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Turkey Orders Detention Of Istanbul Mayor And 100 Others; Russia Agrees To Pause Ukraine Energy Attacks; Benjamin Netanyahu Warns Hamas: New Strikes "Only The Beginning"; Astronauts Butch Wilmore And Suni Williams Return To Earth; Judge Blocks USAID Dismantling, Says Musk Exceeded Authority; CK Hutchison Said It Would Sell Ports to Blackrock for $22.8 Billion; Dust Blankets Major Highway in New Mexico; World's Ugliest Animal is New Zealand's 'Fish of the Year'. Aired 2-2:45a ET

Aired March 19, 2025 - 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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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world, and to everyone streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead, a high stakes two hour call between the U.S. and Russian presidents fall short, far short of a full cease fire deal.

More than 400 Palestinians killed in just one day, the Israeli prime minister saying this is, "Only the beginning." And --

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And splash down Crew-9 back on Earth.

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CHURCH: Picture perfect. NASA astronauts are readjusting to life on Earth after an unexpected nine month odyssey in orbit.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Newsroom with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: And we begin with breaking news from Turkey, where authorities have ordered the detention of Istanbul's Mayor along with about 100 other people. That's what prosecutors tell state media. The Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu has -- was seen as a key political rival to Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and this comes just days before the main opposition party is scheduled to hold a primary election where Imamoglu was expected to be chosen as its presidential candidate.

CNN's Paula Hancocks is following developments this hour. She joins us live from Abu Dhabi. So, Paula, what more are you learning about this?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, we do have one significant update, and that is the fact that Imamoglu has now been detained this according to Turkish state media, TRT.

Now, this has been ongoing for some time, there has been legal crackdowns on Imamoglu and others over recent weeks now, we have seen that there were police outside the Imamoglu residence, and they then took him into detention. The charges range from corruption charges to others. We will be hearing more about that in the coming hours.

But as you say, Imamoglu is a key rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Now there were supposed to be elections upcoming of his party, the main opposition party, the Republican People's Party, they were having their primary election, and Imamoglu was widely expected to be the candidate. He would then be widely expected to be a very strong challenger against President Erdogan in the presidential elections, which have to be held before 2028.

Now we have heard from Imamoglu himself. Let's listen to that sound.

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EKREM IMAMOGLU, ISTANBUL, TURKEY MAYOR (through translator): I am saddened to say a handful of people who are trying to steal the will of the people have sent the dear police, the security forces, implicating them in this wrongful doing. Hundreds of police officers have been sent to the door of my house, the house of the 16 million people of Istanbul. We are up against a huge bullying, but I will not back down. I love you all.

I entrust myself to the people, I will be standing tall. I will continue to fight against him and the mindset that uses these processes as an apparatus.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS: Istanbul University on Tuesday also said that it was going to annul the degree of Istanbul's mayor, saying that they were irregularities back in 1990 when he registered for the course, something which Imamoglu has rejected. 38 others also having their degrees nulled.

And what this means is that Imamoglu cannot stand in this primary election if he does not have a degree. Now, he has been very vocally critical of President Erdogan recently, in fact, just yesterday, he was caught on camera saying that the elections have not been held on a legitimate and fair basis. Erdogan government has consistently said that the judiciary is free and they are not putting pressure on any of the courts, Rosemary.

CHURCH: All right, our thanks to Paula Hancocks bringing us that breaking news update live from Abu Dhabi.

[02:05:02]

Well, for the first time since Russia's full scale invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022, Moscow appears ready to make its first concession on the battlefield. After a lengthy phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump, Russia's Vladimir Putin says he will temporarily pause attacks on Ukrainian energy targets. It's not the 30 day cease fire some wanted, but President Trump says he hopes that will come soon.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We had a great call, lasted almost two hours. Talked about a lot of things, and toward getting it to peace, we talked about other things also.

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CHURCH: Russia has launched scores of attacks on Ukrainian power plants and other civilian infrastructure, including this one, which Ukraine's president says shows a new strike on a hospital.

Ukraine, in turn, has stepped up its strikes on Russian oil facilities. There was no discussion of Ukraine giving up any territory during the Trump-Putin call, but a prisoner exchange is planned in the coming hours. Ukraine's president says while he supports the pause on energy attacks, he believes Russia is not ready for a full cease fire.

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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We support all steps aimed at ending the war, but in order to support them, we need to understand what exactly we support. When President Trump has time, he is a busy man, but when he has time, he can call me any time, he has my phone number. We are ready to talk through further steps with pleasure.

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CHURCH: More now from CNN's Jeff Zeleny reporting from the White House.

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JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreeing for the first time to the beginning of a cease fire in Ukraine after a two hour phone call on Tuesday here at the White House. Putin agreeing to a cease fire on energy and infrastructure targets in Ukraine, of course, one step short of a full on cease fire that the Trump administration had been pushing.

Now the administration and Russian officials are saying that they will meet in the Middle East to discuss a broader framework of a cease fire, even as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is raising questions about Russians' true commitment to a cease fire.

There is no question, President Trump has so much on the line here. He has not only welcomed Putin back into the world community after he's been ostracized for some three years or so, but also talking about other business deals and reducing sanctions to come.

But the cease fire agreement, even though limited in nature on energy and infrastructure agreements, certainly is something that cannot be dismissed out of hand. Both Ukraine and Russia are eager to have their targets off limits, if you will. Even as this broader cease fire, the bigger question remains an open one.

Jeff Zeleny, CNN, the White House.

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CHURCH: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is declaring a forceful return to battle with Hamas and is vowing to keep fighting until the militant group is wiped out.

But not all of Israel is on his side. Massive crowds gathered in Tel Aviv to protest his action of shattering the nearly two month long cease fire agreement. Israel's renewed strikes early Tuesday morning killed more than 400 people and injured hundreds more at last check from Gaza's health ministry.

That makes it the deadliest day in Gaza since November 7th, 2023. Gaza officials say more than 170 children were killed in the overnight attack. The United Nations says it's one of the largest single day child death tolls in the past year globally.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The whole world is unjust. These are all children. This is a young child, a girl. Here they are.

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CHURCH: Netanyahu claims Hamas was unwilling to cooperate on extending the cease fire and rejected two U.S. proposals which the militant group denies. The Israeli Prime Minister says there is more fighting to come.

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BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): This is just the beginning. We will continue to fight to achieve all the goals of the war, the release of all our hostages, the elimination of Hamas and the promise that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel.

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CHURCH: CNN's Jeremy Diamond has more details on the Israeli strikes. A warning though, some of the images you're about to see are graphic.

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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Israeli airstrikes once again pounding Gaza, marking the end of a two-month ceasefire and a return to the sights and sounds of war. Civilians rushing to the enclave's barely functioning hospitals, carrying the wounded and the dead. In just a few hours, Israeli airstrikes killed more than 400 people, according to Gaza's health ministry. Hundreds more were wounded.

[02:10:15] It is the single deadliest day of the war since November 2023. And once again, children are among the victims, some too stunned to speak, others silenced forever. Their small bodies motionless on the morgue floor.

Israel says it targeted Hamas commanders, officials and infrastructure, launching the strikes because of Hamas's refusal to release more hostages. Israel now threatening to widen these attacks. Hamas so far not firing

back at Israel, insisting it has been committed to negotiating phase two of the ceasefire agreement while accusing Israel of trying to impose new conditions.

In the daylight, the scale of the devastation becomes all too clear, Hazem al-Janad (ph) was preparing a pre-fast meal for her family when the missiles hit the school they were sheltering in east of Gaza City. Sixteen of her relatives were killed, the youngest just 2 years old.

I have no one left, she says. 16 people killed. Why? They are all civilians.

At another hospital, a father opens a body bag to show the face of his daughter. This is an unjust world, he cries. The whole world is unjust. Here are the children. This is a little girl.

Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad acknowledge a number of their militants and officials were killed in the overnight strikes. But a doctor at one hospital in Gaza City told CNN the majority of cases she had seen were children.

Residents in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza said they had no prior warning of the strikes, which killed families as they were sleeping.

We have been pulling the remains of children since this morning, this man says. Since two in the morning we have been collecting the remains of people from the streets. They are all civilians, children.

The Israeli military now ordering civilians in multiple neighborhoods close to the border to move west as the threat of a renewed Israeli ground offensive looms.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.

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CHURCH: Let's discuss this further with Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli Consul General to New York. He joins me live from Tel Aviv. Appreciate you being with us.

ALON PINKAS, FORMER ISRAELI CONSUL GENERAL TO NEW YORK: Of course, good morning, Rosemary.

CHURCH: So, more than 400 Palestinians killed, many of those children and hundreds more wounded in these latest Israeli airstrikes on Gaza. Why do you think Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suddenly decided to end the cease fire and start this new battle with Hamas, despite considerable resistance from Israeli citizens who worry about the safety of the hostages?

PINKAS: It's not just resistance from the -- for the war, Rosemary, 76 percent in consistent polls, 76 percent in a variety of consistent polls want Mr. Netanyahu to resign.

So, it's not just a backlash on the war. It's much broader than that.

The reason he is doing this is the same reason that he has prolonged the war for the last 17 months. A political motive. The motivation is political. The reasons are political, and political survival is the only overriding principle that he's being -- that is guiding him.

Now, if you look at the decision, as you refer to, to violate the ceasefire unilaterally. Yesterday, this is a result of a confluence of several events. He is trying to distract attention from his dismissal of the head of the general security service, the so called Shin Bet. He is trying to further postpone his testimonies in his trial. He's trying to pass the budget for which he needs a stronger coalition. And he is trying to avoid a National Inquiry Commission into the events leading to October 7th, 2023.

So, you take all of those as a bunch, and you see that there's nothing here, military, there's nothing here diplomatic, it's all about his politics.

CHURCH: Netanyahu says that Hamas was not willing to cooperate on extending the ceasefire and rejected two U.S. proposals, a claim Hamas denies. What's your reaction to his explanation for why he's doing this?

PINKAS: You know, it's -- I find myself in a very weird situation, you know, blaming an Israeli prime minister for violating a cease fire.

But here's the thing, Rosemary, there was an agreement that he signed. He, Netanyahu signed in January, the agreement called for an immediate cease fire for 42 days, after which it will be extended and discussions of a second phase will commence.

[02:15:16]

From midway through the first phase, he started showing signs that he has no intentions of progressing into the second phase, because the second phase requires on day 42.

Today, hypothetically, we're on day 60. On day 42 Israel was scheduled to begin a redeployment or withdrawal, call it what you want in the Gaza Strip, and a permanent cease fire would go into effect. That would have ended the war. He cannot end the war because of the reasons I mentioned a moment ago. So, he unilaterally decided to break the cease fire.

Now, as for Hamas, I have no expectations from Hamas, but there was an agreement. Had he entered phase two, we probably would have seen 10, 12, more hostages being released, and several hundreds of Palestinians exchanged for them from Israeli prisons, he made a conscious choice not to do this. So, while I have zero sympathy for a murderous terrorist organization

like Hamas, I can't fault them here for breaking the cease fire.

CHURCH: And massive crowds, as we mentioned in Tel Aviv are making it clear they don't support Netanyahu's new round of airstrikes. So, where do things go from here, given the Prime Minister is vowing to fight until Hamas is wiped out, and what will this likely mean for the hostages still being held in Gaza?

PINKAS: Well, OK, I'll start with the end of your question, Rosemary. He basically sacrificed the hostages. He condemned them to death.

I mean, unless this stops in the next 48 hours, and I'm just using with 48 hours as an arbitrary time frame. But unless this stops quickly, I doubt that any of them would survive. Some will be killed in bombings and some will be executed by Hamas. This is what they do.

And so, Mr. Netanyahu essentially sacrificed their lives. And he's doing that -- he's doing that callously and brutally and very cruelly.

He has a vested interest, as I said beforehand, he has a vested interest in this going on, in this war being perpetuated. He, in fact, yesterday came out with a statement saying that any further negotiations will be held under fire, rather than in the context of a -- of a new cease fire or a renewed cease fire.

So, I don't have a lot of high hopes in the next few days, unless, and that is a big unless, unless the U.S. administration pressures him seriously to go back to the cease fire. That's the only way out of this mess.

CHURCH: Alon Pinkas in Tel Aviv, many thanks for joining us. Appreciate it.

PINKAS: Thank you, Rosemary.

CHURCH: And still to come, a picture perfect splash down after months in space, we will have the latest on astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams and their long awaited return to Earth, back with that and more in just a moment.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And splash down Crew-9 back on Earth.

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CHURCH: Beautiful, a picture perfect landing after an extended stay at the International Space Station. Astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore are finally back on Earth.

The SpaceX Dragon capsule splashed down Tuesday off the coast of Florida and was greeted by a pod of dolphins swimming nearby. The original mission was supposed to be just eight days, but turned into more than nine months following technical issues with a Boeing star liner spacecraft.

NASA determined the craft was unsafe to return the astronauts home, and decided to rely on SpaceX, which has been ferrying crews to the space station since 2020.

Well, the astronauts are expected to undergo several days of routine health checks at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston and then be reunited with their families.

CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains what the astronauts can expect now that they're back on Earth.

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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It's been 286 days since astronauts, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore have felt the pull of Earth's gravity.

BUTCH WILMORE, ASTRONAUT: Gravity is really, really tough.

GUPTA (voice over): Tough, learning to live with it, but also without it.

JOHN DEWITT, BIOMECHANIST: Our bodies were really built to work in gravity.

GUPTA (voice over): At NASA's counter measures lab, exercise routines and equipment are designed to help prevent astronauts from losing bone and muscle mass while they're in space.

DEWITT: Force is what helps our muscles get stronger. Force is what helps our bones to stay strong. Force is what helps our heart to stay strong by having to pump the blood against gravity.

So, when you take that force away, you all of a sudden lose a really important stimulus that's important for health. It would be the same thing as if someone was confined to a bed because they had an injury for a long time. It's -- people lose their muscle strength. They lose their bone strength.

GUPTA (voice over): That's why astronauts spend hours each day exercising while on the space station. In fact, back in 2012, Williams even showed me how she was preparing to do a triathlon from space so that she could compete with me while I was doing a triathlon on Earth.

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GUPTA: You're going 17,500 miles.

SUNI WILLIAMS, ASTRONAUT: Yes. I'll be done like that. What am I saying? I'll be done way before you, so I'll base it on time.

GUPTA (voice over): But again, we are talking about an unnatural environment for humans.

When you're in space, body fluids shift from the legs to the head and upper body, as much as two liters of fluid. NASA says a natural reaction to this is a decrease in the total amount of blood in your blood vessels, that can result in low blood pressure or hypertension.

We've even started to see how long duration flights directly impacts the brain. Look here, you can see that the brain shifts up ever so slightly in the skull, and the fluid surrounding and protecting it expand.

SCOTT KELLY, ASTRONAUT: To you know, have you know, me being there for such a long time, they can see how that, you know, environmental effects affect us on a genetic level, and what that means to our health.

GUPTA (voice over): Astronaut Scott Kelly knows this better than most people. He spent 340 days aboard the International Space Station for NASA's twin study. That's where they compared his physical state in space to his twin brother Mark back on Earth.

They found that space impacted a host of things, like his eyes, his balance, his gut microbes, his cognitive abilities and even his gene expression. But then, the body has to adapt again when it is thrust back to Earth.

WILMORE: When you get back, gravity starts pulling everything, your lower extremities, the fluid that is shifting to my little puffy face. It's always that way when you're -- when I'm in space and all that fluids going to be pulled to my lower extremities, and it's really going to be different.

Even to lift a pencil, you don't even feel a pencil when you lift it. When we get back, even to lift a pencil, we will feel the weight.

GUPTA (voice over): And it will take time to adjust.

In fact, when Kelly landed back on Earth in 2016, he was actually two inches taller, but then, as gravity took hold, his height, along with most of the other physical changes did eventually go back to baseline. Took about six months, with the study concluding that human health can be mostly sustained for a year in space.

Kelly did, however, find some benefits.

KELLY: When I got back on my previous flight, I was getting a massage at one of these Massage Envy places. The lady goes, you have the softest feet I've ever felt in my life. And she did not know I was in space. And I was like, thank you. I'm very proud of them.

GUPTA (voice over): Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

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CHURCH: Still to come, a rare rebuke from the U.S. Supreme Court for President Donald Trump, what the chief justice is saying about the president's rhetoric on impeaching judges. Back in just a moment.

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CHURCH: Chief Justice John Roberts rebuked President Trump's rhetoric on impeaching judges. In a statement, he said, "For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision." Roberts did not mention Mr. Trump by name, but his statement came hours after the president wrote on social media that the judge who temporarily blocked the deportations of alleged Venezuelan gang members should be impeached.

A federal judge is indefinitely block -- has indefinitely blocked the dismantling of USAID. He said Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE overstepped their authority and actions to shut down USAID likely violated the U.S. Constitution. The judge also said that Musk was performing the duties of leading an agency without being confirmed by the Senate. The Trump administration says it plans to appeal the ruling.

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DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: The Democrats always talk about, oh, our constitution has been violated. The one thing they never talk about is, where did these billions of dollars go? It sounds so nice. USAID, isn't it beautiful? But it's a whole big scam.

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CHURCH: The judge also said, DOGE cannot terminate any more USAID contracts or grants nor fire any more employees or put them on leave. U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to take control of the Panama Canal is facing resistance from China. Officials in Beijing and Hong Kong are speaking out against a deal where a Hong Kong based firm CK Hutchinson would sell ports in the Panama Canal to a group led by U.S. firm BlackRock.

It's leading to doubts that the nearly $23 billion deal will go through. The uncertainty has sent shares of CK Hutchinson down, closing nearly 6 percent lower.

[02:35:00]

Well, still to come, incredible scenes in New Mexico. A storm blankets a major highway with dust, forcing drivers to pull over.

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CHURCH: Imagine driving down the highway and seeing this, an intense dust storm swept across a major highway in New Mexico on Tuesday, forcing drivers to pull over and wait out the storm.

[02:40:00] The videos were taken outside of town, about 50 kilometers northeast of Albuquerque. The storm whipped up dust across New Mexico, Kansas, and Texas.

A sea creature once declared the world's ugliest animal, has had an underwater Cinderella story. The Blobfish has now been voted New Zealand's 'Fish of the Year.' The competition is meant to raise awareness of the country's marine life and its fragile ecosystem. The Blobfish can grow up to 30 centimeters long.

Thank you so much for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. "World Sport" is coming up next. Then I'll be back in about 15 minutes with more "CNN Newsroom." Do stay with us.

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(WORLD SPORT)