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Activists Rally Across The U.S. For Reproductive Justice; Global COVID-19 Death Toll Nearing Five Million; Clock Ticking To Pass Two Massive Spending Bills; Philippines Moves Toward Raising Age Of Sexual Consent; Brazilian Protesters Demand Impeachment Of President Bolsonaro; Taiwan Reports Second Day Of Chinese Air Incursion; Joint E.U.-Japan Mission Flies By Mercury For The First Time; U.K. Fuel Crisis; Thousands Of Climate Protesters March Through Milan; Camera Shy Crocodile Crunches Drone. Aired 5-6a ET

Aired October 03, 2021 - 05:00   ET

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

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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Live from CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, 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.

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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Everybody's frustrated. It's part of being a government.

BRUNHUBER (voice-over): U.S. President Joe Biden makes a bid for patience as he works to bring Democrats to an agreement on his infrastructure and budget plans.

Plus:

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tell me what democracy looks like.

PROTESTERS: This is what democracy looks like.

BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Americans march in the streets, sending a message to politicians and judges about reproductive rights.

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BRUNHUBER: And what doctors are saying about the pill that could fight COVID.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber. BRUNHUBER: The United States' divided House of Representatives is

facing a new deadline. At issue is a popular bipartisan bill to fix America's infrastructure. The $1.2 trillion package needs to pass the House by the end of this month.

But a crucial bloc of progressive Democrats say they won't vote for infrastructure until they have a much grander and pricier piece of social legislation in place. And that is nowhere near an agreement, with two Democratic senators objecting to the cost of that measure.

Now despite the infighting, President Biden says party unity is closer than some might think. Here's what he said on Saturday.

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QUESTION: Have you been surprised by how difficult it has been to bring the moderates and progressives together?

BIDEN: We can bring the moderates and progressives together very easily if we had two more votes. Two. Two people.

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BRUNHUBER: We get the latest now from CNN's Arlette Saenz at the White House.

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ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Biden expressed optimism that his economic agenda and infrastructure proposal will make its way through Congress.

But he also acknowledged the frustration within the Democratic Party, as moderates and progressives have remained at a standoff over these two measures. The president would not set a timeframe for when he wants to see these passed.

But he did say he believes it will get done, saying that he thinks there is support for both of those bills. Take a listen to the president's assessment of the state of play for Democrats at this moment.

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BIDEN: Everybody's frustrated. It's part of being in government. Hey, look, one of the things I love about you guys, I watched today, Biden vowed he's going to do this, Biden commits. Biden's going to work like hell to make sure we get both these passed.

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SAENZ: Now the president is spending the weekend at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, where he is making calls to lawmakers. He's also expected to host Democrats back in the White House later in the week as well as travel the country to try to sell his proposal to the American people. And I also asked the president whether he's found it to be surprising,

how difficult it's been, to bring moderates and progressives together.

The president said it would be a lot easier if they had two more votes, that being a reference to senator Joe Manchin and senator Kyrsten Sinema, two moderate Democrats, that the White House has really been trying to negotiate on that larger spending package, that currently totals $3.5 trillion.

Both of those senators said that that is far too high. And the president has been urging both sides to compromise and remember that they share these democratic priorities that they are trying to accomplish for the American people.

But right now, it's really a heavy lift as the president is hoping to get both that bipartisan infrastructure proposal as well as his larger sweeping economic agenda passed up on Capitol Hill -- Arlette Saenz, CNN, the White House.

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BRUNHUBER: Congresswoman Debbie Wassermann Schultz is a key member of the Democratic caucus and the former chair of the Democratic National Committee. And she spoke earlier with CNN about the difficult but necessary legislative process that was unfolding.

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REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D-FL): Democrats were elected to make sure that we could pass transformative infrastructure policy as well as family improvement policy. That's why we were given the majority by the American people, why Joe Biden was elected, why we have majorities in both the House and Senate.

Because Americans want folks on Medicare to be able to have coverage for hearing, dental and vision care. They want to make sure that they don't have to choose between working and paying for child care.

They want to make sure that they can have universal access to pre-K and real comprehensive health care coverage, like we don't have in my state, because Republicans have blocked it for years.

So we need to do both. And the key thing is we have support for both. I have been a legislator for a long time and the legislative process can be messy. They talk about you don't want to watch sausage being made.

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WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: That's what's happening here.

And I'll just make one more point, where I'll take you back. And anyone who was paying attention to the health care reform debate, the Affordable Care Act debate, that was gut wrenching. We had so many disagreements. The difference here is we agree on nearly all of this and it's just a

matter of making sure that we take the time to hammer out where we can build the most consensus and pass these two bills and send them to President Biden.

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BRUNHUBER: That was House Democrat Debbie Wassermann Schultz, speaking earlier with CNN.

On Saturday, the White House issued a statement from the president, pleading with Americans to get vaccinated. The U.S. leads the world in the number of COVID deaths, topping 700,000 late Friday.

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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Each of the flags you see in these pictures taken on the National Mall in Washington represents an American who died from COVID. But new cases and hospitalizations are now finally dropping.

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BRUNHUBER: The number of new deaths is also beginning to decline. And even more encouraging, drugmakers Merck and Ridgeback say their new anti-viral pill cuts the risk of hospitalization and death by 50 percent for COVID patients.

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BRUNHUBER: So let's go now to Honolulu, Hawaii, where I'm joined by emergency physician Dr. Darragh O'Carroll.

Thank you so much for joining us here. So the world is still digesting the news about the COVID treatment pill. I recognize, though, it's still early days. But from a doctor's perspective, walk us through this.

How would it be administered if I were to walk into your hospital with a positive COVID test and complaining of shortness of breath?

DR. DARRAGH O'CARROLL, EMERGENCY MEDICINE SPECIALIST: Sure, Kim, thanks so much for having me.

It's welcome news. It's something akin to Tamiflu that we've used and had for quite a while in our armamentarium for the flu.

So it's a five-day course, allegedly, according to -- again like you said, it's early days. It's a press release. We do need to see the concrete data. More data needs to be revealed before we can throw our confidence into it.

But it would be a five-day course and it wouldn't really be for people who are so sick they need to be admitted to the hospital. It would be for those who are testing positive and hit them early and prevent them from getting sick enough to be in the hospital and then mortality and death.

It's really kind of hitting them in that anti-viral phase, similar to remdesivir, although that's an intravenous drug, very expensive. We're hoping this is going to be cheap and effective. And it's very welcome news and we're hoping to have hopefully more than one of these types of medications in the future.

BRUNHUBER: So it would rely then on early detection and testing, because, if you were, as you said, to present to hospital and it was fairly severe, it would be too late to use this.

O'CARROLL: Absolutely correct. Yes. So you'd want to have robust testing system. I know that's part of the plan. And it really needs to be ramped up as much as possible.

You know, if you look in the European Union -- and many member states there are giving many of their citizens rapid tests, two to three to even five rapid tests per week so they can really keep an eye on what their infection levels are doing.

So it's really important, yes, to get notified early in the disease. And also that prevents you from spreading it either to your family, your friends, co-workers. And rapid testing really needs to be a part of our national strategy.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, absolutely. This is happening in the context of a new milestone in COVID deaths we just passed here in the U.S., 700,000.

Big picture, what's the latest on what areas and populations are still being hit the most right now?

O'CARROLL: Yes. Absolutely. It continues to be our unvaccinated population. You know, in Hawaii, we still have roughly 250,000 persons, who have not yet become vaccinated out of a total population of 1.4 million. Half of those are eligible over the age of 12.

We're waiting for hopefully some really good news for those under 12, who could be vaccinated and become less at risk and also less carriers to the community as a whole. And so I think you could just really kind of pick and look toward the vaccination rates of what states have -- and areas of each state have low vaccination rates.

We've definitely seen that here in Hawaii and we've seen that nationally and internationally.

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BRUNHUBER: That was emergency physician Dr. Darragh O'Carroll, joining me from Hawaii.

The global coronavirus death toll is set to soon reach a new and heartbreaking milestone. Around the world, nearly 5 million people have now lost their lives to this virus, driven recently by the Delta variant. And experts say the only real and viable solution to end this pandemic is for enough people to get vaccinated.

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BRUNHUBER: But convincing people to get vaccinated is difficult with rampant misinformation and vaccine skepticism. Earlier my colleague Michael Holmes spoke with an infectious disease expert about how vaccine hesitancy in Asia compares to Western nations.

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DR. TIKKI PANGESTU, CO-CHAIR, ASIA-PACIFIC IMMUNIZATION COALITION: there is less of this ideal of individual freedom, individual rights; I don't like the government telling me what to do.

So let's say a stronger sense of social responsibility: the community, the country comes first. That translates to the reality that, in most Asian countries, trust in government is, still, quite high.

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BRUNHUBER: Abortion rights supporters in the U.S. tried to draw the line, fearing that existing law could be rolled back nearly 50 years.

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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Up next, the crucial role the Supreme Court could play as it starts a new term.

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BRUNHUBER: Plus, the U.S. Women's soccer league canceled all their games this weekend amid sexual misconduct allegations by a coach. Now the league's commissioner has resigned. We'll have details ahead. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: Abortion rights activists hit the streets across the U.S. Saturday with a simple message.

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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Hundreds of U.S. cities saw rallies for abortion justice. The marches come after the state of Texas passed the nation's most restrictive abortion law amid fears that more states could follow suit. Suzanne Malveaux reports from the Supreme Court in Washington.

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(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN U.S. CORRESPONDENT: We're at ground zero of the abortion debate here in front of the Supreme Court. You can see the officers, who are protecting the building.

There are counterprotesters outside, offering prayers as well as song for some of those justices. And, of course, you see the police that are lined up, to keep these two groups separate from each other.

If you swing around here to East Capitol Street, this is where the women's march is wrapping up, concluding. There were thousands strong. The main focus around reproductive rights, abortion rights and a sense of urgency, particularly around the Texas banning abortion, the Texas law banning abortion after six weeks.

The Supreme Court refused to weigh in on that. And many people in this women's march today making this front and central, this issue.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm dressed up as the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

And I'm here today for everything that women have fought for since 1973, when this law was first passed, given us the right to choose and I'm just curious what has changed in that timeframe that makes our Supreme Court justices think that we have changed our minds about that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm dressed up as Lady Justice. And I believe that it stands for the fact that justice should be blind, it should be without bias. And there's religious bias in the Supreme Court. Extreme religious bias.

And so -- and why I'm here today, the things that are going on in Texas really drove me here today.

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MALVEAUX: The Supreme Court will be back in session on Monday. They are not taking up this Texas law but they are taking up a Mississippi law, banning abortion after 15 weeks.

And so this is an issue that voters say will be front and center; particularly they believe a ruling could come down regarding that particular case mid next year, right around the time of the midterm elections. So full focus on this issue -- Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, in Washington.

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BRUNHUBER: Jessica Levinson is a professor of law at Loyola Law School and joins me now from Los Angeles. She's also the host of the podcast "Passing Judgment."

Thanks so much for being with us. Hundreds of marches around the country, support coming in from around the world.

What message do you think yesterday's event sent?

JESSICA LEVINSON, LOYOLA UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL: Well, I think they sent a message that there are a lot of people who care deeply about this issue, more so than just posting on Facebook or Twitter about how much they care but actually leaving their homes and literally taking it to the streets.

I think the real question there will be, can people channel this energy that they put into a communal event, which, frankly, I think in a lot of ways, is a kind of cathartic and bonding event?

Can they channel that into pushing for changes in legislation, changes in the legal system?

That's always the question when you see these big marches.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. So when it comes to the changes, I mean, the law, the Texas law's facing a few legal challenges on different fronts. It's the vigilante justice element of this law that made it all the more horrific and dangerous for many opponents. And it's that aspect that may actually be part of its undoing. So bring us up to speed.

LEVINSON: So there was just a hearing late last week in a Texas district court. And the Department of Justice has actually sued Texas. And they're trying to say to a court, stop this law, do not let it continue to go into effect.

And the arguments were really interesting because you have the Department of Justice saying, we have case law in this country; we have Roe versus Wade, we have Planned Parenthood versus Casey. They both say women have a constitutionally protected right to have an abortion in this country.

And we have this Texas law that bans abortions after six weeks. You can't say these two things are consistent. And then we have Texas arguing really something completely different, which -- you mentioned this vigilante justice aspect of the law.

You have Texas saying, Department of Justice, you don't even belong here and you shouldn't be suing us because this law allows any private individual to sue another private individual who helps or tries to help a woman obtaining an abortion.

So we have these two completely different tracks of arguments. We don't know what the judge is going to say in that case. As you said, we know there are other cases pending, where there is a doctor who published an op-ed.

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LEVINSON: And he said I violated that law, basically, come and get me. And that case is also working its way up now the system. It will be interesting to see which one, if either, reaches the Supreme Court. BRUNHUBER: Well, we'll be following all of those cases, of course.

Jessica Levinson, always great to get your perspectives on this. Thank you so much for joining us. Really appreciate it.

LEVINSON: Thank you.

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BRUNHUBER: The world of women's sport in the United States is once again rocked by allegations of sexual misconduct. Paul Riley was the head coach of the North Carolina Courage and the National Women's Soccer League. He's now accused of sexual misconduct toward players. CNN's Coy Wire has the latest.

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COY WIRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There is anger and a growing call for answers following allegations of sexual misconduct by one of the National Women's Soccer League's most successful coaches.

Paul Riley, fired by the North Carolina Courage on Wednesday, after an investigative report by "The Athletic." Players alleged that, over a period of years, Riley used his power and influence to sexually harass players, even coercing one of them into having sex with him.

Riley denied the accusations in the report. CNN has not been able to reach Riley for comment.

Late Friday night, the league released a one-sentence statement about commissioner Lisa Baird, saying she resigned and the league accepted. Earlier Friday, the NWSL, in collaboration with the players' union, called off all matches scheduled this weekend based on, quote, "the gravity of the events of the last week."

Now the players' union in a statement said, quote, "Words cannot adequately capture our anger, pain, sadness and disappointment. We refuse to be silent any longer. Our commitment as players is to speak truth to power. We will no longer be complicit in a culture of silence that has enabled abuse and exploitation in our league and our sport," unquote.

U.S. Soccer announced it will conduct an independent investigation of the allegations. The organization not only governs soccer in the country, it also supports the NWSL financially and, until this season, managed league operations.

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BRUNHUBER: And soccer's world governing body, FIFA, says it's also starting an investigation into the case.

The group says, "When it comes to misconduct in football, we would like to reiterate that FIFA's position is clear. Anyone found guilty of misconduct and abuse in football shall be brought to justice, sanctioned and removed from the game." Coming up, a showdown in the skies has tensions soaring between China

and Taiwan. We'll go live to Taipei for details on the largest Chinese incursion so far.

Plus, first of its kind images from the first planet. We'll hear from the flight-controlled team leader for the mission to Mercury. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

The Philippines is one step closer to raising its minimum age of sexual consent from 12 to 16. The bill is now heading to the president's desk, after passing the senate this week. CNN's Paula Hancocks takes a look at the impact the legislation could have for the Philippines' most vulnerable.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Voters in the Philippines are facing an election next year. News that president Rodrigo Duterte will retire from politics is fueling speculation about who might take his place. Media reports there are focusing on his daughter, Sara Duterte-Carpio, the popular mayor of Davao City.

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BRUNHUBER: Selina Wang is following these developments for us from Tokyo.

So many were surprised at this news.

What do you think is driving his decision?

SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This was a big surprise reversal. Duterte is barred by the constitution from seeking a second presidential term. But just last month, he said he would run for vice president in the upcoming election.

And that plan of his was widely criticized as a move for him to maintain his political power and circumvent any potential legal action at home or abroad. But then on Saturday, in a surprise move, his longtime aide submitted papers declaring that he and not Duterte would seek the vice presidency. Take a listen to what Duterte had to say.

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RODRIGO DUTERTE, PRESIDENT, THE PHILIPPINES (voice-over): So in obedience to the will of the people, who, after all placed me in the presidency many years ago, I now say to my country men that I will follow your wishes and today I announce my retirement from politics.

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WANG: Experts say that Duterte is realizing that the tide is turning against him. This controversial strongman has seen his high approval rating slip during the pandemic and the ensuing economic fallout.

Now that he has announced his retirement, this essentially leaves the race for the presidency wide open. There's been a lot of speculation, focused on the opportunity this leaves for his daughter to run, Sara Duterte-Carpio, who is the popular mayor of one of the Philippines' largest cities.

Boxing star Manny Pacquiao has also announced that he's intending to run. Analysts have also pointed out that it is critical for Duterte to have a loyal successor in order to insulate him from any potential legal action.

Duterte has presided over this brutal so-called war on drugs that has left thousands dead. Last month, the International Criminal Court authorized a full investigation called the so-called war on drugs a, quote, "widespread and systemic attack against the civilian population."

But it is still possible, Kim, that Duterte can maintain influence if his daughter or a close ally wins top positions in the election. And it's also important to note that last-minute changes here are still possible.

He is known to make U-turns. For instance, Back in 2015, then mayor Duterte had said that he would retire from public life for good. But at the last minute, he entered the presidential race and won by a wide margin -- Kim.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, plenty of intrigue there to follow. Selina Wang in Tokyo, thanks so much. Protesters in Brazil are demanding that president Jair Bolsonaro be

impeached.

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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Scenes like this played out across Brazil on Saturday. Bolsonaro is under fire for his handling of the pandemic. But these protests are about more than just COVID. Left-wing parties and labor unions are among those rallying against the president.

He's being blamed for a poor economy, surging inflation and high unemployment ahead of next year's elections.

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BRUNHUBER: China is keeping quiet after Taiwan reported the largest incursion by the Chinese air force for the second day in a row. The self-governing island says more than 3 dozen military aircraft entered its Air Defense Identification Zone on both Friday and Saturday.

So let's bring in Will Ripley live from Taipei.

How worried should we be about the airborne saber-rattling here?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's certainly new for Beijing to set its own record of 38 warplanes in a single day on Friday and then break it record on Saturday. It makes you wonder what's happening today.

I want to bring up a list for you of what has been in the skies near Taiwan, just over the last two days, Friday, Saturday. You had more than 6 dozen planes in total, 68 fighter jets, four nuclear-capable bombers, three anti-submarine warfare aircraft and two early warning aircraft. All of these planes flying into Taiwan's self-declared air defense identification zone.

They didn't fly over the island or within 12 nautical miles of the coastline but they flew in that buffer zone that is still a place that will raise alarm. And the Taiwanese air force will scramble its aircraft, it will deploy its air defense missile systems and send out radio warnings to these planes. This is exactly what they sent out here.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).

(END AUDIO CLIP)

RIPLEY: Beijing not giving any official comment about this.

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RIPLEY: They often don't reveal their reasons. They keep it pretty ambiguous. Chinese state media hinting this might have something to do not necessarily with the actions of Taiwan but with the movements of U.S. aircraft carriers in this region, in the South China Sea.

The flight path also interesting, that it was in the extreme southwest of Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone, right near a very important strategic island, an atoll, if you will, a tiny strip of land that kind of sits right at the gateway to the Taiwan Strait, that makes it important for Taiwan security.

Taiwan has occupied it for more than 70 years. There's an airstrip there, a small base, even a small temple. You have military troops who are stationed there had and some scientific researchers, members of the Coast Guard. There's a lot of coral reefs in the area, a lot of important ecological systems but there is a military presence.

And by flying these military assets very close to that island, Beijing is sending a message that they could, A, take that small piece of Taiwanese territory almost immediately. There wouldn't even be a fight to put up because they would just be so overwhelmed.

But the bigger, of course, question is, if Beijing were to do that, then what could happen next?

Is the island of Taiwan, the main island, under some sort of a threat?

Most analysts say certainly not anytime soon but this kind of stepped- up intimidation makes a lot of people wonder, Kim, where things are headed.

BRUNHUBER: Let's hope it doesn't escalate and become more volatile. Will Ripley in Taipei, thanks so much.

An historic mission to the planet closest to the sun. When we return, a view of Mercury like you've never seen before. Please do stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: A spacecraft is sending back its first fly-by pictures of Mercury, giving us a remarkable view of the planet closest to the sun.

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BRUNHUBER: The mission is being conducted by the European Space Agency and Japan's aerospace exploration agency and you can see some of those first images here taken from about 600 miles away.

Like our moon, Mercury's surface is pockmarked with craters and at least one of them is more than 150 miles across. And what a trip it's been so far. Since its launch in 2018, the spacecraft has flown by Venus twice.

The aim is for the probes to move slowly enough to take up a stable orbit around Mercury, hopefully by the end of 2025. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: I would like bring in Elsa Montagnon, the BepiColombo spacecraft operations manager and leader of the flight control team and she joins me now from Darmstadt, Germany.

Thanks so much for being here with us. I want to just start with the first pictures you're getting back. Explain to us what we're seeing.

ELSA MONTAGNON, BEPICOLOMBO SPACECRAFT OPERATIONS MANAGER: Yes, it's very exciting to see this first picture of our target, Mercury, because if features a lot of the surface that we will be studying in more detail in the years to come.

So you can see an assortment of the surface features that are typical of this planet, from lava plains, over laid craters (ph), events and hollows.

BRUNHUBER: Explain those hollows, they're unique to Mercury.

What exactly are they?

MONTAGNON: Hollows are part of the surface, where a volatile material is actually taken away from the planet. We do not really completely understand this mechanism yet. It would be one of the objectives of BepiColombo when we arrive.

BRUNHUBER: Take us through this.

This is just the beginning, right?

Once the probes are in orbit around Mercury, what are you expecting to get then?

MONTAGNON: Well, BepiColombo is a classic (INAUDIBLE) mission, like others before us. Mercury has not been visited very much so far by manmade probes. There have been two American missions before us.

So we have a battery of instruments (INAUDIBLE) to study the environment and remote surface instruments to learn more about the surface, its composition, its geology and other such scientific topics. So this is what we will dedicate our work to when we arrive.

We have the ability to have two scientific officers for this mission, the European one and the Japanese one. They will nicely complement each other in this way.

BRUNHUBER: So getting all of that data is one challenge. I mean, getting the probes there at all, to even where you are now, so close to the sun, with the heat and the huge gravitational pull of the sun to contend with, it's a monumental feat of engineering. Talk me through the challenges you had here.

MONTAGNON: Yes, in fact, the fact is there is a high point of decades of hard work for by scientists and engineers to make it happen. Indeed, the spacecraft is now plunging toward the sun. The fly-by was at a distance of 56 million kilometers from the sun.

But we'll reach our lowest point this year at 47 million kilometers in just two weeks from now. And the spacecraft can really feel the heat. It's about a third of what we can feel here on the Earth in terms of distance. But in terms of heat, it would be about 10 times.

So the spacecraft is especially designed for this challenge and we're about to see the effects of this design now as we speak.

BRUNHUBER: So take us ahead a couple of years when those probes are actually orbiting Mercury itself, the least explored of the inner planets, the only rocky planet orbiting the sun that has a magnetic field -- aside from the Earth, of course. Take us through exactly what you're hoping to learn from this.

MONTAGNON: Well, it's very important to study Mercury as one of the links in understanding how the universe has been built, how our solar system has been built and (INAUDIBLE) very exciting (INAUDIBLE) exoplanets (ph), of course.

But also in the study of the topics that could support the emergence of life. By studying Mercury, we'll understand more about how planets are born, how they evolve, what are the conditions for the emergence of life and I expect (ph) we'll learn more about our own world, as well.

BRUNHUBER: Well, it's an amazing technical achievement so far. We wish you and Bepi the best of luck in the years to come. Elsa Montagnon, thank you so much. Really appreciate it.

MONTAGNON: Thank you for your interest.

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BRUNHUBER: The British prime minister isn't ruling out further relaxing visa restrictions for truck drivers to help lift the nation while fuel crisis. One retailers group says more than a quarter of its fuel stations remain dry with the fuel supplies coming far too slowly. So now the government's sending out the military to help. CNN's Anna Stewart has the latest from London.

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ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The fuel crisis, is now, in its second week. The situation, appears to be easing. That is what we are hearing, from the U.K. government. And, also industry leaders. But this recovery appears to be patchy.

GORDON BALMER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PETROL RETAILERS ASSOCIATION: We've spoken to sites in Wales, for example, in Scotland, in Northern Ireland. They say, it's a very much improved situation. Fuel is readily available.

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BALMER: But London and the southeast have been impacted, I'm afraid, especially, at some of the BP sites and the Shell sites, around London.

However, both companies are actively working the situation and we hope that we can get some fuel back into the system, in the coming days.

STEWART: In London, we are still seeing long queues outside of fuel stations and those are the ones that, still, have fuel. Many are actually empty.

The problem here is not a fuel shortage in the U.K., as there's plenty of it, it's just not where it needs to be. That is due to a lack of truck drivers. This is the result of the pandemic but also very much exacerbated by Brexit, which saw a mass exodus of European workers.

On Monday, the U.K. government is activating the military; 200 personnel will be taking to the roads, getting fuel from refineries and platforms to where it needs to be. The U.K. government is also issuing 5,000 temporary work visas, for foreign truck drivers.

This may help their short or medium term problem here but the worry is it doesn't address the longer term issue. It's not just a shortage of truck drivers. There are lots of labor shortages in the U.K. It is impacting other sectors, like food and drink.

So as hopefully, this fuel crisis does come to an end, in the coming days, the worry, is that there could be another crisis around the corner -- Anna Stewart, CNN, London.

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BRUNHUBER: Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, the climate crisis is wreaking havoc on Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Now a new innovation may help curb that. We'll have details after the break. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Climate activists marched through the streets of Milan, Italy, on Saturday. They're calling on wealthy nations to live up to a long-standing promise to spend $100 billion a year to help developing countries transition to clean energy. Activists say they need to do that and much more.

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LAURA VALLARO, CLIMATE ACTIVIST: I'm here because, in these days in Milan, there is the pre-cop and the world leaders have met to discuss the policies on the -- to face the climate crisis. But are not listening to us young people and to us people in general. And we want them to listen.

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BRUNHUBER: Queen Elizabeth is echoing the activists' message to listen to the concerns of young people. The queen will attend the COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow. She spoke about it as she opened the new session of Scotland's Parliament.

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ELIZABETH II, QUEEN OF ENGLAND: The eyes of the world will be on the United Kingdom and Scotland in particular, as leaders come together to address the challenges of climate change.

There is a key role for the Scottish Parliament, as with all parliaments, to help create a better, healthier future for us all and to engage with the people they represent, especially our young people.

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BRUNHUBER: Australia is fighting back against the devastating effects of climate change with a process called cloud brightening that hopes to protect the Great Barrier Reef.

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LYNDA KINKADE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): About 100 kilometers off the coast of Australia, right above the Great Barrier Reef, researchers are spraying fine mists of seawater into the air.

They're using a process called cloud brightening, to protect endangered reefs from rising temperatures and sunlight, causing irreversible, coral bleaching. The premise of the project is simple.

The water droplets, from the mist, evaporate, leaving tiny salt crystals, drifting up, toward the sky. Water vapor, condensing around those crystals, brightening existing clouds, which block the damaging solar energy, from reaching the reefs.

The project, initiated last year, had its second trial in March at the end of summer in the Southern Hemisphere.

DANIEL HARRISON, CLOUD BRIGHTENING PROJECT LEADER: If we do it over an extended period of time, for a few weeks, to a couple of months, when the corals are experiencing marine heat wave, we can actually start lowering the water temperature, over the reef.

The second way we can help the coral, it's actually the light in the presence in the hot water, that causes of coral to bleach. So by reducing just a small amount of light, about 6 percent or so of the average light, over the summer, we can reduce 50-60 percent of the bleaching stress on the corals.

KINKADE (voice-over): The research team, using a boat, floating just above the coral reefs. Scientists use sensors, attached to drones, to monitor the nanodroplets, as they drift to the sky. Researchers found the results exceeded their expectations, with far

more droplets making it into the clouds, than their initial explanation. Despite the promising results, some environmental groups fear the project may detract from global efforts to limit greenhouse emissions.

But Harrison says his focus is on the reefs, not global geoengineering and tackling climate change is key.

HARRISON: If we don't have strong action on climate change, then cloud brightening can only help for a little while. Eventually the effect that you can get from the clouds is limited and it just becomes overwhelmed by climate change after a couple of decades.

KINKADE (voice-over): -- Lynda Kinkade, CNN.

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BRUNHUBER: From one natural disaster to another, a new drone captured footage inside Hurricane Sam as it barrels across the Atlantic. It navigated through 50-foot waves and 120-mile-per-hour winds to capture stunning footage.

Now this has never been done before. It gives us a completely new view of a hurricane. Data from this drone and others like it could help predict how and when the hurricanes strengthen.

Well, paparazzi beware. A camera operator in Australia's Crocodylus Park lost his equipment when a crocodile snapped at the low-flying drone. Staff members found what looked like the reptile's new chew toy two weeks later. Luckily, the memory card was still intact. The drone operator said he picked the wrong croc on the wrong day.

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DANE HIRST, CAMERAMAN, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION (voice- over): So I got the drone up over a small lagoon at Crocodylus Park. And all the crocs were really skittish.

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HIRST: But there was one crocodile in particular that was holding its ground and really eyeballing that drone.

I thought, great, I'll use this fellow. He's in a stationary spot. I can get some decent shots of him.

I lined the drone up and moved over the top of him. And as I was doing that, I looked up towards the lagoon and saw a crocodile vertical out of the water and heard the great clamping noise of a crocodile's jaws coming together.

I looked down at my controller and, sure enough, it was blank screen and no connection. I thought, oh, wow, that was a brand-new drone. This is going to be a really hard one to explain.

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BRUNHUBER: A lesson learned from a croc who was definitely not ready for its close-up.

A Georgia student presented one of the most epic absence notes ever for missing school. Just watch this.

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LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA, ACTOR AND PRODUCER: Ms. Rosner, this is Lin-Manuel Miranda. I am sorry he can't be in U.S. history class right now. But he is with me. We're going to go over the Bill of Rights and anything you may be covering right now, we cover.

We cover a lot in about 2.5 hours of "Hamilton," but we're going to go over it in specifics now. So this is not lost time. Thank you.

BRUNHUBER (voice-over): The "Hamilton" creator was the guest of honor at a fundraiser organized by the mother of 16-year-old Luke Stevens. Luke's history teacher said she was thrilled to learn he really did skip her class to spend time with the Broadway star and perhaps learn something.

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BRUNHUBER: Beats any of the excuses I ever cooked up.

Thank you for joining me on CNN NEWSROOM. "NEW DAY" is next for viewers in America, for the rest of the world, it's "BOND 25."