Episode Transcript

CNN 5 Things

APR 18, 2024
3 PM ET: Rafah family deaths, Biden’s new endorsement, Google fires employees & more
Speakers
Ifeoma Dike, Kerry Kennedy, RFK Jr.'s sister
Ifeoma Dike
00:00:01
From CNN, I'm Ifeoma Dike with the five things you need to know for Thursday, April 18th.
Ifeoma Dike
00:00:08
At least ten members of the same family, including five children, were killed in an overnight airstrike on a Rafah neighborhood in southern Gaza. That's according to a local hospital. An uncle told CNN those killed had been displaced multiple times from a neighborhood in northern Gaza. This comes as the total number of Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza rose to nearly 34,000, according to the Ministry of Health there. CNN cannot independently verify this figure. A U.S. official says U.S. and Israeli officials are meeting virtually today to continue their talks about a potential Israeli operation in Rafah, which senior U.S. officials say must include a plan to protect civilians.
Ifeoma Dike
00:00:47
More than a dozen members of the extended Kennedy family have formally endorsed President Joe Biden today. The family has mostly shunned Robert F Kennedy Jr's third party challenge, calling it, quote, dangerous. Here's RFK junior sister Kerry Kennedy, who helped lead her family's organizing efforts.
Kerry Kennedy, RFK Jr.'s sister
00:01:04
A vote for Joe Biden is a vote for our democracy and our decency.
Ifeoma Dike
00:01:10
In a social media post. RFK Jr said, quote, "we are divided in our opinions but united in our love for each other.".
Ifeoma Dike
00:01:18
'Here's the latest on a high-profile quadruple murder trial in Idaho. Lawyers for the man accused of fatally stabbing four University of Idaho students at a home just off the school's main campus in Moscow back in November 2022, have indicated they plan to present a new alibi in court, according to a court document. Brian Kohberger's attorneys say he was driving west of Moscow, Idaho, the night of the murders and will have a cell phone tower and radio frequency expert partially corroborate this account. The documents says more information on Kohberger's location will be shared after prosecutors provide discovery evidence previously requested for. Kohberger faces four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary. A not guilty plea was entered on Kohberger's behalf last May.
Ifeoma Dike
00:02:02
Nearly 50 million people from Mississippi to Michigan are under a severe storm threat today. The storm system is forecast to bring another round of large hail, damaging wind gusts and a few tornadoes to the central U.S. A flood threat spreads today from central Texas to southern Illinois, where rainfall rates could approach two inches per hour. Cold air will spread to much of the South today and will eventually impact much of the East by the weekend. Since Monday, more than 350 storm reports have occurred from the central U.S. to the Great Lakes.
Ifeoma Dike
00:02:32
Coming up, we'll tell you why Google fired more than two dozen employees.
Ifeoma Dike
00:02:40
Hey. Welcome back.
Ifeoma Dike
00:02:41
'Google has fired more than two dozen employees who protested this week against the company's cloud computing contract with the Israeli government. The workers were dismissed following an investigation which found they staged protest inside Google offices in New York and Sunnyvale, California. According to a post on X by the group that organized the demonstration, they entered the office of Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian. The protesters held banners that read "No More Genocide for Profit" and "We Stand with the Palestinian, Arab and Muslim Googlers." A Google spokesperson told CNN that the protests were part of a long-standing campaign by a group of organizations and people who largely don't work at the company.
Ifeoma Dike
00:03:21
That's a wrap. I'll be back at 6 p.m. eastern.