Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Israel Launches Large-Scale Raids Targeting Militants in West Bank; Senior Ukrainian Officials To Present Biden Admin With List Of Targets In Russia; Telegram Boss Pavel Durov Placed Under Formal Investigation In France; Harris And Walz Kick Off Bus Tour In Georgia; NVIDIA Reports 122 Percent Revenue Growth On Surging Demand For Data Center Chips; Concerns Grow over Potential Polio Outbreak in Gaza; U.S. Surgeon General Warns about Growing Stress Levels for Parents; 100-Plus Killed by Floods in Sudan, Worsens Humanitarian Crisis; Namibia to Kill 700-Plus Animals, Give Meat to People Affected by Drought; Interview with Paralympian Oksana Master. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired August 29, 2024 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. I'm John Vause. Live from Studio 8 in Atlanta. Coming up on CNN Newsroom.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are targeting armed terrorists from the air and the ground.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Bogged down in in the South, in Gaza, pinned down by Hezbollah in the north, Israeli forces target the West Bank with the biggest military operation in years, raising concerns of a third front.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Namibia sees this as a necessary evil.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Facing a devastating drought and widespread food shortages. Namibia's government orders a cull of wildlife animals, including elephants and hippos.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. VIVEK MURTHY, U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: Parents and caregivers in America are under pressure.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And a warning having one or more children could harm your mental health. U.S. Surgeon General declares parental stress a significant public health issue.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN Newsroom with John Vause.
VAUSE: Israel appears to be inching closer to fighting a war on three fronts in the south with Hamas in the north with Hezbollah and now possibly the West Bank after one of the biggest military operations there in years, the IDF has confirmed it's a counterterrorism operation which took place, and while the frequency and number of Israeli raids has been steadily increasing in recent months.
Israeli forces rarely target multiple Palestinian cities simultaneously, as they did during this offensive. According to Palestinian officials, at least 11 people were killed during the raid, which involved airstrikes as well as attack drones and helicopters as well as bulldozers digging up streets.
Israel says it is targeting the terrorist infrastructure as well as the systematic strategy by Iran of smuggling weapons and explosives into the West Bank.
Palestinian officials add the operation -- they condemn the operation rather accusing Israel of blocking access to hospitals and obstructing ambulances. CNN international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): Before dawn, the biggest Israeli raid into the occupied West Bank since the war in Gaza began. October 7, air strikes near a cluster of Northern towns, Tukoren (ph), Jenin and Tubas, backed by hundreds of troops and border police on the ground.
The IDF says it's a counterterrorism operation intended to thwart what they claim is a systematic strategy in Iran to smuggle weapons and explosives into the West Bank.
Outside Jenin, a drone strike killing three men in a vehicle, whom the IDF claimed were terrorists, and seriously wounding another. Near Tubas, the IDF says another airstrike killed four terrorists. This resident caught in a blast.
MASOUD NAAJA, TWO CHILDREN KILLED (through translator): In seconds, very fast. We felt like something came down on us from the sky, and there was an explosion. When I put my hand on my chest, it was off shrapnel and in blood.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): The IDF also arresting people and surrounding hospitals, including Jenin's main hospital, Ibn Sina, they said to prevent terrorists using it as a base. Palestinian ambulances also appearing to be targeted by the IDF, amid claims staff were beaten.
DR. YOUNIS AL KHATIB, DIRECTOR, PALESTINIAN RED CRESCENT IN THE WEST BANK (through translator): The occupation army is clearly targeting medical crews and ambulances. The latest example is today at the Al- Faraa refugee camp, the staff were forced to come out of the car, and the Director of our Center in Tubas was beaten.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): As they have done in previous West Bank raids, the IDF using armored diggers to rip up streets they claim, searching for roadside bombs. In part, the IDF says the operation connected to this failed backpack bomb attack that only killed the bomber in Tel Aviv 10 days ago, it was the first of its kind in decades.
Hamas, however, reacting to the raid calling Palestinians to restart a suicide bombing campaign abandoned almost two decades ago, unclear how long the operation will last.
[01:05:00]
By late Wednesday, Palestinian officials saying 10 people dead and more than 20 injured, making it one of the most deadly days in the West Bank since the Gaza war began. October 7. Nic Robertson, CNN, Tel Aviv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: And with us out from the West Bank city of Ramallah is Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, Co-Founder and Leader of the political party the Palestinian National Initiative. He's also an elected member of the Palestinian Legislative Council. Dr. Barghouti, thank you for being with us.
DR. MUSTAFA BARGHOUTI, CO-FOUNDER AND LEADER OF POLITICAL PARTY, PALESTINIAN NATIONAL INITIATIVE: Thank you. Nice to be with you.
VAUSE: I want you to listen to one account from an eyewitness, from someone who lived through this military operation overnight, about what he saw and his experience during this military operation by the Israelis. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FADI JUMAA, AL-FARRA CAMP RESIDENT (through translator): The Israeli army stormed Al-Farra camp violently using all available means, from helicopters to fighter jets. It carried out an airdrop and used drones to target a group of residents and stormed the camp from several directions through patrols.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And that's one account from one area where the Israelis were operating in the past 24 hours. The intensity and frequency of these Israeli operations have been slowly building since October 7. Are you among those who are concerned that Israel, essentially, is trying to bring the war in Gaza now to the West Bank?
BARGHOUTI: Absolutely. I think what Israel is trying to do is to bring this war of genocide, which is taking place in Gaza and which has taken the lives of more than 40,000 people, including 17,000 Palestinian children, to the West Bank, not only the war of genocide, but also the acts of ethnic cleansing and also the punishment of the whole civilian life, putting refugee camps who are having very difficult life anyhow, under siege for days, and then destroying their infrastructure completely and totally, is absolutely unacceptable.
VAUSE: There is one still thought that says that, you the Israelis would not open a third front because they at the point -- at this point in time, they simply don't have the resources or the military might deal with three fronts at once.
BARGHOUTI: What kind of fronts you are talking about? I mean, this is the Israeli mighty army, which has more than 200 nuclear bombs, which has the largest air force, not only in the area, but maybe one of the biggest in the world, which has tanks. It's an army against what, against some young people who are carrying some guns. It's totally unacceptable to present this as if it was a war between two armies.
Actually, it's a war by one army, which is vicious, which has done so many crimes against civilian population who are under their occupation. The West Bank is under Israeli military occupation already for 57 years, and this area was invaded already by Israel so many times.
So to make it look like a war is absolutely incorrect. It's one sided war, unilateral war on civilian population of Palestine.
VAUSE: You get Hezbollah, though, in this equation, which has something like 200,000 rockets, medium to long term range rockets pointed at the Israelis and is well equipped and well-armed. But I take your point.
A spokesperson for the Israeli Prime Minister described the offensive as a counterterrorism operation targeting multiple terror groups and terror cells. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID MENCER, ISRAEL PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE SPOKESPERSON: We apprehended wanted suspects. We located in confiscated weapons, M 16 ammunition and additional military equipment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And (INAUDIBLE) also says the current operation is not extremely different or special to previous operations, and at this point, no word on how much longer it could continue. But to that point of finding those weapons during these raids, where they come from?
BARGHOUTI: The weapons that some people have in the West Bank, and we are talking really about a small number of weapons comes from Israeli sources. It comes from the Israeli army itself, where some Israeli soldiers steal weapons and then sell them in the black market. And there were many cases of soldiers that were arrested for that.
So to claim that these weapons are coming from Iran or somewhere else is absolutely incorrect. And these are not Palestinian terrorists. The real terrorist here is the Israeli army, which has killed so many thousands of Palestinians so far, and which continues occupation.
What we need to end this cycle of violence is to end the Israeli military occupation, which has lasted so long, the longest military occupation in modern history.
VAUSE: Well, any that occupation does seem to be a priority from the U.S. in terms of a two-state solution and other Western countries, so that, at least is something. Since October 7, though, attacks by Israeli settlers have killed or injured more than 100 Palestinians in the West Bank.
[01:10:02]
One of the more serious attacks happened earlier this month. So serious, the IDF itself described it as a serious terror incident. Well, the U.S. sanctioned the Israelis involved in another attack earlier in the year. Do those words calling a terror incident, those actions of sanctions ultimately mean very little when the current far right coalition government in Israel has well known anti-Arab bigots and extremists in senior leadership roles?
BARGHOUTI: You have to understand that those who are attacking Palestinians are not just the Israeli army, but also the illegal Israeli settlers who behave as gangs and they are protected and supported by the Israeli army. And in reality, they are the ones who are practicing terrorism here. We are talking about 800,000 illegal settlers in the West Bank and the United States has done nothing practically to stop them, because few sanctions to three or four or 10 people means nothing.
The settlers themselves are governing Israel. Smotrich was the real Governor occupied West Bank is and the finance minister is himself a settler in Kadomim, which is built on a Palestinian village. And Ben- Gvir, who is the Minister of Internal Security, is another settler was accused of being terrorist before even by the Israeli establishment.
So we are talking here about fascists who are running this Israeli government and conducting true terror against the civilian population of Palestine, whether in Gaza or in the West Bank to claim that this is a war on terrorism is absolutely incorrect, because the real terrorists here are the Israeli legal settlers.
VAUSE: Mustafa Barghouti, thank you, sir, for being with us. Appreciate your time.
BARGHOUTI: Thank you. Thank you.
VAUSE: New details now on Farhan Al-Qadi, the Israeli Bedouin, rescued from Gaza, where he was held hostage by Hamas for more than 300 days. The 52-year old was released from hospital Wednesday. His family says he's lost a lot of weight, about 30 kilograms or 65 pounds. Food, they say was scarce, and he was held in isolation for the entire ordeal, never meeting another hospital.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you heard what's happening in Israel?
FARHAN AL-QADI, FORMER HAMAS HOSTAGE (through translator): I don't have Al Jazeera in an air conditioned room. There is no news also. If there were, you don't want to hear them. You don't want to hear a bombing. You don't.
There was this negotiation in Cairo, and then you live with it for a few days, and then there was no agreement reach. It can kill you. It's better to live with hope. It's not advisable to listen to the news. I don't recommend it. Let's leave it like that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: He also added that he hopes the war ends soon in Gaza for both the Israelis and the Palestinians. Meantime, the Israeli military says the body of a soldier kidnapped October 7 has now been recovered from Gaza. That means 107 hostages, both living and dead, still being held.
Two senior Ukrainian officials will present the White House with a list of Russian targets this week to try and push the United States into allowing Ukraine to use American supplied weapons to strike deeper into Russia. Those Ukrainian officials will meet face-to-face with the Biden administration to make their case. This comes after Ukraine's incursion into Russia's Kursk Region earlier this month.
The operation has so far been restricted to territory in which the U.S. has allowed their weaponry to be used. Ukraine's President argues, the further into Russia they can strike American weapons, the sooner the war will end.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We continue to insist that their determination now lifting the restrictions on long range strikes for Ukraine now will help us to end the war as soon as possible in a fair way for Ukraine and the world as a whole.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: French prosecutors have placed the founder of Telegram under formal investigation. Under French law, that's a step below being formally charged. Pavel Durov was released from police custody Wednesday, transferred to court for questioning. The Russian born billionaire is now barred from leaving France and has to report to police twice a week. His bail set at more than five and a half million dollars.
Durov was arrested in Paris Saturday on a warrant related to the lack of moderation on his popular messaging app. Durov's lawyer says France's investigation is ridiculous.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID-OLIVIER KAMINSKI, PAVEL DUROV'S LAWYER (through translator): I'd like to add that it's totally absurd to think that the head of a social network could be involved in criminal acts that don't concern him, either directly or indirectly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: CNN's Matthew Chance has the latest on the investigation and reaction inside Russia.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is an extraordinary situation, because what the French authorities are doing is holding the owner of a social media platform accountable for the content on that platform. The owner, of course, is Pavel Durov. He's one of the world's richest men. He's the founder of Telegram, which is one of the world's most popular social media platforms, particularly in the former Soviet Union, Europe, and to some extent in the United States as well.
[01:15:07]
It's sort of prided itself Telegram has for its lack of moderation, compared to, for instance, Facebook or X, which are much more judicious in what they allow to be broadcast and their platform used for. But, you know, Telegram has been used by autocratic governments like Russia, in the Middle East China, the Ukrainian government uses it as well as the Russians as well. You have criminal gangs that use it. You have groups of pedophiles or Neo Nazis or antisemites. They use it to sort of propagate their sort of hate speech as well.
But you also get libertarians, people who are strong believers in the freedom of speech, who value Telegram as an essential asset in the sort of media landscape. And so it's this extraordinary sort of coalition of sort of disparate groups that have come together in support of Pavel Durov, as he -- as he is sort of scrutinized by the French authorities in this way.
The Russians have been very outspoken. Of course, he's a is originally a Russian citizen, and they've called this an attack on freedom of speech, which is, you know, ironic, given that there's been a huge crackdown in Russia on free media over the course of the past several years.
But of course, it's about a much broader concept as well of, you know, the extent to which social media platforms should obey the laws and should be held accountable, and their owners should be held accountable for the content that goes inside them. And that's something that the French authorities now, with Pavel Durov, are currently exploring. Matthew Chance, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: In a moment here on CNN, high school bands and barbecue, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz take their presidential campaign to the Deep South with a road trip through southern Georgia.
Also, AI chip maker NVIDIA reports massive earnings in the second quarter. But how long can they sustain the same success and how much is too much, in the moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz are taking their campaign to southern Georgia, what is widely considered a conservative, anti-Democrat stronghold. Georgia is also a key swing state in this year's election.
This is their first trip together, after building excitement and some momentum at the Democratic National Convention. CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is traveling with the Democratic ticket.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Vice President Kamala Harris and her vice presidential nominee Tim Walz visiting the state of Georgia On Wednesday, the first time they visited the state together. Now it's a crucial battleground state, and notable that they decided to kick off their bus tour here after the Democratic National Convention.
But what was significant was where they were going in the state, visiting South Georgia, a region that typically leans Republicans that were here, where the Harris campaign thinks that they can make inroads.
[01:20:10]
Thanks to 2022 when Democratic senator Raphael Warnock in his runoff, was able to shave off Republican votes and still win big in metro Atlanta. Harris campaign employing a similarly aggressive strategy in South Georgia, the Vice President and Tim Walz, visiting with high school students and also going to a barbecue joint to talk to voters.
Now the Vice President will conclude her trip in Georgia with a rally as well as do that sit down interview with her vice presidential nominee, Tim Walz, all of this as the campaign tries to notch a victory in the crucial battleground that in 2020 President Biden only won by less than 12,000 votes. Priscilla Alvarez, CNN traveling with the Harris-Walz campaign.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: We have this very, very important programming note. Kamala Harris and Tim Walz will have their first interview since the Democratic Convention right here on CNN. Both we see now together. It's right here on CNN, and CNN's Dana Bash asking the tough questions. Here on CNN, 9:00 p.m. Eastern, and we'll replay the interview here on CNN. So to mention this on CNN, at 7:00 a,m., London, 10:00 a.m. Abu Dhabi. Don't want to miss it. It's on CNN.
Georgia's Republican Governor Brian Kemp will attend a fundraiser for the Trump campaign in the hours ahead, even though the former President has repeatedly attacked him after he lost Georgia in the 2020 election to Joe Biden. CNN's Alayna Treene reports out on the sudden change in their once frosty relationship.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Well, the fraught relationship between former President Donald Trump and Republican governor of Georgia, Brian Kemp is entering a new phase. Kemp is actually going to be fundraising for Donald Trump on Thursday in Georgia. He'll be joining Trump's former Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, and we actually saw the former president praise Kemp over this. He thanked him for his support and said that he looked forward to working with him.
But this is very different from the type of rhetoric we have heard between Donald Trump and Brian Kemp, particularly on the side of the former president. He has been very critical and harsh of Kemp over the years, ever since Kemp had really refused to kind of expand on and repeat some of the false election claims about there being widespread fraud in Georgia. Kemp kind of refused to play in that and it has angered Donald Trump.
We have heard Trump repeatedly attack Kemp despite him being very popular Republican governor in Georgia, and we actually heard some of that criticism as recently as a few weeks ago, when Trump held a rally in Atlanta, he went after Kemp questioned his loyalty to the Republican Party, and luck we have heard Kemp before. He did not get involved in the Republican presidential primary. Instead, he chose to stay out until it was clear who the front runner would be.
Once Donald Trump became it became clear that he was going to be the presumptive Republican nominee. Kemp did come out and say he supported him and would do what he could to help elect whoever the Republican would be at the top of the ticket.
Now, we actually had our own CNN Kit Maher ask J.D. Vance, Donald Trump's running mate about this earlier today. I want you to take a listen to what he said.
J.D. VANCE, U.S. REPUBLICAN VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Now look, the President has some personal disagreements with Brian Kemp, and Brian Kemp has some personal disagreements with the President, but they're both big enough to put the country over personal interests.
TREENE: Look, I think the bottom line here, into J.D. Vance's point there, is that this is all politics. I don't think you're going to see Kemp and Trump be great friends, but they do have somewhat of a truce going on, and that's because winning Georgia for Republicans is so important, it is a battleground.
Remember, Donald Trump lost the state to Joe Biden in 2020 by just some 12,000 votes, and it is very critical for them come November. I know that Trump's team sees it as one of those must win states. And so if Kemp can help having his support, again, given that he is so popular within the state of Georgia, they will do whatever they can to get an edge in this race. Alayna Treene, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: The latest now on the investigation into the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. And Wednesday, the FBI released new images of the suspect's gun along with his backpack and the explosives which he had in his car.
Investigators say a motive still remains unclear, and Thomas Matthew Crooks had no clear ideological leanings. His online searches showed he was looking for information about campaign events, both for Trump and Biden, but then he became hyper focused on the Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, July 13, which he viewed as a target. Investigators also say there are no signs that any other people or foreign entities were involved.
The Trump campaign embroiled in controversy once again, this time after a confrontation at Arlington National Cemetery from the sacred sites where American service members have been laid to rest after serving their country.
Donald Trump was there to honor 13 U.S. troops. Killed at Kabul airport in Afghanistan three years ago during the withdrawal.
[01:25:05]
He met with their families, but the cemetery forbids the use of its hollow grounds for any kind of campaign activity, and a source is told NPR, an official there tried to block the Trump team from filming, and his campaign staff then verbally abused and pushed the official aside.
A Trump spokesperson denies it got physical. Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance claims there was no gross violation of federal law. He tried to shift the blame, though, onto the U.S. Vice President, using some very harsh language.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VANCE: Kamala Harris is disgraceful. We're going to talk about a story out of those 13 brave, innocent Americans who lost their lives. It's the Kamala Harris is so asleep at the wheel that she won't even do an investigation into what happened, and she wants to yell at Donald Trump because he showed up. She can go to hell.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Tech company NVIDIA reported its second quarter earnings were up 122 percent compared to last fiscal year. NVIDIA famous for creating the GPU and redefining what computer graphics are actually capable of doing.
Their work creating AI processes has propelled the company to new heights. Now one of only three U.S. companies valued at more than $3 trillion. Some experts wonder how long reality beating expectations, how much longer the stock market could up with all the froth in the bubble.
Hong Kong's CNN Kristie Lu Stout joins us out with all of this. You know, this happens a lot with companies that, you know, they just get so far ahead of their actual valuation. And no matter what they do, it seems they're coming in for a fall. Is that sort of where the video is at the moment?
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's in a position where it's difficult to impress. NVIDIA is huge. It is so far, the biggest winner in the AI tech boom. But after its latest earnings result, it's not quite living up to the hype. You know, it did beat estimates are reported Q2 revenue of over $30 billion that's up 122 percent compared to the same time year ago. It's also now forecasting third quarter revenue, $32.5 billion which is only modestly better than estimate. So that's not enough to impress the market.
So after the report, NVIDIA shares have traded lower in after hours trade, we could show where it stands with a graphic will bring it up for you right now. NVIDIA some context for you, it is the benchmark for semiconductors and for the entire AI industry. And you have tech giants, the biggest names out there, Google, Microsoft, Meta slash Facebook. They are building out their AI infrastructure, and they have been spending billions and more on NVIDIA processors that power AI, and that includes, of course, generative AI, the tech behind applications like ChatGPT.
Now, NVIDIA has been breaking in billions, but it's also facing a number of headwinds. I want to show you just a number of challenges it's up against. They include, number one, production delays, especially for its next generation chips, also the potential for rising production costs, especially if TSMC. This is the (INAUDIBLE) raises its fees.
There's also antitrust concerns that U.S. regulators have been looking into and probing NVIDIA's business practices. And you also got rising competition from rivals, including Huawei, the Chinese tech giant. But analysts point out, look, it's still early days. We're still at the very start of the AI revolution. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAN IVES, MANAGING DIRECTOR, WEDBUSH SECURITIES: This is going to be a $4 trillion mark up in the next year, along with Apple and Microsoft. This AI revolution is just starting, being led by godfather of AI, Jensen, NVIDIA. It continues to be, I think, one of our core plays in tech.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LU STOUT: Look, NVIDIA is AI golden goose. Investors have been so used to NVIDIA just smashing the forecast, they're just not impressed when it just beats them. John.
VAUSE: What are they going to do? You got to ask. Kristie Lu Stout live for us in Hong Kong. We appreciate the update and the orange.
Well, concerns are going by the potential spread of polio in Gaza. Coming up, while the outbreak is still a possibility, even though vaccines have already arrived in the territory.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:31:29]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: The World Food Programme has suspended the movement of staff in Gaza after one of their vehicles came under fire. The car was approaching an Israeli checkpoint Tuesday night when it was hit at least ten times. No one was hurt, but the U.N. says the vehicle was clearly marked and
being cleared by Israel to travel through that particular area.
The WFP plays a key role in distributing aid through Gaza where famine has been gripping the territory for months. Israel's military says the incident is now under review.
Health officials are also concerned about the possible polio outbreak in Gaza. They've recently discovered the first case of the disease there in 25 years. Without more vaccinations they say, it's just a matter of time before thousands of others are infected.
CNN's Jeremy Diamond has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: 11-month-old Abdul Rahman is no longer the energetic baby he once was. He now sleeps most of the day, gently rocked by his mother, who is still grappling with how quickly he went from feverish and vomiting, to partially paralyzed.
"My child started to move and crawled at an early age," Naveen says, "but suddenly everything went backwards. Suddenly he was no longer crawling or moving or able to stand on his feet or even sit."
Doctors delivered the devastating news earlier this month. Abdul Rahman has polio, the first known case in Gaza in 25 years.
"It is a shock for a mother to hear such news. Now he is lying here in the tent in these unhealthy conditions. There's no treatment, no capabilities, and no supplements."
The course of Abdel Raham's life cruelly twisted by the war that started just weeks after he was born, leaving him vulnerable to malnutrition, dirty drinking water, and missed vaccines. The fear now that Abdul Rahman could be the first of many.
What is your plan to keep this one confirmed case from becoming an epidemic in the Gaza Strip.
SAM ROSE, DIRECTOR OF PLANNING, UNRWA: Absolutely. The plan is to start a vaccination campaign, a mass vaccination campaign involving all children under 10 or 640,000 children who needs to be reached. So we need to reach about 95 percent of them.
DIAMOND: 1.2 million vaccine doses have now arrived and thousands of U.N. staffers and volunteers are ready to inoculate Gaza's children. The challenge will be getting the job done as the war rages on.
ROSE: It's a relatively easy vaccine to administer. It's dropped on tongues. It doesn't require needles. It doesn't require injections. It's something that's relatively simple to do. The difficult part is everything else.
DIAMOND: Gaza's health system has been devastated by nearly 11 months of war and global health officials are calling for a pause in the fighting to distribute the vaccine.
Israeli authorities who launched the drive to vaccinate their troops last month haven't committed to that. But they say quote, "routine humanitarian pauses will facilitate the inoculation drive."
In central Gaza, Naveen fans the flies from her son's face. She is helpless to fight off the disease that now grips his small body.
[01:34:47]
DIAMOND: "Abdel Rahman needs treatment," She says, pleading with the world to take her son out of Gaza. She's still waiting for someone to answer her cry.
Jeremy Diamond, CNN -- Tel Aviv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Well, adulting is not easy. It seems parenting is even harder, it's stressful. In fact, so stressful the U.S. Surgeon General released an official warning that parental stress is a significant public health issue.
Last year, a survey by the American Psychological Association found that one-third of parents who were asked had high levels of stress in the past month. That's nearly one-fifth of other adults, those childless ones.
The advisory calls for a national paid family and medical leave program, as well as increased child care financial assistance. Also recommending the development of standardized measures of mental health and well-being that are specific to parents.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VIVEK MURTHY, U.S SURGEON GENERAL: Very often when I encounter parents across the country, they'll talk to me about their kids challenges, not about their own. But in my work on youth mental health, I came to see very quickly that not only are parents struggling but they're struggling at surprising levels. 48 percent of parents are saying that they on most days feel completely overwhelmed by stress. 48 percent of parents that's compared to 26 percent of other adults.
So that tells us we've got a real challenge. And there's a lot that's driving that. You know, parents are -- they're not only contending with the usual stressors that come with being a parent worrying about finances and safety. But they're also worried about how to manage social media and phones for their kid, something that my parents didn't have to worry about.
They kind of figure out how to contend with a youth mental health crisis and a loneliness epidemic that are hitting kids really hard right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP) VAUSE: For more on this, we head to Los Angeles and Dr. Judy Ho, clinical and forensic neuropsychologist and author of "The New Rules of Attachment".
And it's great to see you. It's been a minute.
DR. JUDY HO, CLINICAL AND FORENSIC NEUROPSYCHOLOGIST: Great to see you too, John. I know it's been a minute and lots going on now since we haven't seen each other -
(CROSSTALKING)
VAUSE: Absolutely, there's plenty happening.
I will say this advisory from the U.S. Surgeon General, he did note that being a parent has always been stressful. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. MURTHY: Parents and caregivers in America are under pressure. As a father of two kids, I feel this pressure too. Raising children has always been a rewarding but stressful task.
There are the usual difficulties of parenting -- dealing with financial concerns, worrying about our kids health and safety, and getting through the teenage years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The advisory also makes the point that mothers and fathers now work many more hours than they did back in 1985. Also spend many more hours every week on primary child care. That doesn't count their total time spent with children.
The advisory goes on. Demands from both work and child caregiving have come at the cost of quality time with one's partner, sleep, and parental leisure time.
So what is this leisure time of which he speaks? I just wanted to -- is this overall bit like the frog in the pot of water, turn up the heat just a little bit in tiny increments, just a little bit of time, the frog adjusts and you know, eventually doesn't realize it's boiling to death.
The demands on parents have just slowly increased steadily over the years. So we've got to this point now where it's actually, you know, almost hazardous to be a parent.
DR. HO: Yes, that's such a great metaphor that its sort of insidious and you don't really know that it's happening. And then all of a sudden everything feels overwhelming and just a regular daily tasks just feels like so difficult to do when it wasn't like that a year ago or two years ago.
And I think that this advisory is interesting because so many parents I think feel stressed. They feel overwhelmed and also a lot of parents are in part of what we call that sandwich generation where you're caring for your young ones, but also you're caring for your aging parents. So it's a lot of responsibility on top of also work and your social life and wanting to have hobbies. And yet you're not supposed to complain right.
As a parent, there's that idea that you're supposed to just be grateful all the time and be positive and be happy for your children. Of course, we are. But you should still also be able to say, hey, sometimes it's very hard.
VAUSE: Yes, it's real hard. A lot of the time. This advisory actually points out that, you know, there's this cultural comparison often perpetuated online around milestones, parenting, and achievements has left many families feeling exhausted, burned out, and perpetually behind.
Parental expectations have changed dramatically over the decades. My parents sent me to boarding school and said, see you at Christmas. That was it.
Now though there's all the focus on how much parents can do to help increase their kids' opportunities later in life. And that's a real competition with other parents.
So explain what's driving that and how best to get off that treadmill.
DR. HO: Definitely. I think that there's that idea that we have to do it all. And the more that we know about that important attachment bond between parents and their children, the more parents even if they have full-time jobs are saying but I want to be there for my kids too.
And that is a type of a treadmill and then you look at social media, you talk to friends. People aren't totally being transparent and honest all the time. And you think, oh, my life is supposed to look like that all the time and it's just not possible.
[01:39:45]
DR. HO: I have a toddler who's about to turn three, so I feel like this is very present-minded for me as well. And the way to get off the treadmill I think is to be able to relax and say that there's no such thing as perfect parenting.
And also, if you stop taking care of yourself, you can't take care of your children and everything else around you. You have to still put yourself first if you want to be a good parent.
VAUSE: And within this advisory, I thought this was one of the key points. It says, "It's time to value and respect time spent parenting on par with time spent working at a paying job, recognizing the critical importance to society of raising children."
So it's all about valuing parents. So one important sort of comparison here is in 141 countries that have maternity leave, 41 of them paid maternity leave. And in Estonia, they've got it real good. A year of maternity leave. New mothers can take up to 86 weeks before and after giving birth, 20 of those weeks at full pay.
Now take a guess at the two worst countries when it comes to maternity leave, who do you think?
DR. HO: Oh, United States must be one of them?
VAUSE: Yes. And Papua New Guinea.
So my point here is that clearly life would be a lot less stressful if there was legally guaranteed parental leave in the United States and that goes to the bigger point of valuing this job of being a parent. It's just not valued as much as it should be.
DR. HO: And I think that that goes along with our hustle culture that's definitely very prevalent in America, especially America. It's like you wear it like a badge of honor, how busy you are.
But if we could flip the script and change the culture just a little bit because raising a human being and giving them that foundation for life is going to pay off in spades, not only to your own immediate family, but to the entire community.
But I think that's going to take time and it has to start with the leaderships. If you work at an organization where your leadership is embracing this idea, that's going to go a lot easier for you than you having to try to fight that fight on your own.
So I do think that we're speaking to the people who are in charge, who are the business owners, who are organizational leaders to say, let's give a little leeway for this conversation.
And when someone's coming to you and saying, I need a little break. Parenting has been really stressful and I need a little break at work so I can try to manage everything. We have to start listening a little more.
VAUSE: Yes and just very quickly, for anybody out there who is struggling with being a parent and finding it all very, very stressful, what's the best advice you can give them.
Dr. Ho: Well first, don't isolate because I think that oftentimes parents feel ashamed, like this is a blessing. I'm supposed to embrace this. Why don't I feel right about this?
But it's important to find a community. Find just at least one person that you can really let your hair down with and tell the truth about your experience because that isolation is what leads to a risk in mental health concerns it leads to risks in parenting behaviors, not having that secure bond with your child.
So you have to start talking to somebody. And if it starts to get so tenuous that you can't go about your daily responsibilities or you just feel like everything's so overwhelming and you can't feel happiness even during moments of the day, then it's time to seek a professional because professionals can help give you some really helpful parenting as well as emotion regulation strategies to get you through those tough times.
VAUSE: Judy, it is so great to see you. Thank you for the advice and great to talk with you. Thank you.
DR. HO: Thank you, John.
VAUSE: Well, feeding elephants, hippos, and zebras to the hungry. When we come back, with severe drought and food shortages in Namibia, authorities order a wildlife cull.
[01:43:06]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: At least two people have been killed, two others remain unaccounted for and dozens are injured after Typhoon Shanshan made landfall as Japan's southernmost island.
Officials issued emergency warnings with flash flooding and landslides across most of the area. Wind gusts up to 185 kilometers per hour were reported. The typhoon is expected to turn to the east and then weaken to a tropical storm by the end of the day.
In Sudan, the death toll has now risen to at least 100 people after torrential rain caused a major dam to burst. Just another disaster for this country, already plagued by civil war and acute food shortages.
Here's CNN's Paula Newton.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Dozens dead as floods ravage an already crumbling Sudan memorial.
MALEHASHIM MOHAMED, FARMER (through translator): We lost everything and we could barely rescue our families. The water washed away our farms, vehicles, livestock, and crops. It's the worst waterflows I've seen in my life.
NEWTON: Locals are burying their neighbors as more than 100 people are found dead due to severe floods. According to government officials flash floods in the country caused a dam in eastern Sudan to burst. It swept through villages, destroying more than 12,000 homes.
The U.N. says the death toll could still be higher. Many people are still missing under the rubble.
ABU ALI AHMED, ARBAAT RESIDENT (through translator): The situation is catastrophic to be honest. We have children, families, and elderly, and others that need continuous medication and this is the fourth day.
The water came onto them and destroyed all the villages. And we don't know the circumstances they are going through now.
NEWTON: The aftermath of these floods could be more fatal still in Sudan, a country already plagued by civil war. A new independent report found that more than 20,000 people have been killed in Sudan since the start of the conflict in April 2023.
The country is suffering from a humanitarian crisis. According to the U.N., more than half of the population faces acute hunger. The growing crisis affects the education of millions of children as well with schools in Sudan either destroyed or shut down.
ASRAR SABER ESSAM, DISPLACED STUDENT (through translator): I have lost my normal life and my dreams have been shattered. I aspire to become a doctor. But with the school closed I feel as though my future and the meaning of life have slipped away.
NEWTON: The arrival of aid, complicated by civil war that continues to ravage the country. As peace talks in Switzerland led by the U.S. and Egypt are ramping up, so too are diplomatic efforts to secure food and medicine.
For the first time in six months, humanitarian aid resumed in Sudan's famine-threatened Darfur region. The convoy of food is a short but much needed relief to the thousands of people at the brink of this tragedy.
Now in the eastern part of the country, thousands are reeling with the aftermath of floods. People are cut off from the capital Port Sudan and many are searching for the bodies of their loved ones.
Paula Newton, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: With widespread food shortages because of a severe drought, Namibia's government has ordered a cull of hundreds of wild animals like elephants, hippos, wildebeest.
Half of the population in Namibia, more than a million people, have been struggling with food insecurity all made worse by a drought which has been exacerbated by climate crisis and has killed hundreds of elephants last year after their water source dried up.
More now from CNN's Larry Madowo.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Killing hundreds of wildlife to provide food for hungry people is a controversial move that may anger conservationists, but Namibia sees this as a necessary evil.
The ministry of environment calling it a sustainability intervention. These animals will die anyway because of the effects of the drought there, the worst in 100 years.
The government of Namibia was forced to declare a state of emergency in May as more than half of the population could face acute food insecurity. That is why the ministry of environment is contributing these animals as part of the drought relief program by the government. 723 wildlife from 83 elephants, 60 buffaloes, 30 hippos, 300 zebras,
100 blue wildebeest, 15 Impalas, and 100 elands have been earmarked for this. More than 150 animals have already been killed, providing more than 125,000 pounds of game meat to those that need it, especially in rural parts of Namibia.
The drought here has been caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon, which has led to limited rainfall.
[01:49:48]
MADOWO: But also the bigger picture here is because of the effects of climate change, the climate crisis is hitting southern Africa, especially hard right now.
So that is the backdrop for this controversial move that the Namibian government says well also help reduced human-wildlife conflict because of the drought. Limited water, limited grazing lands has led to some deadly human-wildlife conflict and they're hoping this helps alleviate some of that as well.
Larry Madowo, CNN - Nairobi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Earlier, I spoke with Christopher Barrett, an agricultural economy professor at Cornell University about this controversial plan.
I asked him if this could be an indication of what's to come as the planet gets hotter with governments taking drastic measures in response to extreme weather events.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTOPHER BARRETT, CORNELL UNIVERSITY: This is obviously a rather unusual move by any government, but we are seeing more extreme weather events. Those are very serious consequences for people and they in particular are very serious consequences for our food systems.
We have been facing climate change for roughly two decades now and that comes on top of slowing rates of investment in boosting our agricultural productivity.
The confluence of those two things means food prices had been rising as everybody sees in the grocery stores and more people are hungry now than we had ten years ago. So we have a confluence of several problems that unfortunately are prompting rather dramatic responses like the government of Namibia.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: That was agricultural economy professor Chris Barrett.
In a moment U.S. Paralympian Oksana Masters has already won 17 medals in previous games. Now she's going for more glory at the Paris Olympics -- Paralympics. Now, it's underway and she will speak to CNN. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: So one day you're just perusing through the garage and then you suddenly you find ten signed lithographs by the iconic (INAUDIBLE) artist Salvador Dali.
Well, that happened in London, where they've been stashed away for over 50 years. The pieces are mostly scenes from mythologies and allegories and were discovered by an auctioneer who is there trying to assess the mother antiques.
The unframed pictures were purchased during the 1970s from the closing sale at a London gallery. The works expected to fetch several thousand dollars at auction September 30. Maybe more than that.
Competition will soon begin at the Paralympic Games after the opening ceremony in the heart of Paris. Paralympians marched on the (INAUDIBLE) Place de la Concorde. The event featured hundreds of artists and performers with disabilities and impairments.
The president of the Paralympic Committee said he is hoping for an inclusive revolution. More than 4,400 athletes are competing in 549 medal events over 11 days.
Paralympian Oksana Masters is in Paris looking to add more medals to an already impressive collection. The multi-sport athlete has won 17 medals in her career and is hungry for the next. She talked about her success and her hopes for the Paris Games with CNN's Coy Wire.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OKSANA MASTERS, PARALYMPIAN: There's so many things that are motivating me. It's the obvious defending the two gold medals that were a complete shock in Tokyo to do the same in Paris, the home of cycling kind of. And also just chasing that perfect race where it doesn't matter where I finished on the podium before I know the result, just as a cyclist not one thing about that race I would change.
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Have you ever had a perfect race?
[01:54:47]
MASTERS: No. I've never had a perfect race. That's I think -- a lot of athletes are chasing that perfect race and, you know, it's - it's not about the gold medal is what makes a perfect race.
It's about the whole process where my first initial thought isn't like God, I should have done this. This is what I did wrong and all the feedback that I have for myself and criticism that I have for myself. So yes.
WIRE: How do you hope your journey and you have inspired others.
MASTERS: I hope that if there's just one girl watching, she can look and she's like I can do this, I belong here. You have to see your dream and you have to see it to actually believe in yourself.
WIRE: Love that. How has being an athlete changed your life?
MASTERS: I think the biggest way it changed my life is it was -- that was the journey for me to love myself and accept myself and see my body as powerful and strong. It was not an overnight journey.
Sports really taught me how it was ok to take my legs off in front of people and to still be powerful, real powerful and use my body in ways and see it in this unique life (ph) that I know I feel and I want people to see how I feel about it and not society, just because they don't know it and are uncomfortable by it, determine how I feel. And so was the journey of self-discovery and love.
WIRE: Is it true but you, you believe that your scars don't define you.
MASTERS: Yes. I think growing up, I came to America with so many scars and the story was written for me and I let them define me. I let those memories be what those memories were.
But that's not what defines us, not what you've been through, it's what you choose to do and how you move forward and all the things you done and the scars are just there to remember wow, how strong we are.
So whether it's a scar you got from climbing a tree or whether the scar that you didn't ask for it -- it's a symbol of power and strengthen to really, you get to rewrite that and how you view it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause.
Please stay with us. Rosemary Church, my friend and colleague will be up after a very short break.
See you right back here tomorrow.
[01:57:02]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)