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Clinton Leads Polls as Trump Feud Continues; Syrian Rebels Battling to Break Government Siege of Aleppo; Nida Downgraded after Soaking Hong Kong; Mounting Concerns About Rio Water Pollution; 3,000 Additional Police Posted in Favelas Along Roads; High-Profile Athletes Skipping Rio Games. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired August 2, 2016 - 00:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:00:23] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. Ahead this hour.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: A poll meant (ph) for Hillary Clinton puts her back in the lead in the race for the White House as Donald Trump doubles down on his attack on the Muslim parents of a fallen American soldier.

VAUSE: Welcome to Rio. Just don't drink the water. Just three days before the Olympics and new worries about sewage in the sea water and a drug-resistant superbug.

SIDNER: A major tropical storm has Hong Kong on lockdown.

VAUSE: Hello. Great to have you with us. I'm John Vause.

SIDNER: And I'm Sara Sidner in for Isha Sesay. NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.

VAUSE: A big convention bounce in the polls Hillary Clinton has put her back in the lead in the race for the White House. A new CNN/ORC poll shows Clinton nine points ahead of her rival Republican Donald Trump, all because of that convention bounce.

SIDNER: And before that she was trailing Trump by five percent in a four-way race with a libertarian and Green Party candidates. Post convention numbers gave her back the lead in that same four-way match- up. The convention also boosted the number of Americans who believe Clinton will take the country in the right direction.

A war of words has flared once again between Donald Trump and the Muslim parents of a fallen U.S. soldier. Khzir Khan and his wife appeared on CNN Monday and said they wanted to de-escalate the controversy.

VAUSE: But before the Khans even finished their interview, Trump was on the attack.

Here's Jason Carroll. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tonight, Donald Trump blasting the media amid the latest controversy dogging his campaign.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: We are battling the press because the press is very dishonest -- ok.

CARROLL: Trump facing a bipartisan backlash over his attacks on the family of a slain Muslim-U.S. soldier, Trump not backing down. And neither is the family of Army Captain Humayan Khan. He was awarded a Bronze Star and Purple Heart for helping save fellow soldiers in Iraq by walking toward a car loaded with explosives in 2004.

KHZIR KHAN, FATHER OF SLAIN MUSLIM-U.S. SOLDIER: This is a proof of his ignorance and arrogance and I again and again ask his advisers to get him in a room, close the door and set him right.

CARROLL: Trump tweeting today, "Mr. Khan who does not know me viciously attacked me from the stage of the DNC and is now all over TV doing the same. Nice."

KHAN: Donald Trump --

CARROLL: The war of words starting after Khzir Khan rebuked Trump during the last week's Democratic convention.

KHAN: You have sacrificed nothing and no one.

CARROLL: Trump responding by suggesting Ghazala Khan's Muslim faith might have been the reason she did not speak at the convention.

TRUMP: I saw him. He was, you know, very emotional and probably looked like a nice guy to me. His wife, if you look at his wife, she was standing there. She had nothing to say. She probably -- maybe she wasn't allowed to have anything to say.

CARROLL: Prompting this response from Ghazala Khan.

GHAZALA KHAN, MOTHER OF SLAIN MUSLIM-U.S. SOLDIER: I can say that my religion or my family or my culture never stopped me saying whatever I want to say. And anybody can see that how difficult that time was when I was standing there in front of America without saying a word, I had lots of love.

TRUMP: He's not a war hero.

CARROLL: Arizona Senator John McCain who Trump once said was not a war hero because he was captured issued a lengthy statement denouncing the GOP candidate writing, "I cannot emphasize enough how deeply I disagree with Mr. Trump's statement. I hope Americans understand that the remarks do not represent the views of the Republican Party, its officers or candidates."

Other prominent Republicans also stepping forward in support of the Khan family including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan.

President Obama weighing in on the issue this afternoon.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No one has given more for our freedom and our security than our Gold Star families.

CARROLL: All this as Hillary Clinton accuses Trump of again crossing the line with his remarks.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: To have Trump do what he did, I don't know where the bounds are. I don't know where the bottom is.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL: So despite all the criticism coming in from so many different sides on the issue, many of the people who attended this town hall here in Columbus, Ohio tell me they still support Donald Trump. They say he may not say the right thing in the right way but they still support him. They believe that this whole controversy with the Khan family is something that's been created by the media and the Clinton campaign.

[00:05:06] Jason Carroll -- CNN, Columbus, Ohio.

VAUSE: Well, for more, CNN senior reporter for media and politics Dylan Byers joins us right now.

Ok -- this won't go away. And take a look at the campaign stop in Nevada for Trump's running mate Mike Pence. Keep in mind this is a Republican rally. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Time and time again, Trump has disrespected our nation's armed forces and veterans and his disrespect for Mr. Khan and his family is just an example of that. Will there ever be a point in time when you are able to look Trump in the eye and tell him enough is enough? You have a son in the military.

GOV. MIKE PENCE (R-IN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I understand. I understand. It's ok. It's ok.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do you tolerate his disrespect?

PENCE: Well, I thank you for the question. It's all right. It's all right. Folks, that's what freedom looks like and that's what freedom sounds like.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Ok. So the booing to one side because obviously the people of that campaign stop, they are the Trump/Pence supporters. Is this the controversy which will finally catch up to Donald Trump?

DYLAN BYERS, CNN SENIOR REPORTER FOR MEDIA AND POLITICS: If you go back to early in the primary when Donald Trump said what he said about Senator John McCain, there was a similar response from Republicans, from politicos and from the media, has he gone too far in insulting a prisoner of war?

The theory behind what he was doing there was that it was ok to insult John McCain because there were so many heartland conservatives who really saw John McCain as representative of the establishment Republicans who Donald Trump was standing up against.

In a general election to go after the parents of a fallen soldier who have quite literally sacrificed the life of their own son and to do it in the context of proposing a ban on an entire religion this could be too far.

And I think after 12 months of seeing Donald Trump upend all conventional wisdom about what is beyond the pale in American politics we are very cautious about saying he's gone too far.

And look, I don't think this is going to end Donald Trump's campaign. But I think it's a serious blow. I think if you look at the margin that Hillary Clinton has in the CNN poll that came out today, 52 percent to 43 percent, I only see it getting wider after this. Unless he does something to course correct.

SIDNER: I want to ask you about this because I think it looks like he thought that maybe the controversy would stop and then it didn't and then he kept going back and forth. Now people are looking at his record and they're looking at what he has done and the fact that he avoided the draft five times, four times for education and one time because of what he said were bone spurs in his heel.

And that's the controversial one because he was out of school. He was graduated and he could have very easily been drafted at that time but he had this doctor's note apparently that nobody has yet seen. Will that have any effect? Is this going to keep building or will this slide off him like most other controversies?

BYERS: Right. No, I actually don't think it will. I do think it is because it is the military. No issue is so significant and has so long been claimed by the Republican Party than the military, than veterans. That has long been a Republican issue. And only now only in this convention in Philly are we seeing it really become something that the Democrats are laying claim to.

VAUSE: Ok. Let's move to Hillary Clinton because she did not have a great weekend either. She is being called out yet again for claims that she is making over her e-mails. This is what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: Director Comey said that my answers were truthful and what I've said is consistent with what I have told the American people that there were decisions discussed and made to classify retroactively certain of the e-mails.

(END VIDEO CLIP) VAUSE: Ok. The "Washington Post" gave her four Pinocchios for that one. And this is the problem right now for Donald Trump. Instead of going after Hillary Clinton for what is an issue of trust and honesty he is in a slinging match with the father of a dead American soldier.

BYERS: Right. So on the one hand Hillary Clinton should be losing to any other candidate besides Donald Trump because there is so much controversy, there is so much distrust. But it is Donald Trump. And even Donald Trump can't seize the moment. He keeps chasing other things. He's chasing the parents of fallen soldiers. He's chasing the "New York Times" and other media outlets suggesting that they're biased against him.

There is such an obvious play book here for a Republican candidate going up against Hillary Clinton and somehow -- look Hillary Clinton and other Democrats said this during the Democratic convention in Philadelphia. They said not only is he an erratic, irresponsible leader unfit to be president of the United States, they said he was thin-skinned. And he is thin-skinned. And he is -- you know, he can't help himself. He has to go for the people who insult him and it is distracting him from something that could be very effective which is going after Hillary Clinton.

SIDNER: But don't you think this might be able to stick on her because he calls her crooked Hillary and a liar and he comes up with these names. But a lot of people feel distrust towards Hillary Clinton and now to have the "Washington Post" no, no, no, that wasn't true. That's wasn't true, four times -- giving her four Pinocchios, so to speak.

[00:10:04] BYERS: Right. And it absolutely could. And I do think that once the current storm blows over he will come back to this, he will point to those as examples. And look, for a guy who constantly complains about the mainstream media not giving him fair treatment, the four Pinocchios are right there and they're about Hillary Clinton. The "Washington Post" is doing its job here.

VAUSE: Ok. Also a lot of people have asked. Another billionaire has come out opposing Donald Trump, the sage of Omaha Warren Buffett, he went after Trump and his tax returns.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WARREN BUFFETT, BUSINESSMAN: I would be delighted to meet him any place, any time between now and election. I'll bring my tax returns. He can bring his tax returns. Nobody's going to arrest us. There are no rules against showing your tax returns. And just let people ask us questions about the items that are on there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Ok. This isn't just about tax returns. This is about having a billionaire out there like Michael Bloomberg undercutting one of the key messages that Trump has about why should be president.

BYERS: That's absolutely right. Trump -- some of the most convincing figures that are brought out to convince those Independents who were sort of on the fence don't know if they want to go for Trump or Hillary, don't know if they want to sit this election out. They see figures like Warren Buffett, they see figures like Michael Bloomberg and they say ok, that's someone who actually is -- that's a successful businessman. That is who Trump claims to be.

And you know, we're talking about these issues that Hillary Clinton has, Trump can come in and say where are the e-mails, et cetera, et cetera; he won't release his tax returns. So in a way, whatever sort of opening Hillary Clinton is giving him there is always something that the Democrats and Hillary Clinton can come back with against him.

SIDNER: With all the things that we've been talking about I am noticing one thing that has been missing from most media outlets and that is the pictures that have come out of Melania Trump. She was a model at the time. There are nude pictures of her and another woman there from the front page. There are some newspapers that are --

(CROSSTALK)

SIDNER: The "New York Post" we should note is where it comes from. But does this strike you as the United States has grown up, we've matured and we realize she is a model, no big deal even if she might be the first lady?

(CROSSTALK)

BYERS: There might be some of that. And it's interesting to look at the way we have become more tolerant of sort of these scandalous photos just because we accept them as something in pop culture generally. But no, John I think your point is right. There is so much going on in this election. Everything is seemingly beyond the pale. At a moment when you are insulting the parents of fallen soldiers, when you're proposing banning an entire religion -- all of these controversies are somehow bigger. And can you imagine Mitt Romney versus Obama, Mitt Romney versus McCain --

SIDNER: That's what I was going to ask you.

(CROSSTALK)

BYERS: If one of their wives were nude, the potential first lady of the house? I mean you're absolutely right. This should be incendiary. We should be talking about this and it's telling just how crazy this election cycle is that we're not.

VAUSE: Dylan good to speak to you. Thank you.

SIDNER: Thanks -- Dylan.

BYERS: Thanks -- guys.

SIDNER: Donald Trump is also trying to clean up yet another controversial comment he made about Ukraine.

VAUSE: On Monday Trump blamed the Obama administration for letting Russia annex Crimea. He downplayed the notion that he has ties to Vladimir Putin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Putin said some very good things about me. People say Trump's going to be weak with Putin because Putin is saying nice things about me. Ok. All right. And I said he's a strong guy. They immediately say Trump likes Putin.

Look -- I don't like or dislike. I just say it this way. Wouldn't it be great if the United States and Russia got along?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Now the controversy flared over the weekend with this answer you're about to hear from Trump to a question about Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Just so you understand he's not going to go into Ukraine. You can mark it down. You can put it down. You can take it any way you want.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS HOST: He's there already, isn't he?

TRUMP: Well, he's there in a certain but I'm not there. You have Obama there and frankly that whole part of the world is a mess under Obama.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Now the conflict in Ukraine is still raging. Ukrainian government forces say they repelled an attack by Russian backed separatists over the weekend. Thousands of people have been killed in that conflict since April of 2014.

VAUSE: There's been no claim of responsibility for the downing of a Russian helicopter in Syria. Russia says the chopper had delivered aid to Aleppo. All five on board were killed.

SIDNER: It is the single biggest loss of life for Russia since it began carrying out airstrikes in Syria about a year ago. Syrian rebels are fighting to break the government siege of the city.

Nima Elbagir has more on that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The battle for Aleppo. The newly rebranded Jabhat al Fateh, formerly the al Qaeda affiliated Nusra front, are at the forefront of the offensive to push back Russian and Syrian government forces from the east of the city.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We're working to open a new route into Aleppo to break the siege on our families in the city.

ELBAGIR: The weeks-long siege has placed an even greater burden on the already-suffering populace -- an estimated 300,000 to 400,000 people.

[00:15:01] These pictures obtained by CNN over a week ago through the Syrian/American medical society remain one of the few of the rare glimpses of life in this city under siege -- men, women and children seeking refuge in hospitals already at the point of collapse. Unimaginably, those we have spoken to inside Aleppo say it has gotten even worse.

Over the weekend Syrian government forces backed by Russian soldiers claim to have opened humanitarian corridors, enabling civilians to flee the city, a claim Syrian activists dispute. They say while a few families may have fled, many are too scared of the government to take the risk, preferring the refuge of what remains of their homes as the fight for the upper hand in Aleppo rages on around them.

Nima Elbagir -- CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Joining us now is CNN military analyst Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona. Colonel -- thank you for being with us. What about this Russian announcement of four corridors to try and get out of Aleppo that (inaudible) civilians want for the armed rebels.

On the surface it appear to be the same tactics the Russians used for in battle for Grozny, the capital of Chechnya.

LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, it sure has that blueprint and you know, with the downing of that helicopter today, the Russians are really looking for vengeance. After that helicopter went down, the bodies of the five crewmen were badly abused, drug through the streets.

That played very badly in Russia. It was in all the social media in all the languages, you know, Russian, English, Arabic. So, you know, the Russians are really angry right now and so they're very tempted to do the same thing to Aleppo what they did in Grozny.

They set safe corridors in Grozny, announced and invited the people to leave and as they did they were -- walked through minefields, subjected to artillery fire. Basically, the city was destroyed, just absolutely flattened.

Although Aleppo is in pretty bad shape right now, there are as Nima said 300,000 to 400,000 people still there. And the Russians are going to extract some vengeance for that. They may just start killing a lot more people than they already have.

VAUSE: There is a rebel counter offensive which apparently has been underway. Has that had much impact? Are they likely to have much impact?

FRANCONA: Surprisingly they have done very well in the southwestern part of the city. They are trying to reach into the center so they can get supplies into the people that are besieged. They may have some temporary success John, but it's not going to last. They can amass a certain amount of force but you are competing against a state. A state has an army. A state has an air force. They've also got the Russian air force that has been used to devastating effect.

If it wasn't for the Russian air force the Syrians would not have been able to complete that siege of the city. If they break through it will only be temporary. Aleppo is going to fall to the regime, it is only a matter of time.

VAUSE: Also the U.S. forces extended their campaign against ISIS to Libya, particularly around the city of Sirte. Is this a significant escalation? It seems there were just two U.S. war planes are engaged in the strike. Does this now expand in any significant way the campaign against ISIS?

FRANCONA: Well, it has. There was -- the announcement said that we were going to support the GMA -- the Libyan Unity government as long as they need us, as long as that request was there.

So AfriCom -- the U.S. command responsible for operations there has authorized the strikes. The President himself said that we were going to do this. You had some armed drones conducting strikes, you also have the USS Wasp off the coast. It's an amphibious that carries Ospreys, gun ships as well as Harriers.

So there is a lot of fire power there and it will be brought to bear. I think we are in the initial stages of this. The problem is how stable is that Libyan government? Is it going to survive long enough to actually take over the part of Libya that they need to?

VAUSE: Yes, a lot of questions about who is on who's side right now. Colonel, as always -- good to speak with you. Thank you -- sir.

SIDNER: Typhoon Nida has been downgraded to -- sorry, sir. Typhoon Nida has been downgraded to a severe tropical storm.

VAUSE: When we come back we'll show you what the residents of Hong Kong woke up to as the storm slammed their city.

[00:19:16] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: Hong Kong is on virtual lockdown from a severe tropical storm soaking the city as it moved into southern China. Typhoon Nida made land fall early Tuesday with winds topping 145 kilometers an hour or that's 90 miles per hour. It has since weakened to a tropical storm.

VAUSE: No major damage has been reported. But many cities in the region are on red alert for flooding. Nearly 200 flights have been cancelled but bus, trams and ferry routes have been suspended.

SIDNER: We have our meteorologist Pedram Javaheri and we have -- I think he is there live for us, yes. And we have Andrew Stevens who is live there in Hong Kong.

Let me go ahead and start with Andrew. Andrew -- I'm taking a look at that street down there. I don't see any rain happening. What kind of damage did the city sustain?

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN ASIA-PACIFIC EDITOR: Yes, no rain and no real wind either, Sara. The typhoon Nida has moved on fairly substantially. But what we're seeing here, I'm glad you referenced the street, is that this is actually one of the busiest streets normally in Hong Kong. It's lunch hour. Normally this would absolutely be packed.

But if you look along the sides of the street here now, you see that a few of the store owners are now just starting to open. Most of the shops are still closed and will stay closed until the high wind warning is actually brought down. We're expecting that to happen in a couple of hours from now.

But the bottom line here Sara is really that this storm did, as you point out, very little damage to Hong Kong. The eye came about 40 kilometers or so from the city. The winds hit about 90 miles an hour, 145 kilometers an hour. But the police say there's been no report of flooding which was a concern. There was concern about storm surges at one state but no flooding, no damage, no injuries either.

The real loser here I guess is commercial. And Hong Kong is a very commercial city. Flights have been suspended. The stock exchange has been closed and people as you can see still can't get to work at the moment. That is the main problem here in Hong Kong but I suspect within three or four hours, Sara, this relatively empty street or very empty street for this time of day will once again -- shops will be open and people will be out and about.

SIDNER: Yes, I think what that shows, Andrew, is that people did heed the warning. And you usually -- I have been on that street myself -- it is really, really packed with people.

Let's go ahead and go to meteorologist Pedram Javaheri who is in the Weather Center for us. Can you give us some idea of where exactly the storm is and how strong it is at this point?

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. You know, it is actually holding quite a bit of strength there Sara. Good seeing you.

And when you think about the storm as Andrew said it was 40 kilometers away at its closest point. That was the closest any typhoon has been to Hong Kong since 2009. At this point it is about 100 kilometers to the northwest. But one reason why we are still concerned about what is left of it even though where Andrew is right now looks rather quiet is that we get isolated complexes of storms in particular this one right here across the Gulf of Tonkin.

[00:25:04] You see why the ferry services have been really halted across this region because massive storms can develop way away from the center of the storm which is way up here -- about 100 kilometers north of Hong Kong. So this is something we watch carefully as these storms move ashore and still sitting there as a category 1 equivalent typhoon there with 120 kilometer-per-hour winds across northern Guangdong. But across the River Delta about 54 million people live here and a lot of things I always talk about with people is that when it comes to typhoons, tropical cyclones, hurricanes, what have you, 90 percent of the fatalities are not associated with the wind-related damage, it's the water-related damage. On the coast it's associated with the storm surge; inland it's flash flooding that takes a lot of lives.

And the forecast both produces a lot of rainfall over not only Guangdong but Guangzhou, eventually northern portions of Vietnam getting some heavy rainfall as well. But look at this, right here. This is about 240 or so millimeters of rainfall that could still come down across Hong Kong in the next couple of days as the storm system moves away.

So that's something we watch here. Plenty of tropical moisture left in place when you take a look at the climate's logical norm for this time of year. The month of August, in fact is among the wettest times of the year. That's about 375 to 400 millimeters of rainfall that comes down every single August. This is the amount we think will come down when the storm system is all done in the next couple days, Sara and John, with 400 millimeters in two just days versus an entire month.

SIDNER: Yes, like what you said, it's always the water, not necessarily the wind that leaves people injured or killed. Thank you so much, Pedram. We appreciate it.

JAVAHERI: Thank you.

VAUSE: Ok. A short break here. When we come back Rio just three days away. Why swimmers are being told keep your mouth closed in their quest for Olympic gold.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:30:10] VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause.

SIDNER: And I'm Sara Sidner in for Isha Sesay.

The headlines at this hour.

U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is getting a boost in her polling numbers. A new "CNN/ORC" poll shows the Democrat with a post- convention bounce. She is now up nine points from her Republican rival. In a two-way head-to-head match up with Donald Trump, Clinton tops Trump 52 percent to 43 percent.

VAUSE: Five Russians are dead after their helicopter was shot down in Syria. Russia says the chopper had just delivered aid for Aleppo when it was downed in inland province. No one has claimed responsibility, but rebel groups have a strong presence in the area.

SIDNER: Wind ripped and rain soaked. Hong Kong residents and business owners emerge to see the aftermath of Typhoon Nida, which made landfall early Tuesday. Winds topped 145 kilometers an hour. That's 90 miles an hour. Nida has weakened to a tropical storm now as it moves into mainland China. The damage to Hong Kong has been minimal, though there are still fears of flooding in the region.

Athletes and fans are excited for the Games. And they're getting ready to start in just three days, but problems with the water quality and the infrastructure remain.

VAUSE: And in Rio, the Russians should know in the next few hours which athletes will be allowed to compete when the IOC makes a final decision on who doped and who didn't.

SIDNER: Now City of Rio has a lot to prove as critics continue to question its readiness even as the Games are set to start.

Our Shasta Darlington joins us now live from Rio.

First, let's talk a little bit about the water quality issues facing the athletes involved in water sports.

What's going on there?

SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, you know, people here have known for years that you just can't get in the water in the bay where the sailing competition is going to be held. Not only because of the floating garbage, but because it's clogged with raw sewage. And now it appears there might be an even bigger threat.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DARLINGTON (voice-over): The marvellous city, stunning views and golden beaches. But you might think twice before you splash in. Lurking under Rio's waters, raw sewage and now what scientists describe as superbacteria.

Researchers at the Rio Federal University tested the city's beaches for a year and discovered high levels of the dreaded superbug. Drug- resistant bacteria that have been turning up in hospitals.

RENATA PICAO, PROFESSOR, RIO FEDERAL UNIVERSITY: We believe that true hospital sewage, it goes to the municipal sewage and it gets to the Guanabara Bay or through other rivers and it finally gets to the beaches.

DARLINGTON: The highest levels of super bacteria found on the shores of Guanabara Bay, the site of the Olympic sailing event.

Gold-medal sailor Fernando Echavarri says Rio has the dirtiest water he has competed in.

FERNANDO ECHAVARRI, SPANISH OLYMPIC SAILOR: We have some cuts. And as soon as you cut the foot or whatever, you can easily infect yourself. And that's a problem.

DARLINGTON: German sailor Erik Heil blamed the bacteria-infested waters for a skin infection he got while training.

Authorities, however, say athletes and visitors will be safe and the sailing arena has internationally acceptable levels of bacteria.

According to Rio's water utility, half the homes in Rio state are now connected to the sewage system, up from 11 percent.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of course, the wastewater treatment plants are not prepared for the superbacterias, because it's brand new. It's something new.

DARLINGTON: And something the water utility says it will look into further.

But scientists say the superbug is also washing up on some of Rio's most touristy beaches, which are already deemed too polluted to swim in by authorities a good third of the year.

(on-camera): This water right here isn't treated. It's supposed to be for rain runoff, but are often fills with garbage. It stinks of raw sewage and it dumps right here on the beach. Another cloud overshadowing Rio's troubled Olympics.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DARLINGTON: Now researchers say there is still a lot of work to be done to understand the impact that these superbacteria could have on humans when you come in contact with them in the open waters. But in the meantime, athletes and their doctors should be aware.

Sara?

SIDNER: Rio is up against a lot of things: water quality, you've got the superbug, you've got Zika. The other big thing that people are always concern about is security no matter where the Olympics is.

What is happening with security now? Is there a change in it?

[00:35:00] DARLINGTON: That's right. Sara, there is. They are basically constantly adjusting this due to the different threats. And today, the police here in Rio de Janeiro, they announced that they are going to beef up their numbers. They're going to add another 3,000 officers. They will be used to police the shanty towns here known as slums.

They'll also be policing the highways that come from the Rio where we've seen a lot of robberies even in the last few days.

And also around Christ the Redeemer, the statue. There's been a lot of chatter that that could even be a possible target for someone who wanted to plan a terrorist attack.

So that's where we're going to see these extra police. They will be using blimps and cameras and that will start this week before the Games even begins.

Sara?

SIDNER: There are so many issues to think about, but I know a lot of people still very excited to see that opening ceremony.

Thank you so much.

Sasha Darlington there in Rio for us waiting for the Olympics to start.

VAUSE: It's been a very long wait. And we'll have more on the Rio Olympics in just a moment.

And why should golf and tennis, basketball and all those kind of sports, why should they be in the Games anyway?

SIDNER: Also, an active volcano in Hawaii is ready for its close-up. Just ahead, an attention grabbing shot from its crater.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Well, as you mentioned, three days now until the opening ceremonies in Rio. But security and health issues are just some of the few concerns to both athletes and fans.

SIDNER: Many problems that were supposed to be addressed like the tunnels and the water as we just mention haven't been and the city's infrastructure is still coming together even in the 11th hour.

VAUSE: As best we can tell, there are at least 35 professional athletes from golf, tennis and basketball who have decided to skip the Games. Some say there are concerns over the Zika virus. Others site injury or scheduling problems.

One cyclist and two marathon runners won't be there, but for the most part it seems every big name athlete from track and field, swimming or gymnastics will be at the Summer Games. So why the disparity?

David Kahn joins us now from Portland, Oregon.

David has been a sports executive for many years.

So, David, is the bottom line here the bottom line? The Olympics just aren't worth it for the professional athletes.

And while we are not doubting their reasons for not going, it's that risk/reward calculation just isn't the same?

DAVID KAHN, NYU TISCH FOR SPORTS MANAGEMENT, MEDIA & BUSINESS: I think that that's very clear. I think that, first of all, there is no tradition in golf and tennis.

Golf was going to be added for the first time in almost a century this year. And I think that it just doesn't have the kind of power or allure it does for those other sports that you mentioned.

You know, swimmers, track and field athletes, they plot their lives in four-year increments, all positioning themselves from a trajectory standpoint to really peak at the Games. And golf just had the PGA tournament last weekend and two weeks before that it was the British open. And before that, the U.S. Open and the Masters.

There are already several peaks for golf, for example. To add to the Olympics being added for golf really is -- it's almost frankly irresponsible given the costs that the Games are requiring to be put on.

[00:40:00] VAUSE: Why I ask you that because has the time now come to take a close look at, you know, tennis and golf and basketball, do they actually have a place at the Olympics? Especially, as you mentioned, you know, these are competitions that have their own major events, separate to the Olympics.

KAHN: Well, let me put basketball aside for just a moment. In golf and tennis, I think the answer is clear. It's completely unnecessary and it's irresponsible.

In your previous segment, you were talking about the security that goes into these Games. And I think the security costs will continue to rise exponentially games after games because of the threat of terrorism.

Every time that you add more athletes and more spectators, obviously, the cost of security goes up.

Basketball, I put in a little bit of a different place in that they do have an Olympic history that goes back, you know, decades. And certainly in '92 with the dream team, the U.S. dream team, it was a critical kind of feel-good moment not only for U.S. basketball but I would argue for the entire world.

But this was the first time that we are starting to see basketball players who since '92, NBA players who have enjoyed playing in the Olympics, we're starting to see the very best of the best: Lebron James, Steph Curry, players of that caliber have decided this year because of rest, not because they're injured but because of rest that they decided not to go.

And I think that says something very strongly about whether the IOC then should take a very hard look at whether the sport remains to be included or should remain to be included in these Olympics.

VAUSE: What has been the argument in the past for including professional sports like golf and tennis? I guess some of the other ones which is sort of -- I don't want to say secondary because they are very important to be able to compete in it, but they are certainly on the main stream Games, you know?

KAHN: I agree. And I think that we used to have, I think it was a couple Olympics, we had baseball and softball which is especially in the case of baseball strange because we're right in the heart of the MLB season.

I think that in certain sports care, you know, in doing my research before I wrote a piece for Bloomberg on golf, the powers that the -- the administrators of golf are using the Olympics or hoping to use the Olympics as a way to sort of elevate the sport globally and to bring it to more countries and to sort of use that Olympic, you know, symbol to cast a favorable light on their sport.

I don't think it's necessary. And I think that what they missed was the athletes, not the administrators, the athletes weren't nearly as keen or as involved in trying to use the Olympics as a way to burnish their sport.

And so I think the athletes' participation is really a good tell-all as to whether a sport deserves to be included or not on a going forward basis.

VAUSE: David Kahn, good to speak with you.

And we'll -- can you stick around because next hour, we want to talk about whether or not given all the problems that Rio -- that maybe now is a good time to look at maybe just one permanent host city moving forward.

David, great to speak with you. Thank you so much.

KAHN: Thank you.

SIDNER: Now take a look at this.

Thank you so much, David.

Molten hot lava from a Hawaiian volcano has reached the Pacific Ocean for the first time since 2013. But it's this image of the volcano that's getting the most attention.

You notice anything about that image. It's starting to change a little bit, but initially it looked like a smiley face.

VAUSE: Yes. Maybe we can lose the banner and we could have a close look at that.

It's been flowing in (INAUDIBLE), about 10 kilometers down the volcano to the water. Authorities say the lava does not pose a threat to nearby towns.

You can see it, hey, smiling, but they are warning tourists to stay away if you can.

SIDNER: Beautiful.

VAUSE: It's a friendly volcano.

SIDNER: It is so beautiful. Look how close people get.

That freaks me out. You see they are right there, but it is beautiful.

And thank you so much for watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm Sara Sidner.

VAUSE: I'm John Vause. "World Sport" is up next and we'll be back with another hour of news from all around the world. You're watching CNN.

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