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Harris Debate with Trump Still Up in the Air; Muhammad Yunus to Lead Interim Government in Bangladesh; Fighting Underway After Kyiv's Incursion into Russia; 27 Medal Events Scheduled for Day 13 of Summer Olympics. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired August 08, 2024 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. Here are our top stories today.

Officials in Austria have arrested two people for an alleged terror plot on Taylor Swift's Eras Tour, the concerts in Vienna. The suspects were allegedly radicalized online, and one claims to be an ISIS sympathizer. All three concerts in the Austrian capital have been canceled.

Boeing admits there could be another in-flight disaster from a manufacturing defect in one of its planes, like the door plug that blew out during an Alaska Airlines flight in January. But the company's quality director says Boeing is committed to making changes.

A melting glacier has caused destructive flooding in the Alaskan city of Juneau. A rush of water unleashed by the glacier caused the river to overflow. More than 100 homes have been impacted.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to campaign in the critical battleground states of Arizona and Nevada in the coming days, but it's still not clear when or if she'll face Donald Trump on the debate stage. CNN's Julia Benbrook explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The back and forth here may feel familiar. We experienced it with the Trump-Biden matchup as well. And when the two did meet on the debate stage, it changed the course of this election.

BENBROOK (voice-over): One debate can change everything. After President Joe Biden's poor performance during the CNN debate in June, calls for him to step out of the race surged. Several weeks later, he announced he was no longer seeking re-election.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I revere this office, but I love my country more. It's been the honor of my life to serve as your president.

BENBROOK (voice-over): Now the debate over debates is back. When former President Donald Trump was running against Biden, he said he'd debate any time, any place, agreeing to a second debate hosted by ABC on September 10th. But his message about facing off against Vice President Kamala Harris has been less clear.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I haven't agreed to anything. I agreed to a debate with Joe Biden.

BENBROOK (voice-over): Harris has accused Trump of backpedaling, writing: It's interesting how any time, any place becomes one specific time, one specific safe space.

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: As the saying goes, if you've got something to say.

(APPLAUSE)

BENBROOK: Trump is now proposing a debate hosted by Fox News instead, writing, I'll see her on September 4th or I won't see her at all. On Wednesday, Trump said this, signaling he might be open to a compromise, but did not offer any specifics.

TRUMP: We'll be debating her, I guess, in the pretty near future. It's going to be announced fairly soon, but we'll be debating her.

[04:35:00]

BENBROOK: Harris says that she will be at the previously agreed upon debate hosted by ABC on September 10th. A source familiar with the matter tells our team that it's their understanding that airtime will be given to whichever candidate shows up.

Reporting at the White House, I'm Julia Benbrook.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Now, in the next few hours, Bangladesh will have its new interim head of government. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus arrived in the country just a few minutes ago. He'll be sworn into office, marking the end of weeks of protests and deadly government crackdowns.

Yunus is an 84-year-old banker who was awarded the Peace Prize for his pioneering work on microfinance, developing small microloans designed to lift people in Bangladesh out of poverty. Student protesters have called for him to be temporarily the leader of the nation.

Anna Coren joins us now, and that's because he's in tune, isn't he, with many of the concerns of people there, but he's not an experienced politician.

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He's not an experienced politician, Max, but he has been around for a very long time. He did run for politics many years ago. Well, now he has his opportunity to run this interim government.

As you say, he has just arrived in Dhaka. We're showing you those pictures we saw moments ago of him greeting military officials, dignitaries, and we are expecting him to address the media very shortly.

There is so much hope and expectation that the 84-year-old will be able to form a stable interim government, restore law and order, and return Bangladesh to democratic rule.

He's a Nobel Peace Prize winner and created microfinancing for the poor, and he has been asked to head this interim government after a month of chaos in Bangladesh. These mass student-led protests and then the violent government crackdown that ensued, it killed hundreds of protesters and ultimately led to the toppling of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her government. You know, Max, her 15 years in power had grown increasingly authoritarian, you know, crushing all opposition and dissents.

Now, you notice he congratulated the brave students who he said took the lead in the protests, but he has appealed for calm and he has warned, let me read it to you.

Violence is our enemy. Please don't create more enemies. Be calm and get ready to build the country.

Now, let's have a listen to what he told reporters before leaving Paris at Charles de Gaulle's airport.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MUHAMMAD YUNUS, NOBEL LAUREATE, BANKER: Yes, I'm looking forward to going back home and see what's happening there and how we can organize ourselves to get out of the trouble that we're in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: And there is a lot of trouble, Max. Let's recap what has happened in Bangladesh this past month.

It began early July, these protests over a quota system that gave preferential treatment in government jobs, and then it morphed into something far greater when former Prime Minister Hasina, whose father, of course, was the founder of Bangladesh, ordered police and her security forces to crack down on the protesters.

And then over the following weeks, hundreds of protesters were killed, but they continued to take to the streets, calling for Hasina's resignation. And then on Monday, the beginning of this week, protesters marched towards her residence. Hasina suddenly fled the country by helicopter to India, leaving her country in complete chaos.

And in the wake of this power vacuum, yes, there were celebrations, but there was also this uptick in attacks on the Hindu minority in Bangladesh. They make up 8 percent of the population of more than 170 million people, predominantly Muslim. Homes and Hindu temples have been attacked, and neighboring India is extremely concerned.

They fear that there will be a mass exodus of Hindus trying to flee across the borders. So Yunus, whose interim government will be sworn in later this evening, has a huge job ahead of him trying to restore peace and obviously prepare the country for new elections expected in the next few months -- Max.

FOSTER: OK, thank you for that update. Anna in Hong Kong.

Moscow fighting Ukraine's forces on Russian soil for a third straight day after Kyiv launched an incursion into Russia's Kursk region.

Ukrainian forces have pushed several miles into Russia as Moscow scrambled troops and fighter jets to hold them back. It appears to be the largest cross-border attack since the war began, reportedly also involving tanks and armored vehicles, but it's still an open question what Ukraine is trying to accomplish here, and we're not getting much detail from them for obvious reasons -- Clare.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No detail at all, Max, which, you know, used to be the general practice, but recently we've seen with cross-border attacks, particularly the aerial ones that we've seen with drones, they've been a bit more forthcoming, so it is notable that they're saying nothing.

[04:40:04]

Look, unofficial reports suggest this morning that this is still ongoing, that Ukrainian troops are present in that region and not just around the town of Sudzha, which we've been talking about some 10 kilometers from the border.

As for the question of what they're doing here, that is, again, we just don't know. Is this an attempt to prevent a repeat of what we saw in the spring, Russia opening a new front across the border in the Kharkiv region? This is just several hundred kilometers west of that.

Is it about distracting Russia, drawing their forces away from the eastern front where Ukraine has been losing ground steadily there? Is this, in fact, a territorial play?

Is Ukraine trying to actually take territory inside Russia? As we hear more and more talk about negotiations, would this give them more leverage? That would be a whole new chapter in this war if Ukraine was going to try to hold on to Russian territory, to try to use it in negotiations.

Meanwhile, Russia, though, not seeking to play this down, as you might expect. They've been talking. Their accounts have differed somewhat. But the head of the general staff of the armed forces talked about some 1,000 Ukrainian troops being involved in this and using this, if you listen to what President Putin says, as an opportunity to paint Ukraine as the only party in this war that targets civilians. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): As you know, the Kyiv regime has undertaken another large-scale provocation. It's conducting indiscriminate shelling with various types of weaponry, including missiles of civilian buildings, residential buildings and ambulances. (END VIDEO CLIP)

SEBASTIAN: I mean, look, obviously, we know that Russia is responsible for tens of thousands of civilian deaths inside Ukraine. So this is an attempt to deflect from that.

Ukraine, as I said, saying nothing. Ukraine's allies, we're hearing, you know, supportive noises coming out of the U.S. and the EU broadly. But the White House has made it clear that they were, just like we think Russia was, blindsided by this. They weren't consulted in advance. And they will be seeking more information from Ukraine on this.

FOSTER: It could backfire, couldn't it, for Ukraine if Putin uses it to, you know, he's always argued that he's the defender and, you know, the Ukraine and the West are the aggressors. And this speaks to that, doesn't it? He can paint it as an aggressive move. Therefore, he has to go in harder.

SEBASTIAN: I mean, I think this is -- there's two sort of calculations here. You know, how this could backfire for Ukraine in the physical war. Have they made a miscalculation potentially in drawing troops away from the front lines when they're trying to defend them and push Russia back at the moment? Not that successfully.

But secondly, this is a war of sort of narratives, right? Russia wants to paint Ukraine as the aggressor. Meanwhile, Ukraine, another potential reason for them to do this is to show the Russian people that Russia cannot defend its borders, that this war is not a good thing for them, is not some noble fight as the Kremlin tries to paint it. So I think that's part of what we're seeing as well.

FOSTER: Clare, thank you so much.

Still to come, dozens of gold medals up for grabs in Paris today. We'll get a preview live from Paris.

Plus, Banksy goes three for three, revealing an intriguing new piece of art for a third consecutive day.

[04:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: The first gold medal for today's events already being won in Paris. Sharon von Rouwendaal of the Netherlands will take home the gold for the women's 10-kilometer marathon swim, which wrapped up just a short while ago.

Amanda's following all of it for us today. I can't believe how quickly time is ticking.

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN WORLD SPORT: I know, less than four days of action left here in Paris 2024. Quite incredible.

But we're going to kick off with what happened last night. It was another brilliant night on the track. Another incredible comeback.

This time, the USA is at Quincy Hall from Missouri. His profile page on the Olympic info site actually says his aim was just to take part here in Paris. But he's now celebrating gold, having taken the 400 meters victory in a personal best time. And it was a quick one. The fourth fastest time ever run over the distance. He came from fourth to first to beat the pre-race favorite, Matthew Hudson-Smith of Team GB.

The fight and the grit he showed clear for everybody to see. When he was asked afterwards just how he did it, he said, well, you can't outrun a dog.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUINCY HALL, U.S. OLYMPIC ATHLETE: The race was anyone's at that point. I just wanted to keep doing what my coach told me to do. Just keep driving, keep driving, get home.

We do a lot of hard practices. And then we focus on coming home at the end of each practice. So that was nothing more than just me trying to go hard, just harder and harder than what I'm used to doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DAVIES: We had a rematch of the World Championship battle in Budapest in the final of the women's pole vault. Two athletes who actually shared gold in that one. This time, it was Australia's Nina Kennedy taking the victory ahead of her U.S. rival and the defending Olympic champion, Katie Moon, who finished with silver. Kennedy had missed out on the final in Tokyo three years ago through injury. She's openly talked about her struggles with depression, how she fought back from that. This time, though, she soared to the heights of Olympic gold and actually gave Australia their first ever gold in this event, with more gold than they have ever won at any previous Olympic Games.

We have today 25 medals on offer, one of the most brutal events. The women's heptathlon has already kicked off this morning.

Belgium's Nafi Thiam chasing history. She's looking to become the first woman to win three golds in the Olympic heptathlon. Although the world champion, Katerina Johnson-Thompson, and Team USA's Anna Hall are both very much hoping to have their say. That one's going to be an epic battle over two days of competition.

The big question tonight, can Noah Lyles become the first man since Usain Bolt to do the 100-200 meter double at the Olympic Games? He's unbeaten over the distance in 23 races, dating all the way back to the final in Tokyo three years ago. This is the one he says is his favorite of the events. It's his best chance of breaking a world record.

But it was his U.S. teammate, Kenny Bednarek, the silver medalist in Tokyo, who actually posted a faster time than him in the heats. And he said, after his disappointment in the 100, he is a man on a mission for this one. But following that one, and it's really interesting how the dynamics

have changed in terms of equality between the genders at this Games. Men's 200 isn't the final event of tonight. After it, we have the head-to-head that people have been waiting two years for in the women's 400-meter hurdles. It's the defending Olympic champion Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone up against the world champion Femke Bol, two athletes whose times are a second and a half faster than anybody else in the field.

They're the only ones to have broken 51 seconds. It's going to be a tough night for Bol, though. Beating Sydney Levrone is the one that's described as the impossible job.

But as the saying goes, Max, somebody has got to do it.

FOSTER: I know, but some of the margins are so tiny, aren't they? You feel bad for the one that comes second. Amanda, thank you so much for joining us from Paris.

Now, some of the outfits worn by performers from the Olympics opening ceremony now on display.

[04:50:00]

Dior is showing off the dresses worn by Celine Dion, Lady Gaga, Aya Nakamura in the Paris fashion house.

Remember the rain, though. Actually, these are pretty much priceless dresses at this point, and they were soaked. The head of Dior's gallery says the garments were made in secret. They were first seen on the day of the ceremony, and it took three days to restore the dresses, which were utterly soaked, but not, thankfully, ruined. They'll be on display through to the end of September.

A new study finds that ocean temperatures climbed to their hottest in 400 years over the past decade, and that's endangering the Great Barrier Reef. Researchers in Australia analyzed coral samples to measure water temperatures going back to 1618. Combined with ship and satellite data, they found ocean temperatures were steady for centuries until the early 1900s, when they started to rise due to human influence. The Great Barrier Reef has experienced five mass bleaching events since 2016.

One of the study's authors -- co-authors, says, quote, the world is losing one of its icons.

Just ahead, a new garden being planned in honor of Britain's longest reigning monarch, and it'll open on what would have been her 100th birthday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:55:05]

FOSTER: Two dogs unwittingly became the face of a fire safety video after one of them was caught on camera accidentally starting a house fire by chewing on a lithium-ion battery. This happened in Tulsa, Oklahoma. After the fire broke out, the pets escaped through a dog door. They weren't injured, but the home sustained significant damage, as you can see. Fire officials say it just goes to show how easily these devices can become fire hazards.

Plans are reportedly underway to commemorate what would have been Queen Elizabeth's 100th birthday with a new flower garden. "People" magazine reports the Royal Parks Charity was granted permission to build a new two-acre garden in London's Regent's Park and is set to open in 2026. The garden will have flower species that were favored by the late Queen, which includes lily of the valley, orchids from England and Wales, and carnations from Northern Ireland. The Queen was a patron of the Royal Horticultural Society for 70 years.

Elusive Street artist Banksy is on a roll with a new piece of art popping up in London for a third straight day. This time, it's an image of three swinging monkeys revealed on this bridge on Wednesday. Very close to here, in fact, is a stencil-style artwork just like the other two that appeared earlier in the week. They include an image of two elephants poking out of windows, which was first spotted on Tuesday. Also, this picture of a goat on a ledge, which was unveiled the day before.

The artist didn't write any captions, so the meaning of the work is up for interpretation, but it's currently going round as a series called London Zoo by fans.

Thanks for joining me here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster in London. CNN "THIS MORNING" is up next after a break.

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