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One World with Zain Asher
U.S. Not Informed About Ukraine's "Spiderweb" Operation; Accusations Of Israeli War Crimes Continuing; Some U.S. Companies Shift Supply Chain To Dominican Republic; AI-Generated Videos Mock U.S. President's Tariff Policies; Trump Administration Rolls Back Biden Guidance On Emergency Abortions; mayor Unveils $105 Plan To heal Tulsa race Massacre Wounds; Saharan Dust Cloud Expected To Hit U.S. Southeast; Aired 12-1p ET
Aired June 04, 2025 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[12:00:27]
ZAIN ASHER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Standing together or drifting apart? The U.S. is sending mixed messages to Ukraine.
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: "ONE WORLD" continues right now.
Pete Hegseth is skipping out on a key meeting on Ukraine. It is the first time an American defense secretary won't have a seat at the table. So,
where does the relationship between America and Ukraine stand?
ASHER: And Tulsa's road to repair. The city's first black mayor unveils a $100 million plan, reparations for some black residents. Will it work?
We'll ask him, just ahead.
And later.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTY MCFLY, BACK TO THE FUTURE: Hey, Doc, you better back up. We don't have enough road to get up to 88.
EMMETT BROWN, BACK TO THE FUTURE: Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: We need Harry Enten right now. One of the most iconic props in cinema history is missing. Mm. How you can help, that's later in the show.
ASHER: All right. Coming to you live from New York, I'm Zain Asher.
GOLODRYGA: And I'm Bianna Golodryga. You're watching the second hour of "ONE WORLD."
And we are watching a delicate dance play out in the U.S. Capitol today, where senior Ukrainian officials met with Secretary of State Marco Rubio in
hopes of shoring up support for their war effort.
Andriy Yermak, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's chief of staff, said that they discussed the need to strengthen Ukraine's air defenses.
ASHER: It's unclear if the U.S. will be on board with that. We are learning that U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is sitting out on a key meeting
happening today that is focused on getting military equipment to Ukraine.
This is the first time someone holding the position of U.S. Defense Secretary will miss this meeting, which has been held monthly since the
early days of the war.
The timing right now, of course, is really crucial coming just days after Ukraine's audacious attack on Russia's air fleet, an operation that
apparently came as a surprise to the U.S.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He said that Zelenskyy didn't have the cards when they met at the Oval Office a few months back. Does Zelenskyy possibly have some
cards that the president hadn't known about?
KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I spoke to him about it just this morning, is he remains positive at the progress that we've seen.
Again, he urged both leaders to sit down and talk directly with one another, and they did that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was President Trump informed in advance by Ukraine that the attack is coming?
LEAVITT: He was not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: Now, all of this really underscoring how wide the gulf between the United States and Ukraine has become under this new administration.
CNN's Kylie Atwood is in Washington, D.C. for us. And, Kylie, we just heard from President Putin today saying that he's rejecting a meeting in a summit
with President Zelenskyy and a ceasefire, really dashing hopes that perhaps a ceasefire would be on the horizon. And now you have our Defense Secretary
Pete Hegseth not participating in this meeting.
What signals is the White House sending here?
KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN U.S. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, listen, it's -- it's very clear that this is a precarious moment for these ongoing talks with
regard to the future of the Ukraine where you had the U.S. quite intimately involved in trying to bring both -- both parties to the table.
But when the talks took place earlier this week between Ukraine and Russia, U.S. officials were not in that room. Now, you have a situation where the
top defense official is not alongside Europeans at a critical meeting to talk about how to orchestrate continued military support for Ukraine.
Of course, that comes as Ukrainian officials are here in Washington. They met at the White House today. They had more meetings at the White House
today with Secretary of State Rubio, who's also interim national security advisor.
And as you said, Yermak, who was in that meeting from President Zelenskyy's office, said that one of the things that they discussed was the need for
strategic continued support when it comes to air defense for Ukraine.
I spoke with a senior administration official last night ahead of this meeting, who said that the Secretary's message to the Ukrainians would
mirror what we've seen over the last weeks in the sense that the United States welcomes the fact that Ukraine's posture at the table with the
Russians and with the U.S. to try and bring an end to the conflict has been productive, that they have productively engaged.
But also that the Trump administration is not going to be, in the words of this administration official, dragged back into continued unlimited support
for Ukraine.
So it does not appear that the Trump administration, despite the fact that these ongoing talks to try and bring a ceasefire about haven't actually
gone anywhere towards a ceasefire. It doesn't seem like the Trump administration is in any way prepared to up its military support to Ukraine
at this time.
[12:05:15]
But, of course, the backdrop being that there was this audacious drone strike from the Ukrainians deep inside Russia over the weekend. And Keith
Kellogg, who is a special envoy for Ukraine, said yesterday that that does risk -- that does level up the risk of this situation. Because when you go
after nuclear bombers inside Russia, you really don't know what the Russians are going to do.
However, we haven't heard from Trump administration officials that they are warning Ukraine against attacks like that, indicating that there is some
recognition that they can't really ask Ukraine to be adhering to a ceasefire just from one side of this conflict.
ASHER: All right. Kylie Atwood, stand by. Natasha, let me bring you in because obviously a lot of people are focused on the fact that Hegseth is
skipping this meeting, especially because it comes on the heels of some harsh rhetoric that he's made about Ukraine.
Kylie already touched on the significance of him skipping this meeting, but just explain to us how officials are actually downplaying the significance
of him not being there.
NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So we asked Defense officials this morning why Secretary Hegseth would not be attending
this meeting, which previous Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin convened and attended virtually every month since the beginning of this war in Ukraine.
And they said that his travel schedule had precluded him from attending the meeting today. Notably, he is going to be in Brussels tomorrow for a
meeting of NATO defense ministers. So it's unclear at this point just what the travel was that precluded him from attending today and why he could not
attend virtually, which he has done in the past as well.
But officials also told us that in his place, the U.S. Ambassador to NATO, Matthew Whitaker, is going to be representing the United States at the
Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting today. And as well, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia and Eurasia is going to be attending as
well in order to provide some of that more granular expertise when it comes to the war in Ukraine.
And so officials are basically saying, look, even though Secretary Hegseth is not attending, we are still going to have representation from the United
States there in order to reflect the interests of the U.S.
But still, you know, this all comes as Secretary Hegseth has repeatedly said that the burden for arming and equipping Ukraine, which is the main
purpose of this forum, is now expected to shift more to the U.K., Germany, as well as Europe and NATO as a whole.
He ceded that chairmanship of the forum to the U.K. and Germany very early on in his tenure. Very clear signal here that the U.S. does not intend to
continue providing that military to support to Ukraine, expects the Europeans to really pick up most of that burden at this point.
ASHER: Natasha Bertrand, live for us there. Kylie Atwood, thank you so much.
GOLODRYGA: Well, as Gaza teeters on the brink of famine, distribution of badly needed aid is on hold today.
ASHER: Yes. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation says it's suspending aid handouts for 24 hours after Israel declared the roads leading to the
distribution sites as combat zones.
In the past few days, dozens of Palestinians have been killed heading towards the distribution sites. Israel says it's looking into those
incidents.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID MENCER, ISRAELI GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN: Our troops diligently issued warning shots. And as some of the suspects continued, despite these warning
shots, advancing towards the troops in a threatening manner, further fire was directed near these specific individuals.
The IDF is very much aware of reports of casualties and is reviewing the incident.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: Now, since the war in Gaza began, accusations of war crimes have been leveled against Israel, accusations that Israel has consistently
denied.
Back in October, a U.N. Commission of Inquiry said Israel committed war crimes and crimes against humanity by targeting Gaza's healthcare system.
ASHER: On Monday, former U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told Sky News that Israel, without a doubt, had committed war crimes. While
going on to say he does not believe Israel is perpetrating a genocide, though.
And in a CNN interview, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said, the Israeli government's view is that everyone in Gaza is a terrorist, a view
that he wholly rejects.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EHUD OLMERT, FORMER ISRAELI PRMIE MINISTER: The war in Gaza is a terrorist, all of them are Hamas, and all of them should be wiped out and be starved
and so on. This is a war crime. There is no other word to describe it but a war crime. And I totally can't accept it. It's unacceptable, unbearable,
and unforgivable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: Now, Israel has continually denied committing war crimes and says it has a right to defend itself.
[12:10:05]
So, do its actions in Gaza meet the definition of war crimes? Let's bring in Alex Whiting, a former prosecutor at the International Criminal Court
and currently a professor at Harvard Law School. Professor, thank you so much for taking the time.
It's worth noting that Matt Miller in that interview where he said that he did believe that Israel was committing war crimes. He said it's an open
question whether Israel pursued a policy of war crimes, but there are certainly cases in which they occurred.
Explain to us why this is such a difficult issue to investigate and prove and if there's any difference between what Matt said, that it's an open
question about whether these were policies by the Israeli government versus these were individual actions by soldiers.
ALEX WHITING, FORMER PROSECUTOR, INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT: Right. So war crimes are extremely hard to prove. If you're proving -- trying to
prove them in a court of law, of course, it's one thing to say, you know, in public statements that war crimes have been committed or it looks like
war crimes have been committed, but if you're really talking about trying to accuse somebody and prove -- prove it in a court of law, it's extremely
difficult to prove because you have to prove that it was intentional.
You have to prove specific incidents and you have to have evidence, you know, that -- that's -- that can be shown in a court of law.
And then to your second -- the second part of your question, yes, certainly it looks like from -- from the -- from, you know, any -- any person
observing the war, it looks like there have been incidents of war crimes.
However, again, trying to prove which incidents and whether you could prove them in court is another thing, but also trying to prove whether that
amounts to a policy or whether these are individual incidents, that requires further investigation and proof.
ASHER: And what does the investigation into war crimes look like? Because under humanitarian law, for example, in any conflict, all parties have to
distinguish clearly between combatants and civilians.
And, of course, the focus on this week is just the fact that you had dozens of Palestinians shot at and killed as they were trying to receive aid.
Just explain to us, just looking at this specific incident, seeing this happen for three days straight, what would an investigation look like into
that as it pertains to war crimes?
WHITING: Right. So you're right that war crimes in this context is about whether civilians have been targeted, have been intentionally targeted.
As a matter of course, unfortunately, one of the horrible things in war is that civilians die even when war crimes are not being committed. So to
prove a war crime, you have to prove that the civilians were intentionally targeted.
So an investigation in a case like this, you want to look -- there are two parts to the investigation. First, you want to look at what happened on the
ground. You want to look at who was targeted, what -- what -- what unfolded, what were the consequences, were there any military targets, were
they civilians and so forth. So that's the first part.
The second part is harder, which is you -- you want to look for evidence of the intent of the combatants, of the perpetrators, those who fired, those
who shot -- who shot.
Sometimes that intent can be proven by direct evidence, witnesses or -- or documents or records or communications.
But oftentimes, it has to be proven by circumstantial evidence, by a pattern or by evidence that it was obvious that they were civilians.
There's no question that they -- or that there was a pattern of targeting civilians.
You know, one time maybe it's -- it's -- it's possible it was a mistake or misunderstanding or bad intelligence. But if it continually happens, then
prosecutors often rely on that pattern to show that they're -- to show the proof of intent, that there must have been an intention to target the
civilians.
GOLODRYGA: Retired U.S. Army General Stanley McChrystal is also the former commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, was asked to comment on these
allegations made by former Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert.
And he said that, sadly, this was predictable when you look at the history of insurgencies or terrorist groups, and this is a unique war given the
fact that, as he noted, that these terrorist groups, their strategy is to get their opponents to overreact. We know that Hamas has, throughout the
course of the war, embedded itself among civilians.
How do you then litigate or pursue questions and investigations about war crimes in this type of setting?
WHITING: Right. Well, it -- it -- it is extraordinarily difficult because of the way that the Hamas is embedded into the civilian population and
drawing distinctions between civilians and combatants becomes very difficult.
[12:15:09]
And of course, Israel has a right to target combatants and not to target civilians. But trying to make the distinction in who's who is complicated.
But -- but that -- even if it's -- even though it's hard, Israel still has the obligation to make that distinction to try to rely on reliable
intelligence. And as Olmert said, it -- it would never be a legitimate response to simply define everybody as a target, everybody as a combatant,
or everybody as a member of Hamas. That is per se illegitimate.
But trying to make the -- trying to get the right intelligence and -- and make the distinction is admittedly hard. And that's what makes it also hard
to prove that war crimes have been committed, because you have to prove that the commanders who ordered the attacks failed to make that distinction
or simply targeted everybody or intentionally targeted civilians.
GOLODRYGA: All right. Professor Alex Whiting, thank you so much for taking the time.
WHITING: Thank you.
ASHER: Donald Trump has fired another salvo in his global trade war, and it's America's closest allies who may be taking the hardest hit.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. Fifty percent tariffs on steel and aluminum imports are now in effect after the U.S. president signed an executive order doubling the
levies on Tuesday in a move he says will protect American industries.
But critics say it will come at the cost of a broader slowdown elsewhere in the U.S. economy, including the loss of manufacturing jobs.
The E.U.'s trade commissioner responded with this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAROS SEFCOVIC, EUROPEAN UNION TRADE COMMISSIONER: For us, this 50 percent is indeed a surprise because I can tell you that when the first time it's
been imposed on us on the steel, aluminum and derivatives, it was very clear for me from my discussions with our counterparts that we are not real
U.S. problems if it comes to steel, aluminum and derivatives.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Canada is the largest supplier of steel and aluminum to the U.S.
And another top trading partner, Mexico is vowing to take countermeasures if an agreement isn't reached.
CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich Jones is live now from New York. I mean, with all of the tariffs and the trade uncertainty, I mean, you have obviously steel
and aluminum tariffs now doubling to 50 percent.
The onus, of course, now is on American companies who are trying to reconfigure their supply chains. Walk us through that.
VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And we've heard from so many businesses, U.S. businesses in particular, that are
trying to reroute their supply chains, particularly out of places like China that have those very high tariff rates.
And as I was talking to businesses, there was one country in particular that some were looking at to actually move their supply chains to, and that
is the Dominican Republic, a Caribbean island, very small island.
But there are actually a lot of companies that manufacture right in the Dominican Republic already and are starting to move there. You have Hanes,
you have Eaton, you have Timberland, have Cardinal Health and World Emblem. The largest producer of clothing patches is actually breaking ground this
month and opening their new factory next year.
The Dominican Republic has actually seen an increase in foreign investment in 2024 by 7.1 percent. And it accounted for 41 percent of all foreign
investment to the Central America region and 20 percent of that investment went right into the manufacturing sector just behind tourism.
And so, why are companies looking to the Dominican Republic? Well, there's a couple of reasons. One is they have these free zones and essentially
there's a lot of tax exemptions if you set up your plant or factory in these free zones. You're exempt from income taxes, local taxes, import
taxes. That could be to the tune of millions of dollars for these companies.
Also, proximity to the United States. It take -- takes just days to send products on a cargo vessel from the Dominican Republic to the United States
verse sending product from Asia to the United States, which can take weeks. And then wages. Wages are significantly lower, by about 30 percent, even
compared to Mexico.
But what are the hurdles maybe to getting up and running in the Dominican Republic? Well, the island is small. There's not as much space to set up
manufacturing there. And with a smaller island, you just have smaller population. So there's fewer workers to train for some of these more
technical skills that these manufacturers would need.
And then, of course, sort of the biggest issue that I heard from people who study this is people just don't know about manufacturing in the Dominican
Republic. I actually asked the CEO of World Emblem how he came to decide to set up shop in the Dominican Republic.
[12:20:05]
And I thought his answer was very telling. He's moving about 30 to 35 percent of his manufacturing out of China and Mexico into the Dominican
Republic.
He told me that the way that he found out about this is through ChatGPT. He asked ChatGPT where the best place was to manufacture his products. And
ChatGPT gave him, I guess, a good tip because he's now investing millions of dollars into the country. And that's where he's going to be producing a
lot of the products that he sells around the world.
Zain, Bianna.
ASHER: All right. Vanessa Yurkevich live for us there. Thank you so much.
GOLODRYGA: Well, tensions are rising between the world's two largest economies and the U.S. President may be getting frustrated. The White House
has suggested that a call with China's leader will take place soon. But as far as we know it, that hasn't happened yet.
ASHER: Yes. And an early morning post on his social media platform Trump wrote that Xi Jinping is quote, extremely hard to make a deal with.
Meantime, Chinese media are taking some new swipes at the U.S. President with the help of A.I.
CNN's Will Ripley explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This A.I. generated anime is going viral in China, portraying U.S. President Donald
Trump as a tariff wielding superhero. It's one of several recent videos mocking Trump's trade war policies, many of them created with A.I.
China's English-language broadcaster produced this video, blaming Trump's tariffs for U.S. inflation and global instability. The video echoes
Beijing's official stance.
Since the U.S. imposition of the unilateral tariff measures, it has not resolved any of its own issue, she says, and has instead severely
undermined the international economic and trade order.
China's Xinhua news agency produced this A.I. animation featuring a robot named Tariff programmed to impose trade restrictions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I now choose death to end the harm.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please, don't do this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Goodbye, Dr. Mallory (ph).
RIPLEY (voice-over): The robot self-destructs rather than obey orders to raise tariffs.
A.I. generated clips like these showing Trump and Elon Musk hard at work in factories have been flooding China's tightly-controlled social media
platforms for months, all untouched by Beijing's army of online censors.
Designed to push China's narrative, the U.S. is making a fool of itself, and more importantly, losing ground to China in the global trade war
President Trump started.
China's foreign trade has been able to withstand the difficulties, he says, maintaining steady growth and showing strong resilience to maintain
competitiveness on the international front.
China's Bureau of Statistics put out numbers claiming exports are actually rising despite the trade war, partially due to a surge in orders before the
tariffs kicked in. Outside observers often question the accuracy of China's numbers, which are impossible to independently verify.
At this Chinese textile plant, the director says the U.S. no longer dominates their strategy.
The trade war made me realize the U.S. is just a small part of the global market, he says. We'd rather bring Chinese products to the rest of the
world, reasonably priced, high-quality, and let more people benefit.
China's top diplomat is also firing back, Wang Yi reportedly telling, new U.S. Ambassador David Perdue the U.S.-China relationship's at a critical
juncture. The Chinese readout of the meeting also says David Perdue stated that President Trump greatly respects President Xi Jinping. Far from tough
talk, China claims, ahead of that likely crucial call between Trump and Xi.
RIPLEY: They sure do have a lot to talk about. The 90-day trade truce they brokered in Geneva is unraveling right now. At stake, rare earth minerals
vital for U.S. tech and defense, which China is still restricting.
Washington's latest retaliatory moves include tech sanctions and student visa bans. Both sides are now accusing the other of undermining the
agreement, which is putting global markets and supply chains on edge.
Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GOLODRYGA: And we'll see if that phone call happens in the days ahead.
Still coming up for us, though, abortion is back in the headlines. We'll tell you about the latest guidance from the Trump administration on
abortions and emergency care.
Also ahead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANAA SEIF, LAILA SOUEIF'S MOTHER: My mom has lost, like, half of her body weight. She looks like a totally different woman now. She's really putting
her body on the line for Alaa's freedom.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: This British Egyptian mother has been on a hunger strikes in September in an effort to free her son from jail. Doctor say, she could die
soon.
GOLODRYGA: And millions of Americans are under air quality alerts as a massive dust cloud moves in.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:25:37]
ASHER: The Trump administration is rolling back federal guidance requiring hospitals to provide access to abortions in the event of a medical
emergency.
GOLODRYGA: In 2022, the Biden administration issued the guidance even where there are state laws against abortion.
CNN medical correspondent, Meg Tirrell has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this guidance focuses on a 1986 federal law called EMTALA, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor
Act. And essentially, what that requires is that any hospital that gets Medicare funding, which is the majority of hospitals in the United States,
and that has an emergency department, has to provide stabilizing care to patients who show up in an emergency situation regardless of their ability
to pay.
Now, in 2022, after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the Biden administration put out guidance and a letter to healthcare providers,
essentially just stating that EMTALA applies to situations where doctors may have to provide an abortion as that necessary emergency care to
pregnant women to preserve their health or their life, even in states with strict abortion bans.
So essentially saying that EMTALA, the federal law preempts any state law that might conflict with it.
Now, this became the subject of a Supreme Court case, but the Trump administration essentially dropped that case. And now, the Trump
administration putting out this new guidance, rescinding that policy and saying it, quote, does not reflect the policy of this administration, but
still emphasizing that they'll continue to enforce EMTALA, including for identified emergency medical conditions that place the health of a pregnant
woman or her unborn child in serious jeopardy.
Now, of course, there are a total abortion bans in about a dozen states across the United States, and still other states have bans according to
gestational limits.
And the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says that rescinding this guidance is going to increase confusion in those states
over whether doctors can legally provide this kind of stabilizing care. And they are concerned that the result may be that pregnant women who are in
these emergency situations may not get that kind of timely care.
We did hear that in Idaho, which was the subject of that Supreme Court case, patients were being flown to other states in order to provide that
care and avoid any sort of conflict with this law.
So there are concerns over what the rescinding of this guidance means for doctors and for their patients.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[12:30:00]
ASHER: All right. A British Egyptian mother is at serious risk of dying from a hunger strike.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. According to her family, Laila Soueif began her hunger strike back in September in a plea to the U.K. government to free her son
from imprisonment in Egypt.
CNN's Nada Bashir reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is Alaa Abd el-Fattah, a British Egyptian human rights activist and writer, seen here in his family
home in Egypt back in 2011, being welcomed by friends and family shortly after his release from prison.
But his freedom would be short-lived. Alaa was arrested once again in 2013 and jailed for over five years. He was later re-arrested in September 2019
and sentenced to a further five years behind bars in 2021.
He was charged with allegedly assaulting a police officer and spreading false news after sharing a Facebook post highlighting human rights abuses
in Egypt's jails.
Alaa's detention has sparked a years-long campaign led by his family, who say he has been arbitrarily detained.
His mother, Laila Soueif, has been at the heart of the campaign. Holding regular vigils outside Downing Street, demanding that the British
government do more to pressure Egypt's president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, to free Alaa from detention, and even embarking on a hunger strike in
September when Alaa's family had expected him to be released after completing his sentence.
With some signs of progress, Laila was persuaded to shift to a partial hunger strike in March, surviving on just 200 calories a day.
But her return to a full hunger strike in May has left her in a critical condition, with doctors at London St Thomas's hospital now providing urgent
care.
SEIF: My mum has lost half of her body weight. She looks like a totally different woman now. She also looks like she's aged 10 years in the past
seven months. And she's really putting her body on the line for Alaa's freedom.
BASHIR: Laila's hunger strike and gradual decline has been documented in videos filmed by the Free Alaa campaign.
LAILA SOUEIF, EGYPTIAN HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST: What it means when I actually see my body and my face, I look at my face in the mirror, it's so
different.
BASHIR: While Laila's daughters have championed her campaign for Alaa's freedom, they fear she may not have much time left.
It's a concern echoed by some lawmakers in Westminster, who are calling on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to take urgent action.
JOHN MCDONNELL, BRITISH MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT: We think the only thing that will shift Sisi is direct representations from the Prime Minister again,
but we've tried. We've tried the carrot, now we need more of the stick.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can I thank him for raising?
BASHIR (voice-over): According to Downing Street, the Prime Minister raised Alaa's case directly with the Egyptian President in a recent call.
KEIR STARMER, U.K. PRIME MINISTER: In this case, I have met Laila and given her my commitment to do everything I possibly can.
BASHIR (voice-over): But as Leila's condition continues to deteriorate, campaigners are warning that a failure by the British government to
intervene could not only cost Alaa's freedom, but also his mother's life.
SEIF: She's really convinced that Alaa will be free and will be with Khalid and Brighton (ph), with his son. She's just not sure whether she'll attend
that or not.
Nada Bashir, CNN in London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GOLODRYGA: Our thanks to Nada Bashir for that report.
And still to come for us, healing the wounds that can still be felt more than a century after one of the worst racial attacks in U.S. history.
Tulsa's first black mayor discusses his multi-million dollar road to repair plan.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:35:24]
GOLODRYGA: Welcome back to "ONE WORLD." I'm Bianna Golodryga.
ASHER: And I'm Zain Asher.
The first black mayor of Tulsa, Oklahoma is working to heal the wounds from one of America's worst racially motivated attacks.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. He's putting forward a $105 million plan to revitalize Tulsa's Greenwood district more than 100 years after the Tulsa race
massacre.
In 1921, Greenwood was a thriving majority black community, a commercial success that earned the nickname Black Wall Street with hotels,
restaurants, salons, and much more.
ASHER: In the spring of that year, an angry armed white mob viciously destroyed that district, as many as 300 people were killed. The whole area
was demolished.
Two people who lived through the killing and destruction are actually still alive today. And descendants of the people who lived in the neighborhood
say the mob didn't only wipe out their ancestors, but also their inheritance.
Mayor Monroe Nichols says his road to a path line will help restore some of what was destroyed. Some people in Tulsa say that they agree.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The best step in the right direction. And it's the first time we've ever heard any mayor talk about it.
I think that's a wonderful thing. And God knows I hope it happens.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And it's a step that has been long overdue.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Time now for "The Exchange." Joining us at live now to lay out his road to repair plan is Monroe Nichols, the first black mayor of Tulsa.
Mayor, thank you so much for being with us.
We have a -- a -- a large international audience. We have some members who are watching who are here in the U.S., but a really large robust
international audience. People who don't know, talk to us about the Tulsa race massacre, because this was one of the worst incidents of racial
violence in the U.S. It took place over two days and back in 1921.
And you essentially had a lot of black people killed, but not only individuals who were killed, but also their businesses as well in an area
that was known as the Black Wall Street. Walk us through that.
MONROE NICHOLS, MAYOR OF TULSA, OKLAHOMA: Yes, thank you. And thank you so much for talking about this. It's important because the one thing everybody
should know about the massacre is it was hidden from history books for about seven decades.
But the massacre was an event in 1921 where we saw about 1,200 black businesses burned to the ground, 35 blocks burned down and a -- and as a
result of racial violence, 300 killed. There's only report to be 36 at the time, but 300 folks killed.
It was an entrepreneurial center. It was the greatest example of black excellence to our country had known at the time, burned to the ground over
a -- a -- a short 24-hour period that changed everything for our city.
[12:40:03]
And I think it's -- I mean, nationally significant, obviously, given that it is the only documented domestic aerial assault in American city, in our
nation's history.
And so like it was -- it was the most intense act of racial violence this country has seen in a single event in our nation's history.
GOLODRYGA: Mayor, a -- a real black eye, obviously, to the country at the time that it happened, but I would say even more so arguably, given as you
noted correctly, that it was erased from the history books.
I mean, I was ashamed when this story came to light and we spent more time covering it. A few years ago here at CNN, I would speak to many of my
colleagues and childhood friends to recall whether we learned about this growing up in school and we didn't. And so that's another example of why it
is so important to document this history and to teach it.
As it relates to the road to repair plan, it focuses on community redevelopment rather than direct cash payments to those family members of
those who were affected and business owners as well.
Why did you choose to go down that path?
NICHOLS: Yes. You know, honestly, it was at the recommendation of descendants. After I got elected mayor in November, I took office December
the 2nd. And probably about 10 days after taking office, a number of recommendations on how we begin to mitigate the harm caused by the massacre
hit my desk.
The road to repair plan is part of those recommendations. There was a recommendation from the city's Beyond the Apology Commission, which was a
city commission that was established by my predecessor to invest in housing and home ownership. That's where the 24 million in housing and home
ownership funds, that's where the idea comes from.
The scholarships, the business grants, the no interest loans, the investment in the physical infrastructure that survived the massacre. All
those things were things that were asked for by the descendant community.
We wanted to make sure that we built something that was reflective of what those folks who were most impacted said. We need to do as a community to --
to repair and to address and mitigate the harm of the past.
And we also wanted to make sure we were investing things that spoke to what does it take to rebuild Greenwood once again? You know, if -- if -- if the
massacre is a stain on our city's history, which it is, how do you truly overcome that?
I believe you overcome it by making it to where the best days of the Greenwood district are still ahead and that's what the road to repair is
all about.
ASHER: Talk to us about the economic future that this part of Tulsa would have had, had the massacre not taken place.
NICHOLS: Yes, absolutely. You know -- you know, I've said oftentimes, Tulsa would have been an economic juggernaut as a city.
We know right now, even in 2025, business leaders, entrepreneurs of color have a hard time accessing capital, have a hard time really getting things
moving. But in that part of town, you had movie theaters, you had doctors' offices, you had attorneys' offices, you had -- you had everything that you
need in the thriving community, grocery stores, all the things that we see. We know a lot of our communities have our food deserts. Greenwood was not a
food desert.
And so if the massacre would have never happened, and I talked about this in my speech on Sunday, I just say imagine what it would have meant for our
economy, imagine what it meant for outcomes for kids, imagine what it meant for public safety.
And I think most importantly, what it would have meant in the kind of the rest we would have built in each other all these years. I say oftentimes,
you know. We know you all -- CNN has -- has a -- has a large presence in Atlanta.
I think Tulsa would have been Atlanta before Atlanta was Atlanta, right? I think Tulsa would have been one of the great examples of where folks from
all different backgrounds can come, can make a living, but can thrive.
And it -- it -- it robbed this entire city of our economic future, something that we really hope to restore.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. And that is part of the reason for this road to repair plan as you've laid out. It plans to raise over $100 million for the Greenwood
Trust by June of 2026.
How are you planning on raising this money? And can you talk about where it will be coming from? Is it private donation, public, private mix? How is
that going to work?
NICHOLS: Yes. The -- the goal is primarily through private investment. I mean, you know, it is my belief that there's a number of people across the
country that are very much compelled by the story in Greenwood, not just the massacre, but what was created pre-massacre and how that becomes a
model for how you can do these things across the country.
And so the goal this next year is to go out and raise the private capital to make these investments, right? I think the city will certainly be here
to support maybe with some assets that we may donate to the trust.
But it's also so we can take what is a historical fact and we can take it out of the political conversation and do what's right by descendants.
That's very difficult to do in today's political climate.
[12:45:02]
So what we didn't want to do is to worry about the barriers. We want to establish a private trust. We'll be appointing trustees, a board of
advisors.
We're going to be aggressive about raising the -- the -- the funds necessary to make this go. It'll come both from local and national sources.
But again, I think -- I think people are compelled by this story.
I also think our country really needs to find ways, innovative ways, in which we can repair harm. Tulsa's not the only city in the country to have
a race massacre. To broad scale one, but Wilmington, North Carolina, for example, is another example of those. And so we know these things have
happened other places across the country. We know it's been far too long without us acknowledging and then making sure that we're restoring the road
to repair. Our great hope is that it becomes a model for other communities across the country.
And this was not just a local story. This is a national story. This is American history. And so we're going to be asking people from all across
the country to help us repair the harm in this American city as part of our overall story as a country.
ASHER: Obviously, we can't bring the people who lost their lives back. But, of course, you know, you are doing your best to right really, really
traumatic wrong. Mayor Monroe Nichols, thank you so much.
Appreciate you joining us.
NICHOLS: Absolutely.
ASHER: All right, still to come. A massive dust cloud from Africa is actually making its way to the United States. How it's impacting air
quality, next.
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ASHER: Air quality may be impacted for parts of the United States starting today as a plume of dust is about to descend on portions of the southeast.
GOLODRYGA: The dust originated in Africa's Sahara Desert and made a westward track across the Atlantic Ocean.
CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam joins us now. So, Derek, what can people expect when this dust cloud arrives?
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Look, let's be honest, Bianna, Zain, this is going to have minimal disruptions to our lives, aside from beautiful
sunrises and beautiful sunsets, but it's still very interesting to know considering that this Saharan dust originated in North Africa made the four
thousand-mile trek across the Atlantic ocean as -- and now has arrived onto the shores of the southeastern U.S. and particular across the Caribbean
even seeing those some of those images in San Juan and the Puerto Rico region.
This is just amazing to see it this time of year. We're going to break it down for you, but I did find this very fascinating as well.
So the shade of gray, that's the smoke. That's the westward extent of this smoke plume. I'll show you the larger picture in just one moment.
[12:50:05]
But our dust plume, should say. But there is still wildfire smoke present over the over the eastern half of the United States. Remember, this is
coming from wildfires 200 miles to the north. So Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and to Canada, those two provinces where some of the wildfires are still
burning.
Look at the smoke indicated with that shade of green, blue, and yellow. That is colliding with dust from the Saharan Desert over 4,000 miles away.
So here's a broader picture just to give you a geographical reference. There's the United States, West Africa is here. You can watch the trailing
dust move from basically east to west. And it's landing right here across the southeastern United States.
And it's giving that kind of hazy, milky look to the horizon, especially at sunrise and especially at sunset, but some locations seeing it right in the
middle of the day as well.
So, what's driving it? It's the semi-permanent area of high pressure. This time of year, it starts to build across the central Atlantic.
This is the same one that creates the trade winds that push tropical systems from east to west. Basically as they form off of West Africa, they
move across this area known as the main development region. And this is where the dust plume is actually traveling.
And interesting to note that the Saharan dust, also known as the Saharan Air Layer, actually suppresses hurricane activity. So we like to see this
type of stuff, especially as we move towards the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season, which is in August, September and October.
So going forward with the smoke, it's just got to kind of rotate across the southeastern U.S. I keep saying smoke. I mean to say dust. But it's just
basically going to dissipate. It's at the upper levels of the atmosphere.
I'll leave you with this, Zain and Bianna. This is a current look in Miami. It is raining. If the clouds weren't there, we'd certainly have the dust
overhead.
They might have a thin layer of dust once it dries out here. So might have to be washing your car here pretty soon.
Back to you.
GOLODRYGA: Listen, suppressing hurricane activity, I think for people there, the Floridians, especially, but everywhere here in the North East.
VAN DAM: Yes, thumbs up. I guess more dust.
GOLODRYGA: That is a big thumbs up. More and more, please.
All right. Derek Van Dam, thank you.
ASHER: Thank you, Derek.
VAN DAM: All right.
ASHER: All right. This just in to CNN. Donald Trump says he has just spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He says the 85-minute phone call
touched on Ukraine's recent attacks deep inside Russia. Putin reportedly told Trump that he is going to have to retaliate for those attacks.
The two also discussed Iran. And according to Donald Trump, Putin will take part in talks with Iran.
We'll be right back after this short break with more.
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ASHER: Whose remember that scene? Oh, my goodness.
GOLODRYGA: One of my favorite movies. That iconic scene, Michael J. Fox from "Back to the Future," the original cast of the 1985 classic has
reunited, not for a reboot, unfortunately. They're reuniting to help locate a piece of history that hasn't been seen since the movie was made some 40
years ago.
ASHER: Yes. Hunt is underway for that cherry red Gibson guitar played by Michael J. Fox, aka Marty McFly. Filmmakers tried to locate the instrument
during production of the 1999 sequel, but they were unsuccessful.
Can you imagine how much it's worth it now?
In a video released by the guitar company, Fox and his co-stars made a plea to fans and collectors to help them track it down.
And the guitar search is part of a bigger project marking the movies. It's been -- now I feel old, 40 years.
GOLODRYGA: Finally, it took me to make you feel old. Harry Enten, by the way, where is Harry Enten?
ASHER: Roads? Where we're going, we don't need -- that's like my line with Harry Enten now.
GOLODRYGA: One day he's not here. Maybe he knows something about this guitar. Piecing this -- this -- this puzzle together.
This does it for this edition of "ONE WORLD." Thanks so much for watching. I'm Bianna Golodryga.
ASHER: I'm Zain Asher. Don't go late. She's going to be right back after the short break with "AMANPOUR."
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