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Red Crescent Says, Israeli Troops Kill 26 Palestinians at Aid Distribution Site in Southern Gaza; E.U. Threatens Countermeasures to Trump Steel Tariffs; Paris Saint-Germain Beat Inter Milan to Claim Title for First Time. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired June 01, 2025 - 03:00   ET

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

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[03:00:00]

BRIAN ABEL, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to all of you watching around the world and streaming on CNN MAX. I'm Brian Abel in Atlanta.

45 years ago today, CNN signed on for the first time. And coming up right now on CNN Newsroom, the U.S. says Hamas' position on a proposed Gaza ceasefire is, quote, unacceptable. We'll explain what Hamas is asking for.

A tariff tit-for-tat, the European Union threatens countermeasures against the U.S. after President Donald Trump hikes tariffs on steel to 50 percent.

And sweet, sweet victory, Paris Saint-Germain takes home its first Champions League title.

Just into CNN, the Palestinian Red Crescent says at least 26 people were killed when Israeli forces opened fire near an aid distribution center in Gaza. That's the latest incident of violence associated with aid distribution this week.

On Saturday, desperation would be an understatement to describe what played out during an attempted aid delivery. The World Food Programme says a crowd of civilians stormed and looted almost 80 trucks of food that came into the enclave. The group says people are so hungry after an 80-day Israeli blockade on aids that, quote, they are no longer willing to let food pass them by.

Meanwhile, Hamas responded to a U.S. truce proposal on Saturday and reinstated its earlier conditions. U.S. Envoy Steve Witkoff said the response was totally unacceptable and that the group should take the ceasefire proposal as is. But Hamas claims its statement is not a rejection.

Salma Abdelaziz explains what Hamas said in its response to the U.S. proposal and what did not line up with Washington's expectations.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is not a no, but it is not a yes. Hamas has responded to a U.S. ceasefire proposal that was issued earlier this week. Hamas said in its response that it was ready to release 10 living hostages and 18 other deceased hostages in exchange for a certain number of Palestinian prisoners.

Now, that does match with the draft proposal, but the group also outlined their reservations with this ceasefire proposal, and, again, repeated demands they've made time and time again. Hamas says it wants to have a permanent ceasefire. It wants to see a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip, and it wants guaranteed flow of humanitarian aid to the people in the enclave.

Now, the ceasefire contains no intrinsic guarantee of a permanent end to the war, and it holds no assurances that the ceasefire will be extended as long as these negotiations continue. One Israeli official told CNN that they see this response from Hamas as a rejection of the Trump administration's proposed ceasefire.

Meanwhile, the United Nations is warning that the enclave is on the brink of famine, but this is what an aid distribution looks like in Gaza. Just take a look at the chaos as the hungry and desperate descend on an aid site where there appears to be very little organization, as you can see there.

And more images, these are also from Saturday, show people fighting for a bag of flour. At another site, gunfire was heard. Nearly 88 trucks traveling through Gaza were looted. That's according to the World Food Programme, which says that most of the food was taken by hungry people trying to feed their families.

Well, U.N. official says, it is no shock that these images are playing out in Gaza after a nearly 11-week blockade has deprived families there of the very basics for survival.

Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.

ABEL: For more, we are joined by Corinne Fleischer, a regional director for the United Nations World Food Programme. She's in Jerusalem.

And, Corinne, given the previous Israeli blockade of aid getting into the strip and the need that is so clearly evident there in Salma's report, what is your organization facing right now? Has WFP been able to get aid in and are agencies even able to meet the demand? Are there enough supplies in the waiting?

CORINNE FLEISCHER, REGIONAL DIRECTOR, U.N. WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME: Yes. Good morning. Thanks for having me.

[03:05:00]

Yes. I mean, we are now bringing aid in every day, yesterday, 80 trucks, today, 50 trucks. And we drive them in into the communities, but they're stopped on the road by hungry people. They're offloaded. They're actually smiling at us, thanking us that we are coming back. But we are not yet able to go to the communities and do our regular distributions.

For that, really, you know, we need to flood Gaza with food now so that people, you know, become, again, confident that there is food tomorrow, not just on this truck and on this convoy, and that their fear of starvation is stopped, that hope is coming back, and that we can contain the situation and calm down the situation. That's what now is needed.

But, obviously, after, you know, 80 days of blockade and no food coming in, people will not, you know, look and watch a truck pass by when they are hungry.

ABEL: And I want to ask you more, more about that, about the ability of trucks to get to their destinations. Is there any sort of strategy moving forward to address situations like that?

FLEISCHER: Yes. You know, so we use -- of course, we engage with the communities. When we are driving through these communities, this is how it works. We have a megaphone and we tell them through the megaphone, please do not attack the trucks. These are trucks for food for the Gazan people. Don't attack them. Let us pass through. There is food for you, but there needs to be food for those behind you.

We also issue leaflets to the communities to now explain to them that we are coming every day and that it is important to let us through. We appeal to their solidarity, that it is not just for them, but that there are people behind them. There are mothers and kids behind them who need the food, and we hope that we will make a headway with this as we engage more and more civil society also to get through to where we want to go. We absolutely have to get to the north. We haven't been able to reach there. Hopefully today, we have a convoy that is able to make it to the north.

ABEL: Corinne, help us if you can make some sense of the aid options here. We see these terrible images of the desperate Palestinians at distribution sites. The aid site where warning shots were fired was organized by this controversial U.S. and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Then we hear the counteroffer from Hamas requesting humanitarian aid to be carried out through United Nations channels.

What are the differences here between organizations like yours providing aid to Gaza versus essentially outside contract jobs?

FLEISCHER: Well, first and foremost, you know, we were referring to the ceasefire. We do need a ceasefire. You know, we've shown during the last ceasefire that it works, that our system works. You know, we brought in, as the World Food Programme, 70,000 pounds of food. That's enough for almost two months for the people in Gaza. And, you know, we had -- we didn't have to wait at checkpoints. We had a fast turnaround at the checkpoints, at also Kerem Shalom crossing point. It was effectively run and we could get to the community and people had, again, a meal on the table. So, that's what needs to come back.

Now, you know, there are different systems. The system that is done by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is a different system to ours. We have our lines of communication open, but ours is one -- you know, we have tested that over decades of working in conflict. We know how it works and we have refined it to make sure that, you know, independently we assess who is requiring aid that we enroll digitally the people, ensure that they're getting aid once and not twice because we did duplicate (ph). And then we have a robust monitoring system in place to ensure that the food gets to the people. And we have the pulse with the people to understand if it doesn't get to them in the quantity that we want and not in the -- to the intended people.

So, that is what we are now -- you know, we need a ceasefire, and as I said in the short-term, we need to flood Gaza with food so that we can go back to these very well-established systems where those who need the food get it.

ABEL: Corinne, some of the differences that you're talking about there include the differences in screening aid recipients. How can that be carried out considering the scale of the need and why is screening such an important factor?

FLEISCHER: Well, we do now have -- you know, we have the lists of the Gazan people. Digitally, they are registered. And so once we are back to a more regular distribution, this is how it works. You know, they get SMSes, you come to this and this site. Actually, even if they move to different site, if they move from north to the south, we catch them then where they are and say, you can now come to this distribution site.

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So, it's a very organized system where people know when and where to go to pick up their aid. And, of course, that aid we distribute across multiple sites, across all governorates. That's where we have to do not just wheat flour, as we do now, but we have to get back to being able to distribute also the family rations at these sites.

ABEL: Corinne, some NGOs, they are warning Gaza is on the brink of famine. What is that threshold? What would actually be different from now to cross that line?

FLEISCHER: Well, you know, the surveys, the international surveys have already warned that the whole population of Gaza is extremely hungry and that 500,000 are at risk of famine and are already starving. And, you know, just to give you a picture, I mean, when we were recently, you know, outside at the site, a mother who gets -- you know, because the World Food Programme has -- our stocks have had run out now.

We used to provide and support 25 bakeries so they produce the bread for a million people. We gave our food to a million people. We also gave food to kitchens for hot meals. That had all stopped. But there's still a few kitchens who prepare hot meals for people. That mother got that hot meal and she said, you know, I counted the lentils in that soup that I get for my whole family. There were 16 lentils. That's not a soup. That's a broth that doesn't feed people.

And so that's the level of starvation that there is there now. The markets are empty. You know, a bag of flour or a kilo of flour, actually, that used to cost 40 cents before the war now costs $20. Nobody can afford that because people also don't have jobs. So, clearly, you know, there is no food in Gaza and we have to bring it in. We have now to flood the place. We have to wait until people gain confidence that we are coming back and then we can do our regular distributions.

ABEL: Okay. Corrine Fleischer in Jerusalem, Corrine, thank you for your work and thank you for joining us.

FLEISCHER: Thank you, Brian. Thank you.

ABEL: Well, personal losses never seemed to end for a Palestinian doctor who lost much of her family in an Israeli strike in Gaza. We told you last week about Dr. Alaa al-Najjar, this woman here in black. Her ten children were at home while she was working on May 23rd. Later that day, an Israeli airstrike hit their home killing at least seven of them and injuring an eighth. They were brought to her hospital after the attack. Her other two children are missing and presumed dead.

Now, we are learning that her husband, a doctor also, who was also wounded in the strike, has died from his injuries. Israel's military said it struck a group of suspects operating near its troops in the area.

Russian officials say at least 7 people were killed, 30 injured, when a road bridge collapsed on a passenger train, it happened in Russia's Bryansk region. State media reports that the train was traveling to Moscow when it was hit by debris from the falling bridge and derailed. Railway officials say the bridge collapsed from, quote, illegal interference, but they don't specify what that means.

Separately, a bridge in Russia's Kursk region collapsed as a freight train was passing over it. Reuters reported the incident citing local officials a driver of that train was reportedly injured. It is unclear whether the two incidents are connected.

We are getting new reaction to President Trump's steel tariff plan, what Europe and the U.K. are planning to do, next.

Plus, the CEO of one of the world's top artificial intelligence companies says leaders are not ready for the changes A.I. will bring to the workplace. That story straight ahead,

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ABEL: The European Union is threatening to impose countermeasures against the U.S. after President Donald Trump announced he's doubling tariffs on imported steel and aluminum to 50 percent. If no deal is reached, those countermeasures are expected to take effect on July 14th. The United Kingdom also reacting to the news, vowing to protect its steel businesses and jobs. This comes weeks after the U.K. secured a trade agreement with the U.S., which Prime Minister Keir Starmer said would save the industry.

CNN's Betsy Klein is following the latest developments from the White House.

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: President Trump unveiled a doubling in tariffs on foreign-made steel set to take effect Wednesday. And while this could be good news for the American steel business, it also has the potential to raise prices for Americans' construction and manufacturing industries. It could also potentially raise the prices of cars.

Now, the president made the announcement after markets closed on Friday as he visited a U.S. steel plant in Pennsylvania. And in that surprise announcement, the president said that steel tariffs would jump from 25 to 50 percent. Here's what he said.

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DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We are going to be imposing a 25 percent increase. We're going to bring it from 25 percent to 50 percent the tariffs on steel into the United States of America, which will even further secure the steel industry in the United States. Nobody's going to get around that. So, we're bringing it up from 25 percent. We're doubling it to 50 percent. And that's a loophole.

I said to the group, would you rather have a 40 percent increase?

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KLEIN: Both the European Union and the United Kingdom making clear that they are prepared to enact countermeasures when those steel tariffs go into effect on Wednesday.

And all of this adding to the global economic uncertainty. After earlier this week, a federal court ruled in a decision that blocked the president's global tariffs.

[03:20:02]

An appeals court later said that those tariffs could stay in place while this plays out through the judicial system.

The administration is prepared to take this fight all the way to the Supreme Court, but it really sets up two key questions for the White House going forward. Number one, what happens to those trade deals that were already in progress? U.S. officials have been telling their counterparts they want to stay the course and finish up those deals, but their counterparts are waiting to see what happens with the U.S. legal system.

Meanwhile, what happens to the president's big, beautiful bill? It has passed the house, has yet to pass the Senate. And it really relies on revenue from those tariffs to pay for some of the tax cuts that it includes. So, a lot to watch going forward.

Betsy Klein, CNN, the White House.

ABEL: The CEO of a top artificial intelligence company has a warning for policymakers and the public A.I. technology could cause a dramatic spike in unemployment in the very near future. The CEO of Anthropic says half of all entry level corporate jobs could be eliminated and unemployment could spike to 20 percent. And he says neither the population at large nor the country's civil and political leaders are ready for what's coming.

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DARIO AMODEI, CEO, ANTHROPIC: I think it's eerie the extent to which the broader public and politicians, legislators, I don't think are fully aware of what's going on. A few of them are, but I think for the most part, they don't really see what's coming.

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ABEL: Martin Ford is a futurist and author of Rise of the Robots. He is in Sunnyvale, California. And, Martin, despite previous warnings from the tech world about A.I., I think it was a rather eye-opening statement for so many when we heard that prediction from Anthropic's CEO.

I'm curious to hear, given your background, just how accurate you think it'll be.

MARTIN FORD, FUTURIST AND AUTHOR, RISE OF THE ROBOTS: Well, I think it's a very reasonable prediction. I mean, I've been writing about this for over 15 years now. And I've said all along that I think it's inevitable that both A.I. and robotics are ultimately going to displace a lot of jobs. I think this is going to be a very serious issue, you know, at some point in the future and given the progress we've seen over just the last two and a half years since the introduction of ChatGPT, I think that saying a big disruption is coming within five years or so sounds pretty reasonable to me. It may not be a perfect prediction, but it's definitely, I think, a reasonable one.

ABEL: Let's talk more specifically about which white collar jobs you think will take the biggest hit in the next five years. The biggest, it seems to me, because it seems to me that many of them that could be erased are those entry level or stepping stone positions that traditionally people take when starting their careers, leaving the question of how people will advance and be ready for those more senior, experienced-demanding jobs.

FORD: That's right. And the reason for that is that entry level people at the beginning of their career tend to take on jobs that are more routine and repetitive, you know, because they're just -- they need practice, right, in order to sort of learn what they're doing and in order to move up to, you know, a more -- a position that requires more.

So, that's probably true, that we're going to see a hit on entry level jobs and more generally on any kind of job that involves, you know, sitting in front of a computer doing a relatively routine, repetitive thing, whether it's writing the same report or sitting in front of a spreadsheet and so forth. Having said that, you know, one area that's really clearly being hit early on is computer programming, which is maybe a bit surprising to many people. Because just a few years ago people were saying, the best advice in terms of a future career was to learn to code, right, to become a computer programming person. But it turns out that these large language models are incredibly good at that, and that's one of the first areas that we're seeing being subject to a big disruption.

ABEL: So, how can people prepare for this? What should they be doing? Just avoiding particular jobs?

FORD: I think it's really about the nature of the work. You know, you want to be doing something, for example, involves working with other people, building relationships, having very complex interactions with other members of a team or with clients, or you want to be doing something that's truly creative where you're thinking outside the box, building something that wasn't there before.

But the last thing you want to be doing is just sitting in front of that spreadsheet all day doing the same kind of analysis again and again, or writing the same report every week or every month, or answering the same types of emails over and over again. Because all of that is, I think, going to be highly subject to automation, you know, early on.

ABEL: Martin, I want to ask about some of the potential pitfalls and dangers of advanced A.I. I find it actually interesting that it's Anthropic, that's the focus of Axios reporting out last week, that says researchers have found one of the company's A.I. models, Claude 4 Opus, can conceal intentions and take actions to preserve its own existence.

[03:25:06]

It has the ability to scheme, deceive and attempt to blackmail humans when faced with shutdown, according to the reporting. And the company has classified it as posing significantly higher risk, partly because of the model's capability to enable renegade production of nuclear and biological weapons.

It's hard to not sound alarmist about this, especially for anybody that's watched any Terminator movies. So, what do you say about our ability to maintain protections with these systems so that not only can deception not sneak into the workplace, but we can keep us all safe from A.I. growing so powerful that it has life-threatening capability?

FORD: Right. I mean, I think that's a genuine concern. It's not something that I think we need to worry about, right, in the immediate future. You know, there, there are a number of companies, of course, working on this and competing and of those companies, Anthropic is the particular company that's the most focused on these risks. And they tend to really highlight those risks in a way that some people perceive as perhaps a bit alarmist.

But I think it is definitely a legitimate concern in the long run that we do have to take great care to build powerful A.I. systems so that they're as they say, aligned with what's good for us, right? We don't want them to harm us in the future.

Having said that, I do think that this emphasis on those kind of existential, really, you know, threatening type risks from A.I. kind of distracts us from some of the nearer term things that we might face actually in the fairly immediate futures. And certainly one of those is the impact on jobs.

ABEL: All right. Martin Ford, I appreciate the conversation and your expertise. Martin, thank you.

FORD: Thank you. Good to be here.

ABEL: The White House says it has sent a proposal to Iran for a nuclear deal. This as the U.N. nuclear watchdog released new details on Tehran's enrichment activities that it says are of serious concern. The details when we come back.

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ABEL: Welcome back to our viewers all around the world. I'm Brian Abel, and you are watching CNN Newsroom.

Let's check today's top stories. Close to 80 aid trucks were looted in Gaza as desperate civilians scrambled for food. The World Food Programme says the incident happened on Saturday, the latest instance of violence and big growing hunger in Gaza. The United Nations said Israel's 11-week blockade on aid has pushed the enclave towards famine.

Russian officials say at least seven people were killed when a bridge collapsed on a train in the southern region of Bryansk. The region's governor has reportedly blamed the incident on an explosion saying the bridge was blown up. Separately, A bridge also collapsed in the neighboring Kursk region as a freight train was traveling over it.

U.S. President Donald Trump is facing some backlash for doubling tariffs on imported steel and aluminum to 50 percent. The European Union is threatening to impose countermeasures, and the United Kingdom is vowing to protect its steel businesses and jobs.

Iran is being accused of carrying out secret nuclear activities, dating back to the early 2000s. That's according to a confidential report from the U.N. nuclear watchdog, as reported by Reuters. The International Atomic Energy Agency says at least three locations in Iran were part of an, quote, undeclared structured nuclear program, and that some activities used undeclared nuclear material.

Tehran, for its part, rejects the report outright, calling it politically motivated. Meanwhile, a separate IAEA report claims a jump in Iran's stock of enriched uranium. If enriched, further, Tehran could have enough uranium for nine nuclear weapons, according to the agency. Trita Parsi is the executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. He's also the author of Losing an Enemy, Obama, Iran, and the Triumph of Diplomacy, and he joins us from Washington D.C.

Trita, we have President Trump saying this week, he believes his administration is very close to a solution for a nuclear deal with Iran. But now there's this report that they hid nuclear activity and grown its uranium stock. What do you see happening next year? How will world leaders react and what does all of this mean for a potential deal with the U.S.?

TRITA PARSI, AUTHOR, LOSING AN ENEMY, OBAMA, IRAN, AND THE TRIUMPH OF DIPLOMACY: Well, first of all, we knew that the Iranian program was growing. In fact, it's been growing dramatically fast ever since Trump pulled out of the deal that Obama negotiated. So, that is, in and of itself, new. The other part of the report showed that there were activities prior to 2003 that are questionable, which we also knew about, but more details were being provided and showing that the Iranians were not being fully honest back then and have not fully accounted for everything since then. So those are obviously concerning developments. The question is, will this report be used to trigger snapback sanctions at the U.N., which is something that the Europeans have the ability to do and are very inclined to do.

Now, the threat of snapback sanctions could be helpful towards making sure that everyone gets on their best behavior and negotiates and compromises. However, if they are triggered, then there's a high likelihood that the Iranians will walk out of not just the JCPOA, but the entire non-proliferation treaty, and then we will have a major crisis.

So, I think the Trump administration sees this as valuable pressure, but if you actually have to actualize the pressure and go for the snapback, then we're going to be in a very bad situation.

ABEL: Do you think in any way that this shows that the consequences of violating any non-proliferation agreement are not strong enough if Iran is acting this way behind closed doors?

PARSI: Well, this is what happened more than 20 years ago, and the fact that there was nuclear negotiations, all of these sanctions imposed on Iran is precisely because of the fact that it was clear that they had violated parts of the NPT. So, it's not as if the punishment hasn't been there. The Iranians have been under sanctions and U.N. sanctions more than 15 years.

So, I don't think that it shows that it was too weak. The question is, why are we having such difficulty actually making sure that we get to a solution that prevents them from having a nuclear weapon? And then it is a deal that we stick to because we had a deal. Trump walked out of it.

Now, I do believe that he has a very good chance of getting an even better deal because he is willing to put more sanctions relief on the table. [03:35:00]

But it means that all sides need to drop their maximalist positions. And one of the challenges right now is that the Trump administration says that they want to see zero enrichment in Iran, no activity at all. That has never worked. Every time we have pushed for that, it has actually backfired because the Iranians have expanded their program and all kinds of realistic restrictions that we can get on their program have ended up being delayed.

ABEL: If this report ultimately leads Iran to be declared in violation of non-proliferation obligations, if that resolution happens, how does Iran respond?

PARSI: Well, unfortunately, in the past we have seen that whenever resolutions of that kind are passed by the IAEA board, particularly in the middle of negotiations, the Iranian response has oftentimes been, if not always been, to actually reduce their collaboration with the IAEA and then further expanded the program.

So, they see these different measures as ways of pressuring them. And their response is to pressure back by doing the opposite of what we want, which is by expanding the nuclear program. That's why we need to get to a nuclear -- a diplomatic deal here that ends this mutual escalation.

ABEL: So, we could see Iran accelerate the program now that the proverbial cat's out of the bag.

I do want to ask you about President Trump. He personally asked Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu to not disrupt the U.S.-Iranian negotiations. Do these findings in the new report impact the likelihood of Netanyahu staying on the sidelines?

PARSI: Well, it has given him further ammunition, and we've seen in that he's been issuing statements today because he doesn't want to see a deal. He wants to see military action taken against Iran. And the issue is that, of course, the Israelis actually do not have the capability of doing it on their own. So, they're trying to push the United States to do it.

But the reality is Trump has a chance to resolve this peacefully and the American public, by and large, are very much against the U.S. getting involved in more wars in the Middle East. And this one would be a really, really bad one. So, I find it completely understandable that Trump is telling the Israelis to back off, do not sabotage his diplomacy because there is a chance of resolving this peacefully. And that chance and that solution is far superior to anything that can be achieved militarily.

ABEL: All right. We'll follow each twist and turn of these negotiations. Trita Parsi, I appreciate your time. Thank you.

PARSI: Thank you so much for having me.

ABEL: When we return, a disturbing online trend involving animal cruelty is spreading across the globe. CNN's exclusive report is next.

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ABEL: A months-long CNN investigation has uncovered a rise in disturbing cat torture videos being sold online. It shows that in the past year, this shadowy network has expanded in scale and popularity around the world.

CNN's Ivan Watson spoke to activists and internet sleuth for his report, but please note his piece contains graphic descriptions of violence, which some viewers may find distressing.

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IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): At first glance, these might seem like rescue cats at some kind of shelter, but look closer and something much more sinister is taking place here. These are actually advertisements to torture and kill cats on camera shared by communities who celebrate the performance of extreme acts of violence against animals.

JENNY EDWARDS, CRIMINOLOGIST: There is a psychological disorder called sexual sadism, and the motivation underlying it is the sexual arousal or pleasure in watching the humiliation.

WATSON: This activity is deviant and would be considered criminal in most countries. But we found this kind of violent, disturbing content on mainstream platforms like X, YouTube and Facebook, which means your children could potentially find it too.

EDWARDS: It's pretty easy to have videos requested in the U.S. and produced in places like Indonesia and then distributed literally all over the world for $20, $30.

LARA, FELINE GUARDIANS ACTIVIST: There are torturers that are in Turkey and Japan, Malaysia and Europe.

WATSON: Lara, who doesn't want to reveal her full name for safety reasons, is a volunteer in the activist group, Feline Guardians.

LARA: We are seeing growth and so reporting this is absolutely necessary.

WATSON: Feline Guardian says a main nexus for the production of this content is in Mainland China, wherein less than a year, they've documented a 500 percent surge, the equivalent of one new cat torture video every three hours.

Chinese state media has named and shamed some individuals for alleged animal torture, but there have been few criminal prosecutions because of what legal experts say is a glaring loophole.

PETER LI, CHINESE LEGAL EXPERT: China does not have a standalone comprehensive law against animal cruelty. WATSON: This Chinese volunteer who asks not to be identified infiltrates and exposes networks of animal abusers.

CHEN, UNDERCOVER VOLUNTEER, FELINE GUARDIANS: China's censorship of politics and pornography is actually very strict, but regarding animal abuse, there is no supervision of this thing.

WATSON: In other countries, law enforcement has been cracking down. Turkey, a country renowned for its abundant street cats, announced a number of arrests of suspects accused of torturing and killing cats. While in the U.S., the FBI has conducted arrests in Utah, Wisconsin, and Texas in the last two years.

In a months-long investigation CNN infiltrated some of these animal abuse networks. And what we've learned is that to avoid detection, these members often speak in code and sometimes even disguise themselves as cat lovers. The more extreme groups require newcomers to demonstrate their own acts of violence to get into these clubs.

Activists and experts worry that some tech giant's decisions to reduce vetting on social media platforms may make it easier to share this truly awful content with the wider public.

Ivan Watson, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: CNN has submitted questions to the Chinese government and the tech giants about the issues raised in this story, YouTube and Telegram said that content promoting violence against animals is banned on their platforms and they try to remove it on a daily basis. Meta declined to comment other than to point to their policies, which include removing some content that is, quote, particularly violent or graphic.

[03:45:05]

So far, the Chinese government and X have not responded.

We'll be right back.

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ABEL: Intense heat in Southern Spain has locals and tourist sweltering. In Seville, temperatures hit 46 degrees Celsius. That is 114 degrees Fahrenheit. People fan themselves and look for shade to get some relief. Even horses lined up for a cool drink. This intense heat wave is hitting early coming ahead of June. Officials are warning people to stay hydrated and take precautions.

Fewer vacationers are visiting the Central American nation of Costa Rica, according to the nation's Tourism Institute. Residents say travelers are being driven off by a surge in the crime rates, as CNN's Djenane Villanueva explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DJENANE VILLANUEVA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): When you step foot in Costa Rica, you're sure to be greeted by its iconic expression, pura vida, meaning a pure life with a focus on nature and wellbeing. People come to see friendly creatures, like sloths and iguanas. But the Costa Rica's Tourism Institute is reporting a drop in visitors and locals say it's because crime is on the rise.

[03:50:05]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It seems to me that it's an issue of insecurity, not competitiveness.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Insecurity can sometimes affect you. You feel safer in some cities than you do here in San Jose.

VILLANUEVA: Last year there were 880 homicides in the country, the second deadliest year since 2023, according to its judicial investigation agency. This year, murders have decreased in most provinces, but they are skyrocketing in the capital, San Jose.

Authorities insist it's a local issue between guns clashing over drug trafficking, but they're still warning tourists to beware on their surroundings.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We try to warn tourists about chains, bags, cell phones, and professional cameras so they can try to hide them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, yes. We've been told to put -- I had to put my earrings away, keep my cell phone in my purse.

VILLANUEVA: And how do you feel now?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean, walking around here, I don't feel at risk or anything.

VILLANUEVA: Warnings are all posted at popular tourist spots, like this one, where people often jump out of their vehicles to take pictures of local wildlife. Police say they've also stepped up roadside checkpoints, but merchants say less people are coming.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Normally, there are months when there's a lot of tourism, but this year, it's decreased significantly.

VILLANUEVA: The Costa Rican Tourism Board tells CNN security could be a factor, but also points out there are less flights available. And Costa Rican's currency has appreciated against the dollar, making services more expensive.

With summer vacation approaching, it remains to be seen how many people will show up to experience pura vida.

For CNN, Djenane Villanueva, San Jose, Costa Rica.

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VILLANUEVA: Violence mar celebrations in the French capital after Paris Saint-Germain won the Champions League final. Fans watching from the stadium back home in Paris, they were ecstatic. But celebrations turned violent in the French capital. After the match, fans smashing bus shelters and hurling projectiles along the Champs-Elysees. Near the stadium, they clashed with riot police who fired tear gas and water cannons. And at least two cars were set on fire nearby.

But the match itself was a historic victory for the French side, the first time PSG has won the European trophy.

CNN World Sport's Amanda Davis was in Munich for the match.

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN WORLD SPORT: With Tom Cruise watching on what at times has seen Mission Impossible for PSG has become Mission Complete. 14 years in the making, the unashamed much publicized aim since day one when Qatar Sports Investments, QSI, took over as owners at PSG. It's seen the likes of David Beckham's, Zlatan Ibrahimovich, Carlo Ancelotti, Thomas Tuchel, and, of course, Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe all come and go. But with Lewis Enrique's arrival, a change in ethos and mentality absolutely summed up by the banner unfurled by the PSG fans, head of kickoff, translating as together, we are invincible.

And here at the Allianz Arena on Saturday, this was a team absolutely playing for each other and the core setting a new bar, a unit from the word, go, playing the creative, exciting football to which we've become accustomed, drawn on by an incredible wall of fans, and the midfield magicians of Vitinha and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia running the show.

Achraf Hakimi's opening goal after 12 minutes almost seemed too easy. The Moroccan looking embarrassed to have scored such an important goal against his former club, and from there, they couldn't be stopped. A five star performance deserve a double for 19-year-old, yes, 19-year- old Desire Doue after a season that has very much seen him announce himself to the world. He wasn't even a regular starter for his former club a season ago. Number four came from Kvaratskhelia and a record breaking fifth for 18-year-old Senny Mayulu.

But from the celebration to a second final disappointment in three years into Milan, they headed home from Istanbul, feeling hard, done by (ph) in 2023 for frustrated. They hadn't taken their chances this evening. They just didn't create enough chances to take. And from talking about a treble on the cards a month ago, well, they're left empty handed as a, frankly, miserable May comes to an end, and it might not only be the month coming to an end.

An ear or two with questions over the future of manager Simone Inzaghi with an offer from Saudi Arabia on the table, and the feeling that for so many of these players, it could have been their last chance as well.

[03:55:07]

Enrique said earlier in this journey, the season's Champions League campaign would make a great thriller or horror film because it's had so many twists and turns. Well, for PSG, the final went exactly to script, a record breaking Champions League winning score and a Hollywood ending of which Tom Cruise would be proud, with plenty of room and potential for this sequel.

Amanda Davies, CNN, Munich.

ABEL: Novak Djokovic is one step closer to a historic 25th Grand Slam title. The tennis star nabbed his 99th French Open win on Saturday in Paris, defeating Austrian qualifier Filip Misolic, to advance the round of 16 in three sets. Djokovic's takeaway, 99 is good, but 100 is better. And his 100th win, that could come on Monday.

The three-time Roland Garros Champ faces Britain's Cameron Norrie.

Thank you all so much for joining us for 45 years of CNN. I'm Brian Abel in Atlanta.

There's more CNN Newsroom just ahead with Kim Brunhuber.

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