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Trump Accuses Putin, Weighs Sanctions on Russia; Palestinians Rush for Aid Distribution in Southern Gaza; North Korea Joins Growing Chorus Against Trump's Golden Dome Plan; Brazilian Nuns Went Viral in a T.V. Show. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired May 28, 2025 - 03:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[03:00:00]

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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, President Trump accuses Russian President Vladimir Putin of playing with fire as he reportedly weighs new sanctions on Moscow.

Plus, chaos erupts in southern Gaza on the first day of a U.S.-backed aid distribution venture. Thousands of Palestinians rush the site desperate for food.

And blow back over the Golden Dome. North Korea and others warn America's proposed space-based missile defense system will only make the world a more dangerous place.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Good to have you with us.

Ukraine launched an overnight drone attack on Russia, forcing several airports in and around Moscow to close and ground flights. Russia's defense ministry says more than 100 Ukrainian drones were intercepted by air defense systems.

At least 26 of them were destroyed on their approach to the Russian capital, according to the mayor. There were no immediate reports of casualties or serious damage.

Meantime, Donald Trump appears to be growing increasingly impatient and frustrated with Vladimir Putin amid escalating attacks on Ukraine. Sources say President Trump is now considering slapping new sanctions on Russia, this more than a week after the U.S. says Mr. Putin promised he would send over a so-called memorandum of peace that would lay out requirements for a ceasefire with Ukraine. The White House is still waiting on that document, Moscow says it's working on it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MARIA ZAKHAROVA, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON (through translator): Russia continues to work on a draft memorandum on a future peace treaty, defining a number of positions, such as principles of settlement, the timing of a possible peace agreement, and a potential ceasefire for a certain amount of time, if appropriate agreements are reached.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Let's go live now to CNN's Sebastian Shukla in Berlin, where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is scheduled to meet with the German Chancellor in just a few hours from now. Good morning to you, Sebastian. So what is expected to come out of that meeting?

SEBASTIAN SHUKLA, CNN PRODUCER: Well, I think the discussions around Ukraine and this arrival of President Zelenskyy here in Berlin come at a very timely time for both countries and actually marks the show of force that Chancellor Merz, who's only been in power here for just over 21 days, is showing to Ukraine this will be the third meeting of Merz and President Zelenskyy in that short period of time. We know that he will arrive here around midday, 6 a.m. Eastern time.

That will be followed by a meeting between the two men, followed by lunch, and then there will be a press conference that will be at 7:30 a.m. Eastern time, where the main focus of those discussions and the outcomes of the meetings held before and all of the groundwork done by the two countries ahead of this will look at military aid to Ukraine.

But very specifically, people will be looking here for what Chancellor Merz says about the delivery of long-range weapons, in particular the Taurus missile systems built by Germany and Sweden, which have long been off the table here in Germany to be delivered to Ukraine.

And that is because the previous Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, took a very reticent stance among that, and within his party, the SPD, the Social Democrats, the former ruling party here, made the case that they didn't think it was necessary to send those missiles to Ukraine for fear of further escalation.

Now, what has happened in that time is that there has been a change of Chancellor here in Germany. Friedrich Merz of the Christian Democrats is now the Chancellor. He rules in a coalition with the SPD, that former governing party here, but they are the minority partner.

There are still issues and debates circling whether it's acceptable for the minor coalition partner for Germany to send the Taurus missile systems to Ukraine.

[03:04:49]

So that is going to be a really key outcome of all of these talks, as well as the potential that there is for further military aid packages, whether that comes in the form of other military assistance or even the forms of loans that will allow Ukraine to be able to buy and purchase its own military weapon systems from other countries. So this is a really key meeting, Rosemary, and this also comes at the time where Chancellor Merz is really trying to lay out his platform for how he would like Germany to take the lead in Europe when it comes to Ukraine, and particularly trying to drive the story and the narrative towards bringing this war that's been going on now for several years to an end, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Yes, and Sebastian, Donald Trump is getting increasingly frustrated with Vladimir Putin over his attacks on Ukraine, and may even impose new sanctions on Russia. That's according to sources. What more can you tell us about this?

SHUKLA: Yes, I mean, you alluded to it at the beginning of the top of the show, where you said that President Trump sounds to be growing increasingly frustrated. And if you look at what was said last week by the President, where he said that President Putin had gone crazy after those series of attacks that he had launched on Ukraine.

He took to Truth Social yesterday as well and said, what Vladimir Putin doesn't realize is that if it weren't for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia. And I mean, really bad, all in capitals, he's playing with fire.

And then this sentiment now that coming out of the White House, sources telling CNN that the President is weighing the idea now of imposing sanctions, something that he'd always said that he's not prepared to do at this time, and actually would put him more in line with the European partners, who many of them were in Kyiv a couple of weeks ago and said that if President Putin does not agree to a unilateral 30-day ceasefire, that they would impose up more sanctions, harsher sanctions that already are on the Russian government to force President Putin to the negotiating table.

So this is, again, a changing narrative, or at least a changing opinion of the U.S. President, because he doesn't feel that the Kremlin seems to be particularly willing to listen to the efforts that the U.S. are trying to put into this or listen to the gauntlets that are being thrown down by President Trump to say, you've got to end this in one way or the other sooner rather than later.

CHURCH: Sebastian Shukla in Berlin. Many thanks for that live report. I appreciate it.

Well Palestinian officials say Israeli gunfire killed one person and wounded nine others after a new U.S.-backed venture to distribute humanitarian aid in Gaza erupted in chaos on its very first day. Thousands of people rushed into this distribution site in the southern city of Rafah on Tuesday, tearing down fencing, climbing over barriers and storming the facilities of the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Israel's military fired warning shots over the crowds.

The group is supported by both the United States and Israel, as we mentioned, but it's been widely criticized by the U.N., which warned the group's methods would create security risks and violate humanitarian principles. It comes after an 11-week Israeli blockade of all food and humanitarian aid into the war-torn enclave, pushing more than two million Palestinians closer to famine.

Israel has since begun allowing a small amount of tightly-controlled aid deliveries into Gaza. The U.N. is demanding Israel loosen its restrictions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANE DUJARRIC, SPOKESPERSON TO THE U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: We and our humanitarian partners stand ready to deliver at scale, which is something we've been repeated over and over and over again. International law must be respected and humanitarian operations must be enabled without any further delay.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: CNN's Paula Hancocks joins us now live from Abu Dhabi. Good to see you, Paula. So what is the latest on this chaotic, and now we learn, deadly scenes at the new aid distribution site in southern Gaza, and what plans might be considered to do this safer and better?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, it really was a desperate situation at this particular aid distribution center. It's one that a diplomatic official says to us is a, quote, "surprise to no one." It had been warned by a number of NGOs that this could be a security issue, that this was not the way to distribute aid. And yet what we saw was, as you say, one being killed, nine being injured.

According to the Ministry of Health, they say that the dead and injured were taken to the Red Cross Field Hospital just north of Rafah, where this took place. And they are the ones reporting those injuries and that death to us.

Now we heard from eyewitnesses that there was chaos on the ground, that the thousands of people that were there to get aid were desperate.

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There was a rush to try and get to aid. The Israeli military, according to the eyewitness, shot into the air. We have heard from the IDF saying that they did fire warning shots to bring it under control, but they denied aerial fire toward the site.

Now the GHF, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the American contractors working for them and their workers withdrew from the area. They say that that was to allow a small number of Palestinians to access the aid. They also say it was part of their protocols to make sure that there weren't more casualties.

But what this shows is the sheer desperation of the Gaza population. It also shows what we're hearing from other NGOs, is that this is not the way to distribute aid.

We have heard from the U.N., we've heard from the head of OCHA saying that this format, quote, "appears practically unfeasible, incompatible with humanitarian principles and will create a serious insecurity risk." Now that was said before this security risk actually did happen.

Those NGOs, including the United Nations, are calling for all of the border crossings into Gaza to be open so that they can distribute aid to where it is needed. Let's listen to the spokesperson of UNRWA.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JULIETTE TOUMA, UNRWA COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: The needs are 500 to 600 trucks at the minimum that should go into Gaza loaded with supplies, not only food but also medicine, medical supplies, vaccines for children, fuel, water and other basics for people's survival. And we're very, very, very far from reaching that target.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS: So what GHF is saying now that they are readying three more sites. They will keep this in Rafah. There's also going to be two more sites that they will open up in southern Gaza and one in central Gaza.

Now they did say that they believe they delivered 8000 food boxes, taking up to 462,000 meals. And they think they can increase that by the end of the week to some 1.2 million meals.

So as far as we can see at this point today, they are planning on continuing what they did yesterday, I guess, in the hope that it doesn't turn into the chaos that it did yesterday. But this really goes to show the absolute desperation of people in Gaza that this has happened.

And we have seen it at the beginning of the war as well in the early months when there was desperation trying to get to food and water. And when you consider there's been 11 weeks of no food, water, medical supplies, fuel, anything getting into the Gaza Strip, the NGOs on the ground that we are speaking to say that they are effectively starting from zero, that they need to replenish their stocks to be able to try and give it to the Palestinians that need it.

So the overwhelming voice that we are hearing from those other than GHF, the other NGOs and the United Nations is open all the border crossings, allow us to do our job. But at this point, it does appear as though Israel is set on having this aid distribution center and expanding it by the end of the week. Rosemary.

CHURCH: Paula Hancocks, joining us live from Abu Dhabi with that report. I appreciate it.

And coming up, President Trump is losing the trust of Americans when it comes to his tariffs and trade. We will check out the latest polling on that. Stay with us.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CHURCH: American consumers are getting a little more bullish on the economy. President Trump's claims of progress on trade deals have helped boost consumer confidence for the first time since November.

The Conference Board Index rose 12 points this month, its biggest monthly increase since March 2021. But the enthusiasm may not last long, the President's so-called reciprocal tariffs are set to go back into effect by early July. Economists say prices could start rising in a month or two, bringing renewed inflation concerns.

President Trump's decision to delay 50 per cent tariffs on imports from the European Union sent Wall Street soaring on Tuesday. The Dow gained 740 points, the S&P and the Nasdaq both finished more than 2 percent higher.

Trump says the E.U. has called to quickly set up trade negotiations. But Americans remain skeptical of the President's economic policies, as CNN's Harry Enten reports.

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HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: When it comes to President Trump and his tariff wars, the American people are asking, what the heck is going on out there?

Indeed, let's take a look at a recent CBS News/YouGov poll. Does Donald Trump have a clear plan for tariffs and trade? Guess what? The majority of Americans say no, he does not. 55 percent compared to just 45 percent who say yes.

Of course, in the American public, the independent vote is so important. 64 percent of independents say that Donald Trump does not have a clear plan when it comes to tariffs and trade.

And there's a good reason why the American people are confused. We can see this in this metric, that is the Trade Policy Uncertainty Index.

[03:20:04]

Get this. At this point, compared to a year ago, the Uncertainty Index up 846 percent through the roof, my goodness gracious.

In fact, the Trade Policy Uncertainty Index is higher now than in any month prior to 2025. And this index goes all the way back since 1960. It just seems like every single month this index is showing a new record high because of Donald Trump's policies.

Now, of course, we're thinking about the European Union, right? Will there or will there not be a 50 per cent additional tariff on the European Union? And why is that so important in America? Well, I want you to take a look here. What is number one in America? Who is the number one trade partner with the United States?

Well, when you put the European Union together, they are number one. We're talking 4.9 percent of U.S. GDP in 2024, my goodness gracious. A very large part of the economy. You'll also notice over here, what else is number one? Well, what's

the number one smartphone? It's the iPhone in America. Why is that so important? Because Donald Trump, of course, is threatening additional tariffs on Apple for their iPhone. And that is the number one smartphone with 155 million active units, my goodness gracious.

So if Donald Trump decides to put in these additional tariffs on either Apple for their iPhone or in the European Union as a trading partner, that could have a massive impact not just on the economy abroad, but on the United States as well.

Of course, at this particular point, who the heck knows what Donald Trump is going to do? And that is why the American people believe he has no clear plan when it comes to trade policy and tariffs. Back to you.

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CHURCH: Jens Eskelund is the President of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China and has spent many decades living and working in that country. Thanks so much for joining us.

JENS ESKELUND, PRESIDENT, EUROPEAN UNION CHAMBER OF COMMERCE IN CHINA: Thanks for having me.

CHURCH: So as the head of the E.U. Chamber of Commerce in China, what are the main headlines and of course, the overall sentiment coming out of your latest business confidence survey?

ESKELUND: There's no doubt that this year, the biggest concern by far for European businesses in China is the state of the domestic Chinese economy. We have now had basically since China came out of COVID at the end of 2022, 30 consecutive months of producer price deflation.

And that, of course, leads to marginalization, it leads to a buildup of inventory, it leads to underutilization of assets and a pressure to export, that you have this situation where there's simply not enough demand in the market to absorb what is being produced.

So that right here now is the biggest concern that European companies have. That is followed by geopolitical tension and in particular, the state of affairs between the United States of China.

But the domestic economy is a clear number one in terms of concerns. And that's a concern, by the way, that is shared entirely with Chinese companies. We are in the same situation in this respect, as our local peers in China.

CHURCH: And what has been the overall impact so far of the U.S.-China tariff war on E.U. companies?

ESKELUND: It's actually very interesting. We were a little bit surprised to find ourselves, we did a flash survey just a month ago, that actually the Chinese tariffs on goods being imported from the U.S. have had a higher impact on our members, on the number of members, almost half of our members, than the U.S. tariffs on goods being produced in China, which only impacted slightly less than a third of our members.

And the reason is that most of our companies are in China, for China, they're manufacturing in China for the Chinese market and not so much for export.

But what we are seeing in regards to the Chinese tariffs is that a great many of our members, they have very complex supply chains, where they are relying on one component. It could be a critical specialty chemical, it could be a piece of software, it could be a piece of equipment to maintain the supply chains.

And they are feeling this right now. And also, of course, Chinese export controls. We have a situation now with the rare earth minerals, where the licensing is cumbersome and taking time.

And we hear from our members now that some of them already this week will be impacted now on these export control mechanisms that we are seeing on rare earth. So, we are generally quite impacted by this. And it's something that will have real impact on companies, both in Europe and in China.

CHURCH: Right. Yes, that is fascinating. And I did want to ask you, how would you describe China's standing as an investment destination and how big a role would you say politics is playing in impacting business there?

ESKELUND: This is actually very interesting, because it's a little bit paradoxical.

[03:25:02]

We actually have the lowest business confidence level in China that we have had in the 22 years that we have conducted this survey. 73 percent of our members, and we have 1700 member companies in China. 73 percent of our members are telling us that it has become more difficult to do business in China, only 12 percent of our members are optimistic in regards to their ability to improve on their profits in China, these are the lowest number on record.

But at the same time, we see that the onshoring in China of European companies is actually quite high. 26 percent of our members, more than a quarter, are actually increasing their onshoring in China.

And it has to do with two things. One is, of course, one way that you can sort of protect your supply chain from external shocks is that you're integrating your supply chains in China. But the other fact is that European companies, they are competing globally against other companies.

And the only way that you can win is to offer a better product at a lower price. And today, the only way that you can produce a better product at a lower price, that is to source components that are better at a lower price. And right now, across many, many industries, the one place where you get better components at a lower price, that is right here in China. So it's a little bit paradoxical. Profits are hurting, optimism is

low, but there's still an enormous pressure to actually increase your onshoring and your sourcing of components here in China.

CHURCH: Right. And that is what all countries are finding, isn't it? So in the end, the big question, what impact are you expecting from Donald Trump's global tariff war in the months ahead?

ESKELUND: You know, that's a big question everyone is asking themselves, right? Things are changing by the day. And the first thing many of us are doing, unfortunately, when we wake up in the morning, is to check our phones to see what has happened. I think this is exactly what is weighing the hardest on businesses right now, that's the level of uncertainty that we see.

If there's one thing businesses want, it's a clear line of sights, it's predictability, stability and reliability. You know, if you're going to bet the family farm on a new investment in China or elsewhere, you want to have clarity on what the conditions are, you're going to operate on three, five, 10 years ahead, and that's just impossible right now.

So we see a lot of hesitation, a lot of caution, and also a lot of additional cost and inefficiency, because people simply have to prepare for whatever might happen tomorrow. So what we're wishing for is more predictability, more stability, more reliability in the days and months and years ahead.

CHURCH: Jens Eskelund, thank you so much for your insight. I appreciate you joining us.

ESKELUND: Thanks for having me.

CHURCH: Still to come, a Trump-owned media company makes a massive bid for Bitcoin, and with it comes renewed criticism over potential conflicts of interest.

And North Korea lashes out over President Trump's plans for a Golden Dome space shield. Details just ahead.

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[03:30:00]

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CHURCH: Welcome back to "CNN Newsroom." I'm Rosemary Church. I want to check today's top stories for you.

Sources say U.S. President Donald Trump is considering slapping new sanctions on Russia in the coming days following its attacks on Ukraine over the weekend. President Trump has previously raised the notion of new sanctions on Russia's banking sector and secondary sanctions on buyers of Russian energy products. But it's not clear what specific steps Mr. Trump is considering. The first day of aid distribution for private contractors in southern Gaza devolved into chaos with thousands of Palestinians storming the site on Tuesday. Palestinian officials say one person was killed and nine wounded by Israeli gunfire, the Israeli military says it fired warning shots. The aid distribution was operated by the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, backed by the U.S. and Israel.

The U.S. is no longer recommending COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children and pregnant women. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. offered no scientific evidence to support the change. Medical experts are warning of devastating consequences for at-risk groups.

Well the U.S. State Department has ordered its embassies and consulates around the world to hold off on appointments for new student visas.

[03:34:59]

A diplomatic cable seen by CNN says the agency called for the pause while it develops guidance to expand social media screening and vetting to all applicants. This is the latest move from the Trump administration that could deter international students from studying at U.S. universities.

The administration has already revoked scores of student visas. The diplomatic cable says appointments that were already scheduled can still take place.

In the coming hours, U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance is scheduled to give a keynote address at the 2025 Bitcoin Conference in Las Vegas. His appearance comes amid a notable rollback of regulations in the cryptocurrency industry since President Trump started his second term in office.

The Trump Media and Technology Group has also announced plans to raise $2.5 billion to buy Bitcoin. That would be one of the largest Bitcoin treasury deals of any public company.

CNN's Matt Egan is following the story from New York.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Trump Media is diving head first into Bitcoin. The owner of Truth Social announcing plans to launch a $2.5 billion war chest that would buy Bitcoin.

To do this, they're raising money by selling shares and convertible debt to dozens of institutional investors. The plan is to create what Trump Media is describing as one of the biggest Bitcoin treasury deals of any public company.

Devin Nunes, the former Republican congressman and current CEO of Trump Media, he said in a statement, we view Bitcoin as an apex instrument of financial freedom. And now Trump Media will hold cryptocurrency as a crucial part of our assets. And the company says that this investment will help it defend against what they're describing as harassment and discrimination by financial institutions and also to create synergies elsewhere.

Now, all this is part of Trump Media's broader plan to evolve from kind of a one trick pony in social media to a broader holding company with an America First focus. It's also part of a broader trend of companies adding Bitcoin to their balance sheets. In fact, this comes on the same day that PSQ Holdings, which owns a woke free online marketplace and has Donald Trump Jr. on its board of directors, also announcing plans to explore a digital asset treasury strategy of its own.

Now, this news did not sit well with Trump Media shareholders with the stock falling significantly as existing shareholders are likely to have their holdings watered down by the share sale. It's also not likely to sit well with ethics watchdogs.

Remember, the president back in December announced plans to transfer his stake in Trump Media to a trust of which he is the sole beneficiary. And the trust's sole trustee is Donald Trump Jr. And of course, Trump was backed in the election by the crypto industry, he promised to take a lighter touch when it comes to regulation, and he's largely kept that promise.

The President recently announced the establishment of a strategic Bitcoin reserve, and he's promised to make America the crypto capital of the world. And now the company whose stock ticker symbol is the President's initials is going all in on you guessed it, cryptocurrency. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: The U.S. President has given full pardons to a reality T.V. show couple facing long prison sentences. Todd and Julie Chrisley of the T.V. show "Chrisley Knows Best" were convicted of a conspiracy to defraud banks out of more than $30 million. They were also found guilty of trying to defraud the Internal Revenue Service.

The couple's daughter Savannah Chrisley campaigned for Donald Trump and spoke at the last Republican National Convention. Todd and Julie Chrisley have maintained their innocence and were appealing their convictions.

North Korea is the latest country to condemn President Trump's plan for a massive missile defense system he's calling the Golden Dome. North Korean state media calls it very dangerous and threatening. Details are still unclear on the pricey undertaking, which could be big enough to cover the U.S. and potentially Canada.

CNN's Will Ripley has our report.

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WILL RIPLEY, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The friendly handshakes feel like a distant memory. North Korea is blasting President Donald Trump's planned Golden Dome space shield, calling it an outer space nuclear war scenario, supporting the U.S. strategy for unipolar domination, a typical product of America First, the height of self-righteousness, arrogance. Harsh words, not just from Pyongyang.

Also, China amid its own rapid military buildup. Beijing warns the Golden Dome would violate the principle of peaceful use of outer space, igniting a dangerous space arms race.

[03:40:01]

MAO NING, CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON (through translator): This has a strong offensive nature. It will exacerbate the militarization of outer space.

RIPLEY (voice-over): From China and North Korea to Russia and perhaps someday Iran, the list of America's nuclear armed adversaries is growing. And so are their missile arsenals.

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I promised the American people that I would build a cutting edge missile defense shield.

RIPLEY (voice-over): President Trump's Golden Dome would be the most ambitious and expensive space weapons system ever, $175 billion. Israel's Iron Dome defends cities from short range rockets in a country about the size of New Jersey. Golden Dome would try to shield the entire U.S., shooting down nuclear missiles in orbit before they reach Earth.

But experts say the technology to pull it off doesn't exist, at least not yet.

UNKNOWN: It's been described as hitting a bullet with a bullet.

RIPLEY (voice-over): Missile defense company Lockheed Martin says "we will bring in the best and brightest of American innovation to rapidly develop game changing tech like space based interceptors and hypersonic defenses that will ensure America's Golden Dome stays well ahead of adversary threats."

UNKNOWN (voice-over): -- and destroys the ICBM warhead by force of impact.

RIPLEY (voice-over): Despite hundreds of billions of dollars for research and development, going back more than four decades to President Ronald Reagan in 1983.

RONALD REAGAN, THEN-U.S. PRESIDENT: I know this is a formidable technical task, one that may not be accomplished before the end of this century.

RIPLEY (voice-over): No U.S. missile defense system has ever been proven effective against a realistic, large scale, intercontinental ballistic missile attack, especially one involving modern ICBMs with decoys, multiple warheads or countermeasures.

ANDREW REDDLE, ASSOCIATE RESEARCH PROF. OF PUBLIC POLICY, U.C. BERKELEY: There is a historical precursor to what we're seeing now when it is Star Wars during the Reagan administration. There are echoes of that program and what's being proposed. RIPLEY (voice-over): President Trump's Golden Dome is a bold promise.

TRUMP: We'll have it done in about three years and we will have the best system ever built.

RIPLEY (voice-over): But critics warn it may also be a perilous pipe dream, escalating tensions with U.S. adversaries, not just on Earth, but in space.

RIPLEY: $175 billion is actually a pretty low estimate of what Golden Dome could cost. There's a new estimate from the Congressional Budget Office, putting the total cost at more than $800 billion over 20 years.

Experts doubt if it's even possible to deploy hundreds of satellites to detect and intercept missiles by the end of President Trump's first term in 2029. What's more likely, they say, is this space arms race with adversaries, especially China, already underway, but likely to accelerate if Golden Dome blasts off.

Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: The ninth time was not the charm for SpaceX. Coming up, what went right during the company's latest test flight of its most powerful spacecraft and what went wrong. Back in just a moment with that.

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[03:45:00]

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CHURCH: SpaceX's most powerful rocket launched on its ninth uncrewed test flight on Tuesday.

(VIDEO PLAYING)

But the mission did not go exactly as planned. The Starship spacecraft went farther into its flight path than in previous tests this year, but failed to deploy mock satellites or reignite its engines upon reentry.

SpaceX lost contact with Starship. It's believed the spacecraft likely broke apart over the Indian Ocean after losing control upon reentry to Earth.

Police in Liverpool, England, say they believe the suspect in the parade crash that injured dozens of people followed an ambulance onto a closed-off street. Medics were responding to a suspected heart attack victim. That's where the driver ran through crowds of people celebrating the Liverpool Football Club's Premier League Championship.

The 53-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, dangerous driving offences and driving while unfit through drugs. Police say 11 of the 65 people injured are still in the hospital, but all are stable and recovering well.

Britain's King Charles wrapped up a trip to Canada, where he is head of state, by delivering a ceremonial speech from the throne of the Canadian Senate on Tuesday. He emphasized Canada's self-determination amid annexation threats from President Donald Trump, who claims the country should be the 51st U.S. state.

CNN's Paula Newton has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This was a bold invitation on the part of Canada and Prime Minister Mark Carney, and this was in fact a bold speech, very audacious in terms of its ambition for Canada.

And King Charles, the King of Canada, definitely delivered on the royal ceremony. He and Queen Camilla arrived on an absolutely spectacular day in the horse-drawn carriage, accompanied by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. It was extraordinary and preceded the speech was, by a 21-gun salute.

[03:50:02]

After that, he got down to the substance. And a reminder here that it is the Canadian government, Mark Carney's government, that actually writes the speech and Charles delivers it.

Now, in the beginning, he did have some personal words, saying that every time he comes to Canada, he feels more certainly of Canada going into his bloodstream and right to his heart. But after that, there were several comments about Canada's independence and its sovereignty. Listen.

KING CHARLES, KING OF BRITAIN AND OTHER COMMONWEALTH REALMS: This reminds us, the true north is indeed strong and free.

NEWTON: You know, when the King and the Queen were out and about, there was less than a 24-hour visit, you could see in even speaking to people, the gratitude. There were spontaneous cheers, spontaneous singing of "O Canada" and "God Save the King."

And after Charles' speech, Mark Carney sat down with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and in that interview, he underscored the kind of message he wanted King Charles to send to Canadians. Listen.

MARK CARNEY, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: We are seeing the danger of over-reliance on the United States. We will cooperate where necessary, when it's in both of our interests, very clearly, but we won't necessarily cooperate.

NEWTON: In that last little bit from him, you will hear about the substance of what Canada expects from the United States and its allies going forward. Again, as I say, this was a bold move on the part of Mark Carney, but in policy terms, both at home and abroad, he must now live up to those expectations.

Paul Newton, CNN, Ottawa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Still ahead, an Air Canada pilot airs his grievances over staffing shortages in the industry and a plane full of passengers witnesses the entire rant. We will have that on the other side of the break. Stay with us.

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CHURCH: Welcome back everyone.

An Air Canada pilot was not holding back how he felt about the current shortage of air traffic controllers. He was caught on camera venting his frustrations to passengers on one of his flights.

John Hernandez of CBC News filed this report.

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UNKNOWN: It costs the company a lot of money. It costs business people a lot of money.

JOHN HERNANDEZ, CBC NEWS JOURNALIST (voice-over): Delayed and disillusioned, an Air Canada pilot vents to passengers stuck on the tarmac at Vancouver International Airport.

UNKNOWN: Since we got the time, if you want to write a letter to your M.P. and tell them what's going on, maybe they could address this problem.

[03:55:06]

HERNANDEZ (voice-over): The problem, a shortage of air traffic control workers. Delays and cancellations at YVR have been mounting for weeks, leading to this rant captured by a CBC reporter.

UNKNOWN: We believe that there's a lot of evidence that the people in charge of air traffic control in Nav Canada are keeping, like the air traffic controllers are keeping the numbers low to keep the overtime up.

HERNANDEZ (voice-over): A charge denied by Nav Canada, the private non-profit that operates air navigation across the country. It is in the midst of a major recruitment blitz to ease its labor crunch.

In a statement it said, "We leave no stone unturned in supporting a candidate's success. As a result, we refute any suggestion that controller trainees are disqualified from training in order to protect overtime."

The pilot's union says the shortage is causing problems from coast-to- coast. TIM PERRY, PRESIDENT, CANADA AIR LINE PILOTS ASSOCIATION: Yes, most people that have traveled, I'll say, have noticed a delay or of some sort somewhere across the system, whether it's in YVR or elsewhere.

HERNANDEZ (voice-over): Smaller airlines find themselves particularly vulnerable.

TEARA FRASER, FOUNDER, ISKWEW AIR: Nobody likes getting delayed and it is often the air operator that is blamed for the delay.

HERNANDEZ (voice-over): This indigenous-led airline flies from YVR to Vancouver Island and reports delays nearly every day.

FRASER: So we're getting delays anywhere between 20 minutes and two hours and when you are operating a 20-25 minute flight, that's significant.

HERNANDEZ (voice-over): There are about 2,000 air traffic controllers in Canada. Their union says hundreds more are needed to clear these planes for takeoff.

John Hernandez, CBC News, Vancouver.

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CHURCH: And finally this hour, two nuns go viral in Brazil.

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Brazilian nun Marisel Carciane stunned viewers when she began beatboxing during a Catholic television show. Her fellow sister quickly switched up her dance routine to match the new beat. A deacon then joined the fun with the same dance moves.

The women went on the program "Family of Love" to promote a women's vocation retreat and stole the show.

Love it. Thanks so much for your company, I'm Rosemary Church. Have yourselves a wonderful day.

"Amanpour" is next. Then stay tuned for "Early Start" with Rahel Solomon starting at 5 a.m. in New York, 10 a.m. in London.

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