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U.S. Military Developing Portable UFO Detection Kits; 2+ Million Palestinians in Gaza Facing a Hunger Crisis; CDC: 11,000 Kids Land in ER After Accidentally Taking Melatonin; Costco Now Selling Gold Bars and Silver Coins. Aired 3:30-4p ET
Aired March 08, 2024 - 15:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:30:00]
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: The truth is out there. And new today, the U.S. military is working on a way to possibly detect life beyond Earth.
The Pentagon developing what's called portable UFO detection kits as officials investigate reports of unknown objects. CNN's Kristin Fischer is here with the details on this. All right, so the Pentagon says the U.S. has never found any evidence of alien technology. What are they hoping to accomplish with these kits?
KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, they still don't know what a lot of these UAPs that have not been identified, they still don't know what they are. And so the Pentagon has announced that they are developing these portable UFO or UAP detection kits. They're calling them Gremlin.
And what they're doing is they're hoping that this will allow them to respond faster to UAP sightings. And then once they get there, they hope that it will allow them to collect a bit better data. And I'll let Timothy Phillips, who's the acting director of the Pentagon's office that investigates UAPs, called AARO, explain a bit more about it.
He says: What we're doing is developing a deployable, configurable sensor suite that we can put in a pelican case -- those big black kind of briefcases, right? And since the UAP target, the signature is not clearly defined, we really have to do hyperspectral surveillance to really try to capture these incidents.
Hyperspectral means across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, so everything from ultraviolet waves and X-ray to radio waves. And then that signature that he's talking about, he's talking about things outside the normal signature of flying objects.
So most jets emit a heat signature because they have a hot engine. A lot of these unidentified UAPs don't do that. And so the U.S. military is testing them at a big range in Texas right now, testing these Gremlin kits.
And then they hope to actually use them over some national security sites, military bases, Navy ships, places where a lot of these UAP sightings have been concentrated.
KEILAR: I love the name of the kit. I will totally say that. What did the new Pentagon report on UAPs released today find?
FISHER: So this report essentially found, according to the Pentagon, no evidence of alien technology throughout the course of the U.S. government's investigation into such matters. However, Brianna, I will also point out that while it does say that, you know, most of the UAPs, it attributes them to ordinary objects, phenomena, and the result of misidentifications, most sightings. But the report which dropped today still does not explain the UAP sightings by military pilots that testified on Capitol Hill. So some big questions still out there.
KEILAR: Yes, they're so serious about what they've seen, and it's just inexplicable. It's one of those very strange things.
Kristin, thank you so much. We appreciate it.
Displaced Gazans say they are struggling to feed their children as Israel severely restricts aid. And when we come back, we're going to talk to the CEO of Save the Children, which is trying to help get food into Gaza.
[15:35:00]
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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Now to some of the other headlines we're watching this hour. Today marks ten years since Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 bound for China vanished with 239 people on board.
Many who lost loved ones on the flight marked the day by protesting outside the Malaysian embassy in Beijing. They want to know why officials have not been able to find the plane's wreckage. While some have called for a new search, the Malaysian government is just now signaling it may indeed launch one.
Plus, two back-to-back scares involving United Airlines flights. The first captured here a wheel, a tire falling off Moments after the plane took off in San Francisco on Thursday, the massive tire landed in a nearby parking lot, crushing multiple cars. Fortunately, no one was injured and the plane was diverted to Los Angeles where it landed safely.
And this morning, less than 24 hours later, a different United plane rolled off a runway in Houston. You see it there. The FAA now says it is investigating what happened.
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Also today, new jobs numbers are in the economy, adding 275,000 jobs last month, a much stronger showing than economists expected. The unemployment rate did jump a little bit at 3.9 percent.
But February was the 25th straight month where the rate stayed below 4 percent. The longest stretch in over five decades, in over 50 years -- Brianna.
KEILAR: Urgently needed aid soon will be making its way to Gaza by sea. The European Commission, the U.S., the U.K. and others are sending aid to Gaza this weekend by a new emergency maritime aid corridor. And the aid can't come quickly enough. At least 20 people have died from malnutrition in Gaza since the war began, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
And one local journalist telling CNN that food aid airdropped by the U.S. in Jordan, it is not enough. Joining me now is Janti Soeripto. She's the president and CEO of Save the Children. Yanti, thank you so much for being with us.
The pictures that we have seen of children killed during the war from airstrikes and the like have been heartbreaking. And now we are seeing them dying from malnutrition. Tell us what is happening in Gaza right now and what is needed to save their lives.
JANTI SOERIPTO, PRESIDENT AND CEO, SAVE THE CHILDREN: Well, what is needed is actually pretty straightforward, Brianna. What we need is a ceasefire. We need the bombing, the shelling, the fighting to stop. We need hostages released. We need aid to come in big time.
And we need to make sure that aid workers like Save the Children and others can do their work safely and securely, not endangering our own staff, but also the people that were there to help.
KEILAR: Tell us about the dan -- I'm sorry, Yanti, please go on.
SOERIPTO: What we're seeing happening to children there is truly horrific and we're really running out of words to describe it. Children, as you said, are now not only dying from the violence and the fighting and get buried under the rubble, but they're literally dying from hunger. Not enough trucks with supplies are making it in.
Even the ones that make it in are then very hard to distribute the food, the clean water, everything else to children and families inside of Gaza because of that fighting and because it's hard to get around. We're trying everything we can to make sure our supplies make it to those families, but it is absolutely inadequate at this point in time.
KEILAR: Tell us about the experience of Save the Children with the problem of getting aid in because we've heard issues with, you know, there might be a small type of scalpel that's in a maternity kit and that gets an entire shipment turned around or perhaps there are toys that are in a wooden box instead of a cardboard box. That gets an entire shipment turned around. What are you experiencing as an organization?
SOERIPTO: Yes, I was there at the Rafah Crossing last month. I also saw the hundreds of trucks waiting in Arish to try to get in and that was at a time when an average of about 130, 150 trucks a day were making it in.
Currently, we're looking at only 30, 40, maybe 50 trucks making it in on a daily basis. So instead of seeing an increase of supplies making it in, we're actually seeing a reduction. And once trucks make it inside Gaza, often some of these deliveries then, particularly to the north of Gaza where 250,000 people have had almost nothing over the past 150 days, those trucks are then particularly not making it through to the north.
KEILAR: What toll is this having on kids right now who are experiencing, of course we're seeing this, the violence, the malnutrition, and they're experiencing the trauma. They have nowhere safe to go as they are also experiencing hunger.
SOERIPTO: There's nowhere safe to go. They're dying from hunger. I was talking to one of my colleagues who was there a few weeks ago and he was literally looking at incubators in a hospital where small newborns were sort of three to four babies to one incubator. And doctors were telling him that they were sending home premature babies to die because they felt they had to triage and focus their efforts and scarce resources on babies that were more likely to make it. So that is the reality currently in Gaza for children.
KEILAR: Janti, we appreciate your time today and for telling us what is happening there on the ground. Janti Soeripto with Save the Children. Thank you.
SOERIPTO: Thank you for having me.
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KEILAR: And for more information about how you can help humanitarian efforts in Israel -- in Gaza, go to CNN.com/impact or text relief to 707070 to donate.
We'll be right back.
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SANCHEZ: A new CDC report finds that about 11,000 kids have been rushed to the ER after accidentally taking melatonin without supervision. CNN health reporter Jacqueline Howard joins us now. Jacqueline, how are these kids getting their hands on melatonin to begin with?
JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: What's happening, Boris -- we know that melatonin is becoming more and more popular as a sleep aid for adults, but these products are not required to have childproof packaging.
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So if you have melatonin gummies and you leave them out and a young child sees them, they can easily mistake it for candy, get into it, ingest it, and that can result in some of these accidental exposures.
So what we know, looking at the data between the years 2019 and 2022, there were about 11,000 emergency room visits among kids, infants who accidentally ingested melatonin, and that number represents about 7 percent of all ER visits among young children.
And I will say about half of those visits were specifically in ages 3 to 5. Now, thankfully, most of the ER visits, about 93 percent of them, did not require the child needing to be hospitalized. But, Boris, this is a good reminder for parents and any adult, really. If you have young children in the home, make sure that your supplements and medications are put out of sight and out of reach because it could potentially lead to these kinds of exposures if kids get their hands on melatonin or any other supplement -- Boris.
SANCHEZ: So, Jacqueline, what happens when a kid takes too much melatonin? What kind of symptoms are we talking about?
HOWARD: Most of the time, thankfully, the symptoms aren't really severe or serious, but what could happen? We know that melatonin poisoning can lead to nausea, vomiting, changes in heart rate or blood pressure, drowsiness, headaches, dizziness. And, of course, if you do have a young child who accidentally took any of your supplements or medications, definitely call your pediatrician's office immediately and seek that medical attention as soon as possible, Boris.
SANCHEZ: Jacqueline Howard, thank you so much for that update -- Brianna.
KEILAR: Costco really has everything, and it is expanding its precious gems game. The big box retailer recently started selling gold bars, and now it's added Canadian silver coins to the mix. Apparently, shoppers and investors are loving it.
CNN Consumer Reporter Nathaniel Meyersohn is here. It's not just rotisserie chickens. It's gold bars, silver coins, in addition to computers and mattresses and food. Tell us why.
NATHANIEL MEYERSOHN, CNN CONSUMER REPORTER: Yes, Brianna, the rotisserie chickens are still the most popular item at Costco. But in the past few months, we've seen Costco move into precious metals, and it's happening because gold prices are spiking.
Gold prices are at all-time highs, looking at about $2,000 an ounce. And we're seeing gold rise because it's a safe haven for investors. You know, it's pretty tumultuous out there, so we see people trying to buy these safe haven assets.
And we also see interest rates going down or projected to go down, and gold becomes more attractive as the Fed considers cutting rates.
So Costco's getting in at the right time, and last quarter it sold $100 million worth of gold bars, so certainly helping its sales here.
KEILAR: That's a lot of gold. All right, so what's the strategy behind this?
MEYERSOHN: Yes, it's not just about the sales, but Costco has this Treasure Hunt appeal at its stores, and it sells some pretty unusual stuff. Of course, we have the $1.50 soda hot dog combo. That's a staple. But you can also go to Costco to buy a $400,000 diamond ring. You can buy a sauna there, even go on vacation, take a trip to Hawaii or a cruise. So they're really trying to sell themselves as this one-stop shop with these unexpected items, kind of surprising products you can find.
And the strategy is paying off for Costco. You know, it's been one of the few brick-and-mortar retailers that has been able to survive this kind of retail apocalypse and all of these bankruptcies that we've seen the past few years. So, you know, maybe Amazon will have to take a page from Costco's playbook and start selling these $2,000 gold bars.
KEILAR: We'll have to see. They just show up on your doorstep, and hopefully no one steals them, I guess. Nathaniel, thank you so much. We appreciate it.
All right, coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL, why many people consider this coming Sunday one of the worst days of the year.
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KEILAR: Finally, a reminder that we will all be losing an hour of precious sleep this weekend. Do not shoot the messenger. At 2 a.m. Sunday morning, most Americans will spring ahead. We'll be moving our clocks forward by an hour for the start of daylight saving time.
SANCHEZ: Now, this is a controversial idea, this saving daylight. It was put into practice first in World War I to save fuel and power in the United States. The U.S. made it permanent during most of World War II.
KEILAR: And then in the energy crisis of the 1970s, we tried permanent daylight saving time again. But it was unpopular, and Congress switched the U.S. back to standard time.
SANCHEZ: Yes, adding to the debate over whether this time change is a good idea. Studies over the last 25 years have shown that the one-hour change can really disrupt your body and your sleep cycle. And you may wind up like I did, getting up really early at 3 o'clock in the morning yesterday, taking melatonin and having a weird dream involving SpongeBob.
KEILAR: SpongeBob, so weird.
SANCHEZ: I'm still trying to make sense of it.
KEILAR: Not even scratching the surface to tell you simply that it was about SpongeBob, but --
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SANCHEZ: There was a bayonet.
KEILAR: It was a lot.
SANCHEZ: There was a wound.
KEILAR: You know, I don't like it. I like falling back. That's a treat in the fall.
SANCHEZ: It is.
KEILAR: I do not like springing forward. I don't like that it's daylight saving singular.
SANCHEZ: But you can't have falling back without springing forward, because then you just fall back all the way.
KEILAR: You know, with all your sense-making, Boris, I don't know. There's a lot of sense you're making.
SANCHEZ: We hope we made some sense. My dream certainly did it. Thanks so much for joining us this afternoon.
KEILAR: "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now.
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