US Hosts Israel-Lebanon Talks

Summary

Amanpour – US Hosts Israel-Lebanon Talks

Date: June 2, 2026
Host(s): Bianna Golodryga (in for Christiane Amanpour), Hari Sreenivasan
Notable Guests: Nabe Boulos (LA Times), Jorge Castañeda (former Mexican Foreign Minister), Sarah Naomi Bleich (Harvard), Clarissa Ward (CNN Correspondent)

---

Episode Overview

This episode of Amanpour tackles a packed global agenda:

• The fragile attempts at a US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, the continued violence on the ground, and the shifting influence of regional actors, with on-the-ground insights from Beirut.
• The surprising surge of a Trump-aligned far-right candidate in Colombia’s hotly contested presidential election and its implications for US-Latin American relations.
• The humanitarian catastrophe of an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, reported from inside the epidemic’s front line.
• Major reductions in food stamps (SNAP) in the US—a deep dive on policy and human impacts.
• A look at a Parisian landmark transformed by artist JR, and a historic moment for Ukraine at the French Open.

---

KEY SEGMENTS & INSIGHTS

1. Israel-Lebanon ‘Ceasefire’: On-the-Ground Reality

[02:08–13:35]

Participants:

• Bianna Golodryga, Hari Sreenivasan (hosts)
• Nabe Boulos (LA Times Middle East Bureau Chief, from Beirut)

Main Discussion Points:

• US-Brokered Ceasefire: Despite public declarations by President Trump and statements from Israel and Hezbollah, fighting continues in southern Lebanon and northern Israel.
• PR and Military Moves: Israel’s advance on Beaufort Castle is seen as a PR win amid internal demands to strike harder at Hezbollah.
• Iran’s Influence & Diplomatic Complexities: Iran, though a supporter of Hezbollah, is not directly controlling Lebanon’s fate, but is leveraging the situation during simultaneous negotiations with the US around the Strait of Hormuz.
• Trump-Netanyahu Relationship: Regional observers see longstanding US support for Israel as uninterrupted, regardless of any reported tensions between leaders.
• Humanitarian Toll: Beirut tense under drone surveillance; the south emptied of inhabitants, with one million displaced and thousands killed; Boulos stresses only a political solution can end the fighting.

Notable Quotes:

• On the ‘ceasefire’:

  “Despite the name ceasefire, no one has actually stopped shooting... All that has happened is that we've returned to... fighting in the south of Lebanon, but there's no fighting elsewhere.”
  —Nabe Boulos [04:08]

• On humanitarian impact:

  “The city of Lombaty… now totally free of inhabitants. It has been completely emptied. And that's a terrifying notion.”
  —Nabe Boulos [12:03]

• On solutions:

  “Even the Israeli military is not able to disarm the group. You need a political breakthrough. You need a political solution. Right? There is no strategy for Israel right now because... Hezbollah will not stop fighting until there is actually a political resolution.”
  —Nabe Boulos [12:55]

---

2. Ebola Outbreak in the DRC: Reporting from the Epicenter

[13:35–20:35]

Participants:

• Clarissa Ward (CNN Senior International Correspondent)
• Dr. Richard Kajol (frontline physician)
• Various unnamed health workers and patients

Main Discussion Points:

• Overwhelmed Health System: Over 300 cases, at least 50 deaths; poor infrastructure means real numbers are likely higher.
• Personal Toll: Healthcare workers treat patients with limited protective gear; infected colleagues reflect the risk.
• Burials: Families must grieve at a distance; emotional strain palpable.
• Stamina and Humanity: Doctors speak to the moral and physical exhaustion, emphasizing a sense of humanity amidst crisis.
• Systemic Challenges: Delays in test results, patients clustered together—heightening the risk of spread.

Notable Quotes:

• On risk and endurance:

  “We have to stand strong for those patients and otherwise, you know, situation will be really very, very bad.”
  —Unidentified doctor [19:27]

• On personal impact:

  “For me, it's our humanity. Many people are suffering like this. I feel it.”
  —Healthcare worker [16:53]

---

3. Colombia’s Presidential Runoff: A Trump-Inspired Surprise

[21:31–34:09]

Participants:

• Bianna Golodryga, Hari Sreenivasan (hosts)
• Jorge Castañeda (former Mexican Foreign Minister)
• Clip from Abelardo de la Esprilla (presidential candidate)

Main Discussion Points:

• Far Right’s Rise: Abelardo de la Esprilla advanced unexpectedly to a runoff, echoing strongman, 'Bukele-style' pledges to end violence fast.
• Policy Promises: De la Esprilla vows no more peace processes—only force ("pax romana") to "neutralize" bandits.
• Historical Context: Crackdowns have precedent in Colombia, often resulting in significant human rights abuses.
• Regional Implications: Possible rightward shift in Latin America, affecting US standing (especially on Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua).
• Mexico Tensions: Claudia Sheinbaum accuses US far right of interference. The extradition issue (of narco-politicians) could inflame tensions between Mexico and a Trump administration.

Notable Quotes:

• On strongman policies:

  "This strategy may work now, but the historical precedents are not particularly encouraging... trying to neutralize... all of the remnant guerrilla groups... is going to be much more complicated than he seems to think."
  —Jorge Castañeda [25:30]

• On US-Mexico relations:

  "She would want to avoid that at all costs. But I'm not sure I know how President Trump is going to react to ... her refusal to hand him and others over."
  —Jorge Castañeda [33:36]

---

4. SNAP Cuts: Hitting America’s Most Vulnerable

[34:09–50:13]

Participants:

• Sarah Naomi Bleich (Harvard, public health policy expert)
• Hari Sreenivasan (interviewer)

Main Discussion Points:

• What’s Happening: Massive cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), with $187B slashed over 10 years—a 20% decrease and the largest in program history.
• Who’s Impacted: Children, older adults, people with disabilities make up 70% of recipients; millions are losing critical monthly support.
• Policy Shifts: Expansion of strict work/time limits, penalties for states with high payment “error rates,” states assuming a higher share of administrative and benefit costs.
• Potential for State Withdrawal: States can opt to leave SNAP, potentially leaving millions without food assistance.
• Political & Administrative Context: Cuts justified by proponents as work incentives or anti-fraud, but the expert says real fraud is low; payment errors are largely unintentional, caused by administrative shortcuts during COVID.
• Unintended Consequences: Reduced enrollment already (down 9% since July 2025), compounded by cuts in other safety-net benefits (like Medicaid), and the elimination of national food insecurity monitoring data.

Notable Quotes:

• On impact:

  "Millions and millions of people are going to lose access to SNAP benefits. ... SNAP helps to stabilize [the economy] because it's designed to be countercyclical.”
  —Sarah Naomi Bleich [35:12]

• On new burdens:

  "It's creating a massive amount of paperwork, and there's not enough people to process all this paperwork. And so it's just going to gum up the system."
  —Sarah Naomi Bleich [44:43]

• On measuring harm:

  "We are losing our ability to actually measure these impacts because the national monitoring system... that's been eliminated."
  —Sarah Naomi Bleich [49:39]

---

5. Culture & Sports: Art and Resilience

[50:19–52:53]

In Paris:

• JR’s transformation of the Pont Neuf into a “walkable cave,” a tribute to Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s 1985 wrapping of the same bridge. The installation invites Parisians to slow down and experience togetherness in a transformed urban space.
  • Quote:

    "It's almost like a living organism... you really feel the weather around you, but you're still deep inside something that you never experienced before."
    —JR’s collaborator [52:20]

In Sports:

• Ukrainian tennis player Marta Kostiuk wins an all-Ukrainian quarterfinal at the French Open, becoming the first from her country to reach the semifinals—an emotional and symbolic win as war rages at home.

---

Timestamps Quick Reference

• Ceasefire Discussion Begins: [02:08]
• Ceasefire Reality/Diplomacy Analysis: [04:01–13:35]
• Ebola Outbreak Reporting: [13:35–20:35]
• Colombia Election Analysis: [21:31–34:09]
• Food Stamp (SNAP) Policy Deep Dive: [34:09–50:13]
• Paris Art Feature: [50:19–52:53]
• French Open/Sports Story: [52:53]

---

Memorable Moments

• Nabe Boulos’s chilling report on towns in southern Lebanon emptied of their residents, highlighting the scale of displacement.
• Dr. Kajol’s exhaustion and humanity amid Congo’s Ebola crisis: “We have to stand strong for those patients...”
• The striking data on SNAP: "For every dollar in SNAP benefits, that generates about $1.50 to $1.80 in economic activity." —Bleich [36:07]
• The political tension between Mexico’s new government and US demands for extradition—Castañeda’s nuanced breakdown of the personal and political stakes.
• The blending of public art and civic experience in JR’s Paris project.

---

Conclusion

Amanpour skillfully navigates geopolitics, humanitarian emergencies, under-reported policy shifts, and culture. This episode blends the global (the precarious Israel-Lebanon ceasefire, a new Ebola outbreak, shifting Latin American politics) with the local (SNAP cuts impacting American families), always giving voice to those closest to the story. The episode closes on moments of resilience and creativity—in Paris’s art scene and on the French Open tennis courts.

Transcript

[Stamps.com Advertiser]

Shipping, billing, admin, payroll, marketing. You're managing all the things, so why waste time sending important documents the old fashioned way? Mail and ship when you want how you want with stamps.com print postage on demand 247 and schedule pickups from your office or home. Save up to 90% with automated rate shopping. That's why over 1 million small businesses trust stamps.com go to stamps.com and use code podcast to try stamps.com risk free for 60 days.

[Grainger Advertiser]

When you're a maintenance engineer in a beverage manufacturing plant, you keep production lines moving and quality on track because there is no room for slowdowns. With Grainger's vast selection of high quality motors, sensors, belts and hard to find parts, you can get what you need fast and all in one place. So nothing gets in the way of getting the job done. Call 1-800-GRAINGER Click grainger.com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done.

[Bianna Golodriga]

Hello everyone and welcome to Amanpour. Here's what's coming up with peace talks between Israel and Lebanon underway, can a fragile ceasefire hold? I speak with LA Times Middle east bureau chief Nabe Bolus on the ground in Beirut. Then. As a pro Trump candidate as the surges into Colombia's presidential runoff, I speak with Mexico's former Foreign Minister Jorge Castaneda about what the upcoming election could mean for the region and the world.

[Hari Sreenivasan]

Also ahead,

[Bianna Golodriga]

Doctors working around the clock to contain an out of control Ebola outbreak. Correspondent Clarissa Ward reports from Congo. And a cave grows in Paris. Famed French street artist JR Reimagined the Pawn Neuf.

[Sarah Naomi Bleich]

Also, states could choose to exit the program entirely, which would leave millions of families without a lifeline for food.

[Bianna Golodriga]

Hari Srinivasan speaks with public health expert Sarah Naomi Bleich about massive cuts to federally funded food benefits in the U.S. Welcome to the program everyone. I'm Bianna Golodriga, New York, sitting in for Christiane Amanpour in Washington. Talks between Israel and Lebanon are back on track as representatives of both countries are meeting at the State Department. Now. Before the meetings began, four people were killed on Monday in an Israeli strike near a hospital in southern Lebanon. The Lebanese Embassy in Washington says Hezbollah has agreed to a US Proposal calling for a ceasefire with Israel. And after a reportedly heated talk with Israeli prime Benjamin Netanyahu, President Trump declared that Israeli forces would not move on Beirut.

[Hari Sreenivasan]

Netanyahu says the military will keep striking

[Bianna Golodriga]

southern Lebanon, but tacitly acknowledged Trump's ceasefire, saying Israel would not immediately attack. So it's a volatile situation.

[Hari Sreenivasan]

Both Diplomatically and militarily.

[Bianna Golodriga]

Where is it headed? Nabe Boulos is Middle East's bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times, and he

[Hari Sreenivasan]

joins us now from Beirut. Nabe, it's good to have you back on the program.

[Bianna Golodriga]

It's been a while.

[Hari Sreenivasan]

So I just laid out the situation as announced by President President Trump saying that a cease fire has been agreed to both Israel and Hezbollah saying that they've stopped or agreed to stop attacking each other. But that's not necessarily the case. Prime Minister Netanyahu saying that he would hold off on going into Beirut. But we do know that exchanges of fire between the two sides are ongoing. So is this just a ceasefire in

[Bianna Golodriga]

name only at this.

[Nabe Boulos]

Well, so you could argue we haven't really had a ceasefire anyway, because the fact of the matter is that despite the name ceasefire, no one has actually stopped shooting.

[Unidentified Guest (brief interjection)]

Right.

[Nabe Boulos]

I mean, if you consider what happened since April, I mean, we've still had Hezbollah and Israel fighting each other in the south of Lebanon and Hezbollah still lobbing drones and assaults on northern Israel that continued throughout this time. Right. I mean, the only difference was that Beirut was not being targeted directly. That was supposed to have changed yesterday with a new equation, supposedly. Right. But at the same time, we are still nowhere near the notion of a complete silencing of the guns even now. Right. All that has happened is that we've returned to the, I suppose, April 7th status quo, which is to say that there is fighting in the south of Lebanon, but there's no fighting elsewhere. Right. I mean, we're not seeing attacks on Beirut. And for the moment, Hezbollah has been adhering to the equation now of not firing on the Galilee in northern Israel. So that's what's happening right now in that regard.

[Bianna Golodriga]

Yeah. So things had been simmering even as

[Hari Sreenivasan]

recently as Sunday as Secretary of State Rubio was on the phone with Israeli officials and with President Aoun of Lebanon proposing an even significant degradation now and de escalation in terms of the fighting. And they said that the sides agree that it starts with Hezbollah stopping its attacks and Israel would then withhold going into Beirut all of a sudden things started escalating and heating up again come Monday. So what transpired in just those few hours?

[Nabe Boulos]

Well, the fact of the matter is we saw Israel actually advancing on Beaufort Castle. Now, it's worth noting this fort, actually, it's above the litany. Right. And the litany is a vital water in south Lebanon that has been used to demarcate a supposed security zone that Israel has wanted to establish in recent Months. And I should also note that litany was used, you know, in a previous invasion of Israel's back in the 80s. Right. To also demarcate the security zone. Now, the castle lies atop a hill from which you can see this river. And it is quite a strategic location. Now the Israelis have managed to advance into that castle over the last few days. And that was seen actually as a, well, it's a bit of a PR coup for the Israeli military. Right. And the idea was that this was presenting a moment of Israel pressing its advantage because there has been a lot of clamoring from northern Israeli communities and also from members of Netanyahu's government that he should go in and finish the job. Indeed, the tenor of the conversations in Israeli political circles is that he has not gone far enough. They should be going deeper into Lebanon and crushing Hezbollah once and for all. But the fact of the matter is there are other, well, factors at play, namely that it's very hard to do so in a military invasion.

[Bianna Golodriga]

Yeah. And it's interesting because even some Israeli

[Hari Sreenivasan]

analysts were questioning the strategic value as opposed to the pushback that that type of a seizure. And given how sensitive it really is, what that would give Israel. And it is valid to say that Israelis in the north have been very concerned about going to back to their homes and being on the receiving end of fire from Hezbollah. But the point was, what was the significance of seizing this specific castle? I want to bring Iran into the conversation here because Iran over the weekend suspended talks with the United States over Lebanon. President Trump then telling CNBC he doesn't care that perhaps holding off all talks would be good now. He could care less. Then he got on the phone with Prime Minister Netanyahu, said that he had spoken with representatives from Hezboll and all of a sudden signaled that cease fire talks were back on. And Iran is tacitly admitting as much too. So is Lebanon now the leverage that Iran is using over the United States here to get to that MOU agreement?

[Nabe Boulos]

It would be difficult to say that Lebanon is being used as leverage, mostly because the fact is that Lebanon has its own issues and its government has been actually insisting on not linking its fate to Iran. At now, Hezbollah is a different factor.

[Jorge Castaneda]

Right.

[Nabe Boulos]

Hezbollah is an Iran backed group and it is very much relying on Iran to hold up and champion its case. So that is indeed happening. But in terms of the government itself is not very much into that idea. Now Iran could be using Lebanon in some way as an mou, I suppose, or take a DEMOU over the line. But it also has Hormuz, which I must say is probably a far more strategic asset to have than Lebanon at this point. And the fact is Lebanon again has been insisting on forging its own path of negotiations.

[Hari Sreenivasan]

And we heard from Secretary of State Rubio that these negotiations in earnest, at least some of the more specific technical details could go on for months, and that the strait continues to be filled with mines that have been planted there by the Iranians. So that continues to be a huge issue for the United States and the world's economy is what to do with the Strait of Hormuz and Iran's control over it at this point. The relationship between Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Trump. We've reported previous times over the course of the last few years that at times they would get into these heated conversations, President Trump expressing his frustration with the prime minister. But regionally, this is a political issue as well. There are elections coming up in Israel, as you noted, there is frustration among Israelis that he has not degraded Hezbollah enough. And yet you see many saying there's no STR strategy in this particular policy as it relates to Hezbollah. Now, how do you think that is impacting the relationship between these two men, Trump and Netanyahu?

[Nabe Boulos]

It would be hard for me to speak to that. And I say this mostly because from the regional point of view, and I should say from the Arab point of view, you know, in these various Arab governments, we've heard time and again about reports of Trump or I should say of US Presidents having friction within. And time and again it hasn't mattered.

[Interviewer (Hari Sreenivasan or Bianna Golodriga)]

Right.

[Nabe Boulos]

The fact of the matter is that although there might be friction, right. The thrust of the policy remains very much in a pro Israeli vein. And so therefore, I mean, the fact is we are seeing even now a sense of, I suppose, boldness for the Israeli military in attacking. So just for example, yesterday, as you said, there was the attack on the hospital in which four people were killed, and you've had dozens of medical health workers were wounded there. But you're also talking about repeated attacks on paramedics, et cetera. And just today, in fact, you had civilians also being killed. So these notions of red lines and changes to the relationship between Trump and Netanyahu or NETanyahu and any US president have been, I suppose, really ignored here in the region, mostly because we've heard it time and again before and there hasn't been any real impact. Now, the fact of the matter is, how will this affect, I suppose, Iran negotiations? Right. There has been, of course, talk of this helping it push over the line. But it's also worth noting that these ceasefire talks with Iran have been going on for quite a few weeks now. And really almost every day we're hearing about a breakthrough happening. And then of course, nothing actually happens. As you said, it's very, very technical. This took the JCPOA team months to do and it would be hard to envision the same kind of rigor being followed by the Trump administration, quite frankly.

[Bianna Golodriga]

Yeah. And it's pretty clear that Trump would

[Hari Sreenivasan]

like to see this in the rearview mirror and focus on other issues at this point. But Iran has a say, as we know. I do want to end by getting

[Sarah Naomi Bleich]

your

[Hari Sreenivasan]

perspective, given that you are there in Beirut. Just the humanitarian toll once again, that this has taken on the community. We know that a million people have been displaced, 3400 have been reported to have been killed. There's, you know, ongoing back and forth. Is there a ceasefire? Is there not Just give us the mood of the country now and the

[Bianna Golodriga]

city of Beirut in particular.

[Nabe Boulos]

Well, so Beirut itself, as you can imagine, yesterday was very, very tense because there was a feeling that we're gonna be starting to see these big bombing campaigns in the Dahi, which is the suburb where Hezbollah holds sway. And I mean, of course you've had Israeli drones buzzing overhead all day. In fact, it stopped only maybe about an hour and a half ago. But it's worth noting that in the south, it's still an out and out war. I mean, it's worth just remembering that today we've heard that the city of Lombaty, one of the largest cities in the south and one of the economic eng, is now totally free of inhabitants. It has been completely emptied. And that's a terrifying notion. Just this idea of the south being completely empty in various parts of really just boggles the mind. And then you add to the fact that there is a real sense of despair because Hezbollah has already said it will not adhere to any, I suppose, proceedings from these negotiations. And at the same time, the government has proven unable to disarm the group. And really the fact is that even the Israeli military is not able to disarm the group. You need a political breakthrough. You need a political solution. Right? There is no strategy for Israel right now because the fact is Hezbollah will not stop fighting. And that is what we've heard time and again until there is actually a political resolution and one that includes the group, not that is being negotiated only with the government.

[Bianna Golodriga]

And they've surprised many with how innovative that fighting has turned. Now, once again, Using drones, the same type of drones that we've seen on the battlefield in Ukraine now for a number of years. Nabibulos, good to see you. Thank you so much. Thank you very much for your reporting. Appreciate it.

[Nabe Boulos]

Thank you.

[Bianna Golodriga]

Well, we turn now to the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the number of confirmed Ebola cases now tops 300, with almost 50 dead. But the true number is likely far higher. Correspondent Clarissa Ward gained access to the red zone, an Ebola ward in the epicenter of the deadly outbreak.

[Clarissa Ward]

It is a surreal but now all too familiar ritual. Health care workers painstakingly disinfect the coffin of the latest suspected victim of the Ebola virus At Bunias General Hospital. His family members look on in anguish, unable to get close to their loved one. Torn apart by grief and consumed by fear. Oh my father. Why God, this woman cries. Oh God, this is my only father. As the dead are carried out, new potential cases are arriving. At the entrance to the hospital, everyone's temperature must be taken.

[Dr. Richard Kajol]

So this is the room where they take people who are found to have a fever. There is woman in there. Now, obviously they don't know if she has Ebola or not, but they're going to keep her here until they do more tests and get a better sense of what's going on.

[Clarissa Ward]

At a makeshift coordination center inside the hospital, Dr. Richard Kajol and his team are working round the clock to keep up with an outbreak they say is out of control. They agree to show me and photojournalist Alex Platt what they're up against.

[Dr. Richard Kajol]

We are now getting ready to go

[Alex Platt (photojournalist)]

into the so called red zone of this hospital. That is the area where all suspected Ebola patients are put.

[Dr. Richard Kajol]

And there is a lot of protective

[Alex Platt (photojournalist)]

gear, unsurprisingly, that one needs to wear to go inside.

[Clarissa Ward]

Bundibujo is a strain of the virus that few were expecting. There is no vaccine and no cure. The doctors write our names on our backs so they can recognize us, and then it's time to go in. At the moment, patients are treated in hastily constructed tents. 30 year old Gloria is a lab technician, one of dozens of health care workers believed to be infected.

[Alex Platt (photojournalist)]

She says it's difficult to breathe.

[Clarissa Ward]

Earlier, we met her sister waiting outside for news. Do not be afraid, she says. But it's impossible not to be scared. Some of the patients here are in very bad shape.

[Alex Platt (photojournalist)]

How do you stay strong when you're seeing this?

[Unidentified Guest (brief interjection)]

For me, it's our humanity.

[Alex Platt (photojournalist)]

Your humanity?

[Unidentified Guest (brief interjection)]

Yeah, it's our humanity. Many people are suffering like this. I feel it. I feel it.

[Clarissa Ward]

10 year old Meshak is still very weak, his mouth ravaged with blisters from the virus. He asked the doctors for a banana, an encouraging sign. Slowly, slowly. Dr. Kajan warns him his condition is improving, but he has a long way to go.

[Alex Platt (photojournalist)]

He wants to lay down. Let's help him lay down.

[Clarissa Ward]

Then they lay him down in the corridor while his room is disinfected. Nothing about this situation is okay, but these doctors are doing everything they possibly can. As we walk to another ward, a familiar sound. In the distance distance,

[Alex Platt (photojournalist)]

You can hear the cries of a family for claiming the body of their loved one. This is a scene that's playing out here multiple times every single day.

[Clarissa Ward]

This is a temporary ward for suspected cases. Patients lie waiting for test results that are taking up to a week to process.

[Alex Platt (photojournalist)]

So this is the situation that healthcare workers really want to avoid and are racing to put a stop to. You have five patients in the same room, all of them suspected of having Ebola. But doctors can't be sure. They can't rule out the possibility that one person in here may not have Ebola. And then of course, there's a strong chance they could contract it.

[Clarissa Ward]

Every exit from the red zone is as careful as the entry. Protective equipment must be sprayed down with chlorine, methodically removed.

[Dr. Richard Kajol]

We were in there for maybe half an hour and I could barely stand up by the end. It's incredibly tiring, really hot. You're sweating so much, you're thirsty. I just like help us understand the kind of stamina that you need as a doctor to be going in and out of that red zone multiple times every single day.

[Unidentified Guest (brief interjection)]

It's really hard. We have to stand strong for those patients and otherwise, you know, situation will be really very, very bad.

[Dr. Richard Kajol]

That 10 year old boy, that's hard to see.

[Unidentified Guest (brief interjection)]

The first day, you know, was really bleeding, a lot of diarrhea, in shock, you know, so you have to get way to give IV fluid. It's not really easy, so. And for me, you know, like ICU doctor when you have a situation like this, it's very hard just to say, I have to stop because I'm tired.

[Clarissa Ward]

On the outskirts of the city, the family we met earlier is burying their father, 72 year old farmer papa Babona Baudouin. The burial team forms a cordon around his grave. The mourners forced to grieve at a distance the final cruelty of this vicious virus.

[Bianna Golodriga]

Clarissa Ward reporting there from Bunya in the Democratic Republic of Congo. And do stay with cnn. We'll be right back after the break.

[Michael Ian Black]

Tev I've got news for your ears. The podcast. I am your host Michael Ian Black. We're talking about Trump's stock trades, his IRS lawsuit, his slush fund. Bill Cassidy learns what happens when you CR Donald Trump.

[Jorge Castaneda]

Members of Congress cannot corruptly profit from using insider information.

[Michael Ian Black]

He never said presidents can't find themselves based on insider information. He didn't say that. Have I got news for your ears. Check us out on Apple, Amazon, Music, wherever you get your podcast. Even better, you can watch the Vodcast on Spotify.

[Bianna Golodriga]

Now. Far right outsider candidate Abelardo de la Esprier Esperia ran surprisingly strong in Colombia's presidential election, setting up a heated runoff election later this month against the leftist candidate Ivan Cepeda. De la Esprilla is a self described conservative nationalist running on a bombastic tough on crime platform. Cepeda promises to carry on the progressive policies of incumbent President Gustavo Petro. But with the threat of criminal gang violence rising, Colombian voters may choose change over more of the same. And another potential change. President Pedro has a fraught relationship with Washington. De la Esprilla with his law and order rhetoric, speaks favorably of Donald Trump. So what does this all mean? Jorge Castaneda served as Mexican foreign minister and he joins me now from Mexico City to discuss it all.

[Hari Sreenivasan]

It's good to have you back on the program, Jorge. So de la Esprilla really seemed to come out of nowhere and running on a security and extortion campaign. And his rise is really in part with the regional right wing rise that we've seen take over, as I mentioned, regionally, but one could argue around the world as well. Is he just an outsider who picked up on an important policy and issue

[Bianna Golodriga]

for voters or is he part of that change?

[Jorge Castaneda]

Great to be back with you, Jana. I think it's a little bit of both. There are specifically Colombian elements in the fact that he did so well, surprisingly in the first round of the Colombian elections, way outpacing the other conservative candidate, Maria Valencia, who was thought to have been in a tie with him and in fact ended up getting almost 35% less than he did on this first round. There were specifically Colombian issues such as a very serious crisis in the health system, such as the violence and the problems with the United States and President Petro's eccentric behavior on occasion. But there are also broader things, very clearly that one of the trends we see in Latin America over the last couple of years, Vienna, is that societies are increasingly nervous and upset about what they consider to be much greater levels of violence, of crime, of lack of security, etc. We saw this in Ecuador, we saw this in Chile, we saw this a little bit in Argentina, we may see it in Brazil later this year. And clearly the situation in Colombia is that President Petro's total peace strategy is perceived to not have worked. Violences up in many areas of the country and Esprilla's hardline Bukele like approach to violence, recalling the President of El Salvador and throwing a lot of people in jail was evidently very agreeable to the Colombian electorate. And he seems well poised to win in the runoff in three weeks time.

[Bianna Golodriga]

Yeah, you took the words right out of my mouth comparing him to a

[Hari Sreenivasan]

Bekele style crackdown here. And Diasprea promised that if elected he will end Colombia's conflict in 90 days. Also very Trumpy and think like two weeks or one day I can finish the war in Ukraine. Here's what he said specifically.

[Abelardo de la Esprilla (quoted)]

In my government there will be no peace processes. Empirical experience has taught us that peace processes in Colombia have gone wrong. Therefore what is needed is to apply the pax roman that which is achieved with the force of arms and the laws of the republic. Bandits who do not surrender will be neutralized as the law dictates.

[Bianna Golodriga]

So is that a doable policy in your view?

[Jorge Castaneda]

Well, it's been tried before in Colombia, particularly during the long civil war with the FARC guerrillas that lasted nearly 40 years. It was tried particularly under President Alvaro Ribeira with mixed results. He certainly weakened the FARC and that made President Santos peace agreements feasible. But at the same time there were very significant human rights abuses, the so called false positives in Colombia, where the military would execute people who had nothing to do with the guerrillas, just to present them as sort of a body count of dead guerrillas. So this strategy may work now, but the historical precedents are not particularly encouraging. And I think he will have to, if he wins, will have to deal with these historical realities and the realities on the ground that trying to neutralize, as he put it, all of the remnant guerrilla groups, which are somewhere between guerrilla groups, narco guerrillas and just plain bandits, a little bit of all of those is going to be much more complicated than he seems to think.

[Bianna Golodriga]

Yeah, it's quite different.

[Hari Sreenivasan]

And it's been noted that the issues and even the issues related to crime in El Salvador are different. In Colombia, for example, El Salvador, you have got street gangs. In Colombia you are dealing with guerrillas in armed groups as well. Nonetheless, D' Esprille said that he's going to 10 maximum security prisons At a time when the economy is also front and center for voters, does that resonate hearing more detention centers, more prisons are promised?

[Jorge Castaneda]

Well, I think Colombians, in a first response to these views, probably think that they're a good idea. Why don't we just throw them all in jail and if we don't have enough jails, why don't we just build more and then we will deal with all of this. The problem, as we have seen in El Salvador, is, first of all, you end up jailing a lot of innocent people. Secondly, your judicial system has no way to try them, give them a fair trial, due process, etc. And thirdly, El Salvador is a very small country of 6,7 million inhabitants, even less where an enormous percentage of the population is in jail. The equivalent percentage in Colombia would be somewhere over a million people. That's probably not doable. In addition to which Colombia, Colombia's geography, Colombia's economy is very different from El Salvador's. El Salvador lives a great extent of remittances. Although Colombia has received greater remittances in recent years, its economy is in just so, so shape.

[Hari Sreenivasan]

If we do see a de la Esprilla victory, and it'll be interesting to see if President Trump weighs in too, because there is this argument from the progressive left in the region that this is the United States interfering with a sovereign country. So I'm curious to see what President Trump will say, if anything, about this. But given the right word trend that we are seeing in a number of these regional countries, how do you think that impacts where the US Stands vis a vis Cuba today and the pressure the United States continues to apply to that island nation?

[Jorge Castaneda]

Well, clearly, if Del Espriella wins in Colombia, that would be a flip in the sense that President Petro has been a strong supporter of the Cuban dictatorship, has been a strong critic of the Trump policy towards the Cuban dictatorship, And also until January 3rd, a strong supporter, albeit with annoyance on his part, of former dictator Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela. So this flip would mean that with the exception now of Uruguay, Brazil and Mexico, practically every other country in Latin America would tend to be aligned with President Trump and his policies on Cuba, on Venezuela, on Nicaragua and on other international issues. Obviously, Dennis Prieya would probably be a very strong supporter of Trump's hard line on Cuba, as opposed to Pedro being a relative supporter, more rhetorically than in fact, by the way, let me move

[Bianna Golodriga]

to your country, your home country of Mexico, because we have seen policy clashes

[Hari Sreenivasan]

between Claudia Sheinbaum and the Trump administration over Cuba and now over the weekend, it was interesting to see her accuse US agencies, perhaps even the CIA and business interests, of working to undermine her own government. She pinned it on the American far right, coordinating with her own internal domestic opponents.

[Bianna Golodriga]

Here's what she said that

[Claudia Sheinbaum]

Is it truly a legitimate interest in combating organized crime, or are we perhaps witnessing how sectors of the American far right are using our country to position themselves ahead of their 2026 elections, or do they perhaps intend to influence the 2027 election in our country? These are not rhetorical questions. Mexico is not anyone's pinata.

[Bianna Golodriga]

What's interesting here, Jorge, is she's not blaming Trump directly.

[Hari Sreenivasan]

So this is actually a delicate line

[Bianna Golodriga]

for her to walk down.

[Hari Sreenivasan]

Can she rally the country against the US against these right wing forces both in the US and in Mexico, without

[Bianna Golodriga]

clashing further with the Trump administration?

[Jorge Castaneda]

I tend to doubt it, Viana, because, because President Trump and his closest aides, particularly Stephen Miller, are very attentive to what is happening in what is said in Mexico and very sensitive to criticisms or rhetoric that seems to be anti American, anti Trump, et cetera. I think that she has decided that given the Trump, Trump demands that she hand over a series of narco politicians, as we call them in Mexico, and particularly the sitting governor of the state of Sinaloa, whose extradition has been demanded by President Trump. If she doesn't hand them over, I think the Trump administration will get very upset. Conversely, if she does hand them over, the danger is that many of the accusations made against, against this Governor Rochamoya could affect her directly because what he is accused of, among other things, is of having made a deal with the cartels, particularly the Sinaloa cartel, to receive money for his campaign in exchange for letting them operate once he was elected governor. There are many people in Mexico who believe that that money also went to Claudia Schoenbaum's campaign, her primary campaign in 2023 and her presidential campaign in 2024. And I'm not sure she wants Munoz Rochamoya in Brooklyn in a court testifying that he knew that she had received financing from the cartels. She would want to avoid that at all costs. But I'm not sure I know how President Trump is going to react to that, her refusal to hand him and others over.

[Bianna Golodriga]

Well, we know he usually takes issues like this very personally, so we'll wait

[Hari Sreenivasan]

and see how he responds here. Also interesting to note that the USMCA

[Bianna Golodriga]

is up for renewal by July 1st.

[Hari Sreenivasan]

That is between, obviously trade between, between

[Bianna Golodriga]

the United States, Mexico and Canada.

[Hari Sreenivasan]

We'll see how that renegotiation process continues. Jorge Castaneda, always good to see you. Thank you so much.

[Bianna Golodriga]

Really appreciate it.

[Jorge Castaneda]

Thank you, Vienna.

[Bianna Golodriga]

We'll be right back after this short break. Now turn turning to an issue that affects people across the United States. Access to food stamps. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP benefits, are a vital lifeline for many low income families, helping them get the groceries they need to feed their households. But now millions have lost that lifeline. And at a time where consumers are struggling with the rising price of necessities

[Hari Sreenivasan]

like food and fuel, it's just the

[Bianna Golodriga]

latest cutback resulting from President Trump's so

[Hari Sreenivasan]

called big beautiful Bill act.

[Bianna Golodriga]

Professor of public health policy at Harvard, Sarah Naomi Bleich joins Hari Sreenivasan to break down what this means.

[Interviewer (Hari Sreenivasan or Bianna Golodriga)]

Bianna, thanks. Sarah. Naomi Bleich, thanks so much for joining us. Just recently there have been a lot of headlines about people losing SNAP benefits. And I guess to set the table for our audience a little bit, how significant are the changes and how do SNAP benefits work in the United States?

[Sarah Naomi Bleich]

Yeah, thank you very much for having me. It's great to be here. So the changes are very significant. Millions and millions of people are going to lose access to SNAP benefits. And before talking about some of the changes, just want to set the table on how important this program is. So snap, which stands for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs, it used to be called food stamps. It's the nation's largest anti hunger program. And so each month it serves about 42 million individuals. And that's about one in eight Americans. Now, 70% of those individuals are children, older adults or people with disabilities. And the vast majority of families that participate in SNAP have incomes below the poverty line, which is about $33,000 for a family of four. And there's tons of evidence which shows that SNAP has positive impacts on the economy and it has positive impacts on individuals. So when it comes to the economy, SNAP helps to stabilize it because it's designed to be countercyclical. So what does that mean? It means that as the economy worsens, enrollment goes up and as the economy improves, enrollment goes down. And it's been very effective at that during the Great Recession, during COVID We also know that for local economies, SNAP is very effective. So for every dollar in SNAP benefits, that generates about $1.50 to $1.80 in economic activity. And then for individuals, SNAP does a lot of really important things. It helps to lift families out of poverty because it provides monthly. So then families can then free up some of their income for other things they need, like rent and utilities. It also helps to reduce food insecurity by about 30% and it improves health and well being. So, for example, the annual medical costs for a SNAP participant are about 25% lower than someone who's eligible for the program but not participating.

[Interviewer (Hari Sreenivasan or Bianna Golodriga)]

One of the rationales being offered by people in the administration and others is that, look, this was supposed to be temporary, that there isn't any incentive for them to get off of snap, start working, be on their own anymore. What's wrong with that thinking?

[Sarah Naomi Bleich]

What's wrong with that thinking is that SNAP has very clear requirements, which is based on your income, it's based on your assets. And so families qualify because they fall into a category which suggests that they have need for this program. It's also the case that while Covid has ended, and a lot of the temporary programs that were in place during COVID have ended, food prices remain high. They're about 30% higher than they were three years ago. So families on the program are really struggling. In fact, there was a study that was done which found that if you look at the SNAP benefit, which is about $180 per person per month, that's about $6 a day, what the analysis shows is that it is only sufficient to buy a moderately priced meal in 1% of US counties, which means that in 99% of US counties, the benefit is not adequate.

[Interviewer (Hari Sreenivasan or Bianna Golodriga)]

Okay, so let's go through some of the changes that people are hearing about. I guess the first is the really large scale, the $187 billion in funding put that in perspective for us.

[Sarah Naomi Bleich]

Yeah, so the law passed in July of 2025, and it makes major structural changes. And those structural changes are going to mean that millions of people lose coverage. So you mentioned the cut to overall, the overall size of the program. And so what will happen over the the next 10 years, so between now and 2034, is that the overall size of the SNAP program will go down by $187 billion. That is a 20% cut, and it's the largest cut in the program's history. So that's one big structural change. Another big structural change. The law is expanding the number of adults that are subject to what are called three month time limits. And that means you can only receive snap for three months within three years unless you work for 20 hours a week or 80 hours a month. And so those new rules are going to apply to a bunch of different groups. It's going to apply to adults that are ages 55 to 64 and they don't have dependents. And it used to be 18 to 54. So it's expanded that group without dependents. It's going to apply to caregivers or parents that have children that are age 14 or older. It used to be aged 18. And then previously exempt groups are being pulled in. So veterans, people experiencing homelessness, and youth aging out of foster care. So to make that more concrete, take a single mom, she has a 15 year old child and she's working part time to take care of her child and she loses her eligibility. Her family's overall monthly SNAP assistance will go from $546 a month to $298 a month. So that's a huge shift for a family. And then the third thing that's happening is that there's going to be a big shift in the cost of the program towards the states. And so historically, SNAP and the federal government have split the administrative costs of the program. Now, that's a smaller amount of the overall pie of the program. But now what's going to happen beginning in fiscal year 2027 or this October is that states are responsible for 75% of administrative costs. So that's millions of dollars that states will have to start paying. The bigger change for states is going to happen in the next fiscal year, fiscal year 28, for the very first time, states will have to pay a share of the SNAP benefits. And that's going to range from 5% to 15% based on their payment error rates. And what payment error rates are referring to is the amount that a family is under or overpaid for their SNAP benefit. Now, this is where states could face huge, huge amounts of money. And so just to give you an example, if a state has an error rate over 10%, then they will have to pay 15% of benefits when this goes into effect. So in fiscal year, it's huge. So in fiscal year 24, North Carolina's error rate was 10.2%. The state received $2.9 billion in annual SNAP benefits for people in the state. Based on this new penalty, North Carolina would owe $440 million. And so states are really scrambling to try to work on their payment error rates right now.

[Interviewer (Hari Sreenivasan or Bianna Golodriga)]

So if you suddenly have a new payment, if you're a state of $440 million that you didn't plan for, what are your options? I mean, could states just say, you know what, how about I just turn SNAP off altogether?

[Sarah Naomi Bleich]

They can, they can. And it remains to be seen what will happen. But yes, states could choose to exit the program entirely, which would leave millions of families without a lifeline.

[Interviewer (Hari Sreenivasan or Bianna Golodriga)]

For when you look at the larger timeline here, why do you think that this is happening at this juncture now? I mean, were there economic preconditions? Were there any kinds of, you know, fraud, waste and abuse? Were there red flags that were going up that said SNAP needs significant structural reform and these sorts of cuts are what's necessary?

[Sarah Naomi Bleich]

Yeah, that's a great question. So it's important that we separate fraud from payment error. So fraud is intentionally trying to remove money from the program. And actually, fraud rates in SNAP are very low. They're even low relative to other safety net programs that the government runs. So when it comes to fraud, SNAP is doing quite well. So another question then is, so what's happening with payment error rates and why have they gone up? And the reality is they have gone up in recent years, but the question is, why? So one of the things that happened during COVID is that temporary measures were put in place with the goal of helping families to maintain or to create access to snap, because the goal was, we need to control food insecurity. If you remember I mentioned that when the Great Recession happened and there was a big upswing in the number of people on snap, there was also a big upswing in food insecurity because families just didn't have enough with the increases that happen with the enrollment into SNAP. Food insecurity was actually kept very steady at about 10% during COVID which was a huge achievement and a testament to how powerful the program could be. And so basically, these temporary changes that were put in place by the federal government were basically designed to help states with this enormous caseload that they were having to deal with. And so states had a number of options, and most of them took advantage of one of the three options. So they could waive the interview requirements during the application or recertification, they could extend the certification periods to reduce the number of times you have to reapply, and you can even use telephone signatures to streamline remote application processing. Now, one thing that's important to know is that the payment error rates are really reflecting unintentional mistakes made by the state agency or the applicants. And so that could include you make a miscalculation or there's incomplete information. Again, the priority during COVID was to keep the food assistance flowing. But it's going to be a real challenge for states to actually rein these payment error rates, rates in by fiscal year 2028. In part because there's this compressed timeline. There's been this big reduction in force by the Trump administration. And so there are fewer people in place to do all of this administrative work.

[Interviewer (Hari Sreenivasan or Bianna Golodriga)]

One of the things that people who are supporting these changes say is, look, it shouldn't be that difficult for you to document that you're working 20 hours a week. What's wrong with that idea?

[Sarah Naomi Bleich]

Well, one thing that's really important to know is that there is a misconception that people who are in SNAP are not working. What the vast majority of literature shows is that people who can work, do work. And so what this time limit requirement is, which, again, is expanding the number of people that have to respond to this stricter time limit. And if they don't, they only get benefits for three months out of three years. It's really just a paperwork requirement, because here's what has to happen in practice. Again, most people who can work, do work. Now, you're subject to this additional role. You have to personally document it. You have to submit it to the state agency. The state agency then has to document the fact that you are still eligible to receive benefits. So it's creating a massive amount of paperwork, and there's not enough people to process all this paperwork. And so it's just going to gum up the system.

[Interviewer (Hari Sreenivasan or Bianna Golodriga)]

Okay, so what about about a population that might be qualifying who have mixed immigrant households. So the child might be born in the United States US Citizen eligible for SNAP benefits, but maybe one of the parents is not. I wonder if what we've been living through for the last year or so, the increased deportations, the focus on ICE raids in different parts of the country, whether that's affecting who will bother to register and what happens to the child who's eligible for the benefits in the first place.

[Sarah Naomi Bleich]

Yeah, it's an excellent point. So it is definitely the case that confusion about who is eligible for SNAP right now, particularly among mixed immigrant households, is very, very high. We've seen this in the past, we're definitely seeing it now. So it's very possible that individuals who could get benefits for their children, but not for themselves, are opting not to apply because there's a fear that it will impact immigration status. Another change that happened through H R1 as well is that it ended eligibility for people with lawful immigration status, which adds to the confusion right now as to who or who is not eligible for SNAP benefits right now.

[Interviewer (Hari Sreenivasan or Bianna Golodriga)]

There's also this kind of political impetus to try to make America healthy again. Right. And you and your colleagues have Kind of written about, reframing this discussion about, about food insecurity and benefits. And I'm wondering, is there some sort of political path here where these two ideologies could have some overlap and see the benefit in having people fed?

[Sarah Naomi Bleich]

Yeah. So the, you know, the platform, the Make America Healthy Again platform, is premised on the idea that chronic disease is high, which is true. And that those rates need to be brought down, especially among children, which is also true. The platform makes an enormous amount of sense. The challenge is that the way the platform is being implemented is that we're seeing these changes, like these massive CAD cuts to snap, which are completely undermining the ability of the MAHA platform. So I think that there is a lot of opportunity for MAHA to have impact. But the changes that we're seeing as part of this administration are really working for counter purposes.

[Interviewer (Hari Sreenivasan or Bianna Golodriga)]

I'm speaking to you now as a professor at, at one of the most prestigious institutions in America, Harvard. Right. And I've read in your profile that as a child growing up in inner city Baltimore that your family benefited from SNAP and wic.

[Sarah Naomi Bleich]

That's exactly right. So growing up and I grew up in inner city Baltimore in a low, low income, working class neighborhood and my parents were public school teachers. I have a twin sister, I have an older brother. When we were really little, my mom stepped out of the workforce to take care of us and we received SNAP benefits for a period. We received WIC benefits for a period. It was a critical lifeline for my family. And so it's been a real honor to be able to work on these programs professionally and to be an alumni of these programs because I know firsthand how impactful they can be.

[Interviewer (Hari Sreenivasan or Bianna Golodriga)]

What are the impacts that we're going to start seeing that you know, and is supported by the data in two years, five years, when these populations of SNAP shrink.

[Sarah Naomi Bleich]

So one thing we've seen just in terms of the shrinkage, the law was passed. HR1 was passed in July of 2025, six months later in February. So just a few months ago, SNAP enrollment had gone down by three and a half million, or about 9%. So the reduction of the program is happening and it's happening very quickly. It's also important to understand that if someone loses SNAP benefits because of the changes that are happening through HR1, it can also disrupt their access to other federal safety net programs like the big cuts to Medicaid through HR1. So you lose Medicaid, you also lose SNAP. And then families are facing this tidal wave of impacts and they will not have resources to deal with them. A final point to mention as all these things are happening is that we are losing our ability to actually measure these impacts because the national monitoring system, which was the House Household Food Security Report, which comes out annually, that's been eliminated. The last data came out in January 2025, and it will not be going forward. And so without those metrics to understand what impact are all these changes happening on food insecurity, what we're likely to see is that we're going to start focusing on program costs, we're going to start focusing on error rates. We're not going to be focusing on the thing that SNAP is designed to address, which is food insecurity. And so that gives me a great amount of concern in the coming five years.

[Interviewer (Hari Sreenivasan or Bianna Golodriga)]

Professor of Public Health Policy at Harvard, Saranomi Blyche. Thanks so much for joining us.

[Sarah Naomi Bleich]

Thank you for having me.

[Bianna Golodriga]

Now to Paris, where a centuries old landmark is being completely transformed. The Pont Neuf, the city's oldest bridge, has become the latest canvas for the acclaimed French artist jr, who has turned it into a giant walkable cave. If it looks familiar, it's because it's a tribute to late artists Christo and Jean Claude, who wrapped this same bridge in fabric some 40 years ago. For JR, it was an opportunity to make busy Parisians do something unusual. Stop and look around. Melissa Bell gained exclusive early access.

[Melissa Bell]

For weeks, it's been the talk of the town. It's often said that Paris is just an open air museum, but here, the city's oldest bridge, the Pont Neuf, that has been brought to a new level by the French artist jr and this monumental grotto. Let's have a look inside. The idea also is, Kemi, that we're all kind of wrapped up in algorithms. We're all slightly separate as you walk through here. And it takes 15 minutes to get to the end of the bridge. Yeah, everyone who walks through here is doing it together. There's something about that.

[JR's Assistant or Collaborator]

Yeah. Because for us, the main criteria for that project is for sure, the visitors. We had to inflate it like two weeks ago. And the idea for us was really to create that expectation and we want people to be surprised.

[Melissa Bell]

This holds.

[JR's Assistant or Collaborator]

Yes.

[Melissa Bell]

Because of air pressure.

[JR's Assistant or Collaborator]

Exactly. So there's no, there's no strains. There is nothing that hold it. Just like changing the pressure behind those walls that would make it rise and hold.

[Melissa Bell]

Wow, that's amazing. It was in 1985 that the Pont Neuf was wrapped in fabric by the artists Christo and Jeanne Claude. Three million people visited. Then another of Christo's ideas was realized in 2021 with the wrapping of the the Arc de Triomphe. It's an artistic legacy that JR's cave honors and evolves.

[JR's Assistant or Collaborator]

It's almost like a living organism because night looks it's a weird so you really feel the weather around you, but you're still deep inside something that you never experienced before.

[Melissa Bell]

It looks like you're walking through a cave.

[JR's Assistant or Collaborator]

That's how it feels you for the people to see that they are going deep in a cave. Dark round while we're still outside and we're still on the bridge.

[Melissa Bell]

A chance for visitors to lose themselves in space and time in one of the most famous places on Earth.

[Bianna Golodriga]

Incredible. Our thanks to correspondent Melissa Bell in Paris for that report. And finally, a history making day at the French Open with an all Ukrainian quarter final match today in Paris. Elina Svetlin will head to the head to head with Marta Kostiuk. And after three nail biting sets, Kostiuk is heading to the semifinal, the first tennis player from her country to do so. The historic singles match at Roland Garros was made even more poignant with the ever present reminder of war raging back in the athlete's home. An emotional Kostyuk got a huge cheer from the crowd during the her courtside interview when she dedicated her win to the Ukrainian people and to their resilience. All right, that is an incredible image. That does it for now. If you ever miss our show, you can find the latest episode shortly after it airs on our podcast. And remember, you can always catch us online, on our website and all over social media. Thanks for watching and goodbye from New York.

[Sarah Naomi Bleich]

From the descendants of history makers involved in the Louisiana Purchase to the Lewis and Clark expedition, discover the untold stories of American expansion in the CNN original series this Land, premiering June 7th on CNN.

[Anderson Cooper]

Hey, I'm Anderson Cooper. On my podcast All There Is, we explore grief and loss in all its complexities. As Ken Burns said on an earlier podcast, the half life of grief is endless. Mariska Hargitay knows that very well. Jayne Mansfield was killed in a car crash in 1967. Mariska was in the car with her. After decades spent coming to terms with her past and wanting to learn more about the mother she doesn't remember, Mariska has made a remarkable documentary called My Mom Jane.

[Dr. Richard Kajol]

Our vulnerability is our greatest strength and our greatest connector. And so in telling the story, I don't feel vulnerable. I feel free. We all have a story and you never know what somebody else carries.

[Anderson Cooper]

Talking grief, building community. That's what the podcast is all about. This is all there is. Listen and follow wherever you get your podcasts.