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Large-Scale Russian Air Attack On Ukraine; Gaza Ceasefire Talks Will Continue in Cairo; Telegram CEO Pavel Durov's Arrest Not Political; France Investigates Messaging App's Role In Criminal Activity; Durov's Arrest Sparks Debate over Free Speech Online; Trump & Harris Campaigns at Odds over Debate Rules; San Francisco Cracks Down on Homeless Encampments; Ship Captain Facing Manslaughter Investigation; Former England Manager Sven-Goran Eriksson Dead at 76; Australia's Right to Disconnect. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired August 27, 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 Jon Vause. Coming up this hour on CNN Newsroom.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): It was one of the heaviest strikes a combined one more than 100 missiles of various types.
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VAUSE: Moscow strikes back hundreds of Russian missiles and drones target Ukraine's power grid what appears to be retaliation for Ukraine's cross border invasion.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You cannot make messaging technology secure for everybody, except for terrorists.
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VAUSE: That years long argument from Telegram CEO Pavel Durov on why his messaging app has virtually zero content control. Now that defense could be tested by prosecutors in France.
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DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: They want to make a change in the rules because she can't answer questions.
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VAUSE: We'll see the great debate over the great debate, Trump and Harris campaign still negotiating terms, will the hot bikes or muted mics,
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN Newsroom with John Vause.
VAUSE: For weeks now, Ukraine has been bracing for retaliation from Moscow for its surprise cross border military offensive in the Russian region of Kursk, and on Monday, hundreds of Russian missiles and drones described as the biggest air attack by Russia since the war began, targeted Ukraine's civil infrastructure.
The national power grid was especially hard hit. One missile seen here hitting a reservoir and hydroelectric plant near Kyiv, the capital. Nationwide rolling blackouts are in effect. According to Ukraine's Air Force Commander, Russia launched at least 127 missiles and 109 drones. 15 provinces came under attack.
The Russian Defense Ministry says among the targets were storage sites for Western supplied weapons. Within hours of the deadly Russian airstrikes, the Ukrainian president announced there will be a response, and once again, Vladimir Zelenskyy is calling on the Biden administration to lift restrictions which prevent those weapons being used to strike deep inside Russia.
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ZELENSKYY (through translator): Every leader, every partner of ours, knows what strong decisions are needed to end this war and to end it justly, there should be no restrictions on the range of weapons for Ukraine, while terrorists have no such restrictions. Defenders of life should face no restrictions on weapons, while Russia uses all kinds of its own weapons, as well as Shaheed drones and ballistic missiles from North Korea, the United States, the United Kingdom, France and other partners have the power to help us stop terror. We need decisions.
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VAUSE: CNN's Fred Pleitgen reporting in from Berlin with details.
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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): A close call for these Ukrainian soldiers filming a missile impacting in a reservoir close by.
Part of the massive Russian rocket and drone blitz, destroying Ukrainian energy infrastructure and leaving residents scrambling for safety, some inside the Kyiv subway. These people singing, who else will stand up for our freedom today, if not you, if not me.
Kyiv says Russia launched more than 120 missiles and more than 100 drones, while many were intercepted. Others struck areas across Ukraine.
Putin sticks to his style, Ukraine's president says, he's a sick creature. That's been obvious for a long time. But it's also clear that he can only do what the world allows him to do, weakness, lack of decisions fuel terror.
The strikes possible retaliation for Ukraine's incursion into the Kursk Region in Russia, and Vladimir Putin's army still appears unable to stop Ukrainian troops advancing there. Kyiv saying their forces are making gains even three weeks into the operation.
And another possible blow for Russian leader after Putin visited Azerbaijan last week, the founder of the Telegram messaging app, Pavel Durov, was arrested in France, revealing Durov was in Azerbaijan at the same time as Putin.
[01:05:10]
The Kremlin quick to claim Putin didn't meet with Durov in Baku.
DMITRY PESKOV, KREMLIN SPOKESMAN (through translator): We don't know yet what exactly Durov is accused of. We haven't heard any official statements on this matter yet, and before we say anything, we need to wait for the situation to become clearer what exactly are they trying to incriminate Durov with.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): French media reports, Durov arrest warrant is related to Telegram's alleged failure to moderate content, reportedly facilitating money laundering, drug trafficking and the spread of pedophilic material on the platform. Telegram says Durov has nothing to hide.
There have been questions about Pavel Durov possible relations with the Kremlin on Moscow's streets, support for the Russian social media mogul.
It's connected to the fact that the man sticks to his principles, this man says, and his main principle is freedom of speech. Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.
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VAUSE: With us now from Canberra Australia, Malcolm Davis, Senior Analyst of Defense Strategy and Capability at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Malcolm, good to see you.
MALCOLM DAVIS, MILITARY ANALYST: Good to see you too.
VAUSE: So according to the news agency Reuters, in the past three hours, air alert sirens were heard across Ukraine. Air defense systems have activated in the capital Kyiv. Is this now part of a much more determined effort by Russia to simply take out Ukraine's power grid retaliation for that cross border incursion?
But one thing about the power grid, it is with stair is withstood these kind of attacks before in the past, but it's also taken a lot of damage. So how much longer can it actually stay working if these attacks continue?
DAVIS: But as you say, they've done this before. Last year, about around about this time of the year, they started launching these major attacks on the electric electrical power grid. The aim being to essentially bring down the power grid so that the Ukrainian people had no power, and thus no heat during the winter.
The aim was to demoralize the Ukrainian people and break their will. That didn't work. Looks like the Russians are trying the same thing again. But of course, they now have additional missile capabilities, with North Koreans providing ballistic missiles, the Iranians providing ballistic missiles and cruise missiles.
So these attacks are being stepped up, and it's a question of how long can the Russians keep this up, versus how long can Ukraine's critical infrastructure withstand these attacks? I think what needs to happen is for the U.S. and its allies to step up deliveries of air defense and missile defense capabilities to reduce the effectiveness of these attacks.
VAUSE: So that, in mind, according to the head of Ukraine's Air Force on Monday, air defense systems down to 102 out of 127 incoming missiles and 99 out of 109 drones, at least 11 to 95 strategic bombers were also used during the attack.
On paper, successfully shooting down around 90 percent of incoming fire seems pretty good, but not when there are hundreds of missiles and drones incoming, 25 missiles, 10 drones, can do some serious damage. That's what we're seeking here. Now, that's the strategy, right?
DAVIS: That's correct. So even if a few of these missiles get through, they do significant damage and potentially kill significant numbers of civilians. And then, of course, you've got the threat of glide bombs, which are being launched from within side Russian territory.
So I do think that what is needed is for the West to really step up its supply of missile defense and air defense capabilities. And secondly, President Zelenskyy has made it clear that he wants constraints lifted on the ability to strike deeper into Russia. That makes eminent sense, and frankly, it makes no sense whatsoever for the Biden administration to impose these constraints on Ukraine.
VAUSE: Well, with that in mind, according to POLITICO, there is reporting that while Zelenskyy is urging U.S. to lift restrictions long range weapons. The reporting is essentially that the White House doubts the strategic value of striking inside Russia, saying they'll just move the material further inland.
And also, the administration also assesses that Ukraine does not have enough army tactical missile systems, ATACMs to strike the high value targets in Russia and the U.S. has a limited stockpile of ATACMs it can draw on to send Ukraine.
I mean, that is the logistics involved here. It seems like a sensible argument, but if the U.S. did lift restrictions, wouldn't that effectively see the rest of NATO and other allies lifting their restrictions as well if we send a message also to Moscow?
DAVIS: It would, and I think that this is key. If you lift these restrictions, yes, there's not an exhaustible supply of ATACMs, but the actual flow of ATACMs going into Ukraine would increase, and suddenly Ukraine can hit targets with a greater range. Yes, of course, the Russians can shift some capabilities further eastwards, but that reduces their operational flexibility as well.
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And if you've got then the F-16s operating with their beyond visual range, air to air capabilities, they have some capability as well to blunt these Russian attacks. So overall, I would argue that these constraints being imposed by the U.S. on Ukraine's ability to launch strikes deeper into Russia make little sense in a tactical, operational military perspective, and they reduce Ukraine's ability to ultimately defeat Russia, which then makes little sense strategically. So it is really nonsensical for the Biden administration to keep these constraints imposed.
VAUSE: On the other side of the equation, we have the Russian military response to Ukraine's offensive around Kursk. It's been fairly muted. I guess is one way of describing it. Here's CNN Global Affairs analyst Kimberly Dozier with one possible explanation why. Here she is.
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KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Putin hasn't been serious about winning the Ukrainian war. If he was serious, he would mobilize his entire population. He would draft more soldiers to make up for his losses on the battlefield. He hasn't done that. Well, he probably hasn't done that because popular opinion would rise up against him, unless Russians felt endangered, and the Kursk attack is making them feel very threatened.
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VAUSE: So it's a motivating factor for Putin to get tough with Ukraine, because he would have the support of the support of the Russian people.
DAVIS: Certainly would. But at the same time, Putin is also watching closely see what happens in the U.S. presidential election. If you have the return of President Trump to the Oval Office, then suddenly the strategic picture changes for Putin, because he has a U.S. president that is more likely to impose a some sort of negotiated ceasefire on the Ukrainians, withdraw military aid to the Ukrainians, and that negotiated ceasefire would then benefit Russia. So that would then give Putin the opportunity to actually achieve some sort of victory without necessarily going down the path of mobilization.
And then, you know, if Putin does mobilize, go down the path of mobilization, then that could draw opposition from some aspects of the Russian people. So I think from Putin's perspective, it makes eminent sense to play a waiting game to continue to essentially rain destruction down on the Ukrainians and exploit the constraints that the U.S. has imposed on the Ukrainians ability to fire back and then maybe think in terms of 2025 a much more amenable political and strategic picture emerges for Russia that Putin can then exploit. VAUSE: Malcolm, good to see you. Thanks so much for your time. Good to have you.
DAVIS: Thank you.
VAUSE: After some progress was reported over the weekend, negotiations over a Gaza ceasefire will continue in Cairo for the next few days at the working level. One U.S. official says specific details are now being discussed and all sides, including Hamas at the table. No ceasefire, though, means no let-up in the fighting in Gaza. The Palestinian civil defense says at least 16 people were killed by Israeli strikes Monday night, with maybe two children among the victims.
U.N. aid deliveries were also paused Monday over security concerns after Israel ordered new evacuations in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, an UNRWA spokesperson says distributing aid is becoming increasingly difficult across the territory.
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LOUISE WATERIDGE, UNRWA SPOKESPERSON: Humanitarian operations are also being displaced within these evacuation orders, and the humanitarian response here is being completely strangled and limited our ability of what we can do.
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VAUSE: And Israeli strikes targeting the occupied West Bank have killed at least five Palestinians the Nur Shams refugee camp, according to the Palestinian health ministry. These images obtained by CNN show smoke rising from that area after the strike, which the IDF says was an attack on a so called operations room used by militants. But officials have offered no other details.
More now the ceasefire talks here CNN's Nada Bashir reporting in from Cairo.
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NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, despite notes of optimism from US officials on the progress of ceasefire negotiations, we've yet to see indications of any significant breakthroughs, and, frankly, little movement in efforts to narrow the gaps between Israel and Hamas following talks here in Cairo over the weekend, working level discussions are expected to continue focused on the finer details of a proposed agreement.
However, there are still believed to be significant sticking points. Hamas has once again stressed that any agreement must include guarantees for an eventual transition from an initial six-week pause in fighting during the first phase of the proposed deal to a permanent ceasefire in the second phase.
Israeli officials have yet to provide such guarantees, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in June indicating that Israel would seek a continuation of the war following an initial cause.
Now, according to officials, there also continues to be disagreement on the terms surrounding the longer term presence of Israeli forces within the Gaza Strip, while Israel has proposed to station a reduced number of troops along the Philadelphia corridor the buffer zone between Egypt and southern Gaza. Hamas has reiterated that it wants to see a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
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Hamas has reiterated that it wants to see a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. However, one senior U.S. official has told CNN that negotiators believe Hamas may be more flexible on an Israeli troop presence in Gaza during that first phase of the deal, with ongoing debate as to whether parts of the Philadelphia corridor should be considered densely populated areas, and therefore areas where troops should not be present under the terms of the proposed deal.
Now, officials say mediators expect that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar will receive a copy of the latest proposal in the coming days, though the timing of any expected response remains unclear. For now, discussions continue to try to hammer out those finer details of the proposal and to bring Hamas and Israel to some sort of agreement, but there is no indication that that agreement is in any way imminent. Nada Bashir, CNN in Cairo.
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VAUSE: The White House official says the direct Iranian strike on Israel remains likely despite an intense exchange of rocket fire over the weekend between Israel and Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militant group based in Lebanon. Both Hezbollah and Iran warned of retaliation after last month's assassination of Hamas political leader Ismael Haniyeh while he was in Tehran, a threat heard again Monday by a senior Iranian military general.
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MAJ. GEN. MOHAMMAD BAGHERI, ISLAMIC REVOLUTIONARY GUARD CORPS (through translator): Revenge for this criminal act, whether by the Resistance Axis or by the Islamic Republic of Iran, is certain. The Islamic Republic of Iran will not fall into media games and provocations and will decide how and when its revolutionary action will be taken.
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VAUSE: Israel, meantime, is stressing its military will continue to degrade Hezbollah's capabilities and, quote, eliminate more commanders. This comes after the latest exchange of strikes between Israel and Hezbollah, as residents near the border with Lebanon on high alert. CNN's Jim Sciutto shows us how they're dealing with the ongoing violence.
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JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST (voice-over): on kibbutz Dafna, less than two miles from the Lebanese border, students at the Har VaGai High School fled just after October 7, quickly abandoning their lockers. Those mandatory evacuation orders came almost a year ago now, yet the threat remains more present than ever.
Last month, a rocket burst through the roof of the school's gym, and just this past weekend, the most intense crossfire along the border this year.
RAVIT ROSENTAL, HEAD OF HAR VAGAL SCHOOL IN NORTHERN ISRAEL: This is the sign of our school. It's written Alpha guy's school, and those three buildings are ours.
SCIUTTO (voice-over): Now as a new school year begins, Head of School, Ravit Rosenthal, has built an entirely new school, 20 miles south for more than 1000 displaced students.
Instead of a tree lined campus set around babbling brook, classes will take place this year in once empty warehouses. On September 1, they hope a new school year will begin here.
ROSENTAL: A lot of students are depressed. Teachers are not in a very good situation, and they are waiting to come to school to see each other because they want to fill back our community and our guys.
SCIUTTO: The school is outside the evacuation zone in the north but it's still within range of rockets and missiles and drones from Lebanon. So, it has air raid shelters like this one, in fact, 18 of them surrounding the school like all these shelters, reinforced walls, reinforced doors like this, and close enough to the classrooms so the students can get here very quickly in the event of incoming fire.
SCIUTTO: But the shelters cannot shield the students and teachers from the stress of war.
ROSENTAL: We're afraid. I cannot say that I'm not afraid, but I know that me and my team will do the best to make good for the kids.
ZIV ZINGER (ph), HAR VAGAI HIGH SCHOOL: A few days ago, I woke up at 8am from the rockets, and they were very close.
SCIUTTO (voice-over): 17 year old Zinger is going into his final year of high school.
ZINGER (ph): You feel kind of cheated. How you feel. You feel very connected to the old school. You know, we had grass and we had the river flowing through the school, and it doesn't feel like home.
SCIUTT (voice-over): The goal, then is some measure of stability, the same classmates, same teachers, same subjects, even without the same sense of safety. Mehrab Atmore (ph) is sending her 12 year old son.
MERAV ATMOR, MOTHER OF HAR VAGAL SCHOOL STUDENT: This routine. It's something that keeps them safe in their mentality, but, you go to school every day, you see your friends, you see your teachers. I think it's very important. SCIUTTO (voice-over): One promising sign of that routine, Matan, just beginning seventh grade, tells us he's more nervous about his classes than the rockets.
For Ravit, the school is her contribution to a way forward.
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ROSENTAL: Very angry about a lot of things going on in Israel, but I have a mission now to take care of more than 1,000 students and 130 teachers. So I must do the best now.
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VAUSE: Spreading child pornography, just free speech. How about recruiting new jihadis by terrorist groups like ISIS, selling elicited harmful drugs. When we come back, an old debate revived with the founder of Telegram facing charges for criminal activity taking place on his messaging app.
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VAUSE: French president Emmanuel Macron says geopolitics played no role in the arrest of Telegram Founder Pavel Durov in Paris on Sunday, but supporters of the Russian born CEO say he's our political prisoner arrested for defending free speech.
The Paris Public Prosecutor says Durov is facing 12 separate charges as part of a broad investigation into criminal activity on the popular messaging app. CNN's Alex Marquardt has the story.
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ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): He's been called the Mark Zuckerberg of Russia tech billionaire Pavel Durov, the creator of the globally popular messaging app Telegram.
PAVEL DUROV, CEO, TELEGRAM: 12 billion messages delivered daily.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): Now in custody in France after French police arrested him at a Paris airport. French authorities say that Durov arrest is part of an investigation of charges the Telegram was allegedly complicit in aiding money laundering, drug trafficking and distributing child pornography.
French prosecutors also say that Durov refused to comply with demands to help intercept potentially illicit communications. In a statement, the company said, Durov has nothing to hide. It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform.
DUROV: I truly believe that privacy of our users and what they trust to us and our responsibility for them is the most important thing in our business. MARQUARDT (voice-over): Durov was flying to Paris from Azerbaijan,
where Russian President Vladimir Putin also visited last week. The Kremlin has denied that Putin and Durov met. Durov had also created the Russian app Gontaja, known as Russia's Facebook. He fled the country in 2014 after refusing to turn over user data from the app to the Russian government. Russia tried to ban Telegram in 2018 but lifted the ban in 2020.
With 900 million users worldwide, Telegram is used by everyday people, governments and companies to send official messages, but the app's encryption also makes it popular among criminals and terrorists. In France, it was found on the phones of the terrorists who attacked the Bataclan concert hall in Paris.
DUROV: They were also using iPhones and Android phones and microchips. Kind of misleading to say that we were responsible or any other tech companies, responsible for that.
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MARQUARDT (voice-over): Durov's arrest has revived questions about the responsibilities of social media companies to moderate their content and assist law enforcement versus protecting their users' privacy and freedom of speech.
French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement on social media, France is deeply committed to freedom of expression and communication, and that the arrest is in no way a political decision. Alex Marquardt, CNN, Washington.
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VAUSE: Karim Hijazi is an expert in cyber security and intelligence, as well as founder and CEO of Vigilocity. Thanks for being with us.
KARIM HIJAZI, FOUNDER AND CEO, VIGILOCITY: Good to have you, John. Long time.
VAUSE: Yes, it's been a while. It's been a minute, I guess. So, there's still a lot of missing details about Durov's arrest. His supporters say this is all political. Listen to Russian Maria Butina. Here she is.
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MARIA BUTINA, RUSSIAN PARLIAMENT MEMBER: The arrest of Pavel Durov means that there is no freedom of speech. I do believe that Durov -- Pavel Durov is a political prisoner that he is the victim of the witch hunt that the West did do for the people who are not simply minded as they are.
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VAUSE: That could be true possible, but there is also reporting that prosecutors say they launched an investigation last month into a person unnamed for violations, including the spread of child pornography, peddling illegal drugs, failure to cooperate with authorities in a probe into organized fraud.
We don't know if Durov is being held in connection with any of those crimes, but in the bigger picture, this line between the right to free speech and spreading child pornography, for example, seems pretty clear. One doesn't affect the other.
HIJAZI: Yes, they're very challenging topics on themselves. So when you deal with this kind of thing, which unfortunately, the unprecedented nature of this is what's causing such an outcry, because everyone is saying that, look, the founder of a platform will call it the conduit of the material, can't fundamentally be solely responsible for the issues here.
Now, of course, the counterbalance is that he wasn't cooperating, or at least they're alleging that he wasn't cooperating with law enforcement. But this is common across all these platforms, unfortunately. And you know, 900 million users, nearly a billion users, that's a lot of moderation that is -- that has to happen, subjective, material, all kinds of things that have been tried and failed in the past with other platforms.
No easy task, so not an excuse for it by any stretch of the imagination. I don't think any of those things should ever exist on these platforms. But this is a little bit of attack the symptom versus the cure problem that I think is happening quite frankly.
VAUSE: The former Facebook executive, Brian Fishman, who now focuses on counterterrorism. He compared Telegram to X, which he says has light moderation content, but it's still pretty crappy. Meanwhile, Telegram is another level. This is where you put it, on Instagram. It has been the key help for ISIS for a decade. It tolerates CSAM, which is child sexual abuse material, it's a reasonable law enforcement engagement for years, it's not like content moderation. It's a different approach entirely.
Does this ultimately, though, you know, whether it's X or whether it's Telegram, stem from, you know, the decision years ago by the U.S. to treat social media companies not as essential public utilities like telephones and electricity for more like media companies.
HIJAZI: You know, it's interesting, because the problem with a lot of this, and I even sort of alluded to this and the dialog before this conversation, which is that by going and tacking the conduit again, by actually taking down these platforms, you're only pushing the same threat actors to go find new, innovative ways of delivering their material.
So unfortunately, this actually could impact that meaning long term coverts, long term implants by law enforcement are going to have to be retooled for all intents and purposes if this thing shifts focus and people start to say, meaning people, as in nefarious actors, decide that this is not a good place for them to do what they do, they're going to go find more innovative, creative ways to do things.
Not an excuse to stop trying to attack every which way you can, to bring it down. But this kind of thing doesn't do anything other than educate some somewhat the bad guys saying, Oh, that was a good run. Now we're going to move on to this next one.
So sort of suggesting this one was worse in some ways and all the rest, because the founder fundamentally just had a different kind of approach to privacy, I think is kind of a straw man argument.
VAUSE: It's almost counterintuitive what you say, but when you explain it, it kind of makes a lot of sense. The other high profile supporter of Durov is Elon Musk, owner of X, on which he had plenty to tweet about making a sarcastic prediction, it's 2030 in Europe, and you're being executed for liking a meme. Oh, Elon.
George seems to be a fan of Musk. Here he is speaking on X back in April this year.
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DUROV: To be fair, you have now Twitter or X that seemingly becoming more pro freedom of speech. It's a great development, and things are starting to change it seems. We will love the fact that Elon bought Twitter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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VAUSE: At least there's someone who thought it was a good idea. These two billionaires though, Durov and Musk, they seem to have a lot in common in just in the background, their biographies, and their attitudes.
KARIM HIJAZI, FOUNDER AND CEO, VIGILOCITY: Yes. I mean we can only wonder what kind of goes through people like Elon and Pavel's heads as far as what they're doing when they're building these types of platforms.
However, there's no question the choices they've made have impacted everyone. I mean, you're talking about immense amounts of usership. Another concern has always been the fact that if you have that much of a groundswell of usership, all saying something, all able to kind of bring people in.
Look, the Middle East have used Telegram. I see -- I get invited to random platforms I'm not interested in being part of, but I'm somehow found on it and invited to it. So things like this do happen.
So from an influence standpoint, you know, Telegram or anything else, these things do represent a very powerful force for either both information and disinformation. So it is a real thing.
Again you know, is the founder culpable explicitly or exclusively in this case? I don't know. But definitely these things are things to be managed. I think regulatory policies have to be really sophisticated to manage these problems going forward. I don't think it's going to be easy.
VAUSE: Yes. I guess, you know, in a month or more (ph), in one respect we'll find out, you know, in France when this case actually goes to court if it does. If this -- you know, the founder can be found -- held responsible.
Karim, thanks so much. Good to see you.
HIJAZI: Good to see you to.
VAUSE: When we come back, will he or won't he? Donald Trump hinting he might pull out of next month's presidential debate with Kamala Harris while officials from both campaigns debate the debate rules.
Also ahead, why are the homeless in California being fined for being homeless.
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VAUSE: Welcome back, everyone.
I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
The race for the White House seems more of a sprint to this year. And with just 70 days until the election, both the Harris and Trump campaigns are focusing on battleground states, which will likely determine the outcome.
On Wednesday and Thursday, Democrat nominee Kamala Harris will be in Georgia, a swing state which polling shows has been leaning Trump. But Democrats believe they can flip the state just like they did in 2020.
Donald Trump is heading to Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania later this week, states that bolstered the so-called Democratic blue wall which Trump brought down in 2016 and President Joe Biden restored four years ago.
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VAUSE: Meantime, during a campaign stop in Detroit Monday, Trump cast doubt on whether he will in fact debate Vice President Harris as scheduled for September 10th.
Here's CNN's Kristen Holmes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The debate over debates continues. Both campaigns -- the Harris and the Trump campaign appeared to be at an impasse. This time over whether or not the mics will be muted while the other candidate is speaking at that September 10th ABC debate.
Now, originally, Donald Trump and President Joe Biden had agreed to terms that were similar to that of the CNN debate, that first debate in which the mics would be muted as we saw at that CNN debate while the other candidate was talking.
Now, the Harris campaign has said that they want those mics unmuted. Now, Trumps team says that's not what we agreed to. But a lot of this here is just posturing as each side tries to figure out what's best for their candidate.
However, Donald Trump himself talked about this while he was in Virginia commemorating third anniversary of the Afghanistan withdrawal. And he seemed to essentially undercut his own campaign.
Take a listen.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: So I was thinking about it. I was thinking about it. They also want to change the rules. You know, the deal was we're keeping the same rules. Now they said they want to make a change in the rules because she can't answer questions.
HOLMES: And you're going to hear a lot of posturing, a lot of spin. For example, I will remind you that it was just three weeks ago when Kamala Harris was brought into the top of the ticket, when Donald Trump backed out. Kamala Harris' team saying, you can't do that, it doesn't matter who's at the top of the ticket. You already agreed to the debate.
Donald Trump's team saying, no everything has changed. Obviously now, we're almost in a complete opposite situation in which Donald Trump's team is saying, we want to agree to those original rules that we already agreed to with President Joe Biden. And Kamala Harris is saying, nope, I'm at the top of the ticket now, things have changed.
Again all of this posturing, all of this, the campaigns trying to make sure that their own candidate looks the best, when they take the stage. And the big question for us will they take the stage that September 10th to debate.
One thing we know is leading up to that Donald Trump's campaign says that he is going to be pounding the pavement. It's going to be quote, unquote "Trump on steroids".
They say he's ramping up his travel. He's going to be in battleground states. We have heard this before. We will wait and see if it actually comes to fruition.
Kristen Holmes, CNN -- Detroit, Michigan.
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VAUSE: Kamala Harris' home state of California is often a target for Donald Trump and other conservatives. It's a progressive stronghold which they often ridicule as being on the left coast of the U.S.
They especially point to the staggering number of homeless people in the streets of California's biggest cities. And now San Francisco, taking an aggressive approach to try and get them off the pavement and into housing.
Here's CNN's Nick Watt.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've got to go, got to go, got to go, man.
NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You've got to go?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got to go.
WATT: But do you know where you're going to go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
WATT: Ok. Ok. Ok.
We're in the Mission District. It's a little after 7:00 a.m.
Is this the first time you've been involved in one of these sweeps no.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. No. This is the first time they've been so quiet.
WATT: You think you'll be in a shelter tonight?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, let's hope yes..
WATT: The Supreme Court ruled that cities can now cite, fine or jail these people even if they have nowhere else to go.
MAYOR LONDON BREED, SAN FRANCISCO: We have the ability to now enforce the law.
WATT: Mayor London Breed introduced what she calls a very aggressive strategy. They issued around 25 citations in the first two weeks.
You're criminalizing something that a lot of people can't help. They have no other choice.
BREED: Yes. And that would be the case if we weren't offering people a place to go inside.
They haven't offered you shelter.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They say there's no opening for a shelter right now. There's no beds.
WATT: The city says, no one in this morning's sweep ended up in a shelter. Not one.
So this is the afternoon sweep. We're in Soma south of market. The issue is this is the 34th time the city has swept through this area this year alone.
More than 4,000 people live on San Francisco's streets. There are fewer than 4,000 shelter beds and most nights they're near full with a waitlist of over 100.
Are these guys offering you a shelter bed? Is that what's going on.
He is offering you shelter beds.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
WATT: So what are you going to do? Are you going to take it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I'm going to take it but you know what, if there's something were -- it's cubicle (ph) like -- I won't do it, man. I won't do because I stayed in prison 22 years. Do you really think I want to be closed up in a room with the bars and (EXPLETIVE DELETED)? No, I don't think so.
WATT: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to sleep outside.
WATT: Since the Supreme court's decision, cities and towns in states across the country are now proposing passing and enforcing anti- camping laws. Across California, state authorities have started sweeping encampments.
[01:39:47]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm here on behalf of 40 million Californians that are fed up. I'm here because I'm one of them.
WATT: But more than 50 academics told the Supreme Court there's no evidence that criminalizing homelessness works.
In fact, there's a lot of evidence that it's counterproductive.
BREED: Well, what we want to be able to do is use the penalties as a way to get people to commit to going indoors. That's part of our solution.
WATT: Chris, just visiting here at Jesse and Six (ph), got a place to live after a similar sweep.
So it can work. This system.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely. You'll just have to get the documents in order, but tragedies happen in these sweeps. A lot of people lose everything, things that they can't replace.
Many advocates for the homeless oppose this new strategy.
What does this do to actually solve the root problem here?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It doesn't. It makes the root problem worse. You know, when folks lose their paperwork, you know, gets cited in the camp, pay the fines, they don't make it to court. They get a warrant, they get kicked off of their public housing waitlist.
WATT: So I came back here to Jesse and six three days later. The unhoused people are back. Police are back. The city is back.
You spent a lot of money from the city sweeping that same street. To me, that is the definition that matters.
BREED: But what I'm saying to you is the next option that we have for people who are refusing what we're offering is we will be citing and you'll maybe in the next couple for months, take a look at our data and see whether or not this is working. And if its working, we'll continue. If it's not, we need to pivot and to try something else.
WATT: What's your plan? Where are you going to go.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hide around the corner.
WATT: Around the corner?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
WATT: And then come back?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, later after the sweep.
WATT: The mayor concedes that homelessness has gotten out of control in San Francisco and elsewhere around the country. And also that San Francisco has become a destination.
Now she is going to restrict the services that have made San Francisco a destination and she's also offering anybody from out of town who's unhoused, a bus ticket back to where they came from. So far, about 100 people have taken up that offer.
Nick Watt, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Venezuela's top prosecutor has issued a second summons for opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez, who is scheduled to testify Monday at a government investigation into last month's disputed presidential election.
The government of Nicolas Maduro says, Nicolas Maduro was the winner. But the opposition says Gonzalez won and Gonzales says he did not show up and testify because the ministry is not following due process.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EDMUNDO GONZALEZ, VENEZUELA OPPOSITION PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (through translator): The public ministry wants to subject me to an interview without establishing under what condition I'm expected to testify and pre-qualifying crimes that were not committed. The attorney general has repeatedly acted like a political accuser.
Mr. Nicolas Maduro, it's time for you to understand once and for all that the solution is not repression, but the international independent and reliable verification of the voting tallies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: This second summons calls for Gonzalez to appear in the coming hours.
In a moment, a group tour in Iceland goes horribly wrong as a deadly ice cave collapsed and fears about the impact to climate change.
[01:43:04]
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VAUSE: In war-torn Sudan, torrential rain has caused a major dam to collapse, sweeping away entire villages. Hundreds of people are believed missing, at least 30 confirmed dead so far.
More than 500 days of civil war has taken a huge toll across the country. Vital infrastructure has been hard hit as well. Aid groups warning for months now that Sudan is on the brink of collapse, the population on the brink of starvation.
Flooding from monsoon rains hit totally 23 people in Bangladesh. Meteorologists say the water levels are receding but slowly. They also say it's not enough to bring relief in the monsoons if the monsoons continue. Millions of people are isolated in remote areas with floodwaters blocking roads and preventing aid from coming in.
The water has also submerged huge areas of land and poses a threat to crops. Thats according to the Bangladeshi agricultural ministry.
An American tourist is dead following the collapse of a cave inside a glacier in Iceland. He was part of a group of tourists exploring that cave. And this incident raising new fears for the safety of this popular tourist activity as the world's temperatures continue to rise.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: One of Iceland's most popular tourist attractions now the site of a tragedy. An ice cave in the Breidamerkurjokull Glacier collapsed on Sunday, killing one American, injuring another. The couple was touring the glacier in southern Iceland when disaster happened.
The collapse prompted a major search for two additional tourists believed trapped under the ice.
SVEINN KRISTJIAN RUNARSSON, CHIEF SUPERINTENDENT, SOUTH ICELAND POLICE (through translator): It's difficult to get equipment to the area. The rescue missions are therefore mainly done by hand, digging and breaking the ice. So yes, these are very challenging circumstances.
VAUSE: But no one was found and police have since confirmed there have been only 23 people on the tour, not 25.
The collapse though is now raising questions about the potential role of human-caused climate change.
Iceland is warming roughly three times faster than the rest of the planet because of burning of fossil fuels and carbon emissions. And the renowned Breidamerkurjokull Glacier has been melting since 1930, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Tourism brings in billions of dollars to Iceland's economy. And
tourism officials there are now said to be drafting a new report on glacier tours in the wake of the collapse. As questions linger about their safety, especially with global temperatures on the rise.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: The captain of a luxury superyacht which sank off the coast of Sicily is under investigation for manslaughter. The announcement came from prosecutors on Monday.
CNN's Barbie Nadeau has more reporting in from Rome.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, CNN REPORTER: The captain of the luxury yacht that went down in the storm on August 19th off the coast of Sicily killing seven people, has been named in a manslaughter and negligent shipwreck investigation into the tragedy.
James Cutfield, a 51-year-old sailor from New Zealand with at least eight years of experience on luxury yachts in the Mediterranean Sea has been advised to secure a defense lawyer, according to the prosecutor's office though he is not in custody and being named in an investigation does not imply guilt. No other crew members have been named yet, but they're all being asked not to leave the country.
Seven people, including British tech titan, Mike Lynch and his 18- year-old daughter died when the ship sank. 15 people, including nine crew members, survived.
The investigation will now look at whether the yacht was secured for the storm, which had been predicted in weather advisories to mariners the night before. And whether the crew adequately warned the passengers of the imminent danger.
The cost to raise the ship, which will then be examined by investigators, falls on the ship's owner, which is a company belonging to Lynch's wife. Autopsies on all seven victims will be carried out in Palermo this week.
Barbie Latza Nadeau, CNN -- Rome.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: A helium leak has delayed the launch of Polaris Dawn by 24 hours. In an update posted on X, SpaceX says the quick disconnect umbilical is being examined. Both the Crewed Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 rocket are in good condition according to SpaceX.
This five-day Polaris Dawn mission will attempt the first ever commercial spacewalk. A crew of four civilians heading to the highest altitude of any crewed space mission since the apollo program was ended more than 50 years ago. Well, a couple of games (ph) kicked off at the U.S. Open with several top names looking to defend their titles. We have those names in a moment. Highlights from the first round as well.
And workers in Australia now have the right to ignore the boss after work. And when we come back, the country's new law of trying the right to disconnect.
[01:49:39]
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VAUSE: Sven-Goran Eriksson, the first non-Englishman to coach England's national football team has died after a long illness. Along with superstars David Beckham, Wayne Rooney and others, Eriksson played a big role in England's golden generation.
CNN's Don Riddell has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Tributes have been pouring in from all over the world today for the late Swedish football manager, Sven-Goran Eriksson. His family say that he passed away peacefully at the age of 76. Eriksson revealed in January that he'd been diagnosed with terminal cancer and given a year to live.
He's most famous for becoming England's first foreign manager, leading the Three Lions to the quarter finals of the 2002 and 2006 World Cup tournaments. As a club manager with the likes of Gothenburg, Ben Futcher (ph) and (INAUDIBLE), he won 18 trophies.
Since going public with his illness, Eriksson was warmly received at many of his former clubs and he was even able to manage the Liverpool Legends team for a day. He said that Liverpool was a team he'd always wanted to manage. He was a lifelong fan.
He bravely lived with his cancer and he told CNN earlier this year that he was grateful for all the love he was feeling.
SVEN GORAN ERIKSSON, FORMER FOOTBALL MANAGER: That was fantastic, very nice and beautiful of course. And I'm lucky, they're telling me how good I was when I still alive.
Normally, it's a funeral.
RIDDELL: In a recently broadcast documentary about his life, Eriksson spoke about what would be the end.
He said, "I hope you will remember me as a positive guy trying to do everything he could do. Don't be sorry, smile. Take care of yourself and your life and live it."
Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE) VAUSE: Well, it was a star-studded beginning to the U.S. Open with defending champions Coco Gauff and Novak Djokovic. Gauff opened with a powerful 6-2, 6-0 win over France's Varvara Gracheva to reach the second round of competition.
And world number two, Novak Djokovic beat Moldova's Radu Albot in straight sets. He's hoping to become the first player to win 25 Grand Slam titles with another U.S. Open.
The Boston Red Sox catcher Danny Jansen has made history as the only player in Major League Baseball to play for both teams in the same game Jansen was in the middle of his at-bat as a Toronto Blue Jay back on June 26, when the game was suspended because of weather.
Since then, Toronto traded him to Boston. And on Monday, he was the catcher when the suspended game actually resumed play meaning technically he played offense and defense at the same -- in the same at-bat (ph). Jansen finished with one hit in the game which Toronto won 4-1.
Well, Australia is the latest country to allow workers to ignore after hours calls, texts and emails from the boss.
9News Australia Chris Kohler explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS KOHLER, 9NEWS FINANCE EDITOR: Steven McGibboney (ph) works for a government agency and Steve Howland works at a big bank. Both know what it's like to be hounded by a boss. But from today they and almost everyone else have the legal right to ignore them.
STEVEN HOWLAND, FINANCE WORKER: I think people's work life will get massively better.
KOHLER: The lines between work and home they say have become blurred, leading to a spike in burnout.
HOWLAND: Workload just goes up and up and up. It's almost as if your employers in the finance industry expect my employer to be my religion.
9NEWS REPORTER: Everyone at a workplace of more than 15 people can now ignore unreasonable contact from bosses and third parties after hours. The new federal law is preventing any repercussions.
[01:54:51]
MICHELLE O'NEILL, PRESIDENT, AUSTRALIAN COUNCIL OF TRADE UNIONS: You're going to get fed-out (ph) workers.
KOHLER: ACTU president Michelle O'Neill has pushed for the laws. She says being disorganized is no longer an excuse to bother staff at home.
O'NEILL: It's about unreasonable contact. So it doesn't say that there can be no emergency contact out of hours or no way that employers and workers can be in contact. It's about if it's reasonable or not.
KOHLER: But it's that word "reasonable". Thats the problem for industry groups. They say they don't have enough clarification of what is and is not reasonable contact and they say conflict will follow.
INNES WILLOX, AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP: This is going to end up in a lot of legal action. This is going to appear before the courts. And you know, it's going to take time to work through.
KOHLER: But workers say time's up, contact outside hours shouldn't be expected, and it should come at a cost.
STEVEN MCGIBBBONY, GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE: And I think that's really important at the moment too, with cost of living that when you are expecting that you might get a phone call from work, then you're being paid for that.
KOHLER: For workers in small businesses, the same protections will apply from this time next year.
Chris Kohler, 9News.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: A British woman celebrated her 102nd birthday like that, jumping out of a plane. Manette Baillie jumped out of a small plane Sunday, skydiving over Suffolk, England. She's also the country's oldest skydiver.
Baillie's a veteran who served in the Women's Royal Navy during World War II and the jump was to raise money for charity and also to have a good time.
Finally, could there be an Oasis reunion. To quote their first album, "Definitely Maybe". The British rock band, its lead singer, and its guitarist all posted the same cryptic video on social media, teasing what appears to be an announcement just over an hour from now. Set your watch.
Brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher feuded for decades and finally split in 2009. Now the pair behind hits like "Wonderwall" and "Champagne Supernova" may have buried the hatchet. We should find out fairly soon in about an hour.
Thank you for watching. I'm John Vause.
Please stay with us. CNN NEWSROOM continues with my friend and colleague Rosemary Church at the top of the hour.
Hope to see you right back here tomorrow.
[01:56:52]
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