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Russia's War On Ukraine; UK Political Turmoil; Children's Author Sentenced; Princess Of Wales Visits Italy. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired May 14, 2026 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. Given the uncertainty about the ongoing war with Iran, what do you think may be the best approach for small businesses such as yours all over the country to stay afloat? I mean, for now, as you point out, you're taking that hit, especially, you know, sacrificing for the sake of your customers, do you think that might be sustainable if this war continues and these prices continue rising?

THOMAS QUIJADA, OWNER, MOZZA PIZZA: It's not easy for every restaurant. We have a very loyal base and a very loyal customer base here in Huntsville, Alabama. You know, we focus on good customer service, good quality, so customers come back and they know us.

And, you know, we're a small family owned business, so we know our customers, we talk to them every day. They know what we're going through and they support you. So if you support your customers, they're going to support you back.

SANDOVAL: Yes. Listen, obviously those customers, I'm sure, also facing their own challenges at home too with the rising cost of everything. So I'm sure they certain appreciate that you guys taking the hit. Thank you so much for your time again, Thomas Quijada, looking forward to trying some of your slices eventually when I get down there. Thank you for your time.

QUIJADA: Well, please. Thank you very much and thank you for the invitation and thank the community for everything they do to keep us afloat.

SANDOVAL: We do want to get you now a story that we mentioned a little while ago out of Ukraine rescue operations. They are still underway happening right now in Kyiv after overnight Russian strikes partly collapsed this residential building. These are actually live pictures there as it's about 11:30 in the morning where you see rescue crews atop that pile of rubble.

The emergency services are now reporting that at least three people have been killed in that nine story building, what was once a nine story building. We also understand that there are dozens of others who have been wounded. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that Russia fired more than 1,500 drones at Ukraine since the beginning of Wednesday.

So again, these live pictures coming out of Ukraine. More information on this developing story as it comes into CNN.

And there was also still plenty of pageantry to come today in the US- China summit. We'll see exactly what President Trump and Xi have discussed so far and which issue the Chinese leader says is most important to him. Also, the British prime minister could soon face a formal challenge to his leadership from within his own party. We'll take you live to London for an update.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:35:47]

SANDOVAL: Taiwan, it's already coming to the forefront of the US-China summit that's underway in Beijing at this hour. According to the state run news agency there, President Xi Jinping told US President Donald Trump that Taiwan is the most important issue between the two countries. And this historic summit, it kicked off about six hours ago as President Trump arrived at the Great Hall of the People.

You see their crowds of children waving flowers and flags as the Chinese leader welcomed his US counterpart. President Trump will be the guest of honor at a state bank banquet tonight. Earlier I spoke with Bert Hofman, he's a professor at the East Asia Institute at the National University of Singapore. And I asked him about really how comfortable should the Chinese leader be going into these talks with President Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BERT HOFMAN, PROFESSOR, EAST ASIA INSTITUTE-NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE: From the optics, he was very confident this morning but there's good reason to be so. Growth last year was 5 percent exactly as targeted. First quarter was also looking good.

Despite all the tariffs and the turmoil and the Iran issue, the first quarter looked good and therefore the urgency on Xi Jinping side may not be that great. At the same time, export is very important for the Chinese economy. And if the world economy were to be affected by the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, I believe then there would be more inclination from the Chinese to help the US out on this issue.

Obviously, the US from the Chinese perspective is in a bit of a bind in the Gulf and the Chinese take advantage of that diplomatically, but they would help out if the world economy starts to turn sour.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Yes. And then of course, President Trump under some pretty immense pressure back home to at least take a baby step towards trying to bring this conflict in the Middle East to a close, to see if perhaps his Chinese counterpart will help him. I'm just curious what your read is also. On just this general mood between both leaders, this apparent warm relation between the two leaders in front of the cameras. Do you think that it's quite different behind closed doors?

HOFMAN: I'm not sure. There seems to be a true personal report. I remember the photos released by the White House in Busan, and that's where Xi Jinping was basically bursting out laughing about something that Trump showed him. We never found out what.

And this time around, again, chatting on Chinaman, it seemed to be a really strong, warm relationship. Now, it seems to also be translating into concrete outcomes. And there was a remarkable thing reported by the China news agency, Xinhua, and they said that Xi Jinping had said that they had agreed that on a definition of the bilateral relationship, and that it is a constructive, strategic and stable relationship.

Now, that's a really good thing to do and to have. And if that can be agreed, then much more can be agreed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: All right, thanks to him for that conversation. Let's pivot now to the UK. Any time now, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer could face a formal challenge to his leadership. That would be the first step in potentially forcing him out of office. British media now reporting that Health Secretary Wes Streeting is expected to resign sometime soon and then possibly throw his hat into the ring.

All week long, the British Prime Minister has been facing calls to step aside after the disastrous local election results. But many other Labour members of Parliament, they remain in his corner and they don't want to deal with a power struggle which apparently may be underway.

CNN's Clare Sebastian following this live from 10 Downing Street. Clare, it's good to see you again. Bring us up to speed on the latest with the Prime Minister, but then also remind viewers just how we got here. It was just under two years ago, he was celebrating a landslide victory. How did he become so unpopular?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's extraordinary to see how events have turned over the course of less than two years. But where we are now, look, the only thing I can really tell you for certain is that, we're still in a state of high uncertainty here in London.

[04:40:08]

The prime minister says that he wants to hang on. He has come out fighting. Meanwhile, no one has officially fired the starting gun on a leadership race, but there is, we understand, quite a bit of horse trading going on behind the scenes. People sort of circling around this complicated chessboard, strategizing about their next move.

And to bring you up to speed on that potential leadership race, as you mentioned, we have the Health Secretary Wes Streeting, it was reported on Wednesday that he could resign his post as health secretary and that could trigger a leadership race. That hasn't happened yet.

Meanwhile, this morning's curveball is that we have the former deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, who is seen as another potential challenger, but she did have some issues with the payment of property taxes last year, which led to her resignation. She has now apparently been cleared of all wrongdoing, and she was out speaking this morning saying that she won't trigger a leadership race, but didn't explicitly rule out that she would stand in one if it was triggered.

And as I said, the prime minister is out there. He was in Parliament yesterday talking up his new legislative agenda as it was read out by the King. He seemed confident. He was even making jokes. So that's where we are at this point. I think it could go either way.

But as you say, the extraordinary that we got to this point in less than two years. This is a government, a Labour government, that ran on the idea of stopping the chaos. That was one of their slogans after we'd seen three conservative prime ministers in the space of two years leading up to that 2024 election.

There were various missteps, various U-turns from this government. There was a lot of controversy, of course, around the appointment of Peter Mandelson as Ambassador to the United States. But then it led up to these local elections that were a week ago today, it's been an extraordinary week. The Labour Party lost almost 1,500 council seats nationwide, a huge disappointment to that party. And that has led to this sort of confluence of questions around the prime minister's leadership.

But as I said, he is still prime minister, the health secretary is still health secretary as of this morning, and it could go either way.

SANDOVAL: Clare, do come back to us if any news breaks any moment now. Clare Sebastian with that live report from London, thank you.

An author wrote a children's book about grief following the death of her husband. But now, she's headed to prison for the rest of her life after a court concluded that she was the one who killed him. Jean Casarez breaks down the case for us after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:45:38]

SANDOVAL: The South Carolina Supreme Court has overturned Alex Murdaugh's murder convictions and ordered a new trial. A jury found Murdaugh guilty in March of 2023 in the murders of his wife Maggie, as well as his 22-year-old son Paul. That was committed two years ago -- two years before conviction.

But on Wednesday, the court ruled the trial was tainted by the former county clerk's "improper comments" to the jury. The court also vacated the two life sentences Murdaugh had received for the murder convictions. The South Carolina attorney general says that his office plans to retry that case. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALAN WILSON, SOUTH CAROLINA ATTORNEY GENERAL: Obviously, we have a lot of work to do. We have to reevaluate, we have to review. We have to meet with people and make decisions in the coming weeks. Again, our hope is to get this case retried by the end of the year but obviously no time will tell if we're able to do that, but that is our intention at this time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Murdaugh will stay in prison because he's also serving lengthy sentences after pleading guilty to dozens of financial crimes.

Children's writer Kouri Richins has received a life sentence without parole for killing her husband. Richins was convicted of poisoning him at their home in the US State of Utah more than four years ago. Well, she later wrote a children's book on grief, which prosecutors say was a ploy to deflect attention from what she had done. Gene Casares has more on the sentencing.\

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Mother of three, Kouri Richins, who a jury found unanimously in March of poisoning her husband, Eric Richins, to death, has now been sentenced. She will never be getting out of prison. The judge determined life without parole was the appropriate punishment.

But before that came down, Richins herself begged for mercy from the court. In virtually a letter to her children, talking to her children, and proclaiming her innocence that she never murdered her husband.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KOURI RICHINS, SENTENCED TO LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE: That is completely wrong and an absolute lie. Your dad was in physical pain, a lot of physical pain. He would have never left us intentionally, and I would have never taken him from you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: And the sister of Eric Richins, who delivered an emotional victim impact statement, telling the court that today was her brother's birthday. He would have been 44 years old. And the loss to their family, and to her as his sister, cannot be measured.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATIE RICHINS-BENSON, SISTER OF ERIC RICHINS: Today is Eric's birthday. I stand before you because he can't. He was taken away from my dad, my sister, his nieces, his friends, our community, and worst of all, from his three amazing sons. Sorry. He was taken away from us by a person he should have been able to trust, the person he should have trusted most in the world, his wife. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: And last, after weighing the aggravating and the mitigating factors, Judge Richard Mrazik ordered the sentence of life in prison without any possibility of parole.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD MRAZIK, JUDGE: Kouri Richins was convicted unanimously and beyond a reasonable doubt of attempting to murder Eric Richins, her husband and the father of their three children. And then, having failed in her first effort of spending the next 17 days not changing course, but doubling down, preparing to try again, and ultimately completing the act through the administration of poison. And for what, money, all for pecuniary gain.

A person convicted of committing that sequence of acts in that way and for that reason, and who causes the absolute tragedy that has befallen Eric Richins' sons and family, a person convicted of those things is simply too dangerous to ever be free.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: The defense has said that they will file a notice of appeal, that there are many appealable issues in this case. They will be asking for a new trial. Meanwhile, Kouri Richins is now in the custody of the Corrections Department of the State of Utah. Jean Casarez, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: The Princess of Wales is highlighting childhood education as she takes her first official overseas trip in years. Our royal correspondent brings you the latest on Kate's visit to Italy in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANDOVAL: Britain's Princess of Wales is returning to the global stage. Catherine is in Italy for her first official trip overseas since undergoing her cancer treatment. Recall she announced last year that she was in remission. An aide says that this two day solo visit is an important step in her recovery.

CNN's royal correspondent Max Foster with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: Chants echoing of "Ciao, Kate" as the princess starts her comeback tour in Northern Italy, her first official overseas trip since undergoing cancer treatment. Thousands cramming into the piazza at Reggio Emilia to welcome her.

[04:55:10]

Princess greeting all the well wishes that turned out here in Italy. A princess coming to town doesn't happen every day, so much excitement about that. She has been in recovery, of course, from her cancer treatment. So this is a huge moment for her. The palace saying she's trying to balance her public work with her recovery.

What did you just talk about with the princess?

MARWA MAHMOUD, COUNCILLOR FOR EDUCATIONAL POLICIES, MUNICIPALITY OF REGGIO: I talked about Reggio approach, I talked about our integrity, integrative, inclusive public system.

FOXTER: Palace aides described this trip as an important step in the Princess's recovery journey, adding that she takes great joy from this work. The visit also marks Catherine's first official trip to Italy, a country she previously spent time in before university. Though she admitted she needed to do work on her Italian.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The way she has approached the city and the experience shows a real interest, not just something facade, something deep, which is incredible.

FOSTER: The Princess believes early learning should be creative and prioritized in the same way as climate change.

CHRISTIAN GUY, ROYAL FOUNDATION CENTER FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD: She wants to point people to the importance of those first five years and to work with others to make this a truly global urgent issue. So it's on a par with climate because unless we tackle this properly, we'll always be playing catch up.

FOSTER: This is a global mission for someone coming back to the world stage with renewed vigor after a life changing health event. Max Foster, CNN, Reggio Emilia, Italy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: It is great to see her back out. And from the entire team, thank you so much for joining us the last hour. I'm Polo Sandoval in New York. The news continues next with CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS.

[05:00:00]