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Congress Set to Return to Prevent Another Government Shutdown; Nikki Haley Suggests Competency Test on Older Politicians; Zelenskyy Replaces Defense Minister; Erdogan and Putin to Meet to Repair Grain Deal; Many People Stranded in Burning Man Festival; Stolen Child Returns 42 Years Later. Junta Leader To Be Sworn In As "Transitional President". Netanyahu Vows To Deport Eritrean Rioters. Victims Of Apartment Blaze Laid To Rest. Africa Climate Summit 23 Convenes In Nairobi. Pontiff Tells Chinese Catholics To Be "Good Citizens" During Mass In Neighboring Mongolia. Ukrainian Girl Runs In Race After Losing Legs In Shelling. Early Studies On Ba.2.86 Are Easing Fears. New Data: Wave Probably Worse Than Official Data Suggests. Escaped Inmate Spotted On Surveillance Footage. NYPD Using Drones To Monitor Labor Day Gatherings. Fallout Of Anti-LGBTQ+ Legislation In Louisiana. Singer-Songwriter Jimmy Buffet Passed Away Friday After Battle With Merkel Cell Skin Cancer. Four Astronauts Return From Space Station. Max Verstappen Wins Italian Grand Prix. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired September 04, 2023 - 02:00   ET

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

[02:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAULA NEWTON, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Paula Newton. Ahead right here on "CNN Newsroom," a budget battle brewing on Capitol Hill. Congress set to return Tuesday when it'll face the potential of a government shutdown if Congress can't reach a deal on spending by the end of the month.

A major shakeup in Kyiv. After more than 18 months of war, President Zelenskyy announced his plans to replace his defense minister.

Plus, Burning Man chaos continues. Thousands still trapped in the Nevada desert after heavy rain turned the festival site into a mud pit.

It is back to business this week for the U.S. Senate as its August recess comes to an end. Now, Washington is set to become a pressure cooker in the coming weeks as lawmakers attempt to avoid a government shutdown yet again. And they only have until October 1st to come to an agreement. Little shall we say that it will not be easy.

Members of the U.S. House aren't back until next week, in fact, but conservative Republican hardliners are already pressuring House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to stick to strict guidelines on a deal. Now, they don't want to make any concessions, but McCarthy and the White House are seeking a short-term bill that would put at least a band-aid on the problem for now, moving the issue months down the road. The U.S. Commerce Secretary meantime says American business owners are

preparing already for the worst.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GINA RAIMONDO, U.S. COMMERCE SECRETARY: They are worried. They are very worried. They are, I think, in some cases frustrated that this is how government operates. You know, what businesses need to be successful is predictability. You know, predictability, some semblance of, you know, regular order. And so, these sorts of disruptions that are mainly driven by politics, it's a challenge for the economy and have the potential to set us back. So, I do hope that there'll be a speedy resolution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: CNN's Priscilla Alvarez now has more details on those negotiations in Washington.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE REPORTER: As Congress returns from recess this month, the White House is asking lawmakers to pass a short-term spending bill to keep the government running and avoid a partial government shutdown. They're also asking for a boost in funding for some key programs that provide assistance to millions of Americans.

Now, separately, the White House is also asking Congress for a supplemental request, that is to provide more funds to FEMA, which has been responding to very expensive disasters across the country and whose funds are set to run dry by the end of this month, as well as more funding for Ukraine.

Now, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has said the FEMA funds will be replenished, but there is pushback about those funds being linked to Ukraine. Now, also there is disagreement within the Republican conference about the spending bill. Republican hardliners have asked for an impeachment inquiry into Biden, action on border security, as well as cutting spending to pre-COVID levels as part of passing any type of spending bill.

So that is likely to play out in Congress in the weeks to come, but all of this really a sprint to the finish in September when the fiscal year ends. Priscilla Alvarez, CNN, traveling with the president.

NEWTON: In the meantime, President Biden is also keeping busy and keeping an eye on his prospective opponent in the 2024 election. And so far, all signs are pointing towards Donald Trump. A new poll from the "Wall Street Journal" shows if an election were held today, the current and former presidents would be evenly matched with votes.

The same poll shows broad majorities of Republican primary voters believe Trump's four indictments are politically motivated and without merit. Both the "Wall Street Journal" and CNN polling shows Trump holds more than 50 percent of votes from primary voters edging out opponents like Vivek Ramaswamy. Now, he was in New Hampshire over the weekend holding multiple

campaign events. Some of his other Republican opponents are set to stump there as well. New Hampshire's primary has picked the eventual Republican nominee five out of seven times since 1980 without an incumbent Republican president.

[02:05:03]

Now, age and mental health is also getting attention on that campaign trail, including among some Republican hopefuls. Candidate Nikki Haley is citing Senate Republican Mitch McConnell. He is the leader, of course, and she is arguing that there need to be mental competency tests for politicians older than 75. McConnell has had a couple of recent episodes where he has frozen and seem dazed only to recover moments later.

Now, he is 81-years-old, but his fellow senator, Republican Mike Rounds of South Dakota says McConnell is quite capable of deciding his own future.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MIKE ROUNDS (R-SD): Mitch is sharp and he is shrewd. He understands what needs to be done. I'll leave it up to him as to how he wants to discuss that with the American public, but there's no doubt in my mind that he is perfectly capable of continuing on at the stage of the game.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: U.S. President Joe Biden, in the meantime, and Chinese President Xi Jinping won't be seeing one another at the G20 summit later this week. And Mr. Biden says he's, quote, "disappointed about that." The U.S. president will be traveling to New Delhi for the meeting of the world's top 20 economies. But Mr. Xi, who leads the world's second largest economy, is apparently not going. President Biden says he expects to see -- to get to see President Xi at some future date.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is overhauling the country's military leadership and that is in the middle of a major counteroffensive. Volodymyr Zelenskyy announcing Sunday that he's dismissing Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov. Reznikov has served in that role since before Russia's invasion. He was appointed in November 2021.

Now, in recent months, the president has cracked down on corruption. Reznikov hasn't been directly implicated, but Mr. Zelenskyy says it's time to make the change. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (through translation): Oleksii Reznikov has been through more than 550 days of full-scale war. I believe that the ministry needs new approaches and other formats of interaction with both the military and society as a whole. (END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: Mr. Zelenskyy says he's nominating Rustem Umerov, a Crimean tartar and former lawmaker who currently leads the country's privatization fund. He's played a role in the Black Sea grain deal and other wartime negotiations. CNN' Melissa Bell is in Ukraine with more on the ongoing counteroffensive and the latest on the diplomatic front.

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fierce fighting again on Sunday at various points of the Ukrainian frontline, not just where the counter- offensive has been making progress down here in the Zaporizhzhia region, but also up to the north of that frontline around Kupiansk and Lyman, with particularly fierce fighting we hear in Luhansk.

That's according to Ukrainian authorities who've also said that there have been a series of strikes on Odessa this morning with some damage caused to the port infrastructure. Still, 22 of the 25 Russian drones there were launched towards the port city were stopped, say Ukrainian authorities. The strikes come just a day before a much-anticipated meeting between the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and the Turkish leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in the hopes that a new Black Sea grain deal might be reached.

The head of the United Nations has put together some concrete proposals that will be at the heart of that meeting even as the counteroffensive continues here in Ukraine. The world looking to see what progress there might be reached. Melissa Bell, CNN, Zaporizhzhia.

NEWTON: Jill Dougherty is a former CNN Moscow bureau chief and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and she joins us now. Jill, always great to see you. There were, as you know more than most, whispers in Ukraine already that Zelenskyy was getting ready to replace his defense minister. He's done it now. But what do you make of it? I mean, does it have more to do with a competent but plotting counteroffensive or is this about Zelenskyy really trying to say something about corruption and what he thinks he needs to do to stop corruption in his country?

JILL DOUGHERTY, ADJUNCT PROFESSOR, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: I do think it's the latter. You know, right now, Zelenskyy is embroiled in this counter, you know, it's a counteroffensive against corruption. It's a major move against corruption in the country. And although Reznikov, the current defense minister was not personally implicated, certainly the department was. So that is really galling to a lot of civilians in Ukraine.

[02:09:55]

And so, I think bringing in somebody new, and interestingly, I think the arrest actually of Ihor Kolomoyskyi is extremely important. He is an oligarch, one of the most powerful, the richest person in Ukraine. And he was just arrested on allegations and charges of fraud. So, this is a big deal, and it's something that's very important for Zelenskyy to do if they want to join the E.U. NEWTON: Yeah, I'm really glad that you point that out. I mean, he

was, in fact, reported to be quite close to Zelenskyy. And I do want to underscore what you said, right? This is a counteroffensive now against corruption. I am interested though in your opinion about what you think Russia will make of all of this. Will they see it as a sign of weakness?

DOUGHERTY: Well, yeah, I was looking, trying to find some type of reaction. I haven't seen a lot of official reaction. Of course, there's some trolling, et cetera. But I think, you know, they will probably, and this would be my personal opinion, will probably take advantage of that and try to say that this is because the military counteroffensive is not working and Zelenskyy simply had to change horses in midstream, that type of thing.

They'll try to take advantage of that. But again, you know, if you look at what the Russian military has been through, you know, a mutiny and several heads that rolled, you know, people taken out of their jobs, et cetera, I don't think there's really much comparison.

NEWTON: No, and given the point in time that we're in this war, it's hardly surprising that Ukraine might want to change at this point. Anyway, I want to get to the Russian side of things, though. Dmitry Medvedev, the former prime minister and president, now the head of Russia's Security Council, says they have 280,000 new recruits. Obviously, there is no way that we can verify these numbers. But what do you think? Do you think he's actually managed to do that?

DOUGHERTY: Well, you know, they have made it harder to get out of the draft, the mobilization. They don't want to call it a full mobilization. That's one of the most important things because remember what happened with the partial mobilization a while ago. People fled the country. So, what they've been doing, though, is they're making it much more difficult for men to avoid this type of draft.

So, you're right. There is no way that outsiders can really find out whether it was 280,000. That's really a lot of people. But the fact that he was out in the Far East talking about this, they really need new people to fight this war. And that is another factor that's hurting the Russian economy because there's really a problem with hiring people. There's nobody to hire in a sense because many people are at the front right now. It's a major problem for Russia.

NEWTON: Yeah, and if you have a spouse that's at the front, it's more difficult, things like child care and all that, so it will leave people, fewer people in Russia even participating in the labor force. Another thing on the horizon this week, the Turkish president arrives on Russian soil Monday to try and resuscitate a new grain deal.

You know, the world needs this deal. They are meeting on Russian soil. Do you think that means that the outlines of a new grain deal have likely already been agreed upon, or is failure still possible here?

DOUGHERTY: I think failure is possible because if you look at the Russians, you know, they pulled out in July and they have been very, very insistent that they are not going to come back to the deal until their interests, which are exporting their own food and their own fertilizers, until they can do that, they won't come back.

And of course, you know, Erdogan continues to have a good relationship with Putin, and perhaps he feels that he can convince or that maybe he can create the circumstances where they could announce something. But look at what Russia just did. They attacked the port's facilities on the Danube, militarily attacked them. So, that is not really a good sign that they are looking to come back. You never know. I mean it really depends on what they think they can get out of it and at this point I would not very positive.

NEWTON: Yeah, and that's the point there, right? What can Russia extract if it does do that deal. Jill Dougherty as always, we covered a lot of ground there. Really appreciate it.

DOUGHERTY: Sure.

NEWTON: South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa is trying to put to rest allegations that his country supplied arms to Russia. Now, he says an independent panel has found no evidence that weapons were loaded onto this Russian cargo ship. The Lady R near Cape Town last December, the U.S. ambassador to South Africa, you'll remember, made the claim earlier this year saying he would bet his life on it.

[02:15:04]

Ramaphosa says the ship imported military equipment for South African forces that was ordered in 2018.

The annual Burning Man Festival has turned into a muddy mess this year. Thousands still stranded after heavy rain, but some are trying to make the most of it. We'll have those details ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NEWTON: And welcome back. Now, millions of Americans are off work for Labor Day, so let's see if the weather will let them enjoy that holiday. Heat advisories are in effect for the upper Midwest. That's as temperatures climb toward 100 Fahrenheit, or 37 degrees Celsius. Now, the dangerous heat is expected to spread into the Great Lakes, Mid-Atlantic, and yes, the Northeast during this week.

Monsoonal rains meantime threatens to bring flooding to Nevada, Utah, Idaho and Oregon. Showers and thunderstorms are in store for the High Plains, and the weather is still wreaking havoc on the popular Burning Man festival that's supposed to be underway in a remote area in Nevada.

[02:19:59]

Now, we're learning that organizers now plan to delay the main event. They say the burning of a large wooden effigy, that's the Burning Man, will actually happen Monday night instead of Sunday. Thousands showed up to the annual event but non-stop rain in the Black Rock Desert delivered an unusual mix of mud causing festival-goers to become trapped and unable to leave. Authorities are also investigating the death of at least one person at that festival. CNN's Camila Bernal has more.

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is still muddy. It is still messy for thousands of people who are stranded here in Black Rock City. Where we are right now is the main entrance and exit point to the festival. So, thousands are expected to exit here on Monday. We saw many, many cars trying to get out because this is the entrance of the playa. So here behind me is where people are getting stuck in that mud.

And I want to show you what that mud, that cakey mud looks like. This is what a lot of people are walking hours in and you're seeing it in their shoes. They are covered in this mud is what you're seeing on this bike. It makes it impossible for not just bikes but also for cars and RV's.

Here behind me, this RV, they told me that they were stuck here for hours trying to get out of the mud. So, it is difficult to get out, and the concern of course is for people who did not bring enough supplies, enough food, enough water and need to get out. Here's one person that I talked to who told me she just needed to get out today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: It's quite expansive out there and it probably took me three hours of slogging to walk just from my camp to the road and I did get a little bit of a hitchhike into -- in the back of someone's truck, but yeah, it's just really thick dense mud. So, wherever it's wet, it's just heavy and sticky and it's a real sloppy mess out there. Most everything's turned off, but there's still some people partying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERNAL: And everybody that I've talked to has remained extremely positive, telling me they're making the best out of a very difficult situation, saying they're still having fun, that they've enjoyed this festival. Unfortunately, though, authorities did report one death. They said a body was found in the playa. They did not give any details as to what happened.

And organizers here are continuing to tell people to be safe. They're getting prepared to get thousands of people out of here. So, they're telling them that this is going to be a long process, the Exodus as they call it. Camila Bernal, CNN, Black Rock City.

NEWTON: And in Taiwan, no deaths have been reported, but more than 40 people were hurt after typhoon Haikui hit the island Sunday afternoon. Right now, the storm has moved into the Taiwan Strait and is heading toward the Southeast China coast. As it approached Taiwan, some 7,000 people rushed to flee their homes.

The island's electricity provider is still working to restore power to tens of thousands of customers. More than 200 flights have been canceled or delayed, and officials suspended the school and work days in several counties and cities.

A little boy lost, returns home after 42 years. Coming up, we'll show you the incredible reunion with his Chilean mother and explain how he and so many others disappeared.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:25:00]

NEWTON: In Chile, a joyous ending to 42 years of sorrow. A mother who was told her son died at childbirth got a stunning phone call telling her he is actually alive. But as Rafael Romo tells us, many babies were stolen there in the 70s and 80s, and this reunion is heartbreakingly only one of a few.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIMMY LIPERT THYDEN, STOLEN AS A BABY IN CHILE: When I arrived in Chile, I felt like a lost puzzle piece, a piece that had been lost for 42 years.

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a birthday party that had to wait for more than four decades.

THYDEN: They stole 42 years, but they will not steal 43.

ROMO (voice-over): Jimmy Lipert Thyden is celebrating with a family he never knew he had.

THYDEN: I am blessed in the fact that I have a loving family on both sides of the equator.

ROMO (voice-over): His story begins in 1981 in Valdivia, a city in southern Chile.

THYDEN: My mother, my ma, she gave birth to me one month premature. They told her, you know, oh, he looks jaundiced, you know, he looks yellow, we need to put him in an incubator, and they carried me out of there. Before she could hold me, before she could name me, they carried me out, and then they came back and told her that I had died.

ROMO (voice-over): Thyden says that it was all a scheme to make money out of unsuspecting foreign families looking to adopt children, especially Americans who had no idea what was going on.

(On camera): Your adoptive family in the United States had no idea that you had been stolen as a baby?

THYDEN: They never believed for one second, they were buying a child. They never would have -- would have done that.

ROMO (voice-over): During the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet in the 1970s and 80s, babies were funneled to adoption agencies, some from the upper classes taken or given up to protect reputations of their mothers and some from the lower classes where children were simply stolen.

Chilean authorities say many priests, nuns, doctors, nurses and others conspired to carry out illegal adoptions. Authorities told us the number of stolen babies could be in the thousands, but the investigation into the adoptions has languished over the years and some of the hospitals where the children were born have shut down as we have found out over the years.

For many women in this country, what this hospital in ruins means is a place where their children were stolen, a place that became a nightmare for them.

[02:29:59]

They were looking for a place where they would deliver a healthy baby. Instead, they left empty-handed.

CONSTANZA DEL RIO, FOUNDER, NOS BUSCAMOS: (FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

ROMO (voice-over): Constanza del Rio, the founder of Nos Buscamos, says that after Jimmy Thyden got in touch with them she recommended a DNA test.

JIMMY LIPPERT THYDEN, STOLEN AS A BABY IN CHILE: Hello. My name is Jimmy Thyden.

ROMO (voice-over): When a match came back a few weeks later, she says she knew the next step was making a phone call to a woman who had believed for decades her son had died shortly after being born.

CONSTANZA DEL RIO, FOUNDER, NOS BUSCAMOS: (FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

ROMO (voice-over): She couldn't believe it, she said. She thought it was a joke in poor taste because she had been told her premature baby boy had died.

THYDEN: She didn't know about me because I was taken from her at birth. And she was told that I was dead. And that when she asked for my body, they told her they had disposed of it. And so, we've never held each other. We've never hugged. And today I'm going to get to do that for the first time.

ROMO (voice-over): After several agonizing months, Jimmy Thyden was finally able to travel to Chile to give Maria Angelica Gonzales, his biological mother, the hug that had to wait for 42 years.

ROMO: What would you like the world to know about what happened to you? What do you want people to know about your case?

THYDEN: I want them to know that there's tens of thousands of children like me. We tell our story, we do these interviews because we tell these stories until every child is found.

ROMO (voice-over): How do you get back the time lost? You can't, Jimmy Thyden says. In the end, he added, the wisdom about what happened came from one of his daughters who told him, if a bad thing hadn't happened, she wouldn't be here, and thanks to that her father now has not one but two families who love him deeply. Rafael Romo, CNN, Santiago, Chile, and Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE) NEWTON: In the day ahead, the leader of Gabon's military coup is set to be sworn in as the country's transitional president. It comes almost a week after General Brice Oligui Nguema and members of Gabon's presidential guard seized power from President Ali Bongo. The coup ended the political dynasty of the Bongo family which had been in power for more than 50 years. It also marked the eighth military takeover in West and Central Africa in just three years.

Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is vowing to take strong steps following the riot Saturday among Eritrean migrants in Tel Aviv, that he called a special ministers meeting Sunday to create a plan to deal with the migrants involved and said he wants to deport them. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): This is rioting. It is bloodshed. It is savageness that we cannot accept. Therefore, the first thing that I'm going to do is to wish a recovery to the policemen who were injured in the effort to restore order. We are seeking strong steps against the rioters, including the immediate expulsion of those who took part.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: That riot erupted during an Eritrean Independence Day celebration near the embassy on Saturday when Eritrean government supporters clashed with its opponents. Israeli authorities say at least 114 people were hurt, including 49 police officers.

In South Africa, seven victims of that horrible apartment fire in Johannesburg have now been laid to rest. They were buried Sunday in a cemetery south of Pretoria. The fire Thursday killed over 70 people and left dozens more injured.

It highlighted a housing crisis in a city that has a very large gap between rich and poor. It happened in a five-story building that had once been a courthouse but was illegally used to house migrants. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

World leaders, scientists, and environmental activists are convening in Nairobi to address the urgent consequences of climate change. The three-day Africa Climate Summit '23 will explore solutions to the particular impacts climate change is having and will have on that continent.

Participants are putting particular focus on drought and other weather-related developments. The changing climate's escalating impact on migration and ways to fund climate mitigation initiatives in countries saddled with debt.

Still to come for us, Pope Francis' message to China during his visit to neighboring Mongolia. More on the Pontiff's historic trip after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [02:37:50]

NEWTON: Pope Francis is now on his way home from Mongolia a day after celebrating mass in a country with a Catholic community of only about 1,500 people. It was the first-ever trip there by a Pontiff, and during mass, he urged Catholics in neighboring China to be, quote, "Good citizens and good Christians." A rare instance of the holy father publicly addressing the issue of religion in China. CNN's Michael Holmes has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A gathering of the faithful in one of the smallest and most remote communities of Catholics in the world. On Sunday, Pope Francis celebrated mass in Mongolia, a country with a population of around 3 million people but only about 1,500 are Catholics and nearly all of them came to see the Pontiff.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I'm so happy that Pope Francis visited Mongolia. I got emotional when I attended mass. I think it furthered my spirit. I'm very, very thankful.

HOLMES (voice-over): But Vatican watchers say this trip to Mongolia wasn't just about spreading the church's message to a country where no pope has visited before. It was also strategic and a chance to ease tensions with two of Mongolia's neighbors, China and Russia.

Relations between the Vatican and Moscow have deteriorated since the invasion of Ukraine, and there have been tensions with Beijing over its treatment of religious minorities and a controversial agreement to jointly appoint bishops in China.

But on Saturday, in words thought to be directed at China and Russia, the Pope said the church is not a threat to governments and secular institutions. And during mass, he made yet another overture by sending greetings to his Chinese followers.

POPE FRANCIS, HEAD OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH (through translator): To the people, I wish the best and to go ahead, always make progress. The Chinese Catholics, I ask that you be good Christians and good citizens.

HOLMES (voice-over): Some small groups of worshippers traveled from China for the service, which was more of a low-key affair than other papal trips that can draw over 1 million people. But this woman who came from Hong Kong said it was worth the journey.

[02:40:07]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How did it feel?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Really amazing. Yes, because he is my papa. And today I joined the mass, I feel very amazing. HOLMES (voice-over): The Pope leaves Mongolia, no doubt encouraging

the Catholic base there. Whether he made any headway with Mongolia's neighbors remains to be seen. Michael Holmes, CNN.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

NEWTON: A young Ukrainian girl is showing the world her resilience and strength. 12-year-old Yana, wearing a pink shirt there, lost both her legs last year when Russian forces shelled the Kramatorsk Railway Station. As you can see there, she's not only walking. She's now running in races.

Yana ran 70 meters in the Lviv Unbroken Half Marathon on Sunday. She told the Lviv City Council that her goal was to encourage other children who lost limbs in the war to show them they can run again. And we say to you, mission accomplished Yana, mission accomplished.

I want to thank you for joining us. I'm Paula Newton. Our international viewers, WORLD SPORT is next. For our viewers in the United States and Canada, I'll be back with more CNN NEWSROOM after a short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:45:30]

NEWTON: A warm welcome back to viewers in North America. I'm Paula Newton. Scientists are racing to understand a highly mutated Coronavirus variant. BA.2.86 has made an evolutionary leap similar to the one the original Omicron variant made almost two years ago. If you remember, the Omicron wave caused infections and hospitalizations to spike to their highest points in the pandemic in the United States.

But early lab tests are easing fears, one scientist saying that the BA.2.86 variant is not, quote, "The second coming of Omicron." Thank goodness. Preliminary results in China find that the variant appears less infectious than previous viruses. A Swedish study is finding that our antibodies do appear to be powerless against it.

Meantime COVID cases are once again on the rise in the United States. This late summer spike has led to an increase in hospitalizations nationwide. And while federal data suggest that current cases have stayed below earlier peaks, some question that data because it isn't being recorded in quite the same way. CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It's hard to say whether or not we're in a new COVID wave right now. Certainly there's been a lot of anecdotal reports. People more likely to know somebody who might have COVID or may have had COVID themselves. But admittedly, this is hard to validate because there's just not as much testing. There's not as much testing being done overall, and a lot of the testing that is happening is happening at home and not being reported, so it's hard to get those numbers. One of the things that we have paid attention to throughout the pandemic is hospitalizations and hospitalizations have gone up a bit. Take a look.

About 15 thousand more hospitalizations this past week as compared to the week before that. So the numbers are trending in that direction, but at the same time, it's about half overall of what it was at this time last year. So you get the idea, it's difficult to sort of read into this too much. Another metric we pay attention to is how much virus is in wastewater.

Again, this is sort of a general look, a sort of broad look at how much virus is out there. And we see that the numbers have gone up again over the last several months. Higher than it's been in some time now. Does that translate to more cases? Does that translate to more severe illness or hospitalizations?

We don't know yet. But think of these as early warning systems. When it comes to this weekend, I want you to take a look at this map. And this is a good-looking map. It's mostly green, which means these are areas where the CDC says there's not as much hospital surge or hospital increases.

But there are a few places of yellow and even a couple of places of orange. Pay attention to this like you would pay attention to a weather map. Right now there's not a recommendation for masking in general. I will tell you, on a personal note, I visited my parents a few weeks ago, they're in their 80s.

I masked on the way down there. I tested ahead of time to make sure that I wasn't going to potentially get them sick. While they are protected, if they do get COVID, as someone said to me, it could be one of the worst viral illnesses of their life. So we're doing everything to try and avoid that, obviously.

Also, keep in mind, isolation. If you do test positive, if you do get COVID, starting with the first day after you develop symptoms, you should be in isolation for five days after that. You don't need to test to get out of isolation, but there is a recommendation to wear a mask for a few days after that as well.

Finally, I just want to say about the new booster, because this is one of the most common questions we get as well. There's going to be a CDC advisory meeting on September 12th. That is the point where this booster may be recommended broadly for the population. We'll see what happens. But I put together this grid for the upcoming shots so people could have some idea of what's happening here.

Get the flu shot before Halloween. That's a general rule. The COVID shot, again, in September. If you've had COVID recently or you've had a shot recently, you can probably wait several months before you get this updated shot. And then some information there about RSV as well, especially for people over 60. Have a great weekend, be safe, and be kind to each other. Take care.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: Great advice there from Sanjay Gupta, appreciate it.

[02:50:02]

Now the manhunt for a convicted killer who escaped from a Pennsylvania prison last week has entered its fifth day. Police believe they've narrowed the search for Danelo Cavalcante. He escaped Thursday morning from the Chester County Prison after being sentenced to life without parole after killing his ex-girlfriend.

Searchers are focusing on an area within about two miles or a little more than three kilometers of that prison. Cavalcante was spotted on a surveillance camera close to the prison just after midnight Friday. Police say they responded to more than 100 tips, including reports that he broke into homes in that area. A $10,000 reward is being offered for information leading to his capture.

The New York Police Department is deploying a fleet of high-tech drones during the Labor Day holiday weekend to monitor complaints about large gatherings. This tactic is being denounced by civil liberties advocates who say drone surveillance can easily be misused to exploit and discriminate, putting citizens' privacy at risk.

According to the American Civil Liberties Union, police departments right across the country have been scaling up their use of drones with at least 1,400 departments already using the technology to respond to domestic incidents and noise complaints.

A prominent doctor in Louisiana says he's planning to take his family and leave the state after the Republican-led legislature there passed a series of controversial bills targeting the LGBTQ+ community. CNN Medical Correspondent Meg Tirrell reports now from New Orleans.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. JAKE KLEINMAHON, PAEDIATRIC CARDIOLOGIST: Yeah, I mean, this is what we call our wall of love.

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Jake and Tom Kleinmahon moved back to New Orleans, the city where they met and fell in love, they planned to raise their two kids and retire here.

KLEINMAHON: We built this house, honestly, to live here forever.

TIRRELL (voice-over): A pediatric cardiologist, Jake returned to be medical director of the pediatric heart transplant program at Ochsner Health, the only program like it in Louisiana.

TIRRELL: What do you love about being here?

KLEINMAHON: I feel like I really make a difference here. And before I came, any complex patients were having to be sent out of state for heart transplants. And I felt like the kids of Louisiana deserved to stay in Louisiana.

TIRRELL (voice-over): But now Jake and his family are leaving the state after a set of bills passed the legislature this summer that they say make them feel unwelcome. KLEINMAHON: The part that really solidified it for us was when we were watching the senate education committee here about the "Don't say gay" bill.

DODIE HORTON, LOUISIANA REPUBLICAN STATE REPRESENTATIVE: HB466 prohibits teacher-led discussions on sexual orientation and gender identity in grades K-12.

KLEINMAHON: To think that if our kids went to public school and they were made fun of because they had two dads, a teacher would not have been able to step in and make a learning experience about different types of families.

TIRRELL (voice-over): HB466 and another bill which sought to require permission from parents for school employees to use certain names or pronouns for students were vetoed by Louisiana's governor in June. A third bill banning gender-affirming medical care for most minors overcame the governor's veto and is expected to take effect in January.

KLEINMAHON: I'm really sad to leave. But I feel like I don't really have a choice. But the way that the political landscape in Louisiana is going, it's pretty clear that these laws are going to pass eventually.

TIRRELL: Jake's departure doesn't just mean one fewer specialist like him here in New Orleans. He says it leaves just two heart transplant cardiologists for kids for the whole state of Louisiana.

KLEINMAHON: There is going to be a hole left when I leave.

TIRRELL: How much is that weighing on you?

KLEINMAHON: By far the hardest part of this decision was thinking about my patients.

TIRRELL (voice-over): The Kleinmahons are moving to Long Island, New York, where Jake will start a heart transplant program and the family will start a new life.

KLEINMAHON: We teach our children about kindness, about celebrating differences. And we hope that they recognize this as us doing something so that they can live in an area where they can be free, they can be kind, they can celebrate our differences, our different type of family.

TIRRELL (voice-over): Meg Tirrell, CNN, New Orleans.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: As fans mourn the death of music legend Jimmy Buffett, we're learning more about the health battles that he faced in his final years. Buffett died Friday after a four-year battle with Merkel Cell Cancer, it is a rare and aggressive form of skin cancer. An updated obituary on his official website says Buffett continued to perform during treatment for the disease. Tributes to Buffett have been pouring in, as you can imagine.

[02:55:03]

And on Sunday, hundreds of fans gathered in his former hometown of Key West, Florida, to honor his life and career. They are certainly celebrating in there, they were decked out in colorful costumes, carrying signs and pictures. The crowd marched down the city's main drag in a second line parade. A celebratory tradition with roots in another city Buffett had deep ties to, New Orleans, Louisiana.

Four crew members from the International Space Station splashed down off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida. That was just in the last few hours. The return aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon Capsule had to be delayed due to that hurricane, Hurricane Idalia.

Two NASA astronauts, an astronaut from the United Arab Emirates, and a Russian cosmonaut were later helped out of the capsule. They had been aboard the space station since March, and we should add that is one of the only areas of cooperation between the United States and Russia as they continue the cooperation in that space program.

Racing driver Max Verstappen has won the Italian Grand Prix. Now, the Dutchman has broken the record for consecutive Formula 1 wins with 10 in a row. The 25-year-old, yes, he's only 25, he is indeed a star. He's now won 47 races in total.

If you're wondering, that puts him fifth on the list of all-time Formula 1 greats. His next race is the Singapore Grand Prix on September 17th. And yes, he's likely going for another record there. And that wraps up this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Paula Newton. I'll be right back at the top of the hour with more news after a quick break.

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