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Netanyahu Holds Talks Regarding Hezbollah Ceasefire; Ukraine Studying Debris from New Russian Missile; Damaging Floods, Landslides Tear Through U.K. and Ireland; Concerns Grow Over Chinese Cyberattack on U.S.; U.S. Senators Brace for Fiery Confirmation Battles; Bitcoin Soaring after Donald Trump's Election Victory; Latino Voters Discuss Their Reasons for Supporting Trump. Aired 12-12:45a ET

Aired November 25, 2024 - 00:00   ET

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

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes. Appreciate your company.

[00:00:28]

Coming up here on CNN NEWSROOM, a wave of attacks between Israel and Hezbollah as diplomatic efforts are underway to reach a ceasefire.

Storm Bert batters parts of the U.K. with heavy rainfall and flooding, leaving many without power.

And disturbing statistics about violence against women. What a new U.N. report says about who most commonly commits femicide.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Michael Holmes.

HOLMES: And we begin this hour in the Middle East, where a regional source says a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah is, quote, "very close."

But a spokesperson for the Israeli prime minister says, while they're moving in that direction, some issues still need to be addressed.

All of this as we see a continual uptick in strikes across the border. On Sunday night, the Israel Defense Forces said they struck 12 Hezbollah command centers in Beirut's Southern suburbs.

The Lebanese capital was one of several areas hit by Israeli attacks over the weekend. Officials in Lebanon say those attacks across the country killed dozens of people.

And in Israel, at least seven people were injured after the Israeli military says Hezbollah fired around 250 projectiles from Lebanon on Sunday, most of them here, as you see, being intercepted by Israel's air defenses.

CNN's Nic Robertson, tracking all of the developments, has more now from Jerusalem.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, the fact that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with --

ROBERTSON (voice-over): -- his ministers and senior security officials is an indication that they talked about the Hezbollah ceasefire, possibility that potentially, it's getting closer.

ROBERTSON: And a source in the region has said he feels that it's close. In the context there, you have the battle tempo picking up.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): More than 250 Hezbollah rockets and drones fired into Israel over Sunday. That is a huge number, much bigger than we've seen over recent days.

And Israel, for its part, increasing its strikes in the center of Beirut over the past week. On early hours of Saturday morning, a strike there killing more than 29 people. It appeared to be a strike going after a senior Hezbollah figure, although none were killed in that strike.

Eighty-four other people over the weekend -- more than 84 -- killed in Lebanon. More than 3,000 killed since the -- since the war began there.

ROBERTSON: And on Sunday, the IDF actually hitting a Lebanese army base, killing one soldier, damaging equipment, and injuring several other soldiers.

The IDF apologized for that, said that they were targeting Hezbollah, but the indications are, over the past few days, that the battle tempo has been heating up.

And if you look back at the ceasefire in 2006 between Israel and Hezbollah, back then, in the days before the ceasefire came into effect, the battle tempo heated up, as well.

It doesn't mean, necessarily, that there will be a ceasefire, but it does indicate that both sides are really putting their backs into the fight for maximal gain.

The biggest consideration, it appears, for Prime Minister Netanyahu getting what he wants during that 60-day ceasefire; getting the right to strike back at Hezbollah if they break the ceasefire. That seems to be one of the key issues that's holding out there.

And the Iranians weighing in from their part. Ali Larijani, a senior adviser to the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saying that Iran would strike at Israel, threatening that possibility, something we heard them say for several weeks ago when the talks seem to be breaking down.

They're now putting their voice in again at a crucial time in these ceasefire talks, and it appears as if Iran is adding pressure.

Is there going to be a green light for the ceasefire talks to progress to a point of conclusion? That isn't clear. Battle tempo, talks and discussions, diplomacy seem to be pointing that it could be close, but let's not forget we've been here before. So, it's not a done deal. Far from it.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Meanwhile, in Gaza, civilians displaced by Israel's ongoing offensives are now facing a new challenge: worsening weather conditions.

Thousands of people have been impacted by flooding after heavy rains soaked hundreds of poorly constructed tents across the enclave and, in some cases, swept away the plastic and cloth sheeting used for protection by families forced to flee their own homes.

The majority of Gaza's population has been displaced since the war began last October.

And it's not just the rain and impending winter weather. Many are also dealing with a desperate lack of food, with aid organizations warning that famine is likely imminent, if not already underway. Certainly, in parts of Northern Gaza.

Next hour, I'll speak with the International Rescue Committee's country director for the Palestinian territory.

The wars raging in the Middle East and in Ukraine will feature prominently in the G-7 foreign ministers' meeting, coming in the coming hours in central Italy.

The delegations will discuss those wars, along with Indo-Pacific security and the ongoing security crises in Haiti and Sudan. Ukraine's foreign minister will attend meetings on Tuesday.

The U.S. secretary of state, Antony Blinken, arrived in Italy on Sunday. It will be his last G-7 summit before the Trump administration takes over the White House in January.

Blinken will also travel to Vatican City this week for a meeting with Pope Francis.

Meanwhile, Ukraine and its allies are working to assess Moscow's latest military technology after Russia fired a new type of missile last week on central Ukraine.

Nick Paton Walsh has the latest now from Dnipro.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it was the dead of night here that people in Dnipro saw the extraordinary scene on their skyline --

WALSH (voice-over): -- of that multi-warhead Russian missile. Experimental, according to U.S. officials.

And here, a children's rehabilitation center --

WALSH: -- where some of the debris from the attack that night indeed landed. Children were here at the time.

Still, broken glass from the ground below me. And really, it's these vulnerable Ukrainians on the receiving end of a broader geopolitical message that Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted to send.

WALSH (voice-over): The parts of the debris of that missile on display to news agencies in Kyiv today, a select amount. Clearly, Kyiv trying to show the world exactly what technology was used against them.

And there is, of course, going to be a lot of forensic attention as to exactly what those missile parts, indeed, show.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Experts are currently analyzing the evidence and working with our partners to establish all the details and the specifications of this missile, and to find a response together to this latest Russian escalation.

ROBERTSON: There appears to be a consensus. This was a hypersonic missile. And it was one with multiple warheads, non-nuclear, indeed.

Vladimir Putin suggested that it can potentially get through all Western air defenses.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): And I'm sure that the parts on display will be pored over to see if, indeed, that provides any clues as to whether this is a technological leap by Russia or not.

But still here, the message itself was very much more immediate and terrifying, surely, for those who saw multiple different fragments raining down on them from above.

ROBERTSON: And the damage still here, palpable in the freezing night.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Dnipro, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: At least one person is dead and tens of thousands of homes and businesses lost power as Storm Bert hit the British isles this weekend.

The weather system brought strong winds, snow and rain to the region, Britain's chief meteorologist calling it a multi-hazard event.

Storm Bert triggered flood warnings across the United Kingdom and Ireland. Storm Bert is expected to clear the region by Tuesday, but for now, many people in the U.K. and Ireland are just working to recover from the damage.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) HOLMES (voice-over): Snow, wind and rain. The so-called multi-hazard event, named Storm Bert, whipped across Britain and Ireland over the weekend, disrupting airport, ferry and train services across the British isles.

In Wales, emergency services waded through flooded streets, and residents tried to bail water from their homes after some parts of the country were drenched with more than ten centimeters of rain.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You see on the news. You know it happens in Spain globally. And then it happens to you, and it's like, oh right, well, how do we handle it? And it's just, you know, some of them having a cuppa; some, like me, panicking, going away.

HOLMES (voice-over): In Northwest Ireland, tens of thousands of people were without power after high winds and floods swept through the area.

Sandbags were still out on the streets as people braced for more rain and tried to mop up during a break in the storm.

THOMAS PRINGLE, IRISH MP: The river burst its banks up behind us here, and the river just basically flowed down the street and flooded the whole street here, right up to halfway up the Hill towards the main street there.

And it was just devastation everywhere.

HOLMES (voice-over): Heavy snow-covered parts of Scotland and central England, where snow, ice, and flood warnings were in place.

[00:10:04]

The U.K. Met Office says some rural communities could be cut off, with up to 40 centimeters of snow expected in higher elevations.

Forecasters say wind and rain could continue to be a threat before Storm Bert finally clears the region on Tuesday.

Well, Bitcoin is soaring after Donald Trump's election victory. Ahead, we'll take a closer look at what's behind the crypto boom.

Also, the dire warning from a U.S. senator over a Chinese cyber-attack that targeted top political figures in the U.S., including Donald Trump.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: The chairman of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee, Mark Warner, says the U.S. is now witnessing the worst telecom hack in the nation's history.

People briefed on the matter tell CNN that Chinese hackers have been spying on some of the most senior figures in both the Democratic and Republican parties.

An all-senators briefing on the situation is now scheduled for December 4.

CNN's Sean Lyngaas is following the latest developments.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEAN LYNGAAS, CNN CYBERSECURITY CORRESPONDENT: U.S. officials on Friday summoned top telecommunications executives to the White House to share the latest intelligence on an alleged Chinese hacking campaign that has targeted senior U.S. political figures, including President-elect Donald Trump and Vice-President-elect J.D. Vance.

LYNGAAS (voice-over): The hacking campaign is shaping up to be one of the biggest national security challenges facing the incoming Trump administration.

But the full scope of the hack, who it affects, and its impact on national security are still being investigated. The meeting comes as U.S. cyber experts are still trying to make sure that the hackers have been actually kicked out of the telecom networks.

LYNGAAS: It's a cat-and-mouse game that won't be ending any time soon. China has denied involvement.

Sean Lyngaas, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: With most of Donald Trump's top cabinet picks named, Republicans are now bracing for long confirmation battles ahead, especially for the president-elect's more controversial choices.

CNN's Alayna Treene with more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALAYNE TREENE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, President-elect Donald Trump has moved very quickly to fill out his cabinet.

TREENE (voice-over): He only has a few more names left to announce.

But now, really, the attention is turning to how he's going to get these different candidates through their confirmation processes.

TREENE: Particularly the ones that we know are more controversial and that are causing some consternation up on Capitol Hill.

And that includes Tulsi Gabbard, who many senators questioned her position on surveillance, and also her deep distrust of some of the agencies that she'll be overseeing.

There's also RFK Jr., who his past comments supporting abortion access may not sit well with a lot of the staunchly anti-abortion senators that will be dealing with his confirmation process.

[00:15:02] There's also Pete Hegseth, who's Donald Trump's pick to lead the Pentagon. He has been dogged by a recent sexual assault allegation, but also, a lot of people raising questions of whether or not he has the credentials for that role.

TREENE: So, all of this together is what I know the Trump transition team is going to be focusing on very heavily between now and inauguration day, as they prepare all of these different people to go through the Senate process.

Now, we did hear some members address this today. I do want you to take a listen to what Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin of the deep- red state of Oklahoma said in trying to address some of this.

SEN. MARKWAYNE MULLIN (R-OK): This isn't a new administration coming in. And so, when people are criticizing his picks, the president has done this job before. He knows exactly what he needs. He knows who he wants to put in those positions.

That's why he's been able to move fast, because he knows he has four years to reach the -- to reach the mandate that the American people said.

They want the government going in a different direction. And these nominations he's putting forth are actually going to deliver that for him.

TREENE: Now, what Mullin said there, I think, is pretty significant, and it does align with what I'm hearing in my conversations with those working with the Trump transition team, which is Donald Trump chose these people, even though he knew they were controversial, for a reason.

He wants disruptors, people who will go into these different agencies and buck the establishment and really try and go in a different way, break from traditional norms. That was his goal in these selections.

TREENE (voice-over): And that is why we've seen him publicly put pressure, Donald Trump himself, on many of these senators and encouraging them to support him.

TREENE: Now, one key thing to keep in mind, as well, though, is that we do know that --

TREENE (voice-over): -- Senate Republicans have a backbone, that even though Republicans have control of the House and the Senate, we did see them weigh in very publicly about Matt Gaetz.

I mean, Donald Trump was all in on Matt Gaetz, we had been told, and really wanted him for his attorney general pick. But it was clear from his meetings with senators and the conversations they were having that he was not going to get the number of votes he needed to get through the Senate. And ultimately, Gaetz withdrew.

TREENE: And so, that is definitely weighing on the back of a lot of people's minds at Mar-a-Lago and something they're going to continue to be working toward as they ready all of these different selections for those hearings.

Alayna Treene, CNN, West Palm Beach, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Now, in his flurry of cabinet picks last week, Trump -- Trump tapped Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick to lead the U.S. Commerce Department.

Now, Lutnick has served as the co-chair of president's -- President Trump's transition team since August. He's a big fan of cryptocurrency, with ties to one of the industry's most controversial players.

During the campaign, Trump vowed to make the U.S. the "crypto capital of the planet," as he put it, with an advisory council and a cryptocurrency reserve.

Trump is also -- has a chance to appoint a more friendly securities and exchange chair, as well.

Bitcoin, a crypto market bellwether, has shot up more than 30 percent since Trump's victory. It's now trading at around $97,000.

Now, Yesha Yadav is a professor at Vanderbilt Law School. She joins me now from Norman Oklahoma.

Professor, thanks for joining, though. This has been an extraordinary rise even for bitcoin, which has been notoriously volatile over the years. How much of that is political? Trump's appointment of crypto boosters to his administration, this talk of a bitcoin strategic reserve?

YESHA YADAV, PROFESSOR, VANDERBILT LAW SCHOOL: Michael, thank you so very much for having me today.

This is a very big moment for crypto, with the election of President Trump. And the upsurge in bitcoin prices has been actually happening since around January this year. But it has really taken off, as you noted, since the election.

And there are a couple of -- there are a couple of elements here that are really pushing its value. That strategic reserve is really, really important, Michael, because what it means is that the U.S. will be buying bitcoin.

It already has a very substantial reserve, upwards of 200,000 bitcoins that it has already, and it's likely to buy more.

What that means is that the selling pressure will decrease in this market. The U.S. will not be selling. And in addition, other countries may be wanting to buy it, as well.

More broadly, what this signals is an institutional acceptance of crypto. Crypto will become extremely legitimized by its association with U.S. economic policy. And that can only spell a very positive upswing for crypto that two years ago looked like it was very much dead in the in the water, according to many commentators.

HOLMES: Yes. For the uninitiated, of course, at the end of the day, bitcoin isn't like most assets, something -- it's something intangible in a traditional investment sense. There's no cash flow. There's no direct physical property rights. There's no hard assets. It's got limited utility.

Is it sustainable?

YADAV: Michael, there is a technological proposition here that bitcoin proponents have really been speaking to, which is a network that is capable of moving information and value in a way that is decentralized, that doesn't need banks or even governments to surveil it on a everyday transactional basis.

[00:20:13]

That technology is radical, and it's new, because it's able to operate, essentially, in an automated and decentralized way.

Now that technological proposition in, you know, various different blockchains is actually moving upwards of $70 billion worth of value already today.

So that -- that -- that movement today is happening. The question really becomes, how safe is this? How viable is this technology? How much can everyday users benefit from it?

And that is something that's a really wait-and-see proposition, as regulation takes hold and everyday people start to become more educated about what this technology can actually achieve.

HOLMES: Well -- well, that was going to be my next question.

Let's talk more about it. It's not a ride for the faint of heart. Or perhaps not something to go all in on or go even heavily into as an ordinary investor. Is it?

What are the potential pitfalls? What should average people be aware of?

YADAV: Average people need to be educated about the technology. Michael in addition, they need to make sure what they're really getting into.

There are some novel risks here in relation to this technology; for example, in relation to hacks, in relation to some of the marketing for certain kinds of coins that haven't always been very -- very consumer friendly. And this is something that folks do need to be mindful of.

But we're entering a chapter where there can be some -- there can be some real regulation coming forward, in particular in relation to disclosure; in particular, in relation to making sure that customer crypto is safely handled. After FTX, a bunch of the FTX consumers ended up as unsecured creditors of that exchange. That was not their crypto anymore legally. That is a horrible state of affairs to have been in.

HOLMES: Yes.

YADAV: So, at this point, it's really a focus on making sure that folks can become educated. They can get comfortable with this technology.

In addition, there's some financial products that are coming on this market, like the ETF that's allowing everyday investors to get into this market more safely by buying this ETF product, which is very much a part of this market already; part of the securities market, and doing so in a way that they're comfortable with.

HOLMES: Yes, yes. Trump's media and technology group had filed a trademark application for what it described as a cryptocurrency payment processing platform.

And Trump is now, of course, pushing crypto. He used to hate it. He used to call it a scam.

But could the president of the United States end up making millions for himself by using his own administration to push or hype crypto, when he's basically got a finger in the pie?

YADAV: Yes, it's a -- it's a really important part of the regulatory project here, Michael, which is to make sure that any perception of conflicts of interest in relation to the president's own ventures, his family's ventures, can be safely mitigated and dealt with.

In addition to the venture you just mentioned, the Trump family has already been associated with World Liberty Financial, which is a decentralized blockchain project already in motion.

So, when regulation gets up and running, any kind of enforcement decisions or rulemaking has to be super careful to make sure that no conflicts of interest, or perceptions of these conflicts of interest, can arise. And to avoid that kind of suggestion that there's going to be lots of money to be made personally by the president.

HOLMES: Because that worked so well last time around. Yes, we shall see.

I want to ask you quickly before we go, because there are ethical concerns and one of those is the excessive energy use by bitcoin mining. It uses massive data centers.

I saw an estimate that bitcoin mining accounts for nearly 1 percent of global demand for electricity. It's like the same as all the electricity needs of Australia.

In an era of climate change through fossil fuel burning. Is that or should that be more of an issue when it comes to bitcoin? YADAV: It's absolutely an issue, and Michael, it's an issue that the crypto industry has to deal with to make sure that these mining rigs and these operations that maintain the viability of this network can be undertaken in a way that is much more sustainable to reduce the carbon footprint of these rigs that are operating to -- to operationalize these blockchains.

However, it's worth noting that a number of newer blockchains have moved away from this model that uses electricity to a model where this electricity has been cut down to these -- to these mechanisms that look to how much coins people already own in order to help operationalize these blockchains, in order to look -- in order -- rather than using the electricity here.

So, this is a model that's becoming less and less viable for the newer blockchains that are looking to cut down on electricity usage by using different mechanisms altogether to protect the blockchain.

HOLMES: Yes.

YADAV: So, you know that that is the current trend at present.

HOLMES: Yes. Yes. I know. Ethereum has down well in that sphere. Bitcoin's got to catch up.

I've got to leave it there, unfortunately. A fascinating conversation. Professor Yadav, thank you so much.

YADAV: Thank you so much for having me.

[00:25:03]

HOLMES: Now one of the factors that helped push Donald Trump to victory earlier this month was the support he got from Latinos.

CNN's Isabel Rosales went to central Florida to talk with some of those voters who helped turn their country -- county red for the first time in decades. Here's her report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DIANA MARRERO-PINTO, PUERTO RICAN TRUMP SUPPORTER: See, these are the pork chops, and if you look, this is less than 2 pounds. And it's 5.49 a pound.

The eggs, now I mean, the eggs have gone up probably like 50 percent in price. And then milk's just another item that's completely gone up.

We're so tightly squeezed that we're living in an economy where all you're doing is working to live. And that's not the American dream.

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Whether it's sticker shock at the grocery store or watching her youngest son move out of Florida's Osceola County, his dream of affording a home out of reach, Diana Marrero-Pinto's family has faced a bleak economic picture.

MARRERO-PINTO: People were tired. They were just tired. They were tired of prices going up.

ROSALES (voice-over): A registered independent, she voted Republican at the top of the ticket, but for Democrats in some local and congressional races.

In 2016, the Puerto Rican voted Donald Trump. But four years later, she went for Joe Biden, bothered in part about this 2017 incident, when Trump threw paper towels at struggling Puerto Rican residents during the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.

But now, Diana came back to Trump.

TONY HINCHCLIFFE, COMEDIAN: There's literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now.

ROSALES: What do you say about the Latino vote?

MARRERO-PINTO: You spend so much time trying to push down our throats that people like Trump have disrespected us by throwing paper towels and by, you know, having a comedian that said what he said. You don't realize how much you disrespect us by insulting our intelligence and thinking that you just have us in your back pocket.

We're just not going to stamp you -- rubber-stamp you because you have a "D" behind your name.

ROSALES: Latinos are in the majority here in Osceola county, in large part thanks to its thriving Puerto Rican community, one of the largest in the Sunshine State, and how they vote is important.

Joe Biden beat Trump here by 14 points back in 2020. Four years earlier, Hillary Clinton won it by 25 points.

But this November, Trump narrowly won Osceola by less than two points on his way to carrying the state by a decisive margin.

Hey, Mark. I'm Isabel.

ROSALES (voice-over): The county's longtime GOP chairman not taken by surprise they flipped red.

ROSALES: What happened here with Trump? How did he do it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It basically is on the issues. You have to ask the question, were you better off four years ago [SIC] than you are today? And nobody in their right mind can say yes.

MARRERO-PINTO: So, it's about the economy.

MARK CROSS, GOP COUNTY CHAIRMAN: The economy is part of it. I mean, the illegal immigration problem is part of it. You know, when you talk about Puerto Ricans and how they vote, what I've noticed is it's not really a Puerto Rican or a Latino vote. It's an American vote.

ROSALES (voice-over): Americans by birthright, some Puerto Rican Trump supporters welcoming mass deportations. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have no problems with anybody coming into the

U.S. legally, but crossing the border, I don't care from what country. They should be going back to their country and coming back legally into the country.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

ROSALES: She thinks that Donald Trump is the answer to the future, that he's going to make the economy great again, and that he has already started by getting undocumented people out of here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Great America from (ph) Donald Trump.

ROSALES (voice-over): And as Diana plates the searing chuletas for dinner, her faith is unwavering.

ROSALES: Do you see Trump as a strong Christian man?

MARRERO-PINTO: I see Trump as someone who has foundational Christian values. I wasn't looking for a pastor. I didn't have to worry if he was a saint.

Father God, we thank you for this food.

ROSALES (voice-over): No saint nor pastor, but a man, she says, who shares her values.

MARRERO-PINTO: Amen.

ROSALES: Here in Osceola County, there is an exceptionally large amount of nonparty-affiliated voters, meaning that both sides have to bring their "A" game to court these voters.

Now, Mark Cross, that GOP county chairman that you saw in the story, he says that he is passing the torch. He is announcing the successor that he is endorsing, and that person is a Puerto Rican pastor.

And as a Latino, he would be the first to lead the local party.

I asked Cross, what is the message they're trying to send with that pick? And he told me that Republicans are looking to the future, that this is someone who's young, someone who represents the community, showing that they are serious about this voting bloc.

In Kissimmee, Florida, Isabel Rosales, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: When we come back, shocking statistics mark International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. We will discuss when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women is being marked around the world. In a new U.N. report femicides in 2023, reveals that one woman is killed every ten minutes by a partner or family member.

People are taking to the streets to show their support for the cause; sometimes their dismay and anger at these shocking statistics.

The report shows that globally, 85,000 women and girls were killed intentionally in 2023.

Much of the violence against women and girls happens in the home. Sixty percent of all female homicides are committed by intimate partners or family members, with 140 women and girls, on average, losing their lives to domestic violence every day.

And now U.N. Women is calling for accountability and action from decision makers.

Kalliopi Mingeirou is the chief of the Ending Violence Against Women section at U.N. Women in New York. She joins me now.

And thanks for doing so. The most recent numbers in this report are horrifying. One woman killed every ten minutes by partners or family members. And that is staggering. Sum up what this report briefly is telling us about this issue.

KALLIOPI MINGEIROU, CHIEF OF ENDING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN SECTION, U.N. WOMEN IN NEW YORK: This is a big, very serious issue. Having 80,005 women and girls who were killed intentionally in 2023. Think about it.

This is a war against women and girls. Sometimes these numbers, they're more than the fatalities we have during a war.

And as you said, these women and girls are at the greatest risk of homicide at home. We have some really horrifying data there. Fifty-one thousand one hundred women and girls worldwide were killed by their intimate partners or other family members.

HOLMES: Yes.

MINGEIROU: One woman killed every ten minutes by someone in their own family.

HOLMES: They're horrifying numbers. So often this violence, as you point out, is in their homes. It's behind closed doors. It's kept quiet.

I mean, how much of an issue is that aspect? Do we even know how widespread the problem is?

MINGEIROU: We can really see just the tip of the iceberg there. We know that less than 40 percent of the women who experience violence seek help of any sort and just to mention that less of these women, less than 10 percent seek -- who seek help, appeal to the police.

[00:35:10]

There's so much stigma for survivors of violence to -- to really report the violence that they experience. And, you know, it's really difficult for -- for women just to report on the -- the partners that they are with. Sometimes they are so much afraid of their own lives. They're afraid that they're going to lose the custody of their children.

So, it becomes very, very difficult to -- to report such violence. So, we really see only the tip of the iceberg.

HOLMES: 2024 marks 25 years since the U.N. designated the 25th of November the date of -- which was the date of the murder of the Mirabal sisters. As international day for the elimination of violence against women.

What advances have been made in that time, presumably from these numbers, not enough.

MINGEIROU: The rate of such femicides and violence, they're really alarming.

We have seen some progress, though, in the last few decades. Member states have been working, the governments have been working very hard to implement laws, policies, and to put services in place to address violence against women and girls.

And now we have, as of 2023, we have 104 countries that they have comprehensive laws addressing domestic violence. And we have seen some increases of budgets in order to implement these laws.

HOLMES: Yes. There have been --

MINGEIROU: However, this is not enough.

HOLMES: No. No. One presumes it's not. There have been some high- profile cases that have happened in recent times that have -- you know, there's been protests on the street. You know, the woman who was basically prostituted out by a husband and so on in France. Tens of thousands turning out to protest.

So, what needs to change on a base level to stop, or at least mitigate, this kind of violence against women on a governmental level.

MINGEIROU: We have seen that these really public cases, they have shed the light to the extent of violence and abuse that women can experience every day.

And we have seen that this kind of outcry from everyday citizens, women's rights organizations, demanding for action and for legal and policy reforms, they have really created, instigated some progress in the past. And they have led not only to prosecution of individual cases, but also to some significant legal and policy action.

What we really need to see right now, it's like not only having laws and policies in place, but we really need to -- to work with governments to address the root causes of such violence, which is harmful social norms, gender stereotypes. The beliefs that so many people hold about the gender roles that women and men should have in society, that they really normalize such violence.

And most importantly, we really need to address the gender-based discrimination that we see in policies around the world.

HOLMES: Very, very important issue. And thank you for putting a spotlight on it, Kalliopi Mingeirou, thank you so much.

MINGEIROU: Thank you.

HOLMES: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. We'll be right back.

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HOLMES: A Russian-made passenger plane caught fire on Sunday after landing at Turkey's Antalya Airport.

Despite the scale of the blaze, no passengers or crew were hurt during the evacuation, according to Russian state media.

Landings were suspended at the airport while the plane was towed from the runway. The cause still unknown. And Moscow says Russia is investigating the incident.

A massive fire has engulfed around a thousand shanty homes in Manila. The fire tore through the Philippine capital's port area on Sunday. Roughly 8,000 people are thought to now be homeless. No word on any casualties at the moment.

Fire investigators have not yet started the search for what caused the fire.

Officials in the Philippines have struggled to enforce fire safety regulations.

Afterwards, there were scenes like this people picking through the charred remains of their neighborhood for anything they could find.

Ahead of U.N. talks this week in South Korea, climate activists in the Southern port city of Busan formed a human sign on the beach on Sunday that read -- read "End Plastic," as you can see there.

They were among around 500 activists in ten countries to make a human sign that day. Protesters want to see legally binding commitments to fight plastic waste.

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SAM COSSAR, AUSTRALIAN CLIMATE ACTIVIST, FRIENDS OF THE EARTH: We have a big plastic problem in Australia, like all around the world. We know that fossil fuel companies are responsible for the plastic crisis. But together with people power, we need binding regulation to hold

them accountable. It's very important that we reduce plastic production, that we stop the dirty waste trade, that we scale up reuse solutions.

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HOLMES: A hundred and seventy-five U.N. delegates have today begun the fifth round of talks aimed at securing the first international treaty to curb plastic pollution. It is much needed.

Thanks for spending part of your day with me. I'm Michael Holmes. I'll see you in about 15 minutes or so with more news. Meanwhile, WORLD SPORT coming your way next.

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