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U.S. Envoy to Haiti Resigns Over U.S.'s Inhumane Policy; U.S. Doing Humanitarian Aid; France and U.S. Moving On; Taliban Wants Recognition from International Community; QUAD Members Meets in the White House; CDC Director Breaks With Vaccine Advisors On Boosters For People In High Risk Workplaces; COVID Boosters Approved For Those Age 18 And Over With Underlying Conditions, Increased Risk Of Exposure; Africa Will Need Seven Times Current Vaccine Shipments To Reach Global Summit Targets. Aired 2-3aET

Aired September 24, 2021 - 02:00   ET

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

[02:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNA COREN, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): Hello, and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. You are watching CNN Newsroom. I'm Anna Coren, live from Hong Kong.

Just ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN (through translator): When we arrived in the U.S., the authorities put us on a bus, and sent us to jail. And said, we would be relieved in two days. They put chains on our feet, around our stomachs, and our hands.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN (on camera): Desperate to escape. Haitian refugees at the U.S. border forced to return to their homeland as a special envoy quits over what he calls, quote, "inhumane policies."

Plus, key U.S. allies expected to meet in the coming hours, their main focus countering China. We're live in Beijing.

And the race to replace Angela Merkel tightens. The key issues facing voters days before they head to the polls.

Those stories in just a moment. But first, another new development in the U.S. COVID booster rollout. The director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, Rochelle Walensky, is breaking with the recommendations of that body's independent vaccine advisers.

Instead, she is siding with the FDA, which on Wednesday, recommended emergency use authorization for a booster dose of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine in people 65 and older. She has given the green light to those ages 18 and over, at high risk of severe disease and those at high risk because of their occupation. This includes their health care workers.

On Thursday, CDC advisers had voted against giving boosters to people age 18 to 64 who possibly faced those greater risks. We'll have more on this and other developments in the pandemic coming up shortly.

Well, now, to the desperate situation at the U.S. border with Mexico. Thousands of Haitian migrants are in limbo in Texas and Mexico, as a Biden administration struggles to get a handle on the crisis.

Well, CNN was on the scene as migrants waited across the Rio Grande, hoping for a better life in the U.S. Tractors cleared part of a huge camp under the Del Rio International Bridge. More than 3,000 migrants remain there.

The Department of Homeland Security has temporarily suspended horse patrols in Del Rio after video showed agents aggressively confronting migrants on Sunday. The White House press secretary relayed President Biden's take.

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JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: So, what he has asked all of us to convey clearly to people who are understandably have questions, are passionate, are concerned as we are about the images that we have seen. Is one, we feel those images are horrible and horrific. There is an investigation the president certainly supports overseen by the Department of Homeland Security which he has conveyed will happen quickly.

I can also convey to you that the secretary also conveyed to civil rights leaders earlier this morning that we would no longer be using horses in Del Rio. So that is something a policy change has been made in response.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN (on camera): Well, Democrats in U.S. Congress are fuming and a Biden administration envoy to Haiti has quit in protest.

CNN's Melissa Bell has more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A scathing letter or rebuke to the U.S. government and a high-level resignation. The American special envoy to Haiti, Daniel Foote, leaving his post in protest, telling the Secretary of State, Antony Blinken on Wednesday that he will, quote, "not be associated with the United States' inhumane counterproductive decision to deport thousands of Haitian refugees from the U.S.-Mexico border."

It comes as chaos intensifies at the Port-au-Prince airport. Migrants arriving in droves from encampments at the U.S. border with Mexico they were deported en masse back to Haiti by the American government. Many longed for a better life in the U.S., desperate to escape, devastating poverty, political unrest, and escalating gang violence in the Haitian capital.

The former U.S. envoy describing the situation as so dangerous that American officials in Haiti are confined to compounds. But these Haitians citizens have nowhere to hide. Forced to return to their homeland security they are trying so hard to escape.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BELL (on camera): Those words by the U.S. special envoy about the grinding poverty, the endemic violence, and the lack of basic resources here in Haiti also reflected in the assessment made by the Department of Homeland Security in the spring when they decided to a court special protected person status to those Haitians already in the United States.

[02:04:59]

And yet, the Haitians being returned at the moment here in their hundreds every day haven't even been given the chance of applying for asylum. Many return after a treacherous, sometimes, deadly journey, winding through South and Central America, some crossing nearly a dozen countries on route to the U.S.

Some of those we spoke to tell us that once at the border, U.S. officials treated them more like inmates than exhausted refugees.

UNKNOWN (through translator): When we got to the U.S., they closed all the access points. And we could not go to buy food.

UNKNOWN (through translator): When we arrived in the U.S., the authorities put us on a bus, and sent us to jail. And said, we would be relieved in two days. They put chains on our feet, around our stomachs, and our hands. They put us in cars and took us to the airport.

BELL: Some deportees tell us they didn't know where they were being taken when U.S. authorities ushered them on to the plane. It wasn't until landing back in Haiti that they discovered it was a return to where they started. A seemingly tragic end to a long and desperate journey, it appears was all for naught.

Melissa Bell, CNN, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

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COREN (on camera): The U.S. Homeland Security Secretary appeared on CNN earlier. Here is how he responded to the resigning envoy's claims that the deportations are inhumane and counterproductive.

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ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: We have a relationship with the government of Haiti, we are exercising the public health imperative as designed by the Centers for Disease Control. We are surging resources not only here domestically at the border, but also in Haiti to ensure that the needs of the individuals whom we return to Haiti are addressed appropriately.

USAID has surged resources. We are working with the International Organization for Migration with the Haitian government and we are addressing the needs by devoting resources to them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN (on camera): The Haitian ambassador to the United States says the situation calls for a different approach. Here is what he says President Biden should do.

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BOCCHIT EDMOND, HAITIAN AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S.: Look at Haiti differently. Stop looking at Haiti on a humanitarian lens. I believe that there is no nation that can be developed without humanitarian assistance. Let us reassess about theoretical operation.

Let us make it something dynamic by helping us resolve the security situation, by strengthening our national police, and make sure that we have a stable condition where we can attract foreign investment who can create more jobs and people will get jobs and they would stay in our own country. But as long as they won't, any opportunity, people will always want to leave their own country and to seek for better life.

(END VIDEO CLIP).

COREN (on camera): Conditions back home in Haiti may not be much better for migrants than the camps they were living in along the U.S.- Mexico border. Take a listen to Laurent Duvillier, UNICEF's regional chief of communication for Latin America and the Caribbean.

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LAURENT DUVILLIER, REGIONAL CHIEF OF COMMUNICATION, LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN, UNICEF: What we are seeing here at the airport of Port-au-Prince where we spend most of the day, we can see that there are many women and children coming in Haitian migrants. Nd they've lost everything. They've lost their belongings. They're lost their money, but they've also lost their hope.

We've heard heartbreaking story, one woman, for example, told us about how she left Haiti years ago then settle down in Chile and then because of the pandemic she -- she lost and she had no option but to walk for 30 days with her 4-year-old boy through the jungle, through the mountains towards up north in search for a better future. And now she is being expelled in Haiti.

So, it's devastating stories, especially for this boy who was born in Haiti, in Chile, not in Haiti. He doesn't speak the language. He doesn't know their country. There are many challenges. But indeed, as you mention, Haiti has been reeling from what we call triple tragedies, natural disaster, back to back tornadoes and storms. But also increase gang violence and indeed, poverty, and the COVID-19 pandemic. So, the national authorities are doing all they can, given the

circumstances, but they need help. UNICEF is there to support but more they needed is definitely help to provide support and protection to those children in need and their families.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN (on camera): Well up until recently, Mexican border officials largely allowed the migrants to cross freely into the United States. That is no longer the case.

[02:10:02]

On Thursday, CNN's Matt Rivers witnessed Mexican police taking an entirely different approach. He filed this report from Ciudad Acuna which is just across the border from Del Rio.

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MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here on the Mexican side of the U.S.- Mexico border just across the border from Del Rio, Texas here in Ciudad Acuna, this was a point where dozens and dozens of people were basically freely traveling back and forth between the United States and Mexico.

People, most of whom were staying in that encampment in the U.S. where we've seen thousands of Haitian migrants gather over the past week or so. Just up the river from where we are. But because of the conditions there many people would come here to the Mexican side, crossover freely allowed to do so by law enforcement to come here to do everything from charge a cell phone to get food, water, even diaper for their kids. And then put them in garbage bags and bring them back across the river.

That had been happening for a while. That is no longer happening at this point. Basically, what happened at some point during the day at mid-afternoon more or less on Thursday here, where about six or seven immigrations officials here in Mexico kind of formed a mini human chain and started preventing Haitian migrants who wanted to go back to the United States from doing so.

That created a very volatile situation for about half an hour here. Word quickly spread about that and several dozen Haitian migrants who were on this side of the border basically pushed past those immigration officials, overwhelm them and made their way across to the United States. Bringing what limited things they could with them.

As a result of that, Mexico stepped up its response bringing in more heavily armed police, creating kind of a mini wall with four or five, maybe a half dozen vehicles put just behind the camera where it is now preventing Haitian migrants from coming in.

And that's basically where we stand at this point. If you are a Haitian migrant right now in Mexico you are more or less stuck in that country even if you want to cross to the United States. It is a long border. You could probably figure out some way to do it, but going through this point, the point that's been more established over the past several days as a more trafficked point to get across, that's not happening anymore. And as a result, it's actually separated some families.

We met one man who said he came from the U.S. camp here for a few hours to Mexico to try and charge his cell phone, when he tried to go back across immigration officials here in Mexico wouldn't let him. Here's what he told us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN (through translator): They won't let me cross the water right now. But if they don't let me cross because my son has a problem, are they going to be responsible for my son? If my son dies over there, whose fault is it? Not mine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIVERS (on camera): And so, it's heartbreaking when you think about that man not being able to go across and see his family, and unfortunately, that is something that's being repeated many times over right now between Mexico and the United States.

Matt Rivers, CNN, Ciudad Acuna, Mexico.

COREN: Coming up after the break, the top U.S. diplomat on a mission to patch up relations with America's oldest ally after in especially ugly fight over submarines.

Paris warns it won't easily forgive or forget what the U.S., Australia and Britain did.

Then the U.S. president takes his biggest step yet towards uniting Indo-Pacific allies and countering China.

[02:15:00]

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COREN (on camera): Welcome back. A weeklong diplomatic spat between Paris and Washington appears to have been smoothed over at least for now. France's fury over an American, British, Australian security deal triggered one of worst falling out in French-U.S. history.

On Thursday, the top French and U.S. diplomats held a crucial U.N. sideline meeting to try to clear the air.

CNN's Cyril Vanier has our report from Paris.

CYRIL VANIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: France is warning that ending the diplomatic crisis with the U.S. will take time. The top diplomats from both countries, Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and Secretary of State Antony Blinken met on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday to discuss the way forward after Presidents Macron and Biden had broken the ice with what was described as a friendly phone call.

The crisis erupted after a new security agreement between the U.S., the U.K., and Australia effectively torpedoed a multibillion-dollar submarine deal that France had been negotiating with Canberra for years.

Short term, what the French wants after feeling they were blindsided by their allies is to be treated with the respect that they feel they deserved, both as a close partner of the U.S. and an upper tier military power.

They got that in a form of a quasi-apology from the White House which a French government spokesperson hailed as a victory on French radio.

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GABRIEL ATTAL, FRENCH GOVERNMENT SPOKESPERSON (through translator): First of all, Joe Biden admitted the U.S. responsibility in the crisis. It's rather unusual that the U.S. would admit its wrongs in a written and signed press release. I think Joe Biden understood that with us, Europe was not looking for a big brother but a partner.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VANIER (on camera): That signals that the worst part of the diplomatic crisis is over and it paves the way for a Macron/Biden meeting in Europe next month. However, some diplomatic legwork might still be needed before then as France says it wants to see concrete actions for trust to be fully restored.

Cyril Vanier, CNN, Paris.

COREN: Well, for some Afghans, the Taliban takeover means a return to law and order. Militants now walk the streets of Kabul with guns in tow. Not many would dare to cross them but residents are worried about the economy and lack of jobs. Most of Afghanistan's assets have been frozen since the Taliban took control.

Here is our one Kabul resident describe life under the Islamic government.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN (through translator): Law and order is better under this government than under the previous government, that useless government. But they must work towards getting jobs for the people. They should pay attention to the economy, the unemployment situation so that the world also comes to help them. So far, the world is not supporting them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN (on camera): Well, many world leaders say they will not support the Taliban government until they form a more inclusive government and allow women to keep their hard-earned rights. But it's not clear if the Taliban are ready to do that. CNN's Nic Robertson sat down with one of the group's political

commission leaders and asked him where the situation stands.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANAS HAQQANI, TALIBAN POLITICAL COMMISSION (through translator): Those who raise this issue are the ones who don't want peace, unity, and national unity in Afghanistan. They make the excuse of women and the rights of minorities to try to damage the system. We, praise be to God, have religious principles as well as national traditions. The rights Islam has given to women cannot be found in any region or nation.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Is Afghanistan at risk over the issue of women of not getting its accounts unfrozen?

HAQQANI (through translator): The frozen money is the people's right. It doesn't have anything to do with the government and politics. It is the nation's right, the poor nation. With frozen money they cannot make us copy and bring their culture here. It is in contradiction with our history, beliefs, and traditions.

ROBERTSON: This is the coming big issue for the Afghan people. Is the money coming or is the money not coming?

HAQQANI (through translator): We will not give up on our people's rights. We will do our utmost effort for the right of our people. The same way we did in the past 20 years. This is the right of the people. This is not the right of Biden or the right to the United States government. So, they can seize it to freeze it.

ROBERTSON: How long do you have before the economy really starts to hurt?

[02:19:58]

HAQQANI (through translator): If the world thinks that they can put a lot of pressure on us through this matter that we will except what they wanted us to accept during the war, this is a very wrong thinking of them. Sustenance is not in the hands of Biden, Europe, Russia, or China. Thanks God we are not panicking about this hardship. This is our affair with God almighty.

ROBERTSON: When will you consider the war with America to be over and finished?

HAQQANI (through translator): The policy of the Islamic emirate is that we want positive diplomatic relations with the entire world including the United States. Now it's up to them. However, now the money freezing issue and other issues, this is inciting war. This is breaking relations. The Islamic emirate wants positive relations with all.

Yesterday, we introduced and invited the United Nations, too, Mr. Suhail Shaheen. It means that we are ready for every positive relation that support peace and security. And it is not in contradiction with our principles, religion, faith and national traditions.

ROBERTSON: How quickly do you need that international recognition of the Taliban government? Weeks? Months? How long?

HAQQANI (through translator): If the world wants peace and security it can be achieved in one day. It has been official to them and it's been official to us too. If they don't want peace and security and they want people here to face hardship and problem, then certainly it may take time. However, this is in the best interest of everyone to be achieved urgently.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN (on camera): The so-called QUAD summit is set to get underway at the White House in the coming hours. Four allies who share a particularly wary view of China's expanding influence in the Indo- Pacific. And under the new deal with the U.S. the U.K., Australia takes on a much bigger security role in the region.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COREN (voice over): A warm Washington welcome for Australia Scott Morrison. Now firmly in Joe Biden's inner sanctum as the White House focuses foreign policy on countering the perceived threat from China.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: The United States has no closer or more reliable ally than Australia.

COREN: Reliable enough to be trusted with the closest of secrets nuclear-propelled submarine technology. New weapons of war the U.S. and U.K. will help Australia build and as a powerful deterrent to China.

SCOTT MORRISON, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: Mr. President, I want to thank you for your leadership and you focus on the Indo-Pacific region. There's no doubt that you get it.

COREN: What's to get is a sense of the pain that China has inflicted on Australia through blocks and tariffs on exported products from wine to coal. Economic punishment Australia says for defying Beijing.

JOHN LEE, FORMER ADVISER TO AUSTRALIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: Beijing calls Australia an upstart and ungrateful upstart, and what it means by that is it is a small country which it hoped would become more of a neutral state which is moved against Beijing.

COREN: John Lee is a former adviser to Australia's foreign minister, he says that China has worked hard to try to pull Australia away from the U.S., a free trade agreement between the two countries in 2015 super charged Australian exports.

But Australia has pushed back against alleged Chinese interference in its domestic politics and angered China by calling for an independent enquiry into the origins of COVID-19. Intentionally or otherwise, Australia has become a global example on how to resist Beijing. LEE: I think what's also enrage Beijing is that a lot of allied

countries have taken inspiration from Australia on policies such as banning Huawei, on foreign interference legislation even strategic affairs.

COREN: Australia has earned a central role in U.S. efforts to counter Chinese aggression. From threats against Taiwan to the militarization of the South China Sea. And China's reaction to the submarine deal was swift and sharp.

ZHAO LIJIAN, SPOKESMAN, CHINESE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS (through translator): Cooperation on nuclear-powered submarine technology between the U.S., the U.K. and Australia will greatly undermine regional peace and stability. Aggravate an arm's race and impair international nuclear nonproliferation efforts.

COREN: Biden and Morrison join Friday by Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India and Yoshihide Suga of Japan. The four call themselves the QUAD, brought together by one common concern, a more aggressive China. Australia's place in the QUAD and its AUKUS deal with the U.S. and U.K. now threatening to transform the upstart into a new competitor for Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COREN (on camera): Well, the QUAD is meant to be a counterbalance to China but it's not a traditional military alliance like NATO. It's more of a strategic international forum that will hold occasional summits and military drills, as well as share information. The QUAD will also focus on COVID, the climate crisis, and economic cooperation.

The head of the U.S. military's Indo-Pacific command calling the QUAD the diamond of democracies.

[02:25:00]

Well, let's bring in now Steven Jiang now live from the Chinese capital. Steven, China obviously not happy about the QUAD partnership considering it's become a security mechanism really, to manage China's rise in the Indo-Pacific. Beijing will be watching very closely.

STEVEN JIANG, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER: That's right, Anna. But you know, this mechanism as you said, evolved from informal discussions between the four governments about coordinating and cooperating on regional policies to this increasingly frequent, and some would say, urgent dialogue on all these strategic issues you mentioned in the region from the highest level of the four countries, exactly because one word, China. And they are the impetus for this change.

And I think the Beijing leadership understands this as well. I mean, officially, they're sticking to their talking points when asked about this upcoming summit, they simply rejected the so-called cold war mentality seeing this closed and exclusive clicks runs -- runs counter to the trend of times and deviates from expectations of the countries in the region and it's doomed to fail. But state media here, though, we have seen some much harsher language with the Global Times, for example, insisting the QUAD is incapable of inflicting real harm to China because the U.S., as they put it, always abandon its allies like trash when it comes to its own interests.

And also warning Australia, Japan, and India not to go too far in following the U.S.'s anti-China push or risk becoming, quote, quoting, "a cannon fodder when China fights back."

So, you know, this kind of language obviously doesn't help, but it's really the Chinese government's policies and actions especially on the security front, as you mentioned in the package, in the region that has really been pushing these four members closer and closer together.

And that's why security is likely to be the top of the mind when these four leaders meet even when they talk about other issues, as you mentioned, the COVID, trade, and the climate change, all of them involving China as well. So, a lot of -- a lot of issues obviously are very intertwined.

So, I think as you say whatever they say is probably not going to sit well with Beijing. But Beijing certainly watching this very closely but also very suspiciously. Anna?

COREN: Steven Jiang keeping on top of the story, good to see you. Many thanks.

The United Nations is looking for better ways to produce, process, and consume what we eat with its first ever global summit on the future of food.

Currently, billions of people are overweight while millions go hungry. Globally, about third of the food produce gets wasted. And the way we produce food contributes greatly to greenhouse gas emissions. World leaders met virtually on Thursday to discuss goals for the future.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACINDA ARDERN, PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND: To achieve these sustainable development goals including the world with zero hunger, we must ensure our global food system is both more sustainable and more inclusive. As a global community, we must take (Inaudible) and far- reaching action to combat climate change while ensuring food security for a growing global population.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN (on camera): After remaining unchanged for five years from 2019 to 2020, the number of undernourished people worldwide went up by more than 100 million. The U.N. says most of that increase is likely due to the pandemic.

Well climate change is top of mind for many Germans heading to the polls this weekend after historic floods devastated parts of the country earlier this year.

Coming up, a look at the candidates' climate policies.

And the CDC director gives the green light to COVID booster shots in the United States. But it's not quite what the CDC advisory panel had recommended.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:30:00]

ANNA COREN, CNN HOST: Updating you now on our breaking news not to debate and disagreement among vaccine experts, Pfizer booster shots can now officially be administered to many adults in the United States. The director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, Rochelle Walensky is breaking with the recommendations of the CDC independent vaccine advisors.

Instead, she's siding with the FDA, which on Wednesday recommended emergency use authorization for a booster dose of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine in people 65 and older. She's also giving the green light to those aged 18 and over with underlying health conditions that put them at high risk of severe disease and those at higher risk because of their occupation. This includes healthcare workers.

On Thursday, CDC advisors had voted against giving boosters to people aged 18 to 64 who faced those greater risks. The World Health Organization is highlighting a dangerous vaccine shortfall in Africa. It says the continent will need more than seven times the current vaccine shipments to fully vaccinate 70 percent of the population by September of next year.

Well, that means the vaccine shipments would have to increase from 20 million doses a month to 150 million per month. Much of the continent remains in the grip of a third wave. Just 4 percent of Africans are fully vaccinated. Well, Germany has announced new rules for unvaccinated workers. If they're forced to quarantine over COVID they will no longer be compensated for loss pay. The change goes into effect November 1.

Quarantines are required for people who test positive for COVID and those returning from countries deemed high risk. As of Thursday, nearly 64 percent of the German population have been fully vaccinated. And while the shots are not mandatory in Germany, officials have been ramping up measures that make it increasingly inconvenient for the unvaccinated.

The race to determine who will succeed German Chancellor Angela Merkel is tightening ahead of Sunday's vote. Candidates went head to head in their final televised debate on Thursday, clashing over taxes, debt and foreign policy. Candidates from the Social Democratic Party and conservative bloc, both called for a strong sovereign Europe. Recent polls show their parties are the top contenders followed by the Green Party. The climate crisis has emerged as a top concern among German voters. In the coming hours many are expected to take to the streets for a climate rally in Berlin. CNN's Fred Pleitgen takes a look at where the candidates stand on environmental issues.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was a moment when the global climate emergency became a deadly serious issue for Germany. Flash flooding this summer in the country's West, killing dozens and destroying entire towns. The moment the environment became one of Germany's most pressing concerns says Swen Hutter from Berlin's Free university.

SWEN HUTTER, FREE UNIVERSITY, BERLIN: We've seen now a steady rise especially after the floods now in summer, where we're back to more or less 50 percent saying climate is really the top issue.

PLEITGEN: An issue that can make and break political campaigns. Christian Democratic candidate Armin Laschet dropped severely in the polls when he was caught laughing on camera while the German President spoke to flood victims. He later apologized for the incident.

Meanwhile, the Green Party topped the polls for a while and is still set for a strong showing with its strong environmental agenda.

ANNALENA BAERBLOCK, GREEN PARTY CANDIDATE (through translator): And for the children and for those of you who are 17-20, it makes a massive difference who gets to lead this country in the future.

PLEITGEN: Of course, the environment hasn't suddenly become a topic for Germans. One of the largest industrial nations in the world with a massive thirst for energy, Germany has long debated a fundamental question how to maintain the economy without destroying the ecology. Social Democratic front runner Olaf Scholz says the time to act is now.

[02:35:00]

OLAF SCHOLZ, SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC FRONT RUNNER: 250 years of economic development in our country of industrial development is based on the use of fossils. If we will change this in 25 years, this is really a big process. Climate activists have become more vocal in recent years spurned by a global movement to tackle manmade climate change, calling for an end to diesel and gasoline powered cars and polluting industries, the bedrock of Germany's economy.

Conservative candidate Armin Laschet says his party wants to foster innovation to help curb greenhouse gases. For our climate policies, we want to invest in innovation and market economy mechanisms, which in our opinion, promise more than all the ban the SPD and greens are planning, Laschet recently said.

In the 16 years that Angela Merkel governed Germany, the country and acted some environmental policies like ditching nuclear energy and attempting to move towards renewables. In a recent news conference, though Merkel acknowledged not enough has been done to fight climate change in Germany, which she says that goes for many other countries as well.

HAJO FUNKE, POLITICAL SCIENTIST: The biggest flaw is knowing all about the climate crisis and not doing anything what has to be done. That difficult task is now left to Merkel successor, as the German public is increasingly making clear, it wants action on climate change without further delay. Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.

COREN: Earlier CNN European affairs commentator Dominic Thomas weighed in on why he believes Social Democratic candidate, Olaf Scholtz has remained a front runner among German voters.

DOMINIC THOMAS, CNN EUROPEAN AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Ultimately, we know when you look at elections for Prime Ministers, presidents and so on it's really all about the leader but in the German context, it is absolutely about the parties, it's about coalitions, and consensus. And all the way back to 2005, when Chancellor Merkel came to power, she has been in coalition with the SPD, Scholtz himself as a minister going all the way back to 2007 and now the Finance Minister and the deputy Chancellor.

So even though he's trying to sort of set himself apart from the pack, he understands that what Angela Merkel represented and the level of anxiety in so many ways in German society, that the rudder has been taken away from the ship and her qualities of stability, reliability, and consistency are the ones that he's putting forward and privileging and ultimately, those issues hanging around him are secondary to this in the eyes of the voters.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: Well, tune in for CNN Special Live Coverage of the German Federal Elections, find out who will be next to lead the country. Join Hala Gorani, Fred Pleitgen and Salma Abdelaziz as they bring us the latest Sunday at 12pm Eastern, 5pm in London right here on CNN.

Well, London's metropolitan police are searching for a second man in connection with a murder of a 28-year old teacher. The MET released these photos of the man they believe has some connection to the crime, along with a photo of the silver vehicle he might be driving. Another man is already in custody on suspicion of murder.

Sabina Nessa lived in South London, she left her home day ahead to the pub to meet a friend, a five minute walk but never made it. A vigil is planned in memory of Sabina later today. Coming up on CNN Newsroom, 1000s evacuate their homes after volcano keeps erupting in the Canary Islands. The latest from the CNN Weather Center is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:40:00]

COREN: Evacuations are underway in the Canary Islands as a volcano erupts for a sixth straight day in La Palma, you are looking at live pictures. Well, lava has destroyed or damaged hundreds of homes and businesses along with banana crops. Experts say the flow has now slowed, but it hasn't yet reached the ocean. In some places, the lava wall stands as high as 12 meters or 38 feet tall.

So far, no injuries or deaths have been reported. Well, let's bring in our meteorologist Derek Van Dam. For more, Derek any idea as to how long these eruptions will last?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, there's really no telling how long it could last. I mean, it's already been five days. So the chances of it continuing very likely. And if that lava was to reach the sea, we have the potential of hydrochloric acid, eruptions, as well it's like throwing boiling oil into water, they don't mix well. And we could see some explosions if that was to reach the actual surface.

But I mean the pictures are just astounding, really a pic paints 1000 words what's happening on the ground within La Palma. And just to put this into some sort of geographical reference, it's off the coast of Morocco. This is actually a Spanish archipelago. There's La Palma, the Cumbre Vieja volcano is the volcano that erupted on Sunday, and at one stage was flowing at about 700 meters per hour which is the length of seven football pitches.

It of course has slowed down since then, but not before creating significant amount of damage, over 200 houses damaged from this and or destroyed and that's estimated property loss of over 100 million U.S. dollars. That's an incredible amount of money so far. Now, the winds are of particular concern because they want to know where this ash fall will go, where I should say the sulfur dioxide could potentially go we're going to keep an eye on that out of the North for the next day but changes to the south in the coming days ahead. Anna.

COREN: Devastating for that community. Derek Van Dam, appreciate the update. Thank you. Well, I'm Anna Coren in Hong Kong. Thanks so much for your company. More of CNN Newsroom at the top of the hour. World Sport is next?

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[02:45:00]

DON LEMON, CNN HOST: She took her personal struggle with the opioid epidemic and turned it into a movement. CNN's Chief Medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is highlighting this Champion for Change. Take a look at Joanne Peterson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOANNE PETERSON: Sometimes it's OxyContin (inaudible) it was always the opioids and then they turn it to the heroine.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Unprecedented drug overdose.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When he takes an overdose call, the usual suspects is a painkiller. Many cities report a surge in heroin use.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: So many times when we talk about the opioid crisis, we talk about it in terms of dozens of people may have overdose in a particular city, or 10s of 1000s of people have died of drug overdoses. We talk about it from a policy perspective. But what makes this distinctive is this is an organization that recognizes not only the trauma to the individual who is dealing with substance abuse but the whole family.

PETERSON: I lost my niece a couple years ago to an overdose. I lost a brother 10 years ago in complications of his addictions.

[02:50:00]

GUPTA: Joanne Peterson's family had a long and difficult history with addiction.

PETERSON: I learned when my niece passed away, the most important thing to do is no matter what, tell that person you love them and kind of be there for them, I have terrible guilt, because in the end, I really wasn't there for her in the very end. At the night that haunts me, and it wasn't that I didn't want to be it was that I knew that I couldn't fix her problem or change it. You know, she just kind of disappeared.

And then I got a call that she was in Beth Israel hospital on life support. So that haunts me.

GUPTA: It was another part of the struggle with the stigma of substance abuse that she had dealt with for most of her life. Until she met other families like her at a community meeting about drug overdoses.

PETERSON: I started saying to people, let's start meeting.

GUPTA: In 2004, Learn to Cope was born.

PETERSON: We're there to help the family and remind the family that no matter what, you're going to be OK. And I've had so many people say to me, they feel grateful that they were a member of a peer group, like Learn to Cope, because they understood the disease. I know a mom, her son had cancer. He had been prescribed OxyContin, because he was in pain. He was taken off it and he turned to heroin. And she told me she missed his cancer.

She said, you know why? Because everyone loved him, then. No one gives anything about him now.

GUPTA: Even after 20 years of covering these types of stories, I still learn something every time, I meet someone like Joanne Peterson. The idea that the ultimate first responder in this opioid epidemic is usually a family member.

PETERSON: We really want to educate the families on how to recognize an overdose in what puts them at risk and make sure they have Narcan in their home.

GUPTA: Narcan or Naloxone is a drug that can literally reverse an opioid overdose, and give families a chance to rescue someone they love. Do you have any idea how many rescues have been reported?

PETERSON: I know that for Learn to Cope, it's been over 200.

GUPTA: A volunteer with learn to cope. Jim Derick says the group is vital support as he wrestles with his own son's fentanyl use.

People come to a meeting and they walk away with a kit, including Narcan. How important is that?

JIM DERICK, VOLUNTEER, LEARN TO COPE: It is critically important. Two people that I've trained have used it directly to save their loved ones, including my son's mother, who saved his friend from a lethal overdose about six months ago.

GUPTA: The stories that end up having I think the greatest impact are the ones that start off the way the story does. It's an individual who channels that grief into something really meaningful and starts an army. Not just about accepting the status quo, it's about doing everything you can to change it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'll never give up.

PETERSON: I'm scrappy, not afraid to speak up. I've never considered myself a champion, but I am a fighter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DON LEMON, CNN HOST: So Dr. Gibbs is here with me now, Doctor, you've been reporting on this crisis for a much of your career. What was it that that really struck you about Joanne and Learn to Cope in particular that gives you hope?

GUPTA: Well, you know, I think a lot of it done just over the last 20 years, I've now transitioned, you know, to being a dad, I have three teenagers, and I've met a lot of parents out there, whose kids are dealing with this, you know, and a lot of these parents are surprised, they have no idea and then all of a sudden, they sort of learn, they see these clues of what's going on with their child.

And they feel very powerless at the time. And that's what I think really inspired me about this organization because it empowers these families, they meet other families like them, that's something that's very helpful. But then also this idea down that the first responder, person who usually find somebody in the throes of an overdose typically is a family member.

And can you imagine you suddenly come upon a family member who is dying of an overdose and you know, you call 911 you do all those things. But this organization also empowers them to do something about that to potentially save lives. And as you heard from Joanne, 200 times now they've reversed overdoses. So pretty incredible organization.

LEMON: I got to ask you listen to your doctor, you work in a hospital but even being a doctor you surprised by the rise in overdose numbers even during the pandemic?

[02:55:00]

GUPTA: Well, I was initially but you know, there's obviously the social isolation, the economic instability, all the disruption to our daily life. But also, what I was really struck by was this, you know, recovery programs and counseling programs and programs that help people that are in recovery overall, they work and you know, this, in some ways proved it, because so many people, at least in the initial days of the pandemic, were not able to access many of those services.

And I don't think that's the only part that fueled this increase. But I think that that made a difference as well. People did not have the safety net they typically have. Some of that's now been addressed by Telehealth and things like that. So it's making a difference. But I think those programs, I think it's another reminder of why we have to invest in them.

LEMON: Yes. Dr. Gupta, I mean, always amazing stories that you bring to us. Thank you so much. I appreciate that. And there's a lot more where this came from. We're spotlighting these everyday people changing the world for better. Champions for Change airs Saturday night at eight. We'll be right back.

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