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Pakistan Calls for Global Aid as Floods Impact Millions; Two U.S. Navy Warships Passing through Taiwan Strait; McIlroy Erases Six- Stroke Deficit to Win Third Championship. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired August 29, 2022 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM, I'm Christina Macfarlane. If you're just joining us, let me bring you up to date with our top stories this hour.

We're just hours away from the scheduled launch window for the Artemis 1 rocket. The unmanned mission to the moon is the first of several in the years ahead for NASA.

And Jackson, Mississippi and the communities around it are keeping a close eye on the swollen pearl river. Which is expected to crest well above flood stage in the coming hours. Water has already swamped parts of the city. The state's governor has declared a state of emergency for the area.

Now the death toll continues to rise in Pakistan where monsoon rains and flooding have killed nearly 1,100 people, including more than 350 children. The Pakistani army is helping with the relief and rescue operations as the government calls for international aid. CNN's Sophia Saifi has more on widespread devastation.

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SOPHIA SAIFI, CNN PRODUCER (voice-over): Families scramble on dry ground, to meet a waiting rescue helicopter. It's just one of many rescue missions taking place in Pakistan. Parts of which have been diluted by floods, after weeks of unprecedented monsoon rains. The Pakistani government says more than 30 million people across the country have been impacted by the floods. The operations by air, critical to transporting the stranded to relief centers. And also dropping supplies to areas not accessible by boat or roads.

The Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif joining the effort over the weekend. The government says it needs international help to deal with the scope of the disaster. Heavy rain and flooding have killed more than 1,000 people since mid-June. The misery felt all around the country.

In the north, tens of thousands of people were forced to evacuate this weekend after flash floods caused a river to rise. Wiping out a critical bridge and cutting off roads. And there are fears the rushing waters could wipe way more structures, even nearby villages. Many rivers in the region have already done so. These families camped by the side of the road and wondering where they will go next. Say they narrowly escaped with their lives.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): First, the water level rose a little and we brought the goods to the rooftop. We could not bring the household with us, we came out on the highway with our lives, children and cattle. Late night, the water level had risen until it was knee- deep.

SAIFI (voice-over): In southeast Pakistan, many people are just trying to salvage what they can after losing their homes to the floods.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): We are in dire straits, we are exhausted of moving our belongings here and there. Our homes and village drowned in the water, most of the livestock died, we have suffered a huge loss.

SAIFI (voice-over): Those lucky enough to reach a relief center, which have been set up across the country, can get a meal and a bed. But with the flooding so widespread, Pakistan faces enormous challenges ahead. The province alone which is badly hit by the flooding has asked for a million tents to help with the displaced.

Sophia Saifi, CNN, Karachi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: Well, CNN's Anna Coren is tracking the flooding across Pakistan. She joins us now live from Hong Kong. And, Anna, Pakistani are used to flood but nothing of this scale or severity.

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Christina. A climate induced humanitarian disaster of epic proportions. That's how it's been described by one government's minister. As you say, Pakistan is used to this. Every summer, the monsoon come and the floods occur. But not on this scale.

Pakistan is currently experiencing its eighth cycle of monsoon rains. Normally it's three or four cycles a summer. So, you can just imagine the amounts of water that is spreading across the country. The Indus River that travels the course of Pakistan that is where you are seeing these flooding occurring in these communities. The north has been hard hit but the south in particular has been devastated. Let's take a listen now to some of the civilians who have been severely impacted.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I'm flushing out water to retrieve any bedding or anything that is left intact. As you can see, nothing could be saved. I'm flush out water to salvage anything dry and safe there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Another storm is about to come. That's the water coming into the river Indus. We're scared of the river. We don't know when the embankment will break, how much water is discharged and we have no idea what the authorities are planning.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COREN: Well, we know that the military has been mobilized, Christina. They are trying to evacuate people from these hearted areas. We've seen people wadding through, you know, chest high water. I mean, there are some areas that have been completely cut off and isolated. So, they are having to helicopter people out.

But this is on a scale that hasn't been seen since 2010. When the last catastrophic floods happened. More than 2000 people die back then. The death toll stands at the moment, more than 1,000 have been killed, 33 million people impacted. But Prime Minister Sharif, he has said that the magnitude of the calamity is bigger than expected. He expects the death toll to rise. There is an urgent plea for international aid, international assistance. The government Christina, completely, overwhelmed by the scale of this disaster.

MACFARLANE: Yes, and presumably once the waters recede there will be the risk of the disease as well. And I guess, Anna, just devastating. Thank you very much though for bringing us that.

All, right we're also tracking storms in the U.S. People are cleaning up after severe weather blew in from parts of Minnesota toppling large trees over the weekend. At least one homes damaged, south of Minneapolis. The National Weather Service says a total of five tornadoes tore through twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. There were no reports of injuries.

And wildfires remain dangerous across the Northwestern U.S. In southern Oregon the Rum Creek fire had burned more than 8,000 acres as of Sunday. Almost doubling in size since Saturday. Strong winds and hot temperatures are causing the fire to intensify and spread quickly. Officials say lightning started to fire almost two weeks ago.

And Oregon is mourning after the death of firefighter Logan Taylor, who died fighting the blaze last week.

Well in India, authorities had demolished two high-rise apartment buildings after a court ruled, they were built illegally. Crowds watch from nearby rooftops as the towers were taken down by controlled explosions. India's Supreme Court order the demolition after a long legal battle determined the towers violated several regulations and fire safety rules. The buildings were knocked down on Sunday outside of New Delhi, and demolitions like those are rare in India despite widespread illegal construction.

OK, still to come, two U.S. navy warships passed through the Taiwan Strait amid heightened tensions between Beijing and Washington. We're following the reaction in a live report.

And later, a chance to own a piece of history. A car that once belonged to the late Princess Diana was up for auction. We'll have the winning bid.

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MACFARLANE: That was the scene in Libya's capital over the weekend, gun shots ringing out in the streets as rival militias trade fire. The country's health ministry says at least 32 people were killed in the clashes in Tripoli over the weekend and the International Rescue Committee says it had to suspend some of its humanitarian services for migrants and refugees due to the violence.

Well, the warships may be gone, but the tensions remain. This weekend it was the U.S.'s turn to rancor China with a transit near Taiwan, with two U.S. navy vessels passing through the Taiwan Strait. U.S. military says the voyage shows America's commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific. It was the first time since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit sparked tensions between Beijing and Washington earlier this month. That and other visits by U.S. lawmakers led China to conduct its own military exercises near the self-governing island.

Let's bring in CNN's Will Ripley in Taipei. And Will, we know the U.S. regularly sends warships through the Taiwan Strait. But against the backdrop of these heightened tensions, Nancy Pelosi's recent trip, what message was intended here?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it certainly was in some ways unique, Christina, because this was the first time in at least four years that the U.S. Navy has sent not one but two guided missile cruisers through the Taiwan Strait. And they could be sending a message that of coordination, the fact that they now believe that because there is heightened Chinese military activity in and around Taiwan, that the United States needs to potentially sail more than one vessels through the Taiwan Strait.

China claims these as international waters, even though the U.S. and others under the United Nations convention on the law of the sea, insists that this is international waters. China is saying, internal waters. China is saying that people shouldn't be sailing through the Strait because it's their territory. Just like they claim this island of Taiwan's is their own territory even though they have their own democratically elected government here and their own military. And they have for more than 70 years since the end of China's civil war.

Now what is surprising about, you know, this -- China would call it a provocation. The U.S. Navy would call it, you know, status quo, routine, you know, sailing through international waters.

But there's really been a muted response from Beijing. You even had some of their most provocative state media tabloids, like the "Global Times" say that there was no actual threat, and analysts are surprised by that. They're saying that it might be because Beijing is wary of international blowback to its actions, especially after the unprecedented military exercises encircling Taiwan after Nancy Pelosi's visit.

It could also be that because China cut off key communication lines with the United States, they were leery of sending their own warships, you know, in the vicinity of these U.S. vessels, because there was no interference from China during this pass through the Taiwan Strait. Perhaps because they know that there could be a heightened risk of a misunderstanding with those communication lines cut off.

Now there's another development that we are watching very closely, and this has to do with Chinese drones. Including just over the weekend on Saturday, yet another Chinese drone was flying over a Taiwan military base. This has happened at least twice this month. There is footage that has emerged from the island of Kinmen, which is a Taiwanese territory, but it's very close to the mainland, some six miles or ten kilometers from mainland China.

But on Saturday this drone it flew so close that you could actually see the faces of the soldiers who fired flares to warn this drone away. Now back on August 16th soldiers actually threw rocks to get the drone to go away. The Taiwanese defense ministry says they are working on a drone defenses stem, where they would actually shoot down drones that ignore these warnings.

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Now they're pointing out that these are civilian drones, but, Christina, just because they are civilian drones, does not mean -- it doesn't necessarily confirm or deny the fact that the Chinese military could be involved. There are these gray zone tactics that Beijing has been accused of using for many years, you know, coercive seemingly non-state or nonmilitary actors like fishing boats, or like these civilian drones, basically coming very close to provoking the Taiwanese military, perhaps gaining intelligence but not pushing so far that you can actually link it to the PLA, the People Liberation Army.

MACFARLANE: Yes, important of developments there, Will, as you say. Thanks very much there Will Ripley live from Taipei. Thanks, Will.

All right, just ahead, Rory McIlroy's stunning finish at the PGA tour championship. The golfer set two impressive records at East Lake. The big moments when we return.

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MACFARLANE: A car that once belonged to the late Princess Diana sold for more than $850,000 at auction over the weekend. As she drove the fort escort between 1985 and 1988, logging almost 7,000 miles in the vehicle before returning it to Ford. Now since then, it's had multiple owners.

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This model was usually painted white but it was done in black for Diana for discretion according to the auctioneers. But this week marks 25 years since Princess Diana's death at the age of 36.

Now, as he was open begins this week it will be the final act for tennis legend, Serena Williams' fascinating career. Earlier this month, the tennis star announced she would step away from tennis after more than two decades. And she'll play her final matches at the same place where she won the first of her 23 grand slam singles titles. Fellow player, Naomi Osaka spoke about how Williams and her sister have changed the face of tennis.

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NAOMI OSAKA, TENNIS PLAYER: I think that her legacy is really wide, to the point where you can't even describe it in words. Like, she changed the sport so much, she's introduced people who have never heard of tennis into the sport. And I think I'm a product of what she's done. I wouldn't be here without Serena, Venus, you know, her whole family, and I'm like very thankful to her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Well, meantime, men's tennis star, Rafael Nadal is hoping to secure a record a 23rd Grand Slam title at Russian Meadows. But a recent injury may dash those hopes. But one thing is for sure, Novak Djokovic is not attending. America's vaccination rules for non-U.S. citizens meant the Serb would not be granted a visa to enter the country.

Well, Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy added two new records to his pro-golf career on Sunday. He raised a six stroke deficit to win the tour championship at Eastlake golf club in Atlanta. With the victory, he claimed the $18 million FedEx cup prize and became the first golfer to win it 3 times. The 33-year-old also set a record for the largest final round come back in tour championship history. McIlroy talked about his achievement and the current date of golf with a CNN's Patrick Snell.

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PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: The week started interestingly all right with a triple bogey seven. I hate to bring that up. But then you overcome a 6-shot deficit Sunday, you made history, as I said. Where does this rank in your already storied career in terms of achievements?

RORY MCILROY, THREE-TIME FEDEX CUP CHAMPION: I don't know yet. I think I need to reflect on it in sort of -- it's been a strange week. It was very busy at the start of the week with, you know, a few announcement coming from the PGA tour, and then obviously the golf tournament got off to a bit of a weird start for me. But really proud of how I hung in there and showed a lot of resilience and ultimately it was somehow able to get the job done.

I mean, I didn't give myself much of a chance going out there today against Scottie Scheffler, who's the world number one. And, you know, going to be the PGA tour player of the year. He's had a hell of a season and I thought he'd go out and play a solid round of golf and I just wasn't going to be able to get near him. But I guess life and the golf gods had other plans. You know, Scottie didn't have his best stuff and I took advantage of that and here we are.

SNELL: And this of all years, we've seen player suspensions. We've seen the fracture nature of the sport. How even more special is it for you, personally, to win this year's FedEx Cup title?

MCILROY: Yes, it's huge. Yes, like the world of men's professional golf is going through some tumultuous times right now. But, you know, I think, it'll all sort itself out eventually. Like it's being right in the middle of things has been tough at times. And it's probably taken time away from the two things that are most important to me, which are family and golf.

But there are certain times where things just need to be done and you have to put yourself out there to stand up for what you believe in and I feel like that's what I've done this year, and I'll continue to keep doing that. But at the same time, still try to be the best player in the world. So, wearing a lot of different hats at the minute but, you know, I feel like I am able to handle all of it pretty well at the moment.

SNELL: And you've spoken so passionately, so eloquently, you've become really the face of the tour in many ways. You've been called the conscience of the tour as well. You are heading to England soon, right, you're going to compete over there. You're going to be coming face to face with players, you know, who are heavily involved in this. Who are suspended right now from the PGA Tour. How is all that going to play out? How do you approach that?

MCILROY: I mean, I guess, for me, I just took my head down and I'm there to play a golf tournaments. You know, I've got my team around me and I've got people that I'll be spending time with. And yes, look, it's a hard one for me to stomach the fact that I go over to play an event and a team of those guys are going to be playing in the same field. I don't like that. I don't -- you know, that's not something that I really want to be any part of. But for me, I am just as committed as I am to the PGA Tour.

I want to make that commitment to the DP World Tour as well. I'm going over to play 3 out over the next 4 weeks.

[04:55:00]

Not just for that but Ryder Cup, and, you know, Luke Donald and I want to support him as a captain. And so, you know, I'm again, I'm trying to do things all for the right reasons. And you know, those 18 guys over there have done things that I don't agree with and you know it's a shame that it's come to this point.

SNELL: Should they be allowed to play Ryder Cup?

MCILROY: No, If I had my way, no.

SNELL: What's the damage already done do you feel to the sport of golf?

MCILROY: I think it's just ripped it apart at this point. And not to the game of golf, right. You know golf as a game is massive. But men's professional golf is a very small part of that. But that's the world that I operate in. And what it's done to the world of men's professional golf is ripped it apart. Which is unfortunate. I think there are ways to mend that and bring it back together. But with everything else that's going on right now, I don't see that happening any time in the near future.

SNELL: We thank you for your time, we wish you well, congratulations.

MCILROY: Thank you very much.

SNELL: All the best.

MCILROY: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: Patrick Snell speaking to Rory McIlroy there.

Now, did you ever wonder if that old baseball card collection you had as a kid would ever be worth anything? Well, this baseball card from New York Yankees Mickey Mantle's rookie season in 1952 sold for a record at $12.6 million. It's now the most expensive piece of sports memorabilia in history. The card was last sold in 1991 for $50,000 before being sold again at a 25,000 percent increase on Sunday. More to the story, hold on to your old cards people.

That's it for this edition of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Christina Macfarlane in London. Stay tuned, "EARLY START" with Christine Romans is coming up next.

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