Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
CNN International: Israel: At Least 10 Injured After Hezbollah Drone Attack In North; Biden In France To Mark WWII's Allied Invasion; Biden's Executive Action Limiting Asylum-Seekers Takes Effect; Ukrainian Official Confirms Kyiv Using U.S.-Made Weapons To Strike Military Targets On Russian Territory; Day 3 Of Hunter Biden's Gun Trial Underway; Boeing's Starliner Lifts Off On First-Ever Crewed Voyage; Heat Dome Sends Temps Into Triple-Digits Across Western U.S.; Today: FDA Considers Variants To Target COVID-19 Fall Booster. Aired 3-4p ET
Aired June 05, 2024 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:00:34]
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: It is 8:00 p.m. in London, 9:00 p.m. in Rome, 10:00 p.m. in Kyiv, 3:00 p.m. here in Washington.
I'm Jim Sciutto. Thanks so much for joining me today on CNN NEWSROOM. Let's get right to the news.
We begin this hour in Israel, as tensions are escalating now on its northern border. At least ten people have been injured following a drone strike by the Iran-backed Islamist group Hezbollah from southern Lebanon.
Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to the north after rockets launched from the groups sparked large wildfires he warned his military is prepared to launch a large-scale attack against Hezbollah.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Whoever thinks that they can hurt us and that we will sit idly by is making a big mistake. We are prepared for very intense action in the north. One way or another, we would restore security to the north.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: Israeli troops have been engaging in constant fire with Hezbollah fighters going back to October 7 and the aftermath. The militant group says its attacks on Israel are to protest the war in Gaza, where now the IDF has launched a new air and ground offensive in the central part of the Gaza Strip, 65 people were killed by Israeli airstrikes overnight. Israel defense ministry said today, the war will not stop for ongoing hostage negotiations.
CIA Director Bill Burns is now back in the Middle East as the U.S. and its allies await a response from Hamas on the current Israeli proposal for a hostage exchange and a ceasefire now on the table. All this comes as Israel celebrated a controversial day, which marks the capture of East Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 War. Crowds of young Israeli nationalist descended and danced on the Al-Aqsa Mosque, one of the three holiest sites in Islam.
CNN's Jeremy Diamond is in Jerusalem.
Jeremy speaking about that visit to the north by the Israeli prime minister, Israelis have been talking about a major military operation to finish the job as the law often say, in the north since going back to the October 7th attacks when I was up there and in the wake of that terror attack. Is a major military operation actually under serious consideration? That is one inside southern Lebanon?
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it certainly is on the table. It has been on the table for some time now, the question is, what will be the trigger and that is just very, very hard to assess at this stage. As you know, Jim, over the last couple of weeks, there does seem to have been somewhat of an uptick in terms of the cross border attacks between Israel and Hezbollah that we've seen, of course, over the course of the last eight months.
But in addition to that, what we've also seen this week, were huge wildfires in northern Israel that burns thousands of acres of land. And in addition to the damage they did on the ground, it was also what it did in terms of bringing back attention and focus to the situation in northern Israel, to the displacements of at least 60,000 Israeli civilians who were living in northern Israel and have been displaced from their homes for the last eight months.
And it's ramping up the pressure on the government to address that situation, to restore security in northern Israel. And today, indeed, we heard from the Israeli prime minister as he made a visit to northern Israel saying that Israel is, quote, prepared for very intense action in the north, vowing that one way or another, Israel will restore security to that area.
And it does appear that the pressure cooker is kind of building, the clock is ticking for that to happen. And the only way that it can happen diplomatically is if there is first a ceasefire higher in Gaza, that's the assessment of Israeli officials. And so, the other way, of course, would be through military action. And that would likely be an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah.
And again, it's hard to tell exactly what the trigger will be, but there is definitely a sense and some Israeli politicians have said that by the fall, they want to be able to send a residents back to the north or at least to address that situation in northern Israel to restore security.
So it's certainly seems like we might be getting closer to that moment of truth. It's just hard to tell which way it will go or when it will happen.
SCIUTTO: But let me ask you, Jeremy, are -- is the fire is the exchange of fire in the north at all subjects in the negotiations regarding Gaza? [15:05:03]
I mean, is there any expectation that if you reach a ceasefire in Gaza, that Hezbollah abides by that in any way?
DIAMOND: Not that it would automatically trigger a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel, but rather that it would give the space, right? Hezbollah's arguments since October 8 when they launched attacks on Israel has been that they are defending the Palestinian people, that they are carrying out these attacks because of what Israel is doing in Gaza. And so, if that stops, then it gives an opening at least for these two sides to resolve this diplomatically.
SCIUTTO: See where it goes from here, a two front war, it would be, quite an event.
Jeremy Diamond, thanks so much.
President Biden and other world leaders are descending on France to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day as they mark the allied invasion on the beaches of Normandy.
War, of course, is once again raging again on the continent. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will be meeting with leaders including Biden on the sidelines of this D-Day event, pleading for more weapons in their ongoing war against the Russian invasion.
This is President Biden's first international trips and traveling to Israel back in the aftermath of the October 7 attacks.
CNN's White House correspondent Priscilla Alvarez joins me now.
So this is -- it's a symbolic event marking history, but it's also one as history is playing out before is the largest war in Europe since World War II. How central is that to his visit to Europe right now in terms of rallying further support for Ukraine, and Ukraine by the way, rallying for the support?
PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, you certainly can't ignore the backdrop being historic or what is happening in present day. And so while the president will be going there to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day, and he will attend and events and ceremonies to that effect tomorrow, it also comes well, when we see a re-energized Russia, the threat of China and the risk that the elections pose to the geopolitical order. That is how it has been described by national security officials.
So on Thursday, again, we will see him in these commemorations. On Friday, however, he is going to deliver a speech talking about the importance of freedom and democracy. Again, with this historical backdrop.
But this is something we have heard time and again from the president is the importance of preserving democracy. And he says how it is at risk with former President Donald Trump if you were to take a second term. So while this has been a central theme of his campaign, he is now on the world stage talking about this.
And he has said before and fundraisers that world leaders have come up to him and said that they -- that Donald Trump can't win a second term. So, all of this really comes into, it will manifest in this speech on Friday. And then, two, the U.S. has found itself isolated on the world stage at times with the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
And so, this is another way to bring those allies closer, particularly France, which has been critical at times, and to also reaffirm that support for Ukraine. So while this is all anchored in the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of D-Day, there's still so much the president will have to discuss with his allies.
They're on the same page with Ukraine, but the U.S. to some degree on island in terms of its support for Israel. As you know, "The Wall Street Journal" has a story out today on President Biden's age and his mental fitness. It says that it spoke to a 45 people, including both Republicans and Democrats. So the story acknowledged that most of the folks who criticized his fitness were Republicans.
Tell us how the White House is responding to that and how they've attempted to push back on that story.
ALVAREZ: They're strongly disputing it and they have released statements to that effect. Andrew Bates, one of the White House spokespeople, said that: In 2024, House Republicans are making false claims as a political tactic that flatly contradict previous statements made by themselves and their colleagues. That's a quote from the White House spokesperson.
What he seems to be referring to there is House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who was mentioned in the piece, criticizing --
SCIUTTO: He's the one on record.
ALVAREZ: Correct, he's the one on record.
But in the past, particularly when there was the debt ceiling negotiations, he had actually praise President Biden and his team in the course of those negotiations. So, they are trying to grab or seize onto what they say are contradictions in this reporting. And also noting that there aren't Democrats on the record that are questioning the president's mental acuity, even if there are people on background who are shedding some or expressing some concern about it.
But, Jim, at the end of the day, this is something that voters see with their own eyes. They can see the president. And this is obviously a concern that they have shared multiple times in polls.
SCIUTTO: No question. It's ranked high in terms of their questions about him, but I did see that some Democrats, they spoke on the record to "The Journal", but their comments and Nancy Pelosi, among them, were not included in the piece.
Priscilla Alvarez, thanks so much as always. For more on the impact of the Biden administration's executive action limiting asylum claims, I'm joined now by CNN's Rosa Flores. She's in Hidalgo, Texas.
So this executive action, it's been issued. It's now gone into effect. Are you seeing it have an impact on the border in terms of encounters?
[15:10:07]
ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, from talking to sources, it's too early to tell the actual impact on the border. But what can I -- what I can tell you is that this is so confusing to a lot of people, Jim, that I really want to set the scene for you and also share video that we, in essence, what we witnessed earlier today.
I want what to set the scene by looking behind me. This is the Hidalgo Reynosa International Bridge. You can see that there's a flow of traffic towards Mexico, and this is an important point because this executive order doesn't impact commerce, trade, visitations between the two countries. This is a port of entry that is open. What's impacting this executive order or the illegal entries into the United States, when migrants enter in between ports of entry.
Now, the easiest way for me to explain it, Jim, is imagined border security on steroids. All the processes that normally happening -- happen, the fingerprinting of migrants whenever they're process, the background checks to make sure that there's no national security concerns, all of those are happening. Now when a migrant is encountered, and if that migrant does not express fear, then that migrant under this executive order is removed very quickly.
So what does this look like? I want you to take a look at this video. We shot this earlier today. And what it shows is a wide government bus. We see these buses all across the U.S. southern border. They normally transport migrants back and forth to different processing centers. You can see the that bus crosses the port of entry that you see behind me and then you see federal agents escorting migrants to Mexico that walk way that you see that leads to Mexico.
Now, here's our understanding, under this executive order, we would see more scenes like that happen then a lot more often. In other words, you've got to think of this is the processes that the Biden ministration has been using on the border are now expedited there happening, they're going to happen very quickly under this executive order. Now, it's important to know some nuance because what of this migrant actually expresses fear when encountered by a federal agent? Well, under that scenario, that migrant does get a credible fear interview and it can happen under Customs and Border Protection, or it can happen under ICE.
But that threshold, the standard that that migrant has to meet to continue the asylum process in the United States is a lot higher, meaning that migrants are going to have a more difficult time to get through that threshold, Jim, and before I let you go, I got to mentioned this one other thing because once, you know, as you know, this executive order has a threshold and if the migrant apprehensions go down below 1,500 on the U.S. southern border, this executive order doesn't -- doesn't apply anymore.
That does not mean that the federal laws are not going to be applied on the border when migrants enter illegally, they will still apply. Its just they're not going to be on steroids like when the executive order is in effect.
SCIUTTO: And as I understand that there are exceptions for children traveling on accompanied and victims of sex trafficking.
Rosa Flores, good to have you done on the border.
Turning now to Russia's war on Ukraine. Ukrainian official confirms to CNN that Kyiv has begun using U.S.-made weapons to strike military targets inside Russian territory. This comes just days after President Biden approved such strikes, as Ukraine seeks to blunt Russian gains specifically in the northeast, in the Kharkiv region.
CNN's Oren Liebermann joins me now from the Pentagon.
Oren, do we know what specific kinds of weapons the Ukrainians are using and to what effect they're using them?
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Jim, the statement comes from Yehor Cherniev, the deputy chair of Ukrainian parliament committee on national defense, security, and intelligence. And he says that have used artillery and HIMARS. So multiple launch rocket systems to hit Russian forces in Kharkiv and be able to blunt that offensive that Russia launched in recent weeks and months.
And at least according to what we're hearing, it has been effective and been able to blunt that offensive, and slow it down so that Russia has not been able to gain much more land after the opening of that offensive, just about one month ago. Now he says that it started effectively right after they got the green light from the Biden administration to be able to use these weapons and perhaps that should come as no surprise. There had been talks about this happening in the days and weeks ahead of that.
So, on the administration, the White House gave them the green light. They effectively were able to move quickly and start carrying out strikes on these targets, hitting the -- effectively Russian targets that were masked there to carry out this offensive against Kharkiv and northeast Ukraine there.
[15:15:04]
Now, what's worth noting here is that this is part of what they were looking for and even Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made this clear. They are looking for the permission to use other longer-range weapons. For example, ATACMS missiles to hit deeper into Russia, including Russian airfields. That is something they do not have a green light for, but they are pushing and the discussions they say are ongoing to try to get that green lights.
So, Jim, this is clearly a space worth watching. We have seen repeated cases where Ukraine has asked for something and it was no, no, no, no, yes. So we'll see if the administration shifts on this as well. If the -- if the administration gives them any ground to carry out strikes deeper into Russian terrorists.
SCIUTTO: Yeah. there's been a pattern in many of these decisions, right? Lots of requests, lots of consideration, and ultimately often the answer, yeah. But after some -- yes, but after some time.
Oren Liebermann, thanks so much, at the Pentagon.
When you come back, Hunter Biden's ex-wife and ex-girlfriend take the stand in his federal guns trial. We're going to have an update from the court, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCIUTTO: In a Wilmington, Delaware courtroom, Hunter Biden's deep battle with addiction and his romantic history as well are on full display in day three of his trial on gun charges. Back-to-back, two former partners, his ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle, an ex-girlfriend, Zoe Kestan, each testified at times it explicit detail about Hunter's drug use.
The president's son faces three counts of illegally purchasing and owning a gun while addicted to drugs. His struggle with substance abuse is well well-known, but key here is the timeline, whether he was an addict or active user when he bought that gun in October 2018, Hunter Biden is pleading not guilty to the charges.
CNN's Marshall Cohen has been inside the courtroom. He joins me now.
Marshall, this is -- this is obviously difficult testimony I imagine for the court, for the jury to hear.
[15:20:04]
These are former partners, have him describing -- describing his drug use in quite personal terms.
And now as I understand it, the man who sold Hunter Biden the gun is in questioning. What have you heard inside?
MARSHALL COHEN, CNN REPORTER: Yeah. That's right, Jim. I think you're absolutely right. Nobody would want to go through this sitting in court watching your exes testify against you. But they're here for a very specific purpose. Special counsel, David Weiss brought in those two exes today to tell hold the jury that they witnessed Hunter Biden using drugs in 2018 or that they saw drug paraphernalia around him in 2018, which is part of their effort to connect his drug use to the gun purchase in October of 2018.
Now, the woman who just left the witness stand, Zoe Kestan, she said that she saw Hunter Biden using crack cocaine as late as September 2018. That would be just a few weeks before the purchase. That so far is the closest that prosecutors have been able to connect eyewitness testimony of his drug use to the time when he bought that gun. Now, turning to that gun, Jim, as you mentioned, the salesman from the
gunshot here and Wilmington, just about 15 minutes away from the courthouse. Is that gunshots? By the way, that salesman is on the witness stand right now. His name is Gordon Cleveland. He was there with Hunter Biden when he bought the gun and helped hunter fill out the critical ATF form that everyone has to fill out when they buy a gun.
In the eyes of the prosecutors that's the crime scene. That form is where Hunter is accused of checking the box that said he was not an addict or user of illegal drugs. In the eyes of the prosecutors that was a false statement. It was a lie and it was a crime -- Jim.
SCIUTTO: So, what is the legal standard to approve it? I mean, the thing is as you often hear with documents cases, I mean, you have the document, right. And then if you have the testimony saying what someone filled out on a document is not true? That -- have you met the burden of proof?
COHEN: Well, that's part of the burden, but as the defense has pointed out, over and over in this case, another part of the prosecutions burden is to prove that Hunter Biden knew that he was essentially lying in this situation that he knew he was an addict and intended to deceive the gun dealers when he told them on that form that -- no, he was not an addict.
And the defense has been focusing on that throughout because frankly, it's one of the few things that they can cling onto to try to sow reasonable doubt and maybe try to find their way to when acquittal here in Delaware.
SCIUTTO: Marshall Cohen, thanks for watching.
Well, in the world of space, the third time's a charm. Two NASA astronauts on board the Boeing built Starliner spacecraft successfully -- you see it there -- launched into space earlier today after two previous launches were scrubbed. The astronauts onboard are set to spend more than 24 hours aboard the spacecraft before, then docking with the International Space Station.
CNN's Kristin Fisher is here to tell us more.
So, Kristin, one of the astronauts, Suni Williams, is first woman to join such a mission, but, but tell us how they got over the humps here, right? Because there were a lot of false starts.
KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: There were. I mean, first and foremost, you know, Boeing and the Starliner program they dealt with a lot at technical issues over the last decade. This is part of NASA's commercial crewed program, first awarded to contracts back in 2014, one to SpaceX, one to Boeing.
Since then, SpaceX has flown 13 crewed missions into orbit. This was Boeing's first one. So, a big day for Boeing to finally catch up to SpaceX in that regard. And so, there was a press conference moments ago and I just asked the
person who runs Boeing's Starliner program, Mark Nappi, what he thought of that and he said, look, we don't view this as a competition. We cheer on SpaceX and Elon Musk actually sent out a tweet a post on X congratulating Starliner on that as well.
But a big moment for NASA today and Boeing, they needed a win. And now, if all goes according to plan throughout the rest of this mission, there will now be two American made spacecrafts that can take NASA astronauts up to the International Space Station.
SCIUTTO: And for a time, we were relying on Russian -- Russian rockets to get up there.
Kristin Fisher, thanks so much.
For more analysis now, I'm joined by David Kerley, former ABC News senior transportation correspondent, and author of "The Full Throttle" a transportation newsletter.
David, good to have you back.
[15:25:00]
DAVID KERLEY, AUTHOR, "FULL THROTTLE" NEWSLETTER: Thanks so much, Jim.
SCIUTTO: So, David, I'm curious how big a moment this is for Boeing, but also for the space industry because I haven't met anyone in the space, space who likes having one viable option, right, to get cargo or to get crews up and up into orbit?
KERLEY: Well, let's talk first about that, and what NASA wanted. They've long wanted the commercial crew and cargo programs so that they have multiple vendors and multiple ways to get to space. They didn't want to be stuck, like as you mentioned, relying just on the Russians to get the space station for several years there.
So this is a huge breakthrough in that program, a big step closer to having those two providers who can take astronauts to the space station or to do other tasks in space. And then for Boeing, thinking about everything we've talked about the last six months about what's going on in the airplane division and go a few years earlier with those MAX crashes. It's been a terrible time for Boeing and a lot was riding on this, a brand that has been so battered, not just in the space industry, but in the commercial airplane industry as well.
I mean, you look at this launch, Boeing was in a race, whatever Mark Nappi said at the news conference, they were in a race with SpaceX. There was kind of a fun little battle. The last space shuttle crew left a flag up on one of the entry ways and it was who's going to capture the flight? Well, SpaceX won that battle by a mile.
SCIUTTO: Yeah. So let me ask you this, David. I mean, are those two challenges connected. Is that the view that the challenges Boeing has had and its commercial airline division -- I mean, not just challenges, right? Deadly crashes as you say, and other dangerous incidents, are they tied to the various stumbles they've had on the space side of the business?
KERLEY: I don't -- I don't -- I wouldn't -- I wouldn't connect them, although Boeing has stumbled in the space business, as well as in the aviation, airplane industry as well. That may have been just the decision that they didn't want to get as proactive as they could have on some of the contracts. They've lost a lot of contracts over the past several years in this space division.
They are still the main contractor on the International Space Station, which brings in a lot of money every year for them to maintain that. But this is a brand that has been battered. This is one good day. Boeing needed something to cheer about, and quite honestly, there's some green shoots according an airlines CEO on the airplane business. So, we'll see whether the worst is over Boeing, but this is a good day for them to celebrate.
SCIUTTO: So, as it relates to the commercial airline division, which is frankly how most folks watching now probably interact with it with Boeing, the company itself. What are those green shoots? I mean, are there -- are there indications? Is there evidence that Boeing is correcting the issues that led to quite consequential mistakes and errors and crashes?
KERLEY: So they have two big things going on. One with the Department of Justice, which is potentially going to prosecute them on criminal charges for those two MAX crashes. And then the other is with the FAA, their regulator, and they have to come up with a plan to make sure that their safety systems are in place.
Both are still up in the year. The green shoots comes from one airlines CEO, Ryanair, Michael O'Leary, who said that he thinks the new management at the airplane division is doing a good job. He's actually going to get more deliveries in June and July than he thought doing I think three or four additional 737s than he thought.
So from his standpoint, that's one CEO, but one that buys a lot of 737, things are turning. So I'm not -- I'm not anywhere close to saying the worst days are over Boeing on the commercial airplane side, but all news that's good luck like today is good for that company.
SCIUTTO: So before we go, as we watch again, the successful launch of the Starliner, should we expect now, assuming all goes well, to see more of these, right, and that there will be more actual competition between SpaceX and Boeing?
KERLEY: So that's interesting. We go back to our conversation about just a few moments ago about Boeing and space. They are only contracted for six flights to the space station. And that's one or two a year. And they are not committing to additional flights with NASA at this point.
Will others compete? Yes, there is a company in Colorado, Sierra Space, that has a small space plane which is being developed as a cargo vehicle. But I'm sure they'd like to make that into a crewed vehicle. So it may not be Boeing in the long run, but others want to play in this space. SCIUTTO: Space, space. Competition is good.
David Kerley, thanks so much.
KERLEY: You bet, Jim. Nice to join you.
SCIUTTO: Still to come, the dire warning from the head of the United Nations. The world is now on, quote, a highway to climate hell, as the planet endures 12 months now of unprecedented heat.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:33:28]
SCIUTTO: Welcome back.
A brutal heat dome as it's known is sending temperatures to dangerous levels across the western United States, marking the region's first significant heat wave of this year. And it's not just here in the U.S., the planet just mark a shocking new milestone, enduring 12 consecutive months of unprecedented heat. That according to new data from the European Union's climate monitoring service.
Just this morning, U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres delivered an impassioned speech in New York, urging leaders to take control of a spiraling climate crisis.
CNN chief climate correspondent Bill Weir, he's been tracking all this. Bill, what can you tell us? And does this mean we're going to miss that 1.5 degree mark that has been such a focus of these efforts for years?
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Well, just to give you some perspective on where we're moving, Jim. A couple of years ago, there was a 50 percent chance we would blow past 1.5 for an entire calendar year. Now, it's an 80 percent chance.
SCIUTTO: Wow.
WEIR: So, yeah, it's just nothings happening. The emissions are still going up. They're going up a lot slower than they were, only about 1 percent last year. They need to fall at about 9 percent a year between now and 2030, so said as the secretary general today for so much of life on earth to survive.
And he lays the responsibility squarely at the feet of big fossil fuel companies and the bankers and insurance companies, ad agencies, and PR firms that support them. All of this, of course, tied to this new Copernicus report looking back at the last 12 months, this new violent weather that's ongoing right now. And the fact that, Jim, this could be the opening attractions.
[15:35:02]
Take a look. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WEIR (voice-over): Across the American heartland came a conga line of devastating tornadoes, deadly flooding from Brazil, to Germany, a drought that has millions rationing water in Mexico City and temperatures close to 122 degrees in India, enough to kill at least 33 poll workers on the same day in recent national elections.
All are snapshots from a planet overheated by human activity or monthly heat records have been shattered for the last 12 months in a row.
As somebody who has been studying sort of with intimate knowledge that the climate crisis all these years, what do you make of what's happening around the world these days?
KIM COBB, DIRECTOR OF INSTITUTE FOR ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY, BROWN UNIVERSITY: I mean, Bill, this is just a dizzying rate of change that were experiencing right now. But in the near future, 2023, you register as a normal year. Whereas in fact, if you look at those graphs, all you can see as a vertical line shooting upward from the very recent warmest years on record. So really just a record smashing year in 2023.
ANTONIO GUTERRES, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: Let me be very clear, again, the phase out of fossil fuels, is essential and inevitable. No amount of speed or scared tactics will change that. Let's hope it doesn't come too late.
WEIR: While the head of the United Nations has been railing against polluters and petro states for years, he is using this report to plead with world leaders to cut dirty fuels faster than ever, to kick in more for unfair loss and damage in developing countries. And to ban all advertising from oil, gas, and coal companies.
AD NARRATOR: If you could see the inside of your engine --
AD NARRATOR: We at Chevron believed that nothing is more precious than life.
WEIR: What do you make of the secretary general's decision to really take new steps to call for an end to fossil fuel advertising on television and radio, to treat those ads the way you would for tobacco products?
LIZ BENTLEY, CHIEF EXECUTIVE PROFESSOR, ROYAL METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY: Any policies that we can introduce at national level or even international agreements to actually change the way we rely on fossil fuels are important. So these, these actions, as you say, to treat fossil fuel adverts, as if it would we treat ban in conversations around tobacco, or at least warning signs. If you do smoke, these are the consequences. We need to get I think more savvy to do that around greenhouse gas emissions as well.
WEIR: To avoid the worst, scientists say global emissions must fall 9 percent a year until 2030 and while they still went up last year, it was only by 1 percent, thanks to a boom in clean, wind and sun power, assign that humanity could finally be on the verge of bending the carbon curve?
COBB: Yes, 1 percent is in the wrong direction, but it's getting close to zero. And then it can start going into the negative territory.
So in fact, we are predicted to have peak fossil fuel emissions within the next year or two, which is something I frankly never saw coming even five years ago. So that's real progress and I think people need to really appreciate that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WEIR (on camera): And, Jim, in December, about 150 countries or so pledged to triple their renewable energy ambitions. A recent report just came out today, looked at it. It's going to fall short of that. It'll double because solar and wind is so cheap right now, but it's just not moving as fast as it needs to meet the promises.
And really it comes its down to the fight between the entrenched interests who have no interest in given up these hugely profitable companies or petro states and the urgent science. So, two things are happening at the same time. There's this clean energy boom.
But then the things outside are getting more violent and more unpredictable at the same time, which requires communities and societies to adapt to what's already built in, the pain that's coming and hardened communities as fast as they can.
SCIUTTO: Well, it's yet one more issue that is also on the ballot in this country in November, right? Because you have one candidate who is -- who is promising to roll back or eliminate many of those environmental standards.
Bill Weir, thanks so much.
WEIR: You bet.
SCIUTTO: As summer heats up, COVID-19 levels in the U.S. are about as low as they've gone --
WEIR: All right, thank you.
SCIUTTO: -- since the pandemic began four years ago, but public health experts are watching a new strain that could disrupt that downward trend.
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug experts are looking ahead to the fall, what variants to include in a new COVID booster that will be available in the coming months.
Joining us now to discuss, Dr. Perry Wilson, he is a professor of medicine at Yale University.
Dr. Wilson, thanks so much for joining.
[15:40:03]
DR. PERRY WILSON, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE, YALE UNIVERSITY: Great to be here.
SCIUTTO: All right. So let's begin with these new variants. It's not the first time we've seen COVID evolve. It won't be the last time.
Are you particularly concerned about these new variants as compared with previous ones?
WILSON: No, not, not particularly. This is what the COVID virus does. It evolves and evolves to evade our defenses against it, which includes vaccines and also our own natural immunity from most of us having been infected by now at this point in the pandemic. The new variant is known as JN.1 and the FDA advisory panel thinks that that should be what gets targeted in the vaccines that come out this fall.
SCIUTTO: Has COVID, I mean, can you make an argument that COVID, if it hasn't become it yet, it is becoming the flu. The flu, there are different variants every year, we have a shot, but in terms of how we react as individuals, families, and society, that we have sufficient immunity in general to prevent the worst outcome. So we don't have to react to each new variant with as much, I don't know if alarm is the right word, but alarm change in behavior, et cetera.
WILSON: Yeah, I think there are a lot of analogies flu is a very fast mutating virus, which is why we have to update the flu vaccine every year and COVID, although not as fast a mutator as flu infect so many more people that it has more opportunities to mutate because every infection is an opportunity to mutate. So there's that. There's the front that COVID infections have become more cyclical now, with low levels in the summer and then a rise in November, December, to a peak in January, which has happened over the past three years.
But I will say there's one difference which is that even now, even with COVID levels as low as they've ever been since -- since 2020, we still see more deaths per week from and COVID than we see for the flu. So it's still a worst virus to get despite all we've been through.
SCIUTTO: Really basic question for people watching because I know that take up a booster shots has been declining significantly over time. I think it's a small minority of the population that still gets the boosters with regularity. Should you or I or kids, or families, people watching, should they get the booster? Is it necessary?
WILSON: It depends on the person. Obviously, the higher risk you are, if you're an immuno-suppressed individual, an older individual, certainly the recommendation would be to get boosters.
But I also so think of this a lot like the way I think of the flu shot, which is that now there's going to be a COVID season. It's going to be the winter months when we're all inside again. And getting your COVID shot at the same time, you get your flu shot, which is October, November, will give you some extra protection and we're talking about 60 to 70 percent vaccine effect in this nowadays for at least around six months, which should get you through those winter surges. So I think kind of logging it in back of your head as okay. Time to
get my shots for winter respiratory viruses is pretty reasonable.
SCIUTTO: Yeah. I mean, given the cost, right? I mean, ten minutes of your time or whatever and that added protection. And for people with immune deficiencies, for instance, of course, a bigger argument.
WILSON: Oh, absolutely. You know, we know that COVID can be particularly bad in older adults, people with immune deficiencies, people with more comorbidities, but I should say that even healthy people and sort of prime of life can still die of COVID and the same can be said of flu, which is why we say, hey, we've got these things that are quite protective. They're very safe. There's not much reason to avoid it.
SCIUTTO: All right. Dr. Perry Wilson, good advice. Thanks so much.
WILSON: Anytime.
SCIUTTO: When we come back, the once American study abroad student, Amanda Knox, has returned to the exact courtroom in Italy, where she was wrongfully convicted of her then roommates murdered for some 17 years ago. This time though, she's fighting an entirely different charge. We're going to have that story, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:47:10]
SCIUTTO: It's been almost 20 years now since a murder in Perugia, Italy, made then American study abroad student Amanda Knox suspect and an international name, convicted, then eventually exonerated in the violent death of a roommate, Meredith Kercher, this back in 2007. Knox once told reporters she would never willingly return to Italy.
Willingly or not, she did today and the very same courtroom for a surprise verdict, re-convicted of her 2009 slander charge for wrongfully implicating her old boss in Kercher's death. Knox exited the court, too upset to give remarks as planned, this according to attorney who did address reporters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARLO DELLA VEDOVA, AMANDA KNOX'S LAWYER: We're very surprised of the outcome of the decision. We need to read carefully the (AUDIO GAP) that might be available in the next days. Amanda is very upset from now outcome of this -- at those hearings. She was looking to have a final point about this 17 years now, this judicial procedure. So at the moment, she's very upset.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: You could be forgiven if you can't remember all the details of the case. Perhaps you miss the many docuseries and podcasts on it.
Luckily, CNN's Paula Newton, she covered the Amanda Knox murder trial. She is here to bring us up to speed.
The slander charge goes back to the very aftermath of Kercher's death. I mean, some 15 years ago. First, remind us what Knox is charged with and I'm curious now that her conviction has been upheld, what happens now?
PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, it is so interesting because although this has to do with the slander charge, Jim, it actually does go back to the way this whole investigation was conducted in the first place. So what it has to do with Amanda Knox, according to the Italian courts, she is now convicted of slandering her former boss. He was a bar owner. His name is Patrick Lumumba.
And he, in fact, had nothing to do with the crime, with the murder of Meredith Kercher, but he was implicated by Amanda Knox after hours of interrogation by police. She was without a lawyer, without a translator, even though she spoke some Italian. But still, it was likely under lot of stress and under suspect circumstances. In fact, a human rights court in Europe agreed that she was denied her human rights, or her right to the lawyer and right to a translator when she went through this police interrogation, and then in fact implicated her former employer.
It did not matter to this Italian court. In fact, this one was upheld. It actually carries a three-year sentence because she had already served four years in the Italian court. That was for the murder of Meredith Kercher, a crime that she was then first found not guilty of and completely exonerated by an Italian court. For that reason, she will not up to serve anytime.
[15:50:00]
But, Jim, you just heard her lawyer, right? And you heard how upset she was because what she is trying to do now that she's been able to move on with their life and have a young family, she is trying to completely exonerate herself. It is an exoneration that Italian courts so far have not given her or what happens next. You've heard about the lawyer there about 60 days were used to this routine from Italian courts.
There will be a written ruling and then based on what said there, she perhaps can appeal again. And so the legal saga continues. I want to say though Jim, while a lot of people have not gotten have now been able to get on with their lives, including Amanda Knox, the family of Meredith Kercher. This was a student, so violently murdered. This family has to suffer through all of this legal chaos.
Now, I will point out that a man was convicted of her murder. He though has now -- can you imagine, Jim -- is now released after already serving his sentence -- Jim.
SCIUTTO: Stretching out the tragedy for that family for certain.
Paula Newton, thanks so much.
Coming up next, the commemorations now underway in Normandy, France, marking tomorrow's 80th anniversary of D-Day invasion.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCIUTTO: Eighty years, ago, they stormed the beaches of Normandy, France.
Now, those ones young men turn veterans of World War II, are returning to France to observe D-Day. Many of them past the age of 100.
CNN's Melissa Bell reports from Normandy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From the other side of the Atlantic, they returned to the continent they liberated a lifetime ago.
Some of the last living American World War II veterans struggling with a steps, but not with their memories of June 6, 1944.
ARLESTER BROWN, WORLD WAR II VETERAN: I felt that mankind had lost its way.
BELL: Eighty years on, the veterans arrived to a heroes welcome and with a distinct twinkle in their eye.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Beautiful day, nice girls like you, so we're satisfied.
BELL: These are the shores where the men landed, taking the first faltering steps towards the liberation of France and of Europe. The very youngest veterans expected here this week are 96, which means they were just 16 at the time and had to lie about their age in order to be allowed to fight.
[15:55:02]
The first of the more than 100,000 men that landed in Normandy on June 6th came by air, ferried through the darkness into the unknown.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We took off at 2:30 in the morning, completely blackout takeoff. You remember things like that.
BELL: The paratroopers' planes still fly today. The memories of the men who've now passed kept alive on recordings like these.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody was very quiet. No conversation, no jocularity.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I always taught God was with me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When the green light went on, we went out right then.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eighteen men are going out that door in 11 seconds.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm lucky in my mind.
BELL: But even for those who survived, the cost has been unimaginable.
NEAL MCCALLUM, WORLD WAR II VETERAN: My mother and father gave you my four elder brothers. We lost one and he's buried in Lorraine.
BELL: Beyond those few returning here this week, the last living witnesses of what happened here, the 80th anniversary of D-Day is mainly about those who never left.
Their memory honored with sand taken from the beaches where they landed and died.
For the freedom of people they'd never met, in a country they've never seen.
Melissa Bell, CNN, Normandy.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCIUTTO: Eisenhower's words to those soldiers before they launched the invasion were: The eyes of the world are upon you. The hope and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you -- and they still do to this day.
Thanks so much to all of you for joining me today. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington.
"QUEST MEANS BUSINESS" is up next.
