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CNN International: Foreign Ministers To Discuss Middle East, Ukraine; Afghanistan & Pakistan Enduring Deadly Rains & Flooding; U.S. House Set to Vote On Ukraine Aid Bill Saturday; Polish President Meets With Donald Trump. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired April 18, 2024 - 04:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHILIPPE LAZZARINI, UNRWA COMMISSIONER: Across Gaza, the manmade famine is starting its grip. Infant and young children have begun to die of malnutrition.

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I'm doing here what I believe to be the right thing. I think providing lethal aid to Ukraine right now is critically important.

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is the SS food challenge. No participants, even those who lose, leave empty handed.

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ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us from around the world. I'm Max Foster. It's Thursday, April the 18th, 9:00 a.m. here in London, 10:00 a.m. in Capri, Italy, where G7 foreign ministers are gathering for day two of a summit that will include talks on the Middle East and Ukraine.

Italy, which holds the rotating G7 presidency, is calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, but everyone is waiting to see if Israel retaliates against Iran for Saturday's drone and missile attacks.

Ukraine's foreign minister and NATO secretary general are set to join the talks in the hours ahead.

CNN's Barbie Nadeau is tracking developments from Rome.

Barbie, let's start with the Middle East, then plenty of urgency around the situation in Gaza but also this concern about the risk of regional conflict.

BARBIE NADEAU, CNN REPORTER: That's right. These foreign ministers have a lot on their plate and a lot on the agenda that just keeps getting pushed down because of the increasing priorities. Of course, they're trying to urge is restraint to Israel for their risk further response and also trying to determine what kind of sanctions -- targeted sanctions to place on Iran, and all the while, of course, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and trying to try to figure out what to do with a humanitarian crisis there.

The European Union's chief foreign policy diplomat, Josep Borrell, was sort of doorstep on his way into the meeting here, arrived here in Capri just a little while ago. Let's listen to what he had to say to reporters who questioned him as he walked in.

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JOSEP BORRELL, EU FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF: In Gaza, humanitarian catastrophe continues, humanitarian support has very little increase. Has increased but very, very, very, very insufficient. We have to ask Israel for restraint answer to Iranian attack. We cannot escalate. You cannot go step by step answering every time higher to a regional war. I don't want to exaggerate, but we are on the hedge of a war, a regional war in the Middle East.

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NADEAU: And, you know, Max, you listened to that, and that's -- those are ominous warnings there, you know, was going to be before Iran's attack last weekend on Israel, the priority of this meeting would have been humanitarian crisis in Gaza. And of course that has just slipped a little bit down the agendas are just trying to figure out how to not -- to de-escalate the situation, Max.

FOSTER: Okay. And in terms of Ukraine, also, very much at the top of the agenda, and you've got these special guests around that as well.

NADEAU: That's right. The foreign minister of Ukraine and the NATO foreign minister will be joining the talks this afternoon. Of course, so many of the talks that happen at these meetings happen on the sidelines and these bilateral meetings. You know, we're expecting tomorrow a big press conference that will lay out exactly what the decisions were made and when everyone would be -- these diplomats will be taken back to their own countries.

But, you know, there's a lot of work to do and it's just so overwhelming to so many of these people there to try to figure out what to make as a priority, de-escalation in the Middle East are trying to get the United States, you know, to continue their support for Ukraine. So the city doesn't blow up there.

Of course, in Europe, Ukraine wars is the maximum priority, but even that slipping down the agenda, due to the Middle East, Max.

FOSTER: Absolutely. Barbie in Rome, thank you.

Within the next two days, the U.N. Security Council is scheduled to vote on a Palestinian requests for, for U.N. membership. The general assembly granted the Palestinians non-member observer status back in 2012, but the U.S. is expected to block this latest measure since it would effectively amount to recognizing a Palestinian state.

Here's the U.S. ambassador to the U.N.

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LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD: President Biden has said categorically that we support a two-state solution.

[04:05:05]

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.

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FOSTER: Our next report also has video that's pretty hard to watch. We are following up on a story we first brought you 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 a family of one of the youngest victims. Again, a warning, this report contains graphic images.

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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A moment frozen in time, the bodies of at least four children splayed around a foosball table, laughter and shrieks of joy silenced in an instance.

Blood now marking where they stood only minutes earlier.

Shahid, no way. Shahid, my beloved. Her 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 is 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 hospital's morgue 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're all children.

Hours earlier, Yusuf 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 blood stained 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)

FOSTER: The U.N. Agency for Palestinian Refugees is warning again about the spread of famine across Gaza and accusing Israel of blockade -- of blocking aid.

UNRWA's commissioner-general told the Security Council, Israel repeatedly denies its requests to deliver supplies to northern Gaza and says it staff members are being detained, beaten, targeted, and killed by Israeli forces.

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PHILIPPE LAZZARINI, UNRWA COMMISSIONER: Across Gaza, a man-made famine is tightening -- tightening its grip. 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.

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FOSTER: U.S. ambassador to the U.N. says UNRWA plays an indispensable role in delivering aid to Gaza and called for restrictions on its work to be lifted. Israel is 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.

CNN's Nada Bashir is following all these developments for us.

Just looking at some statistics here, saying that one child gets injured or dies every ten minutes, in Gaza. But we've also seen how UNRWA staff have been implicated in what happened on October 7.

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NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah and there have been repeated criticisms from the Israeli authorities with regard to the activities of UNRWA. These have, of course, been vehemently denied by U.N. agencies who have highlighted that the work that they are doing on the ground, including with the Palestinian colleagues on the ground, is crucial and life-saving work. When we look at the statistics and the figures a bit, there have been put out by U.N. agencies at this point, nearly 14,000 children, according to UNICEF, killed in the Gaza Strip since October 7, thousands more injured as you saw there in Jeremy's reporting, thousands, of course now, on the brink of famine.

That is the huge point of concern. Now, we are talking about a manmade famine. And that warning has been in place for some time now, for weeks now, from the United Nations, that more needs to be done to ensure that civilians are being protected. Of course, that is not the case. We are still seeing civilians being killed each and every day, but more also needs to be done to prevent what is a man-made crisis.

Now, the United Nations has accused Israel of placing blockades and place and obstructing the access of U.N. agencies to get humanitarian aid into the Gaza strip. They have, in some cases accused Israel of intentionally starving the Palestinian people. These are claims that Israel, of course denies. They say that they are doing whatever they can to allow aid in. But of course that doesn't really add up what we are seeing on the ground.

Although we have been some positive developments, there has been a continued push for more land crossings to be open. We've just heard now from the U.N. World Food Programme that another land crossing has been open, the Erez Crossing has now allowed aid trucks to get in for the first time since the war began.

According to the World Food Programme, three convoys actually pass on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. That's a total of 25 trucks carrying 404 metric tons of food. So that is a significant development. But, of course, we are weeks into that warning of a famine being on the cards and what we are seeing would be repeated airstrikes on civilian areas is making it more difficult for aid agencies to operate on the ground and crucially, more difficult for aid agencies to be able to guarantee the security to allow these convoys into Gaza.

FOSTER: Okay. And, Nada, thank you so much for that.

Jury selection -- jury selection for Donald Trumps hush money trial resumed in just a few hours. Seven jurors have been chosen so far, four men and three women. But 12th are required. And likely six alternates as well. The next group of 96 potential jurors will be brought in today to start filling the remaining seats and its anyone's guess, how long this process will take. Trump's attorneys have been digging through prospective jurors, social media posts to try to prevent those who don't like him from getting onto that jury.

U.S. Senate put a swift end to the impeachment case against homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Lawmakers rejected both articles of impeachment, largely along party lines. The Republican-led house impeach Mayorkas in February over his handling of the southern border. He is the first cabinet member to be impeached in nearly 150 years. The Senate trial had barely gotten underway on Wednesday when Democrats derailed it on procedural votes.

We are following extreme weather in parts of the Middle East. The death toll continues to rise in Afghanistan after heavy rains and flooding. Afghan officials say at least 70 people have died so far, with more deaths reported in nearby Pakistan. Meanwhile, Dubai is seeing is heaviest rainfall in nearly a century.

We'll have two reports for you. CNN's Eleni Giokos is in Dubai, but let's begin with meteorologist Allison Chinchar.

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ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): 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 UAE, Bahrain, Oman, and Iran.

In neighboring countries, Pakistan and Afghanistan, the damage has up ended peoples lives.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We took the children and escaped with them. The flood has damaged the walls of our home and all are 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, PASHAWAR, 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, LAI-FUR 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.

[04:15:07]

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) (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (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 they vehicles as the floodwater rose.

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 to me 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.

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)

FOSTER: A tsunami alert has been issued in a remote region of Indonesia where a volcano erupting.

There are fears it could collapse into the sea. More than 800 people have been evacuated. Tuesday's eruption center column of smoke and ash more than the mile into the air, the interruptions were even stronger on Wednesday. So far, no reports of deaths or injuries, but people have been told to be on alert for potential dangers, like flying rocks and hot cloud discharges.

Indonesia is located on the so-called Ring of Fire. The ring around the Pacific Ocean, known for his active volcanoes and frequent earthquakes.

So, it's kind of a controversial bill sparks a third night of protest in Georgia's capital. What has so many people so angry there? Plus, the long-delayed Ukraine aid bill will finally get a vote in the U.S. House, but it could spell trouble for Speaker Mike Johnson, is under fire from members of his own party.

And later, 99 days until the Summer Olympics in Paris. As soon as from team Great Britain showcase their talents and the dream team is back in men's basketball as Team USA announces a star-studded lineup.

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FOSTER: Ukraine, a soccer Russian airfields in occupied Crimea. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, he says the target was on the northern end of the peninsula and local pro-Ukraine resistance group says a Russian air defense system and the command post were hit.

Meanwhile, Ukraine is reeling from a Russian missile strike on the northern city of Chernihiv.

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FOSTER: Officials said at least 18 people were killed in that attack early on Wednesday and close to 80 others were injured. A strike damaged a hospital and more than 20 apartment buildings, President Zelenskyy says it wouldn't have happened if Ukraine had enough air defenses to fight back. He also urged allies to ramp up their weapons production.

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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): This is time that everyone in Europe, in the free world, needs to use to strengthen, for more arms production, for more arms supplies, for determination 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.

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FOSTER: Meanwhile, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says Moscow is starting to get the upper hand in Ukraine.

He told House lawmakers on Wednesday that Russian troops are making incremental gains despite strong Ukrainian resistance, and U.S. Congress to pass a Ukraine aid bill, so failure to do so would create a dangerous domino event.

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LLOYD AUSTIN, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: If the United States proves to be an unreliable partner and that not only will erode the confidence of our European allies in NATO, but it'll also encourage players like -- players like the PRC and Iran to do the kinds of things that they would want to do anyway. Ukraine matters not to -- not just to Europe, it matters to the whole world. This is about the rules-based international order and making sure that

that a country -- a leader of our country can't wake up one day and decided that he's going to erase the borders of his neighbor and get away with it. I mean, there has to be some kind of international order.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Ukraine could be one step closer to getting the aid that it's actually asking for on Wednesday. U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson said he'll put a $61 billion package up for a vote this Saturday. It's a bill his Republican colleagues have blocked for months and hardliners are again warning that move could cost Johnson his job, as CNN's Manu Raju reports.

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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.

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 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 went 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.

JOHNSON: 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,

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.

[04:25:08]

Now, the question, will Democrats save Johnson's job?

Does he still deserve to be saved if it comes to it?

REP. TOM SOUZZI (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: 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 minority, too.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RAJU (on camera): Now, Democrats are not united on the idea of saving Mike Johnson as speaker. In fact, Pramila Jayapal, who's the leader of the progressive, told me that she would not support this idea because she's concerned about his conservative ideology. And other one, Alexandria 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. FOSTER: Still to come -- the barrage of drones and missiles on leased by Iran on Israel last weekend has drawn that decades-long shadow war into the light. Now, can both sides set back from the brink of a wider conflicts? That's just ahead.

And a defiance I'm from Venezuela after the U.S. announces it will reimpose sanctions.

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FOSTER: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster.

Here are today's top stories:

Right now, G7 foreign ministers are gathering on the Italian island of Capri for day two of a summit that will include talks on the Middle East and Ukraine. Ukraine's foreign minister and NATO secretary general are set to join the talks in the coming hours.

Donald Trump met with Polish -- the Polish president at Trump Tower in New York on Wednesday night for about two-and-a-half hours.

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