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W.H.O. Reports Highest Daily Amount of COVID-19 Cases; Trump Says He Is Ready to Return to Rallies; World Food Programme Wins Nobel Peace Prize: U.S. Says Forced Labor Was Used to Make Hair Products in Xinjiang. Aired 10-10:45a ET
Aired October 09, 2020 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:00:19]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Countries across Europe are tightening restrictions as their numbers spike.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight, Europe's most dire COVID situation since the pandemic began. The region spiraling as the world records its
highest amount of single-day cases.
Then, President Trump says he is ready to rally, but fails to confirm if he is COVID negative.
Plus, the World Food Programme wins this year's Nobel Peace Prize. I speak to the organization's chief about his team's efforts to fight against
hunger as a weapon of war.
(MUSIC)
ANDERSON: Ten months in and the invisible enemy's grip on our world is as strong as ever.
I'm Becky Anderson. Hello and welcome to CONNECT THE WORLD.
This hour, has Europe lost control?
Well, the World Health Organization is reporting a record-breaking number of global coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, nearly 340,000
infections, and Europe is leading that surge. The continent seen here in blue skyrocketing up through the week with more new cases now than the
U.S., India or Brazil.
Many European countries are now seeing their biggest daily uptick since the pandemic began. Austria, Slovenia, Poland, the Czech Republic, the
Netherlands, France, Romania, Finland, Bulgaria all smashing their own unwanted records this week.
Meanwhile, from Iceland to Italy, numerous other nations are seeing their highest numbers since the spring. While many European countries are
enforcing new restrictions, they are hesitant to go back into country-wide lockdowns or indeed fully close international borders. The prime minister
of Iceland telling me that that last option is not on the agenda despite the surge in cases in her country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KATRIN JAKOBSDOTTIR, ICELANDIC PRIME MINISTER: No, we have actually decided to maintain the current arrangement until December 1st where we
have, as I said, two tests and five-day quarantining in between. Hopefully, we will see some progress in making tests work quicker and also having
closer cooperation between countries in testing, but this will be at least the arrangement for the next six weeks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: The operative word there being hopefully. What is behind these spikes? Is it fatigue, complacency or did countries simply open too early.
Let's bring in CNN's Melissa Bell who is tonight in Paris for you, and Delia Gallagher who is in Rome.
And let me start with you, Melissa.
France breaking its own records this week, what is driving this spike in France? Is it clear? And what risk of a second nationwide lockdown at this
point?
MELISSA BELL, CNN PARIS CORRESPONDENT: Very clearly here in France, Becky, this is a second wave being driven by the young. When you look, for
instance, at the incidents rates, the number of positive people for every 100,000 people here in Paris, you look at the generation population, and
then you look at the young, those between 20 and 29 their rate is double what it's been for the general population.
What's happened, they've gone out, they've enjoyed their new freedoms, they're probably gone away for the summer and they come back to France's
big cities and they've infected other people. That's essentially what's happened.
And in terms of that second lockdown, absolutely it's on the cards, already, we've heard since yesterday that four extra cities will from this
weekend be in the maximum alert category that we are already in here in the greater Paris region. That will the mean the restrictions we have already,
closed bars and cafes, gyms closed, the size of social gatherings limited. That will be extended to four extra cities from Saturday, Becky.
And if you take Paris as, an example, the criteria for bringing us into that maximum alert category will be very clear. It was to do the proportion
of ICU beds taken up by COVID-19 patients, the incidence rate amongst the general population, incidence rate amongst the elderly. Those were met in
Paris the end of last week to take us into the maximum alert category.
But according to the projections of local health facilities, we will get well into the next threshold within this month on the current trajectory
and that next threshold takes us to a state of sanitary emergency, Becky, and that tells us a lot about how bad things are here.
ANDERSON: That's the story in France. Melissa, thank you.
Delia, Italy tightening restrictions on travelers from certain European countries. Could or more -- so would the country move to shut its
international borders, do you think, at this point?
[10:05:10]
DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, Becky, we are already in heavily restricted border regulations. I mean, there are some countries
that are not allowed to travel at all to Italy. There are other countries like the United States where only essential travel so, no tourism is
allowed.
And then we have European countries where Italy has a high risk list. They have just added the United Kingdom to that list. France is on that list.
Spain is on that list. Greece, Belgium and so on.
That means people coming nightly from those countries, if they can't present a certificate saying they have had a swab test in the prior 72
hours prior to departure, they have to have a swab test at the airport.
Now, another thing that's happening at Rome's airport, Becky, which might be interesting as a way forward for the future. They're doing a trial test
on flights from Rome to Milan, and they are testing passengers before even getting on the airplane.
So, you wait for 30 minutes to get your result, if you're negative, you can get on the airplane. That's only a trial test but they've said they might
like to try that on an international -- for international flights as well. So that might be some indication of a way forward, especially if Europe can
work together on it.
In the meantime, Becky, on Thursday, Italy has made it mandatory to wear face masks outside. So we've already been wearing them inside in public
spaces, now we have to wear them outside as well. The only place we're not really wearing masks right now is at home.
But the prime minister even said he was strongly recommending that even if you are having private gatherings at home that you wear masks.
So they are really emphasizing at this point, Becky, the individual responsibility trying to keep the masks and keep the social distancing and
really hoping that that will work.
ANDERSON: Italy using its emergency powers and extending them to ensure, one assumes, so they don't get back into the situation they were in earlier
this year when, of course, they seemed to be the sort of Petri dish of Europe.
And you alluded to what's going on with Rome airport, I certainly know, I think we should -- we should note this. They have been applauded as an
airport for the sort of work they've been doing in try to ensure that passengers are traveling safely.
Melissa, Delia there talking about the possibility of what is going on at Rome airport being something that might be extended with European
cooperation. How are European countries working together to try and get a handle on this?
BELL: Well, to be fair, Becky, in some areas, for instance, dealing with the economic fallout of this, Europe has really almost unexpectedly managed
to come together, on things like procurement and we're starting from a standing start at the beginning of this crisis because things were not
well-organized, things like organizing vaccine procurement, the securing of masks and protective equipment.
They have come on in leaps and bounds. They have improved their ability to coordinate all this and made massive progress.
But on that crucial question that you talk about, which is coordinating the sorts of measures that are implemented nationally in -- may I remind you --
a border-free space, also organizing borders and what closures or partial closures or restrictions might be along them, not only is there no
coordination but there is apparently a lack of transparency with the European Commission regularly complaining that it is not hearing enough
from member states about what kind of measures are being taken within those states and what kind of measures are being taken between those states.
So, that tells you a lot about how much further they have to go on that crucial question of coordinating their efforts to try to bring those COVID-
19 figures back under control.
So, before you get to the question of dealing with the economic fallout, before you get to the question of procurement, just trying to stop people
getting sick and what measures are put in place nationally and how they can coordinate that for the time being Europe simply hasn't managed to find the
sort of cooperation it needs in order to ensure that that can happen.
ANDERSON: Thank you, Melissa. Delia is in Rome, thank you for that as well.
Keep an eye, folks, on those incident rate numbers, the number of cases per hundred thousand as Melissa was pointing out. This second wave it seems the
result of youngsters getting out and about, getting back to university, and getting back school and sadly, coming back from holidays and sadly
spreading the disease as they do.
Well, the pandemic making bad situations a whole lot worse for many, many around the world. It has made it harder to fulfill what is perhaps the most
basic of all of our needs, simply getting enough to eat.
Well, today, the U.N.'s World Food Programme winning the mow bell prize for peace for its fight against world hunger and its efforts to prevent hunger
as a weapon of war and conflict. Well, that recognition for the incredible work that the agency does, helping hundreds of millions around the world.
The man who runs the WFP is David Beasley and this is how he reacted to the news.
[10:10:08]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID BEASLEY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME: This is the first time in my life I've been speechless. This is unbelievable. Talk about the
most exciting point in time in your life as a Nobel Peace Prize, and it's because of the WFP family.
They are out there in the most difficult complex places in the world, whether it's world, conflict, climate extremes, it doesn't matter they are
out there and they deserve this award and, wow, wow, wow, wow. I can't believe it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: He should believe it because he and his team have earned it. He is on the road right now but I caught up with him just before coming on air
and I began by asking him how he found out and how it felt.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEASLEY: Becky, it really was hard to believe. In fact, when they ran in and said Nobel Peace Prize, Nobel Peace Prize, I'm here in Niger, you know,
in a very difficult area.
And I was like, wow, who won it? Who won it? They said, we won it. And I'm like, oh, my gosh, you're kidding me.
It was the first time in my life I have been speechless. I really can't believe it. It really is unbelievable.
ANDERSON: Well, you will speechless, but let me tell you, here at CNN and around the world, we have applauded your organization for many years now
and it's a hearty congratulations from all of us. It is so well-deserved.
And it's great, of course, to be recognized for all you've done, but what about using this award going forward, the status of it, what is your
message to the world and to world leaders?
BEASLEY: Well -- thank you. That's the key. And number one, it's not -- I didn't get this award, it's all the people that work with us, our
employees, our associates, our partners who are putting their lives out on the line every single day. They put their lives at risk every single day in
conflict and war and destabilization as well as climate extremes, that's why I'm here in Niger right now.
And so, this award is a call to action, because where there's conflict, there's starvation. Where there's starvation, there's conflict,
destabilization, and migration. And we literally have -- because now, of all of those things, couple with COVID, we've got destabilization,
possibilities of famines of biblical proportions, we need billions of extra dollars to save people around the world.
So, this is a call to action, to wake up people around the world because people are starving, are dying, they need help and they need it right now.
ANDERSON: Is there any single conflict that you want to highlight specifically today where your organization needs that help?
BEASLEY: Well, sadly, there's several now. I mean, Yemen obviously is a serious situation, the Sahel is complicated by the day, extremists come in,
compounded, climate extreme has been literally destroying this area.
Then we could go to Lebanon, with problems there, and Syria and Iraq and where do we stop? That's just so heartbreaking. With all the health and
technology today, you wouldn't think that anybody in the world would be going to bed hungry, much less on the brink of starvation.
And so, conflict, manmade conflict and climate extremes are literally driving the hunger rates back up. And with billionaires today, Becky,
making billions of dollars on COVID, hey, I'm glad they're making money, but how about step up now and help make certain that nobody starves to
death in the world with all of this wealth.
This is the call to action. We need help and we should not turn our back on our brothers and sisters, our family of friends around the world. They need
our help and they need it right now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: WFP's executive director David Beasley speaking to me right here on CONNECT THE WORLD from Niger where he is in the field about winning the
Nobel Peace Prize. And we will get you more from that interview in the next hour.
You just heard David Beasley's call to action for people around the world, leaders, businessmen telling those at the top not to turn away from the
rest of the world.
Meanwhile, the request he is being raised whether Donald Trump is thinking of his own people right now. He says he's ready to rally less than a week
after being discharged from hospital, but won't answer questions about the status of his health. We dig into that, coming up.
Plus, a suspected U.S. terrorism plot foiled by the FBI. Officials say it involve kidnapping a prominent state governor.
And --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just felt like hopeless, I felt like there was nothing in the future that I was going to be able to accomplish.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Lockdowns during COVID-19 are having a devastating impact on mental health. We speak with two renowned experts as we mark World Mental
Health Day.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:17:19]
ANDERSON: A suspected terrorist group plotting violence behind the scenes in the United States. It's target a major political leader and its goal,
overthrowing governments. It's not a political thriller, believe me, but according to U.S. investigators an actual plot targeting Michigan Governor
Gretchen Whitmer.
Thirteen men are now under arrest, charged in connection with the plot to kidnap her, investigators say some of the members of the group are anti-
government, are members of anti-government groups whose goals went a lot further than just this, including toppling state governments and
instigating civil war. The Democratic governor says the plot didn't happen in a vacuum.
As Sara Sidner reports, Whitmer says President Trump's rhetoric may have played a part.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Thirteen men stand accused of a domestic terrorist plot to overthrow state governments. Some of the
suspects CNN found online ranting against the government. One saying --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: By you participating in the government, you know, you are participating in slavery, dude.
SIDNER: The FBI says Michigan was to be ground zero.
ANDREW BIRGE, U.S. ATTORNEY: Through confidential sources, undercover agents and clandestine recordings, law enforcement learned particular
individuals were planning to kidnap the governor.
SIDNER: Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has drawn angry reactions from armed groups opposed to her restrictions to slow the spread of the
coronavirus and investigators say those measures may be why the men targeted Whitmer, wanting to try her for treason.
According to the complaint the suspects did surveillance on her vacation home and talked of blowing up a bridge to divert police if they attacked
that location. The complaint also indicates suspect Adam Fox was leading the charge and was recorded saying grab the F-ing governor, just grab the
B, because at that point we do that, dude, it's over.
BIRGE: The complaint further alleges that Fox purchased a Taser for use in the kidnapping and that the group successfully detonated an improvised
explosive device wrapped with shrapnel to test its anti-personnel capabilities.
SIDNER: The federal government charged six men with conspiracy to kidnap Whitmer, the state charged seven others with firearm and terror charges.
GRETCHEN WHITMER, MICHIGAN GOVERNOR: I knew this job would be hard, but I will be honest, I never could have imagined anything like this.
SIDNER: But in April, national security officials warned that extremist groups are exploiting the coronavirus pandemic to insight violence and
bolster racist and anti-government narratives.
[10:20:02]
In this case authorities said men associated with an anti-government group called the Wolverine Watchmen were involved in the alleged kidnap plot. A
law enforcement source also telling CNN authorities believe some of the suspects support the extremist Boogaloo Movement.
JONATHAN GREENBLATT, CEO, ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE: The Boogaloo movement is a loosely affiliated network of individuals and groups that actively
believe in the prospect and want to expedite violent unrest in the streets. What we might describe as civil war.
FRANK MEEINK, FORMER NEO NAZI: Right now, we are in for a fight of our life. It's on.
SIDNER: Frank Meeink, a former neo-Nazi who went to prison in the '90s for kidnapping a member of a leftist group says these kinds of plots are being
hatched more now than ever. I spoke with him days before the kidnap plot was known to the public.
(on camera): What's the scenario in this election that would create what you're calling the potential of a race war?
MEEINK: I'm telling you this is going to happen. States like Michigan, states like Wisconsin, the Northern states have some wilderness area, there
have been militias from other states training up there. They are waiting and hoping that something does go wrong because they want to hole up in
them hills and they want to say we don't want the federal government up here no more, we don't want to let black people or -- like this is going to
be our homeland.
SIDNER (voice-over): He says President Trump's rhetoric has emboldened extremists.
Governor Whitmer said the same, mentioning the president's words to a far right group during the debate.
WHITMER: Stand back and stand by. Hate groups heard the president's words not as a rebuke, but as a rallying cry, as a call to action.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Well, meanwhile, in Washington -- that was Sara Sidner reporting.
And in Washington a week after being hospitalized for coronavirus U.S. president Donald Trump says he's feeling perfect and he is ready to get
back on the campaign trail. Mr. Trump's physician says that the president can resume public events this weekend, but key questions such as when he
last tested negative for the virus remain unanswered.
Mr. Trump himself says he will probably be tested in the coming hours.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (via telephone): I think I'm going to try doing a rally on Saturday night in we can -- if we have enough
time to put it together, but we want to do a rally probably in Florida on Saturday night. Might come back and do one in Pennsylvania in the following
night and it's -- incredible what's -- I feel so good.
SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: Have you had a test since your diagnosis a week ago?
TRUMP: Well, what we're doing is probably the test will be tomorrow.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Right. Well, since aspects of the president's health do remain a mystery understandably people are looking for clues. Do have a listen to
him clear his throat and cough during that same interview.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I think the first debate they -- excuse me. On the first debate they oscillated the mic, but I want them to vote.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, that was President Trump, make of that what you will.
Our next guest, Julian Zelizer, says Donald Trump's campaign has turned into a complete backlash against science. Mr. Zelizer is a historian and a
professor at Princeton University. We are lucky to have him as a CNN political analyst and a regular on this show.
Julian, the president expected to make his first on-camera interview tonight. We haven't seen him in public since Monday. Is this a bid to
appear healthy for his base before this rally that he is talking about on the weekend?
JULIAN ZELIZER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yeah, I think he's been doing that since returning from the hospital, trying to convey an image of health,
trying to downplay the impact of COVID on him as a sign to his followers that he's strong and he's okay and he's also at the same time been very
allusive with what the doctors are actually saying, even on Hannity last night.
ANDERSON: Yeah, Mike Pence on Wednesday at the VP debate said that they had been transparent about the president's health. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The care of the president received at Walter Reed Hospital, White House doctors, was exceptional and
the transparency that they practiced all along the way will continue. The American people have a right to know about the health and well-being of
their president and we'll continue to do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: That's just a built of alternative reality there, Julian. What questions do the U.S. public still need answers to?
ZELIZER: Well, look, in the middle of a pandemic they have the right to know is the president healthy and what's his status? If he is appearing in
public, including a rally and the vice president is at a debate after, this has just spread throughout the White House, I think everyone has a right to
know are they contagious or not?
[20:25:11]
And finally I think they just have a right to hear straightforward information about the president's own encounter with this virus because it
matters. He sends a signal to his base to supporters all over the country about what we all need to do to protect ourselves and to protect others
from this deadly virus.
ANDERSON: Well, the president is prepared to talk about the effectiveness of his treatment. I want our viewers just to have a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We have medicines right now and I call them a cure, I went into the hospital a week ago, I was very sick and I took this medicine and it was
incredible. It was incredible. I could have walked out the following day. Sooner.
It was incredible the impact it had. And we're going to make that and others that are similar to it, almost identical, we're going to make them
available immediately.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Which begs the question what's the reality of making sort of treatment that he is talking about or the very treatment that he is talking
about so widespread and immediately?
ZELIZER: The immediately part, no one is agreeing with him. I mean, what we're hearing is that there's great progress on the scientific front and we
might have breakthroughs by the start of the next year, and it's all good news but not before the election, not right away.
And the last thing we need is for the politics through the president to undermine confidence in how this process is working. So, you're hearing his
political spin on what the country is going to receive as it's surging in many parts of the country, and the key is not to undermine confidence. And
the process is actually moving forward quite well from what we're learning.
ANDERSON: Julian, the president's health dominating as it has been since, what, last Friday now, it was late Thursday night into Friday when we were
-- when it was announced by him, in fact, that he was positive. The backdrop to everything that's going on in the U.S. today was -- we were
given a reminder, a timely reminder which what has happened to this Democratic Governor Whitmer who the FBI says had a plot against her to
kidnap her. She says specifically that President Trump's rhetoric may have played a part.
I want us to just step back for a moment and sort of consider where we are at in the U.S. less than a month away from the U.S. election.
ZELIZER: The temperature is very hot here in the United States and there was an FBI report recently about white extremist groups here in the U.S.
being a major threat and the president's rhetoric has continued to fuel this kind of anger, it's not responsible for it, but it certainly is part
of the mix, and even in Michigan when there were armed protesters a while back, he tweeted out liberate, and sent a message that, you know, he is on
the side of this -- of this cause.
So I think this is why presidents have to be very responsible and careful with their words and what's playing out in Michigan is frightening. This
was real. This was a real attempt to threaten a governor and we should take it seriously not just this case, but the threat of white extremism going
into this election.
ANDERSON: Julian Zelizer, it is always a pleasure, sir. Thank you for your insight and your analysis.
On CONNECT THE WORLD, coming up, America's booming demand for hair is now a billion dollar enterprise. A shocking discovery has businesses rethinking
their products. A CNN exclusive investigation revealed up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:31:45]
ANDERSON: The business of hair is booming, especially in the United States, but most consumers don't know where this hair, both synthetic and
human, is from. Well, the murky manufacturing supply chain in the industry was highlighted when U.S. authorities seized 13 tons of human hair this
summer, alleging the products were made with forced labor in Xinjiang in China.
Well, in an exclusive months-long, CNN's Ivan Watson traces the supply chain.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This entire wall is our collection of braid hair and crochet hair.
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The neighborhood beauty supply store, a fixture of nearly every African-
American community.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This one? OK.
WATSON: Part of an industry that revolves around the business of hair.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The first thing people see, a lot of times is our hair.
WATSON: It's a business worth billions, selling largely to African- American consumers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The business of hair extensions is booming.
WATSON: For Keisha Watkins, owner of Be Polished Beauty Supply in Arlington, Texas, says her average customer spends more than $100 a month
on hair care.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Growing up as an African mayor woman, we're told our hair is our glory.
WATSON: But even professionals say they know very little when it comes to the origin of all this hair.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This one actually does not list where exactly it's from.
WATSON: In fact, the majority of it comes from China. Last year, China sold around a billion dollars' worth of real and synthetic hair to the U.S.
(on camera): This, one of the most intimate parts of a person's body, is also a valuable international commodity that industry insiders refer to as
black gold.
And this is a sample that I ordered online. It was advertised as untreated Xinjiang human hair, sourced from a part of China that is steeped in
allegations of human rights abuses.
(voice-over): In July, U.S. Customs and Border Protection delivered a shock to the industry. The seizure of a shipment of around 13 tons of human
hair, worth more than $800,000.
BRENDA SMITH, U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION: We had a reasonable suspicion that the goods made in the shipment were produced using forced
labor in China.
WATSON: The hair comes from this industrial park in China's northwest Xinjiang region. A Chinese state TV report identifies these factories as
part of a government-backed poverty alleviation program.
The government has offered tax incentives and cheap labor to investors in the hair factories, in what it says is an effort to employ thousands of
people like this man.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My goal is to make one more wig every day.
WATSON: Similar government videos have been made about other factories in Xinjiang, like this apparel factory. But CNN spoke with a woman who worked
at the apparel factory, who says the reality was very different from images shown on Chinese state TV.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): None of us worked there of our own free will.
WATSON: Gulzira Auelkhan is an ethnic Kazakh, originally from Xinjiang who emigrated to neighboring Kazakhstan. On a return trip to Xinjiang to visit
her father in 2017, she says Chinese authorities detained her at the border.
AUELKHAN: They told me I came from a terrorist country. They cut my hair, took my blood samples.
WATSON: Auelkhan says she was kept in an internment camp, in a cell with 20 to 30 people, sharing a bucket for a toilet.
Human rights groups and the U.S. government accuse China of a massive detention campaign, rounding up more than 1 million ethnic Uyghur Muslims,
and members of other ethnic minorities, into internment camps.
Beijing calls the camps vocational training centers, aimed at eradicating violent extremism.
But CNN has heard firsthand testimony from survivors of these internment camps, who say they were arbitrarily detained in horrific conditions for
months, enduring torture and other indignities, like having their hair chopped off.
CNN's investigation has not been able to confirm what happens to this shorn hair. But Auelkhan's firsthand account supports the U.S. government
accusation some Chinese exports from Xinjiang are being made with forced labor. After surviving 15 months in the camps, unable to return to her
husband and child and Kazakhstan, she was ordered to work at a factory, sewing gloves that were exported to the U.S. and Europe.
AUELKHAN: They told me if I refused, I would be sent back to the camp.
WATSON: Auelkhan says this image from another Chinese state media report shows her at a sewing machine while a VIP delegation toured the factory.
Her description matches that of this man, Yerzhan Kurman, another ethnic Kazakh who says he spent nine months in internment camps before being
forced to work in the same factory alongside the Auelkhan for two months.
YERZHAN KURMAN, FORMER XINJIANG DETAINEE (through translator): We couldn't do anything without permission.
WATSON: Speaking from safety in Kazakhstan after their release, the two former detainees have a warning for western consumers.
AUELKHAN(through translator): I am against these Chinese products. They are made through slavery. So many people were crying while making these
products.
WATSON: To try to end this alleged modern-day slavery, the U.S. government is now banning imports of some products made with suspected forced labor in
Xinjiang, though U.S. officials have not provided evidence, citing an ongoing criminal investigation.
(on camera): U.S. officials did, however, highlight this industrial park, which made the 13 tons of hair products that U.S. Customs seized over the
summer, alleging the park uses workers from nearby internment camps.
CNN has determined there are at least four suspected camps, all walking distance from the factories. The hair companies didn't respond to CNN's
request for comments.
These Chinese government photos show detainees in one of the camps in 2017.
Over the last three years, the camps and the industrial park grew rapidly. During that same period, hair exports also surged from the companies in the
industrial park to the U.S.
(voice-over): One of the biggest buyers of synthetic hair was I&I Hair, headquartered in Dallas. I&I Hair says it cut off ties with suppliers in
Xinjiang in January.
WILLIAM CHOE, DIGITAL MARKETING MANAGER, I&I HAIR: I don't think a lot of us even spent time looking into these issues of internment camps and, you
know, these other things. And so we were completely oblivious to it. And so, I believe that a lot of other people in the industry are, as well.
WATSON: That's something the U.S. government wants to change.
SMITH: Our strong message is to those U.S. importers. They need to know their supply chain and stop producing goods made with forced labor.
WATSON: The Chinese government announces what it calls U.S. bullying.
WANG WENBIN, CHINA FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN (through translator): Under the pretext of the so-called forced labor, the U.S. has taken restrictive
measure against relevant Chinese companies, which violates international trade rules.
WATSON: Those denials haven't convinced Tiffany Gill, author of the book "Beauty Shop Politics."
TIFFANY BILL, AUTHOR, "BEAUTY SHOP POLITICS": I find it's sad that a product that is assumed in such large quantities by African American women
is produced under exploitative forced-labor conditions, particularly when we think about the history of African-Americans.
WATSON: Stylist Makayla Lode-Davis (ph), who crafts what she calls women's crowns, says it's time her industry wakes up to what's going on half a
world away.
MAKAYLA LODE-DAVIS (PH), STYLIST: There should be a wake-up call and more education, as well, as far as where the hair comes from. Because they
definitely, you know, don't want it to come from slave labor or anything like that.
WATSON: Ivan Watson, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[10:40:00]
ANDERSON: You can learn more about CNN's exclusive investigation into the disturbing origins of these hair products on the Website. That's CNN
digital, CNN.com.
You are watching CNN. I'm Becky Anderson. This is CONNECT THE WORLD. We will be back straight after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Our celebrities every so often, we are reminded that they are just like us, mere mortals after all. The most successful American
footballer Tom Brady reminding us that he is just human after making a huge gaffe in the final minutes of a game against the Chicago Bears.
America's second most successful footballer or at least he tells me that, with me now Mr. Don Riddell.
What happened there, sir?
DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORTS: Becky, I'm not even the second most successful football player in the CNN sports department, everybody knows
that. But I tell you what I can do, I can count. I can do that pretty well and that is where Tom Brady a man who has won six super bowl rings, that's
where he came unstuck at the end of this game.
Remember, I mean, this is a guy who has put together 46 game winning drives at the end of tight games throughout his career, but he is 43 years old
now, he is not on the Patriots anymore, he is on the Tampa Bay Bucs. He's been doing really well really this season but it all came completely
unstuck at the end of this game.
He thought he had one more chance to win it but he miscounted they were already out of downs. That's where it ended. You are right, he is human,
but it's a very, very rare glimpse into the human aspect of Tom Brady because we all thought he was a machine, didn't we?
ANDERSON: Yeah, absolutely. Very humble Tom Brady speaking afterwards at the press conference I know.
"WORLD SPORT" is up next. That's with Don. I will be back at the hour with you with the CONNECT THE WORLD. See you then.
END
