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Unsanitary Conditions at Camp for Displaced; Boys Called to Resume Secondary School in Afghanistan, But Not Girls; Bolsonaro to Speak Despite U.N. Vaccine Honor System; U.S. Flying Migrants Back to Haiti after Surge at Border; Remains Found Consistent with Description of Gabby Petito; Pro-Putin Party Leads in Parliamentary Vote; Evacuated Afghan Students Reunite with Teacher in Italy; Windy Conditions Prompt Red-Flag Warnings in California. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired September 20, 2021 - 00:00   ET

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

MICHEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Michael Holmes. Appreciate your company.

[00:00:18]

Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, women, bravely out in the streets of Afghanistan, not staying silent, despite being told to stay home and don't go to school.

Testing the honor system. COVID vaccine critic Jair Bolsonaro headed to the U.N. General Assembly in New York, a city where there's a rule for vaccinations.

And drone video captures the massive crisis at the U.S. border. Some 12,000 migrants camped under a bridge in Texas, enduring heat and squalid conditions.

Now with a growing sense of what Afghanistan will be like under the Taliban government, some women are not backing down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(CHANTING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: A group of activists there, protesting outside what used to be the women's ministry on Sunday. The Taliban, closed that ministry and replaced it with their ministry for the promotion of virtue and prevention of vice. Now, the protests come after concerns were raised about girls being allowed to attend secondary school.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TARANUM SAYEEDI, WOMEN'S RIGHTS ACTIVIST (through translator): You cannot suppress the voice of Afghan women by keeping girls at home and restricting them, as well as by not allowing them to go to school. You cannot suppress the voice of Afghanistan's women. (END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Meanwhile, a Qatari official says that a fourth chartered flight left Afghanistan on Sunday, carrying more than 230 passengers, including Afghans, Americans, and Europeans.

Now, for those who remain in Afghanistan, the future, of course, is very uncertain. In camps for the displaced around Kabul, conditions are crowded, and they are unsanitary.

And in the rest of the capital, the economic crisis is very clear. Nic Robertson reports for us from Kabul.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): On Kabul's fringes, families displaced by fighting, abandoned by their new Taliban, Islamic emirate government.

(on camera): Literally just getting out of the car and coming into the camp, people are surrounding us. They want to know how we can help them. This is how bad the camp is: human feces along the wall here. Just awful conditions.

(voice-over): The Taliban have won the war. But their problems running the country are piling up.

(on camera): It's the smell that hits you first. People literally forced to go to the toilet right next to their tens, where they're cooking.

How many people in this camp here?

(voice-over): Five hundred families, he tells me. No sign here of any aid. No water, no food, no shelter, no toilets.

(on camera): Anyone coming from the Islamic emirate offices to talk to them, and ask what they need?

(voice-over): His answer needs no translation.

(MAN SHAKES HEAD NO)

ROBERTSON (on camera): You're on your own.

(voice-over): He shows me the long lists of the displaced. As he speaks, a man in a high-vis vest, with a stick in his hand, interrupts. It's clear we have to go.

(on camera): We were told that we didn't have permission to film there. That's why we're leaving. Literally, as we're leaving, we've been handed all these numbers. People thrusting phone numbers in to us. They're literally banging on the car now, desperate for us to be able to help them in some way, and they think giving us their phone numbers is going to help.

(voice-over): Across town, in the book market, there is calm. Too much of it. Books, books, books, but no one to buy them.

"No one is spending money," he says. "They don't know what's coming."

The only books that are selling well are religious ones. Of 300 stores here, only 20 remaining open.

Another market. This secondhand goods trader says everyone is selling up to flee the country.

So far, the Taliban is limiting cash withdrawals to $200 a week, but that seems to be the only economic policy so far.

During Friday prayers, the call from the mosques, America is being blamed for Afghanistan's dire situation.

(on camera): The reality? The economy is hurting. The International Monetary Fund warns of a looming humanitarian crisis. The Taliban won the war, but can they run the country? Right now, they could use international help.

[00:05:06]

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: The foreign reserves of Afghanistan are almost exclusively in banks here in the United States, including the Federal Reserve. Other banks, about $9 billion. All of that has been frozen.

ROBERTSON: Early signs the pressure is taking its toll: the Taliban this week struggling to quell reports of the rift in their ranks, triggered when the deputy prime minister, the main negotiator with the U.S., unexpectedly missing for several days.

This week, the Taliban's most powerful military commander, Sirajuddin Haqqani, told the U.N. frozen money must be released. He has a $10 million FBI bounty on his head for ties to terrorism and al-Qaeda.

(on camera) The Taliban have got what they want: control of Afghanistan. But running the country and winning the peace, that's their biggest challenge yet.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Kabul, Afghanistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Now, when Taliban officials said last week that boys' schools could reopen, without mentioning girls' schools at all, they strengthened fears, of course, that women will be shut out of education, as they were under the group's previous rule.

Now some video there of a Kabul pre-school which reopened on Saturday and with both boys and girls, but this is a private facility. The Taliban insists secondary school for girls will be allowed but haven't said when those facilities will reopen for girls, citing concerns about safe transportation.

And now Kabul's mayor says women can only work in city government jobs that can not be done by men.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HAMDULLAH NOMANI, KABUL, AFGHANISTAN, ACTING MAYOR (through translator): However, if a work can be done with others, male employees, under the current condition, until the situation comes to a normal state, we have asked them to stay at home. Their salaries will be paid, as per usual.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Anna Coren is tracking developments for us in Hong Kong, joins me now, live.

Let's start with -- well, there's been an extraordinary social media campaign, with Afghan mothers pushing back and saying, if boys go to school, girls do, too. Pretty courageous act.

ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Incredibly courageous. Afghan women are exceptionally brave, Michael, as you well know. and they are not going to be silenced.

So by taking to social media, I mean, this is a platform that they can use. They can communicate with the outside world and remind the international community of what is actually taking place on the ground.

Yes, the Taliban is saying that we're not saying that girls can't go to secondary school. We're trying to work out the transportation system, make sure that it's safe and secure. But when will that be worked out, if ever?

And I guess the saying goes for Kabul's acting mayor. You know, he said we're not saying that women won't be allowed to -- to return to the government, to work, but there is no timeline in place.

He has admitted that 27 percent of the 3,000 staff are females, but because it's not safe and secure at the moment, because it's not a normal state, as he said in his press conference, we want women to remain at home. You'll still receive your salaries. You will still be paid, but don't come to work now.

So the only jobs that women can do are to clean women's toilets. We know that there are female doctors also working out there in the community, obviously, looking after female patients.

But this is -- is certainly not what the Taliban was saying when they came into power just over a month ago that women would be an integral part of society, that girls could -- could get an education. And, you know, have this inclusive government.

And yet, you hear from the interior minister, Haqqani, with a bounty of $10 million on his head, saying that the international community must release these reserves tied up in the United States of America.

Well, the Taliban has to play ball. They have to respect women. They have to respect human rights. Otherwise, the international community is not going to provide them with the aid that they so -- so desperately need.

And speaking to a human rights activist who is on the ground in Afghanistan, Michael; she is running a shelter. She has a U.S. passport. She could have left. She could have gone to America. She's chose to stay and look after the women and girls in her care.

She said that the Taliban want to silence us, they don't want to hear us. They don't want to see us. They have this intense -- intense hatred for us.

Another lawyer who I was talking to said Afghanistan is just turning into this open-air prison for women.

[00:10:06]

So the Taliban really have to -- to look at the way that they are treating women, because, otherwise, the protests are going to continue, and obviously, the funds that are being held by the United States, and the international community, will not be released.

HOLMES: Yes, the lesson learned is what they say, and what they do are usually two very different things.

Anna Coren, appreciate it. Thanks for your reporting on this.

Now, the U.S. President, Joe Biden, on Tuesday will deliver his first speech to the United Nations General Assembly since taking office. That speech to dozens of world leaders viewed by many as a critical moment for Mr. Biden to articulate his foreign policy vision.

A senior official says he will discuss the pandemic and argue for more aggressive measures to contain the spread of COVID-19. And will also lay out his expectations for the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Now, Brazil's president said he expects to deliver the opening speech at the U.N., as planned, and as is tradition, despite the body's vaccine honor system.

Jair Bolsonaro openly says he is unvaccinated and will not get a jab any time soon. However, the U.N. is relying on a so-called honor system that everyone in the assembly hall is vaccinated against COVID- 19.

And New York City enforcing a vaccine passport program for most indoor activities.

CNN's Rafael Romo joins me now to talk more about all of this.

So Rafael, thanks for being here. New York has got this proof of vaccine requirement, but Brazil's unvaccinated Jair Bolsonaro, he's going to be there. What's been his attitude to the New York rule which, likely, is not enforceable at the U.N.?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's a very important question, Michael. Let's remember that this is a head of state that, at the very beginning of the pandemic, called COVID-19, a gripezinha, in Portuguese, a little flu. And then, he later said that vaccines could turn somebody into an alligator or a bearded woman.

And so that, let's use that for perspective. And this time around, he just said during an interview that was broadcast online that he was not going to take the vaccine, that he didn't need it. He got sick in July of last year. And so he says, My immune levels are this high, and so I don't need to take the vaccine.

Now, the reality is that he is visiting the United Nations, and the question here is whether the U.N. has the authority to acquire a head of state to get vaccinated before he enters the assembly hall. And this was the very question that was asked of the secretary general, Antonio Guterres, and this is what he had to say. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONIO GUTERRES, UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL Of course, we, the secretary, can not tell a head of state if he's not vaccinated that he cannot turn to the United Nations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: So, essentially, he cannot enforce the very requirement that the city of New York and the U.N. is trying to enforce here.

HOLMES: And to that point, it was the president-elect of the General Assembly, Abdulla Shahid, who initially said he would enforce New York's vaccine proof rule, but they said that this honor system related to vaccinations remains in place.

That leaves an awful lot of latitude and reliance on trust, doesn't it? Not just for Bolsonaro. There's 100 leaders.

ROMO: Well, for an honor system to work, you have to have honorable people. And so I'm not saying that Mr. Bolsonaro is not honorable, but everybody has to abide by the same set of rules. And in this case, it doesn't seem like it's happening.

And there seems to have been this sort of gentleman's agreement between New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and the head of the U.N. assembly, in which they say, this is what New York requires. Let's do the same thing for all the delegates, all the heads of state, which, by the way, they're already vaccinated.

HOLMES: Yes.

ROMO: If you look at the mandates in Europe, the mandates here in the United States, the chances are most of them don't need any requirement, because they're already vaccinated.

But as he can imagine, this has created a lot of controversy. There's a lot of criticism in Brazil by the opposition. And let me read to you what a congressman from an opposition party, the Workers Party, said about Bolsonaro. She said, "New York demands proof of vaccination from the U.N. Assembly, and, can you imagine which political leader did not get vaccinated and will bring more international shame to the people of his country?"

Rhetorical question right there.

HOLMES: Yes.

ROMO: But she's got a point.

HOLMES: Yes, she certainly does. And as you say, there's an honor system, which is that when you swipe your way, and you are vaccinated. He's already said he's not vaccinated. So, not sure how the honor system is going to work there.

[00:15:00]

Rafael Romo, always good to see you, my friend. Thank you.

ROMO: Thanks.

HOLMES: Now still to come here on the program, a desperate scene at the U.S.-Mexico border as thousands of migrants camp under a bridge in searing heat. What the U.S. government is doing to resolve the crisis. That's when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Welcome back. What you're looking at here is drone video of a migrant camp, a massive one which is under a bridge at the Del Rio International Bridge. And this is at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Now, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has already conducted three repatriation flights from Del Rio to Port-au-Prince in Haiti, with more than 300 Haitians on board. But an official says the migrants are not deterred by U.S. plans to send them back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAUL ORTIZ, CHIEF, UNITED STATES BORDER PATROL: Haitians and folks from western Africa traditionally cross in the Del Rio sector area, because they have no individual's privacy across this area. They see the community across the border, in Acuna, is relatively safe. And so traditionally, it's because of word of mouth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[00:20:00]

HOLMES: Now, there are still nearly 12,000 migrants at that bridge, waiting to be processed by U.S. immigration authorities. The head of U.S. Homeland Security plans to travel himself to the border to assess the situation.

CNN's Rosa Flores takes a look at the desperate living conditions at this migrant camp.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I've never seen anything like this in the United States. Take a look.

This is a migrant camp in Del Rio, Texas, underneath the international bridge. Now, days ago, there were a few tents out here. There was a small tent city. Now, you can see that it has grown significantly.

People have used what looks like tree branches, bamboo, blankets, plastics to create small huts so that they can protect themselves from the heat.

Now, we are seeing state and federal resources arrive to make sure that these individuals can be processed in U.S. immigration facilities. But we don't have a time line. The federal government doesn't know exactly when they will be able to clear this camp out.

Now, if you look closely, you'll see that these are men, women, children. I see pregnant women, infants in the heat underneath a bridge, living here. You can see that they're drying their clothes, hanging them from wherever they can.

Now, the federal government says that they've brought in towels, toilets. I'm looking at them. And that they're trying to up the humanitarian action, the humanitarian aid.

And by what I'm looking at, it doesn't look like much of that has arrived. Because these are huts. Take a look at this. They're huts that have plastic and blankets covering over them.

Now, the silver lining here is that the mayor of Del Rio, who has been calling on the federal government to step in, say that now there are the resources to take care of this humanitarian crisis. He says that both state and federal resources are arriving.

We know that hundreds of agents are being sent here to Del Rio to make sure that these individuals are processed.

Again, these are the gates of America. This is the immigration waiting room right now in Del Rio, Texas.

Rosa Flores, CNN, Del Rio, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Guerline Jozef is president of the Haitian Bridge Alliance. She joins me now from Del Rio, Texas. And thanks for doing so.

First, just try to give us a brief sense of what it is like for the people under that bridge. What are they -- what are you hearing from them?

GUERLINE JOZEF, PRESIDENT, HAITIAN BRIDGE ALLIANCE: Thank you so much for having us.

What we are hearing and seeing are people in need of protection. People have made a long journey, some of them years. People have been in Mexico for two, three, up to four, five years; have been waiting for a way to properly present themselves to ask for asylum, and have been left without any options.

We know that right now, there are over 10,000 people under the bridge, and right now asking for protection.

HOLMES: Right.

JOZEF: Those people, as were mentioned before, men, pregnant women, children, babies. That is why we are here, calling.

HOLMES: The -- the administration -- yes, the administration has made it very clear that they, or most, will be deported back to Haiti. It's already starting. What will they be returning to?

JOZEF: Chaos, that's what they will be returning to. They will be returning to a country that is struggling to -- to grapple with the aftermath of an earthquake, extreme political turmoil, the assassination of a president, kidnapping, violence. That is what people will be returning to.

And keep in mind, money of them have fled the country in hope to get protection, only to be returned to the same burning house they have fled.

HOLMES: And when it comes to why they came in the first place, and some have taken a long journey to other places, obviously, starting in places like Chile and so on.

But when it comes to their motivation, I saw you quoted as saying false information, misinformation and misunderstanding might have created false sense of hope. Tell me more about that.

JOZEF: Yes. As I mentioned, the lack of protection, a lot of people have been here for a very long time. And they have not been able to access their fellow (ph) system. The previous president completely destroyed any possible way for people to get protection, including the MPP entitled 42, which the current administration continues to use as a track for those people.

[00:25:11]

And now we see that people are living in places Tijuana and other border entries to come to Del Rio as the response that they will not have any other choices.

The people that I have been able to talk to have said that they thought if they came to that specific location, they might be able to get protection. That is why they came to that specific space.

However, they have been in Mexico for a very long time. So now we are seeing the -- the reality of not having acting to provide safe and a humane -- humane way for those people to come and ask for asylum.

HOLMES: Right. That -- JOZEF: It is unbelievable for the United States to be deporting people today as we're still trying to recover from the earthquake and extreme political turmoil on the ground.

HOLMES: Back in 2019, I was covering the migrant crisis in Mexico down on the Guatemalan border, in fact. And many of those migrants were from El Salvador, Nicaragua, places like that. But there were many Haitians then. That was obviously prior to the most recent earthquake and the latest political instability.

What has changed since then in terms of the motivation to head to America? Because they've been coming for many years.

JOZEF: They have been coming for many years. As I mentioned before, the first wave was due the earthquake that happened in 2010. They went to Brazil and then Chile. And due to really embroiled (ph) racism in those countries, a lot of them had to leave. And coming to look for protection here.

But what we can say, what has changed is that from that time, we are still yet to be able to recover. And right now, the country's extremely unstable. We don't even have a government. We do not have a government that is actually able to protect its people.

So that is why it is -- it is necessary for them to get protection. It is necessary for them to be able to have access to asylum. It is necessary for the United States to stop using the rules of Title 42. Stop risking the lives of those people.

After the earthquake, after the assassination, both Mexico and the United States said that they want to be friends of Haiti. Friends to the people of Haiti. And now, the world is watching as the United States continues to deport and expel children. Babies, little babies being deported to Haiti right now. And the world is watching.

That is not what friends do. If I come to you and I tell you in your most vulnerable time, I will be there for you, and then when the time comes, I turn my back on you, that is not a friend. That is -- that is unacceptable what we are seeing right now.

HOLMES: All right. We're out of time. Guerline Jozef, I appreciate you taking the time. Thank you so much.

JOZEF: Thank you for having me.

HOLMES: Now, the family of Gabby Petito is asking for privacy as they grieve the loss of their daughter on Sunday. FBI investigators said the human remains they found in Wyoming are consistent with the description of Petito, who was reported missing more than a week ago.

Meanwhile, authorities spent another day searching a Florida nature reserve for Petito's fiance, whose whereabouts are unknown.

CNN's Leyla Santiago is on the scene with the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) LEYLA SANTIAGO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: North Port Police say that they will continue to work with the FBI in order to find more answers when it comes to the disappearance of Gabby Petito, as well as the disappearance of Brian Laundrie.

Now, they have been searching here in this wildlife reserve where we are right now -- 25,000 acres, by the way, a very lush terrain -- all day long after the Laundrie family reached out to police on Friday, saying the last time they had seen him was on Tuesday.

The search continues to finding Brian Laundrie.

Now, as far as Gabby Petito, FBI held a press conference with some very tragic news. Take a listen.

CHARLES JONES, FBI SUPERVISORY RESIDENT AGENT: Earlier today, human remains were discovered consistent with the description of Gabrielle "Gabby" Petito.

Full forensic identification has not been completed to confirm 100 percent that we found Gabby, but her family has been notified of this discovery. The cause of death has not been determined at this time.

SANTIAGO: Still, lots of questions remain, and there are still a lot of investigators, as well as a community here that is hoping that, if investigators can find Brian Laundrie, that perhaps they can get more information to what led up to the disappearance and death of Gabby Petito.

[00:30:13]

Leyla Santiago, CNN, North Port, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: An investigation is underway after a U.S. Navy training jet crashed in a neighborhood near Dallas on Sunday. The instructor and student on board were able to eject.

Debris from the crash falling into the yards of at least three homes, but no one on the ground injured, apparently.

Authorities say the instructor is in hospital in stable condition. The student's condition is unknown at the moment. But the Navy says he is alive and receiving treatment at a medical facility.

Russians went to the polls for parliamentary elections this weekend. The final results aren't in yet, but some say they already know what the outcome will be and knew before the polls opened. We'll explain after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: And welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Michael Holmes. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. Millions of Russians voted in parliamentary elections this weekend.

And now, officials are counting ballots that will select members of the state Duma, along with regional and municipal leaders.

State media reporting the United Russia Party, a firm backer of President Vladimir Putin, leads with about 45 percent of the vote. But only 30 percent of returns have been tallied so far.

Now United Russia's success is no surprise, really. The party widely expected to win these elections, which come across a backdrop of an unprecedented assault on democracy. Senior international correspondent Matthew Chance explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[00:35:11]

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Russians have been casting their votes, but to critics, this is democracy at its worst, accusing the Kremlin of blatant election fraud, some actually caught on official cameras.

Watch the woman in black on the right, awkwardly trying to shield the ballot box as a hand appears from behind the Russian flag. You can see it repeatedly stuffing papers inside.

Election officials say they've annulled these votes, but critics say thousands of violations, including ballot box stuffing and forced voting, are being ignored.

"In total, we've counted 12 cases of ballot stuffing in the whole country, in just eight districts," the chief election commissioner brags on Russian state media. "This is not hope (ph), like from some information sources," she added.

From self-imposed COVID-19 quarantine near Moscow, the Russian president is shown using a controversial online voting system, which critics say allows even more opportunity to manipulate results.

The system needs a mobile phone for verification, and there are questions about how Putin, who insists he never use his one, was able to cast his vote. The Kremlin says he used an assistants, denying this whole scene was staged.

But critics accuse the Kremlin of carefully ensuring a win, despite flagging opinion polls. Not just with the infamous poisoning of prominent critic Alexei Navalny last year, which officials deny. But also, the moves since then. Branding his supporters extremists, banning them and other opposition figures from standing for office.

One rights group estimates hundreds of thousands of activists have been affected.

Against the ruling United Russia Party, Navalny's team have promoted what they call smart voting, using apps and videos like this one to show Russians which candidates, mostly old communists, stand the best chance of unseating incumbents.

Controversially, Google and Apple have agreed to block the material in Russia, caving in to Russian legal demands.

But even Kremlin critics who have been allowed to stand say they face extraordinary pressure. Like this candidate in St. Petersburg, who found rivals on the local ballot paper had adopted his name and appearance to confuse voters.

Russia's own election officials have called this a disgrace.

VLADIMIR KARA-MURZA, RUSSIAN OPPOSITION POLITICIAN: Just across the street.

CHANCE: We met one veteran anti-Kremlin activist, himself poisoned twice, and now barred from standing, at a Moscow polling station. He admits this election may be lost, but Kremlin efforts to cling to power indefinitely, he says, will backfire.

KARA-MURZA: We have a situation in Russia, where there's now an entire generation of people that has no other political memories except Vladimir Putin's regime. He has been in power now for 22 years. That is a mind-boggling fact. And if the regime is preventing people from changing the government at the ballot box, sooner or later, people will change the government.

CHANCE (on camera): Another Russian revolution.

KARA-MURZA: Unfortunately. It gives me no pleasure to say this.

CHANCE (voice-over): But for now, revolution seems a long way off. Even winning a single seat in this tightly-controlled Russian election would be something of an opposition coup.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Quick break here on the program. When we come back on CNN NEWSROOM, escaping Taliban rule with help from a friend far away. We'll see how a teacher in Italy helped to get her former students out of Afghanistan just in time.

Also clearing up confusion over COVID booster shots. Why Dr. Anthony Fauci says the FDA advisory committee's plan for a more limited booster rollout is not set in stone.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:42:22]

HOLMES: The fall of Afghanistan has left many Afghans seeking refuge in other countries. For many, it's a matter of life and death.

Ben Wedeman now with the story of one Afghan educator, working tirelessly to bring former students safely to Italy. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Teacher and student meet again.

SELENE BIFFI, SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR: Welcome to Italy, welcome to Italy.

WEDEMAN: Selene Biffi founded and ran a school in Kabul, where Soheila Dorosti graduated five years ago. Last month, as the Taliban took over Kabul, Selene received a desperate message from her former student: "Don't abandon me!"

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Qessa Academy is a unique space that helps --

WEDEMAN: Selene founded the Story Academy in 2013, with funds she won from the Rolex Award for Enterprise. The academy used Afghanistan's age-old oral traditions as a means of education.

BIFFI: And she told me she was very happy.

WEDEMAN: Selene, more than 5,000 kilometers from Kabul, pulled every string she could to wrangle places for her former students and their families on Italian military flights out of the Afghan capital.

Soheila (ph) and her family made it through the pandemonium and onto a plane. They're now in a small town in southern Italy.

Another former student, Sayed Wakil Hussaini, and his family were able to get on a flight out, barely.

"She, Selene, texted me and asked me to send her the list of family members," he recalls. "The next day, she asked me to go to the airport at 5 in the morning. We left all our belongings and property behind. When I saw the situation at the airport, I thought we wouldn't be able to get in. The Taliban were firing at people. They barely missed me."

The Italian government managed to evacuate nearly 5,000 Afghans before the Taliban took control of the airport.

Selene looks back on the last month with mixed emotions.

BIFFI: On the one hand, I'm very, very relieved that they're here and that they were able to come to Italy. But I'm very worried about everybody else that could not leave the country. So my thought is also with them.

WEDEMAN: Barely a month in Italy, Soheila (ph) mourns the life she lost.

SOHEILA DOROSTI, AFGHAN IN ITALY: I love my country. I love my people. I've -- I have a lot of friends in my country. And I don't know what's happening -- happening for them. It's -- it makes me so sad.

[00:45:12]

WEDEMAN: Ahead now lies the long, hard struggle for these strangers to adapt to a new life in this strange land.

Ben Wedeman, CNN, Rome.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Look at these scenes. This was in Melbourne, Australia, on Saturday, when hundreds of anti-lockdown protesters clashed with police. Ten officers were injured; more than 230 people arrested.

Frustrations rising after weeks of tough COVID restrictions and lockdowns across the state of Victoria and its capital, Melbourne.

Victoria reported more than 560 new COVID cases Monday. That is the largest daily rise this year.

Eighteen months into this pandemic, and the rate of new COVID deaths in the U.S. just keeps ticking up again. Data from Johns Hopkins University shows the country is, once again approaching 2,000 COVID deaths a day. That's the highest 7-day average we've seen in more than six months.

The country's overall death toll from the virus now approaching 675,000, the high point set during the 1918 flu pandemic.

And so many people have died in the state of Alabama, officials say the population actually shrank last year. The state's top health officer says it's the first time in more than a century that annual deaths outpaced births.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, meanwhile, says it is still possible for the U.S. to avoid reaching a million COVID deaths, if, of course, more Americans get vaccinated.

Around 70 million people who are eligible for the shot are still not vaccinated.

There is also some confusion over COVID booster shots. The Biden administration had wanted to make them available for all eligible Americans as soon as Monday, but last week, an FDA advisory committee recommended a third Pfizer dose, and only for older and high-risk patients.

On Sunday, Dr. Fauci fielded a question about whether the panel made a mistake.

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DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: I don't think they made a mistake. But the one thing I think people need to realize, that data are coming in, literally, on the daily and weekly basis.

They're going to continue to look at this, literally in real time. More data will be coming in on both safety for younger individuals, efficacy, both from Israel, other countries, as well as our substantial cohorts that the CDC is following. So the story is not over yet. I think people need to understand that.

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HOLMES: Now, Dr. Fauci also said booster data on the Johnson & Johnson and Moderna vaccines should be coming in the next few weeks.

Still to come here on the program, the threat of strong wind gusts triggers a red flag warning across northern California. What fire crews and residents can expect in the hours ahead.

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[00:52:19]

HOLMES: Incredible images from the air, showing plumes of smoke and streams of lava spewing from a volcano in La Palma, one of Spain's Canary Islands.

The island was on alert for a possible eruption after earthquakes were felt over the weekend. Thousands living nearby reportedly forced to evacuate. So far, no reports of injuries.

In Northern California, the threat of strong wind gusts has prompted a red flag warning, meaning conditions are favorable for the spread of wildfires. The warning affects about six million people and includes the Dixie Fire which has already burned nearly a million acres.

Crews are also battling a fire in the Sequoia National Park, an area where some of the world's largest and oldest trees are located. Officials hoping to avoid a repeat of last year, when thousands of sequoia trees were destroyed in an especially bad fire season.

Let's bring in CNN meteorologist Gene Norman now. Jeanne, when it comes to all these fires, what are you seeing?

GENE NORMAN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, Michael, the situation couldn't get any worse in California, as once again, we're seeing the drought and the heat leading to a record wildfire season. Just another one of the fingerprints of climate change.

Let's talk quickly about what's going on with the Sequoia Fire, but rather, with the sequoia forest, because we've got two fires near there, over 21,000 acres, that are not contained. See how close they are to the forest, and that's why we saw scenes like this develop toward the end of last week. That's right: officials wrapping the giant trees, which are basically nearly as tall as the Statue of Liberty.

Now, of course, the forest is home to thousands of trees, and because of the increase in fires that we've been seeing, they're at greater risk from fires, thanks to climate change.

Prior to that, they hadn't quite been there. Seeing so many problems with fires. In fact, in 2020, the Castle Fire killed hundreds of trees in that area. Now, over the weekend, we watched something that we thought was going

to be helpful. A cold front moving in. It brought some rain to the Pacific Northwest, but it also allowed high pressure to develop, and that means an offshore flow. That's not good, because those winds will increase, and that is the reason why we have the fire risk danger at the critical level in northern California. Not near the Sequoia Fire -- the sequoia forest area, but still, a concern, as you mentioned, near the Dixie Fire.

And take a look at these wind gusts. We could be looking at gusts as high as 40, 50 miles an hour in this part of Northern California. So, that's the concern heading into tomorrow and possibly into Tuesday.

In all, 73 active large fires across the western United States over 12 states.

[00:55:05]

And Michael, here's something that really caught our attention. We're -- had been at the Level 5 for fire preparedness, or at least fire awareness, for 68 days. That's a record number of days, of course, owing to the kind of season that we've been seeing. Very disastrous in the west. We'll keep an eye on what's going on in the sequoia, and hopefully, they won't need to worry about protecting those trees too much longer.

HOLMES: Yes. Such beautiful and important trees. Gene, thanks for the update. Appreciate it.

Gene Norman there.

Now, all the glitz and glamour of television's biggest night was back on display at Sunday's primetime Emmy Awards. After last year's ceremony, which was virtual, of course, stars of the small screen were back on the red carpet, to the delight of fans and photographers.

One of the night's biggest winners was the excellent Netflix serious, "The Crown," bringing home awards for Best Actor, and Actress in a Drama Series, Best Supporting Actor and Actress in a Drama Series, and, yes, Best Drama.

And legendary entertainer RuPaul made Emmy history by becoming the most awarded person of color in the show's history. And RuPaul had an encouraging message for the kids watching at home.

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RUPAUL, ENTERTAINER: And for you kids out there watching, you have a tribe that is waiting for you. We are waiting for you, baby. Come on to Mama Ru!

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HOLMES: "RuPaul's Drag Race" wone for Best Reality Competition Program, bringing RuPaul's total number of Emmys to 11.

Big wins for "Ted Lasso," too.

Thanks for spending part of your day with me. I'm Michael Holmes. Stay with us, though. I'll be back with more news in just a moment.

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