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Massive Explosion Took 135 Souls; Justice Will be Served; Port Officials Arrested; Beirut's Economy in Quagmire; Investigators Focusing On How Chemical Detonated In Beirut's Explosion; International Community Sends Emergency Aid To Lebanon; Some Of The Aftermath Of Beirut's Explosion; Social Media Giants Take Action Against President Trump; Students And Staff Test Positive As Schools Reopen; Dozens Of COVID-19 Vaccines In Trials Around The World; Latin America And The Caribbean Top Five Million Cases; Japan Marks 75th Anniversary Of Hiroshima Bombing. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired August 06, 2020 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers around the world. I'm Becky Anderson live from CNN's Middle East broadcasting center here in Abu Dhabi.
Tuesday's catastrophic explosion in Beirut was a disaster that some Lebanese officials have been warning about for years. The country's information minister says documents as far back as 2014 had urged the government to dispose of thousands of tons of ammonium nitrate stored in a warehouse. But those warnings went unheeded.
Well, that warehouse is a suspected of Tuesday's blast that killed at least 135 people and injured as many as 5,000 others. The city's governor says more than 300,000 people are suddenly homeless.
Well, the government has ordered port officials place under house arrest, as an official investigation gets underway. The destructive impact of the blast stretched 10 kilometers from the port. This was the scene inside St. George Hospital, not far from the epicenter.
State media reports 90 percent of the capital's hotels are also damaged. Right now, the investigation into the cause of the explosion is centered on those tons of volatile chemicals that were seized from a Russian owned cargo ship in 2013 and then stored in that warehouse.
CNN's Arwa Damon has more for you from Beirut.
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Nothing prepare them for this. Three thousand tons of ammonium nitrate exploding, sending a shock wave so strong so vast, many who survived say they thought doomsday had arrived.
Prayers were lost to fear and chaos. Life's iconic moments swept away in an instant. And its aftermath, an apocalyptic wasteland. The destruction on such a scale, many here cannot even find the words to express the depth of their emotions.
With more than 135 dead, 5,000 wounded, and dozens of others still missing, there are shock, horror, and deep sorrow coupled with anger and demands for answers. How is it that such a massive amount of dangerous explosive material confiscated in 2014 was stored in an unsecured warehouse despite multiple warnings from the head of customs.
The Lebanese government said, that many port officials will be put under house arrest. And --
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MICHEL AOUN, PRESIDENT OF LEBANON (through translator): And to hold accountable those responsible and inflict on them the most severe punishment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DAMON: But there is little faith in this country's rulers, in a nation where corruption dominates and the people suffer at the hands of the political elite.
U.S. President Trump offers his condolences, floating the idea this may not have been an accident but offering no proof.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: It looks like a terrible attack.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DAMON: And then, his own secretary of defense refuted that claim.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK ESPER, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Most believe it was an accident as reported, beyond that I have nothing further to report on that. It's obviously a tragedy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DAMON: It is a tragedy, the largest in a chain of many, a failing economy, the spread of COVID-19 that have crippled this nation. Three hundred thousand people have been displaced. Damages are estimated to range from 10 to 15 billion dollars. How do you recover from something like this? Physically, emotionally or as a nation?
Arwa Damon, CNN, Beirut.
ANDERSON: Well, Maha Yahya is director of the Carnegie Middle East center. She was in her home in Beirut when the shockwave hit shortly after 6 p.m., local time. We are relieved that you are safe, if not shaken I'm sure. It's been 36 hours since the blast, and the search for survivors goes on. I want to talk about the why, why did this happen and what happens
next? In a moment, first, how is Beirut coping with this tragedy?
[03:05:08]
MAHA YAHYA, DIRECTOR, CARNEGIE MIDDLE EAST CENTER: Good morning, Becky. Thank you for having me. Beirut is shell-shocked. We are all dazed. We are just completely shell-shocked and dazed. But that shock is giving way to palpable anger.
So, on the one hand people are just jumping in and looking for ways to help. The amount of support that just complete strangers are giving to each other is remarkable. It's a legacy of the city. People just jump in and help whenever there is a disaster.
But at the same time, the sense of complete awe of what happened is now giving way to real palpable anger. Somebody has to be held accountable. And it's not just a few port officials. This has to go all the way up the chain of command. It's unacceptable.
ANDERSON: I mean, this disaster --
YAHYA: Go ahead.
ANDERSON: I mean, this disaster is a manifestation of a system that has completely failed the Lebanese. Can you explain to our viewers how and why?
YAHYA: Well, this system has been failing for a while. It's a system based on a power sharing between political/sectarian elites who have use this power sharing to their own benefit. They've used identity, religious identity, to basically weave a network of nepotistic, clientelistic (Ph) relationship with businessmen, with bankers across the board, to the point where it enrich -- enrich themselves and impoverished everyone else.
The bottom line is, not a single person, not a single community has benefited from the system, any this political elite. They have driven the economy to the brink. We've, as you know, Lebanon has been facing a significant economic crisis since October 2019 -- today has wiped out the middle class.
More than 50 percent of the population today is below the poverty line. After this explosion and the economic crippling effects it will probably become a lot more. The currency has lost close to 70, 80 percent of the value, of its value. People have seen their incomes completely decimated.
I mean, I'll just give one example, this is a professor of the American University of Beirut who used to earn $63,000 in Lebanon libra, the equivalent of $63,000 a year. Their salary is $11,000 a year, that's less than $900 a month. That gives you a sense how devastating the economic decline and it is happening very rapidly.
A big chunk of it is also is because there's been no policy. The crisis has been in place since October 2019 and nothing has been done. Nothing has been done. No reforms, I mean, they are digging in their heels. It's unbelievable.
ANDERSON: Maha, let's talk about the port specifically. Because the point you make is so well made, you wrote in article just a couple of weeks ago now, it's so prescient. All fall down, today four of the five pillars that it sustains Lebanon are collapsing, creating fears for the future.
You penned that article on July the 23rd. You couldn't have known that this is the manifestation of that article in front of our eyes. The port specifically and its operation, many are saying it just sort of underlines the complete inadequacy and mismanagement of the Lebanese economy and infrastructure. Can you just explain why?
YAHYA: Well, it manifests the total rotten, rotten us of the core of the system. This is a port area that is where you have multiple groups with vested interest in the system to the point where, you know, almost 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate are stored at the port and no one takes any action.
Now I don't want to hurl accusations, but the fact that there has, you know, it's gone through successive governments, successive ministers and no one took any action. It does, I mean, it begs the action of why? What vested interest has prevented the removal of this, this quantity of ammonium nitrate, not only from the port, but from the middle of the city.
The port is not just any port, Beirut throughout grew around this sport. It's part of the city's identity. It's at the heart of the city, at the very heart of the city. It's not just an economic gateway.
[03:10:04]
So, the fact that nothing was done for such a long time, to me it's criminal negligence. But also, there's something, I think much more insidious about this. It shows the extent to which --
ANDERSON: Sure.
YAHYA: -- the political elite and the business interests involved in the port are intertwined.
ANDERSON: We're going to leave it there. We thank you very much indeed for joining us. It is a packed hour. But Maha, your analysis is so important. And for that, I'm very grateful.
The ammonium nitrate which apparently cause --
YAHYA: Thank you, Becky.
ANDERSON: -- that explosion as we have been discussing, arrived in Beirut more than six years ago on a Russian owned vessel, but local officials say despite warnings it was stored at the port warehouse without safety precautions.
CNN's Nic Robertson joins me live from London with more, Nic, on that. NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, Becky, it
just makes very difficult reading, doesn't it, the more we learn about this? The customs director in Beirut had written to port authorities on six occasions, six occasions, two memos in 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017.
He was writing to them telling them it was extremely dangerous what they were doing. And that they should reexport this material. But it all arrived in Lebanon aboard a Russian owned vessel where the crew was already complaining about the conditions and the treatment by the ship's owner.
Too soon to know if this explosion was an accident or an attack, but what we do know about the devastating detonation that has killed more than 100 people and injured thousands of others, is staggering.
At its core, ammonium nitrate shipped into Beirut aboard this relatively small Russian own cargo vessel late 2013. The 86-meter M/V Rhosus with Moldovan flag had arrived from the former Soviet Republic of Georgia via Istanbul loaded with fertilizer was on route to Mozambique but ordered into Beirut port for seafaring violations.
The cargo, ammonium nitrate fertilizer is so dangerous, U.S. forces and the Afghan government banned its use in 2010 because it was being used to kill U.S. troops. Once in Beirut port, M/V Rhosus' owner abandoned the ship and crew.
According to the captain, he left us in a knowing dangerous situation, doomed to hunger. The captain also telling Radio Free Europe, M/V Rhosus was impounded for failure to pay fees. The 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate then shifted to a warehouse. Why so much? And why such a dangerous bomb making precursor was still there six years later is central to the government's investigation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HASSAN DIAB, LEBANESE PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Facts will be announced about the dangerous warehouse that has existed since 2014, meaning from six years ago. But I will not jump into any conclusions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: President Trump told reporters that his generals think it was an attack.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: They would know better than I would, but they seem to think it was an attack. It was a bomb of some kind.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: Although hours later, the DOD dialed back the bomb theory. Three U.S. officials telling CNN, they didn't know what the president was talking about. However, Lebanese officials, are still investigating one intelligence
officer said the theory they're working on is the explosions were triggered by a bomb and are scrolling through footage of the explosions, searching for clues.
One reliable regional intelligence source told CNN the ammonium nitrate storage was well known to Lebanon's international partners who pressured the government to get rid of it. Already, in tatters economically, politically, and medically, Lebanon long a cordon of vexed competing interest has much at stake in figuring out who is to blame.
If the investigation finds it was an attack, not an accident, the government may have a sliver of hope navigating the immense anger of people who have suffered so much, only to be thrown into such a hell again.
[03:15:03]
And of course, all those people are going to be looking at the government now to see how they think that the government is handling it. Fairly, equitably, are they getting the answers to their questions. We know port authority officials have been arrested and are being detained. Are they being questioned, what are they being asked?
And it is, Becky, as we can all see very central to this why was that ammonium nitrate when Lebanese officials had raised warnings about it, about its extreme danger, why was it there, who was the influencing force that continue to keep that dangerous substance amidst so many hundreds of thousands of people, Becky?
ANDERSON: Nic Robertson, on the story for you. Thank you, Nic.
Well, the destruction in Beirut is only the latest event in what is a turbulent year for Lebanon. Now with Beirut -- Beirut's port in shambles, the economy is set to suffer even more.
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ANDERSON: Welcome back. You're watching CNN.
Paris's famed Eiffel Tower went dark at midnight to honor the victims of the Beirut explosion. The city of Paris is sending more than $118,000 in emergency aid to Beirut.
Well, Lebanon's president is promising a transparent investigation into the Beirut blast. Those responsible will be held accountable, but there are now growing calls for an international probe into the very incident.
CNN's Jomana Karadsheh is following the story from Istanbul, transparency and accountability. That is what the Lebanese people want, and their fear is that they will not get that, Jomana, from a local investigation. Correct?
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Becky, you've heard it from so many Lebanese guests that you have spoken to over the past 48 hours. People really have lost all confidence or trust in their government, their ruling elite. The politicians in their country long before this incident, they really do not have any faith that any sort of transparent and credible investigation could be delivered.
You know, the questions of why was that shipment left at the Beirut port? And officials knew about it for years and years, and nothing was done about it. You know, questions about negligence here by authorities, incompetence and they are asking for the same authorities to really deliver a transparent investigation.
There is really little confidence amongst the population that that will happen. This is why, you know, we are hearing all these calls for an international investigation, an independent one. We're hearing this also coming from groups like Amnesty International.
[03:20:03]
Concerns about any sort of investigation in the country that would be tainted by political interference, by political interest in the country, and so, more and more calls for this investigation. We will have to see, of course, the concern also, Becky, is that you look at Lebanon's history, you look at incidents in the past, assassinations that were taking place frequently in 2005 and 2004 but they were never any answers.
No one was held accountable for all of that, so there is little assurance that this will be any different this time and the concern is always that lower level officials could be scapegoated in a case like this, Becky.
ANDERSON: Case in point, although this is an international investigation. The Rafic Hariri investigation of course, the judgment on that was supposed to come out this Friday, that's 15 years after the event. That judgment as a result of what is going on now in Beirut, Lebanon has been delayed.
Thank you. Jomana Karadsheh on the story for you.
Well, the devastation in Lebanon is dealing a harsh blow to its already crippled economy. The World Bank earlier this year estimated at least 45 percent of Lebanon's population would fall beneath the poverty line. And the government says at least 75 percent, that's three quarters of the population needed government aid as a result of the pandemic.
Nina Dos Santos is in London. Nina?
NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks so much, Becky.
Well, it is no secret that Lebanon's economy has been teetering on the brink for some time now, in fact since late last year, but many Lebanese who also say that this is the years of a legacy of economic mismanagement since the end of the 15-year bloody Civil War back in the 1990s. Its banking system and its political system has been creaking at the seams. But this, of course, is just the latest blow which could, some people
say, push the country over the edge in terms of its economy and its politics too.
Beirut deadly explosion could not have come at a worse time for Lebanon. The country has been in dire straits since last year when its banking system described as the Ponzi scheme began to disintegrate, pushing unemployment up, the currency down, and bringing thousands onto the streets in protest.
Even before the blast, half of Lebanon's population swollen by Syrian and Palestinian refugees was estimated to be living in poverty. Many were also living in the dark. Thanks to rolling blackouts, now aid agencies are sounding the alarm.
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TAMARA ALRIFAI, SPOKESWOMAN, U.N. RELIEF & WORKS AGENCY: There's an economic crisis, a financial crisis, a political crisis, a health crisis, and now this horrible explosion. So, there are many layers to what's happening in Lebanon that is constantly testing the ability of the Lebanese and the refugees who are living in Lebanon to be resilient.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DO SANTOS: Much of the immediate concern comes from the supply chain. The port of Beirut where the explosion occurred is the main maritime hub for a nation heavily dependent on goods from abroad. Sixty percent of all imports pass through it, and it's where green is stored, prompting fears of food shortages in a market ravaged by soaring prices and years of corruption.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALRIFAI: In the last few months, the Lebanese society has suffered greatly from an economic and financial crisis, and the Lebanese and refugees who live in Syria have found it's more and more difficult to buy food and to buy goods.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOS SANTOS: With financial support from gulf countries is drying up as Hezbollah plays a more prominent role in its politics, Lebanon defaulted on some of its debt in March, at the time the coronavirus also took hold. It tries to gain a $10 billion loan from the IMF, but those talks stalled last month and Lebanon's credit rating was cut to the lowest ranked by Moody's on a par with Venezuela.
Now, one foreign revenue driver, tourism has also been badly hit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PIERRE ACHKAR, PRESIDENT, LEBANESE FEDERATION FOR TOURISM: It's a disaster for Lebanon, for the economy, and especially for tourism. We were, may be, 5 or 15 percent occupancy because of corona, because of the political problem with the Arab countries, but unfortunately, what happened yesterday is really a disaster.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOS SANTOS: Startling the geopolitical front lines in the Middle East, Lebanon is no stranger to turmoil or tragedy. But the effects of this massive blast will shake this economy to its already fragile foundations.
[03:25:00]
Becky, many people are starting to speculate that this could be the so-called two novel moment, if you like. A non -- a non-natural disaster that has cost so many lives, caused so much heartache and tragedy, but that had already come upon years of people savings having been wiped out.
The real fear here is that this could spark some sort of civil unrest, we already saw that back in the end of last year, when there was a so- called October revolution that caused many Lebanese to turn to the streets and to try and call for a change in their political system. That, of course hasn't been forthcoming, the country has fallen deeper into economic decline but this could really, some say, be a political moment, Becky.
ANDERSON: Yes. Nina Dos Santos reporting for you, thank you.
Still ahead on CNN Newsroom, the search for answers. What detonated the chemicals stored at Beirut's port?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Our top story. The blast in Beirut. Lebanese customs officials have warned for years that a warehouse full of volatile chemicals at Beirut's port could spell disaster. Nothing was ever done. Nothing done about the thousands of tons of ammonium nitrate being stored there.
That warehouse is the suspected source of Tuesday's blast that killed at least 135 people and injured 5000 others. The city's governor says more than 300,000 people have been displaced from their homes.
Well, this was the scene inside St. George Hospital, not far from the epicenter. State media report 90 percent of the capital's hotels, for example, also damaged. The government has ordered port officials be placed under house arrest, as an official investigation gets underway.
Well a crater about the size of a football pitch is all that's left of that ill-fated warehouse. The shockwave leveled almost everything in the immediate vicinity.
Here's a closer look at just how devastating it was.
An explosion, so powerful in Lebanon's capital, it generated seismic waves equivalent to a magnitude 3.3 earthquake. But if you look at a map of Beirut, and even that comparison can't prepare you for how far the damage spread. Damage to the epicenter of the blast was most devastating.
[03:30:00]
In Beirut industrials waterfront, drone footage shows everything flattened within a few hundred meters, from the immediate port area, shockwaves then raised into Beirut's neighborhoods and shopping districts. But the impact was strong enough to flip over cars, as it force rippled across the city structures within one kilometer suffered heavy damage.
Here is St. George's Hospital, a kilometer from the explosion. It had to shut down from all the damage. Several nurses died. Zoom out, three kilometers away, many buildings suffered damage and broken windows. At St. Mary's Church, three kilometers away, you can see the impact as the priest runs for cover and debris falls.
The explosion even caused damage nine kilometers away, above the presidential palace at the city's international airport. It was so powerful it was heard and felt some 240 kilometers away on the island of Cypress.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Well, Lebanon's investigation is focusing on the ammonium nitrate and how it was detonated.
Let's get you to Sam Kiley, who has been working on that and has some on the very latest. What do you have?
SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Becky, as you say, this was a highly volatile material that had been stored in the port for the last six years according to Lebanese customs officials.
And experts have said to me that being stored at a port and probably unsafe conditions means that it would have absorbed a degree of the humidity from the sea and actually turned into a solid. And that would have made it potentially more volatile, if, it was going to be exposed to a very high temperature ignition point. And that in the analysis of Chris Hunter, one of Britain's leading bomb disposal experts, is exactly what happened. This is what he said to me.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KILEY: In the land so often cursed by violence, the catastrophe more likely the product of human incompetence than militias design. At the core of the Beirut explosion, government officials fear there are some 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate, a common ingredient for fertilizer, but mixed with fuel or sugar, it could be a precursor for homemade bombs.
They have been used by the IRA terrorists worldwide. Anti-government extremists used two tons that killed 168 in Oklahoma. Chris Hunter is a decorated bomb disposal expert, he served with British Special Forces and still works in Iraq and Syria. CHRIS HUNTER, FORMER BRITISH ARMY, EXPLOSIVE EXPERT: What do you can
see is a series of sparks and flashes, you know, sort of down towards the base of the actual flames and the smoke. And that's consistent with something like fireworks cooking off. It is a confined, it's like in a 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 proceeded by the sort of very brilliant red colored smoke coming up as well. And that's consistent with chlorates and nitrites of the type used in fertilizer.
KILEY: Lebanon's Prime Minister has file investigations and punishment for whoever allowed this to happen. Hunter says that the white smoke further suggests it was an accident. A fuel makes 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.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KILEY: Now, Becky, as we all now sadly Lebanon has been in a state of administrative chaos near collapse. Now particularly over the last couple years but ever since the civil war with this communitarian constitution, with constant infighting between different groups and of course it is also a home to or had been attacked by violence both external and by internal terrorist. So, there are plenty of people around who could pose a danger.
ANDERSON: Yes, that begs the following question doesn't it? Despite what Chris said, or considering what Chris said, that it doesn't put to bed entirely the notion that this might have been more than just an accident.
[03:35:05]
KILEY: Well, I put that question directly to him and to other experts, and there was unanimity actually in the response which was that, even if there was a vandals say, who set fire to a pile of fireworks or dump fireworks, potentially terrorists who might want to or government organizations want to deny militia groups access.
If there was a small weapons dumped there. In neither case, scientifically, would they have been able to understand a link even or the possibility that a fire in that location could have spread and ignited this huge dump of volatile fertilizer effectively.
So, they are saying that in any terrorist organization, in any state organization that might have had a malicious intent to stop a smaller local fire to cause trouble or deny access to materials being sored there in a form of ammunition or guns or similar such war making material that still would not be a natural link to a catastrophe of this scale.
It's too complex. Too complex in accident, too many bad things in a chain that a terrorist group wouldn't bother to put together. They would simply go out and build their own bomb.
ANDERSON: Sam Kiley, thank you. Global support pouring into Beirut's country sent emergencies supplies and personnel to help in this rescue and recovery effort.
Italy deploying teams specialize in nuclear biological chemical and radiological for environments, it is also sending two planes filled with eight tons of medical supplies. France says it will send military planes personnel and 15 tons of supplies. And Iran is building a rapid deployment hospital in Beirut, along with shipping 2,000 food packages.
Turkey, already has sent rescue teams to search for survivors under the rubble. And Israel, is also showing support for its northern neighbor. It is offering humanitarian and medical aid saying multiple hospitals and medical centers are standing by ready to help victims of the explosions.
Journalist Elliott Gotkine joins me now from Tel Aviv. Social media, Elliot are wash with thanks, but no thanks comments from Lebanese, tired of Israeli involvement in their lives. Well, no one doubts the offer of aid was made in good faith. Do authorities in Israel genuinely expect that help to be accepted.
ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: I'm not sure they do Becky, as you say, I think the offer is a genuine one. But it seems unlikely at this stage, at least, that Lebanon is going to accept.
And if they were, any help given, it would probably most likely be under the table. I mean, there is a kind of precedence for this in 2017, when Iran suffered a devastating earthquake in the southeast of the country.
Israel offered humanitarian aid via the international Red Cross and that offer was rebuffed. And I don't think it would be surprising if we saw a similar rejection of Israel's offer from the Lebanese. Now, there has still been expression as you say of support from across the political spectrum here in Israel.
Culminating last night with the Lebanese flag being beamed on to the side of city hall is central Tel Aviv. The mayor of Tel Aviv Ron Huldai saying humanity comes before any conflict. And the views of the people we spoke with in the square next to city hall seemed to be very similar.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm shocked. I feel 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, it's a terrible disaster.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's really devastating what's going on and it's really affecting the whole world, especially in Israel. Being an Israeli American, seeing how my American brothers are acting and Israelis are reacting, and like feeling so close because we're not so far away compared to Americans. But everyone is like taking charge, donating, it's insane, like, it should not be happening.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOTKINE: I should say this newfound love for Lebanon isn't universal. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's eldest son Yair, who is a prolific Twitter, he tweeted last night, this is crazy. Displaying the flag of an enemy state is a criminal offense.
And there were similar words from the minister for Jerusalem, of course (inaudible) Netanyahu's government, he said waving an enemy flag in the heart of Tel Aviv is moral confusion. Becky?
ANDERSON: Elliott Gotkine in Tel Aviv for us. You are watching CNN Newsroom. A day of celebration and turned into a series of terrifying moments as the Beirut explosion interrupting a bridal photo shoot. And it was all caught on camera.
[03:40:15]
The photographer says they heard the first explosion, and they thought they were a safe distance away. Moments later, another blast rip through the city. The bride returning to the site the following day said she's still in disbelief.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ISRAA SEBLANI, BRIDE CAUGHT IN THE EXPLOSION: I had been during the explosion here, (inaudible) I feel so sad. Trust me, what you are seeing now, the smile and everything it wasn't there totally yesterday. I was shocked. I was wondering what happens. Am I going to die? How am I going to die?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: The entire wedding party was able to stay inside and thankfully no one was injured.
Well, amid the chaos and the destruction, one grandmother in Beirut bringing some notes of hope. Surrounded by debris, blown out windows and punctured walls May-Lee Melki sat in her home playing a range of classics on her beloved piano. As her family and volunteers sifted through the rubble. Her granddaughter has shared the moment on social media.
Now shared a thousands of times, many of commented saying this video encapsulates the spirit of the Lebanese people.
Alongside the lives lost, there is hope. Lebanese photo journalist, Elaw Lawich (ph) kept to this powerful image of three tiny newborn babies being cradled by a nurse. This was just after the explosion happened. She was calling for help in the midst of an overwhelming situation. The photo taken in the maternity ward of the St. George Hospital, also known as Al Roum Hospital. The photographer tells CNN, the nurse was astonishingly calm with deadly wounded. Just feet away from her. I'll be back at the top of the hour, with more of our coverage of the aftermath of the blast in Beirut.
Rosemary Church is at CNN headquarters in Atlanta, some of the other stories that we are covering this hour, Rosemary.
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Thanks for that Becky, incredible images. We'll see you very soon. Well, as school start to reopen in the U.S., America's top infectious disease expert had some serious warnings about the coronavirus. Plus, one leading experts shares her concern about potential COVID-19 vaccines, will they be safe to take? We'll be back in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:45:00]
CHURCH: Facebook and Twitter are taking action against the U.S. President for spreading false information about COVID-19. Twitter temporarily restricted the Trump campaign from tweeting on Wednesday after his team posted a video of the president on Fox News, claiming the children are almost immune to the virus. Researchers shown that children are less likely than adults to get seriously ill or die from COVID-19, but they are not immune from the disease.
Twitter restored the Trump campaign's access after that video was removed and Facebook deleted the same video for similar reasons. President Trump was asked about his remarks during the White House immediate briefing on Wednesday, and he continued to downplay the virus's impact on children. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If you look at children, I mean, they're able to throw it off very easily, and it's an amazing thing because some flus they don't. They get very sick, then they have problems with flu's, and they have problems with other things, but for whatever reason, the China virus, children handle it very well, and they may get it, but they get it, and it doesn't have much of an impact on them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Meanwhile, the virus keeps on claiming lives, more than 158,000 in the U.S. so far. CNN's Athena Jones has more. We
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: America is number one in the most dangerous of ways. More COVID-19 cases and more deaths than any other country. The death toll topping 1,000 for the 10th time in two weeks.
ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALERGY AND INFECTOUS DISEASE: When you look at the number of infections and the number of deaths, it really is quite concerning. I mean, the numbers don't lie.
JONES: All this raising the stakes for school reopenings. Students in Chicago, the nation's third largest school district will be learning remotely for at least the first quarter, which ends in early November.
MAYOR LORI LIGHTFOOT (D-CHICAGO): Combined with the trends that we are seeing, the decision to start remotely makes sense for a district our CPS's size and diversity.
JONES: In Georgia, where hundreds of school employees in Gwinnett County and five in (Inaudible) City schools tested positive for the virus. A second grader is now infected after attending the first day of school. A worried teacher in Milwaukee using homemade tombstones to protest in-person classes.
JOHN FLEISSNER, ART TEACHER, MILWAUKEE PUBLIC SCHOOLS: Should schools reopen, these are the people that would potentially die.
JONES: And there are new concerns about COVID-19 in children. A seven-month-old baby in New Jersey testing positive for COVID-19 after dying.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: God bless the seven-month-old.
JONES: But there is promising news on the treatment front. Early stage data not yet pure reviewed show biopharmaceutical company Regeneron's anybody cocktail protects animals from getting sick with COVID-19. Indicating the treatment could play an important role in fighting the virus.
Meanwhile, the state-by-state picture is mixed at best. New coronavirus infection study or falling in most states, but daily death count still rising in 22 states. Hitting 1,399 nationwide on Tuesday. The second highest one day death toll reported this summer.
FAUCI: As long as you have any member of society, any demographic group who is not seriously trying to get to the endgame of suppressing this, it will continue to smolder, and smolder, and smolder. And that will be the reason why, in a non-unified way, we've plateaued at an unacceptable level.
JONES: Hawaii reporting its highest seven day average for new daily cases, at 119. Up some 146 percent from the previous week. Florida seeing its seven-day average for new infections drop by nearly a quarter. Even as it becomes the second state to pass the half a million case mark.
With infections raging across much of the country, New York city where a fifth of all new COVID-19 cases have been traced to other states announcing quarantine checkpoints starting today for vehicles coming from state on the tristate area's quarantine list with fines of up to $10,000.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is serious stuff, and it's time for everyone to realize it.
JONES: Meanwhile, Dr. Fauci offering this simple advice to help make indoor environment safer from COVID.
FAUCI: We have got this big crisis and you are telling me to open up a window? Yes. I am telling you to open up the window.
JONES: And one more thing about schools that could get officials and families and really everybody pause. A new study finds that COVID-19 rates are significantly higher among minority children. Out of a thousand patients tested at children's national hospital in Washington, just over 7 percent of white children tested positive compared to 30 percent of black children and just over 46 percent of Hispanic children. Athena Jones, CNN, New York.
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[03:50:08]
CHURCH: Joining me now is Natalie Dean, a biostatistics assistant professor and vaccine expert. She helped design and analyze an Ebola vaccine trial in New Guinea. It is great to have you with us.
NATALIE DEAN, BIOSTATISTICS ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, VACCINE EXPERT: Thanks for having me.
CHURCH: Now, we are currently seeing considerable progress being made with potential COVID-19 vaccines. But you wrote in a recent New York Times op-ed that even as a vaccine researcher, you are not sure that you would take a COVID-19 vaccine at this point. Why do you say that?
DEAN: My point was to emphasize that we are still in this early phase where we don't yet know which of the vaccines that are leading, you know, farthest along in their development. Which ones are going to be successful? And so, what I want to convey is the importance of seeing the data and be convinced of the results that the products that we are going to use for the general population are adequately safe and effective.
CHURCH: Right. but America's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, has assured us that safety has not been compromised in any way, and that we should take the first vaccine that's FDA approved and made available because, to get approval, they would have to have ticked off all the necessary boxes and had all the required scientific evidence to prove safety and efficacy. Would you still not accept his assurances there once it's been through those processes, through the third phase?
DEAN: I mean, absolutely. The process sees that the FDA has laid out, I totally support. I mean, the goal is to only approve a vaccine that is, at least, 50 percent effective and that we can feel confident is not weekly effective. So, what we don't want to do is approve a vaccine that doesn't look like its effective enough for our uses.
What I want to convey is the importance of transparency, at each step, so that the American public can see exactly what is going into the regulatory decisions. And so, to see the safety data, to see the efficacy data, to see which population as the vaccine working best in. There's a lot that we still don't know about how these vaccines will work, and so, I'm just -- I'm supporting the FDA and with a plan that they laid out and the importance of transparency at all steps.
CHURCH: So, it sounds like you are a little concerned that corners will be cut here?
DEAN: I think, I don't think corners will be cut. I just think there will be a lot of pressure. I think there's going to be pressure when other countries may approve a vaccine based on weaker evidence, I think there is going to be pressure at the certainly the first glimpse of promising data, and what I want to convey is just the value of, you know, adhering to the process, and showing the American people the results.
I know that we just want the scientific community to be able to evaluate for themselves exactly that, you know, that we are all on the same page that the product is working.
CHURCH: Right. The U.S. and other parts of the world, they are drowning in cases and deaths right now as a result of this virus. So, a vaccine is necessary, and the polls show that only about 50 percent of Americans would actually take the vaccine, so that is a big concern in itself. How do you convince the other 50 percent that this is necessary? This is a step that has to be taken to protect people?
DEAN: I think it's always going to be some natural hesitancy about the speed of the process. I mean, this is very different from normal vaccine development that usually is measured in years or decades.
And so, reassuring people that the way that we've achieved the speed is not by cutting corners, it's by working really hard to eliminate the downtime between steps, to run different steps in parallel, to start manufacturing products before we even are sure if they are going to be approved.
And so there are these investments along the way that are speeding up the process, but without sacrificing any integrity and the quality of the data, and so showing people how this process works and at the end product is, you know, reliable and safe and effective, I think that's what's going to be most convincing to people.
CHURCH: Yes. That is so very important and I think once they tick all the boxes for that, people would be very eager to take this vaccine. Natalie Dean, thank you so much for talking with us. We appreciate it.
DEAN: Thank you.
CHURCH: And the spread of the pandemic keeps accelerating in Latin America and the Caribbean. The region has now passed Europe for the highest death toll in the world. With more than 200,000 fatalities, and on Wednesday, several countries reported a record number of new cases.
CNN's Matt Rivers has more.
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[03:55:00]
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 Columbia, 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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CHURCH: And finally, it has now been 75 years since the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Japan.
Scaled back memorials were held to mark the anniversary of the attack that killed some 140,000 people. Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called for a world free of nuclear weapons, and one that has lasting peace.
And thank you so much for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church, we will have more coverage on the aftermath of the deadly explosion in Beirut when we come back.
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