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U.S.: Iron Dome Could Be Overwhelmed By Hezbollah; Growing Number Of Americans Held Behind Bars In Russia; Extreme Heat Kills 300 Plus People Making Hajj Pilgrimage To Mecca; Police Clash with Demonstrators amid Finance Bill Debate; Interview with the Man Who Saved Yahya Sinwar's Life, Yuval Bitton; Heavy Rains in Southern China Cause Historic Flooding; Flood and Mudslides Devastate Fire-Ravaged Ned Mexico; Argentina Defeats Canada in Copa America. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired June 21, 2024 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Coming up here on CNN Newsroom.
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NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: As one senior Administration official said, quote, we're entering a very dangerous period.
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VAUSE: As a major escalation with Hezbollah militants in Lebanon inches closer. Can Israel afford another war?
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We saw corpses on the road.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We thought we were about to die.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Dying so Hajj, hundreds of pilgrims dead, thousands of others treated the heatstroke, after days and scorching temperatures at Islam's holiest city of Mecca. Also this --
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you have a human lawyer that costs $500 an hour and a robot lawyer that costs $5 an hour, people are just going to use the robot.
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VAUSE: And chances are you'll be replaced by artificial intelligence in the workplace a lot sooner than you think.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN Newsroom with John Vause.
VAUSE: More than eight months into Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza and the senior spokesperson for the Israeli military says the government stated goal of destroying Hamas is not possible. At the same time U.S. officials have raised concerns over Israel's security as a second war appears to be increasingly likely with Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.
Iran-backed group has stockpiled tens of thousands of missiles and rockets with U.S. officials fear could overwhelm Israel's Iron Dome air defense system. U.S. officials also believe a major Israeli ground and air attack targeting Hezbollah militants in Lebanon is increasingly likely, which will see resources from Gaza redeployed to the north.
Along the Israel Lebanon border, 150,000 people have been forced from their homes, 60,000 in Israel, 90,000 in Lebanon. More details now from CNN's Natasha Bertrand.
BERTRAND: CNN is learning that U.S. officials have serious concerns that in the event of a full blown war between Israel and Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group could overwhelm Israel's air defenses in the North, including Israel's much vaunted Iron Dome air defense system, those fears have only intensified as Israel has increasingly indicated to U.S. officials that it is preparing for a land and air incursion into Lebanon to try to push Hezbollah back from the Israel- Lebanon border.
Israeli officials have actually told the U.S. that they are planning to shift resources from Southern Gaza to Northern Israel, in preparation for a possible offensive against Hezbollah. And one U.S. official said the U.S. is preparing for the worst, telling CNN, quote, the fact that we have managed to even hold the front for this long has been a miracle.
Despite the Israeli signaling that they're preparing for possible offensive, though they have been surprised by the sophistication of some of Hezbollah's recent strikes, and they continue to worry about the fact that Hezbollah has been stockpiling precision guided munitions and missiles from Iran for years as many as 150,000 of them according to IDF estimates. Now, the U.S. is scrambling at this point to try to de-escalate the tensions at the border. But Israeli officials have signaled that they are determined to create this buffer zone and push Hezbollah back so that Israelis can return to their homes in the North.
The U.S. is trying to do that diplomatically. But as one senior administration officials said, quote, we're entering a very dangerous period, something could start with little warning.
Natasha Bertrand, CNN, in Washington.
VAUSE: Joining me now from Jerusalem is a Yaakov Katz, senior columnist for The Jerusalem Post and a fellow at the Jewish people Policy Institute. Welcome back.
YAAKOV KATZ, SENIOR COLUMNIST, THE JERUSALEM POST: Thanks, John.
VAUSE: OK. So when you listen to an Israeli government spokesperson, speaking earlier this week. Here he is.
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DAVID MENCER, ISRAELI GOVERNMENT SPOKESPERSON: We will use all means necessary to restore security on our northern border, whether diplomatically or militarily, one way or another. We will ensure the safe and secure return of Israelis to their homes in northern Israel. That is not up for negotiation.
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VAUSE: That was Monday. Fast forward to Wednesday, here's the response from Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
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HASSAN NASRALLAH, HEZBOLLAH LEADER (through translator): If the war was imposed on Lebanon, Hezbollah will fight with no regulations, no rules and no ceilings. Israel knows that there will be no place in the country safe from our missiles and our drones.
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VAUSE: It so sounds like with Israel and Hamas -- Hezbollah rather, have drawn their red lines in the sand, which side blinks and why?
KATZ: Well, there's no question that we are on the brink of a potential huge escalation that would be not only a devastating war for Israel, for Lebanon even more but for the wider region, both sides are doing their saber rattling or beating the war drums and are preparing for what might happen. The thing is, is that both sides at the same time that they're making these threats, both sides also want to seemingly avoid war, right?
[01:05:21]
Hezbollah if it wanted a war, there's an easy path to it, fire a barrage of missiles and rockets into Tel Aviv, you'd be at war because that's what would have to retaliate and strike in Beirut. And Israel wants to contain this for the obvious reasons. It doesn't want to be hit with the 150,000 rockets and missiles that Hezbollah has. It wants to remain focused on the south where it's continuing its offensive against Hamas. And it has the problem that the world is saying to Israel don't get to a wider regional conflict.
So the problem though, John, is that when both sides are hitting one another, God forbid, imagine tomorrow or today a Hezbollah rocket hits a school somewhere in northern Israel, unfortunately, tragically kills some Israeli schoolchildren, those types of miscalculation, those type of Black Swan moments could lead us to a much bigger conflict, even if both sides don't want it. VAUSE: There also does seem to be this sort of war by stealth in a way with Israel falling further back in the north, you know, and the Hezbollah missiles and rockets moving further down into the country. And according to a U.S. official, if there was this all out confrontation between Israel and Hezbollah, Israel would be vulnerable, because according to their assessment, at least some Iron Dome batteries will be overwhelmed by Hezbollah rocket pyre, and another official adding this, the fact that we've been actually even hold the front for this long has been a miracle.
So when we get to this situation when Israel is facing this kind of firepower, and they also have this eight month long war in Gaza, where the Israeli military has now conceded, Hamas cannot be totally destroyed. This second front, could have potentially be at another quagmire, which Gaza is sort of turning out to be.
KATZ: The options are not good. Then this dilemma that Israel faces is daunting, because on the one hand, yes, Hezbollah is stronger than Hamas. It has the ability, according to predictions I've heard in the Israel Defense Forces to fire up to 5,000 rockets and missiles, some of them PGMs, precision guided munitions, that means they can actually strike the targets they're fired at up to 5,000 a day, in the first couple of weeks of this conflict that would overwhelm the missile defense systems that we have.
And Israelis have gotten used over the years to being protected by Iron Dome, which has done an amazing job 98, 99 percent success rate in intercepting the projectiles being launched into their cities. They wouldn't be able to provide that same coverage, which means Israeli civilians wouldn't be hit in a way that we've never been hit before. It could be very devastating for this country.
But on the other hand, this is not a normal situation, John, right? Can we imagine that Mexico would be firing tens of thousands of rockets into Texas, does anyone really think that Mexico would remain standing or Canada on the north? This is a reality that Israel is trying to contain is being hit literally by tens of thousands of rockets and missiles from Hezbollah, suicide drones, rockets, mortars, anti-tank missiles that are complete towns that have been turned into rubble in the north. That's why we've had to evacuate almost 100,000 of our people from the North.
This is not a situation that we can allow to continue. Let me just add one more word. What we learned on October 7th, when Hamas came into our towns massacred and kidnapped our people, is that as even the biggest fence, the tallest fence, the most sophisticated fence will not contain an enemy that has been done your destruction. So any other deal that we think we can reach with Hezbollah, in the end, if they really want to attack us, we'll find a way.
There's no doubt in my mind, that Israel will not be able to prosecute this war, if we do not have a strong relationship with Washington. And we are on the same page with them to the greatest extent possible, because we will need America's help to be able to prosecute a war in the north, whether it's with the continued supply of weapons and munitions and equipment, but also to help offset or to push away and stave off that diplomatic isolation that is growing around Israel.
VAUSE: Yaakov Katz as always sir, thank you. Thanks for being with us.
KATZ: Thank you.
VAUSE: Well, Israel and Hezbollah continue to escalate this crisis the Biden administration continues to push for a diplomatic solution. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with two Israeli envoys on Thursday. It's not known if the U.S. will support an Israeli military incursion into Lebanon. For now, though U.S. officials continue to stress the urgent need for a ceasefire in Gaza.
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MATTHEW MILLER, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: The best way to unlock the possibility of a resolution along the Israel Lebanese border would be achieving a ceasefire in Gaza and we continue to actively pursue a ceasefire in Gaza, primarily for to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people in Gaza and to secure the return of hostages but a very important side effect we assess would be making it much easier to achieve a ceasefire and diplomatic resolution along the Israel-Lebanon border.
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VAUSE: Iran's foreign minister is praising the Palestinian resistance after a meeting with a Hamas political leader in Doha, Qatar. The Iranian Foreign Ministry says the head of Hamas's political office told Mr. Ali Bagheri, the Israeli military has failed to achieve its goal after nine months of military operations.
Bagheri also reviewed Tehran's effort to deescalate the situation through regional and international institutions, according to Hamas statement. Meanwhile, Israel now says eliminating the U.S. military and government capability does not actually mean killing every single Jihadi. An Israeli government spokesperson has clarified remarks made by the IDF chief spokesperson Daniel Hagari who appear to suggest the complete destruction of Hamas was an unrealistic goal.
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DANIEL HAGARI, IDF CHIEF SPOKESPERSON (through translator): Hamas is an idea, those who think we can make Hamas disappear are wrong. I'm not talking about the alternatives. This is a decision of the political Echelon and the IDF will implement. But the issue of eliminating Hamas is seeming to throw dust in the eyes of the public.
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VAUSE: The IDF says to Hagari's remarks were taken out of context and referred only to the difficulty of destroying Hamas as a ideology.
Ukraine is now the number one position to receive air defense systems from Washington, which means Kyiv will be first in line to receive patriot and NASAMS interceptors, according to multiple U.S. sources. Other countries which were on the waitlist ahead of Ukraine will have to wait a little longer. So let's describe the decision as necessary to ensure Ukraine survival amid waves of relentless Russian airstrikes.
At the meantime, Kyiv will also get the patriot system from Romania, right, that announcement Thursday. Here's the Ukrainian president.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Romania's decision to transfer one more patriot system to Ukraine is a truly strong move. It will increase security throughout our region and for all our neighbors, for Moldova, the Baltic States and Romania. We have the ability to overcome Russian imperial ambitions and thus restore stability and confidence throughout our Europe. We are currently working with our team on the delivery of several more patriots.
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VAUSE: Also, Ukraine could be given more leeway in the field of engagement when it comes to using U.S. supplied weapons in striking Russian territory. Last month, Washington allowed Kyiv to expand into Russia but only near the northern Kharkiv region. It's after Russia launched an offensive there. Recent statements from the U.S. national security adviser and the Pentagon, suggests the policy has expanded saying Ukraine can now conduct cross border strikes at any place where Russian troops are trying to invade. And now still insist that does not amount to a policy change.
Now a devious trial of American citizen has begun in Russia, Ksenia Karelina from Los Angeles has been charged with treason facing up to 20 years in prison and she's found guilty. The 33-year-old was born in Russia holds dual Russian citizenship. And while visiting family earlier this year was detained over a $50 donation to Ukrainian charity, which she reportedly made whilst in the United States.
Russian prosecutors allege she proactively transferred funds to Ukrainian organization which the Ukrainian Armed Forces used to purchase tactical medicine, equipment, weapons and ammunition. Here's Matthew Chance.
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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Yet, another U.S. citizen on trial in Russia. This is Ksenia Karelina from Los Angeles, now in a glass cage in Yekaterinburg. A dual Russian citizen, the 33-year-old was arrested on treason charges earlier this year while visiting family. In the U.S. she's a beautician and amateur ballerina accused of donating just over $50 to a Ukrainian charity.
Her boyfriend, Chris Van Heerden, issuing a new statement obtained by CNN, calling for her immediate release. It's hard to believe Ksenia has been in Russia and unable to return to the U.S. for over six months, he wrote. She is an innocent young woman with a whole life ahead of her. Her friends and supporters are hopeful that the Russian court will see that prosecuting her as a mistake and send her home to Los Angeles.
CHANCE: Hi. I'm Matthew from CNN. Are you holding up all right? No, no questions.
CHANCE (voice-over): But Russia is now holding a growing number of U.S. citizens in jail. Like Wall Street Journal reporter, Evan Gershkovich, who's trial for espionage is set to start next week. The 32-year-old journalists denies allegations he was gathering information on a Russian tank factory for the CIA. Paul Whelan, a 54- year-old, former U.S. Marine serving 16 years in a Russian.
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PAUL WHELAN, FORMER U.S. MARINE: I'm innocent of any charge -- political kidnapping.
CHANCE (voice-over): What U.S. officials say were trumped up spying charges. And Alsu Kurmasheva, a dual U.S. citizen working for Radio Free Europe, accused of failing to register as a foreign agents. Critics accuse the Kremlin of collecting Americans as bargaining chips to trade.
Not every detained American is accused of spying. School teacher Marc Fogel was sentenced in 2022 to 14 years hard labor for bringing medical marijuana into the country.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just like to say hi to my mom and dad back home in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Love you and have a happy new year.
CHANCE (voice-over): And Gordon Black, a 34-year-old staff sergeant in the U.S. Army was recently sentenced to nearly four years here for stealing money and assaulting a woman believed to be his Russian girlfriend.
There have been prisoner swaps before. Like the U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner convicted for carrying cannabis oil into Russia in exchanged for a convicted Russian arms dealer in the U.S. jail. But the prisoner Kremlin most wants now is this man, Vadim Krasikov, an FSB agent convicted of killing of Chechen dissident in a public park in Berlin.
But Germany is reluctant to bargain that convicted Russian assassin for the American prisoners. The Kremlin may be willing to trade.
CHANCE: What do you want us to do?
CHANCE (voice-over): Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.
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VAUSE: Outgoing Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, is set to take over as NATO's next Secretary General. His candidacy was being held back by Romania which was pushing their president for the job. But NATO officials told CNN the Romanian leader has indicated he'll bow out which means because the only candidate. His confirmation date has not been set, but the term of NATO's current leader Jen Stoltenberg ends October 1st, Rutte has been a staunch ally of Ukraine since the beginning of the war. One of his priorities he says will be to maintain NATO support for Kyiv.
Well as the northern summer begins, extreme heat leaves hundreds dead at the Hajj in Mecca. And millions of Americans now under heat warnings and advisories, more on that in just a moment. Also lawmakers in Kenya considering a controversial finance bill, which sees protests erupt on the streets. That story, much more.
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VAUSE: Severe heat waves across four continents on the first day of the northern summer. An ominous sign this year is heading to break records much like last year which was the hottest summer on record.
Across the United States, more than 100 million people are under extreme heat advisories, watches or warnings, according to the National Weather Service. Some of daily high temperature records was set in New England, Thursday.
In Serbia and Montenegro, health authority so won't be able to stay indoors during midday hours. Temperatures there reach around 40 degrees Celsius. It's about 104 degrees Fahrenheit. And in Saudi Arabia this week, more 300 Hajj pilgrims have died, thousands of others tragedy heatstroke, Mecca where temperatures have reached close to 50 degrees Celsius.
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More now on the global heat here is CNN's Chad Myers.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Really quite a few areas across the globe that have just been desperately hot for this time of year. Sure, it may get warmer in July and August than this, but still very high temperatures and in fact, even into Saudi Arabia, the highest temperature that's ever been recorded in Mecca. I'll get to that in just a second.
Really, we have three areas we call heat domes, the high pressure, the ridge of high pressure well to the north up here, even some warm weather for a couple of days in Europe and Africa. And of course, all the way over here towards Saudi Arabia, where on Monday, the temperature was 51.8 degrees C in the shade. And we have to think about there's not a lot of shade here. And we know what's happened since.
Now some 50 in Kuwait City for today and even for Saturday and Sunday, still very, very warm. And Mecca will begin to cool down. We're only in the 40s, about normal, 42, 43 being the normal. But here's what is abnormal. What we've done to our environment here is we've taken the chances of this 51.8 degrees warmest temperature ever for any date in Mecca. And we've moved the chances of that, the frequency of that is now higher due to the average temperature globally being warmer than where we were. And this is just going to be a trend. VAUSE: Saeed Hassan is president of Dawn Travel which specializes in helping Muslims in the U.S. make the pilgrimage to Mecca. He is with us this hour from New York City. Saeed, thank you for being with us.
SAEED HASSAN, PRESIDENT, DAWN TRAVELS: Thank you.
VAUSE: OK. I should add to all of this that you have traveled personally to Mecca six times as well. So with that in mind, I want you to listen to what some they have injured on this year's pilgrimage. Listen to this.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We saw corpses on the road. They were covered with a sheet on the road because the temperatures here are really high. And I'm not just talking about old people, young people had died too.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We thought we were about to die. We didn't even have the strength to reach the stalls due to the extreme heat. My hands were shaking, my body was about to collapse. And I was unable to continue.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Many people were on the ground, tired and losing consciousness. In Arafat, it was the same. They were lost in consciousness, and we're suffering from heatstroke and lying around.
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VAUSE: So having been there yourself, you know the risks posed by the high temperatures. But this year, the toll which has been taken on so many pilgrims seems to be especially high is that just simply because it is just really hot this year or is there other factors here?
HASSAN: It is because of the weather mostly. And, yes, I mean, it's a sad story what happened there. And I mean, recently, a friend of mine who was here in New York, very dear friend, he was there. And he passed away in the same, even with his wife. And they've been talking to me for last one year. And they finally traveled and same thing, heat. And he just fell down, couldn't breathe, and it was over frame.
VAUSE: That seems to be happening a lot this year, Hajj officials have asked pilgrims to carry umbrellas, to stay hydrated. And the Saudi army has deployed more than 1,600 personnel with medical units specifically for heatstroke and 30 rapid response teams also on standby. Another 5,000 health and first aid volunteers are also taking part.
And with temperature set to get hotter climate scientists Fahad Saeed says more needs to be done. Listen to this.
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FAHAD SAEED, CLIMATE SCIENTIST: We need to adapt, we need to introduce the adaptation option as much as we can, while realizing that it will compromise on the, you know, centuries old ritual but still we need to save people.
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VAUSE: So from your own experience, what do you think else can be done here by Hajj officials to make this safer for pilgrims and so especially since it's only going to get hotter?
HASSAN: These people who travel there they have to be trained not by the only the government, but from the area they're traveling from, from different parts of the world. Travel agents or the information online, they have to be guided to read when they're going to a different country like Saudi Arabia, where the climate is different, that the surroundings are different, people are used to it, they have to be ready and then the tire, anxiety. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and people go there to die frankly they say, hey, this is my last thing I want to do. People save money all their life just to get there.
VAUSE: Earlier this year, to your point, the Journal of Travel Medicine actually made this warning that heat attributed mortality among pilgrims is 4.5 times higher than among Mecca resident population. This heightened vulnerability can be attributed to the pilgrims' lack of acclimatization to Mecca's climate and to specific risk factors associated with the Hajj rituals. So, you know, that's to your point these temperatures are just going to get hotter, people arriving not prepared for that heat. So it gets to the point where the health risks, perhaps simply too high for many to make this journey.
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HASSAN: Well, you know, when you travel anywhere in the world, OK, I mean, you're in a different environment. And I think, as I said, people have to be trained to be ready to, for this extreme situation, and they need to wear the right clothes, bring enough water, carry the medicine with them. So and these people are usually tired because preparation in for the pilgrimage is not easy. And it's an anxiety and it's like, it's something that they're going to be seeing the first time, and they will be in front of the gods.
So just imagine the heartbeat is so fast. Things like this can happen. So yes, training is everything. And because of it's a new place, new environment, expectations are very high. And when all these things mix up, I think at time, these accident can happen.
VAUSE: Yes. It's only going to get hotter though, in the years to come. And so preparation and situational awareness, I guess, are the two issues here. Saeed Hassan, thank you so much for being with us, sir. We appreciate your time.
HASSAN: Thank you for having me.
VAUSE: Dozens of migrants had drift in at sea and a small wooden dinky have been rescued by a passing luxury cruise ship. The Insignia was diverted by Spanish authorities rescuing 68 migrants off the coast of the Canary Islands. Data from Spain's Interior Ministry show a drastic increase in the number of migrants arriving by sea especially to the Canary Islands. And the Atlantic route continues to be the deadliest. Spanish NGO says on average 33 people die every day attempting to make the sea.
United Nations Refugee Agency says today's warring factions must resume negotiations and is urging the U.N. Security Council to be involved. In its High Commissioner for Refugees says he's deeply alarmed about the scale of humanitarian emergency.
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FILIPPO GRANDI, UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES: The biggest appeal that I wanted to make -- that I want to make is to the military people that are fighting each other and reducing this country to ruin and to rubble. They have to stop. This war has to stop. Peace is the only solution so that we can help properly these people and all those to whom we have no access because of the war. And we can move back to peace building to development to a better future for all those that are leaving here.
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VAUSE: Nine million people have been displaced and more than 14,000 killed since war broke out between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary rapid support forces in April last year, making Sudan the world's most pressing displacement crisis, according to the UNHCR.
Anger over a Government Finance Bill has spilled onto the streets of Kenya. Violent clashes between police and protesters have broken out in the Capitol this week as lawmakers debate a government bill which would increase taxes. CNN's Larry Madowo has details.
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LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Chaos unleashed in the streets of Nairobi, as Kenya's Gen Z has had enough. What started out as anger and social media about a controversial finance bill, exacerbating the country's ongoing cost of living crisis has now morphed into a self-organized revolt, with protests taking place across several cities nationwide.
Young Kenyans battling through water cannons, clashes and tear gas, wishing for the rally cries to be heard.
LYON OPIYO, PROTESTER: We don't have jobs. We are young. (Inaudible). Our parents are separated in this Kenya.
MADOWO: It's not clear why they're getting tear gas. They're peaceful as they keep saying they're peaceful. They're not doing anything, but they kept getting tear gas and gracing all this.
MADOWO (voice-over): The chokehold of Kenya's escalating living costs has been felt for decades, with some protesters saying they are starting with the parents didn't.
DAISY OLOO, PROTESTER: I'm here because I want to protest because our parents didn't have the guts to stand before and protest against Ruto. But what he's doing is bad governance. And we're here to protest and show him that if our parents can't do it, we can do it.
MADOWO (voice-over): On Tuesday, dozens of demonstrators descended outside Kenya's parliament, forcing the government in Nairobi to amend the bail. Some of the suspensions include a 16 percent value added tax and bred and a 2.5 percent tax on motor vehicles. But some citizens were unhappy with the changes, calling for it to be scrapped completely.
In response to the unrest, police arrested hundreds signaling outrage to human rights groups who said their right to protest has been violated.
MADOWO: Is this your first time protesting?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, we were here on Tuesday. They were doing the exact same thing. They still arrested us.
[01:29:49]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will do it again, and again, and again.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We come in peace. We are not fighting. We are very respectful.
MADOWO: With tensions mounting and protests showing no sign of slowing down, Gen Z has proven they have risen like never before.
Larry Madowo, CNN -- Nairobi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: When we come back, the Israeli dentist -- dentist who claimed to have saved the life of Yahya Sinwar, Israels most wanted man and leader of Hamas in Gaza. Also he says he spent hundreds of hours with him.
More of that in a moment.
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VAUSE: Welcome back everyone. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
The Israeli prime minister has promised the families of hostages being held in Gaza their loved ones will be returned home, all 116 of them, which includes 41 who have died.
Mr. Netanyahu and his wife met Thursday with Shlomi Ziv and his family. Ziv and three other hostages were rescued by Israeli forces (INAUDIBLE).
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What a joy to see you. We sat and talked about you so much we can only dream of this moment. What happiness to see your mother. It's truly a dream come true.
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): You look great.
I have to tell you there is light. Light radiating from your face I just enjoy seeing the great joy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Now to an extraordinary story from someone who says he spent hundreds of hours with Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas and Israel's most wanted man.
Israeli doctor, Yuval Bitton was working as a dentist for the state prison service in the 1990s. That's where he met Sinwar. Then in 2004 when Sinwar faced a medical emergency, Bitton says he saved his life. Sinwar thanked Bitton who was then later released, by Sinwar that is. But on October 7, Bitton's nephew was murdered by Hamas.
CNN's chief international anchor Christiane Amanpour has this interview.
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CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Yuval, you said that on the morning of October 7th, you knew immediately who had planned this massacre. How come?
YUVAL BITTON, FORMER PRISON DENTIST (through translator): Because I know the person who planned and conceived and initiated this criminal attack. I have known him since 1996, and not only him, but the entire Hamas leadership in Gaza.
And it was clear to me that this is what they were planning while they were still in prison, and this is the plan of Hamas. It was very clear to me.
[01:34:45]
AMANPOUR: You're talking about Yahya Sinwar. And you said that when you realized what happened on October 7th, you were kind of tormented by what you did for him in jail. You essentially saved his life. Tell me about that story.
BITTON: In 2004, I saved Sinwar's life in prison. I was the doctor who diagnosed the problem he had.
When he explained to me what was happening to him, I diagnosed it as a stroke. And together with a general practitioner, we decided to take him to the hospital.
He arrived at the hospital. The diagnosis was that he had abscess in the brain, and he was operated on that day, thus saving his life, because if it had exploded, he would have died. He thanked me and the doctors for saving his life. And he also asked the security officer, who was a Muslim, when we visited him in the hospital, to tell me in Arabic and explain to me what it means for someone to save a Muslim's life. And that he owed me his life.
He also told me that on the day he was released in the Gilad Shalit deal in 2011, that he owed me his life, and one day he will repay it.
And as you understand, he repaid it on October 7th. And that he was also directly responsible for the murder of my nephew in Kibbutz Nir Oz.
AMANPOUR: Your nephew went to try to save his family and others when the invasion happened and the massacres happened. And he was abducted and apparently killed -- or he died of his wounds being dragged back into Gaza.
Do you believe that had Sinwar known it was your nephew the outcome would have been different?
BITTON: I did not and do not engage in speculation. My nephew came out to defend the community and the country and the Gaza envelope (ph). He fought in those terrible moments of the morning in Kibbutz Nir Oz.
Hundreds of Nukhba terrorists infiltrated the kibbutz. They murdered, raped, and slaughtered and burned 50 people from Nir Oz. 50 members of Kibbutz Nir Oz and 75 other members were kidnapped, including Tamir's grandmother, Yafa Adar, the older woman on the scooter.
Tamir fought as an emergency squad member. He was seriously injured during his defense of the community. There were only five of them. They didn't really stand a chance.
And he was kidnapped while he was still seriously injured, unconscious, and died after a few hours in Gaza. So, it's irrelevant what I think about what would have happened if.
Unfortunately, Israel made a mistake during its military operation, and in its thinking that only military pressure would bring the release of hostages, which I said in the first month of the war.
I thought a military effort was important in order to dismantle Hamas, destroy it, and to hurt its military capabilities. It's an important effort.
But in order to return the hostages, it's not enough. Because Sinwar thinks only about the continuity of his rule. He is willing to sacrifice even 100,000 Palestinians in order to ensure the survival of his rule. He is willing to pay with the lives of militants, Hamas members, civilians. He doesn't care.
And therefore, Israel's mistake is that it did not create an alternative to Hamas' rule and didn't replace Hamas' rule and didn't allow an improved version of the Fatah or Palestinian Authority forces to enter in order to make clear to Sinwar that he has lost everything, both his military capability but mostly, his authority in Gaza. That would have caused Sinwar to make a deal to return our hostages in exchange for prisoners.
Today, he feels he is in a powerful position. He is running the negotiations while still operating from within Gaza and still controls the areas from which the IDF evacuated. He also controls the humanitarian aid, and therefore, he feels strong and won't sign an agreement to release the hostages unless the IDF withdraws from Gaza and the fighting ends.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Bitton says Israel's attitude towards Hamas was arrogant since Hamas did everything it intended to do but the Israelis just didn't want to listen.
Monsoon floods have forced almost 45,000 people in Bangladesh from their homes, mostly in low-lying areas. Some 1.8 million people have been adversely impacted in one district alone. High water levels reported in more than 1,600 villages.
[01:39:45]
VAUSE: In southern China, the worst flooding in 30 years has forced more than 60,000 people to evacuate. State media also reports the rising water and landslides have killed at least 18 people.
CNN's Steven Jiang has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: Torrential rains in Southern China forced officials in the City of Guilin in Guangxi province to issue their highest level of flooding on Thursday morning, shutting down public facilities, including the city's train station where social media video showed, at one point, was inundated with muddy water in the passenger waiting area, stopping people from getting in and out of the station.
Now, Guilin is usually a popular tourist destination known for its natural beauty of its mountains and rivers. Now, this flooding is affecting not just tourists, but local residents with roads flooded and closed, disrupting traffic. And many residents stranded in their flooded homes had to be rescued in rafts by emergency responders. Many villages are also experiencing power and communication outages.
With all this flooding and heavy rainfalls happening in Southern China, a heat wave continued to sweep through much of Northern China, including here in the capital city of Beijing, where early this week, the authorities issued heat advisories for local residents several days in a row.
Steven Jiang, CNN, Beijing.
(END VIDEOTAPE) VAUSE: Fires, floods and mudslides have devastated parts of the U.S. state of New Mexico. And the remnants of the first named storm of this year's hurricane season could make the situation even worse.
CNN's Laura Aguirre has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rain is good for putting out fire. The rain is not good for pretty much everything else.
LAURA AGUIRRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: definitely not good for miles of fire-scorched earth in New Mexico where heavy rains have turned wildfire-ravaged roads and towns into flood and mudslide zones, which could worsen as tropical depression Alberto threatens rain for the state on Friday.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're unsure about the direction of the fire at this point.
AGUIRRE: Two massive blazes continue to burn with little to no containment, leaving at least 1,400 structures destroyed so far.
The human poll also growing more tragic. The son of a man found dead in Ruidoso Tuesday says his father's broken leg prevented his escape.
ZACH PEARSON, VICTIM'S SON: It's heartbreaking to know that he didn't make it. To know that he was trying to run for his life.
AGUIRRE: The National Hurricane Center says, Alberto will start to lose some of its punch now that its tracking through central Mexico. Still its impact along the Texas coast has yet to subside. 51 counties there are under a disaster declaration.
Corpus Christi reported a three-and-a-half-foot storm surge Thursday morning, and water levels are expected to rise even more with high tide.
And it's yet another scorcher for much of the Midwest and Northeast. The National Weather Service predicts extreme temperatures could persist into the weekend, potentially reaching 100 degrees in cities like Washington, D.C., a mark not seen there since August of 2016.
I'm Laura Aguirre reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Still to come, yes, you should be worried that artificial intelligence will take your job. And yes, it will likely happen sooner than you think.
[01:43:02]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) VAUSE: It seems a natural fit. Corporate America and artificial intelligence and reducing the size of the workforce. Within the next year, more than half of the large companies in the United States plan to use A.I. for jobs that were previously done by people.
That's according to this survey of finance officers released Thursday. They talked about a wide variety of jobs from paying suppliers, doing invoices, financial reporting and the CFOs say, some tasks such as marketing campaigns, writing press releases, job posts are already being done by ChatGPT and other A.I. chatbots
But in the short term, at least A.I. will not be leading to massive job losses, but that does not apply for the medium and long-term future.
Dan Hendrycks is the director at the Center for A.I. Safety. He is with us this hour from San Francisco.
Dan, thank you for being with us.
DAN HENDRYCKS, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR A.I. SAFETY: Glad to be here.
VAUSE: Ok. So here's how Jon Stewart on "The Daily Show" looked at the possibilities of A.I. and what it's actually being used for. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JON STEWART, TV HOST: So A.I. can cure diseases and solve climate change. But that's not exactly what companies are going to be using it for, are they?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So this is like productivity without the tax (ph) of more people?
STEWART: Without the tax of more people, are the people tax formerly referred to as employees.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And given this survey overall which found that one in three businesses, large or small, plan to use A.I. in the next year to complete tasks once done by people instead of asking will I lose my job to A.I. should -- but most be asking when will I lose my job to A.I.
HENDRYCKS: Yes, I think it's very uncertain exactly when there's lot of rapid advancements because the A.I. companies, such as Google and Microsoft and Amazon, et cetera are racing to build smarter than human A.I. systems, which at its best could automate virtually everything.
The impact on workers is that the people who own the big supercomputers that the A.I.s work on or use those people are getting richer and the people who sell their labor, everyday employees don't get any of the benefits. So there's substantial financial incentives for the companies to keep racing ahead and displace a lot of labor along the way. And this will ultimately undermine a lot of our bargaining power.
So the timeline -- different companies have different views of some of the people making these A.I. systems are planning in the next few years not to be hiring nearly as many people because they don't need software engineers, they can just have A.I.s do that coding instead.
And this is, there's still a lot of volatility to this though even just today, one of the major A.I. companies (INAUDIBLE) released a new A.I. system which went from fixing one-third of programming coding mistakes to about two-thirds of them. So doubled in accuracy just in the past day.
So it's a very quickly evolving situation. I think we're talking on the order of a few years for a lot of these impacts though.
By my life (ph) -- I don't think it's on the order of several decades or something in the very distant future. Theres a lot of disruption that can happen in the next few years possibly even in the next two.
VAUSE: Yes. Now, earlier this month, the chairman of Neura Robotics, David Reger predicted humanoids, smart robots, will be part of our everyday lives.
Here he is yakking it up with one of our soon to be machine overlords. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID REGER, CHAIRMAN, NEURA ROBOTICS: Do you think robotics will take over the world?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think so. When we treat our robots (INAUDIBLE) we're going to the (INAUDIBLE).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: That was funny.
Adding to that the billionaire investor, Reid Hoffman of LinkedIn fame recently said, I believe three to five years, we'll all have kind of an agent co-pilot that's helping us with anything from how we cook dinner, to doing your job and writing and so forth."
That seems like a very hopeful, optimistic view of our future. But if you don't have a job because it's been taken by A.I. and all the other work is being done by A.I. how do you actually pay for dinner? Let alone your agent copilot, who's meant to help you cook it?
HENDRYCKS: I don't know of any easy solutions to this problem. Unfortunately it changes our entire economic system. So if people can't sell their labor, then they have a lot less bargaining power in society for having things go their way.
[01:49:43]
HENDRYCKS: Maybe if they have some A.I. supercomputer themselves, then they'll do well financially. But most people won't so it's very unclear what will happen to all of us.
VAUSE: And this seems to be something which isn't really being looked at, at the moment, this potential upheaval is immense.
So unless there's some sort of, you know, globally-economic transformation into a socialist utopia, where everyone is, you know, cared for by the government -- by government welfare or social safety nets and whatever. It does seem that there's a real potential here for -- you touched on this earlier -- for a very wealthy few who are earning mega bucks from A.I. and all the rest of it to a lot of unemployed people without much to do.
HENDRYCKS: I think there is the possibility that some jobs will still be done by humans but a lot of them people are just going to do what's cheapest so although people like to work with humans.
If you have a human lawyer that cost $500 an hour and a robot lawyer that costs $5 an hour, people are just going to use the robot lawyer. Even though people would like to work with humans, it just will make more economic sense to choose the A.I.. And then we are all -- are all automating each other and feeding a system that's disempowering us.
So this I think should be a top priority for our representatives to -- to think about because it's a potential large societal shift that most of the tech world is seeing. But a lot of the rest of the world is just starting to wake up to it.
VAUSE: Yes. And it's kind of a scary thought. I mean, there is obviously good potential here. There is, you know, some hope and optimism, but there's also a pretty down dark side, which I don't think as you say, a lot of people have considered or looked at it at any great detail at this point.
So Dan, thank you for being with us. Really appreciate it.
HENDRYCKS: Glad to be here. Thanks.
VAUSE: In a moment, Argentina defeats Canada in the first round of Copa America.
Back in a minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Ticket prices for this Sunday's rematch between Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese are the highest ever for a WNBA game, the most expensive ticket selling for more than $9,000.
Reese's Chicago Sky will face off against Clark's Indiana Fever for the third time this season. According to CBS, last Sunday's match between the two teams was the most watched WNBA game on any U.S. network in 23 years. Clark, Reese, and other high-profile players are credited with helping
the league post its highest attended opening month in 26 years. You get all those names and numbers?
Well, for only the second time in its 108-year history, the COPA America is being played outside of South America with the United States hosting this year's tournament which began Thursday in Atlanta, Argentina facing Canada.
World Sports Don Riddell has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: A winning start for the reigning world and defending Copa America champions Argentina.
But for much of the game here in Alanta against Canada, it was pretty tight. Two-nil the final score, but with 19 shots and 64 percent of the possession, they could easily have had many more.
Argentina took the lead early in the second half through Julian Alvarez and they had plenty more opportunities.
But it wasn't until substitute Lautaro Martinez got a second two minutes from time that the Albiceleste could finally relax.
They are now on course for what they hope will be a third trophy in a third consecutive tournament.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was an impressive match between both sides, you know. Argentina, they are the defending champions. They won the Copa America the last time and they won the World Cup.
[01:54:48]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was expecting like more than that because we are the last champions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think they're going to do it again. They got the last Copa America, I think they can do it again. And maybe even the World Cup again.
RIDDELL: Captain Lionel Messi, he didn't score on Thursday, but he came very close several times. And every time he was foiled, it was much to the chagrin of the majority of the crowd in a packed house at Mercedes Benz Stadium, all of whom were audibly willing him to find the back of the net.
But the man considered to be the greatest of all time still set another record. This was his 35th appearance in the Copa America. Now, more than any other.
These fans are making the most of every single Messi moment because he turns 37 next week and everybody knows he is now in the twilight of his international career. They all hope that he will stick around to play in the World Cup in
two years' time. Some of which will be in this stadium. But if not, then this Copa America tournament will be his last international tournament and that is a thought that nobody wants to conceive of.
Don Riddell, CNN -- at the Copa America in Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Well, this year's cover of -- July-August cover, I should say, of Vogue in Germany is a 102-year-old Jewish Holocaust survivor. Margot Friedlander grew up in Berlin and lived through the Nazis. She survived a concentration camp in what was then Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia. The rest of her family were murdered at Auschwitz.
Before her mother was sent to her death, she left behind a message for her daughter which read "Try to make your life count."
Friedlander campaigns as a Holocaust educator and her (INAUDIBLE) have won numerous awards. In a multi-page piece, Friedlander says she is grateful that she was able to fulfill her mother's wish of making her life count.
Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm John Vause. Please stay with us.
Kim Brunhuber takes over after a very short break.
I'll see you right back here next week.
[01:56:38]
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