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At Least Seven Dead In Russian Missile Attack On Kharkiv; China Testing Ability To "Seize Power" In Second Day Of Military Drills Around Taiwan; Israeli Forces Take Al-Awda Hospital In Jabalya; U.S. Rolls Out Red Carpet For Kenya's President Ruto; G7 Eyes Russia's Financial Assets Frozen over Ukraine Invasion; Ebrahim Raisi Laid to Rest in Holy City of Mashhad; Heatwave in Latin America Endangers Mexico's Howler Monkeys; U.S. Forecasters Predict Active Atlantic Hurricane Season; Cassie Ventura Breaks Silence on "Diddy" Assault Video; New Video in Scottie Scheffler Arrest. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired May 24, 2024 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes. Appreciate your company. Coming up on CNN Newsroom. Russia unleashes a fierce missile assault on Kharkiv as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy blames the attack on international restrictions to his defenses.
China says it's testing its ability to quote seize power as it begins a second day of military drills around Taiwan and diplomacy mixed with pomp and circumstance US President Biden welcomes his Kenyan counterpart to a state dinner at the White House.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN Newsroom with Michael Holmes.
HOLMES: And we begin with a new plea from Ukraine following the latest Russian missile barrage in the city of Kharkiv. Regional officials say seven people were killed, at least 23 others injured in attacks on Ukraine second largest city on Thursday.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, calling the strikes extremely brutal, and he's now urging some Western allies to allow Ukraine to use weapons supplied by them to conduct strikes inside Russia. Mr. Zelenskyy said those strikes would be fair game because Ukraine is defending itself. And he said his country still doesn't have enough weapons to stop Russia's aerial attacks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): This is a shortage of air defense systems that are actually available in the world. This is the lack of long range capabilities for our warriors and the complete inability to destroy the very source of Russian terror near our borders, including the missile launchers that actually hit Ukraine and the lives of our people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: CNN's Nick Paton Walsh has been in and around Kharkiv for the last few days and saw the aftermath of those strikes, including one that hit a major printing company in Kharkiv. This is how he later described the scene.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: We were certainly shaken by many of these blasts miles away in a supermarket. In fact, 15 landing two locations the seven dead we think we visited the scene of that some craters near a railway track a printing press seems to have been the target an entirely civilian area. Firefighters taking cover.
Because of this constant fear now in Hakeem and other cities that Russia will use a double tap that's essentially attacking your place with a missile and then following that missile up 10 minutes later, with another missile to essentially hit the first responders who rushed to rescue people to essentially inspire fear across the population.
This is not the first time. In just a week we've had in the past seeing Kharkiv hit quite so hard at the weekend on Sunday and Lakeside resort hit seven dead there too, including a seven-month pregnant women. And every night when we were in Kharkiv over the past week, we would hear a blast on the skyline drones at times, really Russian forces is getting a lot closer now potentially trying to get their artillery in range. And this one it seems of the goals of Putin's new offensive.
We don't also know if we're seeing here a higher level of Russian missile being used. There seems to be suggesting that these are perhapsS400 S300 kind of anti-aircraft missiles being repurposed to hit land targets. It seems like more air defenses would certainly put a dent in some of the damage that they're doing. But remember, this is the first thing that Kyiv warned about back in December when that $61 billion of U.S. military aid was held up by a ridiculously dysfunctional Republican Congress.
Now we're actually seeing that, in effect Kharkiv, particularly on the receiving end. And the end goal for Moscow essentially is even if they perhaps except that they could never take Ukraine seconds if they got nowhere near it really when the war started kept on the outskirts.
The idea is potentially to draw Ukrainian forces where from where I am in the east of the country on very precarious front lines to yet weaken Ukraine further here and allow Russian advances but bear in mind we are seeing probably the worst moment here for Kyiv.
Still on its frontline since the war began a very difficult time the weapons yet to get into their hands and Russia trying to seize that opportunity of weakness as hard as they can. Yes, Ukraine holding them back to some degree but the pressure is pretty persistent as the Russian progress.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[01:05:00]
HOLMES: All right, let's head to Brisbane, Australia now where I'm joined by Mick Ryan are retired general of the Australian Army also the author of the book "War Transformed: The Future of 21st Century Great Power, Competition and Conflict." Always good to see you, Mick.
Russian troops advancing, striking effectively of brutally in the hockey region. How would you evaluate the status of that fight?
MAJ. GEN. MICK RYAN, AUSTRALIAN ARMY (RET.): Well, good day, Michael, what we're seeing in Kharkiv, as your previous reporter spoke about, they are drawing. Ukrainian reserves from the east. It is extraordinarily barbaric what we're seeing here in these attacks in Kharkiv. And isn't just about taking territory. It's about terrorizing Ukrainians and having him flee the city.
In the east, however, we're probably seen more Russian efforts to take territory. And that's probably where the real danger is for Ukrainians at the moment.
HOLMES: Yes, and Nick's team was in and around the town of Lyptsi, about 20 miles north of Kharkiv. And they say they store troops using what they described as aging, inadequate weaponry against, you know, well Russian units. How great is the weaponry disparity? And can that new western aid help?
RYAN: Well, depends which Ukrainian union you're with. There are some that aren't as well equipped, as we've seen there. But there are others that are extraordinarily well equipped with Western equipment such as M1 tanks, Lipid tanks, Bradley Fighting Vehicles, it really depends which brigade you're with.
For the Ukrainians, they've rushed some pretty good units up there, their 82nd Airborne Brigade and others, and they're fighting to read turns on bulk tanks and others from the Russians.
HOLMES: You know, I saw a note where you wrote that despite the, you know, significant advantage Russia has in manpower, and it's even bigger dominance in firepower, the recent Russian games in the Northeast in the east of the country, are not impressive how so? What did you mean by that?
RYAN: Well, it means the Russians haven't been able to make a breakthrough. Russian through Ukrainian defenses in a way that's really hurt the Ukrainians. For six months Ukrainians have been fighting on the front line with brigades that a man with probably 50 percent of their normal personnel, huge shortfalls in air defense and artillery missiles. And still the Russians are struggling to advance meter by meter taking massive casualties.
This is not an army that has reformed significantly enough to make some kind of breakthrough against the Ukrainians. HOLMES: Yes, you know, it was only a few months ago, Ukraine had the
hope to turn things around. You know, one point, perhaps moved towards victory in this war. Right now, though, how likely is that or even more negatively? How possible is defeat?
RYAN: Well, I don't think we're going to see a defeat at the moment. I mean, the Russian army, even with all the advantages and manpower and firepower doesn't demonstrate the capacity to seize the opportunities that's been given in the last six months. Once we see the inflow of new recruits under the Ukrainian mobilization, new weapons and new munitions over the next few months, once U.S. aid starts flowing, that'll put the Ukrainians in a much better position to not just to think but potentially do some offensive operations.
HOLMES: Right, right. As we were just saying before you came on, Zelenskyy growing seemingly exasperated by Washington and other Western allies, not allowing the weapons they're providing to be used to hit targets within Russian borders. Given how close the Kharkiv region is to Russian territory, is that a fair or smart restriction to be imposing, imposing giving given what Russia is doing?
RYAN: Well, I think it's a pretty unfair restriction in the Ukrainians have been able to see the Russians getting ready for this and if they'd been able to strike them, this offensive might have been compromised right from the start. As Zelenskyy has also criticized slow decision making and the combination I think, as you hurt Ukraine over the last year.
HOLMES: Right. The Institute for the Study of War I was reading today in their latest report, they say that the Kremlin appears to be developing a system of Russia's so called compatriots abroad, ethnic Russians living in neighboring countries, and they were saying it's potentially an effort to justify further aggression, perhaps hybrid operations as they put it abroad using, you know, protecting Russia's compatriots as a justification. They certainly did that in Crimea. Is that concerning if true?
RYAN: That's the kind of thing the Russians have done before. We should remember they did it in Ukraine in 2014 when they over the Donbas. But at the end of the day, these compatriots as they call them, if they were so proud of Russia, they'd be living back there, so we shouldn't overestimate the threat here either.
HOLMES: Always great to get your analysis Mick. Thanks so much. Mick Ryan there in Brisbane.
RYAN: Thanks, Michael.
[01:10:00]
HOLMES: Well, rising tensions in the Taiwan Strait as China launches another day of large scale military drills around the self-ruling Island. The Chinese military claims it is testing its ability to quote, seize power and occupy key areas only days after the new Taiwanese president took office. Taiwan says dozens of Chinese aircraft, warships and other vessels
have been detected in and near the Taiwan Strait. Meanwhile, Beijing says its fighter jets have been conducting mock strikes against quote high value military targets. Earlier, China called the drills a punishment for so called separatist X.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WANG WENBIN, SPOKESPERSON, CHINESE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS (through translator): All separate says X seeking Taiwan independence will be met with a crushing defeat dealt by more than 1.4 billion Chinese people. It all separatists forces for Taiwan independence will have their heads bashed bloody in the face of the historical trend of China's complete reunification.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Taiwan is condemning China's drills as an irrational threat to regional stability and has dispatched its own forces. This is the first real test for President Lai Ching-te, who has been president since Monday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAI CHING-TE, TAIWANESE PRESIDENT (through translator): I will stand on the front line with all the brothers and sisters from the national army to defend the national peace together. And while facing the external challenges and threats, we will continue to defend the values of democracy protecting regional peace and stability.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: China's massive military exercises than the only issue Taiwan is grappling with there have been large protests against move to subject President Lai to tighter scrutiny by those who favor closer Chinese relations.
CNN's Anna Coren following developments and joins me now live from Hong Kong. So yes, Anna, you got these political protests going on. You got Chinese drills on the doorstep. There's a lot of challenges for a very new president.
ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, he's just a few days into the job. And Michael, just a few hours ago, China just released a simulation of the drills that have been taking place in the Taiwan Straits this animation, which we're about to show you, it reveals Chinese vessels and planes striking Taiwan and then the territory flashing red. Look, I mean, this is military propaganda. This is what the Chinese do. They've released this sort of material in the past, but it certainly illustrates what China says it is prepared to do, which is to take Taiwan by force.
But look, these two day drills they began yesterday. They were anticipated they were expected. You know following the inauguration speech of Taiwan's new president Lai Ching-te on Monday, he upset the Chinese. He urged, you know, Beijing to stop its threats and said the two sides of the Taiwan Strait were quote, not subordinate to each other. Beijing immediately denounced Lai as a separatist.
And then yesterday morning, the drills began in what, you know, China is calling strong punishment. They set out dozens of fighter jets and warships to conduct these mock strikes on what they say are high value military targets. And we should mention too these drills are not just happening around Taiwan but also Taiwan's islands.
The Taiwan defense ministry said in total 15 Chinese navy ships, 16 Coast Guard's and 33 aircraft were involved in yesterday's drills. No live fire drills, however, were held in areas close to Taiwan.
China views democratically governed Taiwan has its own territory and has never renounced the use of force to bring it back under its control. A Chinese leader Xi Jinping has said that reunification is inevitable. But look, whilst these drills were happening yesterday, President Lai was visiting military camps and he said that we will defend the values of democracy, protecting regional peace and stability.
But Michael, we should note that the drills taking place are smaller than those back in August of 2022. And that's when U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei. That's when we did see live fire drills and these drills ran for days. That's when it really upset the Chinese. Certainly President Lai's comments have also angered Beijing.
HOLMES: Right. Anna, thanks for the update. Anna Coren there in Hong Kong for us.
Now to the war between Israel and Hamas, Israeli forces have taken control of the Al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza after a four-day siege. Doctors say the facility is now out of service. It was one of the last functioning hospitals in the north.
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CNN has reached out to the IDF for comment but has yet to hear back. Doctors say the male patients were ordered to leave first followed by the women and medical staff.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. WAFAA ABU JASSER, DIRECTOR OF PURCHASES AND SUPPLIES, AL-AWDA HOSPITAL (through translator): They didn't give us a chance to negotiate. The answer was clear. Evacuate the hospital. Only after a lot of talks they agreed to let the patients stay at the hospital alone with the medical team to stay with the patients until they are evacuated.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: A U.S. official tells CNN CIA director Bill Burns will head to Europe in the coming days to try to get the hostage and ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas back on track. Meanwhile, humanitarian aid for guys offloaded at that floating us pier is now being distributed but getting the aid in and moving it around is still highly problematic. CNN's Jeremy Diamond with details. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, humanitarian aid groups say that they are still struggling to get the proper amount of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip that is needed, a lot of that having to do with the ongoing security conditions in Gaza, the difficulty to get aid in and the difficulty of ramping up some of those alternative methods of getting that aid in.
Notably, that floating pier that the U.S. military anchored off the coast of Gaza shoreline last week, it was supposed to ramp up already to some 98 trucks per day. But the Israeli military saying that on Wednesday, only 27 aid trucks actually got into Gaza via that floating pier. They also say that 281 aid trucks in that same period came through the Kerem Shalom and Erez crossing into northern Gaza.
But those figures are disputed by some of the humanitarian aid groups who say that while those trucks may be coming in through those security checkpoints and into Gaza, they're not able to actually collect them and bring them to their warehouses and ultimately distribute them through the Gaza Strip, because of the increased military activity around those crossings.
The difficulty of distributing that aid of course, the areas that needed the most and this is all happening at a time when nearly a million Gazans have been displaced over the course of just the last couple of weeks, really skyrocketing the need for more aid to get in and that Rafah crossing has now been closed for three weeks now.
Meanwhile, as all of this is happening in northern Gaza, where the Israeli military has been going deeper into that Jabalya refugee camp, they have now taken control of a hospital in Jabalya. The Al-Awda Hospital has now been evacuated under the control of Israeli forces.
According to doctors at that hospital for four days, they say that the Israeli military surrounded that hospital and now they have ordered its evacuation something that doctors there say is going to have tremendous impact on the ability to provide medical services in northern Gaza. Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Red carpet treatment, lavish steak dinner and a growing strategic relationship details on the Kenyan President's visit to Washington when we come back. Also, severe storms continue to devastate parts of the U.S. and the threat far from over. We'll have that story and much more after the break.
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HOLMES: Pomp and Circumstance were on full display at the White House Thursday as the Biden's welcomed Kenya's president for an official state visit. The U.S. first couple made a grand entrance at the state dinner with William Ruto and his wife Rachel. This is the first time an American president has hosted an African leader for a state visit since 2008.
Washington keen to strengthen ties with key players in Africa like Kenya to counter China's growing influence on the continent. President Biden designated Kenya a major non-NATO ally, the first in Sub-Saharan Africa, as he celebrated 60 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
The President's announced what they're calling a Nairobi-Washington Vision, focused on sustainable development and touted their shared democratic values freedom.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAM RUTO, KENYAN PRESIDENT: Accelerating drift towards regimes indifferent to democratic values is a deep concern to us. And I believe it is time the U.S. working with Kenya deploys its capabilities, and rally like-minded democratic countries to set up the course for democracy.
JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: These are responsibilities Kenyan-American must meet in the years ahead, meet them together as partners, for security, for prosperity for innovation, and most importantly, for democracy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Joining me now is Cameron Hudson. He's a Senior Fellow in the Africa program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. It's good to see again Cameron. What did you make of this visit the meetings in the context of U.S.-Kenya relations? I mean, given the visits like this from African leaders, isn't common. Why was it important for Biden?
CAMERON HUDSON, SENIOR FELLOW, AFRICA PROGRAM AT THE CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: Well, I think for a couple of reasons, the President has said repeatedly that he values the relationship with Africa, that he's trying to elevate the relationship and in strategic importance. And so absent him taking a trip to Africa to articulate all these things in person, he was very important that he have an African head of state here.
I think that this cements Kenya as really having a privileged bilateral relationship among 54 other countries, with the United States, clearly from security to trade, development, health, climate, you name it. This is a very broad ranging, bilateral relationship that Kenya has developed with the United States.
HOLMES: At the same time, Kenya as part of China's Belt and Road Initiative, which begs the question why -- why are so many African nations turning not just away from the U.S., but towards Russia? And China? What's the motivation?
HUDSON: Well, I think that what Africans would say is they're not turning away from Washington. They're just embracing a multitude of partners. And I think for many African countries, Kenya included, they see real benefit in not having to choose between Washington and Beijing. They want to choose both. They don't want to make an either or choice, because they don't see any conflict and having a security partner in Washington, a development partner in Beijing and a trade partner in Moscow for Africans, that's a win, win, win.
HOLMES: Yes, have African countries which have turned to Russia and China, economically or militarily done better economically or security wise after making that decision?
HUDSON: Well, I think what Africans would say is that a diversity of partners is going to benefit them. And so whether it's Turkey, or the United Arab Emirates, or Saudi Arabia, or Beijing or Moscow, the more partners they can get, the more competitive they can become, and the more they will benefit their economies in their people.
So it's really about diversifying not just being in a sort of Cold War camp of the United States and the Soviet Union or Europe, you know, the former colonial power and China. They want to have an abundance of choices to benefit them.
HOLMES: When it comes to the military considerations. I mean, what is the impact on U.S. national security considerations when African nations turn away from the U.S., as we've seen several do, particularly the impact on counterterrorism operations? I mean, if Washington is increasingly blind to the planning of jihadi groups, there are risks there in that.
HUDSON: Sure. And I think that that's one of the challenges we face in a place like Niger where Washington has been asked to leave and we've had to close a drone base there, I think Washington wants to avoid in the future the zero sum choices.
[01:25:05]
And so I think increasingly, what you're going to find is when countries choose to engage Moscow, militarily, Washington is going to have to find a way to coexist and to cohabitate within those same countries, also providing perhaps military assistance to a country that's also receiving military assistance from Moscow, we're going to have to find a way to work in the same space. Otherwise, we risk running, being run out of town, and that doesn't help anybody strategic interests.
HOLMES: Yes, great point. And you know, and I guess with a lot of these nations that they go Russia or China, they're not going to get lectures on democracy or human rights they might get from the west. So then, how does the U.S. and the West more broadly, for that matter, win back trust on the continent?
HUDSON: Well, I think the number one thing that the United States needs to do is to demonstrate that it's a reliable partner. I think one of the accusations levied against Washington is that we're a fairweather friend, that when times are tough in these countries, whether it's a political crisis and economic crisis and security crisis, that Washington cuts and runs, right. We have legislation that says if there's a coup, we have to suspend our relationships, suspend our security systems. And that's when these Africans are saying, that's when we need you the
most. We need you to help get us out of this situation that we've found ourselves in through this crisis. That's when we meet you the most and you're not there. So Washington needs to find a way to become a much more steady and reliable partner. If it wants to win back the trust of so many African partners.
HOLMES: Always great to get your analysis. Cameron Hudson, thanks so much as always.
HUDSON: Thank you.
HOLMES: So few hours ago, our large tornado tore through a Jackson County, Oklahoma. There are currently no reported deaths or injuries. There were 18 tornado reports across the U.S. on Thursday and more than 170 storm reports. The severe weather continues to move eastward through the Memorial Day holiday weekend from the Great Plains to the Ohio Valley, while the south potentially faces record breaking heat.
A big question lies ahead for G7 countries can it sees Moscow's money that's been frozen in western banks over the war in Ukraine we'll have that story after the break.
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HOLMES: Welcome back. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM with me, Michael Holmes.
Now Russian President Vladimir Putin is propping up his relationship with the country that helped his invasion of Ukraine. He arrived in Belarus on Thursday for talks with his counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko.
The Kremlin says the discussions will include their strategic partnership and alliance. Belarus allowed Moscow to use its territory as a launchpad to invade Ukraine in 2022 last year, Russia transferred some of its non-strategic nuclear weapons to Belarus.
G7 foreign ministers begin their meeting in Italy in the coming hours to try to agree on what to do with Russia's frozen financial assets. We're talking about hundreds of billions of dollars held in western financial institutions since the beginning of the war in Ukraine.
The U.S. is pushing for seizing that money and giving it to Ukraine for reconstruction. But Moscow is now moving to potentially seize U.S. assets in Russia if its money is taken.
CNN's Clare Sebastian with the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
URSULA VON DER LEYEN, EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT: We will stop Putin from using his war chest. CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: just days after the first Russian military tracks rumbled over Ukraine's border, the West had crossed its own Rubicon.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have imposed restrictive measures against Russia's central bank.
SEBASTIAN: Freezing around $300 billion of Russian foreign currency reserves, funds the kremlin had saved up for a moment like this.
Moscow was blind-sided.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Reserves at the central bank really none of those who made predictions could have thought what sanctions the west might apply. It's theft.
SEBASTIAN: And yet within a few months as images of destruction flooded in, talk turned cautiously from freezing to seizing.
JANET YELLEN, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: I'm unclear whether or not it would be possible without legislation.
SEBASTIAN: Alongside long-awaited military aid to Ukraine that U.S. legislation finally came this April.
ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Our Congress has given us the power to seize Russian assets in the United States. We intend to use it.
SEBASTIAN: But Europe has by far the most skin in this game.
CHRISTIANE LAGARDE, PRESIDENT, EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK: That opens a whole series of other questions which have to do with respect of the international legal order, which have to do with financial stability.
SEBASTIAN: About two thirds of the $300 billion of frozen assets are sitting in the E.U., mostly in Euroclear, a Belgian financial institution.
TOM KEATINGE, ROYAL UNITED SERVICES INSTITUTE: They are earning this so-called "extraordinary profit" as a result of sort of sitting there and accruing interests.
And I think people are comfortable that the extraordinary profit doesn't really belong to the Russians.
SEBASTIAN: You're in Brussels right now. Is there a sense of urgency among European leaders because of the potential for another Trump presidency?
KEATINGE: Part of the discussion here is acknowledging how difficult it was for the most recent tranche of funding to come out of the U.S. And so of course, the Trump factor features.
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: Putin loves money above all. SEBASTIAN: For Ukraine, too much time has already been lost. Russia's surprise offensive in the north likely already adding to what the World Bank estimates is a half-trillion dollar reconstruct bill.
KEATINGE: The fact that Kharkiv is under as much pressure as it is under right now, that has to be at the front of mind of those who are thinking about, do we give the Ukrainians $2 billion? Do we give them $20 billion, do we give them $200 billion, right?
So I think the most powerful weapon we can give them right now is funding.
Clare Sebastian, CNN -- London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Investigators in Iran are out with their preliminary report on the helicopter crash that killed President Ebrahim Raisi and seven others.
They say that there was nothing suspicious about the pilots flight path or communications before the chopper hit a mountain side and caught fire on Sunday. Investigators also say there were no bullet markings at the crash site.
They are still examining several pieces of evidence before they release their final report.
Iran's late president has been laid to rest after days of massive funeral ceremonies around the country. And now elections to pick his replacement are just over a month away.
CNN's Fred Pleitgen is in Iran.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The streets of Mashhad jam-packed with people, mourning the late President Ebrahim Raisi as a truck with his casket made its way to the Imam Reza shrine, one of the most important holy sites in Iran.
Hundreds of thousands of people have come out here on the streets of Mashhad. This is really very much the political and the spiritual homeland of Ebrahim Raisi and the people here say while they're in great sorrow, they hope that Iran continues down that conservative trajectory that was common for Ebrahim Raisi's administration.
[01:34:44]
PLEITGEN: In power for three years, Ebrahim Raisi was a conservative hardliner overseeing a crackdown on protests against Iran's strict hijab laws in 2022. But also the first ever strikes against Israel from Iranian soil in retaliation for the bombing of Iran's embassy compound in Syria.
Crowds at the funeral screaming "death to Israel" and "death to America", vowing to remain loyal to Raisi's hardline agenda.
"100 percent, 100 percent," this man says, these are all Raisi's and they will continue.
And this woman says, "We have come here to say if they took Raisi from us, we still have our Supreme Leader and we back him and we'll never leave him alone."
"We have always expressed our position towards the U.S.," this man says, "just like the policy of the President and the martyr Qasem Soleimani to struggle against arrogance. We won't allow the arm of arrogance to go around the world. We'll cut it down."
After Raisi, Iran's foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and several others were killed in a chopper crash in northern Iran on Sunday, Tehran says a new president will be elected in late June.
But this week has been one of mourning, culminating in the funeral prayers for Raisi inside the Imam Reza shrine.
As the body of Ebrahim Raisi was brought to its final resting place, Iran is looking ahead. One of the U.S.'s has toughest adversaries soon to decide its political future.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN -- Mashhad, Iran
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: When we come back on the program, Central America is suffering under a heat dome and sweltering temperatures are affecting animals and humans alike.
You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Want to bring you some breaking news now. We're getting reports of a landslide in a remote region in northern Papua New Guinea, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation it hit around 3:00 a.m. local time obviously dark at that time of night.
The death toll not yet known, but residents say many people are feared dead. Bodies are being recovered as residents assess the damage.
We'll bring you more developments as they come in to us.
We're getting new details about the injury suffered earlier this week when that Singapore Airlines flight hit severe turbulence. According to a hospital in Bangkok, 22 passengers are being treated there for spinal injuries; six with skull and brain injuries.
The plane headed from London to Singapore was forced to divert and make an emergency landing in the Thai capital where ambulances and emergency response teams were waiting. A 73-year-old British man with a heart condition died.
[01:39:44]
HOLMES: Now the hospital says 17 patients have undergone surgery. Of the 71 passengers who were reported injured on the flight, 55 remain in hospital.
And at least four people are dead after the roof of a restaurant collapsed on Spain's popular tourist island of Mallorca. Police tell CNN, 16 others were injured in Thursday's incident. Rescuers continue to work at the scene searching for more people stuck under the rubble.
Spain's prime minister says the government is prepared to send all necessary resources to the island.
The number of people hospitalized after a stage collapsed in heavy winds in Mexico has now risen to 36. Nine other people were killed.
It happened during a presidential campaign rally on Wednesday night near Monterey. In total, 189 people suffered some type of injury. Mexico's president offering his condolences to the victims and promising an investigation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDRES MANUEL LOPEZ OBRADOR, MEXICAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We know that the Citizens Movement Party is not to blame. They do their actions like everyone else now that there are campaigns.
In any case, the authorities have to investigate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Officials announced financial compensation for families of the deceased and also to those injured. Some campaign events are being canceled ahead of elections on June 2nd.
Now as Central America grapples with record high temperatures, Mexico's howler monkeys are feeling the heat.
CNN's Gustavo Valdes takes us inside the effort to save these endangered primates. A warning: viewers might find some of the images disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUSTAVO VALDES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: These little monkey is clinging to his life, one sip at a time. It's one of many howler monkeys suffering from extreme dehydration in Mexico's jungles, officials say.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "The little monkey held our hand. We could see tears coming out of his eyes. It was like he was begging us not to leave him," says Lorena Ventura, one of the residents of Buenavista Tabasco in southern Mexico who helped nourish the monkey with water and food.
But they could not save them all. Her group find at least ten monkeys dead. Some, Ventura says, were falling from the trees. Victor Hugo Morato (ph) is a veterinarian who treated the rescue monkeys. He said blood samples reveal severe dehydration and parasitic infection. He said it broke his heart to see the small creatures in such bad condition.
The Yucatan black howlers are an endangered species found in southern Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize. Under normal circumstances their howl can be heard over four kilometers away, but now they lay silent, saving their energy to stay alive.
Environmentalist Alejandro Moreno says the high temperatures in the region are affecting the monkeys who have lost access to water and food due to deforestation, drought, and climate change.
Mexico and Central America are experiencing record high temperatures because of a prolonged heat dome over the region. Temperatures are three to six degrees Celsius higher than normal, exceeding 45 degrees in some areas.
Most of Honduras is under a cloud of smoke from the more than 2,600 fires reported by federal authorities. Many cities have canceled school and declared a health emergency.
And the president ordered public employees to work from home because of the bad air quality. They hope the rainy season starts on time in late May to help extinguish the fires and clear the air.
Back in the Mexican jungle, volunteers and government workers are doing what they can to ease the pain of their animal neighbors -- pain humans feel too.
Gustave Valdes, CNN -- Atlanta.
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HOLMES: Experts are warning this year's Atlantic hurricane season, maybe more active than those of previous years. A mix of favorable conditions and record warm ocean temperatures led federal forecasters to issue their most aggressive preseason predictions yet.
CNN meteorologist Chad Myers with more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well and as expected, the 2024 hurricane season's forecast is above-normal. 17 to 25 named storms, 8 to 13 will be hurricanes and 4 to 7 will be major.
Now, Colorado state already put their forecast out last month and every one of the numbers kind of falls right inside the range.
But the average is 14, 7, and 3. So there will be more storms in the water, 85 percent chance of that, only a 5 percent chance of it being a below normal season.
But something we don't talk about much accumulated cyclone energy. It's a tough thing to get your -- really your head around. But what it means is that if there's a storm in the water and for how long there is a number that they add that up.
[01:44:47]
MYERS: If it's a big hurricane in the water for a very long time, your accumulated cyclone energy is very high. But this could be a season with 150 to 245 percent of average; average being about 103. So that's where you get all of these numbers from.
Let's take a look at the last four years, really, because we think of those as pretty active, but 145, 95, 145 and 179 nowhere near 245 percent of normal accumulated cyclone energy.
Water is already warm. In fact, it's even warmer than it was in 2005. If you don't remember 2005 -- Dennis, Emily, Katrina, Wilma, (INAUDIBLE). It was a big, big year. And this is what we're actually looking right down the barrel at.
El Nino is gone. La Nina is here. We're going to see less shear in the Atlantic, all of a sudden that less shear makes more storms. They could begin to spin, not get torn apart, and you get more storms when you get a La Nina year in a typical La Nina year. Who knows what this is going to be because the water is so warm already, three to five degrees warmer than it should be right now.
In, fact by Copernicus standards, the warmest on record for this development region. That's where all the dark red is. This is where we're going to see the first name storm Alberto.
And something else really to look at here is how wet the Deep South has been through spring. Some of these areas have almost double the amount of rainfall that they should have already.
The streams are full, the ground is muddy. All of a sudden you put wind on top of muddy ground or you put more rain on top of muddy ground is just going to run off and that's the next big problem.
We're going to keep watching for this hurricane season.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Chad Myers there.
A deceased Italian teenager known as "God's Influencer" is closer to becoming the first saint of the millennial generation. Carlo Acutis used his computer skills to spread the Catholic faith and took care of this parish Web site. He died of leukemia when he was 15 years old in 2006.
The Vatican says he cured a Brazilian boy with a rare pancreatic disorder several years ago. On Thursday, the Pope recognize the second miracle, healing a young woman who was near death after a bicycle accident. It's unclear when he would be canonized.
Police releasing new video showing the arrest of world number one golfer Scottie Scheffler. Still to come, why one officer has been disciplined following the incident?
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HOLMES: Welcome back.
And American man is set to be sentenced in the Turks and Caicos in the coming hours on charges of possessing ammunition.
Bryan Hagerich is facing 12 years in prison, as well as a fine. He could get a lighter sentence though, if the court determines there are exceptional circumstances. Hagerich. Tyler Wenrich shown here and another man had pleaded guilty to possessing ammunition while traveling in Turks and Caicos. Two other Americans are also accused of bringing ammunition to the islands in recent months.
Singer Cassie Ventura is speaking out for the first time about a video from 2016 of rap mogul and then-boyfriend, Sean "Diddy" Combs assaulting her. Her comments come just days after CNN exclusively obtained the graphics surveillance footage.
CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister broke the story and has this follow up on Ventura's reaction. We want to warn our viewers some of the images in her report are disturbing.
[01:49:55]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right here, Cassie.
ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Cassie Ventura breaking her silence for the first time since CNN uncovered this disturbing video showing music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs violently throwing her to the ground, then kicking and dragging her.
On Instagram, Ventura thanking family, friends, and strangers writing, "The outpouring of love has created a place for my younger self to settle and feel safe now. But this is only the beginning. My only ask is that everyone open your heart to believing victims the first time."
The surveillance video from 2016 also shows Combs throwing a vase at then-girlfriend Ventura in the hallway of a Los Angeles hotel. The security camera footage seeming to corroborate part of Ventura's 2023 lawsuit against "Diddy", alleging he punched Miss Ventura, giving her a black eye, then took glass vases in the hallway and threw them at her.
The lawsuit since settled also referenced this.
SEAN "DIDDY" COMBS, RAP MOGUL: I got to give a special thank you.
WAGMEISTER: A 2022 acceptance speech in which Combs spoke of Cassie in a much different light.
COMBS: Cassie for holding me down in the dark times, love.
WAGMEISTER: But now with the ugly truth of his abuse caught on video, "Diddy" took to his own social media Sunday to respond.
COMBS: I mean, I hit rock bottom and I make no excuses. My behavior on that video is inexcusable. I take full responsibility for my actions in that video.
WAGMEISTER: The allegations continue to pile up against Combs. This week, former model Crystal McKinney filed a lawsuit alleging Combs drugged and sexually assaulted her in 2003. And Combs still faces possible charges related to those federal raids on his homes in March.
The L.A. County District Attorney says the hotel video from 2016 won't lead to new charges because the statute of limitations expired.
Cassie didn't address the video directly, but did say domestic violence is the issue. It broke me down to someone I never thought I would become.
Advocates say cases like Cassie's are helping to turn the tide for victims of abuse.
DEBRA KATZ, WOMEN'S RIGHTS ATTORNEY: It means that people who were too scared, they were too young, they felt that they'd be disbelieved long ago, but whose lives were altered, now have an ability to come forward and seek legal redress.
WAGMEISTER: Cassie speaking directly to those victims, writing, "I offer my hand to those that are still living in fear. No one should carry this weight alone."
Now, when Cassie filed her lawsuit back in November, it was filed under what is called the New York Adult Survivors Act. That is a law that created a look-back window for alleged assaults that happened outside of the statute of limitations.
Now, with us releasing this surveillance video from 2016 and with the Los Angeles District Attorney's office saying they cannot bring these charges because it's outside of the statute of limitations, that has generated a large conversation about whether these laws protect victims or abusers.
Now I do want to point out that you may have noticed that both Cassie in her statement on Instagram and "Diddy" in his apology video neither of them addressed each other by name. That is because I have sources familiar with the settlement who tell per that agreement they're not allowed to talk about each other, guys.
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HOLMES: Now police in Louisville, Kentucky released two videos on Thursday showing some of the arrest of star golfer Scottie Scheffler last week but the detective who arrested him has been disciplined for not turning on his own body camera at the time. Scheffler was detained after trying to drive around police at the scene of a fatal accident outside the PGA Championship.
CNN's Gabe Cohen with the latest. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Louisville police have released new video of Scottie Sheffler's arrest, including an angle from a nearby traffic pole camera. It does not show the initial incident in which Sheffler allegedly disobeyed that police officer's orders and then dragged him with his car.
But it does show just seconds later, as the officer chases down Sheffler's vehicle, he appears to strike the car with some sort of object and then converses with Sheffler through the driver's side window before other officers arrived and take Sheffler into custody.
The city says they do not have any video of that initial encounter, and that's because the officer's body camera was not turned on, something that the chief of police says is in violation of the department's policy, and as a result, that officer has received counseling from his supervisor.
The mayor and the chief of police held a press briefing. They did not take any questions from the media and they didn't address the charges that Scottie Scheffler is still facing.
[01:54:46]
COHEN: He faces four charges. By far the most serious is that second degree assault on a police officer charge. It is a felony.
And a source tells me that behind closed doors, at least some top brass at the police department have voiced some concern that the felony charge may be excessive.
I spoke with Scottie Scheffler's attorney just after that press conference who said the videos that were released back up their version of the events that this was all a misunderstanding.
The county attorney's office continues to insist they haven't made any final decisions on how they're going to prosecute this case. So, it's still very possible that the charges could be changed or even dropped before Scottie Scheffler's scheduled arraignment, which is set for June 3rd.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: The U.S. government says it is looking to protect music fans from sky-high ticket prices by upending an alleged monopoly in the live events industry.
The Justice Department in dozens of states sued the country's biggest ticketing Web site and concert promoter on Thursday. The suit claims that Live Nation, the company behind the Taylor Swift Eras Tour ticket sales debacle masterminded a plan to stifle competition.
Live Nation dismissed the allegations as baseless and went on to say, quote "Calling Ticketmaster a monopoly may be a PR win for the DOJ in the short term but it will lose in court because it ignores the basic economics of live entertainment.
And finally, Argentine President Javier Milei looked more like a rock star than a politician on Wednesday night. Clad in a black leather jacket, the former economist belted out a heavy metal song in front of thousands of people in Buenos Aires. Milei was actually there to launch his latest book. The display came after data was released showing Argentina's economy has slowed amid his government's austerity program.
Thanks for spending part of your day with me. I'm Michael Holmes.
Don't go anywhere. CNN NEWSROOM continues with Kim Brunhuber up next.
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