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President-Elect Backs Nuclear Talks, Rules Out Meeting Biden; U.S., E.U., U.K., & Canada Impose New Sanctions On Belarus; Brazil's COVID-19 Crisis Killing Children At Alarming Rate; Taliban Taking Over Territory in Afghanistan; U.S. Nears 300 Mass Shootings This Year; Hong Kong's 'Apple Daily' May Have to Shut Down. Aired 12-12:45a ET

Aired June 22, 2021 - 00:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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JOHN AVLON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm John Avlon in New York. Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, Iran's hardline, President-Elect sends a message to the United States. He wants the U.S. back in the nuclear deal but has zero interest in meeting with President Joe Biden. Ethiopia holds its first multi-party election in 16 years, a vote overshadowed by war and famine in the country's Tigray region. And the Taliban makes key gains in Afghanistan, just as the United States and its allies prepare to leave the country.

Iran's incoming president backs talks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, but has no plans to meet U.S. President Joe Biden. Ebrahim Raisi held his first news conference in the Iranian and international reporters on Monday. And the hardline judge won the presidential election Friday, just days before sixth round of indirect nuclear talks wrapped up in Vienna. The U.S. State Department spokesman said Iran's election results won't impact negotiations. Another round of talks is expected in the coming days. Fred Pleitgen reports that Raisi he says he's committed to improving relations with neighboring countries, but the U.S. is another story.

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, new President-Elect here of Iran, the hardliner Ebrahim Raisi, he held his first press conference for domestic and international media here in Tehran on Monday. And one of the things that I think surprised many people is that the new incoming administration already does seem to have a very clear formulated idea of foreign policy. It's certainly one that the U.S. won't necessarily like because it really seems as though things are going to be quite tough for the U.S. here in this region with this new administration.

The new President-Elect Ebrahim Raisi was asked whether or not he would ever sit down with President Biden and he flat out said no. I was unable to ask him whether he would at least think about negotiating with the Biden administration and what about a possible expanded nuclear agreement that could also encompass Iran's ballistic missile program. Here's what he had to say.

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PLEITGEN: You've already told us how you feel about a direct meeting with President Biden. But would you be willing to talk to and negotiate with the Biden administration? Would your administration be willing to do that? What do you expect of the Biden administration? And how do you feel about the U.S. proposal for a possible expanded nuclear agreement that would also cover Iran's ballistic missiles and also regional issues as well?

EBRAHIM RAISI, IRANIAN PRESIDENT-ELECT: My serious proposal to the United States government is that is for them to return in an expedient manner through their commitments, and do away with sanctions. In doing so by -- that would prove their sincerity. Regional and missile issues are not up for negotiations.

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PLEITGEN: On the whole, this incoming administration in Iran has vowed what they call an active and dynamic foreign policy. And they say that that foreign policy is, of course, going to be a global one, but it's also going to focus here on the region. One of the other interesting things that Raisi said is that he is not against better relations with Saudi Arabia and continuing the negotiations with Saudi Arabia to try and get those relations back on track. Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Tehran.

AVLON: Karim Sadjadpour is an associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He joins us from Washington with more. Karim, you have an excellent new piece in The Atlantic called Iran Stops Pretending. What do you mean?

KARIM SADJADPOUR, SENIOR ASSOCIATE, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: Thank you for having me on, John. So for decades, Iran has essentially tried to showcase their presidential elections every four years to the global media to advertise the idea that they conduct democratic elections, just as all other democracies do, and the reality is Iran has never been a democracy. They've never really hosted free and open elections, but they have always conducted the -- these close but competitive electoral pageantries.

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And this time around, what they did over the last week was they essentially stopped the pretense of trying to pretend that they're a democracy. They essentially carried out an incredibly close, rigged election, to essentially anoint one man, Ebrahim Raisi to be the country's president. And so this was, by Iranian standards, which have never been free and fair, this was what was agreed just even by Iranian standards.

AVLON: And was that sense of a rigged election you think account for the fact that only 48 percent of the electric turned out which I believe is a historic low even in the context of the Islamic Republic?

SADJADPOUR: Absolutely, you know. None of the candidates had a popular appeal, including the candidate at one, Ebrahim Raisi Abraham. And remember, these numbers, the 48 percent turnout, are the numbers that are provided by the government of Iran. But they can't be corroborated. So, you know, for all we know, those numbers could have, in reality, been much lower.

But, you know, I talked to a lot of people inside the country, and a lot of people said, you know, we want -- we don't want to dignify, this, you know, this close election, but by voting, it wasn't something they wanted to legitimize. So, I think for that reason, you know, you saw very little enthusiasm online among Iranians.

AVLON: Well, and you quote from a NPR interview with a woman on the street, who used rather salty language, which I'll recommend that folks read for themselves, because I don't think we can say it on television. That said, I was struck by the fact that right after Raisi's election, Amnesty International came out and said he should be investigated for crimes against humanity, for his role in mass executions several decades ago, I wonder, not only do you consider him the most hard line, Iranian President in years, but how that particular background as a judge, a hanging judge, creates his worldview.

SADJADPOUR: You know, John, we know at least 5,000 people were executed in Iran in the summer of 1988, in a very short period of time. And, you know, men, women and children, most of them young people, young, idealistic people were part of an Iranian opposition group. And so when you, you know, mass execute at least 5,000 people, that affects, you know, thousands and thousands of families lost, loved ones, people whom they knew, and that, and so for many Iranians, the new president, Raisi, is most associated with these crimes against humanity.

And so, you know, I think, in some ways, the government of Iran, I would argue, has given a gift to their international adversaries, whether the Government of Israel and Saudi Arabia, or Republican Party in the United States who have, for years, been trying to make the case that, you know, Iran is a radical state, human rights abusers, they -- we shouldn't be giving them sanctions relief. And so when the government of Iran is now headed by someone who, you know, Amnesty International says should be internationally prosecuted. Iran, in some ways, has made the job of the arbitrator much easier.

AVLON: So just briefly, before we go, do you think then that the Trump administration's decision to pull out of the nuclear deal actually strengthened the hardliner's hand?

SADJADPOUR: You know, I opposed the Trump pull out of the nuclear deal. But I think oftentimes in Washington, DC, we tend to give ourselves too much credit for our ability to really shape the politics of other countries. And I think in reality, the reason why Ebrahim Raisi was anointed to be Iran's president had much more to do with internal Iranian factors, namely Iran's Supreme Leader, wanting to, you know, essentially empower someone who could be his successor. It had a lot more to do with a (INAUDIBLE) calculation than Donald Trump's actions, I would argue.

AVLON: Karim Sadjadpour, thank you very much for joining us, as always. SADJADPOUR: Thank you, John.

AVLON: Belarus has now been hit with new sanctions as the U.S., the U.K., and the European Union and Canada issued a coordinated response to the government's forced landing of a commercial flight and arrest of an opposition journalist on board. Roman Protasevich, a critic of President Alexander Lukashenko, was on that Ryanair flight last month. But it was diverted to Minsk on its way from Greece to Lithuania.

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He and his companion were both arrested. In a joint statement, the country said, "We are united in our deep concern regarding Lukashenko's regime, continuing attacks on human rights, fundamental freedoms and international law.

Sweden's political future is now up in the air after the Prime Minister lost a no-confidence vote in Parliament. Stefan Lofven has held the office since 2014 after building a fragile minority coalition. He has now a week to decide whether to call a snap election or resign and ask the parliament speaker to find a new government. Lofven lost support of the left party over his plans for rent controls on new apartments. He's the first Swedish Prime Minister to lose a no- confidence vote put forth by opposition members of parliament.

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STEFAN LOFVEN, SWEDISH PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Regardless of what happens now, my party and I, with others, will together be available to shoulder the responsibility to lead the country. My primary focus has always been, is, and will always be to do what is best for Sweden.

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AVLON: The Prime Minister says Sweden's general election in September of next year will continue as planned.

Voters in France will go to the polls again on Sunday after poor showings for President Emmanuel Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen's parties. Her National Rally party won just 19 percent of the vote in the first round of regional contests. That's lower than expected. Mr. Macron's party won just under 11 percent. Political analysts say it's hard to draw any conclusions about next year's presidential race since an unprecedented 68 percent of the population didn't vote.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I came to have lunch, and I wasn't aware that there were elections today. I don't think I will go and vote.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I really don't know who to vote for. Maybe I'll abstain. But, well, normally I don't believe in abstaining, because it's not taken into account. But there's not much choice. That's why I'm hesitating.

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AVLON: Turnout hasn't been this low since 1958. COVID-19 restrictions kept public campaigning to a minimum and analysts say many voters chose the warm summery weather to meet family and friends over visits to the polls.

Votes are now being countered in Ethiopia's first multi-party election in 16 years, one that's already been marred by an opposition boycott, jailed opponents, and the ongoing war in Tigray. Many who were able to vote on Monday waited long lines for hours, but in some areas, voting is delayed until September. For those in the Tigray region devastated by war and a humanitarian crisis, they don't know when they'll be able to vote. No date has been set. CNN's Larry Madowo has he latest on Ethiopia's potentially pivotal and controversial election.

LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Election Day in Ethiopia was largely peaceful with no major incidents as reported around the country. Voting was extended to 9:00 p.m. because of logistical challenges in some polling stations. And it's exactly 10 p.m. There are still people waiting to vote at this polling station. We're in Addis Ababa. There's a couple of thousand people still to vote. We have seen people waiting five, six hours to cast their ballot. They have been largely patient, which is extraordinary, because at some point, there was rain, and that did not deter people from getting their voices heard.

There are 47 political parties contesting this election. We asked one of the major opposition candidates why he decided to contest anyway when two major opposition parties boycotted it, especially with some opposition leaders in jail.

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BERHANU NEGA, ETHIOPIAN OPPOSING LEADER: We believe the most important thing about this election is that it is credible. No matter who wins, no matter how many votes one gets, no matter how many parliamentary seats one wins, at the end of the day, the whole country would win if the election is considered credible. And at the end of September, we will have an elected, legitimate government.

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MADOWO: The National Elections Board of Ethiopia has promised to have preliminary results within five days, but the actual final count could take longer. This is a massive logistical nightmare with 48,000 or so polling stations, 37 million registered voters. And in the 20 percent of constituents not participating in this election, they will have their own election in early September. But people see this process flawed as it may be as a first step in midwifing a democratic transition in Ethiopia, and then the constitutional reform and everything as this country needs to come together. Larry Madowo, CNN, Addis Ababa.

AVLON: Terrence Lyons is an Associate Professor of Conflict Resolution at George Mason University. He joins us from Washington with more. Terrence, thank you very much for joining us. This is the first elections in Ethiopia in 16 years. Do you consider this or expect this to be a free and fair election?

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TERRENCE LYONS, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF CONFLICT RESOLUTION, GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY: Well, Ethiopia has had elections in the past, but they've largely been non-competitive. It's been a single-party authoritarian system. In 2016, there was a period of reform with Prime Minister Abbey and this is the first election under his time in office. I don't think, rather than trying to define it as free and fair, I think the first thing to note is that it was not particularly competitive.

The several major opposition groups boycotted, there's civil war in the northern Tigray region so there's no voting on going on in that region. And then something like almost -- I think it's the total is like a fourth of the seats are not being competed in the elections that took place on the 21st, either because of security concerns or logistical concerns. And so it's a very disappointing election in that way -- in those ways.

AVLON: So multi-party but not competitive, and not particularly free and fair by most standards. The -- I think the most fascinating aspect of what's happening in Ethiopia right now is the arc of Prime Minister Abiy, who you mentioned, who won the Nobel Peace Prize two years ago, who was really seen as a reformer, promising more democracy. Now his country, you say, is embroiled in a civil war, famine is on the rise. How do you account for this arc of his career and its downward trajectory in terms of all the hopes that were invested in him once?

LYONS: He really did -- in 2016, he came into power at another moment of great crisis in Ethiopia, and was a real -- a new type of politician, younger, more charismatic, seemingly committed to democracy, he invited in political exiles and opposition movements and opened up a fair significant amount of political space.

However, the regime, the government, Abiy's government, has been considerably weaker than the past government. And conflict has been breaking out, not just in the Tigray region, but in other places as well. The most populous region in Ethiopia is the Oromo region, and the western part of the Oromo region has been seeing a protracted conflict for quite some time now. And so this is a considerable number of people who are internally displaced, who are fleeing their homes.

And so while 2018 seemed to offer such incredible -- such an incredible period of optimism, unfortunately, the transition has not delivered on many of those initial hopes.

AVLON: To put it mildly, from a Nobel Peace Prize winner to someone presiding over a civil war scene and has done reporting on some of the massacres among the Tigrays and, of course, the all too familiar specter of famine back, I wonder what you think, if anything, can be done to tamper those humanitarian crises that are going on right now as a professor of conflict resolution? LYONS: Yes, I'm going to let me make a -- make an argument about, well, first of all, the necessity of getting humanitarian assistance to systems to the people who are in desperate need of food cannot be anything other than the number one priority. But this famine does take place in a larger political context. And what I think is important about the elections that took place on the 21st is that is to ask the question, are they more likely to lead to a period of more fragmentation, more polarization, more division, or might they lead to a time, to a period, where there can be a new political dispensation, a broader, more participatory political process, a new roadmap, if you will, to re-launch the transition.

I don't know which of those it will be. I think we had to get past the election in order to test that proposition. And that's what I'll be looking at in the coming weeks and months with regard to Ethiopia.

AVLON: Terrence Lyons, thank you very much for joining us on CNN.

LYONS: Thank you.

AVLON: No cheering, no shouting, and masks required at all times. Olympic organizers lay down strict rules for fans allowed to attend the Summer Games, that's just ahead. Plus COVID-19 cases are surging in Brazil right now. And it's claiming the lives of children there at an alarming rate. That story and more next.

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AVLON: The World Health Organization is painting a dire picture of vaccine equity, and criticizing the lack of doses available to the world's most vulnerable populations.

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MICHAEL RYAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, W.H.O. HEALTH EMERGENCIES PROGRAMME: We can protect those people now with relatively small transfers of vaccine from the global supply. We can protect those vulnerable people, those frontline workers and the fact that we haven't, as Director General has said again and again, is a catastrophic moral failure at a global level.

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AVLON: W.H.O. officials say that more than half the poor countries receiving doses through the Kovacs sharing program don't have enough supplies to continue, and some have completely run out. But the organization is also working to address the problem especially in Africa. Officials announced plans to work with a group of companies to manufacture vaccines in South Africa. And those doses could be available in about nine months to a year.

The president of Colombia is warning that COVID-19 will be around a lot longer than we'd like to think. Colombia's death toll from the virus has been on the rise, now topping a hundred thousand since the pandemic began. The milestone came as President Ivan Duque attended mass in Bogota Monday to mourn all the lives lost. He told Colombians the virus will stay with us through this year and likely even next year.

Well, fans will be in the stands during the Tokyo Olympics but don't expect to see any roaring crowds. On Monday, organizers agreed to allow up to 10,000 domestic spectators at Olympic venues. And as CNN Selina Wang reports, they'll be expected to follow strict COVID rules.

SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Olympic organizers finally announced that spectators will be allowed at the Tokyo games, setting a cap of 50 percent on venues up to a maximum of 10,000 people. But this decision goes against the advice of Japan's top COVID-19 advisor who recommended the Olympics be held without spectators. Organizers say that this decision could change. The spectator cap could be reduced. Spectators could still be banned depending on how the COVID-19 situation evolves in Japan. Now even though overseas fans are banned from these games, the medical community and the public here are worried that the games could lead to a rebound of COVID-19 cases and overwhelm the medical system.

Olympic organizers have also acknowledged that the Delta variant poses a major risk to these games. Before any spectators that can attend these games, it's not going to be the usual celebration. They're asked to go directly from their homes to Olympic venues and back. No shouting or cheering at the games and to wear their mask at all times. And Japan also isn't going to get the economic boost it was hoping for from these games.

Japan has sold about four and a half million tickets domestically in Japan. But because of the spectator caps, they're going to hold a lottery to reduce that number to about 2.7 million. The CEO of Tokyo 2020 also said that they're expecting revenue to be less than half of the projected $820 million. Selina Wang, CNN, Tokyo.

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AVLON: The pandemic is causing significant disruption to another sporting event right now, the Copa America football tournament in Brazil. Since the event started over a week ago, at least a hundred and forty positive cases have been detected among players, members of delegations and service providers according to Brazil's health ministry, and remember, Brazil is hosting the tournament even though its COVID cases are surging.

Many Brazilians blamed the crisis on President Jair Bolsonaro his handling of the pandemic and his efforts to downplay its severity. Sadly, more than half a million people in Brazil have lost their lives to COVID-19 since the pandemic started, a milestone that was crossed over the weekend. And children there are dying at higher rates than in many other countries. CNN's Isa Soares has that part of the story.

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ISA SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Little Sarah Gois was born this January in Brazil, in the midst of a ravishing pandemic. Her 22-year-old mother naturally besotted with her precious Princess. But even an abundance of love wasn't enough to stop her daughter from contracting COVID-19.

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SAMEQUE GOIS, MOTHER OF CHILD WHO DIED OF COVID-19 (through translator): I thought it was something I had done. Maybe I passed on the virus. I didn't know what was happening around me. I knew that the only thing I could do was to get on my knees and pray.

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SOARES: Despite all her please, little Sarah died. She was only five months old.

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GOIS (through translator): When she died, when they gave us the news, I was able to hold her. I was able to feel her one last time.

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SOARES: It's a loss that is felt much more often in Brazil than in many other countries. While the Brazilian Health Ministry says 1,122 children under the age of ten have died since the start of the pandemic, one research group argues the death toll is actually closer to 3,000. This year alone, more than a thousand have lost their lives. And doctors tell us the gamma or P.1 variant first identified in Brazil may not be to blame.

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ANA LUIZA BIERRENBACH, EPIDEMIOLOGIST, VITAL STRATEGIES: Is that kids have been dying more in Brazil since the original variant was here so it was not the addition of the P.1 variable that makes kids die even more than in other countries.

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SOARES: Despite the rising numbers, baby Sarah was only tested for COVID-19 12 days after she developed the first symptoms. Her mother tells me doctors assume she had something else, a common misconception in Brazil tells me pediatrician, Andre Laranjeira.

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ANDRE LARANJEIRA, PEDIATRICIAN (through translator): A lot of pediatricians had a certain resistance when it came to requesting COVID-19 tests for children when they were exhibiting those typical symptoms on the respiratory tract, runny nose, cough, fever, practically all children have those symptoms this time of the year.

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SOARES: The doctor, Laranjeira, says this alone doesn't explain the higher death rate across Brazil. Outside (INAUDIBLE) the hospital on the outskirts of Sao Paulo, One family is counting their blessings. Her nine-year-old daughter, Manuela, is finally out of ICU after some five days in the ventilator having contracted COVID-19. Back at home, her parents reveal their ordeal.

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CAROLINA BASTO, MANUELA'S MOTHER (through translator): Her kidney was no longer functioning, her heart was beating irregularly. It was the end of the line for me.

KIEBER DE OLIVERIA, MANUELA'S FATHER (through translator): We were desperate. Our world had collapsed.

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SOARES: They say it took four doctors to diagnose Manuela. But in the end, she was admitted to an ICU and got the best possible treatment. But not all in Brazil can have access to this type of healthcare.

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LARANJEIRA (through translator): When you take the fatalities within the pediatric age group, more than 60 percent are from vulnerable socioeconomic groups. It's impossible to turn a blind eye to that.

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SOARES: Here, this disparity can be the difference between life and death. Between a family that gets to celebrate, and one that's forced to mourn. Isa Soares, CNN.

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AVLON: Still ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, a pro-democracy newspaper in Hong Kong may be forced to close following a police raid in charges of threatening national security. We'll be live in Beijing with the latest.

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AVLON: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Avlon.

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Local officials in northern Afghanistan say the Taliban militants have now taken over dozens of districts across several provinces. On Monday, one official said nine districts fell to the Taliban in just one week, most without even a fight.

This all comes just months ahead of September 11, the date when U.S. troops and their NATO allies plan to be out of Afghanistan, ending America's longest war.

CNN's Nic Robertson explains what this could mean for the country.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR; There was a real hope that, while this withdrawal went on, that the Afghans, the Afghan government and the Taliban would actually get into some kind of meaningful peace talks.

That's just an aspiration, and it hasn't happened. The reality is that the Taliban are taking the drawdown as an opportunity to militarily extend their military control over the country.

I was there in the nineties, the places they've been taking control of over the past couple of days, couple of weeks in the north of the country, where some of the last that they got their hands on during the nineties. They started from the south and moved up.

It appears that they're assuming that they've got control and a strong foothold in the south and east, their national territory fuel and they're going after these areas in the north.

What it tells us is that the drawdown is leaving the Afghan military short of critical air power, provided by the United States and NATO partners. That's emboldening the Taliban and weakening the -- weakening the resolve of the Afghan military.

We've seen situations over the past couple of days where they have literally put down their weapons, surrendered in the face of the Taliban, handed over -- handed over U.S.-made up-armored Humvees and all sorts of military equipment. It's not how the Biden administration really imagined this might work.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Is the country going to hold, based on what may happen next? Or is going to be Kabul as its own little island and the rest of the country controlled by the Taliban?

ROBERTSON: You know, there's -- -there's a real feeling that the Taliban are just so ill-liked in places like Kabul, there's no way they can walk in as they did in the Nineties and take control of the city. They'll be foiled by the people on the ground.

But there's also this real sense that that central control, the glue that sort of the international community, the United States in particular, the glue that kept that -- that fractious Afghan government together is no longer there. So that -- that interwoven inter-ethnic agreements are breaking down, and you have officials now who are looking to the sort of old warlord regional ethnic division, ethnically divided society as a way to protect themselves.

So this is the direction of travel at the moment, and for those real experts in Kabul at the moment, Western experts, the wonder, Jake, just how long this government can hold together.

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AVLON: The Taliban say they pose no threat to the international community. But right now, there are ongoing clashes in several districts in northern Afghanistan. Police in St. Louis say a shooting Monday night killed three people

and wounded four others. Investigators say they're still searching for a motive. But the shooting is just the latest in a recent increase in violent crime and gun violence in America.

CNN's Amarna Walker has more.

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AMARA WALKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): While America emerged from one pandemic, what the White House calls a public health epidemic of gun violence is surging across the country. At least 10 mass shootings happening in nine different states over the weekend, from Alaska to New Jersey leaving seven dead, 45 others injured.

Several occurring where crowds gathered, including in Aurora, Colorado, where a group was celebrating the new Juneteenth federal holiday in a shopping mall parking lot early Sunday. One person killed, four injured.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eager to get out, you know, have some fun. I'm tired of being cooped up, and this is crazy.

WALKER: Around the same time, another Juneteenth celebration in Indiana ending with gun violence, killing one and injuring four.

In Oakland, California, police say one person was killed and six hurt as gunshots rang out in a crowd of 5,000 people near Lake Merit.

And in Dallas, Texas, a 10- and 15-year-old among the eight people injured in a shooting. Former Philadelphia police commissioner and former D.C. Police c=Chief Charles Ramsey weighs in on one factor contributing to the rising violence.

CHARLES RAMSEY, FORMER PHILADELPHIA POLICE COMMISSIONER: Well, listen you've got guns in the heads of people that should not have guns. And Congress is doing absolutely nothing. Some state legislatures are doing absolutely nothing.

Texas just passed a law letting anybody carry a gun that wants to, which in my opinion, is exactly the wrong way to be moving right now.

WALKER: There have been nearly 300 mass shootings so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archives. That's A 39 percent increase compared to the same time period in 2020.

CNN defines a mass shooting as four or more people shot, not including the shooter. Some law enforcement officials say they're concerned about the violence spiking further during the summer months, as they try to understand the root of this crisis.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're trying to determine whether the ramifications of coming out of a pandemic, what are the frustrations that Americans are feeling, how are we dealing with mental health? How are we dealing with some of the stressors related to unemployment in this country? And so these are the things that I think we have to wrap our heads around.

WALKER (on camera): It's also that debate over bail reform, where we have seen several states eliminating cash bail altogether for certain offenses. And whether or not that is contributing to this rise in gun violence the United States is currently experiencing.

Now statistics show major U.S. cities are grappling with an uptick in homicides and shootings, including right here in the Atlanta area. In fact, just last week, a cashier at this Big Bear grocery store just northeast of Atlanta was shot and killed during a face mask dispute.

Indicator, Georgia, Amara Walker, CNN.

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AVLON: We're going to take a short break. CNN NEWSROOM. We're back in a moment.

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AVLON: A woman who killed her abusive husband is now on trial for murder in France.

Valerie Bacot admits to shooting Daniel Polette in self-defense back in 2016. She says Polette, who's 25 years her senior, first raped her when she was 12 and got her pregnant at 17. Polette had been dating Bacot's mother at the time.

Bacot says the abuse lasted for almost two decades.

The prosecutor argues the murder was premeditated, something the defense denies. The trial is expected to last five days, and Bacot could face life in prison.

Hong Kong's pro-democracy anti-Beijing newspaper, "Apple Daily," says it may be forced to shut down by the end of this week. It comes after a sweeping police raid last week, where hundreds of officers searched the paper's headquarters, seized journalists' devices, and arrested five executives on charges of breaking a Hong Kong strict national security law.

Hong Kong's chief executive, Carrie Lam, said the police operation against "Apple Daily" was unrelated to normal journalists' work, and added, "What we're handling is not issues with the news organization or any journalistic work, but an act that endangers national security."

CNN's Steven Jiang joins me from Beijing with more.

Steven, what's the latest, and does that statement from Carrie Lam have any credibility?

STEVEN JIANG, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER (via phone): Well, John, you know, what you said is not surprising, but it's also, to me, a very familiar line of arguments, of counterattacks if you will. Because that's the line that we have often been hearing here from officials in Beijing, including what she said in terms of the people should not be -- should not be hiding behind a shield of journalism to violate the law.

So it is really kind of, in a way, chilling to hear Hong Kong officials increasingly adopting the same arguments and counterattacks on this issue of press freedom, because this is such a watershed moment, as you mentioned.

For a long time, even after Hong Kong -- the Hong Kong sovereignty returned to China from Great Britain in 1997, the city did enjoy a high degree of autonomy, including a very vibrant press scene. But that, of course, has been changing in recent years.

And, you know, the Hong Kong police actions against "Apple Daily" is not happening in isolation. In addition to "Apple Daily," we've seen other media analysts being targeted by the government, including the territory's very investigate -- very famous broadcaster, public broadcaster known for its investigative reporting, RTHK. Hong Kong government officials are now promising to overhaul that organization after replacing its editors and the police program.

So all of this, of course, is going to have a very wide-ranging and long-lasting impact on the press freedom in Hong Kong, not only for local outlets but also for foreign media, who's long using Hong Kong as a window to observe and report China.

And that, of course, is now being called into question because of that sweeping national security legislation that really has a very, very broad scale and scope when it comes to things like sedition, secession (ph), and collusion with foreign powers -- John.

AVLON: Steven Jiang, live in Beijing. Thank you very much.

Thanks for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Avlon. WORLD SPORT starts after the break.

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