Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Police Issue Unlawful Assembly Order At Pro-Palestinian Encampment At UCLA; Israel Reopens Gaza's Erez Crossing For First Time Since October 7; Russia Displays Western Equipment Captured From Ukrainian Army. A Rare Look at Iranian Weapons Used against Israel; 36 Killed in Highway Collapse in Southern China; Impact of New Six-Week Abortion Ban on Florida Clinic; Trump Takes Shots at Hush Money Trial Judge; IDF Responds to Questions about Strike that Killed 10 children; Heat Wave Threatens Health, Livelihoods in Southeast Asia; Tulips Under Threat. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired May 02, 2024 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:00:28]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Ahead here on CNN Newsroom. Standoff on campus, police set to move in and clear hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters hunkered down at the University of California in Los Angeles.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETAR OF STATE: The progress is real, but it needs to be accelerated. It needs to be sustained.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Aid trucks rolling into northern Gaza, Israel reopens the Erez border crossing, but only after immense pressure from the United States.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We only know what amount of shells we get when we see the list of the day and the blocks with shells.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: As Republicans store military funding for Ukraine for months, Russian forces were making huge territorial gains not seen since the early days of the war.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN Newsroom with John Vause.
VAUSE: We start with breaking news. The standoff on campus at the University of California in Los Angeles where hundreds of police officers and other law enforcement officials appear ready to disperse pro-Palestinian protesters as after police declared the protest encampment and unlawful assembly.
The first step before demonstrators asked to leave or face arrest.
The LAPD has issued a citywide tactical alert, placing all personnel on notice they may be called to the protest at UCLA, if needed. Just 24 hours ago, the university was the scene of violent clashes between pro-Palestinian protesters and a counter protest group which left at least 15 people injured.
Live now to CNN's Nick Watt at UCLA right now amid those protesters and the police. Nick, I can hear what's happening. It does seem that there's something happening at the moment. What's the latest?
NICK WATT, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, , well, I'm just looking at some LAPD officers getting into their vehicle and just wondering if this crowd is going to give them any grief. They're not. Now, the crowd, slightly thin since I last spoke to John. But that's really only because there was a phalanx of LAPD police officers dressed in riot gear walking behind this building and a bunch of this crowd moved over to shout things like shame on you at them.
So we are still in this waiting pattern. It's about 10 p.m. right now. The source that I have has told me that the rough plan here is that the LAPD and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department are going to deal with this crowd, a bigger crowd than they really expected that has gathered since the rumors that the law enforcement was going to make a foray into that encampment.
So these people have gathered since then. They will be dealt with by LAPD and the sheriff's. The California Highway Patrol will actually move into that encampment. Now we don't know exactly how many people are in there. The last estimate I had was 100. We spoke to somebody who's been in there recently. And she says it is way more than that.
Now they will be given an opportunity to leave before the CHP moves in. The CHP, we're told is concerned of human waste in there that can be there for about a week. And they're also concerned that some of the protesters in there might have bear spray on them.
Sometime tonight, we expect that to happen. We don't yet know. But everybody here is waiting for the incursion into that encampment. John.
VAUSE: Very basic question, Nick. Do we know what they're waiting for?
WATT: We do not. I mean, I imagine they might be waiting for this crowd to thin out a little bit more. But they do not look like they are ready yet. I mean, the LAPD is all here facing outwards. And as I say they are not the ones that are going to be going in. We have not seeing the CHP, so I can only imagine that they're waiting until later in the night when hopefully for them.
This crowd has dispersed a bit and perhaps they might be waiting for more reinforcement from the sheriff's department to deal with this crowd. It doesn't look like it is happening anytime soon. But it certainly looks like it's happening tonight. John.
VAUSE: Nick was speaking we're looking at what appears to be a lot of police officers moving into campus from a high shot from the from one of our affiliates there. They're lined up in pairs or twos marching in there that shot is again.
So clearly that's our KBC affiliate, they're showing us what's happening here with that looks like LA police with riot gear. They don't have shields and helmets. Second thing.
We know that there's a lot of criticism 24 hours ago when police says simply sort of stood by and watch these pro-Palestinian protesters and there's counter protests who actually have at it there was a lot of violence on campus.
[01:05:00]
And police were criticized for that. So I guess having that, I guess what are they tentative about moving here they might be more mindful about not wanting to cause violence or spark some kind of conflict.
WATT: John, it is a very different scene all week. The campus here -- the campus administration has been trying to keep law enforcement at arm's length. So it's not to antagonize though is not to cause any violence between law enforcement and the protesters. That all changed after what happened last night.
We saw those pro-Israel protesters, many of them seem to not be students coming in and basically launching a bit of an attack against that encampment. Chemicals sprayed, there was a firework, there were physical altercations. And since then, the governor of California has decried the police action and said it was way too little way too late.
So today, we have seen CHP. We have seen LAPD all over this campus, a completely different posture, but it is, of course, antagonizing the crowd. So they're not doing that for nothing. They are doing that, because they are going to be going into that encampment tonight and clearing it out.
VAUSE: And with that in mind, Nick, I just want to describe what I see seeing these live images at five minutes past 10 Los Angeles time, it appears that right police carrying shields that wearing helmets and are lining up in some kind of perimeter around the exterior.
I believe this is the exterior of the campus here. There is a lot of them. How many I cannot be sitting by any measure. There's certainly dozens of them, if not more. And they do appear to be gathering at some kind of staging point now. They're being followed by a lot of media, by a lot of press there.
But precisely what this is whether this is a prelude to something, whether it's just ongoing precautions or measures which they've been taking since this began, I do not know. But once this begins, Nick, do we know exactly what area they will come in from which we know the LAPD will be there as I think to secure the scene you said, and so where will they be sanctioned? And do we know where the police actually come from which directions?
WATT: Well, the LAPD itself will be basically where they are now against this crowd and the crowd on the other side. We do not know where the CHP will come in. But we do know that they are already staging buses in a parking lot about a mile away from here. Those buses will be used for the people they arrest to take them away. We've seen that other encampment sweeps over the past week or so the past couple of weeks.
So the plan, we don't know for sure. But we do know CHP goes in, LAPD and the sheriff deal with this crowd, which could be problematic. Now, I said to you earlier that there weren't any counter protesters. We do see one Israeli flag in amongst that crowd. There are a couple of Palestinian flags, the Israeli flag a little limp and low. There it goes up.
And we haven't seen any trouble in that crowd. That has been the real issue here over the past week or so. For the campus authorities is keeping both sides apart the protesters and the counter protesters. We haven't seen so much of that.
Tonight, we have just seen huge throngs of pro-Palestinian protesters showing solidarity to the people who were inside that encampment.
Now, John, the people inside that encampment will have a chance to get out. They will be given an option to get out. I imagine a fair number will stay. And they will be the ones who will see the CHP coming in to move them out, move their equipment and arrest them and put them in those buses. John.
VAUSE: Which then raises the question, have you had any indication from both protesters from the students and the others? The outside is, you know, the, you know, the ones who they're agitated, like, do they pledge resist? Will they be dragged away? Will be passive resistance? Is there any plan in place by the protesters on how they'll respond once the police move into to clear out the crowds?
WATT: We have not had any indication of that. But I do have to say that the people who have been inside that encampment, they have not been, I would say physically violent during this week. They have been antagonized by those counter protesters. They have certainly been spitting a lot of bile. There has of course been a few clashes between them and the counter protesters. You know, there were barricades there first.
Well, first of all, there were campus security on bicycles trying to keep the two sides apart last week. They then put in one barricade. They then put in two barricades skating apart and then today they basically had this 60 or 70 yard buffer zone between the encampment and any potential counter protesters.
So, it's unclear as I say they have not been excessively violent. Hold on. I'm just getting more information coming in here. CHP is lined up behind the LAPD. They are now facing the encampment , John.
So I don't know if we can see that on our camera. Yes, we can see if you see, Tom if you push it I'm not sure you can see the slightly kind of sandy khaki colored uniforms in the back that are facing the encampment those are the CHP officers.
[01:10:09]
Those are the people. Well, the CHP, I don't know if those particular individuals who will eventually be going into that camp. The people in the darker black, dark blue uniforms facing me, that is the LAPD, they are the officers who will be dealing with this crowd outside, trying to basically keep this crowd away. Keep this crowd not being a factor in this move into the encampment to clear that encampment. John.
VAUSE: Nick, thank you for keeping us up to date with everything that is happening there and giving us a very detailed description from your vantage point. Clearly it does appear that something is in the works, whether that will be the ultimate move of the police and the sheriff's department and the California Highway Patrol actually move in and clear up that Palestinian encampment.
We will continue to monitor the situation. Nick Watt will still be there for us. He'll bring us the very latest as soon as it happens. Nick, back to you with any news. Thank you.
Back to New York City now we're police have again been called to clear pro-Palestinian protesters this time at Fordham University.
First came a warning from police to demonstrate this to disperse. Not long after that police moved into clear and a cabinet including pop up tents. They arrested at least 15 people. For it was asked a house please to remain on campus for another three weeks to ensure the cabinets are not reestablished.
At Columbia University demonstrators are now protesting not just the war in Gaza, but also recent police actions on campus. Body cam footage shows how officers entered one of the main campus buildings where protesters had barricaded themselves inside. They pushed past many pieces of large furniture, also carrying out a number of arrests. Authorities are still trying to figure out how many of the demonstrators detained at Columbia University were actually students.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIC ADAMS, NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: There was a movement to radicalize young people. And I'm not going to wait until it's done. And all of a sudden acknowledge the existence of it. This is a global problem that young people are being influenced by those who are professionals and radicalizing our children. And I'm not going to allow that to happen as the Mayor of the City of New York.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: A professor at New York University recently weighed in on the demonstrations across campuses on the U.S., suggesting the protesters had been given tremendous leniency.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SCOTT GALLOWAY, PROFGESSOR OF MARKETING, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY: This is more like 1938, the 1968 and I think there's exceptional double standards. I think if I went into the plaza of any of these universities in a white hood and a confederate flag and started saying, lynch the blacks or burn the gays, I don't think there'd be a lot of discussion around first amendment or nuance.
I think my NYU ID would be shut off by the end of the day. I would never work in academia again. And if I did anything to be resembled intimidation or harassment of students and whipped other faculty and students into a frenzy that intimidated students and made them felt unsafe, I think that they call in the National Guard.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: These protests on campus have made some political problems for Joe Biden seeking a second term in office. But the war in Gaza has divided many Democrats. His administration has condemned the forceful takeover of campus buildings and instances of antisemitism, while also remaining mindful of students right to protest.
White House press secretary present (INAUDIBLE) stressed the need to fight antisemitism as he delivers a keynote address next week at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's annual remembrance ceremony.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARYY: The President is being kept regularly updated on what's happening. As you just stated across the country. He is monitoring the situation closely. So is his team. And I would just add that no president, no President has spoken more forcefully about combating antisemitism than this president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: 207 days desperately needed humanitarian assistance is again flowing into northern Gaza through the Erez crossing. Convoy of 31 trucks from Jordan passed through the checkpoint Wednesday, soon after the Israeli government agree to reopen the checkpoint for humanitarian supplies.
The announcement by Israel came on the same day U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrapped up his trip to Israel, his seventh visit to the Middle East since the war began October 7. He met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blinken reiterated his message to Hamas take the hostage and ceasefire deal currently on the table.
He also had a message for Israel the U.S. will not support a major military offensive on refer without some kind of effective plan to protect more than 1 million civilians who are taking shelter in that southern city.
[01:15:02]
VAUSE: Blinken also visited Kerem Shalom a key border crossing in southern Gaza were an additional 48 Jordanian a truck so due to pass on Wednesday, he received a close briefing rather on the aid operation. And while he noted this progress, he reminded Israel it must be accelerated and sustained.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLINKEN: We have seen in recent weeks real, meaningful progress that is starting to make a difference for people in Gaza.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Well, despite that surge in humanitarian assistance, conditions across Gaza remained dire. A new report from Medecins Sans Frontieres or Doctors Without Borders, says the necessary conditions for survival are absent in the southern city of Rafah. CNN's Paula Hancocks has more on this growing humanitarian crisis.
(BEGIN VIDEOAPE)
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Children queue for food in Deir al-Balah. For many in this central Gaza City, iit's the first nutritious meal they have had in weeks. This child says I haven't been given a meal for a month because the kitchen team was struck. We only had canned food.
The World Central Kitchen has resumed operations in Gaza, saying it served 200,000 meals Tuesday, one month after seven of its workers were killed by an Israeli military strike.
ASHRAF AL SULTAN, WORKING FOR WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN (through translator): We can see people's desperation. People have no food, and we are all displaced.
HANCOCKS (voice-over): More aid is starting to get in. The U.N. group responsible for supporting Palestinians. UNRWA says it is the most since late October. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken calls it measurable progress, but both he and UNRWA say it still falls woefully short.
Last week, the World Food Programme said the flow of aid is still crippled by red tape.
MATTHEW HOLLINGWORTH, WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME COUNTRY DIRECTOR FOR PALESTINE: Spending hours a day to get through a checkpoint is not good enough. Being able to only use checkpoints for a short period of the day is not good enough. We have enough food. Still do we have enough access.
HANCOCKS (voice-over): The Israeli army said Wednesday it is expanding areas in the south of Gaza to which civilians can move and where they say humanitarian aid will flow. It's assumed to be part of Israel's plan to evacuate more than 1 million civilians from Rafah on the southern border before a long threatened grand offensive.
A move that humanitarian agencies warn would be catastrophic.
ANTONIO GUTERRES, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: More than 1.2 million people are now seeking shelter in Rafah governorates. They have very little to it. Hardly any access to medical care, little shelter, and nowhere safe to go.
HANCOCKS (voice-over): In Gaza every day is a battle to survive the bombing injuries, the lack of food, water or shelter, and the situation is worsening by the day. According to the U.N., saying disease and starvation are on the rise.
GUTERRES: We must do everything possible to avert an entirely preventable human made feminine.
HANCOCKS (voice-over): UNA chief Martin Griffiths warned this week, we are in a race to stave off hunger and death and we are losing. Paula Hancocks, CNN, Abu Dhabi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Russia and trophies of war. When we come back, Western tanks and weapons captured in Ukraine by Russian forces now on public display in Moscow.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:20:27]
VAUSE: Spoils of war now on display in Moscow, the weapons were captured by Russian forces including tanks from the United States and Germany. It's all on display in Moscow ahead of Russia's Victory Day celebration May 9. One of the biggest public holidays and marks the Soviet defeat of Nazi Germany.
Kyiv described the exhibition as propaganda meant to discredit Western assistance. Ukraine is weighed heavily on military aid from partners across the world, especially the United States. It's just approved a new aid package with $61 billion.
The five-month wait for Congress to approve that military aid to Ukraine may have caused lasting damage on the front lines. Russian forces have used the delay to make very big advances since -- the biggest factors rather since the early months of the war.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday vital U.S. weapons were finally starting to arrive but in small amounts. Deliveries need to be faster he said as Moscow is able to throw vast resources at Ukraine still limited defenses.
Here's a Ukrainian servicemen remember on the front lines near the Russian occupied area Donetsk described the situation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OLEKSANDR KOZACHENKO, HOWTIZER COMMANDER, UKRAINE'S 148TH ARTILLERY BRIGADE (through translator): Of course we don't have enough shells. If we compare with the beginning of the invasion, when we fired up to 100 shells a day to now when we fire 30 shells, it's the luxury. IHOR BOICHAK, ARTILLERY SERVICEMAN, UKRAINE'S 148TH ARTILLERY BRIGADE
(through translator): We only know what amount of shells we get when we see the list of the day and the blocks with shells. If it happens that we get a bit allocated, then we fire more. The list is small, then we don't fire much.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Moscow's progress comes ahead of an expected Russian offensive later this month. Probably some Ukrainian military officials to warn of the risks to key supply lines in the East.
Mick Ryan is a retired Major General of the Australian Army. He's also former commander of the Australian College Defense College. He joins us live from Brisbane. Welcome back, sir.
MAJ. GEN. MICK RYAN, AUSTRALIAN ARMY (RET.): Hey, John, good to see.
VAUSE: Thank you, sir. OK, despite promises of weapons and ammunition is being rushed to Ukraine. I think we talked about this about a week or so ago. Clearly there are shortages, and they're still there. Right now the Ukrainian city of Chasiv Yar, I think that's how it's pronounced, about 10 kilometers west of the Russian occupied Bakhmut. And this is north of Avdiivka, which is also under Russian control.
It's been left devastated by Russian artillery strikes, and a senior Ukrainian commander is warning it would be very important for them the Russians to take Chaviv Yar before we receive foreign aid when we stop having a shortage of ammunition. If the enemy captures the dominant heights and the occupies gain a foothold, it will be a big problem for us.
So what is that the problem? What happens is Chasiv Yar actually falls to the Russians?
RYAN: Well, even in the 21st century, ground matters. Having high terrain, which is defensible is very important and Chasiv Yar is that and even though the Russians have probably taken more ground around Avdiivka in the last month, is shifting more forces to the area of Bakhmut and Chasiv Yar, that now appears to be their main effort.
VAUSE: The Ukrainian President was talking about this shortage of weapons earlier this week. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Congress support for our army. Today I don't see anything positive on this point yet. So there are supplies, they have slightly begun. This process needs to be sped up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: A lot of these gains by the Russians have been made during this weapon ammunition shortage by the Ukrainians and U.S. officials have had months to plan how to deliver assistance as quickly as possible once that regulatory package was approved by Congress.
So I guess the question is, is it any idea why it is taking so long as there's a substantial increase in delivery? How serious will this be for Ukraine?
RYAN: Well, there's a few parts to this problem. The first bit is getting munitions and weapons to Europe, a lot of that will have already been done. The second part is getting across the border into Ukraine. And the third bit is handing it over Ukrainians and the Iranians to then distributed
So, even though the U.S. and Western allies might have provided a lot of stuff very quickly, the Ukrainian distribution system may not be up to the amount of material coming in at the moment. So it's a complex logistics system are things that never this easy, especially when you're in war. And frankly even when you're well supplied. You never have enough ammunition.
VAUSE: Because we're hearing from, you know, Ukrainian soldiers on the front line saying there's actually a competition right now to actually try and get the artillery shells that they need. Some are receiving it some odd is that to be expected?
[01:25:00]
RYAN: Well, it's a pretty grim situation after 27 months of war the fact that Western industry still hasn't been able to step up to provide everything the fray in need is a searing indictment of Western politicians and governments and investment in defense industries.
We really need to sort this out, because if we expect Ukraine to defend itself and beat the Russians, they need more men, and they need more ammunitions.
VAUSE: What is interesting, though, we didn't really have much of an idea of what this five-month long delay in approving the military assistance actually cost Ukraine, but we do now. Here's a headline from CNN, Russia is capturing its biggest swath of territory since July 2022, as Kyiv desperately awaits us weaponry.
You know, Ukraine officials consisted just rather up until Sunday, that Russia wasn't making such huge territorial gains. So I guess, why would they do that? What's to be gained by not being so open and transparent, especially with a bunch of bloggers know what's going on? And I guess, you know, what more would you expect to find out as the consequence of this delay that we don't know already?
RYAN: For some of these delays in informing people what's going on is just instinctive part of operational security in the military, particularly when things aren't going so well, that doesn't make it excusable. But it does happen in military institutions of time, and not just in the Ukraine happens in other Western militaries too.
The Russians have taken at least 75 square kilometers in this month alone. But we should also report they've taken a lot of ground before and the Ukrainians have taken effect. VAUSE: There's also been some very heavy Russian casualties too, just in recent days. So Russian still continue to pay a fairly high price for the territory they do get.
RYAN: They certainly do. They have almost the opposite approach the Ukrainians at the moment. The Russians don't care what it costs to take territory, where the Ukrainians now under General Syrskyi appear to have accepted that they have to give up territory if they want to preserve the army whilst they're mobilizing more troops at the moment.
VAUSE: Yes. It's sometimes to retreat and fight for another day is that is the strategy that they've adopted that now. Because the early days, they certainly were out of it not to do that.
RYAN: Now, absolutely. And you know, both. There are both military and political imperatives to holding terrain, but there's a bigger imperative to save the lives of your soldiers so they can fight more important battles in the future.
VAUSE: Generals, Lisa, good to see you. Thank you very much.
RYAN: Thank you. It's great to speak with you.
VAUSE: Thanks sir. Well, a little over two weeks after Iran launched a missile strike against Israel hundreds of missiles and drones for appears key to showcase all of its weapons, showing its capable of fighting a wider conflict should a brick (ph) face one.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Iranian leaders see beloved big military parade showcasing their most deadly and advanced weapons.
[01:30:04]
Now comes an exhibit of its air and space capabilities and that includes the missiles and drones used two weeks ago to strike Israel.
Here's CNN's Fred Pleitgen, with an exclusive report from Tehran.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: When Iran attacked Israel in mid-April, they fired hundreds of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones developed by the elite Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Forces.
So these two were used in the Israel operation.
Now the Revolutionary Guard showed us the types of weapons they used to strike Israel, including two ballistic missiles, the Emad (ph) and the Ghadr (ph), with a range of more than a thousand miles able to carry about a half ton warhead.
How accurate are these?
ALI BELALI, BRIGADIER GENERAL. REVOLUTIONARY GUARD: Accurate, less than five meters.
PLEITGEN: Less than five meters it can hit.
BELALI: Less than target.
PLEITGEN: Brigadier General Ali Belali was himself once a missile commander in the Revolutionary Guard. He says Iranian missiles managed to hit two targets in Israel, including an airbase in retaliation for the bombing of Iran's embassy compound in Syria.
While the U.S. and Israel claimed to have shot down nearly all of Iran's missiles and drones, the general says Tehran showed the power of its aerospace forces.
"Today our drones and missiles have become an important factor of strength and the execution of power in the world," he says.
He also showed us this cruise missile, a type also used in the strikes, and arguably currently the most infamous drone in the world, the Shahed 136.
Can you show me the warhead? I've never seen the Shahed warhead before
BELALI: -- and then it goes inside --
PLEITGEN: -- into the missile and then it explodes. Ok.
While the Iranians acknowledged using Shaheds against Israel, the U.S. and Ukraine accuse Tehran of also giving hundreds of these drones to Russia. Moscow using them to attack Ukrainian cities and energy infrastructure. The Iranians continue to deny those accusations.
The general tells me that Shaheds attack in swarms often fired off secretly from unmarked trucks like this one.
"Everything is pre-programmed," he says. "The flight route is chosen according to the enemy's capabilities and blind spots of radars and all the elements that can help us reach the target."
Well, tensions between Iran and Israel have somewhat eased after they traded direct military blows for the first time, the general warns Iran has even more modern weapons at its disposal.
"The only path for them is to have logical and wise negotiations with us," he says. "In our defense capabilities, we don't depend on anyone. We've had good progress in this field and we will progress more. There are achievements that have not yet been talked about."
Fred Pleitgen, CNN -- Tehran.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: At least 36 people have died after a section of highway in a mountainous region of southern China collapsed, sending cars plummeting. This happened in Guangdong Province Wednesday. Chinese state
broadcaster CCTV reports that 30 people were also hospitalized. Disaster response teams remain on the scene.
Kristie Lu Stout joins me live from Hong Kong with the very latest. This is the result of heavy rain.
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. In fact, state-run media is saying it is a result of heavy rain in the area. And the photographs -- the video of the aftermath of this incident is just horrifying. You see a section of highway that collapse has happened before dawn on Wednesday.
It took dozens of lives and the death toll is rising. It has risen to 36, 30 people are in hospital and this mountainside highway is in Guangdong Province in the south of China, connects Meizhou City and Dapu City (ph) and amid heavy rain, the road there just gave way in the early hours of Wednesday at 2:10 a.m. local time.
I want to show you some video that was shared widely on social media, video that purports to show this disaster. And in the first clip, let's bring it up for you -- in the first clip, it shows the initial emergency response with rescue workers at the scene. It's in darkness and you see that the raging fire where the road should have been.
And then in social video that was taken after daybreak, lets show you the second batch of videos. It shows the aftermath. And you could see it clearly.
Let's bring up the second batch of social media video for you and you could see the devastation. You could see also the nearly 18-meter-long gash in the earth and the aerial imagery reveals dozens of cars in piles at the bottom of the ravine.
You can see it there. The smoke rising from the charred vehicles scattered across the side of the mountain.
[01:34:51]
STOUT: Now, it is not clear who shot the videos and CNN has not independently verified their authenticity.
State media says that around 500 rescue workers were sent to the scene. The disaster injured of people who are being treated in hospital and are in stable condition, this is according to state-run media.
And additional medical teams were sent to the hospital to quote, "make every effort to treat the injured.
Guangdong Province is an economic powerhouse. It's home to 127 million people and it's recently seen very heavy rain and widespread flooding, which has displaced over 110,000 people. That's according to official numbers. And the heavy rain has also caused that section of highway to literally disintegrate at a time when many of the victims were on this road at the start of the Labor Day holiday in China. Back to you, John.
Kristie, thank you. Kristie Lu Stout there, live for us in Hong Kong with all the details. Thank you.
In a moment, we'll head to Florida where a tough new abortion law is now on the books. We'll have reaction from patients and health care workers after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Tough new abortion laws are now in effect in Florida, reducing a ban on abortion from after 15 weeks to now six weeks when most women won't even know they're pregnant.
New data reveals more than 1,300 women traveled from other states to Florida to get an abortion so far this year.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, was on the campaign trail in Florida on Wednesday. She blamed Donald Trump for the new law.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Across our nation, we witnessed a full-on assault state by state on reproductive freedom and understand who is to blame. Former President Donald Trump did this.
Joe Biden and I have a different view. We believe the government should never come between a woman and her doctor.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: With abortion now banned in Florida after the sixth week of pregnancy, one clinic in Jacksonville is vowing to stay open to help women navigate the best options they have.
CNN's Meg Tirrell has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDACE: It's very scary that these laws are being put into place and my life matters.
MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: A sense of urgency inside a woman's choice clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, as mom of two Candace agreed to speak with us as she sought an abortion. For privacy reasons, Candace was comfortable providing only her first name and asked us not to show her face.
CANDACE: I don't think anybody plans to do something like this until it happens to them and they're faced with that decision.
TIRRELL: Candace came to this clinic on a much busier day than usual, just hours before abortion access in Florida would dramatically change. The state's 15-week limit today rolled back to a six-week near-total ban.
KELLY FLYNN, PRESIDENT AND CEO, A WOMAN'S CHOICE: Very few people know their pregnant at that point.
[01:39:48]
TIRRELL: Kelly Flynn is the president and CEO of A Woman's Choice. She took us inside the clinic she bought in 2002.
In the last few days, Flynn says they scheduled two to four times as many patients as they normally see.
So now when you get a call from somebody who's after six weeks, what do you tell them?
FLYNN: If they're local, we try to get them to come in. We will try to get them to come in and at least see where they are in their pregnancy. You give them their options and help them with whatever we can with logistics, with travel.
TIRRELL: Governor Ron DeSantis spoke in support of the law this week.
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): Being able to provide protections for a baby that has a detectable heartbeat is lawful and constitutional.
TIRRELL: The change doesn't just affect Florida because surrounding states have had stricter laws. Many people have traveled to Florida to access abortion, almost 8,000 last year according to state records.
FLYNN: This changes everything for the entire southeast, you know, not just for Floridians, but for the surrounding states -- for Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee. I worry it's going to be a public health crisis.
TIRRELL: Now, patients across the south may have to travel as far as 800 miles to North Carolina where the limit for abortion is 12 weeks, or further north.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you for calling A Woman's Choice. How may I help you.
We have clinics in Jacksonville, Florida. We also have Charlotte, Greensboro, Raleigh, North Carolina, and (INAUDIBLE) Virginia.
TIRRELL: A Woman's Choice just opened its clinic in Virginia, anticipating Florida's ban. In Jacksonville, they showed us how many charts they'd been preparing for patients.
FLYNN: This is the amount that we have today, less than the amount that I have to make tomorrow is that many. Pretty significant change?
TIRRELL: This morning, the team regrouped for their new reality.
FLYNN: We're going to continue to stay open because I know many of you have been asking about that and well we'll see as many patients, serve as many patients as we can that are within the required limitations now.
TIRRELL: It's not the end of their fight. Abortion may be on the ballot in Florida in November.
Will you be able to keep this clinic open that long?
FLYNN: I'm going to do my best. I'm going to try really hard.
TIRRELL: For patients like Candace speaking to us yesterday on the eve of the new restrictions it's a fight not just for her, but also her 14-year-old daughter.
CANDACE: And I feel lucky that, you know, right now, I do have a voice and I have a right over my own body but waking up tomorrow is devastating knowing that my daughter and myself are waking up tomorrow with less rights than we do today.
Meg Tirrell, CNN -- Jacksonville.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
With his hush money payments to a porn star trial adjourned for a day, Donald Trump was back on the campaign trail Wednesday. The four-times indicted, twice-impeached, one-term president held rallies in Wisconsin and Michigan both battleground states he's won in 2016, but lost four years later.
A day earlier, the judge overseeing Trump's trial, fined him for violations of a gag order, and warned jail time could be next for the Republican presidential front runner if it happens again, which most likely will.
But the order does not prevent Trump from taking shots, verbal shots at the judge.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have a crooked judge. He is a totally conflicted judge.
So I got indicted four times and I have civil trials too, all coming out of the White House, everything, like a third world country.
And the good news is people get it. Most importantly, people get it and my poll numbers are higher than they've ever been. I mean, higher than they've ever been.
CNN's Kristen Holmes has more on Trump's rally in Michigan.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, here in Michigan, Donald Trump railing at his New York hush money case, talking about that gag order, complaining about the judge. This coming the same week that Judge Merchan, the judge in that case, fined him $9,000 after he ruled that he had violated his gag order. He did appear to stay within the parameters tonight. Now in addition
to talking about it his various legal problems, Donald Trump focused on abortion, on crime, on the economy, and hit Biden, in an earlier event in Wisconsin over those campus protests, a place where he and his team believed that there's an opportunity as they see his rival President Joe Biden sort of o scramble and try to navigate this very sensitive topic.
Take a listen to what he said.
TRUMP: But he hasn't been heard from, you know. He's the president. When you have a problem like that, you should go out and talk about it and talk to the people.
HOLMES: And in the same siege Donald Trump pointed to a CVS report that said that the Biden administration was considering letting in certain Palestinians who were fleeing from the war in Gaza into the United States as refugees soaking fear about immigration, saying that these people would be in the various towns and cities in which his rally attendees live in.
Donald Trump also focusing again, crime, the economy, trying to take advantage of the one day, week day a week that he doesn't have in a New York City courtroom. He will be back in court on Thursday morning and back at those cameras to talk about the case.
[01:44:51]
HOLMES: Kristen Holmes, CNN -- Michigan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: When we come back, a symbol of unconditional love for royalty, for mystery, a whole mock (ph) of spring and now the red rose and the threat because we're killing the planet -- oh tulips rather -- because we're killing the planet.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Two weeks ago ten children playing together were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a refugee camp in central Gaza. And now the Israeli military is answering questions from CNN's Jeremy Diamond about how the strike could have occurred. Friends and family are still mourning their loss.
We have a warning now. Some of the images, some of the details in this report are graphic and are difficult to hear.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This grainy home video is the closest Mona Awda Talla will ever get to seeing her 10-year-old daughter.
A stack of school certificates, a wardrobe of her favorite clothes, the perfume she used to wear, all that remains of the daughter Mona poured everything into.
MONA AWDA TALLA, SHAHED AWDA TALLA'S MOTHER (through translator): There is no Shahed now. Every time she came in, she said mom. I would say my soul, my soul, my soul is gone.
DIAMOND: Shahed was one of ten children killed when an Israeli airstrike hit the crowded street in the Al Maghazi Refugee Camp where she was playing with her friends. Her pink pants impossible to miss among the small bodies splayed around a foosball table in the chaotic aftermath.
Two weeks later, the Israeli military still won't take responsibility for the strike that killed her.
CNN provided the IDF with the coordinates and time of the attack based on metadata from two different phones in the immediate aftermath.
The IDF said they did not have a record of that strike. They said they carried out a strike at a different time than described and that the collateral damage as described in the query is not known to the IDF. The IDF makes great efforts to mitigate harm to the civilian population from areas where strikes are being carried out.
Evidence recovered and documented by CNN at the scene of the strike paints a very different picture of Israeli military responsibility. This circuit board and bits of shrapnel, walls and shop steps distinctively pockmarked, and a small crater barely a foot wide, all pointing three munitions experts to the same conclusion. The carnage was likely caused by a precision-guided munitions deployed by the Israeli military.
CHRIS COBB-SMITH, WEAPONS EXPERT: I have seen these strikes so many times. There's a relatively small crater in the road. There's no large shrapnel holes or fragmentation holes, which would have been caused by, say, a mortar round or an artillery round. The fragmentation is consistent.
DIAMOND: So in your view, this strike was caused by a precision- guided, drone-fired missile?
COBB-SMITH: Absolutely. This is an Israeli munition. The local militias, the local forces do not have anything with this amount of sophistication.
DIAMOND: Before carrying out the strike, Israeli drones would have surveiled the Al Maghazi Refugee Camp from above.
[01:49:47]
DIAMOND: Seconds later, the missile hits the street below, landing in the middle of the road, just a few feet away from the foosball table were Shahed and her friends were playing that day, delivering certain death.
Against all odds, these children have returned to play at the very same foosball table, including some of Shahed's friends. "I miss her a lot," Sama (ph) says, wearing a necklace Shahed made her. She says she was nearly killed with her friends, going home moments before the strike to drink water.
Others were not as lucky. Eight-year-old Ahmed is fighting for his life, bleeding from his brain, his skull fractured.
His chances of surviving are slim, his doctor explains. He is fighting not to become the 11th child killed in that same strike.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: In Kenya moments of hope after weeks of torrential rain and deadly floods. The Red Cross says 11 people were rescued from floodwaters (INAUDIBLE) Wednesday, while 90 were rescued in western Kenya where a riverbank -- were a river rather burst its banks. Tourist camps were flooded and tents swept away.
The death toll from the flooding across Kenya now approaching 200 and more heavy rain is expected later this month.
Southeast Asia is enduring another scorching heat wave, record high temperatures, thick, heavy humidity is making life not just miserable, but also life-threatening.
CNN's Chad Myers has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: In the Philippines dry, cracked soil plagues crop fields. In Manila, zookeepers give their big cats icy treats and shower them with water.
Meanwhile, pet shop workers in Bangladesh work overtime just to keep their animals cool while demand for air conditioning units skyrocket.
People searching for solace during what's been a record heat wave.
LE THI HONG TOURIST: It's too hot. I have this one day off, so I took the opportunity to bring my child here. But the heat is unbearable. I am tired. He is also tired despite being excited.
Across South Asia, humans, animals, and crops alike can't take the heat. All week, temperatures in the region had run from five to eight degrees, even ten degrees above the norm peaking at 44 degrees Celsius or 111 degrees Fahrenheit.
The sweltering heat made even more harsh by intensified humidity ahead of the expected monsoon.
PETCH MANOPAWITR, CONSERVATION SCIENTIST: Even in tropical region like Southeast Asia now, we're experiencing the new normal I can say. Climate scientists already talking about a shifting baseline.
MYERS: Many schools across the region had closed due to the scorching temperatures, while others like this primary school in northern India take a different approach. The school says attendance has gone up since implementing a makeshift pool.
But other areas are drying up. Low water levels in the Vietnam's, Song May reservoir have killed hundreds of thousands of fish and the heat wave threatening crops and the livelihoods of those who farm them.
PILING PAYUYAO, FARMER: When the heat is very extreme, we can't produce good-quality fruits and vegetables. That is the effect of the heat. Farmers have to suffer a loss from low prices because of the poor quality.
MYERS: On the opposite end of the delivery chain, food delivery drivers do what they can to avoid succumbing to the sweltering temperatures.
In Thailand, the extreme heat means fewer pedestrians and more traffic jams leaving bike riders to face the heatwave with minimal stops for water or AC.
SURIYAN WONGWAN, FOOD DELIVERY RIDER: Riders have to work harder as our delivery rate has increased but the more rides we take, the longer we stay under the heat and it affects us.
MYERS: Experts say these heat waves are becoming hotter and more frequent with climate change.
A University of Cambridge study say heat waves in India could cross the survivability limit for a healthy person in the shade by 2050. And as average temperatures rise in a region most susceptible to heat, daily life will become more and more unbearable for the millions that live there.
Chad Myers, CNN -- Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: In the 17th century, tulips were in short supply because of tulip mania. But now wetter winters and hotter temperatures are a deadly combination for this most beloved flower.
Here's CNN's Lynda Kinkade.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LYNDA KINKADE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Springtime is bloom time for tulips, the flower a sign of unconditional love, rebirth, and forgiveness.
From afar, these majestic blooms in the Netherlands look like a perfect field of budding pink and red tulips. But up close, they're suffering. These fields have grown generations of tulips with Arjan Smit's (ph) family overseeing operations since 1940. But climate change is changing their production year after year.
[01:54:42]
ARJAN SMITH, TULIP FARMER: Last winter, it was very wet. Totally in our sector, we lose around 9 percent of the bulbs in the fields. They like killed by water and we were planting (ph) also four hectares, 4 percent the total less.
KINKADE: Smit says with this change, they'll lose at least 13 percent of next year's bulbs. Higher temperatures add more water vapor to the earth's atmosphere and cause wetter winters.
SMIT: And what you see here is (INAUDIBLE) from the water.
KINKADE: Hot springs in summers are also less than ideal for farming. When Smit began this work 30 years ago, he says they only watered the fields two to four times in spring. Now he says sometimes they have to water them every week.
But the changing climate is not the only challenge. Farmers say Brexit and its increased border controls could have negative repercussions for tulip farmers.
SMIT: I think it goes export from the Netherlands, from the flower industry to send to England. Because its sometimes, it's happened that trips staying many days to waiting by the border before they can pass.
KINKADE: Even with an uncertain future, Smit stays positive recalling the smiles his flowers brought when he donated them to the people of Ukraine.
SMIT: I was silent (ph) there. People comes to me they tell me with tears in their eyes and shaking them voice. Thank you for the flowers. It means for us a little bit mental healthy.
This gets you so. And everybody can say what they want, but we need flowers, they need tulips, more different varieties, more colors, happiness.
KINKADE: Lynda Kinkade, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Well, for the first time, sonars had determined a potentially hazardous asteroid flying near the earth actually came from the moon.
Spacewalk 2016, 803 orbits the sun, but sticks pretty close to our planet, about half the size of London's Eye Ferris Wheel. Scientists say the rock appears have come from an impact crater on the far side of the moon, unlike most near earth asteroids which originate between Mars and Jupiter.
The modeling suggests that object hit the moon millions of years ago, taking out a chunk of rock. Findings could lead to other revelations, including how the ingredients for life made their way to earth. Just a little piece of rock.
Thank you for watching. I'm John Vause. It's been great having your company.
CNN NEWSROOM continues with our friend and colleague, Rosemary Church.
See you back here tomorrow. [01:57:10]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
