Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Israel-Iran Tensions; Israel-Hamas War; Boeing Under Fire in Senate Hearing; UNRWA: Man-Made Famine Tightening Its Grip Across Gaza; At Least 14 Killed in Strike on Gaza Refugee Camp; Afghanistan & Pakistan Enduring Deadly Rains & Flooding; Russians Suspected of Hacking Water System in Texas Town. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired April 18, 2024 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:27]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Ahead here on CNN Newsroom.
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAEL PRIME MINISTER (through translation): I want to make it clear, we will make our own decisions.
VAUSE: Thanks for the advice but, you know, Benjamin Netanyahu rebuffed Israeli allies urging him to stand down on striking Iran.
REP. MATT GAETZ (R-FL): It's surrender. It's disappointing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm voting no, I've never voted to give any money to Ukraine. And I'm not going to do it today.
VAUSE: Much unhappiness among Republicans in Congress over defending democracy and freedom with a vote on military aid for Ukraine now set for this weekend.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And you can see behind me just how deep and extensive this is.
VAUSE: And Dubai can blame climate change for the extraordinary amount of rain as for the flooding. That's another issue altogether.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 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 counter strike on Iran, rebuffing days of pressure from US and European leaders to either limit or stand down on the attack. Foreign Ministers from the UK and Germany were in Jerusalem Wednesday, Netanyahu thank 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 translation): I thank our friends for their support for the defense of Israel, and I say this both support in words and support and 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 rebuffed allies from Netanyahu could be a reflection of political pressure from within his own coalition government, in particular, the far right finance minister and the anti-Arab extremists and bigot, Bezalel Smotrich, urging an Israeli strike which would inflict a disproportionate toll and rock Tehran. In other words, we're starting World War III.
Alongside all that international pressure, these strains within his coalition government, Prime Minister Netanyahu has seen his popularity plunge in recent months, with many demanding his resignation over how he handles the war in Gaza. As soon as he quoted reports, the pressure on Netanyahu and his government has perhaps never been greater.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: As protesters in Tel Aviv were trying to unseat Israel's Prime Minister Saturday, demanding he stopped the war in Gaza allow the release of hostages, Iran was launching attack drones towards them. The two things are not disconnected. Iran appears to think Benjamin Netanyahu is vulnerable on popular at home increasingly alienated from his ironclad ally, America.
GERSHON BASKIN , FORMER HOSTAGE NEGOTIATOR: He has created so much damage to our society. The sacrificing of hostages is the kind of harm that will take a generation or more for Israeli society to heal from.
ROBERTSON: Gershon Baskin negotiated Israel's last major hostage deal with Hamas, the release of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011. He fears Netanyahu isn't negotiating in good faith.
BASKIN: He wants to prolong the war, because he knows on the day that this war is over and the Commission of Inquiry headed by a Supreme Court judge will be formed that will hold him responsible for what happened on October 7th and for what led up to October 7th.
ROBERTSON: The hostage issue is just one of many pulling the country apart. The Prime Minister says there will be an inquiry once the war is over.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Prime Minister Netanyahu, you have to be strong.
ROBERTSON: But pro-government rallies, attitudes are uncompromising risking alienation with America by shunning US demands.
ROBERTSON: But they're saying 33,000 Palestinians is too many.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thirty? We want 500,000.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible) to win the war.
ROBERTSON: They're calling here for more people to come out on the street and support the Prime Minister, telling him to be strong. But the reality, according to independent polling here, is that only 52% of the people believe the Prime Minister can bring the hostages home. This is a divided country.
[01:05:06]
Six months after Hamas' brutal attack, the Nova Music Festival site, where more than 350 people were slaughtered by the terror group, has become a memorial. Oma Kadmon, whose brother was killed, came back, says she feels the loss more now.
OMA KADMON, BROTHER KILLED ON OCTOBER 7: There is one solution very clear, very simple, but it's not political politically --
ROBERTSON: What should that be?
KADMON: Their force clean all Gaza.
VAUSE: Everyone with you. once a bush
KADMON: I know it's impossible but this is my wish, you know?
ROBERTSON: Israel's war in Gaza has so far claimed the lives of more than 33,000 people, according to the Health Ministry there, and triggered a humanitarian crisis of catastrophic proportions. Baskin gets Israelis' anger, says they're still living in the trauma of October 7th, but that won't bring peace.
BASKIN: The ultimate victory over Hamas is not military. It's political. It's when the Palestinians have freedom and dignity.
ROBERTSON: Iran's missiles that impacted Sunday, might focus minds. Israel's enemies or exploiting divisions, or it could deepen the wedge. This debate over how to respond drags on. Nic Robertson, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: At some point over the next few days, the UN Security Council is scheduled to vote on a request by the Palestinians for full UN membership. If approved, it will be defected recognition of a Palestinian State. But the White House has made it clear he does not support the bid, insisting Palestinian statehood should be negotiated directly between Israel and the Palestinians, and not at the UN. General Assembly voted in 2012 to grant the Palestinian 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, AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY: You're welcome.
VAUSE: So the Palestinians seem to be falling short here on a number of, firstly, the legal definition, I guess, of a 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 -- is ever permanent territory or divine territory, and there's doubts over whether I can engage in international relations.
There are procedural hurdles as well at the UN, assuming the US 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 obviously the big issue here for the Palestinians and for membership.
ROTHWELL: That's 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 point out, Palestine is not a member of the United Nations, and so there's this current process going through the UN in New York and a vote is expected on Friday, New York time, to resolve this issue or at least for the time being.
VAUSE: The US Ambassador to the UN explained why the US is so opposed to this move in the UN, essentially recognizing Palestine as a state. Her she is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD, UNITED STATES 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 VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: 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 UN 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 UK Foreign Minister, has been very proactive in this area, in addition to the US 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 US and the UK, are permanent members of the Security Council. But it's a gradual political process. And I think the perhaps the view in Washington is that this decision in the Security Council at the moment is just a bit premature. VAUSE: It just there's so much more politics involved here than any kind of legal questions when it comes to international law. Twelve years ago, when the Palestinians were granted non-member observer status joining Kosovo and Taiwan, they don't have 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 UN member would -- in conclusively to 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 UN agencies. And it resolves any ambiguity about Palestine's ability to become a party to many, many international treaties that it's currently barred from becoming a party to. So it will conclusively resolve that issue.
But as you also pointed 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 Oslo was meant to resolve. But clearly, Oslo is now in the deep freeze and it's a new whole new world there. Donald Rothwell, thank you so much for being with us, sir.
ROTHWELL: You're welcome.
VAUSE: Pleads by the Ukrainian president for air defenses have taken on new urgency after a Russian missile strike or the northern city of Chernihiv killed at least 17 people and wounded 80 others. Hospital and more than 20 apartment buildings were damaged as well. And according to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a lack of air defenses, as well as ammunition and weapons, are directly to blame. He's urging Ukraine's allies to ramp up their weapons production.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINE PRESIDENT (through translation): This is time that everyone in Europe, in the free world, needs to use to strengthen for more arms production, for more arm 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: That shortage of ammunition and weapons for Ukraine is a direct result of a military funding bill for Ukraine, which has been stalled in the US Congress. And now House Republicans are finally moving forward with that bill. House Speaker Mike Johnson says he'll put the $61 billion package up for a vote on Saturday despite pushback from hardliners within his own party. It's a move which could cost Johnson his job as CNN's Manu Raju reports. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MANU RAJU, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: 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.
REP. MATT GAETZ (R-FL): 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 advice.
REP. CHIP ROY (R-TX): I'm well past the point of giving grace here.
RAJU: It's 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: Give 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 was leading the charge to oust Johnson, says she's still weighing went to force a vote but says support for her 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. 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), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I'm operating with a smallest margin in US 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 showed 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 are 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 a sword. RAJU: But with just two votes to spare, Johnson will need Democrats to salvage the bill, something likely to happen with President Biden announcing the 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've 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 thing as working in the better answers to the American people. I would definitely consider.
RAJU: 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 want to oust the Speaker over it. I think they want to be in the minority to everything.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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. Another one, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told me that they need to extract work concessions from Johnson before Democrats should entertain that idea, and Democrats themselves will meet at 9:00 AM Eastern, Thursday morning, to discuss how to proceed. Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.
[01:15:13]
VAUSE: When we come back China and the unfair trade policies in his sights, President Joe Biden takes his reelection campaign to the heart of America's steel industry. Also a preliminary report on the plane which plunged hundreds of feet during a flight about a month ago, and the captain's chair. What's the link, we'll tell you when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: The International Monetary Fund has warned the huge government debt in the United States is being felt around the world, driving up interest rates as well as the value of the dollar. Higher borrowing costs worldwide could hurt global financial stability. And this is the second time this week the IMF criticized the US government, on Tuesday saying public spending and borrowing was overheating the US economy, making it harder to contain inflation. US Treasury Department puts the US debt, public debt, nearly 35 trillion that's, with a T, dollars.
For fair trade and protectionism has emerged as a major issue in this year's US presidential election. President Joe Biden was critical China's trade practices while campaigning in the battleground state of Pennsylvania. On Wednesday, he visited with steel workers in Pittsburgh, the heart of America's steel industry. He called on the US Trade representative to consider tripling the existing 7.5 percent tariff rate on Chinese steel and aluminum. In other words, he wants that to happen.
The President says he's not looking for a fight with China, he just wants fair competition, because it might it also talks about US a crackdown on China bypassing those tariffs by working through Mexico. The Biden administration also looking at allegations of China manipulating the shipbuilding industry.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES: My administration is taking a real hard look at the Chinese government industrial practices when it comes to global shipbuilding, which is critical to our economy. We depend on a fleet of commercial shipping vessels to carry American products around the world. Shipbuilding is critical to our national security, including the strength of the United States Navy. That's why my administration takes them very seriously that US steel workers along with four other unions have asked us to investigate whether the Chinese government is using anti-competitive practices to artificially lower prices in the shipbuilding industry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: (Inaudible) now, Rana Foroohar, CNN's Global Economic Analyst as well as Global Business Columnist and Associate Editor for the Financial Times. Good to see you.
RANA FOROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL ECONOMIC ANALYST: Great to see you.
VAUSE: And so, no matter who wins in November, be it Biden, be it Trump, protectionism is back. Imports from China will be hit with increased tariffs is some kind of varying degree depending who wins. So does this mean that it's a death knell for globalization, the idea of free trade it's kind of "Back to the Future" stuff?
FOROOHAR: Well, you know, I guess I wouldn't put it that starkly. I think that really since, gosh, you know, the last several years even since the Trump administration and before that, with China's made in China 2025 policy which basically said, look, we want to bring fence our supply chains, we want to be more independent and regional.
[01:20:12]
I think we've been seeing cracks in the neoliberal system of globalization that we've been with for 40 years now. I don't necessarily think that has to be a terrible thing. It's often portrayed as being a bad thing. But I think that there are a lot of flaws in the system.
One of the flaws was assuming that China was going to seamlessly come into the free trade system. That was the assumption when it entered the WTO in 2001, but that has not been what has happened. And we're now seeing the US saying, hey, enough is enough and we're going to put tariffs on.
VAUSE: Yes. The White House has been considering tariffs for some time on imports of electric cars from China, batteries to a solar products. Now, President Biden says you add steel to the list. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: The prices are unfairly low because China's steel companies don't need to worry about making a profit, because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily. They're not competing, they're cheating.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Then Biden wants to triple the current taxes on steel. So in terms of how much China has been cheating overall, on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being hate everyone kind of cheat on their taxes, while 10 is worse than former Democratic editor John Edwards, who cheated on his wife while she had cancer. And when asked about it, he added while she was in remission at the time, where is China?
FOROOHAR: Oh, boy, John, you're really setting it up well for me here. I'm going to say that we would need an entirely new scale, because the problem here is that China's entire political economy is cheating if you say that the WTO rules have to stand for both sides. This is the great fallacy, John. I mean, we assumed that when China entered the WTO, that it was going to become more of a free market system. And while it became richer and more privatized, it didn't necessarily become freer in the sense that they still ring fence, the Chinese ring fence their major strategic industries, you have to have a joint venture to go into China if indeed you can go into any specific sectors at all. There's huge state subsidies, state-owned banks prop up state-owned businesses, and Chinese consumers and workers have their purchasing power artificially depressed. That is the nature of the Chinese economy.
It was never going to be part of the free trade system as we know it. I've been saying that, frankly, for decades now. And the message is, I think, being widely adopted. Now, that's not to say that China doesn't have a system that works for China. But I think the idea that you can have a free trade liberal democracy and a state run autocracy, in the same system, playing by the same rules has always been incredibly naive.
VAUSE: The interesting thing about China entering the WTO was it was also expected that it'd become more liberal and more democratic, a lot freer, and that certainly hasn't happened.
FOROOHAR: Indeed.
VAUSE: So it's kind of been a bust in many ways.
FOROOHAR: Has not.
VAUSE: One of the biggest differences between Trump and Biden, Biden's tariffs seem to be a lot more targeted. The White House is considering lowering tariffs on some consumer products of China like computers, so consumers don't feel the pain as much. Trump says we use a kind of a sledgehammer approach, you know, tariffs on everything up to 60%. Despite your lack of faith and economic modeling, is it possible to know how each approach will actually play out on the economy?
FOROOHAR: Well, I think, you know, the Biden approach is obviously going to be much more moderate. I think, you know, it would be a wait and see it with Trump is elected if these kinds of very draconian tariffs were actually instituted. But I gotta tell you, John, what I'm hearing from a lot of economists, and that, you know, I've just come from the spring meetings of the IMF and the World Bank in Washington is that people don't think we're going back to old norms. We have got the West, that US and Europe have got to do something to protect their industries, particularly in high growth sectors like EVs. Otherwise, job losses, loss of trust in, you know, in bureaucrats, it's just -- it's not going to hold politically. And I think that that's the real economic risk in some ways.
VAUSE: There's a lot tied to this. It affects so much around the planet, from the environment, to politics, to workers rights, everything. So yes, it's a whole new world in many ways. And, Rana, good to have you with us. Thank you.
FOROOHAR: Thank you.
VAUSE: (Inaudible) stand from Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro just hours after the US announced sanctions removed last year will be reimpose. Maduro says sanctions will have no impact on economic growth because Venezuela doesn't need anything from anybody. Sanctions are back after the Maduro government was unable to honor a commitment to hold free and fair elections. CNN's Stefano Pozzebon has this report.
[01:25:00]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There is a new vibe in Caracas these days, nightlife has returned after years of economic collapse.
RAFAEL BRAUMANN, GERMAN TOURIST (through translation): This show is wild. The beer is great, there is good music. Everything is incredibly beautiful.
[01:25:15]
POZZEBON: The US dollar has replaced local believers. And this year, Venezuela's economy is poised to grow more than Argentina, Brazil and Colombia according to the IMF. Only one person seems to remain unmovable. As a new presidential election looms, Nicolas Maduro seems all but assured to cement his position even further. On Wednesday, the US announced the reimposition of economic sanctions against the Venezuelan oil industry after last minute negotiations collapsed.
The sanctions were lifted in October when representatives of the government and the opposition signed an agreement that paved the way to free and fair elections. But since then, that deal was broken several times. The opposition candidate, Maria Corina Machado, has been barred from running. Her replacement, Corina Joris, was also blocked by electoral authorities.
Political activists have been detained including members of Machado's team. Notably the US maintained a special license for US major Chevron, who has been operating since 2022. And US officials told CNN they will keep engaging with Maduro despite the reaction.
NICOLAS MADURO, VENZUELAN PRESIDENT (through translation): If you want to hurt us, you'll get hurt. We will grow with or without a license. We are not a Yankee colony, nobody will stop us.
POZZEBON: Renewed sanctions could hurt Venezuela's recent economic growth, its forecasts and push more Venezuelans to seek better fortunes abroad. Venezuelan migrants are already reaching the US southern border in record numbers. There are over 7.7 million worldwide according to the UN. One reason for last year's detained was to bring those numbers down, particularly during an election year in the US.
LAURA DIB, VENEZUELA PROGRAM DIRECTOR, WASHINGTON OFFICE ON LATIN AMERICA: I do think that the engagement is indeed a better policy than maximum pressure and isolation that led Maduro to further deepen his relationship with governments like China, Russia, Iran and Turkey. But rather I think that it's a proof that, of course, the US and the international community and, of course, the opposition in Venezuela is dealing with an authoritarian government.
POZZEBON: With opposition in Caracas is scrambling to rally around any viable candidate to challenge Maduro, experts will read this week's fallout will only bring the Venezuelan struggle for democracy closer to its end. And the music will fade once again in Caracas. Stefano Pozzebon, CNN, Bogota.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: The captaincy on the LATAM Airlines plane which suddenly plunged 400 feet in flight last month, had what's been called an involuntary movement forward. That's the finding from a preliminary report from Chile's aviation authority, but it said the cause of that forward movement has not been determined. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner was flying from Australia to New Zealand March 11th when the incident happened 50 people were injured. So it's close to the investigation tells CNN both the black box and the seat that shifted suddenly during the flight were sent to the US for further examination.
Boeing safety record was the focus of to US Senate committee hearings on Wednesday. Whistleblower who worked at Boeing as an engineer testified they are putting out defective airplanes. More on that story from CNN's Pete Muntean.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The crisis facing Boeing has landed on Capitol Hill in dueling Senate hearings Wednesday, rapid fire allegations against the manufacturing Goliath once considered to be squeaky clean.
Ed Pierson, Former Boeing Manager: Every person stepping aboard a Boeing airplane is at risk.
JOE JACOBSON, FORMER FAA ENGINEER: Boeing concealment led to two crashes and 346 deaths.
MUNTEAN: The newest whistleblower claim that Boeing's flagship 787 is dangerously put together. Sam Salehpour served as a quality engineer at the 787 factory in South Carolina. He alleges that large sections of the fuselage are put together with gaps that are too big, creating stress and where which over time could cause catastrophic failure.
SAM SALEHPOUR, FORMER QUALITY ENGINEER, 787 FACTORY: Then you are operating at 35,000 feet. Details are that the size of a human hair can be a matter of a life and death. They are putting out defective airplanes.
MUNTEAN: Boeing insists there is no evidence of fatigue failure in the 16 years the 787 has been flying. There are about 1,100 operating worldwide and none have been lost to a crash. In a briefing for reporters Monday, Boeing detailed that it tested the 787 to 275 years of flights. Boeing is standing by the design saying, "claims about the structural integrity of the 787 are inaccurate and do not represent the comprehensive work Boeing has done to ensure the quality and long term safety of the aircraft."
Senator Richard Blumenthal called this hearing.
[01:29:49]
SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): What we see here is simply management that has been failing, manufacturing that has defects and a broken safety culture.
MUNTEAN: The lawmaker's anger is the latest chapter in a years-long saga of Boeing disasters. Two 737 Max crashes in 2018 and 2019 killed 346 people abroad. In January, a door plug blew off an Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9.
Whistleblower Ed Pierson told lawmakers Wednesday that Boeing is hiding key documentation about workers failing to install the door plug properly.
ED PIERSON, FORMER BOEING MANAGER: I'm not going to sugarcoat this. This is a criminal cover-up. Records do, in fact, exist. I know this because I've personally passed them to the FBI.
MUNTEAN: Pete Muntean, CNN -- Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
Just ahead families in Gaza speak with CNN about the pain of losing their loved ones, including eight children in an Israeli strike on a refugee camp.
Back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Welcome back everyone.
I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
Renewed warnings from the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees about the spread of famine across Gaza and accusing Israel of blocking humanitarian aid. UNRWA Commissioner General told the Security Council requests 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, tightening its grip. In the north, infants 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 U.S. deputy ambassador to the U.N. says UNRWA is playing an indispensable role in delivering aid to Gaza. And it's calling for restrictions to be lifted.
Israel has accused UNRWA staff of being involved in the October 7 attacks by Hamas and Israels U.N. ambassador says the group cannot and will not be allowed to continue activities in Gaza as it has done in the past.
Israeli airstrikes have killed at least nine people in Gaza City, according to Palestinian officials, who also report multiple casualties across the territory.
[01:34:48]
VAUSE: The Israeli military says terrorists and terrorist infrastructure, including launching posts and booby traps, structures were targeted by the airstrikes.
Another Israeli airstrike has killed seven Palestinians in Rafah. That's according to civil defense officials in Gaza.
CNN has reached out to the IDF for comment. It should be noted that Rafah has been sheltering more than 1 million Palestinians because they were told to go there for safety by the Israelis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOHAMED ABO LUBDA, RAFAH RESIDENT: The destruction in Rafah. Every day, there's targeting in Rafah every day. Daily, there's targeting Rafah.
There's no safe place, not in Rafah nor in Khan Yunis or in Gaza and not in the entire Gaza Strip. They brought the displaced to Rafah. And as you can see, the targeting -- every day there's targeting in Rafah.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: This war in Gaza like every other war in Gaza has taken a huge toll on children. We now find out just how much it is by UNICEF. The video here is graphic. So that's a warning.
UNICEF says nearly 14,000 children have been killed since the war started. Another U.N. group reports, one child in Gaza dies or at least injured every ten minutes. 19,000 children in Gaza are now orphans.
Another warning, what you're about to see in this next report has some very difficult images as well. Following up on a story we brought you, this hour -- yesterday.
At least 14 people killed, including eight children in a strike on a refugee camp in central Gaza.
CNN'S Jeremy Diamond spoke with the family of one of the youngest victims. Another warning, it contains graphic content.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A moment frozen in time. The bodies of at least four children splayed around the foosball table. Laughter and shrieks of joy silenced in an instant. Blood now marking where they stood only minutes earlier.
"Shahid, no way. Shahid, my beloved," here cousin screams from behind the camera. Ten-year-old Shahid is one of those children. Her bright pink pants unmistakable in the arms of the man carrying her away.
With her family's consent, CNN has decided to show Shahid in life and death, in order to give a face to this war's deadly impact on children.
At Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, those who can still be saved arrive alongside those who cannot. Amid the chaos, Shahid's pink pants dangling as a doctor confirms what is tragically obvious.
But Shahid is not alone. She's one of eight children who died on that crowded street in Al-Maghazi. The hospital says they were killed in an Israeli airstrike.
By publication time, the Israeli military said only that the incident is under review. One after another, their small bodies arrive at the hospitals more and into the arms of grieving parents.
His eyes swollen and red, the father of nine-year-old Lujain recounts his daughter's last moments, playing foosball with her friends.
"This is my eldest daughter," he says, "a drone strike hit them while they were playing. They are all children."
Hours earlier, Yusuf (ph) was one of those children, playing alongside Shahid and Lujain when he was suddenly killed in a war he did not choose. His mother still clinging to her son.
Neither does this boy who cannot believe his brother is dead.
"He is still alive," he cries, "don't leave him here."
Amid the outpourings of grief, there is Shahid, her bloodstained pink pants once again impossible to miss.
"Dear God, what did they all do," one man cries. "What did they all do?"
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN -- Tel Aviv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[01:39:02]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Well, (INAUDIBLE) melting glaciers, disappearing ice caps, mass extinction, rising sea levels and sweltering cities, in the short-term climate change is expected to take a huge toll on the global economy.
A new study says the financial gut punch is inevitable for that 19 percent reduction in global income over the next 26 years. And the economic pain will not be felt equally. Those who've done the least to cause the problem will pay the most. South Asia and Africa could see a 22 percent plunge in income. Europe and North America, that number is 11 percent.
The death toll continues to rise in Afghanistan after heavy rains and flooding, Afghan officials say at least 70 people have died so far, dozens more injured, thousands of homes damaged.
The deadly, whether is also affecting Pakistan where at least 40 deaths have been reported.
CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Streets completely flooded, thousands of acres damaged, and scores of people dead across Pakistan and Afghanistan due to heavy rainfall.
This week, the region has seen an unprecedented amount of rain, including extreme floods in the U.A.E., Bahrain, Oman, and Iran. In neighboring countries, Pakistan and Afghanistan the damage has upended people's lives.
SHER RAHMAT, PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN RESIDENT (through translator): We took the children and escaped with them. The flood has damaged the walls of our home and all our things have been washed out with the water.
I have no clothes to wear. We now have just a few kitchen items. All things have been washed away.
ZUBAIR ALI, PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN MAYOR (through translator): Most of the people here have livestock and farming businesses. Now this is all damaged because of the flood.
DOST NABI, LAL-PUR DISTRICT, AFGHANISTAN RESIDENT (through translator): People are taking out their animals and belongings from under the mud and people suffered huge losses.
all the walls of the houses have been destroyed and need to be rebuilt.
CHINCHAR: Afghanistan alone has been reeling from terrible natural disasters in the last year. In October, a deadly earthquake killed over 2,000 people and a harsh winter left more than 150 dead. The heavy downpours are unusual for the region this time of year as Pakistan typically experiences monsoon season from June through September.
Authorities are bracing for the intense rainfall to continue throughout the weekend impacting mainly the southern region of the country.
Pakistan ranks as one of the most climate-vulnerable nations in the world. Although it is only responsible for less than 1 percent of the world's planet warming emissions.
Allison Chinchar, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: After receiving more than a year's worth of rain in just one day, Dubai is slowly drying out and returning to some kind of normalcy. Still many travelers remained stranded at the international airport after flights were delayed, diverted or canceled. (INAUDIBLE) flights there are being allowed to land again. That's after the U.A.E. received its heaviest rainfall in 75 years or since records began. One person was killed after his vehicle was swept away.
Other were just posted online, Saw water rushing through a major Dubai shopping mall and pouring into some homes. At least 18 people were killed by flash flooding in nearby Oman according to state media. Some of the victims were schoolchildren.
Earlier I asked a climate scientist today if its climate change which is to be blamed for the severe storms in the desert.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANIEL SWAIN, CLIMATE SCIENTIST, UCLA INSTITUTE OF ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY: 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. [01:44:50]
SWAIN: 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 the confluence of weather events that is not common, but does happen occasionally over the Arabian Peninsula that conspired to produce what was truly an exceptional rain event.
In fact, in Dubai specifically the amount of rain that fell was around double that of the annual average. And really shattered any previous record for the amount of rain that 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 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, you know, the coming increases in temperatures and the heavier rains and these extreme events.
SWAIN: Yes. And 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 you're seeing and clearly a place like Dubai is not adapted to seeing six inches of rain in one day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Well, after a fire destroyed about half of Copenhagen's historic stock exchange, the owner now says he plans to rebuild. The 400-year-old building's spire and much of its roof were destroyed in the flames. Only the outer walls were left in some sections.
The damage is extensive, but the owner has vowed to restore the building to its former glory, not only as a point of Danish culture, but also as a piece of European history.
Police say it could take months to find the cause of the blaze.
Hawaii's attorney general has released its first report into the Maui wildfires last August, which killed more than 100 people. She did not determine the cause for the fire, but provided a comprehensive timeline of events.
CNN's Mike Valerio reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MIKE VALERIO, CNN U.S. NEWSOURCE NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Hawaii attorney general Anne Lopez (ph) declined to assign blame or reveal if criminal or civil charges are likely against emergency response officials as she presented the first findings of the Lahaina wildfire report commissioned by her office.
The report released on Wednesday, detailed warnings issued by the National Weather Service a week before the disaster. Bulletins cautioning local authorities that red flag fire danger could be possible in the week ahead.
Lopez declined to answer reporter questions about decisions made by Maui County and Maui Emergency Management Agency officials. And when asked if she would be looking into whether anybody could be held criminally liable. The attorney general's response was brief.
ANNE LOPEZ, HAWAII ATTORNEY GENERAL: We are going to continue this investigation and we will follow it wherever it leads.
VALERIO: So what was not in this report, the cause of the catastrophic wildfires. Officials said that will be determined by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
Official speaking at Wednesday's press conference added ATF investigators hope to share their findings into the cause and origin of the wildfires by the first anniversary of the disaster.
Mike Valerio, CNN -- Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: When we come back here on CNN, the small Texas town which is the unlikely target of hackers linked to military intelligence. Details on that in a moment.
[01:48:29]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: In Sydney, the bishop who was stabbed during services at his church says he forgives his teenage attacker. The suspect was seen lunging at the bishop, stabbing him, and a priest -- this is all shown on a live stream.
Angry crowds gathered outside the church after the attack, 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 are my son. I love you, and I will always pray for you. (END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Sydney police say the suspect acted alone, was driven by religious-motivated extremism.
The bishop is recovering well. Six people have been arrested for a brazen gold heist at Toronto's International Airport last year. Now, they may have the suspects, but they don't have the gold. Apparently it was melted down and then cashed in.
Canadian and U.S. officials say, the suspects include two former Air Canada employees, allegedly using fake paperwork to steal $16 million in gold bars and foreign currency from a secure storage facility.
And they use the proceeds from that to traffic firearms into Canada.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NANDO IANNICCA, CHAIR, PEEL POLICE SERVICES BOARD: This isn't just about gold, this is about how gold becomes guns.
It isn't about stolen vehicles, stolen vehicles become gun and gold can be remade and gold can be ensured, and so can cars. But people's lives and what happens when guns are involved cannot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Authorities are still looking for another three suspects. The investigation is ongoing, only with a few gold bangles found so far.
One cybersecurity expert calls it low hanging fruit for hackers, a water system in a small U.S. town which doesn't have strong cyber defenses. A hacking group linked to Russia's military intelligence is suspected of being behind one such attack in Texas.
As Ed Lavandera reports, some experts fear that was only a start.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Roughly 5,000 people live in the city of Muleshoe, tucked away in the Texas Panhandle, where the most popular attractions are a statue of a mule named Old Pete and the world's largest mule shoe.
The point is, this isn't the kind of place you'd think would be at the heart of an international cyberattack, suspected of being carried out by hackers that have cooperated with a sophisticated Russian military intelligence unit.
But a new report says this city's water treatment facility computer system was attacked by suspected Russian hackers in January, causing a water tank to overflow. The city manager said, it overflowed for about 30 to 45 minutes.
The question that comes to mind is, why a water treatment facility and why in a place like Muleshoe, Texas? GUS SERINO, CYBER SECURITY EXPERT: Right, it's a great question. Gus
Serino is a cybersecurity expert focused on the vulnerability of public water systems.
SERINO: An organization may think we're kind of too small. We're not high enough strategic value for some nation-state adversary to come after us. However, victims are finding that they are affected simply because of the technology that they have that's sitting unprotected on the Internet and findable and exploitable.
LAVANDERA: In the report published by the cybersecurity firm Mandiant, cyber experts say that a Russian intelligence unit known as Sandworm is involved in an online persona called the Cyber Army of Russia Reborn that claimed credit for the attack on Muleshoe.
There was also suspicious activity targeting public water systems in three other west Texas cities -- Abernathy, Hale Center, and Lockney -- according to officials.
With a west Texas know-how.
BUSTER POLING, CITY MANAGER, LOCKNEY, TEXAS: I guess so.
LAVANDERA: Buster Poling is the city manager in Lockney. He says officials noticed unusual activity in the computer system and made security changes to keep the hackers from taking control.
What was your reaction when you found out that it might have been a Russian intelligence group that was behind this hacking attempt.
POLING: I'm not surprised, a small-town water system unfortunately is a prime target for a hacker or a terrorist, some sort of terrorist activity. That's been, we've known that for years.
LAVANDERA: The Russian hacking group posted images online claiming to show how it was able to break into the industrial computer system of Muleshoe and Abernathy and manipulate data entries in the system.
POLING: I think they were probably attempting to take control of the system including operating, turning on the water wells and turning them off.
ANNE NEUBURGER, DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: We've got to make work a lot harder for these attackers.
[01:54:45]
LAVANDERA: Deputy national security adviser Anne Neuberger says it's not clear what message the Russian hackers were trying to send. But that much more needs to be done to beef up cybersecurity defenses of water systems around the country.
NEUBERGER: Russia has created a permissive environment for hacktivists and cybercriminals. Some of whom are affiliated in some ways with Russian intelligence. We don't know if they're moonlighting. We don't know if it's direct
instructions given. The U.S. intelligence community has really been digging into that.
LAVANDERA: in the Texas Panhandle, the cyberattacks did not cause any significant damage. But experts fear future attacks could be worse.
What's your biggest fear of what could happen?
SERINO: My biggest fear is that there could be health and safety impacts. In addition to that, just the widespread panic that could occur if multiple systems were affected simultaneously and the public confidence is eroded.
LAVANDERA: there are tens of thousands of water treatment facilities across the country. National security officials say many of them are vulnerable to these types of cyberattacks. Local officials here in Texas told us it was FBI investigators that first told them that they believed Russian hackers were behind the January cyberattacks. The FBI declined to comment.
We've also reached out to the Russian embassy, but we have not heard back from them.
Ed Lavandera, CNN -- Dallas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Finally was the movie "Weekend at Bernie's" inspiration for an attempted bank fraud in Brazil. Initially, it all seemed fairly routine when a woman was seen at a bank with her uncle, who apparently wanted a $3,000 loan. But the man who the woman talked to and is supporting his head and all that kind of stuff was actually dead.
The scam was found out by suspicious employees at the bank and called an ambulance. Police later detained the woman. Paramedics say the man had been dead for hours.
Family's lawyer says he arrived at the bank alive, (INAUDIBLE) CNN Brazil. Police are still investigating to see what charges his niece might face.
Thank you for watching. I'm John Vause.
CNN NEWSROOM continues with Kim Brunhuber next up here on CNN.
See you tomorrow.
[01:56:57]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
