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Liberals On Track To Win Canadian Elections; Blackout In Spain And Portugal; Putin Announces Three-Day Ceasefire In Ukraine Next Week; White House Seeks To Keep Attention On Immigration; Trump Administration's Handling Of Immigration Disapproved By 54% in Poll; Autistic Teen From Nigeria Paints Record-Breaking Art Canvas. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired April 29, 2025 - 00:00   ET

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

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JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: And the winner of Canada's election, not Donald Trump, ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.

A big win for the anti-Trump Liberal Party and even bigger loss for the conservatives and their Trumpian like leader.

As Spain's national power grid comes back online.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PEDRO SANCHEZ, SPANISH PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Fifteen gigawatts of generation was suddenly lost from the system and that it was lost in just five seconds.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Investigations continue into that mystery drop in electricity and the cascading power outage in three countries.

And on the eve of the first 100 days of Trump's second term.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA CORRESPONDENT: Our latest CNN poll out 100 days shows that Trump is below water on all the key issues.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Voters turn on the U.S. president over the economy and his approval ratings plummet.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with John Vause.

VAUSE: Canada's Liberal Party has made a stunning political comeback in a federal election driven in large part by anti-Trump sentiment. Two major broadcasters, both CNN affiliates, project the liberals will win enough seats in the next parliament to form a government and defeat their main rivals, the Conservative Party. And that means Mark Carney is likely to continue on as prime minister. He took over as party leader in the wake of former prime minister

Justin Trudeau's decision to step down. At the time, the Conservative Party and their Trumpian like leader Pierre Poilievre were ahead in the polls and appeared on track for an election win. But it seems U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods and a U.S. president openly talking about annexation saw voters coalesced around Liberal leader Mark Carney and his anti-Trump campaign.

Votes are still being counted, but once final results are in, Canadians will know if the Liberal Party will be a minority government or if they have enough seats to govern in their own right.

Joining us now live is CNN's Paula Newton in Ottawa.

Paula, good to see you. So clearly an overwhelming number of Canadians have no love for Donald Trump. Was it just not enough time for conservatives and their leader to distance themselves from Trump to turn this around?

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Some analysts have said he didn't try hard enough. He continued to hang on to a platform that certainly indicated profound change, and a campaign that was 100 percent against the liberals, but perhaps leaning too much on Justin Trudeau, the leader who stepped down as prime minister and head of the Liberal Party.

But I have to say, John, we are in the ninth inning yet. Yes, maybe the game has been called, but we are waiting to see what happens here between a minority or a majority government. You are right. Look, the Liberal Party, Mark Carney has brought the party back, literally, from its death. And there are cabinet ministers right now, liberal cabinet ministers who have been reelected, who were saying that openly, that they did not believe that the party had a chance, not four months ago.

Having said that, given the polls and the fact that Mark Carney was riding much higher than this in recent weeks, the fact that he will now deal with what will be a fractious and very difficult to govern minority, it looks like that's where we're headed, is going to make many things much more difficult, not to mention the negotiations with the United States and Donald Trump.

VAUSE: Yes. And so what does this now mean for Canada's relationship with the U.S.? Because voters have obviously chosen a leader who seems more than ready to stand up to the U.S. president.

NEWTON: Well, stand up, but they want it done in what they say is this respectful way. What it means is that they believe they have a tough negotiator at the table, arguably one of the most renowned economists anywhere in the world. Canadians can read the resume, right? And they're sitting there saying to themselves, yes, this is the guy we want in the oval office.

I have to say, though, John, in listening to Mark Carney over the last few weeks, he has tempered his tone with Donald Trump, also talking about perhaps not implementing as many reciprocal tariffs as he was going to. What they'll see from Mark Carney more than anything else is that pivot. It will be a pivot as much as that party and this country can pivot away from the United States and pivot more to Europe and other allies.

[00:05:03]

You know, the foreign minister, Melanie Joly, who was reelected this evening, called it quite openly in the United States, a psychodrama. But most Canadians who went to the polls decided, look, we need to get away from this psychodrama or we need to inoculate ourselves as much as we can.

I will say one more thing to you, though, John, as we continue to stay up late looking for these results, I mean, look, Canadians stand divided. Pardon me. The Canadians stand united against Donald Trump, but they stand divided amongst themselves. What's happened is a lot of the more marginal parties really did not get a lot of the popular vote. This was a two-party race, and many Canadians will believe it will start to reflect more of the American system.

Is that enduring? We can't know. But that is what it looks like right now.

VAUSE: Very quickly, was there any chance for a liberal win under Justin Trudeau? Is he sitting back somewhere tonight thinking, oh, if only I stayed on?

NEWTON: I think given the fact, and I will say, repeat what his cabinet minister said, if his cabinet ministers are saying tonight that the party was left for dead and they are thanking Mark Carney, no, I hope Mr. Trudeau is comforted by his children this evening and by what he calls a great service to Canada, and I hope he's enjoying his private life because we know his cabinet wants him to.

VAUSE: Very quickly, one last thing with regard to Carney. He wasn't an elected lawmaker before. He now has that legitimacy in the office of prime minister. Right?

NEWTON: Yes. And that will be a big deal. He ran a very tight campaign, perhaps not as charismatic as some people would want. It was lightning fast. I mean, you blinked and you missed it. And in that really shows a good tactician, right? He's already become a good politician. He understood that the longer that this goes on, the more his lead was at risk. And in fact, you saw the polls tighten in the last week of this campaign.

Rookie politician, to be sure, he is a rookie in no other way that I can think of, to be honest, not even in hockey, John. So I think we will wait to see how he handles what is sure to be a fractured parliament.

VAUSE: He certainly has the credentials right now in a world which is facing a meltdown economically with the trade war, with tariffs. So bring those credentials. Bank of England, Bank of Canada to office. It certainly will be of assistance to say the least.

Paula in Ottawa, thank you very much. Paula Newton there reporting live. We appreciate it.

Well, electricity is coming back online after one of the biggest electrical blackouts Europe has ever seen. Around midday local time, about 19 hours ago, the lights went out in Spain, Portugal and briefly parts of France, causing major travel disruptions to some of Europe's busiest cities left paralyzed, millions left without basic services from the internet to traffic lights, as cities were left in almost total darkness.

But then, around dawn, applause, cheers could be heard in Madrid as light started to flicker on. Authorities in Spain say power has been restored to more than 90 percent of the country. But just what led to this cascading failure remains unknown. The leader of the E.U. says so far, no evidence of a cyberattack. In Portugal, officials say power has been restored to all two and a half million customers of the National Energy Network.

The country relies heavily on neighboring Spain to meet electrical demands, and the prime minister says that's where the problem most likely began. Travelers across the Iberian Peninsula were left scrambling amid this blackout. Many flights, train services, all canceled. Subways going dark.

Joining us now is Kenny Stein, vice president of policy at the Institute for Energy Research.

Thank you for joining us.

KENNY STEIN, VICE PRESIDENT OF POLICY, INSTITUTE OF ENERGY RESEARCH: Of course. Thank you for having me.

VAUSE: OK. So Spain seems to be ground zero for the cause of this huge blackout. And for more on that, here's Spain's prime minister.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ (through translator): As far as causes, what we are hearing from the Red Electric technicians is that at 12:33 this morning, 15 gigawatts of generation was suddenly lost from the system and that it was lost in just five seconds.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: But that then begs the next question what caused the sudden loss of 15 gigawatts. Any ideas?

STEIN: Well, here's the problem. This could be a very simple issue, but once the cascade begins and all these power plants start tripping offline, once there's any kind of oscillation in the frequency of the grid, all these power plants will trip offline in order to protect themselves, to protect their electronics. So whatever happened isn't necessarily a huge event. But if it is not arrested before everything starts to shut down, the grid can fail very quickly. And that's what happened in this case.

VAUSE: And 15 gigawatts is about 60 percent of total electricity generation. And according to local media reports, the collapse triggered the disconnection of the Spanish electricity system from the European system, which is based on interconnection with France. So that's part of the failsafe here, right? So one part goes down, just takes itself offline. And then is that essentially what we're looking at here, it's just a backup failsafe plan?

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STEIN: Right. Well, Europe wide, there's been a great effort to increase interconnection between every country. And the idea being that if there's any issues within a certain country with any power plants going offline, that they can then import electricity from neighboring countries. But the problem is, what seems to have happened here is whatever failure happened in Spain, it was such a significant frequency disruption that the interconnection with France was actually cut off. So even Spain sort of back up to the backup, which was the rest of the European grid through France was also cut off. So ultimately there was no backup and everything shut down.

VAUSE: Well, and according to Red Electricity in Spain, they've activated the procedures planned for restoring power. In this phase of the work, the goal is to power the generating units so they can start up and spread power to the grid, as well as other units.

This is a black start, right? And it's been described by some experts as a nightmare. So why is this so difficult? Why it's a nightmare? What's the process here?

STEIN: Right. It is. It's an extremely difficult process. And there's a reason why, when these sorts of issues are happening, normally rolling blackouts will be instituted in order to prevent this kind of full shutdown of the grid because when you try and restart everything, you have to go power plant by power plant, and you have to start with units that have diesel backup generators so you have to start the diesel generators running to power that individual power plant.

And once you get that power plant up to enough generation, then you can start connecting customers. You can start connecting the power plants to each other. But each step has to be done carefully and only step by step. So it takes many, many hours to do this. As you can imagine, over the over an entire country, each individual plant has to be connected. And then customers can only be connected as just enough generation comes online because at all times, the generation and consumption of electricity has to be perfectly balanced.

VAUSE: Well, I mean, we don't see a blackout like this very often in terms of scale, the number of people affected by all of it. So how vulnerable are power grids to this sort of failure? And has it been sort of a case of good fortune there hasn't been more mass power outages like this one?

STEIN: Well, certainly it doesn't happen in modern Western developed countries. This is a type of thing you'll sometimes see in less developed countries with less developed power grids. But in a country like Spain normally the rest of Europe, the United States, there's enough backup capacity that's normally kept by the grid operators. They're watching very carefully for any deviations and frequency so that they can bring on more power to adjust or to shed load as I was speaking earlier about with brownouts.

So normally this is very carefully watched, and that's why it normally does not happen. In this case there's -- we don't know obviously what exactly happened. But there is an open question about whether the makeup of the Spanish electricity grid, there are power generation sources, particularly at the time of this outage, may have contributed to certainly making it become a countrywide failure instead of just confined to a particular region wherever this original issue happened.

VAUSE: Yes, it just seems incredible that something like this can still happen, you know, today, with all the technology we're meant to have and how things are meant to work.

Kenny, thanks for being with us. We really appreciate it.

STEIN: Of course. Thank you for having me.

VAUSE: Still to come on CNN, Ukrainian officials remain skeptical after Russian President Vladimir Putin declares a unilateral three-day ceasefire.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Yet again, another attempt at manipulation. For some reason, everyone is supposed to wait until May 8th before ceasing fire just to provide Putin with silence for his parade. We value human lives, not parades.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: A good degree of skepticism there from the Ukrainian president after Russia's Vladimir Putin declared a unilateral three-day ceasefire beginning next week. Even U.S. President Donald Trump seemed unimpressed, calling instead for a more permanent solution.

CNN's Matthew Chance has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: President Putin.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From the Kremlin, the announcement of a new ceasefire. For three days in May the Kremlin says its guns will fall silent. To show Washington, in the words of one Russian official, that Moscow wants a stable, permanent peace.

But President Trump, fresh from a face-to-face meeting with the Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the papal funeral in Rome, wants substantial progress in his flagging peace effort. Not empty gestures.

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Vladimir Putin this morning offered a temporary ceasefire. The president has made it clear he wants to see a permanent ceasefire, first, to stop the killing, stop the bloodshed. And while he remains optimistic he can strike a deal, he's also being realistic as well.

CHANCE: But realistically, the latest Kremlin offer may amount to little more than its last one. An Easter truce that followed this deadly strike on Palm Sunday in Sumy, killing at least 35 people. And even that 30-hour pause was violated thousands of times, according to both sides.

The latest ceasefire is meant to coincide with Russia's 80th anniversary celebrations to mark the Nazi defeat in the Second World War, including the annual military parade through Red Square on May 9th.

[00:20:10]

Ukrainian officials say the ceasefire should be implemented now if the Kremlin is serious about peace, not just for this. Instead, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has listed terms, telling a Brazilian newspaper that international recognition of Crimea and four other eastern Ukrainian regions annexed by Russia is imperative. Demilitarizing Ukraine, lifting sanctions on Russia, canceling arrest warrants, and unfreezing Russian assets in the West are also on the agenda, Lavrov added, while Russia will insist on security guarantees to shield it from NATO and European Union threats.

But it is the threat posed by Russia that has U.S. allies concerned and that agreeing to Moscow's terms would make that threat even worse.

Matthew Chance, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Officials in Tehran are blaming negligence for a massive, deadly explosion at Iran's biggest port. According to state media, investigators have found failure to observe safety principles preceded the blast, but comprehensive testing will be required to determine the definitive cause.

Before the explosion witness accounts, as well as images from the scene, point to chemicals not far from shipping containers catching fire. The latest official death toll has now risen, stands at least 70.

The head of Israel's internal security agency, the Shin Bet, appears to have given in to political pressure and says he will resign by June 15th. Ronen Bar's decision comes nearly three months after an unprecedented vote by Israel's far-right government to dismiss the head of the Shin Bet. During a speech Monday, Bar accepted responsibility for intelligence failures leading to the surprise Hamas attack on October 7th. When we come back, a new CNN poll showing falling support for

President Trump. A look at why he's now underwater with voters on his handling of immigration.

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VAUSE: Welcome back. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause. Let's take a look at today's top stories.

Electricity has been restored to most of Spain after one of the largest blackouts ever in Europe. Spain and neighboring Portugal suffered the massive outage on Monday, effectively shutting down a number of major cities. No word yet on what caused the blackout.

Canada's Liberal Party led by Prime Minister Mark Carney is projected to win the country's federal election and will form a new government. A stunning political comeback for the liberals, who were down by 20 points to the conservatives in January.

And a new CNN poll shows declining support for President Donald Trump. 59 percent say his policies have made economic conditions worse. That's up eight points since March. 69 percent say they think a recession is at least somewhat likely within the next 12 months.

More voters now disapprove, 54 percent, than approve, 45 percent, of Donald Trump's handling of immigration. A six-point swing from last month.

CNN's Gustavo Valdez looks at how the president ended up underwater on one of the key issues which helped him win the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We built over 500 miles of border wall.

GUSTAVO VALDEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One of U.S. President Donald Trump's main campaign promises.

TRUMP: It's got to stop, and we've got to have the largest mass deportation effort in history. And we're going to.

VALDEZ: Is perhaps one of his most successful so far. Despite backlash from countries in Latin America and critics in the U.S.

TRUMP: That's a good one. Birthright.

VALDEZ: After Trump ordered the U.S. military to secure the border and assist with mass deportations, Colombia's President Gustavo Petro refused to allow two military planes carrying deportees to land in his country because he didn't like seeing migrants in shackles as they were being transported. But Petro ended up sending a presidential plane to retrieve his citizens after the U.S. briefly imposed tariffs on Colombian imports, sanctioned government officials and suspended consular services.

But some policies so far are not working out as planned. The notorious Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba, known for housing many terrorists from the September 11th attacks, is now also being used as an immigration detention center and must have eventually been deported to their country of origin or returned to the U.S. without explanation.

Back at home, President Trump's policies continue to face legal challenges. Even with a conservative majority the Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration to stop deporting some immigrants using the Alien Enemies Act, so it can hear the case. The act that dates back to 1789 and has only been used in time of war. It allows for the detention and quick deportation of foreign adult men, considered a danger to the United States.

The Trump administration argues that members of international crime organizations like Tren de Aragua from Venezuela and MS-13 from El Salvador in the U.S. illegally, can be deported under the act.

[00:30:12]

Some have claimed the government is detaining them without evidence, and many say they are entitled to challenge their removal.

DAVID SUPER, PROFESSOR, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: That's not what this law is. This law is for when the United States is at war.

The administration is arguing that it's the equivalent of a war; that we have problems with gangs and cartels. But the definition of war and invasion was very clear in 1798 when this law was passed. And that does not mean it.

VALDES (voice-over): And then there is the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man deported to his country, even though an immigration judge had ruled he shouldn't be.

The U.S. admits it was a mistake, but his case has led to a standoff between Abrego Garcia's legal team, the courts who ordered his return to the U.S., and the Trump administration's refusal to work to bring him back.

Gustavo Valdes, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: An autistic teenager in Nigeria, setting a new world record for the largest art canvas by an individual. When we come back, how his artwork aims to celebrate neurodiversity.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CYNDI LAUPER, SINGER (singing): That's all they really want, is some fun. What in the world can they have done? Oh, girls, they wanna have fun. Oh, girls just wanna have fun.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: A blast from the past. All the way back to the '80s with popstar Cyndi Lauper, famous for "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun." She'll be inducted this year into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame.

Among some of the others who have made the cut: "The Twist" singer Chubby Checker and hip-hop duo Outkast.

"American Idol" host Ryan Seacrest, who's host of just about everything, announced the 2025 inductees during the show's airing on Sunday night. The ceremony is set for November.

The record for the world's largest art canvas goes to an autistic teenager in Nigeria. The giant painting was unveiled on World Autism Day.

The artist, a 15-year-old who is non-verbal, wants his work to be about breaking down the stigma around autism.

CNN's Ben Hunte has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN HUNTE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR/CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They say a picture speaks a thousand words. For this 15-year-old, his pictures say everything.

SILVIA TAGBO-OKEKE, MOTHER OF KANYEYACHUKWU TAGBO-OKEKE: He doesn't talk, but we want his art to tell his story on his behalf.

HUNTE (voice-over): It's telling that story in a big way: So big its record breaking.

Kanye, a young autistic artist, is a Guinness World Record holder. His winning painting, "Impossibility is a Myth," is the largest artwork on canvas by an individual at 12,381 square meters. Its centerpiece, an infinity sign surrounded by faces showing a mixture of emotions.

TAGBO-OKEKE: That sign means awareness, acceptance, and the neurodiversity. And then, if you see around, you see the faces. You see the sad faces, the smiley, the crying.

And when Kanye was growing up, if you look at all his previous paints, some of his previous paintings, if you go back in history, you see all those smiley faces.

HUNTE (voice-over): April is Autism Awareness Month around the world. The World Health Organization says 1 in 100 children has the disorder, and yet the stigma remains.

TAGBO-OKEKE: I've had instances where somebody looked at my son and called him an idiot. And that's why Kanye does what he does. Awareness, for people to know the kind of person he is; to understand people like him. HUNTE (voice-over): People like Kanye. An artist, a gamer, a world

record winner.

Ben Hunte, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: The official business of selecting a new pope begins next week. The Vatican says conclave will begin next Wednesday. Only cardinals under the age of 80 are allowed to vote.

And right now, there are 135 of them eligible to vote. The highly secretive process takes place in the Sistine Chapel, which was closed Monday to prepare for the conclave.

Electors will take part in a special mass before taking an oath of secrecy. They won't be seen in public until the new pope is elected, which requires a two-thirds majority. We'll be looking for the white smoke.

The Vatican is following tradition by issuing a special edition stamp. Monday, they released the new empty chair stamp that is issued during the period between popes. The stamp will be available until the conclave chooses the next pontiff, whenever that might be.

Amazon has taken another major step to join the race to transform the world's Internet infrastructure. The tech giant launched 27 satellites atop a rocket from Florida Monday evening. This kicks off Amazons Project Kuiper, a plan to create a massive constellation of Internet- beaming satellites.

The effort is poised to compete directly with Starlink, the network offered by Elon Musk's SpaceX.

I think that's how you say it.

Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause, back at the top of the hour with more CNN NEWSROOM. In the meantime, after the break, WORLD SPORT starts. See you, about 20 minutes from now.

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(WORLD SPORT)

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