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CNN International: U.S. Surgeon General Declares Gun Violence a Public Health Crisis; Assange Takes Surprise Plea Deal, Heads to Australia, Avoids Prison in U.S.; Gaza at Risk of Famine; Iran Gears Up for Presidential Election; Protesters Enter Kenyan Parliament Compound; Arizona Community Dealing With Influx of Migrants; Chinese Lunar Problem Chang'e-6 Returns to Earth, Completes Historic Mission; Debris From a Satellite Launch Falls on a Village in China. Aired 8-9a ET
Aired June 25, 2024 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:00:10]
RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWSROOM": Hello and welcome to our viewers all around the world. I am Rahel Solomon and this is "CNN Newsroom." Just ahead, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange reaches a surprise plea deal with American authorities and leaves the U.K. after years in confinement. Let's see where he is headed next. Plus at risk of famine, a new report detailing the toll malnutrition is taking inside Gaza. We will hear from UNICEF on how children are paying the heaviest price. And anger in the streets, crowds in the Kenyan capital face police and tear gas over a controversial new finance bill.
After a 12-year legal battle, Julian Assange is out of a British prison and on his way home to Australia. The controversial WikiLeaks founder will avoid prison time in the U.S. That's because of a plea deal with the U.S. Justice Department. Assange has agreed to plead guilty to a felony charge over his role in obtaining and publishing U.S. classified military documents, capping a long-running legal saga. But Assange still does have to make court appearances at a remote U.S. territory in the Pacific. CNN's Clare Sebastian shows us now how this all unfolded.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the final sprint in a more than decade-long legal marathon, agreeing to plead guilty to one U.S. felony charge in return for no more prison time.
STELLA ASSANGE, WIFE OF JULIAN ASSANGE: Throughout the years of Julian's imprisonment and persecution, an incredible movement has been formed, a movement of people from all walks of life from around the world who support not just Julian -- and not just us and our family, but what Julian stands for, truth and justice.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA: The case has dragged on for too long.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Assange is now expected to return home to his native Australia, where he began his career as a computer programmer and hacker, before founding WikiLeaks, where he first grabbed headlines in 2010 by releasing highly classified information.
First, a U.S. military video showing an Apache helicopter mistakenly gunning down two journalists and several Iraqi civilians in 2007. Next was the release of tens of thousands of classified military documents related to the war in Afghanistan, revealing more previously unreported civilian deaths. Documents on the Iraq war followed, suggesting widespread abuse and torture by Iraqi security forces, then the leak of cables from U.S. embassies and diplomatic missions around the world. Assange claimed his mission was to shine a light on evidence of war crimes and abuses of power.
JULIAN ASSANGE, FOUNDER, WIKILEAKS: And that's how people can really understand what is actually going on and whether they choose to support them or not.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): As the world watched for WikiLeaks' next move in November 2010, Sweden opened an investigation into allegations of sexual assault against Assange and issued an international arrest warrant for his extradition. Assange denied the allegations, claiming it was retribution for his political work and orchestrated to pave the way for his extradition to the U.S. over the leaks. He turned himself in to London police and was later released on strict bail conditions.
Then in an unexpected twist, he entered the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2012 and was granted political asylum, the start of a seven- year diplomatic row.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The courageous Latin American nation took a stand for justice.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Still Assange was able to reveal details that rocked the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign.
DONALD TRUMP, (R) FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: WikiLeaks, I love WikiLeaks.
(CROWD CHEERING)
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): WikiLeaks published hacked emails from DNC staffers and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's campaign. Over time, his relationship with his host soured. Ecuador revoked his asylum in 2019 and London police arrested him on an extradition warrant from the U.S. Justice Department to face a conspiracy charge. 17 new counts under the Espionage Act followed, accusing Assange of publishing information that risks the lives of confidential U.S. sources and endangered national security.
The Swedish charges were dropped later that year, but Assange was sentenced to prison for violating his bail conditions and spent five years fighting his extradition to the U.S., mostly isolated at Belmarsh high security prison. Two years ago, he married his lawyer and mother of his two children, Stella Maris, inside jail. His plea deal with the U.S. on a remote Pacific island, a final twist in this tale, a recognition that he has paid his dues.
Clare Sebastian, CNN, London. (END VIDEOTAPE)
[08:05:00]
SOLOMON: All right. Let's bring in CNN's Nic Robertson now from London. Nic, as Clare rightly pointed out, this was unexpected by many. But, what do we know about the diplomacy that was involved here?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: We know very little about the diplomacy. We've received a document from British high court in the last couple of hours that indicates a timeline for when this deal came into being, the middle of last week, the 19th of June was when this arrangement was agreed. By the terms of the arrangement, by the end of this week, both parties, both Assange and his lawyers and the U.S. Department of Justice need to write back to the U.K. court to say that the terms of the bail conditions to go and appear in this U.S. district court, all the way in the Pacific.
These bail conditions have been met and they expect this to go ahead without a hitch on Wednesday. That's the timeline that we have. But clearly, the fact that it was agreed last week, I think belies the fact that there's been a lot of maneuver and discussions and legal conversations that have been going on in the background to that moment. But in terms of the sort of diplomatic moves that have happened here, I don't think we are going to know a lot about them until perhaps Assange is safely back home and he may be able to then reveal some of the nature of what has happened.
But I think we have certainly witnessed in the past few months, increasing pressure by the Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albinis, when you saw him there in the report essentially saying that, you know, enough was enough. There was nothing more to be gained by Assange being kept in jail and that he should be allowed to return back to Australia. So I think there's been a level of diplomatic, political pressure that's come from Australia during this period at a time when it perhaps feels its relationship with the United States, that the terms of that relationship are perhaps give Australia a little leverage because the United States, of course, is very keen right now to build up a very strong alliance of support and allies in the Pacific because of tensions with China.
SOLOMON: Well, Nic, you just (ph) took the words right out of my mouth. I was sort of wondering how much you think the timing of this, what you might make of the timing of this especially with relations in that part of the world with China being tense and the U.S. trying to strengthen relations with its other partners.
ROBERTSON: Yeah, it gave the Australians some leverage, which maybe it did, we don't know because we don't know the details. But on the surface, it might look that way. I think the other piece of the equation is what is going through Julian Assange's mind. Clearly, he had some level of leverage in this plea deal because he absolutely does not trust the U.S. justice system and that's the reason it appears that he didn't want to appear in a U.S. court (inaudible) is obviously on his way home to Australia. But, I think there will have been another thing at the back of Julian Assange's mind and that is as the U.S. presidential election coming up in November and President Biden, although we've heard from the White House, said it has had no hand in this at all. This is entirely the work of the U.S. Department of Justice, that if present -- that if Donald Trump became president, then Assange's fate and room for maneuver of an independent judiciary, the Department of Justice in the United States might look different and Assange will have been aware that perhaps his window for coming to the terms of a deal was closing and that perhaps persuaded him now is the time as well.
SOLOMON: Yeah, fascinating. Still so much to learn in the days and weeks to come, I'm sure. Nic Robertson, live for us in London. Nic, thank you.
All right. Now, to the Israel-Hamas war. Gaza civil defense tells CNN than an Israeli airstrike targeted a house west of Gaza city belonging to the family of Hamas' political leader Ismail Haniyeh. Hospital officials say that 11 people were killed, including Haniyeh's sister and several other members of his family. Back in April, an Israeli airstrike killed three of his sons and four of his grandchildren, according to Hamas.
A sobering new reports as a high risk of famine persists across Gaza. The report by the IPC obtained by CNN projects that 96 percent of the population, more than 2 million people will face crisis, emergency or catastrophic levels of food insecurity, at least through the end of September. The study showed that to buy food, more than half of households had to sell their clothes. And one-third resorting to -- resorted to picking up trash to sell. Report says that only a stop in fighting and sustained access to humanitarian aid can reduce the threat of famine.
And eight months of war have also decimated the health system in Gaza. Paula Hancocks shows us now how children are bearing the brunt. We do want to warn you that her report has disturbing images.
[08:10:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Amal meaning hope, was born two months premature. She died after just four days her family says, a baby born into war in northern Gaza.
It's a result of her early birth the head of pediatrics says, which is a result of malnutrition and starvation of her mother. This is the fourth child that has died in this department this week. Amal's father says they were displaced with no shelter, food, or water. A real starvation, he says, my girl died because of this.
Hospitals across Gaza are full of malnutrition cases, doctors say, needing special care that simply does not exist. Younis is nine-years- old. His mother takes off his t-shirt to show the painful evidence of malnutrition and extreme dehydration. She says he was healthy until they were displaced multiple times from northern Gaza to Rafah to a beach area where she says they don't even have a tent.
Food was no longer available, his mother says. There were bad living conditions and polluted water. I'm losing my son in front of my eyes. More than 50,000 children require treatment for acute malnutrition, according to the U.N. Agency for Palestinian Refugees, UNRWA. Eight months of war have decimated the health system, water sanitation and food distribution. Clean water has become a luxury many struggle to access. The IDF says there is enough aid in Gaza but distribution is the problem.
JAMES ELDER, UNICEF: It's not just about getting it in and if (ph) far too little coming in, that's why we have an unprecedented nutrition crisis for the youngest children in Gaza. It's about a safe place and enabling way to deliver that aid.
HANCOCKS: Aid group say lawlessness on the ground is making their job of delivering aid to those who need it increasingly dangerous.
Dr. Sharif Matar (ph) says, he has seen around 120 children on this one day at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. He estimates up to 20 percent of them was suffering from malnutrition. Diarrhea, inflammation, infections are prevalent, he says, caused by lack of sanitation or clean water.
This boy is 1.5, he says. He weighs less than six kilograms. There's no subcutaneous fat. His body is effectively eating itself. The United Nations has already warned one million Palestinians will be at risk of starvation and death by mid-July. That is just weeks away. As with everything in this war, it is the young who bear the brunt.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: And CNN's Paula Hancocks is with us now. Paula, talk to us a little bit about what more can be done to improve aid.
HANCOCKS (on camera): Well, Rahel, as you heard in that report, it is not just being able to get the aid in, it is then being able to distribute it safely among the people. We have heard many aid groups, including the United Nations, saying that not enough is getting in negating what the IDF says. But the fact is the security on the ground has become dire, the lawlessness, the lack of law and order, desperate people trying to get food and water for their families as well. So this combined makes it very difficult for these aid groups to be able to distribute the food to where it's needed most.
Now, the IDF did announce just a week ago that they had a transit route which was going to be from the Kerem Shalom crossing in the south and up the Salah al-Din Road, which is effectively the north- south artery in Gaza. But, there weren't necessarily going to be security guarantees along the way, security guarantees from the Israeli airstrikes we heard from the IDF, but not necessarily from gangs who were on the ground trying to get to some of this aid to be able to sell it and as I say, desperate residents.
The U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for more to be done by Israel as the occupying power to be able to give security to those humanitarian aid groups and the United Nations to be able to deliver this aid. And this IPC Report that has just come out today as well, points to areas where things are getting worse. For example, the south of Gaza, which is where one of the key land crossings has been closed, the Rafah crossing has been closed since early May and also many of the humanitarian aid groups have been moved on. So, that has a very direct knock-on effect to people as to their inability to access food, clean water, and shelter. Rahel?
SOLOMON: Paula Hancocks, incredible reporting there. Thank you. We are going to have more on the malnutrition crisis in Gaza a little later in the show.
[08:15:00]
I will speak to a guest from UNICEF to find out what can be done to get aid to countless hungry children. That is coming up in about 20 minutes.
Well, in just two days, Joe Biden and Donald Trump will stand next to each other for the first time in four years to debate the future of the U.S. Their first debate of this campaign season will be held at CNN headquarters in Atlanta. And in many ways, it could be as much about style as it is about substance. Analysts say that many voters are more concerned about Biden's age and Trump's temperament than they are about specific issues and ideas that the candidates might discuss.
Let's bring in CNN White House Correspondent Arlette Saenz with more. So Arlette, you are hearing, but how the Biden camp is trying to frame the issue of the economy ahead of the debate. What are you hearing?
ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rahel, the Biden campaign has signaled that there are really three areas where they want to draw a contrast with Trump on, that includes abortion, democracy, and importantly the economy. And it comes at a time when CNN has learned that outside Democratic advisers have urged the president and his team to focus less on taking a victory lap over President Biden's record and accomplishments, and focus more on drawing that contrast, going on offense to attack Trump for his economic vision.
These advisers have said that they believe that Biden should really tried to tie Trump to corporate America, while also highlighting the inflationary nature of his economic proposals. Part of the concern as that President Biden has this tendency to go out to list some of the bright spots in the economy, some of the accomplishments that he has made in office when it relates to increasing the number of jobs, also avoiding an economic recession, but it all comes at a time when voters are still harboring deep reservations about Biden's handling of the economy with many polls showing that voters tend to trust Trump more on economic issues than Biden.
Now, the Biden campaign today is really leaning in to trying to make this economic contrast with Trump. They released a new television ad today that will run in battleground states, really trying to portray Trump as someone who is looking out for himself rather than the concerns of the American people. They tried to present this contrast, pointing to Trump's pledges to lower taxes for wealthy Americans contrasting to some of the things Biden has achieved like lowering the cost of insulin, lowering the cost of prescription drugs. And it all comes at a time that the Biden campaign is also still continuing to hammer away at Trump over his recent criminal convictions, arguing that it once again shows he's looking out for himself, that he is unfit to serve in office.
So, all of these arguments are things Biden could potentially lean into as he prepares for this first matchup against Trump on the debate stage in two days.
SOLOMON: All right. A lot to watch. Arlette Saenz, live for us at the White House. Arlette, thank you.
And still to come, a history lesson, what Donald Trump's tactics of the past tell us about how he might go after Joe Biden at their debate this week. But first, we will head to Iran which is preparing to vote in an election brought on by the death of President Ebrahim Raisi. We are going to have a live report from Tehran, just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:20:18]
SOLOMON: All right. We want to get to some breaking news into CNN. Anti-tax protesters have entered the parliament compound in Nairobi. These are pictures from moments ago, you can see scores of people here rushing into the parliament area and we know that there have been protests for weeks against proposed tax hikes. (Inaudible) have broken out of the parliament and voters (ph) reports that protesters have entered the building.
We have a correspondent on the ground there, but as you may imagine, the situation is at the very least fluid, maybe even volatile, looking at these pictures. So as soon as we can ensure that our correspondent is in a place where he can safely communicate what he is seeing on the ground and the very latest, we will bring that to you. But again, these are pictures coming out of Nairobi where protesters have reportedly entered the parliament on the back of these protests that have taken place now for weeks.
All right. For now, let's head to Iran where presidential candidates there are in the final days of campaigning for Friday's election. The poll was triggered by the death of Ebrahim Raisi last month in a helicopter crash. Six candidates were approved to run for election after screening by Iran's hard-line Guardian Council. For more on this, let's go over to CNN's Fred Pleitgen, who is live in Tehran.
Fred, set the scene for us there in the Iranian capital. What are you seeing? How are people feeling?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: While you can definitely, Rahel, that this election is very important for the Islamic Republic, for the leadership of the Islamic Republic as well, as you can see, I'm in a setting where there's sort of a festival going on. It's actually very important for just holiday, Eid al- Ghadir, here in Tehran, of course, all across Iran today. But all of the supports happening in front of the backdrop of that election and everywhere you go, you can tell how important this election is.
You can you over there behind those street sign that there's posters of some of the candidates that is Mohammad Qalibaf who is one of the conservative candidates. And you can see that plastered all over the city and, of course, across cities here in Iran. It's been quite interesting because, today, the supreme leader of this country, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, he came out in his speech regarding the festivities for this religious holiday and he once again urged Iranians to come to the polls. He said that low voter turnout always leads to criticism of the Islamic Republic of Iran, while high turnout as he put it, would cut the tongues, as he said, of the enemies of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
So, voter turnout definitely a big thing. The last election took place where Ebrahim Raisi was elected, that of course, the turnout was quite low. This time, there are six candidates that are still in the running, including a moderate candidate. So, the authorities do believe that the turnout would be higher and they certainly are doing everything that they believe they can to ensure -- to see that people go to the polls and cast their vote this Friday, Rahel.
SOLOMON: Fred, talk to us a little bit about the time in which this is happening. I mean, there seems to be so much happening geopolitically in terms of internationally with Iran, but even domestically, why is this election so significant for Iran?
PLEITGEN: Absolutely significant on every level. And I think, first of all, it's a great question. I think something that you really feel here on the ground as well. What we've had today, for instance, on this religious holiday, it's a debate between all six candidates, the fifth one to take place ahead of this election. That is something that is almost unheard of in most other countries because, of course, from the helicopter crash that killed President Ebrahim Raisi and the Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, only a little over a month until now and until the new election takes place and to have five presidential debates within that time frame shows how important the key issues are.
Of course, here in Iran, domestically, a lot of it is about inflation. A lot of it is about employment. A lot of it also, of course, about the sanctions internationally that have been levied against Iran that are hurting Iran's economy and many other people that quite frankly you see around me right now. But of course, also the geopolitical situation, the situation in the Middle East is also something that is key and, of course, will be key for the incoming president as well.
You had Iran and Israel on the brink of a possible full-on war just a couple of weeks ago, after of course, Iran's embassy in Damascus was bombed, killing several top Revolutionary Guard Commanders and the Iranians, of course, striking back for the first time from their own territory and hitting places in Israel. Then of course, you have Iran's ongoing feud with the United States. That is also something that has been an issue. And it's quite interesting to see the candidates react to all that. You have two conservative candidates that many people believe are sort of the front runners in the conservative field, one of them is Saeed Jalili who is the former chief nuclear negotiator of Iran and one of them is Mohammad Qalibaf that you saw on that poster, and who is the head of the parliament, the speaker of Iranian parliament. They, of course, will continue they see that hard line that we've been seeing until so far.
[08:25:00]
But, you also have a moderate candidate who is in the running as well, who some believe also thinks that he might have a chance as well. And he's one who is calling for better relations for countries here in the region. But of course, as far as Iran's foreign policy is concerned, very little real change as the Iranians have already announced, they will continue a hard line towards United States and they will also continue (inaudible) a hard line towards Israel as well, Rahel.
SOLOMON: OK. So that's important context there. Fred Pleitgen, live for us there in Tehran. Fred, thank you.
Still come for us, the plight of children in Gaza, shocking living conditions coupled with an absence of food and polluted water. We will talk to a spokesman for UNICEF when we return, stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SOLOMON: All right. I want to get back to this breaking news out of Nairobi. Anti-tax protesters have entered the parliament compound. You can see again, in this video, scores of people here entering into the area. There have been protests for weeks against proposed tax hikes. Let's get back to that breaking news where our correspondent is now. Larry Madowo, give us a sense. You've been out there for weeks. What are you seeing right now?
LARRY MADOWO, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Rahel, in the last few minutes, we have seen protesters brace and actually get inside Kenya's national assembly. We saw protesters make out of the assembly with the Mace, which is the symbol of Kenya's parliament; a few of them, not all the protests. A lot of them have been held just outside of Kenya's national assembly by the police.
It's been a dramatic scene all afternoon with police trying to push them back with water cannon and with tear gas, and they throw back the tear gas and pushed back the police. At one point, they made it right outside Kenya's national assembly. So the scene you have here is still of a strong police presence. All of these trucks here, we see the protest is just on the periphery of Kenya's national assembly here.
We have seen at least two bodies on the ground. We saw police use live rounds while the protesters breached the fence of the national assembly. And that's how some of them were able to get inside Kenya's parliament. And as protests as were getting closer, overwhelming the police, some of these security officers, some of the men inside Kenya's parliament, we saw them using live rounds. And after that, we saw at least two bodies lying here. On this street, this is called Parliament Avenue, it goes right in front of Kenya's parliament and this is the bell in the house, both the national assembly and the senate.
There is still a stand-off here between the protesters on that round- about over at the end of that road and the police trend to hold him back there. But part of the wall has been breached and protesters made it all the way from -- into the cafeteria and inside the floor of the national assembly and made out with the Mace.
[08:30:00]
They were trying to get it through these -- through the fence and the kind of broke it into two and they got out with the arm of the Mace, but the rest of it remained inside parliament. So the most dramatic scene I've seen covering protests here in Kenya for a long, long time. But also, the two bodies we've seen, those are the ones we personally saw as CNN, the protesters tell us they've seen other bodies in other parts of the city. They were largely peaceful protesters and they are angry that police appear to be using live rounds to beat back and to disrupt peaceful protesters.
SOLOMON: And Larry, I mean, what are police saying in response to this? And what is the government saying?
MADOWO: We have reached out to Kenya police; we have reached out to the interior ministry. We have reached out to government agencies in charge of this response. We have heard nothing back so far, because this is coming after overnight -- Amnesty International Kenya said at least 12 different prominent social media users that have been promoting these protests, that have been encouraging people to come out where "abducted in the middle of the night." That's according to Amnesty International.
We don't know their whereabouts. They have not been presented before a court as is required by Kenyan law. They have not been charged with anything, but they remain missing. And that's part of the anger you see out here on the streets. These people tell us, they are just young people, 18, 19, 20, 21-year-olds out your fighting for their rights. And they don't understand why they have this heavy police presence, this overly militarized police response.
You see back there, that smoke is tear gas. There has been a lot of tear gas here all afternoon. It has made Nairobi feel and sound like a war zone all day, as just rounds and rounds of tear gas and water cannon and this cat and mouse games between the protesters and a huge security presence. I've seen in just this street alone, there is probably 300, 400 police officers, but there's probably more than 1,000 protesters also trying to get here to this, the national assembly of Kenya.
SOLOMON: Where are you -- you know from previous reports that you've done, you've been out there, you've been talking to protesters. Talk to us a little bit about what they've told you, what would they like to see? I know some have told you they want the president to step down. I mean, what are they calling for? MADOWO: They're calling for, one, the rejection of the finance bill. This is this proposed law that would raise taxes in a lot of basic commodities and make their life difficult. A lot of the proposals that were initially in that law have since been dropped, but they do not want any amendments. They want the bill to be rejected wholesale. That is one of the bigger things. But I think this has also been a trigger for why the dissatisfaction with the government of President William Ruto.
One young man that we just spoke to a short while ago, told me they blame this on the IMF and the World Bank that gives loans to Kenya, but put a lot of conditions and the government has had to try and raise revenue, and one of the ways that the government has to try and raise revenue internally without depending on borrowing is to raise taxes. But these taxes are deeply unpopular in a country where the cost of living is already so high, people cannot afford any more taxes on fuel or food or sanitary pads, or any of the basic necessities they need.
SOLOMON: (Inaudible) situation there. Larry Madowo, live for us there. Larry, of course, stay safe. Thank you for the reporting.
All right. New report on conditions inside Gaza should horrify every one of us. It says that virtually the entire population is at risk of famine. A study by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification forecast severe levels of food insecurity through the end of summer. It says that a high risk of famine persists across all of Gaza and can only be addressed if the fighting stops and humanitarian groups are granted sustained access. Gaza's children, the ones bearing the brunt, it is estimated that tens of thousands of them currently require treatment for acute malnutrition.
For more on this, I'm going to bring in Ricardo Pires. He is the communication manager for UNICEF and joins us now from New York. Ricardo, good to have you today. Talk to me a little bit about your reaction to the findings of this report and how they compare with what you have heard from your colleagues on the ground there.
RICARDO PIRES, COMMUNICATION MANAGER, UNICEF: Thanks for having me, Rahel. The report just outlines, again, humanitarian systems struggling in the Gaza Strip, that has been struggling for many months, but it's at least partially in succeeding in averting the worst outcomes for children including feminine, but for now. And at the same time, the results warn of a situation that remains very, very dire, precarious and conditions on the ground are rapidly, rapidly deteriorating, especially in the last month or so.
So, what we are hearing from colleagues on the ground is that indeed malnutrition is still killing children, dehydration is still killing children. Many thousands of them are still displaced with very little conditions to survive in the so-called safety zones that are not safe at all for them. So again, I think the outcomes of this report are just outlining how dire, how desperate the situation is and how much human suffering is still ongoing in Gaza.
[08:35:00] SOLOMON: Well, what would you say is the biggest obstacle to getting aid into Gaza, right now, from what you're hearing? Is it the infrastructure? Is it, I mean, how would you describe for those of us watching, what is the biggest challenge right now, getting aid to children and to people in Gaza?
PIRES: It's a very good question, Rahel. I think there are many items that need or elements that need to be in place before a full humanitarian operation can successfully deliver more aid and save more children and families. But right now, what we are having is many crossings are still unable to allow aid in, so these crossings are not open. And once trucks get in, which are now happening less than in the previous month, so we are seeing again, whatever positive results we have, we had from this IPC Report that managed to avert famine.
That progress is very fragile and we are seeing the deterioration again in the aid flow within the Gaza Strip, which in the north was not the case two months ago, in March and April. And that's why we saw some positive results as well and we managed to avert famine. But still, as I said, the humanitarian system is struggling because within the Gaza strip, there's no safety to operate. Humanitarian workers are being harassed or are risking their lives on a daily basis, and roads as you mentioned are destroyed or collapsed. So, there are fewer access points to reach those in need.
There are less hospitals to treat children with severe malnutrition or other illnesses that are also increasing in the Gaza Strip. So I think without a ceasefire, which is what we've been calling for so, so many months, for nearly nine months now, it becomes borderline impossible to respond to the needs with the scale that is needed.
SOLOMON: You know, Ricardo, the State Department says that it views reports like this one from the IPC from time to time as they determine what changes, if any, they would like to see from Israel. I'm curious from your perspective, on the heels of this report, short of a total cessation of fighting, short of that, what you would like to see done?
PIRES: We would like to see more flexibility, Rahel, with aid entry and delivery. We need to see more safety on the ground, even though there is no ceasefire, as you said, and this is the ideal outcome to be able to fully scale our humanitarian operation. If we can have that, which we will continue to call for, we need to be able to predict and stick to that plan when we make a suggestion or a plan of humanitarian delivery and operations on the ground.
So we need the occupying power to allow us to do our work and that work needs to be predictable and sustainable. We can't plan a mission today to deliver therapeutic feeding to hospital in the north tomorrow to help children who are dying of malnutrition, and then that aid delivery gets canceled on the day without real explanations. So, we need predictability for our humanitarian operations to take place. We need safety; we need de-confliction of areas so our trucks can get through and we can reach those in desperate need.
SOLOMON: Yeah. Ricardo Pires of UNICEF, thanks so much for the time today and your insights. Well, as Joe Biden and Donald Trump get ready to face off at the CNN debate on Thursday, Biden's team says he is getting ready to encounter what could be a very disciplined Donald Trump this time around. That would be a far cry from Trump's performance in their first debate four years ago. CNN's Brian Todd looks back at Trump's history on the debate stage.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Businessman Donald Trump.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Our first hint of Donald Trump's penchant for being an unconstrained debater came in 2015 when then Fox News Anchor Megyn Kelly challenged him over his treatment of women who had drawn his disdain.
MEGYN KELLY, FOX NEW ANCHOR: You've called women you don't like fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals. Your Twitter account has several --
TRUMP: Only Rosie O'Donnell.
(CROWD CHEERING)
KELLY: No, it wasn't.
TRUMP: What I say is what I say. And honestly, Megyn, if you don't like it, I'm sorry. I've been very nice to you, although I could probably maybe not be, based on the way you have treated me, but I wouldn't do that.
MATT VISER, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: It was the first indication that this is an unpredictable force in American politics that we had never seen before.
TODD (voice-over): The former president has pulled visual stunts to knock his opponent off their game, like the time in 2016, when his campaign had three women who had accused former President Bill Clinton of inappropriate sexual behavior, sit front and center at his debate against Hillary Clinton. At that same debate, Trump stood very close behind Hillary Clinton as she spoke. Clinton later joked about it on the Ellen DeGeneres Show.
HILLARY CLINTON, (D) FORMER FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES AND 2016 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And I would just feel this presence behind me.
(LAUGH)
[08:40:00]
CLINTON: And you know, I thought, whoa, this is really weird.
(APPLAUSE)
TODD (voice-over): In the first 2020 debate, Trump repeatedly, unashamedly interrupted Joe Biden to the point where that then Democratic nominee just couldn't take it anymore.
TRUMP: The question is --
JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: (Inaudible) justice --
TRUMP: Radical left, the question is --
BIDEN: Would you shut up, man?
TRUMP: Listen, who is on your list, Joe? Who's on your list?
BIDEN: This is so unpresidential.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gentlemen, I think (inaudible).
TODD (voice-over): Trump has often scored points off these moments by feeding off the audience. In the 2016 primaries, Trump deftly parlayed audience reactions and the use of insults to confound his GOP opponents. There was a repeated salvo towards Senator Marco Rubio.
TRUMP: Don't worry about it, little Marco.
TODD (voice-over): Rubio responded by making fun of the size of Trump's hands. But Trump had a comeback for that too.
TRUMP: He referred to my hands, if they're small, something else must be small. I guarantee you there's no problem. I guarantee.
(CROWD CHEERING)
TODD (voice-over): Trump also struck a nerve by often lambasting former Florida Governor Jeb Bush's energy levels.
TRUMP: I think you're trying to build up your energy, Jeb, but it's not working very well.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please, one at a time.
TODD: Did that change perceptions of Jeb Bush?
VISER: It did and Jeb Bush, frankly, never recovered from some of that. Created this narrative around the Bush campaign and around events that Jeb Bush was participating in, that did start to seem low energy.
TODD (voice-over): Analyst Matt Viser points out the format for this Thursday's debate will give Donald Trump far fewer opportunities to score with those unscripted, colorful moments with no live audience for him to feed off of and the candidate's microphones muted unless it's their turn to speak. Donald Trump will have to find possibly more traditional ways to try to knock his opponent off his game.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE) SOLOMON: And you can watch it all on the CNN Presidential Debate right here on CNN, coming up on June 27th at 9:00 p.m. Eastern, and we will replay the debate in its entirety a few different times. You can watch it at 7:00 a.m. London time, that's 2:00 p.m. in Hong Kong, or 12 hours later at 7:00 p.m. in London, or 10:00 p.m. in Abu Dhabi. We are going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SOLOMON: Welcome back. Ahead of Thursday's CNN Presidential Debate, one issue stands out as a key concern for many voters, immigration. In a major policy move, President Joe Biden this month, announced an asylum to reduce crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border and to speed up the removal of undocumented migrants. But for Native American community on the border, patience is wearing thin and concerns about rising crime grow by the day. CNN's David Culver reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VERLON JOSE, CHAIRMAN, TOHONO O'ODHAM NATION: From here, (inaudible) you're going to start to see a lot of debris, a lot of trash.
DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. What is all this?
JOSE: It's just the migrants. The migrants because they are --
CULVER: They just leave all that? I see clothes. I see trash.
JOSE: Yep.
CULVER (voice-over): The Tohono O'odham Nation's sacred land is bearing the brunt of migration.
JOSE: Your heart feels for the migrants and so forth like that. But then, other part says, look at the destruction that they're causing us.
[08:45:00]
Look at the trash that they're leaving (inaudible).
CULVER (voice-over): About 30 miles west of Tucson, Arizona, the reservation essentially straddles the U.S. southern border, which is marked by a simple cattle fence.
JOSE: This is the San Miguel Gate, a traditional crossing.
CULVER (voice-over): The tribe's Chairman Verlon Jose says a border wall here would ruin their traditional land.
JOSE: This is where the creator had put us.
CULVER: You don't see a boundary?
JOSE: No, we don't see a boundary. CULVER (voice-over): But migrants do and so do cartels, which use the Tohono O'odham's land as a profitable crossing ground.
JOSE: There's some area right up here where they just turn around, drop them all the time, just go across there.
CULVER (voice-over): We see that for ourselves.
CULVER: Oh, look, crossing right here. You can see this right there.
JOSE: Your camera -- where is your camera? Get down and film them.
CULVER: [Foreign Language].
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: [Foreign Language].
CULVER: To request asylum. They're from Mexico.
CULVER (voice-over): Dropped off with her three kids, Norma (ph) says she was told to walk towards a makeshift camp. Even in the scorching desert heat, she believes where she's headed will be better than what she has left behind.
CULVER: She works for a political party directly in Mexico and she says her political party lost. She said the surge in violence and danger is so much so that she and her kids have decided to cross into the U.S.
So the tribe allowed border patrol to set up a structure for the folks who do come over until their process --
CULVER (voice-over): Everyone we meet here, mostly families from the same country. Even the chairman intrigued with how they ended up in such a remote part of the border.
JOSE: (Inaudible) where exactly (inaudible).
CULVER: I asked her, that's the thing I said. Do you know where we are? She didn't even know. [Foreign Language] She has no idea where we are right now.
CULVER (voice-over): Chairman Jose believes cartels are behind it.
JOSE: (Inaudible).
CULVER (voice-over): It is in part where the tribe coordinates with customs and border protection, allowing them to set up substations on Tohono O'odham land, along with several towers armed with far- reaching, high-definition cameras.
CULVER: So, they are searching from the air as well as the ground here.
CULVER (voice-over): Border patrol often deploying to stop threats or to rescue stranded migrant. Members of the tribe have noticed an increase in violence and crime, motivating some to turn to their catholic faith. Prayers for safety and security echoed more than 1,000 miles south of tribal territory in the outskirts of Mexico City.
CULVER: [Foreign Language].
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: [Foreign Language].
CULVER (voice-over): It is here, we again meet Norma (ph) days after we watched her and her kids cross the border.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: [Foreign Language].
CULVER: It is really emotional for her (inaudible) and she carries this card with her and her constant prayer to the virgin was to protect her kids more than anything else.
CULVER (voice-over): 48 hours after crossing into the U.S., border patrols sent Norma (ph) and her kids back to Mexico just days after the Biden Administration took executive action on the border, allowing for a swift deportation of most migrants after a daily cap is reached.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: [Foreign Language].
CULVER: And it wasn't until they were physically at the border that she realized they were going to be sent back to Mexico.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: [Foreign Language].
CULVER (voice-over): The six-day journey cost Norma (ph) more than $8,000 and ended where it started, back in the neighborhood where she still feels the threats of political oppression.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: [Foreign Language].
CULVER: She says she feels OK going out right now because we are here and we are together, but if she was by herself, like normally, she would only go out on Saturday in the middle of the day.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: [Foreign Language].
CULVER: She says that her recommendation for others who may want to try to cross the way that she did is don't try it.
CULVER (voice-over): While Norma (ph) has no plans to cross again, back on Tohono O'odham land--
JOSE: I sometimes will come up here by myself, just when I need a little solitude.
CULVER (voice-over): Chairman Jose fears without Congress coming together across party lines, migrants and drugs will continue to cross his sacred land.
[08:50:00]
JOSE: It has a major impact on us. We are not here to lay blame on who is responsible for this because I think we all are. And I'd do whatever it is to protect this land. Yeah. That's all I got. My blood, sweat and tear, I got nothing more.
CULVER (voice-over): David Culver, CNN, on Tohono O'odham Nation.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOLOMON: All right. Still to come for us, China plants its flag next to its lunar probe that has just made the journey back from the moon. We will look at the out-of-this-world samples it brought with it when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SOLOMON: All right. A reminder now on that breaking news out of Nairobi. Anti-tax protesters have entered the parliament complex. Police fired live rounds at the protesters. Our correspondent on the ground, CNN's Larry Madowo and his team say that they saw two bodies lying on the ground. There have been protests there for weeks against proposed tax hikes. We will, of course, continue to follow the events out of Nairobi. We will bring you the latest updates as they come in to us, here at CNN.
Meantime, China is saying that its lunar probe mission was a complete success. The (inaudible) Chang'e-6 successfully returned to earth earlier on Tuesday. President Xi Jinping hailed the mission for bringing back samples from the far side of the moon for the first time in history. Ivan Watson takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Floating back down to earth, China's lunar module returning from a mission to the furthest reaches of the moon, named after the Chinese moon goddess, the Chang'e-6 spacecraft lands safely in the deserts of China's Inner Mongolia, and makes history.
BRAD TUCKER, ASTROPHYSICIST/COSMOLOGIST, AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY: So, the only country that's landed on the far side, that side facing away from us, is China. So the fact that they've landed now two missions on that side of the moon and one of which has actually returned stuff back to earth, is a pretty big deal.
WATSON (voice-over): For Chinese leader Xi Jinping, this marks a giant leap towards what he calls his eternal dream, establishing China as a dominant space power. The probe collected up to two kilos of dust and rocks, which could help scientists better understand the origins of the solar system. Treasure drilled from the South Pole-Aitken basin, a four-billion-year-old moon crater not visible from earth. To do this, China had to create a way to communicate with its robot on the other side of the moon.
TUCKER: The China has built a series of satellites in orbit around the moon. You essentially are building a communication network for the moon.
WATSON (voice-over): Beijing's bigger plan is to put an astronaut on the moon by 2030 and later build a moon base. But China's race to space sometimes gets messy. On Saturday, suspected debris from a separate Chinese rocket frightened villagers in southwestern China. Experts say this is the booster of a Chinese Long March-2C rocket belching toxic smoke. And it's not the first time Chinese space debris landed dangerously close to civilians. Beijing's main space rivals at NASA are closely watching.
BILL NELSON, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: China has made extraordinary strides, especially in the last ten years. I think, in effect, we are in a race.
[08:55:00]
WATSON (voice-over): But unlike the cold war version, today's space race has lots of players.
TUCKER: We've seen India land on the moon. We've seen Japan land on the moon. The UAE has sent a rover. Mexico had a rover on a private U.S. mission.
WATSON (voice-over): A crowded competition with China confidently displaying its flag on the moon.
Ivan Watson, CNN, Hong Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOLOMON: King Charles is welcoming the emperor and empress of Japan to Britain. The emperor has long links with the British royal family and as the U.K. bolsters its ties with Tokyo, the royals are rolling out the red carpet. An official welcoming ceremony took place at Horse Guards in London a short time ago. Princess Anne did miss the event. We learned yesterday that she had suffered a head injury at home on the weekend.
All right. Thanks for joining me today here on "CNN Newsroom." I'm Rahel Solomon. "Connect The World" with Becky Anderson is coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:00:00]
