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Australia to Ease Border Restrictions; Ecuador's Prison Massacre; $1.2T Infrastructure Bill Stalls as Deadline for Vote Passes; Energy Shortages in China Cause Power Outages; Protesters Angry over Bitcoin, Call President a Dictator; France Legalizes IVF for Single Women, Lesbian Couples; Afghan Boy Finally Home with New Family in Florida; Lava Delta Forms Off La Palma Coast; Dubai Opens World Expo One Year after Pandemic Halt. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired October 01, 2021 - 01:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:00:10]

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us all around the world. I'm Michael Holmes. I appreciate your company.

Coming up here on CNN Newsroom, Australia's Prime Minister says it is time to reopen borders and give Australians their lives back. We're live in Sydney with the details.

Also, a setback for Joe Biden's domestic agenda. A key vote on a trillion-dollar U.S. infrastructure bill is postponed.

And we're learning harrowing accounts of what happened inside an Ecuador prison, the worst prison massacre in the country's history.

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. Prime Minister Scott Morrison announcing the new measures a short time ago, in March of last year, Australia introduced some of the toughest border restrictions. But now residents in states with an 80% vaccination rate will be free to leave the country and on return will be required to home quarantine for a week.

(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)

HOLMES: For more on this, let's go to Angus Watson standing by in Sydney. Good to see you, Angus. It's been a lot of criticism about the hardships a lot of Australians have had in not being allowed to return to their own country or leave and come back. Tell us about the changes and how they're going to work?

ANGUS WATSON, CNN PRODUCER: That's right, Michael. This is tremendous news for the 10s of 1000s of people around the world who have registered with the Australian government as wanting to come home but haven't been able to because of limits that Australia has put on its own citizens and residents only allowing hundreds of those people back per week.

Now, Michael, that's all set to change in November as Australia hits its vaccination targets state by state some ahead of others. It's going to allow Australians and permanent residents who are fully vaccinated with two shots of an approved coronavirus vaccine to come into Australia and to quarantine at home for seven days. That's instead of the 14 days in state managed hotel quarantine that was putting that pressure on arrival caps and of course there are knock on effects there too with international airlines having to cut numbers and cut numbers of flights in coming to Australia. So, it has been a bit of a mess, Michael, but the government here says that hard border policy has saved lives and helped Australia ride out the coronavirus pandemic.

HOLMES: Yeah. What about specific states that are still reluctant to open their borders? I know Western Australia for example, zero COVID and the rest. You have a situation where someone in Sydney and it goes to London and back but then can't go to Western Australia?

WATSON: Absolutely, Michael, so there have been some states in Australia which have been worse affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Here in Sydney, New South Wales where I am, we've been in lockdown since June, as a particularly virulent Delta variant has spread through the community. That's the case in Melbourne to and in Canberra, the capital of Australia. But what that's meant is that people here have gotten vaccinated more quickly than in other states haven't had that vaccination problem. And now the federal government says that that's going to mean that people here are going to be able to travel out and people that are going to be able to travel in places like Sydney and Melbourne before they're able to go to other states around the country.

So, you could have this strange situation in which people can come home to Sydney. People have been waiting months to get back into Australia, but then can't go to say Western Australia where they might live, Michael.

HOLMES: Yeah, and a lot of really people overseas finally going to get to come home. Angus, thank you. Angus Watson there in Sydney.

There are new indications that the COVID wave fueled by the Delta Variant might be on the decline. The World Health Organization says global trends indicate that the spread of COVID is slowing. It's latest weekly reports showing a 10% drop in both cases and deaths compared with the previous week. And fresh reasons for optimism here in the United States, for the first time since June, the U.S. centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicts COVID deaths are likely to decrease over the next four weeks. Hospitalizations also forecast to decline.

[01:05:14]

The U.S. Congress avoided a government shutdown on Thursday, but two defining pieces of the Biden agenda are suddenly stalled at the finish line. The White House says negotiations will resume first thing on Friday on the two massive spending bills after a crucial vote for one of them did not take place on Thursday as planned.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi trying all day on Thursday to secure enough Democratic support to pass a $1.2 trillion bill to fix America's roads and bridges and so on. But party progressives refused to go along until they got a firm deal on a much bigger $3.5 trillion package of social programs and climate action.

Now if there is a breakthrough, a vote could come at any time. But for now, it appears the White House and Democrats are facing a protracted period of tense negotiation. Here's CNN's Ryan Nobles on Capitol Hill.

(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.

And 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. And it required a lot of negotiation between many of the most important players to try and get to a place where they can 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 negotiating style was his -- what he described it as being just plain absurd. That 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 is just isn't happening tonight. Those House progressives held firm in a meeting of their own. So, the 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 need, I should say. This was a deadline that they just decided they wanted to get everything done by. 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 VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Doug Heye is a Republican Strategist. He joins me now from Washington, D.C. He's also a former Communications Director for the Republican National Committee.

Good to see you, Doug, a big week obviously for Joe Biden and his agenda, clearly a massively important one for Democrats in terms of achieving something significant, and yet they are having trouble getting on the same page themselves, particularly with infrastructure?

DOUG HEYE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Yeah, there's obviously a lot of infighting that's going on between the administration and Congress, between the House and the Senate, and certainly among progressives. And the more moderates are the more established long-term members of the House of Representatives.

Michael, it reminds me a lot of when I worked in House leadership in 2013, when we're dealing with a shutdown, shutdown has just been averted. But the dynamics are very similar, where we had an emerging thing called the House Freedom Caucus, and Democrats have their own kind of House Democratic Freedom Caucus right now.

We had Ted Cruz is now playing the role that Bernie Sanders is playing where you have a senator kind of meddling in the affairs of the House of Representatives. And it means that divisions only get deeper. And the difference between now and then is that the incentive structure that was in place then is even more so now that the troublemakers, the louder voices are the ones who really get known and heard and raise money. It's why we know in Congress and in Washington throughout the country world really who the AOCs and the MTGs are. We don't necessarily know who that Peter Welch is, and the Gus Bilirakis is who are, who really do hard work every day, trying to get things done, but they don't get that attention.

HOLMES: Much of what is in the spending programs are they're massively popular with the public and Democrats claim it's largely paid for and so on. What is the political calculus with Republicans and a couple of Democrats for that matter for opposing such popular plans? What is the upside when the public wants it?

[01:10:13]

HEYE: Well, first, either the public broadly agrees with the whole package, but doesn't really know what's in it. So, if you think about Obamacare, to some extent, what Nancy Pelosi said, then we're going to have to pass it to find out what's in it. If this passes, it's going to be very same thing. But for Republicans, they're looking at this very simply. They're not in control in the House. They're not in control of the Senate. And the rule of politics is when your opponent is setting themselves on fire, as Democrats seem to be doing right now, you don't give them water. If we go back to 2018, we had a Republican House, Republican Senate, Republican president, Nancy Pelosi said -- and she tweeted this, the Republicans, you own this, you're on your own. Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy are playing the same role right now.

HOLMES: It hasn't been things were passed in Congress, because they were good for the country. Funding the government until December. Well, that's passed, though it's been put off really, but raising the debt ceiling is still to be sorted. Why isn't there bipartisan support for raising the debt ceiling, since it's not about new spending, it's about paying the bills, the previous spending that both sides ran up?

HEYE: In one word, politics. Look, when Republicans are in control, Democrats don't want to help them raise the debt ceiling. When Democrats are in control, Republicans don't want to help them raise the debt ceiling, either. It's about exacting as much political pain as you can. And what the role that McConnell is playing here, I think, is politically a very shrewd one, where he's willing to let Democrats use reconciliation to avoid anything going wrong with a default on the debt ceiling, and then have them do that on the Biden legislative agenda, knowing that he could put the brakes on a Biden legislative agenda, because they only have the 50 majority as it were for Democrats in the Senate.

HOLMES: Yeah, I wanted to go back real quick to infrastructure in the debate over it. I mean, and we touched on this, it's a pretty sad state of affairs. And both sides do this when the opposition party works against something the public wants, and which is actually haven't been good for the country in the economy and employment and so on. Can anyone blame the public for having such a poor view of Congress? They really seem to be in it for themselves and fighting each other rather than passing things that make sense?

HEYE: Yeah, unfortunately, whatever the issue is, I think Congress has really earned its low approval rating. I would have said that when Republicans were in charge, certainly think that's true. Now, the Democrats are in charge. They can and should do something on infrastructure. The debate over the 1.5 trillion versus a 3.5 is obviously a real one the Democrats are having. I'll tell you as a Republican, as a conservative Republican, if 1.5 is a small number, when Bill Clinton said the era of big government is over, we know that was generations ago. It's back.

HOLMES: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, of course, we always forget to say the -- even the 3.5 trillion that's over 10 years, and in that time, twice as much will be spent on the military. That's another debate for us to have. We got to leave it there, Doug Heye, good to see you. Thanks so much.

HEYE: Thank you.

HOLMES: The British Prime Minister says he is sickened by the details of the brutal rape and murder of a London woman that emerged during the sentencing of a former police officer. Boris Johnson says the pain and suffering endured by the family and friends of Sarah Everard is truly unimaginable.

On Thursday, Wayne Couzens received a rare life sentence without the chance of parole. CNN's Nada Bashir with the details.

(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 ID and handcuffed Everard, carrying out a false arrest under the guise 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 out 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: His 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.

[01:15:05]

BASHIR: Defense lawyers told the court that Couzens is filled with self-loathing and abject shame. The confess 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 in prison forever bring 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 spots in 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 schoolteacher Sabina Nessa who was killed just meters from her home in southeast London. And while the sentencing of Wayne Couzens has bought 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)

HOLMES: New details are emerging about a horrific prison massacre in Ecuador. Coming up next, why investigators believe Mexican drug cartels could be behind the carnage that took more than 100 lives. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Welcome back, the Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is dismissing reports of human rights abuses since his disputed reelection last year. His government also being accused of funneling migrants into E.U. border states and retaliation over Western sanctions, known as Europe's last dictator. He's led the nation for nearly three decades. And in an exclusive interview with CNN's Matthew Chance, Mr. Lukashenko says he has nothing to be sorry for.

(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 suffered at your hands?

ALEXANDER LUKASHENKO, BELARUSIAN PRESIDENT (through translation): No, I would not like to take this opportunity. If I ever would, I would do that through the Belarusian media. 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, becoming 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?

[01:20:23]

LUKASHENKO: You know, we don't have a single detention center, as you say, like Guantanamo, all 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.

CHANCE: Nevertheless, the violence over that period has left you in the eyes of much of the international community as an international pariah, your -- or the main opposition figure in this country, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya is regarded as the, in many international circles, as the true winner of the election last year and the elected leader properly of Belarus, even President Biden has met her in the White House, you haven't been invited to the White House. Have you?

LUKASHENKO: The female persona, I'm not going to discuss her. I don't fight with women. And I don't want to characterize her in any way. As regards opposition leadership, the leader of the opposition is someone who lives in this country and has a different point of view. They campaign to bring this alternative view to fruition. There are no such people in Belarus, they have somewhere over there on your side, paid by you.

CHANCE: No, they fled the country because they're frightened of staying here, the people that have stayed have been imprisoned, put in jail for like 10 and 11 years because of their opposition activities. And, you know, that's the case.

LUKASHENKO: Look, if one is a revolutionary and they got themselves involved in a revolution, moreover, try to win a blitzkrieg here with foreign money, they need to be prepared for anything.

CHANCE: What about the threat that you're accused of posing now, to the borders of the European Union, the Polish government, the Lithuanian government, others, saying that you are encouraging migrants from various parts of the world to travel to Belarus, and then pushing them towards the borders of those countries, putting massive pressure on the border authorities in European Union states? Do you take full responsibility for the refugee crisis that is underway on the Belarusian European borders at the moment?

LUKASHENKO: Do you have any actual proof that I am pushing these people to the Polish border? No, you have none and cannot, have it?

CHANCE: What European governments are saying in European officials is that you are weaponizing migrants and you're doing that, that's their phrase, and you're doing that as an act of revenge, in revenge for European sanctions and in revenge for the fact that European countries are sheltering your dissidents. How do you answer that criticism?

LUKASHENKO: Are you taking me for a madman? My country is in Central Europe, and it is a small one. Can 10 million people dictate terms to half a billion, so I'm not going to take revenge on anyone.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko three in an exclusive interview with CNNs Matthew Chance.

Well, for the second time this year, a French court has handed down a one-year sentence to Nicolas Sarkozy, the former French President was convicted of illegal campaign financing in his failed attempt to win reelection nine years ago. Sarkozy's lawyer says they will appeal just as they have appealed his prior conviction for corruption.

And investigation found Sarkozy's campaign spent $13 million more than what is allowed. Both of these sentences if upheld can be served under house arrest with an electronic monitoring bracelet.

In Ecuador, police are asking family members to help identify victims of a horrific bloodbath at a local prison. At least 116 people were killed this week when rival gangs clashed of the facility near the City of Waco. As Matt Rivers reports now, investigators now believe Mexican drug cartels may have had a hand in the bloodshed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATT RIVERS, 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.

[01:25:04]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 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 21 alone, resulting in more than 200 dead.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 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 and Guayaquil, one of anger and despair, loved ones unhappy with what they see as a slow response by police to be attacked that began Tuesday in one of the country's most overcrowded and understaffed prisons.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look at where the police are, they are out here. It's my brother, not a dog.

RIVERS: Authorities initially reported 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 attack 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 translation): When we 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.

It's sad to see jails become a territory fought over by criminal groups. The state is going to act in the first decision we took is to declare a state of emergency over the prison system across the nation.

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: We want justice, Mr. President, for all 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 that process incredibly difficult. Matt Rivers, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Coming up here on CNN Newsroom, China facing power outages across parts of the country, and residents are lashing out at the government in unprecedented fashion. We'll have the details on that.

Also, the path to biological parent or just became easier in France as the country expands access to fertility treatment to all women.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:30:45]

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And welcome back to our viewers, all over the world. I'm Michael Holmes. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

China, facing power outages thanks to an energy crunch. Residents in several cities are being forced to use candles for light as power grids shut down.

CNN's Selina Wang reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The world's biggest energy consumer is running out of power. China's energy crunch is triggering blackouts, forcing factories to cut production, overturning people's daily lives, and threatening to slow the world's second largest economy.

Social media users have posted images of cities gone dark. Severe traffic jams caused by traffic lights that stopped working. Shops forced to close early or resorting to candlelight to stay open.

A mother, with two young kids, trapped in an elevator for 45 minutes, after a sudden power outage.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was completely dark. I can't see anything because the power is cut from everything. Only when the vehicles drove past, you could see lights on. WANG: The power cuts have rippled across northeastern China and parts

of the south. The cause of it all? A perfect storm of factors. Demand for Chinese is surging as the global economy emerges from the pandemic.

Increasing use of China's electricity-hungry factories. That's sending energy prices skyrocketing. But since electricity prices are regulated in China, some power companies are losing money, and hesitant to boost production.

At the same time, China is trying to meet its ambitious climate goals to bring carbon ambitions to a peak before 2030, and net zero by 2060. So local officials are rationing power to meet annual targets, before the year end.

Power outages, aren't new to China, but this one is especially severe.

YUN JIANG, CHINA POLICY CENTER: For most provinces in China, when there is a shortage of power, they ration for industries first, so it doesn't affect residential uses.

But in the northeast, because it has reached to a quite significant shortage, it is now even rationing for residential users and that is quite significant, because it could lead to a lot of social discontent.

WANG: And residents are taking to social media to complain. One user posted, "There is no gas. Don't we need to cook and eat? I have been ordering takeout for two days."

Another wrote, "People from northeast China have to light candles in the middle of the night. This is not North Korea. I'm speechless."

This person writing, "Many communities have been locked down due to the pandemic. If there is no water or electricity, that's so unbearable.

The power rationing, could create new headaches, for global supply chains with several Apple, and Tesla suppliers, suspending production.

PHILIP ANDREWS SPEED, SENIOR PRINCIPAL FELLOW, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE: -- interruptions to supplies of different things, whether they be toys for Christmas, or metals and silica for advanced materials and advanced equipment.

But the power supply challenges aren't unique to China.

ANDREWS-SPEED: It is partly a problem of managing the low carbon energy transition at a time when the economy is picking up after the pandemic. I think we're going to see the sense of the challenges in other parts of the world.

WANG: China's energy crisis is a sign of what the world is reckoning with in its bumpy transition to clean energy.

Selina Wang, CNN -- Tokyo. (END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Demonstrators in El Salvador are venting their anger at the country's president, Nayib Bukele. They are protesting the government's policies including a decision to adopt bitcoin as an official currency earlier this month.

The recent rollout has been plagued by technical glitches, and polls show a lot of Salvadorans have little confidence in the cryptocurrency.

But the recent protests go beyond bitcoin. Many Salvadorans believe the president is consolidating too much power.

CNN's Patrick Oppmann explains.

[01:34:56]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Salvadorans took to the streets on Thursday to protest against their president Nayib Bukele who increasingly is under fire after adopting bitcoin as the country's national currency.

Critics of Bukele have said for quite some time, that he has become an authoritarian president. That he does not listen to criticism. That he pushes through whatever measures he likes, including, changing the makeup of the courts and trying to change the constitution to remain as president for another term.

Up until now, Bukele has been incredibly popular in El Salvador. He is seen as having rescued that country's economy, as having managed well the pandemic. But this move to adopt bitcoin has created a lot of controversy. Many in El Salvador think it was a mistake to try and tie their countries economy to the wildly volatile cryptocurrency.

Bukele at the time said that he was trying to create buzz and headlines for El Salvador. But instead, it seems like he has only created headaches for his government.

Patrick Oppmann, CNN -- Havana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: For the first time, single women and lesbian couples in France have access to in vitro fertilization. A new law expanding access to the fertility treatment is now in effect.

But as CNN's Cyril Vanier reports, the path to parenthood can still be an uphill battle.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AURORE FOURSY, AWAITING FERTILITY TREATMENT: Being a mother to me is a priority, because I always wanted to be a mother. Always. CYRIL VANIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): After years of waiting,

Aurore's dream of motherhood suddenly seems within reach -- a milestone for her and for France.

On Wednesday the country extended access to fertility treatments. Once reserved for straight couples, a man and a woman said the law, they're now available to all women -- single women or lesbians like Aurore finally giving them an easy or legal path to parenthood.

FOURSY: To me, the job is done. Everybody has the same rights. Every type of women has the same rights. And I can choose to be a mother or not.

VANIER: 27,000 children were born through assisted reproductive technology in France in 2019. The most common method in vitro fertilization or IVF.

(on camera): So this is where babies are being made right now. But until today not everybody had access to this kind of treatment.

(voice over): For unmarried women or lesbian couples in France, a shot at parenthood meant traveling abroad. Usually to Belgium or Spain, where the same treatments have long been legally accessible.

Marie and her then partner spent five years and 45,000 euros sidestepping French law. Their determination paid off. Louise was born almost 6 years ago. But Marie won't forget the hurt.

"It is a horrible feeling," she says. You feel like you are not a citizen. You don't have the same rights as others. You feel like an outlaw.

Younger generations of French woman will never have to experience that feeling nor the hefty price tag."

But for those whose fertility window is expiring, the new law may be too late. A chronic shortage of sperm donations in France means the country is already struggling to meet demand with wait times of up to 12 months.

And that means a lower chance of success, explains this fertility doctor. Waiting 6 to 12 months when you are 40 years old has a huge impact on pregnancy chances, she says.

Aurore is 38 with no time to lose. She and her partner Julie are already on the waiting list, hoping for an update in the next few weeks.

FOURSY: I know my body is getting older. So I'm not sure if I wait too much, that it will work.

And that's for me a real issue. And there is a lot of lesbians that are exactly the same situation as me.

VANIER: If France cannot help her become a mother soon, she too will have to seek treatment abroad unable to reap the benefits of a law that she campaigned to change.

Cyril Vanier, CNN -- Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: International adoptions can be a tricky ordeal at the best of times but imagine trying to adopt a child from Afghanistan as its government collapsed. A father, who did just that, tells me what it took to get his son home.

That is when we come back.

[01:39:32]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: That is the sound of thousands rallying in the capital of Sudan on Thursday. The demonstration in Khartoum in support of a civilian-led transition of government.

Security forces later fired volleys of tear gas to break up the gathering. Protesters accused military generals now in power of trying to derail the country's transition to democracy.

This follows an attempted coup last week. Civilian officials blaming that on soldiers loyal to the previous government of Omar al Bashir. The military removed al Bashir in 2019 after months of protests triggered by an economic crisis.

Nearly 14,000 Afghan refugees are waiting to get to the United States currently at U.S. military bases in Europe and the Middle East. Pentagon officials say there are about 53,000 Afghan refugees right now in the U.S., many awaiting a permanent and safe place to live. But refugee groups are struggling to find housing.

One tell CNN they are hoping to do over the next few months what they would usually do over the course of years.

My guest this hour is Bahaudin Mujtaba, who recently adopted an Afghan boy, Noman (ph). He and his wife, Lisa Marie, looked into adoption once they realize they could not have their own children biologically.

The path to adopt from Afghanistan though, filled with bureaucracy and paperwork. But the Mujtabas did not give up. They worked with two adoption agencies and Bahaudin made several trips to Afghanistan to visit Noman.

And it's great to have you with us to tell some of the story. You spent five years trying to adopt Noman. And then of course the country collapsed before you could get him out.

What was it like for you and your family when the chaos began and Noman was still there inside the country?

BAHAUDIN G. MUJTABA, ADOPTED AFGHAN BOY: Thank you, Michael for having me here. Yes, of course, it was very stressful and lots of anxiety when obviously the transition took place from one government to the new government. It was very chaotic and uncertain. Five years of working, trying to get your son home.

And unfortunately all of that basically being in jeopardy during the government transition. So, in that case not only myself and my wife, but also many of our relatives as well as the adoption agency staff members and employees trying to help to get Noman out safely, and hopefully home soon.

HOLMES: Did you, at a new point think, it's not going to happen. We're not going to get him here?

MUJTABA: Unfortunately, yes. there were many sleepless nights and days where we were basically hopeless, trying to communicate. But unfortunately we couldn't get any urgent answers.

So we tried to communicate with the U.S. embassy staff in Kabul. And we know that they were very, very overwhelmed, with a lot of work in SIV applicants.

So we knew that our case might be way, way behind in the pile of their work. But we did try and unfortunately sometimes it was hopeless but luckily, obviously that was not the case.

[01:44:58]

HOLMES: Yes. And that chaos at the airport, you with the help of others, were able to get him air side and out. I mean you yourself emigrated from Afghanistan decades ago, 40 years ago, I think. And Noman is a distant relative of yours, not a close relative.

What made you want to adopt him? What was the trigger?

MUJTABA: Well, in 2016, when I happened to be in Afghanistan for a guest lecture during the summertime, one of my relatives told me that there was this little boy available for adoption because his mother had passed away from cancer two years earlier, and he did have some chronic illnesses and needed medical attention immediately. And his family could not take care of him due to disability and other issues at that time.

So they put him up for adoption so he could be taken care of. And I -- when I did get a chance to actually meet him and the family in the words that he spoke at that time at being age 5, we connected almost immediately. So it was a heart to heart connection.

And I could understand obviously where he was coming from because I lived in Afghanistan for the first 15 years of my life, during the Soviet invasion.

And I could relate to him and at the meantime, he wanted to come to the U.S., and be with his new family and have a mother and father to take care of him. So we obviously, we're willing to be adopting parents. And in this situation, he was old enough where we could speak with him. So we were lucky at the right time, at the right place for him.

HOLMES: It's an amazing story. Give us a sense of how he is settling in, learning English, going to school? It must be a vastly different environment to what he's used to. How is he settling in?

MUJTABA: Oh, he's settling in very, very successfully, I believe. Despite the fact that this is the first time he's actually speaking English but he loves to school, he loves his teachers. He loves the activities that they're involved in.

So every day is actually better than the previous day when he comes home. So he tells me lovely stories about what he did, and when he has a new teacher, or a new activity. He really just all light up about it and smiles and tells me the new things that happened, or even if he tries some sort of a new food during lunch time he's excited about it.

So every day is going better than the previous day.

HOLMES: It is such, you know, a heartwarming story. I know things are difficult. We're out of time but I know things are difficult for other people still trying to get kids that they had long planned to opt out of Afghanistan. And I know you are in touch with them. And we wish them well.

We've got to leave it there. Bahaudin Mujtaba, thanks so much, and our regards to Noman.

MUJTABA: It's good to be with you. Thank you so much.

HOLMES: Coming up here on CNN NEWSROOM, the volcano in the Canary Island, still spewing lava after nearly two weeks. And now, a new land form is being created we'll have an update from the CNN Weather Center next.

Also, Dubai Expo 2020, kicks off with an impressive opening ceremony. But it doesn't come without some challenges. We'll have the details, after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:49:44]

HOLMES: Look at that, live pictures there with no letup in sight for the volcano erupting in the Canary Islands. It has been erupting for nearly two weeks now, destroying hundreds of homes and businesses.

Officials warn that chemical reactions of the lava hitting the sea could cost toxic gases. But so far, the air remains safe to breathe. And the lava is forming a new delta off of La Palma.

Let's bring in CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam, who is tracking that, and another volcano that just started erupting in Hawaii.

Fill as in, Derek.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. This is fascinating stuff because what you're doing watching is, quite literally an island expand in size, in fact Copernicus, one of the satellite monitoring agencies coming out of Europe.

We are measuring by the end of Wednesday, roughly another a 330 hectares of additional delta starting to protrude out from the island of La Palma.

I mean just absolutely incredible, as a small lava starts to protrude down the side of the mountain.

This is literally what happens. The lava reaches the ocean and allows for the cooling effect on that lava, to take place and hardens, as it does so and creates that extension of the island, per se.

Again, we were concerned about the lava reaching the shoreline of the ocean because of a few different factors. One is the potential of dangerous steam when lava which is over 1,100 degrees Celsius reaches water which is roughly 22 degrees Celsius.

It's just like throwing boiling oil into water. What happens? You get a lot of bubbles, a lot of explosions. And this unfortunately is in real life with what is called lace (ph). It is hydrochloric acid gas comprised of tiny volcanic glass shards.

In fact this is a very dangerous steam. It can be dangerous for upper respiratory issues for humans. I can also cause some problems with your eyesight as well.

So we are monitoring closely the direction of the wind. We don't want to see that move inland. We don't want to see it move into the coastal areas of Spain or any of the surrounding islands.

Now, Michael mention another volcano, this is on the other side of the world. We're talking Hawaii now. And, we continue to monitor the Kilauea volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii. Scientists monitoring that molten lava lake.

Here is some astounding video coming from that particular eruption, started just 24 hours ago. Look at the lava just emanating from this area. And a still image says it all here Michael. This is molten lava lake that continued to grow, as Kilauea continues to erupt.

Well not a threat to any individuals at the moment, but of course, with any volcanic eruptions, things can change at a moment's notice, Michael.

HOLMES: Fascinating stuff Derek, thank you. I was entertained. Appreciate that.

VAN DAM: All right.

HOLMES: Derek Van Dam there. Well, Expo 2020 is finally here. The grand ceremony on Thursday,

kicking off the world expo in Dubai a year after the pandemic brought the original plans to a halt. CNN's Scott McLean with the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It was almost eight years ago that Dubai wanted to spit the a host exports 2020, a first for middle eastern city. 7 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, listed 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 to.

The very first World Expo, took place in London 170 years ago. Since then 34 other cities have hosted. Expos usually lasts six months but their impact in architecture can last even longer.

The Eiffel Tower was built for the parent expo in 1889. Belgium's (INAUDIBLE) was built for Expo 58. And Seattle's famous space needle rose from the expo grounds in 1962.

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

MCLEAN: The first working telephone was demonstrated at the Expo in 1876 in Philadelphia. Then 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 exposition.

REIDEL: You can hardly reach out and touch something that wasn't be 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 have to build it all from scratch.

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

[01:54:56]

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

MCLEAN: Maybe a tumbleweed? KHATIB: Yes.

MCLEAN: Dubai has bet big on Expo 2020. It's a multi-billion-dollar bet is the size of a small city. The futuristic looking architecture like the nearly 5,000 solar panels on the sustainability pavilion where 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 maybe losing its appeal.

In fact at one point, American participation in this year's event was is in serious doubt.

Why do we have to be here in person?

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

MCLEAN: 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 is 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 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 6 months.

Scott McLean, CNN -- Dubai.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: And do make sure to tune in for a special edition of "CONNECT THE WORLD' on Friday. Live, from Expo 2020 giving you, at home, a front row seat to the global conversations, taking place in Dubai.

That's 6:00 p.m. in the UAE; 3:00 p.m. in London.

Thanks for spending part of your day with me.

I am Michael Holmes. You can follow me on Twitter and Instagram @HolmesCNN.

Do stick around though, I'll be back with more CNN NEWSROOM in just a moment. [01:57:17]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Hello and welcome to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Michael Holmes. Appreciate your company.