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Israel Braces For Iran, Hezbollah Potential Retaliation Attack; Ukrainian Special Forces Raid Russian-Occupied Island In Black Sea; Taylor Swift Concerts Cancelled Over Terror Plot; Anti-racism Crowds Counter Planned Far-Right Rallies; Anti-Racism Counter-Protests Foil Far-Right Rallies; OIC Holds Israel Responsible for Assassination of Haniyeh; Republicans Attack Walz Over His Visits to China; Schoolchildren Protecting the Great Barrier Reef; Starliner Safety Issues Leave Astronauts Stuck on ISS. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired August 08, 2024 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm John Vause, live in Atlanta. Ahead here on CNN Newsroom.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look, this is obviously a very delicate time for the region.
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VAUSE: A cease fire in Gaza closer to agreement than ever before hangs in the balance as Iran and its proxy Hezbollah inch closer than ever before to a major strike on Israel.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Three Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna have been canceled in connection with a planned terror attack.
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VAUSE: It could have been the softest of soft targets, almost 200,000 Taylor Swift fans, all in the cross hairs of two alleged terrorists with ISIS-K.
And then on Wednesday, Britain's silent majority made their voices heard, bringing a pause to more than a week of violent protests by far right extremists and thugs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN Newsroom with John Vause.
VAUSE: It's just gone 8:30 in the morning in Tehran and an advisory to Egyptian air traffic to avoid Iranian airspace ended a short time ago. The warning had been in place for about three hours, and with tensions at breaking point across the region. There were concerns that could have been the window for Iran to launch a major strike on Israel, retaliation for Israel's assassination of a senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh while he was visiting Tehran last week.
So for now, the waiting continues with Israel bracing for an attack, not just by Iran but also from the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah, which is based in Lebanon. A senior leader with Hezbollah was also assassinated last week by Israel. The latest U.S. intelligence believes that attack by Hezbollah, which is more than 100,000 rockets and missiles on Israel's northern border could come at any time, possibly independently of any action by Iran.
And at an urgent meeting Wednesday, at the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. Saudi Arabia described the assassination of Haniyeh as a blatant violation of Iran's sovereignty. Still, a flurry of diplomacy by the U.S. continues across the region, urging Israel, Iran and Hezbollah to stand down.
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MATTHEW MILLER, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: We would hope that at that OIC meeting, the same thing happens that we have been hope that we have been trying to effectuate throughout the last week, which is that all parties that have a relationship with Iran impress upon Iran the same way that we've been impressing upon the Government of Israel that they shouldn't take any steps to escalate the conflict.
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VAUSE: CNN's Jeremy Diamond begins our coverage reporting in from Haifa in northern Israel.
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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: One week after the assassination of Hamas' political leader Ismail Haniyeh, those Iranian threats of retaliation have yet to materialize, and there are a number of reasons why that may be the case. It could be because Iran is still making its preparation, still getting its proxies in line to carry out some kind of attack on Israel, could be preparing for the possibility that this could quickly spiral into a very dangerous regional conflict.
But it could also be because of what we've seen over the course of the last week, and that is a flurry of diplomatic activity trying to desperately find an off ramp here to avoid that worst case scenario of an all-out regional war.
We know that earlier on Wednesday, Iran, as well as a number of Muslim countries, met in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, where the discussion was focused on the war in Gaza and on trying to find a cease fire. And in those meetings, as well as in a conversation that the Iranian President had with the French president, there was the possibility. There was this notion being raised of a cease fire, pressure being brought to bear on Israel to agree to a cease fire as that potential diplomatic off ramp, indications that if a cease fire materialized, perhaps Iran would not retaliate, or at least would scale down the kind of response that they are preparing against Israel.
But as that is happening, we're also now getting indications that Hezbollah, a key Iranian proxy in Lebanon that still has a significant degree of autonomy, could choose to actually carry out its retaliatory strike against Israel first, and perhaps even independently of any Iranian considerations.
Hezbollah, of course, far closer to Israel, being in neighboring Lebanon, could carry out that attack much more quickly. And of course, it has a devastating arsenal of rockets and missiles, some of which it has yet to actually deploy in this conflict since it's been firing missiles against Israel since October 8.
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So this is certainly a very tense moment. What is clear, though, if a cease fire materialized, it could certainly bring a region that appears to be on the verge of boiling over. It could certainly bring the temperature way, way down. Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Haifa, Israel.
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VAUSE: Joining us from Washington is Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. He's also author of "Losing an Enemy," and it's good to see it's been a while, so thank you for taking the time.
TRITA PARSI, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, THE QUINCY INSTITUTE FOR RESPONSIBLE STATECRAFT: Good to see you, John.
VAUSE: OK, so here's a spokesperson from the U.S. State Department talking about the ongoing diplomatic efforts to defuse tensions across the region.
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MILLER: We have heard from those countries, really a broad consensus in every conversation that we have had that they share our opinion that escalation would only exacerbate the problems facing the region, and so certainly, we would hope that countries at that meeting would impress that upon Iran.
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VAUSE: Right now, there are a lot of questions, when will the strike on Israel happen? Will it be a joint military operation by Iran and Hezbollah? Will Hezbollah go it alone? What will be the target? Will Israel's air defenses hold up?
No one seems to be asking the question, when will diplomatic efforts by the United States end this immediate crisis and convince both Israel and Iran to stand down. It seems no one may want an escalation, but it's escalation they're going to get one way or the other. PARSI: Well, I think you put your finger on something very important. The United States does have the capacity of pressing the Israelis for a ceasefire. For the last 10 months, however, we have not seen the Biden administration actually use the leverage that it has in order to be able to secure a cease fire.
It's been doing a lot of other things, except for actually using its leverage, and this is part of the reason why, on the one hand, it could be so that a ceasefire could end this escalation, and the Iranians would back down and not retaliate.
But for that to happen, it necessitates that Biden, for the first time, actually uses his leverage short of that, I don't see any other diplomatic exit out of this escalatory spiral right now. And if Biden had been pressing the Israelis much more forthcoming earlier on, they wouldn't have been a strike against Lebanon and Iran by the Israelis in the first place.
So I think the onus is actually more on the Biden administration to put pressure and make sure that the Israelis agree to a ceasefire, and then use that to see whether that can lead to a deescalation from the Iranians. Last time the Israelis struck the Iranian embassy in Syria, they actually demanded a ceasefire as a way for them to not retaliate. This time around, we haven't heard him say that, and I suspect that it's partly because they have very little confidence that Biden actually will use the leverage that he has.
VAUSE: Well, there does seem to be a very remote chance of an off ramp he has nothing to do with us diplomacy. We're being told that Haniyeh was killed not by an Israeli air strike, but rather by a bomb smuggled into his room. And the Times of Israel reports this understanding that it wasn't an Israeli missile, but rather smuggled in bomb remotely, which was detonated remotely, could lead to Iran to step down from its threat to attack Israel. The security officials adding that Iran itself has carried out similar attacks in foreign countries in the past.
How credible does that sound to you?
PARSI: It does not sound very credible to me at all. I have great doubts about the story that this was a bomb. I think it's actually designed to create a narrative in order to either get the Iranians to back off or to use Iran's retaliation and say that that is widely disproportionate in comparison to a bomb, and use that to actually escalate further.
So I -- we haven't seen any clear evidence for that narrative, but I think we should also keep in mind bomb or missile, whatever it was, this was deeply embarrassing to the Iranians. It was humiliating, because it really showed the huge gaps that they have in their security. And I think after first having said so strongly that they will take action. The only way to prevent it is that they have to secure a win elsewhere, such as a cease fire, in order to get them to back down additional threats of what will be done to Iranians, I don't think we'll be able to get them to back down. They have to have an exit that provides them with a win. VAUSE: This is the closest the release has come to a major escalation
since the war in Gaza began last October. It's also the closest Israel and Hamas apparently are coming to a ceasefire deal in Gaza. As you mentioned this, I want to listen to the national security spokesperson for the United States, John Kerry.
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JOHN KIRBY, NATIONAL SECURITY SPOKESPERSON: There is a good proposal before both sides, and they need to both accept that proposal so we can get this in place. We are as close as we think we have ever been, and that's why we talk about it in these terms.
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VAUSE: Yes, there's only second place in ceasefire negotiations. You have a deal or you don't.
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But assuming the worst outcome here and there is a major escalation, what does that mean for the 100 or so hostages being held in Gaza and also for the Palestinians in Gaza?
PARSI: Well, if we have this escalation, let's say the Iranians strike together with Hezbollah and the Israelis choose to retaliate against that by further escalating, we will rather quickly risk being in an all-out war in the region that could also drag the United States into it.
On those circumstances, obviously, getting the hostages out, securing a cease fire in Gaza will be far, far more difficult than it currently is, and it's already hard enough to achieve that.
This is part of the reason why inside of Israel, there's been a tremendous amount of criticism against Netanyahu for these strikes, not because there's any love lost for any of these figures, but because it further complicates the efforts to get the hostages out. And this is something that you know by now, quite a few senior folks in the Israeli government, or former officials, have criticized Netanyahu for not prioritizing the release of the hostages.
VAUSE: The timing of hitting his assassination was indeed curious. Trita Parsi. Thank you so much, sir. It's good to see you. Appreciate your time.
PARSI: Thank you so much for having me.
VAUSE: Ukrainian special forces appear to have carried out an overnight raid on a Russian occupied island in the Black Sea. A statement from Ukraine says Tendra Spit, which strictly speaking, is not an island, but rather a strip of land about 65 kilometers long, was targeted and Russian armored vehicles, Russian fortifications and electronic warfare equipment, destroyed. A day earlier, Ukrainian regular forces launched a major incursion, reportedly 10 miles deep into Russian territory. That operation appears to be ongoing. Local officials say the situation is under control, which is often code in Russia for the situation not being under control. Here's Nick Paton Walsh.
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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURIRY CORRESPONDENT: We've been seeing, perhaps for two days now, is one of the most significant incursions into Russia since the start of the war, and total silence from Ukraine on the record about whether their troops are genuinely behind it.
In the past, we've seen Russian citizens volunteering to fight for Ukraine, making those short incursions into Russian territory. But this, if you believe the Russian narrative, is potentially the Ukrainian regular military striding five kilometers, three miles deep into Russian territory, possibly further. The target of much of the assault appears to be a town called Sudzha, Russia calling this a major provocation. That's the words of President Vladimir Putin, suggesting that the Ukraine has been firing on residential areas, which after Moscow has been doing that in Ukraine for over two years.
But he was assured by his chief of staff that the advance had been halted. A very different picture, though seen on social media videos, some suggesting, without what we can confirm ourselves, that even Russian servicemen were surrendering to Ukrainians, according some Ukrainian accounts showing damage inside the town of Sudzha that and potentially a multipronged Ukrainian move inside of Russia.
Why? Well, some analysts are pointing towards a gas terminal near Sudzha which controls Russian gas that moves through Ukraine to Europe, still now in the third year of the war, that may now be under Ukrainian control. That may have been the objective Kyiv often looking to get control or inflict damage or influence on Russian infrastructure.
But it's also a rare moment of good headlines for Ukraine in a war where they've seen the Donbas front line find Russian forces moving forward incrementally, deliberately, but very steadily, towards Ukrainian military harms. It's been simply bad news for Kyiv for quite some time about manpower, and frankly, in public too, disputes about the effectiveness of so much of their military strategy.
Those same disputes were around this day in reference to the incursion into Russia, questions about whether this the best use of Ukraine's skin military resources. That question, I think, will persist in the days ahead as we learn exactly what the objectives of this incursion has been, but it has certainly caught the Kremlin off guard, scrambling to try and bring reinforcements to this area, and having to deal with the totally unexpected after so many months of Ukrainian probing around those border areas. Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE) VAUSE: With us now, this hour from Washington, retired U.S. Air Force colonel and CNN military analyst, Cedric Leighton, thanks for being with us.
COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: You bet, John. Good to be with you.
VAUSE: So here's how Russia's highest ranking military leader described the clash with Ukrainian forces, which is ongoing on Russian soil. Here it is.
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VALERY GERASIMOV, CHIEF OF RUSSIA'S GENERAL STAFF (through translator): The enemy's losses amounted to 315 personnel, including at least 100 killed and 215 wounded. 54 armored vehicles were destroyed, including 7 tanks. At the end of the operation, the enemy will be defeated, and our troops will reach the state border.
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VAUSE: Forget everything apart from it where he said, the enemy will be defeated, not has been so this appears to be a major incursion by Ukraine, by regular Ukrainian forces, two brigades perhaps, not anti- Putin Russian militia. And it seems they have some momentum, and it continues, shooting down helicopters, Capri Russian troops, and by some reports, the Russians are in disarray.
How much of this do you believe? How much of this is going on? What do we know about this, from your point of view, what is credible here?
LEIGHTON: Yes, this is going to be a really interesting story to really unscramble, John. I think what we're really seeing here is, in fact, a major incursion by the Ukrainians. Now, is this going to change the outcome of the war? No. But is it going to change the way in which Ukraine is perceived in Russia and basically among their own population, as well as in the West? Yes, I think it probably will.
So what we're seeing, I believe, is a movement by the Ukrainians to capture some territory, perhaps that gas pipeline and that transshipment point within that pipeline that could have a major impact, because it turns out that 50 percent of Russia's gas actually goes through that pipeline at that particular location, that is the gas that's exported to Europe, and that's a major piece for the Russian economy.
And if the Ukrainians gain leverage over that and turn that off, that would not only affect Europe, but it would also affect Russia's ability to collect some of the monies that they've collected, even during the sword in spite of the sanctions.
And from a military standpoint, what this does is it gives the Ukrainians an opportunity to force the Russians to move some of their forces from other areas where the Ukrainians are feeling pressures, such as in the Donbas region, especially around the town of Porosk (ph).
So that is going to make, I think, a big difference in this particular case, but it shows that the Ukrainians are willing to try some fairly audacious tactics at this particular point in time. That much, I think, is fairly certain.
VAUSE: OK, so here's the thing, you make a very good point there about the gas pipeline and, you know, the choke point there. But this is not without risk. It is a very risky play, at least according to some. Ukrainian analysts from the Blackbird group in Finland wrote this. It's still not sure what the goal here is. According to unreliable reports, Ukraine has concentrated elements from two to four brigades in the area these we gravely needed in the East.
And the point is that this is a country which is stretched thin. It's a 700 mile long border which its military is struggling to defend right now, the Russians certainly have been, you know, chipping away at the Ukrainian defense forces. So this could either be a brilliant tactical move or a total disaster.
LEIGHTON: That's right, and I think we're basically working on the knife edge. It could, if it succeeds, be that brilliant move that we read about in mystery books, or it could be the disaster that is, you know, a complete mess. So hopefully for the Ukrainian side, it turns out to be the former.
In this particular case, I think what the Ukrainians are trying to do is they're trying to at least achieve some territorial gains that they can then use, potentially to swap land with the Russians if and when there are some peace negotiations.
So I think that might be the real effort here. Certainly, they're putting pressure on the Russians. They're surprising them, and for the moment, at least, that is a good thing for the Ukrainians.
VAUSE: I guess it shakes things up, if nothing else. But another problem here all it seems to be it was a bit of a surprise that the White House. Listen to this,
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KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: But as for the specific operation, we're going to reach out to them to see what their objective is, and continue to stay focused. We are going to continue to stay focused on making sure they have what they need to defend themselves against Russia's aggression.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was the White House be aware prior to?
JEAN-PIERRE: No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Is this the type of military action which the U.S. should have been told about ahead of time? LEIGHTON: Well, from the Ukrainian standpoint, probably not, because
they wanted to keep operational security a paramount consideration as they were developing this plan and then executing this plan. So the fewer people that we talk to about it, the better off they are, in their view.
Should the U.S. have been notified? Well, apparently they're not using U.S. weapons in a way that's unauthorized, if at all. And in this particular case, the U.S. basically has allowed this kind of action to occur and for the Ukrainians to control the tempo of their actions, as well as the actions themselves.
VAUSE: Thank you for the clarification. Cedric Leighton, always good to see you, sir. Thank you.
LEIGHTON: You bet John Good to be with you.
VAUSE: Well, three Taylor Swift concerts scheduled for this weekend in Vienna have been canceled after police say the stadium where Swift was scheduled to perform was allegedly the target of a terrorist plot.
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CNN's Kristie Lu Stout following developments live from Hong Kong. Where are we at right now with this investigation, and what are the leads? What do we know?
KRITIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the investigation is still very much fluid. We're hearing more from police, even learning that more detentions have taken place. This is a bitter disappointment for the fans, but as we heard from the Chancellor of Austria, tragedy has been averted.
Taylor Swift's three concerts in Vienna had been canceled. This after police arrested and this is what we've confirmed so far, two people on suspicion applauding a terror attack. She was scheduled to perform in Vienna three shows on August the eighth, that's today, the ninth and the 10th. And police expected each event would attract about 65,000 people attending each show inside the stadium.
On social media, we heard from the promoter for the concerts, Barracuda Music making the announcement of the cancelation. Issued the following statement. Let's bring it up saying. With confirmation from government officials of a planned terrorist attack at Ernst Huppel Stadium, we have no choice but to cancel the three scheduled shows for everyone's safety.
Now, the concerts are also listed as canceled if you go to taylorswift.com that's her official website, and the site has said that all tickets for the shows will be automatically refunded. And we've also seen emails that were given to those who were planning to go to these shows that they have received that confirmation of a refund.
Now on Wednesday morning, that was when the arrests took place. The police arrested first a 19-year old Austrian citizen who, according to police, pledged allegiance to Islamic State. That arrest, and let's bring up the map for you. It took place in Ternitz which is located south of the Austrian capital of Vienna.
In Ternitz, that's where police found chemical substances at the suspect's home. And then later, on Wednesday in Vienna, they detained another person, and police say the two suspects, they were radicalized by the internet and that they were taking concrete measures for a terror attack and that the assumed target were events in the Vienna greater region.
Now, Austrian police also said that further detentions had been made in relation to this alleged terror plot. I want you to listen carefully to this.
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GERHARD PURSTL, PRESIDENT, VIENNA STATE POLICE (through translator): Concrete danger has been minimized, but there is an abstract increased danger, therefore increased surveillance to the extent that we will, in any case, carry out increased searches, both on site and during access controls.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LU STOUT: Now, the cancel shows are part of the record breaking Eras tour. We are still awaiting word from Taylor Swift, she has yet to comment on the cancelations to her 283 million fans on her official Instagram account we are monitoring. Back to you, John.
VAUSE: You mentioned the Chancellor of Austria made the point that tragedy has been averted, and it's a good point, because there was tragedy 2017. Ariana Grande a concert in Manchester, and a suicide bombing there. The debate after that concert was, how do you make these soft targets safe against terrorism? I guess the question is, you can't. Still can't do that.
LU STOUT: Yes, you can. And you mentioned that chilling precedent that took place just a few years ago in 2017 that was when 22 concertgoers died when a suicide bomber targeted an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester. You know, this was the ultimate soft target. It was an arena full of young fans, full of children. One of the victims was an eight year old girl. You know, back then, the Islamic State claimed responsibility.
Now, after that bombing, and also, don't forget that no relation to IS but there was a Vegas concert shooting that took place that year. Taylor Swift said that she became terrified to go on tour. I want to share with you this. This was very interesting essay that was published in Elle Magazine, and this is what Taylor Swift wrote in 2019 let's bring it up for you. She said, after the Manchester arena bombing and the Vegas concert shooting, I was completely terrified to go on tour this time because I didn't know how we were going to keep 3 million fans safe over seven months. There was a tremendous amount of planning, expense and effort put into keeping my fans safe, unquote.
So, you know, that essay by Taylor Swift, again, it was published in 2019 that shows how a terror attack targeting her fans at a concert that has been a deep seated fear for Taylor Swift. You know, officials in Austria, they say, look, tragedy has been averted in Vienna, thank goodness, but the investigation is active and is ongoing. John.
VAUSE: It should mention that Las Vegas shooting wasn't just any shooting. It was the worst in U.S. history. About 60 dead, 400 wounded. That's a good reason to be concerned.
LU STOUT: Yes. Yes.
VAUSE: Kristie, thank you.
LU STOUT: Absolutely.
VAUSE: Kristie Lu Stout for us live in Hong Kong. Thanks.
Mans against Nazis, refugees, not racists. Standing up to Nazis since 1934. The clear message from Britain's majority to the far-right extremists who've dominated this streets after a week of violent protests.
[01:25:00]
Also ahead, Tim Walz and the China connection of the vice presidential hopefuls, visits to Beijing and beyond might just impact the race for the White House.
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VAUSE: Police across Britain were breaks for another day of clashes and violent protests by far-right extremists, but on Wednesday, the racist thugs and bigots were no show, and that's after far-right groups on social media called for immigration and visa processing centers to be targeted instead, thousands of counter protesters gathered at those sites in more than a dozen cities. CNN's Clare Sebastian picks up the story.
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CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here in East London, there were rumors that far-right groups would target an immigration lawyers office. You can see that it was boarded up already before this even started. What we got instead was a very large counter protest anti- racism groups, members of the local community, coming out and really trying to shift the narrative of the past week.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a lot of community cohesion here. Walthamstow has always been like that for the EDL or the far-right, to target this kind of area. The reason they're doing it is because they know that they're going to create disharmony, or they're going to try to create the disharmony and stuff here, but it just shows everybody's very strong.
UNIDENATIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) fascists, and that's who they are.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As a Muslim woman as well, thoughts do creep up into my head, am I safe? Am I able to walk on the streets without being attacked, and to come here and to see that yes, I am safe, because the people within my community are against this and are shown that against this is also a sign of relief.
SEBASTIAN: The British Prime Minister Keir Starmer did promise that those involved in violent protests would feel the full force of the law that has already started to play out. We got the first sentences handed down on Wednesday to those involved in the violence. They ranged from 20 months to three years. They were fast tracked through the courts.
And here in London, there was a heavy police presence. The Met Police had made an extra 1,300 officers available, but in East London, a sense of relief, a sense of community spirit, and no sign of the violence that we've seen over the past week. Clare Sebastian, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: To Liverpool, England now and Peter Williams, a senior lecturer in policing at Liverpool, John Moores University. He's also a former Merseyside police inspector. Thank you for getting up early and being with us.
PETER WILLIAMS: Thank you. It's a pleasure.
VAUSE: OK. So the police commissioner Mark Rowley, a brief report is Wednesday on new tactics by law enforcement to try and bring these violent protests by far-right extremists under control. This is part of what he said.
[01:29:42]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK ROWLEY, MET POLICE COMMISSIONER: We've changed our tactics in the last couple of days. So besides marshaling more officers, we're brigading some of them at key strategic locations across the country to give us more agility to respond to wherever the protests are most intense so that we can respond with agility and show overwhelming force so that the criminals and thugs on the streets don't succeed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: So here's the question. The thugs and the criminals for some reason were a no-show on Wednesday. Was it because of the police tactics, or was it the overwhelming presence of peaceful, anti-racism protesters or a combination of both?
PETER WILLIAMS, SENIOR LECTURER IN POLICING, LIVERPOOL, JOHN MOORES UNIVERSITY: Well, I think there's -- I think there's several reasons really. One of them, I was actually out in Liverpool City Center yesterday evening and I actually saw the crowds gathering who they sort of described as the anti-racist groups and that sort of thing.
And they were out in overwhelming numbers. And that has clearly -- that has clearly prevented any further -- any further incidents from the so-called far right. That was replicated in all the cities like London. We've just heard about (INAUDIBLE) and elsewhere.
And because of that, because of the way that the community came together on that occasion, we've probably turned the corner now and away from what we witnessed over the past -- over the past week.
One of the foundations of the PM -- one of the pillion (ph) principles of the British police is the public are the police and the police are the public. And we saw that in action last night.
It is far easier when the community are on the side of law enforcement and the police, we can actually resolve issues and problems like that. And I think that was one factor.
The other is what was just commented on your report from East London in so much that the first sentences have been handed down in relation to people who've been arrested, particularly over the weekend.
And they're quite substantial custodial sentences. So the criminal justice system is just starting to have an effect and, of course, that's a deterrent effect. And I'm sure that prevented some people from engaging, from thinking about engaging in any of the violent protests that we -- that we've seen over the past few days.
VAUSE: So you say we've turned a corner here in these violent protests. I just wonder though, is there any concern, you know, there is this right for peaceful protests and we saw it last night and that's a great thing.
Is there concern though that these anti-racism protesters that they're still out there? And we see the return of these far-right extremists, of clashes between these two groups. Or is that now no longer on the cards.
WILLIAMS: Well, anything is on the cards, but as I said, I do think the sentencing that we've seen and we've heard a lot about that from the government.
Remember, of course, that the prime minister is the former director of public prosecutions. So he understands exactly how the criminal justice system operates. He also speaks the language that the police understands. So there's no -- there's no dispute that that I think will -- is having, definitely having an effect.
Well, to answer your question specifically, the issue is surrounding that of intelligence and I think to a certain extent, because of the sporadic nature over the country of the weekend, it indicates to me that the police intelligence wasn't what it should have been as to where these incidents are going to appear i.e., we could have been there to prevent them.
Now, Mark Rowley's hinted at that there's going to be a change in direction. Well, there's -- apart from sort of structural organization, there's not an awful lot they can really do. But what they can do and I think this is what he's referring to, without actually spelling it out, they're going to make far use of intelligence, which they haven't done up until now.
There are good reasons why our intelligence has been lacking. One of the factors is that neighborhood policing teams have been dismantled over the past ten years because of austerity measures here in the United Kingdom. And effectively, if you like, police lost contact with their communities.
(CROSSTALKING)
VAUSE: Very quickly, I wanted to go to Nigel Farage who is the leader of the Reform Party, very right-wing party. He now claims he's a victim of violence and threat from those on the left. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NIGEL FARAGE, REFORM U.K. PARTY LEADER: The accusation that somehow I'm orchestrating these riots, nothing but nothing could be further from the truth. And actually it's directly inciting violence against me.
[01:34:46]
FARAGE: Indeed over the weekend, I've had to have a massive uplift in personal security. And that's been advised by government agencies. So all this peace and love that we hear from those on the left simply isn't true.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Could you very quickly fact check. How much of that is actually true?
WILLIAMS: Well, what I would say about Nigel Farage's cause is that he's been very vociferous (ph) over the past number of years, particularly when he was a member of the European Parliament in relation to a lot of these issues which have been actually spoken about at the moment.
But what he needs to remember now of course, he's now an elected member of the House of Commons and that brings additional responsibilities including a careful choice of words which we necessarily haven't always seen from Nigel.
So I actually do think he needs to back off from these arguments and sort of leave it and to be more aware now of wat his responsibilities are.
Whether or not he is a target I've got no specific information. And he certainly hasn't been since he came to prominence on the British political scene about 15 years ago.
VAUSE: Peter Williams, some good advice there for Nigel Farage and a good interview. So thank you for being with us.
WHITFIELD: Thank you. VAUSE: Well, the flurry of diplomacy as it nearly spirals towards chaos. In a moment Iran rallies its allies as it prepares a major strike on Israel.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Right now, Israel bracing for an unprecedented joint attack by Hezbollah and Iran, retaliation for assassinations of two militant leaders last week. Sources though tell CNN that Hezbollah may now go it alone striking Israel first before Iran.
The Lebanon-based militant group, Iran's most powerful proxy, just off Israel's northern border apparently is moving faster than Iran with plans to attack Israel in the coming days, according to those sources.
On Wednesday, there was an emergency meeting in Saudi Arabia by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, which held Israel responsible for the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, as well as a senior Hezbollah commander just hours before that.
CNN's Nic Robertson has more now reporting in from Jeddah.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: The narrative that's emerging is if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agrees or moves towards a ceasefire in Gaza, then Iran perhaps won't retaliate against Israel or lead to that escalation for the killing of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran about a week ago.
[01:39:47]
ROBERTSON: Now, the Iranian acting foreign minister was here meeting with all the other foreign ministers. He didn't get any kind of commitments like that. He did get a strong support from the group here, condemning the violation of Iran's sovereignty and territorial integrity, condemning the killing of Palestinians by Israel inside of Gaza.
What we are beginning to see though, is the potential for an off-ramp. But this really -- it appears is something that's going to be either (INAUDIBLE) of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, no indication that's going to happen, or under pressure from the United States. That's certainly the narrative that emerged from this meeting.
And I spoke to the Palestinian permanent representative to the U.N., who was the Palestinian representative sitting at the table here during four hours of meetings. And he told me that the region here needs peace.
RIYAD MANSOUR, PERMANENT OBSERVER OF PALESTINE REPRESENTATIVE TO THE UNITED NATIONS: The region does not need escalation. What the region needs is a ceasefire. What the region needs to address --
(CROSSTALKING)
ROBERTSON: And that depends on Prime Minister Netanyahu.
MANSOUR: -- the legitimate rights -- I have a feeling that president -- Prime Minister Netanyahu wants to drag President Biden into a war with Iran. And I think that we all should learn the lessons of being dragged into war in Iraq in the past under false, you know, assumptions. What we need is peace.
With regard to what Iran wanted about the, you know, respecting its territorial integrity and the sovereignty, there was, you know, a strong support to this sentiment because it is a cardinal principle reflected in the charter of the United Nations.
ROBERTSON: So the real question after this OIC emergency meeting now is the Iranian foreign minister going to go back to Tehran and be able to convince hardliners there to pause and not escalate or not retaliate at the moment. And that really is unclear.
And this region still with a very high level of uncertainty about what comes next.
Nic Robertson, CNN -- Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: The very latest now on the race for the White House. Democrat Kamala Harris rallied voters in Michigan and Wisconsin Wednesday.
She's hoping to capitalize on the midwestern appeal of her newly- announced running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
Meantime, Republican vice-presidential nominee J.D. Vance also made stops in Wisconsin and Michigan. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has an event scheduled for Friday in Republican stronghold Montana.
With his sudden rise to national prominence, Democrat Tim Walz is under growing scrutiny from Republicans looking to try to attack his record. That includes his long history with China.
GOP seizing on dozens of visits to the country over the past 35 years taking students on school trips and even going there for his honeymoon.
CNN's Will Ripley has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In the summer of 1989, about two months after China's military massacred pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square, Tim Walz, an American teacher fresh out of college, traveled halfway around the world to China, paying respects in Beijing where so many people died.
GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), DEMOCRATIC VICE-PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I felt it was more important than ever to go, to make sure that story was told and to let Chinese -- the Chinese people know we were standing there. We were with them.
KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE: Welcome the next vice president of the United States, Tim Walz.
RIPLEY: 35 years before becoming the Democratic nominee for vice president, Walz volunteered to spend a year in China, teaching English and American history to Mainland Chinese students.
The Nebraska native later telling his hometown newspapers he was treated like a king, and there was no anti-American feeling whatsoever.
Walz moved to Minnesota, teaching high school there for years. He got married on June 4, 1994, the fifth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre. He wanted to have a date he'll always remember, his wife told a local paper at the time.
They spent their honeymoon taking students on a two-week tour of China, Hong Kong, and Macau. Those student trips became a summer tradition.
CARA ROEMHILDT, FORMER WALZ STUDENT: I would go back in a heartbeat, in a heartbeat. Because it wasn't political for us. It wasn't any of that. It was -- it was an educational trip with one of our favorite teachers.
RIPLEY: Cara Roemhildt says she and her classmates still talk about their trip to China with Mr. Walz in 1998.
ROEMHILDT: It felt very, very comfortable. And we went all over, you know, train rides, a whole bunch of different places, just seeing a different culture and having respect for it while seeing it. Knowing that it's different, but knowing that that's ok too.
[01:44:45]
RIPLEY: Since entering politics in 2006, Walz has consistently criticized China's human rights record. In Congress, he co-sponsored a resolution condemning the arrest of Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo. He also met with the exiled Dalai Lama in 2016.
WALZ: Governor Tim Walz here. Happy Chinese New Year.
RIPLEY: All the while, advocating empathy for everyday Chinese people. Supporters say his understanding of the country could lead to more informed, pragmatic policies.
Critics, like Republican Richard Grenell, a former Trump ambassador to Germany, label Walz pro-China. And on China's tightly-controlled Internet, some question Walz's reasons for traveling to China the same year as the Tiananmen protests.
"1989? Great timing. The years he was in China make him suspicious."
Comments untouched by government censors. But they are censoring CNN's live signal inside China earlier when this report aired. They went to bars and tone (ph) the minute that we started talking about Tiananmen Square.
And this illustrates the challenge that China will face in portraying Tim Walz. Yes, he made around 30 trips to China. He humanizes the Chinese people. He knows how things work over there.
But he's also co-sponsored a series of resolutions supporting human rights in China and Hong Kong and has been a fierce critic of the Chinese government.
Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Thanks, Will.
Now up next, CNN visits a school in Queensland, Australia with a unique approach to trying to protect the fragile Great Barrier Reef.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Rising ocean temperatures have led to the fifth mass bleaching event in the last eight years on Australia's Great Barrier Reef, one of the planet's biodiversity hotspots.
Today on "Call to Earth", we visit a school in Queensland with a unique approach to helping protect the world's largest coral reef ecosystem.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PEARL, STUDENT: Hi, welcome to Reef (INAUDIBLE).
MCKENZIE, STUDENT: I'm McKenzie.
KIARA, STUDENT: I'm Kiara.
CASSIDY, STUDENT: And I'm Cassidy.
PEARL: And we're the environmental captains of Belgian Gardens State School.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For these school kids, there is no greater honor than becoming an environmental captain, growing up and going to class on the Great Barrier Reef. It's cool to care about their unique home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At the moment there's (INAUDIBLE) global warming happening because the water is getting warmer. Most of the corals are dying.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The climate crisis is forcing sea temperatures higher, causing mass coral bleaching events around the world. It's meant devastating losses across reef habitats that support up to a quarter of all sea life. But at this school in Townsville, Australia young people are tackling
the huge problem of environmental degradation by starting small.
[01:49:47]
BRETT MURPHY, SCIENCE TEACHER BELGIAN GARDENS STATE SCHOOL: We just want to show the kids that if they're passionate about something that they can be sure and try and make a change.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For over ten years, Belgian Gardens State School has been successfully breeding clownfish.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Here in the reef we will breed clownfish from eggs because every clownfish we breed and trade is one less taken from the reef.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The aim is to protect those that live in the wild.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We breed clownfish because of the success of the Pixar movie, "Finding Nemo".
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm from the Ocean.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, the ocean.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The ocean.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everyone wants to like have a clownfish as a pet, and that means that there's more clownfish taken from the reef out of their natural habitat.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The students here get the clownfish eggs from the nearby Australian Institute of Marine Science. Then when these little Nemos are old enough, the students give them to pet stores in exchange for aquarium supplies.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) because you see these clownfish have laid eggs just in (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Science teacher Brett Murphy has won the support and admiration of parents and marine biologists alike for his innovative teaching methods.
MURPHY: One big fish, a couple on top --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And a passion for the environment, he passes on his students.
MURPHY: I think it's the perfect way to teach. I feel it's that real life hands-on learning. So they're doing real calculations and mathematics for the feeding, and they are doing observations what they might do in science, and then the cool benefit at the end is that those fish are not being taken from the reef.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Its low tide at Rose Bay Beach (ph) in Townsville, giving the students and opportunity for a seagrass survey on the edge of a mangrove forest.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So that seed's hatched. So that means that this has produced seagrass.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The data the children will gather will be put to use by the Reef Authority. This river over here connects to the Great Barrier Reef. So anything that comes out here will go there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At that nearby tributary, the children test the water's health, and the results are a little disappointing.
MURPHY: It says that's 75 (ph) so that's probably the clearest we've seen in the last three years, actually.
But the water is really cloudy, can the seagrass get its sunlight? No.
They all link together.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The students at Belgian Gardens State School are learning how fragile our world is and are being taught to defend it.
MURPHY: I think if those students make a connection and it gets in their heart, that's when you make change.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Ah, Townsville -- hometown.
Let us know what you're doing to answer the Call to Earth with #CalltoEarth.
Back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Coming up to 8:00 a.m. in Paris and the women's 10-kilometer marathon swim started just a short time ago, one of 27-medal events on day 13.
The race for gold medals still tight between Team U.S.A. with 27, China there with 25, Australia are 18. The Americans have a 29-medal lead on China though and has the most medals of any nation so far in Paris. It's probably going to stay that way.
[01:54:49]
VAUSE: Disagreements have sprung up though now with NASA whether the Boeing Starliner is safe enough to bring two U.S. astronauts from the International Space Station back to earth.
The issues have forced the astronauts to stay on the space station much longer than they ever planned.
CNN's Kristin Fisher has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: What was supposed to be a roughly eight-day-long mission could now turn into an eight- month mission up at the International Space Station for those two NASA astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, the crew the first crew of a Boeing Starliner spacecraft.
And so the reason for that is NASA officials announcing today that they are now actively considering using a backup option if indeed the Starliner spacecraft is deemed not safe enough to bring those astronauts home.
And that contingency plan would be using a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule. In order to make this work, NASA has decided to maximize what they described as operational flexibility. They have pushed back the launch of the next SpaceX crewed mission, Crew 9 from mid-August to mid- September.
And if indeed NASA decides that Starliner is not safe to return Butch and Suni back to earth on, then what they will do is that four-person SpaceX Crew 9 will be diminished to only two astronauts. So there'll be two empty seats.
It will launch to the International Space Station and then when that spacecraft returns to earth in February 2025 that will be Butch and Suni's ride home. So that's how we get to eight months.
As for Starliner and in the meantime, you know, NASA says they've got about two to three weeks before they need to make a determination on whether or not Starliner is safe for these astronauts to fly on.
The issue has been primarily those thruster failures and helium leaks. NASA officials confirming today that there is division within NASA about whether or not the spacecraft will be safe for those astronauts to fly on.
So a bit more debate over the next few days and weeks, but they are really closing in on that final decision time. And if, you know, these astronauts cannot fly back on Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, it would be just a huge blow for not just that program, but the entire company.
Kristin Fisher, CNN -- Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Butch and Suni come home, it's time.
Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm John Vause.
Please stay with us. Yes, I will be back at the top of the hour for a lot more CNN NEWSROOM.
Stay with us.
[01:57:31] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
