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Hala Gorani Tonight

U.S. Health Officials Say Delta Variant is One of the Most Transmissible Viruses They Know About; Australia's Prime Minister Lays Out New Plan to Curb COVID-19; Wildfires in Southern Turkey Leave Four People Dead; China Accuses Britain Of Provocation In South China Sea; Amazon Faces Record Fine Over Alleged E.U. Privacy Breach; Endangered African Wild Dogs Reintroduced To Malawi. Aired 2-3p EST

Aired July 30, 2021 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

CYRIL VANIER, CNNI HOST: Hello everybody, thank you for joining us live from CNN in London, I am Cyril Vanier, in for Hala Gorani. Tonight, the

COVID-19 Delta variant is one of the most contagious respiratory diseases currently known to man.

What else we've just learned from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Then apocalyptic wildfire scenes, this time in Turkey. CNN is on the ground

speaking to people who lost everything. And later, superhero superstar Scarlett Johansson stands up to Disney suing them over streaming.

The war has changed. That's how top U.S. health officials describe the challenge we're all facing when it comes to the Delta variant. Why is that

particular mutation of the coronavirus so much more dangerous? We're finding out from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. First of

all, it's one of the most transmissible viruses we have ever encountered. Secondly, even fully-vaccinated people can get infected, and once they do,

they can spread it just as easily as those unvaccinated. Also the CDC cites three reports that indicate the disease itself could be more severe.

All the while, vaccinations which remain our best line of defense have been stalling in the U.S. and people in various parts of the world are rebelling

against restrictions and mandatory vaccines. So, let's start there. In the U.S., CNN health reporter Jacqueline Howard joins us from Atlanta.

Jacqueline, what stands out to me is that vaccines don't stop infections as much as we had thought or hoped.

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: That's kind of the big take away finding in these internal CDC documents that you just cited. Correct. What

we found here in these documents is really how transmissible the Delta variant is and how even among vaccinated people, like you said, Cyril, even

if you're vaccinated and you are infected with the Delta variant, it appears that you can still transmit it to others just as easily as an

unvaccinated person can. And to put in perspective just how contagious the Delta variant is, the leaked CDC document also broke down these numbers.

It says that if a person is infected with the original strain of the coronavirus, that sick person may spread the virus to about two to three

people on average. But if someone is infected with the Delta variant, that sick person could spread the virus to about five to nine people. And that's

a huge difference there. So, that's the wake-up call really for the world, that this Delta variant can spread easily and that helps explain why we

keep seeing an increase in cases across the world.

VANIER: Right. And it's interesting that you can now put a number on just how much more contagious it is. I mean, just back of the envelope, math

says it's 300 percent more contagious potentially, up to three times as much. Look, the document show the CDC is concerned that people will think

vaccines aren't effective after all, that maybe it's not, you know, worth getting vaccinated if there are these breakthrough infections. The numbers

actually say the exact opposite though.

HOWARD: Exactly. Even though, you know, these breakthrough infections can happen, the numbers still show that vaccines can help reduce your risk of

getting severely ill, being hospitalized or even dying of COVID-19. And just to put that in perspective, here are some additional numbers from the

CDC document. So, the document shows that vaccines reduce the risk of severe disease or death tenfold and then threefold when it comes to

reducing the risk of infection.

Now, this is reason to still get vaccinated. Even though, we're learning more about the Delta variant and how it is more easily transmissible, there

are still a huge benefit to getting vaccinated, not just for your own personal health to keep -- to reduce your risk of being hospitalized or

even dying, but also that can help relieve our healthcare systems that are over -- you know, whelmed with the pandemic right now.

And keeping people out of the hospital is really the main -- I would say, the main benefit here with the vaccine. It's reducing that risk. Cyril?

VANIER: Absolutely, keep people out of hospitals. Jacqueline Howard, thank you for your reporting out of Atlanta. Australia will continue enforcing

lockdowns to curb COVID until 70 percent of the country's population over age 16 is fully vaccinated. This is part of a phased plan laid out today by

the country's prime minister. So far, only 14.5 percent of Australians are fully vaccinated. So, there's a way to go. More details now on that new

plan.

[14:05:00]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): A path to freedom. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison laying out a staged plan to break the back of the

coronavirus.

SCOTT MORRISON, PRIME MINISTER, AUSTRALIA: Australians, we have to take each step together. And that starts with walking in the door of that

vaccine clinic and seeing that GP, that pharmacist, the state hub and getting that vaccine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, what does the government say is the way out? Phase A, suppression of the virus. It's where the country is now, and for the

near term, will continue to be with parts of the country with high infection rates going in and out of lockdowns to contain outbreaks. Phase B

will be reached when 70 percent of adults in the country are fully vaccinated. Morrison hoping this can be achieved by the end of the year,

saying those who get the shots will be subject to fewer COVID-19 restrictions.

MORRISON: So, if you get vaccinated, there will be special rules that will apply to you. Why? Because if you're vaccinated, you present less of a

public health risk.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Morrison says international borders will begin to reopen in phase C, when 80 percent of that population is fully vaccinated.

But getting people to follow the steps will be one of the government's biggest challenges. So far, just over 18 percent of people over 16 years

old in Australia are fully vaccinated because of a vaccination drive that got off to a slow start due to a shortage of doses. Also, Sydney's 5

million residents are under stay-at-home orders because of the highly contagious Delta variant, restrictions that are wearing thin with some

people.

Last week in Sydney, anti-lockdown protesters, fed up with coronavirus rules, turned out by the thousands, defying social distancing measures. The

premier of the state of New South Wales warned protesters not to repeat them this weekend.

GLADYS BEREJIKLIAN, PREMIER, NEW SOUTH WALES: Your actions will hurt -- forget about the rest of us. But you could be taking the disease home and

passing it on to your parents, your siblings, your brothers and sisters.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Officials say there will be a thousand police officers on hand this weekend, and the Australian defense force has been called in

to crack down on non-compliance. From Monday, some 300 army personnel will help police go door-to-door to ensure people who have tested positive are

isolating. The government saying these tougher measures, the only way to contain a virus that's becoming tougher to control.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VANIER: OK, turning to Europe. An increasing number of countries are imposing vaccine passports to try and protect their citizens from this

Delta variant. But not everyone is on board with that. CNN's Fred Pleitgen has the details.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, an increasing number of countries here in the European Union in Europe are

putting in place these policies of vaccination passes or so-called green passes, as they're also known.

Now, of course, all of this is very much in correlation to the very rapid spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus but also because of lagging

vaccine uptick, and it's meant to encourage people to get their vaccinations. And a lot of these governments are pushing these measures

through despite very public backlash.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PLEITGEN: Unrest on the streets of Paris. The crowd protesting new vaccine mandates put in place in an effort to stop a surge in coronavirus

infections. But despite the mayhem, France's president says he won't budge, and that he's had it with people refusing vaccination.

"What is your freedom worth if you say to me, I don't want to be vaccinated, but if tomorrow you infect your father, your mother, or me", he

says. France just passed a law mandating so-called virus passes or green passes for visits to restaurants and for domestic travel. One reason why

the government remains steadfast in the face of often violent protests, the vast majority in France endorses the stricter measures, experts say.

MICHEL WIEVIORKA, SOCIOLOGIST, EHESS: These people speak only in their own private name. They don't take into account, the connectivity. The fact that

protecting oneself is also protecting the world society.

PLEITGEN: As the Delta variant of the coronavirus spreads fast, countries across Europe are turning to green passes and in some cases, vaccination

mandates to get people protected. Starting in early August, Italy will require green passes for all indoor hospitality. The passes provide proof

that people have either been vaccinated, have recovered from COVID-19 or have a negative PCR test no older than 48 hours. Germany, Austria, Denmark,

Portugal and others are already using varying forms of green passes for access to dining and other aspects of public life.

[14:10:00]

PLEITGEN (on camera): Here in Germany, for instance, we have what's called the Digital Vaccination Certificate. It looks like this, and people who

have been fully vaccinated or who have recovered from a COVID-19 infection just have a lot less hassle getting into bars and restaurants, and even

traveling around Europe.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): More and more countries are turning to green passes and while thousands recently protested against vaccination requirements

outside the Greek parliament in Athens, at restaurants nearby, diners were enjoying dinner but only for those who are fully vaccinated.

PLEITGEN (on camera): And certainly, a lot of countries here in Europe are very concerned about the fact that the rates of vaccination have simply

been going down very recently. For instance, here in Germany, we just learned on this Friday that there are some states in this country who are

actually giving vaccine doses back to the federal government because they simply can't find enough people willing to get their jabs.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VANIER: Fred Pleitgen reporting there. And now in Beijing, China, more than 41,000 people are under lockdown after the city confirmed its second

local coronavirus case in almost six months. And officials there say they've traced the source that led to an outbreak this month in Nanjing.

CNN's Steven Jiang has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEVEN JIANG, CNN PRODUCER (on camera): Chinese authorities say they have now traced the origin of this latest cluster to a flight from Russia that

arrived in Nanjing by country like 10th that carried confirmed cases.

They say the airports cleaning staff that cleaned that flight did not follow protocols, that's how they got infected and then contaminated their

working environment, which happens to be one of the country's busiest aviation hubs, leading to the virus to spread amongst their co-workers as

well as travelers passing through the terminals.

Now, this cluster of course has now spread across China to multiple locations including here in Beijing. All of this is very alarming because

one, this cluster involves the highly transmissible Delta variant, and then it calls into question the efficacy of China's home-grown vaccines because

more than 90 percent of the staff at the Nanjing airport had been fully vaccinated.

And Chinese officials and vaccine makers here of course have come out to defend their product, saying it's too early to draw conclusions. And also,

local authorities are starting to re-impose draconian measures, so, we haven't seen for some time across the country including in Zhengzhou in

central China where they have now placed their entire population of more than 1.5 million residents under lockdown.

And also shutting down all of the region's popular tourist attractions in the middle of the peak Summer travel season, not to mention the once very

busy Nanjing airport has been closed as well.

So, all this is presenting the leadership here with a familiar challenge of trying to strike a balance between containing the virus and growing the

economy, all the while making them answer the question of whether or not their strict zero tolerance policy towards the locally transmitted cases is

sustainable in the long run, especially as we approach some very major international events like the Beijing Winter Olympics next year.

Before now though, there are no signs that leadership is going to change course, given the political and economic success they have had so far with

their current approach. Steven Jiang, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VANIER: As health officials around the world try to figure out how to convince more people to get vaccinated, even countries that have done

relatively well still have a lot of work to do. This is how the U.S. compares with the U.K. and with France when it comes to the fully

vaccinated.

France has seen a big increase in appointments since President Macron announced that vaccines or negative tests would be required to enter a

variety of venues. The U.K. has 55 percent of the entire population fully vaccinated, although, it does not offer the shots to minors.

It's considering vaccine passports for entry into large venues and for care home workers in England. Dr. Peter Drobac is an infectious disease and

global health expert at Oxford University. He joins us from Oxford. Peter, it's great to have you back on.

You said a number of things to me last time we spoke that have stayed with me, and I've got questions for you on those. But let's start with this. The

CDC is finding that breakthrough infections happen more often than we have thought. And the vaccinated probably infect others as much as the

unvaccinated do. I mean, this is really depressing reading. Peter.

PETER DROBAC, INFECTIOUS DISEASE & GLOBAL HEALTH EXPERT, OXFORD UNIVERSITY: It is a bit depressing, and as I think one of the quotes from that leaked

data was the war has changed. And I think that's right. Now, the vaccines, of course, still are very effective at preventing COVID especially severe

disease. But if they're 75 percent to 85 percent effective at preventing infection, you're still going to see breakthrough cases especially in

countries that have high proportion of people vaccinated.

But the really striking thing about these new data that we've seen these last couple of days is that, in those people with so-called breakthrough

cases who have been vaccinated and get COVID, even if they feel pretty well, they appear to be about as infectious as unvaccinated people with

COVID, meaning if you're vaccinated, you get COVID, you can still transmit to others.

[14:15:00]

And we've seen evidence of this from contact-tracing around the world. And that's humbling from the standpoint of however they get this thing under

control.

VANIER: Right. So, the whole point of vaccines was obviously to break the chain of infection. If that is not completely being achieved, then is herd

immunity, the whole notion of herd immunity, even achievable?

DROBAC: Well, the most important thing is to remember that vaccines do save lives. There's about a 20-fold reduction in your risk of dying from

COVID if you have been vaccinated. And that's really important. So, even as we start to see cases rise in places where a lot of people have been

vaccinated, you know, we're going to do much better than we did in earlier waves.

So, that's really important. We do have to remember though, as we talked about a couple of days ago, that because Delta is so infectious, it's so

easily transmissible, the threshold for having herd immunity could be as high as 98 percent of a population needing to have either been vaccinated

or have some immunity --

VANIER: OK --

DROBAC: From previous infection. That's going to be difficult to achieve.

VANIER: All right, hold on, stop right there for a second because that is the number that just when we finished the show last time, after you told me

that, I thought about it on the way home, and I told myself I hadn't -- I think I hadn't taken stock of what you had told us, 98 percent is the

threshold who needed a vaccination in the population to reach herd immunity, right? Let's make that very clear, 98 percent. How do we achieve

that?

DROBAC: It's an estimate, of course. And you know, based on the transmissibility of Delta and the effectiveness of the vaccines, you know,

85 percent at least, that would be assuming a near 100 percent protection from vaccines. In the real world, of course, it's a little bit less than

that. So, the reality is that's going to be very difficult.

And that's one of the reasons that the game has really changed with Delta, and that we need to have our focus still on improving our vaccination

coverage as much as possible. But I think what the CDC did and made clear is that vaccines alone won't be enough, especially if vaccinated people can

still infect others.

That's why we're seeing calls to return to mask mandates. So, we do need to think about how we can mitigate the risks of COVID in terms of causing

severe disease and deaths. But the reality is that there's not going to be a threshold at which we can make COVID go away completely. We're probably

going to have to learn to live with it.

VANIER: So, it's not going to be vaccines or mitigation measures. It's going to be both.

DROBAC: It's going to be both, that is --

VANIER: All right, do you have any good news, anything to say that's not depressing today?

(LAUGHTER)

DROBAC: Well, the sun is shining here in Oxford. You know, like -- this is difficult news. But at the same time, again, you know, the vaccines are

tremendously effective, and we have a difficult challenge with COVID, we have to step up our efforts to vaccinate the world.

But we have the tools. Remember where we were a year ago and the power of scientific innovation is extraordinary. We've got to be patient. We keep --

you know, I think we've been thinking that, you know, the end game is right around the corner. We need to think about this as a long game. We've come a

long ways and we will get through this.

VANIER: OK, it did feel like the end game was near for those countries that were lucky enough to have, you know, a pretty efficient vaccination

drive and the U.K. has been one of them. So, everything that we found out today is pretty sobering. Dr. Peter Drobac from Oxford University, thank

you so much for coming back on, walking us through all of that.

DROBAC: Thanks, Cyril --

VANIER: Still to come tonight, time is running out to get food to people on the brink of famine in Ethiopia's Tigray region. What the U.N. says must

be down -- must be done now to prevent large scale loss of life. And a record fine for Amazon. Find out the staggering amount that the company

will have to pay over an alleged data breach.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:20:00]

VANIER: You're looking at one of the large forest fires that are burning through the southern coast of Turkey right now. They've left four people

dead and dozens more injured. For three days, thousands of firefighters have tried to put out the flames, and they have contained most of them so

far. But 14 fires are still raging. In fact, you can see them from space. This satellite image shows large plumes of smoke coming out of Turkey and

covering parts of the Mediterranean. CNN's Arwa Damon is on the ground in southern Turkey. She sent us this report a very short while ago.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just look at the damage that has been done here. This is Mo Sayomas(ph) (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

DAMON (on camera): He lives in the building. He was here and he ran away to that side, climbing over the fencing. He had to break through some of

the fencing just to try to save himself. And the fire was just chasing him down. And he was describing how it felt like an explosion of flames. The

things that made these fires also so hard to control is that there were so many of them in just the span of a few days. There were dozens of fires

that broke out, not just in this part of the country, but other parts as well -- oh, wow.

That was the bedroom. He was saying that even things that we never thought could melt melted. And they didn't pull out any of their belongings from

here. It's just that literally is nothing, there's just nothing left. That plume of smoke that you see right there, that is yet another fire that just

erupted in the few short minutes that we have been here. And just when the firefighters think that they're beginning to get the situation under

control, it just jumps out once again. And this is all our fault.

According to a forestry expert that we spoke to, 95 percent of forest fires in Turkey are due to human error or complete and total carelessness and

disregard for nature. What is making them especially aggressive and difficult to control, well, that is also on us. That is due to climate

change.

Here, in particular, temperatures have been abnormally hot. There has also been a drought, two factors that experts attribute to climate change. But

then, add to it, what caused a perfect storm, high winds and low humidity. What we are seeing on the ground though, is villagers coming together,

trying to support one another because no one knows when this is going to end. And experts say fire season this year is going to be much longer than

it was in the past. Arwa Damon, CNN, Manavgat, Turkey.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VANIER: The U.N. World Food Program says it expects food aid to run out today in Ethiopia's war-torn region of Tigray. That's catastrophic news for

the estimated 400,000 people there on the brink of famine. CNN's Larry Madowo is following the story from Kenya.

LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Cyril, we've heard these warnings from November when this conflict began about the humanitarian situation

continuously deteriorating in Tigray in the north of Ethiopia. But these latest warnings are especially dire. First, the World Food Program warning

that it is running out of food by Friday and 400,000 people are on the verge of famine.

[14:25:00]

Now, that should be understood alongside what UNICEF is now saying that at least 100,000 children will face severe acute malnutrition by the next

year. In these conflict situations, children are often the most affected, the least protected and the most vulnerable. And that is no different in

this conflict in the north of Ethiopia.

The government at the federal level of Ethiopia and the Tigray's People's Liberation Front trading accusations about who is to blame for this

blockade. They accuse the other side of being behind the inability of aid organizations to reach the people that need food, need nutrition, and need

all the assistance in this conflict that's already displaced more than 2 million people and killed thousands. Cyril?

VANIER: Larry Madowo reporting there, thank you very much. And still to come tonight, high stakes on the high seas. Why tensions between China and

the U.K. have flared in the South China Sea. Also a big screen battle in more ways than one. Why is one of the world's top Box Office stars suing

Disney?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VANIER: And China is accusing the British Navy of stirring up trouble in the South China Sea at the behest of the United States. But Britain's

defense ministry says its warships are -- to quote a statement, not going to the other side of the world to be provocative. Let's bring in CNN's

international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson for all the details. Nic, what's going on?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: You know, what the British MOD is saying is that the carrier strike group led by Britain's

sort of biggest and best Naval vessel, if you will, HMS Queen Elizabeth and aircraft carrier is transiting through these international waters, as any

other ship would.

They point out that, you know, one-third of the world's maritime traffic, you know, for goods and cargo passes through those waters of South China

Seas. But of course, this is being interpreted by China as an aggressive action.

[14:30:00]

They see the U.K. working with the United States, to, you know, in the words of some commentators and state media in China, to try to stir up

trouble, to kind of relive Britain's glory days of an empire is how one commentator put it.

But what we're seeing here, in essence is, is an escalation of rhetoric, an escalation of military exercises, and therefore potential tensions in the

South China Seas that China claims as its own, that it's been turning sandbars and reefs into militarized defensible islands. That we've seen the

Navy of the People's Liberation Army of China performing exercises in this past week, we've seen the U.S. Navy have a rite of passage through the

Straits of Taiwan, again, you know, a naval movement that would anger and upset China.

So the big picture here is, is a raising of tensions. But this, strike group, as it's being called carrier strike group, is no insignificant thing

in of itself. I said it was, you know, the price of the British Navy, the ship that's leading it, but you have a Dutch frigate, you have a U.S. Navy

destroyer, you have Philippine naval vessels there as well. In fact, it was described by the M.O.D. here, Ministry of Defense in the U.K.

When it left the U.K., this carrier strike group left the U.K. in May, it was described as the sort of biggest maritime and air departure from the

U.K. in a generation. So it's -- this is very clearly designed to send a message and tie in with visits to the region as well by the U.S. Secretary

of Defense, Lloyd Austin, to send a very clear message to China that the international community will not take its word, that the South China Sea's

a South China's exclusive zone, and that they will continue to run these missions and put on training exercises in that area.

VANIER: Nick, there's no end in sight to this, is there? Because China claims these are Chinese waters, always has, and Western countries want to

enforce freedom of navigation there so it's hard to see how this would ever end.

ROBERTSON: The -- it is contested. You not only have this sort of playing out in the military sphere, but you have trade talks between the United

States and China. You have the U.K. for example, reexamining China's involvement in funding of -- and being, you know, and having a design

involvement as well, in British nuclear power stations, you have the British government in the past couple of years, decided it wasn't going to

use Huawei 5G network equipment in the U.K. That was under a lot of pressure from the United States.

But -- so all of these things are in play. And Taiwan becomes a very intense focus and part of that and one of the concerns that, you know, the

United States, Britain, and others see that China has done this week as part of its excess military naval exercises is to perform sort of landing

craft simulated landings and that, in the context of Taiwan, is very worrying. So at the moment, you know, this is an escalation of competition,

and rhetoric, and military activity.

VANIER: Nic Robertson, live in London, thank you very much. Amazon is facing a record-breaking fine for allegedly breaking the E.U.'s data

privacy rules. The $887 million fine is the largest issued by E.U. regulators since the privacy law known as GDPR took effect three years ago.

It's nearly 15 times the amount that Google was ordered to pay back in 2019. Regulators say Amazon's processing of personal data did not comply

with European Union standards.

Amazon says its customers' data is protected and it will fight the penalty. Clare Sebastian is in New York covering this. Clare, did not comply with

the E.U. standards. What does that mean? What are we talking about here?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. So we're talking about targeted advertising, Cyril, and Amazon is an increasingly sort of prominent player

when it comes to advertising that part of the business we learned today grew 87 percent year on year. So it is by far the fastest growing part of

the business. And Amazon said that this complaint relates to how we show customers' relevant advertising. So you're talking targeting and

personalizing of adverts the way they sort of make the adverts most relevant so you're going to engage with them in the most effective way.

Now this stems from a complaint that was made in 2018 by a French advocacy group called La Quadrature du Net. They said today that the targeted ad

system that Amazon forces onto us is not based on free consent, which is a violation of GDPR. GDPR states very clearly that any company that uses a

custom -- a customer's data needs to make that very clear and needs to explicitly seek that customer's consent. So the allegation is that Amazon

has not done that.

[14:35:06]

Amazon, they're saying, that this decision relies on subjective and untested interpretations of E.U. Privacy Law. And the fine is I quote,

"Entirely out of proportion." Even with that interpretation, they intend to fight this, as they say, a lot at stake given how fast this part of the

business is growing and yet another challenge on the plate of the new CEO, Cyril.

VANIER: And Clare Sebastian in New York, thank you very much. Now to a plot twist not even the Hollywood saw coming.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCARLETT JOHANSSON, ACTRESS: Before I was an Avenger, I made mistakes and a lot of enemies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VANIER: The Black Widow may have helped defeat Thanos, but the woman who plays her has an even bigger target in her sights, Disney itself. You see

Scarlett Johansson is suing the company alleging that it breached her contract by releasing Black Widow on streaming service Disney+, saying a

large part of her salary should have come from box office takings. Our very own Avenger, Frank Pallotta, is here, Frank, what's Disney saying about

this?

FRANK PALLOTTA, CNN REPORTER: So Disney came out with a really scorching statement yesterday. And I'll read a little bit of it right now. The

beginning of it was the lawsuit is especially sad and distressing in its callous disregard for the horrific and prolonged global effects of the

COVID-19 pandemic. Basically saying that, you know, the lawsuit from Johansson that says that her contract was breached, and that the streaming

premiere of Black Widow kind of took away from her money, is basically kind of doesn't really work because it's kind of like, because the pandemic is

still going on.

It's a very scorching statement. And it's really created a war of worlds -- war of words between both Johansson's representation and Disney and it will

lead to probably more war of words as we go forward.

VANIER: What does this say about where the business is going and how the money is going to work for, you know, for streaming platforms and for

actors? Because it does stream -- it does feel like streaming platforms have, by far, the upper hand here because of how much demand there is.

PALLOTTA: Yes, I mean, this -- let's put aside the backward -- the back and forth. Let's put aside the scorching statements and the lawsuit. And just

look at this from a really 10,000 foot view. And what this is really interesting is that we're at a pivotal moment in Hollywood right now, a

moment in which we're trying to figure out how our audience is going to watch their favorite TV shows and films and entertainment in general in the

future, but also this lawsuit kind of strikes to the heart of the question, how is the talent going to be properly compensated for that content going

forward?

We've had other big kind of kerfuffles throughout the year when we've seen kind of studios shift their strategy to streaming almost overnight,

seemingly, but this is by far the biggest one, not just because Johansson's one of the biggest stars in the world, but because Marvel is a huge brand.

More than $20 billion made at the box office and still growing. It's arguably the biggest franchise in the world. And Disney is probably the

biggest Hollywood studio in the world right now.

VANIER: I can't talk all numbers and no movie. Have you actually seen it?

PALLOTTA: I have seen it. I saw it in theaters. So I guess I was trying to help out Scarlett Johansson's salary.

VANIER: Yes.

PALLOTTA: I don't know.

VANIER: On behalf of Scarlett Johansson, thank you very much, Frank Pallotta. How was it? How was it? Real quick.

PALLOTTA: It was good. It was good. She was -- she's worth the money.

VANIER: All right. I will leave you. You are responsible for those words. Frank Pallotta, thank you very much. Hong Kong Police have arrested a man

who allegedly booed the Chinese national anthem. They say it happened while he was watching an Olympic ceremony featuring this man, Hong Kong fencer,

Edgar Cheung. He had just won a gold medal for the city and during the award ceremony, the Hong Kong flag was raised and China's national anthem

was played. That's when police say the suspect chanted insults against China in violation of the National Anthem Ordinance.

Week One of the Olympics is now in the books and over these past few days. Fans have been treated to remarkable performances full of thrills,

surprises, and triumph. CNN's Selina Wang shows us how they've celebrated.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Olympic excitement keeps growing not just in Japan but around the world. There are few spectators in the stands,

but that hasn't stopped passionate Olympic fans from making their voices heard. Japanese residents gathered outside of the Olympic Stadium posing

for photos, celebrating the host country's many gold medals so far. Some say the national pride they feel has moved them to tears.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROYOKO YOSHIOKA, OLYMPICS FAN (through translator): I'm moved. I cry every day when I see our athletes winning. It's as if it's my own kids out there

doing their best.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WANG: In Oakdale, Minnesota, USA gymnast Suni Lee's family was thrilled to see her win gold in the Women's All-Around Gymnastics competition.

[14:40:02]

Her parents say the moment is just surreal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN LEE, SUNI LEE'S FATHER: I'm happy and proud, but there is no words that can describe how we feel right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WANG: Twenty-nine of the athletes in Tokyo this year are refugees competing at the games under the Olympic flag. Their families are cheering them on,

some from Kenya's Kakuma refugee Settlement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VERONICA NAHIDISHI, ROSE NATHIKE'S MOTHER (through translator): May God grant you a pure heart, run with it, run as you normally do, and I pray you

win, so that when you come back, we will all celebrate your victory.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WANG: Excited crowds greet some athletes as they begin arriving home. Weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz got a Hero's Welcome when she returned to the

Philippines, and she deserves it. Not only did the 30-year-old take home the country's first Olympic gold medal, but Diaz set an Olympic record with

her combined weight total of 224 kilograms across two successful lifts. President Rodrigo Duterte also recognized her success.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RODRIGO DUTERTE, PHILIPPINE PRESIDENT: The nation is ecstatic about your achievement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WANG: It was cheers and hugs as skateboarder Rayssa Leal arrived home in Brazil. The 13-year-old is the youngest Brazilian athlete to ever win an

Olympic medal. Leal showed off the silver medallion she won in the Women's Street Skateboarding event. Olympians from around the world are making

history and they have incredible support from their fans in Tokyo and beyond. Selina Wang, CNN, Tokyo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VANIER: Before we go we, leave you with this African wild dogs have returned to Malawi after a historic mission to reintroduce the endangered

species was successful. Fourteen of the dogs were transported from South Africa and Mozambique making the long journey by both air and road. Here we

are. They'll now spend the next two weeks in special enclosures to adjust to their surroundings before being fully released into the wider park

areas.

Only around 700 breeding pairs are estimated to be left on the continent so officials involved in the project have called this a "extremely proud

moment." All right, lots of Olympic straight ahead. World Sport has all the medal highlights. Thanks for watching tonight. Have a good weekend.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END