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Palestinians Warn Against Israeli Plan To Occupy Gaza City; Moscow's Latest Strikes On Ukraine Show Russia Not Ready For Lasting Peace; Lower U.S. Tariffs On E.U. Autos Are On Hold For Now; Newsom Signs California Redistricting Plan To Counter Texas Republicans; 21 Countries Condemn Israel's Plan for New Settlements; British Government Agrees to Pay Compensation for Blaze; North Korea's Secret Missile Base Could Threaten U.S. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired August 22, 2025 - 01:00   ET

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

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[01:00:23]

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Polo Sandoval live in New York. Welcome CNN Newsroom, wherever you may be watching from. And here's what's ahead. A flagrant war crime. Palestinian officials warning Israel's Gaza's city takeover will be leading to more death and forced displacement.

And Russia hits Ukraine with its biggest attack in weeks. What does this all mean for those ongoing peace talks?

Plus, North Korea's secret missile base. Researchers say that its construction started two decades ago. Why it's key for Kim Jong Un's future.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from New York. This is CNN Newsroom with Polo Sandoval.

SANDOVAL: And welcome to the program. Palestinian officials, they are warning that a looming Israeli invasion and occupation of Gaza City is in effect a death sentence for more than 1.2 million people living there. Some residents and displaced people they are already fleeing northern Gaza's largest city out of fear of what may come.

Officials are now calling on the international community to step in before it's too late. And their fear is that further displacement and escalating bombardment. Palestinians gathered in Gaza amid those fears. On Thursday, protesting carrying signs reading stop the genocide and Gaza is dying.

An Israeli source says that the military will be giving Palestinians approximately two months to evacuate Gaza City before the new assaults begin. They've set a deadline of October 7, the two year mark of the war.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stressing on Thursday that Israel is now at a critical juncture. He indicated that he will be approving plans for a military takeover of Gaza City. That's a major escalation of the war. And he instructed Israeli officials to resume negotiations with Hamas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): I came to approve the IDF's plans for taking control of Gaza City and defeating Hamas. At the same time, I instructed to begin immediate negotiations for the release of all our hostages and the end of the war under conditions acceptable to Israel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Meanwhile, aid groups say a warning against the mass forced displacement of Gaza's city's residents. Medical aid for Palestinians says that people already exhausted by war and hunger now facing a horrible decision, either stay and risk annihilation or flee to uncertainty and risk being driven into exile.

Israel's military said on Thursday that it has begun warning medical officials and international aid groups to plan for mass evacuations and displacement in northern Gaza. And then there's this powerful Israeli strike that hit a tent encampment in Dier Al-Balah in central Gaza on Thursday.

The attack underscoring the dangers that people in Gaza City may face if they do flee south. Palestinian civil defense teams working to extinguish the fire. There was no immediate word on any casualties there. Israel has often said that it takes steps to avoid hitting civilians. Palestinians repeatedly say that they have nowhere safe to go.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNDIENTIFIED MALE (through translator): This is my tent. Within three minutes they told us to evacuate and I got the children out. People, women, babies, elderly, those with disabilities and the weak. They all evacuated. This is our situation. Those tents were great. We were living here happy. This is the area they said was safe south of Gaza. This is the safe area. I have been displaced from one place to another, from north to central of the Gaza Strip, and then here. We are tired. We are tired.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Let's go ahead and bring in Chris McIntosh, humanitarian response advisor with Oxfam. He joins us live at this hour from Gaza City. It is so good to have you with us. Thank you so much for joining.

CHRIS MCINTOSH, HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE ADVISER, OXFAM: Thank you so.

SANDOVAL: But before you bring us up to speed on the latest situation there on the ground, I'm wondering if you could just briefly tell us what kind of work your organization has been focusing on in the last few weeks? [01:05:03]

MCINTOSH: Sure. Oxfam's main staple is what's called water, sanitation and hygiene, which we shorten to wash. And this is providing clean drinking water to population, providing regular, what we call domestic water as well as removing wastewater. And we also do some psychosocial support and we facilitate fundamentally propping up as much as possible the humanitarian situation here.

SANDOVAL: And Chris, what are you hearing from the people there in Gaza and do you think that some will be reluctant to actually leave in the face of the Israeli government's offensive?

MCINTOSH: Well, without a doubt there's a plurality of understandings and there's a plurality of willingness to move yet again. So the vast majority of Gaza City was displaced at the beginning of this nearly two years ago. The people left and they returned.

In addition to that, what we have is displaced peoples from the eastern part of the city, which has been evacuated for now six months or so. So if you were to come here to Gaza City, what you would see is a great deal of rubbled out buildings. The destruction is 360 degrees. And then in addition to that, you would see a lot of tents on the side of roads, tents in the median of roads, tents all along the coastline here. So people are exhausted.

And what they're saying is that they're exhausted and that there's only so much of this that they can take. The psychological effects of this are tremendous. Imagine being expected to completely uproot your life and to leave behind your domicile or completely uncertain situations in a new place.

SANDOVAL: Chris, can you elaborate more on that level of fatigue? Obviously that the people of Gaza are tired is an understatement. They have been through so much war now. Where is that point when some people may potentially give up and go elsewhere?

MCINTOSH: That's an extremely personal decision. We've certainly as an organization, we're working through that understanding, trying to understand what the population is going to do, working through that with our own staff. But we're looking at the point we're almost at six months of a blockade. So there still is not enough food coming in. There's still not enough supplies coming in. And the bombardment happens on a regular basis.

As your reporting was mentioning earlier, there is nowhere safe in the Gaza Strip. And this prospect of moving hundreds of thousands of people, not only is that problematic, because in that situation they would be forced into the shrinking areas that are relatively safe where other people live, and then they would be forced to compete for dwindling resources in those locations.

And when I mean resources, I mean life sustaining water and food, but then as well as space to live, access to medical care. Gaza City is the biggest city in the Gaza Strip, and there are a lot of resources here. There's a lot of infrastructure here. So were they to displace, they would be severed from all of that.

SANDOVAL: And if we could elaborate on that a little bit more, Chris, as we just said a little while ago and reported a little while ago, the Israeli military is reaching out to not just health institutions there, but also organizations such as yours, encouraging them to evacuate ahead of this operation.

Just up against those challenges that you just laid out logistically, I mean, how do organizations such as yours even begin to assist in relocation of those who are willing to go elsewhere?

MCINTOSH: Well, it's exactly as you say. It's an enormous logistical challenge. Our policy is always we do what we can, while we can, where we can, and there are some ways to make it happen. Fortunately, we're in a position to gather some of those resources. We have resources of our own.

And so we're trying to figure out how to piece that together in a way that's going to be effective and fundamentally help people. Yes.

SANDOVAL: The Israeli military, a source telling CNN that they're giving folks essentially two months or at least until October 7th. Is that even realistic?

MCINTOSH: Yes, on that, I'd just like to say a few words that the Israelis, with Netanyahu's recent announcement, that is the fourth or fifth big announcement, and we are no closer to having any sort of clarity what's going on.

[01:10:05]

The Israelis don't stick to their word and they use misinformation as a tool. It's part of the architect of -- architecture of oppression. It's part of sidelining humanitarian agencies to not allow us to do our work. So, I don't put a lot of stuff in the details of the rhetoric.

The other thing that I'd like to mention is that the Israeli military, they are conducting operations and they do from time to time encounter hotbeds of resistance. But on a fundamental level, they operate in such a way to maximize their own safety and force protection, to minimize their casualties at the expense of civilian casualties. That is fundamentally how they work for months I've been watching this play out on the ground.

SANDVOAL: Chris McIntosh live from Gaza City. We wish you and those that you're helping continued safety. Thank you so much for your time.

MCINTOSH: Thank you. Take care.

SANDOVAL: Well, Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy says that Russia's latest barrage of drones and missiles now showing Moscow is not ready for talks for peace. Russia launching its largest attack in more than a month overnight on Thursday. Striking is as far west as the city of Lviv. Ukraine says that at least nine civilians were killed in those strikes and a U. S owned manufacturing company was hit.

The attack coming just days after U.S. President Donald Trump met first with Vladimir Putin in Alaska and then with Zelenskyy and European leaders at the White House amid a push to end this war. Moscow accusing Kyiv of not being interested in, as they put it, a fair and long term settlement. But Ukraine's president says that it's Russia that is putting the brakes on any progress.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Right now the signals from Russia are frankly obscene. They're trying to wriggle out of the need to hold a meeting. They do not want to end this war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Meanwhile, President Trump appearing to show sympathy for Ukraine, posting on social media and I'll read his post. It is very hard, if not impossible to win a war without attacking an invader's country. Then he makes a sports reference. Here he writes, it's like a great team in sports that has a fantastic defense but is not allowed to play offense. There is no chance of winning again. The words from the U.S. president.

CNN's Bed Wedeman is in southern Ukraine with a look at how Ukrainian soldiers prepare for further Russian advancement.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A Russian train full of fuel goes up in a blaze of fire and smoke, struck by Ukrainian drones. This new era of warfare combines high tech close quarters combat harking back to the First World War.

The same brigade that took part in the train strike is also fighting in the trenches. Infantry squad commander Yevgeny returned at five in the morning from a deadly six-man attack on a Russian position.

One of my men was killed, he says. Two took shrapnel. Two of us got concussions from drone attacks and mortar fire. His men managed to kill a Russian soldier, then had to withdraw and came here, well underground, where the war is barely audible.

WEDEMAN: This complex of bunkers and trenches is not the front line. It's well away in the rear. The purpose is that they will be ready in the event the Russians push forward. And what we're hearing from senior Ukrainian officials is that they fear that the Russians are preparing for a major push in the Zaporizhzha area.

WEDEMAN (voice-over): Until then, this is where troops from the 65th Mechanized Brigade Rest and recuperate. Cramped and stuffy, yet safe, the cats welcome company. Also keeping the mice at bay. They're resting up for their next mission, defending the town of Orikhiv, or what's left of it. Only 800 of its original 14,000 residents remain. Oleksandr is the

only handyman left, with plenty to keep him busy. Windows, doors, roofs, you can see for yourself. Everything needs repairs, he says.

In the town's post office, the last vestige of normalcy, we meet Ludmila, who lives alone with her two dogs. Her day started with shelling.

[01:15:00]

When it hit, I thought that was the end of everything, she says. To lighten her mood, I share pictures of hobbies and pets.

WEDEMAN: These are my potatoes.

WEDEMAN (voice-over): Communicating in a linguistic hodgepodge. We shared a laugh. Her dog, Alpha, shell shocked, was unmoved.

Far away is the powerful talk war and peace. Here, the powerless can only hold on and hope to live another day. Ben Wedeman, CNN, Orikhiv, southern Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: Joining me now live is Peter Zalmayev, director of Eurasia Democracy Initiative. Peter, thank you so much for joining us.

PETER ZALMAYEV, DIRECTOR, EURASIA DEMOCRACY INITIATIVE: Thank you.

SANDOVAL: So by now, Peter, the White House had hoped that we would have seen a trilat, or at least have it on the calendar. Now we don't even know if we'll see a bilateral meeting between Russia and Ukraine here. So in your view, have President Trump's hopes for a peaceful resolution to the war been dashed?

ZALMAYEV: I think there were unrealistic hopes and very naive hopes from the beginning, dictated by Donald Trump's naive trust that Vladimir Putin is just as easily swayed by pomp and circumstance, by red carpets and all these other things, outward appearances. But Putin never had that in mind.

I think he pulled a quite a clever trick, and I expected that from the beginning. He got everything he wanted. He got the, you know, the optics of that meeting on the formerly Russian territory of Alaska, the red carpet, the private ride in the limo, as we all saw.

And I think he dropped some hints probably previously to Mr. Witkoff, the gullible, you know, envoy of Trump to the Middle East and to Ukraine, and then to Donald Trump just sort of stringing them along, making them feel that very, very soon something big will come, he'll be ready to sit down, maybe a trilat with Zelenskyy, but I don't think he fully really meant it.

And now all this backtracking or the realism, the realistic pictures, you know, coming through with Lavrov, the foreign minister of Russia, saying this is out of the question. Zelenskyy, he won't even refer to Zelenskyy as a human being. He says that type, that creature, whatever they say, they do not consider Zelenskyy legitimate. I just cannot see in which world Vladimir Putin would be sitting out with Zelenskyy other than to have him sign Ukraine's capitulation.

SANDOVAL: And that would speak to the naive nature of the expectations. And we have heard other experts also weighing in and describe it as such. And you mentioned Alaska. President Putin clearly buying himself more time to continue with this war. But given the challenges that the Ukrainian military has faced on the front lines, in your view, do you think that Ukraine is equipped or even armed to continue to tread water as well.

ZALMAYEV: Well, it has been equipped enough all along to just sort of mosey on to hold off the Russian defense or at least slow down the pace of the advance. But as actually Donald Trump rightly pointed out, even a broken clock can be correct once or even twice a day.

You know, if Ukraine was never given the proper offensive weaponry or in the sufficient amounts to kick out the enemy, he was right there. So I think there's still probably enough for a few months. The Ukraine is bleeding manpower, that is the big problem.

But it's still showing that it can more than hold its own and wage a successful asymmetrical war, hitting the Russians deep behind the front lines, deep inside Russia. But we need more weaponry, more offensive weaponry. We need speedier deliveries. And as it is, we are bleeding. And it is a war being waged to the last Ukrainian.

You know, we started off this war with the Russians saying that line. Now Ukrainians are saying that resentment is setting in our allies standing by us. The Europeans may be willing but not able nearly as much as the U.S. and Donald Trump is just constantly threatening to walk away. This is not a very encouraging position to be in.

SANDOVAL: And considering that skepticism that we get from you at the top, do you see a scenario where a Ukrainian Russian meeting actually happens or is that just really a pipe dream?

ZALMAYEV: I mean, it might, it could. If once again, if our Western allies make it costly for Putin to continue this war, Ukraine is doing all its all it can. It has already by some accounts disabled, neutralized, destroyed up to 15 percent of oil refining capacity inside Russia. That is actually hitting them at the pocket. That can create, you know, that can lead to some public unrest. And that is precisely where we need to be.

[01:20:05]

We need to make this war too costly to where Putin, you know, comes and sits down and talks peace.

SANDOVAL: Peter Zalmayev, really appreciate you coming on the program and sharing your perspective. I think that together with some of the reporting on the ground that we just saw, I think hopefully we have a clearer idea of the sense of urgency that really exists for the Ukrainian people right now. We'll check back with you. Thank you. Meanwhile, there's this. In a rare admission of his country's losses,

Kim Jong Un is now paying emotional tribute to North Korean soldiers who were killed while fighting for Russia in its war against Ukraine. Speaking in Pyongyang, Kim said that his heart aches for the fallen members of what he called his heroic army.

The comments coming as Kim awarded medals to soldiers during a banquet honoring a North Korean unit that fought for Moscow in the western Kursk region.

North Korea has been making headlines for years as it builds up its military capabilities in an extremely unusual way. Now a new report is revealing the secretive nation, what the secretive nation has actually built with nuclear missiles that may be able to reach the U.S. according to experts. We'll bring you those details.

Plus, a judge dealing a blow to the Trump administration's efforts to detain migrants. The latest ruling against a controversial detention center in the state of Florida. That's ahead.

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[01:26:00]

SANDOVAL: Lower tariffs on cars being imported from the European Union is currently on hold. That is until the E.U. takes further steps outlined in the recent trade deal that it struck with the United States. The agreement would cut import taxes on cars from 27.5 percent to 15, as you see here.

However, this lower rate won't take effect until the E.U. introduces legislation reducing its own tariffs on U.S. goods. And this is all coming as American automakers have objected to the lowering of tariffs on overseas imports while keeping higher rates on cars and parts from Mexico and Canada. The EU's trade commissioner hoping to have the required legislation introduced by the end of this month.

A U.S. judge has ordered a controversial migrant detention camp in the U.S. state of Florida in the Everglades, there to actually stop taking in new detainees. A facility referred to by the Trump administration as Alligator Alcatraz was also told to remove things like new lighting, new fencing within 60 days.

The judge issued a preliminary injunction in response to a federal lawsuit filed by environmental groups as well as a Native American tribe in the region. They raised concerns about the environmental impact the detention center will have on the area.

And California Democrats passed three redistricting bills on Thursday. They are going to they are actually designed to help Democrats pick up five congressional seats next year. That's just one day earlier. Texas House Republicans, they approved their state's new maps.

The issue now goes to the state's Senate, which could approve it as early as Friday. California voters will be deciding if they want to replace their state's current congressional maps with versions that favor Democrats. And that vote will happen on November 4th. California Governor Gavin Newsom says that it is a direct response to Texas push to redraw maps at President Trump's request.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GAVIN NEWSOM, CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR: He's trying to rig the election. He's trying to set up the conditions where he can claim that the elections were not won fair and square. Open your eyes to what is going on in the United States of America in 2025. That's what this is about.

We're responding what occurred in Texas. We're neutralizing what occurred, and we're giving the American people a fair chance. Because when all things are equal, we're all playing by the same set of rules. There's no question that the Republican Party will be the minority party in the House of Representatives next year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: And let's stay in California, where a parole board denied Erik Menendez parole on Thursday after 10 hours of virtual hearings. Erik was convicted alongside his brother Lyle Menendez in the notorious 1989 murders of their parents. They were originally sentenced to life and prison without parole, but became eligible for release after a judge resentenced them this past May.

The board said Erik Menendez continues to pose an unreasonable risk to public safety. The decision does not bode well, though, for Erik's brother Lyle, who has his parole hearing in the coming day. Regardless of any parole recommendation, California's governor has the final word on whether they'll be released or have to stay in prison.

Brazilian police say that former President Jair Bolsonaro once planned to request political asylum in Argentina, and that's according to documents that have been seen by the Associated Press.

Police say that Bolsonaro drafted a document requesting asylum two days after they searched his home in connection with his current criminal trial. Bolsonaro is accused of attempting to overturn Brazil's presidential election three years ago.

While the war in Gaza rages, Israel is planning to build new settlements in the occupied West Bank.

[01:30:05]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: When are they coming to demolish these houses?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe tomorrow in the night. In the -- I don't understand.

ROBERTSON: Atallah has lived here 50 years has no idea what to expect.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm afraid for the children, for the women, for the animals. Where do you go?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Still ahead, details on the potential impact on the people in the region and the international reaction.

[01:30:33]

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SANDOVAL: At least 14 people were killed in two separate incidents in Colombia in what authorities are describing as acts of terrorism. This was the scene just after an explosion near a military base in the city of Cali on Thursday.

The Colombian military says a car bomb exploded, killing at least six people and injuring 50 others.

Also on Thursday, eight people were killed when a police helicopter crashed after a drone attack. Colombia's defense minister says the attack was carried out by former members of the leftist guerrilla group known as FARC.

It's unclear whether the events are related. Also, authorities haven't spoken to a clear motive. However, Colombian President Gustavo Petro used the incidents to call for drug trafficking gangs to be designated as terrorist groups.

21 countries, including the U.K., France, Canada -- they've all condemned Israel's plan to build new settlements in the Occupied West Bank. They're calling it a violation of international law.

CNN's Nic Robertson reports on what's at stake.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON: In days these Palestinian farmsteads in the Occupied West Bank could be gone. The Israeli government has just signed off on the demolition to make way for 3,500 new Israeli settler homes expanding the nearby settlement of Ma'ale Adumim.

When are they coming to demolish these houses?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe tomorrow in the night, in the -- I don't understand.

Atallah has lived here 50 years, has no idea what to expect.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm afraid for the children, for the women, for the animals. Where do you go?

ROBERTSON: This is Jabal al-Baba. Everyone here is waiting to be evicted now, 450 people -- about 80 families they tell us.

Jabal means "hill" or "mountain". And for many people here now, this feels like it could be the hill upon which the idea of a Palestinian state dies.

The reasons they say that best understood on this map. Jabal al-Baba is in Area E1, where there will be more evictions and a new road restricting Palestinian movements so Israel's biggest settlement, Ma'ale Adumim, can grow.

Area E1 links the West Bank to East Jerusalem, Palestinian's pick for a future capital and connects the north and south of the West Bank.

On another hill just a mile from Jabal al-Baba, Israeli peace activist Hagit Ofran (ph) shows young Israelis what Israel's expansion into Area E1 means.

HAGIT OFRAN, CO-DIRECTOR, SETTLEMENT WATCH: The government wants to fill in the gap and to make an Israeli corridor into the heart of the West Bank and in fact to cut the Palestinian territory from southern area and northern area.

ROBERTSON: So what does that mean in reality? When you cut -- when you cut the Palestinian area like that?

OFRAN: It means that you cannot develop a viable economy, not to say a state.

ROBERTSON: 20 years ago, then lawmaker Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to expand the huge Ma'ale Adumim settlement.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Sharon will build here. I will build here.

ROBERTSON: Today, PM Netanyahu's pro-settler government says their Area E1 evictions are legal and justified, and appear intended to outmaneuver European decisions to recognize a Palestinian state.

BEZALEL SMOTRICH, ISRAELI FINANCE MINISTER: We will continue to build a fulfilling Jewish reality. This reality definitively buries the idea of a Palestinian state simply because there is nothing and no one left to recognize.

[01:39:50]

ROBERTSON: On the fringes of Area E1, in the bustling streets of Asarea (ph), Smotrich's words are also having a chilling effect.

This is where Palestinians say the new Israeli road is going to be built on this busy highway. Thank you.

And cutting across the road right along here. So this will be completely -- thank you -- completely shut off.

And these stores have closed already because of the demolition order. Municipality official Mohammed Matar (ph) points to stores already shuttered. Tells me demolition orders on more than a hundred premises have already been served. Says the new road will destroy their fragile economy.

Back on the hilltop, Atallah, the Bedouin leader, tells me confiscating these lands is like cutting a cake down the middle.

Jabal al-Baba isn't only the end of the Bedouins' dreams here, he says. It's also the end of every Palestinian's dream of having a state in the future.

Nic Robertson, CNN -- Jabal al-Baba, the Occupied West Bank.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: Well, years after a devastating fire, people in Kenya continuing to demand for justice from the British army. Still ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, how the aftermath of this fire continues haunting one community in Kenya.

[01:41:23]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANDOVAL: Want to take you to Portugal now, where more than 1,600 firefighters are battling a wildfire for more than a week now. Investigators there believe that a lightning strike started this blaze. It's caused extensive damage to one of Portugal's iconic regions. About 60,000 hectares or 148,000 acres have already burned across three districts. Its thought to be the largest ever fire recorded in Portugal.

And the British government, it has agreed to pay a compensation after its troops sparked a huge forest fire while training in Kenya. But locals there say that it's not enough to deal with the aftermath of an ecological disaster that continues to affect them to this day.

CNN's Larry Madowo spoke to some of the families who waged a legal battle against the British army.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A forest fire raging through the hills of central Kenya in 2021 burning over 10,000 acres of protected land and smothering the local community with toxic smoke.

The British army posted this video at the time of the troops tackling the blaze.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The local community behind us is safe and we're also quite aware that there's wildlife that we need to protect.

MADOWO: Those words, now jarring as neither the community nor the wildlife were ultimately kept safe.

The British government has agreed to pay out nearly $4 million to thousands of locals whose lives were changed forever by the fire, according to a settlement agreement obtained by CNN.

The blaze in the Lolldaiga Hills started during a training exercise of the British military inside a privately owned wildlife conservancy. Speaking to me before the settlement was agreed, activist James Mwangi says the fire wrecked the environment and harmed people far outside the area.

JAMES MWANGI, LOCAL ACTIVIST: This area in 2021, March was a furnace. For seven days over 10,000 people were choked by smoke. That toxic smoke nearly everyone in this community has chest problems. Everyone.

MADOWO: "This is now our life," this woman told me, showing her inhaler. Hannah Wanjiku starts crying when she tells me about the sick grandchildren she is struggling to raise.

"My grandchildren are all unwell", Hannah told me. Even I can no longer read and I've developed chest problems. She says, "We live a difficult life."

Hannah, like so many members of the community, says she wants to use any compensation money she receives to leave the area and get away from the British forces.

Kenya earns about $400,000 annually for allowing the British army to train here.

KELVIN KUBAI, LAWYER FOR VICTIMS: We actually went to court.

MADOWO: This 27-year-old lawyer grew up in the area and filed a class action lawsuit against the British army after the fire.

KUBAI: Military training and conservation are incompatible. There is need to separate both of them.

My client expected much more money from this payment, but this payment is nowhere close to give them the financial assistance to enable their move from this training.

MADOWO: The British government has agreed to compensate more than 7,000 people whose lives were impacted by the smoke and flames, but they have refused to admit liability and have blocked locals from pursuing any further claims relating to the fire.

Many people here have been campaigning for years for justice. Some will receive just $170, their lawyer says. The British government said Thursday it was, quote, "pleased" that a global settlement has been agreed, saying that the Lolldaiga fire was extremely regrettable.

[01:49:53]

MADOWO: Many here tell us the behavior of troops from the former colonial power is becoming too much to tolerate.

Larry Madowo, CNN -- Laikipia, Kenya.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: Well, new report now finding North Korea has been quietly building a secret missile base that puts the U.S. at risk of a nuclear attack. What we know, as well as a look at the apparent change in Kim Jong-un's succession plan. They could see a secretive country, this secretive country, with a surprising new leader. That's ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANDOVAL: You see here how panic broke out at Milan's main international airport on Wednesday after a man reportedly set a check- in counter on fire. Police say that he poured gas on the counter and then lit it up, leaving at least one person injured there.

The suspect also smashed monitors with a hammer, causing some people to take cover because they thought that it was possibly gunfire. The 20-year-old man from Mali was tackled by police. He's now facing charges related to property damage. Officials say that he was hospitalized the day before after launching a separate attack involving a hammer. But he later escaped from the emergency room.

Well, North Korea has spent several years ramping up its military capabilities, modernizing its armed forces, developing new weapons, and testing missiles capable of reaching the United States.

Well, now a new report revealing that North Korea has a secret missile base near its border with China that could -- that could pose a nuclear threat to much of east Asia and even the United States.

Here's CNN's Will Ripley with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Buried deep in the mountains of North Korea, hidden in a secret location near the Chinese border, an arsenal of nuclear capable long-range missiles potentially capable of striking any American city.

This new report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, analyzing these satellite images, also obtained by CNN. The report says construction began two decades ago.

Today, the Shin Pun Dong base sprawls larger than JFK Airport, tucked into a mountain valley. Many of its entrances and facilities camouflaged under trees.

Experts say during a crisis, launchers could roll out fire and disappear -- an elusive nuclear threat, extremely difficult to effectively counter, even with advanced warning, experts say.

And while Kim Jong Un is busy building an arsenal, the North Korean leader is also building something else -- his succession plan. This is the first time the world saw the young girl believed to be Kim Ju-Ae. Her father, introducing her beside a weapon meant to strike fear in his enemies.

Within a year, North Korea's top brass were kneeling before her, the kind of deference reserved for the Supreme Leader himself. Now, at middle school age, she's no longer the shy child, appearing in tailored suits styled like a head of state, seated ahead of her own mother and even her powerful aunt, Kim Yo-jong. It's a striking reversal. For years, Kim's younger sister was seen as his likely heir.

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RIPLEY: Now it's his daughter taking her place at the table and perhaps someday holding the keys to a growing nuclear arsenal, a hidden power that defines North Korea's future.

And that's the bigger picture. North Korea watchers know that this missile base has been around for a long time. This isn't just about firepower, it's about the future.

Kim Jong-un is not just testing rockets, he's testing loyalties. And the world is watching as his young daughter, once a shy child, now takes her place beside him, perhaps being groomed to one day inherit control of the world's most secretive nuclear arsenal, aimed squarely at the U.S.

Will Ripley, CNN -- Taipei.

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SANDOVAL: Hurricane Erin here continues to lose strength and moving away from the United States. Still, though, there are more than 1,000 miles, or about 1,600 kilometers of the East Coast where the danger is still not over.

In fact, the National Weather Service says in parts of southern New Jersey, even parts of southern Delaware could see major coastal flooding through Friday, a higher risk of rip currents will likely remain through the weekend.

Also, a tropical storm warning that's still in effect for Bermuda.

TikTok has often claimed that its platform is safe for young people. But now we're learning from new video evidence in a North Carolina court case that current and former TikTok employees have raised concerns about how the app's popular algorithm could impact the mental health of young users.

The lawsuit claiming that TikTok was designed to be, quote, "highly addictive to minors". But a TikTok spokesperson says that the video evidence quote "relies on conversations taken out of context" and called it misleading.

Well, a secret involving the seventh planet from the sun has just been revealed. Astronomers using the James Webb space telescope. They've spotted a tiny moon whirling around Uranus. It's the 29th known moon orbiting this beautiful blue-green ice planet.

Scientists found it in February by taking a series of long exposure images with an infrared camera. They say that it's a significant find because the Voyager 2 spacecraft actually missed it in its flyby 40 years ago.

It's thought that the moon and the planet's faint rings may actually have a common origin. And scientists say that Uranus may have even possibly, been or at least have even more undiscovered moons. So a lot more left to explore near that planet.

Want to thank you for joining us in the last hour. I'm Polo Sandoval in New York.

NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber is next.

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