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CNN Gains Exclusive Access to Ukraine's Hospital Train; Trump Backs Out Debate Rematch Despite Harris' Plan to Hold Another One; Pope Francis Wraps Up Tour In Singapore; Young Chinese Couples Choose Pooches Over Parenting. Aired 2-2:45a ET
Aired September 13, 2024 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to all of you watching us around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is "CNN Newsroom."
As pressure mounts to let Ukraine use long-range missiles deeper inside Russia, a life-saving hospital train is bringing patients back from the front lines. We'll have an exclusive report.
Donald Trump backs away from another debate with Vice President Kamala Harris despite claiming victory in round one.
And China could soon have more pets than toddlers. It's a trend that has the government worried.
UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Kim Brunhuber.
BRUNHUBER: We begin with a high-stakes meeting in Washington set to begin later on Friday. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has arrived in the U.S. Capitol, where he's scheduled to meet President Joe Biden. Their talks are expected to include potentially giving Ukraine the go- ahead to conduct strikes deeper inside Russia with Western missiles. But Russian President Vladimir Putin is telling them to think twice before doing that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): This is their direct involvement. And this of course would, in a significant way change the very essence, the very nature of the conflict. It will mean that NATO countries, the United States and European countries are at war with Russia.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visiting Poland indicated that the permission is on the table. Ukraine has been asking for a green light to strike deeper inside Russia for months. And President Biden is now coming under domestic pressure to allow that. Here's what Secretary Blinken said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Look, a hallmark of what we've done from day one, in fact, even before day one, of the Russian aggression against Ukraine in 2022 was to try to make sure that Ukraine has what it needs, when it needs it, to deal with that aggression. And as what Russia's doing has changed, as the battlefield has changed, we've adapted.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: The White House has condemned a Russian attack that killed three Red Cross workers in Ukraine. A video shows the group's truck in flames after coming under artillery fire on Thursday. The Red Cross says its staff was preparing to distribute cooking supplies to other humanitarian workers who were injured.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirms Russia has launched an operation to recapture its territory held by Ukraine. Moscow claims it has already taken back 10 settlements in the Kursk region. Ukraine says it's holding about 1,300 square kilometers of territory and about 100 settlements there. The Pentagon is describing the Russian counterattack as marginal. President Zelenskyy says it's in line with what Ukraine expected.
All right, I want to bring in Michael Bociurkiw, who's a global affairs analyst and a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. He joins me now from Odessa, Ukraine. Before we get into some of the issues, I just saw you were tweeting about explosions in Odessa. Give me a sense of the latest there and the mood there in Ukraine.
MICHAEL BOCIURKIW, GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST AND SR. FELLOW, ATLANTIC COUNCIL: Sure. Good to be with you, Kim. Yeah, it was a pretty scary night, about 2:30 local time. A big, big wave of Russian drones coming over the Black Sea towards Odessa. Air defense systems went into motion, which is why I'm able to talk to you now, which is why we have power right now.
But it was all things considered, it was quite a big one. And yeah, the mood here. Look, there was a big conference here yesterday on Odessa's economic future and everyone's trying as much as they can to stay here, to make businesses work, to survive. But with this almost daily onslaught of drones and missiles, especially targeting power infrastructure, it's very, very difficult. So it also great fears in terms of what's going to happen to the winter, the heating season only a few weeks away.
BRUNHUBER: Right. So as I mentioned, the Biden administration is facing more pressure to allow the use of Western and American weapons for attacks deep in Russian territory. So first, what's at stake here? Why does Ukraine feel that is so important?
BOCIURKIW: Sure, well, you know, Ukraine is a big country about the size of France and it's impossible to defend it from incoming missiles, especially those high-speed ballistic missiles with air defense systems alone. Hence, Kyiv is arguing that it needs to be able to strike the launch pads from where these missiles come deeper inside Russia.
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Up until now, Western-supplied missiles like the Stormshadow or ATACMS have been limited to Russian occupied territories Crimea etc. But with further range, for example, the Anglo-French storm shadow has a range of about 250 kilometers they could they could strike some of the airfields from which these missiles are being launched.
And also, what's fueling this, I think, is news that Iran is sending a new shipment of short-range missiles to Russia range about 120 kilometers and Kim If those missiles are launched from Belarus, they could actually strike Kyiv. So that's, I think, accelerated the whole discussion here.
BRUNHUBER: Now, Russia has again warned that allowing Ukraine to strike deeper into Russian territory could dramatically escalate the conflict. We played that clip there from Putin warning that it would essentially mean that Western countries are at war with Russia. And that's why the Biden administration has been cautious to this point.
So why if they do change, why now, what's different now than it was six months ago or two years ago aside from the issue of -- of the Iran ballistic missiles?
BOCIURKIW: Yeah. Well, first of all, with Mr. Putin, I mean I personally believe he's bluffing as he has many times. I don't think he will escalate that much further. We've seen the lack of their capabilities when Ukraine invaded Kursk. But what's different now as I think but a couple of things really I think They've seen the way the Ukrainians have managed the deployment of tanks, of F-16s, of other weaponry, which they were very, very reluctant to give earlier on.
And I can't help but think there's a little bit of domestic political calculation going on. You may remember Kamala Harris in that debate with Mr. Trump brought up Polish-Americans living in Pennsylvania. Well, there's a big Ukrainian community as well, you know, big Baltic community. So I think the administration is signaling that we have your back, Ukrainians, Baltics, Polish citizens, and we will help Ukraine push back Mr. Putin.
And then, you know, there's legitimate fears finally that if Mr. Putin is not stopped, he could go further into Europe. And hopefully these missiles will make him think twice about that.
BRUNHUBER: You brought up domestic politics as it intersects with foreign affairs. We saw in the U.S. presidential debate asked twice. Donald Trump wouldn't say that he supported Ukraine to win the war. And then this is what his running mate had to say yesterday. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), U.S. VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think what this looks like is Trump sits down. He says the Russians, the Ukrainians, the Europeans, you guys need to figure out what does a peaceful settlement look like. And what it probably looks like is something like the current line of demarcation between Russia and Ukraine. That becomes like a demilitarized zone. It's heavily fortified so the Russians don't invade again.
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BRUNHUBER: So, I mean, that is what a Trump presidency could mean for Ukraine. How worrying are those comments, do you think, for Ukraine and for its allies?
BOCIURKIW: Oh, extremely worrying. It would go over like a lead balloon. And I think not only those remarks, Kim, but also what Mr. Trump said, he was asked twice whether he supports Ukrainian victory he did not answer.
I think it's clear that the Trump campaign, the Trump side, will try to make a quick deal with Mr. Putin, but not in Ukraine's favor. And I think what would happen, God forbid, would that the Trump presidency would stop aid to Ukraine and try to push them for a deal. But look, the end of the day, no Ukrainian president, given the mood here, no Ukrainian president can negotiate a deal where so much Ukrainian territory is being given up.
So I think it's up to the Russians, to Mr. Putin, to perhaps meet with Zelenskyy and his team in a neutral place like Turkey and hammer out a deal. But there's no way Ukraine can give up so much territory. It's just not on the books here.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah, and no sign that such a discussion is anywhere close to happening. We'll have to leave it there. Really appreciate your analysis, Michael Bociurkiw in Ukraine. Thank you so much.
BOCIURKIW: Thank you.
BRUNHUBER: And CNN got an exclusive look inside one of Ukraine's hospital trains used to evacuate wounded soldiers from the frontlines. It's equipped with ultrasound scanners, ventilators, and life-support machines. CNN Chief International Anchor Christiane Amanpour spoke to some of the staff and the soldiers onboard, and were not identifying by their full names or revealing the train's route for obvious security reasons.
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CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR (voice-over): On a hot late summer morning, departure time is fast approaching at this railway station in Ukraine. But this is no ordinary train. It's a hospital on wheels, evacuating dozens of wounded military personnel away from the eastern front as Russia's brutal offensive grinds on.
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Paramedics carefully loading patient after patient, many of them unconscious, onto repurposed carriages. It's a highly organized special operation and it's never been seen
before. CNN gained unprecedented and exclusive access to what so far has remained a closely guarded military secret.
Before the train moves off, I meet 35-year-old Olexandr, wounded by a drone strike, which has caused him to go deaf in one ear. His call sign is positive, but he doesn't feel it.
OLEKSANDR, UKRAINIAN SOLDIER (translated): I'm very tired, but these are hard times. And we must keep fighting no matter how it is.
AMANPOUR: Do you feel that you have enough? Do you have people, enough weapons to defend?
OLEKSANDR: No.
AMANPOUR: You don't have enough?
OLEKSANDR (translated): Not enough, no. There are not enough people. And there definitely are not enough weapons.
AMANPOUR (voice-over): As the train rolls on, we make our way to the intensive care unit, where several soldiers are on life support. Bed after bed of broken and battered bodies. Lives shattered in an instant. 90 percent of the wounds being treated here are from shrapnel.
And yet, many of these patients know they'll be patched up just to be sent back to the front as soon as possible. This train and its cargo sum up Ukraine's state of military affairs, mostly ordinary citizens who've answered the call, outmanned, outgunned by Russia, and yet still putting up a hell of a fight.
Nurse Yulia makes this journey twice a week.
AMANPOUR: How do you feel being in here with these very badly wounded soldiers? How does it make you feel?
(voice-over): I'm an empathetic person, so it's difficult, she tells me. But you have to switch off your feelings at the moment of work, and later you can reflect.
And the story of frontline morale is on display here too. If electrician Oleksandr was feeling down after 18 months fighting this brutal war, Stanislaw, who signed up in March, is still full of patriotic fervor. He can still summon a smile, even though he has shrapnel in his body and damage to his lungs.
STANISLAW, UKRAINIAN SOLDIER (through translator): Personally, I was ready for it. I was ready to trade the shower stall, the good sheets and the bed, the good conditions that I had at home for a foxhole. I knew where I was going and what I was doing.
OLEKSANDR, UKRAINIAN ARMED FORCES MEDIC (through translator): The most difficult part is evacuation from the front line. Combat medics who work on the front are dying, just like soldiers. AMANPOUR (voice-over): As these carriages rumble on through fields of
gold, think for a moment of history repeating itself in Europe, when thousands of ambulance trains evacuated casualties from World War I's trenches, more than a million to the U.K. alone.
Tonight, darkness descends as we arrive at the destination and suddenly there's activity everywhere again.
As ambulances line up, collecting and dispatching to hospitals across the country. On the platform, the railway chief describes his pride and his sorrow.
OLEKSANDR PERTSOVSKYI, CEO, PASSENGER OPERATIONS, UKRAINIAN RAILWAYS: You see these kids who are saying goodbye to their dads who are heading towards the front lines. So seeing those same guys coming back, effectively unconscious or with amputations, it feels like the price of the war is incredible.
AMANPOUR (voice-over): Like a conveyor belt, industrial scale conversion of healthy young men and women into this.
And yet as one of them told us, Ukraine is strong and motivated. While Russia has quantity, we have quality and we will win.
Christiane Amanpour, CNN, Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: We're getting a rare look inside North Korea's nuclear program. The reclusive nation has released images of leader Kim Jong- un touring a uranium enrichment facility. State media says the site is used to produce weapons-grade material for Pyongyang's growing arsenal.
Kim pledged to exponentially expand his nuclear inventory during a speech on Monday celebrating the country's founding. Now it's not clear when or where these newly released pictures were taken.
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Israel's military is defending its actions after one of its strikes in central Gaza killed at least 18 people, including six U.N. employees. The Israel Defense Forces claims three of the six UNRWA staff were members of Hamas but didn't immediately provide any evidence. At least 44 other people were wounded.
The IDF admits to carrying out Wednesday's strike on the UN school turned shelter where thousands of displaced people have been seeking refuge. Israel's military claims Hamas was using the location to plan and execute terrorist attacks. The U.N. says the three people accused by the IDF were, in fact, teachers.
More now from CNN's Nic Robertson in Tel Aviv.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: So the single deadliest strike of U.N. workers, UNRWA workers, inside of Gaza since October 7th. Six of them killed, 18 people total killed in these Israeli strikes on this U.N.-run school in Gaza. 12,000 people were seeking shelter there, 44 other people injured.
It is the fifth time that this particular UN-run school has been hit. These are places of shelter and food distribution for people who've lost their homes inside of Gaza. The U.N. Secretary General is saying that these types of attacks must stop.
The U.N. Director of UNRWA Operations inside of Gaza has said that if they are allowed, these types of strikes are allowed to continue, then this will undermine international humanitarian law, undermine the Geneva Conventions, and the statistics here in this particular case are staggering.
Five times the school has been hit. 70 percent of U.N. UNRWA-run schools across Gaza have been hit since October 7th. 220 UNRWA employees have been killed so far in Gaza, according to the Irish Foreign Minister condemning the attack earlier today. Now, the IDF says that they were targeting a Hamas cell there. It was a command and control center for Hamas.
The IDF says that they tried very carefully to avoid civilian casualties. Indeed, they say three of the U.N. employees there were members of Hamas. Now, the U.N. has pushed back, UNRWA has pushed back very clearly on this and said these three people that the Israelis claim were working for them but being members of Hamas at the same time, they're saying there's no evidence to support that.
The lists that the IDF gives to the U.N. claiming Hamas members working for the U.N. These names don't exist on those lists. That's what the U.N. is saying at the moment. But the reality here is, for all those civilians living inside of Gaza who depend on the U.N. for these shelters in U.N.-run schools, they are all at risk.
The IDF says that they will strike Hamas operatives where they have intelligence that leaves them there. They will try to minimize civilian casualties as best they can. But in this case, 18 civilians killed, 44 wounded.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Tel Aviv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: After the break, the hopes of Democrats climb after Kamala Harris' debate performance, but will that optimism be reflected in brand new voter polling? We'll have more on that coming up. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: About 33,000 Boeing union members are set to walk off the job in less than an hour. This would be the first strike at the beleaguered airplane maker in 16 years. Union members rejected a proposed four-year contract, even though union leadership had described as the best it had ever negotiated. It would have given employees raises of at least 25 percent over the life of the deal.
Now, it comes after a series of problems at Boeing, including layoffs and the shifting of some work from a unionized assembly plant to the company's one non-union factory. Boeing is also dealing with quality issues with its planes and its Starliner spacecraft.
Spirits are rising within the Democratic Party days after this week's presidential debate. The Harris campaign says it's raised $47 million in the first 24 hours after the showdown, one of its strongest single fundraising days yet.
But in the first major post-debate poll, the Reuters and Ipsos survey found a little change in the numbers from August. Harris is narrowly ahead with the support of 47 percent of registered voters nationwide while Donald Trump is hitting 42 percent and Harris was only two points lower prior to the debate.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump says he won't participate in another presidential debate. But Kamala Harris' team isn't taking that promise seriously. A senior Harris advisor predicts there will be a second debate between the two and the U.S. Vice President says she wants to go another round. Here she is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS (D), U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Two nights ago, Donald Trump and I had our first debate. And I believe we owe it to the voters to have another debate because this election and what is at stake could not be more important.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: At a rally in Arizona on Thursday, Trump continued to attack Tuesday's debate moderators over fairness. He said they only corrected him and not Harris.
Republicans are at odds amongst themselves over far-right activist Laura Loomer. She's known for peddling conspiracy theories and has recently been spotted with Donald Trump. CNN's Elle Reeve has the story.
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LAURA LOOMER, FAR-RIGHT ACTIVIST: The official drink to America first.
ELLE REEVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is far-right activist Laura Loomer and white nationalist Nick Fuentes cheering to --
LOOMER: To the hostile takeover of the Republican Party.
NICK FUENTES, WHITE NATIONALIST: Absolutely.
REEVE (voice-over): And they're not wrong. Both met personally with Donald Trump. I first met Loomer in 2017 at an event for Manosphere influencer Mike Cernovich. At the time, Loomer was an activist who'd celebrated the deaths of Muslim migrants. But she was being harassed by white nationalist trolls, because she's a Jewish woman.
Since then, she's taken a strange trajectory, with years somewhat in obscurity because she'd been banned from so many social media sites, like Twitter. When Elon Musk took over Twitter, she came back. She does stunts like ambush interviews.
LOOMER: Frank, why aren't you supporting President Trump? I'm a successful investigative journalist.
REEVE (voice-over): Loomer recently told CNN she's not anti-Muslim. Now, some might dispute that she's entered the mainstream. But she's reached the former president's elite inner circle.
Flying to the presidential debate on Trump's plane and to New York as he observed the anniversary of 9/11, a notable appearance since Loomer has pushed the false conspiracy theory that 9/11 was an inside job. She's been seen with Trump a lot.
LOOMER: We're here at Bedminster. I'm with the greatest president ever.
REEVE (voice-over): After rumors circulated among right-wing Twitter users, including Loomer, that Haitian immigrants are eating people's pets in Ohio, Trump repeated the claim in the debate.
DONALD TRUMP (R), U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They're eating the dogs, the people that came in.
REEVE (voice-over): I spoke to Loomer before the debate. She told me she's attacked as a childless woman who devotes all her time to a man who will never pay attention to her, meaning Trump. But Trump does pay attention to her and reads her reports.
TRUMP: Laura, how are you? You look so beautiful, as always. You don't want to be Loomer. If you're Loomer, you're in deep trouble.
LOOMER: Good morning, everybody. My name is Laura Loomer.
REEVE (voice-over): She ran for Congress twice and lost. But she told me she built a constituency among the very pro-Trump voters in the villages, a retirement community that's important in Florida Republican politics. She called them boomers for Loomer, and they were paying attention when she began attacking Governor Ron DeSantis for having the temerity to run for president against Trump.
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Loomer told me one of her donors let it slip that DeSantis was running for president in 2021. So on the first stop on the DeSantis book tour, she stood in front with a Trump sign and a t-shirt.
Despite her new closeness to the former president, some pro-Trump Republicans are very against her.
REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): Her rhetoric and her tone does not match the base, does not match MAGA, does not match most Republicans I know, and I am completely denouncing it. I'm over it.
REEVE (voice-over): Elle Reeve, CNN, New York.
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BRUNHUBER: Germany is firing back at what Donald Trump said about its energy policy during his closing remarks at Tuesday's debate. Now, Kamenzee criticized Kamala Harris for not doing more in her three and a half years as vice president. Here he is.
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TRUMP: You believe in things that the American people don't believe in. You believe in things like, we're not going to frack, we're not going to take fossil fuel, we're not going to do things that are going to make this country strong, whether you like it or not. Germany tried that, and within one year, they were back to building normal energy plants.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Well, Germany's foreign ministry went on X to clear up the matter and to poke fun at another of Trump's false claims. The post said, quote, "like it or not, Germany's energy system is fully operational with more than 50 percent renewables and we are shutting down, not building coal and nuclear plants. Coal will be off the grid by 2038 at the latest. P.S.: We also don't eat cats and dogs."
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland is implicitly pushing back against Donald Trump and his allies for threats and attacks against Department of Justice employees and for trying to use the DOJ as a political weapon against their real or perceived enemies. We have more now from CNN's Brian Todd.
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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An indignant attorney general takes aim at those who he believes have leveled threats against prosecutors and other staffers at the Department of Justice.
MERRICK GARLAND, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: We will not allow this department to be used as a political weapon.
TODD (voice-over): In an impassioned speech to justice employees, Merrick Garland said it's dangerous now for people at the department to simply do their jobs. And he condemned what he called the escalation of attacks against government lawyers, law enforcement agents and others. GARLAND: These attacks have come in the form of conspiracy theories,
dangerous falsehoods, efforts to bully and intimidate career public servants by repeatedly and publicly singling them out, and threats of actual violence.
TODD (voice-over): Garland never mentioned former President Donald Trump by name, but it was clear the recent actions of Trump and his allies fueled much of his frustration.
TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA, WHITE HOUSE BUREAU CHIEF, "THE WASHINGTON POST": The former president definitely amped up the threats against the Department of Justice, and he has been threatening to put people in jail who work for the Department of Justice, who work for election offices, by threatening them with this idea that they were cheaters during the election.
TODD (voice-over): Indeed, in recent days, Trump threatened prosecution and long prison sentences for election officials and political workers who Trump suggested could cheat in this year's election. The former president, posting on Truth Social, quote, "When I win, those people that cheated will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law." It's part of Trump's efforts to cast doubt on the integrity of this year's election, even though there's no evidence of widespread fraud or irregularity in any recent U.S. election.
Trump has often suggested recently that he would weaponize the justice system to go after his political opponents if he's elected again, even though during the recent debate he accused the Democrats of doing that to him with the recent criminal prosecutions against him.
TRUMP: They weaponized the Justice Department. They used it to try and win an election. They're fake cases.
TODD (voice-over): Garland defended the department's integrity.
GARLAND: There is not one rule for friends and another for foes. One rule for Democrats and another for Republicans.
TODD (voice-over): And he reiterated his prosecutors and agents won't be intimidated by political attacks.
GARLAND: But it is dangerous and outrageous that you have to endure them. He's worried about election-related violence.
OLORUNNIPA: He's worried about Trump inspiring someone who may take what he is saying and run with it and feel like they need to take things into their own hands.
TODD: At certain points in his speech, Merrick Garland seemed to express real exasperation with the attacks on the Justice Department. He thanked prosecutors and other department staff for refusing to bend to politics and break under pressure. Garland said, quote, "you deserve better."
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
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BRUNHUBER: Pope Francis is heading back to Rome. Coming up, details of the Catholic leader's 12 day tour across the Asia Pacific, his longest yet. Stay with us.
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to all you watching us around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
Pope Francis left Singapore little while ago and is flying back to Rome. The Catholic leader received a farewell ceremony with local and national leaders at Singapore's airport. Just prior to his departure, the pontiff earlier met with Singapore's president and prime minister and celebrated mass for tens of thousands of people.
Pope Francis was on the final leg of his 12-day tour of the Asia- Pacific region, which also includes visits to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and East Timor.
As CNN's Christopher Lamb reports, the pontiff had a message of hope, an interfaith understanding.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Pope Francis has concluded the longest trip of his papacy, the 12th day marathon visiting Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Singapore.
For the 87-year-old pope, it's been a chance to highlight key themes of his papacy fraternity, protection of the environment, inter- religious harmony.
POPE FRANCIS, CATHOLIC CHURCH (through translator): The church desires to increase inter-religious dialogue in this way, prejudices can be eliminated and a climate of mutual respect and trust can grow.
LAMB: And an opportunity to showcase his vision of a church that goes to the peripheries.
Despite health difficulties and his use of a wheelchair, the missionary pope seemingly energized by his time in the region.
Getting a rock star welcome wherever he went, and in East Timor, almost half the population attending a papal mass.
Asia is an increasingly influential in the Catholic Church and Francis in a region of geopolitical importance.
In the background, China. The Vatican long working to rebuild ties with Beijing and support Catholics in the atheist state.
Francis in Asia, underlining that the Catholic Church is not European or Western but global.
Francis still has plenty of challenges. In East Timor, the scourge of clerical sexual abuse involving high-profile members of the clergy. The pope urging leaders to tackle the problem.
POPE FRANCIS: We are all called to do everything possible to prevent every kind of abuse and guarantee a healthy and peaceful childhood for all young people.
LAMB: His visit likely to be remembered as the pope's most ambitious and pointing to the future of the church.
Christopher Lamb, CNN, Singapore.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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BRUNHUBER: This year has seen a record breaking number of fires in South America. Satellite data analyzed by Brazilian researcher shows 346,000 fire hotspots so far this year on the continent. That tops the previous record of 345,000 for the entire year of 2007. Brazil and Bolivia have dispatched thousands of firefighters to try to control the flames, but remain mostly at the mercy of extreme weather fueling the fires.
Now, smoke billowing from the Brazilian fires has darkened the skies above major cities feeding into this massive diagonal corner of wildfire smoke that can even be seen from space.
Authorities in California have charged a man with arson in connection with the Line Fire. It scorched roughly 150 square kilometers in San Bernardino County. It's one of several large wildfires in the state. The blaze got so intense, it created its own fire clouds, which eventually matured into a full fledged thunderstorm. NASA captured an image of this massive pyrocumulus clouds rising from the flames.
Now another blaze, the Airport Fire has burned almost 100 square kilometers in Orange County and is 5 percent contained. Evacuation orders are still in effect. Firefighters hope Friday's cooler and calmer weather will help them get a handle on the fires.
All right. Still ahead, pets over parenting. Young Chinese couples are putting off starting a family, choosing to pamper their pooches instead. We'll have that coming up.
Please stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: They're called canine conundrum for the Chinese government. Beijing needs its young people to start families and help ease the worsening demographic crisis, but instead of pacifiers and prams, couples are choosing a hairier path.
CNN's Marc Stewart reports. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Married for seven years, Hansen (ph) and his wife, Momo, may resemble China's family of the future.
Do you have any children?
HANSEN, BEIJING RESIDENT: No, not yet.
STEWART: Are you planning on having children?
HANSEN: Not right now. Not this period of time.
STEWART: The only parenting they're doing in revolves around there six dogs.
MOMO, BEIJING RESIDENT: Yes. They're all part of our family where one big family.
HANSEN: It's like our children. It's like our daughters, our sons.
STEWART: A reflection of the independent-minded younger generation in China, where having children is no longer a priority.
HANSEN: Different generations handle things differently.
STEWART: According to a recent study by Goldman Sachs, the number of pets in urban China is expected to surpass the number of children aged zero to four by the end of the year. By 2030, there could be nearly twice as many pets in urban China, than young children.
Business opportunity for this doggy daycare owner who has also chosen not to have kids.
TAO, OWNER, SPACE DOG DAY CARE: I feel like people start to be more, like this is what I want or this is what I like for my life, rather than like, oh, this is what the society taught me to do, or this is what my parents want me to do.
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STEWART: Officials reported a record low birth rate last year as the population decreased for the second year in a row, a sharp dip partly due to COVID lockdowns, while analysts expect a rebound this year, it is still a blow what to the world's second largest economy, once so worried about overpopulation it limited most urban couples to a single child, even forcing abortions and sterilization.
At a women's conference last year, Chinas strongman leader, Xi Jinping, lecture delegates to foster a new type of marriage and childbearing sure the message is clear for Chinese women get married and have babies.
But some women choose to have puppies instead. This new newfound had popularity comes at a time when the Chinese
government is offering things like financial incentives and time off from work all with the goal of promoting parenthood yet for many young Chinese, none of this seems to matter.
MOMO: I don't think my choice for not having a kid would make much of a difference for China.
STEWART: The country's leadership very much begs to differ as they doggedly try to boost China's birth rate and its economic strength.
Marc Stewart, CNN, Beijing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: All right, before we go imagine, if you will finding a Lego that's been stuck in your nose for nearly three decades. Well, that's exactly what happened to Andy Norton who shoved a Lego piece in their nose as a child and didn't realize it was still there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLPI)
ANDY NORTON, FOUND LEGO STUCK IN HIS NOSE: I was a kid playing with my Legos as most children in the '90s did and I had the greatest idea to take one of those little dots Legos and I don't know, I just thought maybe I could just stick it in my nose. I was going to stick the Lego man my nose and tried to connect the piece on the top of the head like a little hat. The Lego had popped off in my nose at this point. I've panicked loudly and my mom came in. So she grabs a pair of tweezers and she, you know, tilts my head batch, she officials out this Lego head.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Well, 26 years later after dealing with breathing issues and doctor told Norton to blow their nose in the shower. That's when this Lego piece came out. Norton says, they don't know what to think, but hopefully they can now breathe easier. So many questions.
All right. Thanks for watching. I'm Kim Brunhuber.
Stay with us. "WORLD SPORT" is next. I'll be back in 15 minutes with more CNN NEWSROOM.
[02:45:00]
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