Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

First Day of Competition in the Books; U.S. Swimming Katie Ledecky One Athlete to Watch; Syrian Rebels Puncture Regime Siege in Aleppo; Trump Back at Attacking Clinton; Foot Traffic at Trump Properties Down; Trump Tries to Recover After Rough Week; Miami-Dade County to Spray for Mosquitoes; Zika's Effect on Family Planning; Investigating the Hacking of the DNC. Aired 4-5a ET

Aired August 07, 2016 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00] GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR: A big day for Hungary. One of its athletes sets a new record, taking her country to the top of the gold medal table. We'll have highlights from the first full day of competition in Rio.

Plus this. You're looking there at moments of celebration in Aleppo after rebel forces break through a government siege and reopen supply lines into that city.

And dreams deferred. The nurseries are ready, but the babies may not arrive for at least two more years. How fears of the Zika virus are impacting family planning in Brazil.

From CNN world headquarters in Atlanta, welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm George Howell. CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

Aiming for the gold, new records have been set in Rio on this first day of competition at the Olympic Games. A big win for Hungary. Katina Hosszu broke the -- the world record, I should say, for the women's 400-meter individual medley, winning the gold.

Our Christina MacFarlane walks us through the highlights of the first day of competition.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was a busy opening day here in Rio, where the 31st Olympiad got under way with 12 Olympic gold medals across seven disciplines. And the first of the day went to the United States, 19-year-old Jenny Thrasher in the 10-meter air rifle pulling off a surprise upset to beat the 2004 Athens gold medalist Du Ling of China.

Just days after 273 Russian athletes were finally cleared to take part in the Rio Olympic Games after allegations of state-sponsored doping, Russia's Beslan Mudranov cemented his country's place on the medal roster with gold in the 60-kilogram judo competition. A poignant moment after a turbulent few months in the Russia doping scandal.

Perhaps the most dramatic event of the day, however, was the men's road race after Italy's Vincenzo Nibali crashed out in the closing stages. A three-way sprint for the line saw Belgian's Greg Van Avermaet take gold on the closing stretch of the Copacabana.

Over at the Baha'I Olympic Village meanwhile, the opening day of the men's gymnastics saw a horrific accident befall French gymnast Samir Ait Said has suffered a horrific leg break while performing in the vault. The 26-year-old's left leg folded beneath him as he landed badly during the men's qualification event. He's currently undergoing treatment in hospital for a broken tibia.

Well, it was a record-breaking night for women's swimming after Hungary's Katinka Hosszu shattered the 400-meter individual medley world record by just under five seconds claiming the Olympic gold that has long eluded her after missing out at London 2012.

And shortly after that, the Australian women streaked ahead to defend their Olympic title taking the 4x100 meters ahead of team USA and medal favorite Katie Ledecky, making her first appearance here in Rio to close out the night.

Plenty more to come, though, from Ledecky on Sunday when she takes to the pool as the clear favorite in the 400-meter freestyle. And we could see our first glimpse of 18-time gold medalist Michael Phelps in the men's 4 x 100 meter relay. 14 gold medals in store for Sunday. The Olympic Games here in Rio well and truly under way.

Christina Macfarlane, CNN, Rio.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: Christina, thank you.

And as Christina just mentioned, U.S. swimming sensation, Katie Ledecky could be one of the breakout stars of the Rio Olympics. She won gold at age 15 during the 2012 games in London, and as you'd imagine, expectations are high for this swimmer and her chances in Brazil.

CNN's Coy Wire shows us why Ledecky is one of the athletes to watch in Rio.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT (on camera) : What is fear?

KATIE LEDECKY, OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST: I don't know. Never heard of it. With swimming it's never something that I had to be fearful of.

WIRE (voice-over): Before Katie Ledecky was ever smashing the status quo in world records, swimming was just something she started at the age of 6 to spend time with her older brother, Michael.

[04:05:01] LEDECKY: My brother is always been there for me. I couldn't be prouder of him. The person he is, the role model that he has always been for me. I've always looked up to him. We've always had a great relationship. You know, we love each other. WIRE (on camera): How much of your parents, your family sacrificed

for you to chase your dreams?

LEDECKY: I don't think they view it as a sacrifice, which really means a lot to me. I think they enjoy it as much as I do. I always say that I'm almost happy that I haven't gotten my license yet because that time in the car that I have with them driving to and from practice, that's valuable time that I have talking to my parents.

WIRE (voice-over): Growing up in the Washington, D.C. area, Ledecky met a lot of celebrities and developed an affinity for politics. Despite the 19- year-old's busy training schedule, she's closely following the U.S. presidential election.

LEDECKY: This was my -- the first year that I get to vote so I know that I have to pay special attention, and no matter what, I'll be going in and voting in November. So I better be paying attention.

WIRE (on camera): Is it true that after a long day of training, studying for school, reading, that you'll just kick back and watch CNN?

LEDECKY: It is. I am like addicted to CNN, like, it's almost bad. Yes, I got to catch up on my news, my breaking news.

WIRE (voice-over): Over time, the distances and stakes have grown for Ledecky. She went to Rio with high expectations to bring home multiple gold medals. But she doesn't feel any added pressure when she dives into the pool.

LEDECKY: It's something I started just for recreation, playing around in the water with my mom, growing up. In some ways that's what it still is in my mind, just seeing how fast I can get up and down the pool a couple times.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: Coy Wire, thank you.

And in just a couple of hours -- a couple of hours ago, I should say, Ledecky and her American teammates took home the silver in the women's 4x100 meter relay.

Now let's take a look at the medal standings after the first day of competition. Australia and Hungary tied for first with the number of gold medals won both with two each. The United States has five medals to their name. One gold and four silver. South Korea, Japan and Argentina round out the top six.

So day one goes off without any major problems to report other than a controlled explosion of a suspicious package. This happened near the end of the men's cycling road race. Brazil's bomb squad detonated an unattended backpack. Officials believe that bag may have belonged to a homeless man, but due to protocols, it requires any unattended objects to be destroyed. An Olympic official from New Zealand managed to make a lucky escape on

Saturday. The official was working in a tent at the equestrian event setter in Rio when a bullet flew through the roof and landed only two meters, that's nearly seven feet, from her. No one was hurt. But police officials say that the bullet was not fired intentionally, rather they are still investigating that situation.

You of course can keep up with all the latest news out of Rio on our Web site. We have more on the athletes, on the venues, and the competition. You can find it all at CNN.com/Olympics.

Other news we are following around the world, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights is reporting two major advances inside Syria, with two entirely different sets of implications. You see here people in Aleppo celebrating the breach of a government siege around that city. Rebel forces have been working to reopen the supply lines that regime troops cut off last week.

And now to the northeast of that country. U.S.-backed militias have nearly ousted ISIS from the city of Manbij. If successful it would be a strategic victory against the terror group near its hub, the self- proclaimed capital of Raqqa. But the Syrian rights group is making it clear in both cases the fight is not over yet.

CNN producer John Jensen is live in Abu Dhabi to explain these developments.

John, first let's talk about the situation in Aleppo. Undoubtedly a turning point for those rebel forces.

JOHN JENSEN, CNN PRODUCER: Yes, that's right, George. It certainly would be, but it's important to note that it's extremely hard to verify the conflicting information that is coming out of Aleppo at this hour. It appears as though yesterday there was a reversal by -- on the battlefield that caught a lot of people off guard. Rebel forces, a mixture of Islamist fighters and moderate fighters apparently breaking through the government siege of Aleppo from the southwestern corner of the city.

This is a battle that took some six days. It has featured some of the most intense shelling that Syria has witnessed within the past couple of weeks and months. This is a counterattack that the rebels hope will pave the way to get resupplied in to that eastern section of Aleppo. This is an area that's home to some 250,000 people who, for the past week, have been saying that the government siege is blocking all food and supplies into the city.

[04:10:04] Though, George, despite the celebrations on the street, celebrating this apparent breaking of the siege, the Syrian government is saying that the attack was repelled. Also important to note that there are still clashes going on and that the Syrians, backed by Russians, have air superiority in the area -- George.

HOWELL: And John, as you point out, very difficult to verify exactly what's happening there. But this is, you know, the latest that we're looking into. Also want to talk about the situation in Manbij, the successes that

are being made there near Raqqa. Even the U.S. president mentioned at a news conference to reporters earlier in the week the goal of the U.S. government is to continue taking territory away from ISIS, which goes against that idea of this group holding together a caliphate, forces also focused on retaking Raqqa from that group.

JENSEN: Well, yes, that's right. You speak of the battle for Manbij. This is a very significant battle. Also in the Aleppo province, a very different front. Syrian Democratic forces, this is an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias backed by the U.S. have apparently been sweeping through this city. This is a two-month battle. We understand that they're not in complete control of Manbij just yet. Some 90 percent. But there are fierce clashes ongoing in that city.

Why is this so important? Manbij has been held by ISIS for the past two years. It's just some 25 miles from the border with Turkey. And it's sort of the hub of the so-called Manbij pocket which is a strip of land on the southern Turkish border that is some 60 miles or 100 kilometers long that the Americans and Europeans insist has been a two-way supply route for both men and materiel for ISIS getting in and out of Syria. So a major military victory if they could make Manbij.

However, George, it would not mean that ISIS has completely lost control of that border just yet.

HOWELL: John Jensen live for us in Abu Dhabi. John, thank you so much for the reporting.

Belgian police say that a man with a machete wounded two female police officers on Saturday in the city of Charleroi. A third officer shot and killed the attacker. Police say the assailant was heard shouting "Allahu Akbar" which in Arabic means "God is greatest." The city is south of Brussels where suicide bombers killed dozens of people as you'll remember back in March.

This is CNN NEWSROOM. Still ahead the U.S. presidential race, Donald Trump facing some negative polls and multiple controversies. We'll discuss what Donald Trump is doing about it after a rough week.

Plus, planning a family in parts of Latin America, it is different now. The Zika virus is around. We introduce you to two couples who are putting their dreams of a family on hold.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:16:50] HOWELL: In a twist of narratives you could say Donald Trump is suggesting that Hillary Clinton is not mentally fit to be president. At a rally in New Hampshire the Republican presidential candidate called Clinton, quote, "unstable, unbalanced," and quote, "totally unhinged." Trump was responding to similar attacks from Democrats and some Republicans who've questioned his mental state.

Trump also attacked Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on her ability to fight terrorist groups. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Remember, ISIS is looking, folks. They dream of Hillary Clinton. They look at her and they say, this can't be happening to us. How great is this? Now you tell me she looks presidential, folks.

(CROWD BOOS)

TRUMP: I look presidential. You tell me --

(CHEERS)

TRUMP: You tell me she looks presidential, they are just watching and they're looking and boy, they're salivating. They're salivating. They're saying that's what we want.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Clinton has also claimed that Trump has been used in ads by terrorist groups. Trump also published a new Facebook ad mocking some of Clinton's recent gaffes. Here is a clip from that ad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I'm telling you right now, we are going to raise taxes on the middle class. So I may have short- circuited.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Trump has a poor relationship with traditional donors so his campaign is relying on online fundraising, and Trump is saying that it's working but the Clinton campaign has more money and has spent more of it on TV ads.

This all comes after a rough week for Donald Trump, just look in the state of Georgia, for instance. A new poll from the "Atlanta Journal Constitution" says that Hillary Clinton is leading Trump by four percentage points. Georgia has mainly voted Republican for decades.

Clinton is also polling ahead in three key states in the state of New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. And the former secretary of state is leading in recent national polls.

Trump is further losing the support of several Republican leaders. The business mogul has been harshly criticized for attacking the parents of a fallen Muslim U.S. soldier and for delaying his endorsement of top Republicans for Congress.

Donald Trump has repeatedly said that his business credentials guaranteed that he can boost the American economy. But many of the controversies surrounding the real estate mogul might not hurt his political dreams but also could hurt his business. The businesses that bear his name.

CNN Money correspondent Cristina Alesci has more for us. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CRISTINA ALESCI, CNNMONEY CORRESPONDENT: Trump branded businesses maybe taking a hit here, that's according to data from Foursquare. Now the tech company says there's been a clear decline in foot traffic to Trump branded golf courses, his hotels, casino, and it has a pretty good sample size. It's based on the activity of 50 million monthly active users.

[04:20:05] The data show a dramatic falloff in March, down 17 percent in that month, and in April, from the same period a year earlier, just as another point of comparison, traffic to those sites was steady year over year before Trump announced his bid for president.

So what is happening? Now some of these businesses are located in blue states. New York, Trump's Soho, for example, Chicago's Trump International Hotel and Tower. Those two properties saw some of the steepest declines.

And Foursquare also points out that women are playing a role. It reports a double-digit decrease in visits from women this year, perhaps a sign that this idea of Trump being anti-women is resonating.

Now it's important to note that this doesn't necessarily mean that profits are hurting at any of these properties. We don't know if these people would have been spending a tremendous amount of money at these properties. And remember that Trump makes money from licensing his name.

So for the properties that he doesn't own outright, which there are many, it's unclear if he gets paid less on licensing deals just because foot traffic is down.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: Cristina Alesci there reporting for us.

And Trump once owned the Taj Mahal Casino and Resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The current owner says the casino will close at the end of the summer due to an ongoing employee strike.

Let's talk more about this week in the political race with Scott Lucas joining us now on the phone. He's a professor of international politics at the University of Birmingham joining us now by phone.

Scott, good to have you with us. So fair to say this has been a particularly tough week on Donald Trump. Several controversies from delaying his endorsement of top Republicans to what we saw here -- what we saw this ongoing infighting within the Republican Party we've seen several Republicans defect saying they will vote for Hillary Clinton.

SCOTT LUCAS, PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM: Yes. Tough and getting tougher. I mean, we always knew that the big issue was going to be whether the Republican establishment was going to fall behind Trump despite their doubts about him after the convention. But what Trump has done is not only failed to secure that support, he's actually antagonizing the establishment. Like for example refusing to endorse people like Paul Ran in their own races for re-election and by making these very, very provocative statements where you cross lines when you attack the parents of a slain American soldier, for example.

So the issues would appear immediately, not a week, two weeks, a month down the line whether Trump and his team are going to repair fences with the Republican establishment and more broadly I think with that broad spectrum of the American people, who quite frankly want to see a more constructive approach to politics rather than calling Hillary Clinton unhinged, rather than yelling at mothers and their babies in rallies. It just doesn't bode well for Trump trying to project leadership.

HOWELL: Some would say, though, that Trump is talking directly to his base, telling them exactly what they want to hear. But you know the question is, can he broaden that base now that he is in the general election? The campaign has said look, they're focusing now on a candidate who will stay on message and we saw in recent days Donald Trump focusing more on Hillary Clinton but at the same time, making some gaffes.

One gaffe talking about this video that he said that he saw a video of a plane going to Iran carrying cash. That video at the time had not surfaced and Trump actually walked that comment back in a tweet.

Also, we saw Donald Trump walking back the fact that he wanted to delay -- he wanted to refuse to endorse Speaker Paul Ryan. Let's listen, I think we have this sound bite, but let's listen to Donald Trump and see exactly how he gave that endorsement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: In our shared mission to make America great again, I support and endorse our speaker of the House, Paul Ryan. Paul Ryan. Good. He's a good man. He's a good man and he's a good guy. And we may disagree on a couple of things, but mostly we agree and we're going to get it done and we're going to do a lot of wonderful things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: I saw in one article it was described as muted enthusiasm in that endorsement and Trump even saying they agree on some things, they disagree on others.

But, Scott, given what we're seeing there, Trump walking back these statements, which we haven't seen Donald Trump do, how does that play to his base?

LUCAS: Well, I think there's two factors here. I think the first is, is that Donald Trump doesn't make gaffes in the sense that he's making a mistake.

[04:25:08] He talks off the top of his head. He's almost a completely unscripted politician. And what happens is, is that he throws these statements, sometimes as you noted he does walk them back. Sometimes he doubles down and repeats the original statement, no matter how provocative. But your wider issue that I think you identified is excellent. And that is Trump succeeded in the Republican primaries not because he had a majority of Republican voters, let alone American voters.

He succeeded by playing to a strong minority, his base as you call it, that supported him. Now you can do that when you face multiple candidates. Now there were 17 Republicans running for the nomination. When you go one-on-one against Hillary Clinton you can't just rely on that solid minority. You've got to expand and reach out to voters who are still undecided, who are still finding out about you and it's those mistakes -- well, if you want to call them gaffes, I would just call it bad political jabs by Trump, that's where the failure's coming in. He's not going to win undecided votes by November if he continues on the path. He's got to come on script.

HOWELL: Scott Lucas, thank you so much.

Also important to point out that Hillary Clinton during an interview with reporters saying that she may have short-circuited, saying that she was truthful to the FBI and something that we have determined through sources also, and through the facts that that may not have been exactly accurate. But Hillary Clinton taking some heat, as well.

Scott, thank you.

Now the mosquitoes that are carrying the Zika virus in Florida. The rest of the United States is taking measures now to make sure that that virus doesn't land in more states.

Plus, some couples of Latin America are putting off pregnancy plans, thanks to that virus. We'll have that story live in the United States and around the world this hour. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:30:21] HOWELL: Welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. It is good to have you with us, I'm George Howell with the headlines we're following for you this hour.

In the first day of the Olympic Games, Hungarian swimmer Katinka Hosszu shattered the world record in the women's 400-meter individual medley. Giving her country its second gold medal of the day. A total of 12 Olympic gold medals were awarded on Saturday.

No major problems to report other than a controlled explosion there in Rio of a suspicious package at the end of the men's cycling road race, Brazil's bomb squad detonated an unattended package. Protocols require that any unattended objects are destroyed.

Belgian police say that a man with a machete wounded two female officers Saturday in Charleroi, a city that is south of Brussels. A third officer shot and killed that assailant, who was heard shouting "Allahu Akbar." Belgian's prime minister condemned the attack and said that he is closely monitoring the situation.

Some people in the Syrian city of Aleppo are celebrating this day. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says rebels have made advances against a government siege. Forces are still trying to secure an exit route for civilians to escape.

Now in the U.S. state of Florida, Miami-Dade County will once again spray for mosquitoes in just a few hours time. Officials there are trying to rid that area of mosquitoes after 15 people in Florida contracted the Zika virus. U.S. health officials are warning pregnant women not to travel to a small community just north of downtown Miami because of that mosquito-borne disease.

The rest of the U.S. is watching Zika very closely. Some states are putting in place plans just in case that virus spreads outside of Florida.

Dan Simon has more for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As Florida health crews work to rid the state of Zika-infected mosquitoes, other parts of the nation are nervously bracing for the virus to spread. It's the height of mosquito season. And cities like New Orleans with hot, muggy conditions are particularly vulnerable.

MAYOR MITCH LANDRIEU, NEW ORLEANS: Our mentality should not be a matter of if we will face a locally transmitted case, but rather when, because it is likely that we're going to have one.

SIMON: With similar climates, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and Texas have all crafted plans to combat Zika. But the threat goes even farther. This map from the National Center for Atmospheric Research shows all the states at risk with yellow being low risk, orange moderate, and red being a high risk. Still health officials say they don't expect widespread outbreaks.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But we cannot be complacent because we do expect to see more Zika cases.

SIMON: With Florida the only state thus far to have local transmission of the virus, it may offer something of a template to the rest of the country on stopping its spread.

It's begun using airplanes to spray insecticide. The chemical spread across 10 mile area. The early results seem promising with a high kill rate in the traps used to gauge effectiveness.

It's been mopping up water to deprive mosquitoes from laying their eggs, while health officials have fanned the community administering more than 2400 tests to residents to see how widespread the virus maybe.

Florida has also waged a fierce public relations campaign. Police officers handing out Zika information pamphlets to tourists and encouraging the use of bug repellent. Bug spray has become so prevalent that stores have actually run out of it. Also in short supply, money, which scientists hoped would fund research into a Zika vaccine.

The White House and Congress have been engaged in a fierce partisan battle over a $1.9 billion Zika funding bill.

GOV. RICK SCOTT (R), FLORIDA: Congress and president have not been able to come together and pass a bill to provide more funding. We're continuing to ask the federal government to help with mosquito control, help reimburse at the state level. But I can tell you at the state level we're going to -- we're going to spend the money that we need to do the right things.

SIMON (on camera): Now those aerial sprayings that have been taking place are going to be happening over the next four weeks. There has been some concern about those chemicals in the air, but state health officials say they are EPA approved and that they are safe for both humans and pets.

Dan Simon, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: Dan, thank you.

In Latin America some people are altering their life plans because of Zika in ways that you might not have imagined. In Brazil, our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta talks to two couples holding off on one very big, important dream.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[04:35:01] DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: The Zika virus has led to some remarkable recommendations in planning all over the world. You know it's happening in Florida, pregnant women being told not to visit a particular American neighborhood. Well, in Brazil, even if someone doesn't get sick from the Zika virus, it really can impact the way that they live their lives. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA (voice-over): All across Salvador, Brazil, rooms sit empty like this one, no sign of the child Ana Casia (PH) hope to have.

(On camera): Is it tough to see this room empty?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

GUPTA (voice-over): They were high school sweethearts and children were always part of the plan. But it was late last year, Ana and Alberto decided the time was finally right.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (Through Translator): We were planning to get pregnant this year but because of Zika we decided to wait more. There isn't much that we can do about it and it worries us. GUPTA: You see when a link between Zika and birth defects became

clearer, the Brazilian government gave a stern and heart-breaking warning, don't get pregnant.

(On camera): So these are the -- these are the tanks?

DR. GENEVIEVE CUELLO, FERTILITY DOCTOR: These are the tanks that we keep the embryos, the eggs and the semen.

GUPTA: So Ana's embryos are in one of these tanks?

CUELLO: Yes. Sure.

GUPTA (voice-over): Dr. Genevieve Cuello has been a fertility doctor in Salvador for 10 years. She first saw Ana a year ago for help with fertility but then Zika started to spread.

CUELLO: And I suggested, OK, freeze your embryos and then later when there is like a solution or a light at the end of the tunnel with all these things, all the Zika virus, you can decide later.

GUPTA: At a cost of $8,000 this is not an option for most of the population here where the average income is just a few hundred dollars a month and many don't have access to birth control. For most people like Bruno and Vanessa, delaying is the only option. For the time being they are also living with an empty room.

(On camera): How long will you wait? What's next for you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (Through Translator): We hope that with all the research and people studying it, it gets better in about two or three years.

GUPTA: Two or three years? You can wait that long?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (Through Translator): I will try. It's already been really hard.

GUPTA (voice-over): It is difficult to imagine entire towns, even countries with hardly any new babies for two years, hard to imagine the loss economically, socially, culturally. No babies crying or laughing. In the meantime, rooms will stay empty, even as names are already chosen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (Through Translator): The child isn't even born but she already has a name. The girl is going to be named Valentina.

GUPTA (on camera): You already have names picked out? You are confident that you will have a baby one day?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (Through Translator): I'm so sure. I'm really confident that this home will soon have three people in here instead of two. It's just a matter of time.

(END VIDEOTAPE) GUPTA: So you can get an idea of why that bright light at the end of the tunnel may come in the form of a vaccine. That's what people are really talking about. We know it will be at least 18 months to two years before that happens. It takes time to try all these vaccines, make sure they are safe and effective. But again I wanted to give you an idea of how Zika is affecting people here in Brazil in ways that maybe you didn't think about.

Back to you.

HOWELL: Really drives the point home there. Dr. Sanjay Gupta reporting for us.

This is CNN NEWSROOM. Recent security breaches are raising some fears over the U.S. election. Ahead we test whether it's even possible to manipulate the vote.

Plus when she was at her first Olympics many of her rivals today in Rio, they hadn't even been born yet. How this 41-year-old is still going for the gold, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:42:01] HOWELL: Welcome back to NEWSROOM. I'm George Howell.

In China heavy rains from typhoon Nida have damaged homes and roads. Just take a look at this video here. You see flooding in Hunan Province. State media reports at least 18 homes were destroyed there. That storm made landfall in China earlier this week. It is the fourth typhoon to hit the country this year. It also battered the Philippines with heavy rain when it struck there last Saturday.

At least six people were killed after heavy rains triggered landslides on Saturday in Veracruz, Mexico. Our meteorologist Derek Van Dam is here to tell us more about a very active weather time.

(WEATHER REPORT)

[04:45:46] HOWELL: Derek, we'll stay in touch. Thank you.

A fourth political party in the U.S. is rallying behind their candidate this weekend. And the Green Party officially nominated Jill Stein for president on Saturday afternoon. There you see her greeting the crowds at the Green Party's national convention in Houston. The Green Party is hoping to win support from voters who used to back Bernie Sanders.

We recently found out even the Democratic National Committee is not immune to the rise of hacking. And that has us asking another question now, is it possible to tinker with election results?

CNN Money's senior technology correspondent Laurie Segall found out it is frighteningly easy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEORGE KURTZ, CEO CROWDSTRIKE: I think a hacked U.S. election could tip the balance to one candidate or another.

LAURIE SEGALL, CNN SENIOR TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Over the last few months hacking and politics have become a dangerous combination with the DNC and Clinton campaign getting hacked.

We're here in Las Vegas for "Black Hats." It's a conference where the best hackers in the world get together to talk security. Now while there's no indication that the voting process has ever been hacked, we decided to ask some of the hackers here if it were even possible.

You guys were pulled in to help the DNC figure out whether or not they'd been hacked and you did figure out that they had, in fact, been hacked. And all signs point to Russia. What are the implications of this?

KURTZ: I think this is really a bit of a watershed event. I mean 40 years ago we had Watergate, right? And that's where you had, you know, a couple boxes of files that were stolen. Now we're talking about 20,000, 30,000 files that are being dumped on the Internet.

SEGALL: Do you worry that there are other state actors sitting in on some very internal, important conversations that pertain to the U.S. election?

KURTZ: That's 100 percent certainty. There's not even a doubt in my mind that there's other actors that are out there that have yet to be found. It's just -- it's too big of an opportunity for them. It's too easy to get in.

SEGALL: But it goes beyond the campaigns being vulnerable. What about the actual machines we use to vote? A security firm called Semantec actually purchased a couple of electronic machines on eBay to see how secure they really are.

Now you have to remember that there are tons of different types of voting machines out there. And each U.S. county uses what they feel works including electronic and optical scanning devices and about 75 percent of the country still makes their choice on plain old paper.

Now in this particular case, these hackers say they found some major issues. Here's their perspective.

BRIAN VARNER, SYMANTEC SENIOR RESEARCHER: So what we're seeing is what a voter would be presented with when they go into a precinct. So when you get your voter identification card, which is a smartcard, and you would insert it into the machine. And then go ahead and start your voting process. With the smartcards running small little computer systems on there, devices as tiny as this could be used to manipulate the smartcard to allow you to vote multiple times.

SEGALL: So the idea behind this is anyone who's able to kind of get their hands on the cards that are going to be used if they have the technical skills, they could essentially build what you've just built which allows them to cast their vote as many times as possible.

VARNER: I could probably put about 400 votes in myself in less than a couple of minutes and the poll workers would be none the wiser.

SEGALL: Take us through what happens after you submit your vote. What are other ways that this could be vulnerable?

VARNER: These devices have to communicate with some sort of database system. We don't know what the transport network looks like between this machine and the actual database server so anywhere along that path if a hacker were to have something installed, then the communications could be intercepted.

SEGALL: Given all this research what would you say is safer, electronic voting or voting on paper?

VARNER: Well, I can tell you this year I will be voting via paper with the mail-in ballot.

SEGALL: As someone who is kind of knee-deep in vulnerabilities, so you always see that the worst can happen. What keeps you up at night?

VARNER: A compromised election.

SEGALL: Now Varner says he doesn't believe we're that close to a compromised election yet but he does want to raise awareness of these types of vulnerabilities. What I did hear from these guys is that even if one voting machine is perceived as compromised that has broad implications in how the American public trust the voting process. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[04:50:01] HOWELL: Wow. Laurie, thank you so much for that report.

Coming up, this gymnast that you see was a teenager at her first Olympics, 24 years later she's still competing. We'll have her story next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOWELL: Welcome back. Olympic gymnastics is a sport dominated by youth. Many medalists are teenagers. But in Rio, a gymnast who is decades older is competing in her seventh Olympics. And with that she is already making history.

Here's her story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's 41 years old and competed in every Olympic Games since 1992. Uzbekistan's Oksana Chusovitina qualified for Rio in gymnastics at the age of 40.

OKSANA CHUSOVITINA, OLYMPIC GYMNAST: I don't know how it's possible myself, I just simply love this sport to do it. Yes, they call me "Grandma," but in competition we're all equals, whether you're 17 or 40. That's why I don't think about age. [04:55:07] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In 2012 when she competed in London,

the medal winners were all under 18 years old. Chusovitina won gold in Barcelona in '92, before most of her competitors were even born. And she won silver on vault in 2008, at the age of 33. She's competed under four different flags. But in Rio she's with team Uzbekistan, her home.

CHUSOVITINA: I really want to end my sporting career competing for my home country. Where I grew up, where I started training and where I was born.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Day two of full competition begins in a couple of hours. Now let's take a look at the medal table once more. After the first day of competition, Australia and Hungary are tied for first with the number of gold medals won. Both with two each. The United States has five medals to their name. One gold and four silver. South Korea, Japan and Argentina round out the top six.

An exciting first day. We'll see how day two goes. Thanks for being with us this hour. I'm George Howell at the CNN center in Atlanta. We'll have more news from around the world right after the break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)