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Two Officers Shot In Compton, California; U.S. Wildfires Kill At Least 28, Scorch Nearly Five Million Acres; Tropical Storm Sally To Become Hurricane By Monday Evening; Coronavirus Vaccine Trials; Red Cross: Migrants And Refugees Least Protected From COVID-19; Afghan Government And Taliban To Discuss Ceasefire; British "Rage Mums" Angered By U.K.'s Response To COVID-19. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired September 13, 2020 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Devastating wildfires across the western United States. Almost 100 fires burning, scorching nearly 5 million acres and being blamed for at least 28 deaths.
Plus, on the other side of the country, Sally is churning in the Gulf of Mexico. Evacuations are underway as the tropical storm is expected to strengthen into a hurricane before hitting the U.S. Coast.
Also this hour, thousands rally for President Trump's reelection in Nevada, as he, again, says a COVID vaccine will be ready soon, despite experts saying we are still a ways off.
Live from CNN headquarters in Atlanta, welcome, I'm Natalie Allen and you're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
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ALLEN: And thank you so much for joining me.
Our top stories: we're following two developing stories. The record wildfires in the western U.S. and fears of a hurricane in the South.
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ALLEN (voice-over): This is one of nearly 100 fires burning up and down the West Coast. They have scorched a staggering 4.7 million acres; for our international viewers, that's around 2 million hectares. At least 28 people are confirmed dead in these fires and dozens of others remain missing.
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ALLEN: On the other side of the country, the governor of Louisiana declaring a state of emergency as tropical storm Sally churns in the Gulf. Sally is expected to strengthen into a hurricane by the time it makes landfall, around the Louisiana-Mississippi border on Tuesday morning. We'll get more on that story in just a few moments. But right now we want to talk about those fires. One of the states
getting hit very hard by the fires is Oregon. CNN's Camila Bernal has our report.
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CAMILA BERNAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The flames here are still out of control and at the moment we're at 0 percent containment. On top of that, you add the smoke. The very thick, heavy smoke that makes it hard to breathe and hard to see.
But it makes it hard for the firefighters as well because, in some instances, they're not able to see the fire line. They're also not able to fight these fires in the air because of the conditions right now.
Governor Brown telling us that this is really the worst air quality in the world. And she does say that there is still a number of people who are reported to be missing. So that is the big concern at the moment.
For the people who live in this area, they're, of course, so worried about their homes. We spoke to one woman who lives up the road, Ms. Brown, and she says she has a camera up in her home and she has been looking at her camera day and night.
But she says she can't sleep. She is thankful because she is one of the only ones who knows that her house is still OK. But she says her friends and neighbors already know that, when they come back, there will be nothing left.
CAROLEE BROWN, MARION COUNTY RESIDENT: It's unreal. You don't really -- you can't really fathom what is going on, you know. You think this isn't really happening. But guess we better be prepared. You take what you think and just get out.
BERNAL: And firefighters say the smoke and the air conditions will remain the same for the next couple of days. They say we may get some pockets of clean air but, for the most part, this smoke is going to stay here in the state.
They also say the fires are so massive and so large that they will not be put out completely until they begin to see some rain in the fall. So this firefight here is just beginning -- reporting in Marion County, Camila Bernal, CNN.
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ALLEN: From Oregon, now to California, where some of the worst fires ever in state history are burning. CNN's Paul Vercammen is near Los Angeles.
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PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: With this Bobcat fire, so many of the fires out West, just not too far from a suburban neighborhood, fire will be burning in the canyons. And this is a threat. Listen to this crackling.
So what firefighters are keeping their eyes on is whether or not these flames start to send up sparks and embers that could be landing on these neighborhoods or if the wind shifts and it pushes the fires back onto the neighborhoods.
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VERCAMMEN: In Los Angeles County alone, along a huge swath of the foothills, you have evacuation warnings for the residents just because of this fire, because it's so absolutely stubborn and difficult for them to get out.
In fact, the chief of the forest service here telling me that, usually on a fire like this, he would have up to 1,500 firefighters battling the fire, which has burned around 30,000 acres. But he just doesn't have the personnel. So they only have 500 people fighting this fire right now -- reporting from Los Angeles County, I'm Paul Vercammen.
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ALLEN: Firefighters are battling more than 2 dozen major fires in California. In some places where the flames have now passed, people are beginning to return to check on their homes and their animals. Brad Thomas is one of those people.
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ALLEN (voice-over): He recorded this video here of where his home once stood. It's gone. The flames had destroyed thousands of homes and structures and businesses in California alone. Brad and his wife, Kelly, are just two of the many people who have lost nearly everything in these fires.
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ALLEN: And they are with us now. Brad and Kelly Thomas are on the phone.
And I want to thank you both for talking with us at such a -- just a terrible time in your lives and, first of all, say I'm so very sorry for what you have lost.
And first up, how are you both doing right now?
KELLY THOMAS, FIRE EVACUEE: We've definitely been better. But morale is high.
ALLEN: That's wonderful to hear.
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ALLEN: Yes, go ahead, Brad.
BRAD THOMAS, FIRE EVACUEE: It's been a rough few days, that's for sure. ALLEN: I know that at first you were staying in a Walmart parking lot
when you escaped. Now you're in the back yard of friends, camping, and you're getting support from people.
But I have to ask you, Brad, I know, Kelly, you got out first; the order to evacuate came on Tuesday.
But, Brad, you stayed behind. Tell us about that.
B. THOMAS: Well, I felt it was more important to try to save my house than try to remove my belongings. And my best friend stayed with me and, you know, we stayed until the end. We stayed, dowsing my house with water trailer-load after water trailer-load, shooting the water into my house to try to save it, with sprinklers going on top of my house.
And, you know, we stayed until the last minute until we saw about a 60-foot wall of fire, of orange, just coming upon us. And as far as to the left and right as you could look, till it started just heating your face.
That's when we left. And we made it down the street. The firefighters had pulled out of our area and they said Berry Creek has been compromised. You know, we wanted to hang out a little longer. The propane tanks started to blow up.
My friends, two dogs were still on my road at my neighbor's house. Two of my best friends rode back into the fire to rescue those dogs. And they did.
We made it out and then we became stuck. We got cut off and we had to ride it out, kind of hopscotching around from the flames and dodging, you know, where the fire was all night, with the fire department because we were all stuck together.
ALLEN: I can't --
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ALLEN: Go ahead.
B. THOMAS: It was the most insane thing I've ever seen, I imagine it was what war is like, with propane tanks blowing every few seconds and just literally a wall of death coming upon you, you know, of the orange flames. And, you know, it's just unreal, it's unreal. ALLEN: We see here the video of the constant flames and cannot imagine
what people go through, like the two of you, trying to get out of that. Thank goodness you got out of there alive. And I know you had lots of animals as well and I hope that they're OK. I'm sure you're worried about them.
And, Kelly, I was reading that, is this correct, that your insurance had just been canceled before this fire?
K. THOMAS: Yes, well, when we paid off our house, it was no longer -- what is that called, honey, where -- (CROSSTALK)
B. THOMAS: In California, as soon as you pay off your home loan, if you don't have a very wide road in a rural area that's considered a high-fire risk zone, they drop you as soon as your home loan is, you know, you've paid off your house.
And that was us. We had some neighbors that encroached the road.
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B. THOMAS: And the road was not up to the insurance company's standards. And, yes, we were dropped. We had a very good policy. And, unfortunately, it was gone with that. And we were uninsurable.
And we lost everything. I own a by-the-hour tractor business. I lost my excavator. You've seen the video; my Bobcat survived. But I lost my excavator, I lost other key things to my business. We lost our house, we lost our food truck business.
We just got a food truck paid off and we were about to open that business for our community, which has no food that you can come and buy, you know. And we literally lost everything in a matter of a few hours.
ALLEN: Just unbelievable. I cannot fathom that. And I looked this up before I saw that I was going to be interviewing you and the area you live is just so beautiful.
B. THOMAS: It was.
ALLEN: Stunning. Yes.
B. THOMAS: It was very beautiful.
ALLEN: So I want to ask Kelly. I know you're probably just so thankful to be alive.
But can you go back to this area?
Would you feel confident rebuilding again if you're able to?
K. THOMAS: Absolutely. I love our home. And I'm anxious to get back. It's probably not going to look very pretty for a few years. But you know, it will grow back, just like we'll all rebuild.
ALLEN: All right, are you fearful, though, with the wildfires that we're seeing in California and the longer burning seasons that are happening and the heat, that it's going to happen again?
K. THOMAS: Not, not anytime in the next, you know, say, 10 years. We're pretty scorched up there. So it's kind of hard for a wildfire to hit us like it did again, at least it's going to take some time.
B. THOMAS: I'd like to touch on that one. Our animals did make it, due to a very good clearing on me and my friend's part. We created a four- acre pasture for our animals. And they made it because of the clearing we did for them and all our animals did survive.
You know, as far as Berry Creek, you know, this fire, it started in the lightning complex that hit sometime in mid-August. And, you know, the fire, the Berry fire's been burning since around August 17th.
Nothing was done to save our community. No fire lines were put in. And I understand that all of California had lightning fires and, you know, all of California's burning. But nothing was done. They let this fire burn and they let it burn and burn because it was in rural forest. But nothing was done to save our community.
ALLEN: That's got to hurt even more.
B. THOMAS: Yes, it does, until the last minute. The fire alert went off at, I believe, somewhere, it was after noon, right after 12:00, you know, pm. And I had -- the morning I had went (sic) up to my property that's in Upper Berry Creek and I had looked at the smoke coming.
I used Google Maps and Cal Fire maps to figure out where the fire line was and dropped a pin on my property and drug (sic) their measuring, measuring tape device to the fire line that Cal Fire showed on their map and it was 8.9 miles away.
ALLEN: Oh, my goodness.
B. THOMAS: So there was no warning for -- I knew the fire was going to get us about three hours before the first warning went out.
ALLEN: Well, you got out --
(CROSSTALK)
ALLEN: That's crazy. And your resourcefulness in trying to figure that out is laudable for sure. And we're so glad that you're OK and your animals are OK. I'm reading here, I love it that you're animal lovers. I think you have six dogs, a bird, a zebra and some cats. So I'm glad they're all OK.
Thank you so much for talking with us. We'll be thinking of you so much and your neighbors as well. Brad Thomas, Kelly Thomas, we wish you all the best.
K. THOMAS: Thank you, Natalie.
B. THOMAS: Thank you very much.
ALLEN: So hard to fathom what people are going through.
Now we want to turn to another situation on the other side of this country. Residents of the U.S. Gulf Coast are bracing for the impact of tropical storm Sally.
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ALLEN: It's expected to become a hurricane by Monday evening and make landfall Tuesday along the Mississippi-Louisiana coast. CNN's Britt Conway has more about it.
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BRITT CONWAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is Sally, a record- breaking storm taking aim at the Gulf Coast. The city of New Orleans is getting ready.
MAYOR LATOYA CANTRELL (D), NEW ORLEANS, LA: Everyone needs to take this very seriously.
CONWAY (voice-over): And for good reason. The state is still recovering from hurricane Laura. New Orleans is still helping out about 12,000 evacuees from that storm all while trying to get ready for another storm heading their way.
Louisiana governor John Bel Edwards has declared a state of emergency and is asking people to make sure they check their emergency supply kits. Sally is the 18th named storm on record. The last time we saw the 18th storm this early was the same year Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005.
CANTRELL: I am issuing a mandatory evacuation order for residents outside of our levee protection system.
CONWAY (voice-over): Sally is expected to get stronger over the weekend, making landfall on the Gulf Coast early next week. Meteorologist Allison Chinchar says the real concern is how much this storm is expected to slow down.
ALLISON CHINCHAR, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Notice that cone on the backside begins to get rather large. It's not because they don't know where it's going to go. It's because, once it gets close to the coastline, it's anticipated to slow incredibly.
CONWAY (voice-over): And when it does, it could dump more than a foot of rain along the Gulf Coast -- I'm Brit Conway reporting.
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ALLEN: All right, now we want to tell you about another story developing in Southern California. Police are searching for a gunman who brazenly shot two Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department officers. It happened in the city of Compton, about 16 miles south of L.A. Saturday night, outside a train station.
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CAPTAIN KENT WEGENER, L.A. COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: The suspect approached them from behind as the deputies were facing southbound in their patrol vehicle.
The suspect came from the north. He walked along the passenger side of the car. He acted as if he was going to walk past the car and made a left turn directly toward the car, raised a pistol and fired several rounds inside of the vehicle, striking both of the sheriff's deputies.
The suspect then fled on foot northbound from the shooting scene and out of view.
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ALLEN: Now I want to show you video of that shooting -- it is disturbing -- that appears to be from a surveillance camera.
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ALLEN (voice-over): You can see the man approach the car and fire. Both officers were hit several times. They've had surgery. They are both in critical condition. One is a 31-year-old mother. The other is 24.
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ALLEN: U.S. president Donald Trump, who has been running for reelection on a law and order platform, reposted the video on Twitter, warning, quote, "Animals that must be hit hard!"
The coronavirus pandemic is far from over but that's not stopping the president from acting as if the danger is already gone. Next, Donald Trump embracing packed, maskless crowds.
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ALLEN: U.S. president Donald Trump's latest campaign rally is certain to alarm medical experts. Despite the threat from coronavirus, huge crowds packed together in Nevada Saturday night. The flouting of COVID-19 guidelines comes as the president is being criticized for downplaying the pandemic. Our Boris Sanchez is there in Nevada.
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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Largely a return to form for President Trump in Nevada on Saturday night, the president speaking to a huge crowd of supporters at a rally in a way that we haven't seen since March and the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.
The crowd rushing to fill the venue, at one point, grabbing chairs that had been separated, part of social distancing guidelines, and rearranging them as they wished. A massive, sizable crowd. The president noticing and apparently getting angry at the media for what he says is an underreporting of the number of supporters that were here. Keep in mind the venue had to change for this event. It was originally
going to be held at the Reno Tahoe airport but that was scrapped because there is a mandate in the state of Nevada banning gatherings groups of people 50 people or more.
The president says the campaign got around that by effectively calling this a political protest, a peaceful protest. The president railing against Democrats, repeatedly going after Joe Biden, insulting his intelligence, his cognitive abilities as well.
The president also trying to make the case that he is the person to lead the country through economic rebound because of the crushing shutdown as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
The president saying the country is turning the corner, despite what we've heard from a number of health experts within his own administration. President Trump, again returning to form, speaking candidly to his supporters and they ate it up -- Boris Sanchez, CNN, traveling with the president in Minden, Nevada.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: In Washington, a federal official tells CNN, a Trump appointee pushed to change reports by the Centers for Disease Control tracking the coronavirus response. The official says the CDC believed the appointee, a communications worker with the Department of Health and Human Services, did not want the reports to contradict the president.
Mr. Trump admits downplaying the pandemic. An HHS spokesperson says the department wants to make sure science-based data and not, quote, "ulterior deep-state motives," end quote, drives coronavirus policy. Trials for Oxford's coronavirus vaccine have picked up again but only
in the United Kingdom. The phase 3 trials were put on hold a few days ago after a volunteer got an unexplained illness. CNN's Scott McLean is in London right now following this.
And talk about the scope of this trial so we can appreciate how big it is. We know that one person fell ill but it's now moving forward.
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you're right. This trial is massive. We're talking about 50,000 people who have gotten the vaccine or the placebo -- excuse me -- 18,000 have gotten the vaccine or placebo. The goal is to put it in 50,000 arms.
There are volunteers from around the world as well. The person who had the unexplained illness was from the U.K. But the trial was paused around the world.
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MCLEAN: So the independent review board, which looks at unexplained illness, adverse reactions to the vaccine, has given the go-ahead for the trial to continue and so has the U.K.'s health regulator.
But in order to continue in other countries, the company, AstraZeneca, needs to get the permission of the health regulator in each country they are operating in and there are a lot of them.
We know that earlier this week the director of the National Institutes of Health in the U.S. had told the Senate, a Senate committee, that it was "a spinal cord problem," quote-unquote.
But the company the same day denied that it was a condition called transverse myelitis, which is a rare spinal cord condition, and said that there would be no definitive diagnosis until there are more tests.
But generally, when a trial has to be put on hold, the first thing they have to do is figure out whether the person had the vaccine or placebo. And if it was the vaccine, they obviously have to figure out whether it was a coincidence or something caused by the vaccine.
So the company came out and said there was another pause in July because of an undiagnosed case of multiple sclerosis that they deemed to not be related to the vaccine in any way.
And one other thing, the CEO of the company said this week he believes there could still be a vaccine by the end of the year, despite this setback.
ALLEN: All right, we'll wait and see. That is promising and everyone's waiting to see when that will happen. Thanks so much, Scott, for that latest report. Scott McLean for us.
A familiar sight is back in France. Coming up, we are live in Paris, for the return of the Yellow Vest protests.
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ALLEN: Welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world, I'm Natalie Allen. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
They're not all wearing yellow but the Yellow Vest protests are back in France.
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ALLEN (voice-over): And, as can you see, clashes with police, well, they're back, too. The demonstrators marched again through Paris on Saturday, after a COVID-19 hiatus. Police used tear gas and detained hundreds of people for questioning.
The protests started in 2018 over a plan to hike fuel prices but they have expanded in their scope.
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ALLEN: For the latest, CNN's Melissa Bell is live in Paris for us.
And, Melissa, hello to you.
Why now?
What is it that brought people back on the streets?
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is, as you say, a movement that will be two years old when we get to the month of November. What we've seen over the course of the last year, Natalie, it has really lost some of the momentum it had in the beginning and had caused such difficulty to French authorities as they tried to contain it.
We had regularly in the first year, very big demonstrations every Saturday that rocked the French capital and really caused a great deal of damage. For so many months they've been unable to demonstrate because of the COVID-19 lockdowns.
People are back to school and people get back on the street to demonstrate the unions after the summer break. This was the first big call to arms once again for the Yellow Vests. So an important test to see,, with the COVID restrictions and after all this time, whether they would manage to get any of that momentum back.
Really disappointing for the Yellow Vests; 8,500 turned out nationwide; in Paris, 2,500. That is pretty small compared to the massive demonstrations I was telling you about moments ago.
The police are taking no chances. They deployed up to 5,000 police men in Paris. They were determined not to let the two demonstrations that had been allowed in Paris get anywhere near the Champs-Elysees.
You saw also on some of those pictures very violent scenes at some points. Tear gas was used to push them back and the Yellow Vests made their displeasure plain by attacking cars, fairly violent scenes. The Yellow Vests will be quite disappointed, Natalie.
ALLEN: Melissa Bell following it for us from Paris, thank you.
Police in Greece clashed with migrants protesting a new camp plan for the island of Lesbos. They fired tear gas to disperse the protesters. For the fourth straight day, migrants have been protesting along the main road where a new camp is expected to be built.
A massive fire earlier this week destroyed the old migrant camp on Lesbos, the largest camp in Greece.
And speaking of migrant camps, a new report from the international Red Cross says migrants and refugees are the least protected and most affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
A spokesperson says the coronavirus has been catastrophic for migrants. They partially attribute that to the fact that migrants are disproportionately affected by border closures. They have a higher risk of detention and little access to basic health services. Joining me now from Geneva, Switzerland, to talk more about it is
Jagan Chapagain, the secretary general of the International Federation of the Red Cross.
Thanks so much for coming on, sir.
JAGAN CHAPAGAIN, SECRETARY GENERAL, INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE RED CROSS: Thank you for having me.
ALLEN: Let's talk about the situation, a record number of refugees exist in camps around the world. How does this pandemic threaten their already marginalized lives?
CHAPAGAIN: As you mentioned in the introduction, they are disproportionately affected. They live in very crowded conditions. In many places they don't have proper legal status.
Of course the access to health care facilities are minimal. And, you know, they always have to live in fear at this time. That absolutely creates a condition for the COVID-19 virus to spread.
As you can see, they cannot maintain physical distancing. The handwashing facilities are not available. This is very, very difficult. In this very overcrowded condition, it's extremely difficult for these migrants and the people to access basic care. If they're not protected, as you see, the pandemic spreads so fast.
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CHAPAGAIN: If they are not protected we will not be able to protect everyone else. That's why it's so important that the people living in these horrendous conditions are given access to health care and provided right information (ph) and also provided basic legal access, basic legal provisions. Otherwise, you know, their conditions will continue to remain terrible.
ALLEN: What do you know about the spread of COVID-19 throughout refugee camps?
Can you provide us an example of a region or country where people are living that have seen a large number of cases?
CHAPAGAIN: Yes, you know, we just did a quick study in Turkey. As you know, they're hosting millions of refugees from Syria and many other countries. And what we found was, of course, they have been part of the population and the country has been affected in quite big manner.
But the main thing what we found was, the effect on them is disproportionately high. Almost 70 percent have lost their basic source of income. They're already living in meager resources. If they lose 70 percent of their basic income, of course, that makes it even more difficult.
We have seen in Bangladesh at Cox's Bazar, where we have almost a million people living in a very crowded condition with a very poor hygienic condition. We have also seen the COVID spreading there. And it's very difficult for the local health authorities and the
government and organizations like ourselves to provide support in this very, very congested environment. And, of course, they are living in, you just saw the clip from Greece for example.
The Moria camp which was gutted by fire was meant to host only 3,000 people. There were 13,000 people living there and 4,000 of them were children and 400 of them were unaccompanied children.
So we can find examples, basically everywhere in the world. You can see 3,000 people stranded in the border between Colombia and Venezuela (ph). They want to return to Venezuela (ph). But of course, because the political environment and the challenges at the border, they cannot return back.
So basically, everywhere in the world, we find that these people are most affected but least protected.
ALLEN: Are countries doing their part to help support your effort?
CHAPAGAIN: I think, you know, we have been getting a huge support to our COVID-19 pandemic, you know, globally, we have launched an appeal of around 2.3 billion to work in 192 countries. So generally, we have been getting very good support, I must say, financially.
But there are many of these pockets of vulnerabilities, like the migrants, like the refugees. I believe the governments have to do much more than they have been doing at the moment, (INAUDIBLE) stigma and discrimination that can happen to these populations.
I think the governments have to step up their efforts. Like the situation in Greece, I think there has to be a much stronger (INAUDIBLE) among the European countries and no leave the burden on the (INAUDIBLE) region (ph).
ALLEN: They've been through so much already and it's time that they get the help they need.
CHAPAGAIN: Absolutely.
ALLEN: Especially at this perilous time. Jagan Chapagain, thank you, secretary-general of the International Federation of the Red Cross, thank you so much for your time and for what you're doing.
CHAPAGAIN: Thank you for having me, Natalie.
ALLEN: Sure thing.
For the second time in less than a month, Israel and a Gulf Arab state have agreed to normalize relations.
How did it happen?
What does it mean?
We'll have a live report from Jerusalem just ahead here. (MUSIC PLAYING)
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ALLEN: The Afghan government and the Taliban will reportedly discuss a cease-fire during peace talks on Sunday. The U.S. secretary of state attended the opening ceremony for those talks on Saturday in Doha.
The Taliban are demanding that U.S. troops leave the country but an Afghan official tells Turkish media that certain security conditions will have to be met for that to happen.
And now, another major development in the Middle East. The announcement that Israel and the tiny Gulf nation of Bahrain will form a new partnership. This is the second time in less than a month that an Arab Gulf state has agreed to establish full diplomatic relations with Israel.
Israel and the United Arab Emirates are set to sign their historic dial on Tuesday in Washington. But there are plenty of detractors to these new agreements. Let's bring in CNN's Oren Liebermann in Jerusalem to get more perspective on what's behind them and what led up to them -- Oren.
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And that will be a four-way meeting at the White House on Tuesday. It will be the U.S. and Israel as well as the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain joining in with this announcement less than a month after the Israel-UAE agreement.
A big foreign policy achievement for President Trump and for Benjamin Netanyahu. Both Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates are key allies of the U.S. in the region and part of an anti-Iran Sunni Gulf alliance.
Both looking to cash in on benefitting from economy and military and it brings them closer to the White House and Trump administration or, in two months, if it's not a Trump administration to a Biden administration. So a win-win both for the UAE and Bahrain.
Iran, Turkey have criticize the deal as well as the Palestinians, who were furious about the move, calling it a betrayal of the Jerusalem, of Aqsa and the Palestinian cause.
So what moves do they have?
It doesn't look like they have that much leverage to change the situation. Meanwhile, President Trump said the Palestinians are welcome to get along. Of course it would have to be in the Trump administration's vision for peace or, it seems, the White House is more than happy to sideline them -- Natalie.
ALLEN: As you say, they'll be finalizing the UAE arrangement in Washington. We'll be watching for that. Oren Liebermann in Jerusalem, thank you. We'll be right back.
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ALLEN: We have a new term for you and it's called she-cession. It's happening during this pandemic, pointing out that the hardest hit, when it comes to layoffs, have been women. One reason why many have lost their jobs in the United Kingdom is simply because they're moms.
They're now taking to the streets and becoming a political force as CNN's Salma Abdelaziz shows us.
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SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN PRODUCER (voice-over): With every passing day of the pandemic, new problems are thrown at mothers.
The latest for this London community: the closure of a key bridge, which cuts off access to the local school and vital transport links. Michelle Coulter says she was forced to turn down work so she can spend hours getting her daughters to and from school. It felt like the last straw.
MICHELLE COULTER, MOTHER AND PROTESTER: I'm not political. I'm just absolutely outraged at what this country is turning into. They can do better, people can do better than this.
ABDELAZIZ: Are you the only mom that's feeling this way?
COULTER: No, this is -- I'm constantly contacted by groups of mothers, who have had enough. Through coronavirus, it's been women, it's been mothers who have taken it all.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): Julia Llewellyn Smith, who organized this protest, says many mothers here are mad at so much more than broken bridges. She calls them "rage mums."
JULIA LLEWELLYN SMITH, MOTHER AND PROTESTER: A rage mum is a mum like me, who has responsibility for the children and, over the last year, we have just felt betrayed in every way by our government. No one is supporting us and we're sick and tired.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): "Rage mom" is a term originally used by Senator Patty Murray, to describe the overworked and underappreciated mothers turning their anger into activism.
[03:55:00]
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): And mothers in the U.K. are under the same pressures. Frustrated and fed up, after months of lockdown, home schooling and balancing work, after worrying about a pandemic, these mothers aren't just angry, they're a political force.
As of May, British moms were 1.5 times more likely than fathers to have lost their jobs or quit due to the pandemic, according to a British think tank. And among those furloughed, 65 percent say lack of child care was the reason.
SMITH: We're British women and women in the U.S. We're sharing exactly the same challenges. We're in charge of everything. We are sisters across the Atlantic. And we are angry on both sides.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): It's not a movement. But the sentiment is growing.
COULTER: It does seem like there's a tipping point and women are getting angry. Mothers are getting angry and not frightened to speak up and make their voices heard.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): And with an ongoing pandemic and an economic crisis, there's a lot to shout about -- Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: Thank you for watching this hour, I'm Natalie Allen, I'll be right back with another hour, our top stories, right after this.
