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President Trump Announces U.S. Deals With Japan And Philippines; Gaza Health Officials: At Least 10 Killed In Israeli Strike; Aid Agencies Sound Alarm Over Situation In Gaza; U.N. Chief: Starvation "Knocking On Every Door" In Gaza; AFP Trying To Pull Staff From Gaza Amid "Untenable" Situation; Aid Agencies: Watching Colleagues "Waste Away" In Gaza; CDC: COVID-19 Cases On The Rise In Parts Of The U.S.; President Trump Directs U.S. to Leave UNESCO Again; CNN Investigates U.S. Claim "No One Has Died" from Aid Cuts; Remembering Ozzy Osbourne; Huge Bloom Off Australia Devastates Marine Life, Tourism; Voice of a Viral Sensation. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired July 23, 2025 - 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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[01:00:35]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Let's make a trade deal, ahead here on CNN newsroom.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He's too tough, but we'll probably agree to something. Family --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: He is the president of the Philippines, one of three Asian countries announcing details of new trade deals with the United States.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
IBRAHIM AL-NAJJAR, DISPLACED PALESTINIAN FROM JABALYA (through translator): You can't stay in there. My son is crying, telling me, I want to eat, Dad, I want to eat.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Across Gaza, death from starvation is spreading. The children, weak and innocent, are usually the first to die.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OZZY OSBOURNE, ENGLISH SINGER: Believe me, if I had I known it was a real battle, I would never have bitten into it.
(END VIDEO CLIP) VAUSE: Regrets? Sure, he had a few. A look back at the life of the godfather of heavy metal music, the man they called the Prince of Darkness, the late, great Ozzy Osbourne.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with John Vause.
VAUSE: Just days before the U.S. is set to impose punitive reciprocal tariffs on most imports, President Trump has announced new trade deals with Japan and the Philippines, as well as the framework for an agreement with Indonesia. At the same time, months of negotiations with a long list of other major trading partners appears have gone nowhere. President Trump says the deal with Japan is massive, in his words, possibly the largest trade deal in history.
Under the agreement, the U.S. will tariff goods imported from Japan at 15 percent, a charge paid for by the American importer, and will reportedly apply to Japanese cars and car parts, which were subject to an earlier announced tariff of 25 percent. The president also says a $550 billion investment by Japan into the U.S. economy will create hundreds of thousands of jobs. And there's still more, the U.S. he says, will keep 90 percent of any profits from that investment. For now, though, no actual details of how any of this will work.
Now to the trade deal numbers at number two, rather, which will see the U.S. impose a 19 percent tariff on imports from the Philippines. President Trump announced the agreement after meeting with the Philippine president in Washington Tuesday. With these new deals, the White House has announced a total of five trade agreements negotiated over the past three months, well short of the administration's promise of 90 deals in 90 days. Still, markets across Asia seem to welcome the news especially in Japan, where the Nikkei is up by just over three and a half percent. In Hong Kong, the markets are up again about almost one and a half percent.
Shanghai, three quarters of one percent. Seoul pretty much flat.
Live now to Hong Kong and CNN's Kristie Lu Stout standing by. What struck me here is that when you listen to the U.S. president, it sounds like the deal with Japan is pretty much done. End of negotiations. The Japanese side, though, is a lot more cautious, maybe even hesitant.
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And yet we're hearing some really positive signs from the markets just now as you shared with our viewers on the screen. And one analyst calling this trade deal between the U.S. and Japan a, quote, positive surprise. You know, U.S. President Donald Trump has announced this long awaited trade deal with Japan just hours after reaching an agreement with the Philippines. And according to the U.S. president, what they have agreed to is a 15 percent reciprocal tariff and also for Japan to invest $550 billion into the United States. We also learned from the state broadcaster in Japan, NHK, that both the U.S. and Japan have agreed to lower the auto tariff rate to 15 percent.
And on Truth Social that's where we saw the post from Donald Trump when he said Japan will open up its market to cars and trucks, rice and other agricultural products.
Now, after this announcement was made, we did hear from the prime minister of Japan, the beleaguered leader of Japan, some analysts are now saying that this trade deal could give him a bit of a lifeline, we shall see. But he said that he is opened up to talking to the U.S. president if need be. And he also said this. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHIGERU ISHIBA, JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER (through translator): We were able to keep Japan's tariff rate to 15 percent when it was intended to be raised to 25 percent. That is the lowest figure to date for a country that has a trade surplus with the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STOUT: Now This is a significant deal. Japan is America's fifth largest source of imports and Japan holds some leverage over here. In fact, it is America's largest foreign creditor holding some $1.1 trillion in U.S. treasuries. Now, earlier in the day, that was when we heard the announcement of the trade deal between the United States and the Philippines. The Philippines will now and that will include a 19 percent tariff rate for goods from the Philippines, zero tariffs for goods on the United States.
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And that deal makes it on par to the earlier deal that was brokered between Indonesia and the United States and it's a little bit lower than the 20 percent tariff rate that was brokered by Vietnam with the United States earlier.
Now, this deal was reached after this meeting in the Oval Office between these two leaders, a meeting that Donald Trump described as a, quote, "beautiful visit" with Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the president of the Philippines. And I want you to listen to this quote from the president of the Philippines hailing the alliance between these two countries.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FERDINAND MARCOS JR., PHILIPPINE PRESIDENT: Our strongest, closest, most reliable ally has always been the United States. That is something that we value, that we are grateful for and that we will continue to foster.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STOUT: During this Oval Office event, Trump noted how the Philippines had tilted away from China. And he also said that he plans to work militarily closely with the Philippines without providing too much detail on that. Back to you, John.
VAUSE: Kristie, thank you. Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong with some analysis there and what's happening. Appreciate it. Thank you. Amid a desperate shortage of food and a growing death toll from starvation, Gaza is now facing a ramped up Israeli military offensive. Health officials in Gaza City report at least 10 people killed in a recent Israeli airstrike. Warning some viewers will find the images we're about to show you disturbing. The Al Shiva hospital director says three children, two, six and 10 years old among the victims. Israel says -- (inaudible) strike rather, when Israel hit an Islamic Jihad militant. The Israeli military says that incident is now under review.
Meanwhile, the U.N. reports 1,000 people have been killed by the Israeli military at food distribution points since May. The E.U. top diplomat calls that indefensible. Israel admits firing warning shots towards some crowds in some cases, but denies responsibility for other incidents. The U.N. secretary-general calls the situation a horror show with famine knocking on every door in Gaza. And doctors are reporting at least 15 people died in the recent 24 hour period from malnourishment.
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GHADA AL-FAYOUMI, PALESTINIAN MOTHER OF SEVEN (through translator): Don't get any morsel of food, it is non-existent. Here from the morning they keep drinking water. We spend our days, our time just drinking water.
YASSER SAADA, PALESTINIAN (through translator): Started losing the ability to walk, losing the ability to move.
AL-NAJJAR (through translator): I swear it has been four days since I have eaten and I can't stand. Look at my hand shaking. He can't stand. And my son is crying, telling me I want to eat, dad, I want to eat.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Protesters in Tel Aviv are demanding an end to what they call the Israeli government's policy of starvation march through the city carrying bags of flour, along with pictures of malnourished children, children who are starving to death in Gaza.
Scott Paul is Director of Peace and Security for the global charity Oxfam, which continues to operate inside Gaza despite all the challenges and dangers right now.
Scott, thank you for being with us.
SCOTT PAUL, DIRECTOR, PEACE AND SECURITY, OXFAM: My pleasure, John. Thank you.
VAUSE: So right now in Gaza, those who normally provide humanitarian assistance are themselves in need of urgent help. Here's part of a statement signed by more than 100 aid groups, including Oxfam, "The U.N. led humanitarian system has not failed, it has been prevented from functioning. Humanitarian agencies have the capacity and supplies to respond at scale. But with access denied, we are blocked from reaching those in need, including our own exhausted and starved teams."
So if nothing changes, what is the timeline here? If Israel refuses to allow more trucks to cross into Gaza, allow the distribution of that aid in a way that doesn't kill people, how long before the number of people dying from starvation just surges?
PAUL: It's happening right now. Time is up. Famine is knocking on the doors, banging down the door right now. What we're seeing across the Gaza Strip is families are getting by with one nutritiously poor meal every day. Many cases, people are going without eating.
There is enough for food at the borders to feed the whole population for two months. And what has come in is being systematically restricted by the government of Israel. It can't move freely. When it can move, it's going along only unsafe routes. We can't -- we can't do our jobs and do what -- save lives the way we know how to.
I spoke with a colleague of mine just on this topic on Saturday, and she told me that she had half a pita and felt bad because she knew some people who needed it more desperately. And the notion that I know people who are going to start literally dying of generosity is beyond what I know how to deal with.
VAUSE: Yes. The Norwegian Refugee Council, one of the largest aid groups in Gaza, it says that its supplies were exhausted, some of its staff are starving. And the group has accused Israel of actually paralyzing its work, which seems to echo comments which we've heard from the head of UNRWA, the U.N. aid group which operates in Gaza, it said its staff were fainting on the job from hunger and exhaustion.
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And journalists like those with Asia Free Press, AFP, so weak, so exhausted, they're simply unable to go out and cover this story. They can't do their job. It says a lot about a crisis when it starts to impact aid workers and reporters in this way, in such a way, they just cannot perform their jobs.
PAUL: This has been the story of this humanitarian response since October 7, 2023. It's tired, it's personally affected aid workers who get up every morning trying to figure out who the most vulnerable people are in their communities and try to help them. But then every day they have to figure out, am I safe? Do I have enough food? Are my children going to be OK?
Where am I going to get health care from my most vulnerable relative? That's -- that dynamic has not changed any time in the last 21 months. What is new is that the physical capacity of aid workers to do basic functions, perform basic job functions and personal functions, has now been drawn down next to nil. So our colleagues, Oxfam colleagues working in the Gaza Strip are really trying to find the energy, and I mean energy in a -- in a very anatomical, physical sense, to keep other people alive.
VAUSE: I want you to listen to the U.N. secretary-general. He's speaking about the tragedy which is playing out right now in Gaza. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONIO GUTERRES, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: We need to look no further than the order show in Gaza. With a level of death and destruction without parallel in recent times. Malnourishment is soaring, starvation is knocking on every door. And now we are seeing the last gasp of a humanitarian system built on humanitarian principles. This system is being denied the conditions to function, denied the space to deliver, denied the safety to save lives.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And you mentioned there are warehouses filled with aid just across Gaza's border with Israel and Egypt. But there are also warehouses filled with assistance inside Gaza. There's one in particular that's filled with desperately needed fuel, but Israel again is refusing access to those warehouse by aid groups. What's the rationale that you're hearing from Israel for that to happen?
PAUL: We haven't heard a rationale. We have yet to hear a rationale. Many of our questions throughout this humanitarian response have gone unanswered. We know exactly what it will take to save lives, and we have the materials to do it. Some of it is inside the Gaza Strip, some of it is outside the Gaza Strip.
And all we need is the permission. We need the handcuffs off. We need the capacity to do the work that we have trained our entire lives to do. It is not hard.
VAUSE: Yes. It is tragic what is happening right now. Scott, thank you for being with us.
PAUL: My pleasure. Thank you for having me on.
VAUSE: The Syrian government has started an official investigation into days of sectarian violence in the country's south earlier this month. According to one Syrian human rights group, hundreds of people were killed in fighting between Druze armed groups and Bedouin tribes. CNN, though, cannot independently verify that number. A U.S. brokerage ceasefire went into effect Sunday, prompting the evacuation of hundreds of Bedouin civilians from the majority Druze city of Suwayda. Syria's Interior Ministry says the investigation is meant to try and identify and arrest those behind a string of execution cell attacks on members of the Druze community.
A U.S. citizen of Druze descent was among those killed during the sectarian violence in Syria. He's one of eight men whose death was recorded on video. CNN's Ben Wedeman has details. But first a warning, images you're about to see are disturbing.
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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Shouting Allahu Akbar, God is great, the unidentified gunmen appear triumphant, marching through the streets of the southern Syrian city of Suwayda with prisoners, men from the Druze minority all members of the same family.
We wanted to offer you safety but you refused to leave, someone shouts out of view. Relatives of the captives told CNN they had fought back against the gunman when their home was surrounded, but surrendered after one of them was wounded. The person who shot the phone video passes by a bullet pocked car. A dead man lies across the front seats. Another clip shows the captives on their knees.
Dogs, someone shouts and then a hail of machine gun fire for 15 seconds. All eight captives were killed. Among the dead, Hosam Saraya, a 35-year-old U.S. citizen who had studied in Oklahoma before returning to Syria.
The execution in Suwayda is just a small snapshot of the madness that has since the 13th of July engulfed this part of southern Syria, where various Druze militia which seek limited autonomy from Damascus have battled Bedouin tribesmen loosely aligned with the central government. The fighting has left hundreds dead, civilians as well as fighters, and has forced more than 90,000 people to flee their homes.
[01:15:15]
Tuesday, Human Rights Watch issued a report claiming all sides, Bedouin and Druze fighters as well as government forces have committed abuses. A ministry of interior spokesman tells CNN. Such acts are absolutely unacceptable to and those who committed them will face justice. U.S. Turkish and Arab diplomats pushed through a shaky ceasefire, but not before Israel entered the fray, bombing targets in Suwayda and Damascus in defense it claimed of the Druze. While the fighting raged, hundreds of Druze from the Israeli occupied Golan Heights and Israel proper crossed into Syria in support of the community in Suwayda.
Last week, interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said in a televised address, we are all partners in this land and we will not allow any group to distort this beautiful image that expresses Syria and its diversity, a diversity now more precarious than ever before.
Ben Wedeman, CNN, Rome.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: On Tuesday, U.S. State Department spokesperson offered condolences to Saraya's family and said the department is providing them with consular assistance, but declined to give further details.
We'll take a short break. When we come back, a summer surge of COVID- 19, the new variant now spreading across much of the U.S. and also in parts of the world, back in a month.
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VAUSE: A COVID summer surge appears to be underway in parts of the U.S. with 27 of 50 states reporting an increase or likely increase in the number of infections. Well, experts say tracking the virus in real time has been made harder by a lack of data. There are clear signs of increased transmission, especially of a new variant under monitoring known as NB181, also called Nimbus. For the most part, severity and symptoms have not changed. But Nimbus comes with the added bonus of that feeling of razor blade throat.
Dr. Scott Miscovich is president and CEO of the Premier Medical Group USA. He joins us live from Hawaii. It has been such a long time and it is very good to see you. Thanks for taking the time.
DR. SCOTT MISCOVICH, PRESIDENT AND CEO, PREMIER MEDICAL GROUP USA: Thank you. And good to see you again. And good to be on again with a topic that just won't go away.
VAUSE: Yes. And that's what -- this all may seem like a bit of a blast from the past, but COVID never went anywhere. You know, we've seen a surge every summer since the pandemic, but overall the virus has evolved in a way which experts like you had predicted that we would be able to live with that at some point.
MISCOVICH: I look back to the five years ago when I started to appear on CNN and I look in my early phases of presenting and I said this is going to be something we're going to live with because of the type of virus it is, because of how infectious it is. I stated when we first had the vaccines coming out, just get used to it. You're going to have to get a flu shot and a COVID shot and you know, it's held true and that's because this virus has been around for probably at least 2000 years. How does it survive? It mutates.
And that's what we're living with now with Nimbus and then the other one, Stratus, that is out there playing around, which is a challenging virus because it's a recombinant, where two of those came together, had a baby, that's how I explained it to patients. So it just finds a way to survive, John.
VAUSE: Yes. And the WHO reports that Nimbus has a number of mutations to its spike. This is the part that does the actual transmission of the disease. And this could make this particular variant more contagious. And you touched on this.
Explain how that mutation works and how this fits in with sort of the general rule in the world of virus mutations that transmission will always trump lethality.
MISCOVICH: Right. And remember, this is an MRNA virus, very quick to mutate compared to the flu virus, which is a lot more slower and others. So those spikes that we've all lived with and seen are the things that can change. And we saw, like with the most deadly virus mutation, the Delta, where there were 50 some mutations, you know, it only takes 10, 12. And you're going to find that's enough to evade certain people's immunity from either prior infection or from having a vaccination.
So that's how this virus finds its way. Just a few little changes on those spikes, which we've all seen too much, will allow it to be more contagious. Now, what's the problem? Of course, the same thing we've been saying from the beginning, the older you are, the less you maintain immunity. I tell my patients, after a vaccination, at about four months, you start to lose some of that, that's why we recommend another one at six months.
The immunosuppressed, they are very, very challenged, as well as people with other medical conditions who would be at risk for hospitalizations. So, you know, these viruses, that's how they survive, that's how they are here on the planet as long as they have been. And that's why people have to realize COVID's not going anywhere.
VAUSE: Well, now there's something called the COVID bounce. And speaking from personal experience, that involves catching COVID and then catching it again for a second time within a very short period of time, about a week or so. How common is that.
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MISCOVICH: It's -- what you have, it's not necessarily another infection. What you're getting is that same virus is in your system and a little bit of the immunity that you had from either a shot or a private, a prior infection starts to knock it down, but it only takes it so far and then all of a sudden it rebounds and it basically spikes back up because there's no more of your immune system that's attacking that. And that's one of those things we saw with Paxlovid that, you know, people were saying, oh, it doesn't work well, you can often have it after five days of the medications, all of a sudden have it spike back up. So it's a sign that your body was quite immune at that point.
VAUSE: Appreciate the personal diagnosis, Dr. Miscovich. There is also this new study which just came out, it came out Tuesday and making a couple headlines like these from Time magazine, "COVID-19 made our brains age faster." And the Time said this, "COVID was bad for our brains, even for those who didn't catch it."
You know, the study isn't actually about the virus, but rather about the social impact of the pandemic and changes in our own behavior, right? So is -- it was essentially how we reacted to isolation, how we reacted to the trauma of the pandemic, which has this effect on all of us.
MISCOVICH: Isn't that amazing? I mean, these studies are so well done. And the study compared just the aging of the brain and had the aging of the brain in adults and, you know, you had about 4.5 to five months aging over one year. In another study that was done in University of Washington showed that in teens that it was up to five years. The isolation affected their brains.
So that is non-infected. Now we have another study, well, it came out in March, and it basically shows that there is a significant increased risk of the timing of dementia onset and staying permanent in adults who had COVID. Now that's different than brain fog and long COVID. But actually then another part of that study took the MRIs of the brain and showed certain areas of the brain had actually shrunk physically or smaller. And that happened from the infection and it didn't happen in the uninfected brain. It's just remarkable what we're still learning. No virus has ever done this. We just are amazed at everything we're still learning.
VAUSE: I guess we'll be finding out things for many, many years to come. It's just this -- it's the whole impact of this pandemic and the virus.
As always, Scott, thanks for being with us. Really appreciate it.
MISCOVICH: Wonderful to be back and see you again.
VAUSE: Thanks, man.
MISCOVICH: Be well.
VAUSE: We'll take a short break. When we come back, the Trump administration says no one has died due to aid cuts. So CNN went to Taliban ruled Afghanistan to investigate. That story just ahead.
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VAUSE: Welcome back everyone. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
There's now some uncertainty surrounding a third round of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said those talks will take place in Turkey in the coming hours.
But Russian state news media are reporting the meeting is now set for Thursday and the Kremlin is being vague, only saying they hope for more negotiations sometime this week. Adding that the conflict is so complex, no one should expect any miraculous breakthroughs.
President Zelenskyy is facing pushback at home after signing a bill which reduces the autonomy of two Ukrainian anti-corruption bureaus. He's placing them under the authority of a prosecutor he appoints.
Protesters denounced the new law outside the presidential office in Kyiv. European lawmakers have also been critical.
The move comes after Ukrainian authorities say a raid of one of the bureaus accusing -- found two employees working for Russia. That's the accusation.
President Zelenskyy, who campaigned as an anti-corruption candidate, says the two agencies will continue their work but without Russian influence.
The U.S. is once again pulling out of UNESCO, a U.N. agency responsible for promoting science, education and culture. The White House confirmed the withdrawal and says it's because the agency supports woke, divisive culture and social causes, and it will be complete by the end of next year. TAMMY BRUCE, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: UNESCO's decision to
admit the quote, "State of Palestine", end quote as a member state is highly problematic, contrary to U.S. policy and contributed to the proliferation of anti-Israel rhetoric within the organization.
Continued U.S. participation in international organizations will focus on advancing American interests with clarity and conviction.
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VAUSE: This will be the third time the U.S. will withdraw from UNESCO. Previously it withdrew from the organization in 1984, rejoined in 2003 before withdrawing again during the Trump administration's first term.
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VAUSE: A U.N. spokesperson denied the accusation from the United States that UNESCO is spreading anti-Semitism.
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STEPHANE DUJARRIC, UNITED NATIONS SPOKESPERSON: I can tell you from UNESCO's standpoint, they have been at the forefront, and especially its director-general personally in the fight against anti-Semitism.
I think our comment to every member states is participate if you want to change things.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: For decades, U.S. foreign assistance to Afghanistan has literally meant the difference between life and death. But now, $1.7 billion in aid contracts, of which $500 billion had yet to be disbursed, have been canceled by the Trump administration.
Other western countries like Germany, France and the U.K. have also reduced assistance in the wake of the Taliban takeover in August 2021.
President Trump recently said no one in Afghanistan has died because of cuts in assistance.
CNN's Isobel Yeung traveled there to find out. And a warning, some of the images you're about to see are disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ISOBEL YEUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're in the Taliban's Afghanistan, a nation now dealing with huge foreign aid cuts.
The clinic we're actually heading towards was, until just a few months ago, funded by the U.S. government. Now, the Trump administration has pulled the funding, a lot of people in this area are left with not even basic healthcare facilities.
The U.N. estimates an Afghan woman dies every two hours from pregnancy or childbirth. This clinic has now closed. So, this is where women were giving birth?
SAMIRA SAYED RAHMAN, ADVOCACY DIRECTOR, SAVE THE CHILDREN AFGHANISTAN: Yes. You know, this is the only clinic in this area, and now it's gone.
YEUNG: Afghanistan has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, right? What happens to these women now that the delivery room is gone?
RAHMAN: It means that these communities don't have access. It means that women are going to be giving birth at home, meaning more and more children are going to die during childbirth.
YEUNG: We were just talking to the community leaders who were telling us that seven people have died since this clinic closed. And just a couple days ago, a woman died in childbirth because there was nowhere for her to give birth.
When we followed up, the woman's neighbors and family told us that if the clinic had still been open and she'd had the support of a midwife she would've survived.
Across Afghanistan, over 400 clinics are closed because of U.S. aid cuts. Millions of people were reliant on these clinics for healthcare. Now, their only option is to travel hours, sometimes days to public hospitals like this where there's an influx of new patients.
The U.S. was funding doctors, nurses, and essential drugs here, but now that's also gone.
Salaam. How are you?
DR. ANIDULLAH SAMIM, NANGARHAR REGIONAL HOSPITAL: This has the capacity for just one baby. And we have under ours three babies here.
YEUNG: Yes, it's crowded.
DR. SAMIM: Yes. Yes. Crowded. Yes.
YEUNG: Is this normal?
DR. SAMIM: Normal? Not normal. When they cut the aid here, our mortality rate, about 3 or 4 percent.
YEUNG: So, 3 to 4 percent more --
DR. SAMIM: Rise --
YEUNG: -- babies are dying since the U.S. --
DR. SAMIM: Yes, yes.
YEUNG: Wow.
Malnutrition has soared here. 9.5 million people are severely food insecure. Several NGOs previously funded by the U.S. are now turning away many people in desperate need of food.
Mohamed Omar (ph) has severe malnutrition and meningitis. The family are poor, and were only recently able to bring him the long distance to this hospital.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When did he become like this?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Early in the morning.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You said it was diarrhea at first and then it got worse.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, it started with diarrhea.
YEUNG: Since when has he not been able to eat?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It has been a long time since he could eat on his own.
YEUNG: Hi. I'm so sorry for what you're going through. Can I ask what your name is?
NAZOGUL: My name is Nazogul. He's my grandson.
YEUNG: How old is he?
NAZOGUL: He just turned one.
YEUNG: What is his situation? What has the doctor said?
NAZOGUL: Doctors say that a microbe has infected his brain. He's unconscious now. You can see that the child's condition is very bad.
YEUNG: In the middle of speaking, we looked over and realized the child had stopped breathing.
Is he breathing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sorry.
YEUNG: Is he breathing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You need to go.
YEUNG: We needs to go. All right. Move, move, move.
He died?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
YEUNG: Oh, my God.
[01:39:48]
YEUNG: Mohamed's (ph) mother returns to the room and the most devastating news. This is just one family of so many thousands of families that are having to live through this, and it's utterly heart-wrenchingly devastating.
It's impossible to definitively blame one single factor for Mohamed's (ph) death. He was suffering from a range of serious illnesses. But aid cuts have dealt a devastating blow here.
Canceling aid to Afghanistan has long been a goal for Congressman Tim Burchett.
REP. TIM BURCHETT (R-TN): 5 billion in cash.
YEUNG: Claiming $5 billion U.S. taxpayer dollars have gone directly to the ruling Taliban, a designated terrorist group. But the U.S. government's own watchdog says it's more like $11 million, the vast majority of money goes to those it's intended for.
Are you intentionally misleading the American public when it comes to inflating these figures so that you can get what you want?
BURCHETT: No, ma'am. I'm not. As a matter of fact, $11 million is still a whole lot of money to the average American. If it's one penny going to the Taliban, they'll hate us for free.
YEUNG: What would you say to -- I mean, there are millions of Afghans who are going to be affected by this.
BURCHETT: I would say, you're going to have to make it on your own.
YEUNG: Hundreds of clinics across the country have now closed down. I literally watched a baby die from malnutrition. What would you say to these families who are living through desperate circumstances devastated by the results of your actions?
BURCHETT: I think it's horrific, but it's not due to my actions, ma'am. We don't have any more money. We're borrowing that money. And again --
YEUNG: But it is due to your actions. I mean, you have been advocating for this for the last couple of years.
BURCHETT: These are people -- no, ma'am. No ma'am. It's not our response. We have Americans in the same position. We have Americans that are having trouble with childbirth. We have Americans going hungry. And you want us to borrow money and send it overseas?
YEUNG: With the U.S. turning away, the fate of Afghans is now left in the hands of their own government, the Taliban, who say they're capable of running the country without foreign aid. They denied our requests for an interview.
But it's the country's most vulnerable, women and children who stand to lose the most, now facing an isolated future without the support of those who once came to their aid.
Isobel Yeung, CNN -- Afghanistan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: The U.S. State Department did not respond to CNN's request for comment.
We will take a short break.
Still to come, the death of Ozzy Osbourne just weeks after his final performance and an emotional farewell to fans. A look back at the godfather of heavy metal music.
[01:42:50]
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VAUSE: He was the godfather of heavy metal music, the self-described Prince of Darkness of Rock. Ozzy Osbourne found fame as the frontman of Black Sabbath. Reality TV brought more success, this time alongside his family later in life. On Tuesday, aged 76, he died just weeks after his final live performance.
Former bandmate Tony Iommi called Osbourne's death heartbreaking, writing "There will never be another like him." Queen guitarist Brian May writes the world will miss Ozzy's unique presence and fearless talent.
CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister has our report.
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ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Tributes are pouring out across Hollywood from the likes of Elton John and Duran Duran, with the news that rocker Ozzy Osbourne has died at the age of 76.
In a statement, his family had this to say. Quote, "It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning. He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family's privacy at this time." That was the statement that his family issued on Tuesday.
Now, no cause of death was given, but Ozzy Osbourne has suffered a myriad of health issues over recent years, including multiple spinal surgeries and also revealing his Parkinsons disease and diagnosis in 2020.
Now, Osbourne had recently revealed that he was no longer able to walk, but in the final weeks leading up to his death, he was able to perform one last time with Black Sabbath, the band that shot him to superstardom.
Now, since he isn't able to walk, he was on stage seated in a throne of sorts with thousands of adoring fans cheering him on for what would end up being his final performance. Now, Ozzy Osbourne did shoot to music fame with Black Sabbath, where
he was the front man at just 19 years old, and he went on to have great success as a solo artist.
But it was actually later in life that he achieved pop culture superstardom with a family reality show called "The Osbournes" on MTV.
[01:49:46]
WAGMEISTER: This was before the Kardashians, before Donald Trump was on "The Apprentice". Ozzy Osbourne and his family were really pioneers in the reality TV world. And back in 2003, Osbourne sat down with his wife Sharon, with Larry King to talk about the success of that show.
OZZY OSBOURNE, ROCK STAR: And so I was in Boston and this woman, very conservative woman, stops me and she goes, what are you doing in Boston? I'm doing a show. She goes, what kind of a show? And I go, rock and roll show.
She goes, Oh, you do that as well? I go, mama, I won't even do anything for 36 years. She goes, you have.
Because people, people know me just primarily from the show, you know.
WAGMEISTER: Over the years, Osbourne was very candid about his alcohol and substance abuse issues, saying once that he should have died a thousand times but never did.
Earlier this year, on his radio station, he had this to say, quote, "I have made it to 2025. I may be moaning that I can't walk, but I look down the road and there's people that didn't do half as much as me and didn't make it."
And back in 2023, just a few years ago, in an interview with Rolling Stone U.K., he said that his wish would be to perform one last time. Quote, "If I can't continue doing shows on a regular basis, I just want to be well enough to do one show where I can say, hi guys, thanks so much for my life. That's what I'm working towards. And if I drop down dead at the end of it, I'll die a happy man."
Well, Ozzy Osbourne did get that last wish. Being able to perform one last time. He leaves behind his wife, Sharon, six children and many grandchildren.
Rest in peace, Ozzy Osbourne.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Still ahead here on CNN, how a series of travel commercials in the U.K. became a TikTok sensation. We'll hear from the voice in those ads in a moment.
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VAUSE: Off the coast of South Australia, marine life and tourism is being devastated by a massive algae bloom. The bloom was first seen back in March, spanning about 4,500 square kilometers. That's more than four times the size of Hong Kong, all made worse by rising ocean temperatures.
The bloom sucks oxygen out of the water as it decomposes. Officials say it's killed more than 400 types of marine species. And the Australian government is pledging $80 million to fight this outbreak, which one official has described as a natural disaster.
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PETER MALINAUSKAS, PREMIER OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA: With a bushfire you can put the fire out. If there's a flood, you can, you know, do the modeling to have a sense of where the water is going to go.
Whereas this is so entirely unprecedented. We don't really know how it's going to play out over coming weeks and months ahead.
I think it's reasonable to assume that it won't be the first incident of its type in this country. And the type of investment that was announced yesterday will go a long way in better understanding how we can prepare and plan for these types of events into the future.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The algal bloom is being blamed for the deaths of nearly 14,000 animals, among them are sharks.
Well, Britain's Prince George turned 12 on Tuesday and to mark the occasion, Kensington Palace released new photographs of the young royal. There he is. Looks like his dad.
George, who is second in line to the throne -- bad luck, Harry -- is seen smiling as he poses by a wooden gate. His parents, the Prince and Princess of Wales, have made it a tradition to share new images of their children on their birthday. Gosh, he looks like -- anyway.
[01:54:48]
VAUSE: You won't know this face, but if you're in the United Kingdom, you probably have heard the voice. Zoe Lister is the voice behind the Jet2 Travel commercials that have become a meme on TikTok.
She told us what it's like to hear yourself go viral.
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ZOE LISTER, VOICE OF JET2 TRAVEL ADVERTISEMENT: Nothing beats a Jet2 holiday and right now you can save 50 pounds per person.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sound familiar? That's because you've probably heard the Jet2 slogan in TikTok videos.
LISTER: Nothing beats a Jet2 holiday and right now you can save 50 pounds per person.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Used to depict vacationers in precarious situations, the trending sound has been used in more than a million videos on TikTok alone.
LISTER: And now this is just completely blown up out of nowhere. And it just feels like wonderful and joyful.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Zoe Lister is the talent behind the viral sensation.
LISTER: I was in a cafe yesterday and there was somebody, like, scrolling their phone and I could just hear them watching Jet2 Holiday and. I was like, this has gotten so weird.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lister, who says she's been doing Jet2 voiceovers for seven years, noticed the recent uptick in popularity for an ad campaign launched in 2022, which features "Hold My Hand", a song by Jess Glynne.
LISTER: Somebody dressed as her and then somebody else had dressed as a flight attendant doing the voiceover. And then I was like, and this was in last October, and I was like, wow, I'm a Halloween costume. This is really cool.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: TikTok and other social media users can hear Lister's voice used in videos ranging from people falling down hills to giant spiders and even elephants.
LISTER: Nothing beats a Jet2 holiday.
I've got messages from just every single continent and it's just bringing so much joy to people, which is what I love. It's bringing joy to me as well.
There's so much, you know, heavy stuff in the world at the moment. So the fact that, like, we are uniting over this ridiculous meme is just brilliant.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As for Lister's plans to continue voiceovers for Jet2.
LISTE: Yes, they can never get rid of me now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: We can all do with a little joy.
Thank you for watching. I'm John Vause.
CNN NEWSROOM continues with my friend and colleague Rosemary Church after a short break.
See you back here tomorrow.
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