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Top U.S. Military Leaders Testify About What Went Wrong; North Korea Says It Test-Fired New Hypersonic Missile. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired September 29, 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: Hello again, everyone. I'm John Vause coming up here on CNN Newsroom.
The evacuation was a huge success. The war is a total failure. The blunt assessment by America's most senior generals on 20 years of U.S. occupation of Afghanistan. The race to be Japan's next prime minister, with the ruling party voting for a new leader, who by default will likely lead the country at least until general elections in November.
And authorization for COVID vaccine for children's ages 5 to 11 is looking to be much closer to Thanksgiving in the United States than Halloween.
Most senior military commander in the U.S. face to public rally on Capitol Hill over the collapse of Afghanistan government and how the Taliban swept to power in just 11 days.
Mark Milley was also praised on the chaotic evacuation, the withdrawal date, and said he wanted to leave a residual force or 2500 troops in country contradicting the U.S. president who said no military leader had been opposed to a complete and total withdrawal of U.S. forces. CNN's Oren Liebermann has details.
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OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Pentagon's top military leaders making clear their views on Afghanistan were heard, but not followed.
GEN. KENNETH F. MCKENZIE, U.S. CENTCOM COMMANDER: I recommended that we maintain 2500 troops in Afghanistan. I also have a view that the withdrawal of those forces would lead inevitably to the collapse of the Afghan military forces and eventually the Afghan government.
JIM INHOFE, U.S. SENATE REPUBLICAN: Yes, so I understand that. And General Milley I assume you agree with that in terms of the recommendation of 2500?
GEN. MARK MILLEY, U.S. JOINT CHIEF CHAIRMAN: What I said in my opening statement, and the memoranda that I wrote back in the fall of 2020, remained consistent. And I do agree with that.
LIEBERMANN: Republicans seized on the contradiction between those views. And what President Joe Biden said in August about the advice he was given by military leaders.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS HOST: And they wanted you to keep about 2500 troops?
JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: No, they didn't. It was split. That wasn't true. That wasn't true.
STEPHANOPOULOS: They didn't tell you that they wanted troops to stay?
BIDEN: No, not in terms of whether we were going to get out in a timeframe all troops. They didn't argue against that.
TOM COTTON, U.S. SENATE REPUBLICAN: Is that true?
LIEBERMANN: Republican Senator Tom Cotton went after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on this point.
COTTON: It's a simple question, Secretary Austin, he said no senior military leader advised him to leave a small troop presence behind. Is that true or not that? These officer and General Miller's recommendations get to the president personally?
LLOYD AUSTIN, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: Their input was received by the President and considered by the President, for sure.
LIEBERMANN: Lawmakers grilled top military leaders on the rapid collapse of the Afghan military and the failure of the U.S. to see coming after pulling us advisors three years ago.
MILLEY: When you pull the advisors out of the units, you can never -- you no longer can assess things like leadership and will. We can count all the planes, trucks and automobiles and cars and machine guns and everything else. We can count those from space and all the other kind of Intel assets. But you can't measure the human heart with a machine. You got to be there.
LIEBERMANN: Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley said it was an open question, whether an evacuation that moved 124,000 people should have begun earlier, but ultimately it was a State Department call.
DAN SULLIVAN, U.S. SENATE REPUBLICAN: You and I have discussed this, would you use the term extraordinary success for what took place in August in Afghanistan?
MILLEY: That's the noncombatant evacuation. And I think one of the other senators said it very well. It was a logistical success. But a strategic failure.
LIEBERMANN: The Pentagon knew the Afghan government and armed forces critically relied on U.S. military and financial support. What surprised everyone was the speed at which it all fell apart in a matter of days, not months. AUSTIN: We certainly did not plan against a collapse of a government in 11 days. We helped build a state, Mr. Chairman, but we could not forge a nation.
LIEBERMANN: The Biden administration defended the President's decision not to heed the advice of his generals.
JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: What the American people should know as the President is always going to welcome a range of advice. He asked for candor. He asked for directness and in any case scenario, he's not looking for a bunch of yes, men and women. And what that means is that ultimately, he's going to have to make the decision about what's in the best interest of the United States.
LIEBERMANN: Senator Cotton responding to learning President Biden didn't follow the military's advice. If all this is true, General Milley. Why haven't you resigned?
COTTON: This country doesn't want generals, figuring out what orders we are going to accept and do or not. That's not our job. The principles of in control of the military is absolute. It's critical to this republic.
LIEBERMANN: Milley also addressed revelations in the book, Peril, about the final days of the Trump administration. Authors Bob Woodward and Robert Costa wrote that on a phone call with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi really agree that the President was crazy. Today, Milley said he did not make that assessment.
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MILLEY: I am not qualified to determine the mental health of the President of the United States.
LIEBERMANN: Milley was also worried, the authors wrote that Trump would start a conflict with China to distract from his election loss. Milley defended the two calls he had with his Chinese counterpart in late October and January 8, after the Capitol insurrection.
MILLEY: My task at that time was to deescalate. My message again was consistent, stay calm, steady and deescalate. We are not going to attack you.
LIEBERMANN: Milley says the calls were coordinated with Trump administration officials and he personally informed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows about the calls. Oren Liebermann, CNN at the Pentagon.
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VAUSE: Joining us now is retired U.S. Army Colonel Jeffrey McCausland, a National Security Consultant, visiting professor at Dickinson College. Colonel, thank you very much for being with us.
COL. JEFFREY MCCAUSLAND, U.S. ARMY (retired): John, it's great to be with you. VAUSE: OK, well, much of the country, much of the focus has been on this contradiction between Milley's own view about a residual force in Afghanistan and what the President of ABC News that no senior military commander had recommended against a full troop withdrawal. There is testimony, though, from Milley that the status quo of relative common Afghanistan in recent years, was about to end. He told the committee on the first of September we were going to go to war again with the Taliban of that there was no doubt.
The White House Press Secretary also on Tuesday tweeted this out. The President told ABC News advice was split by consensus of top military advisors was 2500 troops staying meant escalation due to the deal by the previous administration.
Does that provide enough context here? Does that take some of the gotcha moment out of Milley's testimony regarding the residual force and any differences with Joe Biden?
MCCAUSLAND: I think it does to a degree as far as there's certainly the senior military leadership. Obviously, the president seemed pretty adamant that there was no one who was opposing -- oppose his logic of pulling troops out and no one was arguing for residual force. There seems to be a little bit of a difference right there. Again, the White House has attempted to cover that up, as you rightly point out by saying that there was a consensus, and when the White House Press Secretary was pressed about this, she went on to say, you know, she was going to reveal names those who do agree with the President, as opposed to General Milley And apparently, also General McKenzie, the CENTCOM Commander, who was also in those hearings today also seem to recommend that 2500 for stay on.
But as again, John, you were -- you're right, as well, that all those people there today seem to agree that without question, if we stay beyond one September, then the Taliban would begin a grip commands attacks on our forces, who had to reinforce those forces would have been taken casualties in that moment on.
VAUSE: And just to that point, if it had been this residual force of 2500 U.S. troops beyond September 1, ultimately, that number would have to increase.
MCCAUSLAND: It would have to increase without question and certainly would be very, very difficult depending on when that force was deployed. Because of course, by the latter part of August, we basically controlled only the Kabul International Airport. So, bring a force in under fire, trying to takes control back once again of Kabul would have been a major, major military undertaking, a lot of fighting there in Kabul, which resulted on large scale casualties on both sides, as well as the large-scale casualties for our NATO allies, because they had forces there as well.
VAUSE: Much of the criticism of Milley, especially from Republicans seem to sit on this idea that he should have resigned when it became obvious that the President decided not to follow what he truly believed it was leaving behind this residual force. He's part of his answer, when a republican senator asked him quite bluntly, why haven't you resigned. Here's General Milley?
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MILLEY: Just from a personal standpoint, you know, my dad didn't get a choice to resign at Iwo Jima and those kids there at Abbey Gate, they don't get a choice to resign, and I'm not going to turn my back on them. I'm not going to resign. They can't resign, so I'm not going to resign, there's no way. If the orders are illegal, we're in a different place. But if the orders are legal from civilian authority, I intend to carry them out.
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VAUSE: In other words, it's simply stating out what the chain of command here, there is the commander in chief who makes the final decision.
MCCAUSLAND: Exactly right. And I thought in many ways what General Milley did there on TV today was actually teach a civics lesson and the importance of civil military relations and civil control the military to a bunch of senators, which was a little bit surprising to say the very least, underscoring the point for our country, at least, civil control the military is a bedrock of our democracy. And again, a president of United States takes that military advice from senior military leadership, but then he or someday she has to make that quote and make that final decision. They can tell you, all my time in Iraq and Afghanistan, all the briefings I ever said in on, all of them emphasize as far as our strategy either place Afghanistan in particular is the integration of the military component certainly, but economics, diplomacy, politics information to the president has got to weigh all those things as well as that military advice. But obviously, if general resigned every time the advice has not taken, we're going to rotate through generals pretty quickly. And that will be the end of civil control of military and an absolute politicization of our senior military leadership.
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VAUSE: I guess the problem that many Republicans have, though, with Milley is that he was willing to follow to the letter orders from Joe Biden, about months earlier, it was he -- in their view, actively tried to undermine President Trump by inserting himself into the chain of command for a nuclear strike. He spoke with his Chinese counterpart, that kind of stuff. Is there an argument here or like sort of comparing apples and oranges in this case?
MCCAUSLAND: I really don't think there's any argument here. I worked in the Pentagon, I worked on the National Security Council staff in the White House. And I can tell you that the contact between people at all levels with foreign governments friendly and adversaries is fairly routine, particularly in a crisis and this is really a unique situation. There was intelligence, General Milley talked about that, that the Chinese had to believe that we might well attack them during this very turbulent period of this transition. And what he was doing was calling his counterpart, oh, by the way, there were memorandums of agreement between Department of Defense and the Chinese on how this all is done, to reassure them that that type of an attack was not about to occur, and if you will defuse a potential crisis. He went on in great detail as well, John, to point out to everybody at that hearing is he did that with the full knowledge of that then Secretary of Defense Esper, subsequently Acting Secretary of Defense Miller, Secretary of State Pompeo, as well as Chief of Staff McCarthy in the White House, all those players and numerous other people were aware of all this, some 13 people listened to the call. And therefore, I think in many ways Milley was doing his job. And averting a potential crisis based on misunderstanding and miscommunications with the Chinese who were very uneasy at that particular moment.
VAUSE: Colonel, thank you. Col. Jeffrey McCausland we appreciate your time. So, thank you.
MCCAUSLAND: Thank you.
VAUSE: We have this just in to CNN the Taliban say that U.S. drones have recently violated and invaded Afghanistan airspace. The statement by the militants calls on all countries to treat Afghanistan with mutual respect in order to prevent any negative consequences.
Well, votes are being tallied in Tokyo right now in the race to be the leader of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, and almost by default, the country's next prime minister.
The former foreign minister is in the running so to the very popular head of the National Vaccine rollout, there's really two women are in contention, if either one when she will become the first female prime minister. And for the first time and living memory the result is not a foregone conclusion. Results are expected to be announced in about eight minutes maybe from now.
North Korea says its latest missile launch was a test of a newly developed hypersonic missile. State media says the new weapon will boost the country's defense capabilities, a thousandfold.
CNN's Will Ripley follow all of this from Taipei. Will, there are hypersonic missiles and then there are hypersonic missiles developing that sort of military hardware has only really been achieved by a handful of countries. So, what has the North actually done here, do we know?
WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We only have essentially this one photo right now to go on. And of course, the information about the flight trajectory and the speed that South Korea has just come out in the last hour or so saying that they are analyzing very carefully, but looking at the photo analysts say it does appear to be a hypersonic missile, potentially with a glider warhead, the kind of weapon that North Korea said back in January at their party Congress was one of the weapons on their wish list, one of the top five most important weapons that they are hoping to develop as they bolster their nations and their words nuclear defense, their self-defense capability.
Of course, the rest of the world sees it a bit differently with North Korea developing a hypersonic missile, that means it can travel at least five times the speed of sound that's around 4000 miles an hour, roughly one mile per second, at least. And if the warhead on a glider actually works, it could detach from this hypersonic missile and then cruise almost like a hang glider potentially for 1000s of miles. And it could be the course of which could actually be changed. So, well. ballistic missiles also travel at these very fast, hypersonic speeds. Once they're launched, they're on a set course. They're pretty easy to track because they just -- they start in one place and defense systems can basically estimate exactly where they're going to be targeting. But a hypersonic missile can change direction and that's what makes them so difficult. You have as you mentioned, a very small handful of countries that have this technology currently. The United States has been testing hypersonic missiles. Russia and China have already deployed them. So, if North Korea, this tiny and impoverished country of around 25 million people has this technology it just goes to show how much of their resources Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader is putting into developing these weapons.
And there are more weapons on their wish list, including longer range, solid fuel intercontinental ballistic missiles even one an ICBM that could travel 15,000 kilometers or some 9300 miles. They're talking about developing new and better drones, even a military reconnaissance satellite, the kind of weapons and the kind of upgrades that could pose even bigger risks to the U.S. and potentially escalate tensions in this part of the world and beyond, John. And this is also coming at a time that South Korea continues to develop their own weapons technology, including just yesterday, hours before this purported hypersonic missile launch.
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South Korea put a new submarine ballistic missile capable sub into the water. So, they now basically have the capability during a wartime situation to launch missiles from submarines that are very difficult to detect. North Korea also working on similar technology. So, you can see how with all these different weapons popping up. The chance for miscalculation, the chance for a mistake, and the chance for a conflict continues to grow. And what we could be seeing is the beginning or even, not even the beginning, but just the continuation of this arms race, not just a regional arms race, but an international one.
VAUSE: It does seem this arms race is ramping up at the moment. Yeah, we'll see what happens. Well, thank you, Will Ripley there, live for us in Seoul.
Well drivers in Britain still facing long lines and frustration at the pumps despite the government saying the country's fuel crisis is easy, but the underlying issues remain.
Also ahead, the island of La Palma declared a disaster zone as its volcano continues to erupt. There's a new danger threatening the area. We'll have details on that when we return.
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VAUSE: after erupting for 10 days now, a river of lava from a volcano in Spain's Canary Islands has now reached the ocean. Bringing a shelter in place order for residents have been fears toxic gases could be released by lava mixing with water. Thousands have already been evacuated from the island, but the lava has destroyed hundreds of homes as well as banana plantations. Spain has designated La Palma a disaster zone.
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson says it appears petrol shortages are beginning to ease across the country. And the Petrol Retailers Association says just over a third of its members are without supplies that's down from two thirds on Sunday. Still many drivers continue to wait in long lines to fill up. The government has against stress fuel is not in short supply, just the tanker drivers to deliver it to the pumps.
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BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: We now are starting to see the situation improved. We're hearing from industry that supplies coming back onto the forecourt in the normal way. And I would just really urge everybody to just go about their business in the normal way and fill up in the normal way when you really need it and, you know, things will start to improve.
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VAUSE: Supply issues are being resolved. CNN's Anna Stewart has heard firsthand from unhappy London motorists who are still waiting to fill up.
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ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: Well, as you can see that is a queue, drivers at this petrol station in East London, but actually the queues be moving pretty fast, and this petrol station had a big delivery of fuel this morning. In addition to that we're hearing optimistic noises from within the industry and also the U.K. government saying that the fuel crisis could now be easing.
On Tuesday, the government said they put the army on hard standby to step in to help if needed. It's not an issue of a lack of fuel within the U.K. it's a lack of drivers, who can get it from platforms and refineries to the petrol stations that need it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go and take long journeys, because you don't know if you're going to get some fuel some way or not. It's really, really bad.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We all need, you know, fuel to work and emergency services need it more, but we still need it as well to do agile. So, it's really hard.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I should have got some on Saturday if I left it barfing. He says he's got the army on standby. Why don't you just employ it and just get the situation so. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here we have like the lion just for the motorcycle, so it's better. But most places we got to stay behind lines like, you know, for I don't know how many, you know, miles. It's just it's a pain in the butt.
STEWART: The British chambers of commerce compare the temporary visa scheme to throwing a thimble of water on top of a bonfire. And that's because while this petrol crisis may be beginning to ease, the shortage of drivers has been an issue for well over a year, and it's hitting supply chains for multiple sectors. So, things might be improving here at the petrol pump. But we could be looking at a winter of discontent, as the problem has huge ramifications across different sectors. Anna Stewart, CNN, London.
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VAUSE: Rana Foroohar is CNN's Global Economic Analyst as well as a Global Business Columnist and Associate Editor at the Financial Times, it's good to see you again.
RANA FOROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL ECONOMIC ANALYST: Great to see you.
VAUSE: OK. Well, this huge spike in energy costs, it's playing out around the world and Europe, gas prices are up almost 300% for the year. In China, some cities have been hit by these rolling blackouts and left in the dark. In the U.S. the cost of natural gas for heating your home is up by 180% add to this shortage of labor, which results in higher costs, a shortage of microchips, which is resulting in shortages everywhere. Well, the response from central banks essentially be determined by what they believe is driving the shortages and causing the price increases?
FOROOHAR: Well, you know, the big question is, is this a price increase that's going to be a short-term phenomenon? Or is this something that we're going to -- it's going to be with us for a long time, are we going back to stagflation of the 1970s.
Central bankers in the U.S. and elsewhere have been telling us, don't worry, supply chain shortages, they're about COVID. Energy, it'll eventually go down. But, you know, there's a perfect storm, that sort of building here. We've already seen some inflation building up in the system because of labor shortages. Because of the COVID related supply chain disruptions, the energy spike coming off the back of this perfect storm of reduced supply from last year's cold winter, less drilling for shale, less fuel coming out of Russia, which really has kind of a stranglehold on Europe, that's kicking prices up into what may be the next several months, particularly if we have a very cold winter, then you start to look at inflation hanging around for a while. And then that makes central bankers start to wonder. Are we going to have to raise interest rates? But if they raise interest rates, you might see markets tumbling. In fact, we're already seeing markets begin to correct off the words of inflation. So, there's no easy answers here. I think that we're going to be in for a very, very rocky winter.
VAUSE: And if you look at the U.K., you mentioned the 1970s, the U.K. is looking very bad -- like a very bad flashback to the 1970s. There's food shortages, there's long lines of petrol, a gas stations, and Bloomberg aids this, the shock has already drawn comparisons with the mix of economic stagnation and oil driven inflation spikes that dominated the 1970s or many central bankers dismiss this as hyperbole, the concern is that more during price increases will feed into demand for higher pay to be in the economy into a vicious cycle.
So, you touched on this, what we're looking at seems in the real world, we're looking at the reality of the limits of monetary policy, in the sense that low interest rates and printing money, it will not increase the supply of energy, it will not produce more workers, it won't make more microchips?
FOROOHAR: Well, you know, I feel that I've been writing this column for the last several years. In fact, my first book was all about this point. You know, central bankers can raise asset prices, they can print money, they can paper over problems, but they can't really change the story on the ground. That's not what they do.
Now, to be fair to them, they're often tossed the hot potato by politicians that don't want to make tough choices between interest groups, and that's something that's certainly been going on for the last decade, even before that. I mean, we have been really in 40 years of central bankers papering over various crises and trying to stretch out the business cycle but at the end of the day, the economy goes up, it goes down, corrections are natural and necessary and sometimes when you stretch them out artificially the way we seen when crashes eventually come, they're much worse. And that's the fear now, particularly since there's so much debt out there in the global economy, much of it will be unserviceable if interest rates do go up.
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VAUSE: Well, Rana, you should mention global debt because right now that wallpaper to cover up all those problems, it's surged by about $30 trillion during the pandemic, it now stands at $289 trillion. This is just government debt. That stands at 105% of global GDP. So, you talked about, you know, servicing that debt, if central banks increase interest rates to try and I guess, bring down inflation, what does that actually look like in the real world?
FOROOHAR: So, we're beginning to see glimmerings of what it might look like, you know, we've talked about the Chinese debt crisis that's happening right now in the real estate sector. That's probably not going to be a Lehman Brothers style crash, because it's mostly within China. But if Chinese growth slows because of a debt crisis in China, well, then that slows the rest of the world too. And that's going to drag on probably for a few years, then you've got governments in the developed world that may come into crisis. I mean, we're -- we have a looming debt crisis right now and in the U.S. in terms of raising the debt ceiling. What happens if many governments come in for debt crises all at once, that starts to have political ramifications.
We haven't even talked about private debt. I mean, there are a record number of what's called zombie companies out there. Those are companies that would not even be able to make their payrolls if interest rates went out. They just would not be able to make their actual budget to run their business. So, we're in a very precarious situation. And it's something that we've many of us have been kind of willfully blind to, I think, for a long time that we were going to end up in this moment, at some point.
VAUSE: Yeah, buy canned goods with ammunition, perhaps. Rana.
FOROOHAR: Oh, God, don't say that.
VAUSE: Yeah, it just feels like that sort of moment. Rana, thank you. Rana Foroohar, we appreciate it.
FOROOHAR: Thank you.
VAUSE: In Germany, the Social Democratic Party is hoping to start coalition talks this week, after finishing on top after Sunday's national election, which fractured traditional political outcomes. Now the third and fourth place finishers are the ones who'll be kingmakers. CNN's Frederik Pleitgen explains.
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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: After the election here in Germany, it is now down to business for the political parties as they try to form governing coalitions to see who will become the next Chancellor here in Germany.
At the moment, firmly in the driver's seat appears to be Olaf Scholz from the Social Democrats. They of course, won the largest part of the vote in Sunday's election. Scholz himself went on German public television, and he said he believes that he's in a position to form a governing coalition and he also says he wants to do that as fast as possible.
Now, the social Democrats parliamentary group in German parliament has said that they want to start negotiations at least preliminary ones as early as sometime this week.
Now, the main parties that they want to form a coalition with are the Green Party and also the Liberal Democratic Party, both of those parties did manage to increase their share of the vote in the recent election.
In fact, the head of the Green Party's parliamentary group, he said he believes that the so-called traffic light coalition, which is a coalition of the Social Democrats, the Liberal Democrats, and the Greens would be the most likely option for Germany going forward.
At the same time, of course, you still have the conservative bloc with Armin Laschet who was their candidate, also saying they want to form a coalition but that's looking increasingly less likely as Laschet is facing some public criticism after that very bad showing by the conservative bloc, of course, the party of Angela Merkel not doing well at all in Germany's recent election.
One of the things that is definitely becoming clear that it is going to be the Green Party and the Liberal Party that are going to be the kingmakers in this election. They of course, both saw pretty good gains in the election, and especially managed to mobilize a lot of young voters as well.
Frederik Pleitgen CNN, Berlin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Environmental activists, Greta Thunberg has once again lashed out at world leaders over what she says are decades of empty promises on climate action. She made those comments to hundreds of youth activists at a Climate Summit in Italy. They'll meet with policymakers and hammer out possible solutions ahead of the U.N.'s cop 26 climate talks.
Thunberg remain skeptical, saying time is now running out to avoid catastrophe.
[01:29:40]
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GRETA THUNBERG, CLIMATE ACTIVIST: There is no Planet B. There is no planet blah, blah, blah blah, blah, blah, blah.
This is not about some expensive, politically correct green act bunny hugging or blah, blah, blah.
Build back better blah, blah, blah.
Green economy blah, blah, blah.
Net zero by '25, 2050 blah, blah, blah.
Net zero by 2050 blah, blah, blah. Net zero blah, blah, blah. Climate neutral blah, blah, blah.
This is all we hear from our so-called leaders. Words, words that sound great but so far have led to no action.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: And the study published in "The Journal Science" says that global temperatures keep rising. Today's children will see about three times as many climate disasters as their grandparents.
Still to come here, the results are in. The vote to decide the next leader of Japan's ruling party and the next prime minister as well. We will have the very latest live from Tokyo.
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VAUSE: Welcome back everyone. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. The votes have been counted, the results are in to decide the next leader of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, and by default, the next prime minister.
Live to Tokyo right now, CNN's Selina Wang and the winner is a runoff. What are the details?
SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John this is turning out to be one of the most unpredictable leadership races in decades. None of the four candidates achieved a majority in the first vote. So, now it is headed into a runoff vote between Taro Kono and Fumio Kishida.
Now because of the LDP's dominance in parliament, the winner is virtually assured to become Japan's next prime minister. Now many analysts are predicting that Fumio Kishida will ultimately defeat Taro Kono in this runoff, even though vaccine minister Taro Kono is seen as the public's favorite, according to the polls.
Taro Kono is known as this political maverick who speaks his mind and isn't afraid to tear down bureaucratic barriers if necessary to get things done.
He is active on social media, he speaks perfect English. He's got more than two million Twitter followers.
And then on the other hand, you have Fumio Kishida, he served as the foreign minister under former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. And he is seen as this moderate liberal who is a consensus builder.
Even though Taro Kono is the public's favorite, analysts say that it is Fumio Kishida who is seen as the safe and stable choice. And that Kono's image as this outspoken maverick does not sit with the conservative heavyweights of Japan's LDP.
[01:34:52]
WANG: Now neither of the female candidates achieved enough support to make it into the runoff. But John, it is remarkable that there were two female candidates in this LDP election for the first time in history.
It is significant for a country where women are vastly underrepresented in politics. Now, whether or not it is Taro Kono or Fumio Kishida that become Japan's next prime minister, he will have to confront with challenges of the coronavirus pandemic, a stagnant economy, as well as rising Japan-China tensions.
And John, it is also unclear how long this next prime minister is actually going to stay in office. Before Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's time, Japan turned through six prime ministers in 6 years. So, is this a return to the revolving door premiership, John?
VAUSE: Yes, they certainly had a period where they went through a lot of prime ministers all in fairly quick succession.
But the one constant has been the LDP has always remained in power for all but 5 years I think, since the 1950s.
So essentially, what is the situation now as the country heads towards general elections in November? Is there any incentive for the wise old men of the Liberal Democratic Party to choose an outsider, to maybe to shake things up to give them a better chance with the electorate? Or are they in a position where they can go with the old guard?
WANG: Well, the experts I speak to say that stability and safety is what they are searching for. And that would be Fumio Kishida. That would be the candidate that the LDP will be backing in that case.
This is a country that is often driven by inertia and analysts I speak to say that they are probably looking for more of the same.
And we will see those results in just under an hour or so. If that is going to pan out as predicted, John.
VAUSE: Yes, at least there is some progress there. Two women running, they could have been the next prime minister, we will see.
There's now two guys so business as usual in many ways. Selina Wang, thank you, live in Tokyo.
After only six months, Japan is set to end their pandemic state of emergency in all regions on Thursday. Restrictions will be eased gradually, some limits on restaurants and big events remain in place for about a month more. The delta variant triggered a fifth wave of the virus with infections reaching record highs last month.
Russia reported its highest daily death toll from COVID on Tuesday, 852 deaths in 24 hours. The previous all-time high was set just four days earlier.
A public health official says less than half of Russia's adult population have had a vaccine dose. Daily cases began to increase earlier this month, when millions of Russian students returned to school and college.
A COVID vaccine for children aged 5 to 11 is inching closer with Pfizer sending data on clinical trials to regulators in the U.S. But the pharmaceutical giant could still be weeks away from making a formal application for emergency use authorization.
Just over a week ago, Pfizer released the results from trials involving more than 2,000 children which prove their vaccine to be safe and effective in low doses.
But a week's long delay in seeking emergency authorization means a child's COVID vaccine is unlikely to be available before November, dashing hopes that vaccination for kids could begin as soon as next month.
Health officials in the U.S. are promising a speedy approval process once Pfizer applies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR: We are all enthusiastically awaiting this data. As soon as they get submitted to the FDA, I know the FDA is urgently planning to review these data. It will go from the FDA to the CDC and we will review it with similar urgency I'm hoping in the order of weeks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Dr. Jorge Rodriguez is a board certified internal medicine specialist and viral researcher. He joins us this hour from Los Angeles, welcome back.
DR. JORGE RODRIGUEZ, BOARD CERTIFIED INTERNAL MEDICINE SPECIALIST AND VIRAL RESEARCHER: Thank you John, my pleasure.
VAUSE: Ok. So the timeline for kids' vaccine has changed significant since we spoke last week. like "The Wall Street' is reporting, as well as others Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine for kids may not be FDA authorized before November.
And it's looking likely to be a lot closer to Thanksgiving at the end of November than Halloween at the end of October. And this delay seems to be entirely resulting from Pfizer's decision not to submit a formal application for a few weeks yet. So why? What more needs to be done beyond those clinical results?
DR. RODRIGUEZ: Actually, that's a little bit of a concern to me because it means that they may not be 100 percent sure of their data. And the truth is that no more mining or researching the data is going to change what they already have at hand.
So it is a little curious. I think they should just submit it, let the FDA look at it, see if it seems valid. And then at that point they can submit for an emergency use application.
You know, children is that one void that is still missing being vaccinated and that the virus is jumping on already. So we need to get children accessible vaccines as soon as possible.
VAUSE: Moderna hasn't even started trials for a vaccine yet, so a lot is riding on Pfizer. And for some parents there's this concern now because of the size of Pfizer's trial. Just 2,000 participants which is considered, I guess, relatively small.
[01:40:00]
VAUSE: And they are weighing that up against the benefits here because most unvaccinated children who are infected with COVID tend not to get seriously ill. And so, they're kind of hesitant about getting their kids vaccinated asking is it really worth it.
So, what do you say to those parents?
DR. RODRIGUEZ: Well, what I say to those parents is that we have seen a tripling in the amount of children that are getting COVID and they're getting seriously ill. And children are in these little petri dishes called schools where if it is going to go to one kid, it's going to go to many of them.
You know, the reason that you can't get that many children in a study because not many are available, not many parents are willing to put them in studies.
So, you are not going to get children sick on purpose in order to get valid data. So you have to rely on safety information and you have to rely on blood results. Are the autoimmune and the immune response equal to that of adults results. And from all indications, the Pfizer vaccine is indeed equal in an immune response in children and in adults.
So, that is what I tell parents. Kids have been getting vaccines, you know, for all of our lives and they should not view this any differently.
VAUSE: Yes, that is a good point. We're also hearing from basketball great Lebron James, who once a vaccine skeptic but not anymore.
Listen to him say why he changed his mind. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEBRON JAMES, LOS ANGELES LAKERS: Everyone has their own choice to do they feel is right for themselves and their family and things of that nature. I know that I was very skeptical about it all. But after doing my research and things of that nature, I felt like it was best suited for not only me but for my family and for my friends. And you know, that is why decided to do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: You know, it could be argued if he'd done enough research, he'd find out that the only right thing to do is for everyone to get vaccinated with exceptions for medical conditions.
Still, it seems that it is an important message if not a little late from Lebron.
DR. RODRIGUEZ: Well, I think it is a very important message. I think it is huge when you have somebody that people idolize and look up to saying that. I think it will create a lot more openness for people to be able to take it.
But I disagree in one thing. It might be a personal choice but it doesn't just affect the person making the choice. It affects everyone around them.
And I must say listen, I'm a huge hockey fan, the National Hockey League has 99 percent of their players vaccinated. And that is who the NBA should model themselves after.
VAUSE: Go, the Ducks. Dr. Jorge Rodriguez, thank you for being with us. Take care.
DR. RODRIGUEZ: Thank you. VAUSE: Ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM, even after a Supreme Court ruling
decriminalizing abortion, women's rights activists have taken to the streets of Mexico City protesting abortion laws and clashing with police (ph).
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[01:44:52]
VAUSE: Violent clashes between prison gangs have left at least 24 inmates dead in Ecuador. This was the scene on Tuesdays as police tried to restore order.
Prison violence has become a crisis there with the president declaring a state of emergency back in July. This latest round of violence wasn't just beatings and stabbings. Officials say firearms and explosives were also used. The governor says five of the murdered prisoners were beheaded.
At least 37 people were injured after police and protesters clashed on International Safe Abortion Day in Mexico City. Women marched demanding reproductive rights, holding signs calling for legal and safe abortion even though earlier this month, Mexico's Supreme Court ruled that penalizing abortion is in fact unconstitutional.
And these are the scenes in Chile, where legislators have approved a plan to debate a bill to decriminalize abortion in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy.
And protesters in El Salvador pushing lawmakers to at least debate the issue as well. The country has some of the strictest abortion laws in the world.
During an exclusive interview with CNN, Haiti's prime minister says he will cooperate with the U.S. as it deports thousands of Haitian migrants.
Ariel Henry is also addressing accusations he hampered the investigation into the assassination of the late president.
CNN's Melissa Bell has more now reporting from Port-au-Prince.
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Haiti is a country in the midst of multiple crisis. The migrant crisis that we've been talking so much about over the course of the last week, the abject poverty of course, that continues to be such a difficult thing for so many people day to day, the gang violence that now grips so much of the Haitian capital with daily kidnappings on its streets.
But also there is the political crisis in which it currently finds itself at the helm of Haiti at the moment what the departing U.S. special envoy to Haiti described as an unelected de facto leader, the man who is currently the prime minister of Haiti.
CNN got a chance to sit down with him for a chat.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BELL (voice over): Since the migrant crisis in the deportation of thousands of Haitians, the man now in charge of Haiti gives an exclusive interview to CNN.
ARIEL HENRI, HAITIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translator): We saw some of the mistreatment that these Haitians are suffering and it struck us a lot. What we are saying is that long as there are countries that are better off than others, there will always be an appeal to those wealthier places.
BELL: But despite the migrant crisis, Prime Minister Ariel Henry says that Haitian cooperation with the United States is good and that he needs it to remain so.
Henry took office just two weeks after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise. Elections have been due in September. They've now been pushed back.
HENRY: The train has derailed for some time in Haiti. We have no more elected officials, only 10 senators who cannot pass a lot because there aren't enough of them.
We want to move as quickly as possible to the restoration of democracy through elections.
BELL: But since taking over Henry has been accused of hampering the investigation into the late president's murder by firing the prosecutor and the justice minister.
(on camera): How can people have faith in the investigation when the executive is meddling in the judiciary?
HENRY: The prosecutor was dismissed for breaking the law. The minister of justice was dismissed for breaking the law as well. It is important for us that President Jovenel Moise has justice. It's fundamental for us and we are going to do everything so that justice is done.
BELL (voice over): The prosecutor had wanted to see charges brought against Henry over alleged phone calls that were made in the hours after the assassination with one of the main suspects, Joseph Badio, who is still on the run.
(on camera): The questions that the prosecutor had were about phone calls that you'd received from one of the main suspects. What is your relationship with Joseph Felix Badio?
HENRY: I have no recollection of this telephone call or if it took place. I've no interest in being associated with these people. I've never been and never will be.
BELL (voice over): Despite the controversy that has surrounded him so far Henry says that he is determined to bring stability to Haiti by taking on the gangs that control so much of the country.
HENRY: We have asked friendly countries for help in supporting our police to fight these bandits and get them out of public life. So that the economy can pick up so that our children can go about their normal lives.
BELL: Little comfort to the deportees returning to a country more violent and politically unstable than the one they left.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BELL: That gang violence and the kidnapping that we have seen spiraling over the course of the last two weeks really what is on the mind of Haitians as they try and go about their daily life.
But you will only really see people out on the streets during the daytime, since after dusk the city simply becomes too dangerous for people to head out on to its street. In fact as we left the Prime Ministers residence, (INAUDIBLE), he warned us to be care since the streets of Port-au-Prince might not be that safe.
Melissa Bell, CNN -- Port-au-Prince.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[01:50:00]
VAUSE: The head of the World Health Organization has apologized to victims of sexual exploitation in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This comes after an independent commission identified 21 WHO staff who abused and exploited victims during an ebola outbreak.
The accusations came from more than 50 women. Two senior WHO staff members have been placed on leave. The other accused staff have been banned from ever working for the organization again.
Here's more now from one WHO official.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. MATSHIDISO MOETI, WHO REGIONAL DIRECTOR FOR AFRICA: We at WHO are indeed humbled, horrified and heart broken by the findings of this inquiry. I'd like also to thank all the women and girls who have come forward and given evidence to the investigation and thus have given us the basis on which to take action in the (INAUDIBLE) which has been necessary.
I'd like to indicate that as WHO leadership we apologize to these people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The World Health Organization says it will provide support, protection and justice for the victims and survivors.
The four-time U.S. Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles is speaking openly about her mental health as well as abuse at the hands of the former team doctor and events leading up to the Tokyo Olympics. In an interview with "New York Magazine", she says quote, "If you look at everything I've gone through for the past seven years I should've never made another Olympic team. I should've quit way before Tokyo when Larry Nassar was in the media for two years. It was too much."
Biles says she pushed through because she refused to allow the doctor who abused her to take something away that she worked so hard to achieve.
She also talked about what led her to withdraw from a number of events during the summer games, before later returning to win bronze in the final competition.
Biles says one day she just woke up with the mental block known as the twisties and knew she couldn't continue.
Still to come here on CNN. After almost years after of delay the new James Bond film has had its world premiere. What the star had to say about his final appearance as James -- James Bond 007, when we come back. What is with that jacket?
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VAUSE: In the U.K., a message for concert goers, if you do drugs pleas don't pee in our river. A new study from Wales has found public urination in the Glastonbury Festival has meant illegal substances have found their way into the local waterway which is potentially harming wildlife.
Researchers at the Bangor University found high-levels of cocaine and ecstasy in the river. They say the drugs can damaged the environment and threaten a species of rare eels. Even though drug levels fall sharply once the festival is over, organizers say they strongly discourage public urination as well as the use of illegal drugs and especially both at once.
Well, after being paralyzed by the COVID pandemic, the movie industry is celebrating something close to return to normal. The latest James Bond film had a glitzy world premiere on Tuesday. "No Time to Die" was originally meant to be released in early 2020. But kept getting pushed back as theaters and everyone else was shutting down.
The film was Daniel Craig's last appearances as 007. He says it feels good to return to the big screen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANIEL CRAIG, ACTOR: It's just a great relief. It just -- it's such -- I mean it was so important to really come and celebrate with all the other cast and crew. And to get into the cinemas and we are here. And literally, a year ago I didn't think that was going to happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[01:54:58] VAUSE: The star-studded premiere even included members of the British royal family. That's when you know it's big deal. Every one at the show had to have a negative COVID test to attend.
Well, one 3-year-old dog has new reason to grin from massive ear to massive ear. It's just broken the Guinness World record for longest dog ears.
Here's Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): He may not be all years, but she has enough ears top make it into the Guinness Book of World Records for longest ears on a living dog.
PAGE OLSON, DOG OWNER: Good girl.
MOOR: Give Lou a high 5 for her exceptional coon hound ears.
OLSON: Those ears are 13.38 inches long each. They are the same length.
MOOS: We could give you an earful about her cute quirks.
OLSON: The goofiest little weirdo.
MOOS: For instance, how she scratches her chin on the kitchen counter. But her claim to fame is having ears long enough to tie together. And everywhere she goes in her home state of Oregon, for instance wine tasting with her owner, people are loving on and touching her velvety ears.
OLSON: Rubbing her ears in her world is like getting the best massage you could ever get.
MOOS: When she was a puppy, owner Page Olson says --
OLSON: She would step on her ears all the time and trip and slide across the ground.
MOOS: Now, she manages to step around them. No, she doesn't get ear infections but they do get dirty.
OLSON: I like to call themself washing, they kind of just rinse themselves off in the water bowl. She will suck on her own ears if they get too dirty.
MOOS: The black and tan coon hound was bred with years long enough to drag in the dirt and stirrup old sense of animals so they could track them better.
OLSON: Sassy.
MOOS: but what was Lou is tracking off to the side? Throughout our interview Page kept having -- OLSON: Lou --
MOOS: To turn her head.
OLSON: I'm sitting by a French door window and she is staring at herself.
MOOS: It seems she only has eyes for her ears. Or as Carly Simon would sing --
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: The Jeanne Moos package on massive dog ears, that is a sign life is returning to normal.
Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause.
Please stay with us. The news continues here on CNN with Rosemary Church after a very short break.
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