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U.S.-China Prisoner Swap; Thousands Removed from U.S.-Mexico Border Back in Haiti; South African President Addresses Vaccine Inequity; Kabul Imam Says Afghans Who Worked with Foreigners are "Spies"; CDU's Armin Laschet Fights to Fill Merkel's Shoes; London Sees Increase in Violence against Women. Aired 2-2:45a ET

Aired September 25, 2021 - 02:00   ET

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

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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hello and welcome to CNN NEWSROOM, everyone, I am Michael Holmes, appreciate your company.

Coming up here, a resolution to long-standing diplomatic tension, China freeze two Canadians after a senior Huawei executive is released.

The migrant camp in Del Rio, Texas, now cleared out, many are forced back into the misery they tried to escape.

And still waiting, African nations tell the world that COVID knows no borders, but vaccination pledges and shipments tell a different story.

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HOLMES: China, the United States and Canada, ending a long running feud, beginning nearly three years ago when the chief financial officer of Huawei was placed under house arrest in Canada, at the request of the U.S.

Now Meng Wanzhou is on her way back to China. Late Friday, the U.S. announced that they would not prosecute her on fraud charges, at this time, ending her long extradition battle in Canada. Caught in the middle, two Canadian men, nicknamed, the two Michaels, who spent nearly 3 years locked up in China, on espionage charges, in apparent retaliation by Beijing.

As Meng's plane took off from Vancouver, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were suddenly freed by Chinese authorities and put on a plane back to Canada. CNN's Paula Newton, with more, on a rapidly developing story.

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PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The sheer speed and choreography of everything that unfolded, caught many by surprise. Yet, there is relief, not just with the families of Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig but also with Canadian officials.

It was untenable, that Meng Wanzhou could have orchestrated a deal with U.S. authorities, by which she would return to China, even though she was under detention, here in Canada, under fairly loose restrictions. She had ankle bracelets, she was living in a multimillion-dollar mansion, that she was able to be released and go back to China but that the two Michaels would be left in China, at times, under harsh conditions.

That has included solitary and severe interrogations. With that in mind, prime minister Justin Trudeau made the announcement. I want you to listen.

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JUSTIN TRUDEAU, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: These two men have been through an unbelievably difficult situation. But it is inspiring, and it is good news for all of us that they are on their way home to their families.

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NEWTON: The two Michaels are expected to arrive in Canada sometime on Saturday. And no doubt, there will be a lot of time to parse, exactly, what happened here. China always denied this had anything to do with hostage diplomacy and that it was not retaliation.

Yet how could anyone think anything but, given what has transpired here?

This is a win, as well, for the Biden administration. Joe Biden had said, the two Michaels would be treated as if they were American citizens and this, definitely, does herald some type of new era between U.S. and China relations. Or, at least, for this issue, they can put it aside and continue what is a long list of continuing tensions -- Paula Newton, CNN, Ottawa.

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HOLMES: Meng Wanzhou's expected to be back on Chinese soil in the coming hours. CNN's Will Ripley is tracking for us, joining me now from Taipei.

Really, it does seem to indicate the detention of the Canadians was connected to Huawei, even though China denied that.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's certainly, hard to make a convincing argument otherwise. We will not have an opportunity to ask the Chinese ministry of foreign affairs about, this until Monday.

But you can bet one of the top questions will be, how can you continue to insist that these two Canadians, convicted of espionage, was not retaliation, for the detention and house arrest, of Meng Wanzhou considering, it all went down, around the same time, in late 2018?

I remember being in Beijing when it happened. And China, has throughout these years, consistently denied any link between the cases, saying this was about national security and was not about the fact that the daughter of the founder of one of their most important companies, a darling of the Chinese Communist Party, was being treated, in the view of Chinese authorities, with indignity, forced to stay in a multimillion-dollar home and pay for her own private security.

Her house arrest conditions, actually much looser, conditions she is expected to be in, when she lands in China, a little less than 6 hours from now, expecting to touch down 8 pm, local time.

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RIPLEY: When you enter China from any other country, you have to go through a compulsory quarantine period, usually in a hotel room, where you can't, leave, you can't even go outside. So the conditions in her COVID-19 quarantine may be the most strict she has faced, throughout these nearly three years, under house arrest, in Canada.

Certainly, on Chinese state media, they aren't making a big deal about this yet. There have been mentions that she has been released and is on her way back to China.

All of the articles, pointing out, she didn't have to plead guilty. They don't mention the fact that she didn't dispute the details of the case and didn't dispute the fact that she misrepresented details of Huawei's dealings with a company, linked to Iran, which is a violation, allegedly, of U.S. sanctions, U.S.-Iran sanctions.

In terms of the two Canadians being released, zero mention, whatsoever in Chinese state media about this, so, as a result, very little chatter on social media as well.

Clearly the Chinese Communist Party and the politburo want to separate the Meng Wanzhou release from the detention of the two Canadians. But for the rest of the world, looking in, watching this, it is impossible to, plausibly, deny that there was not a link between those two cases when they were literally both flying back to their respective home countries, at the exact same time -- Michael.

HOLMES: Yes, indeed. Will, thank you for this reporting, in Taipei. Thank you.

Now the massive migrant camp in Texas at the U.S. border with Mexico has been cleared out and no one now remains under that bridge, in Del Rio. As you can see there. At one point, 15,000 Haitian migrants were packed underneath, in squalid conditions.

The treatment they received, sparking an international outcry, especially of these images of U.S. border agents on horseback aggressively confronting migrants. President Joe Biden saying that incident will not be tolerated.

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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's outrageous. I promise you. Those people will pay. They will be an investigation underway now and there will be consequences. There will be consequences. It's an embarrassment.

But beyond an embarrassment, it's dangerous, it's wrong. It sends the wrong message around the world. It sends the wrong message at home. It's simply not who we are.

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HOLMES: The U.S. says, about 12,000 of the migrants, who crossed there, will have their cases heard by an immigration judge. But 2,000 have already been deported back to Haiti and thousands more removals pending. They had hoped to escape a string of crises, dating back, years in Haiti. Melissa Bell, in Port-au-Prince, with some of their stories.

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MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Junior, his wife, Elianne, and their 2-year old were deported to Port-au Prince on Tuesday, seven years after the couple says they left in search of a better life. They're now staying with friends, the three sharing a single bed, not much but more comfort than they've known for several months.

When work dried up in Brazil in June, where they'd been given asylum, the family headed north through 10 countries, some of it by bus but much of it on foot.

Elianne, though, says that the worst was arriving in the United States. As they arrived, she said, everything they had, including toothpaste and soap, was taken away from them.

She says the worst was when they were cooped up inside the prison.

"We thought they would free us," she says, "but they shackled us instead. Seeing my husband shackled was the worst. Then they handcuffed the women and they put us on the plane. My baby was crying, and I couldn't even hold him. And that was what made me cry."

The family gives us a tour of the neighborhood they find themselves back in. Junior says that Port-au Prince is worse now than when they left. I asked him if it is the insecurity that has worsened. He laughs and tells me there is no security in Haiti.

The assassination of the country's president and the aftermath of a 7.2 earthquake in August, just some of the dismal conditions forcing families to embark on the grueling trek to the U.S. border with Mexico.

BELL: And yet, the flights keep on coming, seven in all arriving here in Haiti just this Friday, some here at Port-au-Prince, others at the airport in Cap-Haitien in the very north of the country. The logistics, almost impossible to deal with, says the International Office for Migration, given the sheer number of people being deported.

BELL (voice-over): Back to a place they desperately wanted to leave. The dream of finding a better life in America ends here, back on Haitian soil, with a handout of $100, a hot meal and a ride to the bus station provided by the IOM.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People are going to suffer now. You see all those people being deported to Haiti, including women and children's. There are no jobs in there is nothing here. What are those people going to do?

BELL (voice-over): That's the dilemma facing thousands of migrants forced to return to a country the U.S. special envoy to Haiti called "a collapsed state" before he resigned on Thursday.

A small group of people turned out in Port-au Prince to protest the deportations, a show of dissent but little help to the migrants, still being flown back to Haiti, returning to the many problems they thought they'd left behind -- Melissa Bell, CNN, Port-au-Prince.

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HOLMES: Even though the migrant camp in Del Rio is gone, some Haitian migrants are camping out at another camp, just across the border in Mexico. So far, they aren't crossing into the U.S. but have no plans to return to Haiti, either. CNN's Matt Rivers, reporting.

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MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We know the migrant encampment, on the U.S. side of the U.S.-Mexico border, in Del Rio Texas, is empty. No more Haitian migrants, according to U.S. government and, to CNN's own reporting teams on the ground there.

Here, on the Mexico side, in Ciudad Acuna, you can see, there still remains dozens of Haitian migrants, who made the choice, previously, to stay here in Mexico after making the same journey so many others have made up from South America here, to the U.S.-Mexico border.

These people chose to stay, here in Mexico predominantly, they felt that if they went to the United States, after all of these deportations, they have a better chance of not being deported, if they stay, here in Mexico.

We know Mexican immigration officials have come to this camp, telling people, if they move to a shelter instead of sleeping out in the open, not far from the border, they will be given the chance at the immigration process and they won't be immediately deported.

Some people here said, they don't believe immigration officials and so they're going to stay here. And we can see a little bit more of what this camp looks like. Obviously, dozens of people remain here.

And the threat of deportation is something people are, extremely, concerned about here. It really struck our team when we heard the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, giving a press conference. And he talks about all the deportations the United States has done, sending Haitians back to Haiti. He said that they studied Haiti and the government believes that Haiti can, actually, absorb those thousands of Haitian deportees that they are sending to that country.

That struck us, just because my team and I have spent nearly all of July and, August reporting in Haiti, in Port-au-Prince and other rural areas around the country, both after the presidential assassination, when the president was killed on July 7th and then, also, after the devastating earthquake that struck there, on August 14th.

Our takeaway, after being there federal, state and local, was that poverty remains an incredibly difficult issue. The gang violence, remaining as bad, as it's ever been. The country, currently, doesn't have an elected head of state.

After the president was killed the prime minister, who's currently charge in Haiti is not an elected leader. The political turmoil, remaining extremely high. And so when the U.S. government said Haiti is in a position to accept thousands of Haitians, who have migrated and are now being sent back, that struck us as a claim that, was frankly, difficult to accept.

It's not just our thought on that; this is thought of many Haitian people, who are here. We spoke to one man, who is here in Mexico and is worried about being sent back. Here's what he had to, say when we asked him, is the time right for people to be going back to Haiti?

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): No, there is no conditions to return to Haiti. If you watch the news, things are bad. There are a lot of criminals.

How can a man live where there are so many guns and so much crime?

So now there are no conditions to return to.

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RIVERS: You can hear there, that person certainly doesn't think that, given all what's going on in Haiti, that now is a good time to be sending thousands people back to the country. But it is, in fact, what's happening, not only in the United States but the deportation risk for all of these migrants remains in Mexico as well.

Still, there are people being sent back to Haiti; that's a reality that won't change -- Matt Rivers, CNN, Ciudad Acuna, Mexico.

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HOLMES: Margarett Lubin is a country director of Haiti, for the aid organization CORE and she joins me now to talk about this.

And thanks for doing so.

As the migrants arrive back in Haiti, what are they saying about their treatment and experience?

MARGARETT LUBIN, HAITI COUNTRY DIRECTOR, CORE: Well, from what we are hearing, it was a long journey and they have gone through a lot. They have lost lots of money. They had lots of hope of being able to migrate into the United States.

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LUBIN: So they are saying they are disappointed, saying that they are coming back and that they are more vulnerable than before they left. And they are unsure whether they will be able to remain in Haiti or not.

HOLMES: The conditions, of course, in Del Rio were atrocious but the situation is dire back in Haiti, isn't it?

Crime, the wrecked economy, political chaos and so on?

LUBIN: I want to answer this by saying that the migrants under the Del Rio bridge is not the problem; I think it is a symptom.

And I think it is also sort of an international whistleblower, saying that there is a crisis in Haiti that needs to be addressed. And so because of the universal nature of migration, it is calling for a range of actors to come together, international and local, to really address the drivers of displacement.

That doesn't mean that people will not migrate, because it is an actual process. But at least it would be more orderly and safe for people. So yes, the situation in the Haitian communities are pretty difficult. And it just really worsened the crisis, because it would seem that they will be more vulnerable than before they left.

HOLMES: One of the aspects of this, is so many of these migrants didn't go from Haiti to Del Rio -- some of them have been for years in places like Brazil and Chile, some of the younger ones were not even born in Haiti.

Is Haiti even home for some of these people?

LUBIN: Perhaps not. Like I said, it's an ongoing crisis. You have had a lot of young people I am seeing, who have left for Brazil and Chile. And they are looking for a better life. And so, they have been on a very long journey and they've gathered the money to be able to cross borders and get to the United States.

They come back to Haiti 5 or 6 years later. And this is new to them. Because this is an ongoing crisis, they are finding a different Haiti that they knew before they left years ago.

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HOLMES: A global summit on COVID last week highlighted the need to address vaccine inequity around the world. Just ahead, richer nations promising to help.

But are they?

And will it be enough?

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HOLMES: 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 shipment 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 a month. In an address to the U.N. General Assembly, the South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa, warned of consequences of vaccine inequity.

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CYRIL RAMAPHOSA, SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT: It is an indictment on humanity, that more than 82 percent of the world's vaccine doses have been acquired by wealthy countries.

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RAMAPHOSA: While less than 1 percent has gone to low income countries. Unless we address this as a matter of urgency, the pandemic will last much longer and new mutations of the virus will emerge and spread.

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HOLMES: Much of the continent remains in the grip of a third wave, just 4 percent of Africans are fully vaccinated.

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HOLMES: And joining me now from Nairobi, Kenya's Dr. Githinji Gitahi, the global CEO of Amref Health Africa.

Good to see you again, Doctor. This need is 7 times what's promised to get 70 percent vaccinated a year from now. We are talking tens of millions more doses a month.

What will be the impact of that almost certain shortfall?

DR. GITHINJI GITAHI, AMREF HEALTH AFRICA: The challenge -- and good to be with you again, Michael -- the challenge that we have a supply challenge in Africa. People who are looking for vaccines. And the challenge is that if we do not get these fast enough then we are going to lose lives.

Health workers have not had access to vaccines and people who are at high risk, people with hypertension and diabetes are hoping they can get vaccines to save their lives. If we do not do this, what will happen is that the socioeconomic

impact on Africa, including on women, who suffer increased gender based violence and on young girls, who will suffer these impacts, lost economic incomes, that will continue.

It will continue until Africa is safe. Until Africa safe, no one is safe. And you don't know when this variant develop, if we keep people unvaccinated. So we don't want this to be a pandemic on Africa.

HOLMES: When we spoke in July, you said the trajectory of COVID in the continent was not looking good.

Has it improved at all in terms of its growth and spread or has it worsened?

GITAHI: It is worse. It has just gotten off its third wave. If you look at what we call the case fatality rate, meaning the number of people dying out of those confirmed positive, Africa now has probably a higher case fatality than much of the world.

The rest of the world is coming down because of vaccination. Europe's case fatality rate has come down 67 percent, Michael, because of vaccination. So the problem is that if we don't vaccinate, then people continue to die.

It continues to be a burden to the health system, which is already weak because Africa spends the least on the health system compared to the rest of the world.

HOLMES: We heard Cyril Ramaphosa there talking about, obviously, in a rampant spread, you will get variants and we could get a worse variant and Western nations will pay for that.

But when you see Western nations handing out third doses and continuing to toss out vaccine doses that are expired and the moral failure that that entails, how does that make Africans feel in terms of how they're being viewed and treated?

GITAHI: This is actually, as I said last time -- rich countries, they are speaking from two sides of their mouth. They are saying on one side we want vaccine equity. But then they are actually practicing vaccine apartheid.

If you really want vaccine equity, you must show so by action. The nations have been promised but they have been barely received. This is the problem. We have promises that are not being met.

And when we see rich countries starting to give third doses, I think, reasonably, it is like having a queue for food but the guys at the front of the line, are served a third plate of food. But the people at the back of the queue are still reaching for their first plate of food.

The question is, can rich countries who are vaccinated with at least two doses of their population, can they move to the back of the queue?

And can people receiving COVAX move ahead so people are ensured of a first and second dose?

Two lives are of equal value. This is really an injustice Africa is suffering.

HOLMES: You are an eloquent advocate for vaccine equity, Doctor, thank you so much.

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HOLMES: Dr. Githinji Gitahi there in Nairobi, we appreciate, it sir.

GITAHI: Thank you, Michael. Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Well, Norway's about to start moving on from the COVID pandemic; starting today , most coronavirus restrictions will no longer be in effect. And the government says people can start returning to, quote, "a normal everyday life."

More than 67 percent of Norwegians are fully vaccinated, according to Johns Hopkins University. Norwegian officials believe there is little chance of the virus getting out of control now. But people who do get infected still have to go into isolation.

And Sweden's lifting its nonbinding advice to Swedes to avoid all unnecessary foreign travel, making it easier for them to head abroad. Sweden's global travel advisory was issued in March 2020. But its foreign ministry now says the situation has improved. So it is lifting the advice on October 1st. This applies only to those traveling from Sweden.

An entry ban is still in effect for travelers from most non E.U. countries.

Still to come, a troubling message from an imam at a mosque in Kabul, who said those who work with foreigners should be targeted for revenge. We will be right back.

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HOLMES: I'm Michael Holmes, you're watching CNN NEWSROOM. The imam of Kabul's largest mosque, calling for revenge against Afghans who worked with foreigners, before the Taliban takeover.

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HOLMES: On Friday, he claimed that these people are spies and nonbelievers. CNN's Nic Robertson, with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: It really feels like a day of mixed messages at the principal press service Friday. At the main mosque in the center of Kabul the message was very clear. Anyone that worked and assisted with U.S. and other international governments is a spy.

Indeed, the imam saying they were outside of Islam, they were not Muslims, that there should be revenge through the religious education, meaning the judiciary. Going on to say that the United States and other countries were just in Afghanistan to exploit it for their own gain.

On the other hand, it seems contrary to this message of sort of, turning on Afghans who may be considered spies, you have a message from the defense minister, Mullah Yaqoob, the son of a Taliban founder, Mullah Omar, saying that there needs to be better discipline within the military forces and within the Taliban military ranks.

Anyone involved in killing and thieving will be investigated and will be held to account, making it clear that the Taliban fighters must be more disciplined. So these two apparently conflicting messages from the mosque, very clearly, to the Afghan people, from the defense chief to his fighters but perhaps some essence of the message in there for the international community that they are going to double down on holding to their principles of not taking vengeance out on former government and military members -- Nic Robertson, Kabul, CNN, Afghanistan.

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HOLMES: The leaders of the U.S., Japan, India and Australia solidified their commitment to safeguarding a free and open Indo-Pacific region. They met on Friday for the first in-person meeting of the Quad, as it is called.

China was not mentioned by name but the four countries share concerns about that country's expanding influence in asia. The Australian prime minister said the democracies must stand together, to overcome the region's challengers.

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SCOTT MORRISON, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: The Quad is about demonstrating how democracies, such as hours, as you said, Mr. President, can get things done. They can deal with the big challenges that we face, in a complex and challenging world.

There is no part of the world that is more dynamic than the Indo- Pacific at this time, a region that has extraordinary opportunity, wide diversity, great wealth but many challenges that must be overcome.

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HOLMES: The group, also, saying they're making progress on the commitment to combat COVID, climate change and emerging technologies. (MUSIC PLAYING)

HOLMES: In one day, Germany goes to the polls for a federal election to determine who will succeed Angela Merkel. She's preparing to step down after 16 years in power. According to Germany's federal statistics office, there are 60.4 million eligible voters. Everyone aged 18 and, older can participate but it is not required.

More than a third of Germany's voters are over the age of 60. Even though Ms. Merkel is leaving, she has been on the campaign trail, in recent days, trying to give a political boost to Armin Laschet, the party's candidate hoping to fill her shoes. But as Fred Pleitgen reports, his campaign has been struggling to gain traction.

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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): It seemed almost fitting that one of Armin Laschet's final major rallies, happened in severe rain. The center right Christian Democratic candidate's campaign has been marred by difficulties. Angela Merkel, even stepping off the sidelines to try to help him win votes.

"The (INAUDIBLE) of this parliamentarian, this chancellor," he said at the rally in Germany's north, "we will do everything to continue on this, work in the coming years. We ask for your trust, this coming Sunday."

He has been trailing in the polls and struggling to mobilize Germany's conservative base.

PLEITGEN: It certainly is an uphill battle to try and decide this election in his favor. Over the past couple of weeks, he has mobilized German chancellor, Angela Merkel, who is still vastly popular in this country, trying to drum up extra support.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): Center left social Democratic candidate, Olaf Scholz, who was also Germany's finance minister, currently, is ahead in the polls. He is portraying himself as being serious and diligent, just like Angela Merkel.

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PLEITGEN (voice-over): Some felt Laschet was punching above his weight, trying to become popular as chancellor but he also made what many Germans perceived to be, some unforced errors, like getting caught, on camera, laughing, while visiting victims of massive floods in western Germany.

JULIAN REICHELT, EIC, "BILD": Armin Laschet made it easy for the people who somewhat disliked him to explain why they disliked him and why they wouldn't vote for him. That, I think, could become the fatal effect in this campaign.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): Laschet's been trying to get his campaign on track by saying, only the conservatives can ensure a strong German economy and promising strong foreign and defense policies.

"We saw in Afghanistan, that once the Americans leave, we can't even secure Kabul airport. That is why I want to install a National Security Council, within the chancellery," Laschet said.

So while he hasn't managed to close the gap with Olaf Scholz, most polls have the race too close to call, giving hope to Germany's conservatives that they may, yet, retain the chancellery, even after Angela Merkel steps down -- Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Angela Merkel, as we said, has been German chancellor for 16 years, outlasting dozens of world leaders, including leaders from all other G8 nations. Here's a look at a few of those countries. You can see, Japan had eight other leaders in the same time period. The U.K., five. The U.S., four. Canada, three and Russia, two.

Tune in for CNN's 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. That's Sunday beginning 11:55 am if you are in New York, 5:55 in the afternoon in Berlin, right here on CNN.

A candlelight vigil was held in South London on Friday in memory of Sabina Nessa. Her body was found in a London park last week. Police say the 28-year-old teacher was heading to at nearby pub from her flat. CNN producer Nada Bashir reports on how this was just one of several attacks on women in London this year.

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NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hundreds have gathered in the southeast London community as part of a candlelit vigil in memory of the life of Sabina Nessa.

Members of her family and other community leaders took to the stage not only to share their fond memories of Sabina but to share their outrage and shock at her murder.

It's the latest in a series of attacks against women in the British capital over this year alone and many people are calling for fundamental change to prevent cases like this from happening ever again.

BASHIR (voice-over): Another community in mourning. Another woman senselessly killed. Sabina Nessa, a 28-year-old London school teacher murdered minutes from home. She was on her way to meet a friend.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As she walked through the park, she was approached by an individual and fatally attacked. Sabina's body was sadly found by a member of the public around 5:30 pm the following day.

BASHIR: Sabina's family have described her as a family-oriented, caring soul. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She is truly the most kind, caring person out there. That she's the sweetest person, sweetest girl. I don't understand how someone can do this. I really don't. I really don't. It's just -- is a big loss to our family.

BASHIR: That shock is felt far beyond Sabina's family.

CROWD: No one deserves to die for being out at night.

BASHIR: Just over six months ago, another murder galvanized this nation. Thirty three-year-old Sarah Everard was kidnapped, raped and murdered by a serving police officer. The brutality of her death and heavy-handed police response to protests in her honor woke many up to this epidemic.

Her killer pleaded guilty and now awaits sentencing. In this year alone, there have been at least 106 cases of women being killed by men or where a man is the principal suspect, according to Counting Dead Women, an organization which tracks femicide in the U.K.

SADIQ KHAN, MAYOR OF LONDON: We do have an epidemic when it comes to violence against women and girls. I think we need a whole system approach.

We need to make sure at a young age, our boys are taught to respect girls. I think we need to make misogyny a hate crime. I think harassment in the public space against women should be a criminal offense.

BASHIR: Women's rights organizations say these changes are long overdue.

JAMIE KLINGLER, CO-FOUNDER, RECLAIM THESE STREETS: Nothing has changed. I'm not safer than I was six months ago.

BASHIR: And that's particularly true for women of color.

KLINGLER: In the number of column mentions, the number of minutes you get on air time.

[02:40:00]

KLINGLER: It's absolutely proven that women of color do not get the same amount of coverage. And it's systemic in the society.

BASHIR: For now, the investigation into Sabina's tragic murder continues. And while many questions remain, there is little debate to be had on the fact that Sabina, like the countless women killed in the U.K. every year, should have been safe.

The investigation into the murder of Sabina Nessa is still ongoing and police are appealing for anyone with information to come forward. Here at the vigil tonight, there were still forensic teams combing through the bushes looking for evidence.

There are many unanswered questions, people here wondering whether it is safe to walk these streets alone -- Nada Bashir, CNN, London.

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HOLMES: Several flights to and from the Canary Islands have been canceled as a volcano erupts for a seventh straight day. Let's have a look here. These are live pictures here coming to us, with officials ordering more evacuations in La Palma.

Lava has destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses, along with banana crops. The Spanish government has approved immediate financial aid for housing and household goods. Officials say the eruptions will continue for several days. So far there are no injuries or deaths, thankfully, reported.

The first day of competition is over in golf's Ryder Cup and Team USA has a lead over Europe, thanks in part to tens of thousands of fans, including one NBA legend cheering on the home team.

(WORLD SPORT)

HOLMES: Thanks for spending part of your day with me. I'm Michael Holmes, you can follow me on Twitter. "MARKETPLACE AFRICA" comes up, I'll see you in about 15 minutes.