seemed prepared to foist the bill on Georgians, kicking and screaming.
Sebastian Shukla, CNN, Berlin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: In Sydney, Australia, the bishop who was stabbed during services at his church says he forgives his teenage attacker.
The suspect was seen on a live stream lunging at the bishop, stabbing him, as well as a priest. After that, angry crowds gathered outside the church, demanding the teen be handed over to them.
In a message posted online, Bishop Emmanuel urged his congregation to remain calm and respect the law.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAR MARI EMMANUEL, SYDNEY ASSYRIAN BISHOP: The Lord Jesus never taught us to fight. The Lord Jesus never taught us to retaliate. The Lord Jesus never said to us an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. I forgive whoever has done this act, and I say to him, you're my son. I love you, and I will always pray for you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The bishop is now recovering from the attack. And Sydney Police say the suspect acted alone and was driven by religious-motivated extremism.
One year on since the start of Sudan's brutal civil war, aid agencies are warning the country is on the brink of collapse.
Humanitarian group Islamic Relief says many young children could soon starve to death in a crisis that's been largely ignored by the rest of the world. And CNN's Larry Madowo has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LARRY MADOWO, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fourteen thousand killed. More than 8 million people forcibly displaced from their homes. Accusations of rape, murder, and horrific abuses.
Sudan is on the brink, begging the world to see what's happening and send real help.
BASHIR AWAD, SUDANESE RESIDENT (through translator): All countries of the world are busy with the rest of the world, but we are third-world countries. No one is concerned about us. That is why we all suffered.
MADOWO (voice-over): Suffering so grave that half the population need humanitarian aid.
A brutal war between the Sudanese armed forces and a rival paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces, just entered its second year.
Nothing was spared as civilians trapped in the conflict zone are traumatized.
DR. MAYMOUNA AL-BAKRI, SUDANESE RESIDENT (through translator): we were inside our house when we were looted, robbed, and beaten. all of this happened to us.
MADOWO (voice-over): The U.S. is the largest donor of humanitarian aid to Sudan. And just days ago, Washington pledged another $100 million in emergency aid, bringing the total amount donated since the start of the conflict to $1 billion. But Secretary of State Antony Blinken has accused the warring parties of blocking vital aid to civilians and egregious abuses.
ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Both the SAF and RSF have carried out war crimes, including rapes, torture, extrajudicial killings, and other human rights abuses.
MADOWO (voice-over): Commanders for the SAF and the RSF have previously denied such allegations.
With the world seemingly powerless to stop it, Amnesty International warns that the war in Sudan is likely to continue and cause more civilian suffering.
MADOWO: If these strong statements and condemnation from the U.S. and the U.N. and the African Union have not worked in Sudan, so what's the fastest way to resolve the conflict?
[00:35:02]
ABDULLAHI HASSAN, SUDAN RESEARCHER, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: Exert pressure on the wedding parties to end violations against civilians, to end indiscriminate attacks against civilians. To allow humanitarian access and to ensure they are held accountable for the violations there committed in Sudan.
MADOWO (voice-over): Larry Madowo, CNN, Nairobi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Up next, "Hunger Games" with a social twist. A game show on -- in Bangladesh where contestants vie for prices of food. The Bangladeshi Food Challenge after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: An erupting volcano has forced more than 800 people from their homes in a remote region of Indonesia. A tsunami alert has been issued amid fears it could collapse into the sea.
Tuesday's eruptions sent a column of smoke and ash more than a mile into the sky. Eruptions were even stronger Wednesday.
So far, no reports of death or injuries, but people have been told to stay on alert for potential dangers like flying rocks, hot cloud discharges, and tsunamis.
Well, with chronic hunger on the rise, once again, in Bangladesh, there is a solution, it seems, from one TV show. Some people are calling it the "Hunger Games."
CNN's Kristie Lu Stout explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR/CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From the far-flung corners of rural Bangladesh, an unlikely Internet sensation is making quite a splash, with billions of views and counting, and millions of subscribers.
This is "The S.S. Food Challenge," often called "The Hunger Games" with a social twist. It's also reminiscent of another global rage: "Takeshi's Castle," an epic gameshow from Japan in which players overcome obstacles to win.
While the comparisons are inevitable, the beginnings of "S.S. Food Challenge" are rooted in necessity, rather than the sole thrill of it.
OMAR SUNNY SOMRAT, CREATOR, "S.S. FOOD CHALLENGE": The journey of "S.S. Food Challenge" started in 2020. But when inflation began surging in Bangladesh, and the price of edible items go so high, it was a vital topic. Then we come with the idea of giving edible items as rewards.
STOUT (voice-over): Rising living costs have been a sore point for Bangladesh, a country where around a fifth of its over 170 million people live below the poverty line.
RUCHIR DESAL, FUND MANAGER, ASIA FRONTIER CAPITAL: Inflation has been pretty high over the last few years for multiple factors. It's a combination of the war in Ukraine, high commodity prices and high fuel prices in 2022 and also removal of medicine. Many subsidies linked to domestic consumption such as fuel and cooking gas in 2023.
STOUT (voice-over): The ripple effects are still quite evident.
MOHAMMAD BABLU, RICKSHAW PULLER IN BANGLADESH (through translator): We are barely surviving, with prices of everything going up. I struggle to balance between buying rice and lentils and my children's expenses. I can't fix this dilemma.
[00:40:04]
STOUT (voice-over): This is where "The S.S. Food Challenge" steps in: a silver lining to a very dark cloud. A source of entertainment in grim times, with social welfare at its core.
SOMRAT: My biggest challenge is to control the crowd. Everyone wants to participate in the games but in a -- in a game day, I can only allow a hundred -- 120 or, at most, 150 people.
STOUT (voice-over): Yet, backed by a tiny team of 25, a simple phone camera, and zero sponsors, this local venture manages to keep the calm on-site, while taking the online world by storm. At the same time, ensuring that no participants, even those who lose, leave empty- handed.
Kristie Lu Stout, CNN, Hong Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Finally, it was the movie "Weekend at Bernie's," inspiration for an attempted bank fraud in Brazil. The woman here, seen on the left -- there she is -- was -- arrived at a bank with her uncle to apply for a $3,000 loan.
The problem is police believe he was already dead. The woman talked to him, appears to support his head.
Suspicious employees called an ambulance. Police later detained the woman for it for a couple of hours, but the family's lawyer says he arrived at the bank alive, according to CNN Brazil.
Police are investigating to see what charges his niece actually could face. Hmm.
Finally, a new Lennon and McCartney collaboration is the last thing anyone expected, because you know, Lennon's dead. But fans will be delighted to hear that the sons of the two Beatle members have actually teamed up.
Striking a remarkable resemblance to their famous fathers, James McCartney and Sean Ono Leno [SIC] -- Lennon released a new single titled "Primrose Hill." Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC: "PRIMROSE HILL")
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Sir Paul McCarthy [SIC] has -- Paul McCartney has given his approval, and he flagged (ph) the song to his millions of followers on social media. There you go.
I'm John Vause, back at the top of the hour with more CNN NEWSROOM. But first stay with us. WORLD SPORT start after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:45:26]
(WORLD SPORT)
