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One World with Zain Asher
Israel Escalates Airstrikes In Beirut And Southern Suburbs; New Israeli Airstrikes In Southern Beirut; Burkina Faso Massacre Leaves 600 Dead; College Student Saves Lives With Online Weather Reports; Bruce Springsteen Endorses Kamala Harris; Young Voters In Michigan Key To Democratic Coalition; Aired 12-1p ET
Aired October 04, 2024 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[12:00:36]
ZAIN ASHER, CNN HOST: All right. Coming to you live from New York, I'm Zain Asher. My colleague, Bianna Golodryga, is off today. You are watching ONE
WORLD.
Fourteen hundred people have been killed in Israel's airstrike campaign on Lebanon in just the past three weeks. Those are the latest figures from the
Lebanese government. A conflict monitoring group says that Israel's bombardment is the most intense aerial campaign outside of Gaza in the past
two decades.
Those airstrikes continue on the Lebanese capital. A source says Israel was targeting a possible successor to Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, late
Thursday. Israel says its ground offensive has killed about 250 Hezbollah militants. Israeli airstrikes cut off a key border crossing between Lebanon
and Syria, where 160,000 people have fled the fighting.
The IDF says it struck an underground tunnel to prevent weapon smuggling from Syria into Lebanon.
Meantime, in Iran, thousands gathered at Tehran's Grand Mosque as the supreme leader led a rare Friday prayer sermon, focusing much of his speech
on the death of the Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
Ali Khamenei also said Iran would attack Israel again if needed. We have CNN reporters covering this story from all the various angles. We've got
Nick Robertson joining us live now from Tel Aviv. Fred Pleitgen, who has visited Iran several times, is in Berlin for us. But let's begin with Ben
Wedeman in Beirut.
So, Ben, the IDF is, of course, intensifying its campaign against Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon -- rather Southern Beirut. Just talk to us about what's
happening on the ground there.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, right now, as I speak to you, I hear an Israeli drone buzzing overhead. This has become
pretty much the rule here in Beirut much of the day.
There have been strikes. The Israelis claiming that they hit the head of Hezbollah's communications unit. Hezbollah has not been reacting to any of
these claims that Israeli -- Israel has been making recently about assassinating various figures within the organization.
Of course, there was a massive airstrike on Beirut after midnight in which the Israelis say that they were targeting Hashem Safieddine, who is a
senior Hezbollah leader, a possible successor for Hassan Nasrallah, but Hezbollah has not commented on that either.
Meanwhile, what we're seeing is that Israel definitely seems to be preparing for a full-scale ground invasion. Today, again, we heard from the
Arabic spokesman for the warning, or rather ordering, the inhabitants of more than 30 villages in Southern Lebanon to leave their homes.
At this point, the number of villages receiving those orders from the Israelis is around 110. We are talking about a lot of people in a huge part
of the country.
Meanwhile, as a result of the Israeli airstrikes on the south, 37 health facilities in that stopped operating. They simply can't continue under
these conditions.
And the head of the World Health Organization today came out and noticed Thursday alone, 28 health workers in Lebanon had been killed.
Now, as far as the military situation on the border goes, on the border region, Hezbollah continues to claim that it is targeting concentrations of
Israeli troops and Israeli troops that entering into Lebanese territory.
We have yet to see a major push by the Israelis into Lebanon. It seems to be they're focusing on smaller operations, but the reinforcements that
they're deploying in Northern Israel would certainly indicate that we are really just at the beginning of this situation. Zain.
ASHER: Ben Wedeman, standby. Nick, let me bring you in, because Ben touched on Hashem Safieddine, the apparent possible successor to Hassan Nasrallah.
And actually apparently a cousin of Hassan Nasrallah's as well.
There are reports that have been mentioned that the IDF essentially targeted him in a strike. Do we know his fate? What are the IDF saying
about his fate?
[12:05:02]
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes. And we don't know his fate and not only is he or is he cousin to Hassan Nasrallah, but also
he's married into a very important and powerful influential Iranian family, Qasem Soleimani, the Al-Quds IRGC commander who the United States
assassinated in a drone strike in early 2020 was a revered figure in the region, much in the same way that Hassan Nasrallah was.
So Safieddine is connected by blood and by marriage to two of these iconic figures. But as to his whereabouts and well-being at the moment, it isn't
clear. You know, when the IDF said that they targeted Hassan Nasrallah, it took about -- it took about 18 hours or so before the IDF declared that
they had -- that they had successfully killed him, and a few more hours before Hezbollah said the same thing.
This is stretching out to the same sort of timeframe at the moment, so it's possible that confirmation or otherwise may come through. But it's not in
Hezbollah's interest to declare what's happening because clearly he is, Safieddine, is a -- is a figure of interest and potential target for the
IDF as they continue to go after Hezbollah commanders.
ASHER: Nic, standby, Fred, let me bring you in. You're in Berlin right now, but obviously you've traveled, Fred, to Iran multiple times.
The supreme leader has, obviously, ultimate control in Iran, but he very rarely leads Friday prayers himself. The fact that he did this time. What
should we be reading into that do you think?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think several things. And I think, first of all, you're absolutely right. It is a
pretty huge deal. And we saw some of the videos that came out of Tehran today, the Mosalla compound where he held those Friday prayers.
I've been there many a times and I can tell you, I have never seen it as full as it seemed to be today, as the supreme leader was leading those
Friday prayers.
Also, if you looked at the crowd, there were a lot of people who were waving Hezbollah flags. There were a lot of people also who were waving
Palestinian flags as well. So clearly, a show of support orchestrated by the supreme leader in support of Hezbollah and, of course, so in support of
Hamas and the Palestinians as well.
And I think there's two things that we need to keep in mind here. First of all, the supreme leader was very close to Hassan Nasrallah. And I think one
of the things that is remarkable about all this is the last time that the Supreme Leader led the Friday prayers in this place was after the
assassination of Qasem Soleimani, who Nic was just talking about, the leader of the Revolutionary Guard Quds Force. And Hassan Nasrallah was
similarly very close to the Supreme Leader as well. The two had very good relations.
Of course, Hezbollah is also an organization that is very important to the Iranians as well. So the supreme leader certainly acknowledging that losing
Hassan Nasrallah was a big loss to him personally and also to Iran's leadership as well.
At the same time, in his speech which he also gave, he tried to rally some of the nations in the region against the United States and against Israel.
He said the enemy of Iran are the enemies of the Palestinians and the enemies of Iraq and the enemies of other countries in the region as well.
One of the things though that really made us take note is that he justified the missile strikes that the Iranians conducted on Israeli territory. He
called them legitimate, but then he also warned the Israelis that if they strike back, that there would be a massive retaliation on the Iranian part.
And one of the things that happened afterwards is that the deputy commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps then came out and said that Iran
could possibly target Israel's energy infrastructure if the Israelis hit energy infrastructure in Iran. Of course, Iran has massive oil and gas
fields, but in general a big energy infrastructure as well, Zain.
ASHER: All right. Fred, stand by. Ben, let me go back to you. As I understand it, you just heard two sort of major explosions where you are in
Beirut. Walk us through what sort of evacuation warnings the IDF has been giving to residents of Southern Beirut in particular.
WEDEMAN: Yes, Zain. Just as I finished answering your question, we heard two large thuds in the background. As far as the warnings go, these come
via the Arabic spokesman for the Israeli military on Twitter, or X as it is now.
But oftentimes, they're very specific, and it is perhaps just a fraction of the actual number of strikes that take place here in Beirut. I mean, for
instance, a night before last, there were a series of airstrikes, a very large one in the southern suburbs and then one in the heart of Beirut that
killed nine people. There were no warnings. There were no warnings until several hours later for two buildings in the southern suburbs. So for
instance, we watch these things very carefully.
[12:10:09]
There was no warning for these two explosions we heard. When the warnings come out, it usually says, you know, you must leave this area because there
are Hezbollah facilities there. Leave at least in an area way 500 meters away from specific buildings. They name the building.
But often, I would say it's perhaps one-fifth of the strikes actually are preceded by a warning from the Israeli military, the rest just happen and
there's no warning whatsoever.
Keep in mind also, oftentimes, the strikes are after midnight when people are probably asleep if there's still anybody left in the southern suburbs
or they might not be doom-scrolling like many of us journalists do.
So this is a warning that -- it's a warning, it goes out, but it's questionable how many people are actually seeing these warnings. Zain.
ASHER: Yes. That is -- that is an important point. Ben Wedeman, live for us there. Nic Robertson, Fred Pleitgen, thank you all so much.
All right. Let's bring in Edward Djerejian, who is a former U.S. ambassador to Israel, and he's a senior fellow at Harvard University.
Edward, thank you so much for being with us. We heard from the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, just in terms of what he said. I mean, obviously there
was a lot that he said, but just to sort of sum up one important theme. It's this idea that the resistance against Israel is going to continue.
Just walk us through your greatest fear at this point.
EDWARD DJEREJIAN, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO ISRAEL: The greatest fear and I think the greatest danger is that this war is expanded into a regional war
in the Middle East, that there is a confrontation, not only between Israel and Iran, but that the United States itself is dragged in to a regional
war, which I think would be a march of folly, because the implications of that are huge, especially when you think of the experiences we have had in
Vietnam, in Afghanistan, and Iraq.
So, therefore, I think it's a high national security interest of the United States that this warfare on the Lebanese front, on the Palestinian front,
on the Iranian front, the Houthi front in Yemen that would be contained as soon as possible and ceasefires be put in place.
Let's not forget that the heart of this whole problem is the Hamas issue in Gaza and that Iran's axis, so-called Axis of Resistance, all the players,
Hezbollah, the Houthis, the Iraqis, the Iranians, and said, if there is a ceasefire in Gaza, we will stop fighting. We will put down our weapons
until and then follow a policy of seeing what happens in terms of diplomacy.
Now, the diplomacy of the Biden administration has been, one, to have a ceasefire in Gaza, release of the Israeli hostages, Palestinian prisoner
exchanges, and then a transitional process in Gaza leading to stabilization.
What has happened is that Bibi Netanyahu's government has continued the total victory approach in Gaza, the military option, and now in response to
Hezbollah attacks on Northern Israel. They have launched what you and your colleagues have described very well, the attacks in the war in Lebanon.
Now there, the Biden administration has had another peaceful diplomatic approach that has not succeeded so far, which is to have a settlement
whereby, according to U.N. Resolution 1701, Hezbollah would be brought north of the Israeli border and then be demilitarization and steps towards
stabilizing that.
My point here is that there are diplomatic initiatives, two very important ones, that are being absolutely shunned by the Israeli government of
Netanyahu and obviously the factions on the Hezbollah side and Hamas.
ASHER: And just in terms of, you know -- you know, you mentioned obviously the diplomatic options are being shunned at this point. The ball really is
in Israel's court, especially in terms of how it responds to Iran.
How does it respond in a way that sends a clear message, in a way that is a clear sort of deterrent message, but also in a way that doesn't lead to a
broader war? There is a fine line here in terms of how Israel has to respond. What are your thoughts on that?
DJEREJIAN: Well, you're absolutely right in that. And I -- what I would urge on the parties is strategic patience. Each party, Iran and Israel, are
making sure that they have deterrents in place against worst-case scenarios involving a war between Israel and Iran.
[12:15:16]
Each side has, in my eyes, has made very calculated retaliatory attacks on the other. They haven't gone all the way. The Iranians have -- even single
beforehand their military options and actions in these missile and ballistic missile attacks on Israel.
So each side has to establish deterrence in order to signal the other side, don't go too far, we can harm you, let's stop here. But once you enter this
fog of war, that is my great concern, that miscalculations can lead to get out of hand and we may find ourselves in a regional war in the Middle East
which would be a catastrophe, not only for the countries of the region, but also, I think, for our interests, for Israel's interests, and our allies'
and partners' interests in the region.
ASHER: OK. Ambassador Edward Djerejian, live for us. Thank you so much for your insights. I appreciate it.
All right. A massacre in Burkina Faso has left 600 people dead, far more than previously thought. That's according to a French government official's
assessment of August's jihadi attack in the West African country.
CNN's Nick Paton Walsh has more, but we need to warn you first that this report does contain very disturbing sounds and images as well.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): You're driving to the site of one of the worst massacres in years, filmed by one of the killers.
First reports said Jihadist shot dead 300 people here in rural Burkina Faso in August. But CNN has obtained a French government security report that
says up to 600 were murdered slowly here, echoing survivor accounts. Civilians, women and children, all told by the military to dig a trench
like this to protect their town, Barsalogho, from jihadists. And then shot dead for doing so by those same jihadists.
The shovels laid down, you can see here, as civilians then lay face down in the dirt themselves, suggesting they surrendered before being shot.
Al-Qaeda-linked JNIM are raging unchecked across this area of Africa. The Sahel, where the French military were kicked out after military coups.
Here, before the attack, locals were filmed being told to take charge of their own security and dig the trench network. You can see on these
satellite images how vast it is. One survivor talked to CNN.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I started to crawl into the trench to escape, but it seemed that the attackers were following the trenches. So I crawled out and
came across the first bloodied victim. There was screaming everywhere. I got down on my stomach under a bush until later in the afternoon, hiding.
How can you cry if there are no tears to shed? We, the survivors, are no longer normal. I see my late friends when I'm asleep. It's more than 300
dead. Anyone who denies it should come and see me.
WALSH: The French government report adds the president, coup leader Captain Ibrahim Traore, is recently himself hard to spot in public. His personal
bodyguards, supplied by the Russian paramilitary group, Wagner, the report says, were shipped off to Russia to stop the Ukrainian advance in Kursk,
leaving him yet more isolated.
Traore launched a trench-digging program here in June.
IBRAHIM TRAORE, BURKINA FASO JUNTA LEADER: (FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(ON SCREEN: All the villagers need to dig the trenches. We don't have machines to do that, so everyone needs to work together.)
WALSH: And the army? They fled the massacre, the report adds, suffering already a huge credibility gap after their soldiers were filmed engaged in
cannibalism here, apparently of a dead jihadist's body parts.
Across the region, horrors unimaginable, yet commonplace enough, they sink into obscurity fast, deepening the spiral.
Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, London.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:20:01]
ASHER: One week after Hurricane Helene slammed into the U.S. Southeast, emergency crews are still searching through debris for missing people.
Amidst power outages, washed-out roads and destroyed bridges, families searching for missing loved ones face a stack of obstacles.
We know now at least 213 lives were lost as the hurricane raged across six states. With critical aid hard to come by in some areas, private helicopter
companies are stepping up to make deliveries.
There are still people, especially in the western part of North Carolina, who are still who are cut off from the outside world, receiving very few
supplies, if any at all.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BROOK BARZYK, CO-OWNER, AEROLUXE AVIATION: It's absolute devastation. Even just this valley through here is decimated. And I think the one thing that
stands out the most is even after it had -- it had been several days since it had happened, there still was no aid here at all.
So we were some of the first people and the -- and savage were some of the first people in the area to begin bringing in aid. And it's all -- you
know, it's all community-based essentially.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: But you don't need a helicopter to help out when your neighbors are in dire need. College student Ethan Clark has made headlines in North
Carolina with weather reports he provides on social media.
He has more than half a million followers on his page, which is called North Carolina's Weather Authority. Many people say his real-time weather
updates has actually saved lives. Ethan joins me live now from Raleigh, North Carolina.
Ethan, I'm so excited to talk to you because what you have created here is incredible. I mean, it's not just a weather service. You talk to people
about best case scenarios in terms of forecast, worst-case scenarios. You provide solutions. You're talking to people about missing people, missing
pets, for example, how to connect to aid organizations. It's really comprehensive. Just talk to us a bit more about the service you're
providing here.
ETHAN CLARK, OWNER AND FOUNDER, NORTH CAROLINA'S WEATHER AUTHORITY: Thank you. Thank you for having me on. I'm glad we're trying to get the word out
about Western North Carolina.
And, yes, I started my page in seventh grade. Just for friends and family and it was pretty much that. And then we had multiple hurricanes in North
Carolina. And I just -- I have my passion for providing very detailed information. It's -- sometimes it might be too much, but I like to have
very detailed information. I like to include all 100 counties in North Carolina.
And during this storm, it was different. Leading up to the storm and forecasting before the storm, I knew it was going to be different.
Unfortunately, the situation got dire and dire as we approached.
And I really just wanted to figure out a way to get information out. Once the storm hit, communications were pretty much non-existent across Western
North Carolina with very few reports coming out on Saturday. Saturday was probably one of the worst days where we didn't really know what actually
happened other than very few reports are being trickled in and people were just sending me messages and I didn't want to withhold that information.
I was trying to get information out and the pictures and reports from people sending me from like satellite connection, et cetera.
ASHER: First of all, the fact that you started it in seventh grade, I mean, this is -- this is quite amazing. I mean, you're 21 now. It's quite an
amazing thing that you've accomplished for a 21-year-old.
[12:25:07]
I want to read a post that you got on your Facebook page that you actually reposted. And if we can pull it up on the screen for everyone to read along
as well. Basically says, on -- Ethan -- this is from a follower of yours. Ethan, you helped me save my parents' lives. They live in Asheville and had
no idea how serious this storm would be. I knew because of you. And while it took some convincing, they finally listen and got out Thursday morning.
They wouldn't have survived it. Thank you.
I mean, when you hear that, you know, you're not just sort of providing information, you're literally changing and saving lives, how does that make
you feel?
CLARK: Well, I don't want to be like the person with the hero. I want -- I just want to do -- I just do what I know and forecasting I've been doing
for a very long time. I started in elementary school in the morning news. And I just have been trying to focus on providing very down-to-earth
forecasting an. And I like to have very low like layman terms forecasting.
So I don't -- I don't like to hype anything, but if it's bad, I try to like, people know when I'm concerned, it's going to be bad. And I kept
saying I was concerned. And unfortunately, I don't think the message got to everyone, but I was trying to work with the Weather Service and Greenville-
Spartanburg did an amazing job putting out historic life-threatening flooding.
And I was just trying to take what I knew and what they were saying and try to communicate somehow, even if it was different ways to try to get down to
the last person that's trying to get as many people to heed the warnings or leave.
ASHER: It's interesting because you don't just provide, I mean, you're playing it down, you're so humble. But you don't just sort of provide, you
know, weather updates, right? You're also giving people really important advice, such as, for example, listen, you know, communication lines are
going to be down.
So in case your phone dies, it's a good idea. This is some of the advice you've been giving your followers. In case your phone dies, it's a good
idea to leave a voicemail where you record and sort of tell people who might try to call you that you're safe, that you're fine. I mean, this is
really key.
You know, what is your strategy? You know, how do you sort of plan out your forecast? How do you sort of research the kind of advice that you're giving
people?
CLARK: Well, every week, I look on like Sunday, figure out if we have a big weather event coming up for the week. And I like to decide how serious it's
actually going to be. And if it's going to be serious, when do I start messaging this weather event?
And I like to just give advice that I would take as a kid. And like I try to make it -- I have very in-depth information, but I try to give the cliff
notes to the most important stuff first, and then let folks take that information and hopefully use it.
And each event, I'll do an after report and look through everything for myself to see what went well and what didn't go well. And I just want to
try, whether it's hard to communicate sometimes. And I try to like -- if you say 20 inches of rain, people don't really know how that's going to
impact them. And I'm trying to show like widespread power outages. I just want to make sure it knows how it's going to impact them widespread
flooding. And maybe we don't even have the best way to explain how catastrophic flooding goes.
ASHER: Yes. It's so comprehensive. It's so sort of community focus. It's so personal, right? I think that's the difference between the kind of service
that you provide. You're just -- I can't even believe I'm saying. You're just 21 years old. Obviously, you have your whole life ahead of you.
What is next for you, Ethan? I mean, are you going to become a CNN weather anchor? What's next for your future?
CLARK: I don't know. I haven't really -- I'm just going to try to -- I'm just going to graduate and kind of see where it takes me. I don't want to
give up the page. I want to keep it local. I like to cover all counties, no big or small. I like to get the small North Carolina counties. That's where
some of my stuff, I thrive in Eastern and Western North Carolina and the smaller counties because it's very personal. And I join like the Facebook
groups and tried the information.
I don't -- I haven't decided exactly what I want to do with my career yet. I've been -- I entered a T.V. station here in Raleigh. And I'm just trying
to figure out where to go.
ASHER: Something tells me you've got. A, you've got time, and, B, you're going to be just fine. You know, what you've done, I mean, what you've
done, even at 21 is phenomenal. You should be very proud. I'm sure your parents are extremely proud as well.
Ethan Clark, live for us. Thank you so much for coming on the program.
CLARK: Thank you for having me on.
ASHER: Of course, anytime.
All right. There are dedicated dads and then there's David Jones. This father of the bride is a contender for Father of the Year. That's because
he trudged 27 kilometers, which is basically 17 miles through flooding, and debris from one of the most brutal storms in U.S. history after his drive
ended at a washed away bridge.
The South Carolina resident says he had to get to Tennessee on time and this is why.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID JONES, FATHER OF THE BRIDE: Everybody I met along the way, police tried to talk me out of it, state troopers, people clearing the roads. I
told them all, my daughter's walking down the aisle at 11:00 this morning and I'm going to be the one walking her down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Oh, as you can see, this dad for all seasons made it to his daughter's big day. And even the sun came out to greet him.
All right. With the election just weeks away, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are pushing for voters to get them to the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[12:30:07]
JADE GRAY, FORMER CO-PRESIDENT, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN COLLEGE DEMOCRATS: You are not getting to the White House unless you get Michigan and you're
certainly not getting to the White House unless you get Gen Z.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Coming up, how college students in Michigan could be a crucial factor in who wins.
Plus, Kamala Harris' campaign getting a major celebrity endorsement. We'll have details for you, just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: Now, welcome back to ONE WORLD. I'm Zain Asher. Back now to our top story.
Israel is engaged in the most intense aerial campaign outside Gaza in just -- in the past two decades. Just this hour, the CNN crew in Beirut has
heard more airstrikes. Fourteen hundred people have died. That's according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
The Israeli military has been pummeling the south of Lebanon and Beirut's southern suburbs in a new wave of attacks. The IDF says it's going after
Hezbollah targets. Israeli airstrikes have also cut off a key border crossing between Lebanon and Syria, a road used by tens of thousands of
people trying to flee the violence.
Israel says the targets there were tunnels that it claims are used to smuggle weapons to Hezbollah.
And on Thursday, Israel says it killed a local Hamas leader in a rare airstrike on a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.
The Boss has announced who is getting his support in the U.S. presidential election. Bruce Springsteen took to Instagram explaining why he's siding
with Democrats in November, calling the election one of the most consequential elections in our nation's history.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, MUSICIAN AND SONGWRITER: Hi, I'm Bruce Springsteen. Friends, fans and the press have asked me who I'm supporting in this most
important of elections. And with full knowledge, in my opinion, is no more or less important than those of any of my fellow citizens. Here's my
answer.
I'm supporting Kamala Harris for president and Tim Walz for vice president and opposing Donald Trump and J.D. Vance.
[12:35:07]
Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are committed to a vision of this country that respects and includes everyone.
That's the vision of America I've been consistently writing about for 55 years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Getting the youth vote out in the U.S. state of Michigan could ultimately be key in determining who wins the White House in November.
Voters under the age of 30 are a crucial part of the Democratic Party's coalition in the state, but criticism and protests have emerged over the
Biden administration's response to the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
CNN's John King went to Ann Arbor, Michigan, home of the National College football champs, Michigan Wolverines, to check in with young voters.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fall in campus means football, In Ann Arbor that means Go Blue. Whatever your politics.
Fall on campus also means election crunch time. And here, the push to vote and vote early is just about everywhere you look.
GRAY: You are not getting to the White House unless you get Michigan. And you're certainly not getting to the White House unless you get Gen Z.
KING (voice-over): Jade Gray and Anushka Jalisatgi are former presidents of the College Democrats. Jalisatgi is now a first year law student born in
Missouri, but this time, voting in Michigan.
ANUSHKA JALISATGI, FORMER CO-PRESIDENT, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN COLLEGE DEMOCRATS: A lot of my out-of-state friends are switching their
registration to Michigan because they know it's a battleground state.
KING (voice-over): The University Art Museum doubles as a voting hub. Outside, this registration desk stands out, as does this school day
concert.
(MUSIC)
That very spot, on our last visit in May, was home to a student encampment protesting Israel's response to the Hamas terrorist attack and Biden
administration weapons shipments to Israel.
The university won't allow another encampment, so it's harder to judge the depth of student anger. Gray now works in digital organizing and sees a
dramatic shift.
GRAY: Huge is an understatement. I think there's a drastic difference in support amongst young people for Vice President Harris versus President
Biden.
KING (voice-over): Attendance at College Democrats meeting is strong. This night spent phone banking.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm calling with the Michigan Democratic Party.
KING (voice-over): After a little pep talk from Michigan's Democratic governor.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let's go (INAUDIBLE).
KING (voice-over): But resentment lingers. The October 7th anniversary is at hand, the election just a month away now.
This is a meeting of the Syrian Students Association at Wayne State in Detroit.
KING: How many are hesitant having a hard time voting for Harris because of these policies? That's just about everybody.
KING (voice-over): Trouble for Harris is also easy to find in majority Arab-American, Dearborn.
Wahbeh Nuseibeh is Palestinian, a 26-year-old Wayne State student who voted for Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden.
WAHBEH NUSEIBEH, WAYNE STATE STUDENT: I'm not voting for Kamala Harris. Not in good conscience, I cannot vote for someone that uses my hard earned tax
dollars to kill my friends and families overseas.
KING (voice-over): Nuseibeh plans to vote third party.
NUSEIBEH: Donald Trump is a threat to our democracy and threat to our society.
KING (voice-over): The campus divide goes well beyond picking a president at both Ann Arbor and Wayne State anger at school officials for how
protests have been handled. And among students a divide over how we got here.
NUSEIBEH: Yes, there were atrocities on October 7th, but again, these people are fighting for their land and for their families.
KING: So on October 7th, they weren't fighting on their land. They crossed into Israel.
NUSEIBEH: Yes. So even though, again, we go back to this didn't start on October 7th, it really didn't.
KING (voice-over): Maya Siegmann is a Wayne State Junior active in the campus Hillel chapter, just back from a summer in Israel.
MAYA SIEGMANN, WAYNE STATE STUDENT: The propaganda war, the social media war, the news war that Hamas and Israel are fighting, Hamas is winning. It
is hard, because when people talk about being on the right side of history, and then they don't educate themselves enough to figure out which one is
the right side, it's a bandwagon effect.
KING (voice-over): Siegmann will vote Harris, though she wishes the vice president would give more details.
SIEGMANN: The debate was hard because she didn't directly answer most of the questions. And when the topic of the Israel-Hamas war came up, then
there wasn't really a solid response as to how she would solve it.
KING (voice-over): There are a few signs of Trump support on either campus, his green light to Israel isn't what most students want to hear.
KING: So if you, in a perfect world, wanted to recruit some of those disaffected Democrats, he's not helping you?
MAX SCHESKE, MICHIGAN COLLEGE REPUBLICANS: No, probably not.
KING (voice-over): Max Scheske is a member of the Michigan College Republicans. He will vote for Trump, but he is hardly a fan.
SCHESKE: He's a bit of a grifter. You know, if you can kind of get them to say or believe anything, as long as you think that's where the votes fly.
KING (voice-over): Scheske says GOP energy is up a bit as the election draws near, but that many students planning to vote Trump just can't wait
to move on.
[12:40:05]
SCHESKE: We certainly do kind of have kind of our, you know, Trump is, you know, Trump is basically Jesus wing of the club. But we also -- we do
actually have a very sizable, you know, very critical of Trump.
KING (voice-over): There's no doubt Harris is running strong here. Strong enough is the question.
GRAY: If she comes up short in Michigan, I don't think it's because of young voters. I think it's probably because we waited too long to make a
switch.
I sure hope she doesn't come up short in Michigan because I don't really want to be talking to people about how young people should have done more
when I feel like we're doing a lot.
KING (voice-over): Game time in a state Harris needs to keep blue.
John King, CNN, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: And Vice President Harris is expected to meet another key constituency in Michigan, Arab and Muslim-Americans, later today. Her
campaign is increasing its outreach in the community, after many abandoned support for Joe Biden over his support of the war in Gaza. Biden narrowly
won Michigan in 2020.
All right. The U.S. economy may have dodged an economic bullet. The dockworker strike that crippled ports from Maine to Texas is now over. The
union reached a tentative deal yesterday with employers, which included raises of $4 an hour for the next six years.
This was a comment from President Joe Biden after the announcement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The dockworkers are going back to work. And in the next 90 days, we're going to settle everything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: The strike, which began this week, threatened to append U.S. exports and imports ahead of the crucial holiday shopping season. Sources told us
the White House pressed shipping companies to cut a deal with the union.
One union leader explained what the agreement means to workers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT COWAN, PRESIDENT, ILA LOCAL 333: It means that they can -- they can provide, put food on the table, pay their bills. They don't have to worry
anymore, possibly losing their cars or their homes or anything like that. You know, we're just coming back off of a major catastrophe, maritime
tragedy with the bridge collapse. We were out of work for two months. Now we're out of work for a few more days. We're very excited to be back.
All right. That does it for this hour of ONE WORLD. I'm Zain Asher. Appreciate you watching. Marketplace Africa is up next. You're watching
CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:45:22]
ZAIN ASHER, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome to MARKETPLACE AFRICA. We cover the biggest economic trends impacting the continent. I'm Zain Asher.
As one of the world's leading producers of cocoa, Ghana's industry is in flux. You've got rising demand, you've got declining output, both combining
to drive the global cocoa prices much, much higher.
We took a look to see how change, be it prices or climate, is impacting Ghana's cocoa producers today.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: It's a quick snack, a vital ingredient in many sweet treats, and one of those gifts that's appropriate for almost any occasion.
But these days, picking up your favorite chocolates costs more than it used to.
MICHAEL MARMON-HALM, MANAGING DIRECTOR, FAIRAFRIC: I doubt if anybody had ever envisaged that there would be a time where cocoa prices that were
selling about $2,500 or less per metric ton, just last year would be doing close to 10,000 or 12,000 USD per metric ton.
ASHER: West Africa is the world's biggest player when it comes to cocoa, but production in the region has been dropping.
DENNIS ASARE, ANALYST, IMANI CENTER FOR POLICY AND EDUCATION: Cocoa is very critical to Ghana's economy. But from 2021 down to 2023, 2024 season,
production has declined by about 35 to 40 percent. And that is mainly because of one, the climate conditions, environmental degradation, high
cost of farming and also the spread of this cocoa swollen shoot disease.
ASHER: While the Ivory Coast and Ghana produce more than 60 percent of the world's supply, their cut of the profits isn't so sweet.
ASARE: The chocolate industry is about $130 billion, but if you look at the share of Ghana in Cote d'Ivoire, it's even less than $3 billion. If you
look at Ghana's share within even the chocolate industry broadly, it's just about 1.3 percent. But Ghana produces more than a fifth of the total global
cocoa production.
ASHER: In Ghana, some indigenous companies are looking to capture a slice of the multi-billion dollar global chocolate market by processing and
manufacturing their own offerings.
LLOYD ASHILEY, MANAGING DIRECTOR, NICHE COCOA INDUSTRY LIMITED: This whole cocoa industry have a lot of raw materials leaving the shores of Africa for
value addition in Europe or other parts of the world.
Niche is trying to add value from Africa before it leaves the continent.
MARMON-HALM: Fairafric is a free zones and registered company. We are also running recipes that are quite tied to indigenous situations. And so you
won't -- you won't easily find chocolates on the -- on the European market that has baobab and moringa, for example. And so these combinations have
helped us sell equally well on the international market.
ASHER: Fairafric says they export about 70 percent of their products mostly to Europe. And their strategy is to attract an increasingly discerning
consumer.
MARMON-HALM: In the last few months, we've seen an upward adjustments in terms of how much the market is asking for our drops and access now. We are
doing everything ethically and make our story very appealing to the consumer and to mother earth and that's what has worked for us.
ASHER: For Niche Cocoa, 90 to 95 percent of its products are exported internationally.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are selling the taste of Ghana where we are letting consumers in international markets get chocolates made from Ghana, solely
made from Ghana, so they would have a feel of what Ghanaian cocoa tastes like.
ASHER: Despite rising chocolate prices, demand has remained steady, something research analyst, Dennis Asare, says local companies should
capitalize on.
ASARE: But I think that just as global chocolate chains or businesses are re-strategizing to look at how the market is going to look and how they can
plan their business proposals or business outlook, same local companies should do that.
ASHER: And both companies say trading with other countries on the continent could help unlock bigger profits.
ASHILEY: They're just quite vocal when it comes to the African free trade, whereby we are pushing for inter-trade between the African continent. We
can sell chocolates to people in Kenya. We can buy milk for people in South Africa. We can buy sugar from Egypt.
ASHER: As industry stakeholders continue to wait and see, there is some optimism that with a new season and all hands on deck across the value
chain, sweeter times are in store.
ASARE: For businesses within the cocoa space, it is not all gloom and doom because going into the next season, what we are expecting is that the
weather levels will stabilize. It's not just one stakeholder work, it requires collaboration from all the stakeholders within the space to ensure
that we address the challenge mainly the swollen shoot disease, environmental degradation, invest more into climate change or climate
resilience in our cocoa farming.
[12:50:16]
It will create a much more enabling or supportive ecosystem within the cocoa industry. Then at least in the medium term, we may get out of the
woods.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: Coming up next, how hoop dreams are closer to becoming a reality for those across Africa.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: Welcome back. In recent years, the game of basketball has seen a boom on the African continent.
CNN's Eleni Giokos recently sat down with NBA Africa CEO, Clare Akamanzi, to talk about the Basketball Africa League and why the NBA has its sights
set on growing the game in Africa.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLARE AKAMANZI, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, NBA AFRICA: So first of all, NBA has decided to invest in Africa. And as I said, to invest in the long term.
So we're here to really develop this.
ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You've taken on this role from the end of last year, end of 2023. Tell me why this job was lucrative for you.
AKAMANZI: For me, my goal in life, as I've seen it professionally, is to really direct the direct economic development and growth of the continent.
GIOKOS: Yes.
AKAMANZI: I think that for Africa to reach where it needs to reach, which is a more prosperous country, a more transformed continent, people need to
invest in making that happen.
And so for me, sports delivered what I thought is kind of a convening industry that can create demand across the economy.
GIOKOS: So momentum is building, but how is that translating into fans and people wanting to come and watch the games?
AKAMANZI: We have a lot more competition, we have players that are really, really fighting to win. And it's a very beautiful thing to see in that
sense.
But the second aspect of growth and momentum that we're seeing is even just the number of fans that are coming to watch games. Last year, with the
season three we finished with about 70,000 fans.
This past season that just ended, we had 120,000 fans that came to watch through the season. That's a very big growth in terms of attendance.
GIOKOS: I mean, the question is, can basketball become as popular as football on the continent?
AKAMANZI: We know it's the second, you know, most popular game --
GIOKOS: Yes.
AKAMANZI: -- after, you know, football. And we know football will still remain popular, but we see basketball really growing very fast as well.
What we really want to see is how basketball continues to play an economic driver on the continent.
If you look at a tournament like we just had in Senegal or Egypt or South Africa or even Kigali, you bring a tournament like that, you bring players,
you bring coaches, you bring referees, you bring different types of professionals in the -- in the -- in the sports field, but you also bring
fans that come and occupy hotels, they come and eat, they have fun. It really helps the economic ecosystem.
GIOKOS: So you're talking about the multiplier effect, essentially. But has the NBA done any research and work to figure out what the economic impact
has been?
AKAMANZI: If we take Rwanda as an example, having had the finals there for about three to four times for four years, we see an economic potential of
about $20 million that we've contributed directly by bringing games over the last four seasons.
And so we think that the potential is a lot more because the multiplier effect is more.
GIOKOS: What's the target on being profitable?
AKAMANZI: We're here, first of all, to create impact.
GIOKOS: Yes.
AKAMANZI: We're here -- we're not here to count every year, every profit making year that's available. What we're here is, first of all, to build
the impact and to prove that you can have a league on the continent that is successful.
And if you look at the growth and momentum that the Basketball Africa League has had over the years, I think it's a -- it's proof and testament
that this is something that we will see doing even more impact.
[12:55:07]
And for us, we're focused right now on the impact and that impact is going to drive the commercial aspects as well.
GIOKOS: So you're saying it's viable. So you need the support from your shareholders until such time where you're able to be independently
profitable?
AKAMANZI: We need support from all partners in the ecosystem.
GIOKOS: And are you getting it? Are you getting the support?
AKAMANZI: We have excellent support.
GIOKOS: Tell me about distribution right now and what challenges you're experiencing on that front.
AKAMANZI: This year is that we had a partnership with Canal Plus that is going to be broadcasting the BAL games for the next five years, starting
with this season. So that for me is growth because Canal Plus sees the potential and sees why they should be investing in this.
But it's not just Canal Plus. We have free-to-air partners that we have on the continent. We have pay TV that we have access to our games as well.
But I think the opportunity that we're really developing for the future is streaming. Having -- because we have a lot of Africans that -- a lot more
Africans that are actually accessing content on their smartphones, on their mobile phones.
GIOKOS: Yes. One of the things that always strikes me is just the percentage of players in the NBA itself that is from African heritage, born
in Africa. It comes down to the continent losing incredible talents.
Do you think that's going to change now with the Basketball Africa League?
AKAMANZI: That is why BAL was established to change that. So NBA is the elite --
GIOKOS: Yes.
AKAMANZI: -- you know, platform to play. That's for sure. But NBA can only take so much players.
Today, as we say, there's 10 percent of over players that are either from Africa or whose parents are from Africa. You're talking about 50 players at
most. And 50 players, that's a very small number.
But what BAL is doing, or the Basketball Africa League is doing, is providing opportunities for hundreds more to play on the continent without
thinking that they can only fulfil their dreams when they leave the continent.
What we are building and what we're offering to the youth of Africa is that you can leave your dream to become a sports legend or a sports icon on the
continent.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: All right. That does it for us here on MARKETPLACE AFRICA. Remember, you can keep up with us online and on social media as well. I'm Zain Asher.
I'll see you next time in the marketplace.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
