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Biden to Attend D-Day Commemorations in Normandy, France; Voters in the European Union Begins Choosing Members of the European Parliament; U.N. Secretary General Pronounced that the World is on a Highway to Climate Hell; Italian Court Upheld Last Conviction Case against Amanda Knox; Boeing Starliner Finally Lifts Off and Expects to Arrive at the International Space Station. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired June 06, 2024 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world and to everyone streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church.
Just ahead, the world honors the heroes of World War II. President Biden is in France to pay respects to the victors and those lost on D- Day 80 years ago.
Escalation on Israel's border after Hezbollah launches attacks from Lebanon.
And three, two, one, liftoff! After two failed attempts, Boeing Starliner is finally on its way to the International Space Station.
UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is CNN Newsroom with Rosemary Church.
CHURCH: Officials in Gaza say dozens of people have been killed and wounded in an Israeli airstrike on a U.N.-run school housing displaced Palestinians in the heart of the enclave. Hospital officials say at least 45 people are dead and fear the number could rise. The Israeli military confirmed it carried out the strike, saying it targeted a Hamas compound operating inside the school in Nuiserat. The IDF said it took many measures to minimize the danger to civilians.
CNN's Nada Bashir is following developments for us. She joins us now live from London. So Nada, what more are you learning about this deadly Israeli airstrike on a U.N. school in central Gaza?
NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well look, Rosemary, this was a school which was known to be housing thousands of displaced Palestinians sheltering within the school itself, on the school's grounds, on the compound and of course on the yards around it where we have seen those displacement camps popping up from the outset of this war.
And of course, this was an area known to be densely populated by civilians and that's what we have seen over the last few days and weeks. Many civilians who had fled to southern Gaza per the orders of the Israeli military have since returned to parts of central Gaza including the Nuiserat camp because of those fears of an intensive ground offensive by the Israeli military in the southern cities including Rafah.
Now according to hospital and health officials inside Gaza, at least 39 people have so far been confirmed to have been killed in these overnight strikes. That figure, according to health officials is expected to continue to rise. Dozens more have been injured.
One eyewitness on the ground told CNN that the school was struck by three separate missile strikes and as you mentioned Rosemary, the Israeli military has acknowledged and confirmed responsibility for this strike. It says it was targeting a Hamas compound within the U.N. school, that it had carried out surveillance ahead of the strikes in order to assess the civilian risk there.
But of course, again, this is a densely populated area. This was a U.N. run school known to be sheltering civilians and this comes just a day after we saw more deadly strikes in parts of central Gaza in the Deir el-Balah region. Again another area known to be densely populated by civilians. Those strikes with a deadly toll on the civilians sheltering there.
Take a look.
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BASHIR (voice-over): What is left to say for the children of Gaza? Wounded and killed in their thousands by a months-long Israeli military onslaught. For so many there are no words.
The wounded are rushed to hospital beside the dead.
This child is the son of a father, terrified but alive.
For so many others in the central city of Deir el-Balah there is only grief and suffering.
As the bodies of Gaza's latest victims fill overrun malls.
Dozens were killed in overnight strikes by the Israeli military, said to be acting on intelligence targeting Hamas militants and infrastructure. But this was an area, as is so often the case, where thousands of displaced civilians had been sheltering.
And a region many displaced Gazans in the south had returned to in recent days.
Among them were Umm Shadi's daughter and her son, his lifeless body beside her. Her four other children have been left fighting for their lives in intensive care.
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What did they do to deserve this? They were just children, not fighters, Umm Shadi says.
As the dead are laid to rest, the living must grapple with a humanitarian catastrophe that is only getting worse.
Mountains of waste piled high.
Raw sewage contaminating the strip's heavily restricted water supplies. The U.N. now warning of severe health and environmental risks, with diseases feared to be spreading rapidly through Gaza's densely populated displacement camps.
Life here is so much more difficult than you could even imagine, Abdulrahman says. Raw sewage, mosquitoes, no water, the smell at night. Our children can't sleep. There are sick people here, the elderly.
More than a million people in Gaza are now facing catastrophic levels of hunger. A group of independent experts warned on Wednesday that famine may already be underway in the north.
Children across the strip have been left to scavenge for whatever they can find to feed their families. Scraps of paper and plastic, gathered from the street, used in place of firewood to bake bread.
My children haven't eaten all day, this mother says. This is all we have left to feed them for the whole day.
And as Israel deepens its offensive further south, humanitarian operations have been left on the brink of collapse.
I have one question, this woman says. Why are they doing this to us? What did we do to deserve all this?
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BASHIR: And of course, we continue to see strikes across the Gaza Strip, including in areas densely populated by civilians. We are hearing repeated warnings from humanitarian organizations that they do not have the capacity to care for the number of casualties that we are seeing coming into Gaza's hospitals, but also to continue their humanitarian operations, which are of course so desperately needed by the civilians in Gaza.
CHURCH: Indeed. And Nada, what is the latest on increased hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah in the north, and of course fears of this escalating into perhaps another war front?
BASHIR: That certainly is the concern. We heard on Tuesday from Hezbollah's second-in-command Naeem Qasim, who described Lebanon and Hezbollah as being another front to the war in Gaza that they would continue to target northern Israel so long as the war in Gaza continues. And of course we have seen that exchange of rocket fire and drone attacks by both Hezbollah and the Israeli military on either side of that southern border of Lebanon, which has led to the killing of dozens of civilians in Lebanon. The Israeli military says it has killed hundreds of Hezbollah fighters
since October 8th. And of course we have also seen journalists in southern Lebanon targeted as well. There is mounting concern as we continue to see these tensions escalate. We saw on Wednesday, according to the Israeli military, yet more crossfire, yet more drone attacks by Hezbollah targeting parts of northern Israel.
As we know, nearly 100,000 civilians on the Lebanese side have been forced to evacuate their homes. Many, around 50,000 Israelis in northern Israel have also been forced to evacuate as a result. So this is having a significant impact, of course, on the civilian population on either side of the border.
But we did hear from the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was visiting the parts of northern Israel yesterday. He said that Israel will take very intense action if they continue to see provocations by Hezbollah.
He went on to say that whoever thinks that they can hurt us and that we will sit idly by is making a big mistake. One way or another, we will restore security in the north.
Now, of course, there have been calls from the international community for a de-escalation of tensions along the border. The U.S. has called for a de-escalation of tensions. It has said that it does not believe that Israel wants to see a full-scale war between Hezbollah and the Israeli military. And we have heard from Hezbollah as well saying that they are not looking for a war, that they do not want to see a war break out on this particular front, but that they also will not stand idly by if there are further provocations. Rosemary.
DHURCH: Nada Bashir, joining us live from London. Many thanks.
Well, meantime, the White House is ramping up its push to get Israel and Hamas to agree to a deal to end the war in Gaza. And a number of senior US officials are headed to the Middle East to keep up the pressure. CNN's Oren Liebermann reports.
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OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: We're seeing a massive push here from the White House and from the Biden administration to try to get President Joe Biden's hostage release and ceasefire deal over the line here, to have it take effect and see, at least for now, an end to the fighting in Gaza here.
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CIA Director Bill Burns is on his way to Doha to meet with Qatari officials.
They have been critical throughout this entire process, especially when it comes to negotiations. And that's because they're able to communicate with Israel and other Arab states, but also able to communicate and hopefully exert some sort of pressure on Hamas to accept the deal here. President Biden put forward his vision for a ceasefire proposal and
hostage release deal on Friday, but Hamas has yet to respond.
Meanwhile, the White House's Middle East coordinator Brett McGurk is on his way to Egypt. And that's the talk with Egyptian officials there in Cairo about the Rafah border crossing, which to this point remains closed. And there has been a large amount of tension between Egypt and Israel, blame going back and forth here on why it's closed and how to get it reopened. So that's another part of this push.
Also, a hope there that Egypt is able to put some sort of pressure on Hamas to accept this deal. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the U.S.' top diplomat, has been in touch with his counterparts from a number of different countries in the region. He has spoken with the Saudis twice, the Jordanians, the Turks, the Qataris, the Egyptians, the Emiratis, and more, in hopes of creating a regional framework that would help and allow this to get over the line.
Of course, also the White House sees a potential normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia as a first regional game changer, but also certainly a reward to Israel's government for accepting a ceasefire deal if the process plays out. Again, Biden laid out his vision of a deal that would bring about the release of hostages and a ceasefire.
On Friday, Hamas has not yet responded. And that remains here a key question. Of course, there have also been some questions about how Israel would handle this with Israel's government and its far-right elements, far-right coalition members and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government have said they'll take down the government, or at least threatened to take down the government if he accepts this deal.
Right now, these are critical moments to try to get this over the line, and that's why you're seeing this massive push from the White House.
Oren Liebermann, CNN, in the Pentagon.
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CHURCH: To Normandy, France now, where a full day of events are planned to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
U.S. President Joe Biden will take part in a ceremony at the American Cemetery in the next few hours. It was on this day in 1944 that tens of thousands of Allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy, beginning the liberation of France and paving the way for the end of World War II.
French President Emmanuel Macron is welcoming the leaders of more than 20 countries, and he will host a state dinner for President Biden later this week.
(VIDEO PLAYING) Veterans who fought in Normandy, many nearing 100 years old, have been arriving in France over the past few days to a hero's welcome at Charles de Gaulle Airport.
So let's bring in CNN's international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson. He joins us live this hour from London. Good morning to you, Nic. So what all is planned for commemorations in Normandy? And talk to us about the significance of this 80th anniversary of D-Day.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: I think one of the big significant points, isn't it, that the last of the people who took part in this, the biggest amphibious assault in history, 156,000 troops, 73,000 of them American, 20,000 airborne dropped behind the lines, 11,500 aircraft, 7,000 ships in this assault.
The people who were there who took part are sadly passing, and this is one of the last sort of collective commemorative operation events where we get to hear from them. And I think that's part of what President Biden will tap into, that sense that they fought for freedom. It doesn't come free. Comments were likely to hear from President Biden when he attends the commemoration events today.
He'll be at the American Cemetery near Omaha Beach, which was the deadliest of the landing beaches, Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juneau, Sword, British, Canadian landings there as well. 2,000 people died on the beaches there at the Omaha landing.
So he'll be speaking about the importance of sacrifice for freedom, for democracy, of the values that these soldiers, some of whom, a few of whom, are still alive today to talk about it and who are coming back, many of them that we've heard from talking about the need, the feeling that they have to commemorate their fallen comrades who they remember distinctly falling in battle as they came out of the landing craft on those stormy beaches in Normandy 80 years ago.
It's a chance to hear from them and President Biden bringing forward the values that they, that he says that they cherished and brought to the generations that followed.
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CHURCH: And Nic, while in France, U.S. President Joe Biden will also meet with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. What's expected to come out of that meeting and of course, other efforts to strengthen cross-Atlantic ties, as well as discussions on the war in Gaza?
ROBERTSON: Yeah, well, D-Day landing itself, the Allies landing, it was an alliance. And I think that's something that President Biden will tap into, the importance of the alliance of allies, 12 different nations landing on the beaches in Normandy and many more nations in that big transatlantic alliance called NATO that he, President Biden says is important, that underpins the support for Ukraine at the moment.
So I think there'll be a juxtaposition of those values and the conversations, as we typically hear from President Zelenskyy, is the need for more air defenses. That's one of the things that's critical for him. And we know that the United States has given Ukraine permission recently to actually strike inside Russia Russian military targets using U.S. weapons.
And I think as President Zelenskyy talks and meets with the other leaders as well, who will be there in Normandy, this is his opportunity to press his case, to be allowed to do that more often and strike more deeply.
But air defense will probably be the top of his wish list as he speaks to President Biden. But these events, very symbolic and significant, because there has been this massive 80 year almost period of calm in Europe and economic prosperity and growth and a sense that Ukraine is at the fighting edge of Putin's and Russia's forces that want to reverse some of that.
CHURCH: Our thanks to Nic Robertson joining us live from London. I Appreciate it.
Well, just ahead, the U.S. and South Korea do something they haven't done in years that involves dropping some very large bombs, we'll explain.
Plus, voting is getting underway in the European Parliament elections. How an expected shift to the right could impact immigration, climate policy and support for Ukraine. We're back with that and more in just a moment.
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CHURCH: As tensions on the Korean Peninsula escalate, the U.S. and South Korea have launched a new round of joint military exercises, a U.S. B-1B bomber and South Korea's F-15K eagles, together to drop munitions weighing hundreds of kilograms. CNN's Will Ripley has the details on the rare maneuver.
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WILL RIPLEY, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A major show of force. The US flying a long range B-1B bomber over the Korean Peninsula.
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The first precision-guided bombing drill with South Korea dropping live munitions in seven years, says Seoul, still cleaning up the mess from a massive barrage of North Korean trash balloons, about 1,000 balloons floating full of filth and garbage, some 15 tons of trash raining down on residents all over South Korea in recent days.
The first wave of trash balloons triggering ominous cell phone alerts.
KIM MIN-HEE, RESIDENT OF YONGIN CITY, SOUTH KOREA (through translator): Why are they sending things like this? I'm worried that they might send something dangerous. RIPLEY (voice-over): Kim Yo-Jong, younger sister of the North Korean
leader, issued a statement calling the balloons a form of freedom of expression, a response to South Korean activists who've been sending balloons to North Korea for years, carrying leaflets condemning Kim's government.
South Korea's speedy response, possibly sending propaganda blaring loudspeakers back to the DMZ, the heavily-armed border dividing the two Koreas.
Seoul, suspending the 2018 inter-Korean military agreement, a deal to dial down tensions during the short-lived Korean detente, before diplomacy with former President Trump and Kim went off the rails five years ago.
These days, Kim is suspected of trying to put more military spy satellites into orbit. Last week's failed launch triggering emergency sirens in Japan. North Korea also launching a barrage of short-range ballistic missiles last week.
President Biden telling "Time" magazine, North Korea remains a serious threat. As long as there are nuclear weapons available, it's always going to be a problem.
Another problem, Vladimir Putin, U.S. intelligence warning of a deepening military alliance with the Russian strongman. Putin expected to visit Kim in Pyongyang soon. With tensions rapidly rising between North and South Korea, and now U.S. bombing drills back in play, trash balloons may be the least of our problems.
RIPLEY: Analysts believe that there will be some sort of military response from the North, some sort of test to try to show strength, just like the U.S. and South Korea are trying to project strength. The problem here, analysts say, is that there's been no official diplomacy, no talks between the United States and North Korea in five years since the former Trump administration. And in the absence of diplomacy, this cycle of military deterrence, some fear, could lead the Korean Peninsula towards yet another crisis.
Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.
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CHURCH: Voters in the 27 European Union countries are going to the polls starting today in the Netherlands. They're picking members of the European Parliament in the world's second largest election after India.
People in Estonia have been allowed to vote online and in person since Monday. Ursula von der Leyen is seen as the frontrunner for a second term as European Commission President. Far-right parties are expected to make gains, with some projecting they could take up to a quarter of the new parliament's 720 seats. And that could have a major impact on immigration policy and Europe's support for Ukraine.
Joining me now from Brussels, Maria Demertzis, is a senior fellow at the European think tank Brugel. So thank you so much for joining us.
MARIA DEMERTZIS, SR. FELLOW, BRUGEL: Thank you.
CHURCH: Voters in Estonia and Netherlands cast their ballots today. Then the rest of the 27 E.U. countries will cast their votes over the next four days to decide the outcome of these European elections. What's at stake here?
DEMERTZIS: I think the most important issue here is the expectation that there's going to be an increase on the far-right votes. This is to be expected because we have seen very similar trends in national parliaments. So in fact, it would be a surprise if that didn't happen in Europe.
The question is how big this increase is going to be. That's the first thing. And the second thing is whether the different forces that rest on the far-right will be able to cooperate. It's not a given that they will be able to cooperate. And if they manage to cooperate, how that is going to hinder governance of the European Parliament and of course passing very important laws that have to pass in the next term.
CHURCH: Yes, as you say, we are seeing this rise in right-wing politics across Europe with the far-right set to make huge gains in these European elections. How much concern is there about this shift to the right and what might the consequences of this be?
DEMERTZIS: Well, I think it's real. I think there would definitely be an increase in the far-right vote. The question is how big this is going to be.
[03:24:52]
The threat really, the files that would be threatened by such an increase would be climate, the important legislations that have to pass, asylum, all the policies, the very hard game policies of the European Parliament managed to pass in the past four years, whether they will be compromised.
And of course, the most important one, given that it is so imminent, it is support, whether the support for the Ukrainian situation will continue. There are forces inside the E.U. that want to stop countries from the E.U. supporting the Ukrainian cause.
And that, of course, will be immediately under threat. Of course, again, like I said, I think it's important to see what numbers we are going to get, the increase, what exactly that would be and whether there will be an ability to actually prevent the European Parliament from making important decisions.
CHURCH: Yes, because that is one of the big worries here, support for Ukraine. If there is a huge shift to the right, what would the consequences be for the war in Ukraine? What would it take to change Europe's direction on this?
DEMERTZIS: Yeah, I think that's a very important question. There are really two risks here. The first one is whether we will continue to support with military,
sending military equipment. That's the first thing. And the second thing is whether there will be an agreement on allowing Ukraine to join the E.U. This is not for the immediate future, but the support in this and what we call the enlargement of the E.U. is actually crucial for the Ukrainians themselves. And indeed, for trying and finish the war as quickly as possible.
However, the enlargement issue is a very thorny issue in the E.U. And particularly if we see extreme-right governing, then that is going to be almost impossible to proceed with.
But the most immediate one is continuous support, military support, coordination of E.U. help to the Ukraine and, of course, encouragement for other parties also, primarily the US, to continue supporting the Ukraine.
CHURCH: And voters will elect 720 members of the European Parliament and that Parliament will then approve the next commission president who's responsible for setting the legislative direction of the E.U., who will likely be the next president. Is Ursula von der Leyen still the front runner for a second term or is that not guaranteed perhaps?
DEMERTZIS: No, it's certainly not guaranteed. She's the front runner, but there's absolutely no guarantee. And again, the outcome of the elections is going to have an influence on the ability of Mrs. von der Leyen to claim a second term.
Importantly, in the next month or so, when prime ministers will have many opportunities to meet, there will be a sort of a bargaining process coming on.
And if the extreme right parties have gained significant space in the European Parliament, then, of course, they will demand important concessions from the next commission presidents, concessions on climate and even concessions perhaps on the issue of asylum policies. And that, of course, is the next big risk, what these concessions might be. But again, I think it would be incorrect for us to assume that the position of Mrs. von der Leyen is guaranteed.
CHURCH: Maria Demertzis, thank you so much for joining us. I Appreciate it.
No leak of hazardous chemicals has been reported following a deadly train crash in the Czech Republic. That's from Reuters news agency after a passenger train collided head-on with a freight train east of Prague on Wednesday. The report says at least four people were killed and more than 20 others injured. The freight train was carrying calcium carbide, a hazardous industrial chemical. The Czech transport minister says it's too early to speculate what may have caused the crash.
A big break for Donald Trump and a bad break for the woman trying to prosecute him. A Georgia appeals court puts his election interference case on hold for the foreseeable future. Plus, Hunter Biden's ex-wife and ex-girlfriend take the stand in his
federal gun trial. What they had to say about his drug use, when we return.
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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to "CNN Newsroom". I'm Rosemary Church. Let's check today's top stories.
The U.S. is incredibly concerned about the escalating violence on the Israel-Lebanon border. The State Department says they're engaged in intense diplomatic talks to prevent further escalation and calls it an untenable situation. Cross-border attacks from Hezbollah in southern Lebanon have led to fires breaking out across northern Israel, burning large areas of land and forcing evacuations.
U.S. President Joe Biden is marking the 80th anniversary of D-Day today in Normandy, France. He is expected soon at the American Cemetery to meet with veterans and make remarks. Allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy in 1944, helping to liberate France to World War II.
Voting is underway in elections for the European Parliament. More than 370 million people in 27 countries are eligible to cast their ballot. Ursula von der Leyen is seen as the front-runner for a second term as European Commission President, and far-right candidates are expected to make significant gains.
A new setback for prosecutors in the election interference case against Donald Trump in Georgia. A state appeals court filed an order Wednesday saying it's suspending the case indefinitely. It's a massive win for the former U.S. president who's been trying to delay all of his legal issues until after the November election. CNN's Sarah Murray explains.
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SARAH MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: The Georgia Court of Appeals pausing the prosecution of Donald Trump and several of his co- defendants in the election interference case in Fulton County indefinitely.
This latest move basically guarantees that there is no way the case against Donald Trump and several of his co-defendants is going to be going to trial before the presidential election. That is a far cry from what the Fulton County District Attorney had hoped for. She had hoped to go to trial in August well before the election.
Now we're looking at potentially months of relitigating this question of whether Fani Willis should be disqualified from prosecuting the case because of her romantic relationship with a fellow prosecutor as well as other public comments she has made about the case. Now the district attorney's office declined to comment on this latest
development. Meanwhile an attorney for Donald Trump in Georgia Steve Sadow cheered on this move by the appeals courts as he looks forward to arguing that the case against Donald Trump should be dismissed and Willis should be disqualified for what he calls misconduct.
Sarah Murray, CNN, Washington.
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CHURCH: Now that Trump is a convicted felon, New York police are getting ready to take away his license to carry a gun. He was of course found guilty in the hush money case. A senior police official says Trump's concealed carry less license had been suspended in April after his criminal indictment. Two pistols he was licensed to carry were already turned in. A third gun was legally transferred to Florida. If Trump still possesses it he could be in violation of multiple laws. Possession of a firearm by a convicted felon is a federal crime.
Prosecutors could rest their case later today in the trial of the U.S. president's son Hunter Biden who's facing federal gun charges. Wednesday saw testimony from his ex-wife and ex-girlfriend and the man who sold Hunter Biden a gun while he was allegedly addicted to drugs.
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Under U.S. law those suffering from substance addiction are not permitted to buy or own a firearm. CNN's Paula Reid has more now from Delaware.
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PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hunter Biden's trial continued in federal court in Delaware for a third day marked by salacious testimony about his past drug use. His stepmother, first lady Dr. Jill Biden, again attending for moral support. In court the jury listened attentively as two of Hunter's former romantic partners described what they witnessed of his addiction.
His ex-wife testified briefly that she first learned of his drug use in 2015 saying, I found a crack pipe on an ashtray on the side porch of our home. She also described searching his car for drugs.
When my daughters would use his car I would check to make sure there were no drugs in it. But when asked if she ever saw Hunter use drugs she said she had not.
Next up was an ex-girlfriend who he first met at a gentleman's club in Manhattan where she worked in late 2017 and the two spent long stretches together in hotels in 2018 where she observed his drug use. He would smoke every 20 minutes or so and he would want to smoke as soon as he woke up.
She also testified that Hunter's demeanor never changed even after he smoked crack. He was super charming. Everybody loved him. She testified that she saw Hunter doing drugs as late as mid-September
2018, several weeks before he bought the gun at the heart of the case.
But under cross-examination she said she had no idea what Hunter was doing between September and November which covers the month Hunter bought the firearm.
Gordon Cleveland, the gun shop employee who sold Hunter Biden the gun, took the stand next and testified how Hunter came into the store looking for a firearm.
He testified that he told Hunter to read the ATF background form carefully and saw him check no next to the question about whether he was an addict or used illegal drugs. The alleged lie at the center of the case.
REID: On cross-examination defense attorney Abbe Lowell got that employee to admit that he was a quote whale hunter. So someone who tried to upsell customers to buy more expensive guns. This contradicts his grand jury testimony. Certainly a point scored there by the defense. This cross-examination will continue on Thursday. Prosecutors say they have six more witnesses. This case is expected to last into next week.
Paula Reid, CNN, Wilmington, Delaware.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: The U.N. Secretary General is issuing a dire warning on the climate crisis. What climate experts are saying about heat records in the next few years that's just ahead.
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CHURCH: The U.N. Secretary General says the world needs to get off the highway to climate hell after hitting what's been described as a shocking new milestone.
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For the past year, all 12 months have been the hottest on record. Now a scorching heat dome is sending temperatures about 20 to 25 degrees above normal in parts of western U.S. The National Weather Service has issued excessive heat warnings for 17 million people in California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah and South Texas. Temperatures could reach 120 degrees Fahrenheit or nearly 49 degrees Celsius in Death Valley, California. And here's what some California residents are saying.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PATRICK LYLE DELANO, MODESTO RESIDENT: It does this every year. People are, oh my God, isn't that heat terrible? No. It's just heat. You deal with it. Maybe we'll, Bambi and I'll go driving around because the truck at least has air conditioning. My house unfortunately does not. So we'll stay cool one way or another. MICHAELYN REYNOLDS, MODESTO RESIDENT: It's just too hot. I mean, and it's too hot. It's not only hot for us. It's also hot for the animals. No matter if it's small or the bigger animals, it's hard for them to adjust as well too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And as temperatures soar across the globe, climate scientists are warning that heat records will continue to be shattered in the next few years. More now from CNN's Bill Weir.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (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, where monthly heat records have been shattered for the last 12 months in a row.
WEIR: As somebody who has been studying sort of with intimate knowledge the climate crisis all these years, what do you make of what's happening around the world these days?
KIM COBB, CLIMATE SCIENTIST AND PROFESSOR AT BROWN UNIVERSITY: I mean, Bill, this is just a dizzying rate of change that we're experiencing right now. But in the near future, 2023 will register as a normal year. Whereas in fact, if you look at those graphs, all you can see is 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 scare tactics will change that. Let's hope it doesn't come too late.
WEIR (voice-over): 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.
UNKNOWN (voice-over): If you could see the inside of your engine.
UNKNOWN (voice-over): We at Chevron believe 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, PRESIDENT, EUROPEAN 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 actions, as you say, to treat fossil fuel adverts as if it would be, you know, we treat banning 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 (voice-over): 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, a sign 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.
WEIR (voice-over): Bill Weir, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[03:45:06]
CHURCH: Adam Met is the founder of Planet Reimagined and a U.N. sustainability advocate. He joins me now from New York. Appreciate you being with us.
ADAM MET, FOUNDER, PLANET REIMAGINED: Thank you for having me.
CHURCH: So, in his special address on World Environment Day Wednesday, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a clampdown on the fossil fuel industry, accusing those companies of spending billions of dollars on deceiving the public. He also highlighted the hottest global months on record and listed what world leaders, financial institutions, activists and, of course, the rest of us can do to try to address the climate change crisis. Now, you were there in the audience and heard his ambitious plan and call for urgent action. What did you think, and how achievable is all this, do you think?
MET: So, when I was sitting there and listening to his speech, I was surrounded by people from all different walks of life, financial institutions, governments from around the world, even climate influencers from Instagram and TikTok.
And his speech was in equal parts an emergency and hope.
I think that there is so much that all of the people who are in the room and who heard the speech can do. And everyone plays a different role. I mean, financial institutions can obviously contribute money, but then there are people who need to implement the solutions. And he laid out a really comprehensive plan. There were 33 calls to action in his speech. And I want to get into some of those with you. CHURCH: All right, certainly. We'll do that in just a moment, because the world still relies heavily, of course, on fossil fuels. But despite his attack on that industry, the secretary general wants fossil fuel companies to help lead the way in the shift towards renewable energy. How realistic is that, given these companies make so much money from fossil fuels and have very little incentive to help any effort to shift away from them?
MET: Yeah, again, the secretary general's message was quite a balanced one. He started by calling the fossil fuel companies the godfathers of climate chaos and called on people around the world to stop investing in advertising that supports fossil fuel companies. But at the same time, he called for potential.
He said that they really could be the leaders of the renewable energy transition. And one of the biggest solutions that we're working on now is something that we're doing at Planet Reimagined to engage with fossil fuel companies, especially these smaller independent producers, to help them transition, help them put renewable energy projects on top of their current oil and gas land. They really can be the leaders if they put their mind to it and the political will.
CHURCH: Indeed. And Secretary General Guterres said that nearly 10 years since the Paris Agreement was adopted, the target of limiting long-term global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius is hanging by a thread. He listed multiple different calls to action, as you referred to there. So what do we all need to be doing right now to make a difference and turn this climate crisis around?
MET: So there were calls to action for all of the different groups, from financial institutions to governments. But one of the ones that is closest to my heart and closest to all of our hearts is voting. He was very clear about this. He said that's the number one call to action. There are 64 countries around the world that are having elections this year.
And when you think about that, there's so much opportunity. Mexico just voted in for president, a climate scientist. That's an incredible move towards supporting climate action.
And if you think about voting, most people say, oh, my vote doesn't count.
There's a young woman named Molly Cook who just won her primary for the Texas State House. She won her primary by 74 votes, just 74 votes. And she is a big advocate for revamping public transportation, which is a huge climate issue.
Now, if you think about voting, you might think, OK, I'm voting for somebody and they're just going to be in office and they're not really going to do anything.
In the last handful of years, the United States passed the largest climate package in history. The Inflation Reduction Act supported so many climate things just for individuals, in addition to on the policy side. And what I mean by that is it made climate action more accessible for
us. It made electric vehicles cheaper. It made it easier for us to buy solar energy. It allowed us to put heat pumps in our homes, made it far cheaper for us, and more accessible.
If you think about voting as an action that happens once a year, once every two years, once every four years, then you don't think of it as impactful. But if you think of it as a way to create the policies that impact your day to day lives, then it becomes so much more immediate and so much more important.
So I think that's why the secretary general really focused on voting as the key call to action here.
[03:50:05]
CHURCH: Some very good advice there. Adam Met, thank you so much for joining us. I Appreciate it.
MET: Thank you.
CHURCH: A win for Boeing. The troubled aerospace company just made a successful launch of its Starliner spacecraft, but challenges do persist. We'll explain.
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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. An Italian court has upheld the final remaining conviction against American Amanda Knox, stemming from the murder of her British roommate in 2007. Although Knox was acquitted in the murder case, she was convicted two years later of slander for falsely accusing her then boss of the killing. CNN's Barbie Nadeau has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBIE NADEAU, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): Amanda Knox, an American who spent four years in an Italian prison for the 2007 murder of her British roommate, Meredith Kercher, before being absolved, is still a convicted criminal on a separate charge in the eyes of the Italian court.
Knox, now a mother of two, returned to Italy from Seattle to attend a hearing on Wednesday, hoping a court in Florence would clear her of a slander conviction for falsely accusing the manager of the bar where she worked, Patrick Lumumba, of Kercher's murder, sending the innocent man to jail for two weeks.
Knox wrote on X on Monday that she hoped she would finally clear her name of the, quote, "false charges". But it wasn't to be.
CARLO DALLA VEDOVA, AMANDA KOX'S LAWYER: We're very surprised of the outcome of the decision. Amanda is very upset and from the outcome of this hearing, she was looking to have a final point of all this 17 years now judicial procedure. NADEAU (voice-over): Knox and her former Italian boyfriend, Raffaele
Sollecito, were convicted of Kercher's murder in 2009, along with Ivory Coast native Rudy Gaudet.
Knox was an exchange student in Italy at the time.
An appellate court then overturned Knox and Sollecito's convictions and Knox went home to Seattle.
AMANDA KNOX, ACQUITTED MURDER SUSPECT: I just thank you to everyone who has believed in me, who has defended me, who has supported my family.
NADEAU (voice-over): But another Italian court reinstated the convictions, which were definitively overturned in 2015 by Italy's highest court. However, the slander conviction for Knox remained.
Knox later petitioned the European Court of Human Rights, which ruled in 2019 that Italian investigators violated Knox's rights by garnering the false accusation without the presence of a lawyer or adequate translator. They also ruled that Italy should pay her nearly $21,000.
Knox said she felt sure the Italian court would agree with the European ruling. Instead, the court upheld that Knox is guilty of slandering her former boss. She had already served the original slander sentence when she spent four years in a detention following her wrongful imprisonment for murder.
Her lawyers said they would consider appealing once again, meaning that this is not the last word on a case that has lingered for nearly two decades.
Barbie Latza Nadeau, CNN, Florence.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: After a false start, scrap missions and other embarrassing missteps, Boeing's Starliner spaceship is heading to the International Space Station for the first time. But now two helium leaks have been detected on the ship, in addition to one that was found before take- off.
[03:55:07]
NASA and Boeing say the spacecraft is in orbit and stable, and the two astronauts on board are safe and were told to go to sleep while mission control monitors the situation. Kristin Fisher tells us what else is watching.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: NASA Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sonny Williams are on their way to the International Space Station after a successful launch of the Boeing Starliner spacecraft which lifted off from the launchpad just behind me about four or five miles away on Wednesday. They're going to be docking with the International Space Station at around noon on Thursday, about a 24-hour trip. They'll spend about eight days up there, and if all goes according to plan, they'll then come back to Earth under some big parachutes and land not in the water, but in the southwest United States. They're going to be landing on land.
So that's a little bit different from the other company that is in the business of taking NASA astronauts up to the International Space Station. SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule, it splashes down in the water. And so today really represents the fulfillment of NASA's crew program.
They have been wanting two options to get its NASA astronauts up to the space station, and they've been wanting that for the better part of a decade. Today, we saw that these two astronauts are well on their way to making that happen.
So not just a huge day for NASA, but a really big day for Boeing. They have been dealing with so many delays, so many financial issues over the decade that this spacecraft has been in development.
Today, the person that heads the Starliner program for Boeing during a post-flight press conference, he said, to give you an idea of how big a day this was for Boeing, my boss was here, my boss' boss was here, and my boss' boss' boss was here. So the highest of the high up at Boeing were here for this launch today. And if all goes according to plan, it means that NASA will now have two options to get its astronauts up there. So a successful start to this mission, but it will still be several more days, about a week before we know if Boeing Starliner spacecraft is indeed capable of flying NASA astronauts, not just into space, but return them safely back to Earth.
At the Kennedy Space Center, Kristin Fisher, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: And thanks for spending part of your day with me. I'm Rosemary Church. "CNN Newsroom" continues next with Max Foster.
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