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London's Heathrow Airport Shuts Down Due To Significant Power Outage; Hamas Fires First Rockets Since Israel Broke Recent Ceasefire; Russia, Ukraine Trade Fire As Partial Ceasefire Teeters; Pentagon Set Up Briefing For Musk On Potential War With China; Judge Temporarily Blocks Deportation Of Georgetown University Researcher; Scientist Banned From Entering U.S. Over Opinions About Trump; London's Heathrow Airport Shuts Down Due to Power Outage; Shares Edge up Thursday, but Musk-Driven Concerns Remain; Kirsty Coventry to Become First Female President of IOC; How Researchers Are Using A.I. to Decode the Emotions of Pigs. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired March 21, 2025 - 01:00   ET

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

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[01:00:25]

UNDIENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm John Vause with breaking news. This hour has been ordered for Heathrow Airport. Passengers have been told not to travel to the airport under any circumstance. The closure expected to continue all day Friday into Friday night at the least.

Officials say the airport went dark after a transformer at an electrical substation caught fire. Ten fire engines, dozens of firefighters are now on the scene of that fire in west London. Around 150 people in the area have been evacuated. So far, no word on the cause of the blaze.

Heathrow's closure is expected to directly impact more than 1,300 flights, upwards of 140,000 passengers in the immediate future, according to flight tracking site Flightradar24. 120flights were in the air heading for Heathrow when the airport was shut down. They've been either diverted to other airports or turned back. Heathrow officials are warning of significant disruption in the coming days.

Let's get more now from the impact of Heathrow's closure from Ian Petchenik, Director of communications at FlightRadar24. He joins us now live from Chicago. Ian, thank you for being with us.

So right now we're looking at what, 120 flights directly impacted by the closure of Heathrow. But what about the other flights, the knock on effect from here? What are we looking at that in terms of, you know, the greater turmoil this could cause?

IAN PETCHENIK, DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS, FLIGHTRADAR24: Yes, absolutely. I mean, 120 flights is nothing to sneeze at because you've got hundreds of people on board each and every one of those flights and those are going to go to alternate airports or back to where they started.

For the total day, we're going to have about 1,550 flights affected directly to and from Heathrow. But that doesn't include the flights that will be impacted because those aircraft are now out of position and can't operate the flights that they were supposed to operate after they went to or from Heathrow.

VAUSE: So from your experience, having seen these kind of delays and this sort of chaos in the past, how long do you think it will take to work through the system before it actually returns to some kind of normalcy?

PETCHENIK: It'll depend on the airline. So airlines that operate one or two flights to Heathrow per day are going to be relatively unscathed in total, but airlines like BA are going to take probably a few days, maybe even a week to recover, depending on how long the problems at Heathrow last and how quickly they can get aircraft and crews and passengers back into position.

VAUSE: And from what you're seeing right now on Flightradar, what flights into Heathrow are being diverted and where and which ones are being turned around. And so how is that decision made?

PETCHENIK: Sure. So it seems like right now anything that hasn't already crossed an ocean or multiple continents is heading back towards where it came from or diverting closer to home. Flights that are already near London are diverting to first airports near London. So Gatwick is picking up some of the slack from the first arrivals. Paris, Amsterdam, we're going to start to see some secondary and tertiary airports start to pick up diversions like Birmingham, Manchester and further afield within Europe. Euro Control is working on a diversion plan to accommodate all of those flights.

I mean, 120 flights doesn't seem like a lot, but the majority of those flights are wide body aircraft with lots of people on board. And so you're going to need large parking spaces for those aircraft as well. And so that's going to be a logistical nightmare.

VAUSE: To say nothing of the fact that when these planes, wherever they touch down there are passengers which need to go through immigration checks, they need to have their airport, their luggage checked, all these security measures that are put in place.

Are these airports where these planes are heading to and being diverted to, are they capable of handling the extra traffic?

PETCHENIK: Absolutely. So what will happen is airports will publish how many flights they can accept and once an aircraft lands there, they'll basically check a box and say, okay, we can only accept X number more flights. And then they'll do that through the diversion process until they're fully flighted full, and then they'll say we're full, no more flights diverting here. And airlines will have to go to a secondary airport.

VAUSE: And just quickly, in the grand scheme of things, London Heathrow Airport, I think fourth busiest in the world, certainly the busiest in London. How major is this shutdown in terms of airline travel?

PETCHENIK: This is absolutely crucial to airline travel. I mean, London, aside from being one of the busiest airports in the world, it's also one of the airports that collects the largest number of airlines.

[01:05:04]

So an impact to, you know, a daily closure in, say, Dallas would affect American Airlines, but pretty much only American Airlines. A closure of London Heathrow really affects multiple airlines and many airlines around the world.

VAUSE: Ian, thank you so much for your insights and staying up late and being with us to tell us what's going on here. And we appreciate it. It is turmoil and will be turmoil for some time.

PETCHENIK: Thank you.

VAUSE: Ian Petchenik there from Flightradar24.

PETCHENIK: Yes.

VAUSE: Take care. After two days of deadly punishing Israeli strikes from the air and the ground in Gaza, the military group Hamas has fired back, launching just three missiles towards Tel Aviv. The Israeli military says one was intercepted, two others landed in open areas and no one was hurt.

While in Jerusalem, many residents went running for cover as air raid sirens went off after Houthi rebels based in Yemen fired a ballistic missile towards Israel, the second in two days since the Gaza ceasefire collapse.

The Palestinian Health Ministry reports more than 500 people have been killed by renewed Israeli strikes on Gaza this week alone, adding to a total death toll since the war began. Approaching 50,000 Palestinians in Gaza.

Also Thursday, the head of Israel's internal security service was fired. The far-right coalition government voted to remove Ronen Bar from leading the agency, which is the equivalent of the FBI in the U.S. or MI5 in Britain.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke publicly about his ongoing distrust of Mr. Bar and argued his removal was necessary for achieving Israel's war goals in Gaza. CNN's international diplomatic editor Nic Robinson has more details. Now reporting in from the Israeli city of Sderot, just a few kilometers away from the border with Gaza.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: The IDF say they have launched a limited ground operation. They're describing it as limited, but we do know that part of it is in the distance behind me along the Mediterranean coast. That's where some of that ground operation is going on.

But while we've been here overlooking Gaza, the town behind me, Betanen (ph), we've seen that hit by what appeared to be an Israeli airstrike. We could hear the fighter jet. We could see the huge plume of smoke rising up from that.

And when you zoom in with the camera here and take a look at the terrain there, Betanen (ph) is already incredibly damaged from the previous 15 months of fighting. It is an area that was hit in the overnight strikes by the IDF here. Khan Younis in the center, Rafah in the south as well, according to health officials inside of Gaza.

The IDF dropped warning leaflets telling people in this northern area behind me to evacuate the ground. The defense minister is saying that what could come now, in terms of air and ground operation, could be worse than the people the Gazans have seen before.

And in fact, he implied that if they didn't get rid of Hamas themselves, then there could be complete ruin and destruction inside of Gaza. So the threat at the moment does seem to be very big and for the first time Hamas since the cease fire broke down. And they would say because Israel never engaged in the phase two talks as they were expected and as had been previously agreed, phase one, phase two talks. Hamas launched rocket strikes.

Not just small rockets, by the way, some of their larger ones that could reach as far as Tel Aviv. That's what they said they were targeting. One of those rockets was intercepted by the IDF. The IDF said the other two fell into open spaces.

It's not clear yet where Hamas will take their military operation. Will they try and step up a barrage of strikes? But certainly what we saw over the waning months of the 15 months of fighting was that Hamas's arsenal of rockets was incredibly depleted. They fired only very rarely. And now the people in the north of Gaza really being prepared by the Israelis, by the IDF, to expect a ground operation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Russia and Ukraine trading heavy fire despite new ceasefire talks expected in the coming days. That's the moment when Ukrainian drones hit a Russian air base about 650 kilometers from the border on Thursday. Russia's state news agency says at least 10 people were hurt. About 30 homes were damaged.

Images show a large plume of smoke rising from that base after the strike.

[01:10:00]

Kyiv says the base has been used to launch attacks on Ukraine. Russia, though, hitting back, launching what's been described as a massive drone attack on the port city of Odesa, leaving parts of that city now on fire. Three people were hurt. Power was knocked out as well.

A similar picture coming out of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region, which was reportedly hit by guided bombs. Ukraine says two people were hurt again. Multiple homes were damaged.

Late reporting by the New York Times says Elon Musk, presidential adviser and world's richest man, will be briefed on highly classified U.S. plans for a potential war with China. The Pentagon confirms Musk will visit Friday at the invitation of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Times reports while Musk is there, he will attend a top secret briefing.

But President Trump in a late night Truth Social post dismissed the New York Times report saying China will not even be mentioned or discussed. Musk has been closely involved with President Trump slashing the size of the federal government. But a briefing on plans for a possible war with China would be a significant escalation of Musk's role.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

ERIC SCHMIDT, SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDE, THE NEW YORK TIMES Be a dramatic expansion of his already extensive role as an adviser to President Trump and a leader of his effort to slash spending and purge the government of people and policies the administration opposes.

But it would also, I think, spotlight the questions about Musk's potential conflicts of interest that he -- as he ranges across the federal bureaucracy while continuing to run businesses that are major government contractors. Of course, Musk is the billionaire chief executive of both SpaceX and Tesla, is a leading supplier to the Pentagon has extensive financial interest in China.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Musk has extensive business in China, including multiple Tesla dealerships and a large factory in Shanghai. And we'll have more on Musk after the break. He does have the president's ear, but at what price on that? This hour on CNN Newsroom.

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[01:16:27

VAUSE: At least 120 flights have been diverted from London's Heathrow Airport after a significant power outage. Officials say it was caused by a large fire at a nearby electrical substation. Passengers are being urged to stay away from the airport. Contact airlines for more information.

The closure is directly expected to directly affect more than 1,300 flights, according to the flight tracking site Flightradar24. Upwards of 145,000 passengers in the immediate future, according to the airline analytics firm Cirium.

Flights to Zurich, Paris, Madrid have already been canceled. Heathrow is one of the busiest in the world. Expected to remain closed throughout the day Friday, possibly longer. Let's bring in CNN's Nada Bashir She's on the scene of that fire in Hayes in West London about four miles from Heathrow Airport. So what do we know about the fire? How did it start and is it under control yet?

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Well, look John, we are just outside the North Hyde Electricity substation where the fire is still ablaze. We can see the smoke rising from the direction of the substation. Police and emergency services have now put in place a cordon around the area, about a 200 meter cordon around the area according to the London Fire Brigade.

And where we are now, just outside that cordon line we can see a number of fire engines, police cars and ambulances as well. There doesn't seem to be a scene of chaos, so to speak. It is very calm where we are. But of course there is a huge fire still ablaze at this substation. The cause of that fire is still unknown.

What we understand this stage according to the London Firebird, is that a transformer within the electrical substation in Hyde, as you mentioned, an area just around four miles from London Heathrow Airport is alive. The fire brigade were called for the incident at around 11:20 p.m. local time on Thursday night and they have been at the scene ever since and are expected to continue to be at the scene for a while.

In fact we've been hearing from some officials in the area saying it could take several more hours. It's not the entire day to fully control the blaze. But of course this has caused serious chaos at Heathrow Airport at this stage. Airport officials say that the in operational for at least all of Friday could potentially be longer if that blaze is not water controlled.

Of course this of course the total power outage at Heathrow Airport, there is significant amount of disruption for the airport. This is also of course done a residential area as well. As I mentioned that 200 meter cordon. London Sky Brigade says that at least 29 people were evacuated to safety from neighboring properties and at least 150 people in the area have now been evacuated.

But again it is very early in the morning right now it remains to be seen how this develops, whether or not there are more evacuations for the safety of nearby residents and of course the chaos that we're expecting to see at Heathrow Airport, the 1,300 flights expected and impacted. This is one of Europe's busiest airports, the busiest airport in Europe.

And of course there is a huge amount of uncertainty as to what this could mean for flights in the coming days in fact. And of course as Heathrow Airport begins to grapple with this incident, how they will deal with the delays and the disruption.

VAUSE: Now to just explain to us or describe for us this electricity substation which is on fire. When most people think of a substation or a transformer catching fire, it's something which seems to be fairly relatively minor, a small structure.

[01:20:02]

This structure seems to be rather large. Can you describe what it does, how big it is and why this fire is taking so long to be put out?

BASHIR: Well, this is a major substation in West London, as I mentioned, is powering Heathrow Airport, the country's largest airport. And of course, it is the powering other areas as well in the local community. And it's expected to have a significant impact. This is an electrical fire, so it is a complicated fighter tackle for the firefighters here at the scene.

As I mentioned, we have a number of fire engine fire trucks around at the scene. We've seen a significant number of firefighters coming in and out of the direction of the substation. There is a cordon around the area. So we're not able to get right up close to the substation and see the extent of the blaze. We can see the smoke rising in the distance. But it is, according to footage that we've been circulating online, quite significantly.

So this will be a significant challenge for firefighters at the scene. It could take hours longer for this length report under control.

VAUSE: And it's incredible to think that is the only supply of power going into Heathrow Airport, that there is no backup, that there is no other way the airport can get electricity apart from that one substation. Nada Bashir on the scene there for us giving us the latest on trying to bring that fire under control. Of course, there will be no electricity to Heathrow Airport until that fire is extinguished and they can repair the damage there. So it's going to be a while yet before Heathrow gets back to normal as they continue to battle that blaze.

Nada Bashir there on the scene. Thank you for that reporting. We'll move on now.

Another blow to President Donald Trump's crackdown on immigration, a judge is blocking his administration from deporting a Georgetown University researcher. The Department of Homeland Security accuses Badar Khan Suri of spreading Hamas propaganda.

His is the latest case amid several arrests and deportations targeting U.S. colleges and universities. Georgetown University's interim president wrote a letter to the school board saying, quote, we are not aware of him engaging in any illegal activity and we have not received a reason for his detention.

And the United States also denying the French researcher was blocked from entering the United States because of messages on his phone about President Donald Trump. CNN's Melissa Bell explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is an extraordinary case that we're learning more about tonight of a French researcher who was apparently denied entry to the United States earlier this month as he tried to attend an academic conference on the outskirts of Houston.

We've been hearing more about the case from France's Minister for Higher Education Research, who says that the researcher was denied entry on the basis of personal opinions that he'd expressed with friends and colleagues and that were found on his phone and that were found to be critical of the Trump administration's attitude towards scientific research.

This particular minister, by the way, has been highly critical of these policies himself, urging American scientists to come and seek refuge here in France. It is though to this specific case that he's been speaking, saying that freedom of opinion, free research and academic freedom are values that we will continue to proudly uphold.

Now, we've been learning also from the Guardian newspaper that this researcher, before being thrown out, was told that there would be an FBI investigation into the case before learning as he was expelled, that the charges, in fact, had already been dropped.

Still, it's an extremely worrying case. CNN have now reached out to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Service to try and find out more. What they said was that border officials can look into people's phones if there is anything that raises flags. Further inquiry can then be sought.

But denying claims that any such inquiries can be made on the basis of political opinions. And yet this is apparently precisely what has happened in this case. The French researcher trying to get to the U.S. for this scientific conference turned back at the border simply because he had on his phone messages critical of the Trump administration. A very worrying precedent that apparently has now been set.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Our thanks to Melissa Bell, for that report. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security says any claim the man's removal was based on political beliefs is, quote, blatantly false. Agency says the researcher admitted to taking confidential information without permission and trying to conceal it. And with that, we'll be right back.

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[01:29:39]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

VAUSE: Major disruptions to global air traveling now beginning this hour as London's Heathrow Airport, one of the world's busiest, has completely shut down due to a power outage.

Officials say the airport went dark after a transformer at an electrical substation caught fire. Ten fire engines, dozens of firefighters have been working at the -- on the scene throughout the night. So far, about 150 people in the area have been evacuated. No word on the cause of that fire.

It's at a substation in Hayes in west London, which supplies power to Heathrow. It's about four miles away from the airport.

Heathrow's closure expected to affect more than 1,300 flights, and upwards of 145,000 passengers. That's just in the immediate future, according to a flight tracking site Flightradar24 and Cirium.

Aviation analyst Geoffrey Thomas explains the knock-on impact.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEOFFREY THOMAS, AVIATION ANALYST: Heathrow handles about a quarter of a million passengers a day. It does that with about 1,300 flights a day. It's one of the biggest international airports in the world, and it's a crossroad.

And so we've got literally hundreds of flights coming in from the United States and from South East Asia, the Middle East. They're all in the air at the moment inbound. You know, the old overnight type flight arriving at Heathrow from 5:30 local in the morning onwards.

So they've got to divert somewhere. Some can turn back, most cannot. They've got to continue. So they're going to be going all over the place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Another volatile day for Tesla on Wall Street. Shares of the electric car giant were lower for most of the session. They did manage, though, to finish slightly higher.

That said, shares have fallen more than 40 percent so far this year. That's amid concern of Elon Musk's polarizing work for the White House will be a drag on the brand globally. Increased competition from Chinese EV makers also been weighing on Tesla stock.

The Trump administration is supporting Musk amid a wave of vandalism of Tesla cars and facilities across the U.S.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt came out strongly against the attacks on Tesla during a White House briefing this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We certainly think it's despicable. The violence that has taken place against Tesla, the company, its employees and also just Americans who have chosen to drive an electric vehicle.

Many of them are Democrats, by the way. Democrats were big supporters of Tesla and of electric vehicles, until Elon Musk decided to vote for Donald Trump.

So we would like Democrats to also come out and condemn this heinous violence that we have seen. And I believe the attorney general has said she's investigating these incidents as acts of domestic terrorism.

Joining us now is Al Root, an associate editor for the financial magazine and Website "Barron's". Al, thank you for being with us.

AL ROOT, ASSOCIATE EDITOR, "BARRON'S": Thanks for having me, John.

VAUSE: Ok. So on the one hand, you've got the U.S. president acting as a car salesman on the White House lawn for Tesla. You also have the Commerce Secretary pitching Tesla stocks during an interview on Fox like this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOWARD LUTNICK, COMMERCE SECRETARY: Buy Tesla, it's unbelievable that this guy's stock is this cheap. It will never be this cheap again. When people understand the things he's building, the robots he's building, the technology he's building, people are going to be dreaming of today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Buy, buy, buy.

On the other hand, though, there's a growing number of attacks on Tesla cars. High profile Democrats are making very public displays of dumping their Teslas because of Musk and Department of Government Efficiency.

Here's Democrat Senator Mark Kelly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARK KELLY (D-AZ): Elon Musk kind of turned out to be an (EXPLETIVE DELETED). And I don't want to be driving a car built and designed By an (EXPLETIVE DELETED). So looking forward to my new ride.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: So what's the state of play right now for Elon Musk and Tesla? Where do things stand and where are they likely to go?

ROOT: So I've covered Tesla for a long time. And actually it's kind of normal to have this level of controversy.

It might be a little a different this time.

You know --

But if you take those two opinions and you boil it down to sort of a Tesla or a stock market perspective, first of all, it is very shocking to have a Commerce Secretary shilling for an individual stock. So that goes without saying.

But he's basically laying out the bull case, right? Tesla is an A.I. play. It's going to build robots. It's going to have self-driving taxis. We're all very focused on the car business in sort of the first quarter of 2025. So actually you're all wrong and the future is very bright. And then you have the car company view. Elon is ruining the brand. He's alienated half of the U.S. He's probably alienated half of Europe. He doesn't understand politics like he understands manufacturing. He won't pull out of this tailspin. So the car company is doomed.

So that's basically it, the two extremes. And if you look at how the stock trades we're pretty much between those two extremes.

You have the bulls that say it's worth $1 trillion. And then you have the bears that say it's a deteriorating car business and should be valued maybe like a BMW or a Mercedes.

[01:34:53]

ROOT: The difference in those values is about $800 billion to $900 billion. So that's the debate.

VAUSE: It's a lot of money, a very big number there. You mentioned the concerns about, you know, Elon Musk and his reputation being linked to Tesla and what's happening at the White House.

Here's one warning from an investor. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAN IVES, GLOBAL HEAD OF TECH RESEARCH, WEDBUSH SECURITIES: This is a brand crisis tornado that's essentially happened. It's something where the last thing you want to see is Tesla become a political symbol.

And that's -- look, and that's what it's become. And that's the frustrating -- that's been a huge overhang on the stock.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Another warning here that the Tesla brand is too closely tied to Elon Musk. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROSS GERBER, TESLA INVESTOR CALLING ON MUSK TO STEP DOWN: I warned about this a year ago that we -- Tesla needed to work to separate itself from Elon. And Elon is worried about Elon. He's not worried about Tesla.

And now it's really come back to roost in a negative way. And I don't know if we can separate the brand now from Elon. It might be too late.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROOT: Yes.

VAUSE: At the very least, does Musk owe it to shareholders at Tesla to pay some attention to these problems, or at least these potential problems the company is facing? ROOT: Well, so first of all, I think I'm going to blow your mind, hopefully. So Dan and Ross, I know them both well. They're both -- so the problem for Ross is, you know, Tesla is Musk and Musk is Tesla. And that comes from Dan, right? You can't separate the brand, right. It's not possible.

So let's take that aside and say, you know, new CEO or some sort of separation or Tesla plots its path, or the board, you know, exercises its fiduciary responsibility and gets tough with Elon. That's not going to happen.

The only thing that can happen is Musk pivots back and says ok, I'm going to split my time at Tesla and the White House. I'm going to take a step back from DOGE. I'm going to be more engaged at the car company. I'm going to realize that politics was a little different than I expected it.

And you don't want to declare, you know, he doesn't want to declare a loss like he -- you know, I'm sure there's a way to save face, but that's essentially what has to happen.

VAUSE: As for Elon Musk, he believes the attacks on Tesla or Tesla cars are being carried out by those directly impacted by the cuts he's implemented at the federal government.

Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELON MUSK, TESLA CEO: It turns out when you take away people's, you know, what the -- the money they're receiving fraudulently, they get very upset.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: You mentioned this. Very few products are linked so closely to their CEO and founder like Musk is to Tesla. It does seem the anger goes beyond those directly impacted by DOGE.

So was this sort of blowback in many ways inevitable given how unpopular Musk has become because of his role at the White House.

ROOT: The problem is, and to answer your question, by not answering it like it sort of doesn't matter if Elon is right or if he's wrong.

First of all, we shouldn't be violent. We have a few issues in this country right now, but we shouldn't be violent. But like, you know, the fact that, you know, you know, relying on sort of Lutnick and President Trump to sort of sell the product to Republicans, and maybe that's the only people you want.

What dan said earlier, you don't want any of this to become a political symbol. You don't want Elon to become as the CEO of a company you might be investing in, you don't want Elon to become this symbol of politics. You want -- you want the car just to be a car. So even if he's right, and certainly he shouldn't, you know, be

putting people in danger by firebombing them, it almost doesn't matter. He's got to recognize, wait a second, why is this happening right or wrong? How -- what is my role in this? Whether I'm saving America or not? And then what should I do now?

If I was giving him advice and nobody's asking me to give him advice, I'd say, listen, it doesn't matter if you're right. What are you going to do now?

VAUSE: Yes. It's good advice. It's a good place to end.

Al, thanks so much for being with us. Really appreciate it.

ROOT: Thanks, John.

VAUSE: Well, from breaking records to breaking the glass ceiling in a moment, Zimbabwe's most successful Olympian become the IOC's first woman president, also the youngest. And why she'll oversee issues much larger than sport. That's ahead.

[01:38:57]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Welcome back, everyone. More on our breaking news out of London, where Heathrow Airport will

be closed through the day of Friday after an electrical substation fire there triggered a major power outage.

Heathrow is one of the busiest airports in the world, and the closure is expected to disrupt travel for at least 140,000 passengers, maybe countless travelers, over the next few days.

Authorities are urging people not to travel to Heathrow Airport. To contact their airlines for more information about rescheduling their flights.

For the first time in its 130-year history, the International Olympic Committee will be led by a woman. Kirsty Coventry has been elected as president on Thursday, beating out six other contenders for the most powerful position in world sport.

The former Olympic gold medal swimmer from Zimbabwe will also become the first African at the top of the IOC.

CNN's Don Riddell has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLDSPORT ANCHOR: It really was an historic day on Thursday for the International Olympic Committee. The IOC elected its first female and its first African president, the former Zimbabwean swimming champion Kirsty Coventry.

On Thursday in Greece, Coventry surprised many Olympic observers by claiming a majority of votes in the first round of the election.

[01:44:48]

RIDDELL: And at the age of just 41, she'll also become the youngest president in the IOCs 130-year history.

KIRSTY COVENTRY, PRESIDENT, INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE: It's a really powerful signal. It's a signal that we're truly global and that we have evolved into an organization that is truly open to diversity, and we're going to continue walking that road in the next eight years.

The IOC and the Olympic movement have lasted so many generations because it brings people together and the diversity is a unifying way for us to connect with each other.

So right now, in today's world, this is our biggest platform to showcase the good of humanity and to share our values as the Olympic movement.

RIDDELL: Kirsty Coventry has made history in so many ways. She's also the most decorated of the ten IOC presidents. She won seven Olympic medals and was twice the 200-meter backstroke champion, taking gold in Athens and Beijing.

Coventry will be in office for at least eight years. Her first games will be the Winter Games in Milan in February and then, of course, the big one, the Summer Games in Los Angeles in 2028, a time in which she will have to work with President Donald Trump, some of whose policies could impact the games.

But it does feel like the dawn of a new era for the IOC. For so long, they've been accused of being out of touch and rather spineless when it comes to dealing with the challenging issues of the day. But this does feel like a new, young, fresh era for the IOC. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Ed Hula is with us now. He's the founder of the digital publication "Around the Rings". And he's covered every Olympics, both winter and summer for almost 30 years. And it's great to have you with us.

ED HULA, FOUNDER, "AROUND THE RINGS": It's good to be with you, John.

VAUSE: Just want to get your reaction off the top to Kirsty Coventry's election as IOC president. This really does feel like change has finally arrived at the IOC.

HULA: It's been a long time coming. She's of course, the first woman to be elected president in the 130-year history of the IOC, and also the youngest.

So combination of breaking the mold of male-dominated sports leadership with a young person as well, should be an interesting combination for the IOC. VAUSE: Yes, one which I think is very much needed after the last, you know, 20 or so years that we've had with the IOC, especially the years of Juan Antonio Samaranch.

But one of the challenges that she'll be facing will be the Los Angeles Games. And an issue there will be how to deal with transgender athletes.

The U.S. president has taken aim at transgender athletes. He's issued a number of executive orders aimed at preventing them from competing.

Here's the IOC president-elect on how she plans to deal with Donald Trump. Here she is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COVENTRY: In terms of Donald Trump, again, it's going to take communication. As I just said, we're going to create a task force that's going to look at the transgender issue and the protection of the female category.

And we -- once we've made the decision collectively as the IOC, with the international federations, that decision will be made very clear and we won't move from that decision.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: That sounds like the message here is she's willing to talk and she's willing to listen to Trump. But ultimately, the IOC will be deciding who competes at the Olympics. It won't be Donald Trump.

HULA: It will make its own decision on that. But I think Kirsty Coventry because of her -- well, she's a woman and she has come out in favor very strongly of protecting the integrity of women's sport.

So I think she's going to be a very careful leader as the IOC gets -- gets into this topic here. And she may not be too far away from Donald Trump taking on this line of competition when it all comes down to it.

VAUSE: You know, the last time the Summer Games were held in the United States, it was in Atlanta, 1996. So given that, how much is riding on a successful Los Angeles Games in 2028?

HULA: Oh, yes, very much. I mean, the IOC sees Los Angeles as such an important market for the -- for the games.

And the United States, of course, is the number one TV market for the Olympics. So it is really crucial that the L.A. Games be a success.

It's got -- they're going to have 38 sports, the biggest ever for an Olympic games. And there's going to be a lot going on out in L.A. in 2028. And the IOC wants to make sure it's all going to happen like it should. And L.A., with the experience that it has, should be able to deliver.

VAUSE: And this is where it's so crucially important that she actually, you know, paves the way with Donald Trump and ensures that, you know, everyone is on board when it comes to transgender athletes or whatever controversies come up, right?

[01:49:46]

HULA: That's right. And again, because of her youth, because she's a woman, I think we're going to get a different approach. I mean, a different way of looking at things.

IOC president Thomas Bach said new times need new leaders. And that's what I think we're getting with Kirsty Coventry.

VAUSE: Well here she is speaking just before the vote was taken for IOC president.

Here she is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COVENTRY: I also have probably maybe an extra burden of I can't mess this up. I want to make sure that this movement is still relevant and still driving positive change for my children.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: It's a unique outlook for an IOC president in many ways. You mentioned she's the youngest IOC president ever. And if she gets this right, she has an initial term of eight years. But she could be the most powerful woman in sport for a very long time.

HULA: Until 2037 if she gets an extension of her term. She has eight years to serve initially and she has a chance to re-up for another four years. So potentially 2037 is the year she retires as IOC president.

But she's got another 20 years on the clock to be an IOC member before she needs to retire from the organization. So she has a potential to exert quite a lot of influence on sport over the next 40 years.

VAUSE: It's a long time and a lot can happen in 40 years.

Ed, thanks for being with us. It's good to see you, mate.

HULA: Always good to see you, John. A pleasure.

VAUSE: When we come back, researchers in England have come up with a new use for artificial intelligence. How A.I. is helping decode the emotions of pigs. And they have emotions, they have a lot of them. And what this all means for farmers.

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VAUSE: More on our breaking news from London.

Heathrow airport has been shut down, will remain closed through Friday due to a major power outage caused by a fire. Officials say a large fire broke out late Thursday night at an

electrical substation in west London, which supplies Heathrow airport.

Analytics firm Flightradar24 and Cirium say at least 1,300 flights and upwards of 145,000 passengers will be directly affected. Flights from Heathrow have been canceled and incoming flights are being diverted to other airports.

Scientists in the U.K. are using artificial intelligence to translate the emotions of pigs. CNN's Allison Chinchar explains how the Intelli- Pig program could help farmers care for their animals.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Animals have emotions just like humans. But are they as simple to detect? A.I. may be able to answer that question with train technology.

The University of West England Bristol and Scotland's Rural College developed the Intelli-Pig, a system that will work to translate a pig's emotions into a form humans can understand and alert farmers if an animal needs immediate attention.

It starts with placing a camera inside an automated feeder. When pigs get hungry, the system gets to work.

MELVYN SMITH, PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST OF ENGLAND BRISTOL: The camera image would be processed by an A.I. algorithm which would recognize the individual. So in order to do that, we first have to train it. So we'd have to show it examples of that individual over a number of days with different pose and different lightings.

[01:54:45]

CHINCHAR: As the system learns to identify the different features of each animal, it will store that information for future use.

Once the system recognizes that specific pig as it walks up to the feeder and puts its head down to eat, experts hope A.I. will be able to capture their different emotions and their well-being.

SMITH: There must be features there that we pick up on, even if they're subconscious in some way. There's something about the way the animal looks that we pick up on and then tells us, you know, whether it's in a good or a bad state emotionally.

CHINCHAR: Professor Smith says the research they've seen on pigs so far has been more focused on the negative emotions. But with this technology, they want to change that and show the positives, too.

SMITH: The next step is very much to expand this from the face to the whole animal, to be more holistic. In other words, seeing how the animal is moving, how it holds itself, that richer data, does that tell us something more that's useful?

CHINCHAR: Right now, farmers are unable to monitor their pigs regularly. So over the next year and a half, experts will continue to work to make sure the Intelli-Pig can give farmers the opportunity to track their pigs' overall well-being.

This might also give them a jump start on early detection of health decline, or anything else that may need intervention.

SMITH: I think that's really exciting. The idea that a -- that a machine can tell the emotional state of an animal, perhaps in a way that we can't I think could be really interesting.

CHINCHAR: They hope to complete the project by September 2026.

Allison Chinchar, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Thursday marked the official start of spring in the northern hemisphere. And for some in England, that means an ancient tradition.

Revelers gathered at Stonehenge celebrating the spring equinox with drums and songs.

The collection of standing stones in south west England is a World Heritage site, attracts thousands of visitors every year.

Archeologists believe it was built up to 5,000 years ago. It's almost as good as Carhenge in Nebraska, but anyway.

Thank you for watching. I'm John Vause.

CNN NEWSROOM continues after a short break with Kim Brunhuber.

Have a great weekend. See you right back here next week.

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