welcome to all you watching us here in the united states, canada, and around the world. i m kim brunhuber. this is cnn newsroom. we begin in afghanistan where taliban fighters are trying to seize the panjeer valley north of kabul, home to anti-taliban forces, the only territory not under taliban control. fresh fighting was reported on saturday with both sides claiming successes. now cnn can t independently verify the accuracy of those reports. in the capital where ordinary afghans have been starved for cash, the largest currency exchange market reopened saturday for the first time in nearly three weeks. even banks that are open are limiting withdrawals. and there s word the kabul airport has resumed some operations. qatar s ambassador said he witnessed the first domestic flight taking off on saturday. journalist ben farmer is in kabul and joins us by phone with the latest from there. ben, let s start with the fighting in the pancheer valley. what s the latest on the confl
now. very good friday morning to you. i m jim sciutto. i m poppy harlow. we re glad you re with us. we begin with troubling news. covid cases are increasing in all 50 states fueled by a disturbing drop in vaccination rates and, of course, the surging delta variant. take a look at this map. what you re looking at is 38 states seeing at least a 50% increase in cases. those are the deep red states there on the map. 38 of them. and while that is bad, the director of the cdc said things can still get worse. los angeles county, a place that has seen that had seen cases drop to low levels, is now reinstating its indoor mask mandate regardless of ration status. an effort to battle this new surge in cases. health officials say this. note this. all covid patients now in hospitals there are unvaccinated. unvaccinated. all the patients in the hospitals. the nation had seen a steep drop in the pace now of vaccinations, and the surgeon general is warning about the potentially dea
why he s now refusing to let california state of emergency. it s a hot take on higher education, by bill maher called college a wreck. doctor fauci is add it again. at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, he dismissed the wuhan lab week. but now that e-mails have surfaced, he s pushing for an investigation into the origins of covid. it s more likely to be a natural jumping of species from an animal reservoir to human. however, since we don t know that for sure, you ve got to keep an open mind and in all likelihood, were dealing with a jump of species but i keep an open mind, we should continue to look for the origin. should want to know how this happened so we can make sure it doesn t happen again but in the middle of all of that, i become the object of extraordinary, completely inappropriate distorted misleading and misrepresented attacks. is another possible flip-flop, the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases gave the wuhan lab half-million dollar
defendant, cristhian rivera guilty of the crime of murder in the first degree. thank you. you may be seated, please. national correspondent matt finn has been following this trial throughout. obviously today is a momentous day in the course of this awful case that we have watched over the past two years. he s outside the courthouse in davenport, iowa. good afternoon, matt. martha, rivera s attorneys tell me he didn t have any family here today. our understanding is that his parents are still in mexico. he faces life in prison without the possibility of parole. the sentencing scheduled for july. one of the most notable moments of this trial, the shock moment, is when cristhian rivera took the stand in his own defense and testified under oath. his version of what happened claiming that two men held him hostage basically. they killed tibbetts and left tibbetts body in his trunk. obviously the jury didn t agree with his version and finding him guilty on first degree murder.
comcast business powering possibilities. the president in cornwall, england tonight. the first leg of his first trim trip abroad as president. he ll attend the g7 meeting with allies, followed by the nato summit and then a one-on-one sit-down with russia s president vladimir putin. what does he need to accomplish? the trip coming as his domestic agenda, especially a bipartisan deal on infrastructure is in danger of falling apart. the former democratic senator russ feingold is here tonight with advice for democrats on how to get around the gop filibuster and get biden s agenda moving. and white house officials perplexed at the vice president s ill-prepared answers about visiting the southern border during her trip to mexico and guatemala. here at home, president biden s agenda is stalled. my next guest angst lot about how to get big bills passed in washington. former democratic senator from wisconsin russ feingold joins me right now. senator, thank you so much. good to see y