Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Australia to East Travel Rules for Vaccinated Australians; WHO, CDC Optimistic About Declining COVID Trends $1.2 Trillion Infrastructure Bill Stalls as Deadline for Vote Passes; Officials See Possible Mexican Cartels' Role in Bloodshed; Belarusian President is Interviewed about his Brutal Regime; Ex-Police Officer Wayne Couzens Gets Whole-Life Sentence; Philippines to Raise Age of Consent to 16; Expo 2020 Underway a Year Late in Dubai. Aired 12-12:45a ET

Aired October 01, 2021 - 00:00   ET

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

JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Australia is set to end an 18- month ban on overseas travel. Phase one of the government's plan to reopen international borders.

[00:00:09]

His victim, chosen at random. The attack, long in the planning. And the former London policeman, on here. The former London policeman who murdered Sarah Everard has been sentenced to die in jail.

And after dodging a government shutdown, the U.S. president struggling to pass a crucial spending bill and save his agenda, which is under threat because of a few within his own political party.

Within weeks, vaccinated Australians will be allowed to travel overseas, with the government bringing forward plans to phase out an 18-month-long ban on international flights. Residents in states with an 80 percent vaccination rate will be free to leave the country, and on return, required to home quarantine for a week.

The U.K., the United States, Japan, Singapore, Canada, as well as Fiji, have all been flagged as the first countries where commercial flights to and from Australia will resume.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT MORRISON, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: And that is giving us the opportunity to get Australia ready for takeoff. It is -- will be time, very soon, that we'll be able to open those international borders again, and that will enable Australians who are fully vaccinated, and Australians and residents of Australia who are overseas, who are fully vaccinated, to be able to travel again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Let's get more on this now, live to Sydney, and Angus Watson, standing by. So there are a lot of details here, but we know that this 80 percent vaccination rate applies to New South Wales and Victoria. So what are the other details here, and why was it brought forward? Because the original plan, I think, was December 17, right?

ANGUS WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John, this is tremendous news for the tens of thousands of Australians around the world, who have asked the government to come home, to let them come home.

But they haven't been able to through this bottleneck, this limit, on the number of Australians and permanent residents that the country has allowed back throughout the pandemic. That's because people in Australia have been -- have been -- people wanted to come into Australia have been forced to quarantine, in state-managed isolation for 14 days. That's put a limit on the number of tickets that are being sold on flats coming into Australia, and created this bottleneck.

So tens of thousands of people, stranded around the world, wanting to come back to Australia in the middle of a pandemic, will be able to do so now from November. So that will be Australians and permanent residents of Australia.

That's been brought forward by about a month, because Australia is hitting its vaccine targets faster than it thought that it might have. Australia had a serious supply and a hesitancy problem with its vaccinations. Now, Australia is hitting its struts with its vaccination rate, and the government can open those borders more quickly, John.

VAUSE: OK. So this comes, though, at the same time where there has been a surge of COVID cases, right?

WATSON: That's right. So here in Sydney, where I am, we've been under lockdown since June, recording just around 1,000 cases a day, on average. That similar scenario in Victoria, where the capital, Melbourne, has been locked down now for many weeks. And the Capitol, Canberra, locked down, too.

But how there are states in Australia where COVID-19 isn't a problem, where they're not registering any cases there. They've gone through this COVID zero approach.

And that has actually meant that vaccination rates in those states are lower than in the states where vaccination rates are higher. That means that people from around the world, in November, will probably get the chance to fly into Sydney or Melbourne before they can travel around the rest of the country.

And of course, John, as you know, Sydney and Melbourne, as they've gone through these COVID-19 outbreaks, they've been cut off from the rest of the country.

So, we could have this very strange situation in which Sydney is welcoming people back from around the world, but they can't travel in the state where they might live because of a block between, say, Queensland, or another state, like western Australia, and New South Wales, in Victoria -- John. VAUSE: It's complicated. It sounds messy. I'm sure it will sort itself

out one way or the other. Angus, thank you. Angus Watson, live from Sydney.

Well, globally, it appeals the Delta wave of the coronavirus may have peaked. A weekly report from the World Health Organization shows a 10 percent drop in both the number of new infections, as well as deaths, compared to the previous week.

And in the United States, where the daily death toll from COVID has been rising since June, public health officials now predict a likely decrease in the next four weeks. The number of people in hospital for COVID, also forecast to decline.

Doctor Eric Topol is a cardiologist and professor of molecular medicine at Scripps Research. He is with us now, live from La Jolla in California.

Welcome back. Good to see you.

DR. ERIC TOPOL, PROFESSOR OF MOLECULAR MEDICINE, SCRIPPS RESEARCH: Good to be with you, John.

VAUSE: OK. There's been a distinct ebb and flow to this pandemic. While the infection rate may be slowing now, what are the chances of another surge, as we head into the northern winter? More time indoors, more long-distance travel over the holidays, that sort of thing.

TOPOL: Yes, that's really the concern. There's a descent of Delta now, but what we've seen, for example, in the U.K., it can be stuttering. And so we may, indeed, see with the indoors, the colder weather, these things that you just mentioned, a resurgence. There are still plenty of people who have not had a COVID infection, who have not been vaccinated, who are highly vulnerable.

VAUSE: You know, we're heading to the same period last year. It was pretty bleak. The message was better a Zoom Thanksgiving than an ICU Christmas. Just give it this year. Everything will be OK after that.

I guess we're not really at that point yet. Will it be different this year?

TOPOL: Well, there have been 6 billion doses of vaccines out there that have been given, and we need billions more.

I think we're looking at a much better prospect than we were a year ago, when there was no vaccination. So, we know what we can do to keep Delta in check and get it contained. We've got to get a lot more vaccinations, and we've got to use all the things that we know work, like masks and physical distancing. But we can get this thing under wraps over the months ahead.

VAUSE: You know, vaccines will make a huge difference, but only for those who are fortunate enough to get access to a vaccine supply. In Africa, a recent study found that barely 10 percent of health care workers are fully vaccinated. Here's the head of the International Council of Nurses. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOWARD CATTON, CEO, INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF NURSES: We've just seen a billionaire send a health care worker into space. Yet, here on Earth, we have millions of health care workers still waiting to be vaccinated. They shouldn't have to wish on a star for a vaccine. They should be prioritized, and it should be as a right that they receive that vaccine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: It's a fair point. You know, we've talked a lot about vaccine inequality and how that will extend the pandemic. But this is different, because these are caregivers who face a far greater risk of being infected, especially by Delta. And there's already a critical shortage of nursing staff in many parts of Africa.

It seems all the ingredients here are here in place for a disaster, which could be totally avoided.

TOPOL: Absolutely, John. Africa is the outlier, with just a few percent of their people here vaccinated. And as you say, the health care workers that are the precious and understaffed.

Why we haven't gone much into more mass accelerated production, it is just not understandable at this point. Hopefully, that will be alleviated in the months ahead. But it's a very critical issue that has just not been squarely addressed, still.

VAUSE: Yes. Something which urgently needs to be addressed, but so far, there just doesn't seems to be the will there to get that done. Dr. Eric Topol, thank you so much.

TOPOL: Thank you, John.

VAUSE: It's that time of year when the U.S. narrowly avoids another shutdown. But this time, it seems to be the cover (ph) race into what could be the biggest political battle so far of the Biden administration.

The White House says negotiations will resume on Friday on two massive spending bills, after a crucial vote for one did not happen as planned.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tried all Thursday to secure Democratic support to pass a $1.2 trillion bill to fix America's roads and bridges.

But party progressives refused, demanding a firm deal on a much bigger package on social programs and climate action. We get details now, from CNN's Ryan Nobles.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN NOBLES, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The vote did not happen. This despite Speaker Nancy Pelosi's plan to vote on a bipartisan infrastructure package in the House of Representatives.

The speaker waited until 10 o'clock on Thursday night to say there would be no vote. And that is because she just didn't have enough votes for the measure to pass.

House progressives held firm throughout the day, saying that they were not interested in passing this bipartisan infrastructure package without specific assurances that the much larger $3.5 trillion social safety net expansion would also be passed.

It required a lot of negotiation between many of the most important players to try and get to a place where they could even have that conversation.

Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin, the two moderate Senate holdouts, along with Senator Bernie Sanders, Senator Chuck Schumer, and White House officials worked furiously into the night, trying to hash out an agreement.

But in the midst of those negotiations, it was Sanders who emerged from Schumer's office and said that this negotiation style was his -- what he described it as being just plain absurd. And it didn't make any sense that they were going to try and pass something in the middle of the night, instead of methodically, coming up with an agreement that everyone would sign off on.

That was enough for Pelosi to say this just isn't happening tonight. Those House progressives held firm in a meeting of their own.

So big question is what happens now? It's important to keep in mind that this was an arbitrary deadline. This wasn't a deadline set by any official -- any official mean (ph), I should say. This is a deadline that they just decided they wanted to get everything done by.

[00:10:09]

So these negotiations could continue on indefinitely, and that's expected to happen. The House will reconvene tomorrow. They may attempt to try and push something through, but it's more likely that this will be a prolonged process, where we see negotiators try and come to some sort of solid agreement on the much larger reconciliation package before they move forward on the bipartisan plan.

Ryan Nobles, CNN, on Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Nearly 14,000 Afghan refugees are waiting to be allowed into the United States. They're currently at U.S. military bases in Europe and the Middle East.

The Pentagon says about 53,000 Afghan refugees are already in the U.S. And many need a permanent and safe place to live. But refugee groups are struggling to find adequate housing.

One group tells CNN they're now aiming to do over the next few months, what they would do over the course of four years.

In Ecuador, police asking family members to try and identify the victims of a horrific bloodbath at a local prison. At least 116 people were killed when rival gangs clashed at a facility near the city of Guayaquil. As Matt Rivers reports, investigators now believe Mexican drug cartels may have had a hand in the violence.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Anxious families cry out for answers, praying their loved ones aren't among the more than 100 dead in the largest prison massacre in Ecuador's history.

Detailing harrowing accounts from those inside the Guayaquil prison complex, after deadly attacks that authorities believe are essentially proxy battles, with people inside the prisons belonging to gangs, with potential links to two Mexican organized crime groups. The Sinaloa Cartel, and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): The inmates call us: Sister, they are killing me. Call the police.

RIVERS: Ecuador has increasingly become an important transit hub for Colombian cocaine and other drugs, bound for the U.S. and Europe, according to the U.S. government and a former Ecuadorian military official that spoke to CNN.

These are routes that the Sinaloa Cartel has largely controlled, but now, authorities say, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel is making a play for dominance, leading to a proxy war inside Ecuador's prison system, with five major prison battles in 2021 alone, resulting in more than 200 dead.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Because of the more dangerous inmates, there are deaths. You need to grab and remove the rotten ones. Those are the ones you need to take out.

RIVERS: The mood outside the prison complex in Guayaquil, one of anger and despair. Loved ones unhappy with what they see as a slow response by police to the attack that began Tuesday in one of the country's most overcrowded and understaffed prisons.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Look at where the police are. They are out here. It's my brother, not a dog.

RIVERS: Authorities initially reporting only five dead, moving into the courtyard, attempting to secure the facility, recovering explosives, grenades, guns, and other weapons as they struggled to regain control of the prison.

Overnight Wednesday into Thursday, with the attacks still unfolding, more than 400 police in riot gear swarmed the facility, discovering beheaded bodies and carnage on a much more massive scale.

Family members questioning how such a huge security failure could have happened in the first place.

JUANA PINTO, MOTHER OF INMATE (through translator): When I go to visit, they search every single thing. They even make us undress. I don't know how all the weapons get in. Everyone inside is armed. Everyone.

RIVERS: Ecuador's president declaring a state of emergency, trying to quell panic, vowing to get the situation under control.

GUILLERMO LASSO, ECUADORAN PRESIDENT (through translator): It's sad to see the jails become territory fought over by criminal groups. The state is going to act, and the first decision we took is to declare a state of emergency on the prison system across the nation.

RIVERS: President Guillermo Lasso also announcing 24 million in state funds to improve Ecuador's prisons, long reported by human rights groups as unsanitary and overcrowded, with inadequate health care and weak security, making them an easy target for gang control.

For those outside, waiting to hear their family members' fate, that presidential commitment to change may prove too little, too late.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We want justice, Mr. President. For all of the mothers who suffer here, for our children.

RIVERS: Authorities say they have begun the process of identifying the dead but caution the severity of the injuries are making the process incredibly difficult.

Matt Rivers, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Well, for the first time in postwar France, a head of state has been sentenced to prison, not once, but twice. While the former president, Nicolas Sarkozy, will not see the inside of a prison cell, at least not yet, his lawyers are already planning to appeal.

Also, no apology from the president of Belarus for widespread human rights abuses. Our Moscow correspondent, Matthew Chance, grills Alexander Lukashenko, a CNN exclusive.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:17:15]

VAUSE: Within sight of the eruptions of a volcano in the Canary Islands. Lava has been flooding for nearly two weeks now, destroying hundreds of homes and businesses, forcing thousands of people to evacuate.

New fissures have been recently spotted, and seismic activity continues. Officials are warning chemical reactions of the lava hitting the sea, seawater rather, could cause the release of toxic gases. For now, though, the air remains safe to breathe. This is the scene in Hawaii as one of the world's most active

volcanoes is erupting, as well. Observers noted lava spewing from Hawaii's Kilauea volcano on Wednesday, just hours after increased seismic activity.

Officials say it's not a present danger to nearby residents on the big island.

The volcano's most recent eruption began last December. It continued for five months.

The former French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, has been sentenced again to a year in jail. Just months earlier, another trial ended with a year-long custodial sentence on corruption charges.

In the most recent court case, Sarkozy and 13 others found guilty of breaching campaign finance laws during the 2012 presidential election, which he lost to Francois Mitterrand.

Sarkozy's lawyers have appealed the first sentence, and they say an appeal is planned for the second.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THIERRY HERZOG, LAWYER FOR FORMER FRENCH PRESIDENT NICOLAS SARKOZY (through translator): The punishment is heavier than what was requested by prosecutors, which was rather unusual. But considering Nicolas Sarkozy, he has been condemned with the maximum punishment, and so I'm confident. I have no worries about making an appeal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Joining us now is Garret Martin, senior professor and lecturer at the American University School of International Service. He joins us from Washington.

Garret, thank you for taking the time to speak with us.

GARRET MARTIN, SENIOR PROFESSOR, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL SERVICE: My pleasure. Thank you, John.

VAUSE: OK, so so far, Sarkozy has seen two other cases dismissed. He claimed immunity in another two. He's now received these two custodial sentences which will all likelihood be home detention if it gets that far.

But there is another case still to come, and it involves allegations Sarkozy received campaign funds from the Libyan dictator Moammar Qaddafi. If he's found guilty in that case, could that be serious enough to see him actually end up spending time in prison in a jumpsuit?

MARTIN: I think that's an excellent question. But I'm not sure that's very likely for a number of reasons. I think the Libyan case going back to 2007 campaign, the details are a lot more murky, and finding clear evidence of wrongdoing is going to be more difficult. Certainly more difficult than with a case where he was convicted today for the 2012 case.

So I'm not so sure. And also, Sarkozy has means to be able to engage in multiple appeals, and he's not getting any younger. So I'm not sure that the options of seeing him in a jumpsuit are very high.

VAUSE: Well, in this latest case, as you mentioned, it was fairly clear-cut. He violated the campaign finance plans (ph) and expired (ph) more than double the actual legal amount.

[00:20:06]

He'd argued he'd been too busy running the country to pay attention to an accounting detail. He said allegations he was reckless with public money was a fairy tale.

He made no real attempt to hide what seemed to be contempt for the court. And this is for a man who rose to power as a leader with zero tolerance for public unrest, who referred to rioters as scum. You know, heh pushed for much harsher penalties. He was the top cop. There is more than a whiff of hypocrisy here, right?

MARTIN: Well, absolutely, but he wouldn't be the first politician or the first elected official to believe that the rules applied to others and not him. So I think that's not entirely surprising.

He's also taken, or used a common line of defense to suggest that he is a victim of persecution, that these are activist judges going after him. The sort of refrain that we've seen in other -- in plenty of other countries.

VAUSE: It's just something about these cases which is unique, which -- about Sarkozy. That there are so many investigations which are ending in guilty verdicts and convictions. Or is there more just a willingness in France to hold their leaders accountable for wrongdoing during their time in office? I guess, compared to the U.S., where there's a tradition of sweeping everything under the -- under the rug.

MARTIN: Well, I think there's two ways of seeing this specific question, though, John. I think on one hand, France does have a very good system of laws that provide a framework for campaign financing.

There are clear-cut caps and significant limits on how much you can spend. So in that sense, yes, I think that's a good approach for the French.

On the other hand, the difficulties of really forcing and implementing that are notoriously difficult. One of the weaknesses of those laws is that they're only applied after the fact.

So Sarkozy was able to break the rules, and he could have gone on to win that election. He didn't, but he could have gone on to win the election anyway.

And also, I think the fact that we've had a shadow of investigation over multiple recent French presidential elections is a cause of concern for the upcoming election next year. VAUSE: There also seems to be the judge in this case was sending a

message, as well, to those candidates. Right?

MARTIN: Oh, absolutely. I certainly -- I think there's been a long concern to try and improve the enforcement mechanism, maybe to be able to do more enforcement during the campaign, as opposed to waiting for after the fact. But that requires a lot of resources. It requires digging through significant paperwork.

VAUSE: OK, Garret, thank you. Good to see you. Thank you for being with us.

MARTIN: Thank you, John. My pleasure.

VAUSE: Well, the Russian president, Alexander Lukashenko, has brushed off widespread reports of human rights abuses since his disputed reelection last year.

In dozens of interviews, protestors and opposition activists told CNN of torture, from systematic beatings, to rape with a police baton. He's best known as Europe's last dictator. Lukashenko has been president for nearly three decades.

And in an exclusive interview with CNN's Matthew Chance, he was indignant when asked if he should apologize to those who've suffered under his regime.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Would you take this opportunity now to apologize to the people of Belarus for the human rights abuses that they've suffered at your hands?

ALEXANDER LUKASHENKO, BELARUSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): No. I would not like to take this opportunity. If ever I would, I would do that through the Belarussian media. They're quite good here. What would be the point of doing it on CNN? I don't think this is a relevant question. And in principle, I have nothing to apologize for.

CHANCE: You say you've got nothing to apologize for but Human Rights Watch says multiple detainees have reported broken bones, broken teeth, brain injuries, skin wounds, electrical burns.

Amnesty International speaks of detention centers being -- become torture chambers, where protesters were forced to lie in the dirt, stripped naked while police kicked and beat them with truncheons.

You don't think that is worth apologizing for?

LUKASHENKO (through translator): You know, we don't have a single detention center, as you say, like Guantanamo or those bases that the United States and your country created in Eastern Europe.

As regards our own detention centers, where we keep those accused, or those under investigation, they are no worse than in Britain or the United States. I can guarantee you that. I would suggest that you discuss concrete facts and not the views or statements of some ephemeral human rights organizations.

CHANCE: Well, I don't think Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International are dubious. They're internationally recognized as standards in human rights activism.

And they've all got testimony of former detainees in your prison camps, in your prison detention centers, of men and women who've spoken of sexual violence against them, including rape and threats of rape. Are you saying that that is just made up, that it's fake?

LUKASHENKO (through translator): Everything you've just said is fake and fantasy. I guarantee you it's fake and fantasy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[00:25:03]

VAUSE: And we'll have more on that exclusive interview with the Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko, with CNN's Matthew Chance, coming up next hour right here on CNN NEWSROOM.

German police have tracked down an elderly woman charged with aiding and abetting mass murder in a Nazi concentration camp. The 96-year-old was set to face trial Thursday but was a no-show.

Court officials tell CNN she's now been found and will be brought to that court.

The woman worked as a secretary at the Stutthof concentration camp in Poland. Court documents say she is suspected of aiding and abetting more than 11,000 murders.

Well, a former policy officer gets a rare sentence for a brutal murder that has shocked the country. Back in a moment with more on that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Welcome back, everyone. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

What has now become clear after the sentencing of Sarah Everard's murderer is that he abused the authority and trust placed in him as a police officer.

And on Thursday, that ended with a rare life sentence without the chance of parole. And now police admit they missed warning signs that he was a threat to woman after Wayne Couzens was linked to two allegations of indecent exposure. One incident happened just a few days before he abducted Everard, a 33-year-old marketing executive, and dumped her body in the woods.

The killing catching global attention, prompted a loud outcry in Britain over violence against women.

CNN's Nada Bashir has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NADA BASHIR, CNN PRODUCER (voice-over): This is Sarah Everard just hours before she was killed in March. Seen here in newly-released CCTV footage being stopped by then-serving police officer Wayne Couzens, as she made her way home from a friend's house.

It's in this moment, investigators say Couzens presented his police I.D. and handcuffed Everard, carrying out a false arrest under the guide of enforcing COVID-19 lockdown regulations.

In the hours that followed, Everard was abducted, raped, and strangled to death with her killer's police belt.

(on camera): It's in this court behind me that Sarah Everard's killer was sentenced to life in prison without parole. It's a sentence that is only passed down in the most extreme of cases and was issued based on the severity of the crime committed and the abuse of power by the former serving police officer.

(voice-over): Speaking outside of the court afterwards, the head of the Metropolitan Police apologized for the behavior of her former staff member.

CRESSIDA DICK, METROPOLITAN POLICE COMMISSIONER: These actions were a gross betrayal of everything policing stands for. There are no words that can fully express the fury and overwhelming sadness that we all feel about what happened to Sarah. I am so sorry.

[00:30:24]

BASHIR: Defense lawyers told the court that Couzens is filled with self-loathing and abject shame. The confessed killer kept his head bowed and eyes closed throughout much of the two-day sentencing hearing, only raising his gaze briefly when addressed directly by Everard's family.

Everard's family said, in a statement after the sentencing, they were pleased Couzens would spend the rest of his life in jail. "Nothing can bring Sarah back, but knowing he will be imprisoned forever brings some relief. We remember all the lovely things about Sarah. Her laughing, and dancing, and enjoying life. We hold her safe in our hearts."

Sarah's murder sparked a nationwide outpouring of shock, grief, and anger over what some have described as an epidemic of violence against women in the U.K.

Anger which has only intensified in recent days, following the murder of 28-year-old school teacher Sabina Nessa, who was killed just meters from her home in southeast London.

And while the sentencing of Wayne Couzens has brought some semblance of justice to the family of Sarah Everard, her death and the brutal manner in which she was killed, remains incomprehensible for so many.

Nada Bashir, CNN, London. (END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: And the British prime minister spoke out after the sentencing, saying no woman should fear harassment or violence. Boris Johnson tweeted, "There are no words that adequately express the horror of Sarah's murder. Like the rest of the country, I've been sickened by what we have heard over the course of the sentencing, and the pain and suffering endured by her family and friends is truly unimaginable."

The Philippines, one step closer now to raising its minimum age of sexual consent from 12 to 16. A bill is now heading to the president's desk after passing the Senate this week.

CNN's Paula Hancocks takes a look at the impact the legislation could have for the Philippines' vulnerable.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Learning how to play again, after their childhood was stolen from them. Trafficked and abused girls start to heal here at the Preda Foundation north of Manila, a shelter that protects some of the Philippines' most vulnerable.

A 15-year-old we will call Annalisa was brought here by local authorities in April this year. Her psychotherapist tells us she was sexually abused by a family friend when she was 7. And by an acquaintance when she was 13.

She was then sold by her mother to a man in his twenties, who, Annalisa thought loved her.

"They're vulnerable," her psychotherapist says. They're usually children who grew up in the broken home. They didn't know their father. So they think the love offered to them by people they meet can fulfill the love lacking in their lives."

Annalisa says she always wanted to be a flight attendant. Since coming here, she now wants to be a psychotherapist.

"ANNALISA," ABUSED FILIPINO TEENAGER (through translator): I want to help the children here, just as the staff and psychotherapists have helped me. I want to tell them that, just like me, they shouldn't be scared to report it, if they know that someone is doing something wrong to them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Senate bill number 2 4 zero 7 --

HANCOCKS: The government moved one step closer to helping girls like Annalisa this week as the Senate approved a bill to raise the age of sexual consent from 12 to 16. Barring roadblocks, it could land on President Duterte's desk for final approval within weeks.

The principle author of the Senate bill says it was inspired by his 13-year-old daughter and two younger boys. JUAN MIGUEL ZUBIR, FILIPINO SENATOR: Everything I do in this office,

really, has something to do with my children and a better future for them. I think every parent wants that, as a motivation for a better life.

HANCOCKS: It's a 90-year-old law that activists have been trying to change since the 1980s, saying it protects predators as they can claim victims consented, and children as young as 12 could be coerced, or threatened into silence.

The Child Rights Network, a coalition of NGOs, says the first bill was filed in 2007, but failed, as did subsequent efforts.

NENITA DALDE, CHILD RIGHTS NETWORK: So we consulted with the victims, with the victims' parents. This is also how the campaign was carried differently, compared to, you know, the -- the earlier versions of the bill. This time, we really engaged the public.

HANCOCKS: The public, she says, for the most part, had no idea the current age of consent was so low.

For shelters like Preda, they are calling for the bill to become law as quickly as possible.

FRANCIS BERMIDO JR., PRESIDENT, PREDA FOUNDATION INC.: Right now, we have 50 girls in the Preda home quarters. We provide them with everything they need. We send them to school. We provide therapy to them. We empower power them, so that they will bring their abusers to justice. So every year, an average 15 children achieve conviction.

[00:35:11]

HANCOCKS: There's a belief the number of convictions would rise with the age of consent, and a hope that a number of abuses could start to fall.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, Seoul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: We'll take a short break.

When we come back, Dubai Expo 2020. Yes, a year late but now underway, after a flashy opening ceremony. So what's next? What are the challenges of folding an Expo amid a global pandemic?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Thousands rallied in the capital of Sudan on Thursday. The demonstration in Khartoum in support of a civilian-led transition of government.

Security forces later fired tear gas to break up the protest.

They accused the military leaders, now in power, of trying to derail the country's transition to democracy. This follows an attempted coup last week, blamed on soldiers loyal to the former dictator, Omar al- Bashir, who was forced out by the military two years ago, after months of protests which were triggered by an economic crisis.

The Colombian recording artist Shakira says she was attacked by two wild boars. As they posted this on her Instagram account, saying it happened as she was walking on a park in Spain with her 8-year-old son.

And she showed the beat-up bag that she says was snatched by the boars. They tried to take it into the woods, including the cell phone. She says they destroyed everything.

Bad wild boars.

In another posting, she asked her son to back up the story and tell her friends how she stood up to the wild animals.

Well, it may be a year late, but Expo 2020 is finally here. The grand ceremony kicked off on Thursday. The World Expo in Dubai, a year after the pandemic brought the original plans to a halt.

CNN's Scott McLean has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was almost eight years ago that Dubai won its bid to host Expo 2020, the first for a Middle Eastern city.

Seven years of planning and a global pandemic later, the Expo is finally open.

Fireworks, A-list performances, and an elaborate show of lights and massive props lifted the curtain on an event that organizers expect will bring millions of people to the city, and if history is any guide, leave a lasting impact, too.

The very first World Expo took place in London, 170 years ago. Since then, 34 other cities have hosted. Expos, usually, last six months.

But their impact in architecture can last even longer. The Eiffel Tower was built for the Paris Expo in 1889. Belgium's Atomium was built for Expo '58. And Seattle's famous Space Needle rose from the Expo grounds in 1962.

[00:40:05]

ROBERT REIDEL, PROFESSOR OF HISTORY, MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY: A World Expo is primarily an effort to educate a large number of people about where the world might be going.

MCLEAN: The first working telephone was demonstrated at the Expo in 1876 in Philadelphia. And, almost 100 years later, the mobile phone was on show in Osaka.

The first live TV broadcast was made at the World's Fair in 1939. And, the zipper, the X-ray machine, and IMAX movies were also debuted at World Expositions.

REIDEL: You can hardly reach out and touch something that wasn't debuted, in some fashion, at a World's Fair. The cities we live in, the urban plans that shape those cities, many were test-driven at World's Fairs for the first time.

The building environment, so important, the underground infrastructure, from sewer lines to transportation lines.

MCLEAN: In Dubai, they've had to build it all from scratch.

(on camera): If we were to go back in time to 2013, and we were standing in the same place we are today, what was here?

AHMED AL KHATIB, CHIEF DEVELOPMENT AND DELIVERY OFFICER, EXPO 2020: There was nothing, OK? It was just, like, plain piece of sand with a lot of dunes and just a couple of trees, and a camel farm.

MCLEAN: Maybe a tumbleweed?

AL KHATIB: Yes. Probably.

MCLEAN (voice-over): Dubai has bet big on Expo 2020. Its multibillion- dollar bet is the size of a small city, with futuristic-looking architecture like the nearly 5,000 solar panels on the Sustainability Pavilion or the wacky designs of the 192 country pavilions.

(on camera): But in the Internet age, in the midst of a global pandemic, connecting is easy. Travel is the hard part. And so the value of an in-person World Expo may be losing its appeal. In fact, at one point, American participation in this year's event was in serious doubt.

Why do we have to be here in person?

AL KHATIB: It's so different, like, when you come face to face, and meet each other, and actually look at the person, see them, talk.

MCLEAN (voice-over): With COVID-19 still a real threat, safety is top of mind. Only the vaccinated will be able to get in without a negative test, and everyone has to wear a mask, even outdoors.

In the sweltering heat of the desert, it's not pleasant, but organizers say it's necessary.

Plus, just this month, the European Parliament passed a resolution calling for sponsors and member states to withdraw from Expo 2020, citing documented abuses of foreign workers and the imprisonment of political dissidents.

The United Arab Emirates rejected the resolution and the allegations made in it and said it completely ignores all of the UAE's significant achievements in the human rights field.

So far no E.U. member states have dropped out, perhaps not wanting to miss the chance to court business, forge connections, and attract tourists over the next six months.

Scott McLean, CNN, Dubai.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Please tune into a special edition of "Connect the World" Friday, live from Expo 2020, giving you an at-home front-row seat to the global conversations, all taking place in Dubai. Six p.m. in the UAE. That's 3 p.m. in London. You will see it only here, on CNN.

Thank you for watching. I'm John Vause. Another hour of CNN NEWSROOM coming up, but in the meantime, stay with us, please. WORLD SPORT is up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:45:11]