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Lebanon Reels After Two Days Of Deadly Exploding Devices; Federal Reserve Cuts Interest Rates For The First Time In Four Years; Iranian Hackers Tried Sharing Stolen Trump Info; 20 Killed, 450-Plus Wounded After Walkie-Talkies Explode In Lebanon; Sean 'Diddy' Combs In Federal Custody After Bail Denied; London's Mayor Reveals Plan To Ban Traffic On Oxford Street. Aired 12-12:45a ET

Aired September 19, 2024 - 00:00   ET

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

[00:00:36]

LYNDA KINKADE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Lynda Kinkade.

Ahead this hour, first, it was exploiting pagers, then booby-trapped walkie-talkies. Two device attacks in two days have people in Lebanon worried about what might come next.

The sound of what happens when an ammunition depot is attacked by a drone. We'll have the latest on the Ukrainian strike on Russian territory.

And our first look at the ill-fated Titan submersible at the bottom of the ocean amid claims the deadly accident could have been prevented.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Lynda Kinkade.

KINKADE: Lebanon is reeling after two days of deadly explosions involving booby-trapped devices targeting Hezbollah. Scores of walkie- talkies exploded across the country Wednesday, killing at least 20 people, wounding more than 450 others. Dozens of emergency crews and first responders were sent to help the injured and put out the fires.

In one instance, a walkie-talkie exploded during a Hezbollah funeral in the southern suburbs of Beirut. A witness telling CNN they heard a loud bang followed by screams and saw a man covered in blood. His hand blown off.

It comes a day after 100 of pagers some owned by Hezbollah members blew up nearly simultaneously across Lebanon in an unprecedented attack, which wounded about 2,800 people. The death toll rose to 12 on Wednesday. An Israeli source tells CNN Israel carried out the pager attack after it believed Hezbollah had discovered the device's capability.

These attacks have led to an outpouring of anger on the streets. Video shows people throwing rocks at vehicles for the U.N. interim force in Lebanon following Wednesday's explosions.

Well, the Israeli military says it struck several Hezbollah infrastructure sites in Southern Lebanon in the past 24 hours after identifying about 20 projectiles launched across the border. Israel's defense minister tactically acknowledged his country's role in the exploding devices.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YOAV GALLANT, ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER (through translator): I believe that we are at the start of a new phase of the war, and we must adapt. This is true for everyone.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): I have said it before, we will return the citizens of the north to their home safely and that's exactly what we are going to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Well, more now from CNN's Ben Wedeman in Beirut, but a warning his report contains graphic images.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A funeral for those killed a day before is disrupted by another explosion. A wave of walkie-talkie blasts across Lebanon killed more than a dozen and injured hundreds Wednesday. Coming barely 24 hours after hundreds of pagers blew up across the country at food markets and shops, killing at least 12 people, including two children, and injuring around 2,800 others.

In what CNN sources say was an attack by Israel's Mossad and military against Hezbollah, unprecedented in its scale and nature. Outside the American University of Beirut Hospital, distressed family members wait for updates on their loved ones.

Friends and relatives of the injured don't want to speak on camera, but off camera, one told us, for instance, that a friend of his received a message on his pager. He looked at it, and the pager blew up in his face, damaging his eyes and his fingers. And in fact, the chief medical officer here told us the majority of the injuries are to the eyes, to the hands, and the hips, where, of course, people were holding their pagers.

DR. SALAH ZEIN-EL-DINE, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF BEIRUT MEDICAL CENTER: We received around 200 patients and we received them in a very short time, about, you know, within an hour or two, almost all of them went inside our doors. So this stretched us pretty much too thin.

WEDEMAN (voice-over): A Lebanese security source says the militant group bought the devices that exploded in recent months from a Taiwanese company, Gold Apollo. However, Gold Apollo denies manufacturing the devices and says a distributor in Hungary is responsible.

[00:05:05]

A Taiwanese security official said there's no record the pagers were shipped to Lebanon or anywhere in the Middle East.

Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate, a message echoed by one of the group's lawmakers.

HUSSEIN HAJ HASSAN, HEZBOLLAH LAWMAKER (through translator): The resistance will continue. The support for Gaza will continue, and the Israelis will regret what they have done.

WEDEMAN: The tension between Israel and Hezbollah is nothing new. For most of the past year, cross-border skirmishes have been common. These device explosions represent a new level of escalation. And Wednesday, Israel's defense minister said the explosions mark a new era in Israel's war against Hezbollah.

Worried citizens are now suspicious of everyday devices, including one found in a parking lot near a busy hospital. Security detonated it in a controlled explosion.

Ben Wedeman, CNN, Beirut.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: We're going to go to Beirut now. Nabih Bulos, the Middle East bureau chief for the "Los Angeles Times," joins us now.

Thanks for joining us.

NABIH BULOS, MIDDLE EAST BUREAU CHIEF, LOS ANGELES TIMES: Hello. Thank you for having, me.

KINKADE: So two days of bloody attacks across Lebanon. Just give us a sense of the feeling there, how are people in Lebanon responding to these attacks?

BULOS: I mean, as you can imagine, everyone of course is terrified. I mean, it's worth noting that this has been almost a year now of these tensions between Lebanon and -- I mean, Israel and Hezbollah, I should say. And I mean, there has been a steady ramp-up of those tensions throughout the year but of course now this is a bit different because we are talking about everyday devices.

People are terrified of Wi-Fi routers and iPhones. I mean, just to give you a sense of the rumors we've been hearing. There are all these messages circulating for people telling people to shut off their Wi-Fi routers or take out batteries from certain devices. Of course, there's talk now about iPhones being targeted as well. So there really is a fear of just, you know, I mean, normal items you have at home.

KINKADE: Yes, exactly. So of course it was the pagers that were detonated Tuesday, the next day, almost exactly 24 hours, it was the walkie-talkies. What more are you learning about how these devices were compromised? And could there be others used by Hezbollah that are jeopardized right now, like cell phones?

BULOS: Well, so of course, I mean, we know about the supply chain issues from Hungary and Taiwan, et cetera, and there have been comments on that, so I won't -- so I don't want to say that again here. But in terms of other devices, yes, the fear is, of course, that Hezbollah has had to I think bring in a lot of communication devices, whether that's Wi-Fi routers or various other equipment that needs to be used to secure their communications network. And so the expectation is that those also might be affected.

And it's worth noting that today there was yet another speech coming in from a major Hezbollah figure. Obviously the head of the group. So there is fear that there might be yet at another attack today.

KINKADE: Wow. And we heard from Israel's defense minister who described the attack as excellent achievements. Israel also said that a new era of the war was beginning. Can you elaborate on what that might mean?

BULOS: We've seen throughout the last 11 months that there has been, I mean, what I call a halfway war, you know, across the Lebanese-Israeli border. And the fact of the matter is that now this is perhaps changing where we're going to see more active hostilities. Of course, they have been ramping up. We've seen, I mean, wider barrages. We've seen the use of drones by Hezbollah, we've seen the use of larger ordnance by Israel deeper into Lebanon and vice versa.

But now the expectation is that this might be a little bit larger in the sense that we can see I think more active warfare. Now what that means in practice, right, that means that there's going to be an attempt to establish a buffer zone within Lebanese territory by Israeli troops. I don't know if that means there'll be a more extensive bombing campaign, we still are unsure. But it doesn't bode well. So that seems clear.

KINKADE: Yes, and unlike the first attack, Israel notified the U.S. ahead of the second attack. They gave very little detail to U.S. officials. What does that suggest?

BULOS: Well, I mean, at this point it seems clear that Israel is acting I think independent of U.S. diktat or U.S. perhaps consultations when it comes to the region. That seems clear. And at the same time, it also speaks to me that there is perhaps less and less of an off-ramp when it comes to what's happening in Lebanon.

I mean, it's worth noting that in the past, Hezbollah has tied everything that happens on the Lebanese front or Israeli more accurately with what's happening in Gaza, which is to say that if there is a ceasefire in Gaza, there will be a ceasefire on the border here.

Increasingly, that linkage seems to be untenable at least for Israel. And so the expectation is that I think Israel will actually attack in some major way. What that means for Lebanon in terms of an actual war or a sustained war remains unclear.

[00:10:00]

KINKADE: And in terms of Hezbollah's response, we heard that Hezbollah has warned Israel that it will regret what it's done. Talk to us about the impact of these attacks on Hezbollah leadership and what sort of response we could see from the militant organization.

BULOS: Well, it's worth noting, this is part of a larger continuum of intelligence failures over the last few months. I mean, it's worth noting that if you look at Hezbollah's losses recently, right, they lost their chief of staff a few months ago, they lost regional division commanders a few months ago, and they have lost some of their prominent commanders and their special forces groups.

You're talking about an intelligence failure and a security breach that seems to, I mean, they just can't plug at this point, that they cannot seem to counteract. I fact, the reason why they used pagers in the first place was so as to avoid, I have to say evade the surveillance from drones and elsewhere. But that hasn't proven to be so effective as we know now.

And so, I mean, in terms of I think a long-term effect on Hezbollah, I don't think obviously this would have an issue. I mean, the group has enough cadres to reconstitute itself. But in terms of the short-term effect, of course, you are talking about losses of leaders, but also the losses of mid-level people that are (INAUDIBLE) and logisticians, not to mention, there is now going to be a crippling of its communications network because they'll have to revamp it completely to try to avoid I guess further penetration. And so in the short term at least it seems that Hezbollah is on the backfoot certainly.

KINKADE: Nabih Bulos, in Beirut, great to get your perspective from Lebanon. Thanks so much for your time.

BULOS: Thank you for having me.

KINKADE: Well, the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will head to Paris in the coming hours to discuss the situation in the Middle East and Ukraine with European allies. He spent the last couple of days in Cairo. His 10th trip to the Middle East since the war in Gaza began, working to secure a ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas. But the device explosions in Lebanon could further derail those efforts. Blinken says reaching a deal is now a question of political will.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We all know that a ceasefire is the best chance to tackle the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. We've made tremendous amount of progress over the last month, month and a half. There are I think in the agreement 18 paragraphs, 15 of them are agreed, but the remaining issues need to be resolved.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: It's worth noting that this is the first time Blinken has skipped Israel on a visit to the Middle East since the Hamas attacks in October.

A Ukrainian drone strike in Western Russia caused an explosion so powerful it may have created a small earthquake. A Ukrainian security source says the drones destroyed a Russian

ammunition depot about 400 kilometers west of Moscow on Wednesday. Seismologists in Norway later said they detected seismic activity probably caused by that blast.

This before-and-after video shows the massive plumes of smoke following the attack. A Russian state news agency blame the fires on fallen drone debris without mentioning what the target was.

Well, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to meet with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris in Washington next week. That's according to multiple sources. Donald Trump says he'll probably meet with him as well. The Ukrainian leader will also attend the U.N. General Assembly next week in New York. He wants to present what he calls his victory plan to both Harris and Trump, as well as President Joe Biden.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): There we can say that our victory plan has been fully prepared. All the points, all the key accents, the necessary annexes with details to the plan have been identified. Everything has been worked out. The most important thing now is determination to implement it. There is no and cannot be any alternative to peace, any freezing of the war, or any other manipulations that will simply move the Russian aggression to another stage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Well, still to come, how Iranian hackers accused of stealing confidential information from Donald Trump's campaign allegedly tried to use it to influence the upcoming U.S. election. And later, Sean "Diddy" Combs remains in federal custody after losing his request for bail. We'll tell you what his attorneys argued in court when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:16:47]

KINKADE: Welcome back. The U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates aggressively on Wednesday by half a point. This is the first cut since March of 2020 at the height of the pandemic. Since then rates sat at a 23-year high for more than a year. Fed chairman Jerome Powell says the move is a sign of commitment to keep in step with the ever changing U.S. economy.

But the move wasn't unanimous during the first dissent from a board member in nearly 20 years. One member wanted to see a smaller cut. The Dow briefly spiked upon the news, but chorus concerns about the jobs market began to creep in. Palace says this is just the first of multiple rate cuts possibly before the end of the year.

Here's a look at some of the major Asian markets right now. The Nikkei has pulled back up from its loss on Tuesday where it closed 1 percent down awaiting news of the U.S. rate cut.

CNN's Matt Egan breaks down the Fed's bold move.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATT EGAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is a major milestone for the economy. The first interest rate cut since COVID and the Fed, they decided to go big. The fact that they went with a jumbo-sized interest rate cut, it's telling on multiple levels. First, it shows they're not worried about inflation anymore. But Chair Jerome Powell, he stopped short of declaring victory over inflation. But they're all but doing that.

It does also suggest, though, that they're all worried about what they're seeing in the jobs market. Now Powell, he said repeatedly that he's not alarmed with the jobs market. He even said at one point, the labor market is in a strong place. We want to keep it there. But there are some economists who are concerned that the Fed is late and that they need to play catch-up before the cracks in the jobs market turned into something more ominous.

So the Fed has made clear that they've switched the mission. They've gone from fighting inflation to fighting unemployment. Of course, all of this is happening just weeks before this hotly contested election. Now, Powell, he stressed politics played no role here and that the Fed only does what they believe is right. And I asked Powell about the idea from former president Trump that the sitting U.S. president should have a say in where interest rates go. And Powell, he made clear, he's not a fan of that idea.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEROME POWELL, CHAIR, U.S. FEDERAL RESERVE: We do our work to serve all Americans. We're not serving any politician, any political figure, any cause, any issue. Nothing. It's just maximum employment and price stability on behalf of all Americans. And that's how the other central banks are set up to.

It's a good institutional arrangement which has been good for the public, and I hope and strongly believe that it will, you know, continue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

EGAN: Now Powell went on to say that the evidence is clear. Independent central banks are the ones that have lower inflation.

Matt Egan, from the Federal Reserve, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: Joining us now is Catherine Rampell, CNN economics and political commentator and "Washington Post" opinion columnist.

Good to have you with us.

CATHERINE RAMPELL, CNN ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Great to be here.

KINKADE: So this is the first rate cut since the pandemic. It is a jumbo one, not a quarter but a half a percent. What does this say about the state of the economy?

[00:20:02]

RAMPELL: I think the fact that the Fed opted for a larger than usual rate cut, you know, half a percentage point rather than the standard quarter of a percentage point, suggests maybe they think that they were a little bit behind the eight ball, behind the curve, and that perhaps the economy has been slowing and there was a reasonable argument for them to have started cutting rates earlier.

That said, if you look at their actual forecasts for the next couple of years, they do suggest a slowdown. They do suggest slightly higher unemployment rates than had been forecast a few months ago, slightly lower inflation for that matter, and lower interest rates.

But still not a recession, right? I think what the Fed is trying to communicate is that the economy is slowing. They are on top of that softness that we're seeing in the labor market. But we shouldn't panic. We are still more likely than not to escape a recession.

KINKADE: I mean, so -- I mean, it really is a good signal, right? So when will Americans start to feel the impact of this? And have they already given that some major banks had already priced in an expected cut?

RAMPELL: That's exactly right. So the Fed had been telegraphing that they were going to cut rates for a long time. In fact, many, many months, people -- for many, many months people had been expecting these rate cuts to happen and the Fed had in fact put out forecasts suggesting that they would happen. So because of all of that, many financial institutions have already priced in some of those loosening financial conditions into the kinds of credit products that they offer, whether we're talking about mortgage rates, mortgage rates have already come down, you know, since, let's say, April.

Credit card rates, auto loans, some of those rates have already been coming down. That said, you know, there's this expression coined by Milton Friedman that monetary policy works with long and variable lags, meaning that it'll be a while before these rate cuts that the Fed put in place today are actually felt throughout the economy against some of that's being priced in. But it'll be many, many months before we see the full effect of what the Fed decided to do today.

KINKADE: And it was interesting, Catherine, looking at the political response to this rate cut. The Democratic presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, called it welcome news. The Republican nominee Donald Trump, as you'd expect, says the Fed is playing politics and making it a cut like this so close to the election. House Speaker Johnson said something similar, calling this -- the timing of this cut suspect. Is it?

RAMPELL: Look, if the Federal Reserve were trying to influence this election, trying to help Democrats, they would have cut rates nine months ago. Like I said, there is a long lag time generally between when the Fed makes the decision to either raise or reduce interest rates and when it really takes an effect throughout the economy. So the fact that they waited as long as they did should in and of itself be a clue that this was not about helping one party or another.

But the broader point is that the Federal Reserve is politically independent, prizes that political independence. And in fact, relies on public perception of their political independence for their tools to work, right? If people don't believe that the Fed is disconnected from the whims of politicians, from the day-to-day pressures of politics, then whatever they do won't really work because people will just believe inflation is going to come and it'll become a self- fulfilling prophecy.

That's what has happened in many other countries where politicians have had control of the money supply. You look at places like Argentina or Venezuela, pre-euro Italy, Zimbabwe, et cetera. These are places where the central banks were not really independent and as a result, they had lots of problems with inflation. And in some cases hyperinflation. So this is really important for the Fed. They have tried to communicate that.

I understand why Republicans might be trying to cast this decision as being politically motivated, but it's just not. Again, if it were, they would have acted a long time ago and that's just not what they're about. Jay Powell, the Fed chair, among other Fed officials, really knows how important it is to stay above the political fray.

KINKADE: Exactly. Just stay independent. You make some really good points there.

So, Catherine, do you think we'll see another cut or two before the end of the year?

RAMPELL: It looks quite likely, again, based on what the Fed has said today in terms of their projections for interest rates, and in fact, they've also suggested that they will cut rates more than expected next year. So we could be seeing, you know, a few interest rate cuts coming down the pike. I think they're unlikely to be the same, you know, level of aggressiveness as we saw today, probably more like a quarter percentage point cut, which is standard, rather than today's more aggressive half a percentage point cut.

But yes, I wouldn't anticipate unless we get some crazy new data suggesting that inflation has, you know, reignited or something like that, that we will see more interest rate cuts in the months ahead.

[00:25:09]

KINKADE: All right. Catherine Rampell, good to have you with us. Thanks so much for your time.

RAMPELL: Thank you.

KINKADE: Investigators believe Iranian hackers have tried to tip the scales in the upcoming U.S. presidential election, saying that they tried but failed to send stolen Trump campaign documents to his political rivals.

CNN's Evan Perez explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: The U.S. government says that Iranian hackers sent unsolicited e-mails with information that they stole from Donald Trump's presidential campaign to people who are affiliated with Joe Biden's campaign over the summer. There's no indication that the people who receive the information replied to the unsolicited e-mails.

And the Kamala Harris campaign says that the campaign itself did not receive any information and that the personal e-mail accounts of campaign staffers were targeted with what looked like spam or phishing campaigns.

The latest update from the FBI, the director of National Intelligence, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency says this is all part of an Iranian effort to try to influence the U.S. presidential election. The agencies said in a statement on Wednesday that the hackers sent unsolicited e-mails to individuals that there were then associated with President Biden's campaign that contained an excerpt taken from stolen and non-public material from former president Trump's campaign as text in those e-mails.

Now the hackers also sent the Trump campaign documents to news organizations. The Trump campaign says that the incident is an indication that Iran is trying to interfere in the election to help Harris. A spokesperson for Harris says that we condemn in the strongest terms any effort by foreign actors to interfere in the U.S. elections including this unwelcome and unacceptable malicious activity.

Evan Perez, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: Iran's Mission to the U.N. issued a statement on the hacking denying any involvement. It says in part, "Already devoid of any credibility and legitimacy, such allegations are fundamentally unfounded and wholly inadmissible. The Islamic Republic of Iran does not engage in the internal uproars or electoral controversies of the United States."

The influential Teamsters Union has announced that it's not endorsing anyone in this year's U.S. presidential race. A decision that Donald Trump is calling a great honor. His comments coming during a campaign stop at a bar in New York. Trump cheered survey data released by the major labor union that indicated about 60 percent of its members supported Trump over Kamala Harris.

It's the first time in nearly three decades that Teamsters will have withheld an endorsement and those since have been in support of the Democratic nominee. Trump also talked about his support in New York.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I love New York, I always love New York, and we're going to give New York a big play. You know, I live here. I mean, you see the crowds and it's so friendly. I love New York. I think we have a real chance of winning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: But not everyone in New York is happy to see him. A pro-Haiti rally was held outside another Trump event on Wednesday. Trump's false claims that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, are eating pets has sparked chaos and bomb threats in the city.

While Teamsters Union declined to throw its support behind either nominee, the Harris campaign is touting the endorsement of local Teamsters chapters in several key battleground on states. Later this week, the vice president is set to deliver remarks on reproductive rights here in Georgia, where a new report reveals that at least two deaths have been linked to the state's restrictive abortion law.

On Wednesday, she focused on immigration while speaking at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute's Leadership Conference. She slammed Donald Trump over his proposals and warned of mass deportations if he returns to office.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We all remember what they did to tear families apart, and now they have pledged to carry out the largest deportation, a mass deportation in American history. Imagine what that would look like, and what that would be. How's that going to happen? Massive raids? Massive detention camps? What are they talking about?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Israel appears to be acknowledging its role in the explosions targeting Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. What the country's defense minister is saying about attacks, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KINKADE: Welcome back. I'm Lynda Kinkade. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

[00:32:11]

Back to our top story this hour, Israel's defense minister says a new era of war is beginning after a second day of deadly explosions in Lebanon, tactically [SIC] acknowledging its role in the operation.

At least 20 people were killed, more than 450 wounded after walkie- talkies were detonated in Lebanon. It comes a day after a wave of pager explosions killed at least 12

people, including two children. One of those walkie-talkies went off at a Hezbollah funeral in Beirut.

The attacks are raising fears of a wider conflict in the region. CNN's Jeremy Diamond reports.

And a warning: some of the images you're about to see are graphic.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, following two days of back- to-back explosive attacks --

DIAMOND (voice-over): -- in Lebanon, we're now hearing Israel's military and political leadership, signaling a readiness for war with Hezbollah.

Whether or not that war actually materializes still remains an open question, but certainly, what we're hearing from Israeli leadership is preparedness.

The Israeli defense minister, Yoav Gallant, saying that Israel is entering a new era in this nearly year-long war now, saying that the center of gravity is moving away from Gaza and moving North instead.

And in addition to that rhetoric, it's not just the center of gravity that he is talking about. It's actual troops, the 98th division of the Israeli military, a key fighting force in Gaza now being redirected away from the Gaza Strip to Israel's Northern border amid preparations for that potential war.

We have seen, of course, over the course of the last year, moments where these tensions hit a boiling point. And it seems like all-out war was in the offing between Israel and Hezbollah.

And yet, every single time we have seen both parties ultimately step back --

DIAMOND: -- from the brink. Whether or not that will be the case this time remains to be seen --

DIAMOND (voice-over): -- as nearly two dozen people were killed in these attacks over the course of two days in Lebanon. Hezbollah now vowing retaliation, certainly feeling very vulnerable and also certainly feeling embarrassed --

DIAMOND: -- needing to strike back. Whether or not that results in all-out war, still uncertain.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: Well, the attacks in Lebanon are unfolding without a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal inside. The brother of one man still being held in the enclave, criticized the attacks on Hezbollah, saying, don't -- they don't help to bring the hostages home alive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEE SIEGAL, BROTHER OF ISRAELI-AMERICAN HOSTAGE KEITH SIEGAL (through translator): And everything that happened in Lebanon, whether it was us, not us, pride. I don't know.

What I do know is it just did not bring back my brother and the other hostages from Gaza.

We get up in the morning, look at the news, and search in vain for some kind of hint that something has moved forward in our all- important corner.

The hostages begin to return home alive. I emphasize alive. No more body bags and coffins. Alive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[00:35:14]

KINKADE: Music mogul Sean Diddy Combs remains in federal custody after a judge denied his legal team's appeal for bail.

Combs was indicted on charges of racketeering, conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution. He could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted.

CNN's Kara Scannell has more details on Wednesday's hearing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs will remain behind bars as he's awaiting trial on racketeering, conspiracy, and sex trafficking charges.

SCANNELL (voice-over): A federal judge denying his bail application, saying that there were no conditions that made him comfortable releasing Diddy, given his danger to the community and his potential for witness tampering.

The judge also rejecting Diddy's proposed bail conditions, including having a visitor log, having no Internet access, and no cell phone access, saying that those were insufficient.

SCANNELL: Diddy was escorted out of the courtroom by two U.S. marshals as he was headed back into federal detention. His lawyer spoke to reporters after court, saying he will appeal.

MARC AGNIFILO, ATTORNEY FOR SEAN "DIDDY" COMBS: He's ready. He's focused. He has been ready to defend this case since he first found out about this case. Nothing has changed from his perspective.

I, obviously, would much prefer to fight this case with him out of jail. And we are going to try to bring that about. SCANNELL (voice-over): Combs's attorney telling me after court, "I'm not going to let him sit in there a day longer than he has to." He also asked the judge to recommend moving Combs from the federal detention center in Brooklyn, which is known for its, quote, "horrific conditions," to a county courthouse in New Jersey.

SCANNELL: He said they're going to fight this, and Diddy is going trial.

Kara Scannell, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: A former employee says the company behind the commercial dives to the Titanic was focused on money and ignored safety.

All five people on board were killed when OceanGate's Titan submersible was crushed by the pressure during a trip to the Titanic wreckage last year.

The U.S. Coast Guard held hearings this week about the incident when it also released a video of the ill-fated submersible on the bottom of the ocean floor.

OceanGate's former director of marine operations said he reached out to the U.S. workplace safety agency with concerns about the company's operations. But he said his message was ignored.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID LOCHRIDGE, FORMER DIRECTOR OF MARINE OPERATIONS FOR 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)

KINKADE: Well, OceanGate was charging about a quarter of a million dollars for a ticket to the Titanic. The company declined to comment on Tuesday's testimony.

Still to come, a plan to pedestrianize parts of the famous and busy London street is stirring up controversy. We'll hear why some people are against it when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:40:24]

KINKADE: Welcome back. Catherine, Princess of Wales, is back on royal duties.

She hosted an early year's (ph) meeting at Windsor Castle Tuesday. The meeting was noted in the court circular, but no other details were released.

This is her first engagement since announcing last week that her chemotherapy treatment was complete. In a video message, she talked about looking forward to returning to public life.

She is thought to be resuming a light schedule of public engagements for the rest of the year, including a Remembrance Day service in November.

London's mayor has announced a plan to ban all vehicles from a section of Oxford Street, one of the city's most famous streets. And the project has the backing of the British prime minister,

CNN's Anna Stewart has reaction from the locals.

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ANNA STEWART, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Imagine if Times Square had no cars. Well, that may soon happen here in London.

STEWART (voice-over): Welcome to the shopping hub of Oxford Street.

STEWART: This major intersection is where the mayor of London would like to pedestrianize. What do the locals think?

Banning cars on Oxford Street? Yes or no.

That was a no.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ban cars?

STEWART: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Actually, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't like it so much, because it's full people, and it's quite busy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's a great idea.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's going to affect all the businesses. Where are the buses and the cabs going to go? Terrible. Shocking.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Get the -- get the traffic out of the city completely.

STEWART (voice-over): It's not the first time the mayor has proposed this. Plans were blocked by Westminster City Council in 2018.

SADIQ KHAN, LONDON MAYOR: Well, the difference this time is I've got the support of central government. And that means if, God forbid, there was opposition from the council, we'd have the powers to proceed with good plans.

STEWART: The mayor still needs to get the green light from government, but in two years, this may all be car-free.

STEWART (voice-over): Anna Stewart, CNN, London.

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KINKADE: I'm Lynda Kinkade. That does it for this edition of CNN NEWSROOM. I'll be back with much more news at the top of the hour. Stick around. WORLD SPORT is next.

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