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Multiple Iran-Linked Ships Reportedly Though Strait Of Hormuz; Lebanon Reaffirms Urgent Need For Ceasefire With Israel; Powerful Typhoon Hovering Over Mariana Islands, Guam; Trump Hints U.S.-Iran Talks Could Resume in Coming Days; CENTCOM Says U.S. Forces Completely Halted Iran's Sea Trade; U.S. Strikes Alleged Drug Boat in Eastern Pacific, Killing Four; Russian Missile Strike Kills at Least Five in Dnipro; Norway to Help Ukraine Produce Drones as Part of New Deal; Students Around the World Mark My Freedom Day; Blind Man Runs Marathon Using A.I. Glasses, Sight Guide App; Powerball Expands to U.K. In Effort to Build Larger Jackpots. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired April 15, 2026 - 02:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:00:38]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church. Just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, a glimmer of hope. President Trump hints that more talks between the U.S. and Iran could happen within days, but major sticking points appear unresolved.

Israel and Lebanon hold their first direct talks in years as the situation on the ground gets more dire by the day.

And later, CNN learns about Russian tactics to recruit university students for the military as it battles for manpower in its war on Ukraine.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN NEWSROOM with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Good to have you with us, and we begin with the latest developments on a potential second round of U.S.-Iran peace talks. President Donald Trump teased that something could be happening over the next two days, as the two countries try to hammer out a deal. According to a U.S. official, future talks are under discussion, but nothing has been scheduled at this time.

Tehran, for its part, says it will continue participating in talks despite believing Washington is, "Not trustworthy." Sources tell CNN that Vice President J.D. Vance is expected to lead the talks if they take place, and Vance says he's committed to fighting for the grand bargain that Trump wants with Tehran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'd say in Pakistan, we made a ton of progress. But the reason why the deal is not yet done is because the president he really wants a deal where Iran doesn't have a nuclear weapon. Iran is not state sponsoring terrorism, but also the people of Iran can thrive and prosper, prosper and join the world economy.

I think the people were sitting across from wanted to make a deal, and I know the president of the United States told us to go out there and negotiate in good faith. That's what we did. That's what we're going to keep on doing.

CHURCH: All this as the U.S. military says it is continuing to blockade Iranian ports in the Persian Gulf, but tracking data shows multiple Iran linked ships have transited the Strait of Hormuz since the blockade started.

So, let's bring in CNN's Eleni Giokos. She joins us live from Dubai. Good to see you, Eleni. What are you learning about a potential second round of talks between the U.S. and Iran? And of course, what is the latest on the U.S. Navy blockade in the Strait of Hormuz?

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, a lot happening since the first round of talks that were held in Islamabad, not yielding any agreement, any result, and there's been a lot of whispers around a second round of in person talks.

CNN sources telling our reporters that J.D. Vance, the vice president, is likely to lead the second round of talks, and we just heard him there. He's looking for this grand bargain by the Iranians that's going to include anything to do with nuclear enrichment, which, in fact, Rosemary, has been one of the biggest sticking points and a big objective for the Trump administration. But importantly, you're going to have U.S. Special Envoy Steve

Witkoff, as well as President Trump's son in law, Jared Kushner, part of those negotiations. We don't have details as to when this will happen, we have an idea that it needs to happen before the ceasefire expires come next week, on the 21st of April.

And of course, very pertinent points that we're looking at right now. And importantly, the what happens with the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has had de facto control since the start of the war, choking off 20 percent of the world's oil supply. That is going to be one of the largest objectives as well in these talks that Iran clearly doesn't want to give up this lever that it has because it inflicts pain, not only on the U.S. economy, but the global economy as well.

Now on Sunday, President Trump announced the U.S. naval blockade. It came into effect on Monday, we've been monitoring tanker traffic through the Strait since then, and traffic came to a grounding halt on Sunday. Then there was a few vessels that were able to transit through the Strait of Hormuz. There's one in particular that we were tracking yesterday. It's called the Rich Starry which is a U.S. sanctioned vessel that has links to Iran. It transited the Strait appearing unchallenged. And then what we saw this morning is that it actually turned around once it hits the Gulf of Oman and now heading back towards the Strait.

[02:05:03]

Now, I want to give you a sense of what U.S. CENTCOM is relaying in terms of what is going on with this naval blockade, because they still haven't really released the parameters of how they will enforce this, but they say more than 10,000 U.S. sailors, marines and airmen, along with over a dozen warships and dozens of aircraft, are executing the addition to blockade, ships entering and departing Iranian ports.

During the first 24 hours, no ships made it past the U.S. blockade, and six merchant vessels complied with direction from U.S. forces to turn around and to re enter an Iranian port of the Gulf of Oman.

So, we're getting a little bit more detail, Rosemary, in terms of where this U.S. naval blockade is stationed. It's in the Gulf of Oman. And the details that we're getting is that there's 12 plus ships that are on blockade duty, and they have sophisticated reconnaissance gear that includes air as well -- as well as space systems.

So, this is going to be really important to track in the coming days. Lloyd's list also says this that some ships appear to be openly testing the U.S. blockade, like we've seen over the past few hours, and others are continuing to spoof AIS transponders, and these are the transponders that are used so that you can identify vessels.

So, there's a lot of zombie vessels, in terms of what we see in the Strait of Hormuz, trying to sort of spoof which port they coming from, which route are they taking, who they belong to, and importantly, a lot of them are false flagged right now.

Central Command have said explicitly that this pertains to vessels coming from Iranian ports and the Iranian territorial waters, so interesting to see how this is going to be enforced. We also know that the U.S. has ability to actually board some of these vessels. We haven't seen that kind of confrontation just yet, and it seems for now, that the vessels that were turned around were listening to U.S. command to make u turns so we continue to monitor the traffic there, Rosemary.

CHURCH: All right, and we appreciate that. Eleni Giokos bringing us the latest on that from Dubai. Thank you.

Well, Israeli and Lebanese officials have agreed to hold more direct talks following Tuesday's meeting at the U.S. State Department. Lebanon called for territorial sovereignty and a cease fire to alleviate the humanitarian crisis caused by that conflict.

And while Israel conceded both sides were on the same page on the Iran backed group Hezbollah, Israel refused to commit to a cease fire. The Lebanese health ministry says Israeli strikes killed at least 35 people in the past 24 hours, and estimate that more than 2100 people have been killed since March 2nds, officials believe that includes more than 160 children and nearly 90 health workers.

Despite diplomatic efforts, many Lebanese people displaced by the conflict believe their future is bleak. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOHAMMED DOGHMAN, DISPLACED SOUTHERN LEBANON (through translator): The current situation is hopeless.

There's no -- we don't see any glimmer of hope for the future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Meanwhile, back in Washington, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is striking a different tone, appearing optimistic about Tuesday's talks. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: All of the complexities of this matter are not going to be resolved in the next six hours, but we can begin to move forward and create the framework where something can have, something very positive, something very permanent, so people of Lebanon have the kind of future they deserve and so that the people of Israel can live without fear by rocket attacks from the terrorist proxy of Iran.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: CNN's Jeremy Diamond explains how negotiators approach the talks as both Israel and Hezbollah continue trading cross border fire.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: The Lebanese government went into these negotiations with one key demand, and that was for a cease fire to be agreed to, for Israel to cease carrying out strikes inside of Lebanese territory, which they have continued to do all throughout the beginning of these negotiations, as has Hezbollah in terms of firing rockets on Northern Israel, which we saw them do in the very first moments after these negotiations began in Washington.

But the positive news that we've seen out of these negotiations from the United States is that talks will continue, and that indicates to us that this notion of a cease fire isn't so much of a stumbling block that it's going to prevent negotiations from going forward.

Because keep in mind, the Lebanese government had indicated that it would not negotiate under fire, but now we just got a statement from the Lebanese ambassador to Washington, who was in these negotiations. She said she called for a cease fire and for the return of displaced persons to their homes, as well as practical measures to support the Lebanese people.

[02:10:02]

But what she didn't say was that Israel's refusal to agree to a cease fire is leading to a breakdown of these negotiations altogether. And from the Israeli perspective, look, they have clearly scaled back their strikes in Lebanon over the course of the last few days. We are still seeing strikes in southern Lebanon, but we haven't seen any air strikes in the Lebanese capital of Beirut since late last week.

And so, they are moving forward now with the ability to continue to carry out strikes. It would seem whether there is some kind of behind the scenes agreement here about how much more Israel should scale back its strikes, that remains to be seen.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: So, let's go live now to Beirut and bring in the representative and Country Director for the World Food Programme in Lebanon, Allison Oman Lawi, thank you so much for talking with us.

ALLISON OMAN LAWI, REPRESENTATIVE AND COUNTRY DIRECTOR, WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME IN LEBANON: Thanks so much for having me.

CHURCH: So, cease fire talks between Israel and Lebanon wrapped up in Washington with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio sounding pretty optimistic about the progress being made, although no cease fire was agreed upon. What hope does that give you as your organization deals with the humanitarian crisis playing out in southern Lebanon right now?

LAWI: Well, what I can tell you is that Lebanon is going through an incredibly difficult time. Over a million people displaced. I'm not a human, I'm not a politician, I'm a humanitarian. And what I can say is that war exacerbates hunger, and what we're seeing is a lot of people who don't know where their next meal is coming from. We're seeing a lot of very scared families with children who are living in government run shelters with friends and family, or even in public spaces who really, really want to go home.

So, anything that can be a step towards people being able to resume their lives is going to be a really positive step. It's heartbreaking to see older people, young children, afraid right now and not able to live the lives and have the futures they want.

And food is a very serious situation here. I work for the World Food Programme and with the government, we're doing everything possible to make sure that the Lebanese that are living in these shelters are able to get a hot meal every day. I think we've served over 2 million hot meals just in the last month alone. And we're also making sure that people that aren't in shelters have access to a meal every day, as we're seeing food prices go up and that more and more out of reach.

CHURCH: Right. And of course, on Friday, your Organization warned that Lebanon could be facing a severe food security crisis. How does your organization meet those food needs, and what more does the international community need to be doing to help with this crisis?

LAWI: Yes. I mean, I think it's just true that right now, particularly in the southern part of Lebanon, we're seeing that a lot of the markets are not fully functioning, so people are going to the stores, but there aren't food in those stores. That's in the southern part of Lebanon, which has had a lot more trouble moving goods down to Lebanon with WFP, the World Food Programme, and the logistics cluster, we've been working with other UN partners to take convoys of food. I was just on a convoy yesterday, taking 10 trucks of foods, mattresses and essential goods, down to the people in the south, because it is more difficult for people to be able to put food on the table, and these convoys become a lifeline.

What we are hoping for for Lebanon is, of course, peace and that people can resume their lives. But what we need is for everybody to continue to support the people of Lebanon during this incredibly challenging moment, so that we can ensure essential food, essential shelter. This is a humanitarian crisis, and we need the world to understand that the families are right now the victims.

So, what we hope for is a peaceful solution, and what we hope for is that the million plus IDPs can go home. We also have Syrian and Palestinian refugees here who are having a very, very hard time.

So, it's a difficult situation, I have to be honest, and we're just hoping for good opportunities and for the people of the world not to forget Lebanon and not forget people that just want to have the same things we all have, a warm bed to sleep in, a room for our heads and a hot meal on the table to eat with our families.

CHURCH: And Allison describe to us the scale of this displacement of civilians in the midst of this conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, and how humanitarian convoys are getting food to those people, perhaps harder to reach, not in those -- in those shelters and schools nearby. And just how do you do that?

[02:15:01]

LAWI: Yes, so we have, of course, the crisis here in Beirut, because many, many families have come into Beirut looking for a safe place to be. But we also have families in a whole villages that still are down in the south that haven't left, and in these hard to reach areas, we need to make sure that we're getting food in.

I was on a convoy last week, where we were bringing in essential food parcels, but also bread flour, and as we drove into the village, the people of the village came out and met us, helped us unload the trucks and took us to the bakery, where I saw that the whole glass front had recently, an hour before we arrived, had been destroyed.

But what was so amazing is to watch this group of people that were so grateful for the -- for the humanitarian assistance that was coming through, because for them, it's a real lifeline.

And the World Food Programme, logistics cluster, we're going to continue to do that, to go where we can go, but to do that, we need safe and secure access.

As a country director, I need to make sure that my teams and these convoys are also safe. So, we're really, really asking for these humanitarian corridors to allow us to go in and take the food that people need.

CHURCH: Your organization does incredible work. Allison Lawi, we thank you so much for talking with us. We appreciate it.

LAWI: Thank you so much. Appreciate it.

CHURCH: Well, a powerful typhoon is churning in the Northern Pacific with extremely strong winds and heavy rains expected to take a heavy toll on some islands for another full day. A live report from Guam just ahead.

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[02:20:08]

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. A powerful typhoon is barreling across the Northern Pacific right now, with the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam right in its path. Typhoon Sinlaku has winds of more than 200 kilometers per hour, making it the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane. The storm has downgraded slightly from a super typhoon when it was captured by NASA in this photograph shot from space. But the danger remains with waves as high as nine meters reported offshore from Guam.

And I'm joined now by Landon Aydlett, a Warning Coordination Meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Guam. Thank you so much for talking with us.

MARCUS LANDON AYDLETT, WARNING COORDINATION METEOROLOGIST, NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GUAM: Thank you so much for having me here.

CHURCH: So, what's happening there right now? What are you seeing?

AYDLETT: Yes, definitely. This has been a very long process, a very long week for many people across Guam and the northern islands of the Mariana Islands, we're still watching this powerful Category 3 Typhoon Sinlaku make its way away from Saipan and Tinian of the Northern Mariana Islands. This has been a very long process, with super typhoon making its way toward the island, gradually weakening, but that stalled overnight last night with the maximum conditions, Category 4 wins over Saipan and Tinian for upwards of 12 hours, been a very grueling night, and it looks like it's going to be a very grim outcome as things start to subside.

CHURCH: And how bad, Landon, do you expect this to get? Or do you feel the worst is behind you?

AYDLETT: Yes, definitely, the worst conditions have passed. That was overnight, last night, for a very long period, is that the eye started stalling. It was nearly stationary for a period of time. The worst conditions have passed, but we're still seeing typhoon force conditions continue for another couple of hours across Saipan and Kenya. We've urged people to stay sheltered in place, not to venture out because the strong wind gusts are ongoing for the next several hours.

Tropical Storm Force conditions will continue through tonight and into tomorrow before things start to finally settle down. But the damage is going to be widespread. We do expect a near

catastrophic destruction in some areas, especially for structures that are not reinforced concrete. Most of our buildings, our homes, our schools, they're reinforced concrete buildings because of the threat of super typhoons in this region.

So, anything that's other than reinforced concrete is going to likely take significant damage from this extended time of intense conditions.

CHURCH: And Landon, you mentioned that people have been advised to shelter in place. So, are there actually shelters or people just hunkering down in their homes? What is the situation when it comes to that?

AYDLETT: Yes, there's a number of shelters across all four of the main populated islands across Guam and the CNMI, the Commonwealth and the Northern Minor Islands. We have seven schools here on Guam, even though we expected only tropical storm force conditions. Our seven shelters on Guam had nearly 1000 people sheltering in those facilities just to get out of the jungle, out of the wood and 10 structures is we have a widespread of socio economic backgrounds here.

For the northern Mariana islands, they are no stranger to significant typhoon strikes, super typhoon Yutu made a direct passage right over the same two islands back in 2018 with significant damage, where some of the rebuilding is still ongoing, 7.5 years later, so people are hunkered down and they were ready for the worst.

CHURCH: And Landon, what is your biggest concern at this point?

AYDLETT: My biggest concern is the good news is we've had no casualties. All the reports from the four main islands report no casualties at this time. But my biggest concern is that as this thing starts to move away, people will start letting their guard down. They're ready to get out of the house, out of their shelter, out in the sun, goes to the beach.

But we have some significant water concerns right now, life threatening water concerns with large swell, powerful, dangerous, deadly surf and rip currents that's going on right now. We're having inundation even now here on Guam throughout the day, with the waves washing up on shore, washing out some of our parks, some of our main thoroughfares.

[02:25:20]

CHURCH: Some good warnings there, land and Idlib. Thank you so much. Stay safe there. Appreciate it.

AYDLETT: Thank you so much.

CHURCH: Well, tens of millions of people from the Texas, Mexico border up to the Great Lakes are at risk of severe storms, tornadoes, strong wind gusts and hail the size of baseballs could be possible in some places in the Central Plains and upper Midwest, some of these supercell thunderstorms that develop could continue to produce tornadoes, like we've seen across the region this week, there were over a dozen reports of tornadoes Monday in parts of Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

The governor of Kansas declared a disaster to ensure resources are available for counties as they recover.

Storms in the southern plains, including Oklahoma City could produce isolated tornadoes and damaging hail larger than apples. Meanwhile, major flooding is ongoing or forecast to develop this week at nearly a dozen locations along rivers in Michigan and Wisconsin.

Still to come, new details on the tactics Russia is using to recruit its university students. It's an effort to lure them into military service. CNN investigates when we return.

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[02:31:06]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWSROOM": Welcome back, everyone. U.S. President, Donald Trump has hinted that U.S.-Iran peace talks could resume this week. Sources tell CNN that Vice President, J.D. Vance is expected to lead a potential second round of negotiations with Iranian officials. And Tehran says it will continue to take part in talks to "expose U.S. behavior." Meanwhile, the Pakistani prime minister is set to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey as a push to promote peace efforts in the region.

So let's bring in CNN's Ivan Watson live from Hong Kong. Good to see you, Ivan. So what more are you learning about the possibility of a second round of negotiations between the U.S. and Iran? And how might these talks be different to the first round?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, nothing official has been announced yet. We've got a U.S. official who's told CNN that future talks are under discussion, but nothing has been scheduled at this time. Most of this is being fueled by the fact that President Trump himself told a New York Post reporter in Pakistan that it was better to stay there, something could happen in the next two days.

Some sources who are familiar with this entire process have said that if there is a second round of talks in the Pakistani capital, the U.S. delegation would likely be led by, again, the U.S. Vice President, J.D. Vance, as well as President Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and his special envoy, as well. So they were the delegation that attended 21 hours of marathon talks with Iran in Islamabad back in Saturday, talks that ended without an agreement and with both sides accusing the other of not basically coming to an agreement.

For example, the Iranian foreign minister accused the U.S. delegation of "maximalism, shifting goalposts and a blockade." And that brings us to where we are right now. OK, we are more than a week into this temporary two-week ceasefire. In and around the Gulf, nobody is being killed right now. There's still a great deal of killing happening in Lebanon between the Iranian-backed Hezbollah and Israel. But nobody's being killed right now in Iran and countries around the Gulf. Instead, we have what looks like -- very much like economic warfare. Take a look at this tweet that came out from CENTCOM, where the admiral in charge declared that a, "Blockade of Iranian ports has been fully implemented. As U.S. forces maintain maritime superiority in the Middle East, an estimated 90 percent of Iran's economy is fueled by international trade by sea." And he goes on to claim that U.S. forces have stopped all trade going in and out of Iran by sea in a 36-hour period.

So the U.S. is clearly trying to squeeze Iran economically as much as possible, while also there appears to be some kind of discussions and the possible movement towards maybe a second round of talks. Iran, of course, from the beginning of the joint U.S.-Israeli bombardment of Iran, threatened commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. So, for a month and a half, we've had shipping disrupted from this strategic area, and now the U.S. stopping tankers coming from Iranian ports as the U.S. tries to squeeze Iran economically.

And the global economy right now is being squeezed, because a great deal of the oil, natural gas, aluminum, fertilizers, helium comes from this part of the world, and it's not getting out right now.

[02:35:00]

And one of the questions is, could one side or the other blink as we might be headed towards a last-ditch round of talks before this temporary ceasefire comes to an end next Monday. Rosemary?

CHURCH: All right. Thanks to Ivan Watson bringing us that report live from Hong Kong, appreciate it.

The U.S. military says its latest strike on alleged drug trafficking boat in the eastern Pacific has killed four people. It says no U.S. military personnel were harmed in Tuesday's strike. At least 174 people have now been killed in the strikes on suspected drug boats in what the Trump administration calls Operation Southern Spear.

Russia's top diplomat has been meeting with the Chinese president in Beijing. Sergey Lavrov is thought to be laying the groundwork for Russian President, Vladimir Putin's upcoming visit to the Chinese capital. Lavrov says that trip will happen in the first half of this year. During the meeting, China's Xi Jinping called for the two countries to bolster their strategic and diplomatic ties, and to push them to higher levels.

Ukrainian officials say at least five people were killed and dozens more injured after a Russian missile strike hit the southeastern city of Dnipro. Officials released this video showing what appears to be paramedics providing aid on Tuesday, but both the location and date of the video have not been verified.

The strike comes as Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in Norway signing an agreement on defense projects. As part of the deal, Norway will help produce drones for Ukraine and Kyiv will share data and other information in return. Norway is one of Kyiv's most vital allies, contributing some $28 billion to the country between 2023 and 2030.

Well, as Moscow faces mounting losses on the battlefield, Russian universities are funneling students into the military. They're using a mix of financial incentives, misleading promises and coercion. Our Clare Sebastian investigates how universities are applying the pressure particularly to struggling students as the Kremlin tries desperately to sustain its war in Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is not a war- themed computer game. It's a recruitment video designed to convince students to join Russia's drone forces.

[Foreign Language]

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): You were told you were wasting time on video games says this clip, but there is a place where your experience is especially valuable. The videos which began appearing on university websites and social media pages around the start of the year all advertise military contracts in Russia's newly-formed unmanned systems forces.

Here you see a gamer on the left, a drone operator on the right. One university captioned it "Choose the right skin."

SEBASTIAN: But behind the flashy PR, there is a darker side to this. Few students will speak out publicly but some of those we have reached, have told us anonymously that the pressure on them is rising.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Everything changed this year, wrote one student. All the top people in the university are now calling on students to go to war. Students at risk of failure are a common target, hardly consistent with an effort to form an elite brigade. In this video, sent to CNN by one student, a woman tells the group, "If I were you I would consider an option to join the drone forces. It will be as if your missing credits never existed."

Another student told us on a single day, in February, his university almost expelled a third of our group and forced them to sign a contract on the spot to keep their place. Through videos, posters and in-person meetings sometimes with soldiers serving in Ukraine, students are being promised an easier war experience, a one-year fixed term, an opportunity to serve far from the frontline, huge payouts and high-tech skills, and yet --

ARTEM KLYGA, RUSSIAN HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER: Everything is a lie. It's a simple contract with the Russian army without deadline, without special term.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): This is the small print. Russia's 2022 decree on mobilization, which was never canceled, states every military contract remains in force until that decree is revoked, no exceptions and no guarantees experts and anti-war activists say that the drone unit is where they'll end up. GRIGORY SVERDLIN, FOUNDER, IDITE LESOM: As soon as the person signs the contract, he is literally a slave of Ministry of Defense, and he can be sent to whatever unit Ministry of Defense will need.

[02:40:00]

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): It is not clear yet how many students have been recruited so far. The Russian Ministry of Defense has not responded to CNN's request for comment. But none of the students we spoke to are buying it.

I don't find this nonsense convincing, wrote one. I'm deeply opposed to the military propaganda.

Among my classmates, no one is considering signing a contract, even those in a very difficult financial situation, wrote another.

Russian losses in Ukraine have been mounting in recent months, its system of enticing soldiers with huge salaries and bonuses under increasing strain.

KATERYNA STEPANENKO, RUSSIAN TEAM LEAD, INSTITUTE FOR STUDY OF WAR: There's a lot of estimates in terms of the recruitment getting more expensive for the Kremlin, which is why coercion is becoming more prominent (ph).

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): The main battle for peace is inside you, claims this recruitment video. Russia's internal battle for manpower is escalating.

Clare Sebastian, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: The Russian Defense Ministry did not respond to CNN's request for comment. As Sudan's devastating civil war enters its fourth year, the U.N. warns some 14 million people are displaced and hungry. The country's health system has been devastated, and there's no end in sight to the violence.

The U.N. says the fighting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has pushed some 70 percent of Sudan's people into poverty. That's 32 percent more than before the conflict broke out in April of 2023. The World Food Programme says the international community has failed to help end the warfare and the humanitarian crisis.

Still to come, CNN marks 10 years of shining a light on the fight against modern-day slavery. We will take you to England, where students are creating powerful art about what freedom means to them. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:46:40]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Being free means having choices.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Freedom means the right to live without fear or exploitation. On My Freedom Day, I stand with the children who are still denied that basic right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And that was a message from students at the Finnish School of Kosovo, sharing what freedom means to them. They're taking part in the 10th year of CNN's My Freedom Day, a student-driven worldwide event to raise awareness of modern-day slavery.

In England, students are creating pieces of art about the meaning and importance of freedom. CNN's Salma Abdelaziz spoke with them about the inspirations behind their projects.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: These passionate and creative students are acknowledging and celebrating My Freedom Day with these beautiful onstage performances. But what's been extraordinary is, throughout, there's been a live art project happening behind all of these performances.

You can see here, there's this doorframe and these students are just hanging these keys on it meant to symbolize freedom. But I actually want Alicia, who is the student behind this project, to explain this to us.

So just give me a sense of what is this about? Where did the idea come from?

ALICIA, STUDENT: So you can see there's the white doorframe with keys and wire hanging on it. The white doorframe represents the gateway towards freedom and may lead to unknown, but maybe with hope.

And also, it tells that in the world now, there's so many people still under control, violence, kidnapped or participate in country lines that they cannot get out from that.

ABDELAZIZ: It is such a powerful expression of that idea, very complicated idea. Again, you can just see already these students have put these little keys up here. They've hung them all across this wire. Again, you heard how it's supposed to represent that barrier between freedom and slavery. And you can see also they've drawn this here on the board as well.

This whole time, we've seen this live art project happening. We also have students who have been hanging these pieces of beautiful fabric and they've been pinning them on this board after they've been writing things on them like choice, freedom, meaning.

And I want to again grab the student behind this, Lisa, just if you could come a little bit closer here to me and tell me what is it that I'm looking at here with these ribbons and what does it symbolize and mean?

LISA, STUDENT: Here, I use fabric to represent and like remind people about how the workers to make fabric hasn't paid enough wages or hasn't paid at all. And I want people to know about that situation to make it better.

And also, I gather the idea from like what does freedom mean to them and writing in my fabric and gather the idea to make whole pieces. And I also ripped the fabric to kind of represent being free from restrictive situation and like those bad situations.

ABDELAZIZ: It's beautiful. And again, full of so much meaning when you look at these ribbons, when you look at the time students are taking to write down with markers, their thoughts and feelings on this day.

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And ultimately, this is a day that is not just about raising awareness, but for these students, it is also about recognizing the signs of modern-day slavery.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: People around the world are still captivated by the Artemis II mission, days after the crew's safe return to Earth. More than three million people liked this video on Instagram posted by Mission Commander, Reid Wiseman.

It shows the recovery crew opening the Integrity capsule hatch after it splashed down in the Pacific Ocean. And this was the first time the four astronauts breathed fresh air from the Earth's atmosphere in 10 days.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can do it. Say it. Yaay. Let's go. Ike, welcome home.

Christina, welcome home. Yes.

CHRISTINA KOCH, ARTEMIS II MISSION SPECIALIST: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jeremy, you are absolutely welcome home, brother.

There it is. Reid, let's welcome home brother.

REID WISEMAN, ARTEMIS II COMMANDER: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right.

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CHURCH: Fantastic moment there. And NASA says the astronauts could be seen enjoying their time in the capsule before the recovery team reached them. And that clearly they were just so ecstatic to be home. Well, running a marathon is, of course, a big challenge for just about anyone. But imagine racing 42 kilometers without being able to see the road in front of you. A man in the U.K. just finished his second such race. And this time, he traded the human guide next to him for a pair of A.I. glasses and an app.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This blind man just ran a marathon without a physical guide. Instead, he used A.I.-powered glasses and volunteers who described the course to him using a video live stream from his glasses.

CLARK REYNOLDS, COMPLETED BRIGHTON MARATHON WITH THE HELP OF A.I.- POWERED GLASSES: I've done a marathon untethered, but I've done it as first person using smart glasses and an app called "Be My Eyes." It's an unofficial record. It'd be great if I had that certificate, but in my mind, it is a world's first.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Clark Reynolds, known as Mr. Dot, ran the Brighton Marathon in the U.K. by using A.I.-powered glasses combined with a real-time assistance app.

REYNOLDS: And once we started, I said the magic words, "Hey, Meta, call Be My Eyes." And within 10 seconds, I had a volunteer to support me for the first half of the race. I'd say without those volunteers in my ears, I would have probably given up around 15-mile marker.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This was Mr. Dot's second marathon, and he did the first with a traditional guide. But he said this experience was totally different because of the glasses.

REYNOLDS: The biggest difference was the training. You know, I could train without relying on someone there to always support me because we live a busy life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): But Mr. Dot says he thinks this is just the beginning of what A.I. could do for the visually impaired community.

REYNOLDS: Being blind is a very lonely experience sometimes. And you can have someone as Be My Eyes, and they could, like, chat with you for five minutes, you know, and they could say, oh, you know, there's some ducks in the pond, or you know what I mean? You could have that experience and not feel lonely. I think that's a real game changer for the sight loss community as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Well, Powerball is crossing the pond to the U.K. The American Lottery game will join with the U.K.'s National Lottery this summer, pending approval by U.K. Gambling Commission. It's the first time a lottery outside the U.S. will contribute to the Powerball jackpot. Officials are hoping the joint venture will build larger jackpots that attract more players.

Powerball is already played in 45 U.S. states, as well as Washington, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The new agreement won't affect how the other large U.S. lottery game, Mega Millions, operates.

Well, now to a raffle for charity in Paris. One lucky winner has walked away with an original Picasso for the price of a night out in the City of Lights.

(APPLAUSE)

The prize in this year's "1 Picasso for 200 Euros" contest raised money for Alzheimer's research. A 59-year-old software engineer was selected at random. Organizers called him shortly after the draw.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARI HODARA, WINNER OF "1 PICASSO FOR 200 EUROS" RAFFLE: I was surprised (inaudible). Actually, when you bet on this, you don't expect to win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And he won Picasso's "Head of a Woman," which was painted back in 1941. It's worth at least $1 million. In previous years, the raffle has raised funds for clean water programs and historic preservation.

I want to thank you so much for joining us this hour. I'm Rosemary Church. I will be back with more "CNN Newsroom" after a very short break. Stay with us.

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