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Tropical Storm Idalia now Batters Florida's Gulf Coast before Intensifying into a Hurricane; More Mass Shootings Took Place over the Weekend with Jacksonville, Florida as Racially-Motivated; Russia Confirms Wagner Mercenary Leader's Death.; U.N. Leader calls out Zimbabwe Leaders to Sort Out Election Differences; A School in India Shuts Down after a Video of a Teacher Slapping a Muslim Student Was Surfaced online; A Tribal Community in California Pushes Through with an Annual Festival without Salmon. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired August 28, 2023 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead on "CNN Newsroom," drama unfolds on two fronts today as the cases against Donald Trump and his allies enter a new phase.

We're tracking a tropical storm headed towards Florida and expected to strengthen into a hurricane before it makes landfall this week.

Plus, an emotional vigil in Jacksonville, Florida, motivated by hate took the lives of three people.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Thanks for joining us. A hurricane watch is in effect for portions of Florida's Gulf Coast where tropical storm Idalia is expected to make landfall as a hurricane later this week.

Some counties have announced school closures and voluntary evacuations. The latest update says the storm is strengthening quickly. It's expected to bring hurricane force winds to far western Cuba Monday, then make a beeline for the western side of Florida's panhandle.

Karen Maginnis is monitoring the tropical storm for us. She joins us now. So Karen, what's the latest on this?

KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, well we'll be getting another update in the next couple of hours from the National Hurricane Center. This is the latest information right now, 60 mile an hour winds. A few hours ago the winds supporting this were at just 45. So that may not be much of a bump when you just say it out loud, but

in fact that's fairly significant because it's just kind of spinning down here near the Yucatan Strait. But once it moves into that very warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, that's really going to add fuel to the fire and really increase this rather intensely over the next 12 to 24 hours. We think that by this time tomorrow, we are going to look at a category one, possibly a category two hurricane.

Should that happen? Yes. Everyone should take notice pretty much the entire coastline of Florida, that Gulf of Mexico coastline.

But even as we go into the next several days up into northern sections of Florida, you will also be impacted by what happens with Idalia, should it become a hurricane, possibly a category two. The computer models are suggesting in fairly good agreement that this is going to make its way towards that bend area of Florida.

Now Tampa has not been hit by a hurricane, directly hit, as in the eye moved over Tampa in more than 100 years. And in this particular scenario, it still looks like it's going to be a miss, but don't be fooled because the storm surge is going to be significant here.

By storm surge, we mean that wall of water associated with an intense hurricane like this and we could see quite a bit of inundation in those coastal areas. We could see some localized flooding down trees down power lines and we could see this could be a multi-day event, not just for this West Coast of Florida, but in northern sections of Florida into Georgia, also coastal South Carolina, where my beloved state of South Carolina could be impacted, and Charleston in particular, where a summer thunderstorm floods the city there.

There you can see the computer model the next five days, suggesting four to six to some isolated areas of as much as 10 inches of rainfall. As I mentioned, the computer models are in fairly good agreement, but remember any kind of a change whether it be 50 miles, could dramatically change where the system makes landfall.

By landfall, we mean when that eye crosses the shore, and that's what we refer to as landfall. But it doesn't have to make landfall for the impacts to really be felt across this region.

As we go towards Saturday, it'll be off the mid-Atlantic coast, so it will still have its impacts with perhaps the potential for rip current to materialize there.

We do have the Hurricane Watch out all the way from the Bend area, the Appalachia Bay area towards Tampa. Even though it's not at hurricane intensity, we are expecting within the next 24 to 48 hours that there will be hurricane conditions there. We'll keep you updated here in the CNN Weather Center. Rosemary?

CHURCH: And we appreciate that. Karen Maginnis, many thanks.

[03:05:05]

We are just hours away from what promises to be a pivotal moment in the Georgia election interference case against former president Donald Trump, a federal judge is set to hear arguments from co-defendant Mark Meadows. He's pushing to get his state charges moved to federal court and maybe even thrown out.

Fulton County prosecutor Fani Willis is set to lay out the evidence and legal arguments of her sprawling anti-racketeering case against Trump, Meadows and 17 other co-defendants.

And Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who Trump pressured to find him more votes has been subpoenaed to testify. Separately, we'll also likely learn the trial date for the federal election interference case against Trump. Special counsel Jack Smith is asking the judge overseeing that case for a January trial date, while Trump is pushing for a court date in April 2026, long after next year's presidential election.

CNN's Jeremy Herb has more from Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY HERB, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Two court hearings are happening simultaneously Monday morning, and each could have significant implications for former President Trump's legal strategy next year.

First, in Washington, D.C., a federal judge is holding a hearing on when former President Trump's trial will take place on special counsel Jack Smith's election subversion charges. The special counsel, he wants to hold the hearing in January of next year, about four months from now. But the former president's lawyers, they've proposed a trial date of April 2026, not for another two years.

They argue that four months is not enough time and that a January trial would interfere with the former president's other criminal cases.

Now, of course, this all will be playing out with the political calendar looming as a January trial date would be happening at the same time as the Republican presidential primaries.

Now, in Georgia, a federal judge is holding a hearing on former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows' request to move his case into federal court. Meadows is one of five of the 19 defendants in Georgia who are trying now to move their case. And the former president is expected to potentially file a similar motion.

This is significant because it could affect the jury pool and a federal trial could include a broader spectrum of Georgia residents that could lead to a more pro-Trump jury. So the former president's lawyers, they're likely to be watching what transpires closely on Monday in Georgia.

Jeremy Herb, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And I spoke last hour with criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor Bernarda Villalona and I asked her how pivotal Monday's hearing will be if Mark Meadows succeeds in his bid to move his Georgia case to federal court.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERNARDA VILLALONA, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY AND FORMER PROSECUTOR: Well, this would definitely be a game-changer for Mark Meadows and possibly the other defendants if they decide to join Mark Meadows in this pursuit of having their case heard in federal court. But of course, not all the defendants are going to be entitled to that because they have to have been acting in their federal official capacity when they were acting with these allegations that they've been charged with.

But what's more important about it is that if there is a hearing that goes forward tomorrow is that Mark Meadows will possibly testify in that hearing and give evidence or testimony as to how he was acting in his federal official capacity.

CHURCH: And Fani Willis issued a subpoena for GOP Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to testify about that infamous phone call with Donald Trump. Raffensperger asking, he was asking him to find 11,780 votes in Georgia in the wake of the 2020 election. How damning could that testimony potentially be, do you think?

VILLALONA: Well, that testimony is very damning. It's that exact phone call that goes to show, and Fani Willis is going to be able to show, that no one was acting in their federal official capacity when they were engaging in these conversations. And that actually those conversations are pivotal in the criminal charges. So that's why she's actually subpoenaed Mr. Ratham for it to come in and testify at the federal hearing, because she wants to let the judge know that there is no way that none of these defendants, especially Mark Meadows, acting in his federal official capacity as Chief of Staff for the former president.

CHURCH: So what are the next steps now in this Georgia case?

VILLALONA: Well, the first step is going to be that all of these defendants have to be arraigned, meaning that they have to appear before court. It's unsure whether they appear in person or virtually. But at that court appearance, a judge will formally let them know what the charges are against them and ask them to enter a plea, whether the plea is of guilty or not guilty. Obviously, we're expecting a plea of not guilty for each of these 19 defendants.

[03:10:00]

And the judge is then going to set a motion schedule, motions for the defense to file motions, motions to dismiss on various different grounds, but possibly even set a trial schedule as well. So that's going to be the initial appearance for all 19 of these defendants.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Federal authorities have opened a civil rights investigation into Saturday's racially-motivated mass shooting in Florida. On Sunday, the Jacksonville community held a vigil for the three victims killed by a gunman at a store near an historically black university. The city's mayor called for unity in the wake of the gun violence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONNA DEEGAN, JACKSONVILLE MAYOR: We have to do everything that we can in this community to bring unity, unity to our city. No more division. No more hate. We cannot tolerate hate against our black community. We simply cannot and will not tolerate it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: All three victims have been identified. They are 52-year-old Angela Michelle Carr, 19-year-old A.J. Laguerre Jr., and 29-year-old Jerrald Gallion. One of Gallion's family members who attended the vigil described to CNN the kind of man he was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SABRINA ROZIER, JERRALD GALION'S FAMILY MEMBER: Jerrald was a fun, loving young man. He was very active in my granddaughter's life. From the day him and my daughter met to the time she got pregnant, he was at every hospital visit, every doctor's appointment. He was very, very active in her life.

She loved her daddy and her daddy loved her. He didn't miss a beat in her life.

UNKNOWN: What were his hobbies? What did he wanna do in life? He was such a young man.

ROZIER: He can rap, he can play basketball. They played video games together. He took her to the park. But her favorite memory is when he took her to Dave and Busters. It's hurtful, because I thought racism was behind us, but evidently it's not. And that's what they're calling this act of racism. And I just feel like you was a coward.

You went in and shot these innocent people for nothing that you didn't even know. And then you took your own life. That's just the cowardly way to go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Authorities say the 21-year-old gunman used racial slurs, drew swastikas on his AR-15 style rifle and left behind multiple racist screeds. Vice President Kamala Harris said in a statement that the shooting should be investigated as a hate crime and as an act of violent domestic extremism. Gun violence left its tragic mark on communities across America over the weekend.

CNN's Polo Sandoval reports.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was another weekend plagued by gun violence in America, that violence extending beyond just the state of Florida. On Saturday night, police in Louisville, Kentucky, investigated a shooting that left several people injured and at least two people dead.

Shooting at a restaurant, investigators are still looking into what led to that. On Saturday, I covered a shooting at Boston's Caribbean Carnival, the shooting not linked to the yearly event by authorities, but the parade that was part of it did have to be stopped because of the scope of the investigation.

No deaths reported, but several injured there. Sadly, one person did lose their life following a shooting at a high school football game just outside of Oklahoma City earlier in the weekend. A victim just 16 years old and not a student at the schools that were facing off on the field. Two guns and several rounds have been recovered.

The investigation is still ongoing, but police believe that it was a conflict between several individuals, an argument that led to this particular incident. And two baseball fans injured during a Chicago White Sox game on Friday, though it's unclear where the shots actually came from, either from inside or outside the ballpark. Two people sustained non-life-threatening injuries there.

We're going down this list to remind viewers of just the far-reaching impact of gun violence and how it has affected many aspects of life for Americans, either folks at a store, folks enjoying a sporting event. And it is changing the way some Americans are living their lives.

That's according to research conducted by KFF, a health policy organization that shows one in three adults surveyed said that they have recently avoided large crowds, spaces like crowded bars, music festivals saying their concern is the potential for gun violence to break out.

And yet another sobering statistic, in July the U.S. surpassed 400 mass shootings for the year. We haven't seen such a staggering number so early in the year, since 2013, since the gun archives started compiling these statistics. Just some perspective here, in 2019 it took 356 days to reach that 400 mark. Yet here we are, still several more months left to go in 2023 and we've already surpassed that 400 number.

[03:15:09]

Polo Sandoval, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Still to come, Russia confirms Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin is dead. What's next for the mercenary group and its impact on the war in Ukraine? A detailed live report next.

And three marines dead, many others injured in Australia. So far the U.S. military is staying silent about what may have caused the aircraft to crash. We'll go live to Sydney for an update. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: After days of uncertainty, Russia says it has confirmed that Yevgeny Prigozhin was among the 10 people killed in last week's plane crash. Russian investigators say genetic tests confirm the identity of the Wagner chief and all the other victims.

Prigozhin, who led a failed uprising against the Kremlin, had previously been named as one of those on board the plane, which crashed near Moscow, but until now authorities had stopped short of confirming that he had died.

[03:20:03]

For more, we want to go to CNN's Salma Abdelaziz, who joins us live from London. Good morning to you, Salma. So what impact will the death of Prigozhin likely have on the future of this mercenary group Wagner and, of course, its role in Ukraine?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so Russia's investigative committee confirming after days of speculation, after days of expectation, that Yevgeny Prigozhin is indeed among one of those 10 killed in the plane crash. Also among those killed is one of his top lieutenants and a senior aide, and so ends that speculation around Yevgeny Prigozhin's fate. A man whose movements were often very shadowy, very secretive Rosemary, because of concerns, because of his own fears that he could be targeted, that he could be killed.

Now, the Kremlin has denied, denied, denied any finger pointing, any accusations that it is involved in this plane crash, calling those absolute lies. But of course, for supporters of Yevgeny Prigozhin, for many Russians, for Western intelligence officials, for even President Biden himself, that simply doesn't fly.

This seems to follow the pattern that President Putin, that Kremlin critics have faced, which is that they end up dead in very shadowy circumstances, whether that's poisonings or apparent suicides. And for nearly two months now, Yevgeny Prigozhin has looked like a dead man walking, essentially, since he launched that failed mutiny against President Putin posing the most serious challenge to his rule in nearly two decades.

The question now is, as you asked, what happens to the Wagner mercenary group, a group that was very much centered around the personality, around the personhood of Yevgeny Prigozhin. It's hard to see it survive without him. And already before his death, Russia's Ministry of Defense had been taking steps to absorb the group, absorb those contractors under the wing of the regular Russian army.

And now more steps being taken with President Putin signing a decree just a couple of days ago. This decree requires volunteer formations. Is the term used often a term used to describe mercenary groups? Volunteer formations, the decree says, have to take an oath to the Russian flag and swear loyalty to the Russian Federation. It goes on to say it must defend courageously the constitutional order. So you see here more moves, more steps that have already been taken

before Yevgeny Prigozhin's death, more moves, more steps taken to bring in these contractors, bring in these private mercenary groups under the regular military and under the control of the Russian Ministry of Defense and indeed President Putin himself, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Alright, our thanks to CNN's Salma Abdelaziz. I Appreciate it.

Well as the war in Ukraine grinds on, Russia is ramping up its military spending. A new report reveals Moscow has doubled its defense spending for this year. CNN's Clare Sebastian has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Russia today, military production is sacred.

Russia's main tank factory showing off its latest shipment and a choreographed glimpse into the strain of wartime production. Output here has more than tripled over the last year, according to Russia's Prime Minister.

JANIS KLUGE, GERMAN INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL AND SECURITY AFFAIRS: What we have seen is that military spending has been much higher than was actually planned for this year. And it looks like that the spending that was planned for this year is already exhausted now that we are halfway through the year.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): The Russian budget had earmarked roughly $50 billion for defense. A budget document seen this month by Reuters suggests Russia has now more than doubled that estimate. Experts say it could be even higher.

RICHARD CONNOLLY, ASSOCIATE FELLOW, RUSI: It looks as though as expressed as a percentage of GDP. it could be anywhere between 8 and 10 percent of GDP. So we think as a proportion of GDP, it could be almost tripled.

SEBASTIAN (on-camera): Are you surprised in any way by this?

CONNOLLY: No, is the honest answer.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): President Putin was very clear. There are, he said last December, no limits to military funding.

And yet, as Russia's annual weapons exhibition got underway this month, the Teflon had started to come off its wartime economy. Military spending helping fuel a resurgence in inflation and a plummeting ruble, prompting an emergency rate rise from the central bank and putting even the most loyal Russians on edge.

UNKNOWN (translated): Every other country is now laughing at us!

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Sanctions and lower prices also sent Russia's vital oil and gas revenues plummeting in the first half of this year. But prices have been recovering over the summer. KLUGE: Russia is still earning a huge amount of dollars and yuan and

euros by exporting energy and other resources. And it is going to earn these dollars also in the future because, you know, as we have learned, we cannot easily push Russia out of the oil market.

[03:25:06]

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): There is, though, another challenge facing Russia's weapons industry.

Do you like playing basketball? asks this recruitment video for the Kazan helicopter plant. The CEO of its parent company recently told Putin they need to fill 23,000 jobs this year. Wages are already up 17 percent.

CONNOLLY: This is a very tight labor force for a number of demographic reasons, but also to do with, since the war, a lot of people have left the country, some people have been mobilized.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Sanctions have also disrupted supplies of high-tech components for weapons. Experts say raising costs even further. And yet the Kremlin has found a way to justify this, a war with the West.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The Western elite make no secret of their goal, which is, I quote, "Russia's strategic defeat."

CONNOLLY: The Russian population have been presented with that view. So they've been prepped, they've been prepared and shaped to expect that they're maybe going to have to spend more money to take more of a hit. or living standards to fight against such a powerful adversary.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): A fight now happening on the front lines and in the factories.

Clare Sebastian CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: U.S. President Joe Biden and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin offered their condolences Sunday to the families of three Marines killed in an aircraft accident in Australia. U.S. and Australian military rescue crews worked together to transport the injured from a remote island to a hospital in the northern city of Darwin.

The military says 23 U.S. Marines were flying in an MV-22B Osprey when it crashed on Melvin Island. Many were injured, five severely.

We get the latest now from Sydney, Australia where CNN's Angus Watson is standing by. So Angus, what more are you learning about this shocking and deadly air tragedy?

ANGUS WATSON, CNN PRODUCER: Rosemary to give you a sense of just how remote the region is where this tragic incident occurred on Sunday morning, Melville Island is some 80 kilometers off the coast of Australia and the plane crashed in a hillside in dense vegetation in a very sparsely populated area and that has made the initial rescue mission and now the recovery mission all the more difficult. In fact Authorities here in Australia say that it might be until tomorrow before the remains of the three U.S. Marines who died in this incident may be recovered.

The 20 others who survived the crash, albeit with injuries have been transported back to the Australian mainland for care. At least five of those people were hospitalized. And as you mentioned, the U.S. President Joe Biden has issued his condolences to the families of those people who died and the people who were injured. Posting on social media, Jill and I send our deepest condolences to the families of the Marines who lost their lives in this deadly crash. We are praying for those who also suffered injuries.

Now authorities in Australia and in the U.S. will investigate just how this incident occurred. We still don't know why the Osprey crashed into this mountainside on Melville Island. What we do know though is the Osprey does have a track record of deadly incidents. Just last year in 2022, nine U.S. service personnel were killed in accidents related to this aircraft, Rosemary.

CHURCH: All right, our thanks to CNN's Angus Watson, joining us live from Sydney, Australia.

Well the U.S. takes another stab at repairing its rocky relationship with China, with meetings in Beijing to discuss trade, investments and their mutually-dependent economies. We'll have a live report from Hong Kong coming up after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back everyone. The U.S. Commerce Secretary says it is profoundly important that Washington and Beijing have a stable economic relationship. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo made those remarks during a meeting in Beijing with her Chinese counterpart and other officials. Raimondo's visit comes amid heightened tensions between China and the US and as China faces mounting economic problems ranging from a real estate crisis to slumping exports.

CNN's Kristie Lu-Stout joins us now live from Hong Kong. Good to see you, Kristie. So what more can you tell us about this critical moment for the world's top two economies and what these visits expected to cover?

KRISTIE LU-STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Secretary Raimondo's visit is underway. It is day two of her four-day visit to China and earlier today she met with the Chinese Commerce Secretary, her Chinese counterpart Wang Wentao and after that meeting she said stable relations between the U.S. and China, quote, "profoundly important," also adding that these two countries share more than $700 billion in annual trade.

And Raimondo also said that she would not compromise on matters related to national security during this visit, which was a message we heard earlier from the U.S. Treasury secretary when she visited earlier this year.

Now, as for the Chinese side, this is what we heard from Wang Wentao, the Commerce Secretary of China. He said, quote, "I'm ready to work with you together to foster a more favorable policy environment for stronger cooperation between our businesses to bolster bilateral trade and investment in a stable and predictable manner."

This visit, it comes at a time of deep concern about the world's top two economies. You know, on Friday, we heard from the U.S. Fed chief. He issued that note of caution saying that inflation in America is still too high, higher interest rates may be needed, but China is facing significant economic pressures, including slumping exports, including this ongoing property crisis, youth unemployment being sky- high, and the data is so bad that the government recently announced it's going to stop releasing that data.

This trip underway by the U.S. Commerce Secretary to both Beijing and Shanghai is just the latest in a series of visits by other top Biden administration officials as the U.S. seeks to stabilize a U.S.-China relationship because tensions have flared over trade, over targeted sanctions, over access to sensitive technologies like chips, over raids conducted by the Chinese on U.S. consultancy firms in China.

China welcomes this visit by Secretary Raimondo. In fact, last week we heard from the Chinese Commerce Department saying that it commended the U.S. Commerce Department in its decision to, last week, lift export control measures on 27 Chinese companies.

[03:35:11]

China's saying this is the kind of gesture that paves the way to normal trade. Rosemary.

CHURCH: And Kristie, do China's economic troubles give the U.S. Commerce Secretary perhaps a little more leverage in Beijing?

LU STOUT: You know, analysts have pointed out that the timing is good for Secretary Raimondo, given just the deep economic troubles that China is facing right now. The export growth slumping, the ongoing and deepening property crisis, the fact that youth unemployment is so high in the country.

These are issues that Beijing has been addressing in terms of cutting or lowering interest rates, offering some sort of, you know, stimulus to shore up the property sector, but economists say that these measures are still falling short. So the pressure is on China to find a way to revive its economy, especially through new commercial activities or trade with other countries, and that would include the United States. Back to you, Rosemary.

CHURCH: All right. Our thanks to Kristie Lu Stout joining us live from Hong Kong.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is calling on Zimbabwe's leaders to resolve their election differences in a fair manner. But he says he is also concerned about reports of voter intimidation and suspicious arrests. Zimbabweans voted last week to elect a new president.

The Electoral Commission says the incumbent, Emerson Mmengagwa, won with 52 percent. But the opposition and civil society groups say the vote was marred by delayed ballots and voter intimidation, including threats of violence, harassment and coercion.

The opposition leader, Nelson Chamisa, is rejecting the vote as illegitimate. And this comes as police arrested 41 election observers after a coalition of human rights groups had publicly outlined multiple alleged voting irregularities.

CNN's David McKenzie joins us now live from Johannesburg. So David, what's the latest on this story?

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the latest is that the opposition is crying foul, as you described, and this is a critically-important election in Zimbabwe, where people in recent months and historically are dealing with rampant inflation and huge economic losses based on underemployment and unemployment.

Now, you mentioned the U.N. Secretary General there has obliquely criticized the election. You've had much more forceful statements from both the European Union in their provisional assessment and SADC, the Southern African community of nations, also saying that this election fell short of the requirements of the Zimbabwean constitution.

Now, that's significant because historically, SADC hasn't always been that unified in criticizing past issues at the polls in Zimbabwe. You know, opposition leaders I spoke to ahead of these polls, all of them feared that there could be some rigging or problems in the vote. They need to provide the proof of that.

What we can expect from the opposition party and Nelson Chamisa in the coming hours, they say they're going to be releasing the details of their data that they say contradicts the official data coming out of both polling stations and out of wider districts.

When the news was announced and there was the accusation of potentially rigging, this was the somewhat sarcastic response from the spokesperson of the ruling ZANU-PF.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTOPHER MUTSVANGWA, ZANU-PF SPOKESPERSON: We held the main opposition, we had advocate Nelson Chamisa, for a good show. Anyway, he didn't make it, but it was a good show. It shows that Zimbabwe is a democratic.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MCKENZIE: Well Zimbabweans are certainly democratic. It remains to be seen whether the Electoral Commission and the government are democratic. Of course, they will need to have proof and the courts will need to litigate this in a fair manner, something that many feel is not realistic in the context of Zimbabwe. Here is the leader of the opposition party who, according to the official results, got 44 percent of the vote.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NELSON CHAMISA, CITIZENS COALITION FOR CHANGE LEADER: It is clear that we are rejecting the election as a sham result. The process itself, we disregard it, and it's in line with what the SADC observers have said. We reject this sham result and flawed process based on the disputed figures.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKENZIE: Well, there have been little signs of violence up to this point. I bring that up because after the poll in the last election, there was pretty bloody violence that was soldiers that shot on civilians protesting. We have not seen that. And that's good news, of course.

[03:40:00]

But the fear is that, yet again, there is a very big question mark over this election. The government and the ruling party wants to just move on that many feel that this is not a true democracy in the way that this election was run and the votes were tabulated and expressed over the weekend.

But we'll have to see if the opposition can gain any traction and of course they need to provide proof that they did have this election at least in some level taken away from them. But I have to say the general assessment is not particularly optimistic that they would get anywhere in the court system as I mentioned. Rosemary?

CHURCH: David McKenzie, many thanks for that report.

And still to come, disturbing video out of India shows a teacher telling students to slap a classmate who's Muslim. More on the shocking incident when we return.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Now to a shocking incident out of India. A school has been ordered to shut down after a video emerged showing a teacher telling students to slap a classmate who's Muslim.

CNN's Vedika Sud joins us now live from New Delhi. So Vedika, what more are you learning about this disturbing story?

VEDIKA SUD, CNN REPORTER: Indeed disturbing and shocking as well, isn't it, Rosemary? Well this video was shot on Thursday and this is inside a classroom where you can see at least more than a dozen children sitting on the floor. There's a class teacher who's sitting by her seat by the table and another man who cannot be seen in the video.

Now there's this young boy, a classmate who is Muslim, who's standing right next to the teacher and at the behest of this teacher you have three children, three boys coming up one after the other, slapping him first on the face then on the forehead and then on his waist.

[03:45:04]

You can also hear the teacher asking them to slap him harder and then we're told that the police has also gone ahead and confirmed the authenticity of this video. They have also said that a case has been open against this teacher and a probe is on.

Now according to the police, and I'm going to quote what they had to say from the video what they have deciphered is that the female teacher declares when the mothers of Mohammedan students don't pay attention to their children's studies, their performance is ruined. This is something that she's heard saying in that 39 second clip.

The child keeps crying, he keeps wailing while he is thrashed over and over again by those students. Such a dangerous precedent being set here by that teacher in the video, Rosemary.

And we're also being told that the teacher has gone ahead and said that this video has been edited. She has issued an apology. But she said that she was under pressure from the student's parents to put pressure on him to study harder. And since she is disabled, she asked three children to hit him instead.

Well, that is travesty, isn't it, in a way. And what we're also being told at this point is that there could be more illegal action being taken by the police. Now, just to put this into context, the state of Uttar Pradesh, which lies in the northern area of India, is ruled by the Hindu Nationalist Party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is ruled obviously by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

And since 2014 ever since they've come to power activists have claimed that there has been violence against Muslims across India. Back to you Rosemary.

CHURCH: Vedika Sud with that shocking report.

A volunteer high school football coach is facing battery charges after a video appears to show him punching a player.

It happened in Atlanta on Saturday. In the video you can see the coach yelling at the student. Then appears to punch him in the stomach. The coach was taken into custody by police. An Atlanta public school spokesperson says the man is not a teacher. No other details were made available about the man's identity.

A Native American tribe in California has celebrated an annual salmon festival for half a century. After the break, why they had to do it this year without the fish and how they're working to make the salmon thrive again.

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[03:50:00]

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CHURCH: Star gymnast Simone Biles is continuing to make history. The four-time Olympic gold medalist won her record eighth U.S. all-around title at the U.S. Gymnastics Championships in California Sunday. The 26-year-old broke the record she shared with Alfred Jochum, who won his seventh title back in 1933. She also became the oldest woman to win the championship.

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SIMONE BILES, GYMNAST: I've been doing it for so long, I feel like I don't think about numbers, I think about my performance and I think overall I hit 8 for 8, it's 8, I guess it's a lucky number this year.

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CHURCH: So impressive, and Biles returned to action earlier this month after a two-year hiatus. With this win she earns a place in the World Championships which are scheduled to start next month in Belgium.

Well finishing at 27 under par, golfer Victor Hovland won the Tour Championship on Sunday here in Atlanta, Georgia. With the victory the 25-year-old Norwegian becomes the third youngest FedEx Cup champion in history and that comes with an $18 million first prize.

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VIKTOR HOVLAND, FEDEX CUP CHAMPION: It's just pretty surreal to be standing here right now. You know, I've played basically my best golf the last two weeks and couldn't have happened at a better moment in front of all these people. So I just want to appreciate you all for being here and being awesome.

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CHURCH: Hovland entered the Tour Championship as the number two seed after winning the BMW Championship last week.

Well for only the second time in its history, salmon will not be served at the annual Salmon Festival in Klamath, California, that is because there is no salmon in the river.

CNN's Nick Watt shows us how the Yurok tribe is working to change that.

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NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome to the Yurok tribe's 59th annual Salmon Festival. There's a parade, craft stalls, stick game tournament and plenty, plenty of food. But -- GEORGINA GENSAW, YUROK TRIBE: It feels like having a party but your

favorite person isn't there.

WATT (voice-over): Because this year they are not serving salmon at the Salmon Festival.

FRANKIE MYERS, VICE-CHAIR OF THE YUROK TRIBE: The word ney-puey, ney- puey, our word for salmon, the literal translation is what we eat.

WATT (on-camera): That pretty much says it all.

MYERS: That gets to the heart of it.

WATT (voice-over): But out on the river, there just aren't enough salmon. The tribe says the fish have suffered since the gold rush, their river near ruined by mining, rising water temperatures and huge hydro-powered dams.

BROOK THOMPSON, YUROK TRIBE: There's only about half the salmon returning that we need to sustain the current population. And that's why salmon fishing was shut down completely this fall.

WATT (voice-over): That's why there's no salmon to eat.

But the mood at the festival is, well, festive, celebratory. Why? Because the Yurok and others are doing something about that lack of salmon. They've campaigned hard to have dams removed.

It just was after federal regulators approved the plan last year. Three more will follow next year. And then there's this, what looks like environmental destruction, but is actually the opposite.

(on-camera): This bit that we're on now, this will eventually be the floodplain.

MYERS: Yeah, this will be the floodplain here.

WATT (voice-over): That's me and Frankie Myers, the tribal leader from the Salmon Festival. They are undoing damage done by miners and more. Recreating bug habitats, food for the fish.

[03:54:56]

When I look out and I see our tribal members running these excavators, they're fighting for their right to exist because our stories tell us that without the salmon in the river, there's no need for us to be here.

WATT (on-camera): You don't seem to me bitter and pissed off about what's happened to your land. You seem more energized about what you can do to change that.

MYERS: We have every reason to be pissed off and angry. Is that going to bring our salmon back?

WATT (voice-over): No, but fighting against the dams might recreating the conditions that once allowed this river to pick its own path might. And they say humans must play a part in nurturing this environment.

MYERS: This is the problem right here. You are the problem. You have an idea that there is a wilderness that existed before you showed up, before people showed up. And the truth is, is it never existed. The wilderness never existed on this continent.

WATT (on-camera): It was always managed by the native people who lived in concert with that nature?

MYERS: Absolutely.

WATT (on-camera): Do you now I get it?

MYERS: Absolutely. That's what we're trying to do here. You might see salmon coming back up here, but you hang out for another couple weeks actually.

WATT (on-camera): Oh, that quick you think?

MYERS: That quick.

WATT (voice-over): Back at that celebration of salmon, we met Oscar, a Yurok fisherman.

(on-camera): So this is where you should be cooking the fish?

OSCAR GENSHAW, YORK FISHERMAN: Yeah. Yep.

WATT (on-camera): But this year, nothing.

GENSHAW: Nothing.

WATT (voice-over): The pit is empty, well, save for some symbolic chunks of that first dam that came down.

GENSHAW: We're hopeful that when the dams come down that this pit will be full again.

WATT (voice-over): Along with the river.

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CHURCH: Our thanks to CNN's Nick Watt for that report.

And thank you for your company. I'm Rose from the Church. Have yourselves a wonderful day. "CNN Newsroom" continues next with Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo.

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