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Prime Minister Blames Climate Crisis for the Deadly Landslide in Papua New Guinea; Two Canadian Citizens May Be Unaccounted for After Landslide; Australia to Provide an Initial $1.6 Million in Humanitarian Assistance; Volcano Erupts in Iceland for the Fifth Time Since December; Gabby Douglas to Miss Paris Games Due to Ankle Injury; Two Giant Pandas Heading From China to U.S. By Year's End. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired May 30, 2024 - 02:00   ET

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

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[02:00:21]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world and everyone streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church. Just ahead. At least seven more months of war. Israel's national security adviser says the fighting in Gaza is unlikely to end before next year.

Donald Trump's fate in his historic criminal trial is now in the hands of 12 jurors who will be back for day two of deliberations later today.

And some Ukrainian soldiers say American supply tanks are not proving to be much help on the battlefield. Instead, they say the tanks make them a target for Russian strikes.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Thanks for joining us. And we begin with a potential new flashpoint in the war between Israel and Hamas. It's called the Philadelphi Corridor. A 14-kilometer buffer zone along the border between Egypt and Gaza. Israel says it has found 20 tunnels that crossed into Egypt, which Hamas has been using to smuggle weapons into Gaza. The IDF says it now has operational control of the area.

Video released by the IDF shows what it says are rocket launchers and other terrorist infrastructure. Egypt denies the tunnels exist. More now from CNN's Jeremy Diamond. And a warning his report contains graphic video.

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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On a hilltop in western refer Israeli tanks overlooked Gaza's border with Egypt, the Israeli military's latest prize. Three weeks into its Rafah offensive, Israel says it now controls the strategic Philadelphi Corridor, spending the length of that 7-1/2-mile-long border which the Israeli military says Hamas has used to smuggle weapons into Gaza. Egypt denies these tunnels exists.

REAR ADM. DANIEL HAGARI, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES SPOKESPERSON (through translator): The Philadelphi Corridor served as Hamas' oxygen pipeline through which Hamas regularly smuggled weapons into the Gaza Strip. So far, our forces have located about 20 tunnels in the Philadelphi Corridor area. We investigate these tunnels and neutralize them.

DIAMOND (voiceover): This is the human toll of that military offensive. United Nation says more than 940,000 people have been forced to flee the city in recent weeks. For many, this is not the first time.

There is no safety. Al-Mawasi is hit, the U.N. warehouses are hit. The U.N. schools are hit. There is no safety, Taisi Ralja (ph) says. You might die at any moment anywhere.

Multiple Israeli strikes on camps for displaced Palestinians in recent days have made that point with deadly clarity, none more so than this strike in northwestern Rafah on Sunday night, which killed at least 45 people and injured hundreds more according to Gaza as Ministry of Health. The Israeli military has said it did not expect civilians to die and has launched an investigation into the strike which killed two senior Hamas militants.

But at least three people can be seen on the road outside those structures moments before the strike. The Israeli military targeted these two-container like structures just steps away from structures housing displaced civilians, which were also destroyed in the blasts or the subsequent fire. Four weapons experts tell CNN the weapons used in the strike where U.S.-made bombs.

They say these remnants found at the site of the attack are pieces of a GBU 39 small diameter bomb. Carrying a relatively small payload intended to minimize civilian casualties. But dropping them in densely populated areas can still have devastating consequences.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They go into Rafah. I'm not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah.

DIAMOND (voiceover): But for now, the U.S. doesn't plan to stop providing those weapons with the White House insisting Israel hasn't crossed that red line.

ANTONY BLINKEN, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE: We don't want to see a major ground operation. We haven't seen that at this point.

DIAMOND (voiceover): Major or not the Israeli military is now deep in Rafah where Palestinian rescuers are struggling to safely reach the wounded. As the dangers are mounting for so many.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE) CHURCH: Israel's national security adviser was warning the war in Gaza could last another seven months. At least through to the end of this year.

[02:05:02]

That means Rafah likely will not be the final battle against Hamas, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has. Meanwhile, the U.N. Special Coordinator for Middle East peace condemned what he called the appalling strike, which killed at least 45 people at a displacement camp in Rafah on Sunday. And he says the devastation in Rafah will only intensify. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivering some of his most pointed comments to date on the war in Gaza.

He says Israeli leaders must decide if their incremental gains on the battlefield are worth the cost in civilian lives. And that the United Nations, the U.S. said Israel needs to do more to protect civilians in Gaza and allow aid to get in. The deputy U.S. Ambassador told the Security Council Wednesday that incidents like Sunday's deadly strike in Rafah undermine Israel's strategic goals.

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ROBERT WOOD, DEPUTY U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: Because we have said before, Israel has a right to defend itself against Hamas. But Israel also has obligations to protect civilians. The fact that Hamas leaders and fighters hide among civilians does not lessen the requirement for Israel to conduct its operations in accordance with international humanitarian law.

The continued pattern of significant civilian harm resulting from incidents like Sunday's airstrikes undermines Israel's strategic goals in Gaza.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: One day after Norway, Ireland and Spain officially recognize a Palestinian state, French President Emmanuel Macron indicated he's willing to do the same, but he says that recognition will only come if the Palestinian authority makes what he calls necessary reforms. Macron delivered that message Wednesday and a call with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

The French President offered the prospect of recognition and highlighted France's commitment to building a "common vision and security guarantees for Palestinians and Israelis."

The jury in the historic Donald Trump hush money trial has begun deliberations and they're asking to rehear key testimony. Jurors met for more than 4-1/2 half hours on Wednesday and before being dismissed. They sent notes to the judge asking to hear his instructions and several critical portions of witness testimony again. CNN's Kara Scannell has details from New York.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The historic first criminal trial of a former president and presumptive Republican nominee is now in the hands of a jury.

DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Mother Teresa could not beat those charges. But we'll see. We'll see how we do

SCANNELL (voice-over): Twelve Manhattan residents, seven men and five women deliberating if Donald Trump is guilty of 34 felony charges of falsifying business records in an attempt to influence the 2016 election.

TRUMP: These charges are rigged. The whole thing is rigged.

SCANNELL (voice-over): After nearly four hours of deliberations the jury sent in their first note asking for portions of testimony to be read back from former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker and former Trump fixer Michael Cohen about a meeting at Trump Tower. Prosecutors say there was a 2015 meeting there between the two men and Trump were Pecker allegedly agreed to be the eyes and ears for Trump's campaign and flag any negative stories to Cohen.

There were several other meetings there that Pecker and Cohen testified about during the trial. The testimony will be read back to the jury at the start of deliberations on Thursday. The jury also had a second question before they were dismissed for the day about Judge Juan Merchan's instructions. Earlier he explained that to find Trump guilty, they must unanimously find that he falsified business records with the intent to violate New York State election law.

Promoting or preventing the election of a candidate to public office by unlawful means. The jury does not need to be unanimous about what those unlawful means are. Prosecutors have put forward three theories about how Trump violated election law, a corporate donation or individual contribution exceeding $2,700, falsifying other business records such as Michael Cohen's bank records and tax law violations.

As it did during his 17 hours of intense testimony and closing arguments Michael Cohen and his credibility took center stage. Under our law, Michael Cohen is an accomplish, Judge Merchan said to the jury, even if you find the testimony of Michael Cohen to be believable, you may not convict the defendant solely upon that testimony, unless you also find it's corroborated by other evidence.

Cohen, the prosecution star witness and the only person call to directly implicate Trump testified he spoke to Trump twice to get his sign off just before making payments to Stormy Daniels. He said Trump approved the repayment scheme. Trump's defense painted Cohen as a liar and a thief who could not be trusted, out for revenge on his former boss.

[02:10:04]

The judge left the jury to deliberate with these parting words. It is not my responsibility to judge the evidence here, it is yours, Merchan said. You are the judges of the facts and you are responsible for deciding whether the defendant is guilty or not guilty.

Kara Scannell, CNN, New York.

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CHURCH: Nancy Marder is a law professor at the Chicago-Kent College of Law where she also serves as the Director of the Justice John Paul Stevens Jewelry Center. She joins me now from Chicago. Thank you so much for being with us.

NANCY MARDER, PROFESSOR IN THE LAW DEPARTMENT, CHICAGO-KENT COLLEGE OF LAW: Thank you for inviting me.

CHURCH: So, the jury wrapped up its first day of deliberations, the seven men and five women asking to hear the jury instructions again. And they also asked for four pieces of testimony to be read again, as they determine the fate of Donald Trump. What does all this signal to you?

MARDER: It signals to me a jury that is trying to do its job very carefully, and is taking the judge's instructions very seriously. The judge doesn't give them a written copy of the instructions. And I think that's because New York law provides that. But the judge did make a point throughout the instructions that they can send a note to the judge if they want to hear a particular instruction, again, or testimony again because what they -- or an exhibit that's been admitted into evidence because they don't have the instructions in front of them.

So, they are just simply following what the judge has told them to do. And by sending a note with their requests.

CHURCH: It's interesting that you say that because some experts have said and asked in actual fact, why the judge wouldn't have given the jury 55 pages of instructions. Some of them suggesting that that could be used as grounds for an appeal, if there's a conviction in this case. So, can you just elaborate on that point?

MARDER: Yes, my understanding is that New York law does not permit the court to give a written copy of the instructions. Many states do permit it and federal courts permit it. But states are free to design their system in a way that makes sense to them. And so, the judge is simply following New York law.

CHURCH: So, what is likely happening in the deliberation room? How much pressure would this jury be under and how long will it likely take do you think if they're being so very careful to hear those jury instructions again, as well as the four pieces of testimony?

MARDER: So, nobody knows how long jury deliberations will take. It's a question that I often get asked, and I wish I were in the room were able to tell you. But the truth is that the jury can take as much time as it needs. And the judge will tell them that as well. And we want them to keep deliberating because we want them to be able to reach a unanimous verdict, whether it's for conviction or acquittal. So, when they take time, it means they're going through the elements of each count and seeing what evidence supports the count -- that the prosecution has the burden of proof, and the jury has to decide whether the prosecution has met that burden beyond a reasonable doubt. So jury deliberations are really hard for any jury and so that they're -- that they should proceed slowly and carefully is a good thing.

CHURCH: And what outcome do you expect here? Acquittal, conviction on some or all counts, hung jury? What's your sense?

MARDER: I never project because juries, each one does its work and I have great faith in juries. But it's up to them to set up their ways of deliberating. And juries have different ways. The two that have been described by social scientists who observed mock jury deliberations. One is verdict driven, where you take your vote right away, but then you can end up with disagreement that's really hard to counter.

[02:15:00]

And we saw that in the movie 12 Angry Men with Henry Fonda. So, going around carefully for each juror to speak and to give their recollections that's it's preferable to not take a vote right away and to have full consideration. So, I think that proceeding slowly and carefully, is a good thing. And hearing from all jurors is a good thing. And it also depends on the four person and how the four person helps to organize the deliberations.

CHURCH: Nancy Marder, thank you so much for joining us. Really appreciate it.

MARDER: Thank you.

CHURCH: Verdicts are in for more than a dozen accused of rejecting China's authority over Hong Kong. What kind of sentences they could face and reaction to the verdicts? That's next on CNN.

Plus, Ukrainian soldiers say the U.S.-made Abrams tanks they once begged for an hour making them prime targets on the battlefield. We'll explain.

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CHURCH: In a major blow to Hong Kong's democratic opposition movement, a court has handed down guilty verdicts to 14 of the 16 opposition figures charged with subversion in a landmark national security case. The defendants were among 47 arrested in 2021 for organizing an unofficial primary election ahead of Hong Kong's legislative vote. The court declared two defendants not guilty, including former Hong Kong district councilor Laurence Lau who urged everyone to continue to pay attention to the others involved in the case.

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LAURENCE LAU, FORMER HONG KONG DISTRICT COUNCILOR: Thank you for your concern of all the developments that have been ongoing and please carry on with your concern and love for us.

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CHURCH: Kristie Lu Stout joins me now live from Hong Kong. Good to see you, Kristie. So what's the latest on this?

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rosemary, the verdicts are out in Hong Kong's largest national security trial today. It involves 47 pro- democracy figures, now 31 had already pleaded guilty to subversion charges. 16 had pleaded not guilty and of the 16, 14 today were found to be guilty on charges of subversion. Among them former journalists (INAUDIBLE) and a former elected lawmaker, known as Long Hair sentencing could come next.

A security has been tight all day today and we've been watching hundreds of people pour in to witness the proceedings, including diplomats from the United States as well as in the European Union. And then there was a moment in court when the verdict was read out. Some family members, other defendants wept and cried openly as they learned the news that their loved ones could very well be facing life in prison.

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Now this has been a very long legal trauma. It all goes back to more than three years ago, January of 2021 when 47 pro-democracy figures were arrested in a dawn raid. They were charged with conspiracy to commit subversion, which is a serious crime here in Hong Kong, punishable again, by up to life in prison. They're accused of organizing and staging an unofficial primary vote that authorities here had deemed illegal.

Now the National Security Law was imposed by Beijing and Hong Kong in 2020 in the wake of the massive anti-government protests of 2019. Critics say it is crushed the opposition, it is crushed dissent. Supporters say it restore law and order with Chinese government officials saying that it's a matter of national security. And they also warned against any foreign interference.

But when you talk to observers, they point out that this trial is a test Hong Kong's judicial independence. Watch this.

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JOHN BURNS, EMERITUS AND HONORARY PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG: It's absolutely clear that the National Security Law reduced the independence and the autonomy of the judiciary. No juries much more difficult to get bail. Those are all things that previously were determined by the -- by the judges.

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STOUT: Now the state has won every single national security case until now two defendants two former district councilors have become the first national security defendants to be acquitted after trial. And Rosemary, we have just learned from the public broadcaster RTHK that the prosecution plans to appeal that ruling. Back to you.

CHURCH: And Kristie, since the National Security Law was imposed by Beijing in June 2020. How has Hong Kong changed?

STOUT: Yes. Hong Kong has fundamentally transformed since the imposition of the National Security Law by Beijing in 2020. As of yesterday, we heard from Hong Kong Police. 291 people have been arrested by national security police. The opposition has been dismantled with former opposition lawmakers either detained or living in exile. A pro-democracy anthem glory to Hong Kong has been banned here in Hong Kong.

Pro-democracy artwork has been dismantled as well. National Security Education has been rolled out in the schools here in the territory and investigations had led to the closures of press outlets in Hong Kong such as Stan news, as well as Apple Daily. And this has prompted one notable observers Stephen Roche, who was the former chairman of Morgan Stanley here in Asia, dependent off in the F.T. that went viral saying Hong Kong is over.

And you were citing three factors. Number one, U.S.-China attention. Number two, the slumping economy in China. But number three, the political landscape here in Hong Kong. Rosemary.

CHURCH: Kristie Lu Stout joining us live from Hong Kong. Many thanks.

Moscow is threatening to ramp up its missile production after more NATO countries said they're OK with Ukraine's strikes inside Russia. The increase would include both intermediate and short-range missiles according to Russia's deputy foreign minister. The statement came after multiple NATO countries said Kyiv should be able to use weapons supplied by them to hit some military targets on Russian soil.

Part of the reason Russia strikes on the Kharkiv region since Russia can easily launch them from behind its border. Using U.S. weapons to defend against those strikes by targeting sites inside Russia has been a red line for Washington. But now the U.S. Secretary of State is hinting at a possible shift in that policy.

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BLINKEN: We haven't encouraged or enabled strikes outside of Ukraine. But Ukraine, as I've said before, has to make its own decisions about the best way to effectively defend itself. We're going to make sure that it has the equipment and is to do that. Another hallmark of our support for Ukraine over these now more than two years has been to adapt. As the conditions have changed, as the battlefield has changed, as what Russia does has changed in terms of how it's pursuing its aggression escalation, we've adapted and adjusted to and I'm confident we'll continue to do that.

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CHURCH: Now to a CNN exclusive. Ukrainian soldiers say the U.S. supplied Abrams tanks their government had worked so hard to get are actually more trouble than they're worth. With a number of glaring flaws and weaknesses, making them the number one target for Russian attack drones. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh has our report.

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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They hide feverishly as they're a prime target for Russian missiles. But if Moscow knew the trouble these U.S. supplied Abrams tanks are causing Ukraine. They might not bother. Let them keep them. The M1 Abrams, America's main battle tank, a veteran of fighting Saddam in Iraq and dozen insurgents (INAUDIBLE) Ukrainian fields, and $500 attack drones not so much.

WALSH (on camera): There was such a fuss around whether Ukraine would get these but from the moment the decision was made, yes. Through the training, through the time it took to get to the front line. But war has enormously changed.

WALSH (voice-over): All 31 America gave and now in one area in the east where Ukraine is losing ground. Training in Germany, the interior in Ukrainian and while there is gratitude for all U.S. help, they can't pretend this is working.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (text): Its armor is not sufficient for this era. It doesn't protect the crew. For real, today it's a war of drones. So now when the tank rolls out they always try to hit it number one target.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On the battlefield without defense the crew doesn't survive.

WALSH (voice-over): They've learned the hardest way here in the pitched battle for the City of Avdiivka. One of their drivers lost a leg recently.

Off camera, they show us how they're adding active armor plates on themselves. Then there were the shells. Not enough of the wrong type for the wrong sort of fighter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (text): We have ammunition for direct tank to tank battle. Much more often we work as artillery. We take apart a tree line or a building. Once we fired 17 rounds into a house and it was still standing.

WALSH (voice-over): Better than Soviet tanks they still say even though this one fresh from Poland is already broken down. Condensation can fry the electrics they also say. Really, this is a solid gold wrench of a gift. This is a tank for a kind of war NATO would only fight backed by huge artillery and air power. They're being asked to do things NATO never would.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (text): They would never do it. Aviation, artillery, then the tanks enter. And infantry call the aviation, call the artillery. We have no aviation and artillery. We have only tank. And it's the problem.

WALSH (voice-over): When Abrams was captured and paraded in Red Square recently, the crew here joke at least the Russians managed to tow it away. They've been struggling because these are so heavy. This threadbare army losing ground perhaps wish they'd got a gift receipt.

WALSH (on camera): If you could ask the Americans for one thing now what would you ask for?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have only one question: Why is this taking so long and why it comes partially? We are losing time. It's death to us.

WALSH (voice-over): Machines built at the peak of American hyper power decades ago, sent half-heartedly it seems to hold back a fast-changing world.

Nick Paton Walsh CNN, Eastern Ukraine.

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CHURCH: And we'll be right back.

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CHURCH: The prime minister of Papua New Guinea is blaming the climate crisis for the increase in natural disasters in his country, including Friday's deadly landslide. Now, India has joined Australia and New Zealand in pledging aid to Papua New Guinea, where as many as 2,000 people who may be buried under rubble. More on the story now from CNN's Anna Coren.

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ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Almost a week since a catastrophic landslide wiped out a vibrant community in Papua New Guinea. The people of Yambali are trying to come to terms with their loss. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people lie buried under nine hectares of debris, the size of more than nine football fields, with rubble eight meters deep at some points.

MATE BAGOSSY, UNDP: What (ph) is an entire village and shops and the fuel station and the lodge and the church and the school, it is basically a mountain that has fallen on their heads.

COREN (voice-over): Those who did survive have used what they can to shift boulders, the size of cars. But generations of families may never be seen again.

SANDIS TSAKA, ADMINSTRATOR OF ENGA PROVINCE: The trauma and the emotional (inaudible) on the people that have survived is great. We continue to see kids without parents who keep crying out for their parents while they are orphans. Fathers that have lost entire families. Mothers that don't know what to do.

COREN (voice-over): Mok Michael lost six loved ones in the disaster.

MOK MICHAEL, LOST FAMILY MEMBERS IN LANDSLIDE: (Inaudible) my grandma and three of my cousins, and within my (inaudible), it's adding up to 19 of them.

COREN (voice-over): Michael went to the site when he heard what had happened, filming this video. He says homeless survivors have no place to sleep. The sheer scale of the disaster and the remoteness of the site has made the response extremely challenging.

TSAKA: The disaster is of a scale and magnitude that we've never experienced in this part of the world or in this country for that matter. And the loss of life, the number of lives who were lost will surpass any natural disaster that has happened in Papua New Guinea.

COREN (voice-over): Papua New Guinea's prime minister pointed the finger at climate change for an increase in disasters across the rugged Pacific nation.

JAMES MARAPE, PRIME MINISTER OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA: In this year, we had extraordinary rainfall that is caused flooding in river areas, sea level rise in coastal areas, and landslides.

COREN (voice-over): Now, Australia has begun flying in and distributing aid. The Papuan military says it will open the highway soon, help at last for people who have lost their homes, their way of life, their entire community.

Anna Coren, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Pat Conroy is a member of the Australian Parliament and the Minister for International Development and the Pacific. He joins me now live from Canberra, Australia. Thank you, minister, for being with us.

PAT CONROY, MINISTER FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND THE PACIFIC, AUSTRALIA: My pleasure.

CHURCH: So, what information do you have on the number of casualties in the aftermath of this deadly landslide in Papua New Guinea?

CONROY: Well, we are relying on the reports from the Papua New Guinean emergency management agencies and the latest estimates are somewhere between 700 and 2,000 fatalities, about 160 buildings were buried under the landslide that occurred at 3 a.m. on Friday morning and the debris was reported it is six to eight meters deep. Importantly and worryingly, the site is still very unstable from a geotechnical point of view.

So, it's making it very challenging for people to clear the rubble that they're having to do with more landslides occurring.

CHURCH: And in addition to those local casualties, we are hearing that two Canadian citizens may be unaccounted for. What are you learning about that?

[02:35:00] CONROY: I've heard initial reports or rumors of that, but we haven't been able to confirm that. Obviously, we have a Disaster Assistance Response Team that it should be on site by now and they're conducting incident management, logistical support, and deploying drones to map the site. New Zealand has two geohazard experts that arrived in Port Moresby today and we'll be transporting them up to the site over a day or two. So, it's a very remote part of Enga Province and it's very challenging to get supplies and personnel up there.

CHURCH: Right. You mentioned those drones, but what other assistance is Australia providing Papua New Guinea? And what is the plan for perhaps a longer-term commitment here?

CONROY: Well, we've provided AUD 2.5 million as an initial response package, more will follow. Australian Defense Force aircraft -- four (ph) Australian Air Force aircraft have been transporting PNG officials and our team up there and supplies. We've had flights up the last few days. Our first flight was on Saturday, a day after the landslide -- sorry, Sunday, in fact.

We've transporting 750 family-size shelters because there's about 8,000 local Papua New Guineans who are displaced. We are supporting rations, water, sanitation and hygiene kits because there is a risk, obviously, of disease and exposure around the disaster site as well. So we are providing lots of resources. That's on top of the $630 million of foreign aid that we provide (inaudible) Papua New Guinea. They are our closest neighbor and our dearest friend, and I've communicated to senior ministers that we will provide whatever systems Papua New Guinea needs, not just in the immediate crisis, but in the recovery over the next months and years.

CHURCH: And we were just watching video of a lot of that -- those supplies being a loaded onto planes there, being sent to Papua New Guinea. What is the greatest need right now?

CONROY: I think the greatest need is to make an assessment of the site to work out what are the safe approaches to clearing debris. Sadly, I think most people are saying, at this stage, we are in the phase of retrieving bodies rather than finding people alive. But that's critically important, opening up road, so that we can get heavy equipment in, it is very important. And getting the 8,000 displaced villagers shelter, two emergency medical centers are being set up as well, and looking after the survivors is critical.

CHURCH: Minister, thank you so much for talking with us, we appreciate it.

CONROY: Thank you very much.

CHURCH: Still to come, panda diplomacy between the U.S. and China is getting back on track and a pair of two-year-old bears are the newest envoys of friendship. We'll have details for you on the other side of the break. Do stay with us.

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[02:40:18]

CHURCH: I want you to take a look at this incredible scene out of Iceland where for the fifth time since December, one of the biggest volcanoes there is erupting and spewing lava into the air and over roads that lead to a nearby town. It has already cut off two of the three roads leading to that town. Scientists warn this eruption is more vigorous than in previous cases and the country's civil defense has urged residents to evacuate.

Iceland's famous tourist destination and geothermal hotspot, the Blue Lagoon, was evacuated on Wednesday before the volcano erupted.

An ankle injury will force three-time Olympic champion gymnast, Gabby Douglas out of the upcoming summer games in Paris for the Team USA. The 28 year-old withdrew from a competition in Texas this week after the injury. Douglas told ESPN she still plans to train for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. She had just returned to the sport last month after an eight-year break from competition. She hasn't competed in an Olympic events since the 2016 games in Rio.

Giant pandas are returning to the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington, to continue decades of so-called panda diplomacy with China. The zoo made the announcement Wednesday in a video with U.S. First Lady Jill Biden planning a black-tie vegetarian dinner for the two-year-old pandas. They are due to arrive from China later this year. One of the bears actually has ties to Washington, his mother was born at the National Zoo in 2013 and his grandparents were there as well until they were returned to China last year.

China's U.S. ambassadors says the newest envoys of friendship are a symbol of the friendly ties between the two countries.

I want to thank you for joining us. I am Rosemary Church. "World Sport" is coming up next. Then, I'll be back in about 15 minutes with more "CNN Newsroom." Do stick around.

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