Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Pope Francis Arrives in Indonesia for Start of 12-Day Trip; Renewed Hope in Bangladesh After Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's Ouster; The Past, Present and Future of New York's MoMA; Whale Launches Snorkeler into Air Off Gold Coast. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired September 03, 2024 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Christina Macfarlane. If you're just joining us, here are some of today's top stories.

Protesters in Israel are demanding Benjamin Netanyahu agree to a ceasefire with Hamas after nearly 11 months of war. Many are accusing the Prime Minister of stalling and are calling for his resignation.

Two stranded sailors are now safe after a daring rescue in a choppy seas nearly 200 miles from Australia's coast. Their yacht was adrift after a mechanical issue, and waves nearly 20 feet high delayed their rescue for several hours. Australia's Navy and Air Force managed to safely grab them when the conditions improved.

And U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is vowing to tackle surge pricing after complaints about ticket prices for the first batch of Oasis shows went on sale this past weekend. British regulators received hundreds of complaints about Ticketmaster saying advertisements for ticket prices and availability were misleading.

Now the next two weeks will be a busy one for Pope Francis, who has just begun a marathon 12-day tour of Southeast Asia. He touched down in Jakarta, Indonesia earlier today.

His visit comes as the Catholic Church seeks to grow and strengthen its presence across Asia. The Pope is set to meet with Indonesia's president and other officials on Wednesday before continuing his trip to three other countries.

Let's go live to Jakarta where CNN's Christopher Lamb has been traveling with the Pope. And I believe, Christopher, you're actually on that long flight to Indonesia with him, and you had a chance to meet him on board.

CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Christina. Pope Francis was in good spirits when he came to the back of the plane, as he always does on his trips abroad, to greet journalists individually. He shook hands, he exchanged jokes and some gifts, and he thanked the journalists for coming with him on this trip and covering it. He seemed in good spirits and with energy, and he's going to need that because this is the longest trip of his pontificate, one of the longest trips that any Pope has carried out. It's a very important trip for him because right at the top of the agenda is interfaith dialogue. He's in Indonesia, here in Jakarta, in the world's most populous Muslim country.

He's going to be going to the Istiqlal Mosque, the largest mosque in Southeast Asia, here in Jakarta. He's going to have an interfaith dialogue meeting, and he's going to hope that the message of interfaith friendship can resonate across the globe, particularly where there are conflicts which have been sparked by religious extremism.

Today, however, is a rest day for Francis. He is at the Papal Ambassador to Indonesia's residence.

[04:35:00]

He has met with some refugees, some elderly, some orphaned children when he arrived, but he's going to take it easy today because tomorrow he's got a packed schedule. He's going to be meeting with the leaders of Indonesia, the political leaders, and then church leaders.

But it's a long trip. He's going to be going to Papua New Guinea after Indonesia, then East Timor and Singapore. It's certainly going to be an exciting trip to follow, and I'll be trying to cover it as much as I can -- Christina.

MACFARLANE: And Christopher, how is his health in general? Because we know that the Pope has had a couple of operations in previous years, and also that this trip, I believe, is going to consist of 43 hours of air travel. How is his fitness for that?

LAMB: Well, we're told that Francis has no underlying health problem. He has had some operations. He's had some respiratory difficulties, but they are really the signs of old age rather than anything underlying or more serious.

He has insisted that his health is good. He does have mobility problems. He makes use of a wheelchair most of the time. But broadly speaking, his health is fine for someone at the age of 87.

But obviously, the length of air travel, the grueling schedule, the meeting, the open air masses, all those things are going to take a toll. So we're watching very closely to see how he manages with all that. But it is remarkable an 87-year-old pontiff is willing to embark on such an ambitious journey.

MACFARLANE: Yes, a sign perhaps from him that he is not done yet. There's more work to do. Christopher Lamb, they're live for us in Jakarta. Thanks very much.

Now, a Chinese state media report, 11 people, five students and six parents have been killed in a school bus crash. A warning, you may find some of the images we're about to show disturbing. The crash happened in Tai'an City in Shandong Province, which is in eastern China. Authorities say the bus lost control when it drove into an intersection and then crashed into the crowd waiting to walk through the gate of a middle school. 13 people were injured. The driver is being held by local police and the cause of the accident is under investigation.

Now, there's a renewed sense of hope in Bangladesh after the ouster of long-time Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. She resigned and fled the country last month following weeks of deadly anti-government protests.

Critics say her 15 years in power were marked by a stifling of civil freedoms and using harsh measures to crush dissent. And now political prisoners are sharing stories of abuse and torture at the hands of Hasina's government. CNN's Anna Coren spoke with some of them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The fresh faces of the future against that of the past. Shoes hanging in the face of Bangladesh's ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the ultimate insult and show of defiance in a country where people on the streets achieved the unthinkable.

What began as a student-led protest against government quotas in early July morphed into a mass uprising. After Hasina, who'd been in power for more than 15 years, ordered police to open fire on the crowds. Over the following weeks, hundreds of people were killed while thousands were arrested.

They came to my house. They broke three doors. They took me with them and oh my God, the physical torture, that was miserable.

COREN (voice-over): Nusrat Tabassum, a 23-year-old political science student, says she was beaten for hours on end. Her face repeatedly hit, some of her teeth now loose, her right eardrum burst.

NUSRAT TABASSUM, POLITICAL SCIENCE STUDENT: Without hearing it, I can't listen in my right ear.

COREN (voice-over): After five days in custody, Nusrat was paraded in front of the cameras. The only female in the group of prominent student leaders forced to make an apology.

For fellow student Iftekhar Alam, his detainment was even more sinister. Snatched from his home before dawn, he was blindfolded, handcuffed, and believes he was taken to a notorious military intelligence facility in Dhaka, where over the years, hundreds of Bangladeshi considered anti-state have been disappeared.

IFTEKHAR ALAM, STUDENT PROTESTER: I was like there is no escaping from this and my life will end here and no one will know.

COREN (voice-over): The law student says for hours he was beaten with a metal rod, breaking bones in his feet. A burning cigarette was then pushed into his fingers and toes as part of what they called their little game.

[04:40:00]

ALAM: When I close my eyes, I remember that I went to that horrible day.

COREN (voice-over): Once released, he discovered Hasina had resigned and fled to India.

ALAM: The people of Bangladesh, it is the people's country.

COREN: The capital, now awash with colorful murals, has a very clear message. There is no going back.

As the U.N. investigates the hundreds of protested deaths, the people have entrusted interim chief Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus to bring about desperately needed reform.

COREN: The fall of the government has unleashed a spirit that has electrified every level of society. It has given a voice to everyone, from students, to doctors, even rickshaw drivers, as they take to the streets to make their demands.

COREN (voice-over): But change doesn't happen overnight, especially in a country of 170 million people where the iron fist ruled and corruption and cronyism reigned.

TABASSUM; My country is sick, but our people, we stand together. I believe there will be sunshine in future.

COREN (voice-over): A future this generation will continue to fight for.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COREN (on camera): Yes, such brave and resilient students. It was just so amazing to be in their presence, Christina.

Look, as well as this U.N. fact-finding mission into the atrocities that occurred, Bangladesh's interim government, headed by Muhammad Yunus, has set up a commission to investigate the hundreds of suspected enforced disappearances.

Now, human rights groups believe that more than 700 Bangladeshi were disappeared under Hasina's 15-year reign, and we know that at least three of them have since been released in recent weeks. Some have spoken about the horrors that they endured.

Now, the families of the missing, they welcome this commission of inquiry. It's to be headed by a retired high court judge and will submit its findings in the next few months.

And, Christina, there are calls that are growing that for India, which is providing Sheikh Hasina refuge, to send her back to Bangladesh. They want her to face trial for the abuses during her reign, and particularly the families. They want her to face justice. Christina, back to you.

MACFARLANE: Yes, and that's why, Anna, reports like this outlaying the abuses that have happened are so important. We thank you for your reporting. Anna Corrin there live from Hong Kong.

The Museum of Modern Art, or MoMA, is nearly a century old. It celebrates the greats and showcases artists of today. Just ahead, how it all began.

And two of the world's greatest competitive eaters, yes, face off in a hot dog eating showdown to relish.

Stay tuned.

[04:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACFARLANE: Now, who's been to MoMA? You'll know it's nestled in the midtown of Manhattan, a museum of modern art. It's a must visit for art lovers everywhere.

The museum is always exhibiting works by some of the best contemporary artists, but the MoMA is steeped in colorful history too. CNN's Richard Quest takes us back to MoMA's beginnings.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR (voice-over): MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art. It was born in turbulent times when MoMA opened days after the 1929 Wall Street crash.

MoMA's idea was simple. New York needed a museum focused on the art of today, not that ancient stuff.

GLENN LOWRY, DAVID ROCKEFELLER DIRECTOR, THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART: This institution, when it was founded in 1929 by three extraordinary women and Alfred Barr as its young director, actually had a global perspective.

Among the first exhibitions here were exhibitions of Mexican art, exhibitions of American primitives, exhibitions of subcontinental Indian art.

QUEST (voice-over): The idea has caught on and within three years, MoMA had outgrown its original home in a 12-story apartment, moving to a nearby townhouse and its permanent home, steps from New York's Fifth Avenue. The greatest artists of the 20th century hang on these walls.

Jackson Pollock, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, they've all made their names on the walls of the MoMA. Today's artists use the MoMA as a launching pad, taking careers to new heights.

LATOYA RUBY FRAZIER, ARTIST: I was stunned when MoMA reached out to me to offer me the exhibition. It was FDR who was on the radio who talked about the purpose and the mission of the Museum of Modern Art, and he distinctly pointed out that first of all, art belongs to the people.

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Friends of the Museum of Modern Art, the mission of this museum is plain. We are dedicating this building to the cause of peace.

QUEST (voice-over): Today, this museum is considered the epicenter of the modern art world and it is a position the director, Glenn Lowry takes very seriously.

LOWRY: I worry about whether it's going to rain or not, because when it rains, more people come to the museum. So I'm one of those people that looks at a sunny day and goes, oh, no, not another beautiful day, because I know, I know that if it's bad weather, more people will visit the museums.

QUEST (voice-over): Over its 95-year history, the MoMA has weathered many storms. A devastating fire in the late 1950s wiped out some of its prized treasures.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Many others are scooted to safety by employees undaunted by the fire.

QUEST (voice-over): And recently, the MoMA has undergone expansions, relocations, and renovations galore.

LOWRY: So I think of the institution not as a fixed entity. Imagine the British Museum, or the Louvre, or the Metropolitan, they are historical institutions, their responsibility is to tell this very long story in a very measured and ordered way. We are a work in progress.

QUEST (voice-over): Perhaps that is the beauty of The Museum of Modern Art always changing, always reinventing itself, much like the art that fills its galleries.

Richard Quest, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: I do love MoMA.

Now coming up, Australian YouTubers capture amazing video of a whale tossing a snorkeler into the air. A full story on that coming up.

[04:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACFARLANE: Welcome back. Now, last week, a couple of Australian YouTubers were on an excursion off the Gold Coast swimming with whales when they captured what they're calling an incredible encounter on video. A humpback launching a snorkeler high into the air.

Pat Heagney of Nine News has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) PAT HEAGNEY, NINE NEWS (voice-over): A swim like no other.

JACQUELINE PAYNE, YOUTUBER: What just happened?

HEAGNEY (voice-over): One moment, this man is in the water. The next, the air.

J. PAYNE: It was on. He was on the whale.

HEAGNEY (voice-over): As the tail of a whale as big as a bus launches him from the sea.

J. PAYNE: All of a sudden someone was in the air on top of a freaking whale.

HEAGNEY (voice-over): Queensland YouTubers Max and Jacqueline were snorkeling with humpbacks in waters off the Gold Coast when they captured the gentle giant's moment of mayhem.

J. PAYNE: We were super excited. Obviously, the opportunity to swim with whales is pretty rare.

HEAGNEY (voice-over): But they didn't expect an experience quite this unique.

J. PAYNE: It got wild.

HEAGNEY (voice-over): Surrounded by three whales, the couple were keeping an eye on one beneath them when the unbelievable happened.

J. PAYNE: All of a sudden, there was commotion behind us and we turned around and someone, we didn't know at the time who it was, but someone was on top of the tail of a whale.

[04:55:00]

HEAGNEY (voice-over): The man on the tail was one of their tour guides lifted from the water by a leviathan of the deep.

J. PAYNE: Everyone was just in such like adrenaline, I think, like you had this adrenaline rushing through your body.

HEAGNEY (voice-over): The tour guide escaping uninjured after taking flight.

MAX PAYNE, YOUTUBER: It wasn't the first time this happened to him.

J. PAYNE: Yes.

M. PAYNE: But he was very, like, very ecstatic about it.

J. PAYNE: It was like a relatively gentle experience from what we could tell.

HEAGNEY (voice-over): Now, with a whale of a tail.

J. PAYNE: That was crazy. That was the most insane thing that I've ever experienced in my life.

HEAGNEY: Pat Heagney, Nine News.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: I mean, honestly, just a little bit too close for my comfort.

Now, finally, Joey Chestnut has devoured his way to another personal best, breaking his own world record for eating hot dogs. Now, who among you has been following this?

It was a showdown between the two biggest names in professional competitive eating during a Netflix Labor Day event in Las Vegas. Chestnut ate, get this, 83 hot dogs and buns in just 10 minutes. His longtime rival, Takeru Kobayashi, fell behind and could not catch up. He put away just 66 dogs.

Now, we've been having a little chat about this here in the studio because I have never seen this event take place in my life, but apparently it's a big deal. And so, Chestnut is eating eight hot dogs a minute. How on earth does someone physically do that? Because clearly the bread, the bun, look at that. How does he get that down so fast? It's going to get in your way, right? Isn't the bread going to slow you down? I do not understand the technique to this.

Anyone who wants to let me know, get in touch. But it also seems pretty gross to me, so I don't think I'm going to go back and watch this one anytime soon.

That will do it though for us here at CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Christina Macfarlane in London. CNN "THIS MORNING" is up next. Stay with us.