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CNN International: U.N. Says Urgent Need for Aid as Gaza Faces Hunger Crisis; U.S. Defense Secretary on Need to Protect Gaza Civilians; AI Chip Giant Center of Attention At Taiwan's Computex; USA in Shock Upset of Pakistan at Cricket World Cup. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired June 07, 2024 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

COREN: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Anna Coren. Here are today's top stories.

World leaders and veterans are gathering in France to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Allied Forces' invasion of Europe. The White House says U.S. President Joe Biden's speech will focus on the power of democracy and the sacrifice of soldiers who fought on D-Day.

Elections for the European Union's Parliament are now in their second day. It's the world's largest multi-country vote with 720 seats up for grabs. Far-right leaders have been making a push for more influential positions in the bloc. Voting wraps up on Sunday.

Israel's military says it killed nine Hamas fighters in a strike on a U.N.-run school in central Gaza. But Palestinian officials report at least 40 people were killed. Israel says there was a Hamas compound operating inside the school. CNN cannot independently verify that claim.

A new report from the U.N.'s World Food Program says more than a million people in Gaza are expected to face death and starvation by mid-July. That's half of the enclave's population. The report cites the war's rising death toll and mass displacement combined with the heavy restrictions on access to humanitarian aid. The U.N. says this is likely to continue, especially in light of Israel's expanding military operations in Rafah, which included seizing the border crossing with Egypt in early May. Gaza's health ministry says no sick or wounded person has been able to leave the enclave since then. The Hamas-run ministry says more than 25,000 people need medical treatment.

Well for more on the humanitarian crisis, I'm joined by Rachael Cummings. She is the team leader for Save the Children's Gaza Response. She joins us now live from Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. Thank you so much for joining us. Explain to us the state of the humanitarian situation right now.

RACHAEL CUMMINGS, GAZA RESPONSE TEAM LEADER, SAVE THE CHILDREN: Yes, thank you. Thank you for the opportunity. The situation in Gaza, across the whole of the Gaza Strip, is extraordinary. It's dire. It's a dire situation for children and their families.

You know, since the 6th of May, when the first evacuation orders were issued in Rafah up to now, nearly one million people have been forcibly displaced from Rafah up to the middle area and along al- Mawasi, along that beach road.

Yesterday, we drove towards Rafah from Deir al-Balah, and there is not one single space in that area for people to seek shelter or any protection. There are very limited services. So what you have is a massive, congested, overcrowded population with very limited food, very limited water and pretty non-existent sanitation facilities.

So you have open sewage in the streets. You have children walking through those streets with very ill-equipped in terms of shoes and protection. And people are desperately looking for somewhere safe to be. But, of course, there is nowhere safe in Gaza. There is no space and there's very, very limited protection for children and their families. It's really, I have never seen anything like it in the 20 years I've been working in the humanitarian sector.

[04:35:00]

Children and their families, it's really, I have never seen anything like it in the 20 years I've been working in the humanitarian sector.

COREN: Rachael, as we just said, you know, half the population facing death and starvation by mid-July. Where are these people getting their food? Where are they getting aid? Explain to us what you saw with your own eyes yesterday.

CUMMINGS: Yes, for sure. There were market stalls selling, but, of course, nobody has cash to buy. So it's a very odd scenario that we're seeing playing out with the commercial trucks coming through from Kerem Shalom to Israel. So there is food available in the markets, but people don't have money to buy. So the risk is, of course, the most vulnerable populations will go into debt. But the massive majority, as you said, a million people are at risk of death from lack of food, which is an extraordinary situation when, of course, there is food around.

So WFP and other partners have been trying to push out flour and other food items. Save the Children also trying to push out food items across the Gaza Strip. But we're very, very restricted in terms of the supplies that we're able to bring in.

So there's one crossing in the north that we're able to use, but it's very, very unpredictable. And again, for Kerem Shalom, since that Rafah crossing closed at the beginning of Egypt, the routine and the regular supplies that we were able to bring in before then, that is very much complicated now with the closure of the Rafah crossing with Egypt. So people are desperate.

You know, there's some hot kitchens providing food, but there isn't enough food and we're not doing enough for the population. We know that. We're acutely aware of that. You know, it's deeply frustrating. We know how to react and how to support populations in need. And yet it's impossible for us to do that with the safety and security of ourselves, but also at the scale that's required.

COREN: Rachael, you mentioned that these people have nowhere to go. And then obviously there are those Gazans who sought shelter in the U.N. school that was then hit. More than 40 people killed, including children. What are you learning about that strike?

CUMMINGS: You know, it's an absolute travesty that children are being killed in schools. There's been no formal education since the 6th of May, 6th of October, sorry, 7th of October.

But, you know, that's one incident. And there are hundreds of incidents each week of direct hits on infrastructure that should be protected under international humanitarian law. 36,000 people have been killed to date in this conflict. So, yes, that was a very serious and large scale incident. But it is not in isolation of other incidents that are killing children and their family members.

COREN: Well, Rachael Cummins, we thank you for the work that you and your team are doing there in Gaza. And we thank you, too, for speaking to us here on CNN.

CUMMINGS: Thank you so much.

COREN: Well CNN's Wolf Blitzer spoke with the U.S. Defense Secretary about the war in Gaza. And he asked Lloyd Austin how the U.S. can push Israel to better protect civilians when the flow of American weapons in this war has mostly been unimpeded.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LLOYD AUSTIN, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: I'll leave it to Israel to talk about, you know, what happened in that strike. What I can tell you is that we said from the very beginning that we're going to support Israel's right to defend itself. And we've done that from the very beginning.

At the same time, we have continued to encourage Israel's leadership to be thoughtful about making sure that they're reducing the number of civilian casualties. There have been way too many civilian casualties throughout this war. And move the civilians out of the battle space before conducting a significant maneuver.

And, you know, I don't think accomplishing objectives and protecting civilians are mutually exclusive endeavors. I think you can do both. We've demonstrated that. And I think you have to do that.

I think that the way that you ensure long-term success is by making sure that you take care of the civilian population, strip them away -- eventually strip them away from Hamas, and demonstrate that, you know, Hamas does not equal the Palestinian people.

[04:40:00]

But they have to take care of the Palestinian people, flow more humanitarian aid into the space, and make sure that we're doing the right things to take care of them.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: As you know, Mr. Secretary, when it comes to Rafah in southern Gaza, President Biden told CNN in an interview he won't supply the weapons to Israel if Israel goes into Rafah. Now Israeli troops are in Rafah, but you call this a limited operation. Is the U.S. moving the goalposts so the president doesn't have to enforce what has been described as this red line?

AUSTIN: We are not moving the goalposts, Wolf. I think, you know, we've been clear that, you know, if they conduct a major operation into Gaza -- into Rafah, the kind that we saw in Gaza City and other places earlier, then that's a problem. So what we've asked them to do is move the civilians out of the battle space to be more precise in terms of their operations and limit the amount of collateral damage.

And so far they've maneuvered along the border and we've not seen a major movement into Rafah as of this point. So we'll continue to watch this.

BLITZER: I'm sure you will. The president, in that recent interview he gave to Time magazine, was asked if Israeli forces have committed war crimes in Gaza, and he said, and I'm quoting him now, it's uncertain. Can you say, Mr. Secretary, if Israel has committed war crimes in Gaza?

AUSTIN: You know, I'll echo, you know, what the president said. It's uncertain because, you know, these are things that have to be investigated and, you know, I believe that the Israelis will do that going forward. As they see incidents, they'll do the right thing by investigating.

This is a professional force and we would expect that they do the kinds of things that professional forces do.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COREN: Wolf Blitzer speaking to U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin there.

Well, Benjamin Netanyahu will address a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress next month after leaders of the House and Senate came together to invite the prime minister to speak.

In a letter, U.S. lawmakers from both sides of the aisle wrote: We invite you to share the Israeli government's vision for defending democracy, combating terror, and establishing a just and lasting peace in the region.

Accepting the July 25th invitation, Mr. Netanyahu said he was: ... very moved to present the truth about our just war against those who seek to destroy us. To the representatives of the American people and the entire world. Sudan's top leader says there will be harsh retribution for a horrific

attack that reportedly left more than 100 people dead. The president of Sudan's governing body visited the area near the village of Wad al- Noura on Thursday. The government says that's where the paramilitary rapid support forces launched a gruesome attack the day before injuring some 200 people.

Witnesses say that the militants used armored vehicles and heavy weapons and that most of the victims were civilians. Sudanese activists later shared this video on social media saying it shows the remains of scores of victims. The militants have been fighting Sudan's army since April 2023, forcing millions to flee their homes.

After the break, the battle for AI supremacy is heating up and all eyes are on tech company NVIDIA.

CNN brings you the latest from this year's premiere tech show.

[04:45:00]

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COREN: U.S. stock markets closed mixed on Thursday with investors awaiting Friday's jobs report for May and possible clues about what the Federal Reserve might do next on interest rates. The Dow gained 79 points, while both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were slightly down.

Meanwhile, the European Central Bank cut EU interest rates on Thursday for the first time since 2019. This puts its benchmark rate at 3.75 percent, down from its all-time high of 4 percent, where it had stood since September. Major central banks began raising rates to fight inflation in 2021. But with cost increases slowing to near the 2 percent target, the ECB has followed the Bank of Canada, which lowered rates on Wednesday.

AI chip giant Nvidia is the center of attention at a trade show in Taiwan this week called Computex. Taiwan is also having its moment in the sun as more chip giants boost investment there, CNN's Will Ripley reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A Hollywood welcome in Taiwan for a trend-setting tech superstar. From throwing the first pitch to visiting his favorite food stands, the travels of Taiwanese American Jensen Huang, Nvidia's founder and one of the world's richest men, dominating the island's news and social media, even more than China's massive military drills last month, just before Huang began his highly anticipated trip ahead of this major tech conference in Taipei.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do you feel about the tensions in the region? Is that a cause for concern?

JENSEN HUANG, NVIDIA CEO: I don't think it's either. We've been doing technology and doing engineering and conducting business here in Taiwan for almost three decades. And so we're going to continue to do that. We're investing in Taiwan.

Our next generation platform is called Rubin.

RIPLEY (voice-over): All of Nvidia's next generation artificial intelligence chips made in Taiwan. The island democracy, the world leader in advanced semiconductor manufacturing. One reason Nvidia and its competition are investing big here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you so much.

RIPLEY (voice-over): AMD CEO and Jensen Huang's cousin, Lisa Su, rushing off concerns about Beijing's military moves.

HUANG: The bigger picture in the region with China, both the chip makers in China and also the military drills.

LISA SU, CEO, AMD: Our product goes through every part of the globe. Taiwan in particular is very, very important to the semiconductor ecosystem. We do a lot of our manufacturing here.

I think the bottom line from our perspective is it's really important to have a global ecosystem.

RIPLEY (voice-over): A remarkably fragile ecosystem, as we all learned from supply chain disruptions during COVID, pushing nations like Japan, Germany and the U.S. to develop their own semiconductor hubs, the kind that took Taiwan decades and billions of dollars to create.

RIPLEY: Can you update us on how efforts are going to replicate some of that success in the United States?

RIPLEY (voice-over): Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, one of several tech titans trying to take chip making back to the U.S., a huge hurdle, banking on billions in government subsidies.

PAT GELSINGER, INTEL CEO: So we've clearly seen a manufacturing resurgence as a direct result, I believe, of the Chips Act. Our projects are on track. You know, what we're doing across our four manufacturing sites are on track, and we're proud of the momentum that we're seeing for that.

But we also have great respect for the ecosystem here in Taiwan. But the world needs more geographically balanced and resilient supply chains, and I think that's starting to take shape.

RIPLEY: A steady supply of chips, crucial to creating the next generation of AI-powered tech. Tons of it on display here at Computex in Taipei.

RIPLEY (voice-over): Drawing some of the biggest names in tech and tens of thousands to the Taiwanese capital.

AI BELLHOP: Have you explored the hotel's amenities?

RIPLEY: I haven't. What's your favorite?

AI BELLHOP: Definitely the rooftop pool. It's the perfect spot to relax after a long day of conferencing.

[04:50:00]

RIPLEY (voice-over): This is my slightly awkward conversation with an AI bellhop, perhaps the future of hospitality.

RIPLEY: Maybe they can go to the roof pool.

AI BELLHOP: Ah, yah, a good idea.

RIPLEY: I still prefer a real human, though.

You know what's wild, too, is that a year from now, this will seem like ancient history when we're talking again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely. I mean, a year ago, it was chat TPT, and it was just text. Now we have voice animation. It's running locally. It's not in the cloud anymore, so it's advancing really quickly.

RIPLEY (voice-over): None of this possible without advanced chips from Taiwan. Some call the island's vital role in global tech its silicon shield, making it too important to attack. Here, geopolitical tensions seem far away, even with the Chinese military making moves miles from the Taiwanese coast.

Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COREN: A U.S. team has shaken up the sport of cricket with an unexpected turn of events. Find out how when we return.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COREN: It's a feat no woman has achieved since 2007, but Iga Swiatek is now one step closer to a third straight French Open title after an impressive victory over American Coco Gauff on Thursday. The Polish star is a strong favorite to win her fifth Grand Slam crown when she faces Italy's Jasmine Paolini on Saturday.

It's the biggest win in U.S. cricket history, the American team pulling off a shocking defeat of World Powerhouse Pakistan. It happened in the men's T20 Cricket World Cup match in Dallas, Texas. The United States is hosting the tournament for the first time together with the West Indies. Patrick Snell reports on the upset.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: One of the biggest upsets we've ever seen in the sport of cricket on Thursday at the men's T20 World Cup tournament co-hosts the United States, playing in this competition, remember, for the very first time, shocking Powerhouse nation Pakistan, the 2022 finalists and 2009 winners in highly dramatic fashion in Dallas, Texas. We go now, what a dream start for the Americans, who Steven Taylor

produces an outstanding catch in the slips to take the prize wicket of Mohammed Rizwan for just nine. Brilliant catch.

Pakistan would go on to make 159 for seven from their 20 overs. Now, the USA responding really impressively, but look to be falling short until Nitish Kumar dispatches the very last ball of the American innings for a four, and that means the scores will level at 159 each. The match left tied.

That meant a deciding six ball super over, batting first. The U.S. got a competitive tally of 18, which meant all the pressure was on Pakistan. Four balls left and still 14 needed.

It's a moment of brilliance in the outfield, a sensational catch to dismiss Iftikhar Ahmed, and that would prove absolutely crucial. Pakistan leading seven now for the very last ball, and they only get the single cue of the celebrations. The USA celebrating the most famous of victories, leaving their illustrious opponents absolutely shocked and devastated.

Joyous scenes for the Americans, who won their opener, remember, against Canada, and they've now made it back-to-back wins.

MONANK PATEL, USA CAPTAIN AND PLAYER OF THE MATCH: It's a big achievement, you know, beating Pakistan and playing for the first time. And the way we played today, I'm really proud of the boys, and, you know, it was complete team effort from the ball one to the last ball.

[04:55:02]

As a batsman and as a player, you want to show up on the big occasion and big games, and my plan was to, you know, whatever runs I score, it has to be on a winning cause.

SNELL: A truly historic performance for the United States, but for Pakistan, they'll be looking to regroup now before their huge clash on Sunday with their arch-rivals, India. For now, it's right back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COREN: Well, the Boston Celtics are off to a strong start in the NBA Finals, blowing out the Dallas Mavericks by 18 points in Game 1 on Thursday. The Celtics dominated the first half, leaving the Mavericks trailing by 29 points at the break. Dallas would later cut that deficit to single digits, led by Slovenian star Luka Doncic, but it wasn't enough.

The Celtics regained control and returned its lead to the double digits for the rest of the game.

And the story is in the spotlight this hour.

The NFL faces a multi-billion dollar antitrust lawsuit over its Sunday ticket package that could shake up television rights deals in professional sports. The class action suit claims the NFL is charging too much for customers who want to watch only one team or a small group of teams. Plaintiffs are seeking billions in possible damages, which could be tripled under antitrust law. The league calls its Sunday ticket package a good value.

The Boeing Starliner capsule docked safely with International Space Station Thursday after it was hit with helium leaks and thruster issues. NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams then floated weightlessly into the orbiting laboratory. The issues now appear to be resolved, but the flight control team continues to monitor the spaceship. Wilmore and Williams will spend eight days in space before returning to Earth in the Starliner.

Well, a toddler had a close encounter with a giraffe at a drive-thru safari in the U.S. state of Texas. Two-year-old Paisley Toton was feeding the hungry animal from the back of a truck when it grabbed the little girl by the shirt.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You want to feed the giraffe? Feed him. Look, feed him.

Come here. Look. Oh, look. Oh, oh.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: Well, Paisley's father says the giraffe didn't intend to grab his little girl, but the incident did scare them. Paisley's mum caught her without injury. Afterwards, her parents bought her a stuffed giraffe at the gift shop, saying, quote, she deserved it.

She certainly did.

Well, thanks so much for your company. I'm Anna Curran in Hong Kong. CNN "THIS MORNING" is up next after this short break.