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Israel, Hamas Working on Ceasefire and Hostage Plan; Court Restores Trump-imposed Tariffs; Diddy Combs' Assistant Testifies at the Criminal Trial; New Study Reveals that Part of the World's Oceans Are Getting Darker. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired May 30, 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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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Well, welcome to all of you watching us around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is "CNN Newsroom."

Working out the details, Israel and Hamas trying to come to terms on a U.S.-backed ceasefire and hostage release plan. What could come after the potential truce?

Off again, on again. Court rules that the Trump-imposed tariffs are back in place for now, though the fight could end up at U.S. Supreme Court.

And the world's oceans are getting darker, according to researchers. We'll talk to one of them and find out what it could mean for ocean life.

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

BRUNHUBER: Israel and Hamas are hashing out the details on a new U.S.- backed ceasefire and hostage release plan. An Israeli official says it calls for the release of 10 living and 18 deceased hostages and a 60- day truce.

Hamas says it's willing to turn over all the hostages, but it has some demands. The group wants assurances that the fighting won't resume after the 60-day truce. It also wants all humanitarian assistance carried out through U.N. channels, and it's demanding the IDF pull back to positions they held on March 2nd before Israel relaunched its military operations.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond has a closer look at the U.S.-backed plan.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, listen, this is the latest U.S. proposal for a temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, one that could lead to an end to the war if the negotiations between the two sides are successful. But for the time being, what this latest proposal involves would be the release of 10 living hostages, 18 deceased hostages in exchange for a 60-day ceasefire.

This would also presumably include the release of Palestinian prisoners as well as the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza. And during that 60-day ceasefire, they would be negotiating an end to the war, which Steve Witkoff, President Trump's special envoy for the region, told me earlier this week he would personally preside over. That's a gambit to try and give Hamas the assurances it has been seeking, that Israel will actually negotiate a permanent ceasefire, which it failed to do during that last temporary ceasefire earlier this year.

We are now into the first week of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation being operational in the Gaza Strip. This is that controversial U.S. and Israeli-backed mechanism for getting aid into Gaza in a way that it will prevent Hamas from getting its hands on the aid, which is an allegation Israel has made, but which humanitarian aid organizations have said they've seen no evidence to substantiate.

We've already seen 11 people killed near these distribution sites, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. We know that there has been Israeli gunfire in the area. The Israelis have said that it was aimed at dispersing the crowds. But clearly we have seen video of individuals who were struck by some of that gunfire.

And what's also clear is that the humanitarian situation in Gaza simply has not been alleviated as of yet. And that's why we are seeing such scenes of desperation at the moment, not only around these distribution sites, but it is especially acute in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, where this new Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is not yet operational, and where the Israeli authorities have really provided almost no safe routes for the United Nations to drive its trucks to the northern part of the Gaza Strip.

And amid all of this, we are seeing the desperation of Palestinians as we reach a grim milestone of more than 54,000 who have been killed in this war. And all of this has led the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations to break down this week in this emotional moment. Watch.

RIYAD MANSOUR, U.N AMBASSADOR TO THE PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES: (inaudible) how could happen. Excuse me, Mr. President, I have grandchildren. I know what they mean to their families.

And to see the situation of the Palestinians without us having hearts to do something is beyond the ability of any normal human being to tolerate.

DIAMOND: And all of this comes as we have reached more than 600 days of this war, 600 days as well of the captivity of the Israeli hostages in Gaza. And it is important to know that those former hostages, like Keith Siegel, an Israeli-American who I interviewed earlier this week, they want to see the war end.

[03:05:09]

They believe that a diplomatic deal is the only way to get the hostages out of Gaza alive. And they are calling on the Israeli government and on Hamas to reach this deal in order for the hostages to come out and for the war to end.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: The U.S. is threatening to step back from its peace efforts if Russia keeps attacking Ukraine. A U.S. diplomat made the statement at the U.N. Security Council on Thursday after relentless strikes by Moscow in recent days.

He also said the deal proposed by the U.S. is the best option Russia will ever have, so the Kremlin should take it. Moscow says it has invited Keith to continue peace talks in Istanbul next Monday.

Ukraine says one person is dead after Russia's drone strike in the border at Sumy region. Videos released by Ukraine show fire crews fighting an inferno that broke out after Thursday's attack. Kyiv says Russia is massing troops in the region as part of a possible plan to create a buffer zone along the border.

Meanwhile, experts say Ukraine is creating what some call a wall of drones to keep Russia at bay this summer. The idea is to use swarms of drones to protect the most vulnerable spots along the front line. Russia is expected to step up attacks this summer despite taking heavy losses.

A veteran military-turned-poster-child for Russia's war on Ukraine is the victim of an apparent assassination at home. As CNN's Matthew Chance reports, he's hardly the first prominent figure associated with the conflict to suffer that fate.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Excel for Russia on the battlefield in Ukraine. The Kremlin might call you a hero. But it could also mark you out as a target for assassination by the other side.

These are the final moments of the latest Russian war hero, killed in a mysterious explosion. 34-year-old Zaur Gurtsiev had only recently been made deputy mayor of Stavropol in southern Russia. But the former soldier distinguished himself here in Mariupol, where he led a Russian airborne unit in one of the most brutal sieges of the Ukraine war.

The Kremlin even made a promotional video about him called Time of Heroes, highlighting his exploits and family. A model veteran to be given priority in Putin's new Russia being forged in the Ukraine war.

ZAUR GURTSIEV, PROMINENT VETERAN OF RUSSIA'S WAR IN UKRAINE (through translator): I could bring my experience to public administration as a person who has gone from a cadet to a commander, from a person to whom ready-made decisions are communicated, to a person who makes those very decisions.

CHANCE (voice-over): But becoming a face of Russia's war potentially paints a target on your back. Russia enduring a spate of assassinations of pro-Kremlin bloggers, propagandists and military figures. All reminders that in the brutal calculus of what Russia calls its special military operation, there are only rewards at the price of considerable risk.

Matthew Chance, CNN London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: The Trump administration scored a win in the ongoing legal battle over the U.S. President's sweeping tariffs. A federal appeals court is reinstating those tariffs for now. It comes after the Court of International Trade ruled on Wednesday that President Donald Trump lacked the authority to impose tariffs using emergency powers.

In a very long Truth Social post, Trump slammed that decision and called on the Supreme Court to step in. White House officials are also pushing back against the ruling and defend the President's economic agenda.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER NAVARRO, PRESIDENT TRUMP'S TRADE ADVISER: What we see this is as this broader problem of rogue judges erecting essentially a judicial blockade.

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The courts should have no role here. There is a troubling and dangerous trend of unelected judges inserting themselves into the presidential decision-making process.

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BRUNHUBER: CNN's Phil Mattingly is following the latest developments.

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PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF U.S. DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: In the span of just 24 hours, the sweeping cornerstone of President Trump's tariff regime was struck down. Then the legal merits behind it, that was struck down again. Then it was paused, or at least the elimination of those tariffs was paused for a short period of time on an emergency basis.

The administration, making very clear they plan to fight on the legal avenues as hard as they possibly can for market participants, Wall Street, businesses, consumers, uncertainty, which has been absolutely pervasive over the course of a series of months, well, certainly this was not a 24-hour period that was helpful on that front. So where does that actually leave things right now?

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Well, President Trump's reciprocal tariff, that 10 percent global tariff on all U.S. imports, the currently paused reciprocal tariffs on 60-plus countries, 25 percent tariffs on Mexico and Canada, 30 percent tariffs on China, those still stand for the moment. Behind the scenes negotiations on a bilateral basis with up to 18 U.S.

allies, those are still ongoing for the moment. The current agreement with China, that still stands for the moment as well.

However, the legal anvil that is now hanging over the cornerstone of Trump's tariff regime, that is a clear reality, one that administration officials say they are going to fight, one that they make clear they will pursue alternatives to essentially undercut if they end up losing that case in court, and one they have made unequivocally clear in their messaging President Trump plans to stick to, no matter what.

So for companies, for businesses, for consumers, what this all means is, well, if you thought you were going to have some idea of the rules of the road for months or years ahead, that's not coming any time soon. What you should know, though, is for the administration officials who are in the midst of those bilateral negotiations, they want it known very clearly that for those partners who may be considering pausing or putting things to the side as these legal cases play out, that would be a mistake.

While this may undercut some leverage the administration has, obviously the threat of rapidly expanding tariffs is certainly the critical point they've tried to use in those negotiations for the leverage, the administration is making clear they still want deals. They still think they can get as many as two or three deals in the coming days.

They don't want those negotiations to fall apart. That, more than anything else, an outcome on that front, that's what Wall Street wants to see. That's what markets want to see, that's a level of certainty that certainly hasn't existed up to this point.

But it is absolutely the case that as these court cases play out, as the brief freeze runs out on June 9th, there's just more uncertainty. Nobody really knows what's going to happen next.

Phil Mattingly, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Earlier I spoke with Ryan Patel, a senior fellow at the Drucker School of Management at Claremont Graduate University. When it comes to the global stock market, he told me that investors have learned to wait before reacting to the whiplash from Trump's tariffs. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RYAN PATEL, SR. FELLOW, DRUCKER SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT-CLAREMONT GRADUATE UNIVERSITY: It's not the first move, but it's always the next one that matters. And I think, I don't want to say I was shocked, but, you know, nothing really happened throughout the day for the U.S. market.

You'll see the next couple of days because they're reacting to the news as kind of numb because they're waiting to see what this uncertainty of what the actual decision is being made. And, you know, I think it's a wait and see approach, which is kind of a mature move for the market, to be very honest.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, that's right. And so wait and see, I mean, that seems to be a recurring theme here. If we look sort of at the median term, as this is all litigated in the courts, we saw the U.S. trade representatives say that despite all these legal wranglings, many countries are going to keep negotiating, sort of trying to dispel the fears that this might give countries second thoughts about doing deals.

But do you get the sense that that will actually happen, that countries will essentially kind of put up their feet and wait?

PATEL: Not countries. I mean, I think you think of the ruling, if the ruling stands, it's just one tool. What I mean by that, you mentioned it. The administration already said they got another trade toolbox.

It's not empty. They're going to figure out a way to do this. So if you take that into consideration, CEOs know it, country heads know it.

So you're it's really just noise to getting a deal done. That's what you're trying to do. It's really this uncertainty, Kim.

This is still cost businesses that can't shake this. Right?

So you can't really wait and see. You're just hoping there's a resolution on either side. And if there isn't one, then you better come to the table and get to get to the answer.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, all right. So you brought up companies here. I mean, we've seen the whiplash effect of all this on, off, back on again.

For companies, though, the problem itself remains constant. It's the lack of certainty. So we've seen companies like Walmart now saying they can't absorb tariff costs anymore.

They'll have to pass those on to consumers, but they don't know what the rates will be next month or even next week. So how do businesses operate in this crazy environment?

PATEL: Well, one word, transparency. You have to have it, Kim.

Companies like Walmart, Ford, Best Buy, who've all come out, they have to talk to the consumers and tell them what they're doing. Right? The stress test is not just on the margins of resiliency.

And really, at the end of the day, it's about customer loyalty. Why does that matter? Because it goes into their profits, Kim. And so leaders are needing to ask themselves, how long can you wait? What can you share and be transparent on what you're going to do? And really, it's a long term play.

You can't wait rates to fall or not. And you have to go to under the assumption that this is where they got to make a decision and make it earlier than later.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: The Trump administration says concerns over national security led to its plans to revoke Chinese student visas. Ahead, what China is saying about it?

[03:15:07]

Plus new concerns about law enforcement's ability to keep up with the White House plan to triple daily immigration arrests. Those stories and more, coming up. Please stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: The U.S. State Department says that plans to revoke visas for Chinese students in the U.S. are driven by national security concerns. But three Trump administration officials tell CNN the move is a reaction to China not living up to its commitments it made in trade talks this month. Now China is calling it politically motivated and discriminatory.

[03:20:05]

Meanwhile, U.S. embassies and consulates have paused new appointments for student and exchange visas. State Department spokesperson says those could become available sooner rather than later.

A federal judge in Boston says she will block the White House from ending Harvard's ability to enroll international students. The judge's order will block any changes to the school's enrollment policy by the Trump administration indefinitely, and that would extend the temporary bans she imposed last week. The judge made it clear a court order was necessary despite the Trump administration's attempts to defuse the situation by giving Harvard 30 days to respond to its demands.

White House pressure to triple the arrests of migrants in the U.S. is said to be straining law enforcement agencies' resources. Hundreds of FBI agents and other law enforcement officers have been reassigned to carry out immigration related duties.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Trump administration is building its federal manpower to meet the lofty goals that are being set by the White House to triple the number of immigration arrests.

Now, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been apprehending people in the interior of the United States, but they are limited in their personnel and their resources, with only about 6000 agents. So the administration has looked toward other federal agencies to help bolster those efforts. For example, most recently, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which has the authority to conduct immigration enforcement, though their mission is border security. The administration also looking to DEA and ATF and FBI, where hundreds of agents have been asked to participate or reassigned to immigration related duties. Now, that in particular has sparked concern among some that their other national security investigations could be hindered if they are moved to immigration matters.

Now, in a statement to CNN, an FBI spokesperson saying the following, quote, "While the FBI does not comment on specific personnel decisions, our agents and support staff are dedicated professionals working around the clock to defend the homeland and crush violent crime, a mission which certainly overlaps with the consequences of the previous administration's four-year open border policies."

It's clear, of course, that the administration has made immigration a top priority for not only the Department of Homeland Security, but across the federal government. And that is raising concerns, as articulated by some in the FBI, about strains on law enforcement agencies.

Now, at ICE, there was again another shakeup among leadership with two key seniors departing their roles, one retiring and another reassigned. But in its announcement, ICE saying that these operational realignments are being done as part of the ramp up of arrests.

Priscilla Alvarez, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Elon Musk has officially left his White House job. Just ahead, what the billionaire is saying about President Trump's mega bill.

Plus a new opinion piece argues that Donald Trump's policies will actually make China great again, not the U.S. I'll speak with the author, a professor of innovation. That's next.

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[03:25:00]

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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us around the world, I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is "CNN Newsroom." Let's check today's top stories.

Hamas is demanding some changes to a U.S.-backed ceasefire proposal thought to be accepted by Israel. The militant group says it will release all remaining hostages, but it wants assurances the fighting won't resume after the 60-day truce. Hamas also wants the U.N. to handle all humanitarian assistance.

Ukraine says one person is dead after Russia's latest strike in the border Sumy region. Videos released by Ukraine show a fire crew fighting a huge fire after Thursday's attack. He says Russia is massing troops in Sumy ahead of a possible attempt to create a buffer zone along the border.

U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs are back on. A federal appeals court has temporarily restored the President's ability to levy tariffs using emergency powers after he was blocked by another court on Wednesday. Trump slammed that decision, saying it undermines his presidential power.

Elon Musk is taking a jab at the White House as he exits his role as a special government employee in the Trump administration. Musk says the President's so-called Big Beautiful Bill would increase the national debt and undermine the work he did with DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency.

[03:30:04]

In an interview this week, the billionaire said he was disappointed with the bill. Later today, Musk is scheduled to appear at the White House with President Trump. On Thursday, the White House Press Secretary denied the legislation would add to the deficit and representatives from the House say they want to make the DOGE cuts permanent.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP, BRANDON GILL (R-TX): One other thing that we're going to be working on now that we got this out of the House is codifying the DOGE cuts and making those permanent, taking all of the work that Elon Musk and the president's team has done in identifying waste, fraud, and abuse, billions of dollars, waste, fraud, and abuse that we on the DOGE subcommittee have highlighted time and time again that the American people are ready to see permanently gotten rid of. That's what we're focused on right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: One of the hallmarks of Donald Trump's second term so far is his administration's efforts to slash the federal government and reshape the economy. A new opinion piece in "Foreign Affairs" magazine argues that President Trump's policies are effectively killing American innovation.

Professor David Victor writes that Trump's drastic cuts to federal agencies and scientific research are undermining America's ability to innovate. Those cuts, along with hostile immigration and economic policies, are giving a boost to China.

Well, David Victor joins me now live from San Diego. He's a professor of innovation and public policy at the University of California, San Diego. I really appreciate you taking the time to join us here to go through what you wrote.

So you argue that Trump administration policies are essentially handing China a victory in the global innovation race. So of all the Trump policies, what's been the biggest factor in undermining the U.S. competitive advantage in your eyes? DAVID G. VICTOR, PROF. OF INNOVATION AND PUBLIC POLICY, UNIVERSITY OF

CALIFORNIA: Well, the most important thing has been the destruction of university-based research. The U.S. economy thrives on innovation.

This is the engine of innovation, universities, people who work in universities, all the funding that goes into that. That's been a really big problem. And over the long term, that's going to be the largest harm.

BRUNHUBER: All right. So specifically then, what are the sectors or industries that are most threatened by that?

VICTOR: Well, pretty much every aspect of the American economy that's been thriving depends on the innovation. Certainly all the biotech work is basically an innovation model, A.I. that's in the news a lot these days, all of computing, and then all kinds of other sectors like services have benefited enormously from innovation.

And fundamentally, when you trace the ideas back, even oil and gas, when you trace the ideas back, what you find are tinkerers that in various ways have been sponsored by the federal government that are coming up with new ideas. And that's the pipeline of ideas that's going to be drying up over the coming decades.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. And where some of those ideas are coming from, I mean, you write about Chinese students and scientists being crucial to American innovation. So are we now essentially training our competition and then kicking them out?

VICTOR: Yes. I mean, what we should be doing is training the best people in the world and keeping them here in the United States. And that's what we've been doing until fairly recently.

For example, Chinese students that came to the United States until fairly recently, 95 percent of them would stay for their first job or two. Increasingly, some of them would go back to China. That collaboration was actually beneficial to American science. And what we're doing is very, very quickly, in addition to cutting the funding, is we're making America hostile to foreigners, including the best foreigners who do our science.

BRUNHUBER: So that hostility to expertise, I mean, we've seen a concerted attempt by other countries like Canada and European countries to try to take advantage of this and woo this talent. So this could be a huge brain drain that will be felt in years to come.

VICTOR: Yes, and indeed, we're starting to see this anecdotally. I hear almost every day about a new initiative in Europe, even in China, Japan, certainly Canada, Australia, folks that want to poach talent from the United States or attract the best students before they come to the United States.

And that's just going to get worse. I mean, the U.S. universities should be bracing themselves for big reductions potentially in the best foreign students. And that's going to be the long term problem for us. BRUNHUBER: So when we're looking at the effects of all this, then you talked about this sort of affecting every facet of the economy, including things supported by red states like oil and gas. So in terms of jobs and economic growth, what effect will this have if the U.S. continues down this path?

VICTOR: Well, at least a quarter of the long term economic growth in the United States for the last eight or nine decades has come from innovation. And arguably, I mean, the counting is really tricky, but arguably even more of that.

So the big concern is that over the long term, basically structurally, the American economy won't be able to grow as much. Structurally, that has a big impact on what people think about their country and then also our ability to have a vibrant national defense. So there are going to be all kinds of knock on effects.

[03:35:00]

And as you say, across the economy, blue states, red states, oil and gas is a great example. The whole fracking revolution ultimately traces itself back to federally backed innovations.

BRUNHUBER: You write about how what America's loss is essentially China's gain and that China's R&D spending could surpass that of the U.S. for the first time this year. So what does that mean then for America's economic and military strength in the coming decades, especially vis-a-vis its huge rival?

VICTOR: Yes, and this is why I published this article in Foreign Affairs. In effect, this article is laying out. This is how China wins.

The Chinese economy has been spending more and more on research and development over the last couple of decades. U.S. federal spending, at least, has been roughly flat. The private sector has been filling in quite a lot.

This year, for the first time, we expect the Chinese total spending on R&D to be greater than the United States. China still has a lot of flaws in its economy. I mean, it's really important not to be starry eyed about what China can do.

But this is a huge opportunity for them while we commit just a massive own goal on ourselves.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. We only have a minute left, but I did want to ask you this because you did say it's not too late to save the American innovation system. But how much time does the U.S. have before the damage becomes irreversible? And what would too late actually look like for America?

VICTOR: Well, it's never too late. It's always better to start on fixing these problems sooner rather than later. My big concern is we're going to have a whole generation of scientists that are basically lost to science. I'm seeing that the cuts that are being implemented in universities

are disproportionately hurting the young and those folks are going to be choosing other careers.

BRUNHUBER: Well, listen, I really appreciate you breaking this all down for us. Such an important talk. Professor David Victor, thank you so much.

VICTOR: Kim, thank you.

BRUNHUBER: A woman who worked as Sean Diddy Combs' assistant for eight years testified at his federal criminal trial Thursday using a pseudonym in court. She said the music mogul was violent with her and sexually assaulted her several times. CNN's Kara Scannell reports from New York.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This former personal assistant, Sean Diddy Combs, testified under a pseudonym using the name Mia, and the judge allowed her to do that because some of her testimony involves sexual assault by Combs. She walked the jury through that just at the end of the day before they broke.

And it was very difficult for her. She was struggling to get the words out for most of her testimony. She had her head down, her face almost hidden by her hair as she was sort of whispering out some of the details of what happened to her.

And she testified that she was assaulted by Combs sexually a number of times. She said it happened sporadically over the years. And then the first time it happened, she said she was celebrating his 40th birthday party, they were in the penthouse suite at the Plaza Hotel, they were in the kitchen, the two of them did two shots of vodka.

She said it felt different than any other time she did shots. She said that Combs leaned in, kissed her and stuck his hand up her dress. Then she testified about another time that she said she woke up in her room in Combs' L.A. home with someone, the weight of someone on top of her, it was Combs.

And it was then she said that he raped her. She gave another example of a different time. She was in his bedroom, in his closet, organizing things as she would.

She said she turned around. Suddenly he was there naked and he forced her to have oral sex with her.

She testified that she didn't say no because, as she said, I couldn't tell him no about a sandwich. I couldn't tell him no about anything. There's no way I could have tell him no.

She also said she never reported it to the police because she was afraid he would ruin her future in the industry and ruin her career. She said this before the Me Too movement and people wouldn't believe her. Now earlier in the day, she also testified about times that Combs had

physically assaulted her herself, including she said he threw a bowl of spaghetti at her. He threw computers and phones at her and he once threw her into a pool.

She also provided some testimony about assaults that she had seen between Combs and Cassie Ventura. She said there were multiple assaults, too many to count, that she had witnessed. And she said that there were two that occurred when they were on vacation in Turks and Caicos.

On one of them, she couldn't remember what started, but she and Cassie ran down to the beach, jumped on paddle boards, paddled out. She said Combs was running back and forth on the beach, screaming. The sky had turned dark and she said they were weighing whether it was scarier to face Mother Nature or to go back to Puff.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Well, there's a new threat to marine life. The oceans are getting darker. I speak to one of the leaders of a study examining the impact of darker oceans on the planet. That and more coming up. Please do stay with us.

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[03:40:00]

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BRUNHUBER: A new study warns parts of the ocean are getting darker and that could have a major impact on marine life. The study examined the photic zone, the upper layer of water that's illuminated by the sun. This layer supports over 90 percent of marine life.

But the study says 21 percent of the oceans endured some degree of darkening between 2003 and 2022, disrupting the delicate balance of an ecosystem that's key to natural processes like oxygen production and carbon cycling.

[03:45:05]

One of the leaders of this study is Professor Tim Smyth, and he's with us from Plymouth, England. He's the head of marine processes and observations at the Plymouth Marine Laboratory.

Thank you so much for being here with us. So I have to admit of all the concerns I have about the ocean, I have to say it's color or hue isn't really one I'd had before a few days ago. So help me understand, what does it mean when the ocean gets darker?

TIM SMYTH, PLYMOUTH MARINE UNIVERSITY: Well, thank you very much indeed, Kim.

I think the key thing to note is that light is absolutely fundamental to the way that the oceans operate in terms of the processes that go on, in terms of the biology that inhabits it. So, you know, any changes to the way that light operates there is should be of concern.

BRUNHUBER: Right. OK, so explain the concern then when we're talking about this, this photic zone where 90 percent of marine life lives essentially so that area is shrinking. I understand some areas are losing some 50 meters of sunlit water. I mean, how significant are these losses?

SMYTH: Well, they're very significant indeed, because as you rightly said, in the lead that 90 percent of marine life lives in that lit zone. So that's where, you know, they carry on all the processes that are essential for a healthy ecosystem.

So if you imagine that those -- that layer is getting compressed by 50, 60 meters, then that will have an impact about the way that the ecosystem functions. So the way that the ecosystem can say, for example, draw carbon out of the atmosphere, the way that the different organisms sort of that -- they interact with one another.

So the delicate balance between predators and prey, the way that the prey can hide from the predators, etc. So these are the concerns that we have.

BRUNHUBER: Right. So the animals are basically being forced closer and closer to the surface, I guess, and having to compete more for food and resources with each other. Do we know why this is happening?

SMYTH: Well, Kim, I think it's always a very complicated picture with this. We've known for decades that in the sort of the coastal zones and also the enclosed seas that there's been this process, a process of ocean darkening.

And we think that that is caused mainly by changes in agricultural practice, things like the introduction of more nutrients into these coastal zones, which then feed things like phytoplankton blooms, that you've got river runoff, which is changing the dynamics of the suspended sediment, for example, in the water.

So the coastal zones sit very distinct to the more open oceans. And what we believe we're seeing here, because we've got satellites now that have got sort of 20, 30 years of time series, that we can see this change in the open ocean that we wouldn't have seen before because we would have been dependent upon going out and measuring with ships.

So what we're seeing in the open oceans is likely due to changes in the plankton dynamics. So the phytoplankton that form the top of the food chain, that they may be blooming much more intensely and in different areas and at different times. And that's causing the changes that we're seeing within the satellite pictures.

BRUNHUBER: All right. So you've highlighted how this could potentially affect animals, fish and so on. But how does this ocean darkening directly affect people?

SMYTH: Well, we are all dependent, whether or not you live a long way from the sea or very close to the sea like I do. We're all dependent upon the services, the ecosystem services that the ocean provides.

So things like fisheries, things like just the atmospheric composition. So in terms of the efficiency that the ocean can draw down carbon out of the atmosphere, for example, may well be impacted by these changes that we're seeing.

BRUNHUBER: All right. So these could be potentially wide ranging effects. We don't know exactly what's causing it. So that makes sort of solving it kind of difficult.

But what should we be watching for next? And is there anything that can be done to prevent it?

SMYTH: I think it depends where you are. So I think the coastal darkening phenomenon is likely to be tractable in terms of changing agricultural practices or changing the way that we use water as a resource. Whereas in the open ocean, it's like these are much more difficult problems to solve.

[03:50:03]

I think the key thing to do is to keep monitoring this, to see whether or not this is part of a long term change or something that's just part of a natural cycle. So I think, you know, I think it depends where you are in the ocean as to whether or not it's a long term change or something that's part of a cycle.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, such a huge concern and highlights the importance of research and monitoring many of the things that have been cut, unfortunately, here in the United States and how this will affect so many things that we might not even think of. Tim Smyth, thank you so much. I really appreciate it.

SMYTH: Thank you very much indeed.

BRUNHUBER: Massive wildfires burning out of control in western and central Canada, forcing thousands to flee their homes while sending hazardous smoke towards major U.S. cities. There are more than 170 fires burning across Canada and only about 50 are under control.

Manitoba and Saskatchewan have declared states of emergency. Much of Canada, from the Northwest Territories and Alberta to Quebec, are at extreme risk of wildfires, which is the highest level. Smoke is expected to reach the upper Midwest and Great Lakes areas of the U.S. and linger through the weekend, leading to dangerous air quality in some places around Green Bay, Milwaukee, Chicago and Detroit.

Dramatic drone footage shows the exact moment this village in Switzerland was buried by rubble after a glacier collapsed. Around 90 percent of the community of Blatant was covered by ice, mud and rock in the slide. As CNN's Bill Weir, our chief climate correspondent, explains, the village had been evacuated earlier this month, but many other communities around the world face a similar fate.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Those pictures from southern Switzerland are so staggering and the energy of that glacier collapse and the avalanche coincided with a 3.1 earthquake in that part of Switzerland. The most violent sort of seismic act tied to this sort of event that they've seen in over a century there. But it could have been a lot worse.

That village of 300 or so people was evacuated about 10 days ago when geologists noticed changes, new stresses, new rock weight on top of that already shrinking glacier. It's too soon to say how much climate change or warming contributed to the actual moment of collapse. Mountains fall apart all the time over eons.

But the Alps, like so many high regions around the world, has been melting as the planet warms. The permafrost that held up a big rock face under that particular glacier, locals say, has been thawing over the years.

And this is a warning to mountain communities really around the world. There are estimated up to 15 million people living below glacier lakes in the Andes, in the Himalayas.

There's 8000 glaciers just in Pakistan and a lot of those places just an earthen or ice dam holding back meltwater. And if it releases all at once, you can see the resulting catastrophe there as well.

This is Switzerland, one of the richest countries in the world, with scientists who provided early warning that obviously saved lives right there. But there are sort of dripping time bombs like that all over our overheating planet.

Bill Weir, CNN, New York.

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BRUNHUBER: Well, Cape Town, South Africa, got a surprise visitor this week, an elephant seal. Just ahead, we'll show you what happened when this seal decided to take a look around town. Stay with us.

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[03:55:00]

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BRUNHUBER: All right, well, what you're looking at is an artwork by the infamous and anonymous British street artist Banksy. It depicts the shadow of a metal street pole forming the silhouette of a lighthouse. And the accompanying text reads, "I want to be what you saw in me."

Now, the image was unveiled on Banksy's Instagram account. It's not clear where the work is located. Some of Banksy's art pieces sell for millions of dollars.

Well, Cape Town, South Africa, attracts plenty of tourists. But this week, the picturesque city found itself dealing with a very unusual visitor. Have a look at what happened when an elephant seal wandered into town.

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UNKNOWN (voice-over): An elephant seal wandered into suburban Cape Town, South Africa. At first, a traffic hazard, the seal eventually won the hearts of Gordon Bay's locals, with residents dubbing the seal, quote, "Gordon" or Gordy for short. Police say they discovered Gordy early in the morning on May 27th, a little over half a mile inland.

The Cape of Good Hope SPCA says it's likely the seal traveled over 1000 miles to end up in Gordon's Bay. They believe Gordy weighs about a ton and is still growing. Southern elephant seals are the world's largest seal species.

After nearly nine hours of corralling, coercing, and cuteness, Gordy was safely returned to the sea.

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BRUNHUBER: A happy ending for Gordy there. Thanks for joining me. I'm Kim Brunhuber, in Atlanta.

Amanpour is next, then Early Start with Rahel Solomon begins at 5 a.m. Eastern, that's 10 a.m. in London.

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