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British Govt. Puts Army on Standby Amid Panic Buying; Scholz Pledges Stronger EU, Continuity After Narrow Win; Haiti Struggles with Kidnappings and Gang Violence. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired September 28, 2021 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: I'm John Vause, ahead here on CNN Newsroom. Panic at the pumps Brexit to play. The military now on standby to ensure petrol supplies across the U.K. just the latest shortage for independent global Britain, free of the shackles of the E.U. A Bundestag of losers. No party emerges with a clear mandate after the weekend election in Germany and the post Merkel era begins with an uncertain future.
And after blowing off U.N. calls to end coal exports after failing to set a goal for reducing carbon emissions, now Australia's Prime Minister might have a crucial gathering of world leaders focusing on climate change. Why is Australia so determined to be the global pillar?
Winter is coming and it's looking to be a bleak Christmas for the U.K. Already this year, supply chain issues of course shortages of everything from fast food chicken to beer, milkshakes at McDonald's candy and sweets. And we begin with a small number of petrol stations out of fuel has ballooned into an outright crisis because of panic buying.
U.K. does not have a shortage of petrol. The problem is someone has to drive the tanker to a petrol station, and Britain just doesn't have enough truck drivers. One estimate says 100,000 extra drivers are needed, mostly because of Brexit and an end to the freedom of movement of labor. And the pandemic has made a bad situation worse. Dire warnings in recent weeks with a shortage of toys and Christmas trimmings. CNN's Nina dos Santos reports now from London.
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NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: To the streets in this busy part of London, the local fuel station has just had its first delivery since Saturday, a relatively modest amount 40,000 liters. Normally they only need three per week. But they're now desperate to get one every single day. And as you can see, within the last hour since the truck driver without fuel has driven away, the cars and queues have been building up. They go back about three or four blocks. Many people who've been here say that they desperately need a tank of fuel to drive including delivery drivers, and also taxi drivers too.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Obviously, yeah, very concerned, extreme. It's my livelihood. And, yeah, it's obviously a concern. The vast majority of our stations are out of fuel when I tried it's just lucky this there's a tanker I see. And I just pulled in here. But now it's a massive problem.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think everyone else has probably gone and had it go and then the rest of us who need it are in a bit of a sticky situation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe about five petrol stations, none of them are open.
DOS SANTOS: So, what's the government doing? Well, it's agreed to loosen visa restrictions to make 5000 temporary visas available in the hope that they can tempt more heavy goods vehicle drivers over from Europe amid a shortage of about 100,000 to 120,000 drivers according to industry associations, but that also listening competition rules so that fuel distributors are able to speak to each other and divert supplies to where they need it most like this. But a lot of people say that now perhaps it's time to make sure that some of the badly needed stops of fuel are rationed for key workers, at least in the temporary.
The government and also fuel distributors say that there is no national shortage of supply, rather than what is causing scenes like these is a dearth of drivers exacerbated by panic buying. Nina dos Santos, CNN in London.
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VAUSE: Catherine Rampell is a CNN Economics and Political Commentator, she's an opinion writer as well for The Washington Post and joins us this hour from our Bureau in Washington. Welcome back.
CATHERINE RAMPELL, CNN ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Great to be here.
VAUSE: OK, so the U.K. Government is pleading right now to all motorists out there, please stop panic buying. Listen to this.
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GEORGE EUSTICE, U.K. ENVIRONMENT MINISTER: We can only continue to reassure people that we have plenty of petrol both in storage coming out of those refineries as well. And the only reason that we have an issue at the moment with some petrol stations not having petrol, the full course, is that people are buying petrol and they wouldn't, the most important thing everyone can do is just get back to normal, fill their cars up as they normally would, and not buy petrol less they needed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: That's not the only reason for this. Panic buying has probably, has made a bad situation a lot worse. But there are a lot of other factors at play right now.
RAMPELL: Right the reason why this entire crisis began is that there was a shortage of drivers, a shortage of tanker drivers. And that's both because the -- you know, for the same reason why we've had shortages of all sorts of other occupations in the U.K., in the U.S. around the world, the pandemic, as well as some factors unique to the U.K., particularly Brexit. There are all of these drivers as well as people in other occupations who are E.U. nationals who have since left. So initially there was a shortage of drivers and as a result, there were some fuel stations that ran out of fuel, and a few had to close down temporarily. It wasn't a crisis to begin with, of course, but people heard about it and then all of a sudden, you have lots and lots of consumers and businesses and others deciding, I've heard that there's a shortage. I don't want to be the only person or business or what have you, to be without fuel, I better run out and refill my tank whether or not I actually need a refill right now.
[01:05:28]
And so that panic buying basically fueled other panic buying. It -- there were news stories about it, that self-reinforced the effort, the sort of consumer psychology that people had to run out and get more fuel, it's sort of like a bank run, or how last year there were -- their runs on toilet paper, right, during the pandemic, because everybody decided at once that they absolutely needed to get petrol, otherwise, they would be the only ones left without.
VAUSE: I guess part of the reason why there was such a run-on fuel is because they've been shortages already in in the in the U.K., be it from beer or whether it was food, your natural gas, that kind of stuff. So, to address that problem, U.K. government says it will offer 5000 short term visas for foreign truck drivers. It's one way to alleviate the supply chain problems you like. But it seems most drivers are reluctant to take those three-month long visas. And then you have the fuel distribution problems. This is a statement from the from the government. British army tanker drivers will be brought to a state of readiness in order to be deployed if required to deliver fuel to where it is needed most and providing further reassurance that fuel supplies remained strong.
According to some reports, the number of army drivers on standby is 150, which is clearly not going to end this crisis. You know, the whole thing just reeks a smoke and mirrors. So, at this point, what will bring the fuel shortages to an end?
RAMPELL: Well, some of it has to be that consumers do lay off, right? And that will happen naturally in due course as prices rise as they have done and people say maybe I'm going to sit this one out, I don't absolutely need to fill up my tank. So, I won't.
And you as that happens as demand diminishes. And supply eventually comes back online, in part because of these temporary visas. But also, just because there are other drivers around. Supply and demand will even out and will go back to something like normal if not exactly normal. But it's just going to -- the panic is going to have to work its way out of the system, partly driven by prices and partly driven by these, kind of, half measures that the U.K. Government has been taking.
VAUSE: Yeah, the funny thing is that, you know, well this is sort of fuel shortage shattered across Europe. It's not as if the British government did not know that this in fact was coming, their own pre- Brexit planning was called Operation Yellowhammer predicted a significant rise in the cost of electricity, for example, predicting shortages of certain types of food, it predicted it would be all made worse during the run up to Christmas. So, it does beg the question, why have they been caught so unprepared to deal with this right now?
RAMPELL: That's an excellent question. I mean, there were a number of supply chain disruptions that were anticipated again as a result of Brexit that have been exacerbated by the pandemic because the pandemic has wrought havoc on basically every industry and supply chain. If they weren't anticipating it before they should have been anticipating it in the wake of these, you know, worldwide obstructions of supply chains.
But it seems that the U.K. government was caught flat footed somewhat didn't get these visas out in time could have done so but chose not to. I mean, Brexit after all, was motivated by a somewhat by, you know, an aversion toward temporary workers, towards granting visas to E.U. nationals.
So, I can understand why there might have been some political resistance to do what was necessary to head off these problems but without heading them off, they were going to happen and here we are.
VAUSE: And here we are, winter is coming perhaps. Catherine Rampell, thank you.
RAMPELL: Thank you.
VAUSE: In Germany, the political host trading begins like never before, after the election results like never before. One contender for Chancellor is Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, leading his left leaning Social Democratic Party to emerge on top. If he is to be the next Chancellor, he has to first form a coalition government. That means wrangling together three diverse parties, complicating the outcome even further, the conservative runner up and Chancellor Angela Merkel's hand chosen successor is trying to do the exact same thing.
Merkel will remain in office until a new government is formed. But after nearly 16 years, with her the top job, there are big questions about what her departure will mean for Germany's future at home and abroad. On Monday, CNN's Frederik Pleitgen put those concerns to Scholz.
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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: If you do manage to form a coalition and become the chancellor, how do you intend to fill those big shoes?
OLAF SCHOLZ, SPD CANDIDATE FOR GERMAN CHANCELLOR: I think the first topic for German politics will be to form a longer and more Sovereign European Union and making this happen will have an influence on the international strategy and the foreign policy of Germany.
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PLEITGEN: What sort of a partner will Germany be for the United States, in NATO and on the international stage, especially as the Biden administration continues to challenge China.
SCHOLZ: It's a transatlantic partnership is of essence for us in Germany, and for a government that will be led by me. And so, you can rely on the continuity in this question. It is important that we understand ourselves as democracies, and that we see that in the world that becomes more dangerous. It is important that we work together, even if we do have conflicts in one or the other question.
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VAUSE: CNN European Affairs Commentator, Dominic Thomas joins us now from Berlin.
Dominic, thank you for being with us.
DOMINIC THOMAS, CNN EUROPEAN AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Thanks for having John.
VAUSE: OK, so all of Scholz and his social Democrats emerged from the election with this narrow list of leads, but also a very calm optimism about forming a new government. Here he is.
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SCHOLZ: My idea is that we will be very fast and getting a result for this government. And it should be before Christmas, if possible. On the other hand, you should know Germany always has coalition governments, and it was always stable.
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VAUSE: Yes, they have coalition governments. But the reality is this election ended without the typical building blocks for a coalition, normally one very strong party with a junior partner that's been upended by a vote which returned for sort of medium sized parties if you like. So, what does that now say that German politics, and what does it say about where Germany is right now as a country?
THOMAS: Yeah, well, it tells us where Angela Merkel is, and she can't wait for Christmas. And that may be optimistic. But clearly the era of the sort of major two parties coming together to form coalitions are over. In 2005, when Merkel first became Chancellor, she had a 70% coalition and with the SPD, and this time around, it is most likely going to take three parties just to be able to scrape by with a thin majority.
I think what's interesting in the past and over the past 16-year period is that many people voted with the CDU, knowing that Merkel would be the chancellor. And what we saw in this election, and it started in 2017 with the erosion of these major parties, is people are voting for parties before actual leaders. And so, Germany has changed a lot in this 16-year period. We saw this time around. The linker, the outgrowth far left party from the former GDR on the verge of extinction, the AfD hovering with about 10%, with lingering issues there.
What we really saw was that the conservative CU brand has failed to renew itself, and that we essentially now have a center left leaning Germany, in which the three parties that will be working for the coalition increase their votes by 12%, which is going to translate into a fairly substantial change in the Bundestag, with about 100 more votes for that party. So those are the most significant changes at the moment.
VAUSE: And two smaller parties are likely to pay the role of kingmaker, deciding who will be the next Chancellor, one of those parties is the Greens. This is the party leader. Listen to this.
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ANNALENA BAERBOCK, GREEN PARTY CO-LEADER (through translation): We have made it clear that we want a real awakening, we want a real renewal, and each party must now decide for themselves what it wants to bring to the next government. And this will be the result of the coming days.
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VAUSE: Yeah, it seems pretty together coalition will be complicated enough, but keeping that coalition together, and working as a government will be a bit like playing multi-dimensional chess.
THOMAS: You're absolutely right, John, it's going to be challenging. I mean, clearly, they're, you know, important priorities for them. And the important priorities really are, even though Olaf Scholz is talking about the European Union, but really is to move towards a more Germany and German infrastructure concerns with clearly with points of coalition around climate, infrastructure development, schools, digitization, and so on, that there's going to be a level of fragility.
I do think, though, that after 16 years of essentially a CDU led government, these individual parties realized that they have an opportunity here, and they're eager to get into power, and they're eager to be able to push their agendas. And it's clear that from this election that the CDU defections were all in the direction of the SPD, Greens, and FDP. And so, it now stands for them. They have this responsibility to take this forward, and to try and find ways of working together.
VAUSE: Britain's, The Times newspaper put the election results like this, Germany's future will come down to a love triangle involving three ill-fitting groups in the Bundestag.
Then goes on to lay out the various alternatives depending on what the coalition looks like from a wealth tax and massive increase in government debt to tax cuts. As well as slashing regulations, how much harder will be to keep the promise that both front runners made to be Chancellor and to lead like Merkel with this dependability and consistency and with that sort of environment?
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THOMAS: Yeah, I mean, look, I think that even to put this in context, it's interesting that you bring up the UK example, I would add the French example in that, two systems in which the, the process of identifying a Prime Minister and the president do not work along proportionality as they do in Germany. So, you could say that the U.K. Parliament, I mean, you're either in power and you're in opposition. And we see this opposition with all of these parties that feel underrepresented. And what's extraordinary about the French system is that when Emmanuel Macron became president, in the first round, he only scored 24%, which is what the CDU ended up with this time around, yet he ultimately went on to become president.
I think that what these parties have to realize is they need to be very careful about what they wish for. We know that in the second Merkel administration, the FDP were in the coalition. By the end of those four years, these junior partners ended up not even getting up to the 5% threshold to get physicians in Parliament. So, the big challenge ahead here is that these individual groups and parties are essentially answerable to their electorate. They're answerable to the folks that got them the adequate percentages to be there in this coalition. And yet, as leaders now they need to rewire and find ways of working in government together, which is very different, while nevertheless knowing that the electoral landscape in Germany is highly volatile, and that in four years' time, they're going to be answerable to those people again. And so, it introduces a level of precariousness and volatility, which we haven't seen in German politics, unlike in the politics of proportionality that we see in Italy, or in the Netherlands as other examples.
VAUSE: Yeah. Well, Israel with the very similar system where they seem to be changing government work four times and five years, two years as well. Dominic, thank you. Dominic Thomas in Berlin, appreciate it.
THOMAS: Thank you.
VAUSE: North Korea has carried out what appears to be a third missile test this month. The South Korean defense ministry says the missile landed off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula. CNN's Will Ripley covering all of this live from Taipei. So first comes the missile launch, they're not long after the North Korea envoy to the U.N. addresses the General Assembly, rarely does coincidence explain the actions of Pyongyang. So, what's going on here?
WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It could be geopolitical showmanship as only North Korea can do, John. Look, it's unlikely that the North Korean Ambassador Kim Song knew that the North Koreans would be launching a missile when he was, you know, preparing to give his speech at the UNGA but in Pyongyang, they certainly knew the calendar. They knew the schedule. They knew the approximate time and they knew that if they launch a missile around the time that their representative gives a speech that we, as the international media are more likely to roll this message from Ambassador Kim about said missile launches.
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KIM SONG, NORTH KOREAN AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N. (through translation): Given the U.S. South Korean military alliances increased military threats against the DPRK nobody can deny the righteous right to self- defense for North Korea to develop tests manufacture and purchase the weapons systems equivalent to the ones which are possessed or being developed by them.
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RIPLEY: This is the message that we've heard time and time again from North Korea, especially when they launched what are -- this is believed to be a ballistic missile launch according to the Japanese government, which is a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions forbidding North Korea from launching ballistic missiles and conducting nuclear tests. This province that it was launched from Taiwan (ph) province, a mountainous region that straddles the border with China is noteworthy because it's where in 2017.
Kim Jong-un launched an intercontinental ballistic missile. This one a much shorter-range type, according to South Korea, not raising the kind of international alarm or, you know, upset that a larger launch or a nuclear test would cause but nonetheless it is a time for North Korea to insert itself back in the headlines, a time that Kim's own sister, Kim Yo-jong, who is one of the most powerful figures in North Korea just underneath her brother, you know, has been talking about potentially cozying up with the South again, perhaps, you know, talking about an inter-Korean summit if the South and North Korean view makes the right choice and pushes the United States and with North Korea considers a hostile policy of military drills and having a nuclear umbrella over the Korean Peninsula.
You mentioned this is the third North Korean launch this month. It was actually earlier this month in the middle of the month that North and South Korea both conducted ballistic missile tests on the very same day, North Korea launched a ballistic missile from a train, South Korea launched a ballistic missile from a submarine and one of those submarines is actually being put into the water today. So, this is an interesting time a time of, you know, escalating tensions but nothing out of the ordinary in terms of what we've seen before. The question is where does North Korea go from here? Do they continue to try to ratchet things up? Or do they now try to cool down the temperature and get to the diplomacy bargaining table perhaps first with South Korea but of course their eventual goal would be substantive talks with the United States that would ease sanctions and, you know, give North Korea what they've been wanting that they didn't get from the detente and the diplomacy, the face-to-face diplomacy between Kim Jong-un and former President Donald Trump, John.
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VAUSE: Everyone wants something. Will, thank you. Will Ripley live for us in Taipei. Still to come, Haitian migrants being sent back home by the Biden administration. We'll have more on what they're now returning to a dystopian city for criminal gangs now control most of it.
Plus, the story of a terrifying escape here from an Afghan American woman who barely got out as the Taliban took over the country. Please stay with us.
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VAUSE: Welcome back everyone. More than 3000 Haitians have been deported from the U.S. in September 19. Returning to Port-Au-Prince on repatriation flights.
The Biden administration is relying on a Trump era public health order to remove migrants mostly Haitians from the U.S. Mexico border. Even though a federal court has ruled to the contrary, the order say officials allows them to turn migrants back and deny them the chance to seek asylum. Meantime, CNN Melissa Bell spoke exclusively to Haiti's Prime Minister about the deportations.
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ARIEL HENRY, HAITAIN PRIME MINISTER (through translation): For us all Haitians who returned to their native soil are entitled to be welcomed and we will welcome them as best we can. We will make room for them, and we will try to reintegrate them as best as we can into society. Regarding the deportation, we are not responsible for their deportation. What we are saying is that as long as there are countries that are better off than others, there will always be an appeal towards those wealthier.
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VAUSE: Many Haitians being deported or being sent to a country they have not seen in years or even decades. Photoprints is overrun by criminal gangs, neighborhoods are deserted, others live behind piles of rubbish and burning cars. A city where kidnappings are common and basic services like electricity and water are not. Again, here's CNN's Melissa Bell reporting in from Port-Au-Prince.
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MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here even church is no sanctuary. The bloods still marks the steps of this Baptist Church in the very heart of Port-Au-Prince as Sunday service began an armed gang attacked, wounding several of the congregation and killing one man who tried but failed to stop his wife from being kidnapped.
Who will pay the ransom now asks Mary Yulan Zel (ph), a human rights advocate who explains that nothing in Haiti is now sacred, and no one's safe.
We are in peace, nowhere, she says. Not even in the president's house. He was executed the most protected man in the country. She says referring to the assassination of the Haitian President Jovenel Moise in July. Zel (ph) says kidnapping is at least the 10th in the Haitian capital since Tuesday, the very week that has seen 1000s of deportees returned to Port-Au-Prince, a city many had left in the years following the 2010 earthquake, fleeing both its poverty and insecurity. Now that is only getting worse.
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BRUNO LEMARQUIS, U.N. DEPUTY SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE SECRETARY- GENERAL: Each time there is an uptick in the number of kidnapping. The authorities react by having more patrol in the streets.
BELL: You can see on the streets of Kolkata (ph) that increased police presence and yet as visible it is intended to be it doesn't seem to be doing much to reassure Haitians, that it's safe to go out onto the streets once again.
It's like a boat on the ocean with no captain, says Zel (ph), the country is left to its own devices, gangs ruled, and keep gaining ground. So, we are abandoned to our fate. Since much of it was leveled in 2010, Port-Au-Prince's city that has struggled to stand up.
Now gang violence has forced entire neighborhoods to flee what little they had, like the 219 families living inside this dilapidated school building one of seven camps for internally displaced people or IDPs in the capital, camps that are not designed to accommodate the returnees.
LOUBY GEORGES, INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR MIGRATION: Clashes between different gangs have really ballooned out of control. And so, we find persons like the IDPs that are here. They had to leave their permanent village or campsite or which they were residing in sensitive earthquake in 2010. So, imagine that.
BELL: In all the United Nations says the 20,000 people in Port-Au- Prince had been displaced by gang violence in the last year. A homeland even more dangerous to those being deported by the United States this week than the one they fled. Melissa Bell, CNN, Port-Au- Prince, Haiti.
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VAUSE: The chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court is seeking urgent clearance to resume investigations into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in Afghanistan. The focus would be on the Taliban and ISIS-K, well, any allegations against U.S. forces would be in the words of the prosecutor de prioritized. The case was put on hold more than a year ago. (Inaudible) U.S. backed Afghan Government time to gather evidence.
It's a plenty of tough questions in just a few hours from now when top U.S. military leaders go before the Senate Armed Services Committee. It's the first chance for Congress to publicly question the defense secretary and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs about the withdrawal from Afghanistan. The leader of the U.S. Central Command who oversaw the evacuation of Kabul will also be testifying.
In addition to the chaotic withdrawal, they're likely to be asked about the mistaken drone strike, which killed 10 civilians, including seven children.
The Afghan evacuation may look chaotic while it was happening, but we are now hearing some of the reports from the evacuate, but just how challenging it was to get out. CNN's Alex Marquardt spoke to one woman about the operation which eventually brought her to safety.
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SHAQAIQ BIRASHK, EVACUATED AFGHAN AMERICAN: You guys look, no more flag.
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: As the Taliban took over Afghanistan's capital, Shaqaiq Birashk was filming their fighters from her balcony.
BIRASHK: OK, so they are here trying to get into that person's house.
MARQUARDT: She was in a high rise overlooking downtown Kabul as American and NATO forces were desperately trying to evacuate people just like her. An Afghan American who worked for the Afghan government and on a U.S. funded project, Birashk was born in Afghanistan and moved to the U.S. at 13 years old. She returned as an adult spending most of the past four years working with local organizations.
Now she's back in Denver after taking part in one of the most secretive operations in the entire evacuation, which a U.S. official tells CNN was in part run by the CIA.
BIRASHK: The airport was absolute chaos. It was it was as of -- if you would have had to gone through a Death Valley in order to make it survive.
MARQUARDT: Birashk was in her apartment when she got a call from an American.
BIRASHK: And I said, who was this? He said I'm a government -- U.S. government official.
MARQUARDT: No details about who we work for?
BIRASHK: No nothing at all.
MARQUARDT: The American wanted Birashk to leave. But she said she wanted to bring Afghans with her.
BIRASHK: He said, well, my priority is you. I understand that you're -- you feel this responsibility towards the people that you have worked with, but unfortunately, my priority is you.
MARQUARDT: Hours later she changed her mind after a friend who was evacuated convinced her.
BIRASHK: I got my passport and then I just had downstairs.
MARQUARDT: A driver in a Toyota Corolla picked her up, but they didn't know exactly where to go. Just tell me where you are. And I will help the American texted. Birashk shared her location as they drove through the dark and Taliban checkpoints.
BIRASHK: Taliban members came in just smack the front of the car and, you know, kind of waved at us and said, don't move, stop here and then our driver was like, I'm not going to listen to him.
MARQUARDT: The American official was tracking them. I see you, he texted -- the American texted. Birashk shared her location, as they drove
through the dark and Taliban checkpoints.
SHAQAIQ BIRASHK, EVACUATED AFGHAN AMERICAN: The Taliban members came and just smacked the front of the car and, you know, kind of waved at us and said, don't move, stop here. And then our driver looked like, I'm not going listen to him.
MARQUARDT: The American official was tracking them. "I see you," he texted. "Just follow the road until you see a gas station then you will see my guys."
BIRASHK: I wasn't scared because I wasn't -- I didn't have the time to be scared. I had no -- being scared was not an option.
MARQUARDT: They went the wrong way, the American texted, "You missed the left turn."
Around midnight, they finally arrived at Eagle Base, a CIA base, just east of Kabul, located by "The New York Times", where helicopters were ferrying people inside to the airport.
Birashk was met by Afghan special forces, and then Americans, including the American guiding her.
BIRASHK: I mentioned his name, and I said, is that you? He said yes, that is me. And then there was a sigh of relief at that point. But I knew that we have made it. You know, there's no more checkpoints.
MARQUARDT: On the baser, their phones were taken away. They were asked not to reveal the base's location.
The next day, they were flown to Kabul Airport, and out of the country to safety.
(on camera): What do your friends and colleagues who are still in Kabul, still in Afghanistan telling you about what they think the future is going to look like?
BIRASHK: They continuously stay, life -- Afghanistan is now a body without a soul. Seeing the way that everything that they had worked for the past 20 years has been just shattered in front of their own eyes.
The promises of the international community, never leaving them behind, and now they're left with nothing.
MARQUARDT (voice over): Birashk says she and others like her are not suffering from significant survivors' guilt. BIRASHK: To this day, I'm still processing the information and
processing the reality on the ground. It just feels like it's an ongoing nightmare that, you know, I haven't been woken up from.
MARQUARDT (on camera): Birashk tells me that she feels blessed and privileged to have been evacuated the way that she was, as she says, without a scratch. She knows that that is not the case for so many who were evacuated from the airport. And many more who are still trying to get out of Afghanistan.
The State Department said on Monday, that there are around 100 American citizens and legal permanent residents who are ready to leave. The biggest obstacle, a senior State Department official says is the unpredictability of who the Taliban will allow to leave.
Alex Marquardt, CNN -- Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Still to come here on CNN, across China they're feeling the pinch from a power supply crunch, a crunch which could soon be felt worldwide.
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VAUSE: Welcome back, everyone. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
China is facing a power supply crisis with widespread rationing of electricity, plunging industry into chaos and residents in the north into the cold and dark, with reports of rolling blackouts. The power sites (ph) are also threatening to further slow an already slowing economy.
CNN's Steven Jiang reporting now live from Beijing.
So I guess, how much of this has to do like sky high energy costs? How much is to do with, you know, trying to remove carbon and reduce emissions from the power system? And I guess, the question is, this is sort of when the rubber hits the road when it comes to climate change. When people are cold, they'll burn coal.
STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: That's right. This is the result of a perfect storm because on the demand side, you have surging demand for electricity because of China's export industry driven economic recovery after the pandemic especially involving low-end manufacturing. It's also power hungry.
On the supply side you have many Chinese power plants running at very thin margins, sometimes at a loss, because of skyrocketing coal prices. And that's obviously not helped by the Chinese boycott of Australia and coal because of geopolitical tensions.
And many Chinese power plants don't have the ability to set or raise power prices because of lagging market reforms. So they simply cannot pass on higher costs to their users.
And then, of course, you have seen many local authorities really rushing to meet their annual carbon emissions goal, because, president Xi Jinping has now set this as a political top priority in terms of peaking China's carbon emissions before the year 2030.
So all of a sudden, you start to see a lot of political campaign style efforts to reduce energy consumption, before the year end. So all of these factors combined, of course, leading to this perfect storm, that is generating this unthinkable scenario of the world's emerging superpower, seemingly running out of power.
That, of course, especially at this crisis, starting to spread to impact people's daily life and livelihood as you mentioned with many more reports and social media posts that people for example, reporting traffic lights stopped working in their cities, or even skyrocketing sales of candles in their hometowns, John.
VAUSE: Yes. Steven thank you. Steven Jiang, reporting live from Beijing, where the lights are still on.
Well, a surging global demand for coal has sent prices to a record high this month. And while Australian coal imports have, effectively, been banned in China, Australian producers have had little trouble finding new market.
No country in the world, earned more from exporting coal then Australia. And Canberra has boasted profits will continue way beyond 2030, despite calls from the U.N. and environmentalist to end those exports, as part of a global effort to mitigate the effects of climate change.
In fact, it seems Australia's prime minister has little interest in discussing the climate emergency, indicating he might snub a crucial meeting world leaders set for November.
Scott Morrison, says he wants to focus on restarting Australia's economy after an extended pandemic lockdown.
His absence would be significant, given more than 100 leaders, including the U.S. president, Joe Biden, has confirmed that there will be a COP26 in Glasgow.
Will Steffen is an expert on climate science. He's an emeritus professor at the Australian National University. He sits on the climate council of Australia.
He joins us this hour from Canberra. Welcome back. Good to see you.
WILL STEFFEN, AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY: Thank you.
VAUSE: Ok. So apart from not wanting to be on the receiving end of, you know, getting a hard time from other world leaders, if the Australian prime minister does snub COP26, what does that mean in a practical sense? STEFFEN: Well, I think it means that Australia won't hear the strong
message, or I should say, Australia's leader won't hear the strong message that he should get from the rest of the world that this is a global problem, that we are all expected to do our fair share.
Australia's a major player, as you pointed out, when our exports are included we would rank as the fifth or sixth biggest emitter on the planet. So a major player, he is the leader, the prime minister of this country.
You said world leaders from around the planet are going to be there. I think it's his duty and his obligation to go there and represent us at this very important meeting.
VAUSE: Well, Prime Minister Morrison told "The West Australian" newspaper, "I am bringing the government and I hope the country together on where we are seeking to go and we are working through our commitments. We are working through our plans. A plan gives people certainly about the big change that will occur over the next 20 to 30 years."
Do Australians, really want any reference to containing global warming to 1.5 degrees, removed from a trade agreement with the U.K.? Do Australians boast about continuing coal exports beyond 2030?
Are Australians ok with not publicly stating a goal for cutting emissions? Is this where the Australian public is at?
STEFFEN: No, it is not. And there's a big gap, I think, between the government and an increasing gap between the government and the public. When you look at other levels of jurisdiction in Australia, I'm talking about state territory and local, there is much more action on climate change.
We here in Canberra have already reduced our emissions by more than 50 percent. We're 100 percent renewable. South Australia is moving. And I think they are viewed as being very popular in the electorate by taking strong action.
I think there's a growing gulf between what the Australian public wants and how our prime minister is behaving.
[01:39:58]
VAUSE: So at that federal level, you know, they talk about their plans for reducing carbon emissions. What are their plans?
STEFFEN: They don't have it. They have a very weak emission reduction target by 2030, it's 26 to 28 percent on 2005 levels. But there are no plans. They're talking about new technologies and on.
But they are avoiding, completely avoiding the way we can get our emissions down rapidly. That cost and the side benefits -- and that's to go to renewable. We have got one of the best renewable resources on the planet, best in the (INAUDIBLE) world and yet they shy away from making any commitment, to any sort of target, about the percentage of renewables we should have in our electricity system.
So totally avoiding the issue and just trying to put a lot of spin on it, to divert attention to other issues and so on.
VAUSE: What doesn't really add up here is that this is a country which is already seeing major impacts from climate change. Just think back to the bush fires two years ago. How can there be that disconnect between, you know, the federal government and reality?
STEFFEN: It's an enormous disconnect. And I think the disconnect is mainly due to two issues. One is political ideologies. I think it has unfortunately become a partisan, political issue, it never should have been.
And the second thing, of course, is we have very large vested interests that make a lot of money in exporting coal and increasing gas. And also make a lot of money from our consumption of coal and gas domestically.
So I think there are very strong interests. You put that together with the Murdoch press which you're familiar with in the U.S. and of course, that's a pretty toxic cocktail for international climate change.
VAUSE: Straight out of the playbook, isn't really? Will, thank you. Will Steffen --
(CROSSTALK)
VAUSE: Appreciate your time, Will. Thank you.
STEFFEN: Ok. No worries. Bye-bye.
VAUSE: Regulators in China have issued a new edict to the entertainment industry, in particular, producers of children's cartoons and other programming "uphold truth, goodness and beauty and content which is vulgar and violent should be removed". At least one program, has already been removed from streaming platforms. All part of a push to promote what Beijing calls correct values.
The move comes nearly one month after new rules, restricting children to just hours of online video games per week.
Up next here on CNN NEWSROOM, a lockdown is ordered in parts of the Canary Islands lava, from an erupting volcano approaches the ocean. Details when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: -- east shore of Spain's La Palma Island were ordered into lockdown Monday, as lava from an erupting volcano nears the ocean. These are the images from the Canary Islands. Lava and ash is once again coming from the volcano. Experts predict this could continue for another thee months.
Journalist Al Goodman has more now reporting from Madrid. [01:44:53]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AL GOODMAN, JOURNALIST: The volcanic ash on La Palma Island causing major problems, especially at the airport, which started Monday with flights canceled. Too much volcanic ash to operate the plane safely. By midday, a few flights apparently got through. But by late Monday the airport again with flights canceled.
The other major problem, the relentless march of the lava heading towards the Atlantic Ocean. So that early Monday authorities ordered people on the eastern shore of the island to lock down, to stay inside, keep the doors and windows closed, because scientists say that when that lava hits the Atlantic Ocean, it will send up plumes of toxic smoke.
So there is an exclusionary zone at sea, and also on land. Authorities warning people that the force, the explosive type force of the lava hitting the water, will be enough to blow out your windows 5 kilometers or 3 miles from the site.
All of this happening on the island that the Spaniards call La Isla Bonita, the beautiful island, which now in its ninth day of eruptions on Monday, has seen significant portions of the island damaged, destroyed hundreds of homes, banana plantations that serve food up to the rest of Europe.
And officials say that this is just the beginning, that it could go on for days more, even a few months.
Al Goodman, CNN -- Madrid.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: R. Kelly faces 10 years to life in prison for his federal conviction on sex trafficking and racketeering charges. U.S. prosecutors accuse the R&B singer of using his celebrity to lure women and underage girls for sex. This happened for decades.
45 witnesses testified, some saying he promised to help victims' careers before demanding obedience. They had to get permission to eat and to go to the bathroom.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACQUELYN KASULIS, ACTING U.S. ATTORNEY, EASTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK: Today's guilty verdict forever brands R. Kelly as a predator, who used his fame and fortune to prey on the young, the vulnerable, and the voiceless for his own sexual gratification.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Sentencing is now set for May 4th. One of Kelly's attorneys said there will be an appeal. Kelly faces additional charges including child pornography and criminal sexual abuse in the states of Illinois and Minnesota.
Well, plans for a kiddie version of Instagram are now on hold after an outcry from child safety groups, lawmakers, and 44 attorneys general -- all opposed to the idea over concerns for mental health and privacy.
"The Wall Street Journal" recently reported data showed the harmful effects Instagram has on teens, especially girls, and the company knew all about it.
When they announced the new parent-managed version back in July, Instagram said kids are already online. This would reduce the incentive for them to lie about their age.
For so many, life in Beirut is now defined by soaring prices for everything from food, fuel, to medical supplies living in a country which is verging on being a failed state. All made worse, by the explosion of almost 3,000 metric tons of ammonium nitrate killing more than 200 people.
But one power lifter has now set a goal of the biggest lift of his life, telling Don Riddell that he'll do his best to inspire people and lift up his country.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHIVA KAROUT, LEBANESE POWERLIFTER: It was a normal day. We were at work. We were training. Around 6:00, we saw a huge smoke. Some of us went outside to watch what was happening.
We were dropped down on the ground. We looked up, it was gloomy and dark. Ashes everywhere. Cars were flipped over, people were on the streets, dead people, people cut open.
We had a really (INAUDIBLE) at the gym, he passed away as well.
My name is Shiva Karout.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Moving, still moving, still going.
KAROUT: I got introduced to this game in late 2014, early 2015, and then it took it up professionally in 2018. And this is where I began hoping to become world champion and I'm still hoping for that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wow, what an amazing effort. Have you ever seen anybody fight for 5 kilo like that?
[01:49:57]
KAROUT: I'm very proud to be Lebanese. I couldn't be prouder. Being Lebanese is not just what you hold in your passport. It's love (ph) related. It's something really deep inside. Because as a Lebanese, you tend to survive every single day. You tend to survive life as itself (ph).
The situation -- it is very bad, honestly. The lack of electricity, lack of petrol, lack of water. You're training with high temperature. You're training with lack of oxygen, very high pollution is hell on earth honestly to train.
You saw an inflation of probably 17 times. That is how bad the economic situation is. So let's say, you used to get paid $700 which is equal to around 1,050,000 liras. Now, that 1,050,000 liras is equal to $60. You can't even fill your gas right now with $60.
I have a main job at (INAUDIBLE) house, I'm personal trainer. I work from 6:30 a.m. in the morning to 8:30 pm at night, every single day.
When I got back home, at 8:30, I started a small business for myself (INAUDIBLE) for my clients which is called Shiva's cuisine. And this is how I'm able survive in this country.
200 people dies in this explosion. They did not die out of natural death, or out of sickness, or illness, or accident. That was a murder.
I'm not doing it for self pleasure. I'm not doing it for self satisfaction. I am doing it to represent my country. I am doing it to represent my people. To give hope for my country, to give hope for my people, every single year, every single time, I lift the bar.
I'm just lifting my country up day by day, year by year. That is it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Shiva will be competing at the world championships in Sweden later this week where he will continue his dream of becoming a world champion.
Well, still to come, for more than 15 years, Daniel Craig has been Bond, James Bond. Now in his final 007 film about to premier he reflects on the role and how it has changed his life.
That story when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: In just a few hours, London's Royal Albert Hall will host the world premiere of the latest James Bond film, "No Time to Die". This is the 25th 007 movie and the last time Bond will be played by actor Daniel Craig.
After five Bond movies over 15 years, there will be no more martinis, shaken not stirred, for Craig. But he says he is going out on a high note.
The story from CNN's Max Foster.
[01:55:00]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MAX FOSTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): It may be "No Time to Die", but for actor Daniel Craig it's a good time to move on. From the blockbuster movie franchise that made him an international star. Craig's last bow as the smoothest operator in British intelligence is long overdue in theaters. Pushed back several times from its initial release date in April 2020 because of the pandemic.
And there were reports the star was reluctant to reprise the role after injuring himself on the movie "Specter" six years ago. But in the spirit of never saying never again, Craig is back as James Bond for a fifth and final time.
DANIEL CRAIG, ACTOR: I'm so happy that I got the chance to come and do this one and we've tied up lots of loose ends. And we've try to tell one story with all my Bond movies. It's sort of that they're all connected in some way and this one just sort of -- it is capped it off.
FOSTER: Craig made a dramatic entrance as James Bond in 2005. Riding up the Thames in a speedboat, in a press stunt that ended speculation over who would take over the role from Pierce Brosnan.
CRAIG: I would like to thank the royal marines for bringing me in like that and scaring the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) out of me.
But apart from that, it was something else. I can't tell you really. I'm a bit speechless.
FOSTER: But Craig quickly found his voice as 007 and the movies were a huge success. "Sky Fall", released in 2012, is the most lucrative of all the Bond films, earning more than a billion dollars at the global box office.
And the character under Craig became a more modern take on the poker playing, gadget loving spy of the past. This one was fitter, grittier, and could even fall in love.
CRAIG: It changed my life, and my life will never be the same again. And it's just amazing -- a wonderful, wonderful thing.
FOSTER: Many actors have been rumored to be in the running to take over from Craig with some fans saying, it is time for a black actor or a woman to step into the iconic role.
But producers say that they won't discuss a replacement until next year.
Max Foster, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause.
Please stay with us. My colleague Rosemary Church will be at the desk after a very short break.
You're watching CNN. See you tomorrow.
[01:57:26]
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