Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
CDC Director Gives Green Light; Germans Voting for their Next Chancellor; U.S. Migration Crisis Piling Up; Haitians Look at Haiti as Hell; CDC Director Breaks With Vaccine Advisors On Boosters For People In High Risk Workplaces; Africa Will Need Seven Times Current Vaccine; Growing Controversy Over Handling Of Mysterious Illness; QUAD Summit To Meet Today; U.S.-French Tension Cool As Top Diplomats Meet At UNGA; The Future Of Food; Afghanistan's Future, Some Praise Taliban; Myanmar Coup, Military Put Activists' Families In Prison; Volcano Eruption Sparks Evacuations; China's Cancel Culture. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired September 24, 2021 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): Hello, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes. I appreciate your company.
Coming up here on CNN Newsroom, Haitian migrants stalled at the U.S. border with Mexico and increasingly deported to a nation engulfed in chaos. A country reeling from gang violence, political corruption, and a devastating earthquake.
France and the United States attempt to patch things up after a diplomatic spat over submarines. Why that relationship might take some time to repair.
And the end of an era. Germans head to polls in two days for an election that will decide what life looks like after Angela Merkel. We'll have those stories shortly.
First, after debates and disagreements among vaccine experts Pfizer booster shots can now officially be administered to millions of adults in the U.S. The director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, Rochelle Walensky, is breaking with the recommendations of the CDC'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 vaccines in people 65 and older. She's also giving a green light to those age 18 and over with underlying health conditions that put them at risk and severe disease. And those at higher risk because of their occupation. That includes health care workers.
On Thursday, CDC advisers had voted against giving boosters to people age 18 to 64 who face those greater risks.
Turning our attention now to the desperate situation at the U.S.- Mexico border, thousands of Haitian migrants in limbo in Texas and Mexico as the Biden administration struggles to get a handle on the crisis.
What you are seeing there is the scene on Thursday, mothers carrying toddlers, children, and others waiting across the Rio Grande which marks the border between Mexico and the United States. Tractors cleared a huge part of that migrant camp under the Del Rio International Bridge.
The U.N. calls the conditions there deplorable. More than 3,000 people are still waiting to be processed by U.S. immigration authorities.
Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security is temporarily suspended horse patrols in Del Rio after video showed agents aggressively confronting migrants on Sunday. The White House press secretary explaining that decision.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
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 that has been made in response.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES (on camera): Now Democrats in the U.S. Congress are fuming and the Biden administration envoy to Haiti has quit in protest.
CNN's Melissa Bell with more.
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 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 it decided to a court special protected person status to those Haitians already in the United States.
[03:05:05]
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 are 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 released 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 a plane. It wasn't until landing back in Haiti that they discovered it was a return to where they'd started. A seemingly tragic end to a long and desperate journey, it appears was all for naught.
Melissa Bell, CNN, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES (on camera): The U.S. secretary of homeland security says the deportations are not a matter of immigration policy but are because of the pandemic and a matter of public health. Here is how he responded to the resigning special envoy's claims that the deportations are inhumane and counterproductive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
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 defined 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.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HOLMES (on camera): The Haitian migrant's way of getting into the U.S. just got a lot harder. Up until now Mexican border officials have largely stood aside and allowed migrants to cross the border. But not anymore. On Thursday, 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.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
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 diapers 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, overwhelmed 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.
UNKNOWN (through translator): They won't let me cross the water right now, but if they don't let me cross, if 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.
[03:09:57]
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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES (on camera): Well, the Haitian ambassador to the U.S. says the situation calls for a different approach. Here is what he said President Biden should do.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOCCHIT EDMOND, HAITIAN AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S.: Look 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 our 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 and direct 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)
HOLMES (on camera): Joining me now from San Antonio in Texas is Arelis Hernandez. She is the Texas correspondent for the Washington Post.
And I know you spent a lot of time, spent a lot of time there in Del Rio. First of all, give us a sense of what the situation is for the migrants in a humanitarian sense. The U.N. high commissioner for refugees called the conditions in Del Rio deplorable. Even as the numbers are reduced.
ARELIS HERNANDEZ, TEXAS CORRESPONDENT, WASHINGTON POST: Yes. You know, the situation under the bridge is not a situation where human beings should be living under those conditions. You know, sanitation is largely absent while there are portable toilets and things like that. These are thousands of people who are congregated underneath this bridge. And it's not -- it's not an ideal situation for anyone.
Food is pretty scarce, although U.S. -- the U.S. government and federal authorities has tried to provide, you know, some sustenance to folks, people still say that the food was running out pretty quickly. And there aren't any shower facilities in this place. At one point, people are using the river as a source for bathing. And that is no longer the case because access to the river that has been cut off by authorities.
HOLMES: Obviously, very trying conditions. I mean, many, if not most, are being deported straight back to Haiti it would seem. And UNICEF they are saying that two in three of those sent back are women and children. What do they say they are going back to economically, politically, and socially for that matter?
HERNANDEZ: Yes. So, my colleagues in Haiti as well have been talking to migrants. For them, Haiti is hell. It's the last place that they want to be. You know, they left years ago. This is not a place that many of them have any more ties. Their own families have left Haiti and are in different parts of the world.
So, you know, this is not a place, and in some cases, it's worse off now than it was when they left.
HOLMES: From being there on the ground yourself what sense do you get of their faith in the U.S. now? What are they saying the administration should be doing?
HERNANDEZ: So, advocates who have been pretty disappointed with the response from the Biden administration say that, you know, this is a classic case of, you know, where we should extend humanitarian parole and start, you know, asylum screening for these individuals.
These are people who have gone through very long and very difficult journey to get and were very clear on the reasons why they need to be in the United States as opposed to anywhere else, and that they should be given the chance to make their claims for asylum to start that process.
But with title 42 being what it is, you know, some of that screening is not taking place, people are not able to make their credible fear that declarations per say instead of being expelled summarily.
HOLMES: Right. What is the argument by migrant supporters and advocates about what should be done if not deportation for most of those who crossed? Because of course the critics would say allowing thousands to stay in the U.S. because they showed up at the border would surely encourage a wave of more to come. What do Haitians and supporters say to that argument?
HERNANDEZ: So, a couple of things. Right? This is not new. This particular phenomenon is not new. The magnitude and the scale of what has happened in Del Rio is in itself unprecedented. But you know, I've been down at that particular border crossing myself several times in the past year. And this is not new. They've been coming across.
And because of the way that our policies are sort of being applied rather consistently, rather arbitrarily. You know, some people get in and some people don't. Some families and pregnant women are able to, you know, come into the United States and get released, others are not.
And that inconsistent and that confusion and lack of coherence about a consistent immigration policy is what, you know, -- advocates are saying that if you don't spell out the rules, you know, consistently in a way that makes sense you can expect people to play by the rules or to understand what those rules are in the first place.
[03:14:58]
And on top of the fact that, you know, there's sort of a moral argument to be made here about American values and about welcoming the stranger and this being a place of refuge that we, you know, it would un -- the unbecoming of the United States to send them back.
HOLMES: Now let's -- this next question it sort of, has a dichotomy to it because of, you know, the U.S. has had a fraught relationship in its history of involvement in Haiti. But do they talk about how the administration could affectively help address the root causes of why Haitians are leaving in the first place? What do the migrants say about the push factors versus the pull?
HERNANDEZ: No, you're absolutely right. The history of U.S. involvement in Haiti and other Caribbean and Latin American countries is wrought with turmoil. Right? You know, the argument to be made is that, you know, if there are negotiations that can take place from the source countries where these folks are coming, Chile, from Brazil, from other places in South America that might have the capacity to take these folks.
Whether the United States can negotiate some kind of asylum protection program where those folks can stay in those countries, get work permits, work legally in those countries and build their lives there.
HOLMES: Arelis Fernandez with the Washington Post, thanks so much.
HERNANDEZ: Thank you.
HOLMES: Still to come here on the program, the race to replace Angela Merkel appears to tightening just days before the Germans head to the polls.
And later, America's top diplomat on a mission to patch up relations with its oldest ally after an especially ugly fight over submarines. Paris warns it won't easily forgive nor forget what the U.S., Australia, and Britain did behind its back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES (on camera): Germany is nearing the end of a political era as voters head to the polls this weekend to choose the next chancellor. 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 block both called for a strong sovereign Europe. Recent polls show their parties are the top contenders followed by the Green Party. Now 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)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It was a moment when the global climate emergency became a deadly serious issue for Germany. Flash flooding this summer on the country's west, killing dozens and destroying entire towns.
The moment the environment became one of Germans most pressing concerns says Swen Hutter from Berlin's Free University.
[03:20:04]
SWEN HUTTER, PROFESSOR, FREE UNIVERSITY BERLIN: We are seeing now a steady rise especially after the floods in summer where we were back to more or less 50 percent and 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 BAERBOCK, CANDIDATE, GREEN PARTY (through translator): For the children 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.
OLAF SCHOLZ, SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE: Two hundred fifty years of economic development in our country, industrial development is based on the use of fossils. If we will change this in 25 years this is really a big process.
PLEITGEN: 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 s says his party wants to foster innovation to help curb greenhouse gases. "For our climate politics we want to invest in innovation and the
market economy mechanisms which in our opinion promise more than all the Brands, the SPD and Greens are planning, Laschet recently said.
In the 16 years that Angela Merkel governed Germany the country enacted 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, but she says that goes for many other countries as well.
HAJO FUNKE, POLITICAL ANALYST: Our biggest flawed is knowing all about the climate crisis and not doing anything. What has to be done.
PLEITGEN: 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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES (on camera): Stefan Kornelius is the author of "Angela Merkel" The Chancellor and Her World." He is also the foreign editor of the German newspaper the Suddeutsche Zeitung. He joins me now from Munich.
Thanks for doing so.
Now without Merkel at the helm what is your take on how this election is likely to go? I heard you earlier this month say you couldn't see a government in place until the end of the year because of how the coalition horse trading goes usually.
STEFAN KORNELIUS, AUTHOR, ANGELA MERKEL: THE CHANCELLOR AND HER WORLD: Yes. My men brought them. (Inaudible) for the chancellor on Sunday. Their body -- bodies need the form coalitions and decide on a chancellor. And the choices are pretty stark. So, the negotiating process after Sunday will be extremely difficult.
For the first time in post-war German history there is much likely a three-way coalition so we are sort of like Scandinavian situation. Too many parties, too little votes, and that's extremely difficult. Especially since the main contenders from the social Democrats and the Christian Democrats are neck and neck.
HOLMES: After Angela Merkel's nearly 16 years in power, I mean, it's clearly an end of an era not just for Germany but for Europe as well. Given -- given her role as a staunch defender of the European Union, she has been the glue in many ways. How might her departure impact the E.U. in terms of leadership and also direction?
KORNELIUS: Well, there will be a lot of orchestrating on who runs the E.U. There and a lot of contesting on amongst other prime ministers and presidents in Europe. Mostly the French president and Italian prime minister who are extremely strong political personalities who want to lead the show who want to have a bigger stake in the process of decision-making.
Germany's role was earned by Merkel by 16 years, also by money. Yes, Germany is the biggest economy on the continent, but also by being able to balance interest in Europe and that will be quite difficult task for the next years to come.
HOLMES: Yes. She's been -- she's been of course such a pivotal figure for Germans and Germany. And it is notable too, that she's stepping down of her own will and at the end of a full term which is -- which is pretty rare in itself. She has been a centrist as well. What -- what might change or what might be the impact of her departure in her own country? Be it immigration, economic, or foreign policy?
[03:25:08]
KORNELIUS: Well, if you have such a dominating figure leaving there will be a void, there will a vacuum. And we do not see that her own party, the Christian Democrats is imploding their power base has been arose has arisen and they Merkel hasn't been able to really pass on her legacy or her yield to the successor.
So, we do see a reformation of German political landscape. Merkel has moved politics very much to the center. And what we will see now is a stark polarization, and that -- in that respect probably a less governable Germany for the next years.
HOLMES: Yes. There was a -- there was a Pew poll last year that showed her to be the world's most trusted leader. And for a decade, Forbes magazine ranked her the world's most powerful woman. For a decade. Apart from keeping the E.U. together what do you think what else will form her legacy?
KORNELIUS: Well, Forbes probably didn't find that many women leading so that's probably the main problem. but apart from that, well, her legacy is that of being there for such a long time, keeping stability, projecting stability to the world, defending democracy being such a staunch beacon of democracy especially during the Trump years while keeping Germany on the rise.
Germany is now the uncontested leader in Europe, and for the first time in history there is no enemy which actually denies that leadership. Germany is accepted in that role and that is only due to Angela Merkel.
HOLMES: And you touched on this a minute ago, I wanted to circle back on it. Given her role as a centrist, and what sort of fracturing or change in terms of, you know, keeping the country together might happen in her absence?
KORNELIUS: I think the next chancellor will have a tough time fighting for his place on the European table. There -- German society is also extremely torn. You do see that they want to change. They see change needs to be imminent. We saw the climate issue. We do have the same problems in futurization, industrial growth is actually moving elsewhere. Mostly to China and places in Southeast Asia. So, the Germans, which is also an aging society does realize, do
realize that there needs to be some impact with these actions and at the same time, given that such (Inaudible) society people don't want to change anymore.
So, this is a difficult situation. The (Inaudible) do -- they want their share. We do see that today in the climate demonstrations. We do expect in Berlin and other places. So, yes, this country will be preoccupied with itself but at the same time it's on demand to look outside to the world and give it share, still one of the strongest economies in the world. A huge impact in Europe. So, the Germans really have to wake up and get more act.
HOLMES: Yes. A pivotal election. Stefan Kornelius in Munich. Thanks so much.
KORNELIUS: Thank you.
HOLMES: And do tune in for CNN special live coverage of the German federal elections. Find out who will be the next to lead the country. Join Hala Gorani, Fred Pleitgen and Salma Abdelaziz as they bring us the very latest Sunday at 12 p.m. Eastern, 5 in the afternoon in London right here on CNN.
Key allies will soon converge on the White House and they all have gripes with Beijing. What the QUAD summit hopes to accomplish. That's when we come back.
And also, a mysterious illness hitting U.S. diplomats around the world. Some are criticizing the government's response. Details after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:30:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): Let's update you now on the breaking news which is Pfizer's COVID booster shots can now be officially administered to millions of adults in the United States. Just after midnight the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved a booster dose in people 65 and older.
But also, Rochelle Walensky, approve boosters for those aged 18 and over with underlying health conditions and those at high risk because of their occupation. Which would of course include health care workers and the like. On Thursday CDC advisers had voted against giving boosters to people aged 18 to 64 who faced those greater risks.
Now 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.
That means vaccine shipments would have to increase from 20 million doses a month to 150 million doses a month. Much of the continent remains in the grip of a third wave. Just 4 percent of Africans are fully vaccinated.
And Germany announced new rules for an unvaccinated workers if they are forced to quarantine over COVID. They will no longer be compensated for lost salary. The change goes into effect November the 1st. 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 has 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.
There is growing concern about American government's involvement handling rather of apparent puzzling attacks on U.S. diplomats around the world. The victims are experiencing an illness known as Havana Syndrome.
CNN's Brian Todd with the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The State Department under growing pressure to do more to help its staffers who are suffering from a mysterious illness, the so called Havana Syndrome.
Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen along with Republican Susan Collins sending a letter to Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, raising concerns that some State Department victims of the illness have been denied by the department itself. Access to be treated at the Walter Reed National Medical Military Care Center. Quote, "despite their request to be seen at Walter Reed."
SEN. JEANNE SHAHEEN (D-NH): Diplomatic personnel or State Department personnel all over the world. Sacrificing themselves and their families if they are injured on the job. They need to get the same treatment that everybody else gets.
TODD: This comes at a critical moment. The woman the State Department task was getting to the bottom of this, Ambassador Pamela Spratlen leaves her position after only six months and amid questions over the task force's handling of the probe. A state official said, Spratlen was only said to serve only six months.
But there is new urgency to investigate. CNN has learned of two high- profile incidents recently. A visit by Vice President Kamala Harris to Vietnam in August was delayed when several U.S. personnel there reported symptoms and at least two had to be medevac.
And more recently when CIA Director, Bill Burns, traveled to India, a member of his team reported symptoms and had to receive medical attention according to sources. An incident would set off alarm bells within the U.S. government. And one source told CNN left Burns, quote, "fuming with anger."
[03:35:05]
ANDREW HAMMOND, HISTORIAN AND CURATOR, THE INTERNATIONAL SPY MUSEUM: The fight for the CIA Director was on the visit to India and a member of his team was targeted is definitely sending a message. The message would seem to be were not terribly afraid of the consequences, whatever those consequences may be.
TODD: It's called Havana Syndrome because the unexplained symptoms started with U.S. diplomatic officials in Cuba about five years ago. But similar incidents also occurred with American diplomats and intelligence officers in Russia, China and elsewhere. Symptoms of what could be attacks using a directed energy device include ear popping, vertigo, pounding headaches and nausea.
MARC POLYMEROPOULOS, FORME CIA OFFICER: Many of us have said, you know, such as to getting injured we wish we had been shot.
TODD: Who or what is the perpetrator? Current and former U.S. officials say it could be Russia or China but that is largely circumstantial. Russian officials had vehemently denied responsibility for the attacks as have Chinese and Cuban officials.
State Department officials have so far not responded to the letter for Senator Shaheen and Collins complaining of a lack of access to Walter Reed for State Department employees.
Last month, State Department officials told CNN, there are aware of the frustration and fear among their employees that they were looking for ways to share more information with them and that they established a team of medical experts to respond to reports of Havana Syndrome among State Department staffers.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: The leaders of the so-called QUAD are getting ready to meet at the White House today. Japan, the U.S., India and Australia focused on deepening their cooperation on contentious issues and standing up to a more aggressive China.
But the QUAD is not a traditional military alliance like NATO, more of a strategic international forum that will hold occasional summits and military drills.
A closer look at China's response now. Steven Jiang is live in Beijing. This group has met virtually before, this is the first in- person meeting. OK, so what are the priority issues? China of course, and what does China think of the QUAD?
STEVEN JIANG, CNN PRODUCER (on camera): Michael, that's right. You know, this mechanism really evolved from informal discussions on cooperation, coordination and regional polices to this more urgent dialogue. All the strategic issues in the region from the highest levels of the four countries really because of China. China is the impetus, I think the Beijing leadership understands this as well. And the official way they are sticking to their talking points of
rejecting the so-called -- this type of close and exclusive clicks that runs counter to the trend of times not in the interest of the region and saying its doom to fail.
But we've seen much harsher language in their state media, with the "Global Times" for example, insisting that the QUAD is incapable of inflicting real harm to China, because in their words, the U.S. always abandons its allies like trash for its own interest. And also warning Australia, Japan and India not to go too far in following the U.S. lead. Or risk being a quote/unquote, "becoming a cannon fodder when China fights back."
Now this kind of rhetoric a sigh, it's really the Chinese government is increasingly aggressive policies and actions in the region that really has been pushing these four members closer and closer together.
And this is of course, a special issue on the security from -- with the People's Liberation Army building those man-made islands in the South China Sea, clashing with Japan in the East China Sea and also the border skirmishes with India. Not to mention expanding its influence in the Indian Ocean.
So, I think all those developments meaning that security is likely to be top of their minds when the four leaders of the democracy meet in the White House. Michael.
HOLMES: What are the other potential deliverables in this? I mean, let's talk about creating a more secure semiconductor chips supply chain which is pretty important at the matter. Also, fresh promise perhaps on climate and clean energy.
JIANG: That's right. They are going to talk about a wide range of issues some of which you just mentioned, in climate change, but also trade and technology and also COVID. But all of those obviously involving China as well, and they're often intertwined.
I think it's really key. It's worth mentioning that. All four members are major trading partners with China as well. And China, of course, has been using that to exert political pressure, or even a punishment when some government speak up against China, as we've seen in the case of Australia in the past few months.
So I think that is why the QUAD members are now trying to speak with the more unified, more coordinated voice. But from Beijing's perspective, obviously, this is another example of how the U.S. is having this grandmaster plan of trying to contain its rise, encircling it with itself and its allies and the region that Beijing has really been trying to dominate. Michael.
HOLMES: Indeed. Steven, thanks. Steven Jiang there in Beijing for us.
Now a week long diplomatic spat between Paris and Washington appears to have been smooth over. Well, at least for now. France is fury over that American, British, Australian security deal triggered one of the worst falling out in French-U.S. history. [03:40:12]
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.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CYRIL VANIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): France is that ending the diplomatic crisis with the U.S. will take time. The top diplomats from both countries, Foreign Ministers, 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 (inaudible) for years.
Short-term, what the French want after feeling they were blindsided by their allies is to be treated with the respect that they feel they deserve. Both as a close partner of the U.S. and an aperture military power. They got that in a formed of a quasi-apology from the White House which a French government spokesperson hailed as a victory on French radio.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
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 admits its wrongs in a written and signed press released. I think Joe Biden understood that with us, Europe was not looking for a big brother but a partner.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VANIER: 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.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: United Nations is looking for a better ways to produce process and consume what we eat. Whether it's first ever global summit on the future of food. Currently billions of people are overweight while millions of others go hungry. Globally about a third of the food produced gets wasted, a third. World leaders met virtually on Thursday to discuss the goals for the future.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACINDA ARDERN, PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND: To achieve a sustainable development goals, including a world with zero hunger, we must ensure our global food systems are both more sustainable and more inclusive. It's a global community we must take record of far-reaching action to combat climate change. One ensuring food security for a growing global population.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: 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.
Activists in Myanmar standing up to the military regime, but their families pay the price.
Next, one five-year-old girl who was thrown into jail over her father's political work.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:45:00]
HOLMES: For some Afghans the Taliban takeover has meant a return to law and order. Militants now walk the streets of Kabul with guns in tow. Few daring to cross them. But residents worry about the economy and lack of jobs. Most of Afghanistan's assets had been frozen overseas since the Taliban took control. Here's how one Kabul resident described 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 can also come to help them. So far the world is not supporting them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: In Myanmar thousands of people have been arrested since the military coup almost eight months ago. But when the military junta cannot reach its opponents, it goes after their families and that can include children.
Paula Hancocks reports about the policy of collective punishment that put a five-year-old girl behind bars.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A five-year-old girl sings along to her favorite song. At first glance a picture of innocence. But Sotek Htay innocence is gone taken away by Myanmar's brutal military.
Soldiers arrested her along with her mother and older sister because her father, a leader in the pro-democracy movement was in hiding. Released after 18 days, she spends her fifth birthday behind bars. She is now reunited with her father. Hiding in the jungle, Soe Htay send us audio clips through his mobile.
The young girl says she was forced to stay in a half sitting, half standing position widely considered to be a stress position.
The U.N. Committee against torture abuse stress position as contrary to the convention against torture.
TOM ANDREWS, U.N. SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON MYANMAR: I have seen the points of interest being abducted. It's just a degree of outrage that it is just hard to put into words. Just how angry I am at the depth that this military junta is willing to go.
HANCOCKS: We sent the military detailed questions about the girl's detention. They have not responded to our emails or texts.
UNKNOWN: She's still suffering some mental trauma. She wakes up in the morning crying saying, I miss my mom and I mess my older sister. Why aren't they back yet?
HANCOCKS: Soe Htay refuses to give up on his fight for democracy despite his seemingly desperate situation. He says his wife and daughter have been sentenced to three years in prison and have been separated from each other. He heard his daughter contracted COVID-19 in prisoned but has since recovered.
Kengsen To (ph) is a social influencer with around 700,000 followers on Facebook. She's been active in the civil disobedience movement collecting donations for protesters. If you're going into hiding when the military try to arrest her. Instead she says, they arrested her parents and sister-in-law. The latter has since been released.
My father was on medication she says. But he doesn't have any in prison. I sent food, but I have no idea if it gets to him.
I heard from a source that my father has been tortured. Sometimes I feel like I'm losing my mind.
Kengsen to say she feels guilty, her parents are suffering. Desperate, she has no contact with them and guilty she can longer help protesters from hiding.
ANDREWS: (Inaudible) in which they are intimidating people to an extraordinary degree. People are extremely fearful.
HANCOCKS: Two more families torn apart by a ruthless military junta intent on holding power no matter the cost of the people of Myanmar.
Paula Hancocks, CNN, Seoul.
(END VIDEOTAPE) HOLMES: Still to come here on the program more evacuations as an
erupting volcano in the Canary Islands keeps sending lava down its slopes. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:50:00]
HOLMES: Evacuations continue at Spain's La Palma Island as a volcano erupts for a sixth straight day. Lava has destroyed or damaged hundreds of homes and businesses along with banana crops. In some places the lava walls stands as high as 12 meters or 38 feet. So far no injuries or deaths have been reported.
Let's bring in Meteorologist Derek Van Dam for the latest on this some extraordinary video coming up, one of them -- the one behind you there?
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, just sitting here watching it, it really paints a thousand words here with the story. You talk about the several hundred homes being damaged, this is being one of them directly behind me. They have estimated over 100 million U.S. dollars equivalent of property damage so far from this slow-moving molten lava. Very unfortunate situation.
The fortunate side about this is there haven't been fatalities or injuries as of yet. Now, I just want to give a bit of geographical reference where the Canary Islands are located. I think this is important. It's off the Coast of Morocco. It's a Spanish archipelago. There's La Palma, the island where the volcano actually exists.
And when it erupted, it erupted with a quite a flow of lava. In fact 700 meters per hour. Which is equivalent to the length of seven football pitches. It has since slowed down, it hasn't reach the ocean just yet. We don't want to see that happen because that could create what is called hydrochloric acid steam that would obviously cause problems for the local communities in the areas.
But 200 houses it's destroyed from this lava flow. Estimated property loss, again, that's 87 million euros or 100 million U.S. dollars. So all eyes are on where the love is going but also the wind direction. Where will it take this potential sulfuric acid and plume of smoke and ash? With it the winds in the forecast have a more northerly direction for the next 24 hours.
But we do believe that by Saturday and Sunday, winds will start to change out of the south. So that will shift where this ash goes. It will shift where the potential dangerous venting takes place. Suddenly components of that, it means it will move across the Canary Islands, potentially into the coastal areas of Morocco, as well as the Iberian Peninsula.
Last time this volcano erupted was back in 1971. So it was due time for this to take place and they knew it was close because they started to feel the earth shake, the trembles happened. We have about 22,000 earthquakes associated with this earthquake leading up to the actual volcanic eruption. So, quite a scene there in the Canary Islands to say the least. Michael?
HOLMES: Absolutely. Derek, thanks so much. Derek van Dam, I appreciate it.
Now for a time, one of China's leading actress (inaudible) and businesswoman was canceled from the internet or rather everything about her was made to disappear. If she didn't exist.
CNN's Ivan Watson explains how the Chinese government might have pulled the plug on her star power.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Imagine one of Hollywood's biggest celebrities he erased from the internet in a single night.
That's basically what happened to Jia Wei, one of China's most successful actresses. A star of Chinese television and film, Jia was also a wealthy entrepreneur who bought Vineyards in France and acquired a stake in one of China's biggest film studios.
That all changed one night in August when Jia suddenly inexplicably disappeared from the Chinese internet. Her movies and TV shows removed from streaming sites. Her social media accounts erased.
JENNIFER HSU, RESEARCH FELLOW LOWY INSTITUTE: To imagine that someone's name, history is eliminated from the internet, it shows the power and the infrastructure of China's internet architecture. And who really is in power? It is not the Chinese Party of state.
[03:55:05]
WATSON: China experts say the canceling of Jia Wei is part of a much bigger crackdown now underway in China.
UNKNOWN: The whole entertaining industries was targeted by Xi Jinping.
WATSON: Canada based analyst, Wen Jao (ph) argues there's only room for one real star in today's China, Chinese president, Xi Jinping.
UNKNOWN: Xi Jinping in (inaudible) today (inaudible) meaning independent social (inaudible) might be out of his control. He want to take control of everything.
WATSON: This summer, Beijing issued new rules cutting back the activities of China's wildly popular celebrity fan clubs. Other regulations Beijing says are aimed at restoring morality. Banned male celebrities from appearing to (inaudible) on TV and limit minors to three hours of online video games a week.
Meanwhile the government introduced a new subject to the curriculum for students of all ages from elementary school to universities. Xi Jinping though an approach that some say echoes the cult of personality of Mao Zedong, the founding father of Communist China. WEN ZHAO, INDEPENDENT CHINA ANALYST: People have only one voice to be
heard only one leader to worship.
WATSON: In recent months, Xi also cracked down hard on China's huge tech and private education industries. Wiping out trillions of dollars in market value from some of China's biggest companies. As Xi pushes for so called common prosperity and a more level economic playing field while shaping people's minds to his world view.
So where does that leave people like this canceled actress Jia Wei. She appears to have recently reemerge in several photos that went quickly viral. The glamorous actress almost unrecognizable in a humble t-shirt and shorts.
Ivan Watson, CNN, Hong Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: I'm Michael Holmes, thanks for spending part of your day with me. You can follow me on Instagram and Twitter @holmesCNN. Do stick around. I'll have more "CNN Newsroom" in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
