♪ but in the end it's right ♪ ♪ i hope you had the time of your life ♪ [ cheers and applause ] >> that's all. hello and welcome to our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. appreciate your company. i'm michael holmes. you're watching "cnn newsroom." coming up on the program, thousands are fleeing to safety this hour as one of the most active volcanoes on earth erupts. we're live in the cnn weather center. also a tense return to calm. we'll take you to the streets of gaza, where we are learning more about the true toll of the violence. plus -- >> president biden, i want you to save our lives.

for we saved -- >> reporter: friends of america's troops are being hounded by the taliban. what joe biden can do to save them. it is now 9:00 a.m. in gaza and israel in day 3 of a cease-fire that is still thankfully hoping. egypt helped broker the deal and two delegations of egyptian officials are currently in the region to try to ensure that the cease-fire sticks. the u.s. secretary of state antony blinken expected to visit the region in the coming days. now, in gaza city hamas militants paraded through the streets to show that they are still in control. israel's foreign ministry calling on the international community to condemn and disarm

those militants. much of gaza's basic infrastructure was crippled in the conflict. nearly half of its 2 million residents do not have access to clean drinking water. and the schools are effectively shut down. homes destroyed. the people of gaza are now burdened with trying to recover tr 11 days of shelling and airstrikes, and it will not be easy. the u.n. citing figures from the hamas leadership says more than 250 buildings were destroyed. more than 760 shops and homes unusable. cnn's ben wedeman is in gaza city. >> reporter: depending on where you are in gaza, life seems to be getting back to normal. here in gaza city's main square children play in the evening cool. but just one block away the extent of the damage from the hostilities becomes clear. hundreds of housing units have been destroyed, and israeli airstrikes have pushed the

already creaking infrastructure to the brink. the u.n. says that around 800,000 people now lack access to running water. and that's out of a population of around 2 million people. the u.n. also says that more than 50 schools were damaged, impacting the education of around 600,000 children. on top of that 17 hospitals have been damaged including gaza's only covid testing center. and then there's unemployment running at almost 50%. life here after the cease-fire is getting back to normal but there's nothing normal about life here. i'm ben wedeman, cnn, reporting from gaza city. >> now, the conflict and its aftermath has sparked an outpouring of sympathy for the palestinian people. large rallies taking place on saturday in cities all around the world including london, paris, new york.

more than 90 pro-palestinian events have been planned in the u.s. this weekend. now, israel insists it's only been defending itself from hamas aggression. when the u.n. security council issued a statement welcoming the cease-fire, israel's foreign ministry quickly complained that the u.n. failed to mention the thousands of rockets fired into israel. and the foreign ministry added this, "the full responsibility for the escalation lies with the hamas terrorist organization which chose to initiate rocket fire at israel's capital of jerusalem, the area surrounding the gaza strip and other cities in israel." elliott godkin joins me now from jerusalem with the latest. you've got the u.s. secretary of state antony blinken coming to the region. the u.n. security council calling for an enduring peace process as they put it. but is there any political appetite for genuine attempts at resuscitating a process that's been in a coma for years?

>> i don't think so. not really. at least not in israel and the palestinian territories. there are a few reasons for that. first of all, in the gaza strip, which is run by hamas, this is defined by the u.s., european union, israel and others as a terrorist organization. it doesn't recognize israel's right to exist. and at the same time you've got the palestinian authority, leadership, with president mahmoud abbas who's in his 17th year of what was meant to be a four-year term. the leadership there is seen as being out of touch with ordinary palestinians. you've got also lacking legitimacy because of the lack of elections, legislative elections were to happen this month. they never happened either. and so amid that backdrop it's very hard to see how there can be a united front representing palestinians, someone the israelis feel they can do business with, but at the same time there isn't much appetite on the israeli side either. you of course let's not forget have a government that is not

really a fully functioning government. it's a caretaker government. we just had our fourth lot of elections in the spafs a couple of years. it looks like we're going to have our fifth lot soon. over the last few elections that we've had here the palestinian issue has not really been a central plank of any of the political parties. the electorate here is more concerned with things like health care, with the economy, with the high cost of living, education, things like that. in addition to that you've got the base of prime minister netanyahu and his right-wing bloc that are not keen on a two state solution either. it's very hard to see against this backdrop how anything can really progress, even with the best will in the world from the united nations and from the white house as well. so right now it seems that the best anyone can hope for is that this cease-fire holds. >> a sobering and likely entirely accurate analysis there, elliott. i wanted to ask you this.

the latest war was sparked by protests over these planned evictions of palestinian families from their homes in east jerusalem, sheikh jarrah. the court decision was put off, but it's coming up again. what's the level of concern that the tinder will again be lit? >> there will again be concerns that the court case which was postponed to come up again within 30 days will again perhaps provide a spark for further protests and further escalations. but to be perfectly honest, if it's not the sheikh jarrah court case it could be something else that sparks a return to clashes either within the west bank or with hamas in the gaza strip. this cease-fire, everyone wants it to hold. perhaps it will hold. perhaps it will be quite enduring. but at the same time no one seriously expects it to last forever. so whether it is the sheikh jarrah court case or another thing that provides a pretext or a spark to an escalation in

hostilities between israel and the palestinians i think both sides sadly expect something to come along at some point in time, whether it's in a month, a year or another ten years. of course we'll have to wait and see. but of course that is the rather depressing reality here. >> yeah. the fundamental issues unaddressed. elliott gotkine in jerusalem. good to talk with you. thanks, elliott. have a look at this video. we're watching a volcanic eruption in the democratic republic of congo. authorities say it erupted saturday, but those eruptions then subsided later in the evening. now, the lava appears to be flowing toward the border of rwanda. the good news is that's away from the city of goma. but as a precaution authorities there put an evacuation plan into effect. thousands of residents spending the night outdoors just in case. let's bring in meteorologist derek van dam. what are you seeing and what's the outlook there? >> yeah, some of the latest

information from authorities in rwanda saying about 3,500 people have entered the country of rwanda from the drc. you can imagine this is because of a memory and not so distant memory. back in january of 2002 the same volcano erupted killing 250 people, displacing over 200,000 people. it was a big event. and people are fearful of a similar event. now, this same volcano erupted 7:00 p.m. local time on saturday evening. and again, as michael just said, the lava appears to be flowing away from the metropolitan areas of goma but moving toward the border of rwanda. evacuations are in place across this region. this volcano is widely known for its largest lava lake in the world. it's about 1.2 kilometers wide. that is very significant. and you can see some of the recent eruptions. and most notably the 2002 eruption that caused the devastation and unfortunately the fatalities. this is a strata volcano. this is characterized by a very

steep slope profile. and more of a conical shape. and i want to show you where goma is located. it's this population density right on the lake shore of lake kuvi. that is, again, an area that is away from the actual volcano. and according to authorities, the lava is flowing, again, away from the populated density areas. but that's good news because this area is a highly populated area. you can see rwanda, burundi, and the eastern sections of congo with that dark shade of red and orange. we're talking about over a half a million people according to the latest estimate in goma. and of course they're fearful because they don't want to see a replication of what happened back in january of 2002. we do have the potential for acid rain with this particular volcanic eruption. you get the mixture of sulfur dioxide with moisture in the atmosphere and that leads to a by-product of acid rain. so that's also something we will monitor closely. michael? >> yeah. i've been to goma.

it's right on the border with rwanda. those people fleeing across. yeah. keep us informed, derek. good to see you. derek van dam there. >> i will. now, countries across asia are seeing a disturbing rise in coronavirus infections. just ahead, how wretched conditions and supply shortages are fueling the spread. that's when we come back. ♪ ♪ [sneezes] hey allergy muddlers. [sneezes] are your sneezes putting your friends in awkward positions? [sneezes] stick with zyrtec. zyrtec starts working hard at hour one and works twice as hard when you take it again the next day. zyrtec. muddle no more. and try children's zyrtec for consistently powerful relief of your kids' allergies. ♪eh uh, eh uh♪ and try children's zyrtec for consistently powerful relief ♪flow (oh my gosh)♪

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just like that. the favorites, the italian rockers manoskin have won the eurovision song contest. the often eccentric event was held saturday in the netherlands. just 3,500 fans at the arena. the crowd limited due to covid protocols but pretty lively as it turned out. and as happens every year, tens of millions watched the broadcast at home on television. coronavirus forced the cancellation of last year's contest. manaskin's win means italy will host next year's eurovision. uk health officials are

investigating another new covid variant. they they've been studying the av-1 strain, dubbed the yorkshire variant, since april. it's infected 49 people in northwest england. and british scientists say two doses of either the pfizer biontech or oxford astrazeneca vaccine are, quote, highly effective against the variant first identified in india. some good news there. the british health secretary says the findings make an important point. >> the message for everybody watching this, which comes from this data, is that getting the second jab is vital. and i'm really glad people are coming forward in such large numbers to get the second jab. but we all know that the way out of this pandemic is the vaccine. and this data show that that is not changed. >> and we're getting new details on just how desperate the coronavirus situation is in india. officials in the territory of

delhi have announced they will halt immunizations for people between the ages of 18 and 44 due to a shortage in vaccines. supply shortages and filthy conditions are helping fuel a dramatic spice in new cases in countries all across asia. cnn's will ripley with the latest. >> pigs root in filth and water. outside this hospital in behar state in india. with its broken walls, abandoned ambulances. but patients are still being treated here. many for coronavirus. the sick as well as the staff must trudge through dismal conditions to get inside. >> translator: the hospital will be 100 years old in four years. it was the only big hospital here several years ago. due to the low-lying area there is an issue of water loging at

the hospital. there is filth all over. >> reporter: cases across india have decreased. down from more than 400,000 new cases reported in a day in early may to nearly 260,000. still, the country's health care system is overwhelmed in places. and there's a shortage of vaccines. delhi became the latest state to halt its vaccinations of adults under the age of 45. some help is slowly coming in from russia with shipments of its sputnik v vaccine. >> by the end of may about 3 million doses will be supplied in bulk. >> reporter: the plan then is for india to begin producing the russian vaccine. with the goal of making more than 815 million doses. the sputnik v is a two-dose regimen. the coronavirus is also taking its toll in other parts of asia. some streets in taiwan look like a ghost town.

it too is suffering from a surge of coronavirus cases and a lack of vaccines. taiwan's health minister asking the u.s. for help in getting the critical supplies. cases are soaring in thailand too, where clusters of covid-19 infections have emerged in the country's overcrowded prisons. bangkok began a vaccination drive, doling out shots of the chinese sinovac vaccine and astrazeneca to inmates. the shortage and at times dismal conditions across parts of asia making this wave of the coronavirus that much more difficult to contain. will ripley, cnn, taipei. and here in the united states more than 129 million people are now fully vaccinated. that's according to the centers for disease control. that's nearly 39% of the u.s. population. it still means 60% isn't vaccinated, of course.

saturday's numbers showed the largest increase, though, in doses administered since saturday a week ago. more than 2.3 million. despite those numbers the u.s. vaccination rate is still down by almost half since its peak in april. now businesses and state governments are offering americans incentives to roll up their sleeves. a theater in los angeles jumping in on the trend and hoping people won't throw away their shot at a chance to win "hamilton" tickets. paul vercammen reports. >> reporter: the los angeles county strategy now has moved from the large vaccine sites to smaller pop-up sites such as this one. the pantages theater. it's broadway west. what they offered up here was a chance to win "hamilton" tickets. three separate pairs. so they came in here. they could get the johnson & johnson or the pfizer vaccine. and then enter that lottery. thaun father who already had the vaccine watched his son get vaccinated and he was ecstatic.

>> waiting so long just to have the theater open again, you know. that's a big -- that was definitely the driver in this. you know, other than getting him vaccinated, everybody in the house vaccinated. to win "hamilton" tickets, amazing. amazing. >> well, i love theater and i've seen a few shows here like "cats" and so i would love to win the tickets to "hamilton" because if you get the vaccine today you are entered in a drawing to win the tickets. and i hadn't got my vaccine yet. so i decided to come today and get the johnson & johnson because it is one and done. >> and the pantages was not the only vaccine site in l.a. offering up free tickets. across the city there was a chance to win lakers season seats by getting vaccinated. and we're seeing this trend throughout the country. many places offering up incentives for people to get a shot in the arm and achieve that herd immunity.

reporting from the pantages theater in hollywood, i'm paul vercammen. now back to you. >> joining me now is anna santos rootsman, assistant professor of law at st. louis university in missouri and an expert in vaccine policy. so the perfect one to discuss this. i guess it's unfortunate that your life potentially isn't enough motivation for getting a vaccine. but it does seem that these incentives like lottery tickets, gift cards, hamburgers even do seem to have an impact. what do you make of that? >> they seem to have an impact. we're not entirely sure what that impact might be. i think some of these initiatives are good. we need all the pr we can get. some of them we can't really know until much later in the pandemic what their real effect or lack thereof may have been. we don't fully know what the lottery effect is going to be. it's difficult to measure as it's happening. i think all of this is fine. what really worries me are the things more along the lines of

cash prizes that some people suggested we should be doing, and for now i think that's a good thing we're not doing that. but the hamburger, donuts, you know, in the middle of the pandemic it's not necessarily a bad thing. >> yeah. and i know you said you worry about the long-term effect of some of these vaccination incentives, that a monetary incentive i think you said can, quote, be distorted by organized spreaders of vaccine misinformation as to suggest hidden government agendas or that vaccines are not safe. explain that more. >> yes, i have argued that. so there were some proposals last year and even this year that instead of something like a hamburger or, you know, a donut or even a lottery chance that you know, we hand out, we the government hand out something like $1,000, $1,500, $500. and i really worried about this idea of, you know, cash in exchange for getting vaccinated because the connotations with cash are very different from a

donut. right? it's a substantial trade-off that you're asked to make. and for some people $1,000 is not a lot of money. for some people, though, it is a lot of money. so it conditions health choices in a way that a hamburger or a donut might not. and i think that can be perseid in the wrong way on the one hand, and on the other hand it can be instrumentalized. if your agenda is to say that vaccines are not safe, that there's a hidden agenda that the government is running by promoting vaccination, you name it, it's very easy to instrumentalize payment for vaccination. and that's the effect i'm really worried about. i think it will be instrumentalized in fact that there's lotteries right now and hamburgers and donut prizes but the cash prize will be much more concerning. >> and i guess some experts are warning that the incentive reward approach -- the other thing too is it doesn't address

the root causes and there's an ethical dilemma. do you see that as well? >> i do. these are exceptional circumstances. and i recognize that we need a lot of pr because unfortunately vaccines are safe and effective but they've always been perceived in a slightly different way from other pharmaceutical products. so there's a lot of things that could have been done. better from an educational perspective in the past. but this is where we're at. and there's a lot of pr in the best sense of the word that means to happen. so i understand why we employ these mechanisms. but i do think they come with some ethical tradeoffs and the more potentially behavior changing the mechanism might be the more ethical questions it's going to pose. so again, donuts doesn't worry me as much. but when you escalate the incentive i think we don't know, we haven't fully studied incentives in this context.

this is not clinical trials or medical research. we haven't studied. we don't know what this entails. and again, misinformation, in particular online misinformation is not a new phenomenon but it has exploded throughout the pandemic. >> and just finally and quickly, if you will, if incentives won't work on the seriously hesitant anyway is there a better way to convince them to take the shot? >> you know, at this point in a place like the united states where we would try to take a vaccine action but the levels are climbing i would not touch the incentive landscape. i think modelling is a good thing so the more community organizers, can show by publicizing that they have the shot that they've done so, that's the best possible remedial and also proactive approach right now i think. >> interesting discussion.

ana santos rutschman, thank you so much. i appreciate it. we'll take a quick break on the program. when we come back, former u.s. president donald trump's big lie about a stolen election is resonating among his supporters. now they're taking another look at election ballots to try to prove his allegations. we'll have that and much more after the break. at t-mobile, we're on our way to hiring 10,000 veterans and military spouses by 2023. and our commitment doesn't stop there. we always offer 50% off family lines on our military and veteran plans. that's right, 50% off on america's most reliable 5g network.

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welcome back to our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. i'm michael holmes. this is "cnn newsroom." now, a controversial u.s. lawmaker is doubling down on

some shocking comments. earlier this week republican marjorie taylor greene compared mask mandates in the u.s. house to the holocaust. yeah, you heard that right. needless to say that sparked outrage, of course. the american jewish congress demanding she immediately retract and apologize. well, you can probably guess what happened. instead when asked about it during a weekend visit to arizona she said this. >> we shouldn't be having this kind of treatment. no one should be treated like a second-class citizen for saying i don't need to wear a mask or saying that my medical records are my privacy based on my hipaa rights. and so i stand by all of my statements. i said nothing wrong. and i think any rational jewish person didn't like what happened in nazi germany and any rational jewish person doesn't like what's happening with overbearing mask mandates and overbearing vaccine policy. >> do you understand, though,

why some would be upset by the comment? >> well, do you understand how people feel about being forced to wear masks or being forced to have to take a vaccine or even have to say whether they've taken it or not? these are just things that shouldn't be happening in america. this is a free country. >> it's incredible, isn't it? taylor greene is among the supporters, of course, of former president donald trump's big lie. which is that last year's presidential election of course was stolen and that donald trump actually somehow won. well, to supposedly prove that many republicans are now pushing for audits of election ballots in multiple states. georgia is now on that list where a partial audit is set to get under way. that state has already counted its ballots three times. and there's been no evidence to back up trump's claims in georgia or anywhere else for that matter. but as kyung lah reports from arizona, trump supporters aren't giving up.

>> reporter: you can connect the dots between this high school auditorium in wyndham, new hampshire -- >> stop the steal! stop the steal! >> reporter: a right-wing gubernatorial candidate in georgia. >> i find myself troubled by the recent findings coming out of arizona. >> reporter: and ant rimm county, michigan says michigan's secretary of state jocelyn benson, talking to me in phoenix. are you hearing the exact words arizona-style audit being thrown around in michigan? >> yes. we're hearing that as well as forensic audit. >> reporter: i'm talking to you from a parking lot and you're saying that what we're seeing here is also there? >> well, what we're seeing in arizona is really a high water mark of the big lie. >> reporter: benson says arizona is where the next chapter of the big lie is being written. that lie, that the 2020 election was stolen from donald trump, centers on what you're seeing on this silent unmoving overhead security video. these trailers hold nearly 2.1 million 2020 ballots from

arizona's maricopa county. while in storage now a so-called audit of these ballots run by the republican-controlled arizona senate and its little-known contractor cyber ninjas will restart this weekend after ballots are moved back onto the floor. over the last three weeks we've seen workers use uv lights on ballots, chasing a qanon conspiracy about a secret water mark. cameras hunting for bamboo fibers and ballots supposedly proving they were flown in from asia. comical say maricopa supervisor bill gates and supervisor steven richer but it's also dangerous. are you guys the petri dish for what's going to be the playbook? >> yeah. absolutely. i mean, we now see the videos from other states where they're demanding an arizona-style audit. >> i think it's a proxy war for this playing out on the national level. so i guess, yeah, we are the experiment in democracy here in arizona. >> richer and gates are both lifelong republicans who are

speaking out against their own state party leadership as she watch trump loyalists like corey lewandowski question the vote in new hampshire. >> count every single vote and every vote matters. >> they're urging republicans both state and national to fight back with the truth. >> you've seen the polls of what republican voters believe. have you already lost? >> the answer is absolutely not. if we start to have voices of republicans saying joe biden was elected president, he won, we're not moving, we're not going to do this any longer, we're not going to have arizona style so-called audits in other states, you will see those numbers start to change. >> michigan's secretary of state says the more successful these partisan efforts are today, you will see it in 2022 and 2024. kyung lah, cnn, phoenix, arizona. and to get up to speed with all things u.s. politics this week tune in to cnn's "state of

the union." the program airs 9:00 a.m. in washington, 2:00 p.m. in london. and just ahead here on "cnn newsroom," left vulnerable as u.s. troops exit. the dangers faced by translators who must remain in afghanistan. to make progress, we must keep taking steps forward. we believe the future of energy is lower carbon. and to get there, the world needs to reduce global emissions. at chevron, we're taking action. tying our executives' pay to lowering the carbon emissions intensity of our operations. it's tempting to see how far we've come. but it's only human... to know how f[♪]we have to go. looking to repair dry, but idamaged hairan... without weighing it down? try pantene daily moisture renewal conditioner. its color-safe formula uses smart conditioners to micro-target damage helping to repair hair

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welcome back. the u.s. military keeps announcing progress toward its goal of withdrawal all troops from afghanistan by september 11. it says the process is now up to about 20% complete. but not everyone who puts their lives at risk gets to leave the danger. many afghan translators will be left behind, stuck in a visa process that can take years. it is something that iraqi translators know only too well.

some still have not received permission to come to the u.s., about a decade after the end of the iraq war. here's more on the perils they face and the message they'd like to send to the u.s. president. when we last reported on the plight of iraqi and afghan translators left behind by the u.s. government, usain, for his own safety not his real name, reached out to me, in hiding and afraid for his life. >> i am hiding always. okay? yes, me and my family. and worry and afraid. afraid for everything. okay? >> reporter: yasin was a translator for the u.s. army in iraq from 2009 to 2011. married with one child, he has spent years trying to get the u.s. special immigrant visa he was promised for his service, for putting his life on the line. >> six years and no one called me to make a first interview. >> reporter: his most recent of

several death threats from insurgents was four months ago. in 2006 i spoke to a teenage girl we called sarah to highlight the job those translators did for u.s. troops. the diminutive sarah may be short on height but she is long on courage say her u.s. friends, who asked us to hide her face even if she won't. >> i'm serving my country. i'm serving the u.s. army. it's fun. but dangerous in the same time. but i like it. >> reporter: it is a crucial job because these people are not just dealing in words. they are dealing in people's lives. american and iraqi. >> sarah was lucky, one of those who got that precious visa. she now now lives in the u.s. ali, not his real name either, is married with four kids, is one of thousands of unlucky ones. after working for six years for u.s. troops he still waits and hears nothing. >> we're cursed. we're like living in hell, dying every day, but not dying.

>> reporter: ali, like yassin, has been threatened, even shot at more than once on the way home, viewed as a traitor by the terrorists u.s. troops fought. >> threatening messages say we already know that you have worked for the united states arm y, so you are a traitor and traitors always get what they deserve. >> reporter: as for the value of the job those people did, listen to those from sarah's unit. >> i admire her courage. it's kind of hard to say you're scared offing? when you have a 19-year-old girl sitting there beside you who's half your size who's unafraid of anything that's going on. >> back in baghdad ali has a message for the u.s. president. >> president biden, i want you to save our lives. for we saved your sons' lives. the people in the military. you can't wait. our killers, our assassins, they will go just like boom.

and we are out. there will be no more tomorrow for us. >> now, retired u.s. army colonel steve misko is executive director of first amendment voice. he spent 25 years in the military. he's been a passionate advocate for getting translators out of iraq and afghanistan and has written a book about it, "baghdad underground railroad," which was published this month. and full disclosure, i embedded with the colonel and his troops in iraq in 2007. so we do know each other from there. good to see you, steve. i mean, you felt so strongly about this you've written the book on this about these translators and the risks they took and continue to take. why is it so important to you personally? >> well, thanks, michael. you know, they saved our lives. interpreters like sarah and ali, they would point out ieds and tell us to take a different route or warn us of attacks. and not only that, their families were at risk. many times they didn't tell

their families what they did because they didn't want the families to inadvertently slip. they had to live their lives like in a james bond movie where they would take two taxis across baghdad hoping to shake a tail. this is -- that was the impetus for me writing the book, was to tell their stories. and of the dozens i helped get out, six of them enlisted in the u.s. army or marines and then deployed back as combat linguists. >> yeah. extraordinary people. in afghanistan i know the taliban would say to each other shoot the eyes when attacking coalition troops, meaning the translator, the eyes and ears of the troops, shoot them first. the issue means a lot to a great many u.s. servicemen and women. i know you've experienced the loss of interpreters during and after your own deployment. what do current and former service people tell you about how they feel that these people are literally being left behind? >> yeah, you know, right about the time you embedded with us

jack, my personal interpreter, was gunned down in balad by sunni insurgents. he had gone home to visit his wife, who had just given birth to still-born twins. two weeks later madal, a beloved store owner, murdered by shia militia. everybody was trying to kill them. and other service members feel the same way. they took the same risks that we were taking, and they don't feel it's right to leave them behind. >> and as you say, some have gotten out, but let's be frank, we're talking about thousands, thousands who have not. they're in hiding in iraq and are or will be in hiding in afghanistan, fearing for their lives. are you angry at the u.s. government inaction on this for what has been literally years? >> make no mistake, michael. they are being hunted now. it's not like it's going to start when the withdrawal's over. it's been going on for 20 years in afghanistan. i'm getting distress calls from

afghanistan every day. the non-profit community is inundated. the taliban will continue to hunt them, and we lose the capacity to really safeguard them because the mission becomes get out. there's 17,000 afghans in the s.i.v. backlog right now. they represent 70,000 family members. even at the height of our efficiency we were only processing 4,000 visas a year. we don't have years. we might not have weeks. >> i mean, it makes me angry. i've been following this, as you know, for many years as well. there is a broader issue too at play. and as you write, and you mentioned this in the book, that if the u.s. doesn't get these people out, leaves them there to their fate, and i just want to quote something that you wrote earlier, "the united states will have compromised not only existing friends and allies, it will have compromised future relationships with allies elsewhere whose interests align with our own." that is important too.

abandon these people, and who will want to help the americans elsewhere? >> exactly. it's absolutely a moral imperative. but make no mistake, it's a national security issue with real interests. it's not mother theresa foreign policy. i mean, there are servicemen and women in harm's way right now in conflict zones standing next to interpreters. they're watching what's happening in afghanistan, and we're undermining those relationships, putting them at risk. you've got counterterrorism investigations going on around the world. which informant is going to feel comfortable providing vital information, intelligence when they see what the u.s. is doing in afghanistan? >> we're nearly out of time. 30 seconds. what do you want to happen? what has to happen now? >> look, the one thing i would tell the american public, this is not just a biden administration problem. this is an american problem. we are coalescing a task force right now to gather church

groups, non-profit organizations to create the civil society support should the administration evacuate these afghans we'll be prepared to receive them with sponsors here to help them get their feet on the ground. >> it's good to see you again, colonel. and thank you for the work that you're doing. this is important stuff. lives are at stake. thank you, steve. >> thanks for keeping the spotlight on it, michael. >> we will. so important. well, china has taken a giant step in space exploration. the country's rover now exploring the red planet. we'll have the details coming up. and this was one of the earliest viral videos on youtube. now more than 3/4 of a billion viewers later the "charlie bit me" clip is just hours away from being taken down. find out why after the break. and new ways for them to reach you... is what business is all about. it's what the united states postal service

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adventurous people. love. it's what makes subaru, subaru. what you're looking at there is virgin galactic's space plane vss unity. more than 55 miles into the upper atmosphere with two pilots on board saturday morning. that moves virgin one giant leap

closer to its goal of launching paying customers into space within the next year. sir richard branson says space tourism will soon be a reality. >> it's like exactly as predicted. everything just worked like a dream. they're analyzing the data, but the initial feedback from our chief engineer has been incredibly positive. and so, yeah, it will not be very long before i get my flight in and before we have -- you know, we open it up to the many people that signed up to go to space with us. >> yeah. in fact, more than 600 people have signed up. they've paid up to a quarter million dollars each for a seat. china's mars rover has set foot, if you can say that, on

the red planet. current plans are for the rover to stay active for at least three months exploring and conducting tests. fresh tracks on the red planet mean new in roads for china in the latest space race. it went out for a drive making it the second to land on mars. it touched down on mars on may 15th. china's top space official said it's a huge leap forward for the program. china's rover will tread across the martian terrain to learn what it can in hopes humans can land there one day too. >> the chinese rover that has now landed on mars -- >> reporter: nasa's administrator, bill nelson sworn in earlier this month, congratulated china's space agency but also warned congress

china has ambitious plans for both mars and the moon. >> they're going to be landing humans on the moon. that should tell us something about our need to get off our duffs. >> reporter: china is one of three countries that launched missions to the red planet last summer with nasa's perseverance landing on mars in february. the hope spacecraft is orbiting the planet but not designed to land. nasa's rover has been on the planet since 2012. one of the most watched videos in youtube's history will soon be auctioned off and taken down. >> ouch. ouch!

ouch, charlie! ouch! charlie. that really hurts. you may remember these two british brothers from this clip from 2007. yeah, that long ago. charlie bit my finger is not even a minute long but it became an early viral video racking up nearly 883 million views along the way. the clip is up for auction as an nft or nonfungible token. nfts allow people to buy and sell unique digital files creating authenticity and scarcity. the auction has gotten up to $12,000 so far. once the bidding is done at 9:30

a.m. sunday, the adorable video will be deleted and somebody will own it. crazy, huh? thanks for your company. i'm michael holmes. our friend and colleague robyn curnow picks things up after a short break. help. metamucil psyllium fiber, gels to trap and remove the waste that weighs you down. it also helps lower cholesterol and slows sugar absorption to promote healthy blood sugar levels. so you can feel lighter and more energetic metamucil. support your daily digestive health. and try metamucil fiber thins. a great tasting and easy way to start your day.

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welcome to "cnn newsroom" i'm robyn curnow. good to have you along this hour. coming up, the fragile cease-fire between israel and hamas is holding. the people in gaza survey the devastating loss. a volcano spews lava on roads and forces thousands of people