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Israel Launches Large-Scale Raids Across West Bank; Pavel Durov Under Formal Investigation In France; Nvidia Earnings Up To 122 Percent In Quarter Two Compared To Last Year; WFP Halts Staff Movement in Gaza After Gunfire Incident; Concerns Grow Over Potential Polio Outbreak in Gaza; Regional Arm of W.H.O. Warns of Oropouche in Americas; Health Officials Warn of Rise in Mosquito-borne Illnesses; New Hampshire Man Dies From Rare Mosquito-borne Virus, Eastern Equine Encephalitis; Spanish Town Turns Red During Tomatina Festival; Child Accidentally Shatters Bronze-age Jar in an Israeli Museum. Aired 2- 2:45a ET

Aired August 29, 2024 - 02:00   ET

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

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[02:00:24]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world, and to everyone streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead, Israel launches a large-scale military operation in the occupied West Bank, raising concerns the country could soon be facing conflict on a third front.

The Russian born founder of telegram is under formal investigation in France, amid a probe into organized crime activity on the messaging app.

And a rare but sometimes fatal, mosquito borne virus is raising alarm in parts of the U.S. Why climate change could make the threat of more outbreaks even worse?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN NEWSROOM WITH ROSEMARY CHURCH.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Thanks for joining us.

Well, with the war in Gaza raging in the south and persistent fighting with Hezbollah in the north, Israel now appears to be opening a new military front in the West Bank. The IDF says it has launched its largest operation in the occupied territory in months.

Palestinian officials report at least 11 people have been killed in the raids, which included drones, helicopters, and bulldozers digging up the streets.

Israel claims it's going after terrorist infrastructure and a systematic strategy by Iran of smuggling weapons and explosives into the West Bank.

Palestinian officials condemned the operation, accusing Israel of blocking access to hospitals and obstructing ambulances.

Well, more now from CNN International diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice over): Before dawn, the biggest Israeli raid into the occupied West Bank since the war in Gaza began. October 7th. Air strikes near a cluster of Northern towns, Tulkarem, Jenin and Tubas.

Backed by hundreds of troops and border police on the ground, the IDF says it's a counter terrorism operation, intended to thwart what they claim is a systematic strategy in Iran to smuggle weapons and explosives into the West Bank.

Outside Jenin, a drone strike killing three men in a vehicle, whom the IDF claimed were terrorists, and seriously wounding another. Near Tubas, the IDF says another airstrike killed four terrorists. This resident caught in a blast.

MASOUD NAAJA, TWO CHILDREN KILLED (through translator): In seconds, very fast. We felt like something came down on us from the sky, and there was an explosion. When I put my hand on my chest, it was all shrapnel and in blood.

ROBERTSON (voice over): The IDF also arresting people and surrounding hospitals, including Jenin's main hospital, Ibn Sina, they said, to prevent terrorists using it as a base. Palestinian ambulances also appearing to be targeted by the IDF, amid claims staff were beaten.

DR. YOUNIS AL KHATIB, DIRECTOR, PALESTINIAN RED CRESCENT IN THE WEST BANK (through translator): The occupation army is clearly targeting medical crews and ambulances. The latest example is today at the Al- Faraa refugee camp. The staff were forced to come out of the car, and the director of our center in Tubas was beaten.

ROBERTSON (voice over): As they have done in previous West Bank raids, the IDF using armored diggers to rip up streets they claim searching for roadside bombs.

In part, the IDF says the operation connected to this failed backpack bomb attack that only killed the bomber in Tel Aviv 10 days ago. It was the first of its kind in decades.

Hamas, however, reacting to the raid, calling Palestinians to restart a suicide bombing campaign abandoned almost two decades ago, unclear how long the operation will last. But by late Wednesday, Palestinian official saying 10 people dead and more than 20 injured, making it one of the most deadly days in the West Bank since the Gaza war began October 7th.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Newly freed hostage. Farhan al-Qadi says he hopes the war in Gaza ends for all Palestinians and Israeli families.

[02:05:05]

The 52-year-old Bedouin Israeli citizen, spoke with reporters as he was released from the hospital on Wednesday. His family says food was scarce and al-Qadi lost 65 pounds, or 30 kilograms, in captivity. They say he was held in isolation the entire time and did not meet any other hostages.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FARHAN AL-QADI, FREED HOSTAGE (through translator): The pain is the same pain, whether it is Palestinian, Jewish, or Bedouin. God made us human.

I tell everyone, Sinwar and Netanyahu to put an end to it. We have been in wars for 74 or 75 years, and where have we come? Nowhere, just more blood and more blood and more dead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Meantime, the Israeli military says it has recovered the body of a soldier abducted on October 7th and held hostage in Gaza.

The Prime Minister's Office and hostage families say there are currently 107 hostages, living and dead, being held in Gaza.

French prosecutors have placed the founder of Telegram under formal investigation. In French law, that's a step below being formally charged with a crime. Pavel Durov was released from police custody Wednesday and transferred to court for questioning.

The Russian-born billionaire is barred from leaving France and has to report to French police twice a week. Durov was arrested in Paris on Saturday on a warrant related to the lack of moderation on the popular messaging app.

CNN's Matthew Chance has the latest on the investigation and on Russia's strong reaction.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is an extraordinary situation, because what the French authorities are doing is holding the owner of a social media platform accountable for the content on that platform.

The owner, of course, is Pavel Durov. He is one of the world's richest men. He is the founder of Telegram, which is one of the world's most popular social media platforms, particularly in the former Soviet Union, Europe, and to some extent in the United States as well.

It's sort of prided itself Telegram has for its lack of moderation, compared to, for instance, Facebook or X, which are much more judicious in what they allow to be -- to be broadcast on their platform used for.

But, you know, Telegram has been used by autocratic governments like Russia in the Middle East, China, the Ukrainian government uses it as well as the Russians as well. You have criminal gangs that use it. You have, you know, groups of pedophiles or neo-Nazis or anti-Semites. They use it to sort of propagate their sort of hate speech as well.

But you also get libertarians, you know, people who are strong believers in the freedom of speech, who value Telegram as an essential asset in the sort of media landscape. And so, it's this extraordinary sort of coalition of, you know, sort of disparate groups that have come together in support of Pavel Durov, as he -- as he is sorts of scrutinized by the French authorities in this way.

The Russians have been very outspoken, of course. He is a -- he is originally a Russian citizen, and they called this an attack on freedom of speech, which is, you know, ironic, given that there's been a huge crackdown in Russia on free media over the course of the past several, several years.

But of course, it's about a much broader concept as well of, you know, the extent to which social media platforms should obey the laws, and should be held accountable, and their owners should be held accountable for the -- for the content that goes inside them, and that's something that the French authorities, now, with Pavel Durov, are currently exploring.

Matthew Chance, CNN, London.

CHURCH: Well less than a day away from the first in depth interview with Kamala Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, since they rose to the top of the Democratic ticket.

The U.S. vice president and Minnesota governor will speak exclusively with CNN. Harris has been under pressure for not holding a news conference or long form interview with a major media outlet since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee.

Meanwhile, new polling from Fox News shows no clear leader in some key Sunbelt swing states like Georgia. Earlier polls show Donald Trump with a lead there, but the latest survey gives Harris the edge, while ultimately determining it's too close to call.

In the hours ahead, Harris and Walz will begin part two of their sweep through southern Georgia. This is their first trip together after building excitement and momentum at the Democratic National Convention.

And CNN's Priscilla Alvarez has this report from Savannah, Georgia. PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Vice President Kamala Harris and her vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz, visiting the state of Georgia on Wednesday, the first time they visited the state together.

[02:10:06]

Now, it's a crucial battleground state, and notable that they decided to kick off their bus tour here after the Democratic National Convention. But what was significant was where they were going in the state? Visiting South Georgia, a region that typically leans Republicans, that were -- where the Harris campaign thinks that they can make inroads.

Thanks to 2022, when Democratic senator Raphael Warnock in his runoff, was able to shave off Republican votes and still win big in metro Atlanta.

Well, the Harris campaign employing a similarly aggressive strategy in South Georgia, the vice president and Tim Walz, visiting with high school students and also going to a barbecue joint to talk to voters.

Now, the vice president will conclude her trip in Georgia with a rally, as well as do that sit down interview with her vice- presidential nominee, Tim Walz. All of this as the campaign tries to notch a victory in the crucial battleground that in 2020, President Biden only won by less than 12,000 votes.

Priscilla Alvarez, CNN, traveling with the Harris-Walz campaign.

CHURCH: Earlier, I spoke with Democratic strategist Tharon Johnson, and asked what the Democrats need to do to win over more Republican leaning voters in southern Georgia. And what are their chances of once again winning the state?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

THARON JOHNSON, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Georgia is a very key battleground state for the Harris-Walz campaign, and it's also a very key ground -- battleground state for the Trump campaign.

We know that Georgia came down to less than 12,000 votes in 2020. Rosemary, you know that this election was decided roughly about 45,000 votes in three states, and Georgia was one of those pivotal states. So, the fact that you see Kamala Harris, the vice president of the United States of America, and Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, kicking off a bus tour in Savannah, Georgia, which is Southeast Georgia, which is one of the fastest growing areas of our state, shows you that they believe that the rural votes are there.

They believe that these rural voters in Southeast Georgia want to hear from her. They want to hear her economic message. They want to hear her message around affordability.

And this is area that has really seen a lot of growth in manufacturing jobs, and a lot of that is due to the Biden-Harris administration sending federal money to this area.

I think you also see them directly focused on HBCUs, Historically Black Colleges and Universities. They will talk about minority participation as far as entrepreneurship, and they will have a higher learning education message, because we have a great sort of group of schools that are HBCUs, but also four-year college state schools in the area as well.

CHURCH: And Tharon, once a Trump nemesis Georgia's Governor Brian Kemp, is now all aboard the Trump train. He is supporting his campaign and will attend a fundraiser for the former president in Atlanta on Thursday in the coming hours.

What's behind the fence mending here, given the negative and nasty things that Trump has said about Kemp in the past, and what are Trump's chances of winning Georgia, do you think?

JOHNSON: You know this has been a lot of political theater. This sort of makeup, breakup, makeup, breakup, and then make up again relationship between Governor Brian Kemp and former President Donald Trump is just honestly sort of abusive, toxic relationship between two men politically.

The fact that Governor Kemp, who's very popular in the state of Georgia, said, you know, even though you came to Georgia, Donald Trump, talked about my campaign, said that I was actually responsible for him losing in 2020, he said that Brian Kemp and Brad Raffensperger, who's our secretary of state, are doing things to prevent Donald Trump from winning 2024.

Brian Kemp, Rosemary, as you reported, came out right away on X and said, hey, leave my family, you know, out of your mouth when he talked about the First Lady Marty Kemp, sort of begging Trump to help him out with his campaign in 2018, which Brian Kemp went on to win that race.

And so, for Governor Brian Kemp to come out and say, look, I'm going to put these personal attacks aside. And it's basically, I want, you know, a message around winning. And it's really sort of a, my team versus their team, sort of strategy.

And Governor Brian Kemp has made it very clear that he wants to win. Only thing I would say is that Brian Kemp doesn't need Donald Trump, and say to Georgia, Donald Trump means Brian Kemp, and that's why you saw the Trump campaign come out right away, embrace this endorsement. Because previously, the governor and the first lady were very, very hesitant to say they were going to vote for Donald Trump.

So, now, they are unified, because the governor and the former president know how important Georgia is to their election bid.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And you can hear our full conversation next hour here on CNN NEWSROOM when we discuss Harris's first sit down interview since becoming the Democratic nominee, and that exclusive interview will air right here on CNN with Dana Bash on Thursday at 9:00 p.m. Eastern. We'll replay the interview the next morning at 7:00 a.m. in London. That's 10:00 a.m. in Abu Dhabi.

[02:15:05]

Still to come, A.I. chipmaker, Nvidia reports massive earnings in the second quarter. But how long can they sustain the same success? And deadly flooding hits Sudan, sinking the country deeper into crisis.

We'll have that and more on the other side of the break. Stay with us.

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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Tech company, Nvidia, reports its second quarter earnings were up 122 percent compared to last fiscal year. Nvidia is famous for creating the GPU and redefining what computer graphics are capable of.

Their work creating A.I. processes has propelled the company to new heights. Now, one of the only three U.S. companies valued at more than $3 trillion with a T.

But some experts wonder how long reality can keep beating expectations. Let's turn to CNN's Kristie Lu Stout, joining us from Hong Kong.

Good to see you, Kristie. So, this report has been called the most important tech earnings in years. Nvidia beat expectations again, but its shares are falling. Why is that?

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Nvidia has been called the A.I. golden goose in the tech world. But after its latest earnings report, it's not quite living up to all the stock height. Look, it did beat estimates reported second quarter revenue over $130 billion, up 122 percent from the same time a year ago, and it's also now forecasting third quarter revenue of $32-1/2 billion, which is only modestly better than what was estimated. So, that's just not enough to impress the market.

So, after report, Nvidia shares traded lower. Let's bring up the number for you. With shares dipping down 6.9 percent after hours. Now, Nvidia is the A.I. chip giant. It accounts for around 70 percent for all A.I. chip sales.

And as the tech giants build out their A.I. infrastructure, they have been relying on Nvidia, spending big on the company's processors that power A.I., and that includes generative A.I., of course, that's the underlying tech behind applications like ChatGPT.

Look, Nvidia has been breaking in the billions, you know, with its unparalleled processors, but it's also facing a number of challenges. Let's show this graphic for you. These are sort of the headwinds that's up against.

First off, production delays for its next generation Rockwell chips. Also, the potential for rising production costs. There is also antitrust concerns. You got U.S. regulators probing Nvidia and its business practices, not to mention rising competition.

But analysts point out, look, it's early days yet, and it's still the very beginning of the so-called A.I. revolution. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAN IVES, MANAGING DIRECTOR, WEDBUSH SECURITIES: This is going to be a $4 trillion mark up in the next year, along with Apple and Microsoft.

[02:20:03]

This A.I. revolution is just starting being led by godfather of A.I. Jensen, Nvidia. It continues to be, I think, one of our plays in tech.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: So, he is confident there is more upside to come. And just some context for you, Rosemary, when Nvidia reports earnings, it is like the Super Bowl for the financial markets.

You know you have earning support, listening parties, people gathering at bars, viral memes get exchanged, and investors have gotten so accustomed to Nvidia, smashing forecasts.

Then, when the company actually just beats them, it's not enough. They shrug, they are not impressed. Back to you.

CHURCH: OK, appreciate that. Kristie Lu Stout, joining us live from Hong Kong.

Typhoon Shanshan has made landfall in Japan, and government officials say, at least three people have been killed, two are missing, and dozens injured.

The storm slammed the country's southernmost island with heavy rains, winds, and storm surge.

Officials issued emergency warnings for flash flooding and landslides across most of the area.

Authorities also warned of an imminent life threatening situation, and called on 57,000 more people to evacuate.

Wind gusts of up to 185 kilometers per hour were reported east of where Shanshan came ashore. As it continues over land, the storm is forecast to turn to the east and weaken to a tropical storm by the end of the day.

In Sudan, torrential rains and a burst dam have killed more than 100 people. It's the latest tragedy to hit the Northeast African nation, already plagued by civil war and faced with acute food shortages.

CNN's Paula Newton has our report.

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PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Dozen's dead as floods ravaged an already crumbling Sudan.

MALEHASHIM MOHAMED, FARMER, SUDAN (through translator): We lost everything, and we could barely rescue our families. The water washed away our farms, vehicles, livestock, and crops. It's the worst water flows I've seen in my life.

NEWTON (voice over): Locals are burying their neighbors as more than 100 people are found dead due to severe floods. According to government officials, flash floods in the country caused a dam in eastern Sudan burst. It swept through villages, destroying more than 12,000 homes.

The U.N. says the death toll could still be higher. Many people are still missing under the rubble.

ABU ALI AHMED, RESIDENT, ARBAAT, SUDAN (through translator): The situation is catastrophic to be honest. We have children, families, and elderly, and others that need continuous medication, and this is the fourth day. The water came on to them and destroyed all the villages, and we don't know the circumstances they are going through now.

NEWTON (voice over): The aftermath of these floods could be more fatal still in Sudan, a country already plagued by civil war. A new independent report found that more than 20,000 people have been killed in Sudan since the start of the conflict in April 2023.

The country is suffering from a humanitarian crisis. According to the U.N. more than half of the population faces acute hunger. The growing crisis affects the education of millions of children as well, with schools in Sudan either destroyed or shut down.

ASRAR SABER ESSAM, DISPLACED STUDENT, SUDAN (through translator): I have lost my normal life and my dreams have been shattered. I aspire to become a doctor, but with the school closed, I feel as though my future and the meaning of life have slipped away.

NEWTON (voice over): The arrival of aid, complicated by a civil war that continues to ravage the country. As peace talks in Switzerland, led by the U.S. and Egypt are ramping up, so too are diplomatic efforts to secure food and medicine.

For the first time in six months, humanitarian aid resumed in Sudan's famine-threatened Darfur region. The convoy of food is a short but much needed relief to the thousands of people at the brink of this tragedy.

Now, in the eastern part of the country, thousands are reeling with the aftermath of floods. People are cut off from the capital, Port Sudan, and many are searching for the bodies of their loved ones.

Paula Newton, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Namibia plans to kill hundreds of wild animals and use the meat to feed people struggling with hunger and food insecurity. Officials say more than 150 animals have already been killed. That's including elephants, zebras, and hippos.

Half the population of Namibia, that's more than a million people are struggling with food insecurity due to the worst drought in a century.

The drought has been made worse by the climate crisis and killed hundreds of elephants last year after their water sources dried up

More now from CNN's Larry Madowo.

LARRY MADOWO, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Killing hundreds of wildlife to provide food for hungry people is still a controversial move that may anger conservationists.

[02:25:04]

But Namibia sees this as a necessary evil.

The minister of environment calling it a sustainability intervention. These animals will die anyway because of the effects of the drought there, the worst in 100 years.

The government of Namibia was forced to declare a state of emergency in May as more than half of the population could face acute food insecurity. That is why the ministry of environment is contributing these animals as part of the drought relief program by the government.

723 wildlife from 83 elephants, 60 buffaloes, 30 hippos, 300 zebras, 100 blue wildebeest, 50 impalas, and 100 elands have been earmarked for this. More than 150 animals have already been killed, providing more than 125,000 pounds of game meat to those that need it, especially in rural parts of Namibia.

The drought here has been caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon, which has led to limited rainfall. But also, the bigger picture here is because of the effects of climate change. The climate crisis is hitting Southern Africa especially hard right now. So, that is a backdrop for this controversial move that the Namibian government says will also help reduce human wildlife conflict because of the drought, limited water, limited grazing lands has led to some deadly human wildlife conflict, and they are hoping this helps alleviate some of that as well.

Larry Madowo, CNN, Nairobi.

CHURCH: Concerns are growing over the potential for the spread of polio in Gaza. Coming up, why the outbreak is still a possibility, even though vaccines have already arrived in the enclave.

Plus, rare mosquito-borne illnesses are on the rise, setting off alarm bells in the medical community. An epidemiologist joins me next to discuss what's causing it and how to protect yourself. Stay with us for that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. The U.N.'s World Food Programme is putting on hold the movement of its staff in Gaza after one of its vehicles came under fire. The agency says the car was struck at least 10 times while approaching an Israeli checkpoint Tuesday night.

[02:30:06]

No one was injured. The U.N. says the vehicle was clearly marked and it had the go-ahead from Israel to pass through that area. The WFP plays a key role in distributing aid in Gaza where famine has been raging for months. Israel's military says the incident is under review.

Health officials are also concerned about the possibility of a polio outbreak in Gaza. They've recently discovered the first case of the disease in 25 years. And without more vaccinations, they say it's just a matter of time before thousands of others get infected. CNN's Jeremy Diamond has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 11-month-old Abdul Rahman is no longer the energetic baby he once was. He now sleeps most of the day, gently rocked by his mother, who is still grappling with how quickly he went from feverish and vomiting to partially paralyzed.

My child started to move and crawled at an early age, Niveen says, but suddenly everything went backwards. Suddenly, he was no longer crawling or moving, or able to stand on his feet, or even sit. Doctors delivered the devastating news earlier this month. Abdul Rahman has polio, the first known case in Gaza in 25 years.

It is a shock for a mother to hear such news. Now, he is lying here in the tent in these unhealthy conditions. There's no treatment, no capabilities, and no supplements. The course of Abdul Rahman's life cruelly twisted by the war that started just weeks after he was born, leaving him vulnerable to malnutrition, dirty drinking water, and missed vaccines. The fear now that Abdul Rahman could be the first of many.

DIAMOND: What is your plan to keep this one confirmed case from becoming an epidemic in the Gaza Strip?

SAM ROSE, DIRECTOR OF PLANNING, UNRWA: Absolutely. The plan is to start a vaccination campaign, a mass vaccination campaign involving all children under ten. There are 640,000 children who needs to be reached. So, we read need to reach about 95 percent of them.

DIAMOND (voice-over): 1.2 million vaccine doses have now arrived and thousands of U.N. staffers and volunteers are ready to inoculate Gaza's children, the challenge will be getting the job done as the war rages on.

ROSE: It's a relatively easy vaccine to administer. It's drops on tongues, it doesn't require needles, it doesn't require injections. It's something that's relatively simple to do. The difficult part is everything else.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Gaza's health system has been devastated by nearly 11 months of war and global health officials are calling for a pause in the fighting to distribute the vaccine. Israeli authorities who launched the drive to vaccinate their troops last month haven't committed to that. But they say, "Routine humanitarian pauses will facilitate the inoculation drive." In Central Gaza, Niveen fans the flies from her son's face. She is helpless to fight off the disease that now grips his small body.

Abdul Rahman needs treatment, she says, pleading with the world to take her son out of Gaza. She is still waiting for someone to answer her cry.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Health officials are sounding the alarm about a rise in deadly mosquito-borne illnesses. The W.H.O. and the U.S. CDC have both issued warnings about the Oropouche virus, also known as sloth fever. More than 8,000 cases have been reported this year, mostly in South America. But infections are also spreading in countries where it hasn't been seen before and dozens of travel-related cases have been reported in the U.S. and Europe.

Meanwhile, health officials in the state of New Hampshire say a man has died from Eastern Equine Encephalitis, a rare and serious infection transmitted through mosquito bites. It's the first case identified in the state in a decade. Other cases have been identified in neighboring states, prompting some local jurisdictions to issue protective measures such as voluntary curfews.

Anne Rimoin is a Professor of Epidemiology at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, and she joins me now from Los Angeles. Always good to have you with us.

ANNE RIMOIN, PROFESSOR OF EPIDEMIOLOGY, UCLA FIELDING SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Thanks for having me.

CHURCH: So, a New Hampshire man has died of Eastern Equine Encephalitis, also known as EEE, prompting many questions about the rare mosquito-borne disease, which has a high mortality rate in the very young and the very old. What do we need to know about this?

RIMOIN: Well, listen, this is a mosquito-borne virus and it is, as you said, very rare. But it is also very serious if someone should actually get this infection, symptoms, there are -- about 30 percent of people who actually get it may die and symptoms can be very, very severe and include neurological effects.

[02:35:12]

So while, again, this is something that does not happen frequently, there are several cases a year and it is very serious when it happens CHURCH: We are also seeing the spread of other mosquito-borne illnesses like sloth fever, setting off alarm bells in the medical community. What is going on here and how much of this is linked to conditions brought by climate change?

RIMOIN: Well, Rosemary, that's a very important question you're asking. Why do we see all of these mosquito-borne viruses rising in incidence here in the United States, but everywhere in the world, and there are many reasons that are pushing us in this direction. Number one, of course, as you say, climate change, as we see hotter conditions, wetter conditions, warm weather for longer periods of time, that's ample opportunity for mosquito breeding and other insects as well because you have standing water, warmer conditions. We also have all of these other things happening too, urbanization, so people in closer conditions, maybe people living further and further also into areas that might be swampy, lot of water on the ground.

There are so many reasons, including also, we have mosquitoes becoming resistant to the kinds of insecticides that are currently being used. So, all of these things together are what are driving more and more mosquito-borne illnesses.

CHURCH: So, if we are going to see more high temperatures in the future, combining with these other conditions that allow for the increased breeding of mosquitoes, what do we need to be doing right now to prevent the spread of lethal mosquito-borne viruses, without confining people to their homes like we've been in seeing in the U.S. northeast?

RIMOIN: Well, there are a lot of things that can be done. So, it's important to remember that people can protect themselves if they're going to be outside and being -- people are -- from dusk till dawn is generally the time that -- when these mosquitoes are out, most dangerous. So, what you want to be able to do is protect yourself. You can use insecticide. There are many, many insecticides. Usually, they have about 40 percent DEET in them that are very effective. You can cover up if you're going to be outside, wear long sleeves, long pants. That can be very, very helpful as well.

If you can stay in screened-in areas, if you have that ability, that can be very helpful and also making sure that the area around your house, you don't have standing water. If you can -- maybe you have pots or places where water is pooling, try to get rid of that water. That can be very, very helpful. In fact, there have been so many studies overseas for years and years about being able to reduce cases of so many mosquito-borne diseases that by getting rid of some of the standing water in areas close to houses really makes a huge difference.

CHURCH: Professor Anne Rimoin, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate it.

RIMOIN: My pleasure.

CHURCH: Third fight in Spain, coming up, details on this year's Tomatina Festival and how the tradition started. Back with that in a just a moment.

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[02:41:05]

CHURCH: A town in eastern Spain was awash in red on Wednesday as people flung overripe tomatoes at each other during the traditional Tomatina Festival. Seven trucks distributed 150 tons of overripe tomatoes to the more than 22,000 participants. According to the events website, the festival originated from a brawl back in 1945 when people started throwing tomatoes at each other until police restored order.

Well, museum officials were left shattered, pardon the pun, after a four-year-old boy accidentally smashed an ancient artifact in a museum in Israel. This is the bronze-age jar before it was knocked over. It's estimated to be at least 3,500-years-old and was on display without a glass case and this is what it looks like now. A museum official says they plan to fix the jar and put it back, and they've printed new signs indicating which items cannot be touched. They are also inviting the boy back to tour the exhibits.

I'm Rosemary Church. "World Sport" is up next. Then I'll be back in about 15 minutes with more "CNN Newsroom." Do stick around.

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[02:45:00]

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