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Common Steroid May Cut COVID-19 Deaths; U.S. Vice President Claims No Second Wave; North Korea Blows Up Inter-Korean Liaison Office; Trump's Order Bans Chokeholds, But With Exceptions; Ghana Courts African-Americans to Come 'Home'; 20 Indian Troops Dead in Clash with China; Brazil Increasing Hydroxychloroquine Use for COVID- 19; U.K. Extends Free School Meal Program Through Summer; NASA Astronauts Look Ahead to Historic Ocean Landing. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired June 17, 2020 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm John Vause.
Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, it's cheap, widely available and a possible breakthrough in treating the sickest COVID-19 patients, though some caution this is science by press release.
Officials in China place Beijing on lockdown to begin mass testing as the coronavirus reappears and threatens the legitimacy of the government.
Increasingly influential and increasingly combative, Kim Jong-un's younger sister calls off talks with the South and threatens to send troops to the DMZ.
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VAUSE: Well, with more than 8 million coronavirus cases worldwide, there comes a hope of promising new treatment for the very sickest patients. Oxford University researchers say the steroid dexamethasone can save about one-third of all those on ventilators. It's cheap, widely available but Harvard experts warn not to get too excited because a complete study has not been released or peer reviewed.
Meantime, the virus is on the rise in 18 U.S. states, Texas alone reporting more than 2,600 cases on Tuesday. That's a new high for the state.
And if you listen to the White House, there's absolutely no reason to worry. The U.S. vice president not wearing a mask on Tuesday and he writes in "The Wall Street Journal" in an op-ed there's no second wave coming, concerns about a spike, all overblown.
But a senior official with the U.S. CDC accuses him of cherry-picking data to paint a better picture. Back at the White House Rose Garden, almost no masks in sight. The
president is pushing ahead with his campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where masks will not be required despite fears it could turn into a superspreader event.
In China, where all this began, the new outbreak right in the capital, a cluster linked to a Beijing market has infected more than 100 people with nearby communities on lockdown.
More now on dexamethasone, a cheap steroid that's been around for decades. But now the WHO is hailing it as the first treatment which is shown to reduce mortality in COVID-19 patients on oxygen or ventilators. Researchers at Oxford say the drug could save one in eight coronavirus patients in intensive care.
Total cost?
About $50.
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PETER HORNBY, OXFORD UNIVERSITY: The drug itself is very widely available, in every pharmacy shelf in every hospital, available throughout the world and it's extremely cheap.
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VAUSE: The study has yet to be peer reviewed but the British prime minister, Boris Johnson, calls it a remarkable scientific achievement and says the steroid will be available throughout the National Health Service in Britain. CNN's Elizabeth Cohen takes a closer look at the study.
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ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: This British study of thousands of patients finding that what many doctors have been doing is the right way to go.
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COHEN: The study looked at COVID patients who were very ill, on ventilators, some of them on the verge of death, until they gave them steroids. Steroids are commonly used in hospitals for similar kinds of infectious disease situations as well as for other diseases. The doctors have these drugs, they're used to using them, so they tried them.
They found that when people got the steroids versus a group that did not, the group that got the steroids were more than a third less likely to die. So that's a very strong number.
Doctors I talked to here in the U.S. who have been using these say they felt like this was true and now they're glad to see this actual data. It has not been published yet or peer reviewed but many doctors are saying they tried this and they also found that it worked. Back to you.
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VAUSE: Elizabeth, thank you.
Beijing raising its emergency level as the Chinese race to stop the spread of a new cluster of infections. More than 100 new cases of COVID-19 have been traced back to a local food market, one of the biggest in Asia.
Beijing residents are now under what authorities are calling a soft lockdown. Schools are closed once, outbound travel has been tightened. CNN's Anna Coren following this from Hong Kong.
Anna, explain why it's important for the communist government to act this way to show there is no widespread outbreak of the coronavirus in Beijing?
This is about a lot more than public health.
ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. This is majorly embarrassing for the Communist Party. Earlier this month the alert level was lowered, schools were reopened and China claimed to have the pandemic well and truly under control.
Now you have this outbreak. The latest number that we have is 137 new cases, stemming from this food market in the south of Beijing, 31 new cases today and it has spread to nine of the 16 districts in the city.
The Xinfadi food market distributes fresh food to about 80 percent of the city, it provides 80 percent of the city's fresh food, a lot of people go there. It's a huge, huge, sprawling operation, hence the mass testing, the contact tracing that is currently underway.
Within the immediate vicinity of the food market and two others where the coronavirus has spread to from the Xinfadi market, it is complete lockdown. Residents cannot leave their compounds.
But for the rest of Beijing, it's pretty much life as normal, the new normal, of course. People being super vigilant and being encouraged to work from home. But as you mentioned, leaving the city is very difficult.
You have to come from a low risk area. You have to test negative within seven days and you have to explain why you want to leave. But as you say, this is a major embarrassment for what the Communist Party, obviously for Xi Jinping, he wants this contained. He does not want this to spread. Obviously, there's talk of a second wave.
At the moment it remains a cluster because from what we can understand they are currently containing it within Beijing. But that could very easily spiral out of control, John.
VAUSE: As we have seen in so many other cases around the, world. Anna, thank you, live for us in Hong Kong with the latest. Organizers with the Trump campaign are being sued to try to prevent
the president from holding a campaign rally in Tulsa this weekend. The lawsuit targets the venue for the rally, demanding compliance with social distancing measures and claiming the event could be a coronavirus superspreader.
With thousands expected to attend, the Oklahoma State Health Department is encouraging everyone to be tested for COVID-19 before and then after the rally.
Meantime, Tulsa's mayor says he did not even know an invitation for the event had been extended, saying, quote, "As someone who is cautious by nature, I don't like to be the first to try anything. I would've loved some other city to have proven the safety of such an event already."
The Trump campaign will be utilizing safety precautions at the event. Attendees will have to pass a temperature check before they can enter the facility. Attendees will also be given a mask and also will have access to hand sanitizer.
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VAUSE: For more now, Dr. Esther Choo, an emergency medicine physician and associate professor at the Oregon Health and Science University, is with us from Portland, Oregon.
Good to see you.
DR. ESTHER CHOO, OREGON HEALTH AND SCIENCE UNIVERSITY: Good to see you, John.
VAUSE: I'd like you to listen to the vice president talking about the coronavirus outbreak, specifically in Oklahoma. Here he is.
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MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I would just encourage you all, as we talk about these things, make sure you continue to explain to your citizens.
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PENCE: The magnitude of increase in testing in most of the cases where we are seeing some marginal rising number, that's more a result of the extraordinary work you're doing, expanding testing.
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VAUSE: According to Mike Pence, he's talking about the number of cases in Oklahoma doing a great job and the fact they were coming down.
But the headline from the Oklahoma newspaper reads this.
"Coronavirus in Oklahoma: Oklahoma Sets New Daily Record for COVID-19 Infections."
And now the vice president and the newspaper can't both be right. One of them is wrong and it seems that the vice president is the one that has it wrong.
CHOO: Certainly it's true, as we increase tests, we will detect more disease. But what we are seeing across many states in the United States we are increasing testing and detecting more. But hospitalizations are going up as well, really demonstrating that we were overeager in many places to reopen before we saw what is recommended.
You know, a decrease in cases for 14 days before we start to reopen. So we have been talking about, is there a second wave?
In a lot of places, honestly, it's a continuation of a rise in cases. We never waited for a plateau in some places before we started to reopen and re-gather. And I think that is truly what we are seeing, unfortunately, in Oklahoma, where the rally is planned.
VAUSE: Mike Pence writing an opinion piece, a little more from "The Wall Street Journal."
"In recent days, the media has taken to sounding the alarm bells over a second wave of coronavirus infections. Such panic is overblown. Thanks to the leadership of President Trump and the courage and compassion of the American people, our public health system is far stronger than it was four months ago and we are winning the fight against the invisible enemy."
Again, the president -- the vice president, rather, seems to be at odds with the fact-based world. The outbreak is getting worse in at least 19 states.
CHOO: I'm trying to get into the mindset of feeling celebratory or like something wonderful has happened when we passed 2 million cases and 120,000 deaths, and we're on track to hit 200,000 deaths by the end of the summer, it does not feel like a success here.
It's hard to understand how one could overblow something like over 100,000 deaths in just a handful of months. To me, we're not scared enough and we've gotten tired of being scared and of curtailing our activities. So I disagree and the numbers are on the side of sustained concern.
VAUSE: Even according to the government's own website, the Food and Drug Administration, they said over the summer, where we are right now, "Increase use of PPE may exceed the available supply of PPE, resulting in shortages.
"The FDA recommends conservation strategies for use by health care organizations and personnel."
And when they say that, they mean wear the same surgical mask over and over again, same with gowns. It would seem the health system in this country is anything but stronger compared to where it was four months ago. It's a whole lot weaker.
CHOO: It's so frustrating that this is still going on. Understand, we have not really figured out how to mobilize supply chains around these things and I think what we are hoping for was that there would be a pause that we would recover enough over the summer that we could mobilize these resources and have them in place in every hospital so that we'd be ready in the fall for a second wave going into flu season.
We will see a lot of patients who look very similar to COVID also coming in and we will have to have precautions as we care for all of them. Unfortunately, as we experience the second wave or the ongoing first wave, we are continuing to use these resources.
States like Arizona operating at 75-80 percent of its ICU beds, really in a state of emergency, we're putting a ton of resources in a sustained way right now. We're not feeling that we have a recovery period before we go into what would be a big second spike in the fall.
VAUSE: Because all these states opened, we are now seeing the spikes in 19. However you want to call it, the numbers are going up. So basically, the PPE, which was being made now to be used in the winter is being used now.
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CHOO: Yes, that's right. There are also implications to reopening, too. When you reopen businesses and those businesses really want to be demonstrating that they have best practices, they're also using PPE. And so you are seeing a lot of face mask wearing.
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CHOO: Maybe not the N-95 masks but certainly the surgical masks and gloves are being used in businesses to try to make their workplaces safer. And that is reasonable, except it's another tax on that resource. So having businesses open and be safe, having hospitals be fully stocked, it's a lot of supply that we need very quickly and all the time. And these are single-use items, ideally. So you really need to have a robust supply chain to keep up with all of that demand.
VAUSE: Not according to the FDA.
Quickly, this new steroid, there is some concern it's all about something that hasn't been peer reviewed.
CHOO: That's absolutely true. This is very promising. We are all excited. This is a commonly available drug. They are not using it in high doses. It is a very simple regimen that they have studied. And it looks like it has impact on a valuable endpoint, which is mortality.
But we have not seen the study. It hasn't gone through peer review. It hasn't been published so that we can see what the methods are, what the study population was, who this applies to, whether it is applicable to all of our patients that we see. And so, a lot of questions. But certainly very promising and from an outstanding research team.
VAUSE: Dr. Esther Choo, thank you for being with us.
CHOO: Thank you.
VAUSE: The world's most popular football league will finally be back in action in a few hours, not exactly though as we know it. Alex Thomas explains.
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ALEX THOMAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: After more than three months, England's globally famous Premier League is back. Canceled back in March due to the coronavirus crisis, on Friday the 13th, no less. It has been a bit of a horror show since then.
Weeks of tense negotiations with clubs and players unions, the prospect of losing hundreds of millions of dollars in TV money and they had to wait until June before the U.K. government finally gave the go-ahead for the season to resume, with 92 games still to play.
One of the first teams back on the pitch will be the reigning Premier League champions, Manchester City, who face Arsenal here at the Etihad Stadium behind me on Wednesday evening.
PEP GUARDIOLA, MAN CITY MANAGER: I think that we are ready to play one game, about 3 days after another one and 4 days after another one. (INAUDIBLE) but I think (INAUDIBLE) teams and then Germany and Spain that they work 5 to 6 weeks. We told the teams (INAUDIBLE) finally to have just maybe 3.5 (ph). Of course, it's not enough. But it is what it is.
THOMAS: Guardiola understands as well as anyone why football has had to take a back seat in recent months. He actually lost his mother to the disease. If City lose to Arsenal here on Wednesday evening, then Liverpool will be crowned England's champions again for the first time in 30 years if they win their next game against Everton on Sunday.
On the idea of the title race being over within days, it might seem like something of an anticlimax. There is still actually great excitement about the resumption of the Premier League. Although like the major European football competitions, it will look and feel slightly different.
There will be no fans inside the stadium. Normally, there would be tens of thousands milling around here on game day. Also, strict new protocols put in place inside the venue to protect the health and safety of the players, coaches and match officials.
Things like no handshakes, no spitting on the pitch, social distance, goal celebrations as well. It will be interesting to see which of those habits will be tough to break -- Alex Thomas, CNN, Manchester.
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VAUSE: Still to come here, inching close to catastrophe. North Korea warned the destruction of the joint liaison office in the DMZ is just the beginning as relations between North and South spiral downward.
And later this, hour one African country is saying to black Americans, hey, come home. We will explain why.
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VAUSE: South Korea says it will no longer endure North Korea's senseless comments and actions after the North bombed the joint liaison office in the DMZ. They now plan to deploy troops, resume military exercises and reestablish guardposts. Details from Will Ripley.
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WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A building that symbolized peace between North and South Korea reduced to a pile of rubble. North Korea blew up the inter-Korean liaison office Tuesday. The black plume visible for miles both Koreas shared that building just north of the DMZ. It was supposed to be a neutral place to communicate.
Not far from Panmunjom, where the latest round of Korean diplomacy began more than two years ago. All this promise of a new era of peace, now up in smoke.
North Korea calls the blast retaliation for propaganda leaflets dropped from balloons by South Korean activists. Analyst suspect Pyongyang has grown tired of waiting for sanctions to be lifted, tired of waiting for a reward for coming out of its shell. Remember those three face to face meetings between Chairman Kim Jong-un and President Donald Trump?
DUYEON KIM, VISITING SENIOR FELLOW, KOREAN PENINSULA FUTURE FORUM: Pyongyang is coercing Seoul to live up to its commitments to try to move Washington to lift sanctions.
RIPLEY: The face of this latest escalation has not been Kim himself, but his increasingly powerful younger sister. Kim Yo-jong is rising to prominence, with her brother largely absent from public view, just a handful of appearances in the last three months. Nobody knows for sure why Kim seems to be laying low. But analysts point to his sister as a rising figure in the North Korean leadership.
For years, she has been a quiet presence by her brother's side, one of his most trusted advisers. Now being built up by North Korea's propaganda machine. Kim Yo-jong has already been blacklisted by the U.S., accused of severe human rights violations and recently promoted to Central Party leadership.
This week, Kim Yo-jong took aim at North Korean defectors in South Korea. She called them human scum and said the south, by harboring them, is committing an act of war. North Korea also cut off all communication with the south and warned of military action. A new face, perhaps, but a familiar message from the north, bringing the Korean peninsula right back to where it was before this latest detente. With tensions rising, yet again -- Will Ripley, CNN.
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VAUSE: Stephan Haggard is the director of the Korea-Pacific Program at the University of California in San Diego and joins me now.
Thanks for being with us.
STEPHAN HAGGARD, UC SAN DIEGO: Thanks, John.
VAUSE: We have this warning from the South Koreans to Pyongyang, the joint chiefs of staff issued a written statement, which said in part, various military action plans by the North are not only in direct violation of the September military agreement, the 2018 Panmunjom declaration and other previous inter-Korean agreements but are also a nullification of all inter-Korean efforts from both sides over the past 20 years."
That's a pretty big statement. The South Koreans rarely get mixed up in a back and forth with the North.
How do you see this response?
Also it's coming from the head of the military, not the president.
HAGGARD: I think it's a pretty standard attempt to issue a statement about the willingness of the South Korean military to deter. But remember at the same time, President Moon himself is trying to lower the temperature.
He offered to send envoys earlier in the week, which would signal an attempt to do something on the economic front. He has lifted, effectively lifted sanctions that South Korea had unilaterally imposed back in 2010.
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HAGGARD: So I think they're trying to dance between showing the strength of the military deterrent but also at least keeping the olive branch out.
VAUSE: That offer from the South Korean president was rejected by Kim Jong-un's sister, who seems to have a prominent role at the moment.
What do you make of the fact that the rejection came from her and not the leader?
HAGGARD: It's clear that this whole episode, which goes back now over two weeks and started with these leaflets, has been designed, I think, I mean that seriously, designed to showcase her presence as the figure who will be dealing with North-South relations going forward. The language of the statements that she has made over the last two
weeks, have really been very, very strong.
VAUSE: I guess the question is, why now?
We know that diplomacy between North and South in the U.S. has been on hold or in the freezer for over a year now.
Why did it happen at this point?
Was there a trigger?
Is there any particular reason?
HAGGARD: Some put a lot of emphasis on anniversaries. We are just passing two years since the Singapore summit. So I think this is partly aimed at the United States.
But basically, I think this has been growing since December. There was a very important politburo meeting at that time, where if you recall the news then, the North Koreans were going to give the U.S. an ultimatum to do something by the end of the year or else. That lapsed. Nothing has transpired.
President Trump basically said he wasn't going to do anything on this until the election. And in the meantime, the sanctions basically continue multilaterally, compounded by COVID. So I see this driven in no small measure by economic stress in North Korea.
VAUSE: That's the other side of the coin here.
What is happening domestically with regard to the COVID virus and pressure from the military within North Korea to take these movements?
HAGGARD: I am not sure the pressure is necessarily coming from the military. I think the pressure is coming from economic circumstances.
North Korea relies on China for about 90 percent of its trade and when it shut the country down aggressively in response to COVID, it immediately cut ties with its major supplier and customer for virtually every sector in the economy.
So naturally, there will be some distress there. And wagging the dog seems like a piece of this story, which is, he is turning to the external front. He is blaming the South Koreans. He's blaming the international circumstance for the hardship North Korean people are experiencing.
VAUSE: At the end of the day, it obviously seems that there is always something else happening under the surface when it comes to the North Koreans.
Should we just read this at face value that the North Koreans are the joint liaison office, they are now prepared to simply walk away from any further diplomacy, any talks about denuclearization, reconciliation with the South, that's just off the table for the foreseeable future?
HAGGARD: I think what they are trying to do is, in part, extract concessions. Obviously, President Moon is going to try to move forward, to try and get back to have some North-South channel. What's interesting about this provocation is blowing up a building in North Korea. That's different than crossing a border.
Now I think the North Koreans have actually boxed themselves in a little bit, because they are now promising military action. And if that happened, I think it is possible there would be a response probably from the South Koreans and also by the United States.
VAUSE: What would the response look like?
HAGGARD: It depends on what the provocation is. But if there is something that actually crosses the border, that is not just a test of a missile, then it is game on.
VAUSE: Stephan, thank you, Stephan Haggard there with some insight and maybe some predictions of what we could see in the coming weeks. Appreciate it, thank you.
HAGGARD: Thanks very much.
VAUSE: The U.S. president is talking police reform but he is defending police officers at every turn. We will talk to a former police chief who forced his department to make some very serious changes.
Also, what has been called a violent faceoff between Indian and Chinese soldiers and with multiple deaths. Details coming up.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: After three weeks of nationwide protest demanding an end to police brutality, the U.S. president has signed an executive order on police reform. His critics, though, call it lukewarm at best, basically an empty gesture.
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His order does been chokeholds, except when an officer's life is at risk. However, only departments that get certified have to obey that ban. The order also sets financial incentives for departments who follow best practices. And it creates a database for officers with a history of using excessive force.
The reforms are meant to make police more accountable to the communities they serve, but the president's remarks sounded more like a tribute to all of the men and women in blue.
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DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I strongly oppose the radical and dangerous efforts to defend, dismantle and dissolve our police departments. Without police, there is chaos. Law and order must be further restored
nationwide. And your federal government is ready, willing and able to help.
In many cases, local law enforcement is underfunded, understaffed and under supported. Americans want law and order. They demand law and order. They may not say it, they may not be talking about it, but that's what they want.
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VAUSE: And joining us now is Ike McKinnon, the former chief of police for the city of Detroit. Chief McKinnon, thank you for being with us.
IKE MCKINNON, FORMER POLICE CHIEF OF DETROIT: Thank you for inviting me today.
VAUSE: Just to have a public statement, I guess, on police reform from the president, that could, I guess, be seen as progress, because a week ago it didn't seem likely. The executive order which he announced, though, it seems very police-friendly, some may say. It seems to fall way short of what protesters have been demanding.
Here's a little more from the president. Listen to this.
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TRUMP: That is why today I'm signing an executive order encouraging police departments nationwide to adopt the highest professional standards to serve their communities. These standards will be as high and as strong as there is on earth.
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VAUSE: There's a lot of recommendations, a lot of encouragement, nothing really mandatory in the executive order, but I guess that's because policy for police is made at a local level. Trump's plan tends to focus on leveraging federal spending to encourage those reforms. Is that about as good as can be expected from the White House?
MCKINNON: Well, let me say this. As a person that has been involved in law enforcement for 50-some years as an educator and so forth, there are so many things that we have to do, but we have to look at people who are serious about what they should be doing. To me it was a step, but it's not enough to stop some of the things that we've seen here in the United States over the "X" number of years.
VAUSE: What is noticeable, though, is that the president again, you know, avoided any significant talk about the victims of police brutality. It's interesting, because Politico explains it this way. "Maintaining the political support of police and appearing like a law- and-order president has been a leading imperative for Trump's top aides and political advisers, as some liberal activists push to defund police departments and divert money to community programs."
So what we have here is, what, a president walking a political line on an issue where there really isn't a lot of nuance. There isn't much of a line when it comes to what the public is demanding.
MCKINNON: I say the public saying, look, guys, you -- you -- you're policing, but who are you policing and what are you policing and what are you doing there? Are you there to serve and protect us? Are you doing the proper job for us? Are you being fair and square with us?
And most of the people who are protesting, and certainly in my years, most people are saying, No, you guys aren't doing exactly what we want you to do. And so, as -- as a person who has done this for a long time, I would look at, No. 1, starting with the people that we recruit into this field and make sure they are there to serve and protect.
And No. 2, I would look at having them go through a series -- series of mental health checkups to see that they are doing the right job, and they're not using this against anyone.
And, you know, if you look at this, starting with recruiting and the mental health aspect of it, we've done a great job. But there are so many other things that we have to do to make sure that these officers who were brought in to do a job are there for the right reason and not to do what some of the people we've seen do.
VAUSE: And just to pick up on that list, because you started it, you -- you outlined a lot of that in your op-ed for the "USA Today." So just speak up on the point, the third point which you believe needs to be addressed, a nationwide database to prevent bad officers from what's called department jumping. They get fired from one department, move on to another. So they don't have a, you know, a blotch on their record.
End senior promotions for officers who have multiple disciplinary complaints. And then this is the big one: rehabilitating police unions. We'll get to some of these in a moment. But out of all these points, is there one which is more important than all the rest?
MCKINNON: To me, they're equally important, because if we take one without the other, I think that we -- we are not doing a true service. For instance, if we -- if we don't look at the officers jumping from department to department.
I had an officer when I was chief would come from another community in another state who had been charged with rape. And the charges were dropped, but it was so serious that he left the department. And the officers who did the review of him did not turn this up until later.
I had to terminate this man, because just imagine someone like that.
Then we had another officers who had beaten people up in other departments, and -- and it turned out there's been two or three series like that, and this becomes a horrible situation for everyone that's involved. And so we as police people have to make sure, well, certainly as leaders, have to make sure that does not happen within our department.
VAUSE: In that same op-ed, you wrote of your background and your motivation for becoming a policeman, and you recall a moment when you're 14 years old, I think, when police officers pulled you to one side, began beating you because you were an African-American kid, I guess.
And you wrote -- you wrote this. "The more I screamed, the more they beat me. I saw the anger on their faces, the horror on the faces of black people who gathered around us, yelling for the police to stop. I was scared, angry and confused. Why did they hurt me? That day I promised myself that I would become a Detroit police officer and change the Detroit police force from the inside."
So you are someone who's lived both sides of the divide. Why is it so difficult to get reform here? Why is it so hard to get police to stop shooting and killing African-Americans?
MCKINNON: Because of the dehumanization of people. Those people who beat me up, they didn't see me as a human being, I would think. And later on, when I was an officer, and two years as an officer, I was shot at by fellow officers. And I've seen these kinds of things, the beatings of people, and the language that they use. It's just atrocious.
And so if you don't see someone who -- as a human being, dehumanize them, and you don't think of them as being someone who's equal to you, certainly, or someone who's just a human being. And that's why they do these kind of things, I think.
VAUSE: Chief McKinnon, you are someone who has served your country and your community, you know, for a very long time, and in a very senior role. So thank you very much for being with us. We appreciate it.
MCKINNON: Thanks so much.
VAUSE: Thank you, sir.
And the death of George Floyd in police custody has reverberated in cities and countries around the world, including the African nation of Ghana, where the country's tourism minister is inviting black Americans to leave where you are not wanted. Come home. Here's Stephanie Busari.
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STEPHANIE BUSARI, CNN SUPERVISING PRODUCER, AFRICA (voice-over): One African nation is sending a message to African-Americans in the wake of George Floyd's death.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We continue to open our arms and invite all our brothers and sisters home. Ghana is your home. Africa is your home.
BUSARI: Ghana recently unveiled a monument to Floyd and is openly calling for black Americans to move there.
The country has courted the black dollar for some time. Last year, the president launched the Year of Return initiative, marking 400 years since the first documented arrival of West African slaves to America.
Young and old flock to the country for a number of cultural events, such as Accra Fashion Week and a music festival, Africana (ph).
Ghana's finance minister held the scheme a massive success, saying it recorded as much as $3 billion in added GDP. The government in Accra is now building on that momentum, with another initiative called Beyond the Return, which aims to encourage investment in Ghana.
AKWASI AGYEMANG, GHANA TOURISM CEO: The clarion call now for the Back to Africa movement being reignited is really something that is natural. Africa is home, and we are hoping to open our arms to our kith and kin to come back home.
RASHAD MCCROREY, FOUNDER, AFRICA CROSS-CULTURE: Hello, everybody. My name's Rashad McCrorey.
BUSARI: One African-American man who came for a business trip in February says he chose to stay and see the pandemic through there, and he urges others to follow in his footsteps.
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MCCROREY: Really consider moving to Africa. Really consider moving to Africa, really consider moving to Ghana. This land, the resources, the riches, everything is here for you to succeed.
BUSARI: A country once central to the transatlantic slave trade now offering a safe haven for those looking to restart their lives.
Stephanie Busari, CNN, Lagos.
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VAUSE: India is claiming a violent face-off with Chinese forces on their disputed border in the Himalayan mountains has left 20 Indian troops dead. A large military build-up has reportedly taken place for weeks now on both sides of the border. India says senior military officials are now meeting with our Chinese counterparts.
CNN's producer Vedika Sud is in New Delhi, live for us with the very latest. So what do we know at this point? What's happening?
VEDIKA SUD, CNN PRODUCER: You know, John, this is the deadliest clash we've seen between the two sides in the last 45 years. What we do know is on the intervening night, night of June 15 and 16, there was a massive stand-off between the military personnel from both sides.
The Indian army late last night did issue an addendum where they went on to talk about how 20 soldiers have been killed, including a senior official on the Indian side.
What's also interesting there is, John, that they mentioned that there were casualties on both sides, something that the Chinese officials have not admitted to yet, but that's something that the Indian army did mention in the statement.
What we do know is that ever since the first week of May, there has been tension at the line of actual control. This remains a disputed border and one of the longest borders in the world that has been between India and China.
We've also heard from the government where -- the Indian government where they've gone on to blame the Chinese side for, in fact, not understanding the consensus that they've reached after several meetings between the two sides, and the army officials over the last one month.
They said that it was the Chinese side, in fact, that went back on the understanding between the two that led to the clashes between the both sides.
This is extremely worrying for India, as well as China, especially at a time when you have the Indian government come out over the last one month and saying that everything is calm at the border. This will be sorted militarily and diplomatically, and now you have news coming in of 20 Indian army officials dead -- John.
VAUSE: Let's just take a look at the sort of -- I guess the bigger picture here. What are the ramifications here for China-India ties?
SUD: Well, very worrying, indeed, because you had the prime minister of India host the Chinese president last year, and at that time, a lot of people had called this a huge diplomatic victory for the two sides, given that their difference over a lot of issues between China and India.
We also know that China has been an all-weather friend and ally of Pakistan, where there've been severe differences over the years and decades between India and Pakistan.
So clearly, this will have to be sorted out, perhaps, at the highest diplomatic level, because still now, the Indian government has been stating that military and diplomatic levels have been approached over this issue. But given that we've got news of 20 Indian soldiers being killed, it seems to have not really yielded any positive result.
Even though opposition here in India, opposition parties, are now calling out to the prime minister, asking him to speak out and give details on the incident, because some details still remain sketchy, given the fact that we just know that this incident took place, how did it take place?
There are reports coming in, media reports, that perhaps firearms were not used. So what was used, and how did it lead to the death of 20 Indian soldiers? A lot of unanswered questions. And the pressure now building on the Modi government here in India to come and make a statement and be clear on what really happened on June 15 night in the region that the line of actual control lies in Eastern Labak (ph) -- John.
VAUSE: Vedika, thank you. Vedika Sud in New Delhi, with us for the very latest. Thank you.
Well, the U.S. will impose new sanctions on Syria Wednesday, targeting the Syrian central bank, as well as allies of President Bashar al- Assad. The goal is to punish anyone doing business with the Assad regime,
focusing on banking, oil and construction. Violators could face travel bans or be denied capital, even arrested.
The Trump administration is suing to stop the publication of a new book by the former national security advisor, John Bolton. "The Room Where It Happened," due out next week, details Bolton's tenure at the White House. It's billed as an insider's rebuke of President Trump's foreign policy.
The lawsuit claims Bolton breached nondisclosure agreements and that the book is rife with classified information. Bolton's attorney says the White House wants to block the release purely because of political reasons.
Still to come, Brazil doubling down on an unproven drug for treating COVID-19. Now, it's pushing chloroquine for pregnant women and children with the virus.
[00:45:00]
Also ahead, a British footballer scores a big win off the pitch. How his pressure campaign on the government will help feed more than a million kids.
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VAUSE: Brazil is closing in on almost a million confirmed cases of the coronavirus as it breaks another daily record.
Latin America's largest country reported nearly 35,000 new cases on Tuesday, bringing the total to more than 923,000. These staggering numbers came on the very same day government officials claimed to have the outbreak under control.
Brazil is now recommending hydroxychloroquine for more COVID-19 patients, even after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration withdrew it for emergency use. The U.S. sent two million doses over to Brazil late last month.
Shasta Darlington has more now on the very latest from Sao Paulo.
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SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brazil has expanded the use of hydroxychloroquine, just as the FDA revoked its emergency use authorization for the drug for treatment of COVID-19.
Brazilian officials criticized the FDA decision and announced they would expand recommended use of the drug to include children and pregnant women in early treatment.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has been a huge proponent of using malaria drugs during the entire coronavirus crisis, clashing with doctors and even his own health ministers over regulations. He ended up firing his first health minister, and the second quit a month later. For the last month, an army general has taken the post on an interim basis.
On Tuesday, Brazil registered a record number of new cases, almost 35,000, in 24 hours, while the death toll rose by more than 1,200, topping 45,000.
Shasta Darlington, CNN, Sao Paulo.
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VAUSE: Well, a change of heart by the British government, which is now extending its free school meal program through the summer, hoping to keep more than a million children from going hungry amidst the coronavirus pandemic.
Darren Lewis has more now on the footballer who made it happen.
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DARREN LEWIS, CNN SPORT CONTRIBUTOR: Marcus Rashford is an English footballer who, until now, has been most famous for being a superstar for Manchester united, scoring goals in the English Premier League and in the Champions League. Also for England at an international level.
In the last three months, however, Rashford has become a hero for a very different reason. At just 22, his pull of a master class (Ph) to apply pressure on the English government to ensure 1.3 million children across the U.K. will not go hungry this summer.
With the school term ending next month, the government had been planning to end a scheme to feed kids eligible for free meals, but Rashford used TV, newspapers, his 2.8 million followers on Twitter, and drew on his own experience of using food banks growing up to change the minds of the politicians.
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MARCUS RASHFORD, MANCHESTER UNITED PLAYER: I was hoping to do it as soon as possible, really. I know they've -- they've mentioned that they usually do this, you know, this time of year, summer holidays, but because of -- because of COVID, the situation has been completely different for everyone in the world.
You know, my mom was a single parent. She's got five kids that was all living in the same house, and that moment was the -- the most difficult moment. She's working very hard to put food on the table. And then it's the stress on her shoulders that -- that affected her after we'd had enough (ph).
LEWIS: Food for thought as the excitement builds ahead of tonight's big Premier League restart. Rashford is one of English football's leading voices in terms of athlete activism, alongside Jadon Sancho and Raheem Sterling. All three are part of a new generation who see their jobs as not only
to win football matches, but also to fight for change on issues such as football's racism problem, the lack of representation in the boardroom, and the lack of black managers. Rashford's success mirrors that of a younger generation outside football no longer prepared to accept societal inequality and who will most certainly not be silenced.
In London, for CNN, I'm Darren Lewis.
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VAUSE: Next up here on CNN NEWSROOM, the moment that put the U.S. back in the space race.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Three, two, zero. Ignition, lift off as the Falcon 9 and crew Dragon go --
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VAUSE: Hear from the astronauts about their historic journey on board the SpaceX rocket.
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VAUSE: Two NASA astronauts made history when they were flown to the International Space Station last month, the first time a commercial aerospace company has carried humans into orbit.
Earlier, they told CNN's Rachel Crane what it was like to be on board that rocket.
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DOUG HURLEY, NASA ASTRONAUT: The biggest surprise probably for both of us it was just how different the rocket felt than what we had experienced with shuttle.
I mean, we expected some of that to be different, just because it was a liquid-fueled rocket, and the shuttle had solid rocket boosters, so that was going to be different. Thrust weight was somewhat different. The size was drastically different.
But it really did surprise us how different the ride was, and -- but -- but it certainly was a great ride. It was just different. Very exciting and totally removed from our shuttle experience as far as what it felt like.
So all in all, I would say that was the first big highlight, and then the second one was getting to space station and seeing three smiling faces when we came through the hatch. It was just great to see those guys, and I think they were happy to see us, to get a -- you know, get a little change of scenery on board the station, and a little bit more help. RACHEL CRANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, some might say that the
most dangerous part of the mission still lies ahead, the journey home. And this time, you guys won't be landing on a runway when we land back on earth. You'll be splashing down in the ocean. What are you anticipating the ride back home to be like? And are you guys at all nervous?
HURLEY: No, I don't think we're nervous. We watched the demo, one flight, the test flight, the un-crewed test flight, and the vehicle perform very well. We've seen the in-flight abort test, and the vehicle performed well again.
[00:55:00]
And everything that -- all the work that the folks out at SpaceX have done have gotten us to this point, and we have full confidence that the vehicle will perform just like it's supposed to.
That being said, it's a -- it's a completely different entry profile than what we are used to or have been used to in the space shuttle. We'll land in the water, as you said. We'll land under parachutes. A much more dynamic entry. There will be much higher G's, and you know, that's just part of the unknown. You know, we have prepared for it. But we can only prepare so much, and we'll see how the vehicle does. And we'll see how we do when we get back.
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VAUSE: And the crew expected to return to Earth by August.
Well, has four legs, likes to run and comes with a price tag of close to $75,000. But Spot is not any old dog. It's, as you can guess, a robot. Developed by Boston Dynamics in 2015, it has attracted lots of attention ever since.
It's recent tasks, though, include reminding people to practice social distancing in Singapore. Now it can be yours. It's up for sale for businesses in the U.S., if you want it. Quite a hefty price tag, though.
Thank you for watching. I'm John Vause. Stay with us. A lot more CNN NEWSROOM after a very short break.
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VAUSE: Hello, welcome to our viewers joining us from around the world. I'm John Vause, and coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, it's cheap, widely available and potentially a breakthrough in treating the sickest of COVID-19 patients. But some are urging caution, warning this is science by press release.
Defending the capital, officials in China place.
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