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Australia Lift Travel Ban; Democrats Divided Over Bills; Lukashenko Not Going to Apologize; Former Police Sentenced to Life Imprisonment; Gang Members Killing Each Other; El Salvador Protest On Bitcoin; Australia To Ease Travel Restrictions; Japan's Princess Sets Wedding Date; Coronavirus In The United States; Dubai Opens World Expo; Reducing Food Waste In Nigeria Through Solar Power; Rock Legend Mick Jagger, All Alone. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired October 01, 2021 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): Easing COVID restrictions after 18 long months, Australia plans to end the ban on international travel that has prevented thousands from returning home.
A night of negotiation on Capitol Hill, Democrats are trying to save President Biden's domestic agenda but a key bill could all fall apart because of two holdouts from their own party.
Plus, this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
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 have suffered at your hands.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER (on camera): In a CNN exclusive, our Matthew Chance puts tough questions to the man some people call Europe last dictator, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
Welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada, and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN Newsroom.
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 announced the new coronavirus measures earlier. Residents in states with an 80 percent vaccination rate will be free to leave the country, and on return required to home quarantine for one week.
So, for more on this, let's go to Angus Watson in Sydney. So, Angus, it's a big day for Australians, take us through what led to this decision and how it's being received? ANGUS WATSON, CNN PRODUCER: Absolutely. This is an announcement that
tens of millions of thousands of Australians around the world have been waiting some 18 months for, as the global coronavirus pandemic has raged on.
On Friday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia announcing that his government would scrap caps on the number of its own citizens and residents that it allows back into the country each week. Instead, it will fling its borders open, but only for those citizens and residents of the country if they are double vaccinated.
Those people will be able to travel into Australia as of November and quarantine at home for seven days, as opposed to 14 days in state- managed isolation as they have to do right now.
Now, Kim, this signals a move away that Australian is making from COVID zero, from the strict border policies which it says has successfully isolated as best as possible from the global pandemic, as it raged on. Here is what Scott Morrison had to say about that on Friday.
(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)
WATSON (on camera): Now this is coming now because Australia is actually suffering through an outbreak of the Delta variant in its major cities. In Sydney, Melbourne, and Canberra. That is what has led the government to jettison this policy of COVID zero and begin this policy instead of living with the virus.
It's seen its vaccination rates go up remarkably over the last few months, Kim. We've had Australians over the age of 16 in New South Wales, Sydney where I am in in Victoria, almost approaching this 80 percent coverage mark which is allowing these voters to open finally, Kim.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, a welcome relief for many there as you say. Thank you so much, Angus Watson. I appreciate it.
U.S. Congress acted quickly on Thursday to avoid a government shutdown but two defining pieces of the Biden domestic agenda are suddenly stalled at the finish line with internal squabbling among Democrats threatening to sink both. Progressive Democrats are refusing to get behind a $1.2 trillion bipartisan bill to fix America's roads and bridges, forcing House leaders to postpone Thursday's vote.
Now those progressives are holding out for a firm deal on $3.5 trillion plan to expand social programs and take action on climate change. One member of the progressive caucus spoke to our Don Lemon about what the vote delay means.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. BONNIE WATSON COLEMAN (D-NJ): We are eager to pass both of these bills, they represent the president's agenda, that's where he campaigned on, that's why people elected him and that's what people expect from him. We campaign the same things looking for both family, and hard infrastructure. We campaigned, people elected us, and that's what they expect to see.
[03:05:05]
And so, what you have seen as a result of there being no votes tonight, is that there's been no agreement but that there is a desire to move the path forward.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER (on camera): So, 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 negotiations.
CNN's Phil Mattingly has the latest from the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Well, President Biden feverish days of private calls and meetings, now giving way to a clear public reality.
SEN. JOE MANCHIN (D-WV): He's sincere, he would like to have a lot more than that, and that seems the president -- I understand that. It's just, you know, hopefully you can respect, he's always been so respectful, he said, hey, Joe I never ask you go against your convictions.
MATTINGLY: Biden's sweeping policy ambition is on the brink and must be slashed dramatically.
JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Right now, we are clearly in the thick of it.
MATTINGLY: White House officials had four days been prepared to scale back Biden's $3.5 dollar economic and climate package. Senator Joe Manchin's $1.5 trillion top line, comes in well below what officials had been pressing for, but what progressives are willing to accept. All as a separate $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package that hangs in the balance, short of the votes to pass.
UNKNOWN: Did the president he needs a strategic value in a vote failing on the House floor?
PSAKI: Well, as Speaker Pelosi said earlier today, we're on a path to win. I don't want to even consider any other options than that.
We're working towards winning a vote tonight. MATTINGLY: Leaving Biden and the agenda that serves as the backbone
of his presidency at a crossroads.
PSAKI: The president and the speakers of the House and the leader have more experience getting legislation across the finish line than any group of Democrat -- Democratic leaders in history. We are in the middle of it right now, it's messy the sausage making on Capitol Hill.
MATTINGLY: And with a need to square a $2 trillion reduction and a package with clear transformative goals.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I want to change the paradigm, we start to reward work not just wealth.
MATTINGLY: With sweeping proposals for universal pre-K, expanded home in childcare, free community college, and expanded child tax care credit, and the most aggressive climate proposals in history now hanging in the balance. It's ambition that essential to his view of this moment for the country.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), UNITED STATES SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: The President of the United States, who has this vision for our country as I've told you before -- he said I want to work on the bipartisan bill for infrastructure, but I will not confine my vision for America to what is in there.
MATTINGLY: Now faced with simply keeping negotiations alive, with the bears of House and Senate majorities.
PSAKI: We would hopefully see more willingness to compromise, that's happening too. We're hard at work, and he's been through this before. So, he's not too thrown off his game on it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY (on camera): And despite the long odds, President Biden made very clear to his team officials say, that he wanted him to help Speaker Pelosi in her effort to wrangle votes. Dispatching his top policy advisers up to Capitol Hill, trying to find some way to finagle some kind of framework that would be able to secure the support of moderate senators, of progressives in the House, pretty much everybody who needs to sign off in order to try and unlock some pathway forward for both the infrastructure proposal, and the second climate and economic spending package.
So far, that seems unlikely, however White House officials have made clear they are all in all on trying to find some solution here, with one caveat. It won't be over if they don't. This is extraordinarily important for the president, for his agenda, for Democrats on Capitol Hill.
Negotiations are certain to continue, but they would like, at least, to have some clear pathway forward, at some point in the next couple of hours.
Phil Mattingly, CNN, the White House. BRUNHUBER: All right. With us from London to discuss all of this is
Thomas Gift, director of the Center on U.S. Politics at the University College London. Thank you so much for being with us.
I want to look at the larger picture here. President Biden ran on his, know-how, you know, he's been there before, done it, the ability to actually govern competently was central to his pitch to the American voter. Now the fact that Democrats couldn't get this done, what is the say about the Democrat's ability to govern here?
THOMAS GIFT, POLITICAL SCIENCE LECTURER, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON: Well, I think it's obvious that if Biden can't get infrastructure passed, Kim, with the Democratic majority in both chambers, then you are looking at serious political failures on the left. You'll be looking at a new administration that will lack a landmark legislative accomplishment.
And importantly, you'll be looking at a party without a scapegoat, because Democrats can't blame Mitch McConnell, they can't blame obstructionist Republicans, they are going to have to look at the mirror. And that's why it's so essential for majority within the Democratic Party to win now.
I think the play is to kick the field goal, put points on the board, and try for a touchdown later. But right now, it seems like Democrats have so backed themselves into a corner that they run the risk of coming away with nothing that could be hugely detrimental to this administration.
[03:09:57]
Still possible of course at the 11th hour one of the two sides could completely fold, and it's possible if that happens it's more likely to be progressives, or maybe progressives are willing to scale back the $3.5 trillion spending proposal, the point where reconciliation is palatable to moderates like Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema. But what we saw yesterday is that neither side seems to be willing to budge.
BRUNHUBER: Yes. To continue your football metaphor, it seems that the Democrats are fumbling the ball here. So, you know, you talk about the progressives. I mean, what role does this -- what does this say about the role and the importance of the progressive wing of the party? I mean, you look at the, you know, $1.5 trillion that Joe Manchin sort of put as the ceiling I guess, it's so huge, and yet the progressives are turning their nose at this.
GIFT: Yes. I mean both moderates and progressives are doing a lot of finger-pointing, but my own view is that there's not really an equivalency here. The infrastructure bill passed the Senate with broad bipartisan support. By contrast, progressives don't have that close to that kind of political mandate for the $3.5 trillion spending bill.
If progressives were confident that most Americans wanted it, they would take the trillion-dollar infrastructure bill now, then they would litigate the more sweeping spending proposal in the 2022 midterms, make the next election a referendum on that initiative. The voters who were behind them supporters of the larger bill would pick up more seats and progressives could pass the legislation, reconciliation, even absent to backing the moderates.
But I think Kim, that moderates -- progressives know that that's unlikely to be a winning argument. So essentially what they're doing is using their leverage now, and that's certainly their prerogative. But if the infrastructure doesn't get passed and Democrats will pay the price in the next election, which I think that they will. Then I don't think that this is just the case that there being a lot of blame to go around.
My sense is that progressive really should be held culpable here because their position is not where the political center of gravity is on this question.
BRUNHUBER: Yes. Let's stay around the infrastructure bill. It was supposed to be, you know, not just a massive plank in Biden's agenda, symbolically, it was supposed to be the one thing that Democrats and Republicans can actually get together and agree on, again a symbol of Biden's ability to work across the aisle.
So now for the Republicans who voted for infrastructure for this infrastructure deal, you know, might this -- might this cost their support? I mean, they might feel that they are being hung out to dry here, you know, they could ask themselves why should they support something that even Democrats can't get behind? And then while all this is going, you know, Republican leadership is putting such a huge pressure on them to vote against it.
GIFT: Well I think for Republicans this is kind of a win-win situation actually. Because either they say, we support of this and it's Democrats who are to blame why you're not getting this huge infrastructure bill, you know, we were willing to be bipartisan and work across the aisle. Or, you know, they don't. And kind of the opposite is true.
I mean, I think in either case it's really Democrats who are the ones with a lot to lose here. Because they clearly have the Democrat -- they clearly have the majority here in Congress. If they want to get it through, they can. And as I mentioned before, if they don't, then they really have no one to blame but themselves.
So, Republicans at this point are almost daring Democrats to go down that path, because if they do, I think it will be helpful to them electorally in 2022.
BRUNHUBER: Yes. All right. So, the one thing that did passed, funding the government at least until December, they got that done, but they still have to raise the debt ceiling. I mean, this game of chicken is repeated time after time, it has been for decades. Though, it kind of feels that the country is spiraling closer and closer, actually defaulting for the first time.
So, yesterday Treasure Secretary Janet Yellen said she supports abolishing the debt ceiling. Now most countries don't even have one. So, should Congress just get rid of it? GIFT: Well, I think so. And ultimately, I do think that Congress will
agree to raise the debt ceiling because not doing so would be so irresponsible that I think most lawmakers won't be able to justify it.
And it's important to be clear, Kim, about what we're talking here. It's not about the authorization of more federal outlays. It is about increasing America's credit balance so that Washington won't default on existing commitments.
But if Congress doesn't act, I mean, the effects could be extremely negative both domestically, but also in terms of the ripple effects across the world, as the largest economy globally.
And given all the interconnectedness, destruction of this magnitude would rile international markets and likely recessionary pressures in Europe, in Asia, and elsewhere because this is not just a minor blip. You know, payments that Americans rely on social security checks, child tax credits, veteran's benefit, they could all be halted. U.S. credit ratings would likely fall, borrowing caskets, spike on credit cards and mortgages. Wall Street would take a hit.
All of this is hugely important stuff and I think to kind of take a risk on this, play of chicken as you suggested is really dangerous politically. And that's why I think that's why ultimately Congress won't do it. But in the meantime, we're kind of left hanging in the balance.
[03:15:00]
BRUNHUBER: Yes, all more good reasons I supposed, one could argue to just abolish it altogether.
We'll have to leave it there. Thomas Gift of University College London, thank you so much. I really appreciate it.
GIFT: Thanks, Kim.
BRUNHUBER: The ongoing feud over migrants is escalating between the European Union and Belarus. The E.U. accuses Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of funneling migrants into E.U. border states in retaliation for sanctions imposed over human rights abuses. Leaders from Poland, Latvia, Lithuania all say Belarus is coordinating this refugee crisis as a, quote, "hybrid attack against the E.U."
Poland is seeing a 60-day extension of the state of emergency on the Belarus border. A government spokesperson says hundreds of migrants tried to cross every day. And Latvia's defense ministry announced that its soldiers are building a barbed wire fence to protect its border with Belarus. But the Belarusian president says there is no proof that he is pushing migrants to his border.
Alexander Lukashenko is also dismissing reports of human rights abuses, since his disputed reelection last year. Known as Europe's last dictator he has led the nation for nearly three decades.
In an exclusive interview with CNN's Matthew Chance, Lukashenko says he has nothing to be sorry for. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHANCE: 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, PRESIDENT OF BELARUS (through translator): 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: Well, you say you 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 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 to 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 in this country, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, is regarded as the in many international circles as the true winner of the election last year, 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 (through translator): 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 regard to opposition leadership, the leader of the opposition as someone who lives in this country and has a different point of view. They campaigned to bring this alternative view to fruition. There are no such people in Belarus. They are somewhere over there on your side paid by you.
CHANCE: No, they fled the country because they are afraid of staying here, the people that have stayed have been imprisoned, they put in jail for like 10 and 11 years because of their opposition activities, and you know that's the case.
LUKASHENKO (through translator): Look, if one is a revolutionary and they got themselves involved in a revolution, moreover tried to win a blitzkrieg here with foreign money they need to be prepared for anything.
CHANCE: What about the threat that you are 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 the European Union states.
Do you take full responsibility for the refugee crisis that is underway on the Belarusian European borders at the moment?
LUKASHENKO (through translator): 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 and European officials, is that you are weaponizing migrants. And you are doing that, that 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?
[03:20:06]
LUKASHENKO (through translator): Are you taking me for a mad man? My country is in Central Europe, and it is a small one. Can 10 million people dictate terms to a half a billion? So, I'm not going to take revenge on anyone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: That was CNN's Matthew Chance speaking with Belarus president, Alexander Lukashenko. The British prime minister says he is sickened by the details of the brutal rape and murder of a London woman that emerge during the sentencing of a former police officer.
Boris Johnson said 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 has details on the case that has captured global attention.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
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 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.
BASHIR (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 with issue based on the severity of the crime committed and the abuse of power by the former serving police officer.
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.
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 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.
(CROWD CHANTING)
BASHIR: 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 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 VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER (on camera): New details are emerging about a horrific prison massacre in Ecuador. Up next, why investigators believed Mexican drug cartels could be behind the carnage that took between 100 lives.
Plus, Dubai Expo 2020 kicks off from an impressive opening ceremony. We'll explain what we can expect to see at the unique event, and the challenges it faces. That's all coming up ahead, stay with us.
[03:25:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BRUNHUBER (on camera): Gang rivalry turned into a bloodbath and a prison in Ecuador. Now police are asking family members to help identify some of the at least 118 people killed since Tuesday. That's when rival gangs clashed at the facility near Guayaquil. As CNN's Matt Rivers reports investigators now believe Mexican drug
cartels may have had a hand in that bloodshed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATT RIVERS, CNN 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 and the Jalisco new generation cartel.
UNKNOWN (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.
UNKNOWN (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 be attacked that begin Tuesday in d one of the country's most overcrowded and understaffed prisons.
UNKNOWN (through translator): Look at where the police are. They're 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 struggle 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.
UNKNOWN (through translator): When they 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 the jails have become a territory fought over by criminal groups. The state is going to act on 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' faith, that presidential commitment to change may prove too little, too late.
UNKNOWN (through translator): 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.
[03:30:00]
Matt Rivers, CNN.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[03:30:00]
BRUNHUBER (on camera): Demonstrators in El Salvador venting their anger at 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 was been plagued by technical glitches and polls show many Salvadorans had little confidence in the cryptocurrency. But recent protests go beyond bitcoin. Many Salvadorans believe the president is consolidating too much power.
CNN's Patrick Oppman explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): 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 is 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 seeing as having rescue 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 country's 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 VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: While it's a little late but Expo 2020 is now officially starting. When we come back we will head to Dubai for details on what we can expect.
Plus, a wedding day has finally been set for Japan's Princess Mako and her longtime partner. We'll have all the details from Tokyo coming up. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BRUNHUBER: All right. More now on the easing of Australia's tough coronavirus travel restrictions. In the coming weeks vaccinated Australians will be allowed to travel overseas. The government will face out 18-month long ban on international flights.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the new measures earlier, residence in states with an 80 percent vaccination rate will be free to leave the country and on return require to home quarantine for a week. That's expected to take effect in November.
Meanwhile 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 spread of COVID is slowing. That's the latest weekly report and it shows a 10 percent drop in both cases and deaths compared with the previous week.
[03:35:13]
Fresh reasons for optimism here in the U.S. for the first time since June, the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention predicts COVID deaths are likely to decrease over the next four weeks. Hospitalizations are also forecast to decline.
Expo 2020 is finally here. The grand ceremony on Thursday kicked off the World Expo in Dubai, a year after the pandemic brought the original plans to a halt. Joining me now from Dubai is CNN's Scott McLean.
Scott, how is it going? So, even though the pandemic maybe slowing as I just explained there, it's far from over. So what kind of response are they expecting in terms of visitors?
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Hey, Kim, yeah, people have started to trickle in, the gates open a couple of hours ago. This expo cite though is absolutely massive. So we borrowed a couple of rickshaws to try to show you as much of it as we could.
Some of the really wacky looking country pavilions, this is the Swiss Pavilion with the reflection there. This is the Austrian Pavilion. You -- what I've noticed at the Swiss Pavilion, they had umbrellas that's because the heat is absolutely insane here, it's not even noon yet and it's already 37 degrees and it's only expected to get hotter for the rest of the day and stay this way throughout the rest of the week.
So, it's certainly a challenge to attract people to this country to the expo amid the stifling heat and also with the coronavirus pandemic. On top of that, a lot of Americans may not know that the expo is even still taking place. This event is something that sort of a mix of a tech convention, part of the United Nations and part theme park as well.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MCLEAN (voice over): It was almost eight years ago that Dubai won its bid to host Expo 2020. The first for a Middle Eastern city. Seventy years of planning and the global pandemic later, the expo is finally opened.
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. Expo's usually last six months but their impact on 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.
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. 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 we're also debut that 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 fair for the first time. The build environments is so important, the underground infrastructure from sewer lines to transportation lines.
MCLEAN: In Dubai they've had to build it all from scratch.
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 couple of trees and a camel farm.
MCLEAN: Maybe a tumbleweed?
AL KHATIB: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
MCLEAN: Dubai has bet big on Expo 2020. Its multibillion dollar bet is the size of a small city. The futuristic looking architecture like the nearly 5,000 solar panels on the sustainability pavilion or the wacky design of the 192 country pavilions.
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: 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.
[03:40:16]
Plus, just this month the European parliament passed a resolution calling for sponsors in member states to withdraw from Expo 2020 citing documented abuses of foreign workers and the imprisonment of political dissidence. 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 six months.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCLEAN (on camera): So Kim, just to give you a sense of it, this Chinese Pavilion for instance is three stories high, it takes about 30 or 40 minutes to get through. So, some elaborate pavilions on show. This is the Belarusian Pavilion, where they've got performers outfront. And then you can see the front gate where people are starting to trickle in.
We've spoken to several people already stayed, most of them are ex pats who live here in Dubai. We've met a few genuine tourist but not too many. Obviously organizers are hoping that that changes, people are entice to come to Dubai in the midst of a pandemic where it's difficult to travel in the amidst of a stifling heat to come and see this big show that they've spent billions to put on, Kim.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah, Scoot, listen. When I came to you off the top I didn't see that you are actually in a rickshaw there. I certainly don't blame you it's too hot to do a walk and talk. So, I appreciate the innovative coverage there. Thanks so much.
And viewers make sure to tune into a special edition of "Connect the World," Friday live from Expo 2020. Giving you at home, a front seat there to the global conversations taking place in Dubai. And that's 6:00 p.m. in the UAE. That's 3:00 p.m. in London.
Well, after a three year delay, Japan's Princess Mako is finally set to marry her longtime partner later this month. Under a centuries old Japanese law, she must give up her royal's status in honor to wed the commoner.
Let's get the latest from CNN's Selina Wang in Tokyo. So Selina a controversial marriage to say the least. Now, finally apparently going to happen.
SELINA WANG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Yeah, Kim. We finally got that wedding date after three long years of delay, three long years of intense scrutiny. The engagement of Princess Mako and Kei Komuro was original announced back in 2017.
And at first it seem like this fairytale love story of princess, falling in love with her college sweetheart. Giving up her royal title in order to marry a commoner. But from there, things got very complicated. They were supposed to get married in 2018, but it was postponed after news reports emerge that Komuro's mother had failed to repay about $36,000 to her fiance.
Now this news carried a lot of weighed in Japan where family background is seen as very important. And that news and controversy continue to spiral in the public, turned against Komuro.
And we spoke to people on the streets of Tokyo today and you can really see here that the Japanese public is split. Take a listen to what they had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNKNOWN (through translator): I don't think he is good enough to marry an imperial person. I think that the way of thinking about the imperial family will change because of her marriage. Japanese people's affection towards the imperial family will be gone. It is sad.
UNKNOWN (through translator): She has been waiting for years and it must be painful. She hasn't been able to see him for years. But I think it's amazing to see the two have kept their love.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WANG: Under tradition Princess Mako is entitled to a lump sum payment of about $1.35 million of taxpayer money but she is reportedly going to forego that money. And this wedding is also expected to be a low- key event without the usual traditions of a Japanese royal wedding.
And Komuro arrived in Tokyo earlier this week to prepare for the wedding and he arrives sporting this ponytail which Kim generated an incredible amount of backlash by the Japanese press.
Many people saying that it was a sign that he was unfit and improper to be marrying the princess. And this marriage came has also brought up renewed concerns around Japan's imperial law which bars woman from the throne, they have no succession rights, they marry a commoner, as in the case of Princess Mako. They have to leave the royal family. They are stripped of their title.
And right now, there is only one young potential successor to the throne. Now even though surveys showed that many of the Japanese people are actually open to having a female reigning empress, Japan's ultra conservatives are not in support of that and have been strong opposition voices to that idea.
[03:45:05]
I spoke to a professor today who called the royal family in Japan a bastion of patriarchy. Kim.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah, that's certainly putting the spotlight on so many issues there. Thank you so much, Selina Wang in Tokyo. I appreciate it.
All right, coming up on "CNN Newsroom." Keeping cool in the hot Nigerian sun. Well this man's mission to help farmers protect their produce and their profits through cold storage. We are bringing you that story coming up. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BRUNHUBER: Today on "Call To Earth," Nigerian social entrepreneur and Rolex awards (inaudible) Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu is tackling his country's problem with food waste by harnessing the heat of the sun. The system of cold storage rooms and markets and farms designed to help save food energy and livelihoods.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNKNOWN: In this busy Nigerian market the race is on to sell fresh produce early in the day.
NNAEMEKA IKEGWUONU, FOUNDER/CEO COLDHUBS: So you sell high quality very early in the morning. Then after 12:00 noon on the intensity of the Nigerian sun. Spoilage is being (inaudible).
UNKNOWN: Of all of the food produce, Nigeria loses and waste around 40 percent per year according to the World Bank. While over 80 million people in the country face food insecurity.
It is a burning issue this man is trying to solve. Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu is taking a fresh approach to food waste with ColdHubs. Food storage rooms design for markets and farms that are entirely powered by the sun. Using those very rays to cool the food down.
IKEGWUONU: The nation really needs to reduce food spoilage due to lack of cold storage at key points along different supply chain.
UNKNOWN: Farmers and retailers can store a crate of produce for around 25 cents per day. Keeping it fresh for up to 21 days. IKEGWUONU: This cold room can take and cooldown up to 3 pounds of
food and it cools down from 30 degrees -- 35 degrees ambient temperature which is what the food coming in to (inaudible) too about a safe temperature of 10 degrees Celsius. This (inaudible) can stay in this cold room for up to three weeks, still very fresh.
UNKNOWN: The U.N. tells us that food waste accounts for up to 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. So finding solution could make a hefty contribution to the fight against climate change in more ways than one.
IKEGWUONU: Each of these cold room should run on approximately between 20 to 30 liters of diesel every day. And by using solar energy, we take out the diesel completely.
[03:50:08]
UNKNOWN: And Ikegwuono wants the ColdHubs to have social as well as environmental impact.
IKEGWUONU: We had been able to create about 66 new jobs for women. So many of these women have become empowered and change agents in their households and communities.
UNKNOWN: Before ColdHubs, Ikegwuono started a radio network reaching an estimated two million listeners to help farmers share knowledge and learn effective farming practices.
IKEGWUONU: Crop protection is one of the oldest and most effective social protection strategies.
UNKNOWN: Growing up in a harm himself he knows the cost of losses can be devastating.
IKEGWUONU: The Nigerian small holder farmer goes through a lot. It's like climbing Kilimanjaro where it is very difficult. Where you have to produce food. And when you are unable to solve that commodity or throw away that commodity.
Number one the financial investment all had been eroded. The environmental resources are all lost. The morale of the farmer is lost too. That is why we need to make sure that if we produce food, we should as much as possible try to get the food on the plate of these people.
UNKNOWN: Ikegwuono says that there are now 54 ColdHubs in 22 states across Nigeria with more being built.
IKEGWUONU: We were able to store 42,042 tons of food in 2020. That is typically food that would had been thrown away, you know, or sold out at ridiculous prices. But we were able to sign up 5,250 small holder farmers, retailers and wholesalers who are presently using ColdHubs services.
And the number keeps on increasing every day. But really the big dream for us is to solve the problem of food spoilage in Nigeria. And expand our technology and savvy to other African countries that have this challenge within their country.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: And you can let us know what you are doing to answer the call by using the #calltoearth on social media posts.
Alright. Coming up on "CNN Newsroom" (Inaudible) the most famous rock star in the world, yet Mick Jagger went unnoticed while having a beer at a bar in North Carolina. We will share what the bars owner had to say coming up, stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BRUNHUBER: Well, there's no lead up in sight for that volcano erupting in the Canary Islands. It's been erupting for nearly two weeks, now destroying hundreds of homes and businesses. Officials warn that chemical reactions of the lava hitting the seawater could cause toxic gasses. But so far the air is safe to breath. The lava is now forming a delta off La Palma.
Well, it may sound like the beginning of a bad joke. A rock legend walks into a bar but -- well, that was actually the case in Charlotte, North Carolina. And nobody recognized legendary Rolling Stones' front man Mick Jagger having a beer.
CNN's Jeanne Moos has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It's still beyond impressive to watch Mick Jagger's moves at age 78. But its how nobody else made a move to recognize Mick. Mick who?
[03:55:06]
Made this photo of Jagger all alone having a beer and dive bar start trending. Brian Wilson is the co-owner of the Thirsty Beaver Saloon. He thinks he arrived after Mick left.
BRIAN WILSON, CO-OWNER, THIRSTY BEAVER SALOON: Nobody really mentioned that anybody famous have been here. So I don't think they noticed. But this morning my phone did.
MOOS: That's because Mick Jagger himself posted the photo on Twitter saying out and about in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Thirsty Beaver is a local legend for surviving developers who had to build around it when a rock legend showed up, but no one seemed to recognize him. The comments flew. Turn around, Mick Jagger is having a beer behind you. To his right were regulars who had tickets to the Stones Charlotte Concert.
WILSON: Upwards of $400 to go to the show and get as close as they could to Mick and if they only turned around, they had been as close as they ever going to get.
MOOS: Pay, at least no one was pointing. Even the bartender didn't notice Mick. One local writer, Jeremy Markovich brighten the photo looking for clues. Computer enhanced the beer. But attempts at determining what Mick was drinking were futile.
Markovich joked people who live in Brick Barr's should not know Stones. The band sing about this kind of place. The co-owner of this honky-tonk wasn't blue. Quenching Jaggers' thirst brought him --
WILSON: Elation.
MOOS: As one fan posted, I get a beer. It looks like a guy getting a beer. Mick Jagger gets a beer. It looks like a classic rock album cover.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Great story. I'm Kim Brunhuber in Atlanta thank you so much for joining me. "CNN Newsroom" continues now with Isa Soares.
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