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Lebanese Government Orders House Arrest of Port Officials; 300K Beirut Residents Displaced; Students and Staff Test Positive as Schools Reopen; Victoria Reports 15 Deaths on Third Day of Lockdown. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired August 06, 2020 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ROBYN CURNOW, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers all around the world. Thanks so much. This is CNN. I'm Robyn Curnow.
Just ahead, the aftermath of that monster blast, authorities are still searching for survivors and looking for answers in Beirut. The investigation is focused on a massive amount of ammonium nitrate which was stored inside a warehouse for years. We have a closer look at that chemical that's believed to have caused so much destruction.
Also, the push and pull over reopening schools in the U.S. amid a pandemic that is far from under control.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Robyn Curnow.
CURNOW: It is 9:00 am in the morning in Beirut, Lebanon, where the search is underway for survivors of Tuesday's massive explosion in the port city. The death toll now stands at 135 with more than 5,000 people wounded.
All signs point to a huge shipment of the volatile chemical, ammonium nitrate, as the cause of this blast. It was seized from a Russian ship and stored in a warehouse for the past six years.
Now take a look at these before and after images. They really show the scope of this destruction. Beirut's governor estimates the damage as high as $15 billion; the Lebanese cabinet has ordered port officials to be placed under arrest during the investigation.
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MICHEL AOUN, LEBANESE PRESIDENT (through translator): To all the Lebanese people, we are determined to proceed with the investigations and to uncover the circumstances of what happened as quickly as possible and to hold accountable those responsible and inflict on them the most severe punishment.
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CURNOW: Lebanon's economy minister says every apartment and every business in Beirut has been impacted by this blast. And state media report 90 percent of the city's hotels are damaged. Let's go to Ben Wedeman, who's in Beirut. for more.
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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: George Faraoun has come with a friend to see what they can salvage from the remains of his parents' apartment, which looked directly onto Beirut's port.
Tuesday's blast turned it into a moonscape, a panorama of utter destruction. Dried blood marks the spot where his mother was resting in bed when the explosion sent a wall slamming on top of her. She's still in hospital.
This was his parents' retirement home.
GEORGE FARAOUN, BEIRUT RESIDENT: This was their life. Everything they did here. Look what happened.
WEDEMAN (voice-over): Given the damage, they probably will never be able to move back.
Many neighbors were badly injured, others killed.
WEDEMAN: In addition to the dead and the wounded, many, many people have lost their homes. According to the governor of Beirut, more than 300,000 people in the city have been made homeless.
WEDEMAN (voice-over): People are packing up and moving out. While others try to salvage what they can, the area near the port is now a hive of activity as an army of volunteers like Maggy Demerjian has launched into a massive cleanup effort, perhaps to show themselves that, despite this country's mountain of woes, good will prevail.
MAGGY DEMERJIAN, LEBANESE CLEANUP VOLUNTEER: Lebanese people doesn't deserve. We are good people.
WEDEMAN (voice-over): They've come from all over the city, handing out food and water, pitching in wherever, however they can. Officials believe the blast emanated from a warehouse filled with 2,750 metric tons of ammonium nitrate, sitting there under lax security for six years.
The government has promised a quick and transparent investigation. Yet going back decades, Lebanon has witnessed a series of a high-profile assassinations and, rarely, if ever, has the truth emerged.
JAD ACHKAR, BEIRUT RESIDENT: This, this accident here, this crisis, for 20 years we're going to talk about the investigation. There's never going to be no conclusion and no results.
WEDEMAN (voice-over): And no confidence among many here that the truth will ever be known -- Ben Wedeman, CNN, Beirut.
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CURNOW: An estimated 300,000 people have been displaced from their homes because of damage from this blast. Let's go straight to Gregg Carlstrom, he's a correspondent for "The Economist" in Beirut.
Gregg, hello. Good to see you. I know you've been tweeting images of your apartment. Just one example of how devastating this blast was.
GREGG CARLSTROM, "THE ECONOMIST": One example out of a whole neighborhood filled with examples like it.
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CARLSTROM: Most of the apartments where I live, which is about a kilometer away from the ports, the epicenter of the blast, absolutely ruined. Some people have managed to move out and find shelter with friends and family. And others aren't so lucky.
And I've had neighbors who have just been pushing the broken glass off of their beds and bedding down for the night in apartments that don't have windows or doors or electricity at this point.
The hospital across the street from me had to shut down operations because it was so badly damaged, they had four nurses who were killed by flying debris, there were 15 patients who were hooked up to respirators, who died when the machines failed.
So just an absolute scene of devastation in the neighborhood.
CURNOW: Total devastation.
Where were you at the time?
CARLSTROM: I was a little further away. I was up near Sassine Square, which maybe a mile away from the epicenter of the blast. The damage was a bit less up there, still lots of falling glass, flying debris. We thought at first it was a sort of localized explosion or a car bomb had gone off or a gas main had exploded in a building nearby.
It wasn't until you started making your way down towards the Mediterranean that you realized how widespread the damage was.
CURNOW: What does it look like now?
Various people have described it as a moonscape or a nuclear wasteland. If you could just try and paint a picture for us, of what it smells like, what it looks like, what it feels like.
CARLSTROM: It is, I mean, the soundtrack of it has been the crunch of glass underneath tires as cars drive over them. Sirens, for the better part of the day, going all through the night and day yesterday as rescuers pulled victims out of the rubble.
You have workers who are out, even just with pushbrooms, trying to clean up the streets and make the streets passable. Broken glass piling up in Dumpsters, piling up in heaps along the curb.
And everyone still walking around in shock, in a daze. It was a seemingly normal Tuesday afternoon. And in a space of less than a minute, the whole city changed.
CURNOW: You mention our CNN bureau was pretty much totaled and a lot of foreign correspondents like you that are based in Beirut and cover the Middle East, many of you have been in war zones and it certainly came to you but on a whole other level here.
CARLSTROM: This was the scale of the explosion, the magnitude of this explosion, unlike anything I have ever experienced before, the same with most of my colleagues, with whom I've spoken.
The amount of ammonium nitrate that went up, sort of to put it in perspective, the Oklahoma City bombing in America in 1995 used somewhat slightly less than 3 tons of ammonium nitrate. This was 2,750 tons of the stuff that went up.
There are videos that you probably have seen, floating around on YouTube, of the shock wave of this blast, which stretched for kilometers and kilometers away from the ports.
CURNOW: There is still search and rescue teams out there.
What is the hope that there is still some folks alive and that can be rescued?
CARLSTROM: The hope, I think, is rapidly dwindling at this point. Once you get more than a couple of days away from a disaster like this, then the search and rescue unfortunately turns into recovery. And anyone that you find at this point is probably going to be in quite critical condition.
Going into a hospital system that was overstretched, even before the explosion happened, there had been a spike in COVID-19 patients here last month, many intensive care wards were already almost full to capacity. No one prepared for this influx of thousands of wounded people that we saw on Tuesday night.
So very difficult conditions for doctors to begin with and I think, unfortunately, anyone who is found at this point, it's more likely to be a recovery operation than a rescue.
CURNOW: So for people who made it out alive, whose apartments are damaged, which is pretty much everyone in Beirut, how are you going to go about the next few days in terms of rebuilding or getting glass back into windows?
That seems like an almost impossible task, doesn't it?
CARLSTROM: It does. It would be a very difficult task even in a country where the economy was doing well and there was money to spend on these things. Unfortunately, that's not Lebanon right now.
The country has been mired in an economic crisis since October; the currency has lost about 80 percent of its value since then. And so people are genuinely unsure of where they are going to find the cash to pay for glass or new aluminum frames for their windows, even the simplest things like that.
I've spoken to a few apartment owners who have said they are trying to start that process, to get workers in to do measurements, to start to do the repairs. But they have to find dollars for these things because these things have to be imported from abroad. Then there is an acute shortage of hard currency in this country right now.
Even the simplest things like fixing your windows in a country that has to import glass, that has no glass production of its own, it's going to be beyond the reach of many Lebanese.
CURNOW: And also, of course, the port is almost destroyed.
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CURNOW: So that's a whole another (sic) level when it comes to getting goods in, whether it's glass or whether it's food. Gregg, thank you for joining us. I hope you manage to clean up your apartment and get a roof over your head. I know you have a lot of work to do as well. But glad you are safe. Thank you.
Let's head now to Istanbul, where our Jomana Karadsheh is standing by.
Jomana, hi, I know we need to talk about what exactly this warehouse was holding, what it was containing and why. CNN has reporting on that.
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Robyn, this is what the investigation is looking into right now. This is believed to be where this huge monstrous explosion emanated from.
And we do understand this goes back to the fall of 2013. You had a Russian owned ship carrying this ammonium nitrate. And keep in mind this is an explosive material but this is actually a fertilizer. It's used as a fertilizer. It's used as an explosive for mining but a very hazardous, dangerous explosive material as well.
It was traveling to Mozambique but because of financial disputes with the crew and the owners, it ended up in Beirut. Authorities there ended up seizing this vessel.
It's -- the shipment was kept in a warehouse there since 2014. We are starting to learn more about what has been going on over the past few years. And it would seem, according to court documents, that this has been a case going on in courts for a few years.
And it would seem that port authorities, customs authorities, have been asking the consecutive governments, the judicial authorities, to decide to do something with this shipment that they felt was literally a ticking bomb that was sitting in that warehouse.
They wanted it moved, they didn't know what to do with it but it sat there for years. And the question is why did that happen?
Why was it left there unsecure?
So far, it would seem this is a result of, you know, the issue that Lebanon and much of this region suffers from, the incompetence, the negligence, this lack of care by authorities, by the bureaucracies in Lebanon and this region.
This is the question right now, that the investigation would look at. The problem is people don't have much faith in their authorities delivering a transparent and real investigation here and to really hold those responsible accountable for this.
It's why we are hearing more and more calls for an independent, perhaps international investigation into the events, into what happened, into what caused this blast in the first place.
CURNOW: Then also, that question on why nearly 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate was on its way from Russia to Mozambique as well in the first place, another question that needs to be answered. Jomana, as always, good to speak to you. Thank you.
Beirut's governor says Tuesday's explosion caused $3 billion to $5 billion in damages with many homes and businesses reduced to rubble. Thousands of people we know have been displaced, as you heard from our guest earlier.
The economy minister says the government's top priority now is to secure people's basic needs. Earlier, the Lebanon national director for World Vision weighed in.
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HANS BEDERSKI, WORLD VISION: People are also looking into rebuilding their lives. Many homes have been destroyed and they're living and existence was already difficult prior to the blast. So now, to move on and rebuild on the precarious livelihoods that they had before, is hard and tough.
CURNOW: We understand one estimate that is at least 300,000 people have been made homeless. These are not necessarily people who were struggling, it's just their buildings were closer to the blast, 300,000 people homeless and the fact that almost 90 percent of hotel rooms have been destroyed in some way.
And every single building has been impacted in some way.
What is it like to be there right now?
BEDERSKI: Indeed. It is difficult and we see -- all of us have relatives, friends, acquaintances who have been affected and directly affected and there is not enough shelter to accommodate people who have lost their homes or have had their homes damaged.
[02:15:00] BEDERSKI: Life is chaotic right now. We do wonder where we will get our next shopping in, where people will get the materials to rebuild their homes, how to circulate, how to get to any bit of a normal life back in order in the next few days.
CURNOW: How concerned are you about hospitals and about the injured?
We still really don't have any idea of the death toll, 5,000 people injured.
What are the immediate needs and how quickly can they get medicine, for example, or other help?
BEDERSKI: Access to medicine was already difficult prior to the blast. And medications are expensive and not easily available. Now with the disappearance of the port, it would be more difficult to get them in.
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CURNOW: If you'd like to help the victims of Tuesday's blast in Beirut, we have made it easier for you. Just go to our website. It is cnn.com/impact. Some groups are still assessing the needs, as you've heard Hans from World Vision telling us.
But you can count on CNN to keep you updated. Again, that address is cnn.com/impact. You are watching CNN.
Still to come, the coronavirus, will it ever really go away?
It depends on who you ask.
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CURNOW: Welcome back. I'm Robyn Curnow.
Now the global death toll from coronavirus exceeds 700,000 people but there is growing hope that a vaccine could soon be on the horizon. The top U.S. infectious disease expert says tens of millions of vaccine doses will likely be available by early next year.
And the doctor, Anthony Fauci, says if we do have a vaccine, the virus will no longer be a pandemic capable of immobilizing the world and destroying economies, like it's doing right now. But he says he doesn't think COVID-19 will actually ever, truly be eradicated because it's just so highly transmissible.
However, the U.S. president does not seem to agree.
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TRUMP: It's going away now. It'll go away like things go away, absolutely. It's --
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TRUMP: -- no question in my mind. It will go away.
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TRUMP: Hopefully sooner rather than later.
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CURNOW: Meanwhile, Florida is now the second U.S. state to exceed half a million known COVID cases. The first being, of course, California. Sara Sidner shows us the situation across the U.S. as schools debate on whether or not to reopen.
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DR. THOMAS FRIEDEN, FORMER DIRECTOR, CDC: The virus is winning and the American people are losing.
SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The coronavirus teaching us a terrible lesson as some schools begin failing with students.
In-person learning already disrupted in Cherokee County, Georgia, after a second grade student tested positive within the first couple of days. Students and a teacher in that class now home for a 14-day quarantine.
In Georgia's largest school system, 260 school employees staying home due to positive tests or exposure to the virus.
ASHLEY NEWMAN, FORMER TEACHER: This is a community issue. And we need to find a way to be able to get through to the higher-ups and help them see that, if the teachers aren't safe, then the students aren't safe and then the community is not safe.
SIDNER: Dr. Anthony Fauci says if in person learning happens, one way to mitigate the danger...
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Keep the windows open, that to me, when you're dealing with a respiratory virus, its simplicity is so, so obvious.
SIDNER (voice-over): But in the third largest school district in the country, Chicago public school officials announcing the danger is too high to reopen.
MAYOR LORI LIGHTFOOT (D-IL), CHICAGO: But the fact of the matter is, we are seeing an increase in cases. Combined with the trends we're seeing the decision just to start remotely makes sense for a district of CPS' size and diversity.
SIDNER (voice-over): An American Academy of Pediatrics study revealing minority children had much greater rates of infections than their white counterparts.
In a study of 1,000 children, 30 percent of black children and 46.4 percent of Hispanic children tested positive for the virus, compared to 7.3 percent of white children. Across the country, a small bit of hope.
Forty-five of 50 states are seeing new case rates steadying or declining, but the death toll is still rising. Nearly 1,400 people reported dead in one day.
FRIEDMAN: We need to focus on what's happening, 1,400 dead in one day is just a toll that is unacceptable. And we need to up our game.
SIDNER (voice-over): New York City's mayor announcing vehicle quarantine checkpoints after numbers show 20 percent of all new COVID- 19 cases in the city are coming from out-of state-travelers.
MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D-NY), NEW YORK CITY: The checkpoints, I think, are going to send a very powerful message that this quarantine law is serious.
SIDNER (voice-over): In Jackson, Mississippi, a different move to try and slow the spread, a nightly curfew for a five-day period, announced by its mayor.
SIDNER: And we are seeing, in the first week of school, just how disruptive coronavirus can be. Now we've learned that three more schools in that same Georgia district that had one student who tested positive, now have other people testing positive, meaning more than 60 students have to be quarantined in that district.
And we've also learned that, in Mississippi, they have seen several people test positive in one of their school districts, meaning that more than 100 students have to be quarantined there -- Sara Sidner, CNN, Los Angeles.
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CURNOW: So the spread of the pandemic keeps accelerating in Latin America and the Caribbean. The region is now past Europe for the highest death toll in the world, with more than 200,000 fatalities. On Wednesday, several countries reported record number of new cases as Matt Rivers now reports.
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MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, here, in Latin America, there's just continues to be more bad news as a result of this pandemic. For the first time, the 33 countries that make up Latin America and the Caribbean are now collectively, reporting more than 5 million cases of the coronavirus.
The worst country of all of those, of course, would be Brazil, which is getting closer and closer to reaching 3 million cases on its own, but we've also seen worrying trends lately in other countries in the region over the past several weeks. We have seen accelerating case numbers in countries like Colombia, Argentina, Peru and also here in Mexico. And consider how we got to this point. It just doesn't look like things are getting any better.
It was back on July 7th, that the region reported its three million cases of the virus, 15 days later, Latin America and the Caribbean reported four million cases. And just 13 days after that, we hit that five million number and the cases just keep climbing -- Matt Rivers, CNN, Mexico City.
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CURNOW: Thanks, Matt, for that.
In Australia now, the state of Victoria is in -- just days into a strict new lockdown measure as coronavirus there has jumped sharply in recent weeks. On Wednesday, the state reported 15 deaths with most linked to aged care homes. Angus Watson joins me now from Sydney with more on all of that.
Angus, what more can you tell us?
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ANGUS WATSON, JOURNALIST: Robyn, as you mentioned, it's a vicious second wave that's gripped Victoria and its largest city, Melbourne, over the past weeks now; 15 deaths announced yesterday, eight deaths today. The youngest, a man in his 30s, which makes him the youngest Australian to have passed away from this virus.
It's hitting the hospital system hard. Over 1,000 health care workers have been diagnosed positive to COVID-19 and it's meant that all electives surgeries had to be put off.
So all but most essential surgeries and surgeries to be done straightaway are getting pushed down the road indefinitely as the hospital system buckles with this.
The aged care sector is another area that's suffering terribly at the moment. Over 1,500 active cases in aged care, that's meaning people in those settings are having to move into hospitals, putting more strain on the sector.
CURNOW: Let's just talk through this lockdown. It's pretty strict, very strict.
What's the impact of that for people on the ground in their homes?
WATSON: People in Melbourne can't leave their house for any reason, except for one hour of exercise. The can't go out at night at all. People have to decide who in the household is going to be responsible for going out and buying essentials, including food. No one else is allowed out even for that.
Job losses have been stark. Hundreds of thousands of people are out of work as a result of that. Today, we saw the first day where all nonessential businesses have been shuttered, so the streets of Melbourne are very quiet, Robyn.
CURNOW: Thanks for all that update there, Angus Watson, I appreciate it.
Still ahead on CNN, the search for answers on what detonated the chemicals stored at Beirut's port. That continues next as well.
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CURNOW (voice-over): In a show of solidarity, midnight local time on Thursday, the Eiffel Tower went dark to honor the victims of the Beirut explosion. As the death toll continues to climb with thousands of people wounded. The city of Paris is sending more than $118,000 in emergency aid to Beirut.
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CURNOW: Lebanese customs officials had warned for years that a warehouse full of volatile chemicals at Beirut's port could spell disaster, but nothing was ever done about the thousands of tons of ammonium nitrate. That warehouse is the suspected source of Tuesday's blast that killed at least 135 people and injured 5,000 others. The city's governor says more than 300,000 people have been displaced from their homes. And then, this was the inside of St. George Hospital not far from the epicenter. Just take a look at these images. State media reporting also 90 percent of the capital's hotels were also damaged. The government has ordered port officials to be placed under house arrest as an official investigation gets underway.
And then, satellite images show the sheer strength and scale of this explosion. This is what the port looked like a week ago when it was still intact. Now, here's the same view; the damage spreading for miles. And it's even more striking when we zoom in on the epicenter of the blast. This warehouse pictured here, when we look at it now, it's gone, leveled in an instant. Well, Lebanon's investigation is focusing on the ammonium nitrate and how it was detonated. For more on that, let's go to our Sam Kiley, who joins us with the latest on that. Sam, hi, what can you tell us?
SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Robyn, it all focuses around what according to documents that CNN have seen have been complaints coming at least from two successive heads of the Lebanese Customs Organization going back to 2014, saying that this warehouse number 12, housing 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate, posed a danger, not a catastrophic danger they realized at the time, but nonetheless, a danger. Now, it is the process of ignition for the ammonium nitrate that is problematic if you want to turn it into a bomb. It's not easily turned into a bomb. And it's that -- it's how once this bomb detonated that we've been examining with Chris Hunter who is a world-renowned expert at bomb disposal. This is what he -- his analysis produced.
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KILEY: In a land so often cursed by violence, a catastrophe. More likely the product of human incompetence than malicious design. At the core of the Beirut explosion, government officials fear is some 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate, a common ingredient for fertilizer but mixed with fuel or sugar, it can be a precursor for homemade bombs. They have been used by the IRA and terrorists worldwide. Anti-government extremists used to tons and killed 168 in Oklahoma. Chris Hunter is a decorated bomb disposal expert who served with British Special Forces and still works in Iraq and Syria.
CHRIS HUNTER, FORMER EXPLOSIVE EXPERT, BRITISH ARMY: What you can see is a series of sparks and flashes, you know, sort of down towards the base of the actual flames and belts and the smoke. And that's consistent with something like fireworks cooking off. If it's confined in something like shipping containers, then what you can get is effectively a giant pipe bomb.
KILEY: But that he says was just the detonator for the vast ammonium nitrate explosion.
HUNTER: Moments later, of course, we see the explosion itself, and that's preceded by that sort of very brilliant red-colored smoke coming up, as well. And as consistent with chlorates and nitrates of the type used in fertilizer --
KILEY: Lebanon's Prime Minister has vowed investigations and punishment for whoever allowed this to happen. Hunter says that the white smoke further suggests it was an accident. A fuel mix used in terror attacks would be black, but the shockwave still supersonic. So, in his expert opinion, the blast that flattened so much of Beirut was not an act of malice. But that doesn't explain how the fireworks store or ammunition dump caught fire. Much less, why.
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KILEY: Now, Robyn, I think that will be one of the key elements obviously of any investigation is not only how on earth it was that this vast amount of potentially dangerous, potentially explosive chemical was stored and stored next to the sea, which means that it absorbs water and goes solid. And experts like Chris have also said that when it goes solid, it becomes that much more dangerous if it does get ignited because it goes off in a single flash. But how did it get ignited? There still could be some level of malice perhaps in the setting off of the fireworks store, or the ammunition dump. We don't know exactly what that was. And also, why there was a highly-explosive material next to potentially explosive material in this very, very central location.
[02:35:12]
As we all know, Beirut Port now is pretty much at the center of Beirut City. So, there remains, of course, a large number of questions to be answered, but the main cause of this explosion is now broadly accepted to have been the accidental detonation of this huge amount of ammonium nitrate, which was on a ship that had been moving from Georgia and Moldova and Shepherd have been seized in Beirut due to financial irregularities. Abandoned, we understand, by its owner. The crew was abandoned, eventually, repatriated, and then the ammonium nitrate was moved from the ship to the shore for storage. And it's then that the complaints against its locating in that place was began. And they were going on and on until for relatively recently, Robyn.
CURNOW: OK, Sam Kiley, thanks so much for that. So many questions, you're right. So, Jeffrey Lewis is the Director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. We talked earlier on about how long this chemical had sat in that warehouse port before this devastating explosion. This is what Jeffrey told me.
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JEFFREY LEWIS, DIRECTOR OF THE EAST ASIA NONPROLIFERATION PROGRAM, MIDDLEBURY INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: Yes, you know, we've seen this in the past that when states seize cargoes of munitions or explosives, they sometimes don't know what to do with them, and things get caught up in legal processes, and states that don't have great governance just leave these things sitting in warehouses. So, you know, this was -- this was a ticking time bomb.
CURNOW: Obviously, you work in nonproliferation, you have a lot of focus, I know, on monitoring North Korea's nuclear weapons program. But when you look at what happened in Beirut in the past few days, in many ways, you don't need a nuclear bomb to cause that, you know, damage because essentially, we're looking at the equivalent of, what is it, one kiloton nuclear bomb damage in terms of what this caused?
LEWIS: Yes, you know, the estimates right now are still pretty fluid. It's very hard to know exactly how big it was. We think it was probably about half a kiloton. You know, maybe 500 tons. But, you know, that's an enormous explosion. And, you know, the funny thing is, is when we talk about nuclear weapons, you know, the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima wasn't just, you know, one kiloton; it was 16 kilotons.
So, you know, we're talking about something orders of magnitude bigger. And then, when you imagine a modern U.S. nuclear weapon, those are in the hundreds of kilotons. And so, you know, I think we forget just how much destructive power exists in the world both with conventional explosives like this, which are enough to flatten you know, a significant portion of the city and, you know, will cause thousands of casualties, scaling up to even much larger nuclear weapons.
CURNOW: And final question, CNN is getting information that this was stored or this was from confiscated from a Russian ship that was on its way to Mozambique. And it's been sitting there for six years because it was stopped halfway on that journey. Why would a Russian ship be delivering nearly 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate to a southeast African country?
LEWIS: Yes, it is a really good question. You know, there are all kinds of uses for this material. It could have been -- it could have been for blasting and mining but, you know, it could also have had more nefarious uses. The reality is, is that there's a lot of ammonium nitrate around in the world. And so, there are legitimate reasons to sell this. But it does seem that this paperwork was not in order, and that's what -- ultimately why the Lebanese authorities seized it. And so, I think this is one of those mysteries that will be quite fun to unravel.
CURNOW: OK, Jeffrey Lewis, always good to speak to you. Thanks so much for your expertise.
LEWIS: My pleasure.
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CURNOW: Meanwhile, global support is pouring into Beirut as countries send emergency supplies and personnel to help in the rescue and recovery efforts. We know that Italy is deploying teams specialized in nuclear, biological, chemical, and radiological environments, as well as sending two aircraft filled with eight tons of medical supplies. France says it will deploy military planes, personnel, and 15 tons of supplies. While Iran is building a rapid deployment Hospital in Beirut along with shipping 2,000 food packages.
And then also, Turkey has already sent rescue teams to search for survivors under the rubble. Also, Israel is showing support for its northern neighbor. It's offering humanitarian and medical aid saying multiple hospitals and medical centers are standing by ready to help victims of that explosion. Journalist Elliott Gotkine joins me now from Tel Aviv with that. Tell us more about this, which is potentially a very unusual offer.
[02:40:06]
ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: It's not as unusual perhaps as you -- as you might think, Robyn. Israel has a track record of offering help to countries that have suffered from natural disasters or attacks, whether it's the devastating earthquake in Haiti or in the wake of the tsunami in 2004. And even in 2017, they offered Iran aid for after an earthquake in the southeast of the country. Iran, obviously, considered an enemy state by Israel, as well. But that offer through the International Red Cross was rebuffed. And I think all the words we're hearing from politicians, whether it's President Reuven Rivlin, or Prime Minister Netanyahu trying to differentiate between the people of Lebanon with whom Israel has no truck and the government and, of course, Hezbollah, which helps prop up the government in Lebanon.
And of course, so we've heard support as well from the mayor of Tel Aviv, who decided that it would be a good show of solidarity with the Lebanese people last night to beam the flag of Lebanon onto the facade of City Hall. Now, it's not uncommon to -- for Israel -- for Tel Aviv to do that. But it is the first time we understand that the flag of a country that is designated as an enemy state has had that happen to it. And the mayor of Tel Aviv saying that humanity comes before any conflict, and our hearts are with the Lebanese people, following this terrible disaster. And the people we spoke to outside City Hall last night seem to share those views.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm shocked. I'm very sorry for them. I want to help them. I came here to picture this. Take a picture of this flag. And I feel sorry for this country and for this terrible disaster.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's really devastating what's going on. It's really affecting the whole world, especially in Israel, being an Israeli-American seeing how my American friends are reacting and Israelis are reacting, and like feeling so close. We're not far away compared to the Americans. But everyone is like taking charge and donating and it's insane. Like it shouldn't be happening.
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GOTKINE: But those views aren't universal. Prime Minister Netanyahu's son, eldest son, Yair Netanyahu, who's a prolific Tweeter, tweeting last night that this is crazy. Displaying the flag of an enemy state is a criminal offense. And those words shared by one of Netanyahu's ministers, the Minister for Jerusalem saying that waving an enemy flag in the heart of Tel Aviv is moral confusion. Robyn?
CURNOW: OK, thanks for that update there. Great stuff, Elliott Gotkine, live in Tel Aviv. Thank you. So, a day of celebration turned into a series of terrifying moments as this Beirut explosion erupted during a bridal photoshoot, and it was all caught on camera. I want you to take a look at this. The photographer says they heard the first explosion and thought they were safe distance away. But moments later, another blast as you can see here, ripped through the city. The bride, though, returned to the site the following day. She said she's still in disbelief, of course. Take a listen.
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ISRAA SEBLANI, BRIDE CAUGHT UP IN THE EXPLOSION: What happened during the explosion here? I -- there's no words to explain what happened. I feel so sad. Trust me, what you see now, the smile and everything, it wasn't there totally yesterday. I was shocked. I was -- I was wondering what happened. Am I going to die? How I'm -- how I'm going to die?
CURNOW: The entire wedding party was thankfully able to escape inside and nobody was hurt. So, coming up, Americans are starting to worry about paying for basic needs for their families like food. Still ahead, how the Coronavirus is creating a sense of insecurity in America.
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[02:45:00]
CURNOW: 75 years after the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima or Nagasaki, Japan is still pushing for a world free of nuclear weapons at a memorial service which many of them were scaled back because of the Coronavirus. Survivors and relatives, foreign dignitaries, as well, gathered to honor those who were killed and pray for peace. The Prime Minister vowed Japan will continue working towards nuclear disarmament and urge world leaders to do the same.
Well, more than 40 straight days of rain are causing misery in South Korea. Floods and landslides have killed at least 15 people and force some 1500 from their homes, many of them are now living in temporary shelters. Now, the City of Anseong, which is south of Seoul, has been the hardest hit. North Korean state media are also warning of torrential rain and floods.
And back to the Coronavirus here in the U.S. We know that millions and millions of Americans who've lost their jobs in the pandemic are trying to survive on a lot less money, especially after a $600 federal boost to unemployment benefits ran out. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill can't seem to agree on a deal for relief. In fact, the White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told CNN that Democrats and Republicans are trillions of dollars apart on a compromise. Meadows adding that President Trump might use his executive power to help with unemployment payments if Congress can strike a deal by Friday.
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MARK MEADOWS, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: It's been mostly the President and Republicans that have been making the concessions in trying to finally get a deal across the finish line for those that are hurting during this unprecedented pandemic. If Congress can't get it done, the President of the United States will.
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CURNOW: Well, millions of Americans are caught between the politics and the pandemic. They're worried about being able to afford food for their families. And not only has this extra money ran out, but the cost of food is actually also rising, as well. Here's Brian Todd.
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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For Marguerite Camacho, putting food on the table for her and her two children is more of a daily challenge than ever. She lost her job as a massage therapist in California's Bay Area and lost a second job with a tech company to the pandemic. Her $600 a week unemployment stimulus benefit expired a few days ago. Just buying food, she says, is stressful.
MARGUERITE CAMACHO, LOST TWO JOBS DURING PANDEMIC: Now, with the loss of the 600, it's a lot harder to be able to afford fresh fruits and vegetables, the meats and the milk.
TODD: Camacho can't return to her job at a spa because California has renewed its restrictions on indoor personal care establishments. Her tech company is not bringing employees back until next year. So, she's turned to her mother for help. CAMACHO: My mom is limited on resources herself with her own rent and
bills. So, she's using a credit card to help me once a week to be able to purchase milk, fruits and vegetables, and meats for my family.
TODD: And tens of millions of other Americans are feeling the same pinch, food insecurity bringing long lines at food banks and pantries.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People don't realize how important stuff like this is.
TODD: The crush of unemployment and expiring stimulus benefits comes as food prices in America have been rising faster than they have in decades. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, beef and veal prices have gone up more than 20 percent just since February. Eggs have gone up 10.4 percent. Poultry 8.6 percent. Pork 8.5.
JOSEPH LLOBRERA, DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH FOR FOOD ASSISTANCE POLICY, CENTER ON BUDGET AND POLICY PRIORITIES: About 30 million adults are saying that they can't put enough food on their table in the past week. That's roughly one in eight adults in America.
TODD: The reasons for the price spikes, according to analyst Joseph Llobrera, Coronavirus outbreaks among workers at meat processing plants forced many of them to shut down, choking off supplies of meat, pork and poultry. And he says panic buying during the first weeks of the pandemic, many Americans over buying and hoarding food. Llobrera says food insecurity is now prompting many Americans to cut corners, nutritionally, eating fewer and smaller meals, which he says could have a frightening long-term effect.
LLOBRERA: If kids aren't eating well now, you know, they don't grow up to be as healthy. They don't do as well in school, and that has impacts further down the line. They don't make as much as adults.
TODD: Observers say this food insecurity has made all the more painful as Americans watch Congress struggle to pass another stimulus bill.
MICHELLE SINGLETARY, PERSONAL FINANCE COLUMNIST, THE WASHINGTON POST: People are not asking to make them rich. They're just saying, can you give me a little money, so that I can make sure that I can keep a roof over my head and food on the table.
TODD: Still, some members of Congress are balking at extending that $600 a week unemployment benefit or they want to reduce it, worried that it might disincentivize people from looking for a job. Well, Marguerite Camacho, the woman in California we spoke to, disputes that notion passionately. She says because of her cost of living in California for food, for rent, for insurance, those stimulus checks were just a way to survive. She wants to get back to work. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: Tough times, indeed. You're watching CNN. Thanks for joining us. We'll be back after this quick break.
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CURNOW: So, all over the world, national football jerseys represent pride and unity, and they are decidedly nonpolitical. But in Brazil, those famous yellow kits are taking on a new meaning. Shasta Darlington shows us they're becoming more divisive.
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SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL EXECUTIVE EDITORIAL DIRECTOR AND CONSULTANT: Once the great unifier of an entire nation, Brazil's iconic yellow jersey has become a polarizing symbol across the country. Supporters of President Jair Bolsonaro wear it in rallies and protests to show political allegiance. His critics say the jersey has become a brand for the far-right movement, and some of them want it back. Walter Casagrande, Jr. played for the Brazilian national team in 1986, and described wearing the yellow jersey for the first time as a magical, almost enchanting feeling. Over the past few years, he says, the enchantment has faded.
WALTER CASAGRANDE, JR., FORMER BRAZILIAN FOOTBALL PLAYER (through translator): Now, we cannot use the yellow color because it was kidnapped and appropriated by the right-wing.
DARLINGTON: Casagrande helped lead the Corinthians, one of Sao Paulo's biggest teams during the transition from dictatorship to democracy in the 80s. Throughout that time, football and politics were intertwined. And the yellow jersey became a symbol of the movement for democracy.
CASAGRANDE (through translator): It's the first time in my life I'm seeing the yellow jersey being used against democracy and freedom. They are doing a total manipulation of the Brazilian brand and symbol.
[02:55:04]
DARLINGTON: The right side argues that the reason for using the yellow jersey is simple. Everyone in Brazil has a yellow T-shirt. Cosmo Alexandre is a former Brazilian world champion fighter who supports Bolsonaro. He brushes off the claim that the right is manipulating the symbolism of the jersey, and says yellow is just easier.
COSMO ALEXANDRE, WORLD CHAMPION MUAY THAI & KICKBOXING FIGHTER: Around the world, everybody knows about the Brazilian soccer team. You know, so if even if I go white, and I use the yellow soccer team, you know, the yellow one, everybody will know like, Oh, it's Brazil, you know? So, it's not about politics; it's just about like the world knows about like Brazil like about soccer in Brazil.
DARLINGTON: While many Bolsonaro critics seek to reclaim the jersey, others feel it's too far gone. Joao Carlos Assumpcao is a journalist and filmmaker in Sao Paulo who started a campaign to bring back Brazil's original white and blue kit. After a World Cup loss at home to Uruguay in 1950 settled that jersey with a reputation for bad luck, Brazil went on to win five World Cup titles in the canary yellow shirt, earning the nickname Canarino, meaning, Little Canary. Assumpcao believes if the team succeeds, the rest of the country will follow. JOAO CARLOS ASSUMPCAO, BRAZILIAN JOURNALIST & FILMMAKER: If we play very well with the white T-shirt for instance, in 2022, I think that everybody's going to buy the white T-shirt. If we change the color of our T-shirt, we are going to say to the world that we want changes in our country, not the changes that the government is doing.
DARLINGTON: It's been 18 years since their last World Cup title, leaving some longing to reclaim the victorious past of the yellow jersey, while others try to create new meaning for an old symbol. Shasta, Darlington, CNN, Sao Paulo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: Thanks for that piece, Shasta, but there's no better way to get all the latest on the global pandemic that were then we're facing right here on CNN. Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta are hosting another global townhall. They're great, aren't they? It's called "CORONAVIRUS FACTS AND FEARS," that at 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, New York time. And if you're in Hong Kong, that's 8:00 a.m. on Friday. Be sure to tune in to that. So, you're watching CNN. Thanks so much for joining me the past three hours. I'm Robyn Curnow. Just ahead, special coverage of the aftermath of Beirut. Stay with us for that.
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