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CNN International: Congress Considers Additional Funding for Secret Service; Israel Behind Lebanon Pager Attacks in Join Mossad-IDF Operation; Fed Expected to Cut Interest Rates for First Time Since 2020; Sean 'Diddy' Combs Charged With Sex Trafficking, Racketeering; Trump Campaigns After Apparent Assassination Attempt; Harris Speaks to Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Today; President Jimmy Carter Turns 100 on October 1st; Europe Endures Deadly Flooding, Severe Wildfires; Ukraine Claims Drone Attack Destroys Russian Ammunition Depot; Titan Deaths Could Have Been Prevented According to a Whistleblower; Pierre Cardin Designs New Space Suits for European Astronauts. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired September 18, 2024 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:10]

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWSROOM": Hi, everyone. Welcome to our viewers all around the world. I'm Amara Walker. This is "CNN Newsroom." Just ahead, new details about a coordinated, widespread attack, thousands of pagers exploding simultaneously in Lebanon, stoking fears of a wider war. A consequential cut, today, the Fed is expected to cut interest rates, what that could mean for U.S. stock markets and consumers. Plus, disturbing allegations and lurid details, music mogul Sean 'Diddy' Combs remains behind bars after a sweeping indictment was unsealed, accusing him of sex trafficking.

We begin with the coordinator of pager attacks, hundreds of pagers that blew up simultaneously across Lebanon, and that is further escalating regional tensions and have Hezbollah now vowing to retaliate. Lebanon's health minister says 12 people were killed, including children, on Tuesday and nearly 3,000 were wounded, 300 of them critically. CNN has learned that the explosions targeting Hezbollah members were part of a joint operation between Israel's military and intelligence services. Innocent civilians were also killed.

Now, "The New York Times" meanwhile is reporting that Israel planted the explosives next to the battery in each pager as well as a detonation switch. Israel, though, so far is not commenting. CNN's Ben Wedeman has more on this attack, and fears that it could stoke a wider war.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Almost 200 people injured in the pager blast that occurred Tuesday afternoon were treated here at the American University of Beirut Medical Center where the chief medical officer told us that even though there were women and children among the injured, the vast majority were young men. Now, thousands of people were injured in the apparently simultaneous pager blast that took place at about 3:30 in the afternoon, Tuesday, in areas where Hezbollah has a strong presence. Now, here outside the hospital, friends and relatives of those injured are waiting for news, not surprisingly, most do not want to appear on camera. But off camera, one told us for instance, that a friend of his received a message on his pager. He picked it up, looked at it, and it exploded in his face, damaging his eyes and his fingers. Another individual who said he was a supporter of Hezbollah told us that despite these injuries, morale within the group is still high and that those who were injured will soon return to the front.

Now, Thursday afternoon, Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah is expected to comment on the events of Tuesday. But on Wednesday morning, Hezbollah put out a statement saying that there would be hard atonement awaiting to these so-called criminal enemy that was behind what they described as Tuesday's massacre.

I am Ben Wedeman, CNN, reporting from Beirut.

WALKER: All right. Let's talk more about this. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is in London, but first, let's go to Paula Hancocks, who is joining me now from Abu Dhabi. Paula, Israel is refusing to comment publicly on these explosions. What do you know about the purpose of this attack, the strategic goal?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Amara, the goal that Israel would have and always has had is to debilitate its enemy, to make it impossible for Hezbollah to be able to fire missiles into northern Israel and to really cripple the organization. Now, what we've seen is that there are 2,800 injuries, so we don't have a breakdown of how many of these are Hezbollah fighters versus how many are innocent civilians. What we do know is that at least two children are among the dead at this point. But what this has done is this has ability of this militant group to be able to fight against Israel.

We have heard that there has been some 460 operations so far from the health minister, the majority of those have been to the face and the eyes. So certainly, critical injuries that are going to prevent militants from being able to fight in the near future. And of course, they've also taken out one of the very basic ways of communication between these large numbers of fighters.

[08:05:00]

And what they've also done is instill a sense of paranoia amongst this group. Who can they trust? If the -- if Israel can get to them in this very significant and widespread way, then certainly, there is going to be a concern in even trying to communicate any other members of the group. So, Israel's intention was certainly to sow chaos plus within the group, which it appears has been managed. We understand that there was absolute chaos when this happened. We had the ministry of health calling health officials to come back to the hospitals because of the sheer number of casualties.

Now, we also know that the U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, is in the region. He has been in Cairo speaking with his counterpart. He just gave a press conference and unsurprisingly, he was asked about this attack. Let's listen to his answer. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE: So with regard to Lebanon, the United States did not know about, nor was it involved in these incidents. And we are still gathering the information and gathering the facts. Broadly speaking, we've been very clear and we remain very clear about the importance of all parties avoiding any steps that could further escalate the conflict that we are trying to resolve in Gaza, to see it spread to other fronts. It's clearly not in the interest of anyone involved to see that happen. And that's why, again, it is imperative that all parties refrain from any actions that could escalate the conflict.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS: And back in Lebanon, we know that some hospitals are still operating at overcapacity given the mass casualty event that this has become. We also know that others in the region are sending in medical supplies. Iran, Iraq, Jordan, all offering their help and sending in supplies to help Lebanon through this time. Amara?

WALKER: Nick, if you are (ph), can we focus a little bit on just how Israel -- thank you, by the way, Paula. To Nick now in London -- just how Israel was able to carry out such an attack. I mean, this was highly complex on a really large scale and it required infiltrating the supply chain, getting to these pagers before they were imported into Lebanon.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Look, I mean, it is no secret that Lebanon is often the recipient of containers of goods of questionable provenance, often into ports, areas that are effectively under Hezbollah control. I mean, I've lived there for six years and seen that occasionally happen. So, probably not that hard for Israel at some point in the supply chain to insert into a container or somewhere rogue pagers like this, harder to be sure that that particular device would end up as it seems to have been in the hands of Hezbollah members.

Though should point out, we are looking at civilians caught in these blasts as well. So not as targeted perhaps as Israel would like to tell the world. But these pagers, the Gold Apollo AR924, made by a Taiwanese company, who say themselves they have no record of direct shipments to Lebanon. And in fact, indeed that that model, one of a number that were part of this parent shipment were sent to a Hungarian company called BAC, and so it is unclear at this stage exactly when in this supply chain the Israelis, who haven't claimed this publicly, but CNN has learned, carried this out in a joint Mossad and the Israeli military operation, how they intercepted these devices and according to reporting in "The New York Times," implanted a small amount of explosives near the battery.

Now, the presence of some kind of explosive would explain the significant blasts that we've seen in multiple videos. That's not really a lithium battery that this device's instructions suggest fuels it, exploding after a cyber attack. It is clearly something more significant. So we are looking really at thousands, 5,000 potentially, pagers individually tampered with. That is an enormous operation and one that the Israelis must have been fairly sure of the success of in terms of its final end user for each device to have attempted something like this.

But be in no doubt, it is extraordinarily embarrassing for Hezbollah to have the very low-tech devices that they've reached out to avoid the smartphones which appear to have assisted Israeli targeting over the past months, to have those very devices targeted themselves. And right now, you're going to have a militant group that are desperately trying to work out how they can speak to each other safely, who of their number is unharmed, who is potentially functional. There a lot of injuries to hands and eyes and at this point, we know of 12 dead, but I'm sure too we may learn that number rises and maybe we'll hear more about how many Hezbollah figures themselves were killed or wounded in all of this.

But it brings a larger question here, Amara, as to exactly the timing of this.

WALKER: Yeah.

PATON WALSH: We've seemed diplomacy really struggling. Certainly, Israeli officials are asking whether or not there is any room for diplomacy at all and hinting that the military solution is all they have left. And hours later, we see this extraordinary, unprecedented attack across all of Lebanon, but particularly against their main Iran-backed enemy here.

[08:10:00]

And so, is this a prelude to a wider Israeli operation, or is this a message in itself to Hezbollah to say, look, we can get you wherever we like, whenever we like on a pretty substantial scale, still deeply escalatory in a region where many had hoped in the past week or two, things have calmed.

WALKER: Yeah. What will the impacts be of this in the region, really an extraordinary attack. Nick Paton Walsh and Paula Hancocks, thank you to you both.

Well, it is Fed decision day and it is a big one. The U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to cut interest rates for the first time since the height of the COVID pandemic in 2020. Years of high rates have slowed inflation, but now, with the U.S. job market weakening, it appears the Fed plans to stimulate the economy by lowering those rates. It is worth noting, it is only in the past few weeks that this Fed has clearly signaled it is ready to cut and Wall Street will be listening closely to what Fed Chair, Jerome Powell, says later today.

CNN's Matt Egan is, of course, watching all of this for us. Joining us now from New York. Hello, Matt. So, this is a last Fed rates decision before the U.S. presidential election. And of course, the question is, well, how much is it likely to cut interest rates?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: That's right, Amara. You know, this is a major moment for the American economy and it is one that has a surprising amount of drama surrounding it. I mean, here we are less than six hours away from this Fed decision and no one really knows for sure just what the Fed is going to do. It is rare to see that much uncertainty on the morning of a Fed decision. Normally, this stuff ease telegraphed weeks or even months in advance, not today though. So, we do know that Fed is going to cut interest rates, right? There's no chance that the Fed hold rates steady. That's because they no longer feel like inflation is this clear and present danger.

But, the big debate is how big of a cut. So 39 percent chance of quarter-point cut, but a 61 percent chance priced into the market of a half-a-point cut. Now, either way, this is a big deal, right? This would be the first interest rate cut since March of 2020 during the depths of COVID and this, of course, would give borrowers a break just weeks before the U.S. presidential election. That chart shows you where interest rates have gone and look, two plus years ago, the Fed spiked interest rates at a pace we haven't seen in decades, right? Because they were trying to put out this inflation fire. They've been on hold for the past year.

Now, finally, rates are going to go down. But what they end up deciding here is a very big deal because of what it signals about the future. If they do a quarter-point, that does suggest they've got some competence, right? They don't feel like they need to rush to the rescue here. They do a bigger cut though, that does suggest that officials have some growing concern about cracks that we've seen in the jobs market. Some people in Washington do want the Fed to move quickly. Elizabeth Warren is calling for massive interest rate cuts. Some on Wall Street are urging the Fed to move much slower.

JPMorgan's David Kelley, I think he put it best. He said cutting short-term interest rates from a peak is a little like hauling a piano down a flight of stairs. The operation is best done slowly and with care. Amara, in a few hours, we'll see if Jerome Powell and his colleagues at the Fed agree.

WALKER: OK. So, what about the people who are sitting at home who've been watching the news carefully, hoping that one day they can finally by their home? If the Fed cuts rates, what would that mean for mortgage rates?

EGAN: Yeah, that's a great question. Look, this is definitely good news for borrowers, but I would caution that Fed policy, it doesn't hit immediately. It can take some time. It could take months or even a year for the full impact to come into play. Short-term interest rates, things that our variable, think about credit card debt, home equity, lines of credit, that will move significantly based on what the Fed does today and perhaps more importantly, what they signal they're going to do next.

Mortgage rates, you know mortgage rates have already come down sharply. A year ago, rates were almost at 8 percent. Now, they've come down to 6.2 percent. That is a big drop. It's still high, but it is certainly moving in the right direction. Whether or not rates go down even more on the mortgage front, that's going to depend on what Powell says today at the press conference, how many interest rate cuts officials are projecting, going out into the future. One interesting thing though, is that because the mortgage market has already reacted, some experts have told me that if the Fed ends up going with a smaller interest rate cut, right, just a quarter-point, that could end up actually disappointing the market and we could even see mortgage rates go a little bit higher, which of course is not really what Fed officials want to see.

[08:15:00]

Taking a look at U.S. stock futures, we see markets are not moving all that much, slightly higher ahead of this Fed decision. But listen, Amara, obviously, all eyes are going to be on the Fed and every word that Jerome Powell says is going to be dissected by investors, economists, and Fed watchers. It is going to be a very interesting day.

WALKER: Absolutely. Matt Egan, appreciate you breaking it down for us, as always. Thanks so much, Matt.

EGAN: Thanks, Amara.

WALKER: Well, Sean 'Diddy' Combs is headed back to court in the coming hours to ask a judge to grant him bail. The rap mogul woke up in a federal jail cell after pleading not guilty to sex trafficking, racketeering, conspiracy, and transportation to engage in prostitution. Prosecutors accuse Combs of running a criminal organization that engaged in sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, and arson. CNN's Kaitlan Collins asked Comb's lawyer whether a video of his client assaulting an ex-girlfriend would have any bearing on the case?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARC AGNIFILO, ATTORNEY FOR SEAN 'DIDDY' COMBS: There was no criminal investigation. This was just a matter of personal embarrassment because he and the person in the video were in the midst of a ten-year relationship that was difficult at times, that was toxic at times, but it was mutually so. And this whole notion in that Mr. Combs is forcing drugs on someone is just non-sensical and it's going to prove to not be true.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CNN's Kara Scannell has been following this story and she's joining us now with an update. So, as we were saying, Sean 'Diddy' Combs will be back in court. What do we expect to happen today? And have you heard anything about a potential plea deal?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So back in court, today, will be the prosecution and Sean Combs' attorneys. As you heard, he wants to get Combs out on bail. The magistrate judge who heard this yesterday said that there was no amount of system she could put in place that would make her comfortable having Combs free on bail. This is after the prosecution said that witnesses said that they were scared of Combs, she said the risk of danger given the allegations of physical abuse his use of -- his access to weapons was something that was real. Combs' lawyers trying to say that this, as you just played, that this was domestic dispute, this isn't a case about sex trafficking. Ultimately, the magistrates found that she was not comfortable letting Combs free. Today, they get to make the same arguments before the judge who will oversee the trial in this case. He will hear much of the same arguments, they could potentially add to them given that now both sides know what the other is going to say. And Combs' lawyer will try to persuade the judge to let Combs out on bail with some conditions. They suggested a $50 million bail package, that he would surrender his passport, the passports of several of his family members, and take other steps to try to assure that he would show up for every future court appearance.

Now, as to your question of a plea deal, federal prosecutors say that their investigation is active and ongoing, and we could potentially see additional charges and Combs' lawyer told Kaitlan last night that no plea is on the table. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Is there any chance Sean Combs takes a plea deal?

AGNIFILO: I don't see it happening. I do not see it happening. He's innocent. I believe he's innocent. I believe he's innocent of the charges. And he is going to go to trial. And I believe he's going to win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCANNELL: Now, Combs picked as his attorney, Marc Agnifilo who is a well-known trial lawyer. He is not someone that usually negotiates a deal. Amara?

WALKER: So, could you just walk us through the indictment? I mean, some of the charges are quite shocking and also, the question that comes as attorney answered to Kaitlan Collins there, where he said that the video of his ex-girlfriend won't have any bearing on the case. Is that your sense?

SCANNELL: So, what prosecutors are alleging in this indictment is a criminal enterprise that Combs and high-ranking employees of his security staff, his personal staff, and his household staff were all working together in this sex trafficking operation. And what authorities allege is that Cohen (ph) had forced women into having sex with him and with male prostitutes at these drug fueled parties that he had called freak-offs. Now, prosecutors say that a number of these freak-off parties were recorded. They said that they lasted for days and that women were drugged to have them to continue to have sex with Combs and with male prostitutes that were hired for these parties.

They say -- prosecutors say that there is more than one victim in this case. It's not just the one person, that there are multiple victims and that there are multiple witnesses to this. Now, Combs' attorney is saying that this was a ten-year relationship and this was a fight. What the prosecutors said in response to that was that this was not just one victim and that, that tape what we see was this woman trying to leave after one of these freak-offs, not after they got into a fight about Combs having another girlfriend.

[08:20:00]

WALKER: Interesting. All right. Kara Scannell, really appreciate you following this story for us. Thanks so much.

All right. Still to come, Donald Trump returns to the campaign trail only days after an apparent assassination attempt. We'll tell you what he had to say about it when we come back. And Kamala Harris speaks out about how rumors and conspiracy theories are impacting immigrants in America.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALKER: Just two days after the latest apparent attempt on his life, Donald Trump is back on the campaign trail with a very public appearance. The former president held a town hall in Flint, Michigan, shaking the hands of supporters, and he spoke about the incident in West Palm Beach Sunday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: You know, only consequential presidents get shot at. When I say something like that, you have countries saying, this guy? But what can you do? You have to do -- you have to do what you have to do, right? You have to -- we have to be brave. Otherwise, we are not going to have a country left.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: Steve Contorno is tracking the Trump campaign for us. Steve, I mean, some might say Trump just appeared pretty unfazed by that second assassination attempt, apparent assassination attempt in West Palm Beach on Sunday and almost seemed to joke -- I mean, he did make a few jokes about it on -- about that incident, saying that he was trying to make a birdie putt. What did he say last night?

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: That's right, Amara. He also said that he sort of "Wishes that Joe Biden wasn't so nice to him" on the call that the two shared in the aftermath of that episode, just sort of mostly reflecting the Trump that we have seen in recent days. Like you said, unfazed and also not pivoting at all to that message of unity that we saw in the aftermath of that first assassination attempt, at least briefly for a period, he was sort of pitching himself as a unity candidate of sorts.

Instead, he was quite divisive and attacking Vice President Harris and suggesting that she compares unfavorably to foreign leaders and other adversaries. But look, this was a swing state where the economy is a top issue and he fielded a lot of questions from this crowd about the economy. And his answer over and over again was tariffs and trade wars, that was his answer when someone asked him what he's going to do to get down the price of food. It was also his answer to questions about the state's automobile industry. Take a listen to what he said he would do if elected.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They think they're going to make their cars there and they're going to sell them across our line and we are going to take them and we are not going to charge the tax. We are going to charge them, I'm telling you right now, putting a 200 percent tariff on which means they're unsellable.

(CROWD CHEERING)

[08:25:00]

Unsellable in the United States. You're going to as big or bigger than you were 50 years ago.

(CROWD CHEERING)

Because they won't be able -- if they are not willing to build a plant, we don't want their product.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CONTORNO: Now, Trump has said these tariffs would bring down the cost. Obviously, many, in fact, most economists would say they would do just the opposite, Amara.

WALKER: All right. Steve Contorno, thank you for your reporting. Now, Kamala Harris says she has reached out to Donald Trump to see how he is doing in the wake of Sunday's apparent assassination attempt. Harris sat down with reporters from the National Association of Black Journalists on Tuesday. She has an event today with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, Harris says, she thinks the Secret Service is doing a good job, but she also noted that the threat of political violence has made millions of people in America less safe.

Priscilla Alvarez is following the Harris campaign for us. Hi, Priscilla. Republicans have been trying to blame Harris and Democrats for the latest threat on Trump's life. How has she been responding to that?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the resounding message from the vice president has been that she condemns political violence. Shortly after news broke of that second assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump, she called it deeply disturbing. So, this has been the message from the vice president, condemning it, saying that it is disturbing, and working with the president and the administration to make sure that Secret Service has the resources that it needs.

But when asked about this yesterday, she did express confidence in Secret Service, then pivoting to what you were just mentioning there, how other Americans feel less safe given the heightened rhetoric. And one of those examples which also came up in that interview that you see there was the baseless claims made of Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio. Of course, former President Donald Trump and his vice presidential nominee, J.D. Vance, have amplified those claims and the vice president, taking a moment to call that type of rhetoric hateful and hurtful, but also saying that those tropes aren't new. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, (D) VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: This is not new in terms of these tropes. This is not new in terms of where it's coming from. And whether it is refusing to rent to people, rent to black families, whether it is taking out a full-page ad in "The New York Times" against five innocent black and Latino teenagers, the Central Park Five calling for their execution, whether it is referring to the first black president of the United States with a lie birth, birther lies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: Now, that was the most extensive answer that she has provided on the situation unfolding in Springfield, Ohio. It was also telling in the way that she is approaching race during this election cycle. Of course, her own racial identity has been questioned by foreign President Donald Trump. And there you heard her say it's the same old tired playbook and that is what we have heard time and again when she is -- when the issue of race is broached.

WALKER: That interview with the National Association of Black Journalists, it was her second national -- high-profile national media interview. How does she do overall? She didn't seem to veer much off- script and also, if you can touch on her meeting today, what we can expect with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute today?

ALVAREZ: Yeah. As someone who has gone to multiple of her rallies, a lot of her answers are what you may hear in a rally, in her remarks. She didn't deviate much from her message. In fact, she was also asked about some sensitive -- politically sensitive issues like these Israel-Hamas war, and whether she would do anything differently, whether she would have any policy changes if she were to win in November in terms of how the U.S. approaches Israel and that war overall, and she would not say, instead, going back to saying that the -- a ceasefire deal is needed.

So generally, she stayed on message. It was the moments when she was asked about the issues like what's happening in Springfield, Ohio that she gave her most passionate and extensive responses. But again, this is a vice president who, right now, is in the final stretch of the campaign, a condensed race for her and the focus right now for the campaign is on young voters and Latino voters. She and her campaign are making a push for young voters to register to vote this week, going to campuses, using surrogates to try to shore up that support, but also speaking today at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, where she is going to be speaking directly to Hispanic lawmakers again, in this broader effort to shore up that support.

WALKER: All right. Priscilla Alvarez, tracking the Harris campaign. Thanks so much, Priscilla. Former President Jimmy Carter is getting close to a major milestone.

[08:30:00]

Carter will turn 100 on October 1st. It will mark his first birthday without his wife, Rosalynn. She passed away last November. President Joe Biden and three former presidents share tributes to Carter during a celebration in Atlanta Tuesday. Jason Carter led the event honoring his grandfather.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASON CARTER, GRANDSON OF PRESIDENT CARTER: He's doing well. I mean, he's been in hospice for 19 months, which we are all thinking is just an incredible, incredible thing to have happened, right? I mean, he's been given the gift of a lot of time and it has given us a lot of time to be with him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: Family members say President Carter is still interested in the news of the day. He is being cared for at home in the South Georgia town of Plains. 100 in a few days, incredible.

All right. Still to come, a region on edge, Hezbollah vowing to retaliate after hundreds of pagers used by its members blew up in Lebanon, killing at least 12 people, why fears of a wider war in the MidEast are intensifying. Plus, there are people in Europe saying it's like Armageddon has come to their home as some battle floods and other flames. We'll have the latest on the severe weather affecting the region.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALKER: CNN has learned the pager explosions in Lebanon targeting Hezbollah members were part of a joint operation between Israel's military and intelligence services. Lebanon's health minister says 12 people were killed, 2,800 others were injured. Schools in Lebanon have been ordered to stay closed on Wednesday in the wake of these explosions. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh has more on the attack and we warn you, his report contains graphic images.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATON WALSH (voice-over): At the fruit display, at the checkout, in the street, hard to overstate the psychological impact of hundreds of blasts across Lebanon, mostly in Hezbollah areas. Pagers exploding at about 3:30 according to the group. Security forces asking Lebanese to stay off the road, so the sheer volume of emergency vehicles could get to hospital. Nearly 3,000 patients, at least 170 critical. Easily the most widespread moment of violence to hit across Lebanon since the 2006 war with Israel, who Hezbollah is now firmly blaming for these new attacks on their TV channel.

We blame the Israeli enemy with full responsibility, the TV anchors said, for this criminal attack, that also harmed civilians. [08:35:00]

Israel themselves declined to claim the attack. To blame, perhaps these tiny devices, according to posts on social media, CNN can't verify. The race now to work out how, was it just one type of device, a cyber attack, a battery bomb, did they just hit Hezbollah areas. It comes at yet another critical time. Monday, Israel's defense minister hinted meeting the U.S. envoy that the time for a diplomatic solution of how to get tens of thousands of Israelis home to the war-plagued north had mostly passed. That a military option is all that remains.

The hope had been for calm after the death of Hezbollah Commander Fuad Shukr, also killed in a violation of Hezbollah's stronghold in southern Beirut led to great fury, but minimal fire with Hezbollah's retaliation restrained perhaps by preemptive Israeli strikes. Many felt the moment of conflagration had passed. Now, it seems back again with Hezbollah once more under pressure to hit back hard, but only because another sophisticated attack has made them look weak.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: Sanam Vakil is the Director of the Middle East and North Africa Program at the strategy think tank Chatham House. She's joining me now live in London.

Sanam, good to see you. Just wanted to get your reaction to this. I mean, not many countries can pull off -- have this kind of technological ability and they're not able to pull off such a complex, sophisticated attack simultaneously. What are your thoughts on this? And also, the fact that Israel is refusing to publicly comment on these explosions.

SANAM VAKIL, DIRECTOR, MIDDLE EAST & NORTH AFRICA PROGRAM, CHATHAM HOUSE: Thank you for having me. This attack is certainly very surprising, but really reflective of Israel's intelligence penetration deep into Hezbollah circles, but also more broadly into the Axis of Resistance and Iran's security and intelligence apparatus. Since October 7th, we have been watching repeated strikes that have been targeted against key commanders across the Axis of Resistance and it's important to remember that just a few weeks ago, Israel also took out Hamas' political leader, Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

And so, this just really showcases the intelligence superiority shown by Israel. And to speak to your second question, Israel never takes responsibility for such attacks. It has a history of being very precise and effective, more often than not across the region in these operations, unlike of course, what has taken place in Gaza over the past 11 months where many people have been critical of Israel's military operations and of course, the high loss of life and devastation for Palestinians.

WALKER: What was the purpose of this attack then? I mean, is it a way to tell Hezbollah you need to stop with these tit-for-tat violence that's been escalating over the border? Is it a sign of bigger things to come, a larger-scale campaign to come?

VAKIL: Well, I think that since October 7th and those devastating attacks on Israel, the Israeli leadership has understood that they can't go back to October 6th. They can't go back to that status quo ante of thinking that their borders were secure. They've been trying to eradicate the military threat coming from Hamas in Gaza, but also over the past 11 months, they have been trying to degrade Hezbollah's capacity and there have been tit-for-tat operations. Hezbollah and Iran, its partner, have made clear they don't what a regional war, so they haven't responded to provocations.

But for Israel, ultimately, they need to come to a new balance of power where Hezbollah is weaker and Israel remains stronger. And this is likely to continue to escalate without a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages. And we are really on the risk of something bigger, but of course, Hezbollah has been really embarrassed with these attacks. And of course, their rank and file members, thousands of them have been incapacitated. And of course, the Lebanese public have also been deeply impacted. So it's not likely that they can respond to immediately.

WALKER: Yeah. Just a few seconds here. I mean, what kind of response do you expect then and how does this impact the bigger picture here? Obviously, there's hostage and ceasefire negotiations underway as well. I mean, are things going to get worse before they get better?

[08:40:00]

VAKIL: Well, I think this is where the international community and particularly the United States, will be trying to double down efforts to deliver that ceasefire and prevent regional escalation. I don't think at this time, Hezbollah has the capability to respond. Its communications are down and its foot soldiers are also down. So perhaps, we could see he some tactical response from other parts of the Axis of Resistance. But I don't expect anything immediate. It's hard to actually affect a deep blow against Israel, and that's what we have seen over the past 11 months. The Axis of Resistance hasn't been able to really push back in a meaningful way.

WALKER: All right, Sanam Vakil, thank you very much for the conversation.

Let's turn now to the severe weather in Europe and the same system that drenched Central Europe is now heading south. Authorities in Italy are on high alert as they brace for Storm Boris. Meanwhile, this is what it looks like in northern Hungary, an entire village submerged amid flooding caused by torrential rainfall. And in Austria, which has also been pummeled by Boris, the government increased its Federal Disaster Fund to more than $1.1 billion.

CNN's Melissa Bell has more on the extreme weather that we are seeing across Europe.

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Death tolls are continuing to rise in several parts of Europe as a result of extreme weather conditions. First of all, as a result of some of the havoc that's been caused by Storm Boris in parts of Eastern and Central Europe, some of the worst hit areas along Poland's border with the Czech Republic, where towns have been evacuated, bridges have collapsed, and there are fears that there could be more damage to come.

In some parts of Central Europe, it was a month worth of rain that fell in a matter of just days, with many of those parts of Europe simply unprepared for the amount of water that fell from the sky. We've seen dams burst, bridges collapse, and tens of thousands have to be evacuated already, with much of that chaos now spreading southwards to parts of Europe along the Danube.

There are also fears about the wildfires that have gripped parts of Portugal in the center and the north of the country. Portugal and Spain that have been for many years now subject to forest fires over the course of ever-heating summers. This summer not so bad for those parts of southern Europe, but it is the late surge in temperatures over the course of the weekend that appears to have caused several of those wildfires to start. Many thousands of firefighters involved in several parts of Portugal in trying to put them out. But fears still that they could continue to spread.

Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.

WALKER: Coming up, huge fireballs light up the night sky after Ukraine says its drones struck a Russian ammo warehouse, why Ukraine says it's a sign of things to come. And some tough testimony about the company behind the Titan Submersible tragedy, that's all ahead

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[08:45:00]

WALKER: Those huge fireballs you see from a Russian ammunition depot after Ukraine claims its drones attacked the warehouse. In the social media video, you can see the blast light up the night sky in the city of Toropets. A source from Ukraine's security service tells CNN the depot was storing tactical missile systems, guided aerial bombs, and artillery ammunition. The local governor ordered a partial evacuation after debris from drones that were repelled sparked huge fires. CNN's Clare Sebastian joining us now with the details.

Clare, how does this attack compare to the previous ones, that seem to be more frequent now?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I think this is part of the picture where Ukraine is ramping up its long-range drone programs, both in terms of the sort of potency of these drone strikes and their ambition as well. And we've seen ranges far exceeding this one, the Toropets depot is some 300 miles, nearly 500 kilometers from the nearest point of the Ukrainian border. We've seen Ukrainians send drones more than twice that distance.

But in it sounds of the impact, this seems to have been really significant. The fire that was sparked there was big enough to be picked up by a NASA satellite. You talked about the partial evacuation of that town. Video has been surfacing online showing what appears to be houses in the vicinity of the depot with windows blown out. I've been having a look at local chat groups online. People are talking about giving each other lifts out of the areas. Some people worrying about how much damage has been done to their houses. So, it's clear that this had a significant impact and potential significant tactical utility as well for Ukraine.

As you say, a source with the security services has told CNN that they believe a variety of missiles and ammunition were at the site, including short-range ballistic missiles, the Iskander missiles that Russia regularly uses on Ukraine. And a source with defense intelligence in Ukraine also confirming to CNN that North Korean missiles were at this depot. We know that Russia has been using North Korean missiles on Ukraine for a number of months now to devastating effect. So clearly, this is the point here, right? Ukraine is going into the third winter of this war, already facing significant weapons, air defense, manpower shortages, and wants to try and cut off these missiles before they can hit their targets.

But I think there's messaging here as well, both to Russia, which we believe according to the U.S., has already taken its first delivery of Iranian ballistic missiles as well, that these are potentially vulnerable and also to the West as it continues to push for those capabilities when it comes to using long-range missiles on Russian soil, that Ukraine can reap significant rewards from this kind of strategy. Amara?

WALKER: All right. Clare Sebastian in London, thanks so much, Clare. More details are emerging about the tragedy of the Titan Submersible, five people were killed when the underwater craft imploded last year while trying to dive to the wreck of the Titanic. This week, a whistleblower at an ongoing hearing into what went wrong, says those deaths could have been prevented if U.S. safety officials had investigated his concerns. David Lochridge once worked for OceanGate, the company behind the Titan. He says he had no confidence whatsoever in the construction of the submersible.

Let's bring in CNN's Miguel Marquez. Wow, what details. Tell us more about that have come out of this hearing, so far.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, this is like a two-week hearing and it's not just Lochridge, but it's a range of executives who worked for OceanGate over the years. Keep in mind, Lochridge was "fired from OceanGate in 2019." There was a lot of legal action between OceanGate and Lochridge, so it's not clear sort of what the effect of Ocean could have been in this situation. But the picture you're looking at right there, that's the aft section. That was the first section found by the submersible of the remains of the Titan. The Coast Guard also releasing a very lengthy report prior to this hearing, saying that they also found that the remains of all five individuals that were on the Titan in that area, on the ocean floor, and were able to identify them using DNA.

But, when you look at the scope and the amount of information that -- a lot of this we already knew, but it's all been put in one place, so the devil is in the details -- that there were so many warning signs before this. Just less than a month before the Titan went down, the Titan and its platform partially sank, says the Coast Guard, because of rough weather and fog. Days before the Titan's fatal dive there was an issue with ballast where it caused all five people onboard to be tossed over and to slam against the side.

[08:50:00]

David Lochridge, who you call a whistleblower, who had worked for OceanGate, said that on an earlier dive in 2016, Stockton Rush, who was the CEO of OceanGate, he was piloting a different craft, the Cyclops I, to the Andrea Dora that sank in the 1950s. He said, he went to the bottom so quickly, he slammed his way to the bottom, and then went full speed into the wreckage of the Andrea Dora, getting thing that Cyclops I caught in there. Stockton began to panic; the people on board started to panic.

When Lochridge tried to take the controller away from him, which is a PlayStation controller, Stockton (ph) put it behind his back and kept moving back and back and back in the craft, not letting him take it, when one of the passengers finally screamed at Stockon Rush. He then through the controller at Lochridge. This is a little bit of Lochridge's testimony during this two-week hearing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID LOCHRIDGE, FORMER DIRECTOR, MARINE EXPLORATION, OCEANGATE: I believe that if OSHA had attempted to investigate the seriousness of the concerns I raised on multiple occasions, this tragedy may have been prevented. As a seafarer, I feel deeply let down and disappointed by the system that is meant to protect not only seafarers, but the general public as well. I sincerely hope that no other family will have to endure a similar tragedy in the future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: The Coast Guard also saying that a different -- same design, different hull in 2021, they had 70 equipment issues with it, failures or equipment issues with that hull, and then in 2022, they had 48. So, it was clear there were concerns with this design going all the way along. Lochridge also said that Stockton Rush seemed more concerned with making money than safety, saying that at one point, he wanted to put people -- civilians into a craft for one day of training and then they would be able to take other people into the craft on future days because he just wanted people paying money, getting on the craft, and exploring the ocean.

But, he just said it was not a company that was -- that where safety was at the center. Another two weeks of hearings, dozens of more individuals to testify, but hopefully, they will learn a lot more about what happened down there and how to prevent it. Back to you.

WALKER: Yeah. Shocking, shocking details. I mean, just one day of training for such an expedition? I mean, yeah, clearly there's a lot of material there, Miguel. Miguel Marquez, thank you very much.

MARQUEZ: You got it. WALKER: Still to come, style in space. How European astronauts are merging fashion and function as they unveil a new high-tech look. We'll have the details.

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WALKER: Apparently, there is fashion in space. Astronaut fashion is getting a serious facelift. Earlier this month, SpaceX debuted these snazzy outfits worn by the Polaris Dawn crew during their first-ever commercial spacewalk. Not to be outdone, a French designer is unveiling a new look for European astronauts. CNN's Saskya Vandoorne has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SASKYA VANDOORNE, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER (voice-over): A French fashion house is getting involved in space suits of the future. Designer label Pierre Cardin has designed a training suit for European astronauts.

MATTHIAS MAURER, GERMAN ASTRONAUT: So, my name is Matthias Maurer. I'm a European astronaut, working at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, the only place where European astronauts train for space missions.

VANDOORNE (voice-over): The space suit's prototype has been unveiled in Paris at the Pierre Cardin workshop.

[08:55:00]

The goal was to create a suit for the European Space Agency's new training ground for lunar missions, minus all the high-tech engineering needed in space.

MAURER: A space suit is like a small spaceship. It has air system, it has cooling system, it has radio system, it has navigation system. It has a lot of different equipment. This is just for training. This is only to be used in Cologne on the ground. But we can learn a lot just training with this suit.

VANDOORNE (voice-over): Pierre Cardin's grandnephew Rodrigo, who took over the company after the founder's death in 2020, developed comfortable, movable fabrics that could withstand the extreme temperatures on the lunar surface.

RODRIGO BASILICATI-CARDIN, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, PIERRE CARDIN: Everybody's so happy finally because, you know, after one year and a half, two of this work to arrive here and it's not finished but it is a big step here.

VANDOORNE (voice-over): After additional tweaks, the suits will be used in LUNA, which is the moon surface simulation building at the European Space Agency base in Cologne, Germany. The simulations will continue ahead of their planned mission to the moon in 2028.

Saskya Vandoorne, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: Thanks for joining me here on "CNN Newsroom." I'm Amara Walker. "Connect the World" with Erica Hill is up next.

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