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One World with Zain Asher

July Reported The Hottest Month Ever Recorded On Earth; Military Junta Denies Permission For A Joint Delegation of U.N. African Union And ECOWAS Diplomats' Entry To Nigeria; Western Allies Receive Sobering Reports About Ukraine's Counteroffensive; A Group Of Lawmakers On the U.S.-Mexican Border Checking Floating Barricade On Rio Grande; Zoom Now Requiring Its Workers To Start Returning To The Office; Colombia Women's Team Advances To The World Cup Quarterfinals; Public Funeral Procession for Singer Sinead O'Connor Held In The Small Town Of Bray Island. Aired 12-1p ET

Aired August 08, 2023 - 12:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:00:37]

ZAIN ASHER, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Hello everyone, I'm Zain Asher from New York and this is One World. The numbers are in and it is official. July was

the hottest month ever recorded on Earth. European scientists confirmed the findings out in a new report today. They found the average global

temperature last month was around 1.5 degrees Celsius, higher than pre- industrial levels. It is a crucial warming threshold. And if the trend holds, climate experts warn it could lead to extreme weather events served

as a global tipping point and give us all a glimpse into what the future may hold.

CNN'S Chief Climate Correspondent, Bill Weir, joins us live now to break the numbers all down. So, 1.5 degrees Celsius, that was considered to be

this sort of crucial tipping point. We're all talking about it, and we've been talking about it since 2015. Now that we've crossed it, now what?

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Zain, we've crossed it temporarily. We have crossed it before. This is significant because it's

the first summer month that people are really feeling it. Four out of five humans on Earth felt heat in this summer that would not happen without

manmade climate change. And either broiling from different continents and the ocean temperatures are off the charts. There's a map where you can see

which areas are really cooking hot. The North Atlantic, the Southern poles down around Antarctica where sea ice is at record lows there. But in the

words of Gavin Schmidt, a NASA scientist, he says, this is shocking, but not surprising.

We've been talking about this. This has been the prediction of science for generations now, but nobody considered, if you look at that bar, all the

way to the right side of that graph, no one considered how big that bar would be so fast, how it's breaking records by full degrees, especially in

ocean temperatures now.

So, all that pent-up energy is really becoming much more obvious, Zain, right now. The question is, will that move policymakers? Will that move

energy companies who do not seem inclined on changing their business model despite the obvious result?

ASHER: It is interesting, you know, a few weeks ago, I interviewed a climate optimist who basically said, look, the headlines are grim, but as

long as we do what we're supposed to do -- and obviously a key part of that is reducing fossil fuel consumption -- which is not happening at the rate

that it should. But she seemed very optimistic in the sense that, you know, we were moving in the right direction. Is that the consensus or you know,

are you a pessimist, Bill? Give us your take.

WEIR: I get that question a lot, Zain. It depends honestly on the day or whatever science I just read.

ASHER: Me, too, actually. It depends on what it is outside right now.

WEIR: Because I see stuff -- it really is, yeah. And there are blue skies, blue bird days, and there are just torturous days. And we're gonna have

both. And you have to be able to hold both thoughts in your head at the same time. Yes, a few years ago, we were talking in apocalyptic terms about

we were heading towards five degrees of warming.

Right now, given the targets, given the adjustments, given the wake-up call, now people are saying we're gonna land somewhere around 2.5, less

than 3 degrees. That is still a different planet than we are used to, that we grew up on. We don't know where the tipping points are for sea level

rise to leap at a certain dramatic pace. We don't know about methane bombs, you know, coming out of melting permafrost, what that will do long-term. We

don't know where those are.

We do know we have the power to dramatically change things, especially when it comes to, like, natural gas, methane. It heats up things much hotter in

the short term, easier to control that than long-term, century-long carbon debt, as well. But yes, this is as much a psychological test for us, Zain,

as it is technological or physics now, it is how humans will respond to this world, how fast we can transition in a just way into a more -- clean

future right now. But each one of these sort of benchmarks of temperature is just part of this march, and it's gonna continue.

ASHER: Yeah, I mean, it's interesting, isn't it? Because this was really the first summer that we all, no matter where you are from on the planet,

we all felt the impacts of climate change, of weather-related events firsthand. And we were talking about places in Iran that had a heat index

of 150 degrees Fahrenheit. Bill Weir, live for us there, thank you so much. We'll have much more on this story a little bit later on in the show. Bill,

appreciate it.

[12:05:00]

All right, South Korea reports at least 27 people have died from heat- related illnesses as the country faces a major heat wave. It's also bracing for the impact of a typhoon expected in the coming days. Those two extreme

weather events have taken a toll on an international scouting jamboree. There were calls to cancel the event as living out of tents became, of

course, unbearable. Now, a massive operation is underway to relocate some 40,000 people. Ivan Watson has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A mass evacuation of tens of thousands of scouts. The South Korean government

packing teenagers from more than 150 countries around the world on more than a thousand buses to flee an approaching typhoon. An escape from the

sprawling sight of the 25th World Scout Jamboree.

HERMAN LIND, SWEDISH SCOUT: It's been pretty bad, like really bad. I don't really know what else to say.

WATSON (voice-over): Speaking to CNN from one of the evacuation buses, these 18-year-old scouts from Sweden say they were disappointed by

conditions at the camp.

MATT HYDE, U.K. SCOUT CEO: Why couldn't they just plan this better? And we've been a bit angry because they knew that they didn't have the

resources, and they still decided to keep going with the camp.

WATSON (voice-over): What was supposed to be a 12-day event has been troubled from the beginning.

HYDE: We were particularly concerned about sanitation and the cleanliness of toilets that were causing severe concerns from us from a health and

safety point of view.

WATSON (voice-over): The leader of the British contingent pulled some 4500 U.K. scouts and volunteers out this weekend, relocating them to hotels in

the Korean capital.

HYDE: It's punishingly hot here in Korea. It's an unprecedented heat wave. But we are concerned about the heat relief measures that were being put in

place.

WATSON (voice-over): Meanwhile, scouts from the U.S. also pulled out, relocating to Camp Humphreys, a large U.S. military base. The August heat

wave particularly punishing given the location of the jamboree, a reclaimed tidal flat apparently devoid of natural shade.

HERMAN: It's so hot. A lot of people are passing out and we've been forced to drink about one liter of water per hour.

WATSON (voice-over): In the first week, hundreds of teenagers got sick from the heat, prompting the Korean government to rush air-conditioned buses to

help, along with fire and medical services and extra water. With a potentially dangerous typhoon approaching, Korean organizers finally pulled

the plug on Monday, telling scouts to strike camp.

AXELL SCHOLL, SCOUT VOLUNTEER FROM GERMANY: I feel very, very sorry for the Korean nation and Korean people because I think that they would have loved

to present their country, their culture, the community in a more positive way.

WATSON (voice-over): Despite the setbacks, some teenagers apparently applying the cub scout motto, "Do your best."

HERMAN: We're just happy to be in the shade, in the A.C. getting to cool down. And I mean, the Scout motto is to meet every problem with a smile and

that's what I feel like everyone is doing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ASHER: All right, we've got new information about the diplomatic standoff between Niger, some of its neighbors, and the West. The military junta

denied permission for a joint delegation of U.N. African Union and ECOWAS diplomats to enter Niger today. Their aim was to restore constitutional

order.

Following last month's military takeover, the junta rejected the talks, citing security reasons. Even top U.S. diplomat Victoria Nuland was

snubbed. She went to Niger but could not meet with the junta's leader or the deposed president, although she did meet with army officers. And

ECOWAS, the bloc of West African countries meets Thursday to discuss the situation after previously threatening the possible use of force.

CNN's Larry Madowo is following the story for us from Nairobi. So, Larry, you know, it's really hard to sort of see at this point in time, at this

juncture, some kind of diplomatic solution whereby President Bazoum is reinstated. So, where do we go from here? Do you envision military force,

military intervention being used at this point by ECOWAS? How likely is that, really?

LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We've got just about a day and a half to find out, because that extraordinary ECOWAS summit is on Thursday. It's a

possibility that's still on the table, even though they said that's a last resort. Because so far, this diplomatic breakthrough will not be coming

from ECOWAS.

The headline here is that Niger's military junta is refusing to talk to ECOWAS until they remove all the sanctions they put on them and they remove

the threat of military intervention. In fact, a joint delegation of ECOWAS, the African Union and the U.N. was expected in the army today and the

Nigerian military contacted rejected that. They wrote back to the ECOWAS representative in the country.

[12:10:00]

And I want to read a section of that statement for you. It says, "The current context of anger and revolt of the population following the

sanctions imposed by ECOWAS does not allow the said delegation in the required serenity and security. The postponement of the mission to Niamey

is necessary, as is the revision of certain aspects of the program, including meetings with certain personalities, which cannot take place for

obvious security reasons in this atmosphere of threatened aggression against Niger."

So, they're just saying that we will not talk to you until you stop threatening us, that you will intervene and remove us from power and you

remove all these sanctions that are hurting the people. In fact, General Abdourahamane Tchiani, the man who's declared himself president, did meet

with a delegation from Mali and Burkina Faso, the other two governments led by military junta. It was a collegial, very cordial meeting, and there was

even a statement after that -- I'm going to show you in a second.

But it's interesting that he met with them, but not with Victoria Nuland, the Deputy Secretary of State -- Acting -- from the U.S. State Department

who was also in Niamey, but only met with a junior officer, because it looks like Abdourahamane Tchiani will not meet with just anyone. And this

is the statement. I want you to hear from the Mali government spokesperson after this meeting with the president who's declared himself in Niger.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABDOULAYE MAIGE, MALIAN GOVERNMENT SPOKESPERSON (through translator): I would like to remind you that Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have been

dealing with for over ten years with the negative social, economic, security, political and humanitarian consequences of NATO's hazardous

adventure in Libya. Of course, we ask ourselves, if it took us ten years, how many years would it take us to get over another adventure of the same

nature in Niger?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MADOWO: This is brilliant messaging by these countries, Mali and Burkina Faso, because Libya is a sore subject. It's not too far from Niger. And the

destruction of that country that they're blaming on NATO is something that many Africans support and agree with. And that's why they are welcome in

Niger, but not ECOWAS, not the U.S., not the African Union, not the U.N. So, even though this began as a domestic dispute between President Buzum

and the head of his presidential guard, it's taken on this global geopolitical angle that is very well received by many Africans today.

ASHER: All right, Larry Madowo, live for us there. Thank you so much. Ukrainian officials accused Russia of specifically targeting rescue workers

and emergency crews with two deadly missile strikes on a small eastern town. At least seven people were killed and more than 80 others wounded in

Monday's attacks on Pokrovsk.

Kyiv's counteroffensive, meantime, is slowly inching forward, but the human toll is high on both sides. CNN has obtained extraordinary footage showing

the challenges faced by those tasked with retrieving fallen troops. Want to warn you that this report does contain some very graphic video including

human remains. Nick Paton Walsh has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Even saving the dead can be lethal work. It is dawn in freshly overrun Russian

positions on the southern front, where the assault is on trench networks spread out in the open. This is rare footage letting us see the point of

view of a Ukrainian soldier and body collector, Vyacheslav. His unit tasked with bringing back the fallen, their own, but also Russian dead, too.

This Ukrainian body seeming to have almost melted into the ground, the heat speeding up decay, another factor in this grim, grueling work, where they

are often guided to their targets by the smell, from which the masks aren't protection enough. Russian drones see them and they watch them back. Anti-

drone rifles a modern twist in trench warfare from the last century.

It is exhausting work. While troops here focus on survival and taking cover, Vyacheslav and his team must carry these heavy but vital burdens all

the way back to the road, where they can then bring closure to the grieving, the chance of burial and a goodbye. A week earlier, in another

part of the trenches where the fight has clearly been ferocious, they pass western supplied armor that has been torn apart.

[12:15:00]

Ukrainian remains found, but the shelling is constant. The search, however, in these captured Russian positions is cautious, probing each spot for

mines. For the men holding the position day and night, the body collectors are welcome relief, taking away the reminders of how close death is. The

Russians still looking for targets here among the men rescuing Russian corpses.

This is the work nobody ever wanted to do, out, exposed in the open, as Ukraine prays for a breakthrough. Now, we finally see Gatchaslav's (ph)

face in the moment when they know they've survived another day. The relief they feel here, nothing compared to the families who may feel some less

agony and closure from the cargo they return home. Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ASHER: All right, we have new CNN reporting on how the war is going. Western allies are increasingly receiving sobering reports about Ukraine's

counteroffensive, specifically about Ukrainian forces' ability to retake significant territory from Russian troops. This is a marked change from the

optimistic outlook at the start of the offensive. One senior U.S. official says the counteroffensive is going harder and slower than anyone would

like.

CNN Chief U.S. Security Correspondent Jim Sciutto joins us live now from Washington, D.C. So, Jim, is there any optimism at all that Ukraine

actually does have the capacity at this point in counteroffensive to turn things around?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF U.S. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: I'd say pragmatism is the word that came across to me more often. There is some optimism. They

could turn it around in the remaining weeks before the fall comes. The weather will change. Fighting will become more difficult. But the change I

noticed over recent weeks was early optimism to what I might call cautious optimism now to a sense among many that they just don't expect major

breakthroughs anymore.

It could happen but they think western intelligence officials tend to think that is becoming less and less likely. And it's for a number of reasons.

One is just how difficult it has been to breach Russian defenses in the east and in the south. Three defensive belts heavily mined, tens of

thousands of mines. And to Nick's story, just before I came on the air here, showing those body collectors on the front lines, staggering losses

for both sides but also for Ukrainian forces. And that's led to a tactical shift by many Ukrainian commanders to pull back some units to reduce those

losses and understandably, so.

But there's also a bigger issue here that many in the West are identifying, and that is that the time there was to train many of these units was just

too short. A matter of weeks on some of these advanced new Western-supplied weapons systems, like the German Leopard tanks, and the ask, in effect, was

to create mechanized fighting units.

But in a matter of weeks, which is virtually impossible to do or to do with success, and we're seeing, we're seeing as we watch the slow progress on

the front lines, the difficulty of that. It would have been difficult under any circumstances because attacking defensive positions always is, but

given the nature of the battle, the limited training and also the lack of air cover, it's just been harder than really anyone imagined.

ASHER: So, the training window was short and the Ukrainians are complaining that they weren't given the lethal aid that they needed in time enough. Jim

SCIUTTO, we have to leave it there. Thank you so much.

SCIUTTO: Thank you.

ASHER: Appreciate it. All right. Still to come here on One World, New York has long been a city of immigrants, but the current influx of migrants is

overwhelming. The city will speak to an organizer who is helping African migrants later on this hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:22:25] ASHER: Blistering heat, record-smashing rain, catastrophic flooding and deadly wildfires from Africa to Antarctica. All seven continents on Earth

experienced extreme weather events last month alone. And experts warn it may soon become a way of life.

In a new report out today, European scientists confirmed that July was the hottest month ever recorded. And the numbers weren't even particularly

close. Data from the Copernicus Program indicates the average global temperature in July was 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer than during the pre-

industrial era. It's a consequential milestone that doesn't just mark the latest in a series of dire warnings for the planet, but one scientist

considers it to be a key tipping point that could unleash a steady stream of climate-driven disasters with potentially irreversible results.

Before the report even came out, U.N. Chief Antonio Gutierrez made this alarming prediction when he said the era of global warming has ended, the

era of global boiling has arrived. Joining us live now is Samantha Burgess, who is the Deputy Director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service at the

European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecast. She joins us live now from Reading, England. Samantha, thank you so much for being with us.

Here's the thing. So, we sort of surpassed the 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold temporarily. How concerned are you that this is going to be a

long-term problem?

SAMANTHA BURGESS, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, COPERNICUS CLIMATE CHANGE SERVICE: So, thank you for the invitation. And I and many other climate scientists are

incredibly concerned that it is a long-term problem. It's not the first time that we've exceeded 1.5 degrees temporarily. We've exceeded it in the

past, in both 2016 and 2020. Both of these years had strong El Nino events associated with them.

So, we did see two or three months where we're above this 1.5 degree threshold. What's different for this year is that it's happening in summer

rather than in winter or spring when often the anomalies are much larger. And we're not only seeing this record in global air temperatures, but we're

also seeing record-breaking temperatures in sea surface temperatures.

And we're seeing these records in Antarctica of extremely low sea ice for this time of year. So, all of these indicators combined with the developing

El Nino in equatorial pacific make us very concerned of how the rest of 2023 will evolve in terms of the weather and climate that we will face of

the remaining five months.

[12:25:00]

What I can tell you is 2023 is already in third place as the third warmest year ever. But it really depends what happens over the remainder of the

year and how this El Nino event intensifies as to whether it will go into second or even first place.

ASHER: So, what would need to happen just in terms of we've talked a lot about what needs to happen in terms of fossil fuels and reducing our

reliance on fossil fuels across the globe. But can you just be a bit more specific in terms of what would need to happen for us to be able to turn

this around to ensure that the one point five degrees is a temporary blip on the radar and not permanent.

BURGESS: So, two things need to happen. There's a direct correlation between our global temperatures and the emissions of greenhouse gases going

into the atmosphere. So, we need to turn that tap off as quickly as possible, and every single fraction of a degree matters.

So, the sooner we can reduce our emissions, the sooner we can get to net zero, the sooner we can stabilize our climate. We know the warmer our

planet is, the more likely we are to have extreme events and they're going to be more intense.

The other thing that we need to do right now is that climate change can no longer be considered a future problem. It's here and it's impacting people

all around the world. So, we need to adapt to the climate that we're facing now.

This means making sure that we can cool down our cities as much as possible and adapt to the heat stress that people are now facing, make sure our

coastlines are resilient for storm surges and the sea level rise that will come with increased thermal expansion and glacier and ice sheet melting and

really ensure that we're doing everything possible to adapt to our current climate and mitigate those emissions to make sure we can get to net zero as

quickly as possible.

ASHER: When you think about the sorts of weather we saw this summer or are seeing this summer, but particularly in July. I mean, we saw 40 degrees

Celsius in parts of Europe. We saw 55 degrees Celsius in Death Valley, in parts of the United States. We saw even 65 degrees Celsius, or rather a

heat index of 65 degrees Celsius, in parts of Iran. Just explain to our audience.

I mean, obviously, these sorts of weather events are going to become much more frequent. But what kind of summers, what sort of summers are we

looking at in say 10, 15 years from now?

BURGESS: So, there's a difference between weather and climate. So, the weather is the high frequency variability that people face on a daily or

weekly basis. And climate is the long-term trends. With a warmer world, it makes extreme events like heat waves that you've just described, more

likely and more intense and longer.

And we've seen that this summer where we've seen temperatures that have never been observed before across large parts of this planet. And we know

the extra greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have made these heat waves stronger and more intense.

In terms of where the climate will be, it really depends on the ambitious action that is taken between now and 10 years' time. So, the World

Meteorological Organization has come out and said that there's a, I think they said a 66 percent probability that within the next five years, one of

those years will be above 1.5 degrees for the entire year. If we look at the greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere and extrapolate to

where we'll see 1.5 over a long-term period, we're looking at the early 2030s, so, a mere decade from now.

This means by that time, we'll have warmer summers with more heat waves leading to more marine heat waves, leading to less stability of ice sheets

and glaciers, leading to more intense storms, more frequent storms, and also more energy available for hurricanes. So, there's really a huge number

of different weather events that become more frequent and more intense with a warmer planet.

ASHER: Yeah, and it's important not to feel helpless because, of course, there is a lot that we can still do, especially when it comes to reducing

fossil fuel dependency. Samantha Burgess, live for us, thank you so much. All right, still to come here, Texas builds a controversial floating

barrier to stop illegal migration but did the state and its governor go too far?

We are live for you along the border after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:33:43] ASHER: Hello and welcome back to One World. A group of lawmakers is on the U.S.-Mexican border getting a firsthand look at the controversial floating

barricade in place on the Rio Grande. Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott installed the giant buoys in the river last month to deter illegal

immigration. The U.S. Justice Department is suing Texas over the buoys. Rosa Flores is on the border in Eagle Pass, Texas, where the lawmakers are

visiting, and she joins us live. So, Rosa, given, you know, the deadly razors, the buoys that migrants encounter. Just explain to us what sort of

conditions people are meeting as they try to pass through the Rio Grande to enter the United States.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Let me show you exactly what these U.S. lawmakers were able to seize Zain and there are several layers of

controversy here. The first is property ownership. The owners of this property don't have access to their property because it's barricaded. This

is a gate that goes towards the Rio Grande and it's locked off. It's barricaded by the state of Texas. Then the state of Texas laid out also a

first layer of border barrier. These air concertina wire rings and then a second layer of concertina wire before the Rio Grande.

[12:35:00]

And then in the middle of the Rio Grande, you see the border buoys, the controversial border buoys that has the U.S. Department of Justice filing a

lawsuit against the state of Texas. Now, one of the things that is missing in all of this are just the badges of federal law enforcement officers. The

individuals that you see in these trucks here right in front of us, this is Texas National Guard. These are members of the Texas National Guard.

If you look around, you don't see U.S. Border Patrol. That was one of the things that took back these U.S. congressmen, these U.S. lawmakers, because

the federal law enforcement agency with restriction in this area, because this is an international boundary between the United States and Mexico is

U.S. Border Patrol -- members of the U.S. Border Patrol. You don't see them here. That was one of the biggest concerns.

One of the other concerns, of course, is also the humanitarian concerns. These lawmakers were able to see up close these concertina wire and in

different parts of this area, you'll see that there are pieces of clothing that have been left behind by migrants that are on the concertina wire. All

of this very concerning for these U.S. lawmakers. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOAQUIN CASTRO (D), TEXAS REPRESENTATIVE: It's barbaric. You see they're basically treating these asylum seekers -- these human beings like animals.

You see the razor wire here, you see right over there those barrel traps that have concertina wire on them. You see clothing of people, including

kids, that are stuck to the wire, literally stuck to the razor wire. They're forcing Border Patrol to stay away from some of these areas when

it's the Border Patrol that actually has responsibility for all of this process.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FLORES: Now, Zain, that U.S. lawmaker, Joaquin Castro, what he said is he wants the U.S. Department of Justice to be more aggressive in their lawsuit

against the state of Texas. Now, Zain, I want to show you something that lawmakers didn't get to see. I want us to point to this ramp area where the

concertina wire is. And the reason why I want you to see this in particular is because the water levels of the Rio Grande are very low right now. But

when these water levels rise, that concertina wire that you're taking a look at, that is underwater.

And that is one of the biggest concerns internationally and also here in the United States because that means that migrants, as they're walking

along the Rio Grande, as they're asked by the state of Texas to do, by these officers that are here on the ground, they're asked to continue

walking with concertina wire underwater, it makes it extremely difficult for these migrants to be able to do what they're being told to turn

themselves into U.S. authorities. It's almost impossible for them to do that safely. Zain.

ASHER: Gosh. Rosa Flores, live for us there. Thank you so much. All right. Meantime, the migrant crisis in New York City is reaching a breaking point.

Asylum seekers are looking for shelter anywhere they can, some even sleeping on the sidewalks. Since last spring, nearly 100,000 migrants have

come through the city's intake centers and nearly 200 sites have been opened to house them.

And you may recall that more than a year ago, Texas Governor Greg Abbott began busing migrants to New York and other Democrat-run cities. Hundreds

have arrived over that time period. The problem is so acute that New York's mayor recently announced plans to construct a humanitarian relief center on

Randall's Island to accommodate 2000 migrants. City officials say that they need federal help.

Time now for the exchange. Joining us live now is Sophie Kouyate, a Community Navigator at the non-profit organization African Communities

Together. For years, it has been connecting African immigrants to key legal employment and government services, and it also helps them feel at home, as

well.

Sophie, thank you so much for being with us. So, here we have a situation whereby New York City is saying, listen, we're at capacity. We don't have

any more rooms. We don't have the funding. What is the solution here? Because obviously a lot of these migrants who have been through treacherous

journeys coming from their home countries to get to the United States, they need to be housed -- they need to be housed immediately immediately. What

is the solution?

SOPHIE KOUYATE, COMMUNITY NAVIGATOR, AFRICAN COMMUNITIES TOGETHER: Thank you, Zain, for having me, you know, with you today. Like you said, they're

going through so much, leaving their home country. So, the solution today has to be higher than the city, because the federal literally bring, you

know, the border crisis into New York City. So yes, New Yorker, you know, as you know, we're welcoming, you know, people, but at a certain, you know,

points.

[12:40:00]

So, now we need to move from this emergency, you know, crisis to something more permanent, you know. Because you know, those people that you see,

they're being treated like they are animals. That said, we cannot say any words. So, the federal needs to help. We need funding from the federal. You

have many great organization on the ground and thinking about all our sister organizations who work with us, you know, welcoming those African

migrants to the city.

But if we don't have the federal, you know, who's, you know, stepping in with, you know, helping us with, you know, founding, we're never going to

find the solution. You know, the city needs to help the state and definitely the federal.

ASHER: Right, I mean, that's been what Erica Adams has said, you know, that New York City needs federal funding, it also needs state funding, as well.

So, just talk to us a bit more about your organization, ACT, African Communities Together. What's your role in terms of helping these migrants

adjust?

KOUYATE: So, African Communities Together, it's a non-profit organization, like you said, of African immigrants. And what we do is welcome our, you

know, people to the city. We help them navigate, you know, the city. And we also give them advice. But it's like, you know, their right and also their

obligation, how to survive in the city, you know what I'm saying? They need to know. Knowing where, you know, the process is going to be is very

important for them. But we need - communication, for us, is the number one. And let them know you're here.

We are a big family, and that's what they need because they're being traumatized. You know, mental health is a big problem. We have people

calling us, telling us, you know, that it's too hard for them and the process is too long. And at the end of the day, what they need is legal

support, you know, and that's what we need to keep in mind. Because if they're coming here, it's to seek, you know, asylum.

ASHER: Yeah.

KOUYATE: So, that's why we say, you know, that, that, why they're here, you know. So, we need absolutely the city, the state, and the federal to step

in, you know.

ASHER: And just walk us through, you know, the journey that many of these migrants have been on to get to the United States. A lot of them who are

from African countries, they may take a flight to somewhere in South America where they don't necessarily need a visa to get to, and then they

travel through multiple countries in order to get to the border. Just give us a sense. I mean, obviously, everyone's journey is different, but just

give us a sense of what many of them have gone through to get here.

KOUYATE: So, in general, not a lot of them to come, like you say, to a country where they don't need a visa to flew (ph). And then they're going

to walk through, it can be 13 different South American countries to get to Mexico and then to get to the border. So, but you know, what happened

between, you know, all this, you know, during the road is very traumatized for them because they saw a lot. They saw a lot.

So, when they're coming here, you know, they're pretty happy to be here, but the problem is, so we opened the city and we said, okay, welcome, you

know, to the city and we're going to help you to do this and that. And then they're handing like not having, you know, this, what we promised them, you

know, and that's the big problem.

So, in African Communities Together, we try, you know, to be first to have a -- hear for them, to listen to their, you know, what they have to, you

know, because a lot of them need to talk, to be honest. They need to, you know, be able to express a little bit, you know, what they have inside, so

we need to listen to them. And we are guide -- we guide for them, so, we guide them, you know, through the process.

ASHER: Yeah, because you mentioned that mental health is a big problem, but I mean also, so is sleeping on the streets, the fact that so many of them

have had to sleep on the streets, because New York City is basically saying that it's at capacity and there's no room left. Clearly, there does need to

be some kind of a long-term solution. Sophie Kouyate, thank you so much for being on the program. We appreciate it. We'll be right back with more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:46:53]

ASHER: Zoom became a household name during the pandemic. The video communications company has helped enable the work from home revolution.

Now, though, even Zoom is requiring its workers to start returning to the office. But as you'd expect, not everyone is ready to ditch their couch for

a commute, as CNN's Tom Pullman reports.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, the irony here. The company that taught us all how we could work from home and see each other -- Zoom, is now

saying it wants its workers in the office at least two days out of every week. And they're not alone in doing that. Several others have done the

same thing. Google, Salesforce, Amazon, and the U.S. government are all saying, we like the idea of people being there face to face. We like the

synergy. We like the productivity that comes out of it. They're convinced that's better.

Now, a lot of workers are not so convinced, especially younger workers and those who are more highly educated, they are saying, look, we don't like

commuting. Forty-eight percent say that's one of the reasons they don't want to come into the office. It costs gas, it costs time, it costs money.

They don't like paying extra child-care. When they're home, they can take care of that. Fourteen percent think that. Thirteen percent say they are

better able to focus.

What is the difference here in what they want? Generally, employers want 1.6 days at home per week. Now, it's weird, we don't take 0.6 days. So,

basically they're saying two days at home a week is enough. Workers want a little more than that. So, basically three days at home per week.

The workers have a really strong hand to play here right now because so many employers are still trying to find enough people. And interestingly,

working from home, one study found workers equate that to an eight percent higher salary if they have the freedom to work from home a lot. So, you can

see for employers, yeah, they want people back, but it's an uphill climb.

ASHER: Tom Foreman reporting there. All right, still to come, Morocco struggles against France in the Women's World Cup, but Morocco's unlikely

journey to the knockout stage is still hailed as a major success. We'll have highlights from the match next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:51:48]

ASHER: All right, take a look at this. Flowers and color fill the streets of Colombia this weekend. The city's annual Flower Festival Parade shows

handmade flower arrangements on large wooden frames. They can weigh, by the way, up to 100 kilograms. The parade highlights Colombia's vast

biodiversity. This year's winner crafted a lotus flower with a beautiful message.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARIA CAROLINA ATEHORTUA, FLORIST (through translator): The message is you decide the color of your days. Beyond setbacks and problems in our lives,

we must decide if we stay or move forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: Beautiful. And speaking of Colombia, its women's team will advance to the World Cup quarterfinals for the first time in the country's history

after beating Jamaica. And Morocco is now out of the tournament after losing to France. Morocco was the last African nation represented in this

year's tournament. The team's unlikely journey to the knockout stage as an underdog is regarded as a success.

For more on this, I'm gonna bring in CNN's World Sports, Don Riddell. So, Don, it was fun while it lasted, right? African teams all been eliminated,

but I think a lot of the African teams or the three of them, rather, should really hold their head up high because they all did very well just to make

it to the knockout stage in the first place.

DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Yeah, absolutely, three of them making it to the knockout round. In the case of Morocco, they made it at the expense of

the two-time world champions Germany. Germany went home. Morocco qualified from that group. And this team has just been so fun to watch, all of them

have, they really have.

And Morocco's progress has reminded me a lot of the men's team, the Atlas Lions, who surprised us all by making it to the semi-finals of the World

Cup, the men's World Cup in Qatar, towards the end of last year. Morocco seem to be investing heavily in both their men's and women's teams, and

it's showing. And yeah, just hats off to all three of their teams, Nigeria, South Africa, and Morocco. They've had a brilliant, brilliant World Cup.

And a shame for them it's over, but they've left us all with some wonderful memories and so much potential for the future.

ASHER: Yeah, very proud of how the Nigerian team did against England. So, Colombia also doing well, as well. They beat Jamaica and making history

with some really young talent at their disposal, too, Don.

RIDDELL: Yeah, I mean, like 18-year-old kids just with the world at their feet in this Colombia team. They did really well to beat Jamaica, by the

way. Jamaica hadn't conceded a goal all-tournament. This was the first goal they led in in 321 minutes. A really, really good finish there from

Catalina who was made the Captain. It was teed up by Anna Maria Guzman, who's just 18 years old, making her first World Cup start. Of course,

another 18-year-old, Linda Casado, has been taking all the plaudits from this team, so far.

But they are through to the quarters. They're going to play England on Saturday. They're the only team from South America getting this far. And

the way this team plays, they're so exciting, they're so joyful. Maybe they could go all the way. Certainly, people are really starting to believe in

this team and they're also really fun to watch.

[12:55:00]

ASHER: And your predictions quickly, Don, just didn't -- I mean, we've got, what, England, France, through to the next round?

RIDDELL: Yeah, I mean, I mean, I'm a little bit biased, perhaps --

ASHER: Of course.

RIDDELL: But England as the European champions, are perhaps the favored of the teams that are left in because so many huge teams have already left the

scene. But given the way this tournament is going, I think only a fool would try and predict what's gonna happen because it has been so

unpredictable, but it's all been brilliant. It's been so much fun to watch.

ASHER: Yeah, just like the Men's World Cup --

RIDDELL: Yeah.

ASHER: -- was also quite unpredictable, as well. All right, Don Riddell -- we'll see what happens -- live for us. Thank you so much. Okay, in the

small town of Bray Island, hundreds of people lined the streets earlier today to pay their final respects to singer, Sinead O'Connor. This was the

public funeral procession for O'Connor. Her burial was held privately. U2's Bono was among the mourners at the service, as according to Irish media.

O'Connor was known for her pure voice and also for her political activism. She was very vocal. She died last month at the age of 56. And thank you so

much for watching One World. I'm Zain Asher. Amanpour is up next. You're watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END