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Race for the White House Winding Through Georgia Today; NVIDIA Earning up 122 Percent in Q2 Comparted to Last Year; Namibia to Kill 700 Plus Animals, Give Meat to People Affected by Drought; Aryna Sabalenka Meets Her Mini-Me; Israel Launches Large-Scale Raids Across West Bank. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired August 29, 2024 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Namibia sees this as a necessary evil.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's now planning to kill over 700 wild animals. Elephants, zebras, and hippos just to feed people who are hungry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's doing better with younger voters. She has consolidated Black voters. She's done better with Latino voters.

SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), U.S. REPUBLICAN VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Kamala Harris is disgraceful. She can, she can go to hell.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was really adorable moment to dress up the same as me and having like little tattoo and little tiger. How cute is that?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Christina Macfarlane.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, warm welcome to our viewers joining us from the U.S. and all around the world. I'm Max Foster.

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Christina Macfarlane. It's Thursday, August 29th, 9 a.m. here in London, 4 a.m. in the U.S. state of Georgia, where key presidential campaign events are happening later today, including day two of the Harris campaign's bus tour, a significant fundraiser also for Donald Trump.

FOSTER: New polling suggests the U.S. vice president may be gaining an edge on Trump in Georgia, but the survey from Fox News finds there's no clear leader when the 3 percent margin of error is taken into account.

MACFARLANE: The Democratic nominee is also up ever so slightly in several of the so-called Sunbelt states, although the poll puts Trump at a point ahead in North Carolina.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ASTEAD HERNDON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: What Harris has done is really consolidate the portions of the Democratic base that Biden was not doing well with. The reason she was doing better in these Sunbelt states, as the Fox News poll shows, is that she's doing better with younger voters. She has consolidated Black voters.

She's done better with Latino voters, homes of the Democratic Party that frankly, Joe Biden was just leaving on the floor. Because, you know, folks have problems with his candidacy. Now that she has brought those back into the fold, there is a much wider map for her when we look at the Electoral College. And that actually puts pressure on folks like Trump to defend places like Georgia.

And let's remember, this is an opportunity partially because Donald Trump has created rifts within his own party there.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Well, the Fox survey reflects how voters in four swing states feel about the vice presidential nominees. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz seen as slightly more favorable than the Republican nominee, Senator J.D. Vance.

MACFARLANE: Well, CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is traveling with the Democratic ticket in Georgia and brings us this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN 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. 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 hair where the Harris campaign thinks that they can make inroads.

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

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Earlier, Democratic strategist weighed in on why the Harris campaign is targeting southern Georgia.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

THARON JOHNSON, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: So the fact that you see Kamala Harris, the vice president, 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 rule votes are there. They believe that these rule voters in southeast Georgia want to hear from her. They want to hear her economic message.

They want to hear a message around affordability. This is a 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'll talk about minority participation as far as entrepreneurship, and they'll have a higher learning education message because we have a great sort of group of schools that are HBCU, but also four year college state schools in the area as well.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[04:05:05]

FOSTER: Well, later today, Georgia's Republican Governor Brian Kemp will attend the fundraiser for the Trump campaign. Despite years of bad blood, Trump repeatedly bashed Kemp after losing Georgia in 2020.

MACFARLANE: Kemp had refused to embrace lies about the election being stolen, but Trump extended an olive branch this week, thanking the governor for his support. Trump's running mate, J.D. Vance, has denied speculation that he was the peace broker, saying he's just one of many Republicans who called Kemp to stress the importance of party unity.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), U.S. REPUBLICAN VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The president has some personal disagreements with Brian Kemp, and Brian Kemp has some personal disagreements with the president, but they're both big enough to put the country over personal interest.

And it's important that Donald Trump, despite the fact that he has disagreements with a number of people who have endorsed him, he's willing to say we are the big tent party, we stand for common sense and sanity, and we've got to kick that insane politician named Kamala Harris out of the White House.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, do be sure to watch CNN tonight, because Kamala Harris and Tim Walz will be speaking with our very own Dana Bash. That's 9 p.m. Eastern in New York, or 2 a.m. Friday, right here in London. MACFARLANE: Trading on Wall Street ended on a bit of a sour note yesterday, following a new quarterly report from the AI chipmaker giant NVIDIA.

FOSTER: Well, the company beat expectations anyway, you look at it, but its shares were still down, because some investors expected even better results. The Dow lost 159 points, or four tenths of a percent, the S&P 500 was down 0.6 percent, the Nasdaq was more than 1 percent in the red.

MACFARLANE: Let's take a closer look at NVIDIA, its second quarter earnings were up by 122 percent. Compared to the last fiscal year, it is famous for creating the GPU, and redefining what computer graphics are capable of.

FOSTER: You know, their work creating AI processors has propelled the company to new heights. Now, one of only three U.S. companies valued more than $3 trillion.

Kristie's been looking at this. I mean, the markets can be quite unfair sometimes, can't they, when you actually look at the results, but what are they concerned about?

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, because they were expecting so much out of NVIDIA. NVIDIA has been called the AI golden goose in the tech world. But after its latest earnings report that came out, it's not quite living up to the stock hype.

Look, it has the fundamentals, it beat estimates. It's also forecasting third quarter revenue of $32.5 billion, which is only slightly better than estimates. And that is why the markets are not impressed.

Now, after the report, NVIDIA shares traded lower, with shares dipping down some 6.9 percent after hours. Look, NVIDIA is huge. It is the benchmark for chips and for AI as a whole.

And you have all the tech giants from Microsoft and Meta to Google, as all of them are building up their AI infrastructure. They have been spending big on NVIDIA's unparalleled processors that power AI, and that includes generative AI, which is the tech behind ChatGPT.

Now, NVIDIA is making a mint here, but it's also facing a number of challenges. Let's just run through a couple of them.

There have been concerns over production delays for its next generation chips. Also some talk about the potential for rising production costs, antitrust concerns, as well as rising competition, including from the Chinese tech giant Huawei.

But analysts point out, look, it's still early days yet. We're still at the very beginnings of the AI revolution, and there's more upside to come. And so when NVIDIA reports earnings, it's a big deal. It's been called like the Super Bowl for the financial markets. And it's because investors, they've grown so accustomed to NVIDIA smashing forecasts that when NVIDIA only beats them, they shrug, they're not impressed. That's what's happening here.

Back to you guys.

FOSTER: Fascinating, isn't it? Kristie, thank you so much.

On to another big company, not quite as big, but LEGO says it's cutting crude out of its products. The toy maker says it'll phase out the fossil fuels used to make its signature bricks and replace them with renewable plastic by 2032. The company will pay up to 70 percent more for the material. LEGO CEO told CNN's Anna Stewart, it doesn't plan to charge customers more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How much more expensive do you think a brick that has zero fossil fuel in it would be compared to now? And will you really not pass any of that cost on to the consumer?

NIELS CHRISTIANSEN, LEGO GROUP CEO: I don't know exactly how it looks in 2032. But I know right now, we're paying a considerable premium to get these kind of materials in there. And it's something that I think consumers really want.

So I feel kind of obligated that we do this and being privately owned and being able to make these kind of decisions. We're pushing this forward. And by now, we don't see consumers really ready to take on the cost.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[04:10:00]

MACFARLANE: Well, the announcement comes as the toy maker announced a 26 percent jump in profits the first half of the year. Sales to consumers grew 14 percent, Outperforming the wider toy industry.

FOSTER: You're a fan? You're a LEGOist?

MACFARLANE: LEGO, I have two children under the age of three. I'm definitely a fan.

FOSTER: You're constantly walking on it, probably.

MACFARLANE: Oh, yes. I'm sorry.

FOSTER: Catching your feet.

MACFARLANE: Yes. Appreciate no hiking costs. Thank you, LEGO.

FOSTER: A court in Hong Kong has found two former news editors guilty of publishing seditious content on a shuttered pro-democracy media site. Rights groups say the ruling is a further blow to press freedom in the city as Beijing tightens its grip on dissent.

MACFARLANE: The men were the editor-in-chief and acting editor at Stand News. They are the first journalists to be targeted under a colonial-era sedition law since Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

Now, Namibia plans to kill hundreds of wild animals, including elephants and hippos, and use the meat to feed people struggling with hunger and food insecurity.

FOSTER: Half the population of Namibia, more than a million people, are suffering from a lack of food due to the worst drought in a century, maybe even worse by the climate crisis. Namibia and several other countries in southern Africa have been struggling with a devastating drought. which killed hundreds of elephants last year after their water sources dried up.

MACFARLANE: Now CNN's Larry Madowo has been closely monitoring the story and joins us from Nairobi, Kenya. Larry, honestly, this is such shocking news, really. I believe over 700 animals, wild animals, due to be culled. Why has it come to this?

LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A lot of people are alarmed by that, that you're right, because when you hear about a country having to kill animals to feed the people, many conservationists are understandably worried. But Namibia says this was a necessary evil, that these animals would be dying anyway because of the effect of the drought. Hundreds of elephants have already been killed in Namibia and across southern Africa by the drought.

And so they're saying they will be culling the animals that come from national parks and communal areas with sustainable game numbers and in areas where their population exceeds the available grazing and water resources. So this has already led to some deadly human wildlife conflict. A lot of elephants have killed people there.

So the earmarked 723 wild animals, let me just run you through the list of these species that they will be killing to feed the people. 83 elephants, that's a big headline there, but that also includes 60 buffaloes, 30 hippos, 300 zebras, 100 blue wildebeest, 50 impalas and 100 elands.

Namibia being forced to do this because it's been suffering from the El Nino weather phenomenon, which has spread all across southern Africa. And this has been exacerbated by the climate crisis.

And this is one of the ways they see to put people first over the animals to protect them, because as this drought bites in this country, the worst in 100 years, they have to keep the people safe and they see no other way. So this was, according to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Tourism in Namibia, a sustainability intervention. They had to do this.

FOSTER: It's such a tough dilemma, isn't it, for the people running that country. Just explain to people who would be concerned about the wildlife. I mean, you know, obviously the priority is the people. But in terms of the wildlife, how endangered are these animals?

MADOWO: Right, Max, I think the 83 elephants is one that a lot of people will be raising eyebrows about. But southern Africa has a population of about 200,000 elephants. So this 83 will not make a dent in that.

And Namibia has a big conservation agenda. They have very strong ways to protect their wildlife. But also, this is a part of the world where game meat has been eaten for hundreds of years.

Obviously, conservation efforts have put a stop to most of that. But there's still some activity around that. And the government says that these animals will be killed by professional hunters and distributed to people across the country.

So people are worried about the wildlife conservation in southern Africa, in Namibia specifically, concerned about this. But many in Namibia, especially in government, the cabinet approved this decision, say this was absolutely necessary. And they're not all of a sudden just hunting animals left, right and center to feed the people.

FOSTER: It's a fascinating debate, isn't it, Larry? Thank you so much.

MACFARLANE: Now, heat and humidity are taking a toll on fans and players at the U.S. Open underway currently in New York. But the steamy conditions were no match for defending champ Novak Djokovic. He advanced to the third round after fellow Serb Laslo Djere was forced to retire due to injury.

FOSTER: Yes, on the women's side, American Coco Gauff is looking to defend her title. She is through to the third round after overcoming some early mistakes to beat 99th ranked Tatjana Maria of Germany. That was on Wednesday.

[04:15:00]

MACFARLANE: Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus is advancing to the third round of the U.S. Open with a win over Italian Lucia Bronzetti. But on the highlight of her day, though, might have been the encounter with a fan off the court.

I don't know if anyone saw this. A young girl in the stands was decked out in exactly the same pink Nike dress holding a small tiger stuffed animal. And actually, she even had the same lion, I think it's a lion tattoo that Sabalenka has on her arm. She had a complete copy on her arm as well.

FOSTER: She deserves to be called out. The world's number two went over to greet the girl, of course, pose for a picture. You saw that. Talked to reporters as well about the encounter after the match.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARYNA SABALENKA, WORLD NO. 2: That was really adorable moment. I just looked up and I saw on the big screen like mini me and I was, I was, it was so cute. It's such a motivation to keep going to how to inspire the young generation.

I mean, that's the main goal. And yes, that was very adorable moment. The first time I see someone like, like dressing, dress up the same as me and having like little tattoo and little tiger. How cute is that? (END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Inspiring the next generation, isn't it? Great to meet your heroes.

FOSTER: French prosecutors say the founder and CEO of Telegram should do more to stop criminal activity on the app. Why Moscow doesn't agree just ahead.

MACFARLANE: Plus, the death toll is rising after a series of raids in the West Bank. Who the Israeli forces say they were targeting. That's next.

FOSTER: And what about honoring fallen U.S. troops or scoring political points? Details on the scuffle involving the Trump campaign at Arlington National Cemetery.

[04:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: The U.N.'s World Food Program 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 whilst approaching an Israeli checkpoint on Tuesday night. No one was injured.

MACFARLANE: The U.N. says the vehicle was clearly marked and it had the go-ahead from Israel to pass through that area. The WFP says it 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.

Palestinian officials are reporting at least 11 people have been killed in the latest Israeli raid on the West Bank. It included attacks from drones and helicopters and bulldozers digging up the streets.

FOSTER: Israel says it's going after terrorist infrastructure and a systematic strategy by Iran of struggling weapons -- smuggling weapons and explosives into the West Bank. Now Palestinian officials condemn the operation, accusing Israel of blocking access to hospitals and obstructing ambulances.

Let's go live to Tel Aviv and CNN's Nic Robertson who has the latest, Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, the situation does still seem to be ongoing with this operation. There are reports that IDF troops may be pulling out of some areas that they were operating in yesterday, but this is such a big operation it's hard to draw conclusions about precisely what's happening. The Palestinian Red Crescent this morning saying that they are cut off from their headquarters, their control room in Jenin, right in the north of the West Bank.

They say that there's no cellular communication, the landlines are down, the internet is down. So they are sort of blind to what's going on. The main Palestinian Red Crescent control room blind to what's actually happening in Jenin at the moment.

And this whole operation began in the early hours yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Before dawn, the biggest Israeli raid into the occupied West Bank since the war in Gaza began October 7th. Airstrikes near a cluster of northern towns, Kafr Dan, Jenin and Tobas, 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 claim were terrorists and seriously wounding another. Near Tobas, the IDF says another airstrike killed four terrorists. This resident caught in a blast.

MASOUD NAAJA, TOW 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- Fari'ah refugee camp. The staff were forced to come out of the car and the director of our center in Tobas was beaten.

ROBERTSON: 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.

[04:25:00]

Hamas, however, reacting to the raids, calling Palestinians to restart a suicide bombing campaign abandoned almost two decades ago.

Inside a mosque, the IDF claiming to have located a terrorist base, showing pictures of fallen fighters on the wall and they say, bomb- making equipment. Unclear how long this operation will last, but Palestinian officials saying the death toll still growing, already making it one of the most deadly Israeli operations in the West Bank since the Gaza war began October 7th.

(END VIDEOTAPE) ROBERTSON (on camera): Now, the U.N. Secretary General is calling for an end of the Israeli military operation, saying it's undermining the authority -- the Palestinian authority in the West Bank and also it is inflaming and fueling an already very tense situation there.

We've heard also from the spokesperson for the United Nations human rights representative saying that Israel must abide by international law.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAVINA SHAMDASANI, UN HUMAN RIGHTS SPOKESPERSON: Israel, as the occupying power, must abide by its obligations under international law. The Israeli security forces use of airstrikes and other military weapons and tactics violates human rights norms and standards.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: And the death toll, as you were mentioning earlier, has gone up overnight. More people, it appears, have been killed. The IDF continuing with this operation that they say is going after terror targets. But as we've seen, it does appear civilians also being caught up.

MACFARLANE: Yes, as they always are. Nic Robertson reporting for us live there in Tel Aviv. Thanks, Nic.

FOSTER: Hundreds of flights have been cancelled in Japan as a typhoon slams ashore. After the break, the latest on typhoon Shanshan's path of destruction.

MACFARLANE: Plus, is the stress of being a parent a public health crisis? What the top U.S. health official is saying about parental stress.

FOSTER: When I'm stressed, it is.