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Maui Fires Death Toll Rises To At Least 53, Hundreds Evacuated; Iran Releases To House Arrest 5 U.S. Citizens In Swap, Fund Deal; Russia Steps Up Its State Media Campaign About Ukraine's Counteroffensive; U.S. Is Sending FBI To Ecuador To Help Probe Presidential Candidate's Killing; ECOWAS Orders Immediate Activation Of Standby Force In Niger; Tropical Storm Khanun Strikes Korean Peninsula; Outrage after Areas Flooded to Save Beijing; Fears India's Rice Export Ban Could Trigger Crisis; Women's World Cup Quarterfinal; Judicial Overhaul has Chilling Effect on Tech Sector; Modern Impact of Slavery's Dark History. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired August 11, 2023 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[01:00:27]
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN NACHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes. Appreciate your company coming up here on CNN Newsroom.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, none of us there is all burnt to the ground.
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HOLMES: Officials say it was like a bomb went off the latest on the wildfires being called the worst natural disaster in Hawaii's history.
Also, the beginning of the end of a nightmare. Iran agrees to eventually free five imprisoned Americans in exchange for billions of dollars in frozen funds. And rare protests in China with people furious their homes were deliberately flooded by the government.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from CNN Center. This is CNN Newsroom with Michael Holmes.
HOLMES: Coming to grips with a tragedy that many say came out of nowhere, at least 53 people have been killed by the devastating wildfires on the Hawaiian island of Maui. The death toll is likely to increase as emergency crews sift through block after block of destroyed properties.
Upwards of 1,700 according to the governor, much of the historic town of Lahaina, Maui's business hub is no more. Tens of thousands of people, tourists and locals have been evacuated. The fire now the second deadliest in the U.S. in a century. And the governor says it's likely the largest natural disaster ever in Hawaiian history. He estimates billions of dollars in damage. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSH GREEN, HAWAII GOVERNOR: It is going to take many years to rebuild Lahaina when you see the full -- the full extent of the destruction of Lahaina, it will shock you. It does appear like a bomb and fire went off.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: The wildfire the tour through Lahaina is now 80 percent contained. CNN is Derek Van Dam shows us the damage and how authorities are responding.
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DEREK VAN DAM, CNN WEATHER ANCHOR (through translator): Tonight, players (ph) on the island of Maui continuing to burn as new federal help is now being dispatched amid unprecedented widespread destruction.
Scenes like this becoming more common. Business is melted. Historical sites have gone. Homes reduced to ash and smoke. Hospitals are overwhelmed. Officials say hundreds of families are displaced.
MARK STEFL, LAHAINA RESIDENT: Everybody in our neighborhood lost everything.
VAN DAM: Mark Stefl home in Lahaina is gone, as is much of the tourist destination and economic hub. Stefl making a harrowing heartbreaking escape.
STEFL: We ran downstairs, grabbed our dogs and cats and we lost the cat and the dog because just confusion and the fire just engulfed our house.
VAN DAM: Officials say winds associated with Hurricane Dora helped fuel the fires. These before and after images near the highness Shores Beach Resort are staggering. Same with this stretch of beach where a number of buildings are simply gone.
Today, President Joe Biden approving a disaster declaration for Hawaii providing federal financial assistance and the Pentagon now activating more than 100 National Guardsmen to help in the response.
JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: Anyone who's lost a loved one whose home has been damaged and destroyed. He's going to get help immediately.
VAN DAM: Assistance meant to help Maui county residents like La Phena Davis.
LA PHENA DAVIS, MAUI RESIDENT: Everything that we own. You know in all my 50 years of life is completely burned to the ground.
VAN DAM: Today, residents and tourists alike finding refuge in a Honolulu Convention Center.
CHRISTINA JOHNSON, EVACUATED HOME: The gas station blew up at like three and since then we've just been trying to outrun a fire.
VAN DAM: As firefighters work to contain the deadly blaze, residents look at the monumental task ahead.
DAVIS: It's not just a loss of our home. It's a loss of our entire community. Our town that we've known it to be for generations and it's completely devastating or shook to our core.
VAN DAM: Derek Van Dam, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Erica Fleishman is the director of the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute and a professor at Oregon State University. Professor thanks for your time. I guess, you know, when we hear the factors behind Maui fires, high winds, low humidity, drought conditions, how much blame for those conditions?
[01:05:08]
And what's happened do you think can be put down to climate change?
ERICA FLEISHMAN, DIRECTOR, OREGON CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH INSTITUTE: Yes, I wouldn't say blame. I would say that the conditions are consistent with trends that are happening in Hawaii and trends that are happening in many parts of the world that have been observed and projected as climate continues to change.
HOLMES: We've already seen, you know, massive fires in Canada, there have been the fires in Europe as well. Do you think the size and ferocity of the thoughts of fires is he's here to stay now?
FLEISHMAN: In many parts of the world, wildfires are becoming larger. They are becoming much more difficult to contain, in part that has to do with things like temperatures in a relative sense are increasing more overnight than they are during the daytime.
When you get the type of high wind speeds that have been happening in Maui over the past several days, it's extremely difficult to contain wildfires, they spread quite rapidly, especially when the vegetation is as dry as it is and the temperatures as high as they are.
So, it's unfortunately quite tragic for the people involved and very dangerous for any of the firefighters that are trying to contain the wildfires.
HOLMES: It was interesting I've been reading about this and I know you've spoken about it to the aspect of non-native plant species fueling the blaze on Guinea grass was one example, it grows quickly, it can get three meters tall and when it dries out, it burns ferociously. Is that sort of thing introduced species an issue to you?
FLEISHMAN: It is an issue and non-native grasses, especially in many parts of the world would be a challenge, even if the climate was not changing, many of them are doing quite well as climate changes. They also again, whether climate is changing or not, they tend to be highly flammable. They also in many cases tend to respond from the from the plants perspective quite well after fire.
So in many parts of the world, as the plants -- as the types of plants in an area change, you tend to see more frequent wildfires and larger wildfires.
HOLMES: And when you think of the medium to long term impacts, are we sort of stuck with the sorts of disasters now? Can kind of be turned around or we bring forth now into an adaptation flight phase on the planet?
FLEISHMAN: For the next several decades, at least, even if emissions of heat trapping gases halted today, temperatures would continue to increase. So in terms of these extreme events happening, we likely are going to be dealing with them for at least the next several decades.
But that doesn't mean that people can't adapt to some of these types of events, that that that people's livelihoods and quality of life and cultural identities, with political will with resources with community engagement, that those can't be safeguarded, to some extent.
HOLMES: Yeah, yeah, exactly the changing world. Professor Erica Fleishman, appreciate you making the time. Thanks so much.
FLEISHMAN: You're welcome.
HOLMES: Another casualty from the Lahaina wildfire is a majestic tree that has become a symbol of Maui's culture. With 46 trunks the sprawling banyan tree is one of the largest in the U.S., but now it has lost much of its vegetation. The tree stretches and entire block and has provided shade to generations of locals and visitors.
It was imported from India then planted in front of the town's courthouse in 1873 and has been a national historic landmark for more than six decades. What you're looking at there is all one tree. They do say it could survive.
Now to a major development in the contentious relationship between the U.S. and Iran. Five Americans have been released from an Iranian prison and are now under house arrest, according to one of their attorneys. We do know the identities of three of the men declared by the State Department to be wrongfully detained you see them there. A source says it could take weeks before they get to return to the U.S. however.
The deal calls for the sixth to -- the U.S. to release $6 billion of Iranian funds frozen in South Korea, but that money can then only be used for non-sanctionable trade as they're calling it. Things like food and medicine. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the State Department had spoken with all five Americans.
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ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: This is a positive step. But I don't want to get ahead of its conclusion because there's more work to be done to actually bring them home. My belief is that this is the beginning of the end of their nightmare and the nightmare that their families have experienced.
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HOLMES: More now from CNN Chief international anchor Christiane Amanpour who broke the news of the Americans release.
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CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR (voiceover): It was a heartfelt plea heard around the world.
SIAMAK NAMAZI, U.S. CITIZEN IMPRISONED IN IRAN SINCE 2015: Honestly, the other hostages and I desperately need President Biden to finally hear us out, to finally hear our cry for help and bring us home. And I suppose, desperate times call for desperate measures. So this is a desperate measure. I'm clearly nervous.
AMANPOUR: Siamak Namazi was Iran's longest held American prisoner. He was arrested in 2015 while on a business trip, and then sentenced to 10 years for quote, collaborating with a hostile state. Namazi a dual citizen always denied the charge and Washington accused Iran of wrongfully detaining him. This was the desperate appeal he made to us from inside in prison in our unprecedented conversation.
NAMAZI: I think the very fact that I've chosen to take this risk and appear on CNN from Evin prison, it should just tell you how dire my situation has become by this point. I spend months caged. I spent months caged and solitary cell there was a size of a closet, sleeping on the floor, being fed like a dog from under the door. And honestly, how was the least of my troubles.
AMANPOUR: Siamak's elderly father Bagher who's now 86 was lured to Iran in 2016, with the promise of seeing his son, instead, he too, was arrested in prison for two years and then barred from leaving the country.
He was finally allowed out last October to seek medical treatment abroad. He's never stopped publicly campaigning for his son's release.
BAGHER NAMAZI, FATHER OF SIAMAK NAMAZI: I will never truly be free until Siamak is here beside me. I could not be more proud of his courage, but I don't want him to have to be brave anymore. I want him to be safe. I want him to be free, to live live. he should have been living for the past seven years, I want him to be home.
AMANPOUR: Among the other hostages released along with Namazi, a businessman Emad Sharghi and Morad Tahbaz, who have both been held for more than five years. They say they never so much as jaywalked, and they were held only as Americans to be traded on the geopolitical market. Before they're released, their families tried to rally support.
NEDASHARGI, SISTER OF EMAD SHARGI: I know that they are desperate that they are scared, and they feel like they've been forgotten. They have been determined officially by the Department of State, by our Secretary of State as having been taken detained by the Iranians, for one reason, and that is because they are Americans.
TARA TAHBAZ, DAUGHTER OF MORAD TAHBAZ: My father is an amazing person. He is so calm, so kind, so generous, so noble, and I think just how my siblings and I have been able to carry ourselves through this surreal nightmare is just a testament to him and my mother and everything that they've instilled in us and who they are.
AMANPOUR: Former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, who advocates for some of these families puts it bluntly.
BILL RICHARDSON, FORMER NEW MEXICO GOVERNOR: And this has happened in Russia, Venezuela, Iran, North Korea, it's a pattern, it's a new hostage diplomacy that we have to start confronting.
NAMAZI: Just do what's necessary to end this nightmare and bring us home. Thank you.
AMANPOUR (on camera): We'll get that message out Siamak.
AMANPOUR (voiceover): These few may finally have been released, but will they be the last American hostages taken by Tehran. Christiane Amanpour, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: A U.N. humanitarian official says she's appalled by a Russian strike on a hotel frequently used by the organization as well as various NGOs in Ukraine. The missile attack happened on Thursday in the city of Zaporizhzhia. Ukraine says one person was killed, 16 others were wounded.
The building also serves as a children's day camp, which was closed for the day, just an hour before the strike. Ukrainian officials called that timing a miracle that likely saved many children's lives.
Also in the south reports of heavy fighting but little movement on the front line as Ukraine tries to push ahead with its counteroffensive. Ukraine has also ordered an evacuation of civilians from the northeastern city of Kupyansk, which is under Russian military pressure.
As Ukraine tries to make a breakthrough in its counteroffensive Russian state media are making their own push on the airwaves. Their take on the Ukrainian offensive is that it's already dead in the water. Matthew Chance reports.
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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): This is how the Russians say they're taking advantage of Ukraine's flagging counteroffensive. Latest Defense Ministry pictures showing Russian forces advancing on land and in the air, can't independently verify Russian claims. But officials here insist they're now making daily military gains on the battlefield.
IGOR KONASHENKOV, SPOKESPERSON, RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY (through translator): During the day seven counterattacks from armed forces of Ukraine were successfully repelled in Kharkiv region.
CHANCE: On the country's flagship new show, they're already branding Ukraine's counteroffensive a bust, looping videos of Ukrainian troops in western supply kit getting bogged down ridiculing, but they say a Western excuses for Ukraine's failure.
At first Westerners justified Ukrainian failures with the weather general frost, the anchor says. Later it was general mud, and now it's the turn of general thistle. The Russian army is now aided by the greenery this insurmountable obstacle is why the Ukrainian army is failing to push forward supposedly, she says.
In fact, Ukraine says it is making progress albeit slow without the weapons it says it desperately needs to overcome heavily defended Russian lines. And it's going on the offense stepping up drone attacks on Russian shipping and other targets to pressure Moscow and disrupt supply lines.
Bringing home Russia's special military operation like never before. We're all shocked that it's happening here, says this woman in Moscow, but we're not politicians. So we don't want to comment she told local media.
I've got two kids and want to stop being ashamed. They were born in this time says another, her face blurred to protect her identity.
On the battlefield, Ukraine's slow progress is fueling Kremlin hopes that a turning point may soon be reached. That patience with Ukraine in the West may eventually run out. Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.
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HOLMES: Multiple suspects have been arrested in Ecuador just hours after a presidential candidate was gunned down in the capital those details coming up. Also, tough talk from leaders in West Africa discussing ways to deal with the military coup in Niger.
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[01:20:03]
HOLMES: A team of FBI agents is expected to help Ecuador investigate the shocking assassination of a presidential candidate. Six Colombian nationals are now being held in connection with Wednesday's fatal shooting in the Capitol. All are said to be members of organized crime groups. Let's get some more details now. Journalist David Shortell joins me
from Mexico City with the latest. So tell us more about the FBI is likely role in this investigation and where it stands at the moment.
DAVID SHORTELL, JOURNALIST: Yes, Michael, a series of quick escalations and developments today in Ecuador capped off by that news that the FBI is now on their way to help get to the bottom of this assassination.
We now know that six men were arrested in a series of overnight raids in Quito, all of them, as you said Colombian nationals. Authorities finding an arsenal of weapons during those raids as well, including a machine gun and several hand grenades.
Now we know that the men are connected to organized crime, but authorities haven't said which gangs they may be associated with commentators and analysts in Ecuador now trying to add some context around that piece of information. They say that perhaps these men were members of gangs, but organized crime is just so entrenched in Ecuadorian government right now that there's really important questions about potential involvement of political connections in the killing.
That of course will be one of the items being scrutinized by the FBI as they get on the ground in Ecuador in the coming days that U.S. law enforcement agency, of course, has tremendous experience investigating murders like this around the world. And they also have at their disposal some really sophisticated tools, including measures that can help track and trace the origins of weapons used in a claim like this.
Authorities are also going to be really interested in trying to find out how the killer was able to get so close to Villavicencio on Wednesday night as he left that political rally in Quito. We did learn some new information today about the security detail that the candidate had with him at that political rally.
According to authorities, there were two patrol cars in his security detail and several police officers dispatched to protect him that evening. Interestingly, Villavicencio campaign did have an armored car, but it was in use in a different city in Ecuador that night, authorities said at a news conference on Thursday.
Michael, there were three police officers in his detail that are among the injured tonight and they are said to be in stable condition.
HOLMES: All right, David, thanks for the update. David Shortell tthere in Mexico City. Appreciate it.
All right, let's turn our attention now to the coup in Niger. West African leaders raising the stakes in their efforts to oust the military junta that took over last month. A meeting on Thursday of the Economic Community of West African States or ECOWAS, leaders called for the activation and the deployment of a regional standby for us to restore order. CNN's Larry Madowo with more on the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): The headline announcement out of the second extraordinary summit of ECOWAS has led to a lot of head scratching and confusion in the region and across the wider continent. Part of the reason here is that the heads of state did not agreed to a timeline. They didn't announce it if they agreed to it. But too is that the language can be a little confusing. So this is what ECOWAS said.
OMAR ALLEU TOURAY, ECOWAS COMMISSION PRESIDENT: That the Committee of the chief of defense staff to activate the ECOWAS Standby Force with all its elements immediately. Order the deployment of the ECOWAS Standby Force to restore constitutional order in the Republic of Niger.
MADOWO: Many analysts see this statement from ECOWAS as a warning to Niger's military contact, that the military option is still not out of the table. That is still a consideration. But ECOWAS leaders are keen to explore diplomatic or political solutions to the crisis. So they're getting the resources ready, so that they can intervene militarily if it needed to be, but they're hoping that they don't have to go there.
President Bola Tinubu of Nigeria who chairs the ECOWAS Heads of State Commission said that the use of force will be a last resort. So analysts see this as a warning and a signal to Niger military junta that ECOWAS is serious. And they're asking for support from the African Union, from the U.N. to make this a possibility, but still hoping that somehow they can convince the military junta in Niger to hand over power peacefully back to President Mohamed Bazoum. Larry Madowo, CNN, Nairobi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: For more, we're joined by Ebenezer Obadare. He's a senior fellow for African Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. And thanks so much for making the time. Let's start with what do you make of ECOWAS ordering the quote, activation and deployment of standby forces?
[01:25:04]
I mean, the military option, most people think that would take a long time to actually do but what do you think the messaging is?
EBENEZER OBADARE, SENIOR FELLOW FOR AFRICAN STUDIES, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: I thought the message was very clear. The message is this, if you don't quit, General Tchiani, we're going to come in and drag out.
Up till about two days ago, if you had asked me, given developments in Nigeria over the last one week, given developments across the sub- region, and given the shift in the public mood indicates self, if ECOWAS is also going to go ahead with the previous plan for military invasion to over -- to reverse the coup in Niger. If you -- if I told me that the ECOWAS was announcements will have this kind of muscle, I will have doubted it. But I thought this was pretty significant. HOLMES: And you have written that I was reading some of your stuff today, you've written that force is needed. But what are the risks in taking that course of action? The junta, of course, has threatened fierce resistance. Is it a good idea?
OBADARE: I think it's a good idea in principle. So let me explain. You want to send a message that the region is no longer going to have military intervention, period. And whoever plans to take over a democratically elected government is going to have something to pay. So that's my basic idea.
I will say that, given what has happened in Niger over the last few days, given the shift in the mood within Nigeria, given all of those things, I'm not sure about how this is actually going to pan out. And I wonder if the defense chiefs of the military chiefs of ECOWAS have the kind of intelligence that they -- I think, you know, that's given them the confidence to make the kinds of calls that they're making right now.
HOLMES: The junta has reportedly asked for help from the Russian mercenary group Wagner, what are the risks of those potential ties should it come to that, and closer ties with Russia more broadly?
OBADARE: Well, that was always on the cards. And that's one of the problems right from the get go. That given the Wagner was next door already in Mali, in Burkina Faso, and in other parts of the region. The odds were that if this coup were to succeed, that the junta was going to invite Wagner to come in. If this takeover of the government indicates no reverse. I think you might as well give up and expect Wagner to move in at some point.
HOLMES: The junta announced a new government on Wednesday, more than half of the 21 positions filled by civilians to rest military appointments. Is that likely to come regional concerns?
OBADARE: No. So nothing surprising here, for me, at least because I'm a Nigerian. So I'm very experienced in the language of the military. But here's the way to look at it. 20 civilian appointees on that a military government is still a military government. The problem is not with a number of civilian appointees. The problem is that military rule itself is not what you want, is the very opposite of democratic rule.
Those who have taken over power in Niger are boring from a set of -- the claim a game that anybody who is familiar with military rule in Africa, is know -- is very familiar with. So, I'm really not impressed. I'm not surprised that they get taken that path, but it just strengthens my own determination that this abomination has to be to be terminated.
HOLMES: The days and weeks ahead, we'll tell. Ebenezer Obadare, thank you so much. Appreciate your time.
OBADARE: Thank you for having me.
HOLMES: Still to come here on the program, outrage in China as the government deliberately sends floodwaters into people's homes. We'll tell you the reason why when we come back.
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[01:31:53]
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM with me, Michael Holmes.
Now authorities in South Korea have evacuated more than 14,000 people in the wake of Tropical Storm Khanun. Officials shut down schools and canceled hundreds of flights, train routs and and ferry crossings due to the heavy rains and flooding.
The former typhoon swept across the Korean Peninsula Thursday after pummeling southern Japan twice. Khanun is now weakening as it continues over land and into North Korea.
Northern China also seeing rain from the tropical storm. That, as it recovers from flooding and record rains from Typhoon Doksuri that hit about two weeks ago. And there's another storm on the horizon as well.
CNN meteorologist Chad Myers with the latest.
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CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, we're finally losing definition now for Khanun. It's been in the water now for almost a couple of weeks. All eyes are really on Lan. That is the storm system that we're most concerned about for the next couple of days.
Still some spots though that picked up almost 300 millimeters of rainfall. Not quite that much here, but we can see the flooding there in South Korea.
And there's still going to be a little bit of rainfall left, a little bit -- a couple of centimeters really for anybody.
All eyes on this eye, so to speak. This is Lan, Typhoon Lan and in just a few hours forecast to be a 215 kilometer per hour storm as it's in now very warm water. Much less of a storm as it gets to the north but still will be a typhoon making landfall likely in Japan.
Yesterday it was a little bit far to the curve to the right, maybe missing. Not today, we're kind of back in the middle of where that cone was yesterday. An awful lot of rain coming in. And also some win of course, coming in with Lan across the next couple of hours.
And to the matter -- as we look at Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the winds will begin to pick up and pick up and pick up, and then obviously we're going to get some landfall here. Those were the European models that I was just showing you and the rainfall could be heavy, those white spots in there. That's 500 millimeters of rainfall. Do not need that much rainfall in any place across the globe.
There is Lan. There is a dying Khanun. That's the best news I can give you that Khanun is just about done. (END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Our thanks to Chad Myers there.
Now, just a few hours, China said at least 29 people in Hebei Province died because of the flooding and heavy rains from Typhoon Doksuri. And there have been rare protests in China after the government deliberately directed floodwaters towards people's homes. CNN's Ivan Watson with that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A rare moment of defiance in China. Angry residents on the steps of a municipal government building in the city of Bazhou. The sign says, "Give me back my home, the flood was caused by floodwater discharge, not by heavy rainfall."
[01:34:47]
WATSON: At some point, men with police shields disperse the crowd. The incident took place after deadly floods caused by the heaviest rains to hit northeastern China in 140 years. A typhoon that killed dozens of people in and around the Chinese capital Beijing, forcing the evacuation of more than a million people from their homes.
Over the last two weeks, these three provinces all saw dramatic flooding, but we are learning that some communities weren't just damaged by a national disaster. The small city of Bazhou where 0the protest took place, was a deliberately flooded by authorities following a government disaster plan aimed at protecting bigger cities like Beijing and Tianjin.
At two a.m. on August 1st, authorities activated a flood control plan, releasing water from dams into flood storage and detention zones. They then had to evacuate more than 800,000 people living in those zones, which quickly flooded.
State TV showed the Communist Party chief of Hebei Province touring the disaster area, instructing subordinates to reduce flooding pressure on Beijing and vowing to resolutely be the capital's moat.
In the event of a crisis, experts say countries often plan to redirect rising water but usually towards flood zones that are unpopulated.
ASHISH SHARMA, PROFESSOR HYDROLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES: It seems like a planning problem. Somebody allowed development or over development in an area that was designated to be a flood control zone.
WATSON: Provincial governments thanked evacuees for their sacrifice, adding history will record your contribution. That's cold comfort to people who have seen their homes and livelihood destroyed for the greater good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nearly all the factories in our area were seriously damaged. 99 percent of the factories little hope of salvaging the losses.
WATSON: Under Chinese rule, people are entitled to compensation of 70 percent of the value of property submerged in flood control areas. Experts say planning for the next extreme weather disaster will only get harder.
SHARMA: I think the entire world is scrambling to get prepared for the problems climate change is unfolding on to us.
WATSON: Which seems like an almost impossible challenge.
Ivan Watson, CNN -- Hong Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: There are warnings that India's government ban on the export of non basmati white rice could trigger a global food crisis. The country's farmers union says growers' incomes have been hit by the move which could see the world's biggest rice exporter cut production by 5 percent.
CNN's Vedika Sud with the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VEDIKA SUD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Dozens of panic-stricken buyers scrambling to buy Indian rice in a store in Dallas (ph), just a day after India, the world's largest exporter of rice imposed a ban on shipments exporting non basmati rice. The U.S.A. Rice Federation says there's quote "enough U.S. rice to go around".
But New Delhi's export restrictions have triggered fears of a global food crisis. India's rice supply has been hit hard after heavy rains devastated large regions where the staple is grown, crippling livelihoods.
Last month the Indian government said it was necessary to hold all exports of non Basmati rice to calm domestic rising prices and ensure adequate supply at home.
In a village in north India, third generation farmer (INAUDIBLE) sits by his paddy field. It has been submerged for over a month. It destroyed his newly planted seedlings.
Farming is Kumar's only source of income. He's taken loans to recultivate his land.
"I've suffered huge losses," he tells me. "Now nothing can be grown on this land until November. Here the rice export ban is a double whammy."
"It's going to have an adverse impact on us," Kumar tells me. "We won't get a higher rate if rice even exported. The floods were a death blow to us farmers. This band will finish us," he says.
The southeastern nation accounts for more than 40 percent of world rise exports globally. And Delhi's rice export hub create a space of uncertainty as rice stocks are piling up.
"The export ban has left traders with huge amounts of stock. We now have to find new buyers in the domestic market," Trader Rup Kuran (ph) tells me.
Many of the world's poorest countries depend on imports of Indian rice. Economists warn a prolonged ban could leave the world's most vulnerable people with even less to eat. Global food prices have soared to a near 12-year high, according to the United Nations Food Agency.
[01:39:56]
SUD: New Delhi's ban comes in the week after Russia's targeting of Ukrainian grain shipments, driving up grain prices across the world.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Poor countries, food importing countries, poor people in West Africa. They're at the highest risk. It is about does the food stay affordable or the poor suffer in countries around the world.
SUD: Almost 40 percent of the people on earth rely on rice for sustenance. A shortfall in Indian rice could leave millions hungry.
Vedika Sud, CNN -- New Delhi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Well the quarter finals of the Women's World Cup are underway and the first match of the stage was a thriller. We'll have a live report for you from New Zealand after the break.
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HOLMES: The Women's World Cup quarterfinals are underway in New Zealand and fans couldn't have asked for a better start to the stage. Spain eliminating the Netherlands in extra time, final score 2 - 1, advancing to their first ever semifinal.
CNN's Amanda Davies is live for us in Auckland. Terrific Spain- Netherlands match. I guess the Netherlands ruling a handball in the box that's for sure.
AMANDA DAVIES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes absolutely, the 2019 runners up, the Dutch are heading home after the quarterfinals. But Spain into the semifinals of the Women's World Cup.
For the very first time and for all their talent and the real growth of the game in Spain it's a real sense of validation for them finally getting to this point that actually so many casual viewers might think they've been to before. But it is just their third appearance at a Woman's World Cup finals.
And for all the talent they have on the pitch, there were long periods of the match you thought they meant come to rue so many of the missed opportunities and chances. They very, very much dominated possession. But the Dutch goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar really put in a
fantastic performance in between the stakes. And then it was a veteran Dutch player who had already announced at the end of this tournament will be the end of her career. Stephanie Van der Gragt, really looked like she was going to steal the show. Her handball giving Spain a penalty which saw them go ahead but she very quickly made amends and the defender got a goal of her own to take the game into extra time.
And then it was the young Spanish teen sensation, Salma Paralluelo, a player who until just 12 months ago was juggling athletics and football. She scored the goal that proved decisive, her first ever Women's World Cup goal to create history for her nation. And a real moment of celebration for her and her family.
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HOLMES: Yes. And you are there outside the iconic Eden Park (ph), I've seen a couple of rugby games there. And there's going to be another quarterfinal Japan and Sweden coming up?
DAVIES: Yes the gates have just opened. You've got about two hours -- just under two hours until kickoff. Now the fans have very much started to arrive. It looks set to be a fantastic atmosphere with two real giants of the women's football game.
Japan the only previous Women's World Cup winners who are left in this tournament, 2011 World Cup winners up against Sweden who in recent times have been perennial semifinalists at these major events. They are very much looking to go one step further, but will have a real tough job in their heads against the tournaments top scorers so far. Japan, 14 goals, who've really been celebrated, picked up a lot of fans along the way over the last couple of weeks with their style of play. The ease with which their scoring their goals, and brushing their way really passed their opponents.
The Swedish captain Kosovare Asllani is one of the people who's very much been singing the praises of her opposition this evening. But she has said her team have really taken a lot of confidence in fact they've won all of the games in very different manner.
Late goals from set pieces an d of course that incredible penalty shootout to knock out the defending champions the U.S.A. It promises to be a fantastic encounter, and of course both sides know it is Spain standing in their way next.
HOLMES: Yes. Fantastic stuff, I hope you get to enjoy it. Your cameraman Paul and I will be waiting for the Matildas to play tomorrow in Brisbane, because that's going to be exciting. Give Big O a smack on the head for me. Amanda Davies.
For the first time in 47 years, Russia has successfully launched an unmanned spacecraft to the moon. The Luna 25 is expected to enter an orbit around earth before transferring to a lunar orbit and then descending to the surface of the moon.
The Luna and an Indian spacecraft that launched last month are both expected to land at the moon's south pole on August 23rd. A race to see which country will get there first.
Israel's recent judicial overhaul and the national controversy over it are having a chilling effect on the country's tech start-ups. Many Israeli business owners are taking steps to shift operations elsewhere.
Elliott Gotkine with the story from Tel Aviv.
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ELLIOTT GOTKINE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tel Aviv last Saturday night and nearly every Saturday night for the past 30 plus weeks. Tens of thousands of Israelis protesting against the government's judicial overhaul. Among them, Chen Amit (ph) along with his family.
CHEN AMIT, PROTESTER: We (INAUDIBLE) for democracy and we pray for seem afraid for democracy.
GOTKIN: When he's not protesting --
Amit runs an $8 billion dollar financial technology start-up. The judicial overhaul he says and the uncertainty, disruption and risk that come with it has forced him to shift money and talent overseas.
AMIT: We are holding all our funds outside of Israel, outside of payroll in Israel for a few months. That's actually contractual obligation one of our banks enforced on us. It was a business continuity risk, so we applied for and received a blanket L1 visa in the U.S.. The visa that allows us with a few days notice to relocate as many employees as we need.
GOTKIN: Within the next 18 months, Amit expects 15 percent of his Israeli staff to move. He's not alone. A recent poll from the nonprofit start-ups Nation Central found almost 70 percent of start- ups are taking steps like shifting money, workers and even their headquarters outside of Israel.
At the same time, money going into Israeli start-ups is plunging.
ARI STRASBERG, VP, STRATEGY AND CHIEF OF STAFF, START-UP NATION CAPITAL: About 70 percent reduction from last year to this year, but the trend is also worrisome, because when you see the U.S. Were starting to ease off and actually start to climb, we've seen an additional decline of 30 percent in the last quarter.
GOTKIN: Adding to the gloom, a decline in shekel, and warning from Morgan Stanley, Moody's and even officials from Israel's own finance ministry, that the judicial overhaul could do serious damage to the economy.
The government's response? "Keep calm and carry on. This is a momentary reaction. When the dust settles it'll become clear that Israel's economy is very strong." But with a smaller or shrinking tech ecosystem it may not grow as fast as it could.
[01:49:56] GOTKINE: Outside the reservist refusing to serve, the possibility of Israel's favored (ph) tech start-ups rushing for the exit represent perhaps the biggest threat to Israel's future.
Technology accounts for half of all exports and if companies start to leave, Israel's best and brightest may not be far behind.
Protesters still hope the government will reverse course. While that law is designed to weaken and reduce the independence of the Supreme Court, it could be struck down. If neither of those happened, the so- called start-up nation may soon need to find a new nickname.
Elliott Gotkine, CNN -- Tel Aviv.
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HOLMES: In many parts of the world the dark specter of slavery lurks in the not so distant past. For the new poet laureate of Barbados that ) painful history is far from forgotten.
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ISA SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Why is it so hard for them to apologize?
ESTHER PHILLIPS, BARBADIAN POET LAUREATE: When you consider the atrocity, the brutality, the dehumanization of other people then I'm not surprised that they find it difficult to apologize.
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HOLMES: It has been nearly 200 years since slavery came to an end in the British empire but for many the psychological scars remain. It's a topic close to the heart of the first poet laureate from Barbados. She spoke to our Isa Soares.
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PHILLIPS: They say you were a wanderer stripped, beaten, sold from one plantation to another.
SOARES: Painful words by Esther Phillips, a reminder of the scars of history.
PHILLIPS: Laid under the earth almost 200 years, you've never stopped your wandering.
SOARES: As Barbados first poet laureate. Phillips has made it her a mission to break the silence from slavery at home.
PHILLIPOS: I think they just wanted to push it aside. It was just too painful, just too horrible.
SOARES: Now she's calling for reparations in the hopes that Barbados can self-heal.
SOARES: What is happened in Barbados civil society that is made this such a focal point or an important point right now?
PHILLIPS: I think what really triggered a high level of consciousness in terms of reparations is the fact that we became a republic. I think something shifted a little bit more in people's minds because now you're moving further away from colonialism. You're moving more into your own sense of identity.
SOARES: Identity, yes. Yes.
PHILLIPS: That's right.
SOARES: Talk to us about the scars that you stilL feel today.
PHILLIPS: You still have black people struggling with the blackness of the skin, the texture of the hair. That is still an issue, and unfortunately that has been fed down through generations.
SOARES; How then do you help these people? What needs to happen? Because we are talking centuries here in trying to undo this.
PHILLIPS: Yes, yes. So that's maybe why I think as a point to go beyond where history ends where history cannot go.
SOARES: From poetry to prose, Esther now sees her work as a memorial to her ancestors who were slaves in Barbados.
PHILLIPS: My grandmother told us for example about, she had heard this thing about her grandmother, so that takes me what three generations back. And that's what that poem "Wander" is about.
[01:54:58]
SOARES: Would you mind reading it as a --
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIPS: I don't mind reading it at all.
Time opened the window and you looked down the centuries. The long winding ages that stretched on before you. And you looked and you saw, armed with her pen her words and her voice.
One of your own blood has started her journey back through the years retracing your footsteps, to write your true story interpret your inarticulate crimes (ph), inscribed on her pages is your acts of resistance, your courage to suffer the strikes on your back rather than wear the chains on your feet.
SOARES: That's incredibly raw. How hard was that for you to write, Esther?
PHILLIPS: Extremely difficult. Because these are not things that are made up, these are actual truths. I'm doing the research now and it is when you go into deep diving it's really very, very painful. Even now in Barbados we have something called Barbados Today in History. So they look back at this old newspaper, the one called (INAUDIBLE), in which the enslavers would put out these ads for slaves who would run away. They were described by the scars that they had --
(CROSSTALK)
SOARES: And this would be in newspapers
PHILLIPS: In the newspapers.
SOARES: Esther grew up in Barbados next to the Drax plantation where her grandfather labored. The plantation which enslaved people for centuries now belongs to British lawmaker Richard Drax.
Esther is a leading voice in arguing that Drax plantation should be handed over to the people of Barbados.
Have you heard from Richard Drax?
PHILLIPS: I haven't heard from him.
SOARES: And no apology from him?
PHILLIPS: He acknowledges yes, and as he says, to quote him, "it is truly regrettable". But that's as far as he is prepared to go.
SOARES: We heard many European leaders say that apologies are needed, that many haven't apologized and the talk of reparations feels somewhat uncomfortable to many. Why is it so hard for them to apologize?
PHILLIPS: When you consider the atrocity, the brutality, the dehumanization of other people, then I'm not surprised that they find it difficult to apologize.
If you claim that such a horrible wrong has been committed, if you admit that what he did was something which is really beyond human imagination, then it is quite logical to ask the next thing. Well, what are you going to do about it? And I think that's probably what they are struggling with.
SOARES: Isa Soares, CNN -- London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: I'm Michael Holmes.
Do stick around. CNN NEWSROOM continues with Kim Brunhuber right after this.
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