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Israeli Troops Withdraw from Southern Gaza after Months of Conflict; Donald Trump Takes Ambiguous Stance on Abortion, Leaves Decision to States; Rare Total Solar Eclipse Captivates Millions Across North America; Russian Airstrikes Hit Southern Ukraine, Killing Civilians; New Vatican Declaration Condemns Transgenderism, Surrogacy, and Abortion; Thousands in Southern Lebanon Driven from Homes; Report: March Broke Heat Record for 10th Straight Month; Animals React as Totality Passes Over Some U.S. States. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired April 09, 2024 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Ahead here on CNN Newsroom.
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ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: It's clear this is still a very active battlefront.
VAUSE: A battle, it seems, over a wasteland. Israeli troops withdraw from southern Gaza after a four-month-long scorched earth policy.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE; You must follow your heart of this issue, but remember, you must also win elections.
VAUSE: Donald Trump announced his official position on abortion. Whatever does the least harm to his chances of winning in November.
UNKNOWN: What did you think of it all? You two?
UNKNOWN: We thought it was incredible.
VAUSE: And briefly Monday, the moon passed in between the earth and the sun. A cause for much excitement for many.
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VAUSE: Thanks for joining us. For weeks now, the Biden administration has been pressing the Israeli Prime Minister to strike a deal with Hamas for a ceasefire and release of hostages held in Gaza. Many Israelis have been making similar demands for months. But at the same time, pressure is growing on Benjamin Netanyahu from within his own far-right coalition to reject any deal and instead ramp up the military intensity and launch a major ground offensive on Rafah, the southern Gaza city home to almost one and a half million displaced Palestinians.
And both publicly and privately, the White House has voiced its opposition to a wide-scale military incursion into Rafah. And on Monday, Netanyahu appeared to give in to demands from within his coalition, announcing a date has been set, but not the actual date, for a ground operation into Rafah. But according to the State Department, Israel has not provided the US with any details about the actual date or any credible plan for evacuating civilians away from the line of fire and to relative safety.
As for ceasefire and hostage negotiations, a source says during weekend talks in Cairo, CIA Director Bill Burns presented a new proposal to try and bridge the gap. Here's Netanyahu's reaction to that news.
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BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISREALI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Today, I received a detailed report on the talks in Cairo. We are constantly working to achieve our goals, primarily the release of all our hostages and achieving a complete victory over Hamas. This victory requires entry into Rafah and the elimination of the terrorist battalions there. It will happen. There is a date.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Well, meeting with U.S. officials in Washington, the Israeli opposition leader, Yair Lapid, says, while a deal may not be one the Israelis like, he says it's doable and therefore needs to be made to bring the hostages home. Hamas, though, says its leaders will review the latest proposal, even though it does not meet their demands. And after six months of war, almost all Israeli forces have withdrawn from southern Gaza, and Palestinians are slowly returning to the city of Khan Younis to find little more than utter devastation after months of fierce fighting. CNN's Nic Robertson has more. More now on the people of Khan Younis returning to a city in ruins.
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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): Khan Younis's highway of hell shattered witness to four deadly months of Israeli occupation. Nothing untouched. The Jaffa Mosque produced a rubble. The Aqa gas station destroyed. Spreading out from the thoroughfare, a city-sized stamp of destruction, almost every building in the southern Ghazan hub once home to 420,000 Palestinians, wrecked by Israeli troops searching for Hamas. The scale testimony of the ferocity of the fight. The graffiti left behind, Venom, Gaza for the Jews, it reads. The IDF's sudden departure over the weekend opening the way for residents to return to what's left of their homes.
Our house was bombed and bulldozed, Ellia says. I got these clothes and this toy pointing to her brother. The toy means a lot to us. It's a memory from home. What are we to do, Mohammed Ahmed says. I'm pulling out a few clothes looking through the rubble. Maybe I will find something. That was my washing machine, and that was my fridge. Return is not victory here, it's resilience.
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Salim going back to his destroyed home. I will put a tent on it, even if they destroy all of Harnunis. We will stay here, and we are steadfast. At first, just a trickle of people coming back. Many wary, the withdrawal not what it seems, and with good reason. A drive along the border fence where the troop pulled out, showing just that.
ROBERTON: We've just seen two huge explosions over there coming from Khan Younis area. Looking along the horizon, I can see other detonations, and here the fighter jets pulling off into the distance. It's clear this is still a very active battlefront.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): A mile away, scores of recently withdrawn tanks and fighting vehicles parked up. The IDF saying the surprise move marks an end of ground operations in Gaza in their current form. Warning though, troops are out to recuperate and prepare for future operations.
LT. GEN HERZI HALEVI, CHIEF OF GENERAL STAFF ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES (through translator): The war in Gaza continues, and we are far from stopping.
VAUSE: Whatever next for the people of Khan Younis, these days are a respite. Impossible to say if the IDF withdraw, an inflection point towards a ceasefire, and an end to the destruction and killing. Nic Roberson, CNN, Jerusalem.
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VAUSE: Joining me now from Washington is CNN military analyst and retired US Air Force Colonel, Cedric Leighton. Colonel, good to see you, sir.
CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Good to see you too, John.
VAUSE: There are myriad reasons why Israeli forces have withdrawn from southern Gaza, in fact, almost all of Gaza. Here's a spokesperson for the Israeli government on one reason, perhaps.
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AVI HYMAN, ISRAELI GOVERNMENT SPOKESPERSON: I wouldn't read too much into the fact that we've moved soldiers in or out of anywhere. I'll remind everyone that we are living in a tiny, tiny country. We can move soldiers in and out very easily and very quickly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: At the height of the fighting, Israel had about 20 brigades on the ground in Gaza, somewhere between 30 and 40,000 troops. Now there's just one brigade, a few hundred troops. There are a lot of possible reasons for this pullout, but nothing to see here. But there's a lot of possible reasons for this pullout, but nothing to see here. Like we just heard, it's not one of them. So, from a military point of view, what's the most likely explanation?
LEIGHTON: Well, one of the possible explanations, John, is that they might be retooling and regrouping and giving their folks some rest. One of the possible areas that they might go into, of course, is up north, in the northern part of Israel, facing Hezbollah and the Lebanese border. But when it comes to Gaza, the other possibility is that they're getting ready to do something in Rafah. And that is probably the most likely explanation. It's not the most likely thing, based on what we hear from Prime Minister Netanyahu and some of the other Israeli officials who are discussing this. So that is probably the most likely scenario, that they're basically waiting in reserve in order to mount an operation like that, especially if the negotiations in Cairo fail.
VAUSE: To your point, though, this is a tiny country, like the spokesperson said. The IDF is made up of mostly reservists. So, there's a good chance after six months of war, for people to go back to their jobs families to take a rest. At the same time the Israelis are talking about a second front in the north with Hezbollah in Lebanon and over the weekend came word that Israel says it's prepared to deal with Iran offensively as well as defensively which seems to be the state of play always regardless.
But one piece of the puzzle which doesn't really fit in here is the fact that the war in Gaza could continue for at least another year or so on a low level. So can they continue with the Gaza war and have a confrontation with Iran as well as a confrontation with Hezbollah in the north?
LEIGHTON: Well I think it would really stretch Israeli resources quite thinly and that would be a kind of the maximum effort that Israel could put on and muster. But it is possible for the Israelis to certainly mount some operations. What they would have to do is reduce their forces in Gaza, continue their operations there, but make them much more targeted, make them much more oriented towards special operations type missions, basically what the U.S. has suggested in the past.
If they were going to do something against Hezbollah or against Iran that would require some other types of forces and that's where they could potentially put the preponderance of their troops now that they think they have destroyed Hamas at least to a large extent, not completely, but certainly militarily in the conventional sense.
VAUSE: I want you to listen to the Israeli defense minister who was adamant that rescuing the 133 Israeli hostages was a good idea. That remains a priority. Here he is.
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YOAV GALLANT, ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER (through translator): We have a supreme obligation to get the hostages home, and the operational conditions that the IDF created through relentless pressure on Hamas and the position of strength from which we come into this campaign allow us flexibility, freedom of action, and also difficult decisions.
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VAUSE: You know, by withdrawing the bulk of Israeli troops, isn't Israel giving up those gains to some extent, allowing Hamas to regain control of the territory that it lost, allowing them to sort of roam free in some kind of way?
LEIGHTON: Well, their banking that they've succeeded in, in essence, breaking the back of Hamas, whether or not the Israelis have done that, remains to be seen. But what they are saying, in essence, is we have killed a vast number of Hamas fighters. We have destroyed most of their infrastructure, their command-and-control nodes, their communication centers, their tunnels, those types of things. So, if that's correct, the Israelis could take that gamble and possibly succeed.
But if it's not correct, then they might be making a fatal mistake. And that would be something where they would have to be very careful and potentially have to move resources back to a fight in Gaza if that fight were to continue and Hamas were to regroup in a way that, you know, we think that it could if they have the number of people that could mount attacks against Israel or conduct continued operations of various types against Israel and its territory.
VAUSE: Yeah, it was notable. I think five rockets were fired from Khan Yunus once the Israeli troops withdrew. They're all intercepted by Iron Dome. But yeah, Hamas can quickly regroup. It remains a threat, I guess. Cedric Leighton, Colonel, good to see you, sir. Thank you.
LEIGHTON: Good to see you too, John. Thank you.
VAUSE: Russian airstrikes from the northeast of Ukraine to Kherson in the south have killed, at least, six civilians and injured dozens of others, according to Ukrainian officials. Three people were killed in the city of Zaporizhia. Russia's defense ministry says, quote, completely destroyed a Ukrainian drone factory and drone warehouse. Russia says it was retaliation for Kiev targeting energy production facilities deep inside Russian territory. Meantime, the Kremlin is accusing Ukrainian forces of attacking the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant with self-exploding drones.
The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that the plant's main reactor took three direct hits on Sunday. Ukraine, though, adamantly denies those allegations, saying they take nuclear safety very seriously and accused Russian-installed officials at the plant of creating incidents themselves as a form of nuclear blackmail. Here's what Russian officials have to say.
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UNKNOWN (through translator): The danger of what happens now around Zaporizhia plant does not need any commentary. It is dangerous. Dangerous for the station, dangerous for the surrounding territory, and potentially dangerous for the entire country. And dangerous for the whole world. All of humanity. (END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Russian forces took over the plant in 2022 in the early stages of the war. Both Moscow and Kiev have accused each other of using the site and the threat of nuclear disaster as a weapon of war.
Millions of people across North America witnessed a spectacle in the sky on Monday, a rare total solar eclipse. It was a big deal, apparently. Large crowds gathered to share this incredible moment as the moon obscured the face of the sun. Mexico's Pacific coast was the first city to experience totality. There it is. The eclipse then moved across more than a dozen states from Texas to Maine, ending in Canada. NASA says those lucky enough to be in the middle of the path of totality saw an eclipse that lasted between three and a half to four minutes. CNN's KristIn Fisher was in Indianapolis to see the phenomenon firsthand.
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UNKNOWN: This is an extraordinary cosmic coincidence.
UNKNOWN: Wow, woah. (SCREAMING)
KRISTIN FISHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Millions of Americans catching a once-in-a-generation total solar eclipse. Turning day into night for everyone along the path of totality. People coming from all over the world to see this rare event in the sky. In Indianapolis at the largest watch party in the world, thousands cheering the eclipse from the iconic motor speedway. Dad, what did you think?
UNKNOWN: Amazing. I have no words. It was much more dramatic than I thought.
FISHER (voice-over): Mom, what did you think about it? First time seeing a total solar.
UNKNOWN: I'm crying.
FISHER (voice-over): And in Arkansas, more than 350 couples tied the knot in a total eclipse of the heart event. On a mountaintop in Vermont, love was also in the air, as this couple got engaged right before the eclipse ended.
UNKNOWN: You marry me?
UNKNOWN: Yes!
FISHER (voice-over): It was a rare and breathtaking celestial event for millions.
UNKNOWN: Seeing it for the first time was shocking.
UNKNOWN: Like down my spine (ph).
FISHER (voice-over): Even for the animals at the Dallas Zoo, who were clearly aware of something happening. [00:14:59]
UNKNOWN: Tobogo (ph) has gone over by his pen where he normally would go right before he puts himself to bed. An absolutely captivating moment.
FISHER: It will be 20 years, the year 2044, before the next time a total solar eclipse touches parts of the United States. But here in Indianapolis, it will be 129 years before the next total solar eclipse. So, everyone here just feeling lucky and grateful that the weather cooperated and they got to see it this time. Kristin Fisher, CNN, Indianapolis.
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VAUSE: So exciting. We'll take a short break. When we come back, leave it up to the states. Trump punts on abortion and angers both the left and the right. Also ahead, new guidelines from the Vatican on what it considers threats to human dignity. What the Catholic Church has to say on top of that. Topics of gender theory, surrogacy, as well as gender-affirming surgery. All of that after the break.
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VAUSE: A New York appeals court has rejected Donald Trump's petition to delay his hushed money trial. The former president wanted a change of venue, claiming he cannot get a fair trial in Manhattan. Jury selection is set to begin next week, and potential jurors will be questioned about where they get their news and whether they've ever been to a Trump rally, but not what political party they belong to. The trial centres on claims that Trump failed to properly disclose a payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about their alleged affair.
Well Trump has managed to anger conservatives with his latest stead on abortion. The presumptive republican presidential nominee says the issue should now be left up to individual states to decide. CCN's Kristen Holmes has the details.
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KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: For the past several months, Donald Trump has been flirting with this idea both publicly and privately of supporting a 15-week national abortion ban. Now, this idea of supporting this kind of national abortion ban really opened the door for Democrats to attack him on an issue that has plagued Republicans. It also enabled Democrats to link him to some really unpopular abortion policies. It required Donald Trump to come out and kind of give a concrete stance on where he stood on abortion.
And what we ended up hearing was something that we had heard years ago before he himself brought up this national ban, talking about how he is very proud of overturning Roe v. Wade and then punching responsibility on reproductive rights to the states. Take a listen.
TRUMP: My view is now that we have abortion where everybody wanted it from a legal standpoint, the states will determine by vote or legislation or perhaps both, and whatever they decide must be the law of the land. In this case, the law of the state.
KRISTEN: This left a door open for Democrats to hit him over the fact that he never mentioned a national abortion ban, saying he was leaving the door open. But it also left the door open for Republicans, evangelicals, those social conservatives, to go after Donald Trump as well. Including his former vice president, Mike Pence, who said President Trump's retreat on the right to life is a slap in the face to millions of pro-life Americans who voted for him 2016 and 2020.
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Again, this has been an issue for Donald Trump that has been incredibly touchy. He has not wanted to go near it. He doesn't believe it is a political winner. However, he and his team did feel that he had to give some sort of definition as to where he stood. Kristen Holmes, CNN, Washington.
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VAUSE: And with us now is Alice Stewart, CNN political commentator and Republican strategist. It's good to see you.
ALICE STEWART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Always great to talk with you, John.
VAUSE: So here's a little more from the former president on why he punted abortion rights back to the states. Here's Donald Trump.
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TRUMP: You must follow your heart of this issue, but remember, you must also win elections to restore our culture and in fact, to save our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: It's all about winning elections, and Donald Trump doesn't usually play it safe politically, but on this issue of abortion, was playing it safe sort of the least bad option he had?
STEWART: It really was, John. Look, he has gotten to the point now where he realizes that he is the Republican nominee, and he has played it safe on the abortion issue with Republican voters in the primary process. And look, they give him credit for the fact that he nominated three conservative justices to the Supreme Court that ultimately overturned Roe v. Wade. And now he is basically saying, look, I am pro-life, but I am also at a point to where I realize when we have abortion as the sole issue on the ballot, it's not a winning issue.
We've had more than half a dozen states that have put abortion rights on the ballot, and every time, John, the pro-abortion, the pro- abortion - pro-choice movement has won. And Donald Trump is looking at this from a standpoint of moving to the general election. He's trying to appeal to the independent voters, the more moderate Republican voters and, quite frankly, suburban women voters and those that say women should have the choice on this issue.
VAUSE: Well, many of those anti-abortion groups are among the most loyal of Trump supporters. They were not just critical. Some were left outraged. Trump's former Vice President Mike Pence among them. Even Republican Senator Lindsey Graham gathered all the courage of a wet piece of lettuce, releasing a statement criticizing the former president, which read in part, I respectfully disagree with President Trump's statement that abortion is a state's rights issue. Dobbs does not require that conclusion legally, and the pro-life movement has always been about the well-being of the unborn child, not geography. And to that, here's how Trump has responded just in general to the criticism. Here he is.
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TRUMP: Many people have asked me what my position is on abortion and abortion rights, especially since I was proudly the person responsible for the ending of something that all legal scholars, both sides wanted and, in fact, demanded, be ended. Roe v. Wade.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: That last part about legal scholars is just not true. But he does have a point. He sacked the Supreme Court. He overturned Roe. But he's sort of going back and forth on whether or not he wants to claim credit for the ban or the overturning of Roe. It seems he's now going down that road here in a very determined way.
STEWART: Look, John, I think he will always pat himself on the back and claim credit for putting three conservative justices on the Supreme Court that ultimately led to returning Roe v. Wade. But right now, he is in a position where he can take a more nuanced approach to this issue and look at it. Legally, we have turned this issue back to the states, and politically, we have decided, as we have advocated for almost five decades, let's take this important, emotional decision out of the hands of unelected justices and put it in the hands of elected officials at the state's level.
And he's pushing for the idea that this is at the state's level and the states will rule on this issue. And that's exactly where it should be. And look, Democrats are going to continue to put the idea out there that Donald Trump supports a federal ban. And that's not the case. And look, the reality is you're not going to get 60 votes in the United States Senate to approve of an abortion ban. So that argument is really off the table. And with Donald Trump's statement today talking about I'm not for a federal ban, I think he did a lot politically to take that off the table. But Democrats, I would imagine, will still use abortion as a motivating issue to get voters out in November.
VAUSE: Oh, yes, they are. Here's part of a statement from President Biden. Trump is scrambling. He's worried that since he's the one responsible for overturning Roe, the voters will hold him accountable in 2024. Well, I have news for Donald. They will. Trump has been sort of walking both sides of a barbed wire fence at times when it comes to abortion. If he was hoping to put the issue to rest, to take it out of play, he may have done it on the Republican side to some extent, but he certainly hasn't done it on the Democrat side.
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STEWART: No, and look, I've campaigned and worked on communications in four presidential campaigns, and from a strategy standpoint, it's a winning issue for Democrats to try and use this to motivate voters. And again, if it's on the ballot in a particular state, it does turn out voters. But what Republicans need to do, and the pro-life community needs to recognize, look, I've been strong on the front lines of this issue. Overturning Roe v. Wade isn't the end of the battle. It's really just the beginning. And it's important to try and educate and enlighten voters on, look, people might not agree on the specific issue of abortion, but let's have an agreement on some type of limits, let's agree that we don't want to encourage late-term abortions, which is what some Democrats want to do, and find out where we can find some kind of agreement on this.
VAUSE: Alice, thanks for being with us. I always appreciate your time and your insights. Good to see you.
STEWART: Thank you, John.
VAUSE: A new declaration from the Vatican and Pope Francis announced Monday has strongly condemned transgender sex change, surrogate motherhood, and abortion as grave threats to human dignity. The 20- page document called, Dignitas Infinata, which means infinite dignity, lays out where the church stands on inherent and unalienable worth and rights afforded to every person. It reads, in part, any sex change intervention as a rule risk threatening the unique dignity the person has received from the moment of conception. CNN Vatican correspondent Christopher Lamb has more details.
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CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Gender theory, surrogacy, and gender-affirming health care are all violations of human dignity, according to a new Vatican document. The declaration, which was signed off and approved by Pope Francis, lists the gender theory alongside other violations of human dignity, such as abortion and euthanasia. The document also includes, however, social issues, such as the plight of migrants, the violence against women, and the death penalty, saying that these issues are also important and the Catholics should not simply focus on abortion and euthanasia.
Whilst the document is critical of gender theory, it does include a strong condemnation of the criminalization of transgender sex. The document also includes a strong condemnation of the homosexuality in certain countries around the world, something that Pope Francis spoke about in 2023 ahead of a trip to Africa. Cardinal Fernandez presented the document, said he was shocked that some Catholics were supportive of these laws criminalizing homosexuality.
The document appears to be a balancing of both Pope Francis's desire to maintain Catholic teaching and doctrine, but also his pastoral welcome to same-sex Catholics and LGBTQ+ believers. This document comes in the months after the Vatican issued a groundbreaking text offering blessings to same-sex couples, something that sent shockwaves through the church, and allowing for trans Catholics to act as godparents at baptisms. So, with this document, we see a reaffirmation of Catholic teaching and doctrine, but at the same time a desire to apply that in a pastoral and compassionate way. Christopher Lamb, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: When we come back, as fighting flares along the Israel-Lebanon border, we'll hear from some of the thousands who've been forced to flee from their homes.
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VAUSE: Welcome back, everyone. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
[00:31:06]
The Hezbollah commander who Israel says was responsible for cross- border attacks, has been killed in an Israeli airstrike in Southern Lebanon. A day earlier the IDF said Hezbollah and ally of Iran must pay an increasing price for its participation in the war in Gaza, adding that the Israeli military is on a very high state of readiness.
Iran, meantime, has vowed retaliation after Israel for the recent strike on its consulate in Syria. U.S. intelligence sources now say an Iranian proxy would likely carry out the attack.
The U.N., though, is urging all sides to halt the violence and prevent a wider conflict. Meantime, the ongoing shelling in Southern Lebanon has driven tens of thousands of people from their homes and their communities.
CNN's Ben Wedeman has their story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These boxes of food are the difference between survival and desperation, provided by Virginia-based nonprofit Islamic Relief USA. They're are lifeline to the around 90,000 Lebanese civilians who fled their homes along the border with Israel.
Abul Fadel (ph) takes a box. He normally grows tobacco. He's grateful for the help, dubious about the source. "I'll think of this as Islamic, not American," he says. "If it were American, I wouldn't take it."
Since last October, Israel and Hezbollah have engaged in daily and often deadly exchanges of cross-border fire. As a result, most of the communities on both sides of the frontier have become ghost towns.
Muktada Hamda (ph) juggles tasks in the operations room, overseeing relief efforts for the Southern Tyre (ph) governorate. He worries, after six months, calls for more help are increasingly ignored.
"At the beginning of all this, it was better," he tells me. "Now the response is much less and much slower."
Wafa (ph) and her sister rent a small room in Tyre's ancient quarter. It's been months since they've been home.
"Honestly, we've lost a lot," Wafa (ph) says. "We've lost everything in our area."
Their olive groves are abandoned, the land left untended. But Wafa (ph) is lucky. At least she lives in a pleasant area.
Tens of thousands of others are camped out in schools across the South.
Ten-year-old Zara (Ph) spends her days scampering around the corridors with your friends. She told me she had to leave her home five months ago because of the war. The bombings scared her, she says.
In another school, Mustafa Zaid (ph) despairs over the loss of his livelihood.
"I had three horses, a cow, four sheep and 120 chickens," he recalls. "They're all dead."
And thus, they're left in limbo, waiting for the day when the guns go silent, when they can go back to their homes, or what's left of them.
Ben Wedeman, CNN, Tyre, South Lebanon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Well, no surprise, but last month was the hottest March on record, according to new data from the E.U.'s climate monitoring service, Copernicus, which also notes the past ten consecutive months have also seen record heat, all part of the hottest 12-month period in recorded history.
Yes, it's hot, and it's getting hotter. CNN meteorologist Chad Myers breaks down the numbers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, the very latest is out from the Copernicus climate change service for March of 2024.
March 2024 was the warmest March ever on record, in fact, 1.68 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. We're trying to keep that number to 1.5. March of 2024 did not do a very good job of it at all.
Now here's March 2024, but look at the line just underneath it. That is March of 2016, the last time we had a significant ending El Nino.
[00:35:09]
And look what happens to that line; takes a big dive all the way down here. And that is good news. But will 2024 do the same thing as El Nino is ending? We will just have to see. The water temperatures are doing nothing of the sort. There it is
right there, 21.07 Celsius globally. Take all the water, all the surface oceans, and that's where you are. And that's above normal again, above everywhere else.
Now, take a look at the hurricane development center here in the Atlantic Ocean. Well above normal, the warmest on record here in some spots.
Now, not everywhere on the globe is the water the warmest on record, but right here, especially with a hurricane season coming up, that warmest on record does not spell good things for the Atlantic hurricane season.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Chad Myers, thank you.
When we come back, strange behavior in the animal kingdom. No oohing and ahhing over the eclipse. They're all spooked by sudden darkness. Shouldn't they? (ph)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is in the U.S. this week for bilateral talks with President Joe Biden.
The leaders are set to meet Wednesday for talks about the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, as well as boosting economic growth.
Mr. Kishida is set to be the only second Japanese leader to address a joint meeting of Congress. The first was his predecessor, Shinzo Abe.
Did we mention there was a rare total solar eclipse across North America on Monday, plunging parts of the U.S., Mexico, and Canada into darkness in the middle of the day?
Millions of people were treated to spectacular views as the moon blocked the sun. An estimated 32 million people were in the path of totality.
But it wasn't just humans who were affected. Apparently, animals were seeing behaving in unusual ways, as well. Details from CNN's Ed Lavandera.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was like momentarily walking into the classic comedy night at the museum, a glimpse into the secret lives of animals, at the Dallas Zoo, when humans aren't around.
LAVANDERA: A zebra started chasing him and then the ostriches got into the mix, as well.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Just as the zoo slipped into total darkness, a jolt of, well, animal energy seemed to shoot through the grounds. The moment mesmerized Lisa van Slett, a curator of mammals at the Dallas Zoo.
LAVANDERA: So did the total eclipse day meet your expectations?
LISA VAN SLETT, CURATOR OF MAMMALS, DALLAS ZOO: It exceeded my expectations today. There was a lot more activity than I expected to see out of the animals.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Just before total darkness, an ostrich laid an egg and hovered over it for a time, protecting it. Zoo officials say it's not clear if the moment was caused by the eclipse. But that the timing was certainly curious, they said.
Guinea fowl suddenly crowed wildly.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hear the birds are starting.
LAVANDERA: The birds are getting louder.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Just before the moon covered the sun for almost four minutes, a young giraffe and its mother galloped around the enclosure. The zebras joined in the chase, as well.
[00:40:08]
Here and around the country, elephants grouped together and appeared to head back to the area where they sleep. Flamingos packed together in the middle of a pond in their habitat. Primates apparently also thought it was bedtime.
Animal experts say the sudden darkness triggered a natural reaction among many of the animals.
VAN SLETT: At nighttime, predators go out a lot more, and so they have to kind of huddle together to be safety in numbers. And in case something's coming. So they went into that instinct pretty quickly.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): At this doggie day care in the Dallas area, this group of dogs seem to stop, confused by the sudden darkness. When the sun returned, the dogs started playing around again.
Another video captured a cat wanting to come inside its home when darkness struck.
At the Toledo Zoo, a polar bear didn't seem to care about all the fuss; nonchalantly dove into the water before the sun disappeared.
Texas Parks and Wildlife officials teamed up with NASA to set up these acoustic recording devices to monitor the sounds of animals in the wild.
But not all animals were flustered or impressed by the total eclipse. To Bogo the giraffe mostly walked around unfazed, ready to start chewing on the lettuce the humans feed him when the sun came back.
LAVANDERA: Because a total eclipse is so rare, there's very little documentation, very few studies that have been done on animal behavior during a total eclipse.
Because of that, zoo officials say they plan on sharing their observations and the data they gather, not just with other zoos that were in the path of this eclipse, but as well as with other zoos across the country.
Ed Lavandera, CNN, Dallas.
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VAUSE: I'm with the giraffe.
The UCONN Huskies have claimed the biggest prize in men's college basketball, winning their second consecutive championship. Tristen Newton scored 20 points for the Connecticut -- for Connecticut in the 75-60 victory.
Player of the Year, Zach Edey, led all scorers with 37 points in a losing effort for the Purdue Boilermakers.
UCONN is the first Division I men's team to win back-to-back championships since the Florida Gators did it in 2006 and 2007.
A ratings record for women's college basketball just got shattered again. The championship between South Carolina and Iowa drew nearly 19 million viewers on Sunday. South Carolina overcoming Iowa 87 to 75 to win their third national title and finish the season undefeated.
Prior to the championship, superstar Caitlin Clark's Hawkeyes are probably the three most-watched women's basketball games of all time. Millions tuning in.
I'm John Vause, back at the top of the hour with more CNN NEWSROOM. But first, stay with us. WORLD SPORT starts after a short break. See you soon.
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