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World Reaches 20 Million Confirmed COVID Cases; Lebanese Government Resigns; World Leaders Condemn Hong Kong Arrest; Lebanon's Government Resigns Amid Violent Protests; Democrats Accuse Trump Administration of Post Office Sabotage; Kodak Stock Dives after U.S. Government Loan Put on Hold; Man Helps Repatriates South Africans Stranded in China. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired August 11, 2020 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, again. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from studio seven at CNN's world headquarters in Atlanta.
Ahead this hour.
Twenty million people, a staggering number, diagnosed around the world with the coronavirus. And yet, the advice to slow the spread remains the same.
Lebanon's government gives in to days of violent protests and resigns en masse over last week's catastrophic explosion in Beirut.
And a chilling attack on press freedom in Hong Kong. Police arresting a pro democracy media mogul as supporters rush to buy his "Apple Daily" publication in defiance.
It was perhaps only a matter of time, but it is truly staggering is how little time it has taken -- just over six months of the world to pass 20 million confirmed cases of the coronavirus.
And the United States, with less than five percent of the global population, is home to 25 percent of all known infections.
But according to the U.S. president, nothing to worry about.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I do want to say that I think at the end of a fairly short period of time you're going to be in very, very good shape all over our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: That's the report from Trump's World, but in the real world, health experts disagree.
The WHO says countries must outsmart this virus and knock down flare- ups before they even begin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. MICHAEL RYAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION HEALTH EMERGENCIES PROGRAM: This virus is proving exceptionally difficult to stop.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. MARIA VAN KERKHOVE, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION COVID-19 TECHNICAL LEAD: We know that if the virus has an opportunity to spread, it will. And it hasn't gone away.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: That's something Mexico knows all too well. Recording more than 700 new fatalities from the virus on Monday, bringing the death toll from the pandemic to more than 53,000. Third highest worldwide total after the United States and Brazil.
In the coming days, the number of lives claimed by the virus expected to exceed 750,000 worldwide.
Scott McLean has more now on this global health crisis.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: For months, scenes like this have been playing on a loop, especially in Brazil where the coronavirus has spread like wildfire.
Foreshadowed by scenes like this one last weekend in Rio de Janeiro, packed bars and few masks.
Now the world has hit a sad milestone, 20 million confirmed coronavirus cases.
More than half of those come from just three countries, Brazil, the United States and India. While countries like Russia, South Africa, Colombia and Mexico are hot on their heels.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, DIRECTOR GENERAL, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: I know many of you are grieving and that this is a difficult moment for the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCLEAN: But amidst the mammoth failures to contain the pandemic, there have been successes too. None greater than in New Zealand, which says it just marked 100 days since the last locally transmitted case of the virus.
The prime minister is now staking her reelection bid on her decision to close the borders and lock down the country early on. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACINTA ARDERN, PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND: When people ask is this a COVID election? My answer is, yes it is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCLEAN: There are also encouraging signs in Germany where masks are mandatory in newly reopened schools in some states.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DOMENICA ACRI, DIRECTOR, CARL-ORFF GRUNDSCHULE (through translator): Today not a single child has forgotten his or her mask. All of which seems to show that the situation is returning to normal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCLEAN: Masks are also now required for a stroll down the Seine in Paris.
But in Sweden, face coverings are few and far between. Despite World Health Organization guidance to wear them, Sweden's government has no national mandate to wear them anywhere.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTEN SPORRONG: I think Swedish people are taking big responsibility. So if you are sick, we stay at home; and if we're not, we can be outside.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCLEAN: And there's more cause for concern across Africa where experts fear that low testing rates may be masking the true scale of the outbreak.
In Britain, beaches have been packed, cases are on the rise, and the prime minister is pledging to reopen schools next month.
Vietnam had no locally transmitted cases between late April and late July, but officials there are now trying to tamp down an outbreak in a popular tourist town.
And in Australia, where new daily cases has gotten down to single digits, there's now a second spike even bigger than the first.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS: There are green shoots of hope. And no matter where a country, a region, a city or a town is, it's never too late to turn the outbreak around.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCLEAN: The world can only hope that's true. Scott McLean. CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[01:05:00]
VAUSE: Every day, the U.S. is seeing 50,000 new confirmed cases and that includes children.
Which is complicating the push to return students to the classroom, at least returning safely.
CNN's Athena Jones has more.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ASHISH JHA, DIRECTOR, HARVARD GLOBAL HEALTH INSTITUTE: If we just act like the virus isn't there and we kind of go for it and kind of tough it out, it won't work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Public health experts warned this would happen and now it has.
Schools in states with high rates of COVID-19 infections opening up too quickly without the proper precautions and suffering the consequences as new cases pile up.
The Georgia high school made famous in this viral photo now temporarily closed after nine students or employees tested positive.
The school, where masks are not required, holding classes remotely while it undergoes a deep cleaning.
At least 16 schools in Cherokee County, Georgia have reported COVID cases among students or staff, underlining the challenge of holding in-person classes in a state with the highest number of COVID cases per capita in the country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. WILLIAM SCHAFFNER, PROFESSOR OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER: The reason all this is happening is because we haven't controlled the virus spread in the community.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: The lack of a mask mandate in most Georgia schools and concerns about crowding prompting fear among teachers and families.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. BETH MOORE (D-GA): I have over 200 emails over the course of less than 48 hours from teachers, students, parents, staff members at school. All with really the same message. That schools in Georgia are not
prepared to go back to face-to-face instruction right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: The trouble with schools coming as the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children's Hospital Association say nearly 100,000 children in the U.S. tested positive for COVID in just the last two weeks of July.
With COVID positivity rates rising in 35 states compared to last week, there are new concerns in places like Idaho, Indiana and Illinois. Where Chicago's mayor tweeted this image of a crowded beach.
In California, CNN affiliate KABC captured tense moments outside a church holding an indoor service Sunday in defiance of a judge's order.
Average daily deaths nationwide have topped 1,000 for the past two weeks. And several states are seeing record hospitalizations.
Meanwhile, college football is hanging in the balance, multiple sports outlets reporting leaders of the Power Five sports conferences are in discussions about postponing the season due to COVID concerns.
A move the Mid-American conference announced over the weekend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JON STEINBRECHER, COMMISSIONER, MID-AMERICAN CONFERENCE OF THE NATIONAL COLLEGIATE ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION: This was a crushing decision to be made by our membership.
It was a decision that was made based on the advice of our medical experts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: And there's more reason to be concerned about COVID-19 in children.
New CDC data shows that Hispanic children are eight times more likely to be hospitalized with complications from coronavirus than white children. Black children are five times more likely to be hospitalized.
One expert saying that testing and prevention resources must be focused in these high-risk communities.
Athena Jones. CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: And the man who more Americans trust than any other about how to deal with this pandemic says the sight of students crowded into hallways without face masks is disturbing. In an interview with "ABC News," Dr. Anthony Fauci says wearing face
masks is a crucial part of the strategy to open schools safely.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: The universal wearing of masks is one of five or six things that are very important in preventing the upsurge of infection and in turning around the infections that we are seeing surging.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Anne Rimoin is an epidemiology professor at the University of California in Los Angeles. She's also a director of the UCLA's Center for Global & Immigrant Health. And we're pleased to have you with us once again. Thank you.
DR. ANNE RIMOIN, PROFESSION OF EPIDEMIOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES: Nice to be here.
VAUSE: OK, Dr. Rimoin. Let's start with is this just about wearing face masks at school? Is it possible to stovepipe a response to a pandemic or does this just come back to that bigger issue of trying to prevent community transmission, bringing that under control -- and wearing face masks in public is a big part of that.
RIMOIN: Well, yes, absolutely. The bottom line here is that nothing is happening in a vacuum. Everything is happening all at the same time.
So here's the deal. What we need to do to be able to reopen schools safely and not run into this problem of immediately having cases, having to quarantine, all of these issues happening, is that we have to drive down community transmission to a very low point.
And then open up slowly. Everybody wear masks, everybody social distance, everybody do the hand hygiene, do the things that they're supposed to do and then we will be able to reopen schools safely.
But until we are able to have community transmission under control, these situations are not surprising at all.
VAUSE: There's sort of a lot of questions out there or a lot of uncertainty about the quality and effectiveness of different types of face coverings.
[01:10:00]
Duke University came up with a very simple test using laser lights to show how different materials can actually prevent the spread of droplets.
What you're about to hear is basically what they found.
And they start with no mask at all, it's in the upper right hand corner of the screen, they then move clockwise through the different types of materials. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTIN FISCHER, PROFESSOR, DUKE UNIVERSITY (Voice Over): This is the no mask case, this was the cotton case. This one is a surgical mask. So you can see it actually does really well. This one here is fleece, neck fleece.
And what's noticeable here is that the number of particles is actually bigger than the no mask case. We attribute this to the fleece, the textile, breaking up those big particles into many little particles.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: I found that quite interesting. So given that at least one type of mask or material could do more harm than good, what's the best advice here?
RIMOIN: Well, the best advice is to wear a mask. To wear a mask that is a surgical mask or a cloth mask that is three-ply and to make sure that you pay attention to the kind of materials that you're using.
What they're talking about is like a fleece, a gator or something that you would pull over your face. And that's really not a mask.
A mask is something that's going to be fitting snugly on your face, going to have ear loops or fit over the back of your head. Not one of these neck gators.
And so I think it's really important that everybody just remember that everything is not equal here.
And then to follow the science, look for the guidelines, look at the CDC and WHO guidelines which are pretty clear about what kind of face coverings you should be wearing.
VAUSE: Yes. Not all masks are created equal.
I'd like you to listen to President Trump at Monday's White House briefing and his forecast for the coming months.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I do want to say that I think at the end of a fairly short period of time you're going to be in very, very good shape all over our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: On the other hand, here's part of a report from the medical news website, "Stat."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
"Unless Americans use the dwindling weeks between now and the onset of 'indoor weather' to tamp down transmission in the country, this winter could be Dickensianly bleak, public health experts" -- are warning.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: It's quite an extreme forecast. Which is more likely, in your opinion?
RIMOIN: Well, the fact is that when people start to go inside, you're going to see disease spread more easily. This is what we see with colds and anything else. And so, talking about winter is coming is true.
And I think that we all need to be thinking about what we can do to really push down transmission rates as far as we can so that we have less virus circulating in the population when people start coming indoors.
VAUSE: We can hope for the best. We can do what we can do right now.
And at that point, I think -- thank you. Good to see you again. Thanks, Dr. Rimoin.
RIMOIN: It's my pleasure.
VAUSE: Well, in Washington, there were some strange and rather tense moments at the White House, just as Donald Trump was at the podium for Monday's media briefing on the coronavirus.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: It looks like they're just about going to be topping records. Hopefully soon.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, we're just going to have to step out (inaudible).
TRUMP: Excuse me?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have to step outside.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's going on, Mr. President?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:. What's happening?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And then they whisked him away. Well, not quite.
Turns out there was a shooting outside the White House. The president was ushered -- as a safety precaution.
The secret service said a man approached an officer, told him he had a weapon and ran aggressively towards him. The officer shot the suspect who was then taken to hospital.
Days of angry protests have triggered the collapse of Lebanon's government with the prime minister and his cabinet all resigning on Monday.
Protesters demanded the government step down over last week's massive blast in Beirut, which left more than 160 dead. The explosion just the latest disaster to hit a country in the midst of an economic meltdown, as well as political turmoil.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HASSAN DIAB, PRIME MINISTER, LEBANON (through translator): This devastating catastrophe that hit Lebanese in the heart which was the result of chronic corruption in the country and the regime.
Previously, I said the corrupt establishment hit all parts of the country. However, I discovered that the corruption organization is bigger than the state, and the state is controlled by this and it cannot face it or get rid of it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The international community has pledged about $300 million in emergency aid.
That happened at a conference over the weekend.
CNN's Sam Kiley live this hour again for us in Beirut.
So what's interesting is this money coming in from the international community.
What they've made clear is that they don't want it going to the government, they want it going to the people.
[01:15:00]
SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, bang on there, John. And that's exactly the view of the Lebanese people.
They wouldn't want any money going to their government at all either, at least those certainly the views expressed by the protesters, I should more accurately say, against this government.
It's very hard indeed to find anybody on the streets here who think that dissolving the government is going to change anything.
Because there aren't going to be any new elections, as promised, there's simply going to be backroom deals to try to put together a new administration whilst the old administration stays in office, simply caretaking what is already a dysfunctional structure.
And in that context, we've been speaking to top activists but also members of political dynasties here to try and work out how things might improve.
The answer is revealed here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) If you're in the Lebanese opposition, this is democracy in action.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
Thirty or forty yards down the street that's barricaded there is the outer cordon for the Lebanese parliament.
The demonstrators are absolutely dead set, they have told me on getting into more and more government buildings, to try and demonstrate that the government itself is really a chimera, it is hopeless, it is a sort of joke.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
As the cleanup continues after thousands of tons of fertilizer is believed to have blown up and destroyed parts of Beirut, activists are adamant that Lebanon's sectarian system, its dynastic politics, corruption and negligence led to the blast.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAMIRA EL AZAR: We will go to the parliament, we will go to their houses, we will go to each place to get them down. They will go to a place, they will be -- will not be able to go back to the streets, ever.
They killed people. It's a big thing to us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KILEY: Lebanon's parliament, in which 128 seats are shared among Christians, Sunnis, Druze and Shia under electoral law following the civil war 30 years ago, was dissolved on Monday ahead of new elections.
But Walid Jumblatt, the Druze leader who inherited his role from his father and has arguably benefited from the existing system, is pessimistic that even early elections would bring change.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WALID JUMBLATT, DRUZE LEADER, LEBANON: When I see the protesters, the revolutionary -- when I saw them and I see them yesterday and -- they want to change Lebanon, they want the new Lebanon.
But the obstacles to change a new Lebanon is in this specific point alliance of minorities and the electoral law. Because you cannot change Lebanon through, let's say, a military coup d'etat. It's impossible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KILEY: Close to the epicenter of Tuesday's blast, the Kataeb Party's headquarters is in ruins. It's a largely Christian Maronite party, its secretary general was killed in the explosion, his bloody handprint still visible.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm so sorry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KILEY: The grandson of the party's founder and son of a former president, nephew of another president who was murdered, Samy Gemayel, supports the street protests.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAMY GEMAYEL, MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT, LEBANON: We are all from families that were part of the old Lebanon. This is how -- the new generation didn't come from nowhere.
And it's our duty to do our revolution -- our own revolution, each one in his society and the place where he is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KILEY: But in Martyr's Square, protesters now include former Lebanese commando leader, Colonel George Nader. He wants to see the old guard swept away entirely.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLONEL GEORGE NADER, FMR. COMMANDO LEADER, LEBANON: Change is coming. And I recommend they leave peacefully or we go to their homes and do it by force.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KILEY: That night, it was the protests who were eventually swept away, but not for long.
They have plans to harness public anger over the Beirut blast to a more powerful revolutionary rage.
Now, John, there are plans to mark the one-week anniversary since that gigantic explosion just over there in front of what remains of those grain silos ripped across this nation.
A thousand times more ammonium nitrate in that explosion that blew up the federal building in the Oklahoma bombings, killed 168 people.
A hundred and sixty people known to have been killed so far, some 20 missing, a miraculously low death toll in the view of many. But nonetheless, a symbolic or real physical manifestation of government corruption and negligence.
We also know from activists that they plan to try to re-occupy a number of government buildings as partly symbolic and partly real attempt to prove how completely useless this new administration is.
[01:20:00]
How they're going to reform a government here could take months. John.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Yes. And then -- about $15 billion to boot. Sam, thank you. Sam Kiley in Beirut. Appreciate that.
Well, the U.S. health secretary on the third day of his historic and controversial visit to Taiwan.
He speaks exclusively with CNN about how Taiwan is responding to the coronavirus compared to the United States.
Also, the growing international outrage after Hong Kong police detain a pro democracy media mogul.
The very latest in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: The president of Belarus says he will not allow foreign puppeteers to tear apart his country. Thousands have been detained for protesting after Sunday's election.
Alexander Lukashenko, known as Europe's last dictator, says he won 80 percent of the vote. The opposition candidate, though, is demanding a recount.
Independent monitors say she actually won the election. And she is now at an undisclosed location.
A number of European governments have been swift to condemn the election results and the crackdown on protesters in Belarus. Germany called the vote undemocratic, the U.K. says it was seriously flawed. France calling for maximum restraint and an end to the violence.
The U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a statement reading:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
"Severe restrictions on ballot access for candidates, prohibition of local independent observers at polling stations, intimidation tactics employed against opposition candidates, and the detentions of peaceful protestors and journalists marred the process."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
The U.S. and the U.K. have joined the outcry over the arrest of a pro- democracy newspaper owner in Hong Kong.
Jimmy Lai was detained under Beijing's new controversial national security law.
Despite Lai's arrest -- or more likely because of it, his newspaper printed thousands of additional copies of the latest issue.
CNN's Will Ripley live again for us this hour in Hong Kong. In a way we saw some retail activism there, I guess, with many buying
up that latest addition of the "Apple Daily."
But beyond that, what happens to Jimmy Lai and others who support press freedom?
WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's the big question, John. And you worked in Mainland China, I've spent a lot of time working there.
And, frankly, it seems as if Hong Kong is headed in that direction.
Although there are some key differences because there's still a very vibrant free press here. But it is a free press that very much acknowledges it is in danger.
The "Apple Daily" newspaper, despite the fact that 200 police officers raided their newsroom yesterday, arrested their owner, Jimmy Lai, the billionaire media mogul, it says right here that they need to continue their operations.
Which means presumably continue their aggressive reporting. Their fierce criticism of Beijing, of the pro-Beijing Hong Kong government.
But there is a line that cannot be crossed under this new national security law, and that line is any expression of support of Hong Kong or Taiwan independence. That's one of the lines.
[01:25:00]
Also colluding with other countries. Because what mainland authorities have thought is that the protest movement here in Hong Kong is not the result of social inequality or long-standing issues that need to be addressed but the fact that young people are improperly improperly educated, need to be reeducated. And also need to basically need to not listen to other countries that are trying to influence them.
And so that's where you have these figures like Jimmy Lai and the nine other people arrested accused of basically working with other countries to try to sow the seeds of unrest here in Hong Kong.
And we did see months and months of continuous protests last year, this year a very different situation.
Don't know how much is the national security law, how much are the pandemic restrictions on group gatherings, but clearly things feel a lot different now.
And for those who support democracy and freedom of the press, it is not different in a good way at all, John.
VAUSE: Yes, that's certain. What do we know about the case against Jimmy Lai and those nine others? Has there been any sort of evidence put out there, any case being made by the authorities? Or has he just been arrested and that's it? RIPLEY: Well, one of the most consistent charges, as I mentioned, is
collusion with foreign forces. We also know that these 10 people are still in police custody, likely not to see a judge today, not to be granted bail either today or -- in some cases, they might not get bail at all.
We actually had video of Jimmy Lai, just within the last couple of hours, being taken by police -- he's still in custody, to his yacht club.
This is a billionaire who has a U.K. passport who could have left this city but chose to stay. And has resigned himself to the possibility, if you listen to interviews with him even months ago, when he could have more easily left like some of the other activists.
There are six that Hong Kong is currently looking for, including former Hong Kong lawmaker, Nathan Law.
But Jimmy Lai basically said that with all of the activism that he's basically centered his life around and his sons as well who were also arrested by Hong Kong police, he feels that if he were to flee the city then all of that work would've been in vain.
So he's ready for a legal fight, he certainly has the financial resources. But he's up against the Communist Party in Beijing and the potential of life in prison, a mainland trial and a whole lot of other things that didn't exist in Hong Kong less than two months ago. Before this national security law was passed.
VAUSE: Yes. We're out of time, Will. But I guess it's early days but the actual specifics and the evidence -- the chances (inaudible) seeing -- I guess we'll wait and see.
RIPLEY: Well --
VAUSE: Because it's pretty slim.
RIPLEY: Yes. Right, right, right. Yes.
VAUSE: OK. We'll leave it at that. Thank you.
OK. Alex Azar, the most senior U.S. official to visit Taiwan in decades, much to the annoyance of Mainland China, has met with the territory's foreign minister.
Earlier, the U.S. health secretary praised Taiwan for its response to the coronavirus pandemic.
In an exclusive interview with CNN's Paula Hancocks, he compared it to the way the U.S. has managed to the crisis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEX AZAR, SECRETARY, U.S. HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES: In terms of the president's historic response to the coronavirus crisis -- a novel, unprecedented pandemic -- we have actually been able to manage to ensure that the disease burden did not exceed our health system capacity.
No American died because of lack of a ventilator or a lack of an ICU bed. And that's a critical, critical factor in terms of how we engaged in mitigation steps to keep, as we say, the curve within capacity.
That was the core strategy, initially. To delay and flatten the curve, and keep the burden within the system's capacity.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So what would you say to critics of the Trump Administration who say your visit here three months before an election is political?
AZAR: My visit here is about supporting Taiwan and supporting Taiwan in the international public health community. My visit is about health.
It's about the health of the people of Taiwan, it's about the health of the American people and it's about the health of the people of the world.
And the way we protect that is by entities around the world being transparent, cooperative, collaborative, compliant with the international health regulations. And Taiwan has been a model of that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Well, still to come, Lebanon's government resigns but that may not be the end of protests in the streets of Beirut.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:31:47]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back everybody. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm John Vause.
We're turning now to Lebanon and the anger that's turned to violence, following last week's devastating explosion. The protesters demanding the government resign have actually gotten their way.
But as CNN's Ben Wedeman reports, the political turmoil remains far from over.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Prime Minister Hassan Diab announces the resignation of his government.
Less than a week after the catastrophic explosion in Beirut's port that many here likened to an atomic bomb. Since then, the capital has been rocked by protests and clashes, the anger focused not so much at Diab's government, as it is against the failures of the Lebanese state writ large.
And adding insult to injury, the government represented by the security forces appeared to sit on its hands as Beirut residents dug out of the rubble.
"Did anyone from the state come here," I asked Siham Tiqam (ph) who was injured in the blast?
"Frankly the word that you said, and I won't say it is not present in the dictionary," it by which Siham means the state, doesn't exist in the Lebanese dictionary.
The blast was just the latest of Lebanon's calamities. The economy is in free fall, the local currency. the lira has lost much of its value. Unemployment has skyrocketed, while the World Bank projects that half the population will fall below the poverty line this year.
Prime Minister Diab promised he would address all these problems, but his promises proved empty. He promised to fight corruption but the system of corruption he said in his speech, is bigger than the state.
Negotiations with the International Monetary Fund for bailout went nowhere. As Lebanese leaders bickered among themselves and failed to commit to fundamental reforms. And with Hezbollah, a major backer of his cabinet, Western and Arab Gulf governments were hesitant to provide either aid or political cover.
It now falls to the same sectarian power brokers who formed Diab's government to form the next one. And as the famous saying goes, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
In closing, Diab who now takes over as caretaker prime minister, appealed three times to God to protect Lebanon. And Lebanon at this point, needs all the help it can get.
Ben Wedeman CNN, Beirut.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[01:35:03]
VAUSE: Leila Molana-Allen is a correspondent for France 24 and she is live in Beirut with us this hour. Leila, thanks for taking the time.
Diab is now caretaker-prime minister with his resignation speech promising to hold accountable those responsible. Ultimately, isn't he the one who should be held accountable, considering he's the man in charge and it's still not clear what Hassan Diab knew and when he was briefed about this chemical stockpile and the potential for disaster.
LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: (AUDIO GAP) Hassan Diab knew. (INAUDIBLE) but he knew from July and he said there that he could do because he doesn't have authority at the port which hasn't gone down well with anyone at all.
The problem here, of course, is that there are a successive governments who are responsible for this. This has been going on for more than six years, that stockpile has been sitting in that warehouse since the end of 2013 when it was abandoned. And the heads of the port and of customs have said that they had sent at least 10 letters to the judiciary, to the prime minister's office, to the army. Nothing (INAUDIBLE) about this.
A report was compiled in December 2019 just about how dangerous this was, that it was a ticking time bomb. So lots of different people in leadership responsible. Of course, it happened on Hassan Diab's watch, and that then is why they have to go.
But as he said in his speech yesterday, he doesn't feel he's at fault. He feels there was endemic corruption and they tried to be transparent in the way they ran thing. Protesters on the street absolutely not accepting that but also not saying that enough heads have rolled. They don't feel that this government (INAUDIBLE) and they want the entire change to a system that they believe does not care is they or die and is responsible for the death of hundreds of people and the injury to thousands.
VAUSE: Part of the change to the system which is inherently corrupt seems to be underway with the international donors deciding that relief funds will go directly to the people of Lebanon and bypassing a corrupt political system. How significant is that and how effective will it be?
MOLANA-ALLEN: It will be very effective. Emmanuel Macron, of course, is the person who really has spearheaded this because he came last Thursday, walked the streets with the people, and people begging him saying please do not give money to those people. We don't trust them. They won't spend it on us.
And of course, protesters they have been saying that for months, many for years, that the government has not directed money towards them. But now Emmanuel Macron when he said I'll give a conference -- they had a conference on Sunday, he said very clearly this will be all be routed through the UN INGOs and local partners on the ground so that they (INAUDIBLE) will know where every penny goes.
The government was angry about that at the time, but of course, there isn't really a different (ph) government anymore. A caretaker government is just going to be there for emergency measure. So it's only really the President Michael Aoun who angry about the situation.
But the reality is, in the last few days on the ground, I've been looking around. I was at Ground Zero. I've been walking on the street and watching the cleanup operations. The authorities have not raised a finger to these young civilian volunteers (INAUDIBLE) walking around being supported by these rescue teams coming in internationally.
And they're actually, those relationships were already being made and one thing with Lebanon is that because so many aid organizations are based here already, to work on Syria, to work on Iraq, they're in a fairly good position to get on the Lebanon situation moving very quickly, because they have all that stuff on the ground. They understand the situation here, they have local partners they need to work with and so they can get that moving pretty quickly.
If it does work successfully that the money goes straight into those local partners on the ground, it's likely that that aid will get to people a lot sooner and people will be able to start rebuilding their lives without having to wait for government red tape and without worrying that not all the money will go where it's supposed to be delivered.
VAUSE: One of the estimates I have read is $15 billion to rebuild Beirut. That seems incredibly low balling. At the moment it looks like it will be a lot more than that. But whatever the number is, whatever the dollar amount is where does it come from? Because you know, we're in the midst of a global recession, traditional donors are tapped out so who pays and if no one does, what happens?
MOLANA-ALLEN: You know, this is exactly the problem. This big conference on Sunday, which everyone logged into and some of the biggest, you know, the biggest donor countries in the world and France is more traditionally one of Lebanon's biggest allies. And this was done straight after when the mood is still really there to help these people. And they're all suffering and there are still people trapped under rubble. You know, that's when they are likely to be able raise the most money.
They still only raised $300 million which doesn't even come close to what's necessary to try and rebuild the city. And as you say, amid the pandemic, even before this, Lebanon was asking the IMF for money and they were struggling because so many different countries around the world are asking for money. So the likelihood that they will get all the money they need right now is very, very low.
We're seeing Lebanese ex pats around the world raising money as well and they can at least (INAUDIBLE) to do so and try and send as much money as possible into the country.
[01:39:55]
MOLANA-ALLEN: But the likelihood is there will be this initial cash injection as you see so often in this disaster situations where money is sent in, and they help people on the ground effectively to find shelter and get food and medical care in the immediate aftermath of the disaster.
But after that, actually getting the funding is going to be difficult particularly if there is not government in place that international (INAUDIBLE) feel they can work successfully with. So what remains to be seen is whether any kind of political change is going to be achieved with Hassan Diab's government stepping down. At the moment it's likely the cabinet has been looking now at all candidates, he will again see the old politicians are shocked, the ones that have empowered is one of those responding (ph), the likelihood they will reform Lebanon, in a way that international donors feel is functional is unlikely (ph). VAUSE: Misery upon misery. Leila Molana-Allen in Beirut, thank you.
Coming up here on CNN NEWSROOM, playing politics with the postal service. Donald Trump continues to bash mail-in voting while Democrats accuse his administration of sabotage. We'll explain in a moment.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I will tell you who's meddling in our election. The Democrats are meddling by wanting and insisting on sending mail-in ballots with this corruption all over the place.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: For those who are playing along at home, that's probably his unsubstantiated claim number 18,000 and something by President Trump since his inauguration. He also alleged without proof that mail-in ballots lead to widespread voter fraud.
Democrats are openly accusing the Trump administration of trying to sabotage the postal service. Slowing down deliveries during a pandemic. And now during this pandemic, mail-in ballots might actually save lives.
CNN's Pete Muntean has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The postal service slogan, might be "we deliver" but is not what reality appears to be,
NICK CASSELLI, POSTAL WORKER UNION, PHILAPDELPHIA: We are having trucks leave our building with zero mail in the truck.
MUNTEAN: For Nick Casselli who heads the Postal Worker Union in Philadelphia, the mail is moving too slow.
CASSELLI: My union reps, you know, they call me throughout the night, in the morning saying Nick, the mail is all over the place. We are just not getting it out.
MUNTEAN: In 35 years with the United States Postal Service, Casselli says he has never seen issues this severe. The new changes have Democrats worried that slow mail could slow mail-in ballots, crucial in an election year overshadowed by the pandemic.
CASSELLI: We are not providing the service that we provided 24/7 before Mr. DeJoy was appointed to Postmaster-General.
MUNTEAN: In June, President Trump appointed long-time supporter Louis DeJoy to head the Postal Service, the first Postmaster General in two decades with no postal experience.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Will you be able to assure Americans -- MUNTEAN: It is his newly-implemented changes, like eliminating
overtime and ending extra trips by carriers that Casselli says are causing delays nationwide.
In Baltimore, people waited two hours in hopes of getting their mail that never showed up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm waiting on unemployment.
KASANDRA PEROS, BALTIMORE RESIDENT: A card and it's just not showing up.
Yes, it should be here today but it should have been here a week ago too, so I don't really know.
[01:45:04]
MUNTEAN: Mail delays have also been reported from Minneapolis to North Carolina and in Philadelphia.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of them were bills, and then they're going to charge you late charges.
JAMES MAYO, PHILADELPHIA RESIDENT: We have missed six collection days in the last four weeks, which means they are not delivering, they are not collecting. So that's a problem.
Medicines are not being delivered. Bills aren't going out in the mail.
MUNTEAN: James Mayo says the problem got so bad that he called his congressman. And he is not the only one.
REP. DWIGHT EVANS (D), PENNSYLVANIA: People who are calling us are raising concerns about the mail system.
MUNTEAN: House Democrat Dwight Evans and 80 other members of Congress wrote DeJoy demanding the postal service not reduce mail delivery hours. DeJoy denies that any intentional slowdown is taking place.
LOUIS DEJOY, U.S. POSTMASTER-GENERAL: Despite any assertions to the contrary, we are not slowing down election mail or any other mail.
MUNTEAN: Postal carriers live by the motto, "Neither rain nor snow." Now the concern is politics will keep those like James Mayo waiting on the mail.
MAYO: Both sides of the aisle will need to look at this. We need to fund the postal service properly so that these guys can go back to work.
MUNTEAN: Even in spite of all this President Trump continues to support DeJoy's changes. In a new interview, he calls mail-in voting a catastrophe even though the American Postal Workers Union says the only real catastrophe is the squeeze being put on the postal service. DeJoy is set to face a congressional hearing and answer to these mail delays but not until September 18. Pete Muntean, CNN -- Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Meantime the Trump administration insisting that additional unemployment benefits will be ready in most states within the next two weeks. That's despite Congress failing to agree on a stimulus plan to extend the enhanced benefits.
TRUMP: We just had a meeting with the governors and they were very anxious to get money for the people in their states. And if they, depending on the state, we have the right to do what we want to do. We can terminate the 25 percent or we don't have to do that.
So we will see what it is. It depends on the individual state. But a lot of money will be going to a lot of people very quickly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The President's executive order calls for unemployment Americans to receive an extra $400 a week. $300 would come from the federal government, the other $100 would come from the states.
But the President said it's possible states could pay nothing, the governor just has to ask and no one really knows how any of this will actually work.
Kodak's transition from photography icon to pharmaceuticals may now be on hold. The Trump administration is pulling back a $765 million dollar loan while regulators investigate alleged insider trading. Kodak's stock shut up 2,700 percent when the loan was announced about a month ago but it fell sharply on Monday because the loan was pulled.
CNN's Eleni Giokos joins us live from Johannesburg this hour. Ok, so we're looking at these allegations of insider trading. What about the level of transparency to all these deals now under the Defense Production Act?
ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly right. I mean it was so interesting. It's sort of this come back kid. As you say, it's a legacy company in cameras as well as (INAUDIBLE) and getting a shot in that arm through that $765 million loan.
And it was through the Defense Production Act. And when the announcement was made, many people were questioning how did Kodak get this deal? Are they equipped to strongly pivot into pharmaceuticals that would be producing key ingredients to fight Covid-19? And again, transparency issues were discussed over that time.
For the Trump administration, it was a really important deal because it would mean that it would minimize the reliance on importations from the likes of China and India and now the White House on the back of these allegations of wrongdoing and potential insider trading saying that they're holding back on the loan.
Take a listen to what the press secretary said yesterday. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAYLEIGH MCENANY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This president has used the DPA effectively but we're certainly aware of the Kodak allegations and take them seriously.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Would he pull the plugs on that deal?
MCENANY: I'll leave that to the President, but he takes these very seriously. We don't expect that he (ph) would ask to what that investigation finds.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: So it's all about what the investigation will reveal but importantly Peter Navarro, the trade advisor also came out and voiced his disappointment and saying that this definitely tarnishes Kodak as well as the deal and really portends to a series of events leading up to the announcement of the deal.
Now the day before the announcement, we saw the executives and (INAUDIBLE) we see the stock options and that was really interesting because if you see the timing here, that is what the Securities and Exchange Commission will be looking at.
You had access to the information, did you see a tip to other brokerage firms that saw the stock price rise sharply, and who benefits it ultimately?
[01:49:50]
GIOKOS: The volume traded on the stock as well, really vital. A week before the announcement we saw an average volume of around 80,000 shares (ph) a day, the day before it spiked to 1.6 million shares.
If you take a look at the graph here, I mean it tells a really interesting story. But this deal is going to be absolutely vital for Kodak and its survival down the line. And the Securities and Exchange Commission will be investigating who had access to the information, who benefited, who sold after the fact. And remember, a couple of days after, we saw Kodak share price rising by almost 3,000 percent.
We're talking big numbers here. We're talking massive increases on stock prices. Someone of course, has benefited immensely. So this is going to be a (AUDIO GAP) one to watch, enormous ramifications for Kodak, John, and the optics here right now did not look very promising.
VAUSE: Yes, someone made out like a bandit, I guess. I guess we'll find out if it was legal or illegal or how it all played out. It wasn't me.
Eleni Giokos in Johannesburg, thank you.
Still to come though, stranded in China for six but now they're back home safe proving sometimes you really can rely on the kindness of strangers.
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VAUSE: So with a phone, laptop, some ingenuity, a dogged determination, a man in Canada managed to do what the South African government could not. That was to get dozens of South Africans on a flight home from China. They've been stranded for months because of the pandemic.
Here's CNN's David McKenzie with details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Two South Africans abroad, one stranded in China because of the COVID-19 travel ban, the other starting a new life in Canada.
CARMEN JOHANNIE, STRANTED SOUTH AFRICAN: When he sent out a message, he said that anybody stuck in China, anybody stuck in China needs to contact him, so I sent him an email.
MCKENZIE: Brought together by that first message and Carmen Johannie's unshakable determination to get home.
JOHANNIE: All we had to hear for five months was be patient, be patient and that's the hardest thing you can say to someone.
TERTIUS MYBURGH, MAPLE AVIATION: It's me, me alone and my phone.
MCKENZIE: Tertius Myburgh seemed an unlikely savior. Sitting at the dining room table in Canada with barely enough credit on his phone, pulling off a rescue mission that South Africa's national carrier said was impossible.
MYBURGH: I was bombarded and emails and it would be from people that are stuck and people are running out of money. People say (INAUDIBLE) and it honestly felt as if they were forgotten.
JOHANNIE: It was a team effort thing that we did. And then I just realized like how many people are actually relying on us. And the pressure was hectic.
MCKENZIE: Johannie quickly became aviation veteran Myburgh's vital link to more than 100 South African stranded for months in China and their anxious families back home.
His plan: lease Air Zimbabwe's only functioning airplane and crew and rely on Zimbabwean diplomats to get enormously complex COVID-19 clearances.
JOHANNIE: I called him my guardian angel from day one, because that's literally what he was. Literally, the only man that can help us. So yes -- sorry.
MCKENZIE: It's a very emotional journey you've bene on.
JOHANNIE: It was very hard. It was extremely hard. It was something that I never wish on anybody.
[01:54:48]
MCKENZIE: The 30-year-old 767 that once carried Robert Mugabe routing from Harare to Johannesburg, to Bangkok to change a proper (ph) engine, then to Kuala Lumpur to pick up stranded Chinese seafarers, to help offset the cost. Then on to Guangzhou (ph), back to KL, to Wuhan, then to Johannesburg.
And it seems that things that could go wrong, did go wrong.
JOHANNIE: 100 percent. 100 percent. So yes, it's a matter that you look back and you laugh and you say you actually -- you can't believe it, but it was real.
MYBURGH: To find space for this engine and to get it to route all the way out of Harare, and eventually get into Bangkok, that was a mission on its own. How can I say to them listen, it's becoming too difficult? How can I go and sit down in the garden and have a whiskey and a barbecue because I made it easy for myself but all these people are stuck there?
MCKENZIE: The South African government told us they are legally obliged to assist all citizens who are distressed abroad. It did eventually help with passenger permissions for arrival in South Africa and the group's quarantine at this hotel.
JOHANNIE: The TV room and then we've got a beautiful kitchenette.
There has been times where like reality has hit and then there's other times where it just feels like it's not real.
MCKENZIE: But Johannie knows here five-month ordeal is finally over, thanks to one man.
David McKenzie, CNN -- Johannesburg.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: A much needed distraction to the people of Wuhan, China who have dealt with devastating floods and a six-week-long lockdown and a pandemic as well. Hundreds of colorful drones took off from a basketball court on Sunday rising a quarter of a kilometer into the air.
The synchronized light shows spelled out messages of hope, one reading Wuhan has awakened and the future will be better. Drawings also recreated some of Wuhan's well-known landmarks.
And from Israel, the ultimate, ultimate face mask. A $1.5 million for a Chinese billionaire who's living in the U.S. Now, the mask has more than 3,600 diamonds, weighs 280 grams. The client said he wanted the most expensive mask in the world. So to be sure the jeweler added just a few extra carats to be on the safe side. No word on how easy it is to breathe through that much bling.
Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause.
The news continues next with Robyn Curnow after a short break.
You're watching CNN.
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