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Hurricane Lala Batters Hawaii; Indonesia Earthquake Recovery Efforts; Colombian Volunteers Ship Tons of Aid to Hard-Hit Regions; Emergency Crews Deployed After Kyiv Strikes; Iranian Official: U.S. to Blame for Instability in Hormuz; New York Synagogue Hate Crime Arrest; Israeli Settler Violence; Taliban Celebrate Five Years in Power in Afghanistan. Aired 4-5a ET

Aired August 16, 2026 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from around the world. I'm Salma Abdelaziz in London. Let's go straight to the headlines.

Hurricane Lala is pounding parts of Hawaii with destructive winds and rain that forecasters warn could reach two feet in some areas. The death toll is rising after a deadly earthquake in Indonesia as powerful aftershocks continue to hamper recovery efforts. And a New York synagogue becomes the target of a hate crime during worship. We have video of that disturbing encounter up ahead.

ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN Newsroom with Salma Abdelaziz.

ABDELAZIZ: Right now, Hurricane Lala is located just south of Hawaii, moving northwest and battering parts of the state with wind and rain. U.S. weather officials say the storm is not expected to make landfall, but earlier, Lala's eyewall brushed the big island's southern tip with sustained winds of 80 miles an hour. Hawaii's governor says one person has been killed in a storm-related car accident.

Lala remains a category one strength. It's forecast to weaken as it moves across the island chain, but it is still expected to pack a big punch. Power is out for tens of thousands of people across the state, including more than 70 percent of Hawaii County on the big island. People there have been bracing for the storm.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's been really surreal and kind of unreal that we're getting, like, Lala, like, right now. And it said, like, in three decades, we haven't got one, like, this big that's said to be this big. So, I am kind of nervous about it, but we're going to hunker down. We're going to stay safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: I want to welcome now Molly Pierce, the public information officer for the Ohio Department of Emergency Management. Thank you so much for being on with us this morning, especially as everything is going on, because as we reported there, it did not make landfall on the big island, but Lala has still caused roads to flood. Rivers are overflowing. Strong winds are battering the islands. Can you describe to me what's happening right now? What are you coping with?

MOLLY PIERCE, OAHU DEPARTMENT OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: Yes. So, just because the eye of the storm did not fully pass over the big islands, we're still seeing that there were a lot of impacts from that, because this is such a wide storm. At certain points, it's been upwards of 200 miles across.

So, when you think about just how small any of our islands are, Oahu in many parts is only 40 miles wide. So, that completely covers, if you, covers our island. If you look at the radar that you've got showing now, the big island is completely engulfed in this storm. And so, we're really seeing those impacts there first and in Maui County.

But as the storm is moving south of Oahu, we are starting to see some pretty substantial impacts. We've got massive power outages across our island in a lot of different areas. So, there's no one who's really been spared there. We also have a couple of areas on the where there are areas that have one road in and one road out. And when a tree or a power line goes down, that blocks off that community. So, we're seeing that in a few places as well. We're also having a lot of roofs blown off, major trees down.

And then we've also seen a lot of flight cancellations, which for us means that we have a lot of visitors that we need to make sure that we account for who can't get off the island and who potentially need, you know, they need another place to stay. They need a new hotel because they've already checked out at the time that their flights were canceled.

And so, we're working to coordinate all those different things. We've got a lot of folks who've gone -- not from the visitor population, but we have a lot of residents and members of our houseless community who have gone to the hurricane refuge areas that we have available because we don't have a lot of opportunity for folks, you know, when winds are this strong.

ABDELAZIZ: And one of the most widespread impacts we understand right now is the power outages. Some 70 percent of Hawaii County on the Big Island, as far as I understand, is already without power. Can you speak to me about the impact of that so far on families and when electricity can be restored?

[04:05:00]

PIERCE: Yes. So, one thing that's unique about Hawaii compared to, say, storms on the U.S. Gulf Coast is that we don't have the opportunity to pre-stage resources in the same way that they do where they can't get to the island. And so, we have to make sure that we have the opportunity to pre-stage and bring power crews and trucks right to the edge of where the storm will be and wait for the storm to pass and then drive them right in right after. For us, what we have to do is we have to take all the assets we have available and find a way to protect them from the storm so that we can use them afterwards. And we can't really expect additional resources coming in right away because they'd have to come in by a ship or a cargo plane.

So, what we've done is we've -- on Oahu, we're fortunate we have large and long tunnels that go through our mountains to connect parts of the island with each other. So, one of our, our H3, that's one of our primary highways, that tunnel, we've actually used the tunnel, a lane in each direction in this very long tunnel to stage all of our debris clearance equipment so that it's protected from the storm.

But we don't have that opportunity to bring in additional resources as quickly as folks who can drive into the impact area. So, what that means is we have the potential for really prolonged power outages because of getting those resources in, but then also because so much of our electrical infrastructure is above ground lines. It's your traditional line on a power pole, and they're quite old. We haven't had impacts like this in a very long time. So, our infrastructure hasn't been tested in that way.

You know, so, it's potentially -- you know, it hasn't been through winds like that. So, we do have to -- we have to account for some of these potentially being weaker than they might be in other places that would experience these winds more regularly. And then we also have very large, beautiful tropical trees. But the problem is they don't withstand heavy wind very well either. And so, that combination of isolation, infrastructure, and that natural habitat really come together to make those power outages a really hard nut to crack.

ABDELAZIZ: Infrastructure being tested in many ways like it never has before. Molly Pierce in Honolulu on how the islands are handling that storm. Thank you so much.

Officials in the state of Indiana are reporting five storm-related deaths. This is just in the past few days. As more torrential rain threatens parts of the Midwestern United States, Indiana's capital city has experienced its most severe flooding in more than 30 years, according to its mayor. Heavy rainfall has drenched the region for more than a week, with Indiana suffering some of the worst of it. State leaders say the federal government is offering help.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. MIKE BRAUN (R-IN): And I just hung up with the president about 15 minutes ago. They're in the process of galvanizing FEMA to do a declaration, which then speeds up that process. And that doesn't really happen very often. It would take something like the magnitude of what happened down in North Carolina a few years ago. And for Indiana, this is about as widespread of a weather issue we've had in years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: Another round of storms is expected to continue through early Sunday. This is according to weather officials with Indiana, Ohio and parts of Illinois and western Virginia, most at risk of flooding rain. The flood threat may ease somewhat on Sunday as heavy rain moves out of the Midwest.

The death toll is rising from Saturday's powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake in Indonesia. At least 47 deaths are tied to that earthquake now. It hit just off the island of Flores, which is home to some 2 million people. Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency says some 113 people were wounded. And just hours after that initial tremor, a 6.9 magnitude earthquake hit northern Sumatra. This is followed by a series of aftershocks.

Officials say rescue crews have yet to reach the region closest to the epicenter due to landslides blocking the roads. They evacuated about 2,000 people in the hours after the quake, and officials said some people may still be trapped in the buildings across the region. Indonesia is, of course, prone to powerful earthquakes due to its location along the ring of fire.

I want to bring in now CNN's Gage Goulding, who has been tracking all of the developments for us from Hong Kong. Good afternoon to you, Gage.

[04:10:00]

Now, we're still in that golden window, of course, where survivors might be found alive. What are you learning about rescue operations right now and the challenges that they might be facing?

GAGE GOULDING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You bring up that golden window. You think of this as a race. We are past the halfway point. There's 48 hours to get to anybody that may be trapped in rubble, victims that need help. After that 48-hour window, which we're post-24 hours now, approaching 36 hours, after that window, the opportunity for them to survive, the likelihood of them being able to survive, it significantly decreases. And we're talking about thousands of people that have been displaced. We have reports of about 1,300 homes here that have either been destroyed or damaged.

In the town of Maumere, which is where this live picture is, this is what I believe is the port building here. That town has seen significant damage. Reports say that there were people stranded outside of their homes, living in makeshift tents in camps, many of them looking for just aid to start rolling in. And mind you, this is an area that is prone to earthquakes, very familiar with earthquakes. Yet some of the folks that are living through this, you can see they're lying on the ground. They say the aid necessarily isn't moving as quick.

But I want to take a moment to go from the aid back to the actual initial earthquake itself. If we can show some video of the moments the earthquake was happening at the port. There's incredible video because it looks like either people were thrown from the port or the pier into the water, or they jumped into the water specifically to try to, I don't know, jump to safety, if you will. One of the ferry workers actually that was there, it kind of illustrates the entire thing. But in this video, you can see people trying to help others, maybe it's family members, maybe it's friends, maybe it's just random people trying to help them out of the water. Listen to what this ferry worker had to say. He was on the boat at the time the earthquake hit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASRI AYU, FERRY WORKER (through translator): It shook so hard, the passengers were disembarking and the ladder fell because of the quake, because it shook too hard. This is the first time I've ever felt an earthquake this big for as long as I've been working on ships.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOULDING: Yes. So, you see that there are people falling into the water as they're getting off the ship, people that are nearby. In that video, I don't know if you saw the multi-story building in the background, but that one actually collapsed partially in the earthquake itself.

So, you think about all these different pieces of, you know, not just the earth shaking, but, you know, building collapsing, people falling into the water, it's just a very scary situation and it continues. Salma, you were talking about the different earthquakes around the Indonesian region. Since the initial earthquake, 6:00 a.m. Saturday morning, more than 340 aftershocks.

One, according to the USGS, I just checked within the last half hour, 45 minutes, they had a 5.5 magnitude aftershock striking in and around that same area near the island of Flores. So, it's just continuing. It makes it incredibly difficult for those rescue workers, incredibly difficult for people that are trying to get home. Think about just the simple things of, you know, we were looking at Hawaii, you know, restoring power, so on and so forth.

I understand that there's 20 gas stations alone that cannot pump fuel simply because they don't have power. A lot of work to be done there, Salma.

ABDELAZIZ: Gage Goulding, thank you so much for talking us through that extraordinary footage of the moment the earthquake struck at that port. Thank you.

Several cities across Colombia are still working to assess the scope of the damage. This is after Monday's 7.4 magnitude earthquake. Communities in Cali are coming together to clear debris from public spaces after a citywide cleanup initiative was launched and coordinated by local authorities.

Meanwhile, in Bogota, thousands of volunteers have transformed a sports stadium into the country's largest humanitarian aid and collection center. As you can see there, the operation has already shipped 700 tons of aid to the hardest hit areas. While search and recovery efforts continue, a growing number of injured animals are in desperate need of treatment. A public veterinary hospital in Pereira has been operating at full capacity, offering free emergency care to city residents. For some, that act of kindness is a source of relief.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ESTEFANIA HENAO, COLOMBIAN DOG OWNER (through translator): Here, the care is great. They are very loving. They are very attentive. They are very specialized. She is very old. She has been to many veterinarians, and here, all the information they give is super useful, super correct. No, here, it is wonderful, and that it's free. Well, it's a blessing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: Now, a series of wildfires continues to tear across Europe as record-breaking heat and extreme drought conditions leave landscapes parched and primed to burn.

[04:15:00]

In Belgium, a fire that started on Friday has already become the largest on record, burning 27 square kilometers. A regional response effort to contain that blaze is underway. It involves the E.U. and some neighboring nations.

And a fire in southwestern France has prompted over 600 evacuations. This follows two major French fires in late July that destroyed some 500 square kilometers, as the country deals with its driest year on record. And in Croatia, strong winds are fueling a wildfire that's killed at least one person and injured 40 others. Additional fires are also burning across Spain, Italy, Germany, Greece, and the U.K. Climate experts say Europe is the world's fastest warming continent, raising the risk of the dry, hot conditions that fuel these very dangerous wildfires.

Emergency crews are working at the sites of the latest Russian strikes on Kyiv. That's from President Zelenskyy, who is speaking out after a wave of strikes that hit a local market and injured six people in the region. Officials earlier said at least four people were killed in overnight strikes across Ukraine.

On the other side of the border, Russia's state news agency says the country has just seen the largest Ukrainian drone attack of the year. Officials say at least six people were killed as air defenses reportedly shot down some 800 drones. But the strikes still set this Wildberries warehouse near Moscow on fire.

The clock is ticking for the U.S. and Iran to negotiate the final terms of a peace deal. The 60-day window, as outlined in that Memorandum of Understanding, which was signed by both countries in June, is on the brink of expiration. Both sides remain deadlocked over control of the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran maintains that it is Washington and Israel that are to blame for the instability on the very critical waterway.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ESMAEIL BAGHAEL, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON (through translator): The United States continues to speak with pride about implementing a naval blockade against Iran. This is an admission of an aggressive act against Iran. According to international law, this is an act of aggression. Its threats continue, and other violations of the Memorandum of Understanding to end the war continue. While in these circumstances, we naturally cannot say that security and safety are established in the Strait of Hormuz.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: I want to bring in now CNN's Larry Madowo. He is standing by for us with the latest developments. Larry, so as you heard there, the MOU is about to expire, set to expire tomorrow. But these two sides are still locked in a stalemate, I assume?

LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right, Salma. Though there have been last-minute deals before, so we're not ruling out anything. But at this point, it does not look that there will be any return to negotiations, and that will, in fact, expire on Monday. And the U.S. is hoping that a campaign of economic isolation will get Iran back to the negotiating table. A few days ago, Secretary Scott Bessent said that they will be announcing even more measures in the coming week of great economic isolation that has never been seen before.

So, the combination of the financial assets of Iran that are frozen and they're blockading the Strait of Hormuz, they think will have such a high economic toll on Iran that they have no option but to come back to the negotiating table. That's what President Trump essentially said, that once he wins this war, he will declare the Strait of Hormuz U.S. territory. But until then, they have no money coming in, they're broke, there are no ships coming in because of this blockade. But Iran essentially rubbished that and said they have complete control over the Strait of Hormuz.

And you see these attacks targeting vessels going through this important waterway as one leverage that Iran has on the other side. But we'll see in the coming hours if there can be a deal here. The other attention that is being paid to this region is about these attacks from the Houthi rebels targeting a port in Yemen that is an important part. It's not the largest port in Yemen, but it's one of the ones that has seen a huge round of dozens of missile attacks, 25 in a few days, leading to damage of at least $16 million. And now, it's shut down as it kind of smarts from that.

This port, the Mokha port, is a key part of this region. It connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. And as traffic has kind of slowed down in the Strait of Hormuz, this one is also getting a lot of attention right now. And the Houthi armed forces spokesperson said they were targeting Saudi military weapons and infrastructure and their proxies in the region. That is not something that the Yemeni government believes and has actually pushed back on that, has done some retaliatory attacks. But that's opening up the possibility of a return to full-scale war in Yemen. And that's the last thing the region needs right now, Salma.

[04:20:00]

ABDELAZIZ: Larry Madowo there, and as you were speaking, we were looking at those very dramatic images of Mokha Port on fire after those Houthi attacks. Thank you so much for breaking that down for us.

A man in New York is facing hate crimes charges after he allegedly disturbed a Shabbat service at a synagogue. After the break, what police say he did. That story and much more, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ABDELAZIZ: A man is facing hate crime charges. This is after he allegedly injured a woman because of disruptions during a Shabbat service on Friday. This is according to New York Police. 46-year-old Larry Montes has a history of mental health issues and has been previously arrested for other crimes, according to officials. The attack comes at a time when the U.S. has seen a rise in reports of anti-Semitic violence. CNN's Rafael Romo has the latest for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A law enforcement official has told CNN the suspect entered the synagogue during Shabbat services Friday night and was sitting down for roughly 10 minutes before he got up and was confronted by security.

[04:25:00]

A clip from the synagogue's live stream obtained by CNN affiliate WCBS shows how congregants scrambled as shouts of panic erupted while a security guard is seen trying to restrain the suspect as he barreled down the aisle.

The law enforcement source also told CNN that when the suspect tried to make his way toward the rabbi, security tried to escort him out and that's when he proceeded to attack a woman and the security guard while also yelling a racial slur at him. New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch identified the suspect as 46-year-old Larry Montes from the Bronx.

She also said the suspect has now been charged with two counts of assault as a hate crime and one count of criminal mischief also as a hate crime among other charges. Tisch also said that no one was seriously injured and that the NYPD increased security at the synagogue. The synagogue's rabbi opened the service Saturday morning by saying the congregation is grateful to be safe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our day of rest was interrupted last night by a security incident in our main sanctuary but we are OK. We are safe. We are grateful to be here. We are grateful to our security team for supporting us. We feel so grateful for our community.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We went through something really hard and scary last night and I think this healing prayer can be focused on the whole community, on all of us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a post on X that this despicable act has no place in our city and our administration will do everything in our power to keep Jewish New Yorkers safe. The law enforcement official familiar with the investigation also told CNN that Montes, the suspect, tried to walk toward an area that is not open to the public and when they confronted him, he proceeded to chop with his hands at two candles each valued at $10,000.

According to CNN's source Montes has several sealed arrests, some of which were robberies as well as a history of mental health issues and investigators do not have evidence that he was targeting anyone inside the synagogue. CNN reached out to the federal public defender's office in the southern district of New York but we were told the suspect had not yet been assigned an attorney.

Rafael Romo, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABDELAZIZ: The U.N. is warning about the level of Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank. Just ahead, an inside look into the days-long siege of Palestinians at the hands of militant settlers and how the Israeli government is responding to international condemnation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:30:00]

ABDELAZIZ: Welcome back to CNN Newsroom. I'm Salma Abdelaziz in London.

That very tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon is facing perhaps its toughest test yet. The Israeli Defense Forces killed at least 11 people across southern Lebanon on Saturday. It marks the deadliest day of IDF strikes since the two countries came to an agreement in late June. The Israeli prime minister's office claims that three soldiers were seriously injured in a terrorist attack. Hezbollah attacked and accused the Iran-backed group of violating the ceasefire. Hezbollah warns the attacks would be, quote, "met with what they deserve."

And in the West Bank, escalating settler violence is drawing international condemnation, even from the United States. Palestinian residents in the West Bank village of Kostra have been under siege now for days, but they say this is nothing new. According to them, they have faced at times deadly attacks by militant settlers for months at a time.

In this latest wave of violence, Israeli settlers have been besieging homes and ramping up pressure in an effort to seize more land.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We are in our besieged house and have been under siege for the last seven days. The soldiers are stationed on the nearby house of my brother, Yusuf. They keep screaming and singing all day. Thank God this is the food we have. You can hear the sound, of course.

Hopefully, the siege will end soon, and we go back to live like we used to in the past, and we get our normal life back again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: More than 2,000 Palestinians have been displaced this year alone. This is according to United Nations data, and other access restrictions are there as well.

Mairav Zonzsein joins us live from Tel Aviv. She serves as a senior Israel-Palestine analyst at the International Crisis Group. Good morning, first of all, to you.

Thank you so much for being on with us. I want to start with this latest headline around the situation in Qusra, which is that the Israel's defense minister now wants to drop plans to hand the responsibility over to police when it comes to policing Israeli settlers in the West Bank. Is that about restoring law and order, or does it just risk further entrenching civilian control over occupied territory and making that settler violence even harder to confront? What's your take?

MAIRAV ZONZSEIN, SENIOR ANALYST, ISRAEL-PALESTINE, INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP: Good to be with you. It's not so much my take. It's the facts on the ground. The facts on the ground are that Israel has been occupying militarily the West Bank for over half a century, and it has moved Israeli civilians, settlers into that area, and the military is supposed to be the sovereign.

When the defense minister talks like that, he's basically aligning himself with the far-right of the Israeli government, which has openly been advocating annexation of the West Bank. And Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has taken certain steps to create more civilian services for Israelis while Palestinians remain under military occupation.

So, the defense minister is basically trying to further institutionalize what is already a situation of apartheid in the West Bank. And when he's doing so, he's not doing it because he's about to change anything. It's because he's campaigning as part of his only coup party for the upcoming elections, and he wants to be thought of as the most, you know, far-right pro-settler he can within his party at this moment.

ABDELAZIZ: You've brought up a couple of very important points there that I really want to parse through. You talk about the far-right, and these settlers are often described as a radical fringe. But Netanyahu's coalition depends heavily on that settler movement, as you know, as political allies. You also mentioned the elections, which are coming up.

How much public support is there inside Israel to confronting or not confronting settler violence? And how much incentive does Bibi have, both on the streets and within his own coalition, to actually rein this in?

[04:35:00]

ZONZSEIN: It's a good question. But first, let me be clear that the Netanyahu coalition, the Netanyahu as a prime minister and his party, are full-on proponents of the West Bank annexation, even if they don't say so the way that their far-right partners do. Everything that Israel has done in the last three years or four years of this government has been done by the West Bank, and it's been done by the have been very clearly to slowly but surely take more and more control of the West Bank, and to allow their far-right partners to do so.

So, when we talk about settler violence, it's actually state sanctioned Israeli state violence. That's what it is. They have plausible deniability by calling it, you know, a few radical settlers, but this is not the case at all. This is a government policy, so I want to be very clear on that.

In terms of the Israeli public opinion, I mean, the Israeli public is largely moved to the right even more, very, very anti-Palestinian in its general sentiments. If you ask certain Israelis, they'll tell you that, you know, the occupation and settlements are -- you know, they're bad, settlers are bad, we should do something about it, but they're not actually willing to take action to withdraw settlers, to make concessions.

They're certainly not in favor of a Palestinian State or even Palestinian basic rights in the West Bank, for the most part. They certainly haven't been doing anything about it, they haven't voted in that way, and even the opposition doesn't, you know, advocate for a two-state solution or for settlement withdrawal. But the public does see increasing settler violence.

It sees that the army is increasingly working alongside settlers, those that are paying attention, because many Israelis simply don't pay attention to what's happening in the West Bank. Those that do see that and they say this is bad for our image, this is bad for our reputation in the world, it's not so about the actual lives of Palestinians that concerns them.

ABDELAZIZ: And you're describing what you say is essentially state- sanctioned violence, that even, as you said, even if Prime Minister Netanyahu doesn't say this publicly, they are on this path of annexation. And that has, of course, drawn condemnation even from the United States, with the ambassador, Mike Huckabee, going so far as to describe those carrying out this siege as terrorists. And President Trump, as you've heard, has routinely portrayed himself as someone who can tell Bibi what to do. If so, can Washington genuinely stop this? Does it have the leverage to do so? And is President Trump prepared to use that leverage, whatever it may be?

ZONZSEIN: I mean, President Trump is the president who, in his first term, recognized Israel's annexation of Jerusalem and of the Golan Heights. He moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. He is not the president who I expect to do anything about this.

But yes, every single U.S. administration has the leverage. They provide Israel with diplomatic cover, with economic aid. They have every power to do this. But this goes much deeper. This is about a long-term U.S. foreign policy that has allowed settlements while not pushing for Israeli concessions and for Palestinian rights. So, I don't expect that to happen now.

But if you recall, Trump did talk about how Israel is not going to annex the West Bank. He said that under pressure from Gulf Arab states. At the time, the UAE had entered the Abraham Accords on condition that Israel would not annex parts of the West Bank. But that's going on anyway. So, he says that, but in reality, he's done nothing about it. And when Huckabee says something about settler violence, it's because it happens to be looking very bad and because one of the homeowners in Qusra happens to have American citizenship. So, all of a sudden, it matters to the U.S.

But what we've seen happen in the West Bank over decades, certainly over the last three years, is a complete violation, not just of international law, but of what has been stated U.S. policy regarding settlements. And so, I don't expect this government to do really anything about it.

ABDELAZIZ: Mairav Zonzsein there, thank you so much for bringing us the context around that siege in Qusra. Thank you.

The Taliban are finding reason to celebrate, despite ushering in one of the world's worst human rights and humanitarian crises. Saturday marked the fifth anniversary of the Taliban's return to power. Armored vehicles took part in a parade outside the former U.S. Embassy in Kabul for a so-called Victory Day from Western domination. In the five years since the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan, the Taliban has cracked down heavily on women's rights and girls' education. Our Isobel Yeung takes a look at the current state of affairs in Afghanistan.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ISOBEL YEUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These images marked the end of America's longest war. The Taliban were back in Kabul. Airport crowds of Afghans desperately trying to flee as the country entered an uncertain era. Some parents were even willing to hand their children over the airport fence. Anything to get them out of a Taliban controlled Afghanistan. Five years later, the Taliban government has survived.

[04:40:00] They say they're bringing much needed stability and security after decades of war. But at the same time, Afghan women and girls now face some of the starkest restrictions in the world. According to the United Nations, more than 100 decrees and directives have cut off their access to education, employment and public life. Girls over 12 can no longer attend school. Women are restricted from working as lawyers, doctors or in NGOs. Women can't travel without a male guardian or even visit parks.

MAHBOUBA SERAJ, AFGHAN WOMEN'S RIGHTS ACTIVIST: They don't have money to buy anything. They don't have any place to go to. They're not allowed to. So, why should they walk on the streets? They don't want to get out. So, they're staying home. It's by force and it's been happening by force from day one.

YEUNG (voice-over): For Afghan children another crisis is unfolding. Nearly one in 10 children under five is suffering from acute malnutrition, according to Save the Children. The organization says that since humanitarian funding has dried up, nearly 600 health clinics have been forced to close.

Last year, we traveled to Afghanistan to see what the withdrawal of U.S. aid was already doing to the country's fragile health care system. We met Mohammed Omar, who had severe malnutrition and meningitis. His grandmother, Nazugal (ph), was in the middle of explaining his condition to us when we noticed Mohammed had stopped breathing.

YEUNG: Is he breathing?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pardon?

YEUNG: Is he breathing?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He needs CPR.

YEUNG: He needs CPR. Sorry. Move, move, move.

YEUNG (voice-over): Mohammed's mother returns to the room and the most devastating news. Mohammed's death came as Afghanistan's malnutrition crisis was worsening. The World Food Programme estimates nearly four million Afghan children will suffer acute malnutrition this year without urgent investment.

Now, Afghanistan is no longer in the chaos of the takeover. But as the country remains internationally isolated and heavily dependent on humanitarian assistance, the uncertainty for millions of Afghans has not gone away. It has become their new reality.

Isobel Yeung, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABDELAZIZ: The Democratic National Committee is working on a new approach to the 2028 presidential primaries, the states that will now lead the party's early voting calendar right after the break. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:45:00]

ABDELAZIZ: The Democratic National Committee is switching things up ahead of the high stakes 2020 presidential election in the U.S. The party appears to be shifting focus towards states with more diverse populations to kick off the primary candidate nomination contest. At the top of the early voting schedule is South Carolina. CNN's Fredreka Schouten has the details for us.

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FREDREKA SCHOUTEN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL WRITER: It's a big deal. I mean, for years and years, as you mentioned, we had New Hampshire and Iowa, very small, predominantly white states at the front. And this calendar cements South Carolina as the lead off state. That's significant because it has a large African-American population. Could mean that a candidate, an African-American candidate has a leg up in 2028. We don't know who might run yet. And then you have Nevada and New Mexico with really high concentrations of Latino voters. And that's one of the things that really matters to Democrats.

President Donald Trump made inroads with Latino voters in the 2024 election. And one New Mexico official said to me, when we have candidates who are coming to a state where nearly half the voters are Latino and listening to them and appealing to them, that is going to send a message all around the country that Democrats are not taking these voters for granted.

You also, of course, have some large states in here, too, Michigan and Virginia. Virginia will be the sixth state in the lineup before Super Tuesday. It's a big state. It's going to be more expensive. And it really is going to test the mettle of candidates before the big March race with a bunch of states in the contest.

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ABDELAZIZ: In the meanwhile, the Senate race in Michigan is one of the most closely watched contests of the midterms. Progressive Abdul El-Sayed won the Democratic primary last week, but new polling suggests he could face an uphill battle in the general election. Our chief data analyst, Harry Enten, breaks down the numbers for us.

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HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: On Thursday night, a poll came out from Fox News in the great State of Michigan. And what a potential lifeline it says. The Michigan Senate race may be to Republicans. Look, this is just a snapshot in time, but it is a troubling snapshot for Democrats who want to hold on to the Michigan Senate seat as they try and climb up and take the majority away from Republicans in the United States Senate.

Look at this. Look at these numbers. OK, the Michigan Senate race, Mike Rogers versus Abdul El-Sayed, the Fox News poll. Look at this. Mike Rogers is up by four points. He's up by four points after that bruising primary. More than that, he's leading amongst independents. He's leading amongst independents by five points. Why is that so unusual? It's so unusual because in all the other Fox News polls, which frankly have been very, very good for Democrats, the Democratic candidate, as far as I can tell, has always been leading amongst independents. And that points to a potential problem when it comes to Abdul El-Sayed's candidacy, potentially a candidate quality problem, at least in the minds of the voters.

And you can see that because for no other reason, they also poll, Fox also polled the gubernatorial race and the Democrats were leading the governor's race. So, Abdul El-Sayed is underperforming the Democratic ticket in the great State of Michigan.

Now, what is driving these numbers? You know, what is driving? It might be one thing. Hey, Mike Rogers, just a really great candidate. In this case, it's that at least in the minds of the voters, Abdul El- Sayed is not a very good candidate, I dare say a bad candidate, because just take a look at these net favorability ratings of the different Democratic Senate nominees in the northern battlegrounds per Fox News.

Look, look at the only one who's underwater and way underwater. We're talking lower than Lake Michigan, 13 points underwater, Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan. All the other Democrats, Troy Jackson in Maine, one point above water, positive net favorable. That is favorable minus unfavorable. How about Sherrod Brown in Ohio, four points above water. Josh Turk, way above water. I'm not sure that there are oceans in Iowa. I think there might be more like cornfields. But either way, 18 points above water. Josh Turk is in Iowa, a very strong candidate indeed.

And when I look across the map and I look at all the Fox News polls, even in the south, I believe this is the only example in which in a key Senate race, the Democrat is underwater. So, Abdul El-Sayed, you got a candidate quality problem in Michigan coming out of that bruising primary. We'll have to see if you can turn that around.

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But what I can say is that these are historic numbers for a Democrat in Michigan. You know, I pointed out that Mike Rogers was ahead, Abdul El-Sayed down by four points in Michigan. You go back over time. I went back through the spreadsheets and tried to find another example of a Michigan Democratic candidate for Senate polling this poorly. And you know what? I couldn't find one this century. I simply couldn't.

A poll that has the Democratic Senate candidate in Michigan down at least four points. Abdul El-Sayed is the only one this century. You got to go back into the 20th century to find a Democratic candidate for Senate polling as poorly as Abdul El-Sayed is at this point in the campaign.

Now, as I noted, of course, this is a snapshot in time. We'll see what ends up happening. If Abdul El-Sayed is to come back, I think it is going to be on the ladder that President Trump is building for Democratic candidates and very much the hammer that President Trump is in terms of bringing Republicans down. Because just take a look at Trump's net favorable rating in the great state of Michigan. It's 19. It's 19 points underwater. His unfavorable rating is 19 points higher than his favorable rating. He's actually less liked in Michigan than Abdul El-Sayed is at this moment.

And if that's the ultimate driver for this election, well, then Michigan Democrats and Democrats nationwide will be very happy indeed.

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ABDELAZIZ: We're going to be right back after a quick break.

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ABDELAZIZ: In Lithuania, a group of dogs with tiny legs and big personalities raced their little hearts out. About 130 corgis from eight countries took to the track, or at least that was the idea. Now, some of the pups had little interest in following the rules. Some froze at the start to get in a few extra kisses from their owners, and others just stopped to play along the way. The annual event also featured a corgi costume contest, and a special pup from California claimed the prize for loudest bark. It hit 111 decibels. That's about as loud as a chainsaw.

They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and this pet show really puts that sentiment to the test. It's called the world's ugliest dog contest, and it celebrates beauty in all its forms, even if it's bug-eyed, drooling, and a little bit crusty. Just like Jinny Lou, the pug all dressed up in her pearls is the winner of this year's very fierce competition.

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ALEXIS SHEFFIELD, CONTEST ATTENDEE: I think that those of us especially that have pugs, we know that they're so ugly, they're cute. So, I think it just goes back to that phrase where they're so ugly, it turns adorable again. I don't have experience as much with the hairless dogs, but those ones I think are ugly. I do think they are ugly, but the pugs are so ugly, they're cute. So, you know, it's all in good fun though. It's lighthearted at the end of the day. So, I think that's why we're all attending. We love dogs and they're cute no matter what, you know.

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The annual contest promotes pet adoption while raising funds and awareness for local animal rescues and charities.

Thank you so much for watching. I'm Salma Abdelaziz. I'll be back with more news right after a quick break.

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