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Final Phase of Former President Bolsonaro's Trial Begins in Brazil; Nations Mark 80 Years Since Japan's Surrender Ending World War II; Judge Rules Google Will Not Have to Sell Off Chrome, Android; New Techs Like A.I. Could Save Old Languages From Dying Out; Danielle Boyer, 24, Created the SkoBot to Help Students Learn Native Languages. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired September 03, 2025 - 02:00   ET

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

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[02:00:37]

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

Just ahead, China puts on a grand display of its military might, while showcasing its growing ties with Russia and North Korea. President Trump cryptically hints at new developments in bringing peace to Ukraine.

Plus, the U.S. carries out a military strike on a boat it says was carrying drugs in the Caribbean.

And how researchers are using A.I. and robotics to help keep indigenous languages from disappearing.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN NEWSROOM with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Good to have you with us. China has wrapped up a massive military parade marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. It was designed to send a clear message to allies and adversaries alike that China's military is growing and modernizing and that the country's rise on the world stage is, "Unstoppable," according to Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

Xi was joined by several foreign heads of state and stood side by side with Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, marking the first time the three leaders have appeared together in public.

The parade featured thousands of soldiers marching in tight formations and showcased the country's latest military technology, including new intercontinental ballistic missiles, stealth fighters and drones, as well as air and sea defense systems. A show of force that China's leader says is proof that the country, "Is never intimidated by any bullies." So, let's bring in CNN Beijing Bureau Chief Steven Jiang. Good to see you, Steven. So, what message was China's President Xi Jinping trying to convey to the world when he presided over this massive military parade in Beijing Wednesday, with the leaders of Russia and North Korea by his side?

STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: Yes, Rosemary, this kind of grandiose display of military might is always meant to whip up a lot of patriotism and nationalism at home, but as you mentioned, also sending a clear signal to both friends and foes abroad about the discipline and military prowess of China's People's Liberation Army.

Now, the optics of Xi standing alongside Putin and Kim watching this parade, of course, is unmistakable. That is a message of unity among these three leaders and partners, as well as a message of defiance to the West, especially the United States.

And that message seems to be very much reaching and bothering President Donald Trump, who has already reacted to the parade in a social media post and accusing Xi Jinping basically joining hands with Kim and Putin to conspire, as he put it, against the U.S. And also, of course, as he put it, reminding China of the U.S. help that it received the during the Second World War.

And actually on that part, the Chinese and U.S. governments have been celebrating that part of Second World War, World War II history in recent years, especially when it comes to a group of American pilots known as the Flying Tigers, bombing Japanese targets and helping the Chinese war efforts in the 1940s.

But of course, back to today's event that is very much China's and Xi Jinping's way of shape the narrative about, as they put it, the central role the Communist Party here played in fighting off the Japanese here, that, in their words, again, making great contributions and sacrifices to eventually lead the -- lead to the victory of the allies in the Second World War.

But also, of course, the fact that he is hosting both Kim and Putin just days after he told a gathering of some of the world leaders in attendance today in a nearby city that China is very much for a different vision of the world in which the international order is not dominated by the U.S. and its alliances, and he actually even suggested a lot of the chaos and uncertainty that the world is facing today has been very much caused by the U.S. and that, of course, perhaps not agreed by many other leaders, given Putin's ongoing war in Ukraine.

[02:05:04]

But what's indisputable, Rosemary, as shown in today's parade, of course, is Xi Jinping is now the most powerful leader in China in decades, very much reasserting the party's absolute controlling every aspect of China, especially when it comes to the military, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Steven Jiang in Beijing, many thanks for that live report. Appreciate it. Joining me now from Canberra, Australia. Malcolm Davis is a senior

analyst of defense strategy and capability at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Appreciate you being with us.

MALCOLM DAVIS, SENIOR ANALYST, THE AUSTRALIAN STRATEGIC POLICY INSTITUTE: Thank you, Rosemary.

CHURCH: So, the world watched on as China marked the end of World War II with a show of strength in a massive military parade of Beijing's cutting edge weaponry, ending with an elaborate flyover of fighter jets. What weapons stood out to you and what did they reveal in terms of how advanced China's capabilities might be compared to the west?

DAVIS: Look, I think the first thing that stood out was the sheer number of hypersonic weapons that were on display, a range of systems designed to be launched from aircraft, from ships and submarines and from land. And hypersonic weapons are weapons that travel faster than five times the speed of sound, making them virtually impossible to defeat in terms of an incoming threat.

So, what that said to me was that China is moving much more rapidly in this critical military technology area than the United States is, they're gaining an advantage that will give them the ability to make it much more difficult for the U.S. and its allies to be able to project power into the Western Pacific in a crisis, perhaps over Taiwan.

Second area of weapons that stood out for me were the unmanned systems, in particular the collaborative combat aircraft, the aircraft -- the unmanned aircraft that fly alongside piloted fighter aircraft. There were a number of those being demonstrated and shown, once again, China seems to be more advanced in some respects than the U.S. in this regard.

Also, they demonstrated a large unmanned underwater vehicle that potentially could be nuclear armed, very similar to a Russian system called Poseidon that the Russians have developed.

And finally, I think the nuclear side of things, the number of nuclear weapons and nuclear missile capabilities that were on show an entire new class of new ballistic missiles, and air launched ballistic missile, submarine ballistic missiles that show as a system. And I think that it once again demonstrates China is moving much more rapidly to build up its nuclear capabilities.

CHURCH: Interesting. And Malcolm, what about the weapons that weren't part of this display of military might, such as the absence of the H- 20 bomber? What did that signal to you?

DAVIS: Well, I was surprised, because I would have thought that this particular parade on this occasion would have been the ideal time for the Chinese to unveil their H-20, which is their new long range strategic bomber. From what analysts understand, it looks very similar to the U.S. B-2 stealth bomber.

Certainly, the indications are that it is a stealth aircraft, and yet it was not to be seen. And I think that maybe that suggests that perhaps it's not as ready as Western analysts were thinking it would be.

But having said that, the Chinese did fly a number of key air combat capabilities, such as the J-20 and the J-35, fifth generation fighters. Interestingly enough, in addition to the H-20, they didn't show the J-36 which has been flying since Christmas, which is their sixth generation aircraft.

So, there are a number of omissions to this parade, which I think were interesting, suggesting that maybe the Chinese weren't quite ready to demonstrate their cutting edge capabilities in those particular areas.

CHURCH: And Malcolm, with the military display of this magnitude. What do you think Beijing's message was to the world? And how might Taiwan be reading all of this?

DAVIS: It's about intimidation. It's about asserting the China's reality, or China's perception, that China's rise is unstoppable, that China will dominate the Indo Pacific region, and particularly the Western Pacific. And the message to Taiwan is we're coming for you.

Essentially, China is saying to Taiwan, we will impose unification on Taiwan, against the wishes of the Taiwanese people, through military force at a time of our choosing. And we're building up the military capabilities to do that, we're building up the military industrial capacity to build those capabilities in volume and at rapid rate of knots.

And it's also sending a message to the U.S. and its allies that we can essentially invade or blockade Taiwan at a time of choosing and deny you the ability to access with the Western Pacific region or project power.

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And so, really, in spite of the rhetoric suggested by President Xi that this is all about peace, in actual fact, today was all about war. It was all about China's intention to take Taiwan in the near future.

CHURCH: Malcolm Davis in Canberra, Australia, many thanks for joining us. Appreciate it.

DAVIS: Thank you.

CHURCH: Donald Trump is hinting at what he calls some very interesting developments in bringing peace to Ukraine, but the U.S. president also continues to voice his frustration with Russia's Vladimir Putin over the stalled peace efforts.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We'll see what happens. But I'm very disappointed in President Putin, I can say that, and we'll be doing something to help people live.

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CHURCH: He didn't get into specifics about what the U.S. is planning, but the comments come as Russia continues to bombard cities across Ukraine.

Last month, President Trump gave Vladimir Putin an extra two weeks to try to agree to a meeting with Ukraine's president or face potential consequences. That deadline is set to expire on Friday.

Meanwhile, during his visit to China, President Putin insisted Russia is not an aggressor.

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VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Any sane person is perfectly aware that Russia has never had, does not have and will never have any desire to attack anyone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: French President Emmanuel Macron plans to meet with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday, a day before Paris hosts a summit on the conflict. Ukraine's allies are expected to discuss security guarantees, including strengthening the Ukrainian military and developing a European peacekeeping force backed by American fire power.

President Trump says the U.S. military has killed at least 11 people in a targeted strike on a vessel allegedly carrying drugs in the Caribbean. He claims the boat came from Venezuela and was linked to Tren de Aragua, a criminal organization the U.S. considers a terrorist group and one which President Trump has cited in his aggressive immigration crackdown.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is promising more details on what the U.S. calls a counter drug mission.

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MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: It was a lethal strike. I think the Pentagon will have more details and other things to offer you here in the next few hours.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What kind of vessel was it?

RUBIO: The drug vessel, carrying drugs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Size?

RUBIO: Well, I'll refer you to the Pentagon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean has angered Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. President Trump accuses him of controlling the cartel involved. President Maduro has said Venezuela will not bow to threats from the United States.

Israel's military is mobilizing tens of thousands of reservists despite growing tensions with political leaders over the looming operation to seize Gaza City. The latest on that just ahead.

And Yair Bolsonaro's trial is underway in Brazil. The latest on the former president's case in a report just ahead.

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[02:17:48]

CHURCH: Welcome back everyone, Qatar says mediators are now discussing a different model for a Gaza cease fire agreement. Tuesday's announcement comes as Israel insists it will only discuss a comprehensive deal that would release all of the remaining hostages and end the war on Israel's terms and conditions. The most recent proposal for a 60 day cease fire, which was accepted by Hamas last month, would see 10 of the living hostages returned in exchange for a mass release of Palestinian prisoners. That offer is based on a similar proposal presented by the U.S. in July, and crafted in coordination with Israel.

Dissent is brewing within the Israeli military ahead of the full-scale operation to seize Gaza City. On Tuesday, as thousands of Israeli reservists began reporting for duty to prepare for the takeover, a growing movement known as Soldiers for Hostages announced they will refuse orders to participate in what they call Netanyahu's illegal war.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond has details.

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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Tens of thousands of Israeli military reservists were mobilized on Tuesday in preparation for Israel's major assault on Gaza city, a city where nearly one million people are currently living and now at risk of being displaced.

But what is especially extraordinary about this moment is that this operation is moving forward with the call up of 60,000 reservists, despite the fact that Israel's top general the military's Chief of Staff, Eyal Zamir, has effectively expressed opposition to carrying out this operation, and that's because we've learned that in a series of security cabinet meetings.

General Zamir has effectively made clear that he doesn't believe this operation will lead to the total defeat of Hamas, which the Israeli prime minister has made clear, is his goal, and he has also warned that it will lead to the loss of life of Israeli soldiers, and also could put at risk the lives of the remaining hostages held in Gaza.

[02:20:00]

Instead, the Chief of Staff has been urging this Israeli Government to take up the cease fire proposal and hostage release deal on the table, which Hamas accepted about two weeks ago in which the Israeli government has yet to respond to.

Instead, the Israeli government has indicated -- the prime minister himself has indicated that a partial deal for the release of some of the hostages is no longer something that he is interested. Instead, he is looking for a total deal that would secure the release of all of the hostages lead to an end of the war in Gaza.

And critically, something that's been a red line for Hamas, Hamas demilitarizing and disarming in the Gaza Strip.

And so, this is quite a significant moment, one that carries enormous risk for Palestinians in Gaza City, where we've already started to see waves of thousands of people beginning to flee the city, hundreds of people who have been killed in the early steps of the Israeli military bombing and shelling Gaza City over the course of just the last few days.

In addition to that, we are also seeing a wave of countries that are preparing to recognize a Palestinian state, partially in response not only to the starvation, the famine that we have seen in parts of Gaza, but also in response to this impending Israeli military assault on Gaza City.

And in response to that, the Israeli government is now weighing potential retaliatory measures for those countries that plan to recognize Palestine as a state.

The Prime Minister is set to hold a meeting on Thursday to discuss these proposals to annex parts of the West Bank, and his options that are now on the table range from a limited takeover of several Jewish settlements to recognizing all of Area C, which is already under Israeli security and administrative control and amounts to 60 percent of the West Bank. That would effectively be a major step to preclude the possibility of a Palestinian state ever actually existing on the ground, and that is exactly the goal of many of the right-wing members of this government.

It's not clear that the Israeli prime minister will actually move forward with annexation. There are other retaliatory steps that he could take, but certainly this is one of the options now on the table.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Jerusalem.

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CHURCH: As countries around the globe mark 80 years since the end of World War II, CNN speaks with a U.S. veteran who served in the Pacific and witnessed Japan surrender firsthand. His story coming up.

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[02:27:17]

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. A landmark trial against Yael Bolsonaro is underway in Brazil and could reshape the country's political landscape. The former president is accused of plotting to overturn his election defeat in 2022 and stay in power. Stefano Pozzebon has the latest details from Bogota.

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STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, the final phase of what Brazilians are calling the trial of the century has begun on Tuesday in the capital of Brazil. It means that the fate of the former President Jair Bolsonaro, who has been accused of orchestrating a coup d'etat in an attempt to overthrow his loss in the 2022 presidential election could soon be determined. Bolsonaro has denied any wrongdoing throughout all the stages of this trial.

However, the closing arguments were delivered before the five member panels of the Brazilian Supreme Court. It is the first of eight televised hearings that are going through through the end of September 12th, the long awaited trial follows a years long investigation from federal police and investigators into the alleged coup.

Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who is overseeing the trial, has this to say in his opening remarks.

ALEXANDRE DE MORAES, BREAZILIAN SUPREME COURT JUSTICE (through translator): Brazil arrives today in 2025, almost 37 years after the 1988 constitution, and 40 years after re-democratization, with a strong democracy, independent institutions and a growing economy and an active civil society.

Obviously, this does not mean that there were 37 years of political, economic or social tranquility, but it does mean, Mr. President, that the guidelines defined by the federal constitution for our democratic state under the rule of law have proven to be correct and have prevented setbacks.

POZZEBON: Now, adding another twist to the story, de Moraes himself was the subject of retaliatory actions from the White House. His visa to go to the United States was revoked on in July as President Donald Trump has openly criticized the trial and has raised tariffs on Brazilian imports to 50 percent apparently in an attempt to come to the rescue of his close ally, Bolsonaro.

Bolsonaro, who is in his 70s, risks up to 40 years in prison if found guilty. However, analysts believe that because he still holds the right to appeal, the punishment might not be as immediate. We will know more in the next couple of weeks.

For CNN, this is Stefano Pozzebon, Bogota.

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CHURCH: Tuesday marked 80 years since Japan officially surrendered to Allied Forces, including the United States, formally ending World War II in the Pacific. In Washington, D.C. at the World War II Memorial, a parade of heroes honored still living veterans in attendance. Wreaths were also laid at the Memorial's Freedom Wall in remembrance of the more than 400,000 Americans and 60 million people killed during the war.

The signing ceremony that sealed Japan's surrender in 1945 took place on the USS Missouri, and this week, aboard that very same ship now docked in Hawaii's Pearl Harbor, there was a ceremony commemorating the anniversary. During that ceremony, there were a few honorary guests, a small group of service members who witnessed Japan's surrender firsthand returned to the ship to reflect on their heroic achievement. CNN's Stephanie Elam has one of their stories.

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JOHN DELEO, SERVED ON USS MISSOURI DURING WWII: My name is John DeLeo. I'll be 100 in March. My rate was seen at first class. I love being the nobody because that's who ran the ship. I went to a basic training in Newport, Rhode Island, and then from Newport, I went to Brooklyn where the ship was built.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So when you got out to sea on the USS Missouri, do you remember how you felt after?

DELEO Well, 19-year-old that we thought we were King of the Hill, that I got into a very prestigious union. Fire control, controlling all the guns on the ship.

ELAM: I believe you were on the ship when there was a kamikaze attack. Is that correct?

DELEO: Yeah. There was photographs made where you can almost see the pilots go deep (ph). That's how close he was. And he was at eye level, too low, and he hit the ship in the worst spot you could hit it where all the steel was thick and half his body in plain (ph) come on the ship. And the other half with a 500-pound bomb went into the water.

ELAM: Were you nervous at any point?

DELEO: I don't think 18-year-old, you can afford to be nervous. You got no brains. So we thought we (inaudible) we're going to become heroes.

ELAM: When word comes through the ship that the Japanese were going to surrender.

DELEO: We knew they gave up. We knew they surrendered. I was one of hundreds and hundreds of men looking up from the top. Now, we weren't allowed to get too close. Only officers could get in the surrounding area, but we witnessed it. I think I was happy to know that I was going to end up going home and eat the Italian food I was used to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Stephanie Elam with that report. Many of the thousands of indigenous languages face the threat of extinction. Just ahead, how A.I. could help them come back from the brink. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:37:49]

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. In a ruling that's been closely watched across California's Silicon Valley, a U.S. federal judge has ruled that Google will not be required to sell off its Chrome browser or Android. The decision came in a landmark anti-trust case that found the tech giant was operating an illegal online search monopoly. But the company will be barred from entering into or maintaining exclusive contracts related to the distribution of its services like Chrome, Google Assistant, and its Gemini app.

While concern is often shared over what artificial intelligence will replace, new technology also has the power to restore what's been lost. Young researchers are enlisting A.I. and robotics to help revitalize endangered indigenous languages. CNN Tech Reporter Clare Duffy explains.

CLARE DUFFY, CNN TECH REPORTER: The United Nations estimates that one indigenous language will die every two weeks and that half of the world's languages will disappear by 2100. So now, there's this growing group of researchers and technologists who are looking to reverse that trend with the help of A.I. and robotics. Many of them are young members of indigenous communities who want to help others like themselves connect to their language and culture.

I spoke with 24-year-old Danielle Boyer. She's a member of the Anishinaabe community in northern Michigan, and she said she grew up speaking only a little bit of her community's native language because of generational language loss. So she created the SkoBot. This is a small robot that sits on the wearer's shoulder. It comes in designs that look like woodland creatures. And when a user says a word to it in English, it uses A.I. speech recognition technology to respond with a corresponding prerecorded audio file saying that word back to the user in the native language. She provides these SkoBots to students in classrooms who get to build them and then interact with them to learn the language.

And I asked Danielle, why it was so important to her to preserve and document this language? Here's what she told me.

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DANIELLE BOYER, 24-YEAR-OLD INDIGENOUS (OJIBWE) ROBOTICS INVENTOR: When you lose your language, you lose such a key component of your culture and of your ways.

[02:40:00]

It's the way that we communicate about the world around us. It's the way that we tell stories.

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DUFFY: Now, young technologists who are working in this space say they're being very intentional about how to apply artificial intelligence to the problem of preserving endangered languages because of a history where resources from indigenous communities have been taken without their consent, without compensation. So for example, Danielle says that it was a very intentional choice for her to use prerecorded audio files of kids from the community in her SkoBots rather than an A.I.-generated synthetic voice because, in her words, language learning should be a community endeavor, not just something that you do between you and a robot. Back to you.

CHURCH: Fascinating, isn't it?

Thanks so much for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. "World Sport" is coming up next. Then, I'll be back at the top of the hour with more "CNN Newsroom." Stay with us.

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