Israel is facing unprecedented internal unrest as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu forges ahead with a controversial bill to allow lawmakers a political veto over the Supreme Court, and therefore the independent judiciary. Ever since its founding, Israel has proclaimed itself the sole democracy amid dictatorships and authoritarians. Its strongest allies like the United States have touted that very democracy as a key reason for its steadfast backing, yet even their support may be shifting. To di...
Mar 15, 2023•57 min
It is painful, it is tough, and it’s where Ukraine’s future will be determined, says Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky of the brutal fighting in the east of his country. Russians and Ukrainians are essentially locked in a war of attrition, each side rapidly losing troops, something Russia has in much bigger supply. Few actually know the stakes of this fight better than the Baltic states – they are Putin’s neighbors and some of Ukraine’s staunchest backers. In Estonia, Prime Minister Kaja Ka...
Mar 15, 2023•56 min
The families of Americans imprisoned in Iran are being buffeted by a sort of psychological warfare between adversarial states. Over the weekend, Iran’s foreign minister said a prisoner swap agreement between his country and the US has been brokered, and now the ball’s in America’s court – but Washington quickly quashed that. The State Department’s Ned Price called it “a cruel lie that only adds to the suffering of their families.” This follows the heartbreaking appeal made by Iranian-American Si...
Mar 13, 2023•57 min
A damning lawsuit has revealed shocking details about the inner workings of Fox News Corporation. Dominion Voting System says Fox News is seeking a first amendment license to knowingly spread lies. In a new court filing, the company claims Fox has already admitted that its on-air statements about Dominion rigging the 2020 election were false. It comes as a slew of messages reveal Tucker Carlson’s real, and surprising, opinions on former President Donald Trump. Correspondent Paula Reid has a repo...
Mar 10, 2023•56 min
Today's show begins with an extremely difficult conversation under highly unusual circumstances. Siamak Namazi is an Iranian-American businessman who has been imprisoned in Iran for over seven years. While several American detained in Iran have been released as part of prisoner swaps with the US -- Namazi's own father was released on medical grounds last October -- Siamak continues to languish in prison, even going on a week-long hunger strike back in January and writing a letter to President Bi...
Mar 09, 2023•57 min
On International Women's Day, Russia's President Vladimir Putin handed out medals to women he called heroes, while Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky marked the day by celebrating the "strength and freedom" of Ukrainian women. Fiona Hill served as deputy assistant to the president for European and Russian affairs under President Trump. She joins the show to discuss. Also on today's show: Mahnaz Afkhami, Former Iranian Minister of Women's Affairs; Andrew Delbanco, Alexander Hamilton Professor...
Mar 09, 2023•56 min
Christiane is in Washington, D.C., where the perennial issue remains one that much of the world grapples with: migration. President Joe Biden has resorted to tough measures to reduce the flow of people across America's southern border, amid reports that he is mulling a policy of detaining migrant families entering the country illegally. It would be a major reversal by the president, who initially stopped this Trump-era practice. That - plus rising challenges to national security from abroad, and...
Mar 07, 2023•57 min
The US and its NATO allies are watching closely developments in eastern Ukraine, where the battle for Bakhmut rages – and where Russia may be on the cusp of victory in the city. Meanwhile in the south, Russian shelling has killed three people, including two children, according to the Ukrainian military. Mike Mullen served as President Obama’s chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and joins the show from Maryland. Also on today's show: Jing Tsu, Author, “Kingdom of Characters”; Dr. Kizzmekia Corb...
Mar 06, 2023•57 min
Life in prison – that’s the sentence handed down today to disgraced former attorney Alex Murdaugh for killing his wife and 22-year-old son. It’s hard to overstate just how influential the Murdaugh family has been in the Lowcountry region of South Carolina. Alex Murdaugh was a kingmaker in the legal world, and now he’s a convicted murderer. The true crime story has captivated the nation for what it reveals about power and privilege, as James Lasdun has reported on in-depth for The New Yorker. Als...
Mar 03, 2023•56 min
Israel is in chaos as its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu desperately tries to calm protests rocking his country. They started after a controversial decision he made to reform the judiciary. Meanwhile, violence is flaring in the West Bank and now Netanyahu's Finance Minister Bezaelel Smotrich is facing backlash after making incendiary comments, saying the Palestinian town of Huwara "needs to be erased." Shireen Falah Saab, an Arab journalist, tells Bianna why she’s not surprised by the ministe...
Mar 02, 2023•56 min
Worrying news from Iran, where the UN’s nuclear watchdog has found near bomb-grade levels of uranium. CNN has seen a restricted report which found uranium particles enriched to almost 84% - very close to the 90% needed to make a nuclear bomb. It comes amid alarming allegations of human rights violations by the regime against protesters, and shocking accounts of torture and sexual assault at the hands of the Revolutionary Guards. The country's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian is in Genev...
Mar 01, 2023•57 min
Nigeria’s main opposition parties are calling for a fresh election before ballots have even finished being counted. They’re saying that Saturday’s presidential vote was “irretrievably compromised,” with Nigerian voters complaining of intimidation and voter suppression. So far, the official count says the ruling party candidate Bola Tinubu leads nationally, but a shocking result saw him lose in Lagos to outsider candidate Peter Obi. This rollercoaster of an election in Africa’s largest democracy ...
Feb 28, 2023•57 min
More than 60 people are dead after a wooden boat sank off Italy’s southeastern coast on Sunday. On board were migrants from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, and Iran. Dozens are still missing and an urgent search and rescue is underway, as Ben Wedeman reports from Rome. Also on today's show: Immigration attorney Andrea Martinez; Dr. Madeline Li. psychiatrist and provider, Medical Assistance in Dying; Mark Whitaker, author, “Saying It Loud” To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, vi...
Feb 27, 2023•56 min
One year ago today the world changed when Russia marched across the border into Ukraine. To mark the anniversary, Christiane is in Kyiv, a city everyone thought would fall in a couple of days. But 365 days later, the capital still stands, autocracy has been weakened and democracies stand stronger. Today Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky visited injured soldiers in hospital, telling troops that over the next year he wants victory. It’s a lofty goal that Christiane speaks to Ukrainian Deputy ...
Feb 24, 2023•56 min
The brutality of war has been a daily tragedy for almost a year in Ukraine. Cities, towns and villages on the eastern front are now reminders of devastation and suffering. The town of Vuhledar in Bakhmut is one of them. Alex Marquardt gets an exclusive look inside the town. Also on today's show: Denise Brown, UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine; US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs; Jessica Chen Weiss, Professor for China and Asia-Pacific Studies, Cornell University To learn more...
Feb 23, 2023•57 min
Christiane is in Kyiv marking one year since Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine. U.S. President Joe Biden has spent three days in Ukraine and in neighboring Poland shoring up America’s supporting for Ukraine and presenting a united front against Russia. Polish President Andrzej Duda speaks exclusively to Christians about what more the allies can do to secure a Ukrainian victory. Also on the show: President Zelensky’s senior advisor Igor Zhovkva on what Biden’s visit to Ukraine means for the...
Feb 22, 2023•56 min
All eyes were on Eastern Europe today as Joe Biden was welcomed in Poland, where he pitted the war in Ukraine as the defense of democracy against autocracy. Tomorrow Biden meets with the so-called Bucharest Nine, a group made up of former Soviet republics. Among them is the Czech Republic, and its President-elect Petr Pavel speaks exclusively with Christiane about Biden’s visit and the unity of EU and NATO countries in supporting Ukraine’s defense against Russia. Also on today's show: EU Commiss...
Feb 21, 2023•55 min
US President Biden paid a surprise visit to Kyiv this morning to mark the first anniversary of Russia’s large scale invasion of Ukraine. The trip comes just after a heated Munich Security Conference where US Vice President Kamala Harris formally accused Russia of crimes against humanity. At the conference, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba spoke to Christiane about what his country needs as the war enters its second year. Also on today's show: NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg; Poli...
Feb 20, 2023•57 min
It's been nearly a year since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and there's no end to the war in sight. Today at the Munich Security Conference, President Zelensky said Ukraine was fighting so the west doesn’t have to. As leader of Europe’s economic powerhouse Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz has huge influence over whether Ukraine gets the support it needs, he speaks with Christiane about whether they’re ready to back Ukraine’s defense for the long-haul. Also on today's show: UK Foreign Minister Ja...
Feb 17, 2023•56 min
At a time when global democracy is under pressure, this month’s elections in Nigeria could prove critical. Africa’s largest economy is at a turning point, with the population growing and getting younger, and the results there could have a major impact globally. One of Nigeria’s best known public figures is the novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and she speaks with Christiane about the prospect of change in Nigeria and about having the courage to speak up against censorship on all sides of the po...
Feb 16, 2023•57 min
Exposing autocracies is Nicaragua and Russia It’s a dirty trick used by autocracies across the world: taking their would-be opposition off the street and throwing them in jail, stopping any other presidential candidacy from taking root. Tonight, we look at Nicaragua and Russia, where those tactics have been employed by the countries’ rulers. First, to Nicaragua, where President Daniel Ortega’s drive to stay in power has grown increasingly repressive over the years. He’s put hundreds of political...
Feb 15, 2023•57 min
The US, the UK and Europe are condemning the Israeli government’s plans to permit 10,000 new settlement units in the occupied West Bank, arguing it will “undermine efforts to achieve a negotiated two-state solution.” It’s just the latest as Israel’s new far-right coalition faces a barrage of criticism, including from Washington – normally Israel’s staunchest ally. Tens of thousands of protesters have been in the streets of Jerusalem this week to protest the proposed judicial reforms, and corresp...
Feb 14, 2023•56 min
More than 36,000 people have been killed and tens of thousands injured by the earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria one week ago. There’s anger at the pace of rescue and aid, especially in Syria, already ravaged by the civil war – President Bashar al Assad is accused of limiting humanitarian efforts in areas that were already devastated by Syrian and Russian bombings. Of course, Russia has been focusing its own firepower on Ukraine more recently, also striking critical infrastructure in that c...
Feb 13, 2023•57 min
Christiane is in Washington DC, where today the US and Brazilian presidents meet to kickstart a new relationship after the divisive Trump and Bolsonaro era. Joe Biden and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva agree they need to bolster democracy, advance human rights and tackle climate change – but there’s tough work ahead. Lula has staged a stunning return to power after his first presidency ended in 2010 and he was jailed. In an exclusive conversation, Lula tells Christiane he is confident “democracy will...
Feb 10, 2023•57 min
Europe is welcoming Ukraine’s President Zelensky today with open arms, applauding the wartime leader even as he pushes them to provide more powerful weapons. It’s been nearly one year now since Vladimir Putin brazenly tried to take Kyiv and the rest of Ukraine, but in reality, the Russian offensive has been going on for much longer than that. It was nine years ago in 2014 that Putin invaded and annexed Crimea, spurring an international crisis. Catherine Ashton was Europe’s foreign policy chief a...
Feb 09, 2023•56 min
The death toll in Turkey and Syria after Monday’s earthquake is rising, though survivors – including children – are still emerging from the rubble. Correspondent Salma Abdelaziz reports on the desperate efforts to get more help for the already war-torn Syria. Also on today's show: David Miliband, Former UK Foreign Secretary; Nasrin Sotoudeh, Iranian human rights lawyer; Martin Wolf, Author, “The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism” To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com...
Feb 08, 2023•57 min
It’s a race against time in Turkey and in Syria where a massive magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck on Monday. Rescue teams are working around the clock in freezing conditions, trying to find survivors, with the emotion sometimes too much to bear. With more than 6,300 dead and counting, plus over 26,000 injured, it is a daunting task – but nobody is giving up. The world is coming together to help – even Ukraine is sending emergency personnel, and neighboring Greece is jumping into the fray despite s...
Feb 07, 2023•56 min
The death toll was more than 2,500 and was expected to continue rising after a mammoth 7.8 earthquake -- one of the region's largest in a century -- shook Turkey and neighboring Syria Monday. Correspondent Jomana Karadsheh has the latest. Her report is followed by an interview with Janez Lenarčič, the European Commissioner for Crisis Management. Also on today's show: Gen. Philip Breedlove (Ret.), former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe; Evelyn Farkas, former US Deputy. Assistant Secretary of...
Feb 06, 2023•57 min
Michelle Yeoh is no fan of glass ceilings. Neither her age, nor her nationality, nor her gender can stop her from taking Hollywood by storm. Fresh off a Golden Globe award for her virtuoso performance in Everything Everywhere All at Once , Yeoh leads the list of contenders for this year’s Best Actress Oscar. Her star vehicle is an idiosyncratic movie about a Chinese laundromat owner thrust into a mission to save all possible universes. Yeoh joins Christiane in London to discuss the film and her ...
Feb 03, 2023•56 min
The European Central Bank and the Bank of England have raised interest rates again, one day after a similar move by the US Federal Reserve. But amid those big players, Britain seems in particular trouble, with the International Monetary Fund warning it will be the only major economy to shrink in 2023. In the UK, the pain and anger poured into the streets on Wednesday when the country saw its biggest strikes in a decade, with as many as half a million workers walking out, from transport to teache...
Feb 02, 2023•56 min
