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Palestinians Hope Announced Ceasefire Ends War in Gaza; Hostage Families Keep Hopes High for Ceasefire Deal; TikTok Users Face Uncertainty as U.S. Ban Approaches. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired January 17, 2025 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster. If you're just joining us, here are today's top stories.
Donald Trump's cabinet nominees facing intense scrutiny on Capitol Hill. Confirmation hearings are well underway in the Senate with Trump's pick for Department of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, expected to appear before the committee today.
Firefighters in California are seeing some progress as they battle blazes in Los Angeles. The state's Department of Forestry and Fire Protection says the Palisades Fire has reached 27 percent of containment and hasn't grown in the past 72 hours. More than 5,000 firefighters are battling that blaze.
Israel's Prime Minister says they've reached a deal with Hamas to release hostages and end fighting in Gaza. A security cabinet meeting is thought to be underway to approve the deal which would phase out or go into phase one initially of a ceasefire agreement. After that the government will vote on the deal as well.
Now in the enclave, Gaza's civil defense says Israeli strikes have killed more than 100 people since the announcement of the ceasefire agreement on Wednesday. The death toll includes at least 27 children. Palestinians are desperate for an end to 15 months of war.
A warning, the report you're about to see does contain graphic video. CNN's Jomana Karadsheh and the heartbreak of the past 24 hours in Gaza.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Joy and relief with the announcement of a deal. Finally, the moment they've been longing for.
We want to go back home. We just want to go back to school and learn, she says. This is the most amazing day.
At least that's what it seemed. But the bombs didn't stop. Shortly after the agreement was reached on Wednesday, another round of Israeli strikes. The military says it's still going after Hamas targets. They brought those same horrific scenes the world has watched on repeat for 15 bloody months.
The ceasefire is set to begin on Sunday, and so many in Gaza fear the days before that will only bring more horror. And when the guns do fall silent, if they do, it will be the start of a new difficult and painful chapter for those who survived the bombs, the bullets, the siege and starvation as they begin to pick up the pieces of lives left shattered beyond recognition. Homes gone and loved ones who didn't live to see this day.
I don't know how I'll go back to Gaza City to continue living without my children, Mahmed (ph) says. I dreamt of the day of going back with them by my side, playing. They were gone in the blink of an eye. Hala was four, Ahmed two, killed in an Israeli strike in the first month of the war. Two of nearly 18,000 Palestinian children killed.
A ceasefire only means the killing will stop, their mother says, and she will finally have the chance to grieve.
Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: An update on our top story. CNN has confirmed that the Israeli security cabinet is meeting now to discuss the ceasefire deal with Hamas. They're expected to vote on it before sundown and it appears to be on track for a full cabinet vote, which will be on Saturday.
The ceasefire deal would halt the fighting and lead to the phased release of dozens of hostages held in Gaza. The truce also calls for a surge of humanitarian aid into Gaza and for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners to be freed.
There's been fierce backlash from far right members of his ruling coalition, namely national security adviser Itamar Ben-Gvir, who is threatening to pull his Jewish power party out of the Netanyahu government, which could be the first step towards it collapsing.
Israel's cabinet facing more pressure then from hostage families to sign on to the ceasefire deal too. The families held their latest rally in Tel Aviv last night, calling on the government to accept the agreement. 94 hostages are still held in Gaza, including more than 30 who were believed to be dead, and that's according to Israel.
Amongst the hostages is Edan Alexander, an IDF soldier captured during the Hamas rampage on October 7, 2023. He was shown in a video released by the militant group less than two months ago, which was the first confirmation to his family that he was still alive. Earlier, his mum described the emotional roller coaster the family's been going through in recent days.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
YAEL ALEXANDER, MOTER OF EDAN ALEXANDER: The deal is going to happen, like we are going to see something on Sunday or Monday. We're going to start seeing releases of hostages. It's very emotional.
Like yesterday, I was sitting watching the television, seeing the Prime Minister of Qatar giving the statement that the deal is on, and then President Biden, and, you know, I'm crying. It's very emotional to know that the deal is coming. We are not sure that our son is in the list, and we don't know when we are going to see him.
ADI ALEXANDER, FATHER OF EDAN ALEXANDER: We have to stay hopeful, and just to convey the message to the negotiating teams, both Qataris and Israelis and our American team, do not wait those 16 days in order to move to a second phase.
[04:35:00]
We have to start to negotiate immediately for the second phase, five minutes from now. So hopefully between now and 42 days from now, we will see our son getting out.
Y. ALEXANDER: Edan -- Edan is a beautiful kid. He's so friendly, so caring. I just, you know, I miss him so much. I dream about him a lot. Like I dream about the moment that I'm seeing him, and I can just hug him and just to tell him like how much we love him and how much we fight for him.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Well, Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian is in Moscow, where he's expected to sign a new partnership deal with Russia in the next hour. That's happening a day after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer met Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskyy in Kyiv. The two countries signed their own partnership agreement, pledging cooperation on maritime security and other issues for decades to come.
Other European leaders have worked to strengthen Ukraine's hand in possible peace talks with Russia, which could be pushed by the incoming Trump administration. Mr. Starmer followed suit, promising to work on future security guarantees for Kyiv.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEIR STARMER, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: We must look at how this war could end, the practical ways to get a just and lasting peace. We agree that it must be a peace that guarantees your security, your independence, and your right to choose your own future. We will work with you and with all of our allies on steps that will be robust enough to guarantee Ukraine's security, guarantee any possible peace, and deter any future aggression. That conversation will continue in the months ahead.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: China is reporting better than expected economic growth ahead of fresh tariffs from U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. The National Bureau of Statistics says the gross domestic product grew by 5.4 percent in the fourth quarter of last year. Growth came in at 5 percent for the full year. Much of the momentum came from exports, which propelled the country's trade surplus to a record high of just under a trillion dollars last year. The government also launched an economic stimulus package in September.
Now despite dozens of countries that produce cotton, Africa imports more than $23 billion worth of textiles, clothing and footwear every year.
That is according to a 2023 UNESCO report. Connecting Africa correspondent Victoria Rubadiri looks at how one Kenyan designer is trying to keep the value chain within the continent to boost the fashion sector.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATUNGULU MWENDWA, FASHION DESIGNER: With Katush, we try to do or to create items that are 100 percent made on the continent here.
I've been very adamant that sourcing should be from as close to home as possible. This is a result of growing up in an environment where, like particularly in Kenya, the textile sector was not very strong.
VICTORIA RUBADIRI, CNN CORRESPONDENT CONNECTING AFRICA (voice-over): To reach the showroom floor, Katungulu Mwendwa production process started in the cotton fields of Western Uganda.
MWENDWA: Using or working with materials that are locally or easily available would then sort of allow me to create that something that is quite unique and specific to identity and who I am and where I come from.
RUBADIRI (voice-over): 37 African countries produce cotton. The designer says she often sources her raw materials from a variety of countries.
MWENDWA: Over the last few years, we've been quite lucky that some of the farmers have started again with farming. The mills have also started sourcing cotton from Uganda, from Tanzania as well.
RUBADIRI (voice-over): Once turned into yarn, a portion of it is brought to hand weavers like these in Nairobi, Kenya. She showed me how the artisans bring her clothing to life.
RUBADIRI: Walk us through what's happening here.
MWENDWA: OK, so at this particular stage, they're actually weaving the fabric. It's arrived as thread at this particular point before it's then loomed and then woven into the fabric that I would like at the end.
RUBADIRI (voice-over): But she says sourcing from within the continent comes with its own set of challenges.
MWENDWA: It was very expensive to bring in other textiles. So you'd find that you're paying up to almost 50 percent, including the cost of shipping, bringing in all of these other material inputs, which means that our product is then priced at a premium in comparison to, let's say, some of the competitors in the market.
RUBADIRI: What do you feel this kind of does for the larger African fashion industry when they see you going down to the basics like this looming? Yes, right. I mean, you're showing the possibilities and what can happen.
MWENDWA: West Africa is thriving at it. They have a longstanding history and culture with textiles, so does Ethiopia. So for us as Kenyans, it's not necessarily there.
[04:40:00]
So in this moment, it's sort of allowing brands like myself to be able to create sort of a unique and different aesthetic that I think we can all benefit from. And also the creative freedom to be able to express ourselves and to create or to explain or to refine our identity, I think it's key.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: TikTok users in the U.S. have just two days left before a new ban on the app takes effect. Millions are hoping outgoing President Joe Biden, incoming President Donald Trump or the U.S. Supreme Court will intervene at the last minute. Now, some who initially opposed the APP appear to be trying to save it.
Trump is said to be weighing a plan to delay the ban. And on Thursday, two Democratic senators unsuccessfully pushed for a 90-day extension to give TikTok time to divest from parent company ByteDance.
CNN's Anna Stewart has more on the distress amongst TikTok content creators and the push for alternatives.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SCREAM) I'm not ready.
ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Emotions are running high for TikTok creators.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is like the first place that I have felt like I could just be myself.
STEWART (voice-over): For many, it's not a hobby. It's a job.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This has changed my life financially.
STEWART: TikTok has 170 million monthly users in the United States. And by its estimate, some 2 million content creators could lose $300 million in just one month.
STEWART (voice-over): Estella Struck founded a marketing agency to help sustainable brands grow on social media. ESTELLA STRUCK, FOUNDER, VIVIENE NEW YORK: I have been telling my creators to prepare for this and all of their TikTok videos and repurposing them to YouTube shorts and then Instagram trial reels. We will see a new era of new creators rise to the top.
STEWART (voice-over): Gohar Khan got into not one, but six Ivy League colleges. He then started creating TikTok videos in 2020, giving college advice. Now he's partnered with companies including Google, Best Buy, and Adobe and earns up to five figures a post.
GOHAR KHAN, TIKTOK CONTENT CREATOR: It wasn't after I secured my first brand deal when I realized that this could be possible financially and that I could potentially make a living from this.
STEWART: A lot of people just say it's simple, just, you know, move to a different platform. Is it that simple to just replace the monetization you get on TikTok with, say, Instagram?
KHAN: Definitely not. So repurposing your content or reposting your content to these other channels, that part is simple. But to assume that the other channels and that these other platforms will pick your content up in the same way, that's difficult because the TikTok algorithm is different from, say, the Instagram reels algorithm or the YouTube algorithm.
STEWART (voice-over): If TikTok is banned, the app won't necessarily disappear from people's phones.
ELIANA GHEN, TIKTOK CONTENT CREATOR: It's not really going anywhere. You just can't download it. So at least we'll have time before, like, the bugs take over.
[04:45:02]
Wow, I feel like I'm in, like, we're in a zombie apocalypse.
STEWART (voice-over): Nobody really knows what will happen on day one. It's likely to be unavailable on app stores for download or updates. One solution for the creatives. Find a new content home.
Anna Stewart, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Elaine Burke is a science and technology journalist and the host of the For Tech's Sake podcast. She joins us from Dublin, Ireland. Thank you so much for joining us.
I mean, Anna's talking to something very real here for the creators, and that is that they make money in a certain way on TikTok. They're rewarded for views, aren't they? If you switch to something like Instagram, it's much more about sponsorship and endorsements. So they're going to be hit very hard by this if it does come through next week.
ELAINE BURKE, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY JOURNALIST: Absolutely, yes. For some people, it is probably their main source of income and has been something that was created solely through that TikTok platform because of the unique way that it functions.
Also, there's, I think, 7,000 U.S. employees of TikTok as well who I'm sure are in a state of the unknown as it approaches this weekend. And they have been assured, apparently internally, that things will be OK, but it's hard to see what's the future for them in this kind of current state where we don't really know what's happening.
FOSTER: Yes, it is pretty unsettling. The other issue people have with jumping to other apps is that, you know, there's lots of talk about trying to find apps that aren't owned by Elon Musk or by Mark Zuckerberg. This is like a young Gen Z, Gen A generation, isn't it?
And there's a real defiance amongst them because, you know, this idea of going to RedNote, for example, you know, a lot of the motivation behind that is, you know, about sticking with a Chinese app because they want to and they don't want to be told what not to do.
BURKE: Yes, the RedNote influx of users, it does seem to be an active defiance from the so-called TikTok refugees. I think they've had a surge of 700,000 sign-ups. And you can see videos from those creators saying that they're learning Mandarin to properly interact with the app. They're saying that they're there because it is in defiance of the incoming TikTok ban. And actually, RedNote or Xiaohongshu, as it's been known in China, is now struggling to moderate all this English- language content which is now on the app because at the end of the day, an app that is active in China and among Chinese users does have certain content regulations that it needs to meet in terms of how the Chinese government wants to see these apps working.
So as an outsider coming from the EU, it is interesting watching these interplays as well because you have the argument coming from the States that the problem with TikTok is it's connection with the -- its potential connection through its parent company to the Chinese government.
And in the EU, we're looking at apps like Instagram and all the Meta platforms who are now, through their CEO, cozying up to the Trump administration. So their ties to that administration causes pause for users of those platforms as well.
FOSTER: Yes, I mean, Donald Trump is, you know, he speaks to every story at the moment, doesn't he? But it was interesting to see him invite the CEO of TikTok to appear at the inauguration on the stage. That's obviously raised hope amongst TikTokers that Donald Trump is going to save the platform.
Why do you think he might do that, considering his beef with Chinese trade and spying?
BURKE: Yes, it's quite a turn from Trump because actually the first talk of a potential TikTok ban for U.S. users was initiated under his administration and it just didn't follow through during his term. And then the current ban came through this act that was brought forward as an add-on to a foreign aid bill. So the progression of this has been bumpy and has been contentious, but it does seem like that it's crunch time now and that the Supreme Court may rule to support the ban. And the powers that the President has to overturn that are also being called into question. There is leeway within the structure of the ban that the President can provide kind of a stay on the ban, a delay, if progress has been made towards an acquisition deal.
Because the -- and the push is that TikTok can continue in the U.S. if it has a U.S. owner of its U.S. operation. But by all accounts, TikTok has not progressed in any way towards a deal because it has been adamant that it will not sell its U.S. operation. So to kind of have that caveat come into place by Monday is quite unlikely.
But an executive order may be signed on Monday. That's another thing that's speculated upon. But everything is really still in question as to how this is going to move forward.
[04:50:00]
FOSTER: Yes, including the idea that you could detangle the U.S. app from the rest of it and who gets control of the algorithm. So it'll take forever to work through that process of American buyer taking over. But Elaine, thank you so much for joining us from Dublin. Much more on her podcast of course.
And now this is just into CNN. A court in Russia has sentenced three attorneys for the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny. They were charged with belonging to an extremist organization and received between three and a half and five and a half years in a penal colony. A legal group says the sentencing is a gross violation of legal principles because they were simply providing clients with the legal defense.
Navalny himself died in prison while serving a sentence on similar charges, all of which he denied.
The Hollywood drama surrounding Blake Lively and her co-star in the movie "It Ends With Us" seems to have no end in sight. Just ahead, we'll fill you in on the latest lawsuit.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: A master of surreal and erotic imagery has died at the age of 78. Film director David Lynch gained fame with his haunting TV melodrama Twin Peaks about the murder of a homecoming queen. He made the seedy conspiracy movie Blue Velvet, set against a college student's return home, and he plunged an aspiring Hollywood actress into a cryptic underworld in Mulholland Drive.
Lynch's use of bizarre images often left fans puzzled and enthralled, and they called him a visionary. He won the top prize at Cannes and received four Oscar nominations. Lynch had emphysema, but his family gave no cause of death.
Carl MacLachlan starred Twin Peaks, and Blue Velvet said simply, I'll miss him.
The controversy between actors Blink Lively and Jason Baldoni are showing no signs of going away. The two starred in the movie "It Ends With Us," a story about an abusive marriage.
Now, dueling lawsuits are accusing each other of harassment, creative battles, and a Hollywood smear campaign. CNN Entertainment correspondent Elizabeth Wagmeister has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: The legal battle between Hollywood actors Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni has just escalated and gotten even more messy, as Justin Baldoni has filed his own lawsuit against Blake Lively, and not just Blake Lively, but also her husband, megastar Ryan Reynolds, and also their publicist.
Now, this comes after Lively had filed a civil rights complaint one month ago, where she alleged that she was sexually harassed by Baldoni on the set of their film, "It Ends With Us." Now, "It Ends With Us" centers around a couple dealing with the issue of domestic violence, and that couple is played by Lively and Baldoni.
Well, in Lively's civil rights complaint, she alleged not only that she was sexually harassed by Baldoni, but also that after she raised concerns about that alleged misconduct that she was then retaliated against because Baldoni's team had allegedly orchestrated a sophisticated smear campaign behind the scenes to ruin her career.
Well, now in his new lawsuit, Baldoni is saying, not so fast. It was actually Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, and their team who smeared me.
[04:55:00]
Now, in the complaint, I want to read you a direct quote. It says quote: Lively wields immense power as one of the world's best-known celebrities. She set out to destroy plaintiffs' livelihoods and businesses if they did not bend to her incessant demands. And when they refused to give way, she did exactly that, accusing them of foul and reprehensible sexual misconduct.
Now, I have reached out to Baldoni's attorney, who tells me that they have copious amounts of evidence that will prove that Baldoni did nothing wrong. And part of that evidence, he says, is text messages, video footage, and emails. Well, in his lawsuit, which, by the way, is 179 pages, Baldoni includes text messages.
And one of those text messages even brings Taylor Swift into this legal saga. Now, Taylor Swift is very close friends with both Lively and Reynolds. I have reached out to Taylor's team. We have not heard back.
Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE) FOSTER: Lively's team tells CNN that, quote: This latest lawsuit from Justin Baldini, Wayfarer Studios, and his associates, is another chapter in the abuser playbook. This is an age-old story. A woman speaks up with concrete evidence of sexual harassment and retaliation and the abuser attempts to turn the tables on the victim.
Lively's attorneys go on to say, quote: The strategy of attacking the woman is desperate. It does not refute the evidence in Ms. Lively's complaint. And it will fail.
SpaceX chief Elon Musk says it looks like a propellant leak caused the Starship spacecraft to disintegrate just minutes after launch. Video shows burning fragments falling from the sky, briefly delaying commercial airline flights as well in Florida.
No one was aboard the spacecraft, which was set to deploy mock satellites as part of a demonstration. SpaceX managed to capture the reusable super-heavy booster rocket between two extended arms in a tower that was off the Texas coast. Incredible.
Thanks for joining me here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster in London, CNN "THIS MORNING" up after the break.
