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Anger Growing Over Reports Of Ignored Warnings On Beirut's Explosion; A Bride Shared Her Experience In The Beirut's Explosion; President Trump Says Vaccine Possible Before Election Day; Investigating Russia's Rapid Testing And Vaccine Claims; Dr. Gupta Guides Us Through Best Masks Practices; President Trump Sign Order Banning TikTok, WeChat In 45 Days; Clips Of Beirut's Blast Survivor As They Recall The Moment; Outrage Seen in Lebanon; Emmanuel Macron Visits Blast Site; Port Officials to Answer Tuesday's Blast; Coronavirus Not Done Yet; South Africa's Coronavirus Tops in Africa. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired August 07, 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]
KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Cleaning up the pieces in Beirut. The resilient city guests were cleaning up and demanding answers to the deadly. The urgent need for humanitarian aid is being met with pledges from around. And visiting French president is promising aid that will go directly to those in need.
And later, why the U.S. president is using an executive order to target a pair of China-based social media apps.
Nearly a dozen countries have promised humanitarian aid to Lebanon following Tuesday's horrific mega explosion at Beirut's port. A water filled crater marks where a warehouse full of ammonium nitrate blew up, only the port's badly damaged grain silos still standing. You can see it there.
The blast killed at least 137 people and injured 5,000 others and many are still missing. Now, the shock over the widespread destruction has given way to growing anger toward the Lebanese government. Documents show officials were warned repeatedly about the hazardous stockpile, confiscated from a Russian owned cargo ship in 2013, but they never got rid of it.
Some people are not waiting for their government to help them. An army of ordinary citizens from other parts of the country have taken it upon themselves to begin cleaning up the mountains of debris. An amazing, undertaking there.
Now the Lebanese national news reports at least 16 port employees have now been detained as part of the official investigation, and Lebanon's information minister confirms to CNN that Beirut's top port official and top customs official who had their back accounts frozen.
So, let's bring in CNN's Nic Robertson who joins us from London with the latest. Nic, thanks so much for being here. There is so much anger out there, people furious with officials who they blame for this. What's the latest on the investigation?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, it does seem to be focusing not surprisingly on the, and around port and officials involved there. And intelligence officials told me some of the first people who were arrested, port -- port workers that were arrested were relatively low level.
And what's striking about these latest details on arrest, now it's 16 people. They include the former customs chief and the current customs chief. And why that seems a little surprising is we know that these senior customs officers had been writing to the justice ministry on six occasions in one case, six occasions saying that they were concerned about the safety of the ammonium nitrate in the warehouse at the port.
So, these people have been arrested, when the evidence prior to this seem to be that they were sort of whistleblowers on how bad and how dangerous their situation was is slightly surprising.
However, it does perhaps appear by the fact their bank accounts have been frozen that authorities don't want them leaving the country, don't want them taking money out of those accounts and perhaps that says the government has reason to investigate the sources of their income. We don't know.
But other details that are emerging are that it wasn't only these port officials that had written to authorities in Beirut, saying they were worried about the ships. The ships owners in the summer of 2014, that's almost a year after they've been impounded there at the dock -- had written to the transport ministry and through the port authority saying that they were worried about the safety of the ship, they felt that the cargo is dangerous, and also the ship was not in good condition. It could -- it could sink.
The justice ministry, or rather, somebody at the transport ministry, which is where the letter went to with the -- from -- which is where the letter went to, wrote back to the ships owners and said, yes, we are contacting the justice ministry, we are contacting the naval authorities we.
So, they've been in this sort of tangled, sort of bureaucracy, if you will, a passing backwards and forwards of the buck, and now to the people who seem to be whistleblowers have been arrested.
BRUNHUBER: We'll keep our eyes on this investigation as it goes ahead. Thank you so much, Nic Robertson in London. I appreciate it.
Well, in the aftermath of the explosion, streets are filled with shattered glass and debris and the people filled with loss. The blast impacted almost every home and business.
And yes, CNN's Ben Wedeman shows us how many are wasting no time jumping into action, determined to rebuild.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: For Beirut residents, life is now divided between what came before and what came after. The staff member of the Barbell House gym captured these images on his phone. He was unharmed.
[03:05:05]
Shiva Karout is a trainer in the gym.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHIVA KAROUT, TRAINER, BARBELL HOUSE GYM: As soon as I saw that nothing happened to me, I ran out the gym, tried to helping people out. A lot of people were wounded, a lot of people were on the floor, disoriented. We just picked them up, and put them outside, took them to the hospital.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WEDEMAN: Less than two days later, with blood still on the weights, gym members are doing the heavy lifting to restore a semblance of routine.
In the Maroun Maronite Church, the priest conducts a live streamed mass, cut short by the tremor and then the crash of shattering glass. Father Marwan Mawoud (Ph) was sitting in the pews, and immediately assumed it was a political assassination in the streets outside.
"God save us, God save us," he recalls. "We wanted to get out of here with the least the least possible damage."
Glass shards tore into the pews, mostly empty Tuesday evening because of coronavirus restrictions. Two stained glass panels were spared, one depicting Jesus, the other Mar Charbel, a Lebanese saint renowned for miracles. Not a miracle, but perhaps a glimmer of hope that Lebanon's spirit is far from broken is on vivid display in the crowded streets of Mar Mikhael, the neighborhood next to the port.
Social distancing has been sacrificed in the effort to cling to a spirit of community in a land where the very system of government is based upon divisions between the countries 18 officially recognized religious sects.
Their work done for the day, an ad hoc volunteer crew heads home, singing a popular song with the refrain 'Lebanon will come back.'
The city is bruised, bleeding, and battered, but unbowed.
Ben Wedeman, CNN, Beirut.
BRUNHUBER: Among the Lebanese people, the explosion has pushed their frustration with their government to a boiling point. Late Thursday, groups of demonstrators gathered outside parliament in central Beirut, some set fires or threw rocks at security personnel who used tear gas to keep them back.
And earlier in the day, an angry crowd heckled Lebanon's justice minister, throwing water and water bottles. Newly-released documents suggest the ministry of justice was one of several government agencies that knew about the ammonium nitrate at the Beirut's port but took no action we.
Joining me now from Beirut, Sara El-Yafi is a public policy consultant and political commentator. Thank you so much for joining us.
You know, we saw the fury there. People are heckling the justice minister. Explain for us, if you wouldn't mind, why you and so many others are so angry?
SARA EL-YAFI, PUBLIC POLICY CONSULTANT: Well, for one, the impact of this explosion is far more devastating than one can even imagine we. Let's not forget that Lebanon has been very much tried on the terrorism and the, on safety front. We are not, at all, foreigners to the idea that we want to be -- that we live in a very volatile country, and that a lot of people benefit from murdering the Lebanese citizens.
Politically speaking, because so many different foreign actors have so many vested strategic interests in the country, but this one is not like the booby trap cars that killed many Lebanese people or the political assassinations, or the war.
This explosion has far more devastating effects, and not only in terms of the number of casualties, the wounded, and the destruction of the infrastructure, but it would regard also to the disappearance of architectural heritage of the capital.
The destruction of the already fragile infrastructure and also -- and also for adding to the already highest pollution per capita in the region, especially -- and especially in disintegrating the social fabric that is already been weaken by 30 years of the most awful and disgusting corruption that anybody in the world could ever witnessed in contemporary history.
I think we've made -- we've hit records with the type of corruption that we have. Not to mention the unparalleled economic and financial crisis that we have been going through, which also is unprecedented in a contemporary sense because it's a very multidimensional crisis.
[03:09:55]
All of this to come and be topped with 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate exploding in the middle of most densely populated region of the country, because of sheer incompetence and negligence of the class, of the political class.
It makes one want to maybe even wish that it would all -- the entire city would be raised to the ground, if that would mean that the political parties, all of them, would be -- would disappear from the face of this country.
People -- people are experiencing a type of emotion that is very new because it is not just helplessness. Because helplessness occurs when you are a victim of a natural disaster. This is a disaster that could and should have been avoided by all means.
BRUNHUBER: I can hear the emotion in your voice, I mean, clearly this is, you know, this is affecting you and many other people. You, yourself, have been part of the demonstrations. Do you see that anger leading to something? Will this be a tipping point, do you think?
EL-YAFI: You know, Lebanon today is ruled by a mafia and a militia. The mafia gives legal cover to the militia, and the militia gives military cover to the mafia. Hezbollah allows the mafia to steal and rob the Lebanese, in return the mafia allows Hezbollah to continue to rule the country militarily and to apply in Lebanon the policy of the Islamist Republic of Iran in Lebanon.
All under the auspices that is supposedly protecting Lebanon from any potential Israeli enmity. Israel, no matter what, is -- is -- has been very free over the past few decades to do whatever they want in the country. There is a regular Israeli aircraft flying over the country. We don't see that not happening.
Israel might be behind the -- behind the explosion, very well, that is much a plausible explanation. It could have been an Israeli attack. I don't see that -- I don't see Hezbollah or anybody in Lebanon deterring the Israelis from keeping their enmity ongoing. So, the storing --
(CROSSTALK)
BRUNHUBER: I think -- yes, we should just point out that there is no evidence that --
EL-YAFI: No.
BRUNHUBER: -- that Israelis are behind this.
EL-YAFI: Of course, there is no evidence that points in any direction, but it doesn't mean it's not plausible. But what I'm saying is even if that were plausible, I don't see the mafia and the militia protecting us from that, is what I'm saying. I'm not saying -- I'm not holding Israel responsible for this, I'm holding our -- our political class responsible for this.
I am holding -- I am holding this completely vented and sold and cowardly political class responsible for this because all political parties are involved. The head of the port, Hassan Koraytem belongs to (Inaudible) party, and he answers to the public works minister who's from the Marada Party, and before from the PSP Party.
The head of the customs, Badri Daher who belong to the Free Patriotic Movement, which is the party of the president of the republic, answers to the finance minister, who is from the Amal Movement, Ali Hassan Khalil.
They all answer to the prime minister who happens to be -- prior, who is today Hassan Diab, before it's Saad Hariri. Before that it was Tammam Salam, before that it was Najib Mikati. They are all -- all responsible, not to mention the former president of the republic.
Their -- the starting point is to initiate an independent international investigation. Yes, was it an Israeli attacker, not sure, but more than that, the names and faces of the Lebanese political responsible should be known and tried in an international court of justice, and there is no other way out of this.
BRUNHUBER: All right. Well, listen, thank you so much, we've run out of time, but we appreciate your -- your views on this. Sara El-Yafi, we appreciate it.
And we should just reiterate that Israel has denied any responsibility in this.
Well, French President Emmanuel Macron travel to the badly damaged capital on Thursday to see the devastation firsthand. Now, he's the first international leader to do so. Mr. Macron promised to organized more aid from European countries, but he acknowledged the anger of the people having the chronic corruption in the Lebanese government (Inaudible).
So, let's dig deeper into the French president's Beirut visit. And for that we go live to London where we find CNN's Isa Soares. So, we heard during the French president's visit. You know, Lebanese people literally pleading with the president saying don't give money to our government. There seems very little trust that public officials will handle the money wisely and honestly.
ISA SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kim. Indeed, and you saw some of that anger and some of that revolt on the streets of Beirut yesterday, as you pointed out there.
[03:15:03]
French President Emmanuel Macron being the first international leader to visit Beirut since that explosion. And you saw the anger as he met some of the local residents there. He did see many people working and searching for rubble there, but he also met some local residents.
Some local residents as they hug him, as they thanked him that same breath, they were actually blasting the government, calling for a revolution, and that's because what Lebanon is seeing, is years of corruption and mismanagement.
I know you are talking to your previous guest about this, and so this, what has really brought Lebanon to its knees is exactly this. It's the corruption, it's the mismanagement. And the explosion at the port, which is such an important artery for Lebanon in terms of imports, was really depute the grass.
And so, what the question now remains, Kim, is how exactly does Lebanon want to rebuild? How does it want to start a fresh? French President Emmanuel Macron said it was important for Lebanon to get together and politically, he called for political change. A new chapter, a new era he called it. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EMMANUEL MACRON PRESIDENT OF FRANCE (through translator): Over and above the explosion, we know that the crisis here is a serious one. And that it places a historic responsibility on the leaders. It is a political, moral, economic, and financial crisis.
The first victim of which, is the Lebanese people. It requires extremely quick reactions. So, for me, this visit is also an opportunity for frank dialog, a demanding one, with political leaders and Lebanese institutions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOARES: So, an opportunity to have a frank and open dialog, but also, this could be a catalyst for political change. And I think that's perhaps one of the main purposes of Macron's visit, Kim.
But what he said was that the country many times, you know, more than several occasions yesterday as he spoke to some of the politicians, that he spoke to the media, he spoke to local residents, is that the country will continue to sink, where his words, if reforms are not taken. If anti-corruption reforms do not go through.
His message was also for residents there, basically, saying that any money that is put together, that's brought together for Lebanon will not be given out to the elite. So, no blank checks, was what he was promising, Kim.
BRUNHUBER: So, that's what, you know, many people in Lebanon have been urging. The international community to basically bypass the government and deal directly with citizens. I mean, how might that actually happen? What would that look like?
SOARES: And I think Emmanuel Macron already knew that this would be a huge concern for many of the western donors, who have for years been warning that reforms were needed. Anti-corruption reforms were needed in the country. And so maybe somewhat apprehensive about donating to Lebanon at this time, given concerns that the money might not go to those who need it most.
So what President Emmanuel Macron is promising, he said, is transparency. A transparent governance. What does that mean? Well, he said that the money being put together led by an international aid conference, that he is setting up, will be transparent, and that means that the money will be going through, be channeled through to not to the politicians, not to the ruling elite who have been blamed for the corruption and the lack of government in the country.
But instead, it will go right to the people who need it most. To NGO, to aid charities, to those who have been left homeless. How is that done according to Macron? Well, he said it will be channel through to from big groups, allege groups with the United Nations, as well as the World Bank. They will be able to identify who exactly needs it most.
So, I think anyone donating to Lebanon, according to Macron, should rest assured at least that the money is not going to go into corrupt hands. So far, $39 million have been offered, at least from the European Commission site. European Commission promising more, the United States is helping -- hoping to step in as well. So, we've seen a lot of condolences and aid pouring in from around the world. But that message from Emmanuel Macron yesterday of transparency when it comes to aid was critical. Also, important to point out here, that putting the politics aside, Kim, there are 300 million people have been left homeless.
[03:20:03]
So while people are worried about the political side, while they're worried about where the money will be channel through, let's not forget that the state of Lebanon, the country is in economically, and now, how many people will face no home, nowhere to live, so many families left with not a roof over their head, Kim.
BRUNHUBER: A very important reminder there. Thank you so much. Isa Soares from London.
And if you would like to help the victims of Tuesday's blast in Beirut, log on to our impact your world web site at cnn.com/impact. And some groups are still assessing the needs, but you can count on CNN to keep you updated. So again, the address is cnn.com/impact.
Now we'll return to our other top story after a short break.
The pandemic breaking records across Latin America with no end in sight.
Plus, a key model often used by the White House has a grim new prediction for the U.S. come the winter.
You are watching CNN Newsroom. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BRUNHUBER: Several countries this week have hit milestones in the coronavirus pandemic. India has now become the third nation to surpass two million confirmed cases. It's a sobering number that only the U.S. and Brazil, had reached until now.
On Thursday, multiple Latin American countries also saw record highs. Columbia's health ministry also announced almost 12,000 new cases. And Argentina recorded more than 7,500 new cases and 145 deaths. Peru had the highest jump with almost 7,800 new cases. The country has the third highest number of COVID-19 cases in the region with more than 20,000 and almost 200,000 deaths.
And as of Friday, Africa surpassed one million confirmed COVID-19 cases. And South Africa has more than half of them, more than 538,000.
So, let's go to CNN's David McKenzie in Johannesburg. David, last time we spoke, you know, it was a good news, bad news story, lots of cases in South Africa and rising but relatively few deaths. Is that still the case?
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is certainly more pressure on the health system, and a very scary scenario for any country. And many countries have experienced this kind of surge, Kim.
South Africa's health minister saying yesterday that their hospitals are just coping. That they've seen much better results since about mid-June where they started giving steroids to all severe patients.
They said that's what led to fewer deaths than they were seeing before that. So, I think because the pandemic hit here later, there are some tools in the tool kit now to deal with these surges. But still, a very scary prospect. And health officials here expect the cases and deaths to continue surging.
[03:24:57]
A WHO surge team, as they call it, more than 40 public health professionals, are headed to South Africa. Some of them are already here, to help the country cope as the fifth worst hit country officially in the world. Kim?
BRUNHUBER: As you say, you know, South Africa a huge case count. Is that just because other countries in Africa aren't testing as rigorously, and are there other sort of, hotspots of concern out there?
MCKENZIE: Well, there is other ways of seeing what the rates are, including hospital admissions and deaths in countries other than testing. But yes, a big issue, a big reason that some other major countries in terms of population across Africa aren't seeing the numbers is because of a lack of testing.
The World Health Organization yesterday sounding the alarm about the lack of testing on the African continent. They said it's, quote, "a constant and concerning challenge." That there aren't enough testing. They're kind of pulling their resources to try and get more testing into the continent.
But, so, it's kind of impossible to know really how many cases are transmitting in many parts of the region because of that lack of testing. As of now, they haven't seen hospital systems being completely overwhelmed. But the worry is, many parts of Africa will follow South Africa's example in spike in cases, though those countries don't have the infrastructure that this country does. Kim?
BRUNHUBER: All right. Thank you so much for the update on the continent. We appreciate it. David McKenzie in Johannesburg.
Well, a greater percentage of Americans are testing positive for the coronavirus. So later this hour we'll see why health experts say that's a key predictor of trouble ahead.
But first, we're live in the Middle East with the latest on the investigation into the Beirut explosion. Why so few people in Lebanon trust their government.
This is the CNN Newsroom. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BRUNHUBER: At least 16 employees of Beirut's port have been detained as authorities begin to investigate the cause of Tuesday's deadly explosion. That's according to a report by Lebanese national news. The warehouse full of volatile ammonium nitrate is the suspected source of the massive blast which caused damage up to 10 kilometers away. Only the ports badly damaged grain silo, you see there is still standing.
At least 137 people were killed, 5,000 were injured. Hundreds of thousands of residents lost their homes. Nearly a dozen countries have pledged humanitarian aid to the stricken capital.
Now a short time ago we spoke with a Beirut doctor who spent 52 straight hours treating victims of the explosion.
[03:30:00]
He says the disaster was made even worse by Lebanon's long-running economic crisis. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BASSAM OSMAN, EMERGENCY ROOM PHYSICIAN: The very first moments after the blast, you could see, you could really see not only the effects of the blast, you could really see not only the effects of the blast, but the effects of the whole thing that has been going on since October. People were coming in injured, bleeding, screaming and we really had little resources at our hands because of the ongoing situations since the last year. And all we had were the available resources in the emergency department.
So, the major challenge after the blast was receiving a huge number of patients, with severe injuries. On a regular day, two patients with severe injuries would get your whole emergency department and hospital occupied. So, imagine having like for 50 patients, with all severe injuries, just landing at your door. You have now a huge number of the population is injured and these people need to follow-up on a long term, and they need to be cared for a long-term which is also a financial burden on itself on the medical communities.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Angers growing in Lebanon over reports of ignored warnings over the storage of highly explosive compounds at the scenes of Tuesday's blast. CNN's Arwa Damon is in Beirut.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Could there be anyone left alive? It is a hope dozens of family members of the missing cling to. Knowing that it is unlikely, but not wanting to accept that their loved one could be gone. Others are laid to rest. Lives, utterly shattered in the trail of destruction by Tuesday's explosion and Lebanon's capital city.
Those who survive are trying to pick up the pieces. Glass and debris crunch below the feet of an army of volunteers. Stepping in where the government is not. Attempting to clear the rubble of billions of dollars of damage. They urge each other on. But for others, it is all just too much. The intensity of the emotional rollercoaster that is being Lebanese, has left many of them hollow (inaudible).
What should we feel? Ask one resident, you can't feel anything in Lebanon, there's nothing to be sad about it anymore, he says.
As the cleanup continues a range grows across the country. At how a new disaster could happen. Still without any clear explanation or apology. As French President Emmanuel Macron toured the wreckage, the first foreign leader to set foot here, he was surrounded by hundreds of Lebanese calling for revolution, urging him, begging him do something. He vowed that France would stand with the Lebanese people, but cautioned its leaders.
PRES. EMMANUEL MACRON, PRESIDENT OF FRANCE (through translator): The requirement of a friend in times of need is to rush to scene when times are hard, but not to hand out blank checks to assist them, not trusted by the people.
DAMON: From outside and inside the country, demands for answers grow louder, as calls merge for an independent probe into the explosion. This is not just about accountability or how the country is going to rebuild emotionally and physically. It is about how it is going to find its soul. Arwa Damon, CNN, Beirut.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: For so many, the explosion change so much so fast. Dr. Israa Seblani as taking her wedding photos when the shockwave hits, sweeping her down the (inaudible), a dream of a beautiful day along with it.
CNN's Jomanah Karadsheh spoke with her and joins us now from Istanbul -- I mean, amazing footage that's been seen around the world. You have more on her story, what can you tell us?
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Kim, for years, Beirut has been synonymous with the word explosions violence. The city has seen its share of wars, assassinations, terrorist attacks, but by all accounts it is seem nothing like Tuesday's blast. And every day, we are seeing more and more of videos emerge that captured the moment of that devastating blast.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KARADSHEH: It was a picture perfect wedding shoot. The glowing bride, posing for photos, a short walk from the luxury wedding venue in downtown Beirut. As a smiling doctor Israa Seblani looks down at her bouquet, horror strikes. Her big day, blown away in an instant. The couple, and the video crew, run for cover. Destruction, all around them.
[03:35:07]
ISRAA SEBLANI, BRIDE: At that moment, the one thing I thought about, now, I was going to lose my life, I'm losing my husband. I'm going to be buried under a building. Now, I'm going to die. Now, I am waiting for that moment. How am I going to die? Is it going to be fast? Am I going to feel it? Am I going to be near him?
KARADSHEH: 29-year-old Seblani, a U.S. resident came back to her native Lebanon to get married. The original plan was to have the wedding party in the United States, but husband Ahmad Sbeih says he has been waiting for his U.S. Visa for three years, with immigration laws getting stricter by the day, under the Trump administration. The couple says, they did not want to be apart any longer, and finally settled on celebrating their marriage in Beirut, with friends and family, in the city where their love first blossomed.
SEBLANI: At that moment, the beautiful place I was in, and where the people were dining in a restaurant, shopping, walking, and it turned out into a ghost town. It was filled with dust, shattered glass, people yelling, bleeding. It was a nightmare.
KARADSHEH: Seblani did a final run through of the bridal suite, where she and (inaudible) would spent the night after the party. Sbeih and over the flourishes. When the couple returned, the red rose petals weren't off the bed, we're all that remained of the romance they had envisioned.
AHMAD SBEIH, SEBLANI'S HUSBAND: Because we are alive, we cannot continue. Do not be sad, or anything. We will continue and we will pass it, and we will make it in (inaudible).
KARADSHEH: (Inaudible) and (inaudible) this is very emotional for you.
SEBLANI: I don't know what to tell you about, but trust me, there's no word to describe really what I feel. No matter how I talked.
KARADSHEH: In a city where life was turned upside down in seconds, Israa and Ahmad are just grateful to be alive.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KARADSHEH: Well, you know, Kim, like so many Lebanese for Israa and Ahmad, this was the final straw. They are really are done with Lebanon. They just want to get out of the country. The troubled country, where they believe they will have no future. You know, they are so desperate, they are hoping that President Trump will see their story and help Ahmad get the visa he's been waiting for three years, so the couple can start their life far away from Lebanon, Kim.
BRUNHUBER: Wow. Well, they said we will make it, always hope. Thank you so much for bringing us their story, Jomanah Karadsheh in Istanbul, I appreciate it.
And this, just in to CNN. For the second time in two days, China has sentenced a Canadian citizen to death for his role in a drug trafficking ring. A court in Guangdong Province sentence the man on charges that he and his accomplices manufactured and intended to distribute, amphetamines. One of his associates was previously sentenced to death for the same crimes. Four others face long prison sentences. China says it does not foresee any impact on Chinese Canadian relations, and we do not have a response yet from the Canadian government.
Well, time for a short break, but when we come back, CNN gets exclusive access to Russia's new program. Testing for the coronavirus, at the nation's airports. Plus, health experts agree, face coverings are an effective tool in slowing the spread of the virus. So, why the U.S. is warning against one type of mask? Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:40:00]
BRUNHUBER: As drug makers race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, America's top infectious disease specialist, Dr. Anthony Fauci, says he is hopeful we will know if a vaccine works by November or December. U.S. biotech company Moderna, is trying to get more volunteers for its phase three clinical trial. It plans to enroll 30,000 people, but so far, it says it won't reach that number until September. So, that timeline means, its potential vaccine probably wouldn't be widely available until at least next year. But the U.S. President appears more optimistic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You said a vaccine could be ready around November 3rd. Are you optimistic that that will happen? And will that give you a boost on the Election Day?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: On the vaccine?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah.
TRUMP: I am. I'm optimistic that it will be probably around that date. I believe we'll have the vaccine before the end of the year certainly but around that date, yes. I think so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Now that's raising some eyebrows as some see more of a coincidence in the president's prediction on an Election Day breakthrough. The directors of the U.S. National Institute of Health told CNN on Thursday, that a vaccine quote, shouldn't really have a political spin attached to it.
Russia says, it is making medical advances on the coronavirus that put the rest of the world to shame. From rapid testing with results in one hour to a vaccine that it will start giving to the public within weeks. Russia says, it's winning the war on the disease. But many are skeptical. CNN's Matthew Chance got exclusive access to one of the rapid testing facilities in an effort to find out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is the new frontline in Russia's war on COVID-19. We gain exclusive access to the rapid testing, being introduced at Russia's airport. Soon very passenger could be screened like this, what Russia says is another example of its scientific edge.
ANDREY KASHUBSKY, EMG DIRECTOR, RUSSIAN DIRECT INVESTMENT FUND: This is the leading edge of everything in diagnostics. It is called a point of care system. So, it can be used everywhere, whenever people need it. Here, and you are the witness that takes one hour.
CHANCE: Chance, Matthew.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Chance, Matthew.
CHANCE: Will those behind this new technology in Moscow say that the test can be use in global airports around the world, including in United States. It's a way of resuming flights they say, while protecting the safety of passengers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Open up.
CHANCE: Of course, what that means is that in the future, every journey, aww, could start or end, like this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's all.
CHANCE: Russia has been casting itself at the forefront of efforts to tackle the global coronavirus pandemic. As well as mass testing, it's poised to approve what it says to be the world's first COVID-19 vaccine developed at breakneck speed at this Moscow research lab.
Who claims Russia world beating medical advances ring hollow to critics like Anastasia Vasilyeva, a Russian doctor turned prominent opposition campaigner. She broadcast her concerns on a popular online show. It seems more like propaganda, she told me than progress.
ANASTASIA VASILYEVA, DOCTOR'S ALLIANCE: They just want to say, we are the process. But, this vaccine, it is not safe. It is not effective, because they did not do the necessary investigations with this vaccine.
CHANCE: Why did they need to be the first?
VASILYEVA: I think Russia is a big and strong country, and Putin the big great president, he just wants to be the best president, maybe in the world.
CHANCE: Right, the moment of reckoning. There were concerns about the accuracy of Russian testing too.
[03:45:00]
Officials admit, early cases could simply slip through.
Negative. You polished it from there. (Inaudible), you're sure. (Inaudible).
Relief from Russia could prove premature. Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: We are getting new guidance about face mask from the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency now says, it doesn't recommend people use masks with valves, or vents. And that although the valves maybe more comfortable for the wearer, they enable the virus to escape. At least one major U.S. airline is banning the use of these masks. Now as mask had become part of daily life for so many of us, it's good to get a reminder on which mask are best and how to wear them. CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta has a breakdown for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It wasn't that long ago, just four months, when we were showing you how to make your own mask. Because there simply weren't enough, so you could make one using a bandana. A lot has changed since then. There's all kinds of masks, all colors, all styles. You can get a mask, and you should get a mask. But when you do, you got to make sure to wear it right.
OK, here is a surgical mask. This is how you put it on. Now, other people wear it under their chin that obviously doesn't do any good. Some people wear it just over their mouth and not their nose. You got to put it all the way up over your nose. And then sometimes a little higher than you think even so it doesn't keep slipping down.
This is a cloth mask, my daughter made this. You got a cloth masks, those work well. Make sure they are at least two layers. Look, these masks work. There is this great study out of Lancet which basically said, the likelihood of me transmitting the virus to somebody, if I didn't have the mask on, was about 17 or 18 percent. If I did have a mask on, it was closer to 3 percent.
So, you know, you're talking about a six-fold difference potentially. It's not perfect, but it can really help. So, let me show you something here. Bill, the science guy, you know him, he did a little experiment trying to show how much air actually gets out of this masks. He tried to blow out a candle. So I will try. I am blowing pretty hard and you know, I can't blow out the candle. And I guess that is sort of the point.
So, again, you have these types of masks which can make a difference. We start wearing them. I want to show you something else real quick, this is to the question, n95 masks. That's what this looks like. And it is supposed to really get a very good seal around the mouth and the nose.
If you have it on properly and I wear this when I'm taking care of COVID patients, you should blocked about 95 percent of particles. It's not just the masks but it is also the filter that has an electrostatic charge to really grab the viral particles so it can work well.
The KN95 masks are almost identical but they are regulated by the Chinese government. But the regulations are pretty similar. You do have to be aware of potential counterfeits. There's a lot of fakes out there. You can go to the CDC's website, give your model number on your masks and you can find out if it's in fact real.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Excellent advice, as always there. Go to CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta. And you can get more from Dr. Gupta on his podcast, coronavirus fact versus fiction, it's available wherever you get your favorite podcasts.
Well, U.S. President Donald Trump is making good on his threat to crack down on the Chinese own video sharing app TikTok. He has issued an executive order banning the app from operating in the U.S., unless it is sold within 45 days and he says TikTok is effectively spyware. CNN's Hadas Gold joins us from London. Lots of twist and turns to this story, what's the latest?
HADAS GOLD, CNN POLITICS, MEDIA AND BUSINESS REPORTER: So Kim, late last night, we actually got two executive orders as you know. One is on TikTok, essentially saying it will be banned within 45 days unless sold to American entity and we all know that Microsoft is currently in talks to buy some of TikTok's operations in the U.S., Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
The other executive order was actually around a Chines app called WeChat, which less well-known outside of China, but it is one of the most popular apps there. People use it for chatting, for news, and even for transferring funds. It is owned by a larger company called Tencent. The executive order essentially said the same thing for WeChat as it does for TikTok, it will be banned within 45 days.
And Trump cited again, national security concerns and also he actually cited in these executive order on how TikTok is being used to spread disinformation around coronavirus that is a little bit ironic, considering Trump himself has had some of his post on Facebook and Twitter removed for disinformation around coronavirus.
But regardless, there has been a lot of broader geopolitical tensions of course, between China and the U.S. TikTok has been caught in the middle of it. And those are one of the most popular apps in recent years. It is had a short, but very bumpy history. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GOLD: For many people around the world. TikTok has become a lifeline of joy.
[03:50:03]
JAKE SWEET, TIKTOK STAR: People rely on this app for happiness sometimes. I could read hundreds of thousands of comments from my videos alone that would say like, this video like really made my day. I get messages all the time saying like, you really helped me like during hard times.
GOLD: The app, owned by a Chinese company ByteDance, changed British 22-year-old Jake Sweet's life, after he joined, and amass nearly 7 million followers. Not many Chinese own app have reached such global success, but after ByteDance pop the music app merge under TikTok and launch worldwide, it hit 1 billion downloads by the following February. As it rose in the app charts, controversy followed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, guy, I want to teach you guys how to --
GOLD: It's been accused of censorship, temporarily suspending the account of a 17-year old girl last November who went viral for a video she made criticizing the Chinse government and its Uyghurs detention centers. The company says the teen's account had been suspended due to a post on her other account and apologized. Blaming the decision on human error. At the same time U.S. lawmaker for warning the app could pose a national security threat, saying it was putting Americans data in the hands of the Chinese government. A national security review was soon under way.
TikTok said in a statement that it stores all U.S. users' data in United States and backs it up in Singapore, and would never share data with the Chinese government. By December, the Pentagon urge military personnel to delete the app from government issued smartphones. And some branches followed up with outright bans.
In June, 2020, India went further, completely banning the app in the country, claiming it poses a threat to sovereignty and integrity. But several cybersecurity experts tells CNN, that though TikTok's Chinese ownership is worthy of concern most of its data just wouldn't be that useful for a real espionage.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is mostly a political move. But it is based around a tiny seed of something which could be a real concern. If you are, again, an activist in Hong Kong, if you are a whistleblower on you know, a Chinese government corruption. I would not recommend installing TikTok on your phone. If you are a soldier deployed in North Africa and the Middle East by the United States, I would not recommend installing TikTok on your phone. But you know, for example a dancing teenager probably it's not.
GOLD: As the app becomes a diplomatic flash point, TikTok's legions of influencers and fans desperately hope this won't be their last dance.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GOLD: And there's still some confusion around this executive order that were released last night, specifically if you're looking for example WeChat, because WeChat's parent company Tencent is actually an important investor. And some of the most popular video games out there right now, including Fortnite. So, there's still a little bit confusion about whether this executive order will actually affect. Tencent can affect this popular video games and then of course there is nothing in this executive order related to TikTok connected to the statements that Trump said that he wanted the U.S. government to get a cut of a potential sale to Microsoft which expert that we've spoken to said, there is no basis in law for the U.S. to get a cut of such a sale. The executive order did not mentioned anything related to that, Kim.
BRUNHUBER: Pristine, all right, thank you so much Hadas Gold in London. I appreciate it.
Back to our top story. Investigators in Lebanon are trying to figure out what caused Tuesday's apocalyptic explosion. Still ahead, the people of Beirut describe the experiences as they pick up the pieces. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:55:00]
BRUNHUBER: Well, it is sad that people who have experienced traumatic events often remember them in slow motion. And for many of those in Beirut, the memory of where they were, who they were with, what they were doing, when Tuesdays explosion occurred has left an indelible emotional scar. A moment in their lives, like no other.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(CLIPS ON BEIRUT'S EXPLOSION)
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've seen war, I've filmed war. I went to in 2006 -- in 2006 I went to the South Lebanon to see this, but it took 30 days to do the same destruction. We had it in one explosion. It is a catastrophe I've never seen something like that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Well, thank you for joining us, I'm Kim Brunhuber, I will be back in a moment with more CNN Newsroom. Please stay with us.
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END
