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Turkiye-Syria Earthquake Death Toll Tops 42,000 11 Days in to Search; U.S. Defense Secretary Meets Estonian Prime Minister; Ukrainian Mothers Desperate to Retrieve Children from Russia; Belarus Will Not Send Troops to Ukraine unless Attacked; Train Chemical Spill in Ohio; Five People Killed in New Zealand Cyclone; First Expedition to Titanic Shipwreck Site. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired February 16, 2023 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:00]

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LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The president of Turkiye meets the NATO secretary general 11 days after their devastating

earthquake. Survivors still being pulled from the rubble. We will be live in Antakya.

Friends but still not partners in war. Russia's president, Putin, will be meeting his Belarusian counterpart, with just a week to go before the

anniversary of the Ukrainian invasion.

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KINKADE (voice-over): Outrage there in a small Ohio town, after a toxic and fiery train wreck. Families are demanding answers. They want to know if

their homes are safe.

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KINKADE: Hello, I'm Lynda Kinkade. Welcome to CONNECT THE WORLD. Good to have you with us.

Cement block by cement block, the arduous task of digging through and clearing out crumbled buildings in Turkiye and Syria is now in its 11th

day. The number of lives lost now over 42,000.

But there are glimmers of hope. Here, a 17-year-old girl pulled out alive more than 10 days after the quake struck. Her brother, found in the same

room, did not survive.

In a bittersweet rescue in Syria this week, an 8-year-old girl that saved the rest of her immediate family perished. In Turkiye, NATO chief, Jens

Stoltenberg, pledged the alliance's support. Stoltenberg will visit the city of Iskenderun, where NATO plans to build a container city for those

made homeless.

Well, 11 days into this disaster, search and rescue crews have become physically and emotionally exhausted. CNN's Jomana Karadsheh joins us from

one of the hardest hit areas of Turkiye.

Good to have you with us, Jomana. So some 8,000 rescue teams from 74 countries assisting the local Turkish crews there. It's still quite

incredible to see survivors being pulled from the rubble.

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is incredible. It is, of course, very rare these days. You do hear the good news from time to time. Just to

set the scene of where we are here, we are in the city of Antakya in Hatay province, one of the hardest hit areas by the earthquake.

In Turkiye, we've spent the past couple of days here and it has been a constant stream of body after body being pulled from the rubble of

different buildings. I mean, right here where we are standing right now, there are authorities have been called in to collect more bodies that have

been pulled out from the rubble of a building nearby.

And this is not stopping the search and rescue operations. We also spent a long time at one site yesterday, where a woman and two children were pulled

from the rubble after spending more than 220 hours buried underneath that building. They survived and they were pulled out of that building.

We also met families there, Lynda, who were looking for their loved ones, who they believe were still alive inside that building, holding onto the

hope that they are alive. And we watch those rescue workers working through the night. They did not stop, trying their best to see if they can rescue

any more people.

We also, this week, met a team of American search and rescue volunteers, who made it all the way out to Turkiye, because they felt they had to be

here and they had to help out as well.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARADSHEH (voice-over): Deep in the heart of Turkiye's disaster zone, these Americans are on a mission like no other they've known. As soon as

the earthquake hit, volunteers from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department say they just knew they had to be here.

MIKE LEUM, MONTROSE SEARCH AND RESCUE VOLUNTEER: It's the type of thing we feel strongly about, because we volunteer to do search and rescue back in

America. So one of the things is burning in our hearts to get out there and help people, if we can.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): They do mountain rescues, have responded to hurricanes and even traveled to Ukraine. They have never seen anything on

this scale before.

[10:05:00]

COLLIN LIEVENSE, MONTROSE SEARCH AND RESCUE VOLUNTEER: The destruction here is incredible. There is, we are in one city right now where there is,

we could go to each and every building and just know that there is someone who needs help there.

And there are not enough people to help them, even though there are over 100,000 rescuers. They would need 1 million. And this is just one city in a

very large picture of Turkiye.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): On Monday, they helped rescue a 17 year old boy. The third life they've saved this past week in hardhit Hatay. There is just

so much to do here.

LIEVENSE: We are looking at a pile of rubble the size of this building behind me and we are standing there, just on a pile of rocks. We knew there

were hundreds of people underneath us and getting to them is near impossible.

MARCOS RUBIO, MONTROSE SEARCH AND RESCUE VOLUNTEER: Issues where we feel it causes so much devastation that we've witnessed.

LIEVENSE: It breaks our hearts.

RUBIO: There has been times where, you know, complete happiness and joy, because of people being found -- so it's a rollercoaster of emotions.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): The group says they are only here to support the people of Turkiye, reeling from their deadliest earthquake.

LIEVENSE: The people of Turkiye are doing the hardest thing they've ever had to do. They are having to unbury their own community, their friends,

their loved ones. Some of the people we are working with lost their entire family and they are helping.

RUBIO: They're still out here.

LIEVENSE: And they are helping to dig out other people's families.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): There is no giving up. Everyone here is searching for a 70-year-old grandmother, just one mission in one city, in one massive

earthquake zone.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KARADSHEH: And Lynda, we have been seeing search and rescue teams from around the world here, just in this one city in the earthquake zone. We

have come across teams; just now, an Australian team walked past. We have come across Argentinians, French, Polish, you name it, all here to support

the Turkish people during this time of crisis.

I can tell you, people here really do appreciate this. When we were out with the U.S. volunteers, we saw people coming up to them, thanking, them

bringing them food, coffee, tea. They really are grateful for all the support they are getting from people around the world, because they do have

their search and rescue teams.

They have their emergency services. They are working around the clock. But it is not enough. As you heard there from the U.S. rescuer, we spoke to,

said, even if they had 1 million people here, it is not enough.

And this is exactly what we've been hearing, from all the people we have been speaking to, who have been searching for their loved ones. Some people

saying it took a long time for them to get professional search and rescue at this site, where their families have been buried under the rubble.

Some people saying that, perhaps, if they had been there earlier, that their loved ones could have been saved. But right now, having these teams

around, providing the support for the Turkish authorities, is something that is making a difference.

As we have seen in several cases, where these teams have been involved in rescues, it is something that is being greatly appreciated by the people of

Turkiye -- Lynda.

KINKADE: Yes, Jomana, the global response is remarkable. Much more aid needed in the coming days, weeks and months. Jomana Karadsheh, great to

have you there on the ground for us. Much appreciated.

Well, a little later this hour, CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, joins relief workers, who are trying to reach survivors in

southern Turkiye.

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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: So they've just unloaded the tents here in Hatay. This is one of the hardest hit areas in

the quake zone.

KINKADE (voice-over): Go inside the mission to deliver aid to quake survivors. That story, still ahead, on CONNECT THE WORLD.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: NATO says it will transport tens of thousands of tents to Turkiye in the coming days and weeks. NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg says the focus

going forward will be on reconstruction and supporting those displaced from their homes.

Stoltenberg met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, during his visit in Ankara today as well as the Turkish foreign minister. He urged Turkiye to

ratify the applications by Finland and Sweden to join the NATO alliance, saying, quote, "The time is now."

The foreign minister said it is possible that the two applications could be assessed separately.

Well, the U.S. Defense Secretary says Russian president, Vladimir Putin, thought he could divide NATO but his aggression did the opposite. Lloyd

Austin arrived in Tallinn, Estonia, today after NATO defense ministers met in Brussels

He. Met the Estonian prime minister, as well as the defense minister and promised the U.S. remains steadfastly committed to the freedom and

sovereignty of those Baltic allies.

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KINKADE: Meanwhile, Russia filed a barrage of missiles into Ukraine last night, including the western parts of the country. Ukraine says at least 16

of the 36 missiles fired were shot down and some critical infrastructure was hit.

In Eastern Ukraine, officials say at least three people were killed Wednesday, when Russian strikes hit apartment buildings as well as a

school. Ukrainian troops have released video they say shows a strike against a Russian multiple rocket launcher, armed with thermobaric weapons.

CNN's David McKenzie is in Ukraine's capital and joins us now from Kyiv.

Good to have you with, us David.

So you are learning more about these so-called reeducation camps, where Ukrainian kids were sent to Russian camps, essentially being indoctrinated.

What more can you tell us about that?

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've certainly been reporting on this, at CNN, for several weeks now. This

allegation, backed up by Yale University and State Department, backed report. Which has very, very disturbing allegations, backed up by

significant proof as well.

The allegation is that there are thousands or hundreds of Ukrainian children who were taken or given to camps in occupied Crimea and Russia

proper. And those children remain there, in many cases, separated from their parents.

Now those camps, according to the report, have indoctrination and, in some cases, military training. The most serious allegation is that some

children, in, fact have been put up for adoption to Russian parents, the ultimate Russification, I guess, of those children. We spent time with a

mother, desperately trying to get her child back.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MCKENZIE (voice-over): Weeks ago, we first met Tetyana Vlaiko in Kyiv, in a shelter for displaced families. All of the mothers here separated from

their children by the trauma of war.

TETYANA VLAIKO, UKRAINIAN MOTHER (through translator): Emotions overwhelmed me when Lilia (ph) left. When I realized what was happening, it

terrified me. All I wanted was the best for my child at the time.

MCKENZIE: Her 11-year-old daughter, Lilia (ph), stuck in a Russian camp in occupied Crimea. All the lessons are in Russian. At first glance, the

retreat seemed like any other summer camp but the loyalty expected from Ukrainian children is crystal clear, part of what a new Yale University

study calls systematic reeducation efforts.

But Tetyana and Lilia's story begins a year ago. Their hometown of Kherson fell quickly to advancing Russian troops.

Within days, the occupiers began a campaign to Russify the population, often coercing thousands of parents like Tetyana to send their kids to the

camps. But when Ukrainian forces took back Kherson in November, Tetyana's daughter was on the wrong side of the front line.

MYKOLA KULEBA, SAVE UKRAINE: We provide rescue mission for children who were abducted and now in Russia Federation and in Crimea.

MCKENZIE: Mykola Kuleba, the founder of Save Ukraine, declined to say exactly how they negotiate their entry into enemy territory, just that the

mothers can't do it on their own.

KULEBA: It's impossible to communicate with any Russians because you can ask these mothers they don't want to give children back.

MCKENZIE: But Tetyana was ready to take the risk.

VLAIKO (through translator): I'm worried, of course. You cannot even imagine my emotions in sight, it's fear and terror. It's emotional that I

could see her soon and this is a big deal for me.

MCKENZIE: Eleven mothers and one father putting on a brave face but theirs is a perilous route from Ukraine by road to Poland and to Russian ally

Belarus, through the Russian Federation to occupied Crimea.

VLAIKO (through translator): We were counting every kilometer on approach. I could fill it with every cell in my body. I was very emotional when were

closer and closer.

MCKENZIE: Save Ukraine spent many months planning this moment. Reuniting families shattered by war, returning children who just wanted to go home to

Ukraine.

VLAIKO (through translator): Once I entered to meet, it was an outburst of emotions. Once we embraced, it was like a great weight lifted.

MCKENZIE: In the end, they gave up the children willingly. But Save Ukraine says that hundreds, perhaps thousands remain.

"Our two countries are at war," says Tetyana, "but there are good people everywhere."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: Such emotional reunions there, David. I have to wonder why these mothers sent their children to these camps in the first place; no doubt,

many were conflicted by that decision.

[10:15:00]

MCKENZIE: It's a very good question. Certainly, the mothers we spoke to were conflicted. But in some cases, it was something that they wanted to

do, just purely to get their children away from the front lines and to the safety of occupied Crimea or Russia itself.

And in the case of that particular mother, when the front line changed, she was separate from her child, she said some mothers are too nervous, in

fact, to get their children back because of the criticism they might face here in Ukraine.

I want you to look at these images from Moscow today, released by the Kremlin. This is Vladimir Putin meeting with a presidential commissioner on

children's rights, as they call it.

Now he, in that video, is praising them for getting children out of Donetsk and Luhansk to safety and, in fact, to be adopted by Russian parents.

The Russians have a very different outlook on this story. They say the allegations are absurd and they are just trying to keep people safe. But

that particular individual in the video, the U.S. and the E.U. says, is, in fact, in a way a ringleader in terms of getting children away from their

parents or out of Ukraine and Russifying them.

This is not as dramatic, of course, as the strikes and missiles we report on every day. But it is another horror of this war. These children are

separated from their parents and many of them are still separated, with no real prospect of getting them back.

KINKADE: Hard to imagine the heartache some of these parents, these kids are going through. David McKenzie, great report there. Thanks very much.

Next week will mark one year since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. But while much over Europe cut ties with Vladimir Putin,

Belarus remains a staunch ally. The Russian president will host the Belarusian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, on Friday.

Ahead of that trip, Mr. Lukashenko said he will not send troops into Ukraine unless Ukraine commits an act of aggression against his country.

Our senior international correspondent, Frederik Pleitgen, was at the news conference, where Mr. Lukashenko made those remarks.

Good to have you with us, Fred. He went on to point out that Russia is an ally. He said legally, morally, politically.

What more can you tell us about his comments?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He certainly did. I thought it was quite interesting when he said the Belarus wouldn't

send troops unless Ukraine invaded Belarus or tried to invade Belarus.

At the same time, he made it clear that he staunchly is at the side of Vladimir Putin. He praised Vladimir Putin several times during that long

press conference and also said that he remains fully committed to supporting Vladimir Putin and the things he is currently doing in Ukraine

and, in general, the policies of the Kremlin.

One of the things I asked Lukashenko in this press conference, I said I have just been to Ukraine. I certainly haven't seen much in the way of

progress on the part of Russian forces there. It seems as though they are making very little progress. A lot of Russian soldiers are dying on the

front lines and a lot of Ukrainian civilians are being killed.

The question was, why Lukashenko is still supporting Vladimir Putin's war. And here is what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEXANDER LUKASHENKO, BELARUSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): This is another rhetorical question.

Why do you support Ukraine, pumping (ph) it with weapons instead of sitting down to negotiate, as I suggest?

You are already discussing sending long-range weapons, missiles, up to 300 kilometers in range and F-16 fighter jets, state-of-the-art fighter jets,

after hundreds of Leopard tanks have gone there.

Why are you doing this?

You understand this is escalation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN: There is Lukashenko, essentially turning things around there. He also said he believes that Russia in the end would win and that Ukraine

needed to start negotiations with the Russians as fast as possible.

One of the interesting things we heard from Lukashenko is he would like to see Biden to come here to Minsk and to have a top level meeting with

Vladimir Putin, also with Volodymyr Zelenskyy as well.

There is no indication that that is something that could happen in the future but it's certainly something that he had, several times during the

press conference, mentioned, where he said that he believes that he could broker a deal to end the war.

KINKADE: Right. Fred, he did say that he will not send troops into Ukraine unless attacked.

But will he allow his country to be used as a launching pad for a new offensive?

PLEITGEN: Well, that's one of the big questions. Many in Ukraine and in the U.S. believe that Russia's big offensive that so many have been talking

about could already be underway.

The big question is, how does Belarus factor into all that?

One of the main thrusts the Russians have in their initial invasion of Ukraine was via Belarusian territories toward Kyiv. Right now, the

indications certainly are that Russia simply does not have forces here in Belarus --

[10:20:00]

PLEITGEN: -- to actually launch a ground attack. We were at a border crossing between Belarus and Ukraine yesterday. Things seemed quiet. That

was in the west of the country, far away from where Russian soldiers would be stationed.

The big issue right now that Ukrainians have is they say, look, attacks are already being launched. They are being launched from the air, by missiles,

hitting Ukrainian cities, causing a lot of damage, especially to critical infrastructure.

So they're saying Belarus is already being used as a launchpad for attacks, even though it's not the ground invasion that we saw at the beginning of

the war. So there are some big issues. But right now a major ground push from Belarusian territory certainly does not seem like something in the

cards.

KINKADE: Frederik Pleitgen for us, good to have you on the story. Thank you.

Still to come on CONNECT THE WORLD, a terrified community: people in Ohio say not enough is being done after a train derailment dumped deadly

chemicals into their town. We will have that story soon.

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KINKADE: Welcome back.

Residents of an Ohio town are terrified to return to their homes after a train derailment spilled potentially deadly chemicals in the middle of

their community. The derailment happened almost two weeks ago. Crews decided to burn off the dangerous chemicals.

But many residents say that did not prevent the toxic spill from getting into the air and waterways. There was anger and frustration on display

Wednesday night at a community meeting. Jason Carroll was there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody that came here, we expected a hell of a lot more than what we're getting right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's right!

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Frustration, anger and unanswered questions in East Palestine, Ohio.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are my kids safe?

Are the people safe?

Is the future of this community safe?

CARROLL (voice-over): The mayor, leading the meeting, at times, speaking through a bullhorn to answer questions from distress residents, still

worried about returning to their homes, despite evacuation orders being lifted last week.

MAYOR TRENT CONAWAY, EAST PALESTINE, OHIO: (INAUDIBLE). (INAUDIBLE). But that stuff (ph), I will guarantee you, I will the first one in line to

fight them (ph).

CARROLL (voice-over): Officials trying to answer the community's questions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) experts based on (INAUDIBLE). (INAUDIBLE).

CARROLL (voice-over): As many residents are demanding more testing of air, water and soil.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

CARROLL (voice-over): CARROLL (voice-over): Not present, at this community meeting, Norfolk Southern Railroad.

[10:25:00]

CONAWAY: The Norfolk Southern did not show up. They didn't feel it was safe.

CARROLL (voice-over): In the 11th hour, the company that owns the train that derailed sent a statement saying, "Unfortunately, after consulting

with community leaders, we have become increasingly concerned about the growing physical threat to our employees. With that in mind, Norfolk

Southern will not be in attendance this evening."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, if you are afraid that somebody from Palestine is going to hurt your employees, what exactly did you do to us?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can feel the anger and frustration.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm scared for my family. I'm scared for my town. I grew up here. I'm related to 50 percent of them.

CARROLL (voice-over): Cleanup efforts are underway. The governor told residents Wednesday that municipal water is safe to drink. His statement

comes after new test results from the state Environmental Protection Agency found no detection of contaminants.

Officials say the toxic spill was largely contained the day after the derailment and that tests have shown the air quality is safe. They are

still suggesting those with private wells get their water tested.

CONAWAY: I need help and I will do whatever it takes, whatever it takes, to make this right.

CARROLL: In the meantime, cleanup efforts are well underway. The EPA says they will be here as long as it takes. Residents here are not so sure --

Jason Carroll, CNN, East Palestine, Ohio.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: Right now, authorities are giving an update on the mass shooting Monday at Michigan State University. The school president said the five

students wounded in the attack are still in critical condition but there are signs of improvement.

Classes have been suspended until Monday. Hundreds of people gathered Wednesday night for a vigil, mourning the three students who were killed.

The police are still trying to determine the gunman's motive.

A two page note found might hold some clues. It lists other possible targets, including an employment agency, a store and a church. It claimed

that another team would, quote, "finish off the city of Lansing."

A security camera caught the horrifying final seconds of a deadly helicopter crash in the U.S. state of Alabama. The video shows the chopper

spinning out of control and then falling to the ground and then a plume of black smoke rises.

The crash killed two members of the Tennessee National Guard on Wednesday. Officials say the aircraft was engulfed in flames when firefighters

arrived. No one else was injured. An investigation is underway.

Still to come, the race to bring aid to survivors of last week's deadly earthquake in Turkiye and Syria joined the humanitarian mission in one of

the hardest hit areas.

Also, demonstrations are rocking France yet again as workers say no to a planned pension reform.

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KINKADE: Welcome back. I'm Lynda Kinkade. You are watching CONNECT THE WORLD. It's good to have you with us.

I want to return to our top story, the death toll growing more staggering after last week's devastating earthquake in Turkiye and Syria. Officials

blame more than 42,000 deaths on the February 6th disaster.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg is offering his condolences. He is in Ankara, meeting with the Turkish president before heading to the port city of

Iskenderun, where NATO will build housing for homeless quake survivors.

CNN has been reporting from the quake zone where a major challenge is getting humanitarian aid to survivors. Roads in airports in the disaster

area have been badly damaged. Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins relief workers trying to reach survivors in Turkiye.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA (voice-over): The skies over Turkiye are continuously pierced with the sound of helicopter blades, still performing crucial search and rescue

but also delivering people and goods to places hard to access, now near isolated from the rest of the world, like Antakya in Hatay province.

Look what the earthquake did in just minutes here. So many buildings razed to the ground. More than eight days later, too many people still going

without even basic supplies.

GUPTA: Donations continue to pour in from all over the world. To give you an idea, they have things like baby formula; these are safety hard hats

over here. These are the types of things that are coming in. Over here, you have the bread. So they have all sorts of dried food coming in.

These donations are coming from individuals, things like blankets and warm clothes. As far as the eye can see, there is all sorts of supplies now

trying to get from this airstrip to the people who desperately need them.

GUPTA (voice-over): Over and over again, spontaneous supply lines like this one form and within minutes, dozens and dozens of tents are loaded

onto the helicopter.

Today's mission: to provide cover and protection in Hatay, a province that has lost both. In the sky, it is easy to see why they are so necessary.

A group of men can be seen waiting earnestly for their temporary new homes. They quickly unload the helicopter, struggling against the whirr of the

blades, which never stop.

GUPTA: So they've just unloaded the tents here in Hatay. This is one of the hardest-hit areas of the quake zone.

GUPTA (voice-over): Off in the distance, a floating hospital, a near necessity after natural disasters like this.

After all, as with most other buildings, the hospitals often don't survive either. These hospital ships provide immediate beds and operating rooms

like this one, where 37-year-old Mehmet (ph) received an operation on his leg after falling two stories during the earthquake.

Even a maternity ward, yes. Tragically, more than 40,000 people have died but there has also been new life here: a beautiful baby girl.

Another benefit, the captain tells me, unlike the field hospitals on firm ground, these hospital ships in the water are relatively protected from the

numerous aftershocks that continuously devastated the land.

For now, the ground is quiet but the skies are loud and that is good as this part of the world slowly, surely, finds its footing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: Thank you to Dr. Sanjay Gupta reporting there.

I want to get you up to speed on some other stories on the radar right now.

Chinese president Xi Jinping has accepted an invitation to pay a state visit to Iran. Although no date has been set, a joint communique said he

will make the trip when it's convenient. The invitation comes as Iran's president wraps up his first state visit to China.

In Lebanon, protesters have blocked roads and set fire to banks and ATMs as the Lebanese lira hit a new low against the U.S. dollar. Lebanese banks

have been closed since Tuesday. The prime minister said in a statement today that efforts are continuing to address the financial crisis.

The death toll has risen to five in New Zealand after Cyclone Gabrielle caused widespread devastation and flooding this week. Police say more than

3,500 people can not be contacted by phone or other means. Thousands of people have been displaced.

[10:35:00]

KINKADE: France is facing a fifth round of nationwide strikes. Workers and unions are taking to the streets to protest a pension reform plan that

would see the retirement age raised by two years to 64. Melissa Bell is standing by at a protest in Paris.

Good to have you with us. The fifth nationwide protest so far on this issue.

What is the turnout there like today?

Is it enough to sway the government?

MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Lynda, it's not as big as it has been in the four previous days of protests that you mentioned. There

are some limited strikes affecting air travel, a little bit of the railways. The Metro stations in Paris are open. It's not quite the strength

of the strike we saw in January.

But this doesn't mean it's over. The unions are planning -- private sector, public sector -- all of the unions coming together to make sure that the

whole country grinds to a halt. That's because of the controversy surrounding this bill, Lynda, to raise, as you said, the retirement age

from 62 to 64.

The government is determined to get it through. Friday will be the last day of parliamentary debate. It's unclear whether it's going to get a majority

on it. It hopes it will.

If it doesn't, it has a couple of different parliamentary mechanisms by which it can push this measure through.

The strength of the protest on the street, it's 70 percent of the French public, who are now opposed to the raising of their retirement age.

Perhaps more telling and that is the number of people in the country who are in favor of the general stoppage. That's six out of 10 of the French

asked, who said they were in favor of the country grinding to (INAUDIBLE). That means no child care, no trains.

And it gives you an idea of the strength of discontent that is out there. That is also something that the polls have shown.

KINKADE: So many governments around the world already have a retirement age around 64.

Why is there so much pushback there?

BELL: It's a very particularly French concept of a social pact that was created after the Second World War. Within that, the right that the French

benefited from, it included a retirement age that was 60.

In fact, the last time we had this level of protests and strikes and ongoing anger in the streets was back in 2010, when Nicolas Sarkozy managed

to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62. What a battle that was.

This time, the unions feel that they can smell blood. Emmanuel Macron came in as this reform president. This was going to be one of his flagship

reforms, one of the main ones he's announced when he first became president.

Now in his second term, he's determined to push that through by the summer. But because he is essentially choosing to pick this fight in such a frontal

way with the unions, they themselves smell blood. They haven't been this unified since 2010.

They are determined that, even if and when the bill gets through Parliament they will keep the pressure up on the streets to force the government back

to the negotiation table.

Emmanuel Macron said no way; we will push this through come hell or high water and so it is that battle of wills between the unions and the strength

of protesting on the street and the momentum of the strikes that they can keep going over the coming months and Emmanuel Macron's determination to

push this reform through.

KINKADE: Fascinating to see this play out. Melissa Bell in Paris, good to have you on the story. Thank you.

Still ahead, it was a night to remember for Manchester City.

Will it be enough to keep Arsenal down?

And a ghostly view of the untouched wreckage of the Titanic never released to the public before. We will have more footage for you when we come back.

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KINKADE: Welcome back.

Scientists have a better idea of how Antarctica's doomsday glacier is melting. New studies show an ice shelf blocking the glacier from crashing

into the sea is also melting. New cracks in the ice are expanding because of the warming ocean water, making it weaker and more vulnerable to

shattering.

The glacier is roughly the size of the state of Florida. It's called the doomsday glacier because scientists say a full collapse would be a

disaster, raising global sea levels by 70 centimeters.

Rare footage of the wreckage of the Titanic has been released more than a century after the luxury liner hit an iceberg and sank. The video, 80

minutes of uncut footage, was taken at the ship's resting place on the ocean floor back in 1986.

It shows the Titanic sitting more than 3,700 meters underwater, the first time anyone had seen the ship since it sank back in 1912. The footage, much

of which is being released for the first time, was shot by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, which took part in that search. The release

coincides with the 25th anniversary of the hit movie, "Titanic."

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