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ICC Issues Arrest Warrants to Israeli PM and Ex-Defense Head; Trump Names Pam Bondi as Attorney General Following the Withdrawal of Matt Gaetz; Wisconsin Kayaker who Reported Faking His Death and Leaving his Family was Tracked Down through a Video; Ohtani, Judge chosen as MVP for Major League Baseball; World's Tallest and Shortest Woman Finally Met During Guinness World Records Day. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired November 22, 2024 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LYNDA KINKADE, CNN CORRESPONDENT AND ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Lynda Kinkade. Welcome to "CNN Newsroom."
Coming up, a possible escalation in Russia's war on Ukraine as Vladimir Putin says his country launched a new type of mid-range ballistic missile into Dnipro.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushes back after he and his former defense minister are indicted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes.
And the COP29 climate summit is drawing to a close as leaders call the draft proposal a big step back.
UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Lynda Kinkade.
KINKADE: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia's use of a new mid-range ballistic missile is a severe escalation of the war. He is now urging world leaders to respond, saying Vladimir Putin must be stopped.
The Russian president says Moscow launched a new non-nuclear ballistic missile on Ukraine's Dnipro region on Thursday. The Ukrainian military earlier claimed the weapon was an intercontinental ballistic missile, a development that raised alarm in the West.
Putin says Moscow is entitled to strike military targets of countries whose long-range weapons are used in Russia.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): From this moment on, as we have repeatedly emphasized on previous occasions, the regional conflict in Ukraine provoked by the West has acquired elements of a global character.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: The attack came after Ukraine fired longer-range American and British missiles into Russia for the first time this week, according to Russia's defense ministry and two US officials.
CNN's chief international security correspondent Nick Paton Walsh is following the latest developments from Kyiv.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: A familiar horror, but a quite different sight on Ukraine's skyline.
Multiple projectiles at 5 a.m., apparently from one missile, hitting an industrial site in Dnipro city. Suggesting, as Ukraine reported, Russia had launched a new type of ballistic missile, perhaps intercontinental, a stark escalation.
VOLODYMYR ZERLENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Today our crazy neighbor has once again shown who he really is, and how he despises dignity, freedom and human life in general and how afraid he is. He is also so afraid that he is already using new missiles.
PATON WALSH (voice-over): CNN obtained these exclusive images of the missile debris, Ukrainian experts pouring over the pieces to determine what this new threat is. Little dispute, it was something new.
The Kremlin kept silent during the day bar this bizarre episode at a foreign ministry briefing that spoke volumes.
MARIA ZAKHAROVA, SPOKESPERSON, RUSSIAN MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS (translated): Hello.
UNKNOWN (translated): Masha?
ZAKHAROVA (translated): Hello. I'm having a briefing.
UNKNOWN (translated): On Yuzhmash, the ballistic missile strike, which the westerners started talking about, we are not commenting at all.
ZAKHAROVA (translated): Yes, ok, thank you.
PATON WALSH (voice-over): Perhaps a trailer for Russian President Vladimir Putin's big reveal. He said the missile was a new hypersonic non-nuclear device called the hazelnut.
There are no means to counter such weapons today, he said. The missiles strike targets at speeds of 10 mark, that's 2.5 to 3 kilometers per second. The modern air defense system available worldwide in the U.S. developed missile defense systems in Europe cannot intercept such missiles. This is impossible.
He framed the strike as a response to American and British supplied missiles, ATACMS and Storm Shadows slamming into Russia proper over the last 72 hours.
We consider ourselves entitled to use our weapons against the military objects of those countries that allow their weapons to be used against our objects. And in the event of an escalation of aggressive actions, we will respond just as decisively and in kind.
Yet Kyiv was yet more on edge when the sirens sounded Thursday afternoon. A U.S. official insisted Russia had few of these new experimental missiles and it had warned allies about the strike.
It's unclear if that led to its embassy shutting suddenly a day earlier, citing fears of an aerial assault.
Russia sending a clear signal, but now not with a test like this. In 48 hours, it made a nuanced change to its nuclear doctrine and launched a new missile. Total silence so far from Western leaders, but the blast was heard across Ukraine.
Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Kyiv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[03:05:04]
KINKADE: Well Mick Ryan, a retired Major General in the Australian Army, spoke to CNN earlier about Russia's strike. He says that Putin is sending a message to Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAJ. GEN. MICK RYAN (RET.), AUSTRALIAN ARMY: They are seeking to ensure that they give those in the incoming administration who wish to stop this war and allow Putin to basically control this periphery as much ammunition as they possibly can. So this is really focused at Washington rather than Kyiv.
I think this is why we need to look at this strike as beyond Ukraine or D.C. This is a missile that could hit anywhere in Europe. And in the last six months, we've seen the U.S. and Germany agree to deploy in 2026 long-range missiles that can hit Russia.
So I think as well as targeting the Trump administration and its support for Ukraine, this is also targeting NATO, saying that Putin is very unhappy about the deployment of these US missiles from 2026 in Germany.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: We are getting a strong reaction to the arrest warrants issued for Israel's Prime Minister and former Defense Minister. Everything from loud indignation to it's about time. The International Criminal Court accused Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including starvation as a method of warfare, and murder, persecution and other inhumane acts. Mr. Netanyahu called the warrants absurd and Gallant said they set a
dangerous precedent. The U.S. president called the arrest warrants outrageous, adding that whatever the ICC might imply, there is no equivalence, none, between Israel and Hamas.
Well our Eleni Giokos is covering this live for us from Dubai. Good to have you with us, Eleni. So just give us a sense further about what Netanyahu is saying about this arrest warrant.
ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT; Well, I mean, a very strong condemnation, Lynda, and of course, very much expected.
These are very serious international challenges that Benjamin Netanyahu faces, but also his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, as you say, the crimes that they face, crimes against humanity, as well as war crimes, which includes inhumane acts, includes starvation as a method of warfare, murder, persecution.
And all eyes have been on Israel for quite some time. In fact, the ICC had first mentioned the notion of potential arrest warrants in May, which of course was very significant at the time. Israel then challenged the ICC based on jurisdiction.
The ICC said that this was a premature response by Israel, but still leaving the door open for potential other challenges from Israel. In the meantime, Netanyahu has said, this is anti-Semitic, it's absurd and of course saying that this of course is not warranted given the brutal attacks by Hamas on October 7th. Take a listen to what else he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: What in God's name are they talking about in The Hague? The truth is simple. No war is more just than the war that Israel has been waging in Gaza after Hamas attacked us, unprovoked, launching the worst massacre against the Jewish people since the Holocaust.
Israel does not, Israel will not, recognize the validity of this decision.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: Yeah, and importantly, you know, one of the big issues that Israel is facing is a big pushback from the international community, specifically from various international bodies like the United Nations about humanitarian aid into Gaza, the death toll now sitting at over 44,000 people. These are all questions, and this is an international approach to what we've been seeing from the Israeli front.
We also heard from the U.S. government saying that they absolutely reject these arrest warrants. Now the United States is not a signatory of the Rome Statute importantly but has in the past supported ICC arrest warrants.
Interestingly though and we know that President-elect Donald Trump's National Security Advisor Mike Waltz has vowed that the Trump administration would be taking action against the ICC once they come into office.
KINKADE: And so we know there are over 100 countries that are members of the ICC that are expected to arrest Netanyahu should he arrive in their country. So what impact will this have on his ability to travel?
GIOKOS: It's going to have a significant impact. We already know in terms of E.U. countries, the likes of the Netherlands, France and Italy say that they will comply with the ICC decision on these arrests warrants. Canada has also said that it will commit to sending Netanyahu to the ICC in Yoav Gallant as well.
So it's basically made Netanyahu's world a lot smaller. Importantly, though, he can still travel to his biggest ally and that is the United States.
[03:10:03]
You've got to remember that a lot of the countries that are members of the Rome Statute don't have to necessarily comply. We've actually seen some countries in the past not doing so, like the likes of Mongolia with Russian President Vladimir Putin or 2015 with a Sudanese president that traveled to South Africa.
The hope is here that some of the countries that are part of the Rome Statute would adhere to this. The ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan says that there should be an international commitment to this. Remains to be seen though, Lynda, if these countries will comply.
As we've said, this has created major pressure for Netanyahu as well as Yoav Galant. It is expected though that they probably will challenge the ICC decision.
KINKADE: Eleni Giokos for us in Dubai. Thanks so much.
Let's talk more about this with Adil Haque, a law professor at Rutgers University. Good to have you with us, Professor.
ADIL HAQUE, LAW PROFESSOR, RUTGERS UNIVERSITY: Thank you for having me.
KINKADE: So months ago, the chief prosecutor of the ICC said on CNN that he was seeking warrants for Prime Minister Netanyahu and also the Minister of Defense for crimes including starvation as a method of war and denial of humanitarian relief. Those arrest warrants have now been issued. What's your reaction?
HAQUE: Well, of course, it's a very significant moment, because now three independent judges of the International Criminal Court from three different countries, all very accomplished, all very experienced, have reviewed the prosecutor's evidence and reviewed the charges and found that indeed there is sufficient evidence to issue warrants for the arrest, not only for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, but also for a Hamas commander named Deif, who at this moment we don't know if he's alive or dead and subsequently substantiating the charges against him as well for his involvement in the October 7th attacks and the abuse of hostages since then.
KINKADE: Professor, the International Criminal Court is recognized by 124 member nations excluding Israel and the U.S. The U.S. of course has rejected these charges. So too Argentina. Its president said this resolution ignores Israel's legitimate right to defend itself against constant attacks by terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah. What's your perspective on that argument?
HAQUE: Well, quite simply, no country has the right to commit war crimes or crimes against humanity under any circumstances, in any armed conflict, against any adversary, no matter what the costs or the stakes. Israel certainly has a right to protect its citizens from Hamas, but it does not have a right to starve a civilian population.
And indeed, according to the court, it appears to starve children to death as part of its military campaign that is inadmissible under any circumstances for anyone.
KINKADE: The European Union and Jordan called for nations to respect the ICC arrest warrants but I have to wonder how often these rulings are respected because we know that an arrest warrant was issued for Russia's president Vladimir Putin back in March of 2023 over his actions in Ukraine.
But despite that he's traveled without arrest he was actually given a red carpet reception in Mongolia back in September, a country that is also a member of the ICC. So how much weight does this ICC decision carry if Netanyahu could travel freely within nations whose leaders reject the ruling?
HAQUE: So the court has already found Mongolia in breach of its obligations under the ICC statute, and any other ICC member state who fails to arrest Vladimir Putin, Benjamin Netanyahu, or anyone else for whom a warrant of arrest has been issued will be in breach of their legal obligations.
Of course, the court cannot overpower a state and compel it to comply with its legal obligations. The court doesn't have an army authority of law and most state parties to the court will comply with the court's orders until these individuals don't come here, don't make us a rescue.
KINKADE: Some say this ICC ruling hasn't gone far enough to condemn the actions of Hamas and its leaders. What do you say to that?
HAQUE: Well, I think that the charges against both parties, if you will, are only the beginning. The prosecutor has made it very clear that this first batch of charges against Hamas primarily focuses on the October 7 attacks themselves, as well as the abuse of hostages, but that further charges may be brought against a wider range of acts on October 7, as well as other war crimes, for example, firing indiscriminate rockets into Israel.
Similarly, the charges against Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant are only the beginning.
[03:15:00]
And it is very likely that the prosecutor will bring additional charges both against these individuals and against other Israeli leaders for crimes involving attacks on hospitals, forcible displacement of civilians, or killing civilians in other circumstances on the ground in Gaza.
So this is just the first round. And if we look at the prosecutor's process in Russia, that is what he did. He brought a first round of charges against Vladimir Putin. But then brought additional charges against other Russian commanders for other war crimes in that conflict. And I expect the prosecutor will do something similar here.
KINKADE; Great to get your analysis and perspective, Professor Adil Haque, thanks so much for joining us.
HAQUE: Thanks for having me.
KINKADE: Well, still to come, Matt Gaetz is out, Pam Bondi is in, what's behind the shuffling Donald Trump's picked for attorney general? We'll have that story next.
Plus, Brazil's former president indicted in an alleged coup that even involved possible assassinations. Details on the allegations against Jair Bolsonaro and dozens of others when we come back.
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KINKADE: Welcome back, I'm Lynda Kinkade.
Allies and advisors are said to be coalescing quickly around Donald Trump's new pick to be U.S. Attorney General. The president-elect announced that he will nominate former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi after Matt Gaetz withdrew from consideration. Bondi most recently worked for the right-leaning think tank America First Policy Institute.
Gaetz has denied persistent allegations of sexual misconduct. Republican senators are welcoming the new selection.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MIKE ROUNDS (R-SD): I do not believe that she is problematic. I did express earlier that I thought his previous choice would be problematic. And so I don't think she has near the challenges that he would have had. So I think this is the right thing.
And you know, this is one of those cases where the president wants someone who he can work with, who he can trust. But he also wants someone who understands very clearly what the department should be doing. He may very well want to express his desire to make major changes in the department, and you want someone who has prosecutorial experience along with the experience of actually being an attorney general.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: Well more now from CNN chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Matt Gaetz's pick imploded on Capitol Hill after he stepped aside and said that he was no longer wanted to be in consideration for this job because he didn't want to be a distraction for the Trump administration. It was clear he did not have much of a path to get the job.
Now Donald Trump moving in a different direction with Pam Bondi, the former Florida Attorney General for this position. Someone who's been loyal to Donald Trump over the years defended him in that first Trump impeachment. Her chances of confirmation are much better than Matt Gaetz's were but is still uncertain.
A lot of senators don't know her. They have the chance to assess her prospects and get a chance to question her and see how the confirmation hearings go.
[03:20:04]
But there are also questions about other nominees as well, including Pete Hegseth, who's Donald Trump's pick to be the Defense Department secretary. Now he's someone who is also not well known in his policy views, is how he would run the department, but also the controversy standing from a 2017 allegation of sexual assault that occurred in California. Now he was not charged in that case, but there is a police report that details these allegations in full.
And even as Hegseth denied these allegations in private meetings with lawmakers, and some lawmakers, including Kevin Kramer of North Dakota, raised concerns about this and wants more information.
SEN. KEVIN CRAMER (R-ND): It's a pretty big problem given that we have a sexual assault problem in our military. A number of us, and certainly the champions being Kirsten Gillibrand and Joni Ernst, but I've been on board with them and supported the legislation to deal with it since the chain of command was not.
So yeah, it becomes a problem. This is why you have background checks, this is why you have hearings, this is why you have to go through the scrutiny. I'm not going to prejudge them, but yeah, it's a pretty concerning accusation.
RAJU: Now, ultimately the big question will be if the votes are there for Hegseth and these other nominees. A lot of Republicans are holding their cards close to the vest. They say they want to get some more information from those nominees and want to see how the confirmation hearings ultimately play out.
But it's clear, Donald Trump has his work cut out for him to get some of these critical nominees across the finish line, particularly Pete Hegseth, as well as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard will see ultimately how the Bondi pick comes down on Capitol Hill when senators have a chance to assess her nomination.
Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: For more, CNN's senior political analyst, Ron Brownstein joins us. Good to have you with us, Ron.
So you, of course, are the senior editor at "The Atlantic" as well. Ron, what a difference a day makes. Gaetz now gone, a man accused of sexual misconduct and illegal drug use and investigated by the House Ethics Committee. What's your reaction to his withdrawal?
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST AND SR. EDITOR, "THE ATLANTIC: Well you know there was a famous economist Herbert Stein who was the head of the council economic advisers under Richard Nixon who had a Herbert Stein rule, any trend that can't be sustained won't be.
And you know, I think, we are seeing the proof of it once again, I mean, this nomination was so outside the bounds of all the measures of propriety qualifications, personal character, you know ethical allegations that even in the in the aftermath of this, you know, stunning comeback victory from president on it was simply too much for the Republican Senate and it does suggest that there are some lines that they will not cross and that could implications on the other nominees but more broadly going into this presidency that he you know is framed as almost a retribution tour.
KINKADE: Yeah exactly. We know now that the former Florida Attorney General, Pam Bondi, is the new pick to run the Department of Justice and in naming her, Donald Trump wrote on his social media platform that the Department of Justice has been weaponized against me and other Republicans. Not anymore.
I mean, what does that say about his expectations for what he wants from the person charged with leading the Justice Department?
BROWNSTEIN: Yeah, well, look, he has made very clear throughout this campaign that he intends to shatter the barriers that have historically insulated the Justice Department from direct demands by the president.
I mean, there was, to me, one of the most revealing things he said in the entire campaign was when he told "Time" magazine last spring that he believed he had the right to fire a U.S. attorney who would not begin an investigation of a specific person he demands even if there was no evidence to justify such an investigation.
You know Pam Bondi will be interesting choice in that regard she is obviously a MAGA acolyte, she was involved in, you know, the defense on his first impeachment in lawsuits about the 2020 election. But she is someone who comes out of the mainstream legal tradition to a much greater degree than Matt Gaetz.
She was a local prosecutor, she was elected attorney general and you've got to think that there are lines for her as well in the same way that we were talking about with regards to the Senate that are going to be firmer than they would have been for Matt Gaetz.
Exactly where those are, I don't know, but I think from everything Donald Trump has said over the last couple of years, you can bet that those lines are going to be tested.
KINKADE: Right, and speaking of those lines and the tests still to come, Tulsi Gabbard is Trump's pick to be the Director of National Intelligence, also highly scrutinized.
We heard from the Republican former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley. Just want to play some of her sound.
[03:25:02]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NIKKI HALEY, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N. UNDER TRUMP: Now she's defended Russia, she's defended Syria, she's defended Iran, and she's defended China. Now she has not denounced any of these views, none of them. She hasn't taken one of them back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: Obviously like Nikki Haley quite a few times now has questioned her stance especially when it comes to Russia and Iran. I mean, we know that Tulsi Gabbard has been accused of disputing Russian propaganda. Yeah, what's the chance of her getting approved?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, I think she is in many ways the big loser here because the circumstances in which Gaetz fell was not that he was voted down in committee or on the Senate floor but that he withdrew, and I think that's significant because I think even the Republicans who are, you know, most resistant to Trump's gravitational poll probably have a limit and how many times they're willing to publicly vote against one of his nominees.
And the fact that they didn't have to do so against Matt Gaetz, I think, leaves them more room to devote against in public against some of the others. And I would have picked Gabbard at the top of that list I mean because she is so manifest, again, and by the same kind of measures that you use from Matt Gaetz by any historic metrics or yard stick, she is so manifestly inappropriate for this job particularly because of all the questions about her sympathy for Russia or Syria.
Nikki Haley described her as a Russian, Syrian, Iranian, Chinese sympathizer and said there was no room for someone with those views in this job. Certainly there are other Republican senators who share those views. The question is how many are willing to publicly dissent from Donald Trump on it. And I do think that with not having to vote on Gaetz, it makes it more likely that some of them will do so on Gabbard.
KINKADE: All right. So to continue, we'll discuss this again. No doubt. Ron Brownstein. Thanks so much for your time. BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.
KINKADE: Well, Brazil's federal police have indicted the country's former president Jair Bolsonaro in connection to an alleged plot to kill his successor. CNN Brazil reports Bolsonaro had full knowledge of a plan to prevent Luis Inacio Lula de Silva from taking office after his election victory in 2022.
Journalist Stefano Pozzebon has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEFANO POZZEBON, JOURNALIST: The indictment of former President Jair Bolsonaro is rocking Brazilian politics this week. The prosecutors have indicted the right-wing leader on Thursday on charges including attempting a coup d'etat, criminal organization and the violent suppression of the rule of law.
Bolsonaro, who lost the 2022 presidential election to Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has always denied these charges, but it's the third time that the former president has been indicted.
According to our affiliate CNN Brazil, the federal police alleged that Bolsonaro had full knowledge of a plot to prevent Lula and his government to take office in January 2023, and that plot included even plans to kill Lula, his Vice President Geraldo Alckmin and the Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.
The prosecutors have presented their final investigation report, which is hundreds of pages long to the Supreme Court in Brasilia. It will now be a decision for the Brazil's attorney general to rule whether to present former charges against Bolsonaro and essentially put him on trial.
If we were to go on trial, it would likely take place next year, but this scandal is already making headlines today.
For CNN, this is Stefano Pozzebon, Bogota.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Well, gunmen opened fire on buses and cars carrying Shia Muslims in northwest Pakistan Thursday, killing at least 42 people and wounding 20 others, according to the Associated Press.
At least 10 people were brought to hospital in a critical condition. The attack took place in the Kurram district, where clashes between Sunnis and Shiites have killed dozens of people in recent months. And it comes just a week after authorities reopened a highway that had been closed due to violence. No one has claimed responsibility so far.
Still to come, Russia strikes Ukraine with a new experimental missile. We'll have the latest developments after the break.
And tourism turning deadly with five deaths now in an idyllic vacation spot in Laos. We'll have those stories next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:30:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LYNDA KINKADE, CNN CORRESPONDENT AND ANCHOR: We have an update now on the war in Ukraine. South Korea says Russia sent North Korean air defense equipment as well as anti-aircraft missiles in exchange for North Korean troops.
Nearly 11,000 North Korean soldiers are believed to have been deployed in Russia's Kursk region to fight Moscow's war with Ukraine. Russia's supply package to North Korea also included economic support and military spy satellite technology.
Well President Vladimir Putin says Russia launched a new mid-range ballistic missile on Ukraine's Dnipro region on Thursday. The Ukrainian military earlier claimed the weapon was an intercontinental ballistic missile, a development that raised alarm in the West. The attack came after Ukraine fired longer-range American missiles into Russia for the first time this week, according to Russia's defense ministry and two U.S. officials.
Well, at least five tourists have died in recent days in Laos due to suspected methanol poisoning in connection with tainted alcohol. More now from CNN's Mike Valerio.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the new health alert from the U.S. embassy in Laos says essentially this. If you're traveling within Laos, in the area, be especially watchful for bottles of liquor that may look like they've been tampered. Perhaps there's a label on one of the bottles that doesn't look right, that doesn't look like it's been printed professionally.
So that is the warning that has gone out, because we seem to have this expanding storyline from Laos of more and more people being poisoned by alcohol, tainted by methanol.
So to give you an idea of what we're talking about, two people from Denmark, one American citizen, one Australian citizen and one person from the United Kingdom, all dead in the same town of Vang Vieng. It's in the middle of Laos, a beautiful, idyllic, unspoiled corner of Asia, where so many tourists and backpackers go as they look for the journeys of a lifetime, a real adventure.
And we've been able to follow the storylines of two Australian teenagers, Holly Bowles and Bianca Jones, both 19 years old, both from Victoria, who were aiming to have this similar journey of a lifetime before heading on to university studies.
But their family members tell our affiliates in Sydney a few days ago that late last week, they're both suspected of consuming some kind of tainted alcohol. They both fall violently ill to the point where they both need to be moved from Laos to neighboring Thailand to a hospital in Bangkok. And one of the teenagers, unfortunately, has died. Bianca Jones so far, Holly Bowles, as far as our reporting shows, is remaining on life support.
So the storyline right now rests on the question of whether this will grow. And when we're talking about why methanol, our reporting has also shown that just a little bit of methanol used in counterfeit bootleg alcohol can make you drunk, a small quantity, but a small quantity of methanol and alcohol can also be toxic. It's used to produce alcohol in a cheaper way, but it's also a far more dangerous way to manufacture alcohol as well.
[03:35:06]
So this story expanding to several countries beyond the borders of Laos here in Asia.
Mike Valerio, CNN, Seoul.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: The Wisconsin kayaker accused of faking his own death and leaving his family has now been located. He's somewhere in Eastern Europe, but whether he'll ever come home to his wife and kids or face the music for what has been a costly and emotional search is unclear.
CNN's Whitley Wild has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RYAN BORGWARDT, MISSING KAYAKER: Good evening, it's Ryan Borgwardt. I'm in my apartment. I am safe, secure, no problem.
WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ryan Borgwardt speaking barely above a whisper in this video he says was recorded November 11th. These are his first comments since disappearing in August.
Police now believe the husband and father of three is alive and living in Eastern Europe with no plans to come back to the U.S. Though Green Lake, Wisconsin Sheriff Mark Podoll says Borgwardt talks to investigators regularly.
SHARIFF MARK PODOLL, GREEN LAKE COUNTY: Our biggest concern that we had was that he was safe and well. We asked him a number of questions that pertained to him and his family that he would only know and then we asked him for a video of himself.
WILD (voice-over): The search for Borgwardt began this summer after he failed to return home from a day of kayaking and fishing. Law enforcement found his capsized kayak, car and other belongings, but no trace of him.
PODOLL: While we might have stopped the search on Green Lake, that didn't stop our search continuing to look for Ryan. WILD (voice-over): The Green Lake County Sheriff now says he planned
an elaborate escape. Borgwardt told investigators he paddled his kayak and a child-sized boat out into the lake, overturned the kayak and dumped his phone in the water, paddled the inflatable boat to shore, got on an e-bike and rode through the night to Madison. There he boarded a bus, went on to Detroit and eventually crossed into Canada and hopped on a plane to Europe.
PODOLL: In our communications we are expressing the importance of his decision to return home, clean up the mess that he has created.
WILD (voice-over): A digital forensic search of Borgwardt's laptop revealed that he replaced the hard drive and cleared his browser history on the day of the disappearance. Podoll says investigators found that the 44-year-old moved funds to a foreign bank, changed his email, communicated with a woman in Uzbekistan, purchased airline cards and took out a $375,000 life insurance policy in January.
Now that Borgwardt has been found alive, law enforcement is laying out potential charges.
PODOLL: The information that the Green Lake County has at this point leads us to an obstructing charge.
WILD: In terms of restitution, Sheriff Podol says that that could be between $35,000 and $40,000 at least.
Whitney Wild, CNN, Chicago.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Well failure is not an option, that's the warning from the U.N. The Secretary General has nations and negotiators scramble to strike a deal on the final day of the COP29 summit.
Plus China is the world's largest manufacturer and exporter. How Donald Trump's tariffs will impact all those products labeled Made in China. That story ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:40:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KINKADE: Welcome back, I'm Linda Kinkade.
The clock is ticking at the U.N. Climate Summit. Thursday's proposal for a trillion-dollar deal where wealthy nations would offer financial aid to poor developing countries combating climate change fell through in remarkable fashion.
Negotiators and leaders at the COP29 unbusted the draft, calling it a big step backwards ahead of the deadline later today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) WOPKE HOEKSTRA, EUROPEAN COMMISSIONER FOR CLIMATE ACTION: I'm really sorry to say but the text we now have in front of us in our view is imbalanced, unworkable and unacceptable.
CHIRS BOWEN, AUSTRALIAN CLIMATE MINISTER: This is a big step back and it is not acceptable at this current moment of crisis.
CEDRIC SCHUSTER, CHAIRMAN, ALLIANCE OF SMALL ISLAND STATES: We cannot afford to undermine the progress and hard-won balance achieved less than a year ago in Dubai.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: Well, joining me now from COP29 in Baku is Henna Hundal. She is the National Coordinator of Climate Live USA and this is her fourth COP conference. Good to have you on the program.
HENNA HUNDAL, NATIONAL COORDINATOR, CLIMATE LIVE USA: Thank you very much for having me. I appreciate it.
KINKADE: So it's interesting given it is your fourth COP conference, I'm wondering what the feeling is like this time and how it compares to others that you've attended.
HUNDAL: You know it's a great question, I do sense a palpable tension this time that I think is more so than the previous COP conferences. I think it should be noted that there's always a lot of action going on at the 11th hour.
You know we saw at COP26 in Scotland in 2021 for example, the pact really changed in those final moments. It was meant to be a phase out of coal and at the very last moment it changed to phase down.
So I think it's not atypical for there to be a lot of tension in the final moments but I do feel that this time in particular the atmosphere is particularly fraught.
KINKADE: And this time in particular I mean we're getting down to the deadline and we know you know negotiators have been trying and failing to close this gap between what the developing world wants and what they say they need in climate finance and what richer nations are prepared to give. I mean one headline posed the question, is COP29 a waste of time? Now, what's your reaction to that?
HUNDAL: You know I think there's certainly that sentiment felt among some members. We saw for example Papua New Guinea actually withdraw before even coming here because for a lot of these delegations it takes a lot of time, energy, money, effort to be able to travel to these conferences to stay for an extended amount of time. Delegates are often working until 1:00, 2:00 in the morning.
I mean yesterday I actually saw a few delegates sleeping on chairs at the conferences. So people are tired, people are frustrated, and people want actually meaningful action. And I think you know unfortunately there's kind of a glacial rate of progress at these COP conferences because you need 198 parties from around the world to agree.
And these include parties whose economies are driven by fossil fuels and those whose economies are being destroyed by fossil fuels. So you have all these different priorities and you have two weeks to come together and agree on a consensus. It's quite challenging.
KINKADE: Exactly and not only agree on a consensus but actually follow through on that right. Because you know the most recent election here in the U.S., climate change polled really low on the list of concerns for voters.
And now, of course, we've got this incoming president who is you know he wants to pull the U.S. out of one of the biggest emitters you know, which is one of the biggest emitters of greenhouse gasses out of the Paris accord and possibly out of any negotiations on climate.
Why do you think that is? Because we are -- we have been experiencing intense natural climate related disasters but it doesn't seem to be resonating with a majority of people here in America.
HUNDAL: You've got such an important contrast to highlight. I mean 2024 has been the year for climate action to be front and center.
The summer saw the hottest day on record and the year is actually on track to be the hottest year on record reaching that 1.5 degree Celsius limit above pre-industrial levels that we've been warning about since the 2015 Paris agreement.
I think unfortunately though we do struggle sometimes with our climate messaging and not being able to adequately frame it around terms of economics and public health which are ways that people can connect to the crisis directly and realize that it is in the here and now and not some nebulous esoteric concepts that all these suited up delegates are trying to address at a conference thousands of miles away.
It is in the here and now and I think we need to do a better job of communicating that but I do think it's quite unfortunate that on the heels of this year of so many climate change driven disasters we have a president coming into office who doesn't even believe the problem.
[03:45:02]
KINKADE: Exactly and it's interesting when you look at who Trump has tapped a climate skeptic to head up energy, a fracking magnet Chris Wright who has said on LinkedIn that there is no climate crisis and Trump has also picked to lead the Environmental Protection Agency Lee Zeldin who has a dismal environmental record and has vowed to restore U.S. energy dominance and revitalize the auto industry.
What does that say about the direction that America and therefore the world could go in over the next few years?
HUNDAL: You know this is something I've never quite seen before because it is my fourth COP conference and the way that the United States has taken a completely back posture has really taken a step back in the discussions this year is really quite extraordinary. I mean I was there in COP 26 in Scotland in 2021 when at the last
minute there was kind of a kerfuffle and you saw John Kerry who was then-President Biden's climate envoy sort of step into the fray and be kind of a mediator between countries and it was a really stunning moment to witness.
And I do wonder now who was going to fill that global climate leadership vacuum because with President-elect Trump at the helm and everyone who's appointing in his cabinet it certainly doesn't seem like it's going to be the United States.
KINKADE: Well we'll see how the rest of this COP 29 conference goes as it starts to wrap up. Henna Hundal, I appreciate your time, thanks so much.
HUNDAL: Thank you very much for having me, I appreciate it.
KINKADE: Well countries around the world are awaiting Donald Trump's trade moves once he takes office. China has already announced new policies for exporters who would be hit hard by higher tariffs. As the world's largest manufacturer and exporter it has the most at stake.
Our Marc Stewart reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: China is known as the world's factory and we want to show you why.
This is the Bairong World Trade Center in Beijing. This place is massive, it is sprawling, floors and floors of Chinese-made merchandise, things like bikes, stuffed animals, hair dryers, as items made in China are often a big part of American lives.
As talk of further tariffs on all Chinese goods heats up, as promised by President-elect Trump on the campaign trail, a few things worth remembering.
China is the world's top manufacturing country making about 30 percent of all of the stuff used around the world. Electronics like these phone cords top the list. Furniture, toys and clothing aren't far behind.
No surprise China is also the world's top exporter shipping almost $3.4 trillion worth of goods globally. But China's strength isn't just about money, including often criticized government subsidies, it's about the ecosystems.
Everything that's needed to make anything, the entire supply chain, it's already here.
And once things are made, China has the means to move merchandise quickly.
A key goal of Trump's threatened tariffs is to bring more jobs and industries back to the U.S. But look at all of this merchandise. China's system has a grip on the world and unseating it as a top maker
and seller, it's a task much easier said than done.
Marc Stewart, CNN, Beijing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Well, glowing lava and smoke were seen rising from an Icelandic volcano on Wednesday. The eruption forced the evacuation of a geothermal power plant and two hotels at the world-famous Blue Lagoon. Three-kilometer fissure opened as well, but air traffic was operating normally on Thursday.
Officials say this eruption was significantly smaller than the last one. It was the seventh such event in the region since last December. Iceland lies on the border between North America and Europe in one of the most active volcanic areas on the planet.
Well, Northern California and parts of the Pacific Northwest are bracing for another storm that's coming on the heels of a powerful atmospheric river boosted by a bomb cyclone. As parts of Europe, including Ireland, France, Switzerland and Italy under orange alert for another snow day.
More from CNN's Chad Myers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, a couple things going on here.
Flooding in Northern California, also some very heavy snow in the mountains. And it's all because of the atmospheric river. We've been calling it all week. It's just a river of moisture in the atmosphere.
And when it hits the topography of land, all of that rain and the snow wants to fall out. So 12 inches of precip here, so about 300 millimeters of rain, 20 inches of snow in the mountains, and it's very heavy snow.
This is stuff you make snowballs and snowmen with. But the problem is now it's warming up and now it's going to rain on that snow and that snow is going to try to melt and it may not melt slowly. It may melt rather quickly, clogging drains and causing more flash flooding. We already know that there will be at least a couple of rivers that are going to get to major flood stage here.
So there's your rain and the snow. Great news for the ski resorts there, but they really don't need all of it at once.
[03:50:06]
Now we move toward Europe or look at all the areas today that will have some type of weather alert from low to medium and even too high in Romania with wind and snow there.
And then there's a big storm system that's going to affect northwestern Europe by the end of the weekend with a major wind event.
Now there will be snow. There will be significant snow and likely most of it will be closer to Turkey. Yeah, it seems a little bit far south, but that's where the storm is going.
Now the wind. There is the low pressure center that it's going to be west of the U.K. and we are going to see that wind. This is Sunday and I mean this is one of those 60-70 kilometers per hour, maybe even a wind gust along the coast of over 100 kilometers per hour.
So pretty big event here coming into northwestern Europe and eventually by next week all across the entire continent.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Well, thanks to Chad Myers.
Well, Major League Baseball's most valuable players aren't strangers to the award. Coming up, why this season was extra special for them.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KINKADE: Welcome back. The men's world number one tennis player scored big wins in the Davis Cup singles and doubles tournaments on Thursday. And now Italy's Yannick Zinner has advanced to the semi-finals. Team Italy defending doubles champions will next face Australia in the semis. Dubbed the world cup of tennis, the Davis Cup is the largest international team competition in world sport.
Well, Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge, an outfielder with the New York Yankees, have been named Major League Baseball's most valuable players. In the American League, this was Judge's second MVP honor of his career. The Yankee captain led the majors with the season with 58 home runs, 144 runs batted in and 133 walks.
For Ohtani, this was his third MVP award and first in the National League. The Dodgers star became the first player in MLB history to hit 50 home runs and still 50 bases in a single season, all while recovering from an elbow surgery.
Well, fans are celebrating Shohei Ohtani's win in the land where he was born and played earlier in his career. CNN's Hanako Montgomery has the latest on Japan's national hero.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What can't Shohei Ohtani do? The news of him winning the most valuable player award comes on the heels of his stellar season.
Ohtani made history as the first player ever to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in a single season. He's also won MVP this time solely as a designated hitter. He didn't pitch this year because, yes, he was recovering from elbow surgery while breaking all these records.
And Japan couldn't be prouder. Fans here have been eagerly awaiting their favorite baseball superstar to win MVP once again.
UNKNOWN (through translator): I thought he was a monster for being able to hit that hard in rehab. I admire him.
MONTGOMERY: Japan also hoped he'd win MVP unanimously, and he did. This also marks his first MVP win in the National League, and he achieved it in a year when his team, the Dodgers, won the World Series. So even though this is his third MVP win, in a lot of ways, this one feels even more special for both him and his country.
[03:55:05]
UNKNOWN (through translator): From children to old people, everyone is longing for him.
MONTGOMERY: People in Japan were with Ohtani every step of the way. During the World Series, roughly 13 percent of Japan tuned in, giving the games higher T.V. ratings here than in the U.S.
Ohtani's first season with the Dodgers was nearly flawless. So on behalf of Japan, congratulations again, Ohtani.
Hanako Montgomery, CNN, Tokyo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Well, seven marathons on seven continents in seven days. It's billed as the great world race. The extraordinary test of endurance reached its finale on Wednesday in Miami, Florida. The women's title was claimed by American Hilary Kopisch with an average race time of three hours, 12 minutes and 12 seconds, while David Kilgore, also of the U.S., took the men's title with an average of three hours, 22 minutes and 57 seconds.
Other race locations included Antarctica's Wufeng, Cape Town in Africa; Perth, Australia; Kargenia in South America; and Istanbul twice for both Europe and Asia.
Well done to all the runners. A towering story of friendship as two Guinness World Record holders with very different perspectives met for the first time.
Rumeysa Gelgi of Turkey is 2.1 meters tall, or that's about seven feet, while Jyoti Amge of India stands at a little over half a meter or about two feet. Both were born with genetic conditions that affected their height.
They met in London on Wednesday for the Guinness World Records Day. The organization's editor-in-chief was there and called the experience a learning opportunity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CRAIG GLENDAY, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, "GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS": Guinness World Records is all about celebrating differences and by bringing together these two unique women with very different perspectives on life. They can learn a lot about each other, but we can learn a lot about them and about the world around us.
RUMEYSA GELGI, WORLD'S TALLEST WOMAN: You are so beautiful.
JYOTI AMGE, WORLD'S SMALLEST WOMAN: Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: Just a remarkable scene, really. Well, Guinness World Records named the women icons as part of a new category introduced for the book's 2025 edition.
Well, that does it for this edition of "CNN Newsroom." I'm Lynda Kinkade. Thanks for your company. Stay with us. "CNN Newsroom" continues with Max Foster in London in just a moment.
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