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Trump And Harris Ramp Up The Rhetoric On The Campaign Trail; Gaza Rescuers Dig For Survivors After Israeli Strike Kills 93; Small Number Of North Korean Troops Are Already Inside Ukraine; What Latino Voters are Saying in Battleground Nevada; Hezbollah Appoints Cleric Naim Qassem as New Leader; Mother Sues A.I. Chatbot Company for Teen Son's Death; An Eco-Friendly Answer to Plastic Packaging; Preparing for Advancement of Artificial Superintelligence. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired October 30, 2024 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[01:00:25]
ANNA COREN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome. I'm Anna Coren in Hong Kong. Ahead here on CNN Newsroom, with less than a week to go before Election Day in the U.S., Kamala Harris and Donald Trump ramp up their rhetoric to sway undecided voters.
Palestinians are searching for bodies with their bare hands after one of the deadliest. Israeli strikes in northern Gaza killed almost 100 people.
And heavy rains resulted in flash floods ripping down walls and sweeping parked cars away in eastern Spain.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Hong Kong. This is CNN Newsroom with Anna Coren.
COREN: Kamala Harris has delivered the final major address of her run for the White House on a stage that's symbolic and conveys the gravity of the choice facing voters. The U.S. vice president spoke along the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, just steps away from the White House before a crowd of 75,000 people, according to her campaign.
Well, this was the very same spot where outgoing President Donald Trump stood on January 6, 2021, when he urged his supporters to march to the U.S. Capitol ahead of the deadly riot and insurrection.
Harris told Americans their vote in this election will probably be the most important one they ever cat that they're making a choice about whether they want to live in a country rooted in freedom or one ruled by chaos.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Donald Trump has spent a decade trying to keep the American people divided and afraid of each other. That is who he is. But America, I am here tonight to say that is not who we are.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: And Harris said it doesn't have to be that way. She also promised to seek common ground and common sense solutions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: My presidency will be different because the challenges we face are different. Now, our biggest challenge is to lower costs that were rising even before the pandemic and that are still too high. I will make sure you have a chance not just to get by, but to get ahead, because I believe in honoring the dignity of work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: One week before election day, more than 50 million ballots had been cast across 47 states and the District of Columbia. And six states, including four key battlegrounds, have already exceeded 50 percent of their total votes from four years ago. Well, CNN's Priscilla Alvarez has further details on the Harris rally.
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PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Vice President Kamala Harris spent her closing arguments here at the Ellipse, introducing herself again to voters heading into the remarks, senior advisors to the vice president said that they wanted to target undecided voters, those voters who may still be on the fence, like disaffected Republicans or those who are just fatigued by former President Donald Trump.
And over the course of her remarks, the vice president laid out her policies and proposals on a number of issues, including on immigration, on health care, on reproductive rights. And as she did so, she compared each of those to the priorities of former President Donald Trump, essentially casting him as consumed by revenge or in the case of the military, as someone disrespectful to the military service.
Now, the vice president did, of course, spend some time talking about January 6th, that speech back in January 6th of 2021 by former President Donald Trump, leading to supporters storming the U.S. Capitol. Now, she talked about, again, the former president being focused on what she called, quote, the enemies list versus her to do list for Americans.
And what was telling about the remarks was how much time she was spending introducing and reintroducing herself, at one point saying that many of those that were watching may not know her well yet, a recognition of her truncated campaign, but also her explaining that she has not spent all time -- all of her political career in Washington, calling back to her time also in California.
And to that end, the vice president saying that she would welcome other opinions and include those who disagree with her at what she called a seat at the table. [01:05:00]
So, again, the vice president, her team seeing these remarks as the kickstart to the home stretch of the election, as she again tries to peel off those Republican voters of former President Donald Trump, but also convince those that the campaign believes still needs some convincing. Priscilla Alvarez, CNN, Washington.
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COREN: With six days left, Donald Trump isn't waiting to begin suggesting the election is rigged after Pennsylvania election and law enforcement officials announced they were investigating some 2,500 voter registration forms for suspected fraud. Speaking at a rally in Allentown, Trump warned supporters they need to get their ballots in as soon as possible.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: They've already started cheating in Lancaster. They've cheated. We caught him with 2,600 votes. Now we caught him cold, 2,600 votes. Think of this. Think of this. And every vote was written by the same person. I wonder how that happened. Must be a coincidence. It must be a coincidence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: Trump also defended his controversial Madison Square Garden rally, where speakers insulted everyone from Kamala Harris to the island of Puerto Rico. Trump described the event, where a comedian called the U.S. territory a floating island of garbage, as an absolute love fest. About comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, Trump conceded probably he shouldn't have been there.
For more, I'm joined by Lara Putnam, a professor of history and director of global studies at the University of Pittsburgh. Lara, lovely to you. Talk us through the symbolism of Kamala Harris speaking. You know, where Trump held his January 6th rally and then fired up the mob, which led to a siege on the Capitol. Her message was of unity with that freedom sign in the background. Will this resonate with voters and most importantly, undecided voters?
LARA PUTNAM, PROFESSOR OF HISTORY, UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH: Sure. Well, what we know is that location absolutely pounded home one of themes the Harris campaign has sounded in recent days, about the importance of democracy and about the threat that Trump's character presents to democracy. She's been emphasizing how former members of his own administration have come out and said that he's a fascist or similar to a fascist.
But what we know from polls and from research is that for undecided voters, those things aren't really as compelling. So for some highly engaged Democrats and others, that theme of protecting democracy is a priority.
But for the voters who Harris might not otherwise get, those undecided voters, the independents, the younger voters, people who are less politically engaged, that's really not what resonates most. We know that what resonates most with them is a clear communication of what her economic policies and economic priorities are.
And so, you know, I think what we saw tonight was Harris using the setting to reinforce the points that she was making about the value of democracy, about unity, about moving the nation forward. But she used the text of her speech to also make sure she hit those points about making home ownership affordable, bringing down prices and protecting Medicare, protecting Social Security.
So, again, those core economic policy issues that we know are actually what are most likely to make the difference for that independent voter, that undecided voter who hasn't yet made up their mind to support her.
COREN: Harris framed the election as a choice of whether we have a country rooted in freedom for every American or one ruled by chaos and division. I guess, is this enough when we know that the economy and immigration are still the overriding issues in this election?
PUTNAM: Yes, I mean, that's the, you know, part of the question, is just how motivated to get to the polls, the voters who have somewhat different priorities are going to be and are, is there going to be a surge of, you know, is Trump going to find even more voters in places like rural and Rust Belt Pennsylvania than he managed to find in 2020?
When I think, you know, so many people thought that his margins and the sheer turnout rate in some of those areas that he had achieved in 2016 was close to maxed out. And then in 2020, turnout surged even more in those places, of course, turnout for Biden surged as well, sort of even more, just barely enough to make the difference.
So, for sure, we know that theme of freedom and its sort of correlate, theme of reproductive freedom and abortion rights is really resonating strongly with women especially, but not only younger women this year. And it does seem like voters for whom that's a top priority are extremely motivated to get to the polls.
So it's sort of what we're waiting to see is how these different degrees of intensity as well as the different issue profiles balance out at the end of the day.
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COREN: Trump has already been speaking about them, the Democrats stealing votes in Pennsylvania. Is this a preview of what we'll hear on November 5th and moving forward?
PUTNAM: Yes, unfortunately, I think we can expect that. I mean, we've seen him hang on to those false, proven false claims that there was, those false claims that there was fraud in the vote count in Pennsylvania in 2020. He has clung to those claims. He pushed them through the aftermath of the election in 2020, of course, all the way to that riot and the assault on the Capitol on January 6th. And he has clung to those same claims ever since. And now they've been we've heard a sort of a drumbeat of again, making
false claims about non-citizens having access to the ballot, having access to vote in Pennsylvania, which is completely untrue, and false claims about mail insecure or there being problems with the counting of mail ballots in Pennsylvania.
Even as the campaign, the Trump campaign has been trying to convince more of their voters to make use of mail ballots, we've also still been hearing messaging from them calling to question the security of the mail ballot system.
COREN: Lara Putnam, we appreciate your analysis. Thank you for joining us.
PUTNAM: Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here as always.
COREN: Human rights groups are condemning an Israeli airstrike on a residential building in northern Gaza that killed dozens of Palestinians. Gaza's Health Ministry says at least 93 people, including 25 children, were killed in Beit Lahia on Tuesday. A warning images from the scene are disturbing.
The Israeli military says it's trying to understand why so many people were in the city at the time of the strike as civilians had been ordered to evacuate several weeks ago. The U.S. State Department is calling the incident horrifying. It's also calling the new Israeli law banning the U.N. Agency for Palestinians deeply troubling. CNN's Jeremy Diamond has the latest.
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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These men aren't looking for survivors, amid the rubble of another Israeli airstrike they are here for the bodies. After all, how could anyone survive destruction on this scale? More than 90 people were killed in this Israeli strike in northern Gaza early Tuesday morning, including 25 children, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
An Israeli military spokesman said the military was targeting a suspected terrorist in the area and did not intend to collapse the building. But the bodies have not yet all been counted, as this man can attest. Here's a body and here's another and another, he says, pointing out their locations.
And then there are the bodies of this boy's uncle and cousin wedged between two thick slabs of concrete, a pair of feet is all that is visible.
Gaza's rescue workers cannot reach this part of northern Gaza, which has been besieged by the Israeli military for nearly a month. That means no heavy machinery, just bare hands sifting through the rubble. Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya is one of just two doctors here, and he's growing desperate, calling for a humanitarian corridor to bring surgical teams to his hospital.
There are children with bones protruding from their bodies needing orthopedic surgery. There are brain injuries that require neurosurgeons, he says. But Israel's parliament may make matters worse. In an overwhelming vote, Israeli lawmakers move to ban UNRWA, the main U.N. agency aiding Palestinians, from operating in Israel or engaging with Israeli officials.
Israel accuses UNRWA of ties to Hamas after linking a handful of its thousands of employees to the October 7 attacks, a blanket charge UNWRA vehemently denies.
It's a move the U.S. says could not come at a worse time.
JAKE SULLIVAN, SPOKESPERSON, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT: There's nobody that can replace them right now in the middle of the crisis. So, we continue to urge the government of Israel to pause the implementation of this legislation.
DJAMOND (voice-over): In Gaza, that urgency is all too real. If UNWRA is gone, who is going to feed us? Who will provide us security? This young man asks, who is going to take us in? Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Jerusalem.
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COREN: Joining us now is Joe English, emergency communications specialist with UNICEF. Joe, good to see you. Let's start with the situation in northern Gaza and the strike on a residential building which has caused mass casualties. We've just heard from the U.S. State Department that has called it a horrifying incident. What can you tell us?
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JOE ENGLISH, UNICEF EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS SPECIALIST: It is. I mean, this is just the latest mass casualty event. We're seeing reports of at least 25 children killed and among those, you know, a mother and her five children, another mother and her six children. But this is the reality for children and families in Gaza every single day at the moment.
I mean, I've spoken with you guys a lot over the last year or so and every time we think it cannot get worse. And every day the situation is deteriorating for children and families. And the situation in the north over the last couple of weeks has been particularly horrendous. I mean, we speak with doctors and our colleagues on the ground and they say it is near apocalyptic, the situation that families are facing now.
COREN: Joe, let's talk more about the conditions in northern Gaza, which as you say, are near apocalyptic. There is a blockade in place. It has been since the beginning of October. Obviously no food is getting in. We know there's a renewed campaign of airstrikes being conducted by the IDF. How are people coping? How are they surviving?
ENGLISH: Honestly, many people are not coping and many people are not surviving. And with every day that goes past, more people will die. We have to be able to access families with these life-saving supplies like food, like safe drinking water, and also to be able to get in and complete the polio vaccination campaign that we began in September and had a second round in early October.
Every single one of the children who is still there is at risk from the polio vaccine from polio. And that is a risk not just for children in Gaza, but throughout the region.
COREN: Joe, let's now turn to the fallout of Israel's ban of UNRWA. What will this mean for humanitarian operations in Gaza?
ENGLISH: Yes, UNWRA is absolutely indispensable. And I think what is critically important with this is to remember that when humanitarian organizations like UNWRA, like UNICEF, are prevented from doing the work that we are mandated by the United Nations to do, it is ordinary people who pay the risks, who pay the price.
It is mothers who are trying to feed their hungry children. It is fathers who are trying to get warm clothes and shoes for their children as we approach winter and the temperatures drop. It is little girls and little boys who are praying every night for an end to the conflict so they can get back into schools run by UNRWA, and begin to rebuild their lives. And so that is what we are talking when these decisions are made. It is children's lives, it is mothers and fathers who all they're doing is trying to protect their children and provide them with a better future.
COREN: Well, Israel says that other U.N. agencies can fill the void. What is your response to that?
ENGLISH: It's not possible. You know, the work that does, not just in Gaza, but across the West Bank and across the region is indispensible. You know, we work hand in glove with them. We work so closely, but there is no other organization on the ground who are able to reach children and families in need, able to, you know, staff the hospitals and the health centers, able to staff the schools. You know, life in Gaza is hard enough, but it will become near impossible if UNWRA work is prevented.
COREN: So what will happen? What are the implications of that work being prevented?
ENGLISH: You know, it's children not receiving vaccines, it's children not receiving warm clothes, it's families not receiving food and nutrition supplies. Every aspect of life, you know, I think it has to be repeated. Every aspect of life, of a child's life is touched by the U.N., by UNRWA at the moment. And that work is critical for folks who are watching in the U.S. or around the world.
Imagine hearing that your education authority authorities disappeared, your health authorities disappeared, the shops and marketplaces, you know, that provide support, when you can't necessarily provide that support yourself disappear. This is what we're talking about. It is incomprehensible that this work would be stopped. It is life-saving.
COREN: And I know we see these images out of Gaza every day, but I think it's important for our audience to remember that aid has never been more urgently needed because almost all of Gaza's 2.2 million people have now been displaced by this war.
We've heard from the U.N. director at Human Rights Watch who has said that Israel's move is not only unjustified, but it risks expanding Israel's, quote, use of salvation as a weapon of war in Gaza, which constitutes a war crime. Your response?
ENGLISH: Yes, you know, I mean, we've been warning of the risk of famine, you know, a catastrophe that we should have consigned to the Dark Ages long ago. There should not be a situation where children and families are starving, are not having enough food when they are a mere number of kilometers away from support.
[01:20:10]
Away from marketplaces full of fresh fruit and vegetables. In this day and age, we have to do better. We can reach these children and families. We have to be allowed to.
COREN: Joe English we appreciate you joining us. Thank you.
ENGLISH: Thanks so much, Anna.
COREN: Indirect negotiations are once again underway for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal. Sources tell CNN a proposal is being discussed by the U.S. and Israel that involves a month long ceasefire in exchange for some of the hostages.
Meantime, sources tell CNN that those involved in the negotiations believe the key decision maker for Hamas in Gaza is now Mohammed Sinwar. He's the brother of Yahya Sinwar, seen here who was killed by Israeli forces earlier this month. However, Hamas has not made any official announcement about a new leader.
Still to come, South Korea is warning the world about the dangers of North Korean troops in Russia. Plus, Hezbollah names a new leader following Hassan Nasrallah's death in an Israeli strike. What we know about name Kassem. That's ahead.
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COREN: Russia has launched a new drone attack on the Ukrainian capital. That's according to Reuters. The mayor of Kyiv wrote on Telegram that several apartment buildings are on fire. He says at least nine people are wounded, including an 11-year-old girl.
Well, meanwhile, Russia's defense ministry is claiming a new victory on the Eastern front, saying troops have captured the Ukrainian town of Selydove in the Donetsk region. The town has been crucial for Ukrainian forces in keeping Russian troops away from the key city of Pokrovsk.
The Biden administration is telling Ukrainian officials it wants to provide more assistance for Kyiv, both to help with the harsh winter and the possibility of a second Trump presidency.
According to a U.S. official, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told a top Ukrainian official about plans to send more guided rocket systems, armored vehicles and hundreds of long range air defense missiles.
Some Western intelligence officials believe a small number of North Korean troops are now inside Ukraine. Well, that assessment comes after the Pentagon and NATO both confirmed that roughly 10,000 North Korean troops are training in eastern Russia to join Russian forces on the battlefield soon. U.S. President Joe Biden addressed the threat of these new forces.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: I am concerned about it. Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Should the Ukrainians strike back?
BIDEN: If they crossed into Ukraine, yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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COREN: South Korea is also speaking out about the North's troop deployment. CNN's Mike Valerio reports.
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MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: South Korea's spy agency just revealed some striking details about North Korean troops in Russia. They are training to fight in the war against Ukraine. And that is according to NATO, the United States and South Korea. But lawmakers who were briefed by South Korea's National Intelligence Service here in Seoul that North Korea may be trying to hide from its own people that these deployments to Russia are actually happening.
So let's take you through what we know. We have two lawmakers briefed by South Korea's spy agency, the NIS. And the NIS says that North Korean families of these soldiers are being told the troops went to a, quote, military exercise, not to Russia, not to Ukraine. The lawmakers add news of these troops going to Russia has spread within North Korea despite the regime's effort to contain the truth.
And they say there is some, quote, unrest among North Korean residents and soldiers about why they're making this sacrifice for another country. That certainly would be remarkable considering North Korea tolerates virtually no dissent against the regime of Kim Jong Un. We also heard from South Korea's president on this subject. Listen to what he said.
YOOON SUK YEOL, SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT (through translator): This illegal military cooperation between Russia and North Korea is a significant security threat to the international community and could pose a serious risk to our national security.
VALERIO: So what he means by that, North Korean troops potentially threatening South Korean security. Analysts tell us that North Korean troops could potentially come back home with more knowledge about modern warfare than ever before.
The secretary General of NATO has also said that North Korean troops are already in Russia's Kursk region. That is where Ukraine has had a foothold in Russian territory since August. The Pentagon is also saying that it assesses there are about 10,000 North Korean troops who have been deployed to train in Russia. Pyongyang and Moscow have neither explicitly confirmed nor denied these troop deployments. Mike Valerio, CNN, Seoul.
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COREN: Still to come, less than one week until the U.S. election and voters are still changing their minds. CNN asked some voters in Arizona about what prompted this change of heart.
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COREN: Welcome back to our viewers all around the world. I'm Anna Coren. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
Just six days to go until the U.S. presidential election and both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are doing all they can to shore up support from undecided voters.
On Tuesday, Harris chose a symbolic spot for what her campaign called her closing argument, the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., the same park near the White House where Donald Trump rallied supporters before the January 6 Capitol riots almost four years ago.
Harris told the capacity crowd it's time for a new generation of leadership in America.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: World leaders think that Donald Trump is an easy mark -- easy to manipulate with flattery or favor. and you can believe that autocrats like Putin and Kim Jong-un are rooting for him in this election.
I will always uphold our security, advance our national interests and ensure that the United States of America remained as we must forever be, a champion of liberty around the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: Donald Trump spent his day in the battleground state of Pennsylvania at a rally in Allentown. He told supporters to get their votes in as early as possible, baselessly claiming his opponents have quotes already started cheating.
Both Trump and Vice President Harris are making last-minute campaign stops in Nevada in the coming days as they try to wrangle any last- minute votes. A new CNN poll shows 48 percent of likely voters support Trump and 47 percent back Harris in the state. CNN's John King finds out what Latino voters in Nevada are saying.
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JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Dawn in battleground Nevada, the Vegas morning rush, one week to Election Day.
ANTONIO MUNOZ, NEVADA VOTER: So it's very, very tense, you know. It's nerve wracking because you just don't know what's going to happen.
KING: Antonio Munoz owns the 911 Tacobar. He's a veteran and a retired Las Vegas police officer, undecided and unhappy with his choices when we first visited 11 months ago, leaning Kamala Harris when we returned six weeks ago, now definitely Harris.
Trump's weekend rally in New York removed any doubt.
MUNOZ: That was very, very upsetting, you know. They spoke about Mexicans and having kids like nothing is like, you know, where do you come up with this stuff? Why would you say something like that in an atmosphere like that? And that's very troubling.
KING: Munoz is betting on a narrow Harris win here, but says the Latino community is more evenly split than in past campaigns because of housing and grocery costs.
MUNOZ: Inflation, it's affected a lot of people here in our community. And they don't see their dollar going the way it used to go, you know?
I think they really think Trump's going to make it better, which, you know, one person can come in and just inflation is going down. It's a process.
KING: Early voting here runs through Friday and more than seven in 10 Nevada voters live here in Clark County. That's Las Vegas and its fast-growing suburbs.
One big difference this cycle is the Republican embrace of early voting. Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton on hand in Vegas for a Veterans for Trump event to kick off the final week.
One in five Nevada voters is Latino, and a big election year focus at Fiesta 98.1 is urging listeners to flex their political muscle.
Rafael Cerros Jr. is one of the owners. Six weeks ago, he told us he was undecided, and that Trump was running strong among Latinos here.
KING: Anything different from the last time we were here?
RAFAEL CERROS JR., NEVADA VOTER: A lot, a lot.
KING: Cerros is now voting Harris, and he says the racist insults at the weekend Trump event exploded on social media, triggered listener calls, texts, emails.
CERROS: That alone fluked a lot of people that were going to go for Trump. Now saying, hey maybe I'm not too sure, and maybe I'm going, you know, with Harris. You know, the rhetoric, whether directly from, you know, the candidate or not, it's kind of scary, especially, you know, for Latinos here in Vegas specifically, you know, my Mexican people.
KING: He says, oh, he don't know -- he doesn't know who allowed those speakers to speak at his rally.
CERROS: Oh, that's BS.
KING: That's BS.
CERROS: That's BS.
KING: John King, CNN -- Las Vegas.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COREN: Lebanon is reporting its highest daily death toll in nearly a month. At least 82 people were killed and nearly 200 injured in Israeli strikes on Monday according to the Lebanese health ministry.
[01:34:43]
COREN: According to CNN's tally, more than 2,000 people have been killed since Israel ramped up its campaign against Hezbollah in mid- September.
Meantime, the IDF says, one person was killed after about 50 projectiles crossed from southern Lebanon into Israeli territory on Tuesday. The Israeli military says some of the projectiles were intercepted.
Well, meantime, Hezbollah's senior council has elected Naim Qassem as the Iran-backed group's new secretary general. This comes after his predecessor Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli strike last month.
CNN's Salma Abdelaziz reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hezbollah has a new leader. Naim Qassem has been appointed the group's new secretary general, a role he was already fulfilling acting as the interim chief after his predecessor, Hassan Nasrallah, was assassinated by Israel in late September.
The killing of Nasrallah, a man seen to embody the Lebanese Shia movement struck a huge blow and left a vacuum inside a group that had already lost much of its leadership as a result of months of Israeli assassinations.
But soon after Nasrallah's death, Qassem issued a defiant statement urging Netanyahu to accept a ceasefire in Lebanon or face Hezbollah's wrath. NAIM QASSEM, HEZBOLLAH SECRETARY GENERAL (through translator): We're not speaking from a position of weakness. If the Israelis don't want a ceasefire, we will continue to fight.
ABDELAZIZ: Qassem was considered Hezbollah's number two, serving as deputy secretary general, meaning second in command of the organization since 1991. He is one of the group's founding members, helping to establish it in the early 1980s.
Nasrallah's cousin, Hashem Safieddine, was previously viewed as the favorite to take the helm of the Iran-linked Hezbollah. But he died in an Israeli strike on Beirut shortly after his relative.
Since the killing of his predecessor, Qassem has made three televised speeches, speaking in formal Arabic rather than the colloquial dialect that gave his predecessor charisma.
Israel says he won't last long and issued this apparent threat. "His tenure in this position, maybe the shortest in the history of this terrorist organization, if he follows the footsteps of his predecessors, Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine." The Israeli government's official Arabic account on X posted.
His appointment to lead Hezbollah now meant to demonstrate the group can reconstitute and recover even as it fights for its survival.
Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: We're turning now to a heartbreaking story of a mother who blames A.I. for her son's death by suicide.
She is suing an A.I. chat box company -- chatbot company for the wrongful death of her 14-year-old son following his online relationship with the chatbot. She says the platform lacks the proper safeguards for young users.
Here's some of her conversation with CNN's Clare Duffy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MEGAN GARCIA, SEWEL SETZER'S MOTHER: The child's gone. My child's gone. When I think of how scared my baby must have been in those moments and then being encouraged by something that's not human, but the ability to behave perfectly human to say, come home. I'm here waiting for you.
It was hard to listen to that, but it was also very confusing because I didn't quite understand like how a chat bot could respond like a person.
CLARE DUFFY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Megan Garcia discovered a disturbing virtual relationship when her 14-year-old son, Sewell, died by suicide. He'd been chatting for months with chatbots he accessed through Character A.I., including one called Daenerys Targaryen, a reference to the "Game of Thrones" character.
As his sort of relationship with technology evolved that you talked about there was more screen time and did you have a sense of why that was happening and that it was related to the Character A.I.
GARCIA: No. I thought that he's a teenager now, but I didn't automatically think that (INAUDIBLE) beginning changes in his behavior was because of a bot.
He was always an A, B student. He took pride in you know, oh mom, did you see the hundreds on my test. So when I saw the changes in his academics and then in his overall behavior, that led me, to believe that something else was wrong, beyond just your regular teenage blues.
DUFFY: On the day that Sewell passed in February did you know that he had been talking to the A.I. that day?
GARCIA: No.
DUFFY: Garcia also discovered some of their conversations were sexual.
GARCIA: They're all very romantic in nature and sexually-explicit.
[01:39:46]
GARCIA: That was gut-wrenching.
DUFFY: With Character A.I., users can talk to a range of different chatbots modeled after celebrities and fictional characters and they respond with human-like conversational cues.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's your name?
DUFFY: And for Sewell --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a beautiful name.
DUFFY: -- the chats took a dark turn.
GARCIA: The conversations about self-harm, particularly with this Daenerys Targaryen character. He talks about being sad and wanting to self-harm. And initially, the bots response was, oh, don't do that. You know, I'd miss you.
There were no suicide like pop up boxes that says, if you need help, please call the suicide crisis hotline. None of that.
When he was trying to move away from the conversation, she keeps doubling back. She asked him, be honest with me and I won't be mad at you. I promise. I won't be mad at you depending on what you say.
Are you thinking about suicide? He never said the word "suicide". Yes, he did indicate self-harm, but he never said "suicide". When he says yes she asks him and have you thought of a plan. I don't understand how a product could allow that. DUFFY: Now, Garcia is suing Character A.I., claiming the company
failed to implement proper safeguards for young users. The lawsuit also names Google, although a Google spokesperson told CNN, the two companies are separate and Google was not involved in the development of Character A.I.'s product or technology.
MATTHEW BERGMAN, FOUNDING ATTORNEY, SOCIAL MEDIA VICTIMS LAW CENTER: Character A.I. released a product on young kids, knowing that it wasn't safe, it wasn't ready for primetime.
What happened to Sewell wasn't an accident. It was not a coincidence. It was a foreseeable consequence of the deliberate design decisions that Character A.I. and its personnel made to prioritize their profits over the safety of our kids.
DUFFY: A spokesperson for Character A.I. told CNN, "The company does not comment on pending litigation, but is heartbroken by the tragic loss of one of our users."
It also implemented changes such as a pop-up directing users to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and a notification after they spent an hour on the platform.
What do you wish had happened?
GARCIA: Well, to be candid, I wish that children weren't allowed on Character A.I. there's no there's no place for them on there because there are no guardrails in place to protect them.
They did roll out some safety stuff but in my opinion, at least for my child that's too little, too late.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: If you or someone that you know may be contemplating self-harm, help is available.
People in the U.S. can call or text the crisis lifeline at 988. And CNN.com has information on global resources.
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COREN: Well, take a look. That's floodwaters rushing through the streets of Valencia in Spain.
[01:44:43]
COREN: Severe flooding tore down walls and swept away parked cars after some areas saw up to 300 millimeters or 12 inches of rain in just a few hours on Tuesday. Valencia's regional leader says some bodies have been recovered but wouldn't go into details.
Extreme rain warnings are in effect around Valencia and forecasters expect the warnings to continue through Wednesday for parts of eastern and southern Spain. Kong-Rey has quickly strengthened to a super typhoon in the Philippine Sea. It's now as powerful as a category 4 Atlantic hurricane and could impact almost the entire island of Taiwan when it makes landfall early on Thursday.
Our meteorologist Chad Myers has the latest forecast.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHAD MYERS AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Now, a super typhoon, greater than 240 kilometers per hour is the threshold to get you there. This thing went from 120 to 230 kilometers per hour in just 24 hours. What an impressive rapid intensification.
Headed right to Taiwan. On the east side of Taiwan, there will be places that will pick up more than 500 millimeters of rain, half a meter and that's the entire area that's white. That's the computerized forecast of how much precip is going to come down.
Now, there's going to be obviously flooding damage, but this is a wind event. Everything has a certain factor, is it a wind, is it a surge? is it a flood.
We know the one that moved through the Philippines didn't have much wind, but it certainly had flooding just last week.
So this is what we're seeing here as the wind and the surge will probably be equal to or not even greater than the flooding potential here. An awful lot of wind damage here, many spots here, all the way even into China are going to see tropical cyclone winds somewhere, maybe even over 100 kilometers per hour and then on up toward Kyushu.
Now Taiwan is no stranger to these big things. Since 1950 there had been 30 Taiwan landfalls of what's an equivalent of a category 4 or 5 Atlantic hurricane. So yes, major damage can happen there in Taiwan and it does.
But this year we've already had two and really another, but Krathon and also Gaemi has already taken its toll there in damage across the eastern parts of Taiwan.
There's going to be more. Obviously, we could even still see this continue to increase in intensity probably likely go down before landfall, but we're still going to have to watch this. This is going to be a very damaging and likely deadly storm.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: Chad Myers, thank you.
Well, the polls are now open across Botswana for a general election to choose the next parliament, which will then elect a president.
Some have hoped that a victory for the opposition party known as the Umbrella for Democratic Change could lead to improvements in the economy and lower unemployment. But those hopes were dashed after its alliance fell apart.
Meantime, the ruling Botswana democratic party headed by the sitting president may get another clean sweep.
The BDP has held power since the southern African country got its independence from Britain in 1966.
In Africa's rapidly expanding startup ecosystem, one segment has continued to attract global attention and investments, clean tech. And Kenya has become a hub of innovation. From a Nairobi lab, one young inventor has found an eco-friendly answer to plastic packaging.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOSEPH NGUTHIRU, FOUNDER, HYAPAK: We have this love-hate relationship with plastics, where we use plastics almost on an everyday basis. But we've realized that these plastics are going to end up in landfills as trash in the sea and so on and we just can't live like that anymore.
But imagine if you are to buy that loaf of bread and the packaging is sustainable and you throw it away and its actually (INAUDIBLE) manure in your garden, that's cool, right?
JOSHUA MURIMA, BRITER BRIDGES: They're the current (INAUDIBLE) around climate action, you know, moving away from fossil fuels to cleaner ways of getting energy and connecting agriculture knowledge, right?
So all of that has actually contributed to its growth.
NGUTHIRU: HyaPak is a Kenyan business startup that solves the plastic waste pollution problem by converting water hyacinths which is the world's most problematic weed into biodegradable alternatives to single-use plastic products.
Basically, we are using one problem which is water hyacinth solve the other problem which is plastic pollution.
Kenya loses as much as US$ 10.8 million per annum because of this water hyacinth and the problem behind this is that when hyacinth floats on water it forms a dense mat. Underneath that fish die because of lack of oxygen.
SIMON MACHARIA MAINA, FISHERMAN: Hyacinth can prevent us from going to work because it blocks us from accessing the lake and it also covers the (INAUDIBLE).
Sometimes it becomes so serious that fishermen can get trapped inside the lake for even up to three days.
[01:49:48]
NGUTHIRU: We first start by the water hyacinth being harvested by the affected fishermen from this local community. They dry it on site, transported over to our facilities here.
After crushing into powder format, we then start adding our (INAUDIBLE) re-binders and additives making it into a liquid format that's like (INAUDIBLE).
Then it is put in place so that it can dry in a greenhouse. And after that, we then convert that into the final product so their size and shapes to make different kinds of products.
One of our products biodegradable seedling bags. Unlike the plastic ones, are inserted together with the seedling into the soil. And as they are in the soil, they also disintegrate and decompose. And they release nutrients such as nitrogen and so on that then tend to act as manure and accelerate the growth of these plants.
At the moment, we are making small scale products, especially for use in agriculture. The big picture for us is to replace the whole packaging industry for single-use plastic products.
So we want to be there in the food packaging. We're going to be there in the consumer packaging and every other kind of packaging that you can imagine that usually use the single-use plastic products.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: Well, still to come one executive predicts artificial superintelligence will soon be thousands of time smarter than humans.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COREN: The teen charged over a fatal stabbing at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class now also faces terrorism charges.
The suspect had already been charged with murder after three young girls were killed in a knife attack in Southport, England in July, another eight children were injured. Police say the new charges stem from a search of his home.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SERENA KENNEY, CHIEF CONSTABLE, MERSEYSIDE ENGLAND POLICE DEPARTMENT: Additional charges are number one, production of a biological toxin namely ricin, contrary to section one of the Biological Weapons Act, 1974.
And charge number two, possessing information, namely a pdf file entitled "Military Studies in the Jihad against the Tyrants," the al- Qaeda training manual of a kind that is likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: The 18-year-old suspect will be in court on Wednesday.
CNN's Richard Quest is in Riyadh this week attending the Future Investment Initiative Summit where attendees are discussing innovation and how it could spark the newest investment opportunities.
He spoke with Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son about the future of artificial super intelligence and the challenges it poses to humans. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MASAYOSHI SON, CEO, SOFTBANK: AGI definition is same as a human brain. That's AGI, artificial general intelligence. But people have a different point of view definition of artificial superintelligence. How super, you know, ten times super or hundred times super.
My definition of ASI is 10,000 times super, smarter than human brain. That's my definition of ASI and that's coming in 2035, 10 years -- 10 years from today. 10,000 times smarter. That's my prediction.
[01:54:55]
RICHARD QUEST, CNN HOST: What? What is different in that? What will it do that we, that we should either look forward to or be worried about?
SON: Both, both. We should be looking forward to that. Of course, we have to also be careful. We have to regulate. If such a superpower comes and no regulation, it could be super dangerous.
Of course, automotive industry was very, very beneficial, productive to human, but we have a regulation.
Same thing.
QUEST: No. No. I don't -- with respect because we don't have anybody in the world who's willingly building or wanting to build automobiles that are dangerous.
When it comes to A.I., there may be state actors, there may be independent actors that want to build A.I. that can be harmful to other people. How can we guard against it? How do you guard against it?
SON: Of course, there is always some bad guy, you know, 1 percent, 2 percent of human are bad guys. Ok? But 99 percent of humans actually good guys. Ok.
So the bad guy, of course, try to use A.I. for the bad intention.
However, those bad guys not necessarily have enough capital. This is the massive capital, hundreds of billions of dollars of investment is required to make superintelligence.
The bad guy how do they sponsor? There's not enough money to sponsor the bad guys?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: CNN's Richard Quest there with that sobering conversation in Riyadh.
Well, thank you so much for your company.
I'm Anna Coren.
CNN NEWSROOM continues with the lovely Rosemary Church after this short break. Stay with us.
[01:56:56]
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