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Hamas Responds To Ceasefire Proposals; Hunter Biden Guilty Of All Charges In Federal Gun Trial; CNN Gets Rare Access Into Prison Holding Suspected ISIS Fighters; World Bank: Growth Stabilizing for First Time in 3 Years; Israeli Official: Proposal Enables Country To Achieve Goals; Interview with Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Daniel Kurtzer; Suspect Arrested in Attack on Four U.S. College Instructors; Nepalese Honey-Hunters Face Dwindling Bee Populations. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired June 12, 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: Hello, everyone, I'm John Vorster. Head here on CNN Newsroom.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have the Israelis right where we want them, Sinwar allegedly said in recent messages.
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VAUSE: With the fate of a ceasefire in Gaza hanging in the balance, intercepted messages revealed the leader of Hamas apparently believes he has the upper hand right now of Israel.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The 12 jurors agreed that they had no choice but to convict.
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VAUSE: A jury of his peers finds Hunter Biden guilty on all three federal gun charges. The first child of a sitting president convicted of a crime.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dumping ground for the women and children captured after ISIS was defeated.
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VAUSE: And life after the fall of the caliphate, two sprawling miserable camps were the children of ISIS are coming of age, but was one U.S. general said a breeding ground for the next generation of jihad ease.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN Newsroom with John Vause.
VAUSE: What Hamas says was a good faith response showing commitment to a ceasefire, Israel has called a rejection. Sources say that in that response, the militant group is asking for a timeline on when all Israeli forces withdrawal from Gaza and a permanent end to the fighting comes into effect possible deal breakers for Israel.
Even so, Hamas officials say a negotiated agreement on a ceasefire remains possible. There have been mixed signals from Israel though which appeared ready to formally accept the ceasefire plan, while at the same time maintaining the right to continue with military operations in Gaza.
U.S. Secretary State Antony Blinken remains in the region. On Tuesday, he again said Hamas is the only obstacle to a ceasefire.
And Blinken caught up the senior leader of Hamas in Gaza. Yahya Sinwar is having the power to end the war and the suffering of Palestinians or allow the war to continue.
According to U.S. intelligence, Sinwar believes Hamas has the upper hand right now in negotiations with the Israelis. CNN Oren Liebermann has details now reporting in from Tel Aviv.
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OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In an all- out push to stop the fighting in Gaza negotiators are hoping for elusive success. The focus is on Yahya Sinwar, Hamas military leader hasn't been seen in public since the start of the war, hiding somewhere in the bombarded enclave, but Sinwar may believe he has the upper hand.
We have the Israelis right where we want them, Sinwar said in recent messages to Hamas officials, viewed by the Wall Street Journal. Sinwar's leaked messages which CNN hasn't seen and cannot independently verify shed light into his mindset during eight months of brutal war.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, more than 37,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's assault on a territory. In one message to Hamas leaders in Doha, Sinwar wrote, these are necessary sacrifices.
The Israeli military responded on social media saying Sinwar profits off the deaths of Gazan civilians. Hamas leaders don't care about Gazans. How many times do they have to say it for themselves before the world believes them?
Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the region to push a ceasefire proposal aimed his message directly at Sinwar.
ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: While the people that he purports to represent continue to suffer in a crossfire of his own making, or will he do what's necessary to actually move this to a better place to help in the suffering of people to help bring real security to Israelis and Palestinians like.
LIEBERMANN (voice-over): Sinwar spent more than two decades in Israeli prisons convicted for playing a role in the murder of two Israeli soldiers and four Palestinians suspected of working with Israel. He was released in the 2011 hostage deal for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and rose to the top of Hamas. Israeli journalist Shlomi Eldar says Sinwar's ascent was marked by his brutality.
SHLOMI ELDAR, ISRAELI JOURNALIST: This is Sinwar. And life and therefore him is nothing. As many Palestinians were killed by the IDF Tthe more pressure from the international community.
LIEBERMANN (voice-over): Believe to be the mastermind of the October 7 attack. Messages suggest even Sinwar was surprised by its atrocities.
Things went out of control he wrote early on, but Sinwar soon doubled down on the war. In a message to Hamas' political leaders in December he said we have the capabilities to continue fighting for months.
LIEBERMANN: Secretary of State Antony Blinken is still in the region he met earlier this week with the Egyptians and the Israelis, then the Jordanians and the Qataris, the key players in trying to leverage some sort of pressure on Hamas on YahyaSsinwar to get a hostage deal done to get a ceasefire in place. The problem is it doesn't appear as Sinwar is feeling any of that pressure and that means the task of getting that ceasefire remains incredibly difficult. Oren Liebermann, CNN in Tel Aviv.
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VAUSE: With us out from Central Gaza is UNICEF spokesperson, James Elder. James, thank you for taking the time to speak with us.
JAMES ELDER, UNICER SPOKESPERSON: Hi, there. Hi, John. Hi.
VAUSE: OK. So according to the latest estimate from the World Food Programme, over 1 million people, half the population of Gaza are expected to face death and starvation by mid-July. I mean, I think all of this has been lost. And this talk is ceasefires and, you know, hostage negotiations. That is just over a month from now.
And phase one of the ceasefire plan specifically makes mention of a significant increase in humanitarian assistance, allowed to get into Gaza. And just to be the obvious connection here every day this plan is not in place every day to lead. Is it a closer to salvation and death for tens of thousands , possibly hundreds of 1000s of people in Gaza?
ELDER: Yes, absolutely correct. And every day that the ceasefire is not implemented is another day that children are killed from bombs in the sky. So UNICEF, the United Nations has been warning sadly, John, for six, seven months now that we will get to this point where we risk deaths on the ground from disease from this lethal lack of sanitation, from people being moved four or five times and their coping capacity, their psychology just smashed.
Those deaths may start to match those that we hear from the skies. This is a real fear. This is why the Gaza Strip needs so, so much more aid. But it does come under a ceasefire. When I was at a hospital yesterday, John, and I'm seeing scenes, I'm walking over children with missing limbs, with head wounds, with horrendous, horrendous burns. It looked like day one of this. The people of Gaza are on a precipice.
I just don't know how much longer any mom, any dad, any child, any civilian can last, whilst those in power still discuss this ceasefire, those in power who seemingly are very disconnected from the suffering of those people actually on the ground in Gaza.
VAUSE: Well, the suffering the South has increased in the last couple of weeks if when it comes to food assistance, a crossing from the border into Egypt has fallen by two-thirds are going to U.N. officials. And I want you to listen to the U.N. Undersecretary General for emergency relief Martin Griffith. Here he is.
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MARTIN GRIFFITHS, U.N. UNDER-SECRETARY GENERAL FOR HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS: the rougher operation that we all predicted was going to be the nightmare that it is. And it's almost worse than we predicted, as we know from this last weekend.
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VAUSE: Last weekend, he's referring to the Israeli hostage rescue operation, which Gaza officials say killed almost 300 people a number which Israel disputes. But according to the U.N., more than 10 times that number of malnourished kids and at risk of dying and rougher and saving those children, it's a lot more complicated than just giving them something to eat. It's going to take weeks of proper medical attention, which isn't there right now.
ELDER: No, absolutely. When I was at that hospital yesterday Al-Aqsa Hospital that took the great bulk of people from Sunday's hostage release operation massacre, call it what you will, doctors I spoke to about the supplies they need said there is no hospital in the world that could cope with what we are dealing with here. Again, they only pointed to a ceasefire.
I was speaking to doctors who were without bandages and aesthetics, the most basics obviously, you know, we're talking now, John, about a handful of hospitals in the Gaza Strip that are partially functioning a handful from what was 36. This has been a systematic devastation of a health system and hands. We have to go beyond all the words that are shared around the world. And we have to look at evidence on the ground.
Evidence on the ground has devastation of homes, of livelihoods, of agriculture, of the economy, of education of learning, and very much of hospitals. So as soon as there is a ceasefire, we will remain in a crisis for these children. But whilst we're not their children go to bed at night, there are bombs at night, they wake in the morning, they maybe get one meal a day. Hospitals are overcrowded.
And I know we've been talking about this for eight months, John, and I know a lot of people want to turn off, they have to understand the average child mother, father, grandparent, they cannot turn off in Gaza. So we do finally need those with power to do as I say finally the right thing.
VAUSE: And right now, given this sort of shortage of food, especially in Rafah in the south, is it a case now that aid workers are facing a choice of taking food from the hungry to try and feed the starving?
ELDER: It's a case that I think aid workers haven't really seen before. It's an operating environment that's as dangerous as anything we've seen. And that's -- I think that's most clearly evidenced by the fact that we've had more United Nations workers killed in this conflict in eight months than in the entire 70 year history of the United Nations.
So aid workers are making horrendous choices. You know, yesterday, John, in those simple sense when I was outside a hospital hint for attend her family home had been destroyed. Her husband had been killed when the family home was hit by a missile, but two children now they were homeless, the idea that someone would have to play so they can sleep in a tent on rubble so someone have to play so they can get medicine for their father or a meal for their children. That's what people have been reduced to a very proud people.
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My sense being now is I just don't think that plays being heard I don't think they've got much more energy to keep going.
VAUSE: Yes, as these negotiating sort of go back and forth from hope to despair, and then picked up over it must be incredibly difficult for so many people there right now as they wait for any kind of official word on this. James Elder in Gaza. Thank you, so please stay safe.
ELDER: Sure.
VAUSE: In a courtroom Tuesday in the state of Delaware, after a week- long trial, a jury of six men and six women has found a 54-year-old man guilty on three felony crimes relating to gun ownership. Hours after the verdict was announced the father of the defendant embraced his son.
The jury deliberated for less than three hours finding Hunter Biden violated laws meant to prevent those suffering from substance abuse from buying or owning a firearm. Despite the historic nature of his trial, the defendant's father is the president of the United States. Jury members told CNN politics played no role in their decision making process. CNN's Kayla Tausche has more now on President Biden's reaction to his son's conviction.
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KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: After Hunter Biden was convicted by a jury of three felony gun charges, President Biden responding first and foremost as a father, releasing a statement that said this, as I said last week, I am the president, but I'm also a dad, Jill and I love our son and we are so proud of the man he is today. So many families who have had loved ones battle addiction, understand the feeling of pride, seeing someone you love, come out the other side and be so strong and resilient in recovery.
Now, the timing of the news putting the president in an awkward situation he had a previously scheduled engagement to deliver remarks heralding a crackdown on gun violence in the wake of a bipartisan gun safety law that he passed with Congress two years ago.
In those remarks, the President was expected to praise the Department of Justice for charging more than 500 new gun crimes based on that law. Instead, he chose to take a broader approach just praising the new tools that prosecutors are armed with. The President saying in that statement before that he would respect the judicial process as his son Hunter considers and appeal.
The family gathering in Wilmington, Delaware, where the President touchdown unexpectedly after that verdict, they greeted each other on the tarmac shared some embraces and then Hunter embrace White House staff and some members of the security detail.
President Biden giving a kiss to Beau Biden, Hunter's toddler son. The family now retreating to the family home in Wilmington to process what happens in the next chapter. With the Biden reelection campaign telling allies it's expected to be business as usual. Kayla Tausche, CNN, the White House.
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VAUSE: Leaders of G7 countries are writing in Italy on the eve of the annual summit, which this year will include Ukraine's president and Pope Francis. Top priorities in talks will be global development, the war between Israel and Hamas and Russia's war in Ukraine.
The U.S. is pushing fellow G7 members for an agreement that would provide $50 billion in loans to Ukraine, using profits from frozen Russian assets.
Well, three Russian warships and a nuclear powered submarine en route to Cuba had been spotted by the U.S. Navy less than 50 kilometers off the coast of Florida. Russian Navy's newest frigate, capable of launching hypersonic missiles is part of this Atlantic show of force by Vladimir Putin. It comes just days after he threatened to supply high tech weapons to enemies of NATO. That's been heightened tensions over Ukraine.
Last month the Biden administration gave permission to Ukraine to strike inside Russian territory with American supplied munitions, which has angered the Kremlin.
Still to come here, a ticking time bomb about to exploit. A CNN exclusive to the camp housing the families of ISIS fighters, but a senior U.S. General cause a breeding ground for the terror groups next generation.
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VAUSE: Five years after the fall of ISIS in Iraq and Syria, or the caliphate Navy gone the ideology lives on. And to this day, two sprawling camps in northern Syria are still housing the families of ISIS fighters think lose their wives and perhaps most alarmingly thousands of their children. Many now coming of age in what the head of U.S. Central Command calls a breeding ground for the next generation of ISIS. And in many cases, they're living side by side with some of the terror group's victims.
CNN's Clarissa Ward was allowed access to some facilities at those camps, as well as the notorious Panorama prison. This is an exclusive report but first a warning. It begins with some disturbing images.
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CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Cell phone videos of ISIS's brutal justice that the world hoped it would never see again. Shared for the first time with CNN, these images weren't captured in Raqqa or Mosul in 2016. They were taken in 2022 in the Al-Hawl camp in northern Syria.
The sprawling dumping ground for the women and children captured after ISIS was defeated. Five years after the fall of the caliphate, ISIS's ideology lives on here. Security officials warn it is a ticking time bomb. Ungovernable and hostile to the outside world.
WARD: You can see just how vast this place is more than 40,000 people are living here and the most dangerous part of the camp is called the Annex. That's where some 6,000 foreign nationals are currently living.
WARD (voice-over): We were granted exceptionally rare access to the Annex by the U.S. back Syrian Democratic Forces or SDF who control the camp. The women here hail from more than 60 different countries, several raise their right index fingers for the cameras sign of solidarity with the Islamic State.
WARD: Do you regret your decision to join ISIS?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, why should I regret this?
WARD (voice-over): Or why should she complains that the conditions in the camp are awful.
WARD: There are people in the world who will say you went to join ISIS. You deserve it. You deserve it. What do you say to that?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Normally, even with enemies.
WARD: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And women and children need services.
WARD (voice-over): The majority of Al-Hawl's residents are kids who have ended up here through no fault of their own. The U.N. has called it a blight on the conscience of humanity. It is effectively a prison camp where women and children are arbitrarily and indefinitely detained.
A group stops us with a frantic plea. One of their sons has been arrested trying to escape the camp.
WARD: She's asking if she can get her son back who's in a prison. He's 10 years old.
WARD (voice-over): We wanted to send them out so the SDF wouldn't take him, she tells us, once boys turn 12 here they take them. It is a troubling story we hear over and over again. The SDF says it is their policy to separate adolescent boys because they are being radicalized by their mothers.
And SDF raid earlier this year netted this video of a training session for children inside the camp. The SDF claims young teenage boys are married off to repopulate the next generation of ISIS fighters, which they say may explain the roughly 60 births recorded here every month.
This is where some of those boys end up after they are taken.
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The Orkesh Rehabilitation Center. Conditions here are much better than the camps. But there are only 150 beds and they are all full. Shamil Chikar (ph) grew up in Cologne, Germany until his parents took the family to the ISIS capital Raqqa. A shrapnel injury to his head has left Shamil (ph) confused.
WARD: How old are you? You don't know. Shamil (ph) was living in Al- Hawl camp with his mother and siblings until a few years ago, when security forces came into their tent in the middle of the night.
A man came and pulled me up and tied my hands behind my back. My mom was screaming, she said, leave him alone. He tells us. I didn't want to go with them. He pushed me saying put on your shoes, but I didn't. Then he hit me.
Islam is from Dagestan Russia, and is one of the youngest boys here.
WARD: So he's saying that he is just 12 years old. He has been here about three or four months he was taken from his mother. He doesn't even know what his last name is.
WARD (voice-over): Human rights organizations have said the separations are an appalling violation of international law. But the SDF's top general Mazloum Abdi defends the policy. GEN. MAZLOUM ABDI, COMMANDER, SYRIAN DEMOCRATIC FORCES (through translator): Instead of these organizations condemning what we're doing and calling it a human rights violation, these organizations should give us help when it comes to a program that we have in place for years now to rehabilitate these children.
WARD: But part of the problem seems to be that once these young boys turn 18, there's not anywhere for them to go, particularly if they can't return to their home countries. And so some of them I believe are ending up in prison necessity.
ABDI (voice-over): This is not a policy that we are following to put them in prison at 18. The reality is the goal is to reintegrate them with society.
WARD (voice-over): But CNN has found that boys as young as 14 had been held here at the notorious Panorama prison. With an estimated 4,000 inmates, it is the largest concentration of ISIS fighters in the world.
No journalist has been allowed inside Panorama since 2021 until now.
WARD: So the head of the prison has asked me to put on a headscarf will we walk through here because these are some of the most radicalized prisoners they have.
WARD (voice-over): Senior U.S. official told us the number one concern at Panorama is a prison break. The fear that was realized in 2022 when hundreds of inmates managed to escape.
WARD: Can I look inside?
WARD (voice-over): 25 men sit cross legged in silence. The cell is spotless. The men we see appear to be in decent physical condition. But tuberculosis is rampant in the prison. And we are only allowed to look inside to cells.
WARD: Are you prison. You are? Where are you from?
WARD (voice-over): A British man approaches the great but does not want to show his face.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're been here for like, five or six years.
WARD: I know.
WARD (voice-over): Advocacy groups called the U.S. funded Panorama illegal black hole worse than Guantanamo Bay. In an interrogation room, we meet 19-year old Stephen Waterloo (ph) from Suriname. He tells us he was brought to the prison when he was 14 along with more than 100 other miners.
WARD: Have you had a lawyer ever? You talk to a lawyer?
STEPHEN WATERLOO (ph), ALLEGED ISIS DETAINIEE: No. I don't know about the big guys if you speak about the kids. So if y'all know the truth, you don't know even why we're always like punished is like five years in this prison and we're punished. We don't even know what he's done like. We've been in prison because of our appearance.
WARD (voice-over): At SDF intelligence headquarters we made British Pakistani Dr. Muhammad Saqib accused of joining ISIS. He claims he was the victim of an elaborate kidnapping plot. It says Panorama's inmates are abused.
MUHAMMAD SAQIB, PRISON: So we live in torture. I live in fear.
WARD: When you say you live in torture, do you mean that you are actually physically being tortured?
SAQIB: This happens on and off.
WARD: What kind of torture?
SAQIB: Like beating by the stick. By the God's to be honest I'm just waiting for my death.
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There's no getting out of this prison, probably never.
WARD (voice-over): The warden that Panorama called Saqib's claim of abuse false, saying, quote, all parts of the prison are monitored by cameras and no prison guard can act in this way. The SDF and the U.S. are pushing countries to repatriate their citizens from Syria, saying it is the only solution to this complex and dangerous situation.
But the process has been slow, and many, including Western allies are dragging their feet. In the Al-Howl camp, we meet Brits, Canadians, Belgians, Australians, and a couple of Americans. 30-year old Hoda Muthana has been stuck here with her seven-year old son for more than five years.
WARD: I have to ask you, I'm seeing all of the women here are fully covered a lot of them covering their faces. You're not covered. You're wearing a t shirt. Is that hard?
HODA MUTHANA, DETAINEE It was hard when I first took it, I would say for the first two three years. People were not accepting of it, you know, and they harassed us a lot. They stole our stuff, you know, and I had to stay strong and show example for my son, you know.
WARD (voice-over): Born and raised in the U.S., Hoda became radicalized online at the age of 20. And left her family in Alabama to live under ISIS, a decision she quickly regretted.
WARD: If you were to be able to go back to the U.S., and you had to go on trial, potentially serve time in prison, have you reconciled yourself with that possibility?
MUTHANA: I always tell myself that I'm going to prison would be a step forward in my life. If I had any time to serve, I'd serve and I'll come out and begin my life with my son. WARD (voice-over): For now, that is not an option, while the U.S.
advocates repatriation, it ruled holds U.S. citizenship invalid on a technicality. Now she lives in fear for her son's future.
WARD: What do you miss most about America?
MUTHANA: I just want to breathe ever. I can air and be around people. I love the people of America. They're very open and they're very forgiving, and they're very -- they're people who give second chances. And I think if they were to sit down with me and listen to my story from the beginning, they would give me a second chance.
WARD (voice-over): But second chances are hard to come by here. For most repentance is demanded and forgiveness rarely given as the cost of ignoring this ugly crisis continues to mount. Clarissa Ward, CNN, northern Syria.
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VAUSE: And the statement is CNN the U.S. State Department said the department has not changed its position with regards to Ms. Muthana's citizenship status, as the State Department determined and the courts agreed she is not and never was a U.S. citizen.
Still ahead here on CNN, how the U.S. economy is now driving the global economy. The World Bank rises upwards forecasts for world economic growth. Also ahead, Elon Musk's dropping his lawsuit against OpenAI. Why billionaire tried to sue the company he co-founded. That's next.
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VAUSE: Welcome back, everyone. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
Three years after the COVID pandemic brought turmoil to the global economy, the World Bank is now forecasting a return to stability projecting world economic growth holding steady at 2.6 percent this year. And it's up itself from an earlier forecast of 2.4 percent. Still a little bit slower than the 3 plus percent average in the decade before the pandemic.
By 2026, the World Bank says countries which are home to more than 80 percent of the world's population would still be growing more slowly than in the years leading up to the pandemic. It does note though the strength of the U.S. economy is one of the reasons for optimism in the global economy. And the reason for that upgrade in the forecast for world economic growth.
To explain all of this, we head now live to Los Angeles and Ryan Patel, senior fellow at the Drucker School of Management at Claremont Graduate University. Good to see you.
RYAN PATEL, SENIOR FELLOW, DRUCKER SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT, CLAREMONT GRADUATE UNIVERSITY: Great to see you, John, too.
VAUSE: Ok, so for the deputy chief economist at the World Bank, there's good news and there's not so good news in this latest forecast for global economic growth. Here he is.
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AYHAN KOSE, DEPUTY CHIEF ECONOMIST, WORLD BANK: All in all we see a soft landing is set for the global economy. Having said this, there are significant growth challenges against the background of this stability. Growth is weak relative to what we have seen in the previous decade.
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VAUSE: Let's try something new. We'll focus on the positive here, right? Ok.
It seems the mythical economic soft landing has emerged once again. What are the chances? And it seems to world can send the basket of muffins to the White House for all this because as the World Bank put it, the strength of the U.S. is one reason the global economy enjoys some upside potential over the next two years. So explain the connection to what's happening here in the U.S. and this unexpected but kind of welcome knock-on effect globally.
PATEL: Well, I'm glad we're starting off with a positive note.
I think the U.S. brings stability behind it. And that means its currency, it means interest rates in a way that is controlling it and that investments and the consumer spending is still occurring.
So what does that mean for the globe? That means the U.S. is still exporting and importing and buying goods and that allows some of these other countries to play off of it.
But I do want to mention, and I think yes, the U.S. may get the headline, but India and China, also in the same report by the World Bank although not growing as fast, but India still remains the fastest-growing of the world's largest economy around 6.7 percent. And China was also upgraded in its numbers this year too in 2024.
So I think part of that helps it. You know, yes, it's a modest growth, but it is moving to the right direction and the U.S. obviously allows the World Bank to come out and say those words you just mentioned, John. Set for a soft landing.
VAUSE: You, cynic.
So we can put the muffins on hold because, you know, as always there's some good news and then there's bad news as well. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KOSE: Then you look, you know, our forecast horizon all the way to 2026, we are expecting 60 percent of economies to have slower growth than what they actually experienced in the decade prior to the pandemic on average.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Ok, so what we have is we have weak global growth, just not as weak as it was initially forecast to be. And that has some serious implications, especially for developing countries and efforts to end poverty, closing the income gap between rich and developing nations and all that kind of stuff.
So for those countries that aren't able to catch up to where they were, you know, before the pandemic. What does this mean for them?
PATEL: It's a struggle and I think part of this too, John was the idea that inflation, and I hate to use to tie to inflation that we were going to recover faster.
And as everybody was spending up, you couldn't catch up quicker. And that allows some of these countries that were developing their growth slowed down and their investments going in slowed down. And then what. What does that do?
[01:34:49]
PATEL: That means it pushes their economic catch-up much further down. And I think that just means there's going to be some leverage with some of the bigger countries when it comes to trade. We start to see the, you know, the BRICS, which is where India, China, the U.S., Brazil -- not the U.S. -- but Brazil come in handy.
There's more trade -- you know, trade partnerships come in. So I actually think this is going to be a really interesting next couple of years because to maintain that growth and not be conservative, different things have to happen.
VAUSE: You sound a little under the weather, so we'll give you a pass on, including the U.S. in the BRICS mistake.
There are also risks to all of this and "The Washington Post" sort of summed up in a headline "World Bank bake says high interest rates and trade tensions pose risks to newly upbeat forecast."
So that brings us to a very unique Wednesday, which is set to begin with the monthly report on U.S. inflation and ends with the Fed's policy meeting in the afternoon.
And while official interest rates are likely to stay the same, we'll get some kind of idea of when the Fed may actually begin to start cutting interest rates. And there's a whole lot of, y k, extra information in risk, months of risks coming out in just like one day.
PATEL: You don't believe -- don't -- you don't believe that they're going to tell you when they're going to do 25 basis points.
As of right -- as of right now I'd be shocked that they would say it was going to happen in September. I don't think they're going to say that. I think they may tell you that they are still on target to do possibly two, but you and I both know based on the information we have today they wouldn't want to make that cut in September.
So what does that mean? Does that mean then after elections, November, December, or do they push into next year? And I think the one is very likely. I know the U.S. market futures are now putting two as a 60 percent chance.
But John, stop it now. You know that they're -- Jerome Powell is not going to come tomorrow and make a huge statement with the data they have. He may come and say that things are getting better, but I think they still need to see more data for them to make a move then And I'd be -- it would be bold if they said that they were going to do it for the next Fed meeting.
VAUSE: Still having trouble. We've talked about this. Of all the major economies out there, right now, the U.S., I guess is by far the strongest -- at least one of the strongest.
And I've a line graph to prove it. Take a look at that. The top line there, sort of yellowy beige ones. That's the United States rebounding better than all the other G7 countries.
And yet the polls continue to show that most Americans believed the economy sucks. What's the disconnect here. Is this a generation which for the most part has grown up without the impact of inflation on their purchasing power. Is that sort of the main factor in all of this?
PATEL: I mean truthfully, I think it's the rise of cost of living. I think when people, the U.S. stills spends money. So if we look at the numbers. consumer spending on big purchase items still -- still occur.
So what does that mean? Where are people looking at it? It's at the grocery store and the rise of cost of living and why that matters is people see that price point more often John, right? We see that when we go to the grocery store.
And second, the wages don't really match up with the percentage of that. And so I think we think of the surveys that are coming out of this. People were not really, you know, that's what they're feeling and that's how they're not maybe voting on as well. But also that's where they're displaying and I think that's where the disconnect is with the economy pretty, pretty hot for -- based on what employment are, and people are not getting the big wage jumps because of unemployment being very low as well.
VAUSE: Lemon and honey for you, and straight to bed. Ryan Patel in Los Angeles, thank you for being with us. Good to see you mate.
PATEL: Appreciate you, John.
VAUSE: Billionaire Elon Musk has dismissed his lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman accusing the company of breach of contract. Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015, sued the company earlier this year in February, accusing the ChatGPT maker of abandoning its original non- profit mission by reserving some of its most advanced A.I. technology for private customers. But OpenAI pushed back publishing several of Musk's email that seem to show him acknowledging the need for the company to make large sums of money to fund its A.I. ambitions.
Musk's lawyers cited no reason for dropping the lawsuit.
One of Silicon Valley's most famous convict is appealing her 11-year prison sentence for defrauding investors.
Elizabeth Holmes is seeking a new trial, claiming the judge made a number of mistakes during the 2022 proceedings. Holmes was convicted of running a multimillion-dollar scheme to defraud investors, doctors, and patients with her blood-testing company, Theranos.
The premise was simple -- one drop of blood spun through a Theranos machine, could deliver fast accurate results. So what if the machine (ph) didn't actually work. It was all a sham.
Legal experts say it could take several months for the court to issue (INAUDIBLE).
Up next, the push for a ceasefire in Gaza after the latest proposal picks up the backing of the United Nations.
CNN's Christiane Amanpour dives deeper into those developments in a moment.
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VAUSE: Back now to our lead story this hour. Hamas saying it has submitted a response to the latest ceasefire proposal for Gaza, saying its positive and serious, but an Israeli official describes that responses as a rejection.
Sources say the militant group is asking for a timeline on when all Israeli forces withdraw from Gaza and a permanent end to the fighting takes effect. Both possible deal breakers for Israel.
This comes one day after the U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution endorsing the proposal. Now the U.N. says it will wait for the formal acceptance and implementation.
CNN'S Christiane Amanpour with former U.N. ambassador Daniel Kurtzer and author Audrey Kurth Cronin. Here's part of her interview.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Tell me the significance of this U.N. Security Council resolution and why it is or it isn't more of the same?
DANIEL KURTZER, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: Given the breakdown and consensus internationally. It's always been hard to get a Security Council resolution passed. And we've seen that over the past eight or nine months.
So the fact that the council has now spoken with near unanimity is quite important. And even more important that it backed a proposal that we understand Israel had submitted through the United States and Qatar and Egypt to Hamas.
So now the international community has said basically Hamas is up to you. You accept the proposal, we can move forward into the first of the three phases.
But if Hamas says no, then the international community will know where the onus lies for not achieving this first phase of a ceasefire.
AMANPOUR: And Audrey Kurth Cronin, can you tell me what you make of Hamas' responses to these ceasefire proposals so far and the fact that it says it welcomes this U.N. Security Council resolution.
AUDREY KURTH CRONIN, AUTHOR, "HOW TERRORISM ENDS": Well, I think that Hamas found itself in situation where (INAUDIBLE) as lead on Israeli hands as possible.
So therefore, the potential for having a ceasefire for Hamas means that there's a possibility that we can shift the blame from strictly the horrendous military attacks and the killing of so many Palestinian civilians away from strictly what Israel is doing and instead toward Hamas and its unwillingness to truly represent the welfare of the Palestinian people.
So I see this as a welcome step and potentially something that could help lead to the end of Hamas in a way that military repression could never do.
AMANPOUR: We'll get into that in a bit. But first time I want to ask you about you know, a kind of a reality check because while the Israelis and certainly Secretary of State Blinken said and I'll tell you that he had received explicit assurances that Netanyahu supported the deal.
[01:44:48]
AMANPOUR: Of course, himself, Netanyahu last week called the idea of a negotiated permanent ceasefire a non-starter.
And today an Israeli official says, Israel will not end the war before achieving all its war objectives: destroying Hamas' military and governing capabilities, freeing all the hostages and ensuring Gaza doesn't pose a threat to Israel in the future.
The proposal presented enables Israel to achieve these goals and Israel will indeed do so.
So Ambassador Kurtzer you know these people, individuals and governments very well. What exactly does that statement say.
KURTZER: Well, it suggests that we're dealing with two very different levels of discourse. The public level is watching both sides articulate their maximalist
positions. Because even after Hamas welcomes President Biden's speech, it reiterated its maximum demands. And now we're seeing that Prime Minister Netanyahu is reiterating Israel's maximum demands.
What's different however, is the secret level of diplomacy that's being undertaken in which the president has said, and now confirms that Israel accepts the proposal that has been transmitted.
And so now were waiting to see whether at that level of diplomatic discourse, Hamas also was ready to do so. It makes it very challenging because the public discourse hardens positions on both sides and it raises expectations on both sides.
AMANPOUR: And just before I move on to Audrey, I want to ask you if the government does in fact accept this and it's not a proposal that came out just yesterday. The president has been talking about this for the last ten days.
If that is the case why then would the opposition leader benny Gantz, who was in the war cabinet, quit saying that in fact, the government does not. I mean that's his position is that he believed that there was, you know, no realistic postwar plan and that the government wasn't engaging in that regard.
Netanyahu wasn't. If Netanyahu so behind this, now, why would Gantz have quit.
KURTZER: I think there are two issues.
The first is that the proposal received the support of the war cabinet. When Hamas comes back with its response, that proposal will go to the full cabinet. And I think Gantz is counting votes and is questioning whether or not Netanyahu will be firm enough at that time to push this thing through the full cabinet.
Second, this proposal does talk about in phases two and three, the day after and the day after the day after. And Gantz has been watching Netanyahu rule out, for example, the Palestinian Authority's returned to Gaza, rule out a two-state solution. And I think those are the issues that are in part motivating Gantz's departure.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Our thanks to CNN's chief international anchor Christiane Amanpour for that interview and that perspective as well.
Malawi will observe 21 days of mourning for Vice President Saulos Chilima, who died in a plane crash Monday along with nine others. Chilima's remains arrived in the capital Tuesday, received by the president who said the sudden death of his vice president was heartbreaking. Adding the nine government officials who also died in the plane crash served their country with distinction.
The plane's wreckage was found in a dense forest in northern Malawi. Bad weather was reported in the area before it went missing on Monday.
New details now on the stabbing of four American college instructors on an exchange program in northeastern China. Police have arrested a 55-year-old man who they say collided with a foreigner while walking in a popular park in the city of Jilin on Monday, then stabbed the instructors and a Chinese tourist who tried to intervene.
More details now from CNN's Marc Stewart.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Four college educators from America lie on the ground covered in blood at popular park on a public holiday in Jilin City in northeastern China. All conscious, able to use their phones to say they've just been stabbed by an attacker with a knife.
A fifth person, a Chinese tourist, was injured while trying to protect them, police said. One man is in custody. Police say he lashed out with the knife after colliding with a foreigner.
The three American citizens and one permanent resident of Iowa are from the state's Cornell College in China on a teaching program.
One of those hurt David Zabner, his brother, Iowa State Representative Adam Zabner said David was doing well. His three unnamed colleagues and the Chinese tourist were also receiving medical care according to the Chinese government.
CNN's Steven Jiang asked about the delay in the government to acknowledge the attack, not getting a direct response.
[01:49:45]
LIN JIAN, CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON (through translator): All of the injured were sent to the hospital immediately and received proper treatment. None of their lives were in danger.
STEWART: China is a powerful security state. Its authorities constantly working to keep a lid on crime. Guns are tightly controlled. So when a mass casualty incident does happen, it's almost always a knife attack.
In May, a man wielding a knife killed two and injured 21 at a hospital in China's southwest. Stabbing attacks at kindergartens in 2023 and 2022 left nine dead.
Monday's attack may have been sudden, violent, and chaotic, but could this incident have a lasting impact on the already strained relationship between the U.S. and China.
JIAN: Carrying out people to people, and cultural exchanges between China and the United States is in the common interests of both sides and has received active support and response from all walks of life in both countries.
STEWART: Chinese President Xi Jinping himself has a personal attachment to Iowa, having first visited the state as a young official in 1985. During his most recent trip to the U.S. late last year, xi invited 50,000 U.S. students to his country to help grow academic and cultural ties.
And that may be damaged by this one violent attack on a summer day.
Marc Stewart, CNN -- Jilin City, China.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: A fire at a popular market in Bangkok has left hundreds of animals dead. Lasted for about 30 minutes, sweeping through more than 100 stores before being extinguished. Authorities say no one was injured, no people that is. Many animals were killed including dogs, cats rabbits, snakes, birds, fish, chicken.
One pet shop owner says 400 of her exotic snakes worth more than $130,000 died from smoke inhalation.
When we come back, the Nepalese tradition of honey hunting under threat from dwindling bee populations and a changing environment.
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VAUSE: Russian marine specialists rushing to save a humpback whale caught in a fishing net off Russia's arctic coast.
The net and some rope, apparently wrapped around its body near the flippers. The whale is known as Stanislav and spotted by tourists on Russia's Kola Peninsula. Officials say a biologist searched more than 120 kilometers of coastline before actually finding it.
Specialists are trying to get close to the whale but weather is proving an issue. And the whale is pretty unhappy as well.
Villagers in Nepal who earn a living from the daring tradition of honey hunting are now worried about the number of bees and beehives for the season.
CNN meteorologist Elisa Raffa reports climate change is among the challenges impacting this long-practiced tradition.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELISA RAFFA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: In a remote, hillside village in Nepal, villagers prepare for honey-hunting season, a tradition passed down for generations.
But over the years, villagers say the number of bees and hives has been declining.
Chandra Singh Gurung (ph) is a former honey hunter in the village building ropes and ladders in preparation for the season.
CHANDRA SINGH GURUNG, FORMER HONEY HUNTER (through translator): Honey hunting begins mid-May every year. And we were happy that we would get some income.
But we are all worried now because there are not many beehives this time.
RAFFA: The honey produced is sometimes called mad honey -- a bittersweet, dark red honey made when these giant bees feed on rhododendron nectar.
[01:54:48]
RAFFA: In small doses, it is known for giving people a sense of calmness, euphoria and in some cases, hallucinations.
To get the precious liquid, the hunters use smoke to make the bees flee the hives. They climb cliffs with ladders and use the poles to knock down the hives. Down below, they filter out the honey.
It's a dangerous job but a way to make some money.
AITA PRASAD GURUNG, HONEY HUNTER (through translator): I have to climb down the rope ladder and it is fraught with danger of falling. One must extract honey and remain safe at the same time. We get some income after selling it.
RAFFA: One bee expert says climate change is affecting the production of this honey in multiple ways.
SURENDRA RAJ JOSHI, BEE EXPERT: Too much rain, too little rain, erratic and intense rain, long dry spells. Heat and cold, you know, all these extreme weather condition, they put the stress on maintaining the hive strength and the honey stock of the colonies.
RAFFA: Nepal recorded below-normal precipitation in January and February says the government of Nepal. However, it was above average in March. The erratic weather changes crop growth that also affects the production of honey says the bee expert. And he says floods and landslides disturbed the bee habitats causing habitat loss.
Now villagers say they are worried and don't know what to do as honey hunting is a long-practiced tradition in the village.
Meteorologist Elisa Raffa, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Well to London now where a gallery says it has no plans of removing the new royal portrait of King Charles. Security though will remain on alert after protesters vandalized the painting on Tuesday.
Animal rights activists pasted stickers of a cartoon character from the series "Wallace and Gromit". The gallery owner says the painting is covered in transparent thermo-plastic and was not damaged.
The first official portrait since Charles' coronation sparked mixed reactions when it was unveiled last month. It will remain on display though for the next nine days. Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause.
Please stay with us for another hour of CNN NEWSROOM with my friend and colleague Lynda Kinkade after a very short break.
See you right back here tomorrow.
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