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Strong Global Reaction to Recognizing Palestinian State; Female IDF Soldiers' Families Release Hamas Abduction Video; U.N. Says More Than 900,000 in Gaza Displaced by Fighting; Massive Crowds in Tehran Pay Final Respects to Raisi; Ebrahim Raisi to be Buried After Final Funeral Ceremonies; British Prime Minister Announces Vote to be Held July 4th; Ukraine Fights to Keep Key Town in North; Rihanna's Fenty Pop-up Goes Viral in China. Aired 12-12:45a ET

Aired May 23, 2024 - 00:00   ET

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

[00:00:33]

PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, and a very warm welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world, and to everyone streaming on CNN Max.

Just ahead, the decision by Spain, Ireland, and Norway to recognize a Palestinian state is prompting skepticism from some European government and outright condemnation from Israel. The three countries say the recognition is the best way to achieve a lasting peace in the Middle East. It will take effect, in fact, on Tuesday. Spain's prime minister says it's not a decision against Israel, but one in favor of co-existence. Listen.

We will have that for you momentarily. We want to begin, though, with this announcement, of course, from those three European governments. And it has sent shockwaves through the Middle East and around the globe. Now the prime ministers of Ireland, Spain, and Norway announced that they will recognize a Palestinian state next week, calling it the best way to achieve lasting peace in the Middle East.

Now more than 140 countries have already recognized a Palestinian state but only a few are members of the European Union until now. The White House is pushing back against the move, repeating its position that a two-state solution should come from diplomatic negotiations between the two parties. In fact, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has condemned the move, saying that it was outrageous.

Now, as we continue to give you more information on this, several other countries are speaking out against recognizing this Palestinian state. Germany's Foreign Affairs Committee says it's not appropriate after the horrific Hamas massacres of last year. The French foreign minister says Paris doesn't consider Palestinian statehood taboo but France does not believe conditions have yet been met for this decision to have a real impact on the peace process.

And the reason that's interesting is you will remember just a couple of days ago when the ICC, the International Criminal Court, came out with a prosecution in terms of asking for indictments against Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense minister. France, in fact, backed that move.

Now, as a different take, we get now from Qatar, whose Foreign Ministry says more country should recognize the state of Palestine and promote efforts aiming to implement the two-state solution. Saudi Arabia, meantime, joining the call for more countries to take the same stance and contribute to a just and lasting peace that fulfills the rights of the Palestinian people.

Now, meantime, the families -- so we're just going to bring you one more piece of news, in fact, on that recognition. Colombia has already recognized Palestinian statehood. And you can see Colombians, in fact, there were holding pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Bogota earlier this year. Now, according to the foreign minister, it's the president who's ordering the opening of the embassy in the West Bank city of Ramallah. The diplomat says it's not a move against Israel but rather in favor of a two-state solution.

Now the families of seven female IDF soldiers kidnapped by Hamas have released graphic footage of their abduction back on October 7th. They're hoping it will increase the pressure on Israel's government to secure their release. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he is horrified by the video, and a warning, a report from CNN's Bianna Golodryga contains graphic video.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through text translation): You dogs, we'll step on you.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Horrific new video released of Israeli female soldiers captured at their base at Nahal Oz along the Gaza border on the morning of October 7th, revealing the violent nature of their abduction and the brutality that they experienced at the hands of Hamas.

The video obtained by CNN was previously released by Hamas, then edited by IDF, and later released to the families of the hostages. In it, you can see several female IDF soldiers, all border observers. Their faces bloodied and bruised, their hands bound as they're forced against the wall.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through text translation): Our brothers died because of you. We will shoot you all.

[00:05:02]

GOLODRYGA: They are outnumbered by Hamas militants who are heard in a chaotic scene shouting, praying.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through text translation): Where are you from?

GOLODRYGA: And interrogating the soldiers. Five of the seven women seen in the video are currently still believed to be held captive by Hamas 229 days after being taken. The three most prominently seen in the video are Liri Albag, Agam Berger, and Naama Levy, all 19 years old. NAAMA LEVY, IDF SOLDIER TAKEN HOSTAGE BY HAMAS: I have friends in

Palestine.

GOLODRYGA: We spoke with Naama's mother Ayelet Levy Shachar shortly after the video was released.

DR. AYELET LEVY SHACHAR, MOTHER OF HOSTAGE NAAMA LEVY: She was part of a youth program promoting peace. She met with -- when she was on a delegation to California, she met with different youth from Israel, Palestine, Jewish Americans.

GOLODRYGA: This previously released video of Naama being pulled out of a jeep, her pants bloodied, raised concern about Hamas using sexual violence as a weapon of war. A United Nations representative issued a report following a visit to Israel and the West Bank earlier this year.

PRAMILA PATTEN, U.N. SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL: We also have reasonable grounds to believe that such violence may still be ongoing against those still held in captivity.

GOLODRYGA: The families of these soldiers agree to release this video now out of frustration over what they view as inaction from officials, including Israeli officials, to prioritize a hostage deal. The Hostage and Missing Families Forum releasing this statement in part, "The video serves as an indictment for a national failure and the abandoning of the hostages."

SHACHAR: We feel that time and time again the negotiations are not proceeding due to different reasons. Obviously, the Hamas have their part of it. This cannot be a side story, and so yes, I think this is -- this video that we agonized over if we should be, you know, having it published, et cetera, and some of the families didn't even -- some of the family members didn't even watch it until now.

I think it should be shown to citizens in order to promote this, to mobilize our government, to put this in the top priority, and to move ahead and bring them all home.

GOLODRYGA: Is it true that some members of the government did not want to watch this video?

SHACHAR: The ministers and members of the government were asked to watch a version of this video in their meetings. And some of them refused and said, you know, we want to sleep OK at night so we don't want to watch this now. So if this is the reaction when their duty is to watch all these materials of October 7th and everything from that point on, this is their job so they can make correct decisions. Then, you know, we think that we should just put it out there for our citizens and for the world to see.

GOLODRYGA: Bianna Golodryga, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: Now nearly one million people, about 40 percent of the population in Gaza, have been uprooted yet again. Seeking safety and shelter as Israel conducts military operation across the enclave. Now the U.N. Humanitarian Affairs Office says more than 800,000 people have now fled Rafah since early May, and about 100,000 others have been displaced in the north. UNRWA reports the families are living in the rubble damaged schools and are lacking tents, clean water and other vital supplies.

Meantime humanitarian aid coming into Gaza is extremely limited and very difficult to distribute due to security issues. The United States says it's refining the process of delivering aid from its floating pier after reports that what's been brought in hasn't actually reached the people who need it.

Scott Anderson is the director of UNRWA Affairs in Gaza, and he joins me now from Rafah.

We thank you for being with us. We just want to start, right, with a snapshot of the situation on the ground right now and especially those challenges with security and logistics.

SCOTT ANDERSON, DIRECTOR OF UNRWA AFFAIRS IN GAZA: Thank you for having me on this morning and I think for people in Gaza, the innocent civilians, it's a very difficult time right now. 40 percent of the population has been displaced again and for most of them, it's their fourth, fifth, or sixth time that they moved to seek safety during this conflict.

As things in Rafah have evolved our biggest challenge has been accessing Kerem Shalom to bring in aid because it's very much part of the current combat operations that's in that zone, and the aid is really floating to critical. Before the operations we're getting up to 300 trucks of aid through the crossing and now we're down to 32 to 50 for the U.N. The other two crossings in the north and the floating pier are good and they're meant to be additive.

[00:10:04]

But we're not quite getting enough in, and we're very concerned what that could mean for the population that's on the move and already had the resilient impacted.

NEWTON: Yes. I can't imagine what some of those families have already been through, but what -- I want to zero in on Rafah where you are right now. Israeli forces continue their operations there. What is the situation? We were just discussing how civilians have left. And crucially that border crossing, does it remain completely closed off, the one in Rafah with Egypt?

ANDERSON: Yes, the Rafah crossing into Egypt remains completely closed. That was the main way for people, for example, to be medevacked from Gaza to Egypt to seek secondary and tertiary care because the hospital network has been so impacted here. And the people that are left in Gaza, probably 300,000 or 400,000 that are still here, every day for them, too, it's a daily struggle just to find food and water and hopefully somewhere safe for their families. So as we move into summer and as it gets hotter and hotter, our

primary concern really is water. How we generate enough drinking water for everybody to have access to, especially the elderly and children who are more vulnerable to heat, and to make sure we do everything we can to keep all the innocent civilians alive.

NEWTON: When you're looking out your window, when you're out in Rafah, what is the situation now especially for those families that it's a continual scavenger hunt every day to find first and foremost water and then food?

ANDERSON: It was almost surreal. I work out of a health center and when I looked outside a few weeks ago, it was completely covered with tents, with makeshift plastic structures and an incredible large number of people, and when I look out the window of the health center now I can count the number of tents on one hand, but even though it's a smaller number of people the struggle for them remains. How do I find drinking water today, how do I find food today, how do I find a bathroom today,

So even though the number is smaller, the challenge remains and it's the same challenge that everybody across Gaza is experiencing at the moment. It's very much a fight for survival every day and how they take care of themselves and how they take care of their families.

NEWTON: Yes, and as you indicate, even though they have been uprooted yet again where they have gone are also not adequate services for them.

Scott Anderson, we'll leave it there for now, but we will continue to check in with you. Appreciate it.

ANDERSON: Thank you very much now.

NEWTON: Now in Iran, the final funeral ceremonies for the late president Ebrahim Raisi are expected to take place just in the coming hours in the city of Birjand and in the north eastern city of Mashhad where he will be buried. Now this comes one day after massive crowds filled the streets of Tehran for their final farewell. Today, you see, as well as eight others killed in a helicopter crash over the weekend.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen was there in Tehran on the ground and has this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Hundreds of thousands lining the streets as the caskets made their way through Tehran, chanting, marching along, paying their final respects.

Ever since that helicopter crash that killed Iran's president Ebrahim Raisi, as well as of course the foreign minister Hossein Amir- Abdollahian and several others we've seen some of the displays of public mourning here around the country in Iran. That was especially here in Tehran where this massive procession is one that is part of the funeral processions to lay to rest the people who were killed in that helicopter crash.

(Voice-over): I am here for my president, she says. He did a lot for Iran, to prove that we loved him very much.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei himself leading the funeral prayers. With foreign dignitaries, but also senior leaders of Hamas in attendance.

While Iran's investigation into the crash is ongoing, the president's chief of staff, who was traveling in a different chopper in the convoy, saying one of those aboard the doomed chopper was alive and communicating for at least three hours after the crash. The chief of staff also giving more details on the incident itself.

GHOLAM HOSSEIN ESMAILI, IRANIAN PRESIDENTIAL CHIEF OF STAFF (through translator): Captain Mostafavi, who was the pilot of the helicopter carrying the president and the commander of the helicopter convoy, ordered the other helicopters to gain altitude and go above the clouds. When we reached above the clouds, and after about 30 seconds, we realized the president's helicopter wasn't with us.

PLEITGEN: But on the streets of Tehran many hold Iran's adversaries, the U.S. and Israel, responsible.

We have all come here to prove that we will support this revolution and we won't back away, this woman says, and then chants, death to Israel.

[00:15:04]

And he says, I will support my revolution until the last drop of my blood.

Mourning, sorrow and anger in the massive crowd as Iran's leaders vowed to maintain stability.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Tehran.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: CNN's Paula Hancocks continues to follow developments for us and she joins us now from Abu Dhabi.

I mean, still another full day of mourning ahead. What more are we expecting?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Paula, this was a multi-day funeral ceremony and procession for these individuals on that helicopter. So what we're seeing today is the president's -- the late President Ebrahim Raisi is his body will be taken to Birjand. These are the pictures you can see here.

This is the city where he represented the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei for many years and so this has significance when it comes to Raisi himself. We know that the other bodies will be now taken to their hometowns so that they can be buried. The foreign minister, for example, Abdollahian, he is going to be buried just south of Tehran. There will be funeral ceremonies as well at the Foreign Ministry Building this morning in Tehran for him.

But when it comes to the late president, you can see significant numbers coming out onto the streets. Once again, a similar thing to what we saw yesterday. And then after this, he will go onto Mashhad. This is his hometown. This is where there will be the final funeral rites and he will be buried later this Thursday in that city. So it has been a multi-day event. This is Iran wanting to show the world, wanting to show its own people as well that there is significant mourning when it comes to these individuals.

Of course, these pictures only tell one side of the story. There are other elements of the Iranian population that did not support the ultra-conservative President Raisi. He oversaw significant economic crisis, also mass protests in 2022. So this is really just representing one segment of society, but it is what Tehran, what the officials are trying to show is that this is a time of mourning from tomorrow.

They will be looking forward to the elections, which will happen on June 28th, and looking to who will replace permanently these individuals. We know very quickly after the deaths were confirmed, there was an acting president, an acting foreign minister put in place. A real sense of wanting to show there will be no disruption and there is stability in the country -- Paula.

NEWTON: OK, Paula, and thanks so much. We'll continue to keep an eye on those events as they unfold there in Iran. Appreciate it.

We have some breaking news out of Mexico. Four people are dead and 15 injured after a stage collapsed during a political event just outside the northeastern city of Monterrey. That's according to the Mexican president who blamed the incident on strong winds in the area. Now, it happened at a rally for presidential candidate Jorge Alvarez Menez. He is the Citizen's Movement Party. He says he was in fact briefly hospitalized but thankfully is doing OK this hour.

You can see those pictures just absolutely terrifying. We'll continue to update that story for you.

Just ahead for us, early elections for the U.K. Details on the timing and why the Tories may be in trouble.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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NEWTON: So we continue to follow severe weather here in the United States where the National Weather Service confirmed a tornado hit the town of Temple, Texas, just hours ago.

Now pictures show downed trees and power lines from the strong winds. The twister also damaged rooftops on buildings in that area. It apparently shattered windows, if you can believe it, at that small mall there. You can see the rain blowing into the building as well. So far, there have been nearly 200 storm reports across the United States Wednesday and that includes three tornadoes. All of those in Texas.

So a surprise announcement from the British prime minister who says a snap elections will take place on July 4th. Rishi Sunak stood outside 10 Downing Street in the pouring rain, you see him there, Wednesday to deliver the news. And it's probably no coincidence it came not long after some good economic numbers were released showing the U.K. inflation was falling to its lowest level in some time. The prime minister admitted his Conservative Party has made mistakes, but he insisted the Tories remain most capable of leading Britain out of challenging times.

Still the six-week election campaign is widely expected to bring an end to the Sunak government. The opposition Labour Party led by Keir Starmer has a commanding lead in the polls.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RISHI SUNAK, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: This election will take place at a time when the world is more dangerous than it has been since the end of the Cold War. And these uncertain times call for a clear plan and bold action to chart a course to a secure future. You must choose in this election who has that plan, who is prepared to take the bold action necessary to secure a better future for our country.

KEIR STARMER, BRITISH LABOUR PARTY LEADER: A vote for Labour is a vote for stability. Economic and political. A politics that treads more likely on all our lives, a vote to stop the chaos.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: Dominic Thomas is CNN's European Affairs commentator, and he is with us now from Los Angeles.

Good to see you, and I'm hoping you hold our hands through this entire six-week campaign. I mean, look, the announcement nearly poetic, right, though? Rain was lashing a besieged prime minister. And can you -- can we take a pause here? Can you just give us this at 35,000 feet, right? We're at post-Brexit, post-pandemic, post-leveling up. Where are the British voters? Where are they at right now?

DOMINIC THOMAS, CNN EUROPEAN AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Well, what's so remarkable, Paula, is that, you know, just back in 2019, the last time they held an election, right, because since then, both Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak were selected by members of the Conservative Party, not actually elected by the people. And in 2019, it was a single issue election, Brexit. Boris Johnson's slogan was "Let's get Brexit done." And since then, questions around COVID, Ukraine, Russia, et cetera, have in many ways, especially Brexit, receded into the background and it's a whole range of domestic issues that now concern voters.

Its longstanding question of the cost of living, health care issues, we remember that under Rishi Sunak historic strikes from nurses and so on. And another range of domestic environmental issues and social services and so on. And all of those issues are issues on which the Conservative Party has an appalling track record. So the context has changed and ultimately the party is going to be held accountable for its actions and decisions over the past 14 years, Paula?

NEWTON: Yes. And again and again in those local elections, it has been held accountable, but it has taken some time for voters to warm to Keir Starmer. Polls indicate, though, that of course this is his election to lose. But what would a Labour government under his leadership, what would it mean for Britain?

THOMAS: Well, it's a significant transformation because of course, let's face it, you know, in the last 14 years this sort of succession of prime ministers, a highly divisive kind of, you know, Brexit issue and the sort of difficulties of extricating themselves for the European Union, tensions between, of course, Northern Ireland, Republic in Ireland, and so on.

[00:25:07]

The question of the divisive vote on Brexit, where you have, you know, Scotland and Ireland voting to stay and Wales in the U.K. voting to leave. So a lot of sort of divisions and so on that have not been resolved. And then these were exacerbated by a long standing crisis now. And so remarkably, although the Conservative Party had its, you know, a historic performance, certainly the best in 30 plus years at the 2019 election, the Labour Party had its worst performance in over 80 years.

So it's a real uphill struggle, I think, for them to reclaim. There's a lot to lose. The party does remain divided. The prima sort of former Corbin supporters, and then this new figure of Keir Starmer. So there's a big risk for them moving forward and they've got to pick up an awful lot of seats to make their way to a parliamentary majority here.

NEWTON: Yes, it is consequential that Rishi Sunak, despite the pouring rain, decided that these were favorable conditions for him to call this snap election and just get it done and done quickly.

I want to ask you, though, Britain's place in Europe I find so consequentially muddled at this time. I'd imagine many Europeans agree with me. No matter who wins here, can this election help to reframe its relationship with the continent? Because that's missing right now.

THOMAS: It is. And certainly that the, you know, the legacy of the Brexit vote taking place under Conservative Party leadership of responsive Europe and to that. I mean, the number of years that it took for that process to unfold was incredibly disruptive especially because the elements pushing it that remain important political players today, let's not forget that the outgrowth of the U.K. Independence Party and of the Brexit Party are now in reform, which are causing real problems for the conservatives because they're currently polling at 10 plus percent.

And what we've seen since then unfold in Europe is a kind of rise and a mainstreaming and an acceptability of some of those far-right issues, and ironically, paradoxically perhaps even, if the election in the U.K. was to return a Labour Party government, it would be an interesting move away considering the path in France, just sort of move to the right. Italy, Hungary, Germany, and so on. And the Netherlands.

So it would be an interesting kind of term here. And I think that under Keir Starmer, there's a possibility to kind of revisit some of the parameters of that relationship and to begin some sort of open dialogue by shifting away from so many of the sort of immigration xenophobic issues and to Europe issues, and to kind of rebuild the scaffolding with that particular relationship. But an important potential moment of global shifts for the American elections coming up. And of course, the E.U. elections coming up just a few weeks away in June now.

NEWTON: And as Rishi Sunak said himself, the world is vastly different from how it was when the Brexit vote went through.

Dominic Thomas, as I said, please take close in the next few weeks as we continue to try and parse the election. Thanks so much.

THOMAS: Thank you. I look forward to that. Bye, Paula.

NEWTON: Now French President Emmanuel Macron is calling for a return to peace in New Caledonia. He arrived in the French territory on Thursday, telling reporters' main priority is restoring calm and safety, and amid that deadly anti-government protests which have gripped the islands.

Now protests began a week ago after the French government voted to approve changes to its constitution giving greater voting rights to French residents living on the islands. Those protests soon turned violent with some locals torching buildings and clashing with police. At least six people have died as a result now.

Now Ukrainian troops are fighting tooth and nail to hold back a relentless Russian offensive in the north.

Still ahead for us, a CNN exclusive from the frontlines as Ukraine's forces dodge Russian drones and artillery strikes in a brutal ongoing battle.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NEWTON: A deadly Russian strike in Northern Ukraine has been caught on video. Ukraine says it shows the moment a Russian drone hit a police car in Vochansk [SIC] -- Vovchansk, pardon me -- on Wednesday, killing an officer and wounding another. It reportedly happened while the city was being evacuated.

[00:31:49]

Now, Vovchansk now looks like a ghost town. In fact, you see some of the video there.

Ukrainian troops are fighting Russian forces house to house to keep them from advancing.

Ukrainian prosecutors say a woman in a wheelchair was shot and killed last week while her husband was actually trying to help her flee the town. They blame Russian troops, and an investigation is underway.

Now, if Vovchansk were to fall, the Russian advance could then push ever closer to Ukraine's second largest city, Kharkiv. But there's another crucial town also in Russia's sights, one which Ukrainian troops are desperately trying to defend, but they're heavily outgunned.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh got exclusive acts -- access to see this battle firsthand. And a warning: some of the images are graphic.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Some towns, they can never let Putin take, and this, Lyptsi, is one of them.

Destroyed artillery on the streets, homes aflame from an airstrike. They can only move at night.

WALSH: Lights off.

WALSH (voice-over): It's a perilous grip they keep, but lose here, and Russian artillery will be in range of Ukraine's second city, Kharkiv.

WALSH: You can still smell the smoke here from an airstrike that landed just in the last hour or so.

WALSH (voice-over): This is life under the drone. We're the first reporters into the heart of the town.

Only soldiers left here underground. The Khartia 13th National Guard first tackled Russia's new offensive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

GRAPHIC: You saw how it's all burning. It's like that every night.

WALSH: Do you think there were good enough fortifications here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

GRAPHIC: Nothing was prepared here. Nothing. Just nothing. All the positions are being built by the hands of the infantry. [The Russians] are trained professional soldiers. We can see it from their equipment, from their tactics.

WALSH (voice-over): There were eight airstrikes just in the last hour, so we leave soon.

A buzzing noise near us very close. And the only way they know whose drone this is, is if it attacks.

WALSH: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

GRAPHIC: Is it your drone?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

GRAPHIC: Who knows?

WALSH (voice-over): All around Kharkiv, they don't have enough guns. And the Russians have too many drones.

The 92nd Assault Brigade show us something that isn't even theirs.

WALSH: A Russian artillery piece that they captured in the first year of the war in the fighting in Kharkiv region. And now they use, strangely, French mortar rounds to fire from here. It's just a sign of how little appropriate ammunition they have available to them.

This wire is a protection from FPV drones.

WALSH (voice-over): Above, he sees a drone with two battery packs, a long-range scout.

WALSH: Basement.

WALSH (voice-over): It is not friendly. If you can tell it's an attack drone, hide.

This seems to be a scout, so running is better before it calls in shelling.

Another artillery unit wants to show us something not even Russian, but Soviet. Made in the 1940s, it can still fire newer Polish shells. In the autumn, it was 100 a day. Now it is ten.

[00:35:09]

WALSH: Extraordinary to see something here that's three times the age of either of these two guys, holding back a new Russian offensive in 2024. I see the metal's so old that it limits the number of times.

WALSH (voice-over): That sound warns another drone is incoming.

And back in the bunker, they show us the online-bought $30 gadget that is their best warning mechanism.

The team here embody Ukraine's exhaustion and resilience. Older guys, wounded infantry men.

Artur (ph) has drone shrapnel in his arm still.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

GRAPHIC: Moving towards Lozova?

ARTUR (PH), UKRAINIAN MILITARY: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

GRAPHIC: Yes, yes.

Orlan. Don't go out at all for now.

WALSH: Just saw an Orlan Russian drone passing overhead. So saying, better stay inside.

WALSH (voice-over): On the way back into the city, we see what fuels this defense. This was a lakeside resort. Football, cocktails, a beach.

WALSH: Extraordinary devastation. And they're here to collect the bodies.

WALSH (voice-over): A seven-month pregnant woman was among the seven dead here. Another body found later, just fragments in the mulch.

Russia's advance looms over whatever life persists here, belching out over homes.

The dark is little salvation. This may be a drone being hit, but they kill, too, when they crash in failure.

Flares breach the enforced blackout. Moscow is getting nearer again, and there are always too many blasts before dawn.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Kharkiv, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: And we will be right back with more news in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NEWTON: So it looks like Elvis Presley's family will indeed keep control of his Graceland mansion.

Now, a Tennessee court made that ruling on Wednesday after Presley's granddaughter sued to block a mysterious company from actually selling the historic Memphis home. A company later saying it's dropping all claims to the property.

Music superstar Rihanna hasn't released new music in a long time, but she's been busy building a beauty empire valued at nearly $3 billion. That's according to "Forbes."

She also started a family.

And the success of her cosmetics brand, Fenty Beauty, is in part due to its popularity on social media and the rising Gen Z.

CNN's Mike Valerio, though, right now, breaks down Rihanna's latest viral moment in China.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Rihanna serving up looks and jianbing, a type of crepe, in Shanghai.

[00:40:05]

The artist and entrepreneur was in the city for her beauty brand's first ever pop-up in China.

The Fenty event was a masterclass in enticing Gen Z shoppers amid a slump in Chinese retail consumption that's hit the country's economy hard.

Rihanna quickly became the No. 1 trending topic on Chinese social media site Weibo.

Rihanna is no stranger to the connection between cookery and couture going viral online. The show-stopping look by Chinese design Guo Pei, nicknamed the "omelet dress," captivated onlookers at the 2015 Met Gala and became the root of many an Internet meme.

Of course, if you want to sell your products in China, you'd better be ready to live stream, even if "Forbes" says your net worth is over $1 billion.

Rihanna joined several beauty bloggers to showcase Fenty products on Douyin, China's version of TikTok. There were more than 460 million livestreaming e-commerce users in mainland China in 2022, according to a body affiliated with Beijing's commerce ministry.

RIHANNA, ACTRESS/ENTREPRENEUR: I love them. Are you kidding?

VALERIO (voice-over): Now we can add Rihanna to that long list.

Mike Valerio, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: And finally, have a look. The dance floor, the iconic 1970s movie "Saturday Night Fever."

Yes, it's going up for auction next month.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC: THE BEE GEES, "YOU SHOULD BE DANCING")

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: Takes you back. The film made actor John Travolta a household name and its music by the Bee Gees becoming the biggest selling soundtrack of all time.

Now, nearly 50 years later, that lighted dance floor you're looking at will be part of Julien's Auctions in Los Angeles and online, starting on June 12, and it's expected to sell for $300,000. Seems like a bargain to me.

Now, the auction will also include Jeff Bridges' bowling costume from "The Big Lebowski" and a prop from the first Indiana Jones movie, "Raiders of the Lost Ark."

I remember them all well.

I'm Paula Newton. I'll be back with more CNN NEWSROOM at the top of the hour. But for right now, it's WORLD SPORT.

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