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South Africa Renews Appeal to the ICJ for a Gaza ceasefire; Four People killed in a Deadly Storm in Texas, More than 800,000 Homes and Businesses Left Powerless; New Caledonia Now Under State of Emergency due to Unrests; Mirage Hotel Ceases Operation, Reincarnates as Hard Rock Las Vegas by 2027; Brazil Plays Host to the FIFA Women's World Cup in 2027. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired May 17, 2024 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to all of you watching us around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber, this is "CNN Newsroom".
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VUSI MADONSELA, SOUTH AFRICAN AMBASSADOR TO THE NETHERLANDS: Israel's genocidal onslaught across Gaza has intensified over the past few days, also warranting the attention of this court.
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BRUNHUBER: South Africa makes another appeal to the world court, urging for a ceasefire in Gaza as Israel's operation in Rafah creates a widespread humanitarian crisis.
A state of emergency imposed across New Caledonia will explain what's causing the unrest.
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And violent, deadly storms leave behind destruction in Texas.
UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is CNN Newsroom with Kim Brunhuber.
BRUNHUBER: Israel is set to defend itself against accusations of genocide in Gaza before the International Court of Justice in the coming hours, all while it expands its ground operations in Rafah and across Gaza. Israel is accusing South Africa of acting as the legal arm of Hamas by requesting the emergency hearing.
At the court in The Hague on Thursday, South Africa condemned Israel's growing military operations in Rafah, saying the alleged genocide has reached a, quote, "new and horrific stage", and accused Israel of willfully breaching the court's binding orders issued last week. Lawyers for South Africa said there is an imminent prospect of death and suffering on a massive scale in Rafah.
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MADONSELA: Israel continues to show utter contempt for Palestinian life, operating with impunity. South Africa has no other option than to once again seek protection in the halls of justice for the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people to their existence.
VAUGHAN LOVE, LAWYER FOR SOUTH AFRICA: It has become increasingly clear that Israel's actions in Rafah are part of the end game, in which Gaza is utterly destroyed as an area capable of human habitation. This is the last step in the destruction of Gaza and its Palestinian people.
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BRUNHUBER: Now have a look here. New satellite images show Israel has been conducting bulldozing operations north of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. Israel Defense Forces have advanced nearly five kilometers since the start of the operation on May 6th. Entire blocks and many tent camps have been razed and the streets appear empty.
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Meanwhile, video posted on social media shows a huge explosion as fighting rages across the enclave beyond Rafah. This was the scene in Jabalia in northern Gaza as Israeli forces pushed further into the city on Thursday.
Now the White House is warning Israel to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza. Listen.
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KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We remain concerned about ongoing limited operations at the Rafah boarding crossing and also the Erez crossing. I know I just mentioned that's a new crossing, but we want to get more in, as well as the ability of humanitarian partners to move within Gaza to deliver assistance and fuel to the vulnerable people who need it. So this level of aid remains insufficient and we want to continue to press Israel to increase the level of assistance moving into Gaza.
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BRUNHUBER: The U.N. is echoing those concerns, calling for additional land crossings to open for desperately needed humanitarian aid. The U.N. is finalizing its plan to handle the foreign aid being delivered by a floating pier off Gaza's coast. The U.S. Defense Department says that temporary dock is now anchored to the beach and is ready to go after heavy seas delayed its deployment. The aid is expected to be delivered in the coming days.
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UNKNOWN (through translator): We don't want ships. We want the border crossing to open for people to come and go. We want safety. We want official borders.
UNKNOWN (through translator): Our homes are gone. What do we want from them? Do they want to bring us some food, some tomatoes or potatoes or canned food? What do we want with the canned food? They should bring us back to our homes. Stop the bloodshed. They should come and see how we are living in the open. We are living on the street. Our children are on the streets.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: CNN's Paula Hancocks is following all the developments and joins us live from Abu Dhabi. So, Paula, South Africa making some strong claims at the ICJ. How is Israel reacting?
[03:05:03]
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is a two-day hearing, so we'll hear publicly within the court itself Israel's reaction today, this Friday, when they can give a rebuttal to what South Africa has said. But they've certainly already given a rebuttal on the social media platform X. We saw a tweet from the foreign ministry spokesperson effectively saying that South Africa is the legal arm of Hamas, saying, quote, "It is an upside down world. The terrorists of Hamas are using South Africa in their attempt to exploit the ICJ. Those who represent the attackers are seeking aid from the court".
So they're blaming South Africa for -- for being the legal arm of Hamas. What we know within this court itself, though, the ICJ back in January, they did tell Israel that they have to do all in their power to try and prevent genocidal acts and also to enable humanitarian aid.
So what South Africa has said is that what is happening in Rafah has been the impetus for them to call this two day hearing. But really what is happening across Gaza itself is why they're taking this back to the court. But Israel is also accusing South Africa of wasting the court's time, of abusing the ICJ itself in calling for this hearing. But we will be hearing from the Israeli side later this Friday. And we can bring that to you, Kim.
BRUNHUBER: All right. In the meantime, Paula, critically, not enough aid is getting across in both the U.S. and the U.N., as I mentioned, among those calling for that to change.
HANCOCKS: That's right. We heard that from the U.S. saying it's simply not enough at this point. We're hearing the same from the United Nations as well. One of the main issues is that the Rafah crossing is still closed. This is the crossing between Gaza and Egypt, and it is a crossing that Israel took control of when it moved into Rafah. Now, it hasn't been open since May the 5th. Egypt says that it is not coordinating with the Israeli officials on the other side, citing security concerns, saying it's simply not safe for the truck drivers to be able to cross into that area. Also pointing out that militants could be firing towards the Israeli military presence there, which puts their truck drivers in jeopardy. Both sides, in fact, Israel and Egypt blaming the other for this crossing not being opened.
But we're hearing specifically from the United Nations saying that all crossings need to be opened immediately.
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FARHAN HAQ, DEPUTY SPOKESMAN FOR THE U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: Getting aid to people in need into and across Gaza cannot and should not depend on a floating dock far from where needs are most acute. Land routes are the most viable, effective and efficient aid delivery method, which is why we need all crossing points to be opened. To stave off the horrors of famine, we must use the fastest and most obvious route to reach the people of Gaza. And for that, we need access by land now.
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HANCOCKS: To put it into context, Rafah accounted for about a quarter of all the humanitarian aid that was getting into Gaza. Kim.
BRUNHUBER: All right. I appreciate that. Paula Hancocks live in Abu Dhabi.
Meanwhile, humanitarian conditions are worsening inside Rafah. The border crossing with Egypt has been closed since Israel seized it last week. Rafah had until then served as the only entry and exit point for foreign aid workers in and out of Gaza. They're working in hellish conditions and far from their own families.
CNN's Jeremy Diamond has our report.
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DR. AHLIA KATTAN, ANESTHESIOLOGIST AND ICU MEDIC, FAJR SCIENTIFIC: We were evacuated from that safe house, which was supposed to be in a de- conflicted zone.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After more than two weeks in Gaza, Dr. Ahlia Kattan should be back home in California with her three children.
KATTAN: This is where we've been sleeping.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Instead, she's sleeping on the floor of Gaza's European hospital as her five-year-old daughter wonders when her mom will come home.
UNKNOWN: I love you, Mama. You are the best. When will you come back? I miss you so much. Happy birthday to Mama. You are the best ever.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Dr. Kattan and her husband are among at least 22 American physicians now trapped in Gaza after an Israeli military offensive in Rafah shuttered the critical border crossing to Egypt.
KATTAN: The Rafah borders are now closed, and that was our safe entry and exit. The WHO is trying to negotiate a safe exit for us, and it's not happening.
DIAMOND (voice-over): As Israeli and Egyptian officials trade blame for the crossing's closure, Dr. Kattan and her colleagues are doing what they can to keep this overwhelmed and under-resourced hospital running.
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LAURA SWOBODA, NURSE PRACTITIONER, FAJR SCIENTIFIC: We were not aware of how dire the situation is here. There wasn't soap to wash our hands between infected wounds with maggots. There wasn't sanitizer wipes to wipe down the tables after each patient.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Israel is now threatening to widen its offensive in Rafah.
KATTAN: Always we can hear the drones in the background.
DIAMOND (voice-over): A move that the U.S. and international aid groups warn will have dire humanitarian consequences, one that will put even more strain on Gaza's already overwhelmed hospitals.
KATTAN: All of us don't want to leave unless we're replaced by physicians and medics and nurses and all the people that are keeping this hospital going.
My message to the U.S. government is, however they can help to maintain a safe corridor for medics to come in and out to bring supplies and themselves to support the innocent civilians and women and children, to please do that.
DIAMOND (voice-over): But until that happens, Dr. Kattan is stuck, unsure when and how she will make it home.
DIAMOND: What's the most difficult part of that uncertainty right now?
KATTAN: Missing my kids and waking up in the morning and realizing they're not next to me. But the harder part is knowing that I get to leave eventually and I get to go home and be safe. I've developed a lot of friends here who have the same age as me and have kids my age. And they don't have those securities and those basic necessities.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Jerusalem.
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BRUNHUBER: The U.S. State Department says it's in touch with the trapped American aid workers and is working to get them out of Gaza. And we just want to warn you the images you're about to see are graphic.
Monica Johnson is a burn specialist who traveled from the U.S. state of Oregon to volunteer with the Palestine American Medical Association. And she says the humanitarian crisis in the enclave is heartbreaking. Here she is.
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MONICA JOHNSON, VOLUNTEER NURSE, PALESTINE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION: The situation here is anything other than you can imagine. The injuries we're getting are explosive injuries with patients, large burns and all these large injuries. These patients just are not making it. They're passing away after two, three, four days.
This is in part due to the lack of medications for them, the infections due to the lack of infection control here. So anything large coming to us is just not surviving.
So as a burn nurse, I'm creative in my job anyways with how to hold a dressing together and what to put on it. So there are some dressings that I do and I use six different items, six different types of dressings, just because that's all I have in my bag. So we're scraping the bottom of our bags that we brought in. We brought in about 300 bags of supplies and we just had two kids this morning, a one and a three-year-old with the large burns. And I used almost all the silvadene that I had in my bag. So it's devastating.
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BRUNHUBER: Now Johnson tells CNN she's worried about leaving behind her Palestinian friends and fellow health care workers as they face intensified Israeli bombings and military operations.
Officials in Ukraine say the Russian advance in the northern Kharkiv region has been stopped in some areas, but Ukrainian troops are still trying to push Russians out of the town of Vovchansk, where fighting is going on in the streets. Now, the town is located about 60 kilometers from Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city.
During his visits to the region Thursday, President Zelenskyy said the situation is generally under control, but it's still extremely difficult. Russia launched its cross-border offensive last week, taking control of at least nine villages so far. But NATO says despite those successes, Russia's offensive will eventually run out of steam.
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CHRISTOPHER CAVOLI, NATO SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER, EUROPE: No, the Russians don't have the numbers necessary to do a strategic breakthrough. We don't believe more to the point, they don't have the skill and the capability to do it, to operate at the scale necessary to exploit any breakthrough to strategic advantage.
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BRUNHUBER: Civilians are desperately trying to flee Vovchansk as the fighting gets closer to their homes. But to get to safety, they have to dodge Russian artillery fire and military drones hovering over their heads. CNN's Nick Paton-Walsh saw it firsthand.
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NICK PATON-WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When nightmares recur, they're often the same. Here they get worse.
[03:15:04]
The border town of Vovchansk, bearing the blunt horror of Moscow's race to take as much as they can in the weeks before Ukraine starts feeling American military help again.
Every street aflame, Russians deeper inside the town.
Policeman Maxim is answering one of 35 calls from locals on Thursday to evacuate. The day before, three colleagues were injured. The shelling never stops.
MAXIM, POLICE OFFICER (translated): Quiet! Everybody get down.
PATON WALSH: Three people still coming out, and you have to imagine quite how desperate for these final people the situation must be to leave.
PATON WALSH (voice-over): Mikola and his wife hiding in their basement, but despite staying through the first Russian occupation and then liberation two years ago, they found the airstrikes last night just too much.
They're joined by Maria, their mother, who can't hear the shelling or anything too well.
Thousands evacuated since Russia invaded again around here five days ago.
Why everyone has to leave is clear again as we drive out, as it is with almost every part of Ukraine Russia covets, just utter destruction, little left to rule over.
This is their first moment of calm in many days, entire lives in plastic bags.
PATON WALSH: She's saying it wasn't like last night, it was scary and everyone else was talking about significant bombardment, more that it was just better to get out of there at 85.
PATON WALSH (voice-over): An armored ride to a new world, knowing they may never get back to their homes, tormented for days by shelling.
MARIA, MIKOLA'S MOTHER (translated): Aerial bombs, everything. And mortars.
UNKNOWN (translated): Did you see the Russian soldiers?
MARIA: No. They are over there on the other side of the river, and we were on this side. They were shooting close to us. Firing machine guns and everything.
PATON WALSH (voice-over): We head back in with another police unit who soon learn two of the houses they must rescue from are impossible to reach. As we wait, they hear a buzzing noise.
PATON WALSH: They think they can hear a drone here, it's so hard to tell with the wind and the trees and the artillery, but that's a constant threat for them now.
PATON WALSH (voice-over): Then our security advisor spots it. They raise their weapons, but will firing make them more of a target?
Three drones, one large one that hovers and two small ones whizzing about, exposed, powerless. If we run for cover, they might come for us. All we can do is hide in the trees and hope that if we are seen, the Russians instead have a better target in mind. But they come right overhead.
That noise, either the sound of death or someone deciding you're not worth their payload.
We decide to leave, but again, we cannot travel fast enough to escape the drones, only expose ourselves and pray they lose interest.
Perhaps they did, we'll never know, but behind us, Ukraine is aflame again, because however the West's interest in this war wanes, Putin's burns brighter than ever.
Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Vovchansk, Ukraine.
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BRUNHUBER: Severe storms, powerful winds, and a possible tornado blasted parts of the state of Texas on Thursday. At least four people were killed in Houston.
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Now this was the scene in the downtown area with debris swirling outside a bank building.
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The National Weather Service says the winds were equivalent to a Category 1 hurricane at times. Now have a look, these people were sheltering inside a wholesale store when the power went out. More than 800,000 homes and businesses are still without electricity across the state, according to poweroutage.us. The storms toppled trees and power lines and blew out some windows in some downtown skyscrapers. Houston schools will be closed on Friday. And the mayor's urging people to stay home and stay off the roads. There he is.
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JOHN WHITMIRE, MAYOR OF HOUSTON, TEXAS: I can't emphasize enough the danger of fallen trees and fallen utility wires. You have to be sensitive to that. So stay at home. It's dark. You'll come upon it without notice.
[03:20:08]
And it also allowed the first responders to do their job.
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BRUNHUBER: Russia's president is currently in China on a visit intended to strengthen his partnership with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Look at how the U.S. and Western allies view their united front. That's coming after the break.
And the Trump team tries to tear apart Michael Cohen's testimony. But did they raise reasonable doubt with the jury? Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: It was a big moment for Wall Street on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial briefly topped 40,000 for the first time ever. Now, it didn't last long. The blue chips finally settled down at 39,000 unchanged. U.S. markets had rallied early in the week after an inflation report showed a cool down for the first time in months. Now, that, along with a drop in April retail sales, has raised hopes the Federal Reserve could start cutting interest rates as soon as September.
All right. Now, let's turn to U.S. futures. The Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500, all little change from Thursday's close.
Donald Trump's legal team has turned up the heat on the star witness in the hush money trial. The lead defense attorney raised his voice and flailed his arms as he took aim at Trump's former fixer and lawyer, Michael Cohen, whom he repeatedly called a liar. CNN's Kara Scannell picks up the story.
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KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Trump's ex-lawyer, Michael Cohen, in a dramatic moment on the stand, grilled over his memory of a key phone conversation that directly implicates former President Donald Trump in his criminal trial.
MICHAEL COHEN, FORMER ATTORNEY FOR DONALD TRUMP: Nobody wants to do this. This isn't fun. They get personal. They get nasty.
SCANNELL (voice-over): Trump's lawyer, Todd Blanche, confronted Cohen on his testimony about the deal at the center of the case, that he paid off adult film star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election to kill her story of an alleged affair with Trump, which Trump denies.
Cohen, who is the prosecution's key witness, testified earlier this week that on October 24th, 2016, he made a phone call to Trump's bodyguard, Keith Schiller. He said he used Schiller as a conduit to speak with Trump, to say that Daniels' deal was resolved and he was moving forward. But an intense exchange inside the courtroom that could undermine his testimony, Blanche showed records that moments before the brief one-minute and 30-second call, Cohen sent a text to Schiller for help with prank calls he was receiving from a 14-year- old. There was no mention of Daniels in the text.
Blanche showed the text messages. Cohen said, who can I speak to regarding harassing calls to my cell and office? The dope forgot to block his number. Schiller responded, Call me. Cohen told the defense attorney today he didn't remember the harassing phone calls, but after confronted with them, maintained he spoke to Schiller and also Trump.
[03:25:08]
Blanche, pacing the courtroom, his arms flailing and his voice rising, said to Cohen, That was a lie. You did not talk to President Trump on that night. You talked to Keith Schiller about what we just went through. Admit it. Cohen calmly replied, No, sir. I don't know that it's accurate.
Blanche moved to show the jury texts between Cohen and the teen. Cohen writing, this number has just been sent to Secret Service for your ongoing and continuous harassing calls over the past three days. If you are a minor, I suggest you notify your parent or guardian. The prankster replied, I didn't do it. I'm 14. Please don't. Cohen responded, please have your parent or guardian contact me. Before Secret Service reaches out to them.
Before getting to the phone call, Blanche spent the morning trying to paint Cohen as a vengeful liar. Cohen confirmed he has insulted Trump countless times, including on his "Mea Culpa" podcast. Blanche played clips for the jury.
TODD BLANCHE, LAWYER FOR DONALD TRUMP: I truly (expletive) hope that this man ends up in prison, but revenge is a dish best served cold. And you better believe I want this man to go down and rot inside for what he did to me and my family.
SCANNELL (voice-over): Blanche also pressed Cohen repeatedly about lying to Congress in 2017 about the Trump organization's Moscow project. There were a couple of different lies, Blanche asked. That's correct, Cohen replied. Cohen later apologized to Congress during his on-camera testimony in 2019.
COHEN: I am sorry for my lies and for lying to Congress. I have done some real soul searching. And I see now that my ambition and the intoxication of Trump power had much to do with the bad decisions in part that I made.
SCANNELL (voice-over): Kara Scannell, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito is facing questions after the "New York Times" reported an upside-down American flag flew over his front lawn in 2021. Now the Times obtained this photo of the inverted flag. The image has been adopted as a stop-the-steal symbol by supporters of former President Donald Trump, who still contests the 2020 election. Now, the Times reports it was seen at Alito's home 11 days after the Capitol Hill riots in 2021. Some neighbors interpreted it to be a political statement by the Alitos. Now, CNN hasn't independently verified the flag's use. A Supreme Court spokesperson didn't immediately respond to CNN's request for comment.
Now, in an email to the Times, Alito said, I had no involvement whatsoever in the flying of the flag. It was briefly placed by Mrs. Alito in response to a neighbor's use of objectionable and personally insulting language on yard signs.
Two Republican-held House committees are pushing ahead with contempt proceedings against the U.S. Attorney General. They're going after Merrick Garland for refusing to turn over audio recordings of the U.S. President's interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur during the classified documents investigation after Joe Biden asserted executive privilege over them. Republican House leaders say the audio is crucial to their impeachment inquiry into President Biden.
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REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), SPEAKER OF THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: President Biden is apparently afraid for the citizens of this country and everyone to hear those tapes. They obviously confirm what the special counsel has found and would likely cause, I suppose, in his estimation, such alarm with the American people that the president is using all of his power to suppress their release.
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BRUNHUBER: Now, you'll remember Hur's final report called the president a well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory. It's a description of the White House disputes. The Justice Department raised questions over whether House Republicans were seeking the audio files solely for political purposes since written transcripts were already provided.
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MERRICK GARLAND, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: We have gone to extraordinary lengths to ensure that the committees get responses to their legitimate requests. But this is not one. To the contrary, this is one that would harm our ability in the future to successfully pursue sensitive investigations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Several House Republicans called a few dozen House staff members Hamas apologists and said they should be fired after they held a brief pro-Palestinian protest on Capitol Hill. The staffers carried small white flags and a banner that reads, your staff demands you save Rafah. One legislative assistant said they gathered because too many of their bosses have failed to act. Listen to this.
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SAM ELGHANAYAN, LEGISLATIVE ASSISTANT: We are the staffers taking their calls. We have answered hundreds of thousands of messages from constituents demanding an immediate ceasefire, a surge of humanitarian aid, and the release of all hostages. We are calling on President Biden and Congress to listen to their constituents as we have and immediately end U.S. support for Israel's assault on the civilians of Gaza before it is too late.
[03:30:00]
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, coming up, trouble in paradise. I'll be speaking to an expert about the political tensions in New Caledonia as the island returns to calm after deadly violence erupted there earlier this week.
Plus, the suspect in the shooting of the Slovak Prime Minister now faces charges. We'll have more on that next. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: All right, this just in to CNN. French police have shot and killed a man who tried to set fire to a synagogue. That's according to the French Interior Ministry, which says the incident happened in the northern city of Rouen. The cabinet minister says the man was armed and he congratulated the officers for stopping him. We'll bring you more details on this as we get them.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is on a state visit to China on Thursday. In Beijing, he discussed the war in Ukraine with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, according to China's foreign ministry. Xi told Putin that China supports an international peace conference to end the Ukraine crisis. Both men pledged to deepen their strategic partnership even as friction grows with the U.S. and other Western nations. CNN's Ivan Watson has more.
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IVAN WATSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They call it the partnership with no limits. China's president warmly welcoming his good friend Vladimir Putin. The Russian leader celebrated in Beijing at a ceremony complete with a military salute and rapturous schoolchildren.
Two leaders who shared deep distrust of the U.S. agreeing to strengthen their comprehensive strategic partnership. A move that worries current and former U.S. officials.
KURT VOLKER, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO NATO: This alignment of authoritarians is important of challenges ahead unless we in the West really double down and make sure that we are reinforcing democracy, reinforcing this global liberal order.
WATSON (voice-over): Hanging over this summit, Russia's grinding war in Ukraine.
After Putin's full-scale invasion in 2022, the U.S. and Europe imposed sanctions isolating Moscow. But China gave Russia an economic lifeline. Trade between the two countries hit a record high last year.
China buys up Russian oil and gas while flooding the Russian market with Chinese goods like cars and trucks. ALEXANDRA PROKOPENKO, FELLOW, CARNEGIE RUSSIA EURASIA CENTER: I think
Chinese leadership are very smart playing on Putin's ego, massaging it and having for cheap Russian energy resources and Russia become a very important market for Chinese second row and third row companies and banks.
[03:35:01]
WATSON (voice-over): Putin and Xi Jinping both talk of creating a new non-U.S. centric world order. But so far China has held back from providing the Russian military with bombs and bullets to use on the Ukrainian battlefield. That's because directly arming Russia would threaten China's much more valuable trade with the European Union, a close ally of Ukraine. In fact there are limits to China's support for Putin's war machine.
XI JINPING, CHINESE PRESIDENT (through translator): The Chinese side looks forward to the early restoration of peace and stability on the European continent and will continue to play a constructive role to that end.
WATSON (voice-over): The Russian president's close Chinese friend knows a never-ending war is not good for business.
Ivan Watson, CNN, Hong Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: The younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is denying her country's exporting arms to Russia. According to state media she said North Korea's newly developed weapons are not available for export. Kim Yo-jong spoke a day after the U.S. slapped new sanctions on two Russians and three Russian-based entities for facilitating those arms transfers. The U.S. says North Korea is sending ballistic missiles and munitions to Moscow which are used in Ukraine. South Korea says Russia has also received millions of artillery shells from Pyongyang in exchange for food and other necessities.
France is sending hundreds of officers to its South Pacific island territory of New Caledonia on Thursday after deadly clashes erupted there earlier this week. Authorities on the island report the situation is calmer after Paris declared a state of emergency in response to the violence. Nearly 200 people have been arrested for participating in the riots according to the French High Commissioner to New Caledonia.
The protests began on Monday when the French Parliament ultimately voted in favor of amending New Caledonia's constitution to grant greater voting rights to French residents living on the islands. Monday's protests involved mostly young people especially the youth of the pro-independence indigenous Kanak communities.
All right so for more on all this, I'm joined by Adrian Muckle. He's a historian of the Pacific Islands region and a senior lecturer in history at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand. Thank you so much for being here with us. So first just on the on the current situation right now do you expect the calm that we're the relative calm I should say that we're seeing now to hold?
ADRIAN MUCKLE, SR. LECTURER, VICTORIA UNIVERSITY OF WELLINGTON: I think so but what's been quite surprising and quite shocking is just how long these riots have continued. They've been going on for three nights and it looks like they're set to continue. I would estimate for at least a few more days until the situation is under control.
BRUNHUBER: So take us behind the anger here. As I explained a little bit earlier, political tensions have simmered for years between the indigenous Kanak people and the French population. So why is the unfreezing of the voter rolls such a touch point?
MUCKLE: Well this unfreezing of the voter rolls will bring roughly 25,000 new voters on to the electoral roll and so the indigenous Kanak people and people who support independence are very concerned that this will dilute their voice in any sort of future negotiations and in the future management of the local government in New Caledonia.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah, there has been a strong pro-independence movement there for a while and I understand that there's been a lot of frustration that may have led to this because of the last referendum on independence. So explain what happened there.
MUCKLE: Yeah, New Caledonia's been on a unique path towards decolonization since 1998 and had the opportunity for three referendums to take place on independence.
The first two took place in excellent conditions and the independentist vote proved to be very strong reaching 46 percent in the second. But the third took place in late 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic against the wishes of the independence movement that wanted to be able to organize the referendum in conditions that were not affected by the pandemic.
And France really refused to listen to those concerns and proceeded with the referendum. he independentists boycotted it and they really feel that before there can be any new political reforms in New Caledonia there needs to be an opportunity to address this sort of missed opportunity.
[03:39:59]
BRUNHUBER: You speak of a path to decolonization. I'm wondering what now I mean, how does this get resolved and I'm wondering whether it may be a perceived crackdown by French authorities might lead to greater support for the independence movement?
MUCKLE: It may do it may also lead to more non-Kanak and more people who don't support leaving and who don't support independence leaving the territory. That's one thing that's been happening over the last few years is the number -- a lot of New Caledonians choosing to leave because of the uncertainty so that may also be in effect.
And it's difficult to see the situation really improving without the French government backing down a little bit from its position and offering the political parties the opportunity in New Caledonia the opportunity to come to some agreement between themselves without the threat of France imposing its way of seeing things.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah, I wonder if they will back down because the island seems to have gained in importance. I mean it's not an island that generally gets all that much focus at least of international attention but with President Macron trying to gain more influence in the Indo- Pacific. New Caledonia seems to have become more important to the French at least in that context. right?
MUCKLE: Yes, very much so and before the first of the series of three referendum in 2018 Macron visited New Caledonia and whereas previous presidents over the last 20 or 30 years that adopted a fairly impartial position he made it very clear that he would be advocating for New Caledonia to remain within France and that he sees New Caledonia as a vital part of France's Indo-Pacific presence.
BRUNHUBER: All right we only have a few moments left but just to widen this out briefly do you think that we might see similar unrest and in other countries like French Polynesia for instance?
MUCKLE: No I don't think so I think the situation in New Caledonia is quite -- quite unique there is a strong independence movement in French Polynesia but the circumstances are very different.
BRUNHUBER: Interesting. All right we'll really appreciate your expertise on this. Adrian Muckle in New Zealand thank you so much for speaking with us.
MUCKLE: Thank you.
BRUNHUBER: Well it seems that a decision to deny military aid to Ukraine is one of the motives behind the attempted assassination of Slovakia's Prime Minister. A 71 year old suspect is now facing attempted murder charges. Officials are describing him as a lone wolf with political motivations. Fred Pleitgen has more.
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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After getting shot five times in broad daylight, Slovakia's prime minister Robert Fico's condition remains difficult, officials say, even though the wounds are no longer life-threatening.
PLEITGEN: This is exactly the place where Robert Fico was shot, and you can see on that tree over there that there is a hole where the forensic teams appear to have carved something like a projectile out of the bark. Now, he suffered several gunshot wounds and had to be airbagged into a hospital nearby.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): The hospital says two surgical teams had to operate more than five hours to save the prime minister's life. Slovakia's president-elect confirming Fico is now conscious. PETER PELLEGRINI, SLOVAK PRESIDENT-ELECT: He is able to speak, but only a few sentences, and then he's really, really tired because he's under some medication, some medicamentation, so of course it is very difficult for him.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): Slovakian authorities claiming the attack was politically motivated. The 71-year-old suspect, they say, unhappy, among other things, with the Russia-friendly Fico government's decision to cut off military aid to Ukraine.
The country's interior minister stressing, though, the assailant was not part of a wider network.
MATUS SUTAJ ESTOK, SLOVAK INTERIOR MINISTER (through translator): He is a lone wolf whose disappointment with the government accelerated after the presidential election when he decided to act.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): Dismay and disbelief in the suspect's neighborhood.
I was very surprised by what he did, this neighbor says. I don't understand how it happened. Something must have clicked.
Robert Fico is often viewed as pro-Russian and critical of the European Union. Slovakia's society deeply divided. But now that the prime minister remains in intensive care trying to recover, politicians from both sides are urging unity and stability.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Banska Bystrica, Slovakia.
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BRUNHUBER: The Texas man convicted of murdering a racial justice protester in 2020 is now free after being granted a pardon by the governor. Ex-army sergeant Daniel Perry had been sentenced to 25 years in prison for fatally shooting an air force veteran at a Black Lives Matter protest. The demonstration took place two months after the murder of George Floyd in Minnesota.
[03:45:03]
Perry was released from prison shortly after the pardon and his right to own a firearm has been restored. The move is also sparking outrage. The state's democratic party chair saying today our justice system was hijacked for political gain.
Wildfires are scorching parts of Canada forcing evacuations and threatening neighborhoods. When we come back, the role of climate change in these disastrous fires. That's coming up, stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Well have a look here. Apparently it's quite chilly in Chile right now with record-breaking low temperatures even snow in parts. One coastal city recorded its longest cold snap in more than 50 years. Another ended an eight-day cold snap on Tuesday. Santiago was expected to reach freezing conditions on Thursday. People living there are bundling up as you can see and just trying to stay warm.
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HUMBERTO BURGOS, SANTIAGO RESIDENT (through translator): To combat the cold I bundle up more in the morning and drink more coffee. I used to drink one cup of coffee now I drink three cups.
FRANCISCA VERGARA, STUDENT (through translator): May used to be a super autumn month and now we go from extremely hot to extremely cold.
ENRIQUE TORRES, SANTIAGO RESIDENT (through translator): You can feel the cold you can feel it. We have to cover ourselves with nylon with whatever we can find.
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BRUNHUBER: Wildfires are scorching wide areas of Canada forcing thousands of people to flee their homes with no clue about when they'll be able to go back. Helicopter footage shows flames and thick smoke rising from a wildfire in the province of Alberta. Firefighters could see temporary relief in some regions as a storm crosses the region but the danger remains heightened as multiple fires are exploding in size and inching closer to neighborhoods.
New fires are igniting every day and dormant so-called zombie fires are also reanimating. Now this is a dismal start to Canada's wildfire season and officials are already warning it may rival last year's season, the worst in the nation's history.
I want to bring in climate scientist Zeke Hausfather. He's joining us from Oakland, California. Thank you so much for being here with us. So what we're seeing right now in Canada it's giving plenty of people a West Erie deja vu of last year.
ZEKE HAUSFATHER, CLIMATE RESEARCH LEAD, STRIPE: Yeah, so last year's fires in Canada were truly exceptional. They burned 45 million acres or five times more in a single year than any other year on the record.
Now 2023 was also the warmest year on record for Canada and for the world as a whole.
Now Canada has warmed by more than five degrees Fahrenheit in the last 150 years with much of that warming happening in the last 50 years. These higher temperatures are drying out vegetation and making it more susceptible to catastrophic wildfires. They also allow fires to burn in areas of the boreal forests that have historically been too cold to experience frequent fire activity.
[03:49:53]
BRUNHUBER: All right. So we know as you say climate change a factor making the world hotter drying out the land and the vegetation as you say creating more fuel but there's also another factor as well about half the fires in Canada as I understand are caused by lightning and lightning strikes are predicted to increase due to climate change as well is that right? HAUSFATHER: It's true in some regions with more severe thunderstorms
occurring but what's interesting is the number of fires in Canada has actually fallen by about a quarter in the past few decades but the area burned per fire has increased substantially. So it's really fundamentally a problem of changing conditions not changing ignitions.
BRUNHUBER: All right and you know I mentioned this in the introduction many of the fires that we're seeing now in Alberta, especially British Columbia. They were actually fires that began last year and just kind of kept going these so-called zombie fires. Explain how that happens.
HAUSFATHER: So you know Canada is big and very remote in many regions and unlike the U.S. there's not this practice of putting out every single fire many fires are allowed to burn through if they're in non- populated areas but that means that you know there can be some remnants of fires that exist underground you know burning you know heat and other materials that can re-emerge in the spring and summer as it gets drier.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah and they just keep going and keep going and so now we're seeing this starting of a bad year and you know last year as you say was the hottest on record. Plenty of people predicting that this year could be really bad as well sort of what are you predicting for 2024?
HAUSFATHER: So this year is actually shaping up to pass 2023 as the warmest year on record globally you know while it's unclear exactly how warm it will be in Canada yet you know a series of warm and dry years is really primed vegetation there to be highly combustible. Now it's probably unlikely that 2024 be quite as catastrophic as 2023 which set a new bar as I mentioned by a huge record. You know it's still quite possible we're going to see a pretty bad year for wildfire in Canada.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah.
HAUSFATHER: And it's already off to a pretty bad start.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah exactly right and what's happening in Canada it's happening elsewhere as you know all too well there in California and it's striking that despite all the dramatic damage the lives lost just giving one example Florida's governor just signed a bill that strikes climate change from state law. Now I mean this situation isn't quite as extreme in Canada but still on the political level it seems you know too many politicians are still kind of sticking their heads in the sand.
HAUSFATHER: And those politicians are increasingly out of touch and out of step with the general population who's starting to experience these extreme events more and more you know if you look at somewhere like Florida most people think climate change is a serious issue there even if the current political officials are not dealing with it and the same is true in Canada. And so you know when you have a new smoky season as we have in California now that we had never had before it's really hard to ignore the changes happening in front of us day to day.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah exactly we'll leave it there uh really good to talk to you uh thanks so much Zeke Hausfather, I really appreciate that.
HAUSFATHER: Thank you for having me.
BRUNHUBER: Researchers believe they've unlocked a mystery behind the construction of dozens of Egypt's great pyramids. We'll have that story straight ahead. Stay with us.
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[03:54:55]
BRUNHUBER: The European Union is launching a formal investigation into tech giant Meta. The probe comes amid the worries that the Facebook parent company is failing to protect children on its platforms which also include Instagram and could be causing addictive behavior. The investigation could result in a hefty fine for the social media leader if it's found not to be complying with the EU's new online laws. Meta tells CNN they look forward to sharing details with investigators.
The legendary Mirage Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas and its famous volcano will soon be closing after 34 years. The 3,000 room resort will shut down in July and undergo a renovation. The volcano will be destroyed to make space for more rooms with the hotel reincarnated as the Hard Rock Las Vegas in 2027. The tropical themed Mirage was home to such classic acts like Siegfried and Roy and their White Tigers.
Well the last part of Egypt's Nile River is lost no more. Researchers say they used satellite imaging and analysis of core samples to locate a dried up ancient branch of the Nile. It stretches for about 40 miles or 64 kilometers beneath farmland and desert west of the modern Nile and the ancient waterway also lays nearly a dozen -- near dozens of pyramids and researchers believe it could have played a key role in the construction before it went dry. They say ancient Egyptians may have used the waterway to transport heavy building materials and laborers.
Well questions are swirling around a newly discovered planet that's being compared to cotton candy. Scientists say this is an illustration of planet Wasp 193b. The unusual planet that's about 1,200 light years from earth is about 50 percent bigger than Jupiter, our solar system's largest planet but it is the second lightest planet ever found. Scientists point to its composition, comparing it to cotton candy because it's mostly made of light gasses. They believe this discovery could help with studying atmospheric events and a typical planetary formation.
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GIANNI INFANTINO, FIFA PRESIDENT: And the winner is Brazil.
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BRUNHUBER: FIFA president Gianni Infantino there revealing Brazil as the host of the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup. The South American nation is of course the birthplace of some of the beautiful game's most dazzling superstars. Brazil beat out a joint bid from Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany to become the first South American country to host the tournament. The exact dates of the tournament have yet to be confirmed.
All right thanks so much for watching. I'm Kim Brunhuber, in Atlanta. Newsroom with Max Foster is coming up here on CNN.
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