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Russia, Ukraine Agrees to Maritime Ceasefire, Suspension on Strikes in Energy Facilities; Journalists who Covered Protests in Turkey Arrested and Detained; South Korea's Centuries-Old Temple Destroyed by Wildfires; Infinite Reality Acquires Napster. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired March 26, 2025 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world and to everyone streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead, Russia and Ukraine agree to a maritime ceasefire, but both sides express skepticism that the deal will hold.

Denying, deflecting and downplaying. Donald Trump and his top national security officials say nothing was classified when military attack plans were discussed on an unsecured app.

And desperate for peace. Israelis and Palestinians alike express anger over a war with no end in sight. I'll speak with a former hostage negotiator about the families pleading for a deal to bring their loved ones home.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Good to have you with us.

Well, it is nowhere near the full ceasefire Donald Trump has been pushing for, but there appears to be some progress in efforts to halt the fighting in Ukraine. The White House says the two sides have agreed to stop attacking each other's ships in the Black Sea to ensure safe navigation and to suspend strikes on energy facilities for 30 days.

These deals, in principle, came after days of parallel talks in the Saudi capital, but there are strings attached from Moscow. The Kremlin has said it will only comply after sanctions are lifted on banks involved in agriculture, as well as food and fertilizer exports. The U.S. president says his administration is looking at those conditions.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian president said the Riyadh talks have not led to any agreements on Ukrainian territory occupied by Russia. Volodymyr Zelenskyy adding that Ukraine has no faith in the Russians to abide by these terms.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen has our report from Moscow.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The United States, Russia and Ukraine have essentially agreed to a ceasefire in the Black Sea.

Now, all three sides say that they agree that fighting should stop in the Black Sea. The use of force should end. There should be freedom of navigation and also that civilian ships should not be used for military purposes and that all of that should be monitored.

However, while the Ukrainians say they believe that this deal went into force the moment that it was announced by the United States, the Russians are saying not so fast. They say that they want their agricultural bank taken off sanctions lists and they want it hooked back up to the SWIFT international payment system.

I was in touch with the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov and he says the Russians are taking this harder line because they felt the last time that a Black Sea initiative was in place in 2022 and 2023 that they got the shorter end of the stick and because all the sanctions that were on those Russian companies and banks, it was very difficult for them to export their goods.

However, the Russians are saying that communications with the United States are continuing in a positive way. And one of the things that Dmitry Peskov hailed as well is that both Ukraine and Russia have agreed to a list of critical energy infrastructure that should not be hit. That includes oil and gas installations, including pipelines, but also, of course, nuclear facilities as well.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: The "Wall Street Journal's" chief foreign affairs correspondent weighed in earlier on why he believes these deals to halt attacks may benefit Russia more than Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YAROSLAV TROFIMOV, CHIEF FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT, "WALL STREET JOURNAL": In a broader perspective, Ukraine in the last year and a half has really developed the capacity to strike Russia where it hurts, that is its oil and gas, its energy sector, both in terms of shipping facilities, pipelines, refineries.

And so the ceasefires being negotiated now take away this very important instrument that Ukraine has to kind of even out the playing field and deprive Russia of its crucial source of revenue. And the Trump administration seems to be going along with that.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CHURCH: Well, now to the controversy over the Signal Group chat featuring top U.S. officials discussing plans to attack Houthi rebels in Yemen.

The directors of national intelligence and the CIA testified before a Senate committee on Tuesday. They appear to be shifting responsibility to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, saying he's the one who would decide whether information in the chat was classified.

[03:05:04]

Hegseth, meeting with U.S. troops in Hawaii, offered a terse and familiar response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Nobody's texting more plans. I know exactly what I'm doing, exactly what we're directing. And I'm really proud of what we accomplished, the successful missions that night and going forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Meanwhile, U.S. National Security Adviser Mike Waltz says he takes full responsibility for adding journalist Jeffrey Goldberg to the chat. But President Trump had a different explanation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: What it was, we believe, is somebody that was on the line with permission of somebody that was with Mike Waltz, worked for Mike Waltz at a lower level, had, I guess, Goldberg's number or called through the app. And somehow this guy ended up on the call.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: More now from CNN's Jeff Zeleny reporting from the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: President Trump and White House advisers worked feverishly throughout the day on Tuesday to contain the political fallout from really a rising scandal over a breach in national security. But the president addressing reporters on Tuesday said no classified information was contained in those messages.

TRUMP: There was no classified information, as I understand it. They used an app, if you want to call it an app, that a lot of people use, a lot of people in government use, a lot of people in the media use.

ZELENY: As questions were swirling about the fate of National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, the president invited Waltz to sit with him in the cabinet room of the White House on Tuesday afternoon. He said Waltz has nothing to apologize for.

However, he did say that lessons should be learned from this. And one of the lessons, he believes, is to not have such conversations on encrypted messaging systems like Signal.

But it remains an open question what else there could be out there. Jeffrey Goldberg at "The Atlantic" was the subject of a deep and withering criticism from the White House that the president simply was trying to blame the messenger. It's a familiar page out of the Trump playbook.

There is no doubt about it. But Goldberg says he does have other messages and he indeed saw classified information. So the bottom line to all of this is if Congress decides to pursue this, if an investigation does continue, that could unravel more of this.

But for now, at least, the White House believes they contained at least the political fallout. The question is if it's the national security fallout.

Jeff Zeleny, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: The Signal group chat also highlighted the Trump administration's clear disdain for Europe and its reliance on the U.S. for security.

In one message, Defense Secretary Hegseth accuses European allies of freeloading, calling it pathetic. Now European leaders are trying to figure out the best way to respond. And some agree Europe needs to start relying more on itself, not the U.S.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEXANDER STUBB, FINNISH PRESIDENT: How do you make sure that America stays engaged in European and transatlantic security? And that you need to work on by making NATO as appealing as possible and making the alternative cost of staying out of NATO too high. And I think that's what the American administration is trying to do. And I think they're actually doing the right thing.

Europeans do need to take more responsibility for their own defense and their own security.

ALEXANDER VAN DER BELLEN, AUSTRIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The American situation is one more reason as to why we have to contemplate that we need a strong, confident Europe which takes its own path and secures the peace in Europe strategically by itself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: CNN's Clare Sebastian brings us more of the reaction from Europe.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Europe already knew that the Trump administration no longer wanted to pick up the tab for its security. President Trump has made that quite clear.

But the Signal Chat delivers the message again. The highest echelon of the U.S. government unfiltered.

Take Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's comment on how he shared Vice President Vance's loathing of European freeloading, calling it, quote, "pathetic" in block capitals. Well, it's hard to find a European official who doesn't broadly agree that Europe needs to do more to fund its defense. We hear this a lot when it comes to Ukraine.

But for those European countries that have not sat on the fence when it comes to tackling the Houthis, this was still jarring. The U.K., along with the Netherlands, participated in strikes directed by the Biden administration last year. And the U.K. actually provided air-to- air refueling for the very strikes discussed in this chat.

Add to that the comment, which "The Atlantic's" Jeffrey Goldberg deduced came from Stephen Miller, Trump's homeland security advisor, about extracting an economic gain from the Europeans for these strikes, because they believe, of course, that Europe also benefits.

Well, that, more evidence the administration sees its alliances as transactional and not built on shared values. This also raises, of course, practical concerns around the safety of sharing intelligence with the U.S.

[03:10:03]

Here in the U.K., part of the Five Eyes alliance, of course, the prime minister's spokesperson said they're still confident they can share intelligence with the U.S. But they felt the need to make it clear that there are, quote, strict rules and arrangements for secure communications. Well, the head of the opposition Liberal Democrat Party called for an urgent review of intelligence sharing with the U.S.

European leaders for now seem to be holding their nerve on this. But it is another test for the transatlantic alliance they're trying to preserve. A former Belgian prime minister and MEP today calling it a wake-up call.

Clare Sebastian, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance announced he will be joining his wife, Second Lady Usha Vance, on her upcoming trip to Greenland on Friday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: There was so much excitement around Usha's visit to Greenland this Friday that I decided that I didn't want her to have all that fun by herself. And so I'm going to join her.

I'm going to visit some of our guardians in the Space Force on the northwest coast of Greenland and also just check out what's going on with the security there of Greenland.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Vice President Vance also claimed that leaders of the U.S. and Denmark have, quote, "ignored Greenland for far too long." And it's the Trump administration's goal to reinvigorate the island's security.

Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed interest in the U.S. taking over the autonomous Danish territory. Greenland's outgoing prime minister previously characterized the Second Lady's visit, along with a U.S. delegation, as highly aggressive.

Israelis and Palestinians are making it known that they've had enough of this war. Ahead, I'll be speaking with a former hostage negotiator on what it will take for Israel and Hamas to strike a peace deal.

Plus, daily protests gripped Turkey one week after the arrest of Ekrem Imamoglu, the main rival to Turkey's president. A look at the Istanbul mayor's rise in politics. That's next.

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[03:15:00]

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CHURCH: Video obtained by CNN shows what's believed to be the largest anti-Hamas protest in Gaza since the October 7th attacks. Large crowds, estimated to be in the thousands, could be heard chanting, "for God's sake, Hamas out," and "we want an end to the war." And a message shared on social media appears to call for more anti-Hamas demonstrations across Gaza today.

Tensions are also high in Israel. On Tuesday, anti-government protesters marched to the Knesset. The breakdown of the ceasefire hostage deal has sparked mass anti-government protests.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHARON GALPERIN, PROTESTER: Unfortunately, a member of our family was kidnapped and murdered by Hamas, and if our government would have done what the government should be doing for its citizens, he would have been alive with us now.

MERAV BERKOWITZ, PROTESTER: I feel I'm saving my country. This is what I feel. I feel Bibi is not doing what his people want, he's not thinking about the best of his people.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CHURCH: Israelis, with family members still being held in Gaza, are especially frustrated with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. They're accusing him of continuing the conflict for political reasons and at the cost of their loved ones.

Joining us live from Jerusalem is Gershon Baskin, a former hostage negotiator now serving as the Middle East Director for the International Communities Organization. Appreciate you being with us.

GERSHON BASKIN, FORMER HOSTAGE NEGOTIATOR AND CURRENT MIDDLE EAST DIRECTOR OF INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITIES ORGANIZATION: Thank you.

CHURCH: So Palestinians and Israelis have had enough. They're calling for an end to the war with the largest anti-Hamas protest in Gaza Tuesday since the start of the war. We saw those pictures there and massive anti-Israeli government protests in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. How significant is this moment and how would you describe the frustration of Israelis right now?

BASKIN: Well, it's very frustrating because there are a majority of Israelis who want this war to end, who think the most important thing is to bring the hostages home after a year and a half of being in captivity when the government failed to protect them back on October 7th in 2023.

This is a disastrous situation for Israeli society because the public knows what it wants, but we have little ability to influence our government. Netanyahu is holding on to power. He just passed the budget, which gives him a guaranteed extended stay in the Prime Minister's office.

And we see a process in Israel taking place that's happened in other places around the world, like in Hungary and Poland and now in the United States of diminishing democracy. So it's a very frightening period for us Israeli citizens.

CHURCH: Yes, and of course, as you point out, the renewed Israeli strikes on Gaza led to these mass protests in Israel with demands for a return to negotiations to bring back the remaining hostages. Family members worried, of course, that the ongoing fighting puts their loved ones' lives at greater risk. So why is Prime Minister Netanyahu not listening?

BASKIN: Well, Prime Minister Netanyahu stays in power by extending the length of this war. While we're at war, we're not going to go to elections. While we're at war, there's not going to be an investigation committee at the highest level of Israeli governance to determine what went wrong on October 7th, what led to it, who was responsible.

[03:20:09]

So Netanyahu holds on to power by going back to war. He went into the negotiated ceasefire agreement that Steve Witcoff, the emissary of President Trump, managed to bring about after President Biden had failed for many months of making this deal happen. The understanding was that Israel would enter into phase two of the

deal, a second 42-day period, which would lead to the end of the war and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. But Netanyahu never had any intention of doing that. And when the negotiations on phase two never happened and never concluded, it was very clear that his intention to restart the war.

And here we're completely dependent on one person in the world to change the course of events right now, and that's President Trump. If President Trump were to tell Prime Minister Netanyahu, that's it, you've had it, you have to end it now, we would see an end to this war, we would see a negotiated agreement with Hamas.

The entire Arab world now is convinced that Hamas can no longer govern Gaza. So Israel is not alone on this, if they want Hamas disarmed and relocated out of Gaza, so there are potential partners in the Arab world for making this happen. But that's a political deal.

The military pressure that Netanyahu says will release the hostages we know has killed more than 40 of the hostages so far since the beginning of the war. And this needs to end.

CHURCH: So you're saying President Trump might be really the answer to reaching a deal here between Israel and Hamas. So how likely is it, do you think, that he would say to Benjamin Netanyahu, get this done?

BASKIN: Well, we know that President Trump gave the green light to Netanyahu to restart the war, which is a very negative sign. But Trump has said repeatedly that he's not going to make new wars, that he will end existing wars.

His envoy, Steve Witkoff, is a dealmaker himself. And I believe that Witkoff understands that in order to bring all the hostages home, which is what he wants to achieve, the war needs to end and Israel needs to withdraw from Gaza.

So I think there are possibilities that this could happen. It's just going to take Trump to pick up the phone and say to Netanyahu, do it, you've had enough time now, end the war. And I think it's a real possibility that it could happen.

CHURCH: And what will likely happen to the hostages if a deal is not reached soon?

BASKIN: They're at risk. There are an estimated 24 of the 59 hostages that are still alive. The others were either killed by Israeli bombs or executed by Hamas. The 24 living hostages will not survive much longer.

If they remain in Gaza, we've seen the condition of the hostages who have come home. They've been badly treated and wounded and beaten, tortured, not fed.

They came back in very bad condition. So this does not bid well for the 24 remaining living hostages in Gaza.

CHURCH: Gershon Baskin in Jerusalem, many thanks for joining us. I appreciate it.

BASKIN: Thank you.

CHURCH: Hamdan Ballal, an Oscar-winning Palestinian director, is now free from Israeli custody. Ballal has now returned home to the village of Susya in the occupied West Bank, where he was attacked by Israeli settlers and detained by the Israeli military, according to eyewitnesses. Ballal is a high profile victim, but the assault is one of many that Israeli settlers have committed recently against Palestinians in the West Bank.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Hamdan Ballal has now been released from Israeli custody following a harrowing ordeal. This is him being treated at a hospital following his release. The co- director of the Oscar-winning film was beaten by settlers and subsequently detained by Israeli soldiers, according to eyewitnesses at the scene.

Five American activists from the Center for Jewish Nonviolence said that they were also assaulted by these Israeli settlers. More than a dozen Israeli settlers showed up at the village of Susya, where Ballal lives, wielding batons, knives and at least one assault rifle, according to these eyewitnesses.

And video from the scene shows part of this attack as it unfolded. Take a look.

UNKNOWN: Get in the car, get in the car.

UNKNOWN: Oh, my God.

My window was broken. Who's coming? I can't go.

UNKNOWN: This is a military. I think that was so scary. I'm so sorry.

UNKNOWN: This is military?

DIAMOND: In video from the scene, you can also see a masked individual throwing a rock directly at the windshield of this car.

And then this is the aftermath of that attack. The windshield of that vehicle clearly shattered and there is other damage at the scene as well.

[03:25:07]

Now, the Israeli military said that soldiers arrived on the scene in Susya of a, quote, "violent confrontation" between Palestinians and Israelis who they said were throwing rocks at each other. The Israeli military said that three Palestinians and one Israeli were taken in for questioning. But so often, as we see in the West Bank, the Israeli military focuses

its efforts on Palestinians who live there. They do not typically enforce any laws against these Israeli settlers who, as documented in the film "No Other Land," have repeatedly launched attacks on some of these Palestinian villages in an effort to displace them from the area in order to expand these Israeli settlements.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: The U.S. defense secretary once again denies discussing war plans on an open source app. We'll hear from our military analyst about Pete Hegseth's role in the scandal that some are calling Signal Gate.

Plus, new troubles for Tesla with Chinese carmaker BYD outpacing Elon Musk's brand in sales and hailing new breakthroughs in electric vehicle technology. We'll explain.

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[03:30:00]

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CHURCH: Welcome back to "CNN Newsroom." I'm Rosemary Church. I want to check today's top stories for you.

The White House says Ukraine and Russia have agreed to stop using military force in the Black Sea and to halt strikes on both countries' energy facilities for 30 days. But the Kremlin has imposed conditions demanding sanctions relief on Russian banks involved in agriculture as well as food and fertilizer exports.

Florida is considering lifting some child labor laws to fill jobs vacated by undocumented immigrants. Last year, Republican Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill that allowed homeschooled 16-year-olds to work any hour of the day. He supports a bill moving through the legislature now that would lower the age to 14.

U.S. National Security Adviser Mike Waltz is taking responsibility for mistakenly adding a journalist to a Signal group chat discussing plans to attack Houthi rebels in Yemen. But President Trump suggests a low- level staffer is to blame, while he insists no one discussed classified information in that chat.

Well the controversy dominated a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Tuesday. CNN's Chief U.S. National Security Correspondent Alex Marquardt has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: This annual worldwide threats hearing in the Senate Intelligence Committee was really hijacked by this extraordinary story over this security breach with committee senators hammering the intelligence officials in front of them over how and why this happened. Now, no Republican senators asked about this scandal. It was only Democrats.

And the top two intelligence officials there, the Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and the CIA Director John Ratcliffe, they repeatedly claimed that what was said in this signal chat was not in fact classified at any time. That is something that has now been echoed by the President Donald Trump and Mike Waltz, the National Security Advisor.

As a reminder, Jeffrey Goldberg of "The Atlantic," he wrote that the Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth posted in the group about operational details of forthcoming strikes on Yemen, including information about targets, weapons that the U.S. would be deploying and attack sequencing.

And multiple times, both Gabbard and Ratcliffe appeared to try to point the blame at the Secretary of Defense Hegseth, saying that they couldn't answer the questions and he should. At one point, though, Ratcliffe did admit that what he called pre-decisional strike deliberation, he said, should be conducted through classified channels. And he admitted that that kind of information would be of interest to foreign intelligence services who are doing some spying.

Now, he went on to claim that what he put in that Signal chat, including the name of a CIA officer who works for him, was not classified. The Democratic senators, led by the committee vice chairman Mark Warner, then responded that if the information wasn't classified, they should simply turn it over.

Now, Waltz said tonight that he wants those deliberations from the chat to remain confidential. It does remain to be seen if that will be the case.

There are now several Republicans on Capitol Hill calling for a deeper look at what happened. And the Trump administration is still struggling to explain why what was said, that sensitive information should not be considered classified.

Alex Marquardt, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Cedric Leighton is a CNN military analyst and retired Air Force colonel. He joins me now from Washington. Good to have you with us.

[03:35:06]

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: It's good to be with you, Rosemary. Thank you.

CHURCH: So the White House is in damage control after journalist Jeffrey Goldberg was mistakenly added to the Signal group chat that shared war plans, targets and weapons ahead of a missile strike on Yemen. It is worth pointing out that later Tuesday evening, Pete Hegseth, the Defense Secretary, came out and he reiterated what he'd said the day before, saying nobody's texting war plans.

Now, I just wanted to get your view on what he means by that and basically your overall response to this blunder.

LEIGHTON: Yes, Rosemary. So when he's talking about war plans, Secretary Hegseth is, I think, hiding behind kind of a veil where we colloquially use the term war plans, even though technically we don't use that term anymore in the United States military. The war plan term was something that was phased out after World War II, but colloquially it does mean any type of contingency or operational plan that we're using.

So what he may be referring to is that particular semantic fact that he didn't technically text out a war plan. But he may have texted details of a contingency plan or an operations plan. And those contingency plans or operations plans would have had details such as, you know, types of aircraft to be used, types of weapons, types of targets, those kinds of things.

So that's the kind of thing that may have gone out based on the reporting from "The Atlantic." But the other thing to note here is that this may be a distinction in some ways without a difference that Secretary Hegseth is trying to make here. And the very fact of this being a very sensitive issue means that some kind of classified information most likely was transmitted in this particular case.

CHURCH: And President Trump is saying that no classified information was shared in the group chat, but the journalist involved says that's not true. And he plans to report more on this.

If Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared the details of war plans, including targets, weapons and time references, is that considered classified or can Hegseth declassify it, as some Republicans are suggesting he did?

LEIGHTON: Theoretically, he can declassify it, but I have never seen an operations plan or any type of war plan that is unclassified, certainly not a real one. And in this case, we were talking about a real operation, not an exercise operation, not something that can be passed off as being fake in that sense.

This was a real operation involving real lives, real weapons and real service members. So it is any type of operation like this always carries at least a minimum classification of secret. Some of the more compartmented operations, of course, have a higher classification like top secret and including compartmented digraphs that are associated with programs like that.

CHURCH: And President Trump is defending his National Security Adviser, Mike Waltz, whose Signal account mistakenly added the journalist. But it was Hegseth who communicated the classified information on Signal. Key Democrats are calling for Hegseth to be fired. Is that what needs to happen?

LEIGHTON: Well, I think certainly one should take responsibility for one's actions, and in this particular case, I could see both gentlemen leaving their posts, but in reality, that won't happen. I'm almost certain it won't happen.

So in this particular situation, I think it would be wise because of the leadership issues involved and the fact that the exercises command over the military forces of the United States would be wise for Secretary Hegseth to vacate his post.

CHURCH: And at a hearing Tuesday, two of Trump's intelligence officials, Tulsi Gabbard and John Ratcliffe, avoided answering questions, instead shifting responsibility to Hegseth. Again, it seems to come back to him and the information that he specifically shared on the Signal app. If Hegseth had been a military officer, would he have lost his job?

LEIGHTON: Yes, in most cases he would have. Of course, it depends on the exact circumstances and what his commander would be willing to do in terms of the judicial proceedings.

But as far as the Uniform Code of Military Justice is concerned, as well as the Espionage Act and other laws pertaining to this kind of thing, he would most likely have lost his job, possibly been reduced in rank. And there's even a possibility of jail time.

So it's a very serious offense for normal people in the military. And it shouldn't be a serious offense for people who will command those people.

[03:40:05]

CHURCH: Cedric Leighton, many thanks for joining us and sharing your analysis. I appreciate it.

LEIGHTON: You bet, Rosemary. Thanks for having me.

CHURCH: Turkish police have arrested more than 14,000 protesters following days of demonstrations that the government has deemed illegal. Seven journalists were also detained, including a photojournalist for French news agency AFP. AFP is demanding his immediate release, calling his detention a serious attack on the freedom of the media.

Anti-government protests have rocked the country amid public anger over the jailing of Istanbul's mayor, the main political rival to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Ekrem Imamoglu was arrested a week ago and denies the corruption charges against him.

Imamoglu was arrested just days before he was nominated as a candidate for the main opposition party to run against President Erdogan in the 2028 presidential election. The opposition is planning a rally in Istanbul on Saturday.

CNN's Nada Bashir takes a look at the rise of the city's popular mayor.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a shock election result. A virtual unknown, now mayor of Istanbul. Ekrem Imamoglu's win in 2019 rests in control of Turkey's largest city from its governing A.K. Party and its predecessor after 25 years in power.

The victory catapulted him to national fame and set the scene for the rockiest of political standoffs. The country's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was Istanbul mayor in the 90's. For a rival to win the city had seemed near impossible and his party demanded a recount alleging election irregularities.

An unprecedented moment for Turkey and a defining moment for Imamoglu's career.

Everything will be fine, he told angry supporters, a slogan then hung on billboards and chanted in soccer stadiums. They won the runoff with an even wider margin and it's been Imamoglu's catchphrase ever since.

Tensions with Erdogan have simmered on, Imamoglu gaining in popularity and winning a second term as mayor last year. Nominated as the next presidential candidate for his Republican People's Party, many believed him to be on a trajectory to one day lead the country with the potential to shake up Turkey's political landscape.

SONER CAGAPTAY, THE WASHINGTON INSTITUTE: Like Erdogan, Imamoglu is relatable and charismatic. On top of it, he's almost 20 years younger than Erdogan.

BASHIR (voice-over): Erdogan's party has political Islamist roots and has reshaped Turkey's secular state over the past 20 years. Imamoglu's party is staunchly secular.

CAGAPTAY: It's a brand that's more inclusive than President Erdogan's. He's a social democrat in the context of European politics, he reaches across the aisle. He's more egalitarian in his approach to politics, he has empowered a number of women in Istanbul city government.

BASHIR (voice-over): Now, amid a widening legal crackdown on Turkey's opposition, there are numerous indictments against Imamoglu.

EKREM IMAMOGLU, MAYOR OF ISTANBUL (translated): We are up against bullying, but we will never back down.

BASHIR (voice-over): His message last week, even as police prepared to detain him, that he, quote, "will not give up."

Just days before he was named his party's 2028 presidential nominee, Imamoglu was taken into police custody on corruption and terror charges, which he denies.

A political move, supporters say, to keep him out of office. President Erdogan has said opposition anger and protests are, quote, "theatrics" and says no one is outside the scope of the law. But Imamoglu has described his arrest as a dark stain on democracy in Turkey.

For now, even behind bars, this political upstart is still seen by many as a serious threat to Erdogan's grip on Turkey's top job.

Nada Bashir, CNN, in London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Peru's president has called for general elections to be held in April of next year. Dina Boluarte hopes the call can, quote, "put an end to a period of instability that Peru has experienced in recent years."

The announcement comes amid a security crisis in the country that has resulted in the declaration of a state of emergency in the capital Lima. And in June, the president and members of her government were accused of crimes against humanity in connection with deaths that occurred during Peru's protest movement in 2022 and 2023.

[03:45:00]

Still to come, new details about the most difficult days of the Pope's stay in hospital. We'll tell you the conversations doctors had about his treatment.

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CHURCH: South Korea's government says the wildfires burning in the southeastern part of the country have caused unprecedented damage, 23,000 residents have evacuated their homes and 19 people have died so far.

[03:50:08]

Dry air and strong winds have fueled the fires as they burned more than 17,000 hectares of land, destroying homes and historic landmarks along the way.

CNN's Mike Valerio has more from Seoul.

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MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A piece of history burned to the ground.

This was the scene at South Korea's Gounsa Temple, a place of worship for 1300 years destroyed by wildfires. Flames surrounded the Buddhist temple complex as wildfires spread across the south of the country over the past week. What now remains are amounts of ash and rubble.

JEUNG MEUNG-SUK, BUDDHIST FOLLOWER (through translator): Our Buddhist followers are very proud of our temple. Because this is such an old temple, it is so regrettable and heartbreaking that it has been burned down.

VALERIO (voice-over): Some of the artifacts, like this stone Buddha, which has been designated a treasure by the state, were spared as they were moved to other temples ahead of the fires.

The blazes first broke out last weekend. Several people have been injured and killed so far, including civil servants dispatched to fight the fires, according to the Interior Safety Ministry. And for those who have escaped unharmed, there are still losses to bear.

KIM BYUNG-WOOK, SANCHEONG RESIDENT (through translator): Things that remind me of my youth disappeared without a trace. Photos of my children when they were young that sometimes I look at to reminisce about the past are all gone, and for my children, there is no place to share memories with them. I lost my memory of youth.

VALERIO: South Korea's acting President Han Duck-soo called these wildfires South Korea's worst ever. He said that they are being fueled by gale force winds, and he added that all available resources nationwide are being deployed.

VALERIO (voice-over): Authorities are continuing to work around the clock to contain the fires before more of South Korea's history is gone forever.

Mike Valerio, CNN, Seoul.

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CHURCH: We're learning hospital staff who cared for Pope Francis considered stopping his treatment to quote, "let him go."

Revelation comes from an Italian newspaper that spoke with health care workers involved in his care. Ultimately, the decision to keep going was made by the pontiff's personal nurse who told doctors to try everything.

Pope Francis spent more than a month in hospital due to complications from double pneumonia. His longest hospital stay since becoming a pontiff.

Well the infamous music sharing service that rocked the early 2000's could be making a comeback. When we return, Napster changes hands and appears headed for a bold new relaunch. We'll take a look.

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[03:55:00]

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CHURCH: A new FBI task force has been created to investigate attacks targeting Tesla, which have spiked across the U.S. amid criticism of its CEO and close Trump adviser, Elon Musk. Officials say the task force will work with other federal agencies to crack down on acts of violence and vandalism on Tesla dealerships and vehicles, which FBI Director Kash Patel has labeled domestic terrorism.

But Tesla's troubles go beyond U.S. politics. It's now being outsold by BYD, the biggest name in Chinese electric vehicles, which posted annual sales of more than $100 billion for last year, topping Tesla's revenue. The head of BYD says the company had rapid development in 2024, with a 29 percent jump in sales from the previous year and sold more than 4.2 million cars, including electric and hybrid vehicles. Well here's a blast from the past. Napster is making a comeback. A tech startup is acquiring the once popular yet controversial music sharing platform, hoping to give it new life.

CNN's Anna Stewart has more.

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ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For those of you who can't remember life before Spotify and Apple Music, Napster used to be a platform where users shared music files, often illegally. You may remember Justin Timberlake's portrayal of Napster founder Sean Parker in the movie Social Network.

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE, AS SEAN PARKER IN "THE SOCIAL NETWORK": I'm an entrepreneur.

DAKOTA JOHNSON, AS AMELIA RITTER IN "THE SOCIAL NETWORK": You're unemployed.

TIMBERLAKE: I wouldn't say that.

JOHNSON: What would you say?

TIMBERLAKE: That I'm an entrepreneur.

JOHNSON: Well, then what was your latest preneur (ph)?

TIMBERLAKE: Well, I founded an internet company that let folks download and share music for free.

JOHNSON: Kind of like Napster?

TIMBERLAKE: Exactly like Napster.

JOHNSON: What do you mean?

TIMBERLAKE: I founded Napster.

JOHNSON: Sean Parker founded Napster.

STEWART: Napster's story didn't end at bankruptcy. It's since become a fully licensed music platform and it's had multiple owners, including Best Buy, and now it has a new buyer.

Immersive technology company Infinite Reality is buying Napster for more than $200 million, with plans to bring it into a new dimension. From immersive 3D concerts in virtual reality to social listening parties, as well as integrating it with eSports events and gaming.

The acquisition could bring music fans much closer to artists virtually, and perhaps Napster will once again disrupt the music industry as we know it.

Anna Stewart, CNN, London.

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CHURCH: We shall see. Thanks so much for sharing part of your day with me. I'm Rosemary Church.

"The Amanpour Hour" is next, then stay tuned for "Early Start" with Rahel Solomon, starting at 5 a.m. in New York, 9 a.m. in London. Have a great day.

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