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Israeli Ground Operation Could Stop Aid Efforts; IDF Retrieves Bodies Of Israeli Hostages; Biden To Deliver Morehouse College Commencement; Ukraine Controls Entry Routes In Kharkiv Region; Paul Pelosi Attacker Sentenced To 30 Years; Life In Kharkiv; Beijing Rescue Plan For Real Estate Sector; Scottie Scheffler Arrested After "Big Misunderstanding". Aired 3-4a ET
Aired May 18, 2024 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hello and welcome to all of you watching us here in the U.S., Canada and all around the world.
I'm Kim Brunhuber. Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, aid coming to Gaza. Much needed aid arrives via a floating pier built by the U.S. But the U.N. says so much more is needed.
Troops for Ukraine, Ukraine is now requiring all men of military age to register with the armed forces as the war with Russia rages on.
And the world's top ranked golfer plays in the second round of the PGA Championship after he was arrested and charged by police.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from Atlanta this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.
BRUNHUBER: As Israel continues to plan for an expanded ground offensive in Rafah, there's a new effort to revive ceasefire and hostage talks involving Israel and Hamas.
U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan is traveling to Saudi Arabia and Israel this weekend. He plans to meet with Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Meanwhile, there's a new warning from the World Food Programme. The group says an Israeli escalation in Rafah could bring humanitarian operations to a standstill. On Friday, the first aid was delivered by ship through the floating pier the U.S. built on Gaza's coast.
The United Nations says the pier can supplement land crossings into Gaza but not replace them and that Gaza needs much more aid to prevent famine.
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FARHAN HAQ, U.N. SPOKESPERSON: The end of the day, the basic point is, will we be able to get enough aid in to keep people alive?
We've made it very clear that, unless things change dramatically for the better, the answer is no. And people will die.
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BRUNHUBER: Well, 17 American doctors who were stuck in Rafah have now been evacuated. The doctors were working in the European Hospital in Rafah. They were trapped when Israel closed the Rafah border crossing into Egypt.
A source tells CNN that the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem helped them get through the Kerem Shalom crossing. Three other American doctors chose to stay in Rafah.
The IDF says it's recovered the bodies of three hostages in Gaza. CNN's Jeremy Diamond has their stories. But we just want to warn you, his report contains some disturbing images.
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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They managed to escape Hamas' terrifying rampage of the Nova Music Festival on October 7 but they did not survive the day.
Hamas terrorists killed Shani Louk, Amit Bouskila and Itshak Gelernter 10 miles down the road from the festival, according to the Israeli military. Their bodies taken into Gaza and held hostage.
DANIEL HAGARI, IDF SPOKESMAN: Last night, the Israeli Defense Forces and ISA forces rescued the bodies of all hostages.
DIAMOND: The Israeli military now says their bodies are back on Israeli soil. Return to families who have endured more than seven months of uncertainty and anguish.
HAGARI: Our hearts go out to them, to the families at this difficult time. We will live no stone unturned. We will do everything in our power to find our hostages and bring them home.
DIAMOND: Twenty-three-year-old Shani Louk seen here at the Nova Festival hours before her death.
This image of her body being hauled into Gaza, embodying the brutality of Hamas' attack.
Her family learned in late October she had been killed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We cannot do really real funeral.
DIAMOND: Her father now, telling Israeli media, they can find peace.
NISSIM LOUK, FATHER OF SHANI LOUK (through translator): This was like a present for Shabbat for us. And now shell be able to find a place in the cemetery. We can put a bouquet.
DIAMOND: For the two other families, a different type of closure. For months, the family of Amit Bouskila, a 28 fashion stylists, had no information on civilian.
NATALIE AMOUYAL, AUNT OF AMIT BUSKILA: We know nothing about her. Not one person has seen her and is capable of telling us anything about her or any of the others, really nothing.
DIAMOND: The Israeli military operation also confirming for the first time the death of Itshak Gelernter, a 58-year-old father of four and grandfather of two.
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In Israel, reaction pouring in from across the political spectrum, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling the news heartbreaking, vowing we will return all of our hostages, the living and the deceased alike.
But there is no clear path to securing their return with ceasefire negotiations at a standstill. The families of the remaining 125 hostages, cleaning in only two hope and fear -- Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Jerusalem.
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BRUNHUBER: Israel has refuted accusations before the top U.N. court that it's committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Israel blamed Hamas for starting the war with its attacks on October 7th and defended its growing military operation in the city of Rafah, where 600,000 people have fled the fighting in recent days.
Israel's deputy attorney general argued, quote, "calling something a genocide again and again doesn't make it genocide."
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GILAD NOAM, ISRAELI DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL: There is a tragic war going on. But there is no genocide.
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BRUNHUBER: Israel criticized South Africa for not mentioning Hamas during an emergency hearing at the International Court of Justice and says the city of Rafah remains a Hamas stronghold.
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NOAM: Rafah, in particular, is a focal point for ongoing terrorist activity. It is a stronghold for Hamas' operatives, with several battalions belonging to the Rafah brigades entrenched in the area.
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BRUNHUBER: Lawyers for South Africa argued Rafah is the last refuge for civilians amid Israel's ongoing military operation. They made their allegations against Israel at the court on Thursday.
Protests over the war in Gaza threaten to follow U.S. President Joe Biden when he travels to Atlanta this weekend. On Sunday, he'll deliver the commencement address at Morehouse College, one of the nation's preeminent historically Black colleges and universities. Nick Valencia has more on what Biden can expect.
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NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: When you talk to Aylon Gipson about his upcoming college graduation, you can see he's excited.
COVID canceled his high school commencement in 2020. So this one is extra special.
AYLON GIPSON, GRADUATING SENIOR, MOREHOUSE COLLEGE: I think most are like me, that are a little bit enthusiastic. But most just want a peaceful graduation without protests.
VALENCIA (voice-over): For the 21-year-old Morehouse senior, getting President Joe Biden as the commencement speaker is, in his words, "pretty cool," even if he does see why some of his peers think the choice was controversial.
GIPSON: I personally don't agree with some of the things that the White House has done.
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VALENCIA: But you still want him to come here.
GIPSON: I still do want him to come because I agree with his full body of work.
COLIN ROYAL, MANAGING EDITOR, MOREHOUSE COLLEGE SCHOOL NEWSPAPER: There's been mixed reactions, some for, some against.
VALENCIA (voice-over): Morehouse student newspaper managing editor Colin Royal says mostly the invitation created confusion on campus.
ROYAL: The fact that we weren't really in the loop for that was kind of concerning, especially when we have somebody of that magnitude and somebody that's been involved in a lot of things that students have protested against.
VALENCIA: Who would you guys much rather have as a commencement speaker?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am inclined to say Andre 3,000.
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VALENCIA (voice-over): They joke but Marc Reagans (ph) and Noah Collier (ph) had been on the front lines as two of the most vocal critics at Morehouse to Biden's invitation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I exist as more than a prop for a photo op.
Draped in keffiyehs, the pro-Palestinian activists tell us about what they call U.S. imperialism, which they say Biden has amplified by his armed support for the war in Gaza while at the same time overlooking their concerns as Black men.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He completely dismissed us by calling us violent, by calling us anti-Semitic and --
VALENCIA: Are you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, in no way shape or form are any of us anti- Semitic because, if we, where we would not be engaging in these protests. The idea of anti-Semitism does -- it completely contradicts and conflicts with the values that we move with.
DAVID THOMAS, PRESIDENT, MOREHOUSE COLLEGE: Was part of my calculus that he would say yes to us because he's in this presidential race. Absolutely.
VALENCIA (voice-over): Morehouse president David Thomas invited Biden to be the commencement speaker back in September. Today, he defends the decision, as well as the school's choice to give Biden an honorary degree.
THOMAS: What I want them to walk out thinking is the President of the United States came to give the commencement speech at Morehouse College because Morehouse College matters in the world.
And therefore, what I do with the privilege of having gone to Morehouse means I should matter in the world.
VALENCIA (voice-over): In the longstanding tradition of Morehouse's student-led activism, Thomas says he will give space for protests on Sunday but will take a hard line if protests are disruptful (sic).
Gipson was among a small group that met with the White House ahead of Biden's visit. From that conversation, he says, it's clear.
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Not only does Morehouse matter but, he says, on Sunday, Biden has a chance to show the men of Morehouse that they matter more than every four years.
GIPSON: I don't want him to hit come here and campaign. I know he's going to tout some of his accomplishments. I know he's going to talk about some things he's going to do for Black people. I'm expecting to hear that.
But I also want to hear authentic speech about why he's here for us.
VALENCIA (voice-over): And perhaps why they should be there for him come November.
VALENCIA: This week, Morehouse faculty voted in support of giving President Biden an honorary degree. Meanwhile, student activists have taken to social media to encourage graduates on Sunday to turn their back on President Biden during his commencement address.
They say, as Biden has turned his back on Palestine -- Nick Valencia, CNN, Atlanta.
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BRUNHUBER: Ukrainian investigators say Russia is using dozens of people as human shields in the town of Vovchansk. People are still evacuating people from there after Russian troops pushed into northern Ukraine last week.
But the investigators say some elderly residents have been captured while trying to evacuate and they're being held near a Russian military headquarters. Now one elderly man was reportedly shot while trying to escape from Russian troops.
CNN can't independently verify those claims and we've reached out to Russia's defense ministry for comment.
Ukraine's new mobilization law goes into effect today as the country struggles to line up more recruits for its outnumbered military. The law overhauls the mobilization process, requiring all men of military age to register with the armed forces.
Those who live abroad will have to do that if they want to renew their passports. Russia has mobilized some 300,000 additional troops for the war. And Ukrainians are outnumbered 10 to one in some areas, according to Western analysts.
On Friday, President Zelenskyy also signed a law that allows many convicts to serve in the military and return for parole.
For more, we're joined by former CNN Moscow bureau chief Nathan Hodge and he is speaking to us from London.
Good to see you. So first let's start with that mobilization. The new law, taking effect.
At what impact do you think that'll have, given Ukraine shortage in manpower?
NATHAN HODGE, FORMER CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: Kim, I mean, what we've seen over the past two years is that the war in Ukraine's east has turned into a really kind of a grinding war of attrition.
Where basically you're pitting the industrial base of Russia and its ability to both produce artillery ammunition against out of the West, which has been supporting Ukraine.
But the key, key missing factor here for Ukraine very often has been mobilizing enough people to keep troops on the front, on the front lines, as you had mentioned. Russia has already conducted its own mobilization and this new law is meant to shore up Ukraine's ability to keep troops at the front.
But that front has become increasingly stretched with Russia opening this new incursion in the north, northeast above Ukraine's second city of Kharkiv.
And the big concern I think from Ukraine and Ukraine's military leadership is that, by doing so, Russia has putting new pressure, possibly diverting troops away from 1,000-kilometer-long front in the east, where they have been waging a real sort of brutal slugfest over the past couple of years.
It's worth remembering that the parts of Kharkiv region were liberated by Ukrainian forces in 2022 after Russia's full-scale invasion. But this new incursion into northeastern Ukraine has really put added pressure on Kyiv.
Not just to shore up those lines and to see if they can halt that Russian incursion but to keep Russian forces more out of the range of Kharkiv, which has been under devastating attacks for weeks, months now, where you've had a population that has been under siege.
And so it's a big contest, I think, in a lot of ways between the ability of both sides to keep troops -- fresh troops in the field, as well as to make up for losses that they've seen, Kim.
BRUNHUBER: Yes.
In that situation, in the fighting near Kharkiv, despite a Russian offensive being expected for months, I mean, was Ukraine unprepared to face the attack in this region, do you think?
HODGE: Kim, I think everyone has been surprised a little bit by the rapidity of Russian advances. I mean, it's worth remembering as well though that Ukraine, for instance, in the Black Sea region, has kept Russian -- Russia's navy on the defensive.
And but more or less, the main lines, since Ukraine both recaptured the city of Kherson as well as made its -- rolled back Russian forces in Kharkiv region.
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It's been like I said, it's kind of been a kind of a war of attrition in Ukraine's east. But this is again happening against the background of wider geopolitical jockeying. Russian president Vladimir Putin has just been China to visit, you know, his, his strong geopolitical ally, Xi Jinping of China.
And Ukrainian leadership is also hoping, at least from the latest that we have from president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, that China can play some sort of constructive role in encouraging some sort of peace process, which, at this point, seems quite distant.
But this is also happening at the same time when Putin has just had a shakeup at the top levels of his defense ministry. He has replaced, his longstanding defense minister and replaced him with an economist. And this is seen by most observers as putting Russia more on a war
footing. Again, that is happening at a time when Russia continues to outproduce the West, which is backing Ukraine in terms of producing artillery ammunition, and Ukraine as being essentially outgun ed on the front lines.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, on that question of China playing a role here, what chance do you think China would have to play any sort of constructive role, at least as seen from the West, given that they've been pretty explicit in following Moscow's line on this?
HODGE: Well, Kim, I think, sort of at the symbolic level, obviously Xi and Putin are showing off their, their strategic partnership. But China has stopped short.
It's not supplying Russia with weapons and ammunition and it's still, in many ways, can be seen, I think, by Ukraine. Although we don't know of too much communication, we know that there was a previous conversation between Xi and Zelenskyy.
But this expression of hope I think in Ukraine is always going to be tempered by an intense mistrust of Putin and his intentions. The idea that Russia can be relied upon to provide security guarantees has always been sort of a point that really is seen as somewhat of a deal breaker for Ukraine.
Especially given the fact that they do not see Russia as a -- or Putin as a reliable interlocutor internationally. They see Russia as the aggressor here. So I mean, I think that there are very serious barriers still to getting the kind of international backing that the Ukraine would hope for when it comes from China.
But the war has pushed, in many ways, Russia, because of sanctions from the West, closer into the economic and political embrace of China. So that does potentially give China some more leverage in this situation.
BRUNHUBER: All right, I appreciate your analysis as always. Nathan Hodge in London. Thanks so much.
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BRUNHUBER: Now Putin is trying to portray the Kharkiv offensive as a defensive move, even though it was his military that crossed into Ukraine's territory. We will have much more on the new front in northern Ukraine later in the show.
And still to come, CNN NEWSROOM obtains exclusive video showing Sean "Diddy" Combs attacking his former girlfriend. He faces several lawsuits and a federal investigation.
New details are emerging about the armed arsonist who police killed after he set fire to a French synagogue. When we come back, what authorities are saying about the man behind the attack. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Now to a CNN exclusive, surveillance video from 2016 obtained by CNN shows rapper and business mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs violently assaulting his then girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, in a hotel.
And what happens in the video appears to match Ventura's allegations in a federal lawsuit, which has now been settled. CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister has details and we just want to warn you, the video in her report may be disturbing.
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ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: New surveillance footage obtained exclusively by CNN appears to corroborate some of the allegations of abuse against music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs.
The video captured on multiple cameras shows Combs wearing only a towel assaulting his then-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, in a hallway at a Los Angeles hotel in March 2016.
A lawsuit filed by Ventura in November last year and settled the next day referenced actions that seem to match those seen in this video. There is no audio.
According to the complaint, Combs became extremely intoxicated and punched Ms. Ventura in the face, giving her a Black eye, which according to the lawsuit prompted Ventura to try and leave the hotel room.
The surveillance video obtained by CNN begins as she enters the hallway.
The complaint says, as she exited Mr. Combs awoke in, began screaming at Ms. Ventura. He followed her into the hallway of the hotel while yelling at her. The complaint goes on to say he grabbed her and then took glass vases in the hallway and threw them at her.
In the surveillance video, Combs can be seen grabbing Ventura and throwing her to the ground. As Ventura lies on the ground, Combs then kicks her twice and attempts to drag her on the floor back to the hotel room.
Ventura is seen picking up a hotel phone. Comb seems to walk back to the hotel room, then returns and appears to shove her in a corner. Moments later, he can be seen throwing an object in her direction.
According to Ventura's now settled lawsuit, the pair began dating several years after they met in 2005. They parted ways in 2019.
Combs' attorney said the decision to settle was in no way an admission of wrongdoing.
Ventura declined to comment on the video but her attorney told CNN the gut-wrenching video has only further confirmed the disturbing and predatory behavior of Mr. Combs. Words cannot express the courage and fortitude that Ms. Ventura has shown in coming forward to bring this to light.
The video hasn't been seen publicly before and comes on the heels of a series of civil lawsuits alleging Combs involvement in sex trafficking and sexual abuse, allegations Combs has repeatedly denied.
Authorities searched Combs' homes in Los Angeles and Miami in April, as part of an ongoing federal investigation carried out by a team that specializes in human trafficking crimes.
In a December 2023 statement, Combs responded to the claims and some of the lawsuit saying: Sickening allegations have been made against me by individuals looking for a quick payday. Let me be absolutely clear, I did not do any of the awful things being alleged.
WAGMEISTER: Clearly, very disturbing footage and violent actions that we are seeing coming from "Diddy," who up until this point has denied many of these allegations from all of these lawsuits that he is facing.
Aside from this lawsuit from Cassie, what she settled back in November 2023, he is facing five separate lawsuits and he has been fighting back through his lawyers.
In fact, just last week, we reported on a motion that he filed to dismiss a lawsuit from a Jane Doe that claimed she was 17 years old, a minor at the time of her allegations. And just a few days before that, he filed a motion to dismiss a portion of an entirely different claim.
It'll be interesting to see now how this may impact all that Diddy is facing. But we have yet to hear directly from him.
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BRUNHUBER: The man who attacked former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Friday. Prosecutors say David DePape broke into the Pelosis' San Francisco home in October 2022 and hit Paul Pelosi with a hammer.
The federal judge called the attack unprecedented and said she had to make sure the sentence reflected the seriousness of the crime.
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DePape, who described his political leanings as right of center, said during the trial that he was actually targeting Nancy Pelosi, not her husband. Nancy Pelosi was in Washington at the time.
DePape also faces a state case that's expected to go to trial this summer. The armed man killed by a French police after setting fire to a
synagogue was in the process of being ordered to leave the country. The French interior minister told journalists the arsonist was from Algeria and had applied to stay in France citing health issues.
But his request was rejected when a medical evaluation determined he was ineligible. CNN's Saskya Vandoorne has more.
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SASKYA VANDOORNE, CNN PRODUCER: It happened just before 7:00 am on Friday, an armed man broke into a synagogue in Rouen in northern France. He managed to get to the first floor, where he launched a Molotov cocktail, starting a fire.
He then made his way onto the roof and that's when the police and the fireman arrived. He jumped off the roof toward the police, brandishing a knife. And he was then shot dead by the police. No one else was injured but the fire was put out fairly quickly by the fireman but it did cause some damage, especially inside the synagogue.
Some of the furniture was burned, some of the walls blackened.
Now how did they get there so quickly?
Well, since October 7th, synagogues across France have been under heightened surveillance. Gerard Darmanin, the French interior minister, told us more about the attacker. We know that he is Algerian. We know that he was subject to an order being expelled from France.
So he was here illegally and the police were looking for him to expel him. However, we still don't know his motives -- Saskya Vandoorne, CNN, Paris.
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BRUNHUBER: Slovakia's prime minister is said to be conscious and able to speak but is still in very serious condition. Robert Fico underwent another surgical operation on Friday after he was shot earlier in the week.
The country's deputy prime minister said doctors will have a better idea how Fico is recovering in the coming days. A 71-year-old man has been charged with attempted murder in the shooting. Officials are describing the suspect as a lone wolf with political motivations.
All right.
Well, have a look at this chaos in Taiwan's parliament Friday.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Lawmakers engaged in heated arguments over a proposed chamber reforms when things took a violent turn. Some people tackled others to ground and we see some smash documents or yell in our faces colleagues.
One lawmaker, Puma Shen, trying to enter the chamber by climbing over his peers. He quickly yanked and pushed them. When he fell to the floor, he was rushed to the hospital for a head injury.
Gosh, right now, no party holds the majority in Taiwan's parliament. Commotion run lawmakers comes just days before a new president, Lai Ching-te, is inaugurated on Monday.
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BRUNHUBER: Russia has made some gains in its military push in the Kharkiv region.
But Ukraine's presence says his country still holds the key to further Russian advances. We will explain.
Plus deadly storms tear through Texas leaving more than 0.5 million homes and businesses without power amid soaring temperatures. We'll have the details after the break, please stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all you watching us around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
Russia hasn't reached Ukraine's main defense lines, despite some gains in its offensive in the Kharkiv region. That's according to Ukraine's president who says his country still holds the key to future Russian advances.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Situation is not stabilized. It's controlled. This is what I call it.
We are controlling their entrance routes into the Kharkiv region.
The work of their forces and heavy equipment. But the rationale operation continues.
So we can say that we have stabilized situation. There may be several waves. We can see. We have intercepted several conversations. Our intelligence is working.
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BRUNHUBER: Zelenskyy says, Russians have advanced up to 10 kilometers since launching their offensive in the region last week. He says the only region they managed to do that is because Ukraine didn't have enough air defenses.
Russia has captured nine villages since opening the new northern front in the war.
Meanwhile, Russian president Vladimir Putin is spelling out what he wants to accomplish in Kharkiv. Nick Paton Walsh has the story.
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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're beginning to get more of a picture of exactly the level of Russia's ambition in this new offensive from Russian territory down toward Ukraine's second city, Kharkiv.
It is essentially an entirely new front Vladimir Putin has opened up. Ukrainian officials, intelligence (INAUDIBLE) suggesting that they think about 25,000 Russian troops may have been committed to this new push toward Kharkiv itself.
Now Russian president Vladimir Putin in China today did say that he didn't have currently today, he said, any plans to take Kharkiv city.
I think its fair to say it's reasonably farfetched he could swoop into the city of nearly 1 million people and indeed occupy it but it appears his troops are aiming to make life here exceptionally unpleasant for residents.
We heard last night drones, missile strikes lighting up the sky, anti- aircraft fire, clear that the city is already a target. But Russian forces appear to be trying to get close enough in order to fire artillery pieces directly into the city itself.
That seems to be the goal of that push down from the north toward the city. And indeed Ukraine's military suggested that it might be pushing further in, perhaps trying to flank some of the key villages, vital for that particular Russian goal, with Ukraine's military saying that there are heavy battles ahead. Certainly.
And in fact, as in broad daylight here in Kharkiv, a lot of the sky was filled with black smoke earlier on today when what witnesses told us were three strikes hit one particular area here, causing thick, black smoke to fill the sky.
Small number of dead and dozens injured. But a sign really of Russia's growing reach into this key city and its aim to potentially not taking a huge population center like this but putting immense pressure on it, immense pressure on Ukraine's military to take stretched resources from around the country and rush them here to defend Kharkiv.
And therefore leave Ukraine exposed on multiple other areas on a front line where it's already found itself fatigued, stretched and starved of vital ammunition because of the hold-up of US aid.
In the weeks ahead that aid will start to get into Ukrainian hands. They may start to have the ammunition, the equipment that they need. And that's perhaps why Russia is moving so fast, so hard. And we're likely to see in the days and weeks ahead, a significant Russian bid to take more territory and put pressure on a large city like this -- Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Kharkiv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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BRUNHUBER: And for more on the day-to-day life in Kharkiv as Russia tries to press ahead with its offensive, we're joined by Viktoria Kinzburska. She's a Ukrainian Parliament member who's speaking to us from the city of Kharkiv.
Thank you so much for being here with us. So we just heard from our report there about some of the conditions there in Kharkiv, Black smoke filling the city and so on. Just give us a sense of what the city is like right now.
VIKTORIA KINZBURSKA, UKRAINIAN MP: Hello and thank you for inviting me. So I need to say that now in the Kharkiv region, the areas near the border, the city of Vovchansk our defensive action is continued, thanks to our forces.
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So we have managed to partially stabilize the situation but its still continuous as told our president. But we can clearly see how the occupiers keep trying to discharge our forces and make our combat work less concentrated. However, Russian shelling and threats persist.
BRUNHUBER: And for the people in the city itself.
I mean, its a city that's no stranger. To the fighting during this war. What are the fears there that the Russians are moving closer as our reporter said, there to make shelling of the city itself easier?
KINZBURSKA: Russia is trying to destroy Kharkiv for no doubt and to cause humanitarian catastrophe in the city.
But Russian army is not capable to take Kharkiv. We believe in this, despite these each day Russian troops kill civilians in Kharkiv. And there was no doubt that Russian army wants to get closer to the city to be able to use artillery to destroy the city and to cause collapse of civilian infrastructure.
Russia might want to turn the city into Aleppo by constantly bombardments. So for your understanding now, in city leaves approximately 70,000 to 100,000 of people. For comparison before the start of the full scale aggression, they were around 2 million people.
So Russia wants to make city uninhabitable.
BRUNHUBER: You talk about them trying to make the civilian infrastructure collapse.
Also try to make the people's emotions, I guess, their morale collapse as well.
I mean, how are the people there coping emotionally?
KINZBURSKA: You know, we call our city unbroken, Kharkiv. Our people are extremely brave and morale in the city among people remains high. People got used to the war and I've continuous (ph). I understand that its hard to realize but this is our reality.
And, of course, this is just a semblance of normal life. The city is unsafe. But we don't give up and don't lose heart because this is our home.
BRUNHUBER: You talk about the city being unsafe.
People leaving the city but people are coming into the city as well. Evacuees from other places, so many arriving in the city as well. I mean, they must have heartbreaking stories to tell.
KINZBURSKA: Yes, their story really inspiring. But we don't have evacuation from Kharkiv city. We have a vacation from Kharkiv region and now we have a lot of internally displaced person, something about 9,000 person. Schools are working online, of course and some of them are working on the ground.
We have first underground school in Kharkiv. There now approximately 700 pupils, universities working online, too. Difficult situation was business. But businesses also working.
Undoubtedly, its really hot. Some of them are leaving. But most of all from what most of all leaving from those areas, which are being hit by -- hit and destroyed by Russian army.
BRUNHUBER: When we're talking about Kharkiv region, those who chose not to leave, not to evacuate, what's happening to them?
We've heard reports that some have been killed, executed by Russian soldiers, other captured and used as human shields.
What more can you tell us about that?
KINZBURSKA: Someone told that we were not prepared. But we were prepared.
At the same time, Russian are using all kinds of weapons to destroy the city. And it's difficult to be totally prepared for that. Private residential areas, civilian objects, city center are frequently shelled. And I think no one can be prepared for that.
Russia can shell the city center in the middle of the day, just in case. That's why we need new air defense system to protect our city and protect our people. For example, petrol system, is it is critical for saving the lives of civilians because ...
[03:40:00]
It's difficult to predict where war might land. And most of missiles hits into ordinary private buildings. So you never know if you see the sun rise next morning or you be at home at (INAUDIBLE).
BRUNHUBER: Yes, tough for so many people to undergo that kind of stress all the time. You mentioned the U.S. weapons that you're hoping to get. Certainly a big package of aid has been authorized by the U.S. as well.
You have the Ukraine parliament that just passed a mobilization order that will hopefully bring in more soldiers.
Is there a sense of renewed hope right now?
Possibly the worst for you is over?
KINZBURSKA: Oh, I don't know yet. But Putin have planned to make a buffer zone from Kharkiv and in Putin's understanding, the buffer zone, it's destroying the city, turning into uninhabitable rubbles.
What Putin and his army are doing to Kharkiv is a war crime and genocide.
BRUNHUBER: All right, well, listen, we'll have to leave it there but really appreciate hearing from you, Viktoria Kinzburska, thank you so much for speaking with us.
KINZBURSKA: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: In Houston, Texas, at least seven people are dead and more than 0.5 million homes and businesses are still without power after a destructive complex of storms tore through the area.
U.S. National Weather Service classified the line of storms as a derecho, a long-lived wind storm that causes devastating straight line wind damage. Wind speeds in this event were as high as 161 kilometers per hour in downtown Houston, equivalent to a category 1 hurricane.
The city's mayor signed a local state of disaster declaration on Friday in response to the significant devastation.
Texas is hardly out of the woods yet, with sweltering temperatures on the horizon while the threat of severe weather continues to move eastward in the U.S.
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BRUNHUBER: All right. Still to come, new variants could lead to a spike in summer COVID cases. We'll have details next.
Plus big first on Wall Street. We will have more on the historic milestone next, stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Elon Musk's brain implant startup Neuralink is looking for a second test subject for its device. In a post on X on Friday, the company invited quadriplegics to apply for another trial. And the request comes five months after Neuralink implanted a chip into its first human subject.
And just a week after the company admitted its device had experienced an issue with the threads connecting it to the participant's brain. Neuralink's device is meant to collect electrical signals sent out by the brain and interpret them as actions.
And that could help blind people see or penalize people control phones and computers.
COVID-19 levels in the United States are around the lowest they've been since the pandemic began. But a new crop of variants threatens to disrupt the downward trend ahead of the summer season. CNN medical correspondent Meg Tirrell has details.
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MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: These new variants are officially called KP.2 and KP.1.1.
There are more casually referred to as flirt variants because of the makeup of the mutations that make them different, substituting an L for an F, a T for an R. That's how you get the flirt idea.
But what we do need to know is that they now make up about 35 percent of new cases in the U.S. and they are the dominant strains circulating here but they are similar to the strains that were circulating before, all part of the Omicron family.
It's also important to know though that there don't appear to be any major differences. And the kind of disease these variants cause or any more severity. We are currently at very low levels of COVID in the United States.
That is monitored in one way through wastewater to see how much virus is circulating around the country. And the CDC says, right now, that's at minimal levels. If you look at the trend line in wastewater monitoring, though, we do often see a bump in the late summer.
And we have seen that in cases in the past. We don't know whether that will happen this summer as well and if that will be contributed to by these new variants. They are thought to have an advantage over previous variants because potentially they can escape our antibody protection a little bit better.
So that's protection generated either by the vaccine or from previous infection. It is thought that the vaccines should still provide some protection against them. We do know that the FDA is going to be meeting in early June to discuss what the fall vaccine for COVID should look like, what it should protect against.
As of right now, severe disease in the United States is also at very low levels. So it's hoped that, that will continue. Experts do expect potentially a bigger bump in cases toward the end of the year, as we have often seen with COVID, sort of joining the other major respiratory viruses in the winter.
But the hope is that, of course, these two variants won't contribute to too much more severe disease.
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BRUNHUBER: Wall Street is ending the week on a historic high, the Dow Jones industrial average closed above 40,000 for the first time in its 139-year history.
The recent gains have been fueled by easing inflation and renewed hopes of rate cuts from the Federal Reserve.
China is trying to rescue its struggling property sector with sweeping new measures. The all-important real estate sector once accounted for as much as 30 percent of China's economic activity. But now it's weighing economic growth down. CNN's Marc Stewart has more.
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MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Let me share with you the reaction here in China. One state newspaper describing the measures as heavyweight policies.
[03:50:00]
Going on to say it marked a significant historic moment for the real estate sector. A big focus of this rescue plan puts the burden on local
governments to buy unsold homes from developers. It would also ease some of the rules on purchases.
The country's top economic official said the government should buy the homes and convert them into affordable social housing. As far as the
financing behind this, the People's Bank of China will set up a $41.5 billion loan program. The housing crisis has been a real economic detriment
to China. But this is something the stock market has wanted. Expectations of this plant have lifted stocks since last month.
Investors are putting their money back into Chinese shares. And finally, these measures come as new data suggested the property woes here in China
got even worse in April -- Marc Stewart, CNN, Beijing.
(END VIDEOTAPE) BRUNHUBER: All right, still ahead, the world's top rank golfer is facing criminal charges here in the U.S. after an incident outside the PGA Championship.
Scottie Scheffler says its all a big misunderstanding. We'll explain coming up. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Football's PGA championship had likely never had a second round like this one. It was delayed after what organizers called a tragic accident, a fatal traffic mishap just outside the site of a major golf tournament in Louisville, Kentucky.
And that's where the top ranked men's player, Scottie Scheffler, was arrested and hit with criminal charges. He called his run-in with police a big misunderstanding. More on that in a moment. But Scheffler not only was released in time to make his tee-off, he shot five under par.
Meanwhile, Xander Schauffele is at the top of leaderboard at 12 under. Second round is set to resume in about four hours after play was suspended Friday night due to darkness. Now Scottie Scheffler's stellar second round kept a whirlwind few hours for the 27-year-old. CNN's Patrick Snell reports.
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PATRICK SNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It really has been an amazing last few weeks for Scottie Scheffler. Last month he became Masters champions for a second time. And then last week he became a proud father for the very first time.
Though nothing could have prepared him for the events that unfolded this Friday here in Louisville.
SNELL (voice-over): It was in the 6 am hour. Scheffler was trying to drive to Valhalla Golf Club, which is hosting this year's PGA championship, when the American allegedly injured a police officer after attempting to drive around the scene of a fatal crash, a separate unrelated incident.
Scheffler was arrested, charged with a felony assault and then released from jail in time to play his second round.
Scheffler producing a stunning display, boosted by roars of support and appreciation from the crowd, firing a five under 66 to power his way up the leaderboard to get, to nine under par before then sharing his reflections with reporters on his Friday ordeal.
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER, GOLF PRO: I feel like my head is still spinning. I can't really explain what happened this morning. I did spend some time stretching in a jail cell. That was a first for me. It was part of my warm-up. I was just sitting there waiting and I started going through my warm up.
I felt like there was a chance I may be able to still come here and play. And so I started going through my routine. I tried to get my heart rate down as much as I could today. But like I said, I still feel like my head is spinning a little bit but ...
[03:55:00]
Yes, I was fortunate to be able to make it back out and play some golf today.
Scottie Scheffler has an arraignment hearing scheduled for Tuesday, though its not clear at this point whether he's required to attend in person. Scheffler's attorney telling us Scottie Scheffler will be pleading not guilty to all charges -- Patrick Snell, CNN, Louisville, Kentucky.
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BRUNHUBER: I always say some of the world's best ideas started with a scribble on a napkin. And it couldn't be truer for this napkin, which changed football forever.
Now it contains the promise by the Spanish club Team Barcelona to assign Lionel Messi when he was just 13 years old.
The modest document has sold for nearly $1 at the auction house Bonhams. It comes with a sentiment and priceless backstory.
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MARK SANDS, CMO, BONHAMS: It was signed at a lunch. And one of the three signatories decided to keep it for posterity's sake. It was never legally binding but emotionally it represents the deep link or the beginning of the deep link that Messi had with Barcelona. And he just kept it and 20 years later brought it to market.
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BRUNHUBER: Of course, Messi became one of the Catalan club's greatest players and their all-time leading scorer with 672 goals.
Well, if you think of a Michelin star restaurant and you have visions of haute cuisine, elegant waiters, tiny, fussy portions and a huge bill, well, not at the humble El Califa de Leon taco stand in a working class part of Mexico City.
It just won the coveted Michelin star. Michelin guide was wowed by a taco named for a famous bullfighter: thinly sliced beef, salt, a squeeze of lime for just $5. Chef Arturo Martinez said the secret is its simplicity.
Michelin called it elemental and pure. So good, you won't need the salsa. Well, less than a decade ago, women in Saudi Arabia had to wear a body covering abaya. On Friday, the country hosted its first ever swimsuit fashion show. Models strutted the most that partly exposed the shoulders and midriffs in a variety of styles and designs.
The collection is by a Moroccan designer and she says she knew this would be a historic moment.
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YASMINA QANZAL, MOROCCAN DESIGNER (through translator): It's bizarre, it's weird and its also an honor at the same time. It's true that this country is very conservative but we tried to show elegant swimsuits which represent the Arab world.
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BRUNHUBER: now the groundbreaking show was part of the St. Regis Red Sea Resort's inaugural fashion week.
I'm Kim Brunhuber. I'll be back in just a moment with more CNN NEWSROOM, please do stay with us.
