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Protests and Strike in Israel to Demand Hostage Deal; Thousands of U.S. Hotel Workers Go on Strike; Storms, Cooler Temperatures Expected in Parts of U.S.; Pontiff to Visit Asia in Longest Trip of His Papacy. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired September 02, 2024 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. Here are some of today's top stories.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will be on the campaign trail in Michigan today before being joined by President Joe Biden for a stop in Pennsylvania.

The Trump campaign in Michigan is set to hold a video call with union workers in the coming hours before former President Trump himself campaigns in Wisconsin on Saturday.

These are all swing states that are likely to decide the election.

The helicopter that killed Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in May was caused by what's being described as challenging climatic and atmospheric conditions. That's according to the Associated Press, citing Iranian state media. In an official report that found sudden dense fog appeared, causing the helicopter to collide with a mountain in northwestern Iran.

Now protests as part of a general strike are going on right now in Israel. It's an effort to put more pressure on the government to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.

White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan says the next few days will be critical in the push to free the remaining hostages in Gaza. In the coming hours, U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are set to meet with the U.S. negotiating team as efforts to reach a ceasefire deal take on a new sense of urgency.

The families of hostages say those still being held need to be the priority now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOSHE LAVI, BROTHER-IN-LAW KIDNAPPED BY HAMAS: I don't know if the deal would have succeeded. Hamas is not a good faith partner to any negotiated treaty. It's a terrorist organization that needs to be destroyed both materially and ideologically, just like the Nazis were destroyed and just like other vicious ideologies were destroyed in the past.

But we need to prioritize the hostages now. And we already achieved so many military achievements in dismantling the Hamas military capabilities. So what we want to see is that we prioritize them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Meantime, in Gaza, the United Nations says it's critical that there will be no fighting whilst it vaccinates more than 600,000 children for polio. The U.N.'s main humanitarian agency in the enclave says its first official day, the vaccination campaign reached about 87,000 children.

Joining me here with more CNN is Nada Bashir. Nada, we'll talk about the vaccination program in just a second. But first, I want to get to the ceasefire deal. We heard the Biden and Harris meeting with the negotiating team today.

How much more complicated has this now become in the wake of those six bodies being recovered this weekend?

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, we've seen these huge, enormous protests taking place on the streets of Tel Aviv and across Israel for months now. But you can feel that the frustration, the anger towards the Israeli government from Israeli citizens is really mounting now, particularly as we've learned from U.S. officials that among those six hostages who were found killed over the weekend, at least three were believed to be names listed in this initial ceasefire proposal to be released as part of an exchange.

This is really emphasized for many in Israel. The importance of securing a ceasefire deal. And we've been hearing repeatedly now from the family members and representatives of these hostages saying that they want to see a deal, that this negotiated solution is the only solution to safely ensure the return of all hostages remaining captive in Gaza with Hamas.

But, of course, there has been mounting pressure from mediators, including the U.S., as you mentioned, Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, meeting with U.S. mediators and negotiators to get an update on the situation there. They have repeatedly now pushed for a deal to be struck as soon as possible.

But what we do know is that the Israeli government has pushed back on a number of conditions on the deal currently on the table, particularly when it comes to the terms surrounding the presence of Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip in any sort of ceasefire agreement.

Now, we've heard that there has been fierce disagreement between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, on this particular condition, which would see Israeli troops stationed on the Philadelphi Corridor, which is that buffer zone between Egypt and southern Gaza.

Now, we know that Hamas has outright rejected this. They said that they want to see a full withdrawal of Israeli troops. We've heard from the defense minister.

CNN understands that he has described prioritizing the presence of Israeli troops on this corridor as a moral disgrace, given the fact that this is a condition known to be already rejected by Hamas.

Despite this, we know that the Israeli security cabinet on Thursday voted in favor of maintaining that condition in the ceasefire negotiations.

[04:35:00]

But again, this remains a key sticking point in those negotiations. We haven't seen any breakthroughs, any movement on this particular condition, and it will be up to mediators now to try and narrow that gap between Israel and Hamas.

MACFARLANE: Yes, and interesting to see how these nationwide protests will play into that pressure. Benjamin Netanyahu on the negotiations.

And meanwhile, this extremely complex polio vaccination program has been underway, which is, of course, reliant on pauses in fighting. So far, it seems to be holding.

BASHIR: So far, and in fact, we've heard from the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees describing that first day of the vaccine rollout, which was yesterday, as a success, as you mentioned, around 87,000 children under the age of 10 have so far been vaccinated in just that first day, according to the World Health Organization. So that is a significant feat, a significant success.

But of course, a small fraction of the total number of children they are hoping to vaccinate over the course of 12 days, they are aiming to vaccinate 640,000 children. So that's more than 90 percent of children under the age of 10 in Gaza.

We've been hearing from aid workers on the ground describing the successful rollout yesterday. But again, there are still significant challenges ahead. Yesterday's rollout focused on central Gaza in the Deir al-Balah region.

There are three phases. So the first phase is central Gaza. Second phase would be moving to southern Gaza. And that third and final phase would be focused on northern Gaza. And there would be three day periods in which this vaccine rollout can take place. And they are, of course, calling for these pauses to take place in these particular areas, pauses in fighting from both sides.

And, of course, we've been hearing from medical workers describing these pauses as critical because, of course, we need to be able to see an insurance of, of course, the safety and security of these medical workers on the ground and, of course, the families who are taking their children to be vaccinated. We saw yesterday queues and queues of families lining up to have their children vaccinated.

And, of course, what's important to note is while yesterday the vaccination process was taking place in an area designated as a humanitarian zone, not all of these areas will be safe zones necessarily. So it's essential that these pauses in fighting are, in fact, respected and maintained by both sides to ensure that they can safely carry out these vaccines.

MACFARLANE: And this, of course, is just the first phase of vaccination. So it will have to be done all again in, I believe, four months' time for the second phase.

BASHIR: Exactly. Yes. So it's a long process, but it's definitely an urgent process that needs to take place.

MACFARLANE: All right. Nada Bashir, thank you.

Now, Russia has launched massive new air attacks across Ukraine. A day Ukrainian children returned to school. The strikes targeted Kyiv, Kharkiv and Sumy regions, according to Ukraine's air force, and included dozens of missiles and drones.

At least two people were injured in Kyiv and one more in Kharkiv. This comes the day after 47 people, including seven children, were wounded by Russian missiles in Kharkiv. Ukraine's president says it's Moscow's latest effort to target civilian infrastructure and terrorize residents.

On Sunday, Russia's defense ministry said they destroyed more than 158 Ukrainian drones, including over Moscow. One of the downed drones started a fire at an oil refinery, according to Moscow's mayor.

Now, tensions are high between China and the Philippines after a series of incidents in the South China Sea. The most recent one took place on Saturday when the Coast Guard vessels from both countries collided. Both China and the Philippines are blaming each other, saying the collision was deliberate.

The U.S. and European Union have condemned China's actions. But Beijing is pushing back against the EU, saying the bloc has, quote, no right to point fingers on the issue. China claims it has sovereignty over nearly all of the South China Sea, despite an international ruling that there's no legal basis for it. Six other countries also claim at least some part of the region.

Thousands of hotel workers went on strike on Labor Day in the U.S., saying hotels are making record profits but aren't sharing the wealth. CNN's Gloria Pazmino has this story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Unite Here is the union that's representing these workers, which voted to authorize the strike. It's currently happening across eight different cities and 24 hotels. There is at least 10,000 workers who have joined the picket line asking for better wages and better working conditions.

Take a look at how many cities are being affected all across the country. Boston, Greenwich, San Francisco, Seattle, Honolulu, all over the country. And during the Labor Day weekend, a time when we are expected to see more travelers and hotels are expecting to get more business.

Now, each city strike will take between two and three days or at least until they can get a deal with their employers. The strike is currently affecting three hotel chains, including Marriott, Hyatt and Hilton.

[04:40:00]

And as I said, they are asking for better working conditions and specifically a restoration of some of the cuts that were made as a result of the pandemic. They say that the tourism industry has bounced back since the pandemic and their wages are not reflecting that.

I spoke to a woman who works at two different hotels in San Francisco. She told me that she has to work two jobs in order to make ends meet in a place like San Francisco. She says it's not just her who works two jobs, but also many of her colleagues. Take a listen.

APPLE RATANABUNSRITHANG, STRIKING HOTEL WORKER: The health is, of course, you know, it's going down. Sleep two hours here, two hours there, you know, two hours when you get home, you know, and two hour before you start, you know, another job. You know, so my health kind of gone down.

So you don't really have time to maintain, you know, your, you know, living standard.

PAZMINO: She also told me one of the key issues that they are concerned about is the issue of health care. Many of the hotel workers that are on strike have worked at the hotel for 10, 20, 30 years. And she points out that it's a physical work and just how important their health care benefits are to her.

Now, we did hear back from one of the hotel chains. We heard back from Hyatt, who told us that while they were disappointed that the workers had voted to go on strike, they look forward to continuing to negotiate fair contracts and recognize the contributions of Hyatt employees.

In the meantime, hotels are expected to remain open, although they will be having to decrease and cut back on some of their services. And they will be operating with smaller staffs.

In New York. Gloria Pazmino, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: Well, the U.S. south could see some storms while the northeast could get cooler temperatures. CNN meteorologist Elisa Raffa has the detailed forecast for Labor Day weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELISA RAFFA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Our front from the weekend continues to sag south and it could give you some minor hiccups and headaches for some airports. If you're traveling on this Labor Day, you could see from Dallas to New Orleans some stormy skies, maybe some lightning and heavy rain could cause some problems. Some places like Atlanta and Miami as well, even going into late Monday into Tuesday if you're traveling home.

The problem is, is we have a front that stalled there. It's been tapping into some tropical moisture as well. So some of that rain has been on the heavy side.

But for the rest of us, we've got this area of high pressure in control. It's bringing sunshine, quiet skies and so much cooler temperatures. We've got temperatures in the 70s with sunshine for places like New York City and Boston, Minneapolis and Chicago as well. All of this much welcomed after some excessive heat that we had in these locations last week.

You could see we keep things a little bit on the muggy side from Atlanta and Miami again with that stalled front and those storm chances.

The cooler temperatures hang around the northeast as we go into the work week. Temperatures are still in the 70s through Tuesday and Wednesday from Boston to New York. D.C., you're looking at temperatures in the upper 70s, well below your average of 85 degrees, and much cooler than your temperatures that were over 100 last week. Even some highs in the upper 60s in Cleveland on Monday.

So there's that cooler air on Labor Day, again, from the northeast stretching towards Texas. But then as that front continues to try to shimmy south by Tuesday and Wednesday, more of us are getting in on some of that cooler, more fall-like feeling air. Temperatures 5 to 10 degrees below average across the Carolinas down to Atlanta, even Dallas.

Temperatures will be in the middle 80s in New Orleans by Wednesday, some lower 80s in Atlanta by Wednesday as well. So, again, feeling much cooler than average for this time of year.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: Now the Pope is embarking on the longest trip of his papacy, the 87-year-old's itinerary and what he hopes to achieve in Asia when we return.

[04:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACFARLANE: Welcome back. Pope Francis departs for Asia in the coming hours. He's scheduled to arrive in Jakarta on Tuesday, and will spend 12 days traveling across Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Singapore, making this the longest trip yet for the 87-year-old pontiff.

For more on the trip, Christopher Lamb joins us live. So, Christopher, tell us more about what you're learning about the itinerary for this trip, and also why he's focusing on Asia. CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christina, this isn't just the longest trip of Francis's pontificate. It's the longest trip that any pope has embarked upon. Francis will be traveling 33,000 kilometers across four countries in 12 days.

Now, a key theme of this visit is interfaith dialogue, building bridges with the Islamic world. When the pope is in Indonesia, he, of course, is in the world's most populous Muslim country. And while there, he'll have an important interfaith dialogue meeting at the Istiqlal Mosque, the largest mosque in Southeast Asia, which is actually connected to the Catholic Cathedral next door, a symbol of the interfaith harmony that Pope Francis has consistently sought to emphasize throughout his pontificate.

While in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, he will also be emphasizing the importance of protecting the environment, of course, being in countries that are on the front line of rising sea levels and climate change.

And also he'll be able to support Catholic communities in these countries, which is important for Francis because he always likes to go out to the peripheries to leave Rome, to leave the Vatican and visit those parts of the church and far flung corners of the world.

Now, some are asking how Pope Francis will manage this trip, given he's 87 years old. He uses a wheelchair. He's had some health problems in the past. But Francis has signaled his determination to carry out this trip.

One of his advisers said that the pope didn't take up the pontificate to rest. So he is determined to keep going and I think send a message to those who might be doubting him that he still has gas left in the tank -- Christina

MACFARLANE: We very much hope he can see it through and not have to cancel like he did just ahead of his last foreign trip. Christopher, I'm sure we'll be checking back in with you to check his progress. But for now, thanks very much.

Now, top golfer Scotty Scheffler caps an eventful season with a FedEx Cup prize win. Details on that just ahead.

[04:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACFARLANE: Welcome back. On Sunday, Scotty Scheffler won the 2024 PGA Tour Championship in Atlanta. Fresh off a gold medal victory at the Paris Olympics, the 28-year-old finished at 30 under par to take the $25 million FedEx Cup prize -- his first. Scheffler's seventh tour title this season, making him the first golfer to win that many tournaments in one season since Tiger Woods did it back in 2007.

Now, the reigning U.S. Open Women's Champion, Coco Gauff, won't defend her title after losing to fellow American Emma Navarro. It's Navarro's second consecutive win against Gauff and comes at the same point in the tournament, the fourth round, as the pair's previous meeting at Wimbledon. Navarro advances to the quarterfinals, where she'll face Paula Badosa of Spain.

Meanwhile, WNBA rookie Angel Reese has broken yet another record. In Minneapolis on Sunday, the Chicago Sky star netted her 405th rebound against the Minnesota Lynx. With that, she broke the league's single- season rebound record that was held by former WNBA center Sylvia Fowles. Reese became the fastest player in WNBA history to record 20 double-doubles in one season, and she holds the record for the most consecutive double-doubles in league history.

And other stories in the spotlight this hour.

Hollywood superstars George Clooney and Brad Pitt set off a fan frenzy in Venice on Sunday, pulling up in a boat along a canal ahead of the world premiere of their new film, Wolves.

[04:55:00]

The comedy thriller screened later at the Venice Film Festival. Who doesn't love that? Look at the two of them together, as cool as they may look here. Clooney was apparently hot, commenting that he was sweating as he signed autographs and posed for photos. Well, he still looks pretty cool to me.

And on Sunday, people in Bolivia filled city streets for Pedestrian Day. It's celebrated on the first Sunday of September to raise environmental awareness. Motorized vehicles are temporarily banned to allow families, runners and cyclists to have full reign over the roads for exercise and sport. Love that. Celebrations went forward despite the region's worsening air quality caused by raging wildfires.

And finally, my producer's favorite of the day. Shanghai Museum knows the perfect way for its visitors to spend the weekend. The museum is hosting Meow Nights to go with its latest exhibit of Egyptian antiques.

It's a nod to the Egyptian goddess Bastet, who often is depicted with the head of a cat. Patrons are being invited to bring their furry friends with veterinarians on standby in case of any medical emergencies. Glad to hear it.

The museum says tickets are selling out with around 200 cats visiting every Saturday night. What a perfect thing for that exhibition.

And thank you for joining us here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Christina Macfarlane. CNN "THIS MORNING" is up after this quick break. Stay with us.