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Labor Day Weekend Could Be Super Spreader; Report: Trump Called Killed U.S. Soldiers "Suckers" and "Losers"; Schools Reopen in England; Research: GI Symptoms More Common in Children with COVID-19; California Acts to Protect 4 Million Renters; Search Resumes for Beirut Survivors; Search Suspended for Missing Livestock Cargo Ship, Survivors; China Begins Reopening Movie Theaters. Aired 5-6a ET
Aired September 05, 2020 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN HOST (voice-over): It's Labor Day weekend in the United States and officials are urging people to take the pandemic seriously, hoping the mistakes of holiday weekends past can be avoided.
Also, ahead, outrage after reports that Mr. Trump made disparaging remarks about U.S. soldiers who had been killed or captured. How President Trump is reacting.
And as kids return to school, a new study suggests that children may show different symptoms if they have COVID-19. We'll tell you what to look out for.
Live from CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, welcome to you, our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber and this is CNN NEWSROOM.
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BRUNHUBER: The U.S. is waking up to a long holiday weekend. And how Americans behave during it could impact public health for weeks to come.
Labor Day is on Monday. The holiday is usually celebrated communally with friends and loved ones gathering for food and outdoor fun. Health experts worry it could lead to a surge of new infections, which is exactly what happened after previous holidays.
And Americans are traveling this weekend. Transportation security officials say they screened more people at airports Thursday than at any point since the coronavirus pandemic began. The nation's top infectious disease expert says people can have fun and be safe.
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DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: We don't want to see a repeat of the surges that we have seen following other holiday weekends. That doesn't mean you have to lock yourself in a room and not enjoy what hopefully will be a nice weekend for people. But there are certain fundamental things that you can do and still enjoy yourself.
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BRUNHUBER: Even so, a new model published by the University of Washington suggests the U.S. won't see relief from the pandemic anytime soon. In fact, the model suggests there could be even more deaths in the coming months than previously expected. CNN's Nick Watt has that.
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NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There is COVID fatigue across the country, including Pennsylvania Avenue.
TRUMP: We are rounding the curve.
WATT (voice-over): But the worst could still be to come. Another 220,000-plus Americans could be killed by this virus by January 1st, according to one well-known model, which ominously has underestimated death tolls in the past. They now say 410,000 total by the end of the year.
DR. ABDUL EL-SAYED, EPIDEMIOLOGIST AND HEALTH EXPERT: They also tell us that from that 410,000 number, if we were to ease our behaviors, that number goes up to nearly 620,000 deaths.
WATT (voice-over): But if masks were mandated across the country, they say we could save more than 120,000 lives. Yet the president won't mandate them, neither will Georgia's governor.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I personally don't believe the statewide mask mandate is the way to go.
WATT (voice-over): Or Missouri's governor.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We implore him to listen to the health care workers in the state of Missouri and order a statewide mask mandate.
We are the Show Me State but we are really, what would be a better name for us is the Make Me State.
WATT (voice-over): Now our immediate hurdle, the long Labor Day weekend, the stay safe message targeted at the young.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of us, when we were your age, thought we were invincible. You can't pass this on.
WATT (voice-over): And you can get very sick; 31-year-old Jenny Ruelas caught coverage, lost her father to the virus.
JENNY RUELAS, DAUGHTER OF COVID-19 VICTIM: He was in a lot of pain. And that's the face I will never forget.
WATT (voice-over): She no longer tests positive but still struggles to breathe.
RUELAS: I have to walk around with an oxygen can.
WATT: Here in the U.S., young people clearly a big issue. The state of Missouri saying 30 percent of their new cases are in the age group 18 to 24.
Up in Boston, Northeastern University just suspended 11 students for allegedly gathering together in a hotel room.
And over on this side of the country, San Diego State just suspended all in-person teaching immediately after another 120 confirmed cases -- Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.
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BRUNHUBER: Now those staggering new projections that more than double the current U.S. coronavirus death toll make the race for a vaccine even more urgent.
On Friday, President Trump continued to push the idea that a vaccine could be ready in time for the presidential election in November. And even his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, suggested the president will announce and even hype a vaccine in the run-up to Election Day. But medical experts don't think that's realistic.
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RICHARD HORTON, "THE LANCET": We can't cut corners. There will not be a vaccine available for public use by the end of October. President Trump is simply wrong about that. And I have no understanding why he is saying it because his advisers will surely be telling him that's just impossible.
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BRUNHUBER: Now one development that could slow the vaccine race -- U.S. drugmakers say they're concerned that critical phase 3 trials aren't using enough minorities as test subjects. This past week, only 26 percent of Moderna's enrollment were Black or Latino.
Experts say they need many more minority participants. So Moderna said it plans to slow enrollment in order to recruit more.
Meanwhile, a Russian vaccine candidate is showing promising results after its first two phases of testing. As Matthew Chance reports, while that's encouraging, health experts want to see it undergo even more testing.
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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Russia, the battle against COVID-19, it seems, is being fought with real soldiers. This is the country's defense minister getting a vaccine.
Then on state TV, Moscow's mayor tells the Russian president he's just been vaccinated, too.
"Did temperature rise a concern," President Putin asks.
"None," says the mayor, "just a slight headache and a little fatigue."
The intended message: Russia's vaccine, called Sputnik V, is safe. Even top officials trust although the Kremlin won't confirm to CNN if Putin himself has taken the plunge. But there is now some reason for Russia's confidence.
First, data from phase 1 and 2 clinical trials published in "The Lancet" medical journal suggests the Russian vaccine produced no serious adverse side effects. It seems to be safe, in other words.
And it generated an antibody response, according to "The Lancet," in all the test participants, admittedly only 76 people. But Russian scientists say that's more than enough to prove their vaccine works and works well.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The high level of cell immunity suggests there are great prospects for developing memory cells. This tells us that it will not just create high protective at the moment of immunization but also that this protective impact will last for a very long time.
CHANCE (voice-over): Russia has been one of the world's worst affected countries in the COVID-19 pandemic, recording more than a million cases nationwide. It also has a track record of creating vaccines, famously against polio in the 1950s; more recently in 2016 to battle the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa.
But there's been a cautious reception to Russia's COVID-19 vaccine: lack of published data until now and approval for use before human trials were complete raised concerns about its safety and effectiveness.
Even now with phase 1 and 2 trials published, "The Lancet" warns the studies are too small and that larger phase 3 trials are needed to know how useful the vaccine will really be.
RICHARD HORTON, "THE LANCET": what we can see is that this new Russian vaccine, the results are encouraging but it would be premature, highly premature to think this is the basis for a successful vaccine for public use.
CHANCE (voice-over): That's not what the Russians want to hear. They named their vaccine Sputnik V after the Soviet-era satellite, which shocked the world by orbiting Earth, a global first and a symbol of Russian scientific prowess. The vaccine, it seems, is not quite there yet -- Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.
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BRUNHUBER: U.S. president Donald Trump is denouncing a newly published article that alleges he privately disparaged America's war dead as "losers" and "suckers." Mr. Trump called "The Atlantic" magazine piece a hoax.
But the editor-in-chief defended his reporting and says it reveals the president doesn't understand the U.S. military.
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JEFFREY GOLDBERG, "THE ATLANTIC": So what you see, in all of these comments, going all the way back to 2015, when he disparaged John McCain for getting captured.
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GOLDBERG: What you see is a lack of understanding about why soldiers serve and what constitutes heroism.
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BRUNHUBER: Melania Trump also denounced the article as not true and wrote on Twitter, this is not journalism, this is activism.
Several current and former White House staffers are also denying the story. One of them, though, has been curiously silent so far, even though Mr. Trump suggested he might have been behind it. Details now from CNN's Kaitlan Collins.
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KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tonight President Trump is forcefully denying a report that he referred to fallen soldiers as "losers and suckers" and questioned why anyone would volunteer to serve in the military.
TRUMP: It was a totally fake story. And that was confirmed by many people who were actually there.
COLLINS (voice-over): His defense in the Oval Office today comes after he angrily denied the report last night while shouting over the engines of Air Force One.
TRUMP: For somebody to say the things that they say I said is a total lie. It's fake news. It's a disgrace.
COLLINS (voice-over): Citing four unnamed sources, "The Atlantic" claims that Trump canceled a planned visit to a Paris cemetery where American soldiers killed in World War I are buried because he didn't care about honoring the war dead, asking senior staff, "Why should I go to that cemetery?
It's filled with losers."
Trump insisted the trip was scrapped because of weather.
TRUMP: The helicopter could not fly. The reason it couldn't fly because it was raining about as hard as I've ever seen. And on top of that, it was very, very foggy. COLLINS (voice-over): The president said he called his wife, Melania,
to express his displeasure about not being able to attend, though the first lady was on the trip with him.
The article also claims that, when John McCain died, Trump said, quote, "We're not going to support that loser's funeral," and demanded to know why they had lowered the flags for "an effing loser."
Trump denied that claim Thursday night.
TRUMP: I disagreed with John McCain but I still respected him. And I had to approve his funeral as president.
COLLINS (voice-over): But the president did not acknowledge that it took him two days to lower the flags after McCain died or how he attacked him publicly for years.
TRUMP: He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured, OK.
COLLINS (voice-over): "The Atlantic" report also claims Trump asked staff not to include wounded veterans at an event because he feared people would feel uncomfortable, reportedly saying, quote, "Nobody wants to see that."
The pushback from Trump's allies has been sharp and several aides who traveled with him to Paris said it isn't true, including his former press secretary and other top staffers.
JOE BIDEN (D-DE), FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It is absolutely damnable. It is a disgrace.
COLLINS (voice-over): Earlier today, an angry Joe Biden denounced President Trump over the reported comments.
BIDEN: If these statements are true, the president should humbly apologize to every Gold Star mother and father and every Blue Star family that he's denigrated and insulted.
Who the heck does he think he is?
COLLINS (voice-over): Biden's son, Beau, served in Iraq.
BIDEN: Won the Bronze Star and other commendations. He wasn't a sucker.
COLLINS (voice-over): And at times today he became emotional.
BIDEN: If it's true, and based on the things he said, I believe the article's true, I'd ask you all the rhetorical question, how do you feel?
How would you feel if you had a kid in Afghanistan right now?
COLLINS (voice-over): During a rally at an airport hangar in Pennsylvania last night, the president mocked Biden for wearing a mask so often.
TRUMP: Did you ever see a man that likes a mask as much as him?
COLLINS (voice-over): Biden responded today.
BIDEN: It's hard to respond to something so idiotic.
COLLINS: The president later held a press briefing where he once again denied these reports but singled out John Kelly, his former chief of staff, who was on that trip with the president to Paris in November of 2018 and has not weighed in on the story, whether to confirm it or deny it.
The president though took that opportunity to attack John Kelly and disparage him, as he is being accused of disparaging members of the military, current and former.
The president went after John Kelly, saying he was not up to the task of being chief of staff and that he was exhausted and could not handle the pressures of the job, even though John Kelly is a retired four- star Marine general, led Southern Command and had a son who died in Afghanistan.
The president said, despite those credentials, he could not live up to the pressure of working in his West Wing -- Kaitlan Collins, CNN, the White House.
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BRUNHUBER: School's back in session in the U.K. and many parents are, well, happy to see it.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think things need to start getting back to something a little bit more normal. So I think school's a good place to start.
BRUNHUBER (voice-over): We'll look at the precautions being taken to keep learning safe.
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BRUNHUBER: Also, I'll speak to the author of new research on the kinds of symptoms most commonly seen among children who have COVID-19 and they may not be what you think. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: The U.S. has started a new school year within the last couple of weeks. And while clearly it's a back-to-school season like no other, colleges and universities are struggling with the outbreak and reporting thousands of infections.
There have been more than 33,000 cases among students and staff at institutions of higher learning and that number is expected to grow.
And schools are back in England this week. Thousands of pupils returned to their classrooms, where social distancing and hygiene measures are mandatory. CNN's Scott McLean visited one school to see how things are working out.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Morning.
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's been five months since most British children were inside a classroom. They've got all the jitters of the first day back but not because of the coronavirus.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just because we haven't seen anyone in ages, different teacher and different classroom.
MCLEAN (voice-over): Inside this elementary school on the south coast of England, it's hardly education as usual.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Miss Millage, can I get you to spin your laptop around so that we can see the children --
MCLEAN (voice-over): Morning assemblies are done virtually, hands are washed often. Classes are kept separate from one another, both inside and at recess.
And at lunchtime, they put on a clinic in social distancing.
MCLEAN: At this school, all of the windows and doors are left open all the time. This isn't a legal requirement. The government only recommended good respiratory hygiene. And this is the best the school could come up with.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it gets kind of cold sometimes, especially when you sat right next to the door.
MCLEAN (voice-over): For most kids, it's still better than wearing a mask.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're very uncomfortable.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just don't like wearing them all day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because when you're wearing a mask, with glasses, it steams up your glasses.
MCLEAN (voice-over): The government isn't mandating masks for younger students but, even for older ones, it's up to each school to make their own policy.
MCLEAN: It's hard to get a good education with a mask on your face.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is. You can't hear very well; you can't help children to develop their speaking and listening if you can't see their faces.
MCLEAN (voice-over): The kids told us their online education during lockdown was OK but nothing compared to physically being in a classroom. Despite rising COVID-19 infection rates across the U.K., parents are mostly unfazed about sending their kids back.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Fine. We're quite relaxed about everything.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think things need to start getting back to something a little bit more normal. So I think school's a good place to start.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, I'm pretty healthy.
MCLEAN (voice-over): But in Scotland, where schools have been open for nearly a month already, COVID-related absences have more than tripled, according to government figures. Still, British prime minister Boris Johnson said his government has I moral duty to get kids back in school.
MCLEAN: What you think is a bigger threat, missing out on months of school or the virus itself?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The statistics would say that the threat is missing out on school, that children need to be back in school for their own emotional well-being, for their mental health, for their physical health and for their learning.
MCLEAN (voice-over): Scott McLean, CNN, near Portsmouth, England.
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BRUNHUBER: And as children return to school, it's crucial for parents to know what coronavirus symptoms to watch for. Researchers at Queen's University in Belfast, Northern Ireland, looked at the way the disease manifests in children and it turns out, while children's symptoms can be different.
We're joined by the lead author of the new research. Dr. Tom Waterfield is a researcher in experimental medicine at Queen's University Belfast. He joins us from Temple Patrick near Belfast in Northern Ireland.
Thank you so much for joining us, Doctor. So we know, for adults, you know, the main symptoms of COVID -- fever, coughing, loss of smell. Tell us about what it comes to children.
DR. TOM WATERFIELD, QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY BELFAST: Yes. So what we're finding with children is that at first they have quite a range of symptoms. So it's a lot of data coming through, not just our study, but just the last couple of days, a big European study and another large U.K. study with big ranges of symptoms.
But in particular, gastrointestinal symptoms. So we found in our study that they were quite predictive of previous COVID infections in children. And actually looking through the literature that's been well reported (INAUDIBLE) the parents (INAUDIBLE) diarrhea and vomiting in particular. That could be a COVID infection in a child.
BRUNHUBER: So obviously in the context of schools reopening then, what exactly is your message to teachers and parents, exactly what should they watch out for?
WATERFIELD: So I think there's a couple of things then. One would be actually something like a runny nose, sneezing, you know, just a stuffy nose which is common in the winter, shouldn't be worrying. It shouldn't trigger concerns about COVID unless the other symptoms are listed.
But diarrhea and vomiting, we need to be careful around. We can't get testing. In the U.K. it's not tested for. In America it is based on the CDC symptoms. So it's not clear whether there's testing.
But if you're not able to get a test, you should be observing the 48 hours clear. Keeping them at home for the 48 hours clear from diarrhea and vomiting, keep from school at an absolute minimum.
BRUNHUBER: Should the official list of symptoms be updated and changed to reflect this?
WATERFIELD: Well, so in the U.S., the CDC have those symptoms listed. I was looking at the symptom (INAUDIBLE) which doesn't actually (INAUDIBLE). It doesn't give (INAUDIBLE) the website but it does have them listed; the World Health Organization does, too.
I think it should trigger a test. I would like to see it trigger a test. Most children are asymptomatic. But with schools opening, if we want to pick up transmission and understand what's happening in schools (INAUDIBLE) identify as many of the symptomatic cases as possible is important.
And it looks like diarrhea and vomiting were in a large number of cases without causing a huge spike in testing.
BRUNHUBER: Now the purpose of your study was to find out more about children and coronavirus antibodies.
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BRUNHUBER: What did you find out and what does that suggest?
WATERFIELD: So the study was U.K.-wide, looking at children and their health care workers particularly, looking at antibodies as a marker of previous infection. I think what we found that's interesting is we found antibodies were distributed equally across all age ranges, which is something that's -- has some implications for things going forward.
So there has been some suggestion that the prevalence of antibodies is lower in younger children and this may mean that those children are then unable to contract the infection or are protected in some way.
(INAUDIBLE) children and children with health care workers, we found that they were evenly split. So one possibility is that this was a group of children that couldn't shield. Their parents are bringing the infection home from the hospital. And actually it is possible that younger children still mount the same kind of antibody response to the infection as older children or even adults.
BRUNHUBER: So what does that mean in practical terms?
WATERFIELD: It means in practical terms that we can't assume that young children don't get infected. They may be asymptomatic, very unlikely to need to go to the hospital. Most young children recover very, very quickly.
But I think they are still able to be infected and to produce antibodies which may indicate future immunity in the same way as older children and adults. So I think in a nutshell, we've had this suggestion that young children may be unable to contract the infection.
Actually they probably are if they're exposed. It was just during the first part of the pandemic young children were essentially shielded.
BRUNHUBER: All right. Listen, some very important information there for parents. Thank you very much, Dr. Tom Waterfield, from Queen's University Belfast. Appreciate it.
WATERFIELD: Thank you.
BRUNHUBER: Well, coming up, millions of American renters face eviction during the pandemic but at the last moment they're getting a reprieve. We'll talk to a lawmaker who acted fast to help them. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to you, our viewers in the United States, Canada and around the world. Welcome back.
Well, it is a holiday weekend in the U.S. and that could spell coronavirus trouble. Health experts worry Labor Day weekend could mean a surge of new COVID-19 cases, which is exactly what happened after previous holiday weekends.
Still, the U.S. president is boasting about the country's progress against the disease, saying the country is turning a corner, even though the numbers tell a different story.
Millions of Americans who have lost their jobs during the pandemic are now facing the possibility they'll lose their homes, as well. And with special federal unemployment benefits now gone, many can't afford their rent.
The CDC has ordered a temporary halt to many evictions across the country until the end of this year. And Dr. Anthony Fauci said evicting people is a public health threat.
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DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: When you evict somebody and homeless, we know how vulnerable the homeless are to so many things, including things like COVID infection of the coronavirus.
So I mean, the one thing we don't want to see is a lot of people who would not have been homeless to now be homeless.
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BRUNHUBER: Under a new California law passed just this week, tenants in that state who pay at least 25 percent of their rent from September through January will be protected from eviction.
That stopped as many as 4 million renters from losing their homes. The law also protects some rental owners from having their property foreclosed if their tenants can't pay the rent.
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BRUNHUBER: David Chiu is an California assembly member representing San Francisco. He joins me now.
Thank you for being with us. Homelessness is already a huge problem in California. The pandemic making things so much worse. You must hear the most heartbreaking stories from constituents.
DAVID CHIU, CALIFORNIA ASSEMBLY MEMBER, SAN FRANCISCO: We really do. Before this pandemic, California and the rest of the country was in the midst of the most intense housing crisis in recent modern history. Clearly, with the pandemic and recession, it's been much more intensified.
BRUNHUBER: Now the new eviction moratorium bill, you were the key figure behind that.
It's a compromised bill. Many housing activists and tenant groups say it doesn't go far enough.
Do you agree?
CHIU: It is a compromise. It's fair to say that both sides of the discussion weren't happy. I certainly wish there were stronger tenant protections. But the alternative of not doing anything is far worse. We're trying to avoid a catastrophic, massive wave of evictions that was looming this week if this bill had not passed.
BRUNHUBER: How do you think the bill will help? CHIU: In recent months, as is the case all over the country, there are millions of folks that can't pay rent. We told everyone to shelter in place. During that process, so many lost their jobs, depleted their savings, gone into debt. And many states have had temporary eviction bans.
But they've all been lifted, including the temporary one put in place by California. It meant that without any change in the law, we had millions that would owe all past due rent or face an eviction. And we needed to do everything we could to prevent a wave of mass evictions.
It would be catastrophic for homelessness and COVID-19 spread. It would turn this recession into a great depression.
BRUNHUBER: The federal programs have ended. Still no deal on coronavirus relief.
What do you make of the impasse at the national level that's prevented more relief for those hardest hit?
Should your representative in Congress, Nancy Pelosi, be doing more to compromise and get a deal done here?
CHIU: Well, Speaker Pelosi is doing everything she can to get more financial assistance for struggling Americans, particularly to struggling tenants and landlords. Unfortunately, President Trump and the Trump administration and his Republican allies have not agreed to the financial assistance.
States, we can't solve this on our own. We're struggling with our own budgets. And unlike the federal government, we can't print money.
We need the federal government to step in with assistance and relief. But in the meantime, in California, we worked on our own solution to make sure that we are not going to see a massive wave of evictions. But in the coming months, we're going to need help from the federal government.
BRUNHUBER: Then we heard vice president Mike Pence, say we're not going to allow Democrats in Congress to use a coronavirus relief bill to bail out poorly run Democratic states.
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BRUNHUBER: How would you respond to the vice president?
CHIU: This is not about Republicans or Democrats. We have tenants in every state in this country who are truly struggling, for a reason not within their control, folks who lost their jobs because we told them to stay at home during this time period.
In California, we addressed this by saying, if you had an economic hardship due to COVID, you shouldn't be immediately evicted. But this is not going to be the case in every state of this country. We need the federal government to just step up. This is not a partisan issue.
BRUNHUBER: All right. We appreciate you coming on to talk about this, assembly member David Chiu. Thank you for your time.
CHIU: Of course. Thanks for having me, Kim.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Now we want to bring you a heartwarming update. So earlier this week, CNN's Kyung Lah reported on a family hitting rock bottom. But since then, the community has come together to help.
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ISRAEL RODRIGUEZ SENIOR., FATHER: I lost my job. So it took me like a month to get another job. This is my check but I ain't making it with $300. It's literally $300. It's mainly the kids' clothes because me and her just wear the same clothes almost every day. We don't have nobody that can come help us out right now. Nobody. We've got ourselves. Me and the kids and her, we -- that's it.
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BRUNHUBER: So after this story in Houston, Texas, ran on a local news channel, many called and emailed the station from across the country, looking for ways to help the family and others like them. So the county's constable office set up a GoFundMe page.
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CONSTABLE ALAN ROSEN, HARRIS COUNTY PRECINCT 1: If y'all need inspiration right now, go look at that GoFundMe account, go look at this story because it inspires people. I want to make sure that he goes someplace where he and his family can thrive. And to go back to a place that may not be conducive to them thriving is a problem for me.
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BRUNHUBER: Now in about a day, the page has raised more than $101,000, something the father whose story we profiled days ago before is ecstatic about.
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RODRIGUEZ: All the help that I have gotten, this is the best thing that could ever happen to me. And I wish other people could reach out to other people to help out more. I got a better future coming up. It's time to change because this is a major, major, major change for me. Like I wasn't expecting all the help. No, I wasn't expecting it.
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BRUNHUBER: Jacob Blake, a Black man shot seven times in the back by a white police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin, made his first court appearance Friday. The charges against Blake are unrelated to the shooting incident, which left him paralyzed in the hospital. CNN crime and justice correspondent Shimon Prokupecz has details from Kenosha, Wisconsin.
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SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE PRODUCER: We got our first look at Jacob Blake since the shooting, since video of him being shot in the back by police.
This was during a court appearance from his previous domestic incident case. He appeared from his hospital bed, dressed in a shirt and tie. It was a short briefing that was held before a judge, here in Kenosha County.
That case was adjourned and he's due back in court in September. This is all, as we await more information from investigators here. State investigators were still looking into the shooting and the circumstances surrounding the decision.
The state investigators have up to 30 days to reach their conclusions and then those findings are given to the district attorney, who will ultimately decide if any of the officers will face charges -- Shimon Prokupecz, CNN, Kenosha, Wisconsin.
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BRUNHUBER: Now an update after Shimon filed that report. Blake's next court date was changed to October. And his trial is set to begin in November.
Well, these here are images coming to us from Portland, Oregon, where police clashed with protesters a couple of hours ago in an area of downtown after declaring an unlawful assembly and warning them to leave.
Meanwhile, police now confirm they were trying to arrest Michael Reinoehl on second degree murder charges Thursday night. That's when he was killed in a confrontation with U.S. Marshals in Washington state.
They say he was wanted in the shooting death of right-wing supporter Aaron Jay Danielson during a protest in Portland last week. The U.S. attorney general called Reinoehl "a violent agitator" and said the streets are safer without him.
These pictures are from surveillance video taken shortly before the shooting. You can see Danielson and another man on the sidewalk. Reinoehl seems to conceal himself around the side of a building as they pass. The two men were on opposite sides of the political divide and the protests.
Well, the people of Lebanon are hoping for a miracle.
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BRUNHUBER: Rescuers are scouring debris for possible survivors after detecting signs of life in the rubble of Beirut's deadly blast. We will go there for the very latest live. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Dangerous waves and strong winds from an approaching typhoon have forced the Japanese Coast Guard to suspend its search for dozens of missing sailors. They were on a cargo ship that got caught in another typhoon on Wednesday. CNN's Will Ripley's following developments from Hong Kong.
Will, what's the latest?
WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is, frankly, a dangerous time to be out on the waters off Japan. This is typhoon season. There have been three in the last two weeks.
And the typhoon that is now causing search efforts to be suspended by the Japanese Coast Guard could be record-breaking in terms of the catastrophic conditions. Conditions that one surviving crew member claims caused a massive cargo ship with nearly 6,000 cows on board to capsize.
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RIPLEY (voice-over): A dramatic rescue off the coast of Japan. This Japanese Coast Guard vessel, desperately tries to reach a man in the water, battling rough seas, getting closer and closer, as the man bobs up and down like a cork.
Finally, they're able to get him on board. They bring him onto a Coast Guard ship, warmed him with a blanket and give him water.
He's a 45-year-old chief officer of the Gulf Livestock 1, a cargo ship that went missing after a distress call early Wednesday near Southern Japan. The ship was carrying 43 crew members and almost 6,000 cows, some seen dead, floating in the sea.
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RIPLEY (voice-over): The ship left Napier, New Zealand, on August 14th, headed for China, a journey that was supposed to take 17 days. At the time of its disappearance, it was being pounded by a powerful storm, Typhoon Maysak, the same strength as a category 4 hurricane, with winds more than 200 kilometers or 125 miles an hour.
The chief officer told authorities the ship's engine failed. The vessel was hit by a wave and capsized.
On Friday, 30-year-old a Filipino crew member was also found clutching onto a ripped life raft 2 kilometers from Potocari (ph) Island. Rescuers discovered a third man floating unconscious. He was later pronounced dead.
The wife of the ship's chief engineer pleaded for officials to continue searching for the rest of the missing crew. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I would like to call on the
Philippine government to give us legitimate information and strengthen their cooperation with the ongoing search and rescue operations.
RIPLEY (voice-over): New Zealand has since announces it is temporarily suspending exports of live cattle as it investigates what happened during the ship's journey. The export of livestock has been controversial. Animal rights group have long called for the practice to be banned.
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RIPLEY: The reason why some groups are calling for that to be banned is because the conditions on the high seas in some of the ships are really dangerous for the animals.
Of course, this boat has disappeared, presumed to have capsized, according to that crew member. But even if the ship makes it to its destination, these are open-air containers. And they're susceptible to crosswinds and all sorts of conditions that you find out there on the high seas.
You can only imagine what it must have like on that ship. And the fact that they've only been able to find -- they've seen some of the cows in the water and have found three crew members, two alive, not looking good, pretty grim at this stage. And they'll try to resume the search whenever weather conditions permit.
BRUNHUBER: All right. We'll be following that story. Thank you so much, CNN's Will Ripley in Hong Kong.
So while that search has been suspended, a desperate rescue effort is still underway right now in the devastated city of Beirut, Lebanon.
Almost 200 people were killed when an explosion at a warehouse tore through the city's port on August 4th. But in the past few hours, sensors have again picked up possible signs of breathing in a buried stairwell next to a collapsed building a full month after the blast.
CNN's Tamara Qiblawi is in Beirut,, monitoring the search.
You know, we've had some real emotional ups and downs there. First, yesterday hope, then it seemed to fade. Today more cause for optimism. What's the latest?
TAMARA QIBLAWI, CNN SENIOR DIGITAL MIDDLE EAST PRODUCER: Hi, Kim. Indeed, it has been an emotional roller coaster. This is day three of the search. Today Chilean rescuers are saying that there is more hope today than there was yesterday.
That's because they are now perceiving again -- they are now detecting again signs of life from their sensors. And this is emanating from the rubble that you see behind me right now.
The search and rescue effort has presented a glimmer of hope for the people of Lebanon. This has been a month that has been full of devastation, of loss, of hopelessness.
And the search and rescue effort that was prompted by a dog, a dog belonging to a Chilean rescue team, which is well-known for different globally known rescue efforts, including the Haitian earthquake.
That dog prompted a search and rescue for a possible survivor, the last possible survivor of the Beirut collapse. And so you have people glued to their TV screens hoping for good news today.
BRUNHUBER: Absolutely. They seem to be pushing people back there at the scene there. Tamara Qiblawi, we appreciate your live report from Beirut. We appreciate it.
Well, it's showtime again at movie theaters in China. But thanks to the COVID pandemic, the big-screen experience won't have big crowds. And you can forget about popcorn and soft drinks. That's just ahead on CNN. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Movie theaters in China are reopening after the coronavirus lockdowns. And the big box office attraction is a film that Hollywood hoped would be a blockbuster. But that was before COVID struck, obviously. And as David Culver reports from Beijing, film buffs are in for a different kind of viewing experience.
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DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tickets in hand, moviegoers in Beijing prepare for their brief departure from reality.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I really miss it. Before the pandemic, almost every time there was a good movie, I would go to the theater to watch it.
CULVER (voice-over): She's among the fans here to see Christopher Nolan's anticipated sci-fi thriller, produced by Warner Brothers, which, like CNN, is owned by WarnerMedia.
This is the first major Hollywood theater release in China since COVID-19 outbreak that is expected to attract large audiences.
CULVER: China is allowing theaters, like this one here in Beijing, to reopen at 50 percent capacity. They also have several seats, as you can see, blocked off, allowing for some social distancing.
Once you are here for an actual film, you have to wear masks the whole time. If you say can I at least take it off for some popcorn, it's not an option. Concessions are not being sold.
CULVER (voice-over): "I think it is OK, it's worth it," he says.
China shuttered theaters country wide in late January as the virus spread, only to begin to reopen them with limited capacity and many film reruns in July.
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CULVER: So we're talking about roughly six months of closure.
How devastating is that for the industry here?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: it is definitely very devastating. That means lower investment for future projects, so, that's a pretty worrying trend, not just for this year.
CULVER (voice-over): It comes off what was a $9.2 billion year for China's box office in 2019, up more than 5 percent from the year before that, still less than North America's $11.4 billion according to the Motion Picture Association, but of rapidly narrowing the gap.
Experts expected China to overtake the U.S. and Canada box office sales by this year. That was before the outbreak, of course. Now with the vast majority of theaters back open and customers feeling more comfortable to venture out, China could become the most profitable.
Though there have been controversial cuts from Western films here in the past, including censoring LGBTQ from the Oscar-winning movie, "Bohemian Rhapsody," a Chinese film producer does not believe U.S. filmmakers will self censure only to reach Chinese moviegoers. She thinks producers and studios aim to appeal to a global audience.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think they understand what can or cannot be shown in Chinese theaters.
CULVER (voice-over): "Tenet" made the cut. So, too, Disney's live action adaptation of "Mulan," releasing in Chinese theaters on September 11th. Moviegoers adjusting to this very differently movie watching experience, post outbreak. Perhaps making the escape into another plot all the more alluring -- David Culver, CNN, Beijing.
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BRUNHUBER: That wraps this hour. I'm Kim Brunhuber. For viewers in the U.S. and Canada, "NEW DAY" is ahead. For everyone else, it's "BUSINESS TRAVELLER."
