♪ and a warm welcome to our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. i'm paula newton. ahead here on "cnn newsroom" -- >> you got to have hope, and we're doing everything that we can to bring your family member out alive. >> a heartfelt message of hope for people desperately waiting for news about their loved ones in the condo collapse in south florida.

plus derek chauvin sentenced to more than 22 years in prison for murdering george floyd. we'll hear what both the chauvin and floyd families had to say in court. and the delta variant will have the, quote, upper hand this summer in europe according to one health minister. we're live in london where we're seeing a 46% increase in the variant. and we begin right here in the united states where at this hour, a massive search for survivors is under way, and that's just over 48 hours after a devastating building collapse in surfside, florida. and that is near miami. part of the 12-story champlain towers came crashing down during the early hours of thursday morning. at least four people have been confirmed dead, and 159 are still unaccounted for. the cause of the disaster still unknown.

♪ >> a vigil was held in surfside friday night to remember the lives lost and pray for those still unaccounted for. many families are clinging to hope that their loved ones will be somehow found alive, including one woman who spoke with our anderson cooper about her aunt and uncle, who have still not been located. >> i think hope is a very valuable thing when people are going through crisis to hold on to. so i'm holding on to a sliver of hope because i know in my heart somebody there is still alive. >> yeah. >> and if it's not my aunt or uncle, i hope it's somebody's father or somebody's son. >> every rescue person we have talked to will tell you, you know, people can survive for a

long period of time in buildings that you can't imagine somebody survived in. >> yes. that's what i also heard. so i'm hoping that there are many survivors. >> one surfside official calls the search efforts painstakingly laborious and stressed that it will take some time to reach every person. cnn's randi kaye has the latest for us from surfside. >> reporter: the desperate search and rescue operation is intensifying. a race to find survivors in the rubble from the partially collapsed building in surfside, florida. search and rescue teams not stopping for a moment. >> these are the best first responders in the world. these are the ones that are sent to trouble spots. they've been to 9/11. they've been to haiti. they've been wherever there is a disaster, and they are bringing that expertise to bear right here for our residents, for our visitors in surfside. >> reporter: the death count now

at 4. three of the bodies have been identified according to the medical examiner's office. both heavy machinery as well as small buckets being used to carefully lift and move around debris to access search areas. while 120 people are now accounted for, the number of unaccounted for has increased to 159. rainy weather and intermittent fires breaking out on the site complicating an already difficult rescue effort. an effort that is not without risk to those who are involved. >> debris is falling on them as they do their work. we have structural engineers on-site to assure that they will not be injured, but they -- they are proceeding because they are so motivated. >> reporter: president joe biden promising continued assistance. >> i promise you the administration and the congress will do everything possible to be of assistance now and after. >> reporter: families standing by, trying to hold out hope that their loved ones will be found alive.

>> how buried are they in there? is there a possibility that they're alive? like truthfully, look at this mess. what are the chances. >> building resident -- >> we had the most wonderful, wonderful weekend with our granddaughter, scarlet. it was wonderful. and how from one second to the next second, a dramatic change in life. it's unbelievable. >> reporter: so many families with questions about how this could possibly happen. >> a building falls down in a third-world country where they don't have building codes. with all the building codes in this country, a building shouldn't collapse like that. >> reporter: and promises being made that the answers will come. >> there's a lot of people throughout this community and really throughout florida who want to know, how could a building just collapse like that? whatever the local efforts are under way with that, the state will support whatever we can to

do this right, but also to do it timely so that we get the answers to the families and that we get the answer to the people of florida. >> joe hernandez is a former member of fema urban search and rescue, and a former medical chief of operations for florida task force ii, and he joins me now from miami. joe, obviously our heart goes out to all the family members, and we don't know what it's like to be waiting to see if they can rescue anyone. but we know that they are hoping that all of those hardworking people that you see there at the disaster zone can actually do something. how complicated is it because we have seen fire. we have seen water. we have seen wind. we have seen rain and smoke. how complicated is it right now? >> as complicated as you can get it. the rescuers, of course, are fighting time. that's the element that everybody is up against. then when you add the inclement

weather that we had and all the water that was going through, and you're adding even more wind now, fueling some of the fires that are still established in the subbasement levels and the toxic fumes that are coming out of that is hampering the rescue coordination. putting water on that fire also causes some of the sand to be more difficult to move at times as well. >> and when they are trying to find people that perhaps are alive in pockets, in what you guys call voids, what do they actually have to do because we've seen picking through things with their bare hands. but then we've also seen some sophisticated and some heavy equipment. >> sure. they're trying to do what's called delayering the pile. you can see multiple floors stacked on top of each other. as you count those big pancakes, you could probably count at least nine of them, and you know that each one of them was a floor. so what they're trying to do is methodically reach the pile from the sides and not so much from the tops to create more of a

crush effect to that and plant listening devices, delsar devices inside the rubble pile to see if they can get any feedback from that, tapping sounds, moaning sounds, somebody trying to get attention. an all-quiet will be done and some of the rescuers will do a call-out. the lifting of those pieces of conkrcrete that everybody is watching are either done by humans and/or mechanical machines are trying to gain access underneath. the rescuers will put the pieces of wood, which we call cribbing and shoring, those areas so they stay elevated. that allows a rescuer or a search k-9 that's very well trained and sophisticated into that area to try and do a live find. that's what they're trained for, going into those tight find areas. if they do have a hit on a possible victim that may be trapped still inside and alive, it will be followed up by the

technical search teams. they'll be inserting search cameras and trying to find those victims that are inside there to then be able to begin the rescue process and the medical process prior to extricating them. >> this has got to be tough work. i mean who knows what they're breathing in there. as we just talked about the elements are rough. other people's lives are at risk here, right? >> absolutely. that's what they do. as the people are running out of the building, we are really thankful that there are always people who want to run into the building to try and save those lives. as long as we have those type of individuals that are out there, we know we'll have somebody coming after us should another disaster like this happen. >> joe hernandez, thanks so much for lending your expertise here to explain it to us. appreciate it. >> thank you, paula. >> the collapse happened here in the united states, of course, but the impact is being felt half a world away. some of the people missing came from venezuela, argentina, colombia just to name a few. matt rivers is in mexico city

for us with that. >> reporter: so many families await news about their missing loved ones in miami right now. as more and more time passes, we're getting more information about just how many people around the world really have been affected by all this. >> the collapse happened on american soil, but the impact of this tragedy extends far beyond u.s. borders. dozens of citizens from countries around latin america are missing, including venezuela, argentina, colombia, uruguay, chile, and paraguay. among those unaccounted for, the sister of paraguay's first lady. paraguay's foreign ministry says the family went to miami to get vaccinated and brought along a babysitter. her family told cnn it was her first ever trip outside the country. we're hoping for a miracle, said her cousin, but we just don't know if we should cry now or

not. also among the missing, a chilean citizen related to a former chilean president. as word spread about the accident, families across the region came to miami for news of their loved ones, news that was difficult to come by. nothing. we are desperate, she says. the atmosphere changed from yesterday to today. it's not the same. abigail pineda is a friend of an argentinian couple that remain missing along with their 6-year-old daughter. like others here, she's holding on to whatever small hope she can. she says, we are people who are here with a bit of hope because it's all that we have, and the only thing they tell us is there are these kind of micro capsules where there could be survivors. for rescuers, the work is continuing, digging through debris, heavy machine involved, occasionally doing what's called an all-stop, where everyone stops and listens for sounds of people who might be alive. but for families, there is only the agony of waiting. many choosing to do so inside a center set up for those with missing loved ones.

it's horrible, horrible, says this woman of what it's like inside the center. you see a lot of pain, people that are desperate. this happened near a part of miami known affectionately by some as little ba way nose air he's. there are a lot of south american families that live or spend time here. as the hours go by, there is every chance that the number of south american citizens affected by this collapse goes up even as the chances of finding people alive goes down. we know that a lot of these countries whose citizens have been affected by all of this actually have consulates in miami. some of those consulates, we're told, have been calling around to different hospitals in the miami area, trying to get any news about their citizens who are unaccounted for. unfortunately in many of these cases, those consulates not getting the kind of positive news they would hope for. back to you. >> our thanks to matt rivers there in mexico city. you can help the collapse victims and their families. please head to cnn.com/impact.

you'll find links there to charitable organizations verified by cnn. again, that's cnn.com/impact. coming up here for us, the delta coronavirus variant is dashing europe's hopes for getting that kind of back to normal summer everyone was looking for. we're live in london with the details. plus derek chauvin sentenced to 22 1/2 years in prison for the murder of george floyd as floyd's family speaks out. >> if you could say anything to your daddy right now, what would it be? >> it would be, i miss you, and i love him.

derek is a quiet, thoughtful, honorable, and selfless man. he has a big heart, and he always has put others before his own. >> carolyn pa lenity there asking the court for leniency for her son, derek chauvin. the former minneapolis, minnesota, police officer received a sentence of 22 1/2 years for second-degree unintentional murder in the death of george floyd.

chauvin was captured on cell phone video kneeling on floyd's neck. the incident, of course, sparked worldwide protests against police brutality. now, chauvin's sentence exceeded state guidelines, but he likely won't spend all of that time behind bars. sara sidner has more on that along with reaction from minneapolis. >> reporter: former minneapolis police officer derek chauvin now knows his fate for murdering george floyd right here outside the cupp foods. the judge in the case, judge peter cahill, being very pointed in his sentencing memo, saying that mr. chauvin treated mr. floyd without respect and denied him the dignity owed to all human beings. >> the court commits you to the custody of the commissioner of corrections for a period of 270 months. >> reporter: former police officer derek chauvin was sentenced to 22 1/2 years in the murder of george floyd. chauvin was convicted in april of second-degree unintentional murder and taken back into custody today. the sentence includes a 10-year

addition to the state sentencing guidelines but less time than the 30 years requested by prosecutors. >> this is the longest sentence that a police officer has ever been sentenced to in the history of the state of minnesota. but this should not be the exception when a black person is killed by brutality by police. it should be the norm. >> reporter: before the sentence came down, derek chauvin publicly spoke to the floyd family for the first time. >> i do want to give my condolences to the floyd family. there's going to be some other information in the future that would be of interest, and i hope things will give you some -- some peace of mind. thank you. >> earlier, emotional victim

impact statements starting with floyd's 7-year-old daughter. >> do you wish that he was still here with us? >> yeah, but he is. >> through his spirit? >> yes. >> if you could say anything to your daddy right now, what would it be? >> it would be i miss you, and i love you. >> floyd's brothers and nephew repeatedly demanded the maximum sentence for chauvin, describing the harrowing impact of his murder on their lives. >> our family is forever broken, and one thing we cannot get back is george floyd. >> and george floyd's brother, terrence, addressed chauvin directly. >> what were you thinking? what was going through your head when you had your knee on my brother's neck? >> reporter: in chauvin's corner, after a motion to reconsider the case was dismissed earlier this morning, chauvin's mother spoke out for the first time publicly about her son, describing him as a good, thoughtful, and honorable

man. >> the public will never know the loving and caring man he is, but his family does. >> reporter: outside of the courthouse at cupp foods where george floyd was murdered, a mixed reaction to the sentence but a feeling by some that justice was done. >> say his name! >> george floyd! >> reporter: while there's mixed reaction from the community as to the sentence and how long it should have been, there is one thing everyone agrees on, and that is that their fight isn't over. the sign tells you pretty much what you need to know. one down, three to go. they are referencing the other three officers who still are charged and are awaiting trial. sara sidner, cnn, minneapolis. >> so earlier i spoke with morr morris o'kelly. a political commentator and host of the mo kelly show. he had this to say about chauvin's sentence and whether it should have been longer.

>> it was more than what i expected but less than i think what possibly derek chauvin deserved. if i think about someone with aggravating circumstances or enhancements and still fell short of the 30 years that the prosecution had asked for, i had the personal question i wonder what derek chauvin needed to do or needed to have done in a different way to have gotten that other eight years or so to get to the 30. that's still under the maximum, which i believe was 40. so even though that i was surprised that it was 22.5 years, i'm also surprised that it wasn't more given the facts and the circumstances. >> and do you venture a guess as to why it didn't reach that level? i mean the judge obviously had a 22-page ruling, a lot of detail in there. as far as the judge was concerned, you could tell he thought that he had gone the distance on this sentencing. >> yes. and when he was giving his decision, his judgment, i was under the opinion that once he said, i am not doing this out of

emotion. i am not doing this in response to the public outcry, i was thinking that he was going to just bring the hammer. but he did not do that big picture, which says to me that derek chauvin being a former police officer did matter in a way ultimately that other defendants would not have been treated. now, we can say that the statute treats everyone equally, and in fact his defense lawyers argued that. but it didn't seem like ultimately that derek chauvin was treated just like any old defendant, and his past history as an officer seemed to have impacted that decision. >> mo kelly, thanks so much. >> thank you. the world health organization says the delta variant is the most transmissible coronavirus strain so far. it's appeared in at least 85 countries. european nations are particularly concerned. in the uk, delta variant cases are up 46% in a week.

germany's health minister warns delta cases are growing significantly and will soon have an upper hand. cyril vanier joins me now from london. i know you've been tracking all this. it's been jarring to see those cases in the uk really tick up. i mean the variant is more transmissible. we know that. i guess the key question is what is europe and the uk going to do about it now? >> reporter: yeah, and, paula, it's a great question. i'm not sure they have all the answers yet because this was really not part of the plan when they started to reopen borders and just reopen in general and restart life, right? so over the last two months here in the uk, we went from the delta variant being a minority variant with just 3% or 4% of infections to now being 99% of the infections that we know here in the uk. so that's how quickly it can become the dominant strain. something similar is happening in europe as we speak. the french health minister just ten days ago said the delta

variant only accounted for 5% of their infections but the european center for disease control believes that it will be, by far, the dominant vaurnt -- variant by the end of august. so you're looking at a two-month window for this variant to take over an entire continent. now, what they should do about it really depends on the vaccination rates. we are seeing, paula, in the uk for instance, because this is the test case -- we are seeing that cases are going up, but hospitalizations and deaths, while they are going up, are not increasing by the same amount. so i pulled the data. over a five-week period from mid-may to last week, infections in the uk were multiplied by five, but hospital admissions and deaths were multiplied by two. so what that tells you is that the high level of vaccination we have in this country is thankfully preventing many people from getting a severe

form of the disease and requiring hospitalization. so every country, to answer your question, i believe should make decisions based on the level of vaccination. >> and vaccination unfortunately is a bit further behind in a lot of the european countries. how much do you think this is going to start to impact what the summer was supposed to look like in both the uk and europe and, crucially, the travel in between? >> yeah. that's a great question. it does feel like for some countries, they're sticking their head in the sand a little bit because this is coming just at the time when they had eased restrictions, when they're opening up nightclubs, when they're allowing people to travel. so they were hoping they would have this reprieve over the summer, that they would be able to allow their population to enjoy normal holidays, a normal life. some countries may decide to push on and go ahead and do that. but others we see already taking restrictive measures. germany, for instance, is imposing quarantines on uk. a strict 14-day quarantine on any traveler coming from the uk.

belgium as of a few -- i beg your pardon. as of today is banning uk travelers. uk travelers are no longer allowed to go to belgium. angela merkel, the german chancellor, had been pushing european countries to take more coordinated, strict measures against uk travelers on account of this delta variant, paula. >> yeah, certainly still a critical situation there. yeah, cyril, we all want to be done with this. apparently the virus is not done with us. thanks for that. really appreciate it. i'm paula newton. for our international viewers, african voices is next. for everyone else, i'll have more news in a moment.

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welcome back to our continuing coverage here. i'm paula newton, and this is "cnn newsroom." returning now to florida and the unrelenting search for survivors following thursday's devastating building collapse in the town of surfside. now, family and friends of course are anxiously waiting for news that their loved ones have been found. a hopeful wall for people for the 159 people still unaccounted for stands just about a block away from the disaster site. you can see those heartbreaking pictures lining the fence adorned with flowers. cnn's erin burnett spoke with one man whose mother and grandmother are among those who's whereabouts are unknown. he said he's providing a dna swab to help with the search. >> we headed over there, and the scene was a bit chaotic. there were people everywhere. it wasn't really organized. i don't think the rain helped, so they moved us to another

location where it continued to be chaotic until, you know, we kept asking everyone where we can provide the dna swab. finally we were able to do that. >> now, as search and rescue teams scour the site hoping to find more survivors, of course those friends and families like you just heard from are waiting for answers. cnn's nick valencia has that for us. >> reporter: there's a heaviness here today in surfside. that heaviness comes amidst the uncertainty where family members have told us they're really just not getting much information at all. there are some people that are holding on to hope, but others who have resigned to the fact they believe, they say, that they're just going to get bad news and they're waiting for that news to come. then there are others whose frustration is bordering on downright outrage. her husband and her brother-in-law, brad and gary cohen, she says were on the 11th floor asleep at the time the building collapsed. she believes both those two men

are still alive, but she says time is running out. she says she's embarrassed by the recovery effort here. this is the message that she had for the first responders. >> you shouldn't be allocating your resources. you need to call in other teams, and you need to do this immediately because every minute that goes by could be another life. it is not just the life of the person. my children are going to be orphans. >> sa raya said her 12-year-old woke up in the morning unable to have breakfast because she couldn't understand to think that her dad was perhaps still alive buried under the rubble and not being able to get help. at this point, the reunification center has been moved from about a block away to this hotel behind me where people inside who have come out have described about 100 people inside just really waiting around for information. earlier in the day, we saw governor desantis come by. he was only inside for roughly 15 minutes before he left. some are being proactive, opting to give some mouth swabs in the case that they need dna to identify bodies pulled from the rubble. nick valencia, cnn, surfside,

florida. >> many of us, of course, are wondering how this tragedy could have happened and if it could have been prevented in any way. cnn's brian todd looks into the integrity of this high rise. >> reporter: structural engineers and other experts now scrambling to find answers as to how this collapse could have occurred in an area with some of the strictest building codes in the world. >> it's very unusual to see a building collapse in this way. it reminds me of building in countries where they had earthquakes and the construction is not in good conditions. >> reporter: this professor of florida international university released a study last year which said that 40-year-old building, the champlain tower south, had been sinking, or subsiding as he calls it, at a rate of about two millimeters a year between 1993 and 1999. >> it's not clear if the land

was moving or the building was moving into the land. but it was obviously the building itself moved. a very small portion, which is about over the measurement period of six years, is about half an inch. >> reporter: he said that sinking didn't occur in other buildings right around that complex. he said the sinking alone likely would not have caused the building to collapse. but experts say it could be associated with tension and possible cracks inside the structure. local officials say there was roof work being done on the building. they're careful to say that may not be the cause of this disaster, but experts say it could have been a contributing factor. >> collision of effects of potentially working on the roof, potentially the non-maintenance of certain parts of the building where the connections can come together and fail and create the pancake effect that happened. >> reporter: the location and

climate of that area, pexperts say, also have to be considered. >> especially the corrosion of this steel. as you notice, it's right next to the ocean, and also if that area collapses the oceanside, right? so corrosion of the reinforcement will compromise the capacity of a column. if the column fails, everything fails essentially. >> reporter: an attorney for the condo residents association says over the past several months, the building had undergone what he called thorough engineering inspections in preparation for its 40-year certification. >> nothing appeared either to the engineers or to any of the residents that would suggest anything like this was imminent. nothing. >> reporter: experts say it may take several months before we know the real causes. and as for the possibility of one smoking gun -- >> usually a collapse like this doesn't happen just because of one factor. usually it's several factors is

combined, and it's like a perfect storm. >> reporter: we've learned a class action lawsuit has bnl filed against the champlain towers condominium association, accusing of failures to secure and safeguard the lives and property of condo unit owners. the suit, which seeks in excess of $5 million in damages, cites a statement from the association's attorney, who said that repair needs have been identified but had not been completed. in response to the lawsuit, direct over said he doesn't know and engineers don't know with certainty what caused the building to come down so, quote, how is it that this lawyer knows with certainty what caused the building to fall down? brian todd, cnn, washington. >> you will notice in brian's piece that he spoke to a noted structural engineer. i also spoke to him, and he's going to talk to us more. you'll hear him now about the integrity of the building and what may have played a role in its collapse. >> you can see -- you

essentially try to get into the debris to get to the people essentially. that's what they tried to do. that's why usually structural engineers attach to the urban search and rescue team to essentially reduce the risk for the rescuers. i was in 2017, mexico earthquake and doing similar things, and it was -- they do definitely need structural expertise to be safe. but miami-dade, the count ty there, the urban search and rescue team is considered to be the best in the world. >> the other thing you've said is one of the best in the world are the building codes for this area of miami. i know that you have been mulling this over with all of your expertise since this happened. >> yeah. >> we're all wondering what could have caused this catastrophic event?

>> yeah. well, this type of collapse we see often in earthquake countries. i mean our team and myself probably investigate over 500,000 buildings damaged and collapsed like this one. so you're talking about earthquakes. earthquake shakes and building collapse. but this is highly unusual because there is no tremor or there's no storm or nothing going on, right? but the building system is pretty simple. it's essentially the series of concrete plate. it's a floor, sits on top of what we call columns, essentially pillars. they're spaced usually about 10 meter each way, about 30 feet. and so if one of the pillars fails, everything collapse on top of each other. that's exactly what happened there. and that most likely the column failed is somewhere in the center of the structure because that's where the failure was

initiated. as you can see it at the lower level columns, which collapsed first, that's how actually work like that. now, the question is why that column failed, right? no one really knew that quite yet. but technically speaking, you can kind of imagine there's a couple things could have happened to it. >> so interesting there. a lot of interesting things in terms of what he said in terms of the integrity of the building. what is going on right now, though, is that the search and rescue is being hampered by the weather. you will have seen in our video rain, wind. our derek van dam is standing by to give us the news on this. derek, it doesn't look good, does it, in terms of the forecast? >> yeah, it's difficult because the search and rescue crews have already been halted at some stage during this process. friday morning, a hit or miss thundershower moved through the region. obviously search and rescue crews can work through rain but they can't work through

lightning. that poses all kinds of hazards for people on the ground, not to mention the gusty winds from thunderstorms that do move through during this kind of summertime environment that we have across southeast florida just north of the miami beach region. the gusty winds that are associated with these thunderstorms that move onshore could potentially knock down debris that still standing on the structure that remains. so that obviously is a concern for the search and rescue crews on the ground. i want to show you current conditions. 78 degrees. this is indicating mostly clear skies. you can see the easterly winds at 5 miles per hour. i want to get in hyper local because we have the ability to do that with our radar. you can see that kind of spattering of thundershower activity that covers southeastern florida. but as we move into the surfside region, just within the past 15 minutes or so, there was a hit or miss thundershower. this is the thundershower activity that halted the search and rescue operations on friday morning. so we see these develop. they fizzle out, and they form at a moment's notice.

that's what can be a concern for these search and rescue crews. just in the past 24 hours, this particular area north of miami beach has experienced about a tenth to a quarter of an inch of precipitation. that's rainfall of course, within the past day or so. the forecast radar imagery, this is taking it into the next 24 hours. it shows kind of an increase in this thundershower activity. this saul thanks to the sea breeze that forms. we've got a very unstable, warm environment. this is summertime in this part of the world, and of course with the proximity to the gulf of mexico it doesn't take much for storms. you can see that easterly wind. that is called the sea breeze. that forms our showers and thunderstorms midway and a very similar weather forecast will play out as the search and rescue operations continue through this weekend. paula. >> at this point they'll have to hope that the winds at least stay down and that they do have some crucial breaks in between some of those showers forming. >> very important. >> appreciate that update. now, pulling out troops from

afghanistan while pledging continuing support. u.s. president joe biden looks to reassure his afghan counterpart the commitments he's making even as american boots on the ground come home. plus a legal limbo for afghans who worked with the u.s. in their country. why they can't easily emigrate to the united states even though they may not be safe at home.

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the partnership between afghanistan and the united states is not ending. it's going to be sustained and, you know, our troops may be leaving, but support for afghanistan is not ending. >> sitting next to his afghan counterpart, u.s. president joe biden there pledging to stand behind afghanistan even after america's longest war comes to a conclusion. now, it's a bid to reassure afghan leaders about what the future can look like. president ashraf ghani says he

respects the decision but warns that the u.s. exit will have consequential results. phil mattingly has more from the white house. >> reporter: afghanistan president ashraf ghani had several messages that he wanted to deliver to president biden. obviously there was no question the troop pullout that president biden had already announced was not going to change no matter what president ghani put on the table. but there is clear need, clear necessity for more u.s. assistance as the u.s. moves through that process. the country's security situation very clearly deteriorating amidst taliban offensives throughout the country, particularly in the north. real concerns from u.s. intelligence officials that the country could fall within six months of the u.s. officially departing after september 11th. where things stand right now, the u.s. is not changing, and president biden is not moving off of that september deadline. he's making clear the u.s. will continue humanitarian support, will continue its presence at an embassy in kabul, and there will be about 650 u.s. troops there to protect that embassy.

but that security situation, that is up to the afghans. whether or not a peace agreement gets signed, the u.s. supports but that is also up to the afghans. there's also the big question of those afghanis who helped u.s. personnel over the course of the last 19 years. the administration still working through that process as well. as of now, they've identified a certain group of those individuals that are going through the special immigrant visa process. they will be evacuated before the september deadline to a third country as they move through that process. how many that will be and what that third country is, that is still up in the air. but obviously a very complex situation, and the biden administration making very clear despite the visit in person from the afghan president, they're not changing their posture on this. all they can offer is help and assistance, not of the military variety. phil mattingly, the white house. >> this man now works to

resettle refugees and immigrants with no one left behind. the volunteer organization working to support special immigrant recipients. good to have you here. i know this has been your mission ever since you received your special immigrant visa in 2014. if you can describe to me how many people are being affected by this right now, what's at stake? what is this limbo all about that these people find themselves in now? >> thanks for having me. you know, there are many people, thousands of people still left behind in afghanistan, and they're still waiting for their visas. and no one left behind -- >> when we say left behind, though, the issue here is that their lives are in danger. you have clear proof of that every day. >> correct. no one left behind has cataloged over 300 interpreters and their

family members over the last seven years. that's the hardest part. people are still waiting. in france, a woman found guilty of murdering her husband won't be serving any more jail time. we'll explain why she is now a free woman. re protection, more sun, more joy. neutrogena® beach defense® the suncare brand used most by dermatologists and their families, neutrogena® for people with skin.

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a woman in france who admitted to killing her abusive husband is now free amid a global outcry over her prosecution. cnn's cyril vanier explains why valerie bacot was able to go home even though she was convicted of murder. >> reporter: found guilty of murder and yet this is how valerie bacot is greeted. [ applause ] as she leaves the courthouse in france. a four-year prison sentence, including three suspended, means she is free despite admitting to killing her abusive husband. not a triumph but still a legal and moral victory.

i'm not relieved, she said moments earlier. i'm empty mentally and physically. overcome by emotion, she can barely walk. sexually abused by her stepfather, she eventually married her tormentor. the investigation revealing a life of beatings, threats, and forced prostitution until she shot him in the head. in her best-selling memoir, "everyone knew," bacot writes, i only wanted to protect myself, protect my life and that of my children. nothing else ever mattered to me. public opinion skewed heavily in her favor. a petition against further prison time received more than 700,000 signatures. also in her favor, a psychiatric evaluation which diagnosed battered woman's syndrome, extreme stress which altered her judgment. when you're beaten for years since the age of 12, her lawyer argues, you cannot think normally like you or i. at some point you have to do

something that's not like you, not like her, to save herself. it's survival. even the prosecutor cast bacot as a victim, and the light prison sentence sought was a near guarantee that she would walk free. the legal question, explains this lawyer, is whether the law is applied differently when a woman who has been beaten all her life and forced into prostitution kills her spouse. the court's answer on this day, under extreme circumstances, yes. for bacot and her four children, it means another chance at life. cyril vanier, cnn, london. i'm paula newton. thanks for your company. kim brunhuber picks up things from here with more "cnn newsroom." he'll be back in just a moment.

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more than 48 hours after two towers of the condo complex came crashing down, at least 159 people remain missing, as crews dig through the rubble, searching for any signs of life. a judge sentences a police officer to 22 1/2 years in prison for murdering george floyd. the question now, could this case change the way officers do their jobs in communities of color? and president biden pledges u.s. support to afghanistan, as the taliban presence in the embattled country incr