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Israel Strikes Heart Of Beirut, Killing Six; Judge Unseals New Evidence In Federal Election Case Against Trump; Harris Visits Georgia After Hurricane Helene, Promising Federal Help; Local Radio Broadcaster Become Lifeline for Devastated Areas; Israel-Hezbollah Conflict Raises Fears of Wider War; Ukraine Confirms Russian Troops Captured Vuhledar; Conference Begins on Catholic Church's Future; At least 23 Children, Teachers Feared Dead in Bus Fire; Dockworkers Demand Higher Wages, Less Automation. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired October 03, 2024 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome. I'm Lynda Kinkade. Ahead on CNN Newsroom, Israeli troops battle Hezbollah fighters on the grounds in southern Lebanon as Israel hits Beirut with a fresh round of airstrikes, a U.S. federal judge has unsealed a court filing which provides the fullest picture yet of the 2020 election subversion case against Donald Trump.
And the Vatican kicks off a month long summit on the future of the Catholic Church, including mounting pressure to give women the opportunity to become priests.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN Newsroom with Lynda Kinkade.
KINKADE: It is 8:00 a.m. in Beirut, Lebanon right now, where overnight, Israeli air strikes hit the heart of the city for the first time since the two countries were at war back in 2006. The Lebanese health ministry reports that at least six people have been killed. A resident in the Beirut neighborhood says the building they were in was home to Hezbollah affiliated Islamic health authority, and the area is known to be dominated by Hezbollah's Shia allies.
Lebanese officials say at least 46 people were killed by Israeli airstrikes in a 24-hour period. Eight Israeli troops have been killed in combat in southern Lebanon.
The IDF has issued new evacuation orders for a number of buildings in Beirut's southern suburbs as it plans to take action in the near future against more Hezbollah facilities in the area. CNN's Paula Hancocks is following the developments and joins us live from Abu Dhabi. Good to have you with us, Paula.
So for the first time in 18 years, Israel has hit Beirut with airstrikes. What more can you tell us?
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Linda, yes, it's the first time that they've hit central Beirut, the second time that they've hit within the inner city limits. On Monday, they hit the Kola intersection. But this really is putting people within the central part of Beirut on edge, not just residents, but also, of course, you have up to a million people who are displaced within the country at this point, according to officials, many of those have come from southern Lebanon, where there are many evacuation orders in place by the Israeli military, and come to the capital, where they have believed that they would be more secure.
What we've seen at this point, and what we know is that this was an Islamic Health Authority. It was called, it's a Hezbollah affiliated building, or at least one of the floors within that building was Hezbollah affiliated, and it was targeted by the Israeli military. Just after midnight, local time, six people, we understand, have been killed. A number of others have been wounded.
Now it comes as we're also seeing intense fighting in the southern Lebanon area, so just across the border from Israel. Now we've heard from both sides that there has been face to face fighting between the IDF and the Hezbollah militants.
The Israeli forces calling it close range engagement, saying that they have destroyed more than 150 Hezbollah sites just on Wednesday alone. Now, from Hezbollah side, they're saying that they have carried out more than two dozen attacks against Israeli troops in the area. They claim that they are targeting the troops in northern Israel as well. We have seen that to try and stop the IDF from moving into southern Lebanon.
Now, according to the Lebanese army, three times they say Israeli troops have moved into different villages in southern Lebanon, and there had been fighting with Hezbollah. Now the end of that, we know that there have been eight Israeli troops that have been killed, more that have been wounded.
Now that is the first loss of life for Israel when it comes to this ground incursion that they are still calling, localized and targeted at this point. Or we do know, though, that they have added another battalion, which is potentially thousands of Israeli troops, which has moved to the northern border to support this operation. Lynda.
KINKADE: All right, Paula Hancock for us in Abu Dhabi. Thanks very much.
[01:05:00]
Well, staying on this story. Paul Salem is the vice president for the International Engagement at the Middle East Institute and former director of the Carnegie Middle East Center. He joins us now from northern Lebanon. Good to have you with us.
PAUL SALEM, VP FOR INTERNATIONAL ENGAGEMENT, MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE: Thank you, Lynda.
KINKADE: Paul, can you just start firstly by giving us a sense of the feeling in Beirut right now? SALEM: Well, the feeling in Beirut has been extremely tense since two weeks ago, when the Israeli escalation began. Many of the residents of the southern suburbs of Beirut, which is Hezbollah's main stronghold, have already left, the points north of Beirut or other parts of Beirut.
Other parts of Beirut have also slightly emptied out, because the attacks have been mainly targeting the southern suburbs, but are targeting other points in Beirut as well. So the city is fairly paralyzed. Most of the south of the country has already been evacuated, and there are about a million residents that have been displaced and are either in the north or in the mountain parts of Lebanon, and a feeling that this is likely to go on for many weeks, maybe many months.
It's also clear that Hezbollah has taken a very, very heavy set of hits, but is still operating, and is still able to function, both in terms of launching missiles, but also fighting on the ground in southern Lebanon.
KINKADE: Just a few days ago, you wrote that the killing of Hezbollah's Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, signaled a tectonic shift. How would you describe the shift now that we're seeing Israel launch airstrikes into Beirut, but also this incursion on the southern border?
SALEM: Well, the piece you referred to that I wrote was, as I said, it's a tectonic shift in the Middle East, more broadly. And indeed, after the killing of Nasrallah, we've seen the Iranian missile attack on Israel, but I think more importantly, we are bracing for a large scale Israeli attack on Iran.
And before Israel decapitated Hezbollah and greatly degraded it, Israel used to worry about Hezbollah much more when it contemplated hitting Iran. Now they feel Hezbollah is not a major threat, and now Israel is focused on going after Iran itself. And that tectonic shift is a shift in which Iran no longer has the balance of -- sort of there's no longer a stable balance of power or balance of deterrence between Iran and Israel, and we are on the brink of a major attack on Iran, which could be a major escalation for the region and, I dare say, for the global economy.
KINKADE: When you look at the war, the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, you mentioned some of the differences now. What lessons from that war should be taken into consideration this time?
SALEM: Well, I think for Hezbollah, I think the 2006 war, which came six years after Hezbollah drove Israel out of its occupation of southern Lebanon, Hezbollah felt triumphant, maybe overconfident, and prepared itself for a similar war like the 2006 war.
However, Israel, I think, learned much more from that war and developed its capacities in a different way. Most importantly, and what we saw most strikingly two weeks ago was Israel clearly had developed a very detailed intelligence capacity, bolstered by artificial intelligence, and the way it deployed this intelligence, both to hit the pagers and then the walkie talkies, but also, through that artificial intelligence bolstered system is able to know where every arms depot is, where every Hezbollah leader was to target them.
I don't think we've seen this in Modern Warfare. This was a real innovation on the Israeli side. Of course, they have the massive arsenals, you know, from the U.S. and so on, that Hezbollah doesn't have equivalently. But I think Israel and Hezbollah learned different lessons, and it showed.
KINKADE: We know so far that eight Israeli soldiers have been killed since the incursion was launched into the South of Lebanon. What sort of fight will Hezbollah put up right now, given how degraded that militant group is?
SALEM: Well, I think, when it comes to sort of close combat in towns and villages in the south, which is something that Hezbollah has been preparing for the past 18 years, keep in mind, these are their towns or their villages. They know them well.
[01:10:000]
They've built elaborate tunnel systems. Israel is entering sort of foreign territory, and in that close combat, the AI powered intelligence and sometimes the big, you know, weaponry is not necessarily the major advantage it is when you're fighting from the air or detonating pagers and I think Hezbollah will be able to put up more of a deterrence, more of a fight.
We've already seen that Israel lost eight soldiers in just kind of a minor skirmish in one of the towns. I think this type of warfare is something Hezbollah is more prepared for, and is more costly for the Israelis if they're to do it town by town.
KINKADE: Paul Salem, we appreciate your analysis. Thanks for joining us.
SALEM: Thank you.
KINKADE: Well, the judge in Donald Trump's 2020 election subversion case has unsealed a court filing detailing the government's evidence. It's offering the fullest picture yet of the prosecution's case against the former president, the 165 page document from the Office of Special Counsel Jack Smith was previously filed under seal and was only made public with some information redacted. CNN's Paula Reid reports.
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PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: This filing is the first time the public is getting to see Special Counsel Jack Smith's full argument for why he believes former President Trump was acting in his private capacity when he allegedly tried to undermine the 2020 election.
Now this is important because the Supreme Court ruled in July that Trump cannot be prosecuted for things he did in his official capacity or for official acts. So, prosecutors in this filing emphasizing things that Trump did as an office seeker, not an office holder, saying quote, at its core, the defendant's scheme was a private one. He extensively used private actors and his campaign infrastructure to attempt to overturn the election results and operated in a private capacity as a candidate for office.
This new filing also includes some never before seen evidence, including conversations he had with then-Vice President Mike Pence and his White House Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows. It's unclear, though, if the prosecutors will be successful in using that because the Supreme Court also said you can't use anything you do in your official capacity as evidence, and those are, of course, two of the President's top advisers.
Now, this is all coming out because the judge overseeing this case, Judge Tanya Chutkan is allowing this to be released. Special Counsel submitted nearly 200 pages detailing his argument, but it was up to the judge to allow this to be released.
Lawyers for former President Trump have objected to the release of this evidence, especially so close to the election and after it was disclosed today, they started shifting to political arguments. Trump arguing that this was, quote, a political hit job, and then the campaign framing it as an effort to interfere with the election.
Now they write in a statement, quote, the release of the falsehood ridden unconstitutional, January 6 brief immediately following Tim Walz's disastrous debate performance, is another obvious attempt by the Harris-Biden regime to undermine American democracy and interfere in this election.
This is similar to the arguments we've heard across all of Trump's four criminal cases. They have repeatedly argued that he is somehow the target of some effort to interfere with the November election. But it is important to note that it was up to the federal judge to release this not the Special Counsel, Paula Reid, CNN Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Tim Walz and J.D. Vance are hitting the campaign trail hoping to ride the momentum from their vice presidential debate on Tuesday. Walz, the Democratic nominee, visited the key swing state of Pennsylvania on Wednesday. He told supporters the moment that stood out to him from the debate was when Vance refused to say that Donald Trump lost the 2020 election. And Walz, a former teacher gave a modest assessment of his own performance.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIM WALZ, U.S. DEMOCRATIC VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I know it was a beautiful Tuesday night. Anybody watched the debate last night? Look, not bad for a football coach, not bad, so. You also saw something interesting. We had a civil but spirited debate.
(END VIDEO CLIP) KINKADE: Meanwhile, J.D. Vance rallied supporters in the battleground state of Michigan. He defended not answering Walz's question about whether Trump lost the 2020 election. Instead, Vance says he's focused on the next election next month. He says he believes this will be the safest and most secure election yet, though his running mate continues to tell election lies and has been laying the groundwork to dispute the results should he lose. Vance focused his attacks on Kamala Harris and referenced Michigan's auto industry.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
J.D. VANCE, U.S. REPUBLICAN VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Over this country the last three and a half years we've got a vice president who has declared war on the Michigan auto industry and has said that she wants to force everybody to drive an electric vehicle.
[01:15:10]
Is that a good deal for the state of Michigan? And this is why I say Governor Tim Walz has got to sell the worst product in America, because I think Michigan auto workers would join me in saying, we need to build our own cars, and Americans can drive whatever the hell they want to, because this is the United States of America, and we believe in freedom.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: Well, young voters in Michigan could decide the presidency this November. Voters under age 30 are a key part of the democratic coalition in the state. The cracks are emerging over how the Biden administration has handled the conflict between Israel and Hamas. CNN's John King went to Ann Arbor, home of the University of Michigan, to check in with young voters in the run up to Election Day.
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JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fall on campus means football. In Ann Arbor, that means Go Blue, whatever your politics. Fall on campus also means election crunch time. And here, the push to vote and vote early is just about everywhere you look.
JADE GRAY, FORMER CO-PRESIDENT, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN COLLEGE DEMOCRATS: You are not getting to the White House unless you get Michigan. And you're certainly not getting to the White House unless you get Gen Z.
KING (voice-over): Jade Gray and Anushka Jalisatgi are former presidents of the College Democrats. Jalisatgi is now a first year law student born in Missouri, but this time voting in Michigan.
ANUSHKA JALISATGI, FORMER CO-PRESIDENT, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN COLLEGE DEMOCRATS: A lot of my out of state friends are switching their registration to Michigan because they know it's a battleground state.
KING (voice-over): The University Art Museum doubles as a voting hub. Outside this registration desk stands out as does this school day concert.
That very spot on our last visit in May, was home to a student encampment protesting Israel's response to the Hamas terrorist attack and Biden administration weapons shipments to Israel.
The University won't allow another encampment, so it's harder to judge the depth of student anger. Gray now works in digital organizing and sees a dramatic shift.
GRAY: Huge is an understatement. I think there's a drastic difference in support amongst young people for vice president Harris versus President Biden.
KING (voice-over): Attendance at College Democrats meetings is strong. This night spent phone banking.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm calling with the Michigan Democratic Party.
KING (voice-over): After a little pep talk from Michigan's Democratic governor. But resentment lingers. The October 7 anniversary is at hand, the election just a month away now.
This is a meeting of the Syrian Students Association at Wayne State in Detroit.
KING: How many are hesitant having a hard time voting for Harris because of these policies? That's just about everybody.
KING (voice-over): Trouble for Harris is also easy to find in majority Arab-American, Dearborn. Wahbeh Nuseibeh is Palestinian, a 26-year-old Wayne State student who voted for Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden.
WAHBEH NUSEIBEH, WAYNE STATE STUDENT: I'm not voting for Kamala Harris. Not in good conscience, I cannot vote for someone that uses my hard earned tax dollars to kill my friends and families overseas.
KING (voice-over): Nuseibeh plans to vote third party.
NUSEIBEH: Donald Trump is a threat to our democracy and threat to our society.
KING (voice-over): The campus divide goes well beyond picking a president at both Ann Arbor and Wayne State anger at school officials for how protests have been handled and among students a divide over how we got here.
NUSEIBEH: Yes, there were atrocities on October 7, but again, these people are fighting for their land and for their families.
KING: On October 7 they weren't fighting on their land. They crossed into Israel.
NUSEIBEH: Yes. So even though, again, we go back to this didn't start on October 7, it really didn't.
KING (voice-over): Maya Siegmann is a Wayne State Junior active in the campus Hillel chapter, just back from a summer in Israel.
MAYA SIEGMANN, WAYNE STATE STUDENT: The propaganda war, the social media war, the news war that Hamas and Israel are fighting. Hamas is winning. It is hard, because when people talk about being on the right side of history, and then they don't educate themselves enough to figure out which one is the right side. It's a bandwagon effect.
KING (voice-over): Siegmann will vote Harris, though she wishes the vice president would give more details.
SIEGMANN: The debate was hard because she didn't directly answer most of the questions, and when the topic of the Israel mosque war came up, then there wasn't really a solid response as to how she would solve it.
KING (voice-over): There are a few signs of Trump support on either campus, his green light to Israel isn't what most students want to hear.
KING: So if you in a perfect world, wanted to recruit some of those disaffected Democrats, he's not helping you.
MAX SCHESKE, MICHIGAN COLLEGE REPUBLICANS: No, probably not.
KING (voice-over): Max Scheske is a member of the Michigan College Republicans. He will vote for Trump, but he is hardly a fan.
SCHESKE: He's a bit of a great there, you know, if you can kind of get them to say or believe anything, as long as you think that's where the votes fly.
[01:20:05]
KING (voice-over): Scheske says GOP energy is up a bit as the election draws near, but that many students planning to vote Trump just can't wait to move on.
SCHESKE: We certainly do kind of have kind of our, you know, Trump is, you know, Trump is basically Jesus wing of the club. But we also -- we do actually have a very sizable, you know, very critical of Trump.
KING (voice-over): There's no doubt Harris is running strong here. Strong enough is the question.
GRAY: If she comes up short in Michigan, I don't think it's because of young voters. I think it's probably because we waited too long to make a switch. I sure hope she doesn't come up short in Michigan because I don't really want to be talking to people about how young people should have done more when I feel like we're doing a lot.
KING (voice-over): Game time in a state Harris needs to keep blue. John King, CNN, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Well, still to come, the U.S. vice president tours storm damage in Georgia. The promise she's making to residents about government support just ahead. Plus, Russian troops raise their flag over a small town in Ukraine that could have a big impact on their future military moves.
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KINKADE: Heavy waves there crashing against the coastline as Taiwan braces for a typhoon with landfall expected in the coming hours, the storm has been approaching the island at a snail's pace, dumping heavy rain on southern Taiwan for days.
Some areas have already received 1 meter of rainfall, with half a meter more expected as the storm moves inland. It now has winds of about 135 km an hour, significantly slower than earlier this week. But Taiwan's president still warns of potentially catastrophic damage.
Here in the U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday toured some of the damage left by Hurricane Helene in the state of Georgia. She updated officials and the public on FEMA's disaster relief efforts and announced that President Biden has approved Georgia's request to be 100 percent reimbursed by the federal government for storm damage costs. Harris promised states would receive continued support amid the immense loss.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: So I'm here in Augusta to first and foremost thank the federal, state and local leaders. Mayor, I want to thank you for your leadership in particular on the ground. I am here to personally take a look at the devastation, which is extraordinary and it is particularly devastating in terms of the loss of life that this community has experienced, the loss of normalcy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[01:25:00]
KINKADE: Well, officials confirmed the death toll from Hurricane Helene has now risen to at least 191. But the search for survivors continues as new areas are uncovered by rescue crews. CNN's Brian Todd reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Biden viewing the devastation from the air because conditions on the ground are too difficult for him to move around in vehicles. He flew over towns that are almost completely gone. Residents isolated and desperate. Roads pulverized by flooding and landslides.
JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: It's going to cost billions of dollars to deal with this storm and all the communities affected.
TODD (voice-over): Hurricane Helene is now the second deadliest hurricane to strike the U.S. mainland in the last 50 years, behind only Hurricane Katrina in 2005, hundred s of people are missing. This river, the Nolichucky in northeast Tennessee surged at 162 times its normal rate in the aftermath of the storm, officials say.
BILL LEE, TENNESSEE GOVERNOR: What we've seen is a historic certain situation unfold in east Tennessee.
TODD (voice-over): Along that same river at the impact plastics factory, 11 workers were swept away by flooding. Five were rescued, four are missing. Two are confirmed dead, including Bertha Mendoza whose husband spoke to reporters.
ELIAS IBARRA MENDOZA, WIFE WAS KILLED IN FLOODING (through translator): The last time she spoke to me, she told me this is getting ugly. I only want to tell you one thing. Tell my kids understand that I love them very much.
TODD (voice-over): Tennessee state authorities are now investigating the company which runs that factory after some workers said they were not allowed to leave in time to avoid the storm's impact. The company says it dismissed employees when water began to cover the parking lot.
In Buncombe County in western North Carolina, where the city of Asheville has been ravaged, more than 50 are dead and officials say they're still in a search and rescue posture several days after the storm's impact.
AVRIL PINDER, BUNCOMBE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA MANAGER: In some areas, this level of destruction could not be survived.
TODD (voice-over): CNN's Isabel Rosales followed along with a FEMA team assisting in search and rescue missions in Avery County, North Carolina. A huge problem for them, communication with residents and each other.
ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Can't get a signal.
COLIN BURRESS, FEMA DIVISION GROUP SUPERVISOR: We don't have cell service, email, text, all of that becomes challenging. It kind of slows things down.
TODD (voice-over): Stephen Cloyd's (ph) family says Stephen texted his wife as he tried to escape floodwaters at his home in Jonesboro, Tennessee. Stephen got himself and their dog into their jeep, the family says. The jeep wouldn't start, then was overcome with water. His last text to his wife, quote, starting to float away. His wife Kelly texted back, please let me know when you are safe. I love you so much it hurts.
Stephen Cloyd's (ph) son says their dog was found alive about 3 miles away. They found his jeep stranded in a field, but so far, no sign of Stephen. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Joining me now is Mark Starling, news director and morning show host with WWNC radio in Asheville, North Carolina. Thanks so much for joining us.
MARK STARLING, WWNC MORNIGN SHOW HOST: I certainly appreciate you taking time to highlight this story.
KINKADE: I mean, you've survived what is the second deadliest hurricane to hit the U.S. in the last 50 years. How are you doing?
STARLING: You know, I'm lucky. I'm lucky that I still here. I'm lucky that my family is still here. I just consider myself lucky. I'm tired. I'm exhausted, but I'm trying to get my community back on their feet and get them through this process of rescue and recovery and rebuilding. It's exhausting, but it's my home and it's worth it.
KINKADE: And, of course, you were on air when the hurricane hit, and you've been on air ever since and with telephone signals down and cell service down, your radio show has been described as a lifeline for locals there, people calling in, wanting information and wanting to share information. Just talk us through some of the calls you've had.
STARLING: You know, I wish I could say it was my show, but it's not. It's my team show. I have this incredible team of people that I get to work with every day. They are, some of them, just the greatest professionals in the radio business that you could ask for. And they were the ones that really -- they were the backbone of this operation and making this.
But some of the calls are, you know, maybe they want to find out where they can get water or find out where they can get food, find out if you can announce the name of their missing family member and maybe somebody else in our listening audience has made contact with that person, and then that person will call into the show and say, hey, that caller that called two calls ago, I'm standing right here with their grandmother and she's fine. And here's my phone number and please pass it along to them.
And so it turned from this, we've got to get them through the storm and help them survive to now we've got to help them reunite and get back together and start this process of figuring out life again.
[01:30:07]
KINKADE: And of course, for those that don't know Asheville, North Carolina, it is this idyllic town. A lot of people like to visit. Tourism is really big there, especially this time of year, right?
STARLING: Yes. So we're coming -- were kind of coming down to a weird time of the year because we're kind of --- we've wrapped up our summer tourism season and were just getting ready to start the leaf season.
So Asheville is the place where people come to watch the seasons change. They want to see that fall colors. And unfortunately, I don't think that's going to happen this year.
KINKADE: Yes, and even for those whose businesses may have survived, their house, survived -- for those that do rely on tourism, they could still potentially lose everything, right. STARLING: Tourism is the mainstay of our economy here. We don't have any real manufacturing per se. We don't have any sort of, you know, industry or textiles or anything like that, like tourism is our industry.
And if you can't get tourists here, then you don't have an industry, you don't have any sort of economic driver.
And yes, I think this could -- this could have a massive impact on businesses. There were parts of town, parts of the city of Asheville that were washed away. There were entire towns that were washed away, that were some of the most famous towns in western North Carolina that had, you know, some of the historic, most historic natural landmarks around in western North Carolina. The towns are literally gone. There's nothing left.
KINKADE: Wow. I mean, I understand like even the water service might not be repaired for many weeks. Talk to us about the sort of help the people need right now.
STARLING: You know, we need supplies. We need food. We need water. We need clothing. We need baby formula. We need everything.
I mean, people have literally lost, everything they've had has just been washed away. I don't think there's an item you can think of that people don't need right now. And we need a mass amount of it.
And we need boots on the ground to help pass it out and distribute it and get it back to some of these folks who live way up in the hills and don't have the ability to get back down to the city because the roads and the infrastructure have been destroyed.
It really was the perfect storm. It was nothing like I've ever seen. I've been covering hurricanes for 25 years and I've never seen destruction and decimation like I've seen what has happened in western North Carolina.
KINKADE: Yes, it's just absolutely tragic seeing those images. We wish you all the very best and we hope you get the help you need.
We will continue to stay on this story and hope that it gets the attention that it truly needs.
All the very best Mark Starling, thanks so much.
STARLING: Thank you so much. Again, I really appreciate it.
KINKADE: For more information about how you can help Hurricane Helene victims, be sure to go to CNN.com/impact. You'll find a list of relief organizations that have been vetted to help those in need.
Well, Israel struck central Beirut for the first time in nearly two decades. This as the Israel-Hezbollah war ramps up. There are growing fears of a wider war in the region. Details next.
[01:33:29] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KINKADE: Welcome back. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Lynda Kinkade.
Take a look at these live pictures coming out of Beirut right now where thick black smoke is rising. For the first time in 18 years Israel has targeted the Lebanese center with strikes.
The country's health ministry says at least six people were killed in Beirut. Several others wounded. It landed in an area where many refugees have sought refuge from bombings elsewhere. One resident says the strike hit the Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Authority office building.
Explosions also rocked the southern suburbs of Beirut overnight. But unlike Monday night, there were no warnings from the Israeli military advising people to leave.
CNN's Ben Wedeman has more now from Beirut and its southern suburbs.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Smoke rises from the ruins after another night of Israeli airstrikes.
Atop the rubble, a man first salutes, then embraces a photograph of the assassinated Hezbollah leader.
This is just one of the latest buildings struck by Israel in the southern suburbs of Beirut for the last 10 days. The southern suburbs, as well as South Lebanon, the Beqaa Valley, have been pummeled by Israeli airstrikes.
And now, according to news from Israel, an additional division is being deployed to the northern border in anticipation of what could be a full-scale Israeli invasion of Lebanon.
Wednesday, Hezbollah organized a mob of media for a tour around the southern suburbs to show perhaps they're still in control.
I asked spokesman, Mohammad Afif how Hezbollah will deal with Israel's repeated blows, a question he didn't like.
"I won't allow for that expression," he replied. "Your Arabic language is not correct."
His aides chant loyalty to their assassinated leader.
"We haven't taken blows. I completely reject that," he says. "The resistance has recovered. The leadership is well. The command and control is well. The arsenal of rockets is well. Thousands of the heroic men of the resistance on the fronts are well.
Most inhabitants of the southern suburbs have fled elsewhere, yet some, like Mohsen Abbas (ph), insist on staying put. "My family left, but I'm staying here," he says. "They're bombing. Normal. What else could happen?"
Wednesday, Hezbollah fighting on its own rugged turf in South Lebanon, inflicted heavy casualties on Israeli forces that crossed the border.
Hours after, its ally, Iran, rained down missiles on Israel.
A war that started in Gaza has spread to Lebanon. In the week, Israel has bombed Yemen and Syria. If this isn't a regional war, what is?
Ben Wedeman, CNN -- Beirut.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Well, the fighting in Lebanon has not stopped Israeli airstrikes on Gaza. The ministry of health reports that at least 90 people have been killed in the latest attacks. The death toll is expected to rise from an incursion into Khan Younis where a number of victims are believed to be buried under rubble.
CNN has reached out to the Israeli military for comments. A member of the Gaza civil defense says Israeli forces hit an area where hundreds of displaced people were taking shelter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: suddenly they invaded from everywhere. many people could not evacuate their homes as some did evacuate. Those who remained in their homes were the ones who were hit.
Within a few hours, more than 30 people were killed. Seven already (ph) from the al-Faraa (ph) family and in this house, 15 or 20. our neighbors family, the Al-Masdi (ph) family and the photo journalist Ahmed Alza (ph), his family were targeted here besides school.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[01:39:55]
KINKADE: Well, hospital officials say at least eight people were killed in an Israeli strike on an UNRWA school building in Nuseirat. The IDF says Hamas was using the facility as a command-and-control center where it was planning attacks on Israel and IDF troops.
Families of hostages still being held in Gaza protested Wednesday near the Israeli prime minister's private residence in the coastal town of Caesarea.
The placed fake headstones alongside a long banquet table set for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.
The tablecloth had a (INAUDIBLE) calling for the return of the hostages in the new year. Organizers said the event aimed to convey their refusal to celebrate the Jewish new year during the present quote, "reckless reality". Meanwhile, Hamas has claimed responsibility for a deadly shooting and stabbing spree in Tel Aviv. The militant group says two of its fighters carried out Tuesday's attack, killing at least seven people and wounding 16 others.
Israeli police say the attackers was stopped by both security forces, as well as armed civilians. Among those was a man who survived the Hamas attack at the Nova Music Festival on October 7th last year. Lev Kreitman says he had a gun on him and fired at one of the attackers.
He had served as a military reservist in Gaza and was later praised as a hero by Israel's national security minister.
Ukraine confirms the eastern town of Vuhledar littler is now in Russian hands. The Ukrainian military says on Wednesday, its troops have pulled out to avoid being encircled. Vuhledar is a coal-mining town with a pre-war population of 14,000 people.
But as Frederik Pleitgen explains, it has an oversized importance in military terms.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This video shows soldiers raising the Russian flag on the city council building in a key Ukrainian town, Vuhledar in the eastern Donetsk region where today the Ukrainian army have announced their withdrawal. It was filmed a few days ago, but only released on October 1.
So why is all of this significant. Well, Vuhledar sits about 30 miles south of Pokrovsk, which is sort of the main area of attack in the east of Ukraine where the Russians have really been pushing over the past couple of months.
And the Russians have been trying to take Vuhledar for about two years now and taking significant losses.
While it's not a transport or logistics hub, it has been seen as a critical intersection of Ukraine's eastern and southern fronts. There have been videos in the past of whole Russian armored columns destroyed by the Ukrainians.
But the fact that the Russians have now been able to take Vuhledar certainly shows that they do appear to have a good degree of momentum on the eastern front.
It also calls into question Ukraine's own incursion into the Kursk area in the west of Russia. And the Ukrainians say it also shows how badly they need further western military aid.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Our thanks to Frederick Pleitgen there for that report.
Well, much more come on CNN, including a look at the start of a key Catholic conference aiming to set the church's priorities for the future.
That report next.
[01:43:16]
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KINKADE: The month-long religious conference known as the Synod of Bishops is underway at the Vatican. Attendees of the global Catholic summit will attempt to lap (ph) priorities for the future of the church.
Pope Francis opened the assembly with a mass in St. Peter's Square, urging participants to avoid imposing agendas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
POPE FRANCIS, LEADER OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH (through translator). Let us be careful not to turn our contributions into points to be defended or agendas to impose. But let us offer them as gifts to be shared. Ready even to sacrifice what is particular, if this can bring something new to live together according to the plan of God.
Otherwise, we will end up locking ourselves into dialogues among the death (ph) where participants seek to advance their own causes or agendas without listening to others and above all, without listening to the voice of the Lord.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: Well, before the conference began, (INAUDIBLE) at a demonstration urging the church to allow women to be ordained. But that topic will not be on the agenda at this conference, but will instead be studied separately by a Vatican Commission. The protest's group leader says that's a mistake.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KATE MCELWEE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WOMEN'S ORDINATION CONFERENCE: We're here with a very clear message for the Vatican. Don't kick the can down the road on women's ministry. This is an urgent question facing the church today. And it seems that the Vatican is trying to lower expectations of what can happen at the Synod on synodality.
It's very clear to me that Pope Francis doesn't quite understand women and their vocations. And so my hope and prayer is that he really gets to encounter women who experienced the call to ordain into ministry, to listen to their stories, the pain that they carry, and the love that they have for the church.
So I feel like there's just a big gap in his understanding of where women, how women want to contribute to the church and the discernment that goes into them claiming their call to priesthood.
So my hope is that he does what he says and actually listens to people, especially those most marginalized by the church, which includes women called to ordained ministry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: The conference will run until October 26.
Shock and horror in Thailand after a bus fire that officials believe killed at least 20 children as well as three teachers. Grieving families gathered Wednesday to offer prayers for their sons and daughters. The school bus burst into flames after it struck a highway barrier in Bangkok on Tuesday.
Hanako Montgomery has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: These scenes in Thailand would break the heart of any parent around the world. When your young children go out on a school trip with their teachers, you expect them to return home safely in one piece.
Thai police are still investigating what exactly caused the bus, which was in suburban Bangkok, to catch alight. But we know no other vehicle was involved.
Police said their initial investigation indicates that a tire exploded and caused the sparks, igniting a blaze that then spread through the entire bus.
Now rescuers extinguished the fire in less than an hour but said it took hours before they could onboard according to AP, because they feared the heat inside the natural gas field vehicle could have caused more explosions.
You can actually see rescuers packed around this blackened vehicle trying to get inside, trying to assess the damage. But for many trapped onboard the help came too late. Even from outside of the bus, you can see how the fire charred everything in its path -- the seats, the windows, and likely the bodies of those who couldn't get out.
Ambulances that swarmed the scene, recovered 23 bodies lost in the bus fire. In a statement posted on X, the prime minister of Thailand said, as a mother, she'd like to express her quote, "deepest condolences to the families of the injured and deceased".
This is a heartbreaking moment for Thailand, but unfortunately, not at all rare. The World Health Organization estimates that every year about 20,000 people are killed and a million are injured in road accidents in Thailand making it the deadliest place in Asia for road accidents.
Now again, police investigations are ongoing and the prime minister has promised the government would cover medical expenses and help the victims' families. But as many around the world would know, no amount of money will bring back these victims
Hanako Montgomery, CNN -- Tokyo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[01:49:48]
KINKADE: Well, new details on what caused the wildfire that devastated the historic town of Lahaina, Hawaii last year. Officials with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Maui Fire Department confirmed on Wednesday that the fire erupted from an earlier bushfire that was sparked by downed power lines.
Firefighters believed they'd put the bushfire out, but it was restarted by strong, erratic winds that pushed it through Lahaina. At least 102 people were killed and thousands of buildings were destroyed in the blaze of August 2023.
Well, still ahead the U.S. port strike leads to panic buying on toilet paper, but it's totally unnecessary. We'll explain why next.
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KINKADE: Welcome back.
U.S. President Joe Biden is urging the country's striking port workers and shipping executives to come to an agreement soon to avoid significant damage to the U.S. economy. The dock workers began their strike at ports along the East and Gulf coasts on Tuesday.
A research firm estimates that a one-week port strike the cost the U.S. economy more than $2 billion. Mr. Biden spoke to reporters before taking in an aerial tour of areas hit by Hurricane Helene.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This natural disaster is incredibly consequential. The last thing we need on top of that is a manmade disaster, what's going on at the ports. We're getting push back already.
We're hearing from the folks regionally that's having trouble getting products they need because of the port strike.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: Well, dock workers are demanding higher wages and assurances that they won't be replaced by robots such as driverless trucks that move goods from ships.
More now from CNN's Karin Caifa.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KARIN CAIFA, CNN REPORTER: There's a big gap between demands of the International Longshoremen's Association and the latest offer from the United States Maritime Alliance, or USMX, which represents the major shipping lines, all foreign-owned and terminal operators and port authorities. At issue, wages and automation at the ports.
HAROLD J. DAGGETT, PRESIDENT, INTERNATIONAL LONGSHOREMEN'S ASSOCIATION: They want to come in to America and build fully-automated tyros (ph) and get rid of American jobs. Good paying jobs that support families with medical, pensions, annuities, and pay taxes.
CAIFA: Some of the 14 ports involved, the massive port of New York and New Jersey, as well as Boston, Baltimore and Charleston, South Carolina.
HENRY MCMASTER, SOUTH CAROLINA GOVERNOR: I'm confident that everyone that is involved in that, (INAUDIBLE) are aware of it and did whatever they could, but we cannot settle the strike between the carriers and the union.
CAIFA: Also Wilmington, Delaware, which declares itself America's largest banana port. That means bananas could come up short at the grocery store.
And even though domestic farmers grow cherries, certain berries and other fruits, they can't meet all of the nation's demand. Without imports to boost supply, prices could push higher. Raw ingredients like sugar and cocoa imports also at risk, as well as imported chocolate and alcohol.
The good news for holiday shoppers, things like apparel, toys, and other gifts don't have a shelf life, like food imports and can park in a warehouse for months.
So when retailer saw a potential strike on the horizon, they rushed to get products delivered before the strike began.
Despite recent reports on social media, any shortage of toilet paper and other paper goods at stores has nothing to do with a port strike and everything to do with panic buying.
[01:54:49]
CAIFA: Most paper goods that are used here in the U.S. are produced here in the U.S. Therefore, no need to import them. However, exports could soon become a problem for these companies meaning there could actually be a glut.
In Washington -- I'm Karin Caifa.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Well, earlier I spoke with economist Ryan Patel and I asked him what's at stake in the strike and what kind of price hikes we could see?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RYAN PATEL, SENIOR FELLOW, DRUCKER SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT, CLAREMONT GRADUATE UNIVERSITY: I think in the short-term and again the good -- there's a good thing that you're not going to see the price hike right away, right? Because there is this, you know, a little bit of buffer time to be in.
The longer the time the strike goes, the worse it's going to get. You know, some numbers that's coming out from a couple of different sources, $4.3 billion is lost through imports and exports. That's about one percentage point for gross domestic product.
So that means it doesn't seem like it's that much, but it is a big deal on certain items that when you think of energy, agricultural -- those kind of make an impact and then general rule of thumb that kind of most people think for every strike day, the price takes nearly a week to get ports operating at the normal levels.
So what that all means short-term, you're OK, long-term this goes on that is going to cause an impact. Again, not to make it go down the path of despair, but the longer it goes, it can affect our economy, the inflation -- all of this is back, which is what we've just, the GDP of the U.S. just kind of came back and have steadied.
This is not what is needed for the economy at this point, but this is a part of the negotiations of the port workers. They're trying to get paid more and you know, this conversation which is about technology is an interesting conversation too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: Our thanks to Ryan Patel for his insights on the port strike.
Well, the cruise ship that was due to begin a round-the-world voyage back in May is still struggling to start its journey.
The Villa Vie Odyssey set to sail from Belfast in Northern Ireland Monday night after months of setbacks. But two days later it was still anchored in a Belfast waterway due to what's being described as a paperwork issue.
The ship's previous delays were blamed on the certification process taking much longer than usual. But once everything gets sorted, the passengers will finally begin their three-and-a-half-year voyage with their first stop in Northern France.
It's a long trip.
I'm Lynda Kinkade.
CNN NEWSROOM continues with Rosemary Church in just a moment. Stay with us.
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