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Authorities named two victims of the Annunciation Catholic School Shooting; Russian, Indian Leaders to Attend Sunday's Shanghai Cooperation Organization Meeting; U.S. Ends Tariff Exemptions for Shoppers who Prefer Cheaper Goods. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired August 29, 2025 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to all of you watching us around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is "CNN Newsroom."
Russia ramps up deadly attacks on Kyiv, leading Ukraine's President to doubt Vladimir Putin's sincerity about ending the war.
A community in Minnesota tries to make sense of an unspeakable tragedy. We'll hear from a parent of one of the young victims.
And sticker shock is coming for Americans who buy cheap merchandise from overseas. Why even little things are getting more expensive.
UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Kim Brunhuber.
BRUNHUBER: The Ukrainian delegation is expected to meet with U.S. officials in New York later today for talks on ending the war with Russia. Now it comes two weeks after President Donald Trump's summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and one day after Moscow launched its second largest air assault of the war. Officials say drones and missiles killed at least 23 people.
As Ukraine tries to fend off escalating Russian attacks, the Trump administration announced it sold more than 3300 extended range missiles to Kyiv. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he doesn't believe Putin is ready for peace as the effort to reach an agreement appears to have stalled. Here he is.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): This strike clearly demonstrates that Russia's goals have not changed.
It is also a strike by Russia against President Trump and other global players. In Washington, we heard that Putin is supposedly ready to end the war, to meet at the leadership level and resolve key issues. But he chooses ballistics instead of any real steps toward peace.
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BRUNHUBER: CNN's Salma Abdelaziz reports a toddler is among the victims of the Russian assault.
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SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: If you're wondering how President Putin is responding to peace efforts, well, Kyiv suffered its second largest aerial attack by Russia since the start of the conflict. That's according to Ukrainian authorities, who say that nearly 600 drones and more than 30 missiles were fired by Russia overnight at the capital. It was a terrifying night for families, some who had to endure a nine-hour air raid siren.
And among those victims are children. The youngest is just two years old. The strikes hit residential buildings, homes, a kindergarten and even a building belonging to the European Union mission and another building belonging to the British Council.
Both those parties have summoned top Russian diplomats to discuss these strikes.
And this, of course, is happening as President Trump continues to push for peace efforts, for a deal to end the conflict in Ukraine. So far, his attempts at starting a bilateral meeting between President Putin and President Zelenskyy have fallen flat, with Russia simply dragging its feet on the issue.
It also takes place as E.U. - European Union diplomats are meeting in Europe this week to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine, yet another step in that peace process, which Russia has just simply batted away. On Friday, President Zelenskyy says some of his top officials will be meeting in New York with some of President Trump's top officials to continue that peace process.
But in the meanwhile, we are seeing a tried and true Russian strategy as those diplomatic efforts stall, the offensive on the ground led by the Kremlin has intensified, and those drones and missiles continue to rain down on civilians across Ukraine.
Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.
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BRUNHUBER: Joining me now from Odessa, Ukraine, is Global Affairs Analyst Michael Bociurkiw. He's the former spokesperson for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council. Good to see you again.
So, these delegations, they've met before without any major breakthroughs, do you get any sense that these new talks could move things forward at all, or are you just expecting more diplomatic theatre?
MICHAEL BOCIURKIW, GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST, SR. FELLOW AT ATLANTIC COUNCIL, AND FORMER SPOKESPERSON, ORGANIZATION FOR SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE: Good to be with you, Kim. Yes, more diplomatic theater, and that's definitely the feeling I'm picking up here in Ukraine. The feeling being the following, sorry guys, but words don't stop Russian missiles the way Patriot missile defense systems do.
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If there were more Patriot missile defense systems protecting Kyiv and certainly world port Odessa where I am right now, we wouldn't have anywhere close to the death and destruction that we saw over the past 24 hours and certainly over the past three-plus years.
You know, it boggles the mind, Kim, that Europe is, has expressed a lot of outrage at what happened, including, you know, in Kyiv over the past 24 hours, including the hits on the diplomatic properties, as your correspondent pointed out.
And you know, this isn't the first time these properties have been hit. Properties belong to many NATO countries, and one would have thought that in a perfect world this would have triggered a much bigger reaction from NATO. I'm not saying triggering the Article 5 collective response, but much more.
One last thought on this one, if I may. You know, I think a lot of Ukrainians, they're pretty savvy. They watch a lot of world news and they figure if Europe -- European leaders can't do much about a man- made famine occurring on their doorstep, that being Gaza, what can they do to end the war in Ukraine?
There's just a feeling of helplessness here right now.
BRUNHUBER: Speaking of European officials, we're hearing some skepticism from German officials about whether Putin and Zelenskyy will actually sit down together, as sort of was suggested after the Putin-Trump summit. Do you think that's realistic at this point, or, you know, we're still way too far apart for any type of direct talks?
BOCIURKIW: Way too far apart. Of course, it did look close, didn't it, when we had that circus happening in Alaska?
But I think Mr. Macron and the German chancellor have made it clear in the past 24 hours that that is not going to happen. It would be, I think, very difficult for Mr. Zelenskyy to meet with Mr. Putin right now, especially after what's happened. And, of course, the Russians are following their normal narrative, aren't they, saying that there are many details to work out and we have to, you know, get the Ukrainians to see our point of view.
But yet, pretty amazing that that summit that happened in Alaska just happened in a few days' time, and yet they think that a summit between these two leaders can't happen.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, talking about some of those details about a possible peace deal, security guarantees. I mean, there are some ideas being floated around about a large buffer zone, and the U.S. is apparently offering to provide intelligence support and help create a European air shield for Ukraine. But it sounds like the U.S. wants Europeans to do the heavy lifting with tens of thousands of troops.
So, is Europe actually willing and capable to step up like that?
BOCIURKIW: Not at the moment. I think the best way we can describe what's going on, especially discussions, you know, the past day or so about creating -- creation of a 40-kilometer buffer zone between the Ukrainian and Russian sides, you know, this is grasping at straws. The Europeans are really struggling to come up with potential battalions to help safeguard Ukraine.
And also the feeling here, from what I'm picking up on the ground, is what's needed is an immediate solution. The British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, and others are saying, you know, we need the Coalition of Willing, we need to commit ourselves to a post-war Ukraine process.
But what Ukrainians really want is something to happen now. And one of those big things, of course, is the unfreezing of that almost $200 billion in frozen Russian assets sitting in European banks. That would go a long way to helping Ukraine not only purchase weapons, but help deal with a $3 billion-a-month budget deficit.
Big problem there is you have countries like Belgium, the capital of Euroclear, that are worried about the integrity of the euro. Well, I have a message for them.
You can worry about the integrity of the euro right now, but what's going to happen if Mr. Putin is not pushed back?
He will go further and further into Europe, he will increase his hybrid war, including meddling in elections, neutralizing opponents on foreign soil. There's a long rap sheet against Russia that they should be very familiar with.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, it's certainly one of the worst-case scenarios. Great to get your perspective from Ukraine. Michael Bociurkiw in Odessa, thank you so much.
BOCIURKIW: Thank you for having me.
BRUNHUBER: Israel is stepping up its military campaign to take over and occupy Gaza City. Tanks and planes pounded the outskirts of the city on Thursday. The IDF says it has dismantled several Hamas tunnels and destroyed what it calls terrorist infrastructure.
The attack sent residents reeling as Israeli drones dropped leaflets warning people to head south. An Israeli military spokesperson says the evacuation of Gaza's largest city is inevitable.
The U.N. Secretary-General accuses Israel of blocking humanitarian efforts and using starvation as a method of warfare. Here he is.
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ANTONIO GUTERRES, UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL: Unbelievably, civilians are facing yet another deadly escalation. Israel's initial steps to military takeover Gaza City signals a new and dangerous phase. Expanded military operations in Gaza City will have devastating consequences.
Hundreds of thousands of civilians, already exhausted and traumatized, will be forced to flee yet again, plunging families into even deeper peril. This must stop.
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BRUNHUBER: France, Germany and the U.K. say Iran's nuclear program is a clear threat to international peace and security. So they're starting the process of reimposing sanctions on Tehran. The so-called E3 countries accuse Iran of not complying with the 2015 nuclear deal, which restricts uranium enrichment and allows for international sanctions.
The head of the IEA says there's still time to work things out.
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RAFAEL GROSSI, DIRECTOR GENERAL, INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AUTHORITY: I think there will be elements, positive elements, on the table that perhaps could help avert this possibility of this wide- ranging sanction.
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BRUNHUBER: Iran has condemned the sanctions threat, calling it provocative, unnecessary and warning of appropriate responses. Tehran has repeatedly said its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes and it plans to build more nuclear energy plants.
We're learning new details about Wednesday's deadly school shooting in Minnesota, including the names of the two children who were killed.
Ten-year-old Harper Moisky and eight-year-old Fletcher Merkel were identified Thursday by their families. Both were killed after a shooter opened fire Wednesday at a mass for students of Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis. Eighteen other people were injured during the attack.
One student who was in the church during the shootings said people hid under pews while others started to run to various parts of the church. They also said it felt like the gunfire got faster and faster.
Meanwhile, investigators say the shooter had a, quote, "deranged fascination with previous mass shootings." And other officials say the shooter was obsessed with the idea of killing children. Police haven't been able to identify a motive for the attack, despite the shooter leaving behind hundreds of pages of writing.
Ivan Rodriguez is in Minneapolis, where new details continue to emerge.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) IVAN RODRIGUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Even into the night, people are still making their way to the front of the church to put down flowers and cards. It's heartbreaking to see little children write letters to the two classmates of theirs who were killed in this tragic shooting. Some of those messages talk about how they will be missed and that now their little angels were learning more about those two victims who lost their lives.
RODRIGUEZ (voice-over): In the aftermath of Wednesday's tragic mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church, new information continues to surface and new details into the deceased shooter, 23-year-old Robin Westman.
CHIEF BRIAN O'HARA, MINNEAPOLIS POLICE DEPARTMENT: This is an individual that harbored a whole lot of hate towards many people.
RODRIGUEZ (voice-over): Police say they've recovered approximately 116 rifle rounds.
I'm sorry to my family, but that's it.
And they're looking into disturbing videos that Westman posted on social media, along with hundreds of other pieces of evidence.
JOE THOMPSON, ACTING U.S. DISTRICT ATTORNEY, MINNESOTA: It's going to be hard to hear, but it's important to the question of why this happened. More than anything, the shooter wanted to kill children, defenseless children.
RODRIGUEZ (voice-over): One of those targeted children recounting her experience.
CHLOE FRANCOUAL, WITNESSED SHOOTING: The teacher was in the middle of saying our prayers and then we heard just one shot. It felt, I smelt smoke before everything, but I heard one shot. I thought it was a firework like everybody else.
RODRIGUEZ (voice-over): The people of Minneapolis are mourning the lives that were lost. Ten-year-old Harper Moisky and eight-year-old Fletcher Merkel, the two children killed.
JESSE MERKEL, FATHER OF VICTIM FLETCHER MERKEL: Please remember Fletcher for the person he was and not the act that ended his life.
RODRIGUEZ (voice-over): Principal Matthew DeBoer welcomes community prayers, but is urging for more.
MATTHEW DEBOER, PRINCIPAL, ANNUNCIATION CATHOLIC SCHOOL: Never again can we let this happen.
RODRIGUEZ: Paramedics transported the first patient to the hospital within 10 minutes of being called according to the EMS chief. At this point, it's unclear when classes will resume.
We did hear from a father of a 12-year-old girl, he says that his daughter is very anxious and doesn't want to go back to the school or the church.
In Minneapolis, I'm Ivan Rodriguez.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Russia's president heads to China for a key meeting ahead. We'll explain what's at stake when Vladimir Putin joins Xi Jinping at a major summit this weekend.
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Plus, more than a dozen people dead and a million impacted by floods in Pakistan by officials there believe a neighboring country contributed to some of the worst flooding seen in decades. Those stories and more coming up after the break. Please stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: A key gathering at a summit in China brings together three major world leaders, each under pressure from the U.S. Chinese leader Xi Jinping will host more than 20 world leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. It begins on Sunday in Tianjin.
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Indian leader Narendra Modi will also be there. This will be his first trip to China in years. It's an opportunity for the three to strengthen ties amid tariff threats and other political pressure from the U.S.
CNN's Ivan Watson has more.
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IVAN WATSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Three world leaders whose countries dominate the map of Asia are about to meet in China for a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. But looming over this Eurasian gathering will be the elephant not in the room.
YUN SUN, CHINA PROGRAM DIRECTOR, STIMSON CENTER: For this particular summit, U.S. may not be at the table, but U.S. is always present.
WATSON (voice-over): India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi will make his first trip to China in seven years, days after Trump slammed a 50 percent tariff on Indian exports to the U.S.
China and India's relationship cratered after a series of deadly clashes first erupted along their disputed border in 2020.
For decades, Washington has been grooming India as a democratic counterbalance to China. But that suddenly changed in July, when Trump called India a dead economy and announced his punishing tariffs, insisting it was a penalty for buying Russian oil. UNKNOWN: India needs the support of the United States, and with that support no longer assured or in fact almost gone, Mr. Modi had no option but to go and cut a deal with President Xi.
WATSON (voice-over): Meanwhile, Russia's president will stand with his old friend Xi Jinping again, shortly after Trump rolled out the red carpet for Vladimir Putin in Alaska.
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, Vladimir.
I'm very disappointed with the conversation I had today with President Putin.
WATSON (voice-over): But Trump's on-again, off-again overtures to the Russian strongman unlikely to impact Russia and China's so-called no- limits partnership. Analysts say the glue that binds these once hostile neighbors ever closer is their shared perception of the U.S. as a threat.
SUN: For Washington, the traditional term that has been used is, how do we break the Russia-China collusion? Well, it's a catch-22, because your desire to break their collusion is the reason that they collude in the first place.
WATSON (voice-over): In 2022, just days before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Putin and Xi called for the creation of a new world order. The U.S.'s biggest global competitor is now capitalizing on Trump's chaotic diplomacy.
SUN: The message here that we have seen China emphasize is, China represents credibility, it represents stability, it represents policy predictability.
WATSON (voice-over): Expect Xi to use this summit to present a Chinese-led alternative to a world long dominated by the U.S.
Ivan Watson, CNN, Tianjin, China.
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BRUNHUBER: Parts of Pakistan are dealing with some of the worst flooding seen in four decades. Authorities said at least 17 people died on Thursday as flooding in Pakistan's Punjab province submerged more than 1600 villages along the fields of vital grain crops, more than a million people have been evacuated from their homes.
Pakistani officials say torrential monsoon rain isn't the only reason for the high water. They point to India's release of excess water from major dams on three rivers. Both India and Pakistan are contending with the heavy monsoon season that's caused widespread flooding and many deaths.
A fishing village in Honduras is being swallowed by the sea. Environmentalists say the village of Zedeno has lost more than 120 meters of coastline to erosion since 2005. High tides and intense storms linked to climate change have destroyed
buildings and key infrastructure. Fishermen there say it's impossible to work or attract tourists. Zedeno is just one of the coastal communities in Central America being destroyed by rising seas.
For years, Americans have been shopping online for cheap goods from China, but a new tariff change by the Trump administration could end all that. Just ahead, what the end of de minimis exemption means for low cost shoppers. That story's coming up, stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us around the world, I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is "CNN Newsroom." Let's check today's top stories.
Senior Ukrainian officials are set to hold talks with Trump administration officials in New York today, but the U.S. envoy for Ukraine says a massive assault on Kyiv early Thursday threatens President Trump's efforts to end the war. Ukrainian officials say Russia launched more than 600 drones and missiles, killing at least 21 people.
Two students killed in Wednesday's school shooting in Minnesota have been identified as 10-year-old Harper Moysky and eight-year-old Fletcher Merkel. Harper's family described her as bright, joyful and deeply loved.
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And Fletcher's family called the shooter a coward, noting how much the boy loved his family, friends and fishing.
An Israeli military spokesperson says the evacuation of Gaza City is inevitable. The IDF has been hitting the area with bombs and tank fire as part of its plan to take over and occupy the city, it's also dropping leaflets telling residents to head to the southern part of the strip.
Americans who love to shop online for cheap goods from overseas are soon going to have some major sticker shock. For years, the U.S. has waived tariffs on package shipments valued at less than $800. But that exemption expired a few hours ago and Donald Trump says the change is permanent.
Anna Cooban has more.
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ANNA COOBAN, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS REPORTER: De minimis, it's a term you may be hearing a lot today. It's Latin for something lacking in significance or importance. Some people may not quite agree with that. You see, President Donald
Trump has scrapped the so-called de minimis exemption, a rule that has allowed products worth $800 or less to enter the United States from all around the world without, crucially, paying an import tax. That exemption has allowed low cost goods like clothes, makeup, home decor, really anything that you can think of to flow into the U.S. relatively easily and helped fuel a booming global e-commerce industry like these brands here.
And as you can see here, over the last decade, this number has grown significantly. And that is partly why Trump is ending this de minimis exemption, it's to help discourage Americans from buying overseas and incentivize homegrown manufacturing.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection estimated that over 1.36 billion shipments entered the U.S. during the last financial year under this de minimis exemption and that more than four million were processed every single day.
Sellers will face different tariffs depending on which country they are in, they'll face an $80 tariff per item for if they're in a country with an overall tariff rate of 16 percent -- below 16 percent, and an up to $160 tariff per item if they're in a country with an overall tariff rate of between 16 and 25 percent and then a brutal $200 per item tariff if they're in a country with an overall tariff rate above 25 percent. Right now, for example, Brazil and India have a 50 percent tariff placed on most of their goods flowing into the United States.
Sellers may decide to pass those extra costs on to U.S. consumers and that means that those late night impulse purchases will come with an even bigger dose of morning regret or they may simply not arrive at all. Postal services around the world, including in Japan and Australia and across Europe, have temporarily suspended shipments to the United States.
That's because some say they are simply unsure of how to navigate the new system. How do they make sure the tariffs are paid? What paperwork is needed? And it's not yet clear when these services will be back up and running.
For now, Americans wanting to indulge in some retail therapy will simply have few options.
Anna Cooban, CNN, London.
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BRUNHUBER: And for more on this, I want to bring in Emil Stefanutti, co-founder and CEO of Gaia Dynamics, a tech startup focused on simplifying global trade. Thank you so much for being here with us early this morning. I really appreciate it.
So as we heard there, De Minimis was essentially a free pass for packages under $800. No duties, minimal paperwork. Now that free pass is gone. The volume of trade is so big. We heard in that piece 1.36 billion shipments last year here in the U.S. You've described this as a tidal wave hitting global e-commerce.
Why is that?
(TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES)
All right, I'm afraid we can't hear our guests right now. We're going to try and work on his sound and bring in Emil Stefanutti back in a moment.
In the meantime, coming up here on "CNN Newsroom," a battle between science and skepticism playing out at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We'll look at why crowds gathered outside the agency's Atlanta headquarters.
Plus, video of the arrests of two migrant brothers went viral recently, and now one of them speaking out. We'll look at what he's asking federal agents to do in future arrests after the break.
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BRUNHUBER: All right, I want to get back to our conversation about the de minimis exemption with Emil Stefanutti, co-founder and CEO of Gaia Dynamics, a tech startup focused on simplifying global trade. All right, we got you back. I appreciate that.
So just to sum up for our audience, for years the U.S. has waived tariffs on package shipments valued at less than $800, but that exemption expired a few hours ago. So now you describe that as a tidal wave hitting global e-commerce. So explain why that is.
EMIL STEFANUTTI, CO-FOUNDER AND CEO, GAIA DYNAMICS: Yes. Hi, Kim. And this is like you having a highway that people take, you know, to work every day and all of a sudden you add 26 times the number of cars and a couple of new toll booths. So it's very hard for everybody to kind of get used to that new traffic and having to take new routes to get to work.
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It's, you know, there are, if you add 4 million new shipments per day to a system that was typically handling about 150,000 just per day, that's a big problem. And not being ready for it is one of the biggest things.
So the amount of work that needs to happen, not just for, you know, shippers, but the extra load, it's incredibly taxing. So we're going to be seeing for a few days these happening.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, that highway metaphor is a great one. And you said it would be taxing, I mean, literally cheap items won't just take longer to get here, they'll be more expensive.
So paint us a picture. What does that look like for someone ordering, say, a cheap phone case or a swimsuit from overseas right now?
STEFANUTTI: Yes, so as you said, depending on where it is coming from, it's going to be a lot more expensive anywhere from, for the next six months, there is a transition period that's going to be, you know, again, depending on where the country of origin is, anywhere from 10 to 50 percent in tariffs or 80 to $200, which is incredibly hard for a lot of people.
And then after six months, it's going to go to what's called an ad valorem. So essentially a percentage of the package value.
So yes, it's definitely going to get a lot more expensive. And, you know, I guess what they're trying to do is to have people buy local. Whether that's realistically possible, we'll have to see.
BRUNHUBER: Yes. Considering the volume of items, I think it was, what, 1.36 billion shipments last year to the U.S. It doesn't just affect the customers here in the States, as you touched on, it affects companies around the world.
This was supposed to take effect years from now, and now all of a sudden it's kind of dumped on them. Are businesses prepared for this change?
STEFANUTTI: Yes. And, you know, when you think about what really means to be ready, just to paint you a picture, now, you know, every single item that you ship into the U.S. or anywhere in the world, for that matter, has to be classified.
You have to know what the tariffs are that you need to pay. You have to have a clear product description that customs is going to read and understand what's inside the package, and you're going to have to have a country of origin description and all of that.
Right, and typically that's work that customs brokers used to do for these companies. You know, they are, you know, right now they're maxed out in the amount of work. I mean, we're seeing, you know, in the last two or three weeks, a 300-percent increase in people reaching out to us and trying to use technology and A.I., which I think by now is probably one of the few solutions that exist to this problem and essentially accelerating the process.
Right, just to give you an idea, a typical human expert would take about 30 minutes to classify a product. You know, if you have a list of 30, 50, 100,000 products to classify, that takes a while. So, you know, that's one of the things that people are really struggling with these days.
BRUNHUBER: Yes. I imagine a lot of this chaos anyway will be temporary as companies kind of try and figure this out. But for consumers, do you think we're looking at a permanent shift in how Americans shop online? STEFANUTTI: It's hard to say, it's very early. And Americans, you
know, we love to shop. So we'll have to see how those behaviors change and to what degree.
I think there is a lot happening also in terms of where manufacturers are going to be manufacturing things and where ultimately you're going to be getting your, let's say, iPhone cases from. So it's going to be, this is not a short term thing.
This is probably going to be months before we see what exactly the new normal looks like.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, absolutely. As you said, Americans do love shopping. Emil Stefanutti, thank you so much, I really appreciate it.
STEFANUTTI: Yes. Thanks for having me.
BRUNHUBER: A shakeup at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is drawing a vocal response from staffers. They lined up outside the agency's Atlanta headquarters to cheer on four top officials who resigned on Thursday for protesting the Trump administration's firing of the CDC Director Dr. Susan Menendez, she reportedly clashed with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. over vaccines. Now, sources tell CNN Deputy Health Secretary Jim O'Neill is expected to serve as acting CDC Director.
Cases of life-threatening bacterial infections are surging and climate scientists say climate change is to blame. Infections of Vibrio have increased 800 percent in eastern U.S., according to the CDC. These potentially deadly bacteria are found in coastal waters and can be spread through contact with an open wound, it can also spread through certain foods.
[03:40:08]
Scientists say warming waters and rising sea levels are contributing to the increase.
The White House says it will comply with the judge's order to shut down the Florida immigration detention center known as Alligator Alcatraz, but it will keep fighting the decision in court. The judge says the facility must wind down operations over the next two months. The order stems from a lawsuit filed by environmental groups and a Native American tribe concerned about the facility's impact on the environment.
Florida's governor has also vowed to fight the judge's order. According to an email exchange obtained by CNN, a top floor official says the controversial immigration detention center will likely be empty in a matter of days.
A migrant who was deported from the U.S. to Mexico is speaking to CNN about how federal agents treated him and his brother during their arrest in Connecticut. It was captured on video that went viral, and some may find the images disturbing.
CNN's Maria Santana has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARIA SANTANA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 42-year-old Leonel Chavez captured his own arrest in Norwalk, Connecticut. He says he was driving to work with his brother Ricardo on the morning of August 15th when federal immigration agents surrounded his truck, demanding they get out. He says the agents gave no explanation before they smashed his window, cut his seatbelt and shocked him with a taser.
Speaking from Mexico, Leonel shows us the scars left by the taser. But, he says, the wounds run much deeper.
LEONEL CHAVEZ, MIGRANT DEPORTED TO MEXICO: I was scared because I scared. After that (inaudible) pulled me up and, like, I say, the seatbelt stoned a place (inaudible) the seatbelt just pulled me up.
SANTANA (voice-over): After being detained for about a week in a Massachusetts detention center, he was deported, forced to leave behind his family and the life he built in the United States.
CHAVEZ: I don't feel home, like, because all my life is in the U.S. I miss my kids, I miss my wife, my church, my community.
SANTANA (voice-over): Leonel says he was just 17 years old when he moved to the U.S. He started his own masonry business, married an American citizen, and has three U.S.-born children. He says he has worked with an attorney over the years to file for legal status, but was never able to get his papers.
SANTANA: I could see in one video how proud you were when your daughter graduated college. What is it like being away from your children and your wife and knowing that you may not be part of more big moments like that?
CHAVEZ: It's sad. It's sad because my son is graduating this year, and my daughter too, for high school and my son for college. But after that, I live and everything has changed.
SANTANA (voice-over): Leonel says his brother, who had been in the U.S. since 2008, was also deported. In images shot by a passerby, Ricardo can be seen running from an agent, who shocks him several times after he falls to the ground. With his face bloodied, Ricardo is then handcuffed.
That video of his brother's arrest has drawn questions from officials in Connecticut. Mexico's president, Claudia Sheinbaum, went further, calling it a possible human rights violation.
But in a statement to CNN, the Department of Homeland Security said their agents followed protocol and used only the minimum force necessary. They also called Leonel an illegal immigrant with a long criminal record. Court documents show Leonel has several decades-old misdemeanor convictions, mistakes he says were made in his youth.
CHAVEZ: That's in my past, like my teenage years, you know. After maybe 25, I do everything right and try to be a better person.
SANTANA (voice-over): He now longs for the day he is reunited with his family in the only place he's ever called home.
CHAVEZ: I love America, I love U.S.A because I got all my family there. All my, like I say, all my friends, families, church.
Sooner or later, I'll be back. But I got to do the right thing, you know, legal, straight, everything, so I can start a new life.
SANTANA (voice-over): Maria Santana, CNN, New York.
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BRUNHUBER: A challenge in Australia is asking auto engineers to push the limits of technological innovation, combining the need for speed with the power of the sun. That's next. Stay with us.
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[03:50:00]
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BRUNHUBER: Well, you've probably heard about the Super Bowl, but what about the Super Ball? It's the world's top freestyle football or soccer competition. Now, there are no goals here but freestyle football is as much a performance art as it is a sport.
Players balance and juggle a football, performing complex and skillful moves in time to music. Around 500 people from 40 countries competed this year, putting in plenty of practice for the Super Bowl.
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JAMES TAYLOR, 13-YEAR-OLD FREESTYLE FOOTBALLER: Like, a lot of the time you fail a hundred times, and then you, like, just quit because you get bored of it and also annoyed. But I find it quite easy to stay with a skill and practice it and practice it and practice it again and again until I land it.
JUANRO AGUILO, 40-YEAR-OLD FREESTYLE FOOTBALLER: Most of the time, I would say, like, 90 percent of the time that I train, I don't train indoors. I just go to a park by myself. People watch me, and it's super cool. Like, people actually, like, come up to me and ask me, like, oh, can I learn a trick, or you're super good, instead of, like, looking at me, like, as a disabled person.
So it's a way to actually focus the attention on what I'm good at and not the things that I lack.
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BRUNHUBER: The first stage of the World Rally Championship gets underway today in Trinidad, Paraguay. Drivers have been testing the course in what are called shakedowns. Several competitors mention the challenges of driving on the red gravel roads with plenty of loose rocks.
Weather could also become a factor, drivers say rain would make softer clay areas more like ice with limited grip. Paraguay joins Saudi Arabia and the Canary Islands as new destinations on this year's World Rally Championship calendar.
Car teams from across the world converged on Australia last week with one mission to be the fastest team to travel the outback in a vehicle powered by the energy of the sun. Now, it's called the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge, and on Thursday, one team came out on top.
CNN's Lynda Kinkade explains.
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LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over)L Celebrating their victory in Adelaide, Team Brunel from the Netherlands, the fastest solar-powered car to cross Australia from north to south in this year's Bridgestone World Solar Challenge.
34 solar-powered cars from around the world set off on the challenge last weekend at speeds sometimes topping 100km per hour, the cars zipped along a 3000km route, stopping at 5pm each night and taking off again at 8:00 in the morning. The challenge starts in Darwin and ends in Adelaide with the vast outback in between. Held every two years, the event requires designers and engineers to find the best mix of speed, endurance and energy efficiency.
[03:55:05]
DANNY KENNEDY, GLOBAL SOLAR COUNCIL: Effectively, they've turned the Sturt Highway into a 3000km sandbox to just create new, better, faster ways of driving on sunshine.
KINKADE (voice-over): This year, many of the fastest cars featured fins of varying sizes and shapes. When deployed, they can harness wind power to join forces with solar power.
DAVID MOL, BRUNEL SOLAR TEAM AERODYNAMICS ENGINEER: So a fin uses crosswinds to generate lift, and the lift points forward, so it creates an extra force forward, which makes sure that our car is more efficient and can cut through the air.
MATTHEW ANDERSON, MICHIGAN TEAM MANAGER: It's a vertical airfoil that has two main benefits. First, it draws out forward thrust like a sail on a boat, and second, it steadies us in crosswinds. So, kind of like a rudder on an airplane, it helps us drive more straight in the harsh winds of the outback.
KINKADE (voice-over): In the past, new innovations tested in this race have become mainstream in the auto industry, like aerodynamic design and lightweight materials.
KENNEDY: And I bet you in 10 years' time, we'll all be taking it for granted that the cars coming out have, you know, weird little foils and things that, you know, you're wondering how they came up with that. Well, here you go, this is how they came up with it. It was tested by these teams on this trip, on this track at this time.
KINKADE (voice-over): In 2019, the Brunel team from the Delft University of Technology suffered a car fire, a memory that made this year's win even sweeter.
KEES BROEK, BRUNEL SOLAR TEAM: It feels like to rise back from the ashes, to come back stronger every time, and, yes, we drove a record time today in L.A., so I'm really glad.
KINKADE (voice-over): Lynda Kinkade, CNN.
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BRUNHUBER: Scientists have managed to uncover the violent history of the red planet by studying Mars quakes. Now, scientists say they've detected large fragments and debris under the Martian surface, it's the result of massive collisions with other objects in the first 100 million years after Mars was formed.
They made the discovery by analyzing the impact of Mars quakes. That's the term used for seismic activity that shakes the Martian surface, like meteorite impacts. Unlike Earth, Mars lacks plate tectonics, so the plant's geological history is preserved under the surface.
A new exhibition in London is giving fans a glimpse at the Beatles when they were on the cusp of superstardom. The photographs were taken by Paul McCartney in 1963 and 1964. They chart the early years of the Beatles' success just after the release of their debut album, "Please Please Me," it's the period where the Beatles were popular in the U.K., but not yet a global phenomenon.
McCartney discovered the long-lost photos during the COVID pandemic, and they're now in display at London's Gagosian Art Gallery.
Alright, thank you so much for joining us here, I'm Kim Brunhuber in Atlanta. "Amanpour" is next, then there's "Early Start" with M.J. Lee in about an hour.
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