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Israeli Army Releases New Footage Of Operation To Rescue Hostages; Massive Protests Erupt After Record Far-Right Gains; Trump Completed Pre-Sentencing Interview With New York Probation Office; Jury Deliberations Will Continue Tuesday In Hunter Biden Gun Trial; Jury to Resume Deliberations in Hunter Biden's Federal Gun Trial; Four Instructors from Iowa's Cornell College Attacked in Park; FEMA Running Out of Money as Hurricane Season Begins; Rising Sea Levels Force Residents off Panamanian Island; Apple Unveils New Batch of A.I. Features for iPhone; Nvidia Shares Gain Ground after 10-for-1 Stock Split. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired June 11, 2024 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Wherever you are this hour, you're watching CNN Newsroom. I'm John Vause. Ahead here.
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LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UN: This Council sent a clear message to Hamas, accept the ceasefire deal on the table.
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VAUSE: But what about Israel? Well, the far-right extremists and Netanyahu is governing coalition accept the U.N. backed ceasefire in Gaza.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): In yesterday's results, there's a lightning bolt and political life.
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VAUSE: Macron's gamble why the French president called snap elections for the extraordinary rise of the far-right and elections for the European Parliament.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Powerful intelligence goes hand in hand with powerful privacy.
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VAUSE: And can Apple trust OpenAI as it tries to catch up with competitors way out in front and using artificial intelligence?
UNIDENTFIED MALE: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN Newsroom with John Vause.
VAUSE: At this hour, no clear indication from Israel or Hamas that either side is willing to abide by a three-phase ceasefire plan announced by the U.S. president now backed by U.N. Security Council Resolution, calling for a permanent end to fighting in Gaza without delay and without condition. Senior U.S. officials say the onus is now on Hamas to accept the deal and begin honest negotiations for an end to the war.
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THOMAS-GREENFIELD: Colleagues, today this Council sent a clear message to Hamas accept the ceasefire deal on the table. Israeli -- Israel has already agreed to this deal and the fighting could stop today if Hamas would do the same.
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VAUSE: Israel's War Cabinet has already agreed to the details of the plan, which will act out in three phases. The first will be an immediate ceasefire and the release of some hostages held by Hamas. But the Palestinian representative at the U.N. says Israeli actions right now say more than Israeli words.
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RIYAD MANSOUR, PALESTINIAN OBSERVER TO THE U.N.: The proof is in the pudding. We will see who are the ones who are interested to see this resolution to become a reality and those who are obstructing it and they want to continue the war of genocide against our people.
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VAUSE: The U.S. Secretary State Antony Blinken met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel and stress that the U.S. and other world leaders will stand behind the proposal now on the table, one that he says Israel has already agreed to.
The Secretary State also will meet with Benny Gantz on Tuesday, just days after the member of Israel's war cabinet resigned from the country's emergency government in protest over Gaza.
New details on Israel's most successful hostage rescue operation during eight months of war. Three Israeli hostages one Russia now free after a surprise daytime operation, one which Palestinian officials in Gaza described as a massacre, killing hundreds. Israel says many of those killed were militants, and the death toll is less than 100.
Well, CNN cannot independently verified numbers claimed by either side. Our Pentagon correspondent Oren Liebermann takes a closer look at the rescue and wanting some images in his report on graphic.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The missiles hit mid-day a daring operation meant to maximize the element of surprise, turning a refugee camp into a battlefield. After weeks of preparation, Israeli forces moved into Nuseirat in central Gaza on Saturday.
Aiming for apartment buildings in this area, the goal to rescue for hostages that Hamas held in this densely populated neighborhood. One witness says some Israeli Special Forces were disguised as Hamas militants or displaced Palestinians. The IDF declined to comment.
In this newly released video you see the moment Israeli forces approach a building and then burst into the apartment with the hostages.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go in, go in. One is with me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hebrew, Hebrew, where is everyone?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here they are.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Name? Name?
ALMOG MEIR JAN, RESCUED HAMAS HOSTAGE: Almog, Almog.
ANDREY KOZLOV, RESCUED HAMAS HOSTAGE: Andrey, Andrey.
UNDIENTIFIED MALE: Three hostages. Everything is fine. We came to rescue you, be calm. Good?
KOZLOV: Good.
LIEBERMANN (voice-over): For Israel, the operation was a success punctuated by the reunions eight months in the making. Families never gave up hope.
ORIT MEIR, MOTHER OF RESCUED HOSTAGE ALMOG MEIR: Yesterday was my birthday. And my wish came through.
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I haven't stopped smiling since my Almog was returned to me.
LIEBERMANN (voice-over): Noa Algamani was also rescued. One of the most well-known hostages. Video from October 7 showed her pleading for help as kidnappers drove her into Gaza. Israel Israelis rejoiced at news of the hostage rescue, but unity was short lived. Hours later, anti-government protesters took to the streets demanding a ceasefire and the hostage deal.
On Sunday, war cabinet member Benny Gantz resigned. He accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of slow walking the war for his political gain. The head of the Israeli military's Gaza division also stepped down, saying he failed to protect his country from Hamas his attack on October 7.
In Gaza, the Israeli operation came at a staggering cost. Witnesses say the Nuseirat refugee camp became hell on earth.
KHALIL AL TIRAWI, NUSEIRAT RESIDENT (through translator): I am 60 years old and I have never experienced anything like this before. It is beyond imagination a barrage of heavy gunfire artillery, missiles, rockets, it was something unimaginable to the human mind.
LIEBERMANN (voice-over): Inside Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital this graphic video shows Palestinians bearing the horrific wounds of heavy bombardment. The hospital filled so fast patients including women and children were treated wherever there was space. Many weren't so lucky. Scores were killed in the Israeli operation, marking one of the deadliest days in Gaza in months. Oren Liebermann, CNN in Tel Aviv.
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VAUSE: With us now is David Sanger, CNN political and national security analyst as well as White House a national security correspondent for The New York Times. David's latest book is "New Cold Wars: China's Rise Russia's Invasion, America's Struggle to Defend the West." And as always, David is great to have you with us.
DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Great to be back with you, John.
VAUSE: Thank you. Now, a senior U.S. official, and others made it very clear that agreement from Hamas is all that is left to put this ceasefire in Gaza into action, which brought this question from the Russian ambassador, listen to this.
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VASILY NEBENZIA, RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N. (through translator): Hamas has called upon to accept the so called deal. But still there's no clarity regarding an official agreement from Israel, as is written in the resolution for the deal proposed by President Biden, given the many statements from Israel on the extension of the war until Hamas is completely defeated. So what specifically has Israel agreed to?
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VAUSE: Given everything which the Israeli prime minister has said along with his far right wing coalition partners, that seems to be a pretty fair question right now.
SANGER: It's an entirely fair question, even if it was coming from the Russian ambassador's who's been pretty much an impediment in past cases here. And the reason it's fair is this, the program that President Biden announced 10 or 11 days ago now, he said, came from Israel, and it did it came from the Israeli war cabinet, prior to Benny Gantz's pulling out of that cabinet and the coalition.
But it was never approved by the political forces in the government, that very delicate coalition that has kept Netanyahu in power, and they have the right wing members of that have threatened to leave the government and thus make it collapse if he goes ahead. So, we now know what the war cabinet which is a bit more moderate,
along the way, has said and we don't know whether or not Netanyahu will follow along.
VAUSE: The senior Israeli delegate at the U.N. was clear that ceasefire, no ceasefire, as you say Israel's military objectives in Gaza, essentially haven't changed. Listen to this.
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REUT SHAMPIR BEN-NAFTALY, SENIOR ISRAELI U.N. DIPLOMAT: Israel is committed to these goals, to free all the hostages, to destroy Hamas as military and governing capabilities and to ensure that Gaza does not pose a threat to Israel in the future.
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VAUSE: So what's the incentive here for Israel to agree to a permanent ceasefire, which leaves Hamas leadership in Gaza with the possibility of rebuilding and fighting for another day?
SANGER: So this is the great problem in declaring that you're going to destroy a terror group. So, when President Biden made his announcement, eight or 9, 10 days ago, I guess. He said that Hamas is no longer in a position to be able to mount the kind of attack that it conducted on October 7, when the kills of course, nearly 1,200 Israelis.
So he was basically saying, that's close enough to destroying them. You've taken away their capability.
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What the Israel ambassador or the Israeli representative there is saying is no, it's not. There's got to be total destruction. And of course, that is at tension, intent direct tension with the concept here that there will be a full ceasefire.
VAUSE: And under this agreement, which plays out in three different phases, the first phase, some hostages, like the elderly, wounded women, as well as women will be released by Hamas and Israeli forces will withdraw from populated areas of Gaza, Palestinians will be later returned to their home. Negotiations can continue almost open ended it scenes. Here's the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. explaining why.
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THOMAS-GREENFIELD: The proposal says that if negotiations take longer than six weeks and phase one, the ceasefire will continue as long as negotiations continue. And the United States, Egypt and Qatar would work to ensure negotiations keep going in good faith until all the agreements are reached.
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VAUSE: But the second phase seems to be where the talks might actually break down. It reads upon agreement of the parties a permanent and to hostilities in exchange for the release of all other hostages still in Gaza, and a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
So again, here, why would Hamas simply drag out the first phase of negotiations for as long as they possibly can? And just keep this going for you? Before they get to that permanent cessation and facilities?
SANGER: You're absolutely right, Hamas would have every incentive to drag this out, John, an odd way. So would Prime Minister Netanyahu if he was still in power, because he has said that he does not want to see Gaza ruled by Hamas, or even Hamas remnants of it.
And so then the question is, in phase two, who actually runs Gaza? The Israelis have said it can't be the Palestinian Authority. The U.S. had said initially that it should be but concedes that they have a hard enough time in the West Bank and so forth.
So then you're into proposals about putting together some kind of combination of Americans, Europeans, some Middle Eastern nations along the way, Arab nations along the way to basically try to have a governing occupying government there. No one's really sure how that works. I think you could tell from your own description, John. Phase one is very well defined, even if it goes on for an indefinite period. Phase two is not.
VAUSE: David as always great to have with us. We really appreciate it.
SANGER: Great to be with you.
VAUSE: A sweeping win by France's far-right in elections for the European Parliament sparked protests in Paris Monday. Thousands of demonstrators taking to the streets some holding signs which read no fascist in power. Far-right parties are expected to win a record number of seats in the next E.U. parliament but this success was not uniform across all 27 member states. Details now from CNN's Melissa Bell.
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MELISSA BELL, CNN PARIS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was an aftershock that rivaled the earthquake for Sunday night's European election results.
EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT (through translator): I will dissolve the National Assembly tonight.
BELL (voice-over): France's Emmanuel Macron called snap national elections as the two main far-right parties took nearly 40 percent of votes in France.
MARINE LE PEN, NATIONAL RALLY LEADER (through translator): We are ready to turn the country around, ready to bring France back to life.
BELL (voice-over): Already hamstrung without an absolute majority in parliament, Macron is looking to tackle the far right head on calling for clarity from voters on the country's future. But if the far-right and copy their wins on the French stage, Emmanuel Macron could be facing three years with a radical right Prime Minister, most likely the 28-year old Jordan Bardella.
A TikTok star he brings a youth friendly dynamic posting here about drinking the tears of Macron's fans.
DOMINIQUE MOISI, POLITICAL SCIENTIST: It looks as if the fear for the future of the planet at been replaced by the fear of what is called the great replacement. The identity quest the world is too dangerous. We don't want to be inundated by migrants coming from the Middle East or Africa. We want to be at home surrounded by our peer.
BELL (voice-over): The far-right also saw major wins in a host of European countries. In Germany, The Alternative for Deutschland, or AfD came in second. Its main candidates said last month that he didn't consider all members of a notorious Nazi group to be criminals.
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And in Italy there were gains by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy, the most right-wing party to govern since fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. But the headlines in Western Europe contrast with relatively minor changes across the country.
In Nordic countries, for instance, the left and Greens made sweeping gains. And overall, the political center appears to have held ensuring relative stability in the European Parliament.
Ursula von der Leyen, President, European Commission: We made it and now we won the European elections.
BELL (voice-over): Confidence for now but unease settling in in parts of Europe, most of all in France, as the far-right challenges so much of what the European Union itself has come to stand for. Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.
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VAUSE: Anne Applebaum is a Staff Writer at The Atlantic as well as the author of "Twilight of Democracy" and her latest book is "Autocracy Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World." Thank you so much for joining us.
ANNE APPLEBAUM, STAFF WRITER, THE ATLANTIC: Thanks for having me.
VAUSE: OK, so the French newspaper Le Monde made a map showing how old towns and municipalities nationwide voted in the European elections. Before we show you the map, I just want to say the color brown is used to highlight areas which wait for the far right, here's the map. It's pretty much all brown, which would seem to explain why the far right leader Marine Le Pen is bullish on what the future holds politically in France, he or she is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) LE PEN (through translator): I think we have a historic chance to allow the national movement to put France back on track, a phone development, allow Jordan Bardella to lead a project, which is obviously based on two major projects, the defense of purchasing power and the recovery of the economy. And of course, the fight against insecurity and immigration.
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VAUSE: So well, those two major issues, economic inequality and wages falling in real time and grievance of inflation, as well as immigration CD rising, fueling the rise rather the far right, in France and in Germany and other parts as well as United States, it's not happening uniformly across Europe. Why is that?
APPLEBAUM: It's true that in the two largest countries in France and Germany, there was a resurgence of the far-right actually, in the German case, it was a little less than was expected. But in the French case, it was notable, however far right did less than well, that expected in Scandinavia, less well in Spain, they lost in Poland, they lost in Slovakia, you know. So it's actually a little bit more of a mixed bag.
But certainly the French result is remarkable partly because in France, the E.U. elections are always treated as a protest vote and because the president of France has now decided to test that result by holding real elections. I mean, real in the sense of elections that will determine what the next French parliament looks like. And so that's put that focus on what happened in France more than anywhere else.
VAUSE: Well, here's how the German Chancellor responded to the notorious far-right German party AfD winning more seats than his social democrats over the weekend, listen to this.
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OLAF SCHOLZ, GERMAN CHANCELLOR (through translator): The election result was bad for all three governing parties, no one is well advised to simply go back to business as usual. At the same time, it's also about us doing our job to ensure that our country becomes modern, that it moves forward.
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VAUSE: And that does seem kind of like a mixed message here. He's saying clearly there is a message there from the voters. But we have to keep sort of doing almost what we've been doing before and move forward. I mean, does it seem as if you're, the leaders of Germany and France have actually embraced what's happened within these European Parliamentary elections?
APPLEBAUM: I mean, Germany, again, the picture is a little more complicated. I hate to bring nuance into these things. But the party that actually did the best in Germany was the center right party, and the center right now looks poised to be the next ruling party in Germany. So it's not that, you know, all of Scholz is going to give up and immediately the AfD will come to power. That's not quite the situation in Germany.
Scholz has been under pressure for a long time. There are a lot of different reasons there's a coalition is perceived as weak. The members, there's a lot of infighting. Germany is under a lot of pressure, because of past mistakes. I mean, the degree to which Germany was dependent on Russia for cheap gas for so many years, and they've now lost that access.
So, you know, there are a lot of things going into this, you know, into this particular election. It's -- and this one was very much about Germany and things that were happening in Germany, it wasn't, you know, again, not indicative of the entire European continent.
VAUSE: (INAUDIBLE) is good, (INAUDIBLE) is important. So we're glad you could add that for us. The in the U.S., though, Donald Trump, who is having a good chance of winning in November, at least at the moment, according to the opinion polls, he's been no secret of America first policies, his content for many European countries, as well as institutions like NATO and liberal alliances that kind of thing.
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What was interesting is that you recently told a podcast with Financial Times that Europe is preparing for a time when the U.S. is not really an ally. Here's part of your conversation.
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APPLEBAUM: It was at the Munich Security Conference where I remember the German Bundestag said something even more stark to me. He said to me, you know, we have to do more than that we have to prepare for a world in which we're challenged by three autocracies, you know, Russia, China and the United States. Whether that's an exaggeration, I don't, you know, it's a little early for that.
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VAUSE: So how widespread are these fears in Europe? And what does planning for the day the U.S. may not be an ally? What does that actually look like?
APPLEBAUM: So I don't know, because the point of it is that it's mostly happening behind closed doors. But I think there is in the defense area, there's beginning to be movement on what would have better and more coherent European defense would look like, what would happen to the war in Ukraine if the United States were to pull out or were to stop aiding Ukraine. There has been a huge ramp up in weapons production in Europe. It's becoming better and more coordinated, not least by NATO itself.
And so it's thinking along those lines. I don't think there's yet real really a political strategy because we won't really understand the politics of the United States until after November. VAUSE: Anne Applebaum, thank you so much. We really appreciate you being with us and explaining what's actually happening in Europe with the nuance and everything else. Thank you.
APPLEBAUM: Thank you.
VAUSE: Repairing and rebuilding Ukraine's battered power grid is the main priority for the Ukrainian president at a summit in Berlin. Russian airstrikes have relentlessly targeted civilian infrastructure for more than two years. Volodymyr Zelenskyy will separately hold talks with the German Chancellor over defense support and joint weapons production.
In Berlin, comes days before Switzerland is expected host a Ukrainian peace conference with more than 90 nations and organizations due to attend and we have this footnote, the head of the Ukrainian agency overseeing restoration has quit ahead of that recovery conference should to begin and building Tuesday.
Mustafa Nayyem says he is stepping down over unnecessary bureaucracy budget cuts.
Still ahead here for convicted felons here is a familiar routine once done guilty next come from meeting with their probation officer. And so it was for New York real estate developer now convicted felon Donald Trump. And the fate of Hunter Biden, the son of the U.S. president now rests with a jury of his peers as they consider allegations he violated federal gun laws.
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VAUSE: For convicted felons in New York, one of their first requirements after being found guilty is to meet with their probation officers ahead of sentencing. And now four times indicted, twice impeached, convicted felon Donald Trump has had a virtual meeting with your probation officers, which one source tells CNN was routine uneventful.
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Another says the former president was polite, respectful answers or questions for a report which will be sent to Judge Juan Merchan and used in sentencing of the former president, who has been guilty and convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records. More details now from CNN's Brian Todd.
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DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: I just went through a rigged trial in New York.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Now that Donald Trump has completed his pre-sentencing interview with a probation official, a report on the interview will be sent directly to Judge Juan Merchan, who has a few options for sentencing Trump, the most serious one prison time, the crimes for which Trump's been convicted falsifying business records could carry sentences of up to four years each with a maximum of 20 years. But realistically.
ELLIOT WILLIAMS, FORMER DEPUTY U.S. ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL: It's unlikely that someone convicted of this type of felony in New York with no prior criminal history would see much if any prison time.
TODD (voice-over): Trump's advanced age, experts say would also be a factor in not sending him to prison. He turned 78 this week, another sentencing option, probation. Analysts say well, that might be a more realistic choice. It would come with a host of inconveniences and indignities for the former President.
WILLIAMS: Having to be drug tested, having to check in with a probation officer.
JEREMY SALAND, FORMER MANHATTAN PROSECUTOR: There could be random visits by probation officers to your home, not with a search warrant, but they can come knock on the door and you need to let them in.
TODD (voice-over): Home confinement also might be part of a probation sentence for Trump or maybe a restriction on out of state travel.
MARTIN HOM, FORMER NEW YORK CITY CORRECTIONS AND PROBATION COMMISSIONER: If he were going to fly off to another state, Wisconsin, Arizona, he would have to get explicit permission from the probation agency.
TODD (voice-over): Trump could simply be fined for his convictions or --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He could do community service where he has to pick up trash on the subways.
TODD (voice-over): Experts say a conditional discharge could be a sentencing option.
SALAND: Is a condition of your discharge or your release. And you have to abide by those conditions. The court will say, don't get arrested, go in and don't get in trouble for the next year or during the pendency of your sentence, or for stated period of time. And that's it. You're not checking in. No one's following up with you. There's no probation, there's no oversight.
TODD (voice-over): All options experts say reflective of the striking uniqueness of this situation.
BERNARDA VILALONA, FORMER ASST. DISTRICT ATTORNEY, KINGS COUNTY, NEW YORK: For the probation department. This is uncharted waters. They have never interviewed someone of this statute before they know that their work their recommendation is going to weighed heavily into judgment and decision by Judge Merchan.
TODD: Legal analysts say acceptance of responsibility is often a key factor when a judge considers a sentence and the fact that Donald Trump has shown no remorse for the actions he's been convicted of and has repeatedly publicly attacked. The judge and witnesses in this trial could bring him a stiffer sentence. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington. (END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: The jury and Hunter Biden's federal gun trial will continue deliberations in the coming hours after closing arguments Monday. The court was packed with supporters of the president's son who decided not to testify in his own defense. CNN's Paula Reid has highlights from day six of the trial.
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PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a major show of support, Hunters' family members and pastor taking up three rows in court today.
CHRISTOPHER ALAN BULLOCK, REVEREND AND BIDEN FAMILY FRIEND: I've known the family for years. And you don't abandon your friends and family in tough times.
REID (voice-over): In closing arguments, prosecutors pointed to the gallery of supporters and said those people are not evidence and reminded the jury that quote, no one is above the law. The prosecution directly address the most difficult element they have to prove that Hunter Biden knowingly lied on a federal background check form when purchasing the gun at the center of this case.
The defendant knew he used crack and was addicted to crack at the relevant time period, adding that Hunter would have been aware from his time in rehab that he had a problem with drugs. Maybe if he had never gone to rehab, he could argue he didn't know he was an addict.
At the end of his closing prosecutor Leo Wise circled back to testimony from Hunter's daughter Naomi on Friday, when she told the jury that when she returned her father's car to him on October 19, 2018. She did not see any evidence of drugs. But why is reminded the jury Hunter's former girlfriend Hallie Biden, his brother Beau Biden's widow had testified that when she found the gun in the same car days later, she found it alongside drug paraphernalia.
Defense Attorney Abbe Lowell countered warning jurors not to convict his client in properly adding, it's time to end this case. He compared the trial to a magician's trick trying to dupe the jury saying watch this hand pay no attention to the other one. He accused prosecutors of cherry picking evidence to present a more damning timeline of Hunter's drug use, and said his client was not lying when he marked down that he was not an addict on that federal form.
Lowell attacks too of Hunter's former girlfriends who both served as prosecution witnesses in this case, he noted Zoe Keston took pictures of Hunter with drugs but not in the key month of October 2018.
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He also reminded the jury that Hallie Biden could not remember specific details about when she found the gun in Hunter's car and noted Hunter was the one who told Hallie to file a police report for the missing gun after she threw it out. Hunter did not take the stand to testify in his own defense in this
case, a move that would have come with potential rewards and definite risks.
The jury will return to court at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday to continue deliberations. Now it's in court Monday morning as the jury heard instructions from the judge, she went and through line by line explaining the rules that they have to follow as they undertake this historic decision.
Paula Reid, CNN -- Wilmington, Delaware.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Ahead here on CNN academic staff working in China for an American college brutally stabbed in broad daylight. Our live report is next.
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VAUSE: Welcome back, everyone. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
New figures just out show violent crime is on the decline across the United States, what might be the biggest annual decline ever. The FBI reports violent crime from January to March, dropped more than 15 percent compared to the same period last year.
Murders down more than 26 percent, rapes decreased more than 25 percent. The U.S. murder rate has been dropping since 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic brought a surge in homicides 30 percent across the country.
Criminal justice experts say it's surprising where only now starting to see the level of gun violence returning to pre-pandemic levels.
To China now where four academic staff members with Iowa's Cornell College have been stabbed in broad daylight. The attack happened in a public park in Jilin in China's northeast.
Let's get the latest details down from CNN's Kristie Lu Stout live in Hong Kong. Here's the thing, there are a lot of expats working in the education sector in China, about a third of expats work in the education sector. That 400,000 that's since 2017.
So what do we know about this attack and how terrifying must it be for those who're actually working in the education sector? Do we know anything about a motive? Were they targeted? What are the details?
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. No news on motive just yet, very terrifying incident. And also we should point out that such violent crimes against foreigners, let alone foreign educators, are extremely rare in China.
[01:34:43] STOUT: Now this is what we know. Four educators from Iowa's Cornell College. They are wounded after a stabbing took place. They were visiting a park in Jilin City in the country's northeast. And we have video of the aftermath.
Let's bring it up for you. In this video, its been circulating on social media. You see three wounded people lying on the ground. This is in Beishan Park, a public park in Jilin City.
They are covered in blood and they're waiting for first responders and one of them, the man in the blue shirt is pressing his hand on the back of his waist. The three are conscious, they're awake and they're using their smartphones to reach out to others.
Now, we've also learned that the brother of one of the wounded Americans David Zabner, says that his brother is quote, "doing well". Now, the condition of the other three this hour is unknown. And again, there were no reports of a motive.
Now, the president of Cornell College said that the foreign China's part of a partnership with a local university Beishan University and in a statement to CNN, this is what the president said. Jonathan Brand saying this quote, "We have been in contact with all four instructors and we are assisting them during this time."
Brand says that they were with a faculty member of the partner university Beishan University when the stabbing took place, and there were no students taking part in this program.
Now, we also heard from an Iowa Representative Ashley Hinson, who on social media, so that the four were quote, "brutally stabbed". On the social platform X, she said this -- let's bring up the post for you. She said she's horrified that multiple Cornell College faculty members were brutally stabbed in China. Our team has been communication with Cornell College and will do everything in our power to bring these Iowans home safely. Join me in praying for their health and safety," unquote.
The U.S. State Department meanwhile, is aware of the reports of the stabbing incident and is monitoring the situation.
Now, China has low rates of violent crime, violent crimes against foreigners are rare. Guns are strictly controlled and out of reach for most in China so knives when used, have become the most common weapon used in mass assault.
And this incident, the stabbing incident in Jilin City also comes at a very delicate time for U.S.-China relations. These two countries are seeking to strengthen what they call people to people exchanges, including student exchanges at a time of deep tension.
It was earlier, it was September of last year during the APEC summit when we heard from Chinese leader Xi Jinping and he announced plans to invite 50,000 young Americans to go to China in the next five years.
And although no American students were targeted in Beishan Park in this stabbing incident, this is indeed casting a chill and could discourage students from -- especially students from America, from going to China.
Back to you, John.
VAUSE: Kristie, thank you. Kristie Lu Stout with the very latest there in Hong Kong. Appreciate it.
Still to come, the cost of climate change starting to add up as the U.S. heads into hurricane season. FEMA, the disaster relief agency, is running out of money. That's after months of especially destructive tornadoes.
Also ahead, as sea levels rise on a warming planet, an island in Panama is in danger of disappearing fording hundreds of families to leave their homes for good.
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VAUSE: Welcome back.
Mexico's ongoing drought is now the worst in more than a decade. According to the Mexican government, almost 90 percent of the country is facing some form of drought conditions.
In the north, thousands of dead fish were found in a lagoon where water levels are now dangerously low.
And as the U.S. braces for what's expected to be a very active hurricane season, the country's disaster relief agency could be out of money before its even over.
A new report suggests FEMA is facing a budget shortfall of more than $1.3 billion. That will happen by August after an extraordinary costly number of tornadoes and fierce thunderstorms in the first half of the year.
Details now from CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: In the month of May, there were officially $4 billion disasters according to a new report from NOAA, although that number could end up going up thanks to some severe events that took place towards the end of the month. That additional four brings our total so far this year up to $11 billion disasters.
Comparing during that to the previous year, we ended up with 28 total for the entire 12-month timeline. But we are currently on pace to make it very close, if not possibly being higher than that number from last year.
One of the biggest drivers of these disasters was a lot of the severe weather that took place not only in May but also in April. In fact, the stretch of April through May, we ended up with 801 tornado reports. That is the second most since 1950. When you look at tornadoes specifically, the reports just since January 1st, we've had over 1,100.
Yes, this is a busy time of year, but even with that said, the average would only be right around the 800 mark. So it's definitely a busier year than normal. In fact, even compared to a lot of the other years, so far, we are just behind 2011 coming in second place.
Now, one thing to note is that May traditionally is when you end up seeing the most of those tornadoes followed by June and April, respectively. So this time of year is when we normally would see it. It's just a little bit higher than usual.
The big concern is going forward over the next few months because there is a concern whether or not FEMA will run out of money for these natural disasters because hurricane season specifically is now upon us and its expected to be an incredibly busy one.
Looking at the numbers, the official forecast from NOAA calling for 17 to 25 named storms, the average is only 14; 8 to 13 of those are expected to be hurricanes. In an average year, you would only have 7.
Another concern in the coming months is heat. Thanks to climate change, it's been a big driver in a lot of these increased heat waves and for some of these areas we're already starting to see a very early start to that heat.
Take, for example, Phoenix and also Las Vegas, both of which have already had 12 consecutive days of triple-digit temperatures.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Thanks to Allison Chinchar for that report.
Now rising sea levels has forced residents of a tiny island in Panama to leave their homes for good. Hundreds of families now being relocated to government-sponsored homes on the mainland.
CNN's Rafael Romo has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RAFEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: An island that was once home to a community will soon have no one. Hundreds of families who live in this small island off the coast of Panama have started their new journey leaving their flooded homeland behind.
Alberto Lopez is one of many who called this place home.
ALBERTO LOPEZ, GARDI SUGDUB RESIDENT (through translator): We feel sadness because if this island disappears, part of our heart, part of our culture disappears.
ROMO: Panamanian authorities say, this is the first case of human displacement in Latin America caused by climate change.
This week, the Copernicus Climate Change Service said the planet had endured 12 consecutive months of unprecedented heat causing sea levels to rise.
ATILIO MARTINEZ, GARDI SUGDUB RESIDENT: In recent decades, global warming has started very strongly. Some sardines, lobsters, and everything we consume are disappearing. Now, they have realized that global warming is one of the factors in this situation. So they have been forced to relocate us.
ROMOA: The islanders are relocating to newly built homes on the main land that where Panama's housing minister says, they won't have to worry about costs.
ROGELIO PAREDES, PANAMA HOUSING MINISTER (through translator): We have invested $12.2 million in this. All the islands have the same problem. So we hope the necessary resources will be set aside to anticipate these problems.
ROMO: The United Nations' Population Fund assess 41 million people in Latin America and the Caribbean who live in coastal areas are threatened by the severe weather brought by the climate emergency.
[01:44:48]
LOPEZ: I thought of my grandmother, my grandfather, my aunt who died here. It will never be the same but we have to move forward because life goes on.
ROMO: Rafael Romo, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Don't call it artificial intelligence, it's Apple intelligence. The tech giant now all in on A.I. but in a very un-Apple way. Details in a moment.
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VAUSE: Apple finally getting into the A.I. game with new features for its iPhone. They call it Apple Intelligence that includes, A.I.- generated emojis and specifically a smarter Siri which basically turns the virtual assistant into an iPhone chatbot. Apple has always also revealed new iOS 18 features, including a revamped look for icons in dark mode, and a redesign control center, which allows you to lock the screen for certain apps which you can kind of do already anyway.
Joining us now live from Los Angeles is Mark Gurman, not only chief correspondent for Bloomberg News, but also font of all knowledge regarding all things happening at the tech giant Apple.
Thank you for being with us.
MARK GURMAN, CHIEF CORRESPONDENT, BLOOMBERG NEWS: Thank you so much for having me. Great to be on with you. VAUSE: Ok. So there was a time when Apple simply refused to use the
term artificial intelligence but not now. Apple diligence, powered by OpenAI and its ChatGPT will soon be available on iPhones, Macs, iPads.
So is this a bold move, we shall see the Apple leapfrog all the other tech companies or a sad admission it wasn't able to develop their own competitive version of A.I.
GURMAN: You're right. And it is a bit of a sea change for Apple. So Apple had A.I. in the iPhone very early on, the camera app used it some of their health applications used it.
But where they really fell flat-footed was in this generative A.I. space. This is what you saw from ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Microsoft and Meta the past few years.
And at the end of 2022, top Apple software (INAUDIBLE) executives realized the technology industry is going to shift. The consumer of 2025 is going to essentially want an A.I. phone, a phone that could do things on behalf of the user.
So they set to work on re-architecting the very foundation of its core operating systems for the phone, the iPad, and the Mac to really leverage A.I. and a big part of that is what they announced today. That's Apple intelligence.
It's a suite of A.I. features that essentially add A.I. and generative A.I. features to all of the different parts of your iPhone from the voice memos app to the phone app, to messages to your notifications. And there's also a partnership with OpenAI, which to me indicates that their own chatbot technology is not up to snuff enough and they really needed a partner to get something out, at least in the near term.
VAUSE: And that choice of partner is an interesting one. OpenAI, you know, it's a tech start up with a dodgy past when it comes to respecting trademark as well as intellectual property rights. But, you know, Apple made a point of saying on Monday your privacy matters.
Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With Apple intelligence, powerful intelligence goes hand in hand with powerful privacy. So its aware of your personal data without collecting your personal data.
Independent experts can inspect the code that runs on these servers to verify this privacy promise.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Do you think he doth protest too much? You know, what are the long-term risks here for Apple in this deal with OpenAI.
[01:49:47] GURMAN: You know, the thing is, that clip you played Craig Federighi, who runs software engineering for Apple he's referring to Apple's own in-house technology, right?
So what you're seeing here is a mix of technology from Apple running on the iPhone itself, running on Apple's cloud, but also from OpenAI.
And you can't really verify what OpenAI is doing from a privacy standpoint with their technology. Apple, you can verify what they're doing. Apple, they're going to open up their code for examination from third-party analysts.
But the real concern is what you're seeing from OpenAI. Like you said, they do have sort of a dodgy past in terms of IP in privacy and respecting the data that users input. So it's to be seen how Apple threads that needle, given how privacy-conscious of a company it is.
VAUSE: And you know, when it comes to issue of privacy and trust. Who else would you ask than Elon Musk? Elon has some concerns. He posted this on social media, the platform he ran into the ground after he bought it.
He said, "It's plainly absurd that Apple isn't smart enough to make their own A.I. yet is somehow capable of ensuring that OpenAI will protect your security and privacy.
Apple has no clue what's actually going on once they hand your data over to OpenAI. They're selling you down the river.
Thank you.
Well, is that a well-considered, intelligent, meaningful observation from Musk which has nothing to do with the market rollout of his own version of A.I.
GURMAN: Yes, I agree with Elon Musk in some facets. One, I don't see how Apple can verify what your -- what is happening to your data once it's input into ChatGPT on the iPhone.
But like you said, he's trying to roll out his own A.I. features here called Grok as part of X, which like you said, he ran into the ground.
The other facet here is he doesn't have a very good relationship with OpenAI. As you probably know, he was involved in the early innings of OpenAI. And then later no longer became part of the company, which is obviously now a several billion-dollar entity with Apple as a partner. So there is clearly some bad blood there.
So I think he makes a salient point about who knows what the privacy story is related to OpenAI, but it's completely masked with his own issues, with the company with Sam Altman. And obviously him having a competitive product.
VAUSE: If anyone wants to see something funny, go on X and watch hat Twitter users taking him one down over that comment. It's a good read.
Mark Gurman, thank you so much for being with us. Appreciate it.
GURMAN: Thank you so much.
VAUSE: Well, almost everyone making moves on artificial intelligence and wants to get their hands on Nvidia's computer chips. And investors are reaping the rewards.
The company's ten-for-one stock split took effect Monday. The shares getting nearly 1 percent.
More now from CNN's Nick Watt.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JENSEN HUANG, FOUNDER & CEO, NVIDIA: Ladies and gentlemen, this is Blackwell.
NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A tech visionary dressed in black holding a thing that will change our world -- you know, the drill but --
HUANG: But this is the gray CPU.
WATT: Yes, that's tougher to explain than an iPhone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And to unlock the phone, I just take my finger and slide it across. You got it.
HUANG: We work on something that is very important to the world, that is incredibly hard to do.
WATT: Here's why you should care.
what Nvidia does is vital to artificial intelligence, which will change everything.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the company that makes the silicon that is powering all of these large language models.
Nvidia is kind of everything in the A.I. space right now.
WATT: It's almost like they're the only company making bricks during an old-fashioned building boost.
If you had invested just five grand in Nvidia ten years ago, today you're a millionaire. And apparently that's not just built on crazy hype.
There are unverified online tales of even mid-level employees amassing multiple millions in stock options.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am not going to give you any financial advice. That's not really my wheelhouse, but there is -- let's just say there's reasoning behind it.
WATT: And Nvidia's backstory is delicious, founded at this Denny's in 1993 by these three dudes. They just hope to make computer games look a bit better. One of them, Jensen Huang still leaves the company. His net worth just topped $100 billion and he's still hungry. Still thinking huge.
HUANG: Can we create a time machine So that we could see the future of climate change but see it today.
WATT: Nvidia survived an early near bankruptcy and eventually succeeded spectacularly on the video game thing with what they called graphics processing units or GPUs. They've dabbled unsuccessfully in smartphones, successfully in crypto mining and took a big gamble.
Moving beyond gaming graphics to more general use -- movies, health care, climate modeling with processors that can make multiple, simultaneous calculations. Turns out they're fantastic for A.I.
[01:54:48]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They made a bet very correctly that its the next big thing and they're making a very similar bet right now in the world of robotics. So as that begins to take off, they're going to continue to be ahead of everybody.
WATT: Nvidia's value just tripled from $1 trillion to $3 trillion in under a year.
But Nvidia doesn't actually manufacture anything. They outsource that. They design.
Still this is now the second largest corporation on our planet with all our futures in its manicured hands holding this.
HUANG: This is the most complex, highest performance computer the world's ever made.
WATT: Thats why you have to care.
Now, the competition in this space making chips to train A.I. is going to heat up, but some say Nvidia has maybe somewhere between a 70 percent and 95 percent market share right now.
They have such to huge head start on their main competition. That's Intel and AMD. AMD just launched a new chip. Nvidia says they're going to launch a new chip every single year.
I was just reading a column in "Computer World" that actually says that $3 trillion valuation on Nvidia might be an undervaluation. They might be worth even more.
Nick Watt, CNN -- Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: The Splash Mountain ride at Disneyworld has long been associated with the controversial Song of the South. And now it's been totally re-imagined losing what many say are racist themes. Replaced instead with the story about Disney's first black princess.
"The Princess and the Frog", even though movie starts with the black princess and then she quickly turned into a frog so she's green for most of the movie. But it is the basis for the new Tiana's Bayou Adventure currently in preview right now at Wall Disneyworld in Florida. The right itself hasn't actually changed in structure, but Disney has spent the last four years revamping the theme and it opens to the public June 28 in Florida, and then later this year in Disneyland in California.
Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause.
Please stay with us. CNN NEWSROOM continues after a very short break with my friend and colleague Lynda Kinkade.
See you right back here tomorrow.
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