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Trump Doubles Down on Migrants Eating Pets Lie, Claims Harris Used Earpiece; Biden, Starmer Hold Talks amid Russia's New Warnings; Zelenskyy Urging Green Light for Deep Strikes on Russia; Harris States American Freedoms and Rights Are under Attack; Trump Stokes Fears on Immigration; Boeing and Union to Resume Talks Next Week; China to Raise Retirement Age; Astronauts Williams and Wilmore OK with More Time in Space. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired September 14, 2024 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ANNA COREN, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Hello and welcome to all our viewers watching in the United States, Canada and around the world, I'm Anna Coren live from Hong Kong.
Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, will they or won't they?
Former U.S. president Donald Trump goes back and forth on whether he'll face Vice President Kamala Harris again on the debate stage.
Pope Francis weighs in on the U.S. race. What he has to say about voters' choices might surprise you.
And China is increasing the retirement age, not everyone is happy about it. Why Beijing is making the change.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from Hong Kong, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Anna Coren.
COREN: Just days after a debate that even some of Donald Trump's supporters called a disaster, Trump says he may debate Kamala Harris again. Previously, the former president said he would not debate Harris again. He also wrongly insists that he is leading in all post- debate polls. He is not.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Trump also refused to walk back his claim that Haitian migrants living in Springfield, Ohio, legally are eating people's pets. There are no reports of that happening.
Well, Harris spent Friday campaigning in Pennsylvania. She criticized Trump for spreading, quote, "hate and division," end quote. We'll have more on the Trump campaign in just a moment. But first CNN's Priscilla Alvarez has more on Harris' trip to Pennsylvania.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Vice President Kamala Harris, returning to Pennsylvania on Friday, where she visited two counties that were won by former president Donald Trump in 2020 and by double digits.
It's a glimpse into the strategy that the campaign has been deploying, looking at those rural red counties to try to build some of her support but also peel voters off from former president Donald Trump.
Now of course, the campaign has been looking at multiple pathways to get to those 270 electoral votes. But Pennsylvania is crucial in that calculus and in those strategy sessions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I am feeling very good about Pennsylvania because there are a lot of people in Pennsylvania who deserve to be seen and heard. That's why I'm here in Johnstown and I will be continuing to travel around the state to make sure that I'm listening as much as we are talking.
And ultimately, I feel very strongly that, got to earn every vote.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALVAREZ: Now the vice president here in Wilkes-Barre, trying to appeal to voters here by talking also about the economy and job opportunities, the campaign trying to make inroads, again, with those voters who may not be die-hard Democrats but are also uninterested in former president Donald Trump.
But campaign aides are also in discussion about how else they continue the energy and momentum seen in the early weeks of the Harris campaign outside of traditional media and big speeches and policy rollouts.
Now the vice president, again, expected to put a keen focus on Pennsylvania in the weeks to come, spending already most of her time over the last week in the state, trying to appeal to those voters -- Priscilla Alvarez, CNN, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
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ALAYNA TREENE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Former president Donald Trump's speech on Friday night in Las Vegas was billed by his campaign as an economic speech and one where he would also focus on immigration.
But at many points during the evening, he veered off script. He talked a lot about the debate on Tuesday night in Philadelphia, specifically mocking Kamala Harris' performance as well as attacking the moderators.
At one point, Donald Trump even repeated and promoted a conspiracy theory that has been circulating on the far right corners of social media. He claimed without evidence that Kamala Harris had perhaps been
wearing an earpiece on that debate stage Tuesday night and also, again, baselessly claimed that perhaps she had received the questions in advance. I want you to take a listen to how he exactly he put it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: She can't talk without maybe getting the answers?
What's the story with that?
Did she get the questions?
(INAUDIBLE)?
So I hear she got the questions and I also heard she had something in the ear, a little something in the ear.
No, Kamala, do this. Say it this way, Kamala. OK. Be quiet. Too many people watching.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
So again and I just want to be very clear.
[03:05:00]
There is no evidence that any this is true. These are baseless allegations. But it's notable because Donald Trump in recent weeks has been increasingly promoting some of these unseemly conspiracy theories, particularly ever since Kamala Harris replaced Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket,
I also just want to mention that another reason it's notable is because it comes as there are a lot of questions circulating right now about Donald Trump's relationship with Laura Loomer.
She's a far-right conspiracy theorist, someone who had once said that 9/11 was an inside job. She actually traveled with Donald Trump this week on his private plane, something that has become far harder for people to do ever since his assassination attempt in July.
But she had gotten one of those coveted seats and traveled with him to Philadelphia for the debate and then again to New York the next day.
And many Republicans have argued -- and including people who are very close to Donald Trump have told me that they are concerned about their relationship and how she may be influencing Donald Trump.
They also have argued that she is very much behind some of the conspiracy theories we see Donald Trump promoting and resharing. And I want to note that she actually had shared this theory about Harris wearing an earpiece previously.
Now Donald Trump did talk about Laura Loomer on social media Friday evening as well, just before coming to his rally. He tried to distance himself from some of her more controversial posts. Here's what he wrote on Truth Social.
He said, quote, "Laura Loomer doesn't work for the campaign. She's a private citizen and longtime supporter. I disagree with the statements she made but, like the many millions of people who support me, she is tired of watching the radical left Marxists and fascists violently attack and smear me."
Now again, Donald Trump continues to says she supports him but it was notable there that he tried to distance himself as well. So I think stay tuned for some of that -- Alayna Treene, CNN, Las Vegas.
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COREN: Ron Brownstein is a CNN senior political analyst and senior editor with "The Atlantic." He joins us now from Los Angeles.
Ron as always, great to see you. Donald Trump, non-committed as to whether or not he will debate Kamala Harris. He said no; today it was like, well, maybe.
Do you see him actually committing and what would be the benefits of him entering another debate with her?
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think pretty clearly after this first debate, he's losing in the race, certainly at the national level.
And usually the candidate who was losing is looking for opportunities to debate and calling for more debates. The twist this time is that, even before this debate, I was hearing from Republicans that they did not think that they were going to win this race, if they were going to win this race, through the interactions between Trump and Harris.
Whether it was at the debate or in the daily back-and-forth in the kind of campaign dialogue. Republicans, I think are putting more of their faith in just an enormous grinding operation in the swing states, targeting her mostly with blue-collar white voters with negative advertising.
They portray her as too liberal, soft on crime, soft on immigration. If they're going to win, that's how they think they're going to win. And they were skeptical even before this kind of disastrous performance by Trump, that he still, I think, had the capacity to drive the message in an effective way in these one-on-one encounters.
COREN: Ron, both candidates are going to be spending a lot of time in the battleground states. We saw Kamala Harris in Pennsylvania today. She said she's still the underdog and that she needs to earn every single vote.
What does she need to do between now and November? BROWNSTEIN: We're talking about seven states that are truly competitive but they are hyper competitive. I mean, polling right now has them all within basically 2, at most 2.5 points.
It is an extraordinary situation where there are very few states in play. And those states are all on a knife's edge. We are talking about perhaps 100,000, 200,000 people deciding the direction of a nation of 330 million.
Harris is in a pretty good position in three of them -- Michigan, Wisconsin and probably Nevada. And that means that she only needs one more of the remaining big states in order to get over the 270 Electoral College votes -- Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina.
And those first two, Pennsylvania and Georgia, really look like the focus for both campaigns above all, between now and November.
COREN: Ron, I now want to turn your attention to Springfield, Ohio, which appears caught in the middle of this political war after Donald Trump made those outrageous claims that Haitian immigrants were eating the city's pets during the debate.
There have been multiple bomb threats since. I want to talk to you about the danger of doubling down on these lies and conspiracy theories.
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BROWNSTEIN: Well, if one of our legal analysts were here, I would want to ask them, if this was anybody else, would they get arrested for making the same baseless claims that Trump has been propagating and refused to back off of?
Look, it's in some ways, to me, crystallizes what we have seen. Trump is running on a much more militant agenda than he was in 2016 for 2020. He's talking about mass deportation. He says he will start in Springfield or (INAUDIBLE).
He said it will be a bloody story, in some cases. He is hanging around with very far-right figures like this Laura Loomer, Laura Loomer figure that has been traveling with him in the last few days.
And he continues to spread these baseless accusations that really are about activating a culturally conservative base of supporters, who are fundamentally hostile to the demographic and cultural changes remaking America.
COREN: You mentioned Laura Loomer, this far-right activist, if that's what we want to call her.
She attended the debate. As you said, she also was at the 9/11 Memorial, which, in the past, she has called an inside job. I mean, even MAGA Republicans like Marjorie Taylor Greene are speaking out against her.
Do you think that this could backfire against Trump? BROWNSTEIN: These kinds of associations for Trump, like his
statements about Springfield, I think really shine a light on all of those Republicans, including many who worked for him in his cabinet or in the White House, who feel that he is unfit to be president again.
And yet because of their partisan loyalties, are refusing to definitively say so. Every -- in every possible way, he is giving us a preview that a second Trump term would be even more open to polarizing, divisive rhetoric and polarizing, divisive figures than a first one. And everyone in the Republican Party who is uneasy about that has a choice to make.
COREN: Ron Brownstein, you put it very succinctly. Thank you so much for joining us.
BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: Pope Francis making it clear he will not be endorsing either candidate in the U.S. election. On Friday, the pontiff said that Catholic voters face a grim choice between Trump and Harris, a lesser of two evils choice.
He criticized both candidates as having policies that are against life. CNN Vatican correspondent Christopher Lamb has the latest.
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CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Pope Francis has made a forthright intervention into the U.S. presidential election campaign, criticizing both former President Trump for his anti-migrant policies and Vice President Harris for her pro-choice. Francis saying that both of these policies are against life.
And he said that Catholic voters had to make a choice between a lesser of two evils.
POPE FRANCIS, PONTIFF, ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH (through translator): You have to vote and one must choose the lesser of two evils. Who is the lesser of two evils?
That lady or that gentleman?
I don't know. Everyone with a conscience should think on this and do it.
LAMB: The pope making these remarks on board the papal plane, taking him back from Singapore to Rome. Francis, very strong in his criticisms of
anti-migrant policies, talking specifically about migrant flows through Central America, saying it was evil and wrong not to welcome migrants, not to give them jobs.
Significant that he is equating anti-migrant policies with abortion. Of course, the Catholic church long opposed to abortion. Some of the church would like to see abortion be a single political issue. Francis not doing that here with his equating of anti-migrant policies with abortion.
A significant intervention from Pope Francis after what has been the longest trip of his pontificate during his tour of Southeast Asia and the Pacific. -- Christopher Lamb, CNN, Rome.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: Ukraine's allies debate whether Kyiv should get a green light to go after targets deeper inside Russia.
But Moscow is warning NATO, there will be serious consequences if Volodymyr Zelenskyy gets what he wants to hit.
Plus control over Gaza's southern border is one of the main issues holding up a ceasefire deal. Still ahead, CNN gets rare access to the area known as the Philadelphi corridor. Stay with us.
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COREN: NATO's defense Chiefs are meeting in Prague this hour as Russia ups the ante over the use of Western long-range missiles by Ukraine. On Friday, Russia's ambassador to the U.N. reminded NATO that his country is a nuclear power.
And there will be consequences if Ukraine gets the green light to use Western made weapons for strikes deeper inside Russia. He spoke a day after president Vladimir Putin raised the prospect of war over the issue.
Meanwhile, the leaders of two of the countries that supply long-range missiles to Kyiv, U.S. and Britain, met in Washington on Friday. U.S. officials said there would be no major announcements or immediate changes in Washington's policy.
British prime minister Keir Starmer said the talks focused on the bigger picture.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEIR STARMER, U.K. PRIME MINISTER: This wasn't a beating about some particular capability. That wasn't why we got our heads down today. It was to allow ourselves the space in which we took the time to have a strategic discussion so that tactical decisions can be seen within the wide stretch.
There was a really good invitation from the president. We've had a very productive and we've covered some strong positions. I'm very pleased that we've had this.
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COREN: But Ukraine's president says he needs the latitude to hit farther inside Russia and he needs it now.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: Everybody is looking the decision of the United States. Everybody is waiting for such decisions.
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After that, they make decisions, it's true.
And so we wanted very much to use this weapon and just to attack these jets on the military bases -- not civilian infrastructure, military bases.
We need more permissions. But now you will tell me maybe we will give you 100 or 200. But for what?
To destroy what?
If they began to move so we're again, like with the packages, again, slow decisions. And again, we can't win in such circumstances.
FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST: Do you have permission now to --
ZELENSKYY: No. Until now, no.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: Possible targets for Ukraine's strikes could include Russian airfields and missile launchers and ammunition depots. As Mr. Zelenskyy pointed out, Russia is already moving some targets out of the range of Western made missiles.
But as Clare Sebastian reports, some analysts say there are still many military assets left to strike.
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CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Now Ukraine has been using Western long-range missiles on occupied territory for months. This believed to be a
British Storm Shadow, a long long-range stealth cruise missile hitting Russia's Black Sea fleet headquarters in Crimea last year. But Russian
territory has been off limits. Now a major reason for that is, of course, Western fears a Russian escalation.
But recently the U.S. has also been arguing that actually lifting those restrictions wouldn't make much difference on the battlefield because it
claims many high-value targets including aircraft that dropped those deadly glide bombs are out of range.
But what exactly is in range?
Well, this map from the Institute for the Study of War suggests that there are well over 200 targets still in reach
of U.S. ATACMS. Those are the red dots you see there. And among them is also the headquarters of Russia's Southern Military District in Rostov and
dozens of command centers, storage depots, weapons production facilities and military regiments, including, for example, the 52nd Guard Heavy Bomber
Regiment believed to be responsible for a deadly cruise missile attack on an apartment block in Dnipro last January.
President Zelenskyy warning that any further delay may mean the U.S. is proved right.
ZELENSKYY (through translator): Delaying this process leads to Russia moving these military targets deeper into the territory of Russia. So if our partners lift the restrictions, I really want it to be a strategy for Ukraine's victory, not a political strategy.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: In the last hour, I spoke with Nigel Gould-Davies, a senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. He's also a former British ambassador to Belarus. And I asked him if U.S. President Joe Biden is likely to give Ukraine the go-ahead for those strikes.
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NIGEL GOULD-DAVIES, SENIOR FELLOW, INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR STRATEGIC STUDIES: I have to say it's a little surprising that that decision has not already been made during the recent visit of Sir Keir Starmer, the British prime minister.
There was a sort of a drumbeat of expectation that this would happen. And I'm concerned that the diplomacy of this issue is not being handled effectively by Britain, the United States together.
The fact that this issue is being debated in this slow and public way gives President Putin the opportunity to issue these attempts at deterrent threat in advance of any such decision.
I think the better thing to do would be simply to take the decision quickly and quietly rather than deliberate, deliberate about it in this slow and foot-dragging way.
I just draw attention to a decision that the United States made a few months ago, to allow the deployment of its powerful ATACMs missiles for use by Ukraine against Ukrainian occupied territory. That decision was taken and announced by the use of the missiles themselves.
So Russia woke up to this unexpected escalation. It wasn't debated in this way that gives Russia an opportunity to try to hinder it.
COREN: There are concerns obviously as to whether this will in fact be effective, considering that Putin has had warning and can move or has already moved those military assets.
And when we say striking deeper into Russia, we're talking about targets only 250 to 300 kilometers inside Russia.
GOULD-DAVIES: Exactly right.
And it's important to be precise about language because language frames perceptions. And this praise has been allowed to sort of get out into the public. It's all about strikes deep into Russia. Russia is comfortably the largest country in the world.
[03:25:00]
We're not talking about, for example, strikes on Moscow or anywhere near Moscow, as that phrase might imply. We're looking at strikes at the very western fringe of this enormous, enormous continental sized power.
And only and specifically in order to attack military assets. So it's -- this language of depth shouldn't be allowed to become misleading and, therefore, deter and discourage what I believe would be the right decision to take in this case.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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COREN: There is a glimmer of good news in Gaza amid and perhaps despite the tragic war. Health officials say they have vaccinated more than 560,000 children against a resurgent poliovirus. The U.N. says aid workers reached more than 90 percent of those targeted in the first round of vaccinations.
The second round will take place in less than four weeks. And despite the challenges of a war zone, the head of the World Health Organization hailed the vaccination campaign as a, quote, "massive success" amidst a tragic daily reality of life across Gaza, adding, "Imagine what could be achieved with a ceasefire."
We're getting a new look at a part of Gaza that negotiators say is key for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. The Philadelphi corridor, as it's known, is a 14 kilometer strip of land in southern Gaza along the border with Egypt that the Israel Defense Forces currently controls.
CNN's Matthew Chance got rare access to the corridor. CNN reported from Gaza under IDF escort at all times but CNN retained full editorial control over this report. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: We're being taken by the Israeli military into the Gaza Strip and they've loaded us all, as
you can see, into this metal sided truck. We're going into the south bit of the Gaza Strip, which the Israeli military say they have under full
operational control. But it's not entirely secure.
They brought us to this place called the Philadelphi Corridor. It's emerged as a sticking point in the negotiations to get a ceasefire and to get the
hostages released. As you can see, it's right up against the Egyptian border. And it's important because the Israelis say this is an area which
has been used over the years as a way of smuggling weapons into the Gaza Strip.
Some of the smuggling has taken place over land, through presumably holes in the fence and through other border crossings. But a lot of it has been
taking place right under our feet.
OK. Well, this is one of those tunnels. It's right on the border with Egypt. And you can see, it is absolutely huge. Wide enough to drive a car
right the way through it. The Israeli military say that this tunnel, because it's so close to the Egyptian frontier, has been used by Hamas and
other militants to store weapons in and to fire rockets from. You can see here, the back of the wall, it's completely collapsed down. Apparently, it
was closed for some time now.
We're driving now through the neighborhood of Tel Sultan. Every one of the buildings here has been totally destroyed. This was obviously a residential
area with many people living in it. And the Israeli military say those people have moved for the most part to safe zones, humanitarian areas, not
far from here. But look what they've left behind. Look what's happened to Gaza. Thank you.
Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari is the chief spokesperson for the Israeli military. How can you justify causing so much, you know, damage, devastation, destruction in pursuit of your objectives?
REAR ADMIRAL DANIEL HAGARI, IDF SPOKESPERSON: The only reason is because Hamas has built his military capabilities in that way that there is no
other possibility. There is a town underneath Rafah. If you don't demolish it, then Hamas will go back and have a stronghold, a military stronghold.
He is using the population, embedding in the population. He's creating this destruction and also the deaths of the population.
CHANCE: Well, this has been a very tightly controlled bit of access into Gaza with the Israeli military. There's such a lot we haven't been able to
see but it's incredible they've showed us what they have. It's definitely a narrow view but it is also the only view right now that we can get
firsthand.
Matthew Chance, CNN, in the Southern Gaza Strip.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: Former U.S. president Donald Trump is making new claims without evidence about undocumented immigrants.
[03:30:04]
His new tactic to focus the presidential campaign on immigration just ahead.
Plus a Boeing executive is speaking out after thousands of union members go on strike. When they plan to head back to the negotiating table -- next.
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COREN: U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris spent Friday campaigning in Pennsylvania. She criticized former president Donald Trump for spreading, quote, "hate and division," end quote. She also said Trump has no plan to address the needs of the American people.
Addressing supporters on Friday night, Harris said, American freedoms and rights are under attack.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS (D), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are witnessing a full on assault on other hard fought, hard won, fundamental freedoms and rights, like the freedom to vote. The freedom to be safe from gun violence, the freedom to join a union.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: Trump was in Nevada Friday night and he claimed without any evidence that some undocumented migrants have assault weapons and are taking over parts of the country, like the town of Aurora, Colorado.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We will deploy ICE, DHS and other federal officials to go in and liberate Aurora.
We're going to -- can you believe I'm saying?
Can you believe I have to say this?
We are going to liberate parts of our country.
[03:35:00]
When I return to the White House, I will launch a special task force of elite federal law enforcement and charge them with crushing and eliminating every foreign gang and organized crime network that is conquering our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: The Biden administration has unveiled new declassified evidence that a Russian intelligence unit embedded in the state media network RT has played a key role in gathering global intelligence for the Kremlin.
CNN's Kylie Atwood has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: The State Department rolled out a major effort to try and blunt the global influence of RT, the Russia state media network, and also to expose it as playing a key role in Russian intelligence and influence operations globally.
With the secretary of state saying that much of the new information came from RT employees. Notably, we also know was declassified U.S. intelligence at the State Department provided publicly on Friday.
One of the key details is that a Russian cyber and intelligence unit was embedded in RT that started back in 2023. Officials wouldn't say if that unit is still embedded within RT but it was able to collect information and then share it back with Russian intelligence.
Now the State Department is engaged in a global diplomatic effort now to try and share this information with allies around the globe, to warn them of the risks associated with RT globally.
And this comes on the heels of the Biden administration, the Department of Justice going after the influence that RT was seeking to have here in the United States to try and influence the 2024 presidential election -- Kylie Atwood, CNN, the State Department.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: Elsewhere in the U.S., Georgia officials say officers were already looking for the suspect of the deadly Apalachee High School shooting when it started last week. They were dispatched after a warning call from Colt Gray's mother.
It comes as authorities released 9-1-1 calls and police dispatch records revealing how the tragedy unfolded. CNN's Ryan Young reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are getting new details about the Barrow County shooting involving the 14-year-old accused shooter. He tells investigators apparently he traveled in a school bus with the gun concealed in his backpack.
At some point he asked to leave the math class to go to the office, returned back to the hallway and started shooting. At this point, we have dispatch from 9-1-1 operators showing exactly what happened in the moments just after the shooting. Take a listen.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's a shooter.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Active shooter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have an active shooter at Apalachee High School.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's the status of the shooter?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In custody and uninjured.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
YOUNG: We've also learned from investigators that the accused shooter had a knife on him as well. We have to remember, four people were killed in this incident, two teachers and two students.
The community still trying to put pieces back together. But listen to the school system talk about the return to class.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JESSICA REHBERG, PRINCIPAL, APALACHEE HIGH SCHOOL: we are working to make sure we have the right systems and resources in place.
We also want to ensure that we have the right mental health support on our campus, spaces for relocated classes and have thought through every detail of your return.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YOUNG: We now believe the school will open September 23rd.
This weekend there'll be two funerals as this community struggles to put the pieces back together with so many questions about why the shooting happened and whether or not there were red flags that could have put them in place to stop it from ever happening -- Ryan Young, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: The manhunt for the Kentucky Interstate 75 shooter is about to enter its eighth day. Authorities continue to scour the vast, rugged terrain of the Daniel Boone National Forest, an area larger than Los Angeles and New York City combined.
The Kentucky State Police are urging locals to refrain from outdoor activities amid the ongoing manhunt.
The suspect, 32-year-old Joseph Couch, is accused of wounding five people with an AR-15 rifle shortly after sending a text that said he was going to "kill a lot of people." The motive for the rampage remains unknown.
U.S. federal mediators say Boeing will resume negotiations with union members early next week as the troubled aircraft manufacturer deals with its first strike in 16 years. About 33,000 walked off the job on Friday after rejecting a proposed four-year contract. CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: The CFO of Boeing, Bryan West, called the results disappointing and the union said it would get back to the table to drive home the issues that members say are important.
The White House says the administration is in touch with both sides. Rank and file union workers say the deal, which included a 25 percent wage increase over four years, a signing bonus and the promise of a new airplane to produce in Washington state does not make up for the concessions they've had to make in past contracts.
[03:40:05]
And does not keep up with wage growth and inflation. Yet Boeing called the deal historic. So take a listen now to union workers on the picket lines Friday morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Recognize whose building these planes out here on the floor and the quality that we put into our work every day to make sure that passengers and crew members that fly our airplanes are safe. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We definitely need more wage increase. That's for
sure. More time off would be nice and if they bring back the pension, that would be really nice.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe we deserve way better because, without us, there is no Boeing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YURKEVICH: Now Boeing is one of America's largest manufacturers and exporters and the company says it contributes $79 billion to the local economy, supporting 1.6 million jobs directly and indirectly.
CFO Bryan West said that the strike will impact production operations and deliveries of planes. And if there's a prolonged strike, it could affect some of Boeing's 10,000 suppliers. The last time we saw a strike at Boeing was in 2008 and that lasted eight weeks -- Vanessa Yurkevich, CNN, in New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: China's population is aging. So the People's Republic is raising the people's retirement age. Those details when we come back.
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COREN: Welcome back.
China is raising its retirement age from 60 to 63 for men, for women from 50 to 55 or from 55 to 58, depending on their occupation. The earlier making up a growing chunk of China's total population, a population that shrank the past two years.
Adding to that, last year saw the lowest birth rates since the country's founding in 1949. Well, that puts pressure on both the size of the workforce and the cost of pension payouts. But not everyone is happy about the government solution.
[03:45:00]
Well, for more on the changes, Simone McCarthy joins me now here in Hong Kong.
Simone, great to see you. China's economy, as we say, it has been slowing for some time.
But why has the government decided to act now?
And what will it mean for older workers?
SIMONE MCCARTHY, CNN SENIOR WRITER: Thanks, Anna. Well, this is certainly a situation where China for decades has had
one of the world's lowest retirement ages among major developed economy. And those changes that you mentioned are going to roll out gradually over the next 15 years.
But this is a major change for the Chinese government, which hasn't adjusted the retirement age in some 70 years. And this is playing out as the economy is slowing. And there's a number of looming demographic challenges that China's facing.
Those include a rapidly aging population, a shrinking workforce as well as sinking birth rate. Right now, some 20 percent of China's population is already over 60. And that number is expected to balloon to upwards of 40 percent by the middle of the century.
And we're definitely seeing that fewer young people are interested in having children. That's even as the government has relaxed that one- child policy. And so this is definitely one of those moments where the Chinese government feels a lot of urgency that they need to act.
And this is going to put a lot of pressure on the pension system. So that's why we're seeing these changes now.
COREN: And tell us, how are people reacting?
How do they feel about this?
MCCARTHY: Well, let's take a listen to what some people in China are saying.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I'm worried that we modern people are now so competitive and distressed that our health may not see us through to that new retirement age.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I may feel a bit reluctant to work for such a long time but I also understand this decision. The government may have to consider the issue of an aging population. I think from a macro perspective, I can understand it.
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MCCARTHY: This definitely reflects some of the anxieties and attitudes that we've seen reflected across Chinese social media over the past days since this was announced on Friday afternoon. It's certainly been something that has widespread attention in China.
I think on Chinese social media, about 10 or five of the top 10 trending topics were related to this. And certainly some people are saying that, OK, well, this isn't as drastic as we thought it was going to be.
And there are some flexibilities in terms of people being able to extend or delay that retirement age in certain situations. But at the same time, there's a lot of concern and criticism that we're seeing. And that's largely because of those economic challenges.
Right now, there's high youth unemployment in China. Many people are feeling the sting of a stock market rout and a property sector crisis that's caused a lot of changes to people's livelihoods and how they're thinking about their future.
So we're seeing a lot of people commenting, not just, OK, I have to delay my retirement for a few years but actually, am I going to be able to draw from that pension bucket when I get to that point?
Am I going to be able to have a job when I'm 63 or 58 or 55?
And a lot of young people who are struggling with unemployment are saying, OK, well, we can't find jobs and older people can't stop working. So I think we can see that, while this is addressing some of the challenges that are taking place in China right now, it's also dovetailing with a lot of these larger economic anxieties.
COREN: As we know, those economic challenges aren't going away anytime soon in China. Simone McCarthy, great to see you. Thanks for analysis.
NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore's mission in space changed from eight days to eight months. We'll hear what they have to say about it when we come back.
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COREN: Lit up on Friday, thanks to about 20 million dazzling LED lights, the Canadian-produced Illumi light show, made its international debut in the Asian nation with its skyline a dramatic backdrop for the spectacular sight. The show's creator says his dreams and troubles inspired him to create the experience.
The display includes a winter wonderland with glowing penguins, jungles, even dinosaurs. More than 3 million people saw the show in Canada. Illumi will run in Singapore until February.
Not satisfied merely to make history by going outside the Dragon capsule in the first civilian spacewalk, Polaris Dawn mission specialist Sarah Gillis came back inside and led a worldwide musical concert on her violin.
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COREN (voice-over): The composition is called "Ray's Theme" and was written by John Williams. It was beamed back to Earth via the Starlink satellite network. It was played with groups of young musicians around the world and supported children's charities St. Jude's Children's Hospital and El Sistema USA.
NASA astronauts, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, who flew to the International Space Station aboard that Boeing Starliner capsule, said they are not upset about having to stay at the ISS months longer than they expected. But they did have to make some arrangements back on Earth. CNN's Kristin Fisher has the details.
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KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE & DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is the first time that we've heard from NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams since NASA made the decision to send their spaceship, Starliner, back to Earth without them.
The mission's commander, Butch Wilmore, who is also a Navy test pilot, said that you don't want to see your ship go off without you. But he also said that he understood NASA's decision.
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BUTCH WILMORE, ASTRONAUT: When you have issues like we've had, there's some changes that need to be made. Boeing's on board with that, we're all on board with that.
And I can tell you, when you push the edge of the envelope again and you do things with spacecraft that have never been done before, just like Starliner, you're going to find some things.
And in this case, we found some things that we just could not get comfortable with, putting us back in the Starliner when we had other options.
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FISHER: And that other option is a SpaceX Crew Dragon, which means that Butch and Suni won't be returning to Earth until February of 2025. So I asked them, what has it been like for you mentally, to go from a roughly eight-day mission to an eight-month mission?
Here's what they said.
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WILMORE: The, things that I can't control, I am not going to fret over it. I mean, there is no benefit to it, at all. If there is nothing we can do, there's nothing we can do. So we march forward.
SUNI WILLIAMS, ASTRONAUT: I have to say, though, in the back of my mind, you know, there's folks on the ground who had some plans, right?
Like my family. And so to spend some time with my mom and I think I was fretting more about that, like the things that we had sort of all talked about and planned for this fall and this winter. And I think I was a little bit nervous to be honest with you to say like, OK, I am not coming home for it.
But you know what, like we both mentioned in the very beginning, everybody was on board.
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FISHER: The other thing that they will be missing while they are in space is the election. And today, Butch Wilmore said that he put in his request for a ballot. Butch and Suni will be voting remotely from the International Space Station -- Kristin Fisher, CNN, Washington.
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COREN: A whale, severely entangled in fishing lines, is now swimming free.
That's thanks to rescuers off Canada's Pacific coast. It took a team from Fisheries and Oceans Canada four days to cut more than 50 ropes, tackling floats that had ensnared the humpback. Most of the lines were wrapped around its body.
They say the whale likely accumulated the fishing gear over several months.
Thank God that beautiful animal is now free.
I'm Anna Coren live in Hong Kong. Thank you for your company. Kim Brunhuber picks up our coverage right after this short break. Stay with CNN.
