hello and welcome to all of you watching us here in the united states, canada, and all around the world. i'm kim brunhuber. ahead on "cnn newsroom."

>> with you at my side, we will demolish the deep state. >> he's back and making a splash at cpac. what donald trump had to say to the enthusiastic crowd and the thinly veiled swipe he took at a potential rival. another train derails in ohio, just one month after the hazardous material spill in east palestine. what residents are saying about the two incidents. >> and the battle over abortion, now being waged in drugstores. what a decision by a leading chain could mean for women across the u.s. zp >> announcer: live from cnn center, this has "cnn newsroom" with kim brunhuber. former u.s. donald trump got a rapturous reception from the political action conference in maryland on saturday and some momentum for his 2024 presidential campaign. trump spoke for nearly two hours. he said he wouldn't drop out of the presidential race, even if he was indicted in the state or federal investigations he faces. and he alluded to some familiar

conspiracy theories. here he is. >> i will totally obliterate the deep state. i will fire the unelected bureaucrats and shadow forces who have weaponized our justice system like it has never been weaponized before. sick. these are sick people. and i will put the people back in charge of this country again. the people will be back in charge. >> an unscientific straw poll of cpac attendees found 62% want him to be the republican nominee next year. only 20% backed florida governor ron desantis. cnn national correspondent kristen holmes is there at the conference and has this report. >> former president trump talking to a very enthusiastic crowd here at cpac. he pitched himself for another trip to the oval office. he talked about how he wanted to obliterate the deep state. he took on the establishment, particularly republicans. take a listen. >> we're not going back to

people that want to destroy our great social security system. even some in our own party. i wonder who that might be, that want to raise the minimum age of social security to 70, 75, or even 80 in some cases. and that are out to cut medicare to a level that it will no longer be recognizable. >> now, that was a thinly veiled job at florida governor ron desantis, who while he was in congress suggested changes to those social security and medicare programs. this is something that trump has gone after him a number of times over. the florida governor has not entered the 2024 presidential race, but he is seen as trump's most formidable opponent should he decide to run for president. but it was interesting, as we walked around during this event for the last several days, this used to be the premiere event for conservatives. instead, it seems now like the trump show. almost all of the speakers were trump-centric. they were supporters, they were

people who wanted to see him in office in 2024. and it showcased really the deep divide within the republican party, particularly as we noted, so in of these potential 2024 hopefuls decided to skip the event this year. and it really set up what is expected to be a very ugly republican primary. kristen holmes, national harbor, maryland. meanwhile, in the criminal investigation into trump's efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss, sources tell cnn the former president is seeking to block testimony from mike pence on matters he says are covered by executive privilege. friday's request was submitted secretly in a sealed proceeding. it's not clear how long it will take the legal wrangling to play out. pence has already announced plans to fight his justice department subpoena. he says he's shielded by the constitution's speech and debate clause. later today, u.s. president joe biden will commemorate a singular moment in civil rights history when he travels to selma, alabama, to mark the

anniversary of bloody sunday. he was there in 1965 that riot police attacked a peaceful march as they crossed the edmund pettus bridge into town. today the bridge is a potent symbol of the civil rights legacy. this will be biden's third visit to selma for the anniversary and his first as president. he most recently attended a ceremony in 2020, when he was running for president. biden also participated in a commemorative march in 2013 when he was vice president. one month after a toxic train derailment in east palestine, ohio, there's been another norfolk southern derailment in the state. it happened in saturday in springfield in the western part of ohio, several hours away from east palestine. according to norfolk southern, there were no injuries reported and no hazardous materials were involved. one witness described what he saw. >> so i was watching it and people are just sitting there. and you could kind of see it like off the tracks, kicking up gravel and stuff. but once the cars started coming off and going sideways and

collapsing on each other, it was just time to go. and that's when i take off and you just kind of see everybody going backwards down the road and getting out of there. >> transportation secretary pete buttigieg tweeted that he has been briefed by state and federal officials about the springfield derailment. he noticed that no hazardous material release has been reported and the transportation department continued to monitor the situation. now, in east palestine, officials are still trying to restore confidence and calm fears among local residents, even as the cleanup of the train's toxic cargo continues. p polo sandoval has the story. >> over a month since the derailment disaster in east palestine, ohio, and the frustrations have not faded for many of the residents there. on saturday, however, authorities offering an opportunity for those residents to visit the town's water treatment plant. they hope to answer any questions and concerns that they may have. the state, however, they continue to insist that all sampling of municipal water

wells have shown no contaminants that were associated to last month's derailment. over the coming days, a lot of the folk will also include farmers, as ohio's department of agriculture will meet with area farmers. at this point, they say there's no reason to believe that any of the crops that may be planted or harvested in east palestine are unsafe. but nonetheless, norfolk southern, the company involved in this derailment or at least being held responsible, they are being asked to develop a soil sampling plan for not just residential areas, but also agricultural, as well. meanwhile, the department of health has released the results of a health assessment survey, saying that residents completed an after-chemical exposure survey. they basically laid out any unusual symptoms that they were reporting or experiencing. they include headaches, anxiety, coughing, irritation, also burning of the skin. all of this information will be used by local, state, and federal officials to determine how the derailment may have had

any kind of health effects on some of the residents there. meanwhile, though, the cleanup that is far from over. in fact, in the last few days, the process of replacing all of that damaged track began. it's a process that will entail removing the damaged track and replacing the contaminated soil underneath before laying down some fresh track. a process that could, according to officials, last until the end of april. polo sandoval, cnn, new york. >> the head of the national transportation safety board says a train derailment like the one that happened there in east palestine can absolutely happen again. now a group of bipartisan lawmakers on capitol hill are pushing to prevent a similar disaster. they're proposing a rail safety bill they say will make the rail industry safer. pennsylvania senator bob casey is a co-sponsor of the bill and spoke to cnn earlier. here he is. >> i don't want people in darlington, pennsylvania, or east palestine, ohio, to think that this bill would somehow

supplant what we're -- what we should all do, federal, state, and local right now to help the people. and to hold norfolk southern accountable. but going forward, we have to have much tougher safety requirements for any train carrying hazardous materials. that's one of the problems here, not enough safety requirements for that kind of hazardous material being transported. also, more inspections, better and tougher inspections of these rail companies. and really tough fines. right now under federal law, you could only impose fines on a company like norfolk southern in the tens of thousands. they should be hit with, if they're culpable, they should be hit with a multi-million dollar fines as a minimum, and that's what this bill would provide. so tougher safety, more inspections, audits of federal programs that do this kind of moderating, and also, much tougher fines. >> all right.

we want to bring you some live pictures now. this is athens, greece, and you're looking at massive protests following that deadly train crash. the station master at the center of greece's deadly railway crash will appear in court later today. remember, 57 people died when the passenger train collided head-on with a freight train. authorities say at first, the station master blamed the disaster on a technical fault, but then later admitted to making a mistake. earlier today, greece's prime minister apologized, saying, as prime minister, i owe everyone a big sorry, both personally and in the name of all of those who ruled the country for years. we cannot, will not, and must not hide behind human error. it remains to be seen whether those words will prbring an endo these protests that you're seeing right there. after a series of powerful wi winter storm dumped historic snow in california, another storm system is moving in. winter weather alerts are in places for several parts of the

west and snow is forecast for both the higher and lower elevations. the heaviest snowfall is expected across the sierras, where an additional 1 to 5 feet is possible by the end of the weekend. all of this heavy snowfall combined with wind gusts up to 55 miles per hour will lead to white-out conditions and difficult driving conditions across the mountain west. meanwhile. some residents in the mountains of southern california are still buried under several feet of snow, and facing a difficult situation as they're running out of food, medicine, and gas. cnn's camilla bernal has that story. >> we are seeing progress today. we've seen a lot of crews, firefighters, officials from the county going into the mountain with heavy equipment to try to clean the roads. we know members of the national guard are there as well. that is their priority. trying to clear the roads so that residents can come in and out of the mountain. but as of now, officials are saying that this entire process will likely take about five manufacture days.

that's where a lot of the frustration is coming from. there are people that have been stuck in the mountain alreadldy to prepare for even more time at home without being able to access a lot of basic necessities. i spoke to one woman, who was able to come down from the mountains. s she came down, she says, in order to buy supplies, to buy food, because there's so much snow on her roof, that she's afraid it's going to collapse. the problem is, she's not allowed back into her home. and officials are telling her, you're going to have to wait about five days to get back in. so she was extremely frustrated, even in tears as she was explaining her situation. here's what she told me. >> basically, what we're trying to do, save our home. that's all we want to do. we want to get home. they should let us up there. we actually bought a lot of groceries yesterday, even a restaurant asked us for stuff. we have tons of food that had to go to waste, because we have no where are to store it. they flood food, some ladies need diaper, some people need medicine. some people cannot get their insulin on time.

the pharmacies are closed pip mean, it's crazy up there. and then, they're not letting us go up. >> and officials apologizing for how long this process is taking, but they even said, look, we're also dealing with walls of snow. it has not been easy, and they're doing everything they can to help the people that truly need it. they're bringing in food, even using helicopters, and just trying to get to the needs of the people that are stuck up in the mountains. but again, they're asking for patience. they're saying this is going to take a while. camilla bernal, cnn, san bernardino, california. a ukrainian soldier says every outcome is on the table in bakhmut. and the u.s. so far hasn't supplied fighter jets to ukraine, but now we're learning ukrainian pilots are in the u.s. to check out how quickly they could master flying jets like that one. plus, china's national people's congress is now underway in the capitol. possible implications for the rest of the world.

and later, walgreens pharmacies limit the distribution of abortion medication. we'll have the reasons behind the move and the impact it could have on millions of americans coming up. please stay with us. old school hard work meets bold, new thinking, ♪ to help you see untapped possibilities and relentlesslyly work with yu to make them real. ♪

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cnn is learning that two ukrainian pilots are here in the u.s. being evaluated for possible training on american-made fighter jets. three sources briefed on the matter say the goal is to see how quickly those pilots would learn to fly f-16s and other aircraft. there's no indication at this time that flight training is actually underway. an official describes the exchange as part of the ongoing military-to-military dialogue with ukraine. kyiv has been pushing to acquire western fighter jets, but the u.s. and some of its allies have been skeptical about the idea, all of this as fighting rages for the control of the ukrainian city of bakhmut. ukraine says it's still holding the line in bakhmut, despite russia trying to make a final push to encircle the city. this video was posted on saturday, showing ukrainian

troops exchanging fire with russians on the streets. one ukrainian soldier says the only certain thing right now is the uncertainty. >> i don't know what is coming tomorrow, or even this evening. the situation is exchanging every minute. there might be shelling even now. no one knows what will happen tomorrow. we will see. >> our salma abdelaziz is keeping an eye on developments in ukraine and joins me now from london. let's start with that battle for bakhmut. what's the latest there? >> a ferocious ball for that city, kim, where ukrainian commanders say that russian forces are hellbent on taking bakhmut. they say for now they've been able to stabilize that front line, keeping russian forces on the other side of a body of water, a small river, and the city of bakhmut itself, still firmly under ukrainian control. but one commander saying every single hour in that city is like hell. they've been able to repel multiple attacks, but they keep

on coming. russian shelling is near constant, ukrainian troops say, thr artillery rockets are being used, there's fighting on the streets between ukrainian defenders and moscow troops and vogner mercenaries on the ground who are lobbing everything they have to try to regain this city. for president putin, it would be a much-needed win after many, many losses in the last several months, where ukrainian forces were able to reclaim territory from the kremlin's troops. but it would be largely a symbolic victory if president putin. this city holds very little strategic value. yes, it does fall in that important donbas region, wedged between two major regions that are separatist controlled. so it would expand that territory of control, that territory that was illegally annexed by president putin, but again, very little strategic

value there. that's why many are wondering why president putin would expend so many resources to win the city. but some arguing that this city, bakhmut, is important because russia has made it important. president zelenskyy in the meanwhile saying all options are on the table, even strategic withdrawal. but he absolutely does not want to back down. >> in the meantime, it seems as though ukraine has seen quite a few high-profile foreign visitors the past week or so. the latest, the chief of the european parliament. so what came out of that meeting in lviv? >> yes, making an unannounced visit to lviv, the president of the european parliament. now, this was in the context of the united for justice conference. what's important to know about this conflict and what's so interesting is that ukrainian forces, ukrainian officials, are simultaneously, while conducting this war, while trying to regain territory, are simultaneously trying to collect evidence, they say, to prosecute war crimes

that they allege russia has committed on the ground. now, ukraine's partners say they're going to help alongside ukraine, alongside kyiv to do this. that's why the european parliament, president roberta mi mittsola was there. listen to what she said about holding russia accountable. >> when we talk about peace, we need to talk about accountability. whoever is responsible for these crimes needs to pay. and that means if we find jurisdiction for the crime of aggression, then we need to find the means to do it. it is about bringing persons accountable, including vladimir putin to justice. without that, we will not have peace. >> now, kyiv, alongside its western partners is setting up a center in hague, of course home to the international criminal court. and what you'll hear over and over, as they work to prosecute what they see as war crimes against ukrainians, you'll hear over and over again that there

can be no peace without justice in ukraine, kim. >> all right. thanks so much, salma abdelaziz in london. well, the war in ukraine is taking political brutal inside russia to a whole new level. not that the kremlin's crackdown on dissent has ever been anything less than harsh, but the suppression of political opposition is now surging. >> reporter: it takes a certain type of bravery to stand up to the kremlin. across the country, police using arrests and beatings to crush dissent against the ukrainians. some anti-war protesters even drafted into the army for a cruel punishment for pacifism.

political opposition always a risky business in putin's russia, is now essentially outlawed. with prominent opposition leaders like ilya lashen recently sentenced to eight and a half years in jail for criticizing the conflict. this will all end soon, he shouts in defiance. there's little real reason for optimism. this was vladimir, another leading russian opposition figure, in moscow back in 2015, after surviving a suspected poisoning at the hands of kremlin agents. he was allegedly poisoned again in 2017 and survived that too. only to be imprisoned last april on charges ranging from disobeying the police to treason. the price of silence, he wrote from jail, was simply

unacceptable. but the price of speaking out against putin's russia is extraordinarily high, too. case in point, the former president of georgia, whose country lost a brief war with russia in 2008. >> my small nation will never give up freedom, will never give a square mile. >> two years ago, mikhail was kb imprisoned in georgia on what his supporters say were trumped up charges. now this one-time putin foe is at death's door, allegedly poisoned, too, and accusing moscow of orchestrating his plight. the kremlin rejects the allegation. but his family are adamant. >> to put somebody in this state, after just a year of imprisonment. that was unexpected. but for years, kremlin critics have been ruthlessly silenced, like russia's most prominent investigative journalist, until

she was gunned down in her moscow apartment building in 2006. or alexandria litvinenko, the former russian fsb agent poisoned in london in the same year with a radioactive isotope. 2018, a former russian spy, sergey scrippel and his daughter were poisoned in britain, using a potent nerve agent. they survived. two years before, russia's l leading opposition figure was shot dead within sight of the kremlin. of course, the kremlin denies any connection to any crime. but exiled, jailed, poisoned, or killed is how so many of putin's critics seem to end. matthew chance, cnn, london. access to abortion medication is further limited in america. ahead, why walgreens pharmacies

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and welcome back to all of you watching us here in the united states, canada, and all around the world. i'm kim brunhuber. this is "cnn newsroom." one of the largest pharmacy chains in the u.s. says it won't distribute abortion medication in 20 states. walgreens has announced that mifepristone won't be offered in republican-led states where attorneys general have threatened legal action. the company is vowing to

increase pressure from anti-abortion groups targeting the legality of the pills. now, according to the gutmacher substitute, an ngo that works to expand reproductive rights worldwide, abortion medication is legal in 31 states, but a texas judge could soon block nationwide access to it if he reverses the government's approval of the drug. here's how the white house reacted to walgreens' decision to restrict the pill. >> this is all a part of a continued effort by anti-abortion extremists who want to use this arcane law to impose a backdoor ban on abortion. the administration will continue to stand by the fda's expert judgment in approving and regulating medication and in the face of our barriers to access and concerns about safety of patients, health care providers, and pharmacists, we will continue to support access to this critical medication within the limits of the law. >> i want to discuss this now with rachael rebushea, the dean

of temple's school of law. thank you so much for being with us. i understand that the majority of abortions are done using pills, not surgery, and these drugs are safer than surgical abortion. walmart's decision to stop distributing the medication in '26, what effect could that have? >> so, it's probably going to have pretty limited effect, because most of those states ban all abortion, and that includes medication abortion. about four of those states do allow medication abortion. but walgreens has taken the position that states like kansas, which have had some legal turmoil over whether patients have to pick up pills directly from physician, a law that is currently not enforced, does that create too much uncertainty, to seek certification in that state, at the moment. so i think that in those four states, walgreens might be playing it a little safe, but we also need to remember that certification is a new process. it's a process that involves a lot of moving parts, and they have now been threatened by

legislators in kansas, that they would seek to apply the law that the white house mentioned, the comstock act against them, were they to seek certification in the state. >> so i'm wondering about the options here then. so what are laws when it comes to interstate commerce. could a woman purchase it from another state, other than the one in which she lives? >> she absolutely could. people are traveling, they're traveling to states to seek abortion through medication, through procedures medication abortion's a little tricky, because it's a two-drug regimen. you could pick it up in one state and take it back home and take it in another. so i think we might see states try to target people who are bringing medication into the state that they received legally from out of state. but there's no ban at the moment, no state has tried to ban people picking up medication abortion across state lines. >> i guess that could still

come. but i spoke in the introduction about this major case that's before a federal judge in texas that could ban a major abortion drug. some activists say that could have a greater impact than even the dobbs decision. what are the stakes here? >> the stakes are high, but the court is limited. so this court, the decision could drop any day. if the court rules that mifep mifepristone, the first drug in a medication abortion, was not approved correctly by the fda, it could seek to try to ban it by saying that the fda shouldn't have approved it and it's an unapproved drug. but what people should remember, even if that happens, only the parties to that case, the nongeneric manufacturer of the drug and the fda are bound to the court decision. the generic manufacturer is not providers if other parts of the country. they're not bound by the decision. we really then need to look to the fda. because the fda has a lot of enforcement discretion, and only

it by statute can withdraw a drug from the market. so it would be to the fda to decide how broadly to enforce a decision like that. and it could use its enforcement discretion to not enforce it broadly at all. still, the court could issue a ruling that seeks to apply that very old law from 1873 that i mentioned that's not been in use for 100 years, a hundred plus years. and if that happens, that could create conversation among courts about how that law should be interrupted. it's been interrupted narrowly, it's not been in use. it would really be a surprising step for it to spring back into force, but that's essentially, i think, what that case tries to tee up. >> we'll be watching that, for sure. most of the laws so far, they've been targeting providers, not the actual women using them. but we have seen some states consider targeting women sort of as if they've been, you know, are taking hard drugs, for instance. take us through some of the

other efforts to limit abortion that you've been seeing. >> i think that's right. some of the other efforts have included prosecuting people using ordinary criminal laws. fetal endangerment and child neglect. we've seen people arrested for taking medication abortion on their own, ordering it online. and so, states might use their prosecution powers to try to target those people who are seeking out medication abortion. because no matter what the law says, many people are seeking medication abortion online. there's a group called aid access that will mail abortion medication to any state, whether it's illegal or not. we might see states use any number of laws to target that behavior. >> such a vital issue for millions and millions of women out there. thanks so much for your analysis. rachel rebouche, thank you. >> tough talk named at china's outgoing premiere, that and much more as the chinese national

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all right. we want to take you back to athens, greece. these images coming to us just moments ago of the massive protests following that deadly train crash. a few minutes ago, those protests turned violent, as you can see there with a small group of protesters clashing with police. remember, 57 people died when the passenger train collided head-on with a freight train. authorities say at first the station master blamed the disaster on a technical fault, but later admitted to making a mistake. earlier today, greece's prime minister apologized writing, quote, as prime minister, i owe everyone, but above all to the relatives to have the victims a big sorry both personally and in the name of all of those ruled

the country for years. we cannot, will not, and must not hide behind human error. and we're seeing pictures from just a minute ago from athens, kbr greece, protests turning violent as protesters clashed with police, anger building over that deadly train crash. we'll have more later on. today marks the opening session of china's national people's congress. it's first since xi jinping sealed his place atop the communist party back in october. both friends and adversaries of china are very keen to see who rises or falls in power this week and which policies are formally adopted. china's premiere, who is expected to step down after ten years in the post is expected to offer an address on the state of the country and beijing's continued hardline towards taiwan. here he is.

>> translator: we should insist on implementing the party's overall policy in the new era on resolving the taiwan question, firmly adhere to the one china principle, and the 1992 consensus and firmly take resolute steps to oppose taiwan independence and promote reunification. we should promote the peaceful development of cross-straight relations in advanced process to the motherland's peaceful reunification. compatriots on both sides of the taiwan straight are one family bound by blood. we should advance economic and cultural exchanges and cooperation. >> now, those tough words were backed up by a major boost in defense spending. cnn beijing bureau chief steven jiang is tracking all of this from the chinese capital. that increase in defense spending making plenty of headlines, but a lot of the focus there season chinese's economic growth targets. take us through the highlights. >> that's right. officially, they have unveiled their target for the gdp growth this year, would be quote/unquote around 5%. that's a relatively modest

figure by chinese standards. remember, last year, the government's draconian zero covid policy really wreaked havoc on this economy. but after that initial chaotic and deadly exit from that policy in december, we have seen the strong rebound in this can i, with much of the disruptions to the supply chains and industries faded away by late january. and the latest official data is showing some very strong numbers in manufacturing, in services, and construction. so there have been some expectations that they could set this goal higher this year, something closer to 6%. and the fact the goal is only quote/unquote 5%, maybe a reflection of the government's hesitancy in terms of how sustainable this rebound is, and also perhaps their realization of the strong headwinds they continued to face both at home and abroad. domestically, they're faced with a severe downturn in the real estate sector, and also persistently high youth and unemployment. internationally, you have the war in ukraine and also rising

sw interest rates everywhere, not to mention growing u.s. restrictions on technology referee to china. but whether or not the economic growth target and the spending, the proposed spending increase, one thing is clear. that is the nearly 3,000 legislators, they are going to endorse everything put in front of them by the communist leadership under xi jinpjinping because as you mentioned, this is the role of these lawmakers, very different from their counterpart. they are here to be part of the political pageantry and to rubber stamp decisions that have already been made by the communist leadership under xi jinping. kim? >> thanks so much, steven jiang in beijing. for the ninth straight week, protesters in israel have staged massive rallies against their country's far-right government. in teleaviv, some demonstrators breached a barricade and trailer pl blocked a highway before they

were dispersed by police. authorities say more than 150,000 people marched through that city on saturday. most were protesting against the prime minister's plan to weaken the independence of the judiciary. some were also there to condemn israeli settlers for attacking a palestinian town. israel's finance minister said last week that the town, quote, needs to be erased, but he later walked back his comments. today, the prime minister thanked him for taking his words back. earlier, cnn spoke to the opposition, to israel's government with aaron david miller, and we asked him what was behind these large protests. here he is. >> the protests are unprecedented in size and scope and intensity and duration. so that's new. israel has never had a governor like this. two of its prime ministers are openly homophobic, racist, anti-democrats. and you have a prime minister who wants to use the judicial to undermine the powers of the supreme court in favor of the

legislature in order to figure out a way to beat his ongoing trial for bribery, fraud, and breach of trust. and there are other motives as well. some want to use a judicial override in order to pass legislation that would find a way to permanently bind the west bank to israel proper. so there's a lot at stake here. and the fact that you have one of the ministers, the minister of national security, with broad authority over the police, also means that you have new and unprecedented tactics on the part of the police to quell these demonstrations. so it's combustible and i suspect it's not going to end unless a compromise can be found. >> el salvador has started to transfer thousands of prisoners, mostly suspected gang members to its newly opened megaprison. the facility is part of the president's controversial crackdown on crime, but human rights groups are criticizing it. cnn's rafael romo has more.

>> reporter: stripped down to their boxers and barefoot, they're forced to run with their hands behind their back or neck. upon arrival, they're led into the new facility, hands and feet in shackles. this is how the government of el salvador transferred the first group of 2,000 prisoners to its new megaprison with capacity for 40,000 unveiled a month ago. the transfer was shown widely on national tv and social media. the message is unmistakable. gang members will get the iron fist treatment. salvadoran justice and security minister said his government won't stop until the last member of what he called terrorist cells is caught. the gang crackdown started last march when salvadoran president declared a state of emergency with the support of his country's legislative assembly, which allowed the government to

suspend constitutional rights, including freedom of assembly, detention of no more than 72 hours without being charged and wiretapping by warrant only. >> we are going to intensify this war against the gangs, and if they thought the force of the state had been unleashed on these criminals, now they'll see what it really means to unleash the force of the state on these criminals. >> amnesty international calls the decision to publicize the prisoner transfer a media circus and the new salvadoran mega prison a horror jail. >> by basing a policy on the dismantling of the rule of law, the only thing that's generated is a perfect storm. that means the human rights of the entire salvadoran population are put at risk. >> families of many of the detained have been protesting for months, claiming their loved one have said arrested and accused of being gang members, simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

>> my daughter has never done anything wrong, this mother says. she's always been a good and humble woman. the wildly popular denies accusations of human rights abuses and due process violations and says sharp drops in homicides and crimes like extortion prove his policies are working. but human rights groups and the families of many of the detained say his rush to try to arrest his way out of el salvador's endemic gang problem is creating new incident victims. rafael romo, cnn. some of tunisia's neighbors are repatriating their citizens living in the north african nation after a controversial statement by tunisiatunisia's president. he described it as a criminal enterprise hatched to change the demographic composition of tunisia. the aim is to turn tunisia into

a country that is neither arab nor muslim. the african coin called the comments racial and shocking. we'll be right back. to be scar. (screaming) defeat allergygy headaches fast with new flonanase headache and allergy relief! two pills relieve allergy headache pain? and ththe congestion that causes it! flonase headache and allergy relief. psst! psst! all good!

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the late drug kingpin pablo escobar's exotic pets could soon be colombia's latest export. a local governor says there are plans to send 70 of the so-called cocaine hippos to sanctuaries in india. he created a private zoo at his ranch in colombia. in the years since, they're numbers have ballooned. they're now seen by many as an invasive species. hippos aren't native to india and mexico, but it's hoped these countries can control the phipp population. well, you never know what you'll find at walmart . a penn state researcher found this outside of an arkansas walmart in 2012. he misidentified it at the time, but recently discovered it was a jurassic. -era insect. a species of the giant lace wink though wing thought to be extinct. it's now on display at the frost

ent entomological museum at penn state. pretty pups, step to the side. it's time to shine a light on men's most unattractive best friends. the world's lugliest dog competition is taking applications until june 12st. they're celebrating imperfections that make all dogs special and unique. last year's winner was an almost hairless 17-year-old named mr. happy face. organizers say the contest is really about having fun with beautiful animals, they're loaded with character and are actually kind of comical. it's a question even siri, alexa, and google can't answer at least for now. the answer is, what time is it on the moon? the european space agency is hoping to answer that by giving the moon its own time zone. the esa says an international effort is coming up with an accurate lunar time.

that's because dozens of missions are planned for the moon and beyond. finally, sydney harbor bridge in australia transformed into a rainbow of humanity earlier today when an estimated 50,000 people marched across the famous span. they were celebrating the final day of the world pride festival. prime minister anthony al banes was there. >> the unity, that's what a bridge does. and over the last seven, eight days, it's been a great moment of unity and celebrating the diversity in australian society and also sending a message to the world that we're enriched by. >> sydney is the first city in the southern hemisphere to host the international event that started 23 years ago and it coincided with the fifth anniversary of marriage quality legislation in australia. that wraps this hour of "cnn

newsroom." i'm kim brunhuber. you can follow me on twitter @kimbrunhuber. for viewers in north america, "cnn this morning" is next. for the rest of the world, it's "connecting africa."

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