let's bring in our sam kiley who is in the middle of it all. place. this namaste trump event. sam, what are the takeaways from what you're hearing so far? >> reporter: well, one of the intriguing moments just a few minutes ago was when narendra modi was still speaking, the prime minister explained the greeting namaste to mr. trump. he said it's when the person making the statement, namaste, bows to the individual, but also to the divinity within the individual. now, what politician could resist that? on top of that, he said the partnership between india and the united states was a great deal more than a partnership. that it was a bonded relationship of shared dreams, of shared interests and technology and meeting universal challenges. and he's continuing in that vein. a warm reception both to mr. trump and the first lady at a time when he has been himself bitterly criticized for inflaiming sectarianism back home, unlike his guest in the united states. he has risen to popular power, and demonstrating in no uncertain terms just how to go about tha

we want to turn to cnn's international correspondent sam kiley. he is there at the stadium. 100,000 people gathered there. we saw -- sam, talk to us about the ambience, how excited they are to see the u.s. president there and what we can expect to hear from the two leaders when they speak. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: we expect to hear from them and see them momentarily. they have arrived here at the stadium. donald trump, the u.s. president in the famous presidential limousine known as "the beast." narendra modi in a range rover which might be seen as a british vehicle. it's indian owned, the burgeoning of india on the international stage in terms of strategic importance. india stands as a formerly non-aligned nation. now making friends with massive nations. the second biggest on earth, the united states and also keep itself free to make alliances or friendships elsewhere. notably with china. it's without reason strategically donald trump is here. but today is all about celebration, pomp and circumstance. the announcer behind me talking about the leaders of t

sam kiley, cnn. >>> sam kiley, thank you and thank you for watching. our coverage continues.

sam kiley cnn. >>time now is 4.41 coming up on the kron 4 morning news, a 13 year-old boy becomes the youngest to swim across. lake tahoe and now he's preparing for an even bigger challenge will tell you what he has his sights on and here's a quick live look outside our camera along the embarcadero in san francisco showing us a few clouds over the bay bridge we'll be back with more on your forecast and your headlines in just a minute. >>and we're back at 4.45 check this out a 13 year-old now the youngest person to swim across. lake tahoe. which as you know is awfully cold to how he did that i don't know, but he completed that 12 mile swim in less than 7 hours. his name is james savage will go. he's from a spaniel city actually swim the horse on a with of the lake. so the east-west direction which is the shorter length. his first was the length of the san luis reservoir which is about 7.3 miles so this is quite a bit longer. he also swims the length of the golden gate bridge too. alcatraz every singl

and sam kiley in baghdad for us where the u.s. faces demands to withdraw its troops following the killing of qassem soleimani. let's start in tehran with fred pleitg pleitgen. now that iran has had mitted what happened, the question is why and how this mistake was made. >> reporter: you're right. and i think that is something that the nation is grappling with. iranians are saying that they will have a full investigation into all of this, they say that they will hold the folks who were culpable for this, that they will hold them accountable. iranian military is talking about a military judicial system and iranians are saying that they are going to review their procedures and everything around their air defenses to make sure that something like this does not happen again. news that we just got, some information coming from iran supreme leaders office. explaining why we're learning of this now and the circumstances around it. and i'm sort evof paraphrasing. he says about the air defense system, the supreme leader issued an urgent ord

let's bring in our sam kiley. sam following the story in abu dhabi.s targeted attack has whipped up sentiment in the region. there is a push to force u.s. troops out of the region. what would that mean for iraq and the region if u.s. troops are forced out? >> well, george, just in the last few hours, the iraqi government has announced that it lost two more iraqi soldiers to isis terrorists on the outskirts of kirkuk. there is an ongoing terrorist insurgency inside iraq the iraqis are very much leading. they have relied up until now, not only on heavy american training, but also american-led coalition and support in that campaign. that campaign, whatever donald trump may say, both inside syria and iraq, has not been won. there are still arguably growing levels of isis insurgency. this would present an absolute win. the only organization on the planet really that would be delighted with u.s. withdrawal from iraq would be the principal enemies, ironically both of the united states and the iranians in iraq, which is the so-called islamic state. they actua

sam kiley, cnn, in delhi. >> thanks to sam kiley in india. >>> back here in the united states, preparationsay for a special tribute to honor kobe bryant and his daughter gianna at the staples center in los angeles. we'll have a live preview, next. you're in the "cnn newsroom." hi susan!) honey? yeah? i respect that. but that cough looks pretty bad... try this robitussin honey. the real honey you love... plus the powerful cough relief you need. mind if i root through your trash? robitussin honey. because it's never just a cough. having dry skin is a struggle. turns out, my body wash was the problem. but with olay ultra moisture body wash, my skin went from dry and dull to visibly healthy in just 14 days. better skin from a body wash? you better believe it. with olay body. >i spend a lot of time sin my truck.y? it's my livelihood. ♪ rock music >> man: so i'm not taking any chances when something happens to it. so when my windshield cracked... my friend recommended safelite autoglass. >> tech: hi, i'm adrian. >> man: thanks for coming. >> tech: oh, no problem. >> tech: check it out. >> man: ye

we're going to turn to cnn's sam kiley who's tracking developments from abu dhabi. sam, i understand they're very close now to the position where they've detected the victims. what's the latest? >> reporter: well, according to the beirut civil defense administration speaking to cnn on the ground there, he says that they're less half a meter, that's 18 inches from what they suspect is some kind of source of heat and detectible breathing from a living creature. now this is all hope, of course, of this being a survivor of this gigantic blast that ripped across beirut 30 days ago, kim. it would be a staggering story of survival if somebody were to emerge from this rub beige -- rubble and wreckage intact or even alive after 30 days. nonetheless, this is a glimmer of hope that was brought literally as a result of a whiff picked up by a passing rescue dog that came into the country on sunday with a chilean ngo on the ground working when the dog flash first picked up signs of life buried in that rubble. it's had people walk past it constantly. it was an area very badly hit b

sam kiley for us. thank you so much, sam.tart" continues right now. >>> still a long way to go. a record number of new daily coronavirus cases as the global case count tops 5 million, a new warning this morning to expect future shutdowns. >>> breaking overnight, three people shot at an arizona shopping complex. people on site forced to shelter in place all night there. good morning and welcome back to "early start." i'm laura jarrett. >> good morning. i'm christine romans. the global push to reopen from coronavirus colliding with this harsh new reality. >> in the last 24 hours there have been 106,000 cases reported to who. the most in a single day since the outbreak began. >> the world health organization says nearly 2/3 of those cases were in just four countries. the u.s., russia, brazil, india. the real number is likely higher because of delays in reporting. >>> overnight, delays in the global coronavirus meets the mark. >> the death toll rises as counties reopen. there are spikes in some areas that have reopened early and

cnn's sam kiley is live in abu dhabi with more. i calling this, quote, the most difficult year. >> reporter: yeah, most difficult year i think for iran because as he points out, the iranians are dealing with not only the corona pandemic and remember, boris, as you recall, iran was hit fairly early on in the spread of this disease after china when they were recording over 100 deaths per day. that figure is back. most recent figure, 144 dead and 220 odd thousand or a bit more than that known infections. iran is reeling economically from american sanctions which have crippled its ability to trade internationally because it trades as most people in the u.s. dollar and cannot use the federal banking system since the trump administration unilaterally withdrew from the nuclear deal to restrict iran's development of nuclear weapons and other issues. but as a consequence of that, the economy is now expected to shrink by 10% this year. inflation is at 35%. the iranians are saying they're not able now to afford to import the medical equipment,

no prospect left. >> sam kiley for us. thank you so much for that.s behind you just unfathomable. >>> president trump says he's going to accept it to two spots. the other, the battlefield at g getty's birg in the civil war. >> i've been there numerous times. it's a national park. it's incredible. the history. it's incredible, actually, to me. it was a very important place and is a very important place in the country so we're looking at that and we're looking at the white house. the white house would be very much easier for secret service. >>> a pilot beat the odds of pulling off a complicated rescue mission in the middle of a global pandemic. his story is next. ♪ thousands of women with metastatic breast cancer, which is breast cancer that has spread to other parts of the body, are living in the moment and taking ibrance. ibrance with an aromatase inhibitor is for postmenopausal women or for men with hr+/her2- metastatic breast cancer, as the first hormonal based therapy. ibrance plus letrozole significantly delayed disease progression versus letrozo

sam kiley, thanks so much. appreciate it. >>> still ahead, campaigning on coronavirus. >> be a patriot. protect your fellow citizens. step up. >> biden and kamala harris hit the trail and hit president trump hard over his pandemic response. businesses are starting to bounce back. but what if you could do better than that? like adapt. discover. deliver. in new ways. to new customers. what if you could come back stronger? faster. better. at comcast business, we want to help you not just bounce back. but bounce forward. and now, we're committed to helping you do just that with a powerful and reliable internet and voice solution at a great price. call or go online today. >>> welcome back to you, our slewers in the united states and around the world. the u.s. democratic convention are just a couple of days away. they're making the coronavirus pandemic a central theme. >> be a patriot. protect your fellow citizens. step up. do the right thing. >> reporter: tonight joe biden calling on governors to implement an immedi

cnn's sam kiley joins us live from beirut with more on this. s sam. >> reporter: the session in parliament will need 65 half plus one mps to form a quorum. the resignation letters of members of parliament who said they will resign, that figure is moving around when they're going to do next. the formation of a new government that resigned the other day will come as a result of the back room deals that have been done in the past. sometimes often take many months and there will not be general elections. there had been discussion there would be a protest from the meeting of the parliament. this is the un necessary skoe palace. the meeting there not in the beirut parliament, the lebanese parliament in central beirut. they couldn't get there because of the pro tests ongoing in particular because the explosion hit 160 people with 20 missing. it's all, frankly, somewhat wind winded, the matmosphere. itself doesn't have a great deal of legislative power. it's not going forward. it doesn't have much -- it hasn't been underpinned by recent election followi

but as sam kiley reports this isn't the first time that the country has found themselves in the middle affairs. >> reporter: ukrainians once again found themselves in the center of issues that really have their roots in washington, d.c. and donald trump's impeachment trial now. the latest evidence suggesting, from the ukrainian perspective, that they should open a criminal investigation. this follows a text exchange that suggests in text between robert hyde, a congressional candidate. and lev parnas, at the time, a close associate of rudy giuliani, the president's personal lawyer, frequently a traveler here to ukraine, in which mr. hyde seems to suggest he's got some kind of information. perhaps even some kind of a surveillance operation that he's got access to. or privy to, involving the u.s. ambassador to kiev. now, as a consequence of that, the ukrainians have launched a criminal investigation, an extraordinary situation, really, in which americans are being potentially investigated for spying on americans in a third nation. that being ukraine. this has angered the ukrainians who ar

cnn's sam kiley joins me now from abu dhabi to talk more about these negotiations and what hope that ing con creed will come from them. hello, sam. >> what we have got going on here, is a historic moment, in 19 years and a day since the 9/11 attacks, perpetrated by al qaeda, operating out of taliban-controlled afghanistan. that precipitated the war in afghanistan that rumbles on today. this year has seen a lower number of civilian casualties that people involved in this diplomatic process are putting down to repeated cease-fires and an effort to de-escalate within the afghan communities, i.e. the government and the taliban. but the problem is for critics of what the trump administration are doing, is by announcing their plans to reduce troops from about 8,500 by the fall, the administration's term. you see a weakness, in the sense why would they make concessions or agree to the sorts of pressures they will come under from the afghan government, if they don't have to wait too long before the americans will unilaterally halve the number of troops they have there. and that has allies wor

i want to turn to senior international correspondent, my colleague here, sam kiley.d it is interesting, isn't it? because, you know, the sort of -- the sort of, you know, immediate reaction was -- around this region -- you know, what is going to happen next? this is just -- you know, this is all-out war. i mean, the iranians -- one of the iranian leaders has said this is an act of war. but as the dust has settled somewhat, thoughts on where we are at? >> the first thing, diplomatic response has come. about to dispatch their foreign minister to go to tehran. presumably, and this has been a role has played to try to deescalate. they sit somewhere between they are a gulf arab sunni monarchy. but they are in friction, to say the least, with their colleagues. that gives them, oddly enough, an entree with the -- with the iranians and an opportunity to deescalate. their business, just like everybody else's business in the gulf, relies on the fact that those straits of hormuz don't get closed. so that kind of local geopolitical i think is the immediate reaction. more widely,

sam kiley is live this morning. sam, what do we expect to see today?>> reporter: we're going see a remarkable scene, when flight 971 which is the international dialing code for the united arab emirates lands here and is here at the presidential flight, the vip reception area for the united arab emirates. a remarkable era in history, that the palestinians have described, because of the normalization of relations between this gulf state and the jewish state as a betrayal, and the reason they say that is that this was a deal struck that only got prime minister benjamin netanyahu to agree to suspend his unilateral annexation without negotiation with the palestinians of large areas of the west bank. that's only been suspended but as a consequence of that, they are saying that at least gives them knees under the table with the israelis, they can talk to them. they think they're preserving the two state solution with the israelis and palestinians, but really deep down, this is beginning from the em -- security particularly when looking towards iran. of course

. >> cnn sam kiley is live from abu dhabi and oren liebermann joins us from jerusalem. art with you. of course, we heard from jared kushner there, but these countries aren't at war. so what the is the significance of all of this? of course, the glaring omission of the palestinians? >> reporter: the people of the middle east tired of war, tired of conflict, he's right about that. the problem is the bahrainis have never been at war or in conflict with the jewish state. they have over the last 40 years subscribed, if you like, the pan-american deed more widely muslim world desires to see an independent palestine established next to israel with its own ability to survive as a viable state. now, what's interesting, though, is in term of the domestic language, that's where kushner is addressing. they need to make this look like a peace deal so that they can win some domestic energy behind the november elections. but, and this is an important but from the emira t ercrrremirn perspective they say they have remain completely committed to a two state solution. the emmemirates say

let's talk about more live in the region with sam kiley in baghdad, iraq. raq is caught in the balance of this thing, and there's a blame game going back and forth, on what happened with the plane, indirect downing of the plane, mistaken downing of the plane, how does that play into the broader tension? >> reporter: well, i think, really, george, it's sort of tragically symbolic of the dangers of the casualties that will follow from any escalation in this region to innocent lives. in this case, it was an accidental downing of a jet. and in other cases it will be this term collateral damage, casualties that have flown to tens of hundred us of thousands in the region since the u.s.-led invasion back in 2003. in that context, of course, we've had this tit for tat exchange in the united states killing qassem soleimani, leader of the qods force with retaliation from iran, not mercifully causing any casualties, either civilian or military in attacks on u.s. bases. but in that context, during these heightened periods, this kind of an accident has occurred. now, wha

sam kiley, cnn, kiev. >>> and we want to point about out that hyde denies monitoring yovanovitch and as we've mentioned, u.s. secretary of state mike pompeo has announced that his department will investigate the possible surveillance. bottom line, there is a lot going on in ukraine right now. you heard that police are investigating the possible surveillance on former u.s. ambassador yovanovitch. cyber police have opened an investigation into reported hacking of burisma, that is the gas company at the heart of the trump impeachment process, the one that hired joe biden's son hunter. and remember, from the lev parnas interview with anderson cooper, he said president zelensky and other leaders are still rocked to this day over that fateful phone call with mr. trump. for more, we're joined now by a global affairs analyst and former spokesman for the organization for security and cooperation in europe. thanks so much for joining us, michael. >> my pleasure. >> all right. first, i want to get your reaction to this story about the possible surveillance of a former u.s. ambassador allegedly

cnn's sam kiley joins me now from abu dhabi. there have been talks before. e gotten close before. where do you see things, this time around, sam? >> reporter: well, what is signature here, natalie, there have been talks before between the taliban and the united states. and there have been talks obviously between the united states and the afghan government. but this is the first time we've seen the afghan government and the taliban agree to talk. they've both insisted from both sides that these talks would be unmediated. that they would have themselves only afghans in the room when the talks get seriously under way. there is pressure from the americans to get this sorted out before the election so that they can make good on the trump administration's promise to reduce troops from 8,600 to 405,000 by the fall. the afghans are aware that the stakes are higher from a foreign policy win for the trump administration. that this is all about trying to de-escalate a war which is certainly since 9/11, 19 years and a day, since that fateful terrorist attack in new york

cnn's sam kiley traveled to the democratic republic of the congo where human actions and animal diseasesming the perfect storm. >> reporter: this pristine wilderness is under threat. the environmental disaster here could lead to a human apocalypse. because locked up in the first are reservoirs of potentially deadly contagions, some perhaps more dangerous than we've ever seen before. ingendy, 400 upriver from congo has been struck by a recent outbreak of the killer ebola virus. it's killed 3 out of 11 patients here, but doctors fear that they've stumbled on a new virus, for which there may be neither treatment or cure. >> we have to figure out what's going on. >> reporter: the doctors just told me that one of their immediate concerns is that they are getting cases now that present symptoms that are similar to ebola, but when they test them in a laboratory here, they're coming up negative. this patient has ebola symptoms, but she's tested negative. she's one of two victims here who may be fighting a disease never encountered before. i asked the doctor if he was worried about new diseases e

let's discuss this further with cnn's sam kiley, he joins me on the line.at is the latest on this, its significance, and of course jared kushner's role in all of this. >> reporter: i'm actually at the presidential flight reception area waiting for the historic flight carrying our aircraft that is not only flying to about da -- abu dhabi. flying over saudi airspace. that was in some doubt until the very last minute. we understand from our team on the aircraft that they have confirmed they are flying through saudi airspace, which shortens the journey considerably from israel to abu dhabi, in which is a giant publicity flight for the airlines. it's being condemned roundly by the palestinians who feel this is very much a betrayal elsewhere in the arab world it's been groateeted with a sour but nonetheless degree of interest, i think is the best way to put it, and of course from the iranian perspective, this is seen in two different ways, first of all, as a strengthening of the bonds between and the anti-iranian elements within israel, which are very very strong

let's go to sam kiley. what is the latest from there? what does lebanon's future look like right now? >> reporter: well, from the perspective of the protesters who are going to be gathering here where i'm standing just a few hundred yards from the center of the -- the epicenter of that blast, you can see the damage it did to the silos there, rosemary. it acted as a wall protecting more of beirut that could have been damaged. it is pretty spectacular, 160 dead. people are continuing to demonstrate. as far as they're concerned, nothing has changed with the resignation of the government that took itself four months to be formed because the system that led to the government is what they say needs reform. that interestingly is something you're hearing both from activists and from members of long-standing dynasties here as my report shows. if you're in the lebanese opposition, this is democracy in action. 30 or 40 yards down the street this barricade there is the lebanese parliament, the outer door. the demonstrators are absolutely dead set, t

. >>> and cnn senior international correspondent sam kiley standing by in abu dhabi with the latest developments from the middle east. bla blake essig in ontario. and john defterios in london. sam, let's start with you. i want to talk about the latest numbers that you are getting there. and containment efforts across the middle east. >> well, rosemary, just in the last few minutes, we understand from medical authorities in kuwait, that the number of confirmed cases there has leapt by 9 to 56. there have been a similar number, 47, in nearby bahrain. there are 21 confirmed cases here in the united arab emirates. but there were two hotels on yas island, which is the scene of the site, among other things, formula 1 racetrack. a popular tourist destination. two hotels there are under quarantine following the confirmed infection of two italian cyclists from italy who were part of a big cycle race that was head to be cancelled last friday. but there was a very problematic region, indeed, rosemary, with a number of countries, like iraq in turmoil. syria. yemen almost crippled by its own internal and a v

cnn's sam kiley live there. sam, tem us what the iraqi military is saying about damage to these sites from the iranian missiles. we know there are no casualties on the iraqi or american side. physical damage to equipment, planes, et cetera? >> reporter: jim, the iraqi military have said only that iraqi territory was attacked with 22 rockets, 17 hit in or near the al asad base, two did not explode and five more were in locations in erbil in the kurdish-controlled north of the country. they're also saying there was no significant damage, no casualties, which is consistent with what the pentagon has said. my own sources inside base, the al asad base have confirmed that indeed. one security contractor said we're used to rockets as usual. they're back out on patrols with iraqi and american forces at first light this morning at al asad and the concern really in terms of security, though, is that two of the main hardline iranian-backed militias here, jim, have said this is the first phase of retaliation for the death of

sam kiley joins me live from abu dhabi. in india i'm told are being sprayed with a potent sanitizer that's meant to sanitize buses? >> reporter: yeah, this was a case in which 5,000 workers, jake, were sprayed with a disinfectant containing bleach that, as you say, was used for cleaning buses, by overzealous health officials. there are hundreds of thousands of unemployed migrants, people who lost their job because of the three-week shutdown, 21-day shutdown announced by prime minister modi across the nation, which is now halfway through. they're trying to return home, they're destitute, the indians are having to build refugee camps to deal with them. they have 600,000 people in internal camps. the feeding program for 2.3 million people, and a recovery package, jake, of $25 billion when it finally comes through. but at the moment, the concern is the spread of the virus by these migrant laborers returning home. >> all right, sam kiley, thank you so much, stay safe. >>> finally, some relief from the stress and sadness of this

. >>> for more on this we have sam kiley in abu dhabi and will ripley in hong kong. good to see you both. how is china responding to president trump for beijing to be punished for its part in the coronavirus? >> reporter: rosemary, it was relatively unusual for china's ambassador the u.n. to call a press conference directly in response to president trump's speech. surprisingly short, around five minutes but most of the time spent, as expected, unleashing that attack on china as the covid-19 pandemic. the chinese ambassador said the real blame falls on president trump. and said if america hopes to be great then leaders need to grow up, essentially. it was very pointed remarks, angry remarks, which probably indicate the consensus within chinese communist party. president xi touted the services of free trade which klein benefits from even though china's markets are largely closed off. you know he talks about world peace as china don't militarize south china sea, sending troops up to the border with india and the taiwan strait. some of the words of president xi have not

sam kiley, cnn in taibe. >> we'll take a short break here.come, the bafta film awards are under fire for a lack of diversity. still to come, we'll find out what some actors had to say about it. we're back in just a moment. he. do you ever get that? it's nice to finally meet you in person. you're pete nocchio? oh, the pic? that was actually a professional headshot. i'm sure that's it, yeah. i, uh, i think i've lost a few pounds recently too. i'm actually doing a juice cleanse. wait! you don't... (glass breaking) (gasp) ah! oh...! with geico, the savings keep on going. just like this sequel. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. my bladder leak underwear.orried someone might see so, i switched. to always discreet boutique. its shape-hugging threads smooth out the back. so it fits better than depend. and no one notices. always discreet. americans come to lendingtree.com to compare and save on loans, credit cards and more! but with the new lending tree app you can see your full financial health, monitor your credit score, see yo

sam kiley, cnn in abu dhabi. >>> iranian champion wrestler navid afkari has been executed, despite anpaign that tried to spare his life. now he had been sentenced to death in relation to a murder that happened during a 2018 protest. iran's state-run news agency reports that he was executed after the victim's family refused to forgive him. now the executive director of world players association says he doesn't believe that's why afkari, pardon me, was executed. >> the concept for us that an athlete who is involved in peaceful protests who is convicted of crimes because he went to coerced confessions, suffered torture and then subjected to execution is just horrifying. this just goes to show that we have so much work to do. we were hopeful that sport would be more powerful than politics in this, but it seems that that's not been the case. >> cnn journalist joins us from tehran. given what was discussed there, it seems that almost the international campaign might have had the opposite effect. i know his family had said that they were outraged that they weren't even allowed to see him bef

sam kiley is in abu dhabi with more on the story. what all are you learning about this?> reporter: so far, rosemary, there's been no response from the iranian naval core guard section. the u.s. says that they were targeted for over an hour by no less than 11 of these fast attack crafts that have been developed by the iranians as what they call part of their swarm tactics. they can't match nato and at least of all nato or united states fire size in the persian or arabian gulf, depending which side you're on, but they can match them in terms of numbers. they use the attack craft, very fast-moving crafts, to harass shipping. we've seen it a lot in the past. it is international waters. as far as the u.s. navy is concerned, this is a violation of some of the rules and conventions of international waters on the sea, not acts of war as such although one of the videos, rosemary, one of the sailors on board a smaller ship notices or mentions that the guns being manned are what he calls unpinned. that means detached and ready for action. they're being manned although they didn't t

sam kiley, cnn. >> wow, amazing reporting from sam kiley, sam, thank you so much for that report. >>>more on this afternoon's headlines from president-elect joe biden's news conference. stick around, we'll be right back. hi, this is margaret your dell technologies advisor there's an art to listening. it's the ability to hear more than what's being said. to understand the meaning in every pause. and to be able to offer the answers that make someone feel truly heard. i understand, let's get started. that's what you get when you talk to a dell technologies advisor. >>> this is cnn breaking news. >> welcome back

sam kiley reports, but we should warn you, you may find images in the following piece disturbing. >> tragedy visible from space. mass graves believed be to be from the coronavirus victims in the holy city revealed from a satellite. the pit about 100 yards long. a source who has witnessed the process tells cnn that they are dug especially deep and away from other graves. the work is done at night. piles of white powder can be seen, most likely quick line used on victims to substantialize their remains. the government's official infection rate is now at 10,000, with more than 450 dead, the figures climb daly but may be a catastrophic underestimate. >> what we found was that, at the time that we did this initial estimate, iran was reporting less than 50 cases. and based on our best estimates, we were estimating something around 18 to 20,000 cases. so, basically, 400 fold more cases than the official estimates would suggest. >> reporter: that was last month. today experts say the real number of iranian infections is likely in the hundreds of thousands. iranian officials have admitted tha

sam kiley, cnn, in taibai. >>> welcome back.t to get back to that story we're following in syria in idlib province there. four turkish soldiers have been killed and nine more wounded in heavy shelling by the syrian regime forces. >> and for more on this, we want to turn to our daman who is joining us from istanbul. what more are you learning about this deadly attack on these turkish soldiers? >> reporter: well, rosemary, this is the first time that we have seen this kind of casualty being caused by a confrontation between the turks and the syrian regime. now, in response to this -- and we just heard from turkish president erdogan. he said their country has identified 40 targets, and that they already neutralized, as they say, 30 to 35 people on the other side. they're saying this is an ongoing operation, that it is well within turkey's right to respond in kind, and that turkey would continue to potentially use artillery and even f-16s. this really, rosemary, is an indication of just how frustrated and angered turkey -- angered t

sam kiley cnn. >>6.42 and and still ahead on the kron 4 morning news this thursday morning, a 13 year-oldoy that you're going to meet. >>who has a big goal. he's already gone across lake tahoe swimming, but he wants to go across the long way. next we'll talk about his training. >>and another gray morning ahead of what will be a pleasant afternoon. this is [♪] alright, guys, listen up. my momma... our grandpa... - my daddy... - our dad works on the highway. it's so scary. please be careful. slow down. and pay attention. be alert. be work zone alert. some people drive we havway too fast. why are they driving so fast? zoom. please, be careful. we get scared. - my mom... - my dad... my jiji's at work. >>6.45 right now and a 13 year-old boy is now the youngest person to swim across. lake tahoe. he completed the 12 mile swim in less than 7 hours. james savage is his name he's from los banos and you with the horizontal a horizontal way that's the with of the lake so it's the shorter. way to go last week the shorter out before that he already swam the length of the san luis reservoir. that 7 mile

sam kiley there with that story.very much. >>> this morning, the aclu is claiming that local and federal officials violated the rights of four people, including two medics who were shown in a video being pushed and shoved and allegedly hit repeatedly with a baton. watc watch. >> it's not clear if the officers were federal agents or police. they have reached out to the u.s. marshals for comment, but we have not heard back. so a remarkable moment on the house floor. congresswoman ocasio-cortez denouncing the vile, misogynistic insult hurled at her from a republican congressman. he reportedly called her an f'ing "b," her response, next. ♪ come on in, we're open. ♪ all we do is hand you the bag. simple. done. we adapt and we change. you know, you just figure it out. we've just been finding a way to keep on pushing. ♪ we'whether it's bribesg a w...or an overdue makeover. get all your pet essentials right when you need them, with curbside pickup at petsmart. just order online, drive up, check-in, and pick up. no matter wha

for more on this, let's turn to cnn senior international correspondent sam kiley joining us from abutell us about the government's plan. how is this going to work when cases of the flu are going up? >> well, michael, you put your finger on the conundrum the iranians are facing as indeed are governments around the world facing, not least in the west where the calculation is when to lift lockdowns that are doing devastating amounts of economic damage to a country whilest at the same time trying to contain the spread of this virus. president rouhani said yes today, that he would be lifting the large number of restrictions particularly on economic activity around the country, even in the city of 1.2 million, there was at the beginning of the spread of this virus some weeks ago now very much at the epicenter. there will be no public gatherings, no cinema, no restaurants open, but they are trying to get economic activity going not in the capital. that won't be for another week, michael, and the reason for this, of course, is that the iranians are deeply impoverished, not least because they

sam kiley cnn. >>it's 5.42 and coming up next on the kron 00:04am morning news, a 13 year-old boy becomes the youngest to swim. lake taupo and now he's preparing for an even bigger challenge will show you which route he took a sh >>5.45 and the 13 year-old is now the youngest person to swim across lake tom, how the short way if you've ever tried at the short along he competed or completed in the 12 miles in less than 7 hours. his name is james savidge he's from los banos and he swam the horizontal way. last week. before that he swam the length of the san luis reserve a reservoir and that some 23 miles that was his training. he also swam the length of the golden gate bridge and alcatraz every year. >>made him fall in love with day you know when he was younger he told me mom i want to serve about that or is it a lot in his face. mean who entertains that idea and then 3 days later he did it he did it well. >>and then how do you coach your kid you weigh, i'm take a little rainy out there being going wit

>> sam kiley, terrific report. thanks so much for being there for us.> "new day" continues right now. >> the numbers paint a stark picture for the back-to-school system. nearly 100,000 children tested positive for covid in the last two weeks of july. >> they don't get very sick. they don't catch it easily. i think schools have to open. >> at least 16 schools in cherokee county, georgia, have reported covid cases amongst students or staff. >> the students are afraid to speak out for fear that they'll be bullied by other students, and quite frankly, the teachers as well. >> i was shocked. i thought that they would have had a plan in place. it was anything but. >> if we just act like the virus isn't there and we kind of go for it and try to tough it out, it won't work. >> announcer: this is "new day" with alisyn camerota and john berman. >> all right. welcome to our viewers in the united states and all around the world. this is "new day." alisyn is off. erica hill with me this morning for a second straight hour. >> yes! i might stick around for a third, bu

sam kiley covering this for us from abu dhabi.s the plan and what's behind the reasons for it? >> well, michael, in short, the reason for it is that iran, which was suffered the early stages of infection, one of the worst-hit countries after china at the beginning of this pandemic, is now seeing a very clear second wave with over 100 people being recorded dead, 144 the most recent figure. every day. it was way down two months ago, billion a sustained period now of a high number of deaths, and as a result of that, president rouhani is beginning to dial back on previous lifting of restrictions and demanding that people put masks on and restrict in other locations around the country. this is what he said. >> translator: people must observe health protocols to fight coronavirus. and we have no second choice, no cure or vaccine for coronavirus has been found yet. though we must observe the health protocols. >> now, the president also said that this has been a disastrous year for iran because it's facing the double whammy of the covid p

cnn's sam kiley is standing by. >> reporter: this deal came almost out of the blue although israel ande emirates have been playing footsie for some time. they have talked about doing joint research in pursuit of a vaccine for the covid virus. this is being seen by the emirates, americans and certainly not the palestinians as a break through. what it does in terms of the so-called peace process, set the table back before the donald trump, jarrod curber deal. it gave rise that he would unilaterally large areas of the west bank, the george began river. the palestinians have said it's impossible. >>> president trump keeps raising the prospect of a rigged election he says here in the u.s. with zero evidence. we'll take you to a country with widespread election fraud. >> people are being betten up, tortured. hike! simon pagenaud takes the lead at the indy 500! coming to the green flag, racing at daytona. they're off... in the kentucky derby. rory mcllroy is a two time champion at east lake. he scores! stanley cup champions! touchdown! only mahomes. the big events are back and xfinity is your

. >> sam kiley live in baghdad. thank you. >> another track we are following in the story, the trump administration announced new economic sanctions against iran following attacks on u.s. troops earlier in the week. for more we are joined live from beirut with more on this. ben, the u.s. has been squeezing iran in sanctions now another round. what do you expect? >> clearly natalie the united states is continuing or resuming its policy of maximum pressure on iran. now the latest is that eight senior security and military officials will be sanctioned as well as the mproduction and textile sectors showing the trump administration does not have a policy towards iran but one thing and that is to make life difficult for the regime and for the people of iran. as long as it continues with the policy of maximum pressure it will encounter maximum resistance from the iranians. we are sort of back where we were pre the assassination of qasem soleimani where the united states is continuing to pressure the iranian regime with no

sam kiley in beirut. >>> these are still critical hours for rescue teams, as they race to find anyone still trapped. crews are looking to clear away debris and secure dangerous areas so rescuers can offer aid safely. arwa damon was on the scene during search and rescue operations near the blast site. >> what they're doing right now is looking for stuructural damage. they are eye balling the balcony up there. the last thing they want is more people getting injured. they are trying to safely get rid of any potentially hazardous situation. and they do have other teams who are conducting similar operations. the colonel was telling the media, based on experience in haiti and other experience, as well, you can potentially find survivors up to 72 hours later. in some cases, even longer. they have hope they will be able to find people. they started working at 8:00 a.m. on thursday. that's when the teams arrived in-country. on thursday, they found the corporati corpses. they hope loved ones are alive. they are taking the coordinates of this location. other teams can come through. as as the fre

. >> sam kiley is in the house as what can only be described as expert analysis. fantastic, thank you so much indeed. your support is important. we'll be back in a short break to baghdad where the killing of the commander has a massive procushiopr processi procession, not just there but in najaf as well. >>> well, thousands of people have been slowly making their way through the streets of back dad, in the funeral procession for qasem soleimani and others killed friday by a u.s. drone. here in iraq's foreign minister was there. soleimani was iran's top military commander, not all the iraqis welcomed his influence in their country. but many are angry at the u.s. for killing soleimani on iraqi soil. iran has vowed to avenge his death. u.s. officials claim soleimani was killed to prevent an imminent attack on americans. and this happening as we speak. supporters gathering to show their respect for soleimani and others killed in that drone attack friday in najaf. well, i'll leave you with these images. that wraps this hour of "cnn newsroom." i'm becky anderson in abu

for the latest scene sam kiley is in abu dhabi and/or ren lieberman is in jerusalem. elcome to you both. so, sam, how significant are these deals and the timing of all of this? of course, how have they been viewed in the region? >> highly significant to have what would appear to be a very significant diplomatic breakthrough negotiated by the trump administration, signed on the lawn outside the white house in a symbolic moment that churns up memories of previous genuine peace deals between egypt and jordan. this is often tauted, this deal, separate daels between the uae and they're normalization of diplomatic deals. they're very significant to the gulf nations and others that will join them in formalizing it. they see iran as key and that's something they're in lock step with and in the current and future straight's policy. they feel betrayed. it requires just a suspension but from the emerati perspective, maybe in a month's time, a year or so, maybe even the saudis signing up. indications coming from my mom that they're very favorable to a normalization saying they wan

sam kiley is following this story for us live in abu dhabi. sam, what more did khamenei have to say? >> well, somewhat disappointingly, i think, for many people around the world, the supreme leader in iran began his speech with a long description on islam but then descended into conspiracy theories but adding a degree of doubt adding if it is true that it is the case the american military created this virus, then it would be dangerous if american medics were to come to iran and study the effects on iranians suggesting even that there have been studies made by the united states on the iranian genome and then perhaps this was a virus tailored to attack iran. of course, flying in the face of the evidence coming out ofity l italy where the numbers of dead have risen well in excess of those dieing in iran. 123 in the last 24 hours. that's a little bit down on some of the previous figures but broadly speaking, the trend is up. they're now converting tehran's largest shopping mall into a 3,000-bed hospital to try to cope with the spread of this virus

. >> sam kiley, thank you. >>> a number of u.s.ing some distance between themselves and that strike that took out qasem soleimani in baghdad. how the killing is sparking global concerns and appeals for calm up next. >>> plus, australia facing an unprecedented bush fire crisis. see what residents are facing as they try to evacuate. we're live for you in australia. >>> welcome back. iran bidding farewell to the military commander killed in a u.s. strike. huge crowds of supporters turning out for a mourning ceremony for qasem soleimani in the city of mashhad. he is revered as a hero in iran. the u.s. holds him responsible for killing hundreds of americans and said he was taken out to prevent an imminent attack. that has tehran and washington trading threats over what comes next. and many u.s. allies are calling for restraint. nic robertson is in the saudi capital of riyadh and, nic, let me start with you. one of those close allies, saudi arabia, calling, echoing those calls for restraint. just how concerned is riyadh that the trump ad

sam kiley, from iraq. >>> all members of the house being briefed on the iran conflict. i'll be speaking to a congressman. did the president's erratic style work? we will discuss his response. >>> and what iranian missiles show how advanced they have become. this is cnn's live coverage. ♪ i don't have to worry about that, do i? actually, you do. harmful bacteria lurk just below the gum line, and if you're not taking care of your gums, you're not taking care of your mouth. so now i use this. crest gum detoxify. crest gum detoxify, voted product of the year. it works below the gum line and is clinically proven to neutralize harmful plaque bacteria and help reverse early gum damage. gum detoxify, from crest. gums are good. so is my check up! crest. healthy, beautiful smiles for life. and let me tell you something, rodeo... i wouldn't be here if i thought reverse mortgages took advantage of any american senior, or worse, that it was some way to take your home. it's just a loan designed for older homeowners, and, it's helped over a million americans. a reverse mortgage loan i

sam kiley is the senior correspondent. you have the entire government resign, what happens now? >> reporter: well, what doesn't happen is what the protesters have been asking for as they're very least response which is elections. so what is going to happen next is that the same political parties that have been in one form or another through coalitions since the end of the civil war here 30 years ago are going into closed door sessions and try to stitch together a new government. the outgoing government took four months to organize. and has been blamed almost inevitably as have previous governments for the negligence, mismanagement and corruption that led to the storing of 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate. to give you an idea of how much that is, the bomb that blew up the federal building in oklahoma in the timothy mcveigh atrocity killed 168 people was two tons. so a thousand times more that hit beirut. it is blown away the government but it doesn't seem to be offering much opportunity for the protesters who have been on the

one of our correspondents, sam kiley, did one of these drive-by tests. as we heard from our reporter, that's not available here. sam is in the uae. you stick a long swab up your nose. why has this been so difficult to roll out in places like america? and more importantly, how can it be ramped up quickly? >> okay. so there's two parts to this. the swab up the nose needs to be -- >> not the nose, beyond there. >> it's the back of your nasal cavity really. which is not as pleasant as it sounds. it's actually quite unpleasant. the second problem is that you need something to test the sample in. until the last week we've had to ship all those samples, analyze them in a big batch, get the results back to the people and there's a delay in that. now that we have all of these machines approved by the fda so we can decentralize the testing, we need to implement these as fast as possible. so we need the trained nurses out there, the right personal protective equipment, taking the samples carefully and accurately. we need the right kind of equipment on the road to im