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CNN LIVE EVENT/SPECIAL

British PM Asks Queen To Suspend Parliament; Puerto Rico Braces For Direct Hit From Dorian; Queen Approves UK PM's Request To Suspend Parliament; Smuggling Drives Cheetahs To Edge Of Extinction; Opioid Maker Purdue Pharma In Talks To Settle 2,000 Lawsuits; Brazil Accepts Britain's Offer Of $12M To Fight Amazon Fires; 2018 Champion Naomi Osaka Survives Shaky Start; Tsitsipas Insults Umpire In Opening-Round Exit; Rafa Nadal Breezes In Opening Match; Dutch Giants Ajax Face Tough Road To Group Stage. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired August 28, 2019 - 10:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:00:00] ROBYN CURNOW, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, great to have you along. I'm Robyn Curnow. We do indeed have breaking news this hour.

Tropical storm is bearing down on Puerto Rico. We will have that in just a few minutes time. But first as you can see I'm joined by Max Foster. We're going to go straight to London where the British Prime Minister is moving to suspend parliament.

Max, hi. Tell us more.

MAX FOSTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Robyn. Boris Johnson formally asking the Queen to suspend parliament early next month. The Prime Minister laid out the time line for what happens after that a bit earlier. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: We're not going to wait until October the 31st before getting on with our plans to take this country forward, and that's why we are going to have Queen's speech, and we're going to do it on October the 14th. And we've got to move ahead now with a new legislative program.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Critics say the move is meant to limit the chances for parliament to prevent a no-deal Brexit. The campaigners behind me calling out parliamentary coup.

The opposition Labour Party calls it an affront to democracy was leader Jeremy Corbyn says he's written to the Queen in protest. Mr. Johnson insists MPs will have the opportunity to debate Brexit here and then move on with it the week before the deadline.

Anna Stewart is outside 10 Downing Street for us. How will that look in terms of parliamentary procedure from here then? This is not what we expected next week. ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: This is certainly not what we expected. Parliament will return on Tuesday as planned but there will be even more of a rush now for opposition MPs and rebel MPs within the Conservative Party to try and find another work around to try and prevent a no-deal Brexit.

Interestingly of course, Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, said that what he's doing is simply enabling a new sessions so we can set out new domestic policies. Doesn't say that he's aiming to Brexit but he says it's totally untrue that Brexit is the driving force behind the decision to prorogate parliament, to call a Queen's speech.

Take a listen to what he said. He said there's plenty of time for MPs still to debate Brexit after that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNSON: There will be ample time on both sides of that crucial October the 17th summit, ample time in parliament for MPs to debate, the EU debate, Brexit and all the other issues. Ample time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEWART: Of course, the opposition is saying there's certainly not ample time, not nearly enough time. And interestingly, Max, one of the most sort of key people in this whole controversial episode will be the speaker of the House of Commons behind you John Bercow.

I want to show you what he said today that was very interesting. He said, however it is dressed up it is blindingly obvious that the purpose of prorogation now will be to stop parliament debating Brexit and performing its duty in shaping a course for the country. Now, this is man who really does have the power to break with some certain conventions in parliament to help enable potentially opposition MPs to find a legislative work around next week or the week after. Max?

FOSTER: OK. Thank you, Anna, in Downing Street. Down the road, David Morris is a Conservative MP who originally voted to remain in the EU. His constituency votes to leave though and he supported the deals that followed. He joins me now on the phone.

So where do you stand on this latest announcement from Downing Street, David?

DAVID MORRIS, BRITISH CONSERVATIVE MP: Well, I think the Prime Minister is correct in the assumption that there is two weeks to be discussed before we actually leave with no-deal if we don't come around to a deal itself.

As for the speaker saying it's constitutionally or constitutional vandalism. And, you know, he's affront to the constitution, you know, he wants to look at his own record. He actually did that to himself by allowing Dominic Grieve to take over the (inaudible) through something that goes in the government's gift.

So, you know, I think the six and one half doesn't (INAUDIBLE) on all of this, but at the end of the day the Prime Minister said that leave and gone the 31st of October with a deal or without one. And he knew we've come to crunch time, haven't we?

FOSTER: We have come to crunch time. How do you see the parliamentary process playing out next week because, obviously, Boris Johnson and his team have planned all of this during the summer recess? Parliament has been sitting, so do you think he's managed to get control of the situation like he's hoping?

MORRIS: As far as we know gains going on in Number 10 and in Westminster, I can actually tell you that I've spoken to quite a few senior cabinet ministers to have meetings within next week, and all of those meetings were confirmed.

[10:05:06] I'm waiting to find out if those meetings are going to be canceled. But as far as I can see from the way this is turning out, we've got one week which is obviously, I actually want to go back in, to be in parliament to deviously debating this further, this prorogation parliament.

And then we've got another two weeks after, so we're looking at a three-week period which in effect, you know, I think we're only one week short of that with prorogation for the new government to set out what it wants to do.

That in itself is a constitutional -- it's not an anomaly at all. It's actually a constitutional fact. You know, the constitution is actually behaving as it should do. The Privy Council have met with the Queen. The tradition of the constitution has been met unfollowed.

What is different in this case is that we're about probably week's worth of parliamentary business that would not be taken forward. But having said that, you know, the speaker is very good at granting emergency questions, you know, urgent questions at the drop of the hat and on very little substance. So you know, you could argue both sides of the fence. But, yes, you know, we've got a week less to debate. But then again we'll do it, how do we less debate with all the shenanigans of the opposition and the speaker?

FOSTER: OK. David Morris, British Conservative MP from Morecambe here in England.

Many of the party members here within the rolling Conservative Party have different views from the Prime Minister. So that's one of the issues he'll have to contend with. Also the Queen having to contend with the idea that there the remaining parliament who want her to go back on this suspension as she granted the Prime Minister.

That's putting her into an extremely awkward position, Robyn. As you can imagine, she always try to say above politics, on top of that she's on holiday.

But she actually got a call this morning from the Prime Minister. Not her ideal situation.

CURNOW: No, it's not. And we'll chat more to you -- more with you a little bit later on in the show. Max, good to see you. Thanks so much coming to us there from London.

But I do want to update you now and turn to a potential disaster moving through the Caribbean right how.

A tropical storm Dorian is building strength, just take a look at this images and could hit Puerto Rico some time today. The island is under a state of emergency and people are being warned of heavy rains and potential flooding, and landslides. The storm could take roughly the same path hurricane Maria took two years ago.

Now some of the wounds from that catastrophe have still not healed, and that makes island even more vulnerable and Dorian even more dangerous.

While Puerto Rico's power infrastructure, as you well know, is fragile and some people still have tarpaulins over their homes two years after Maria ripped off their roofs.

Well, let's go to the east coast of Puerto Rico. Omar Jimenez is there with more. What's happening on the ground right now? Hi.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Robyn. Yes, we are on the east coast of Puerto Rico, in the town known as Humacao, just about 50 or so kilometers from the capital of San Juan. And the preparations here are much like what we have seen across the island. Schools are closed, nonessential government employees are home from work. People are trying to prepare their homes for whatever Dorian may end up bringing to this island.

One of the main fears, of course, comes from the amount of rainfall and flooding that could come through this infrastructure that in some cases is still dealing with effects directly dealt by Hurricane Maria. They came close to two years ago now.

In fact, yesterday we are going around the southern portion of this island and there were many homes that still had makeshift repairs, some that were still destroyed but haven't been able to have the resources really at this point to rebuild from that. And that is where they are planning to ride out whatever Dorian brings.

Again, now, what we are expecting right now, we have been feeling the outer bands of Dorian come in and out over the course of this morning here in Puerto Rico. We expected to get much worse as we head into the evening hours and especially overnight tonight into tomorrow.

From there we'll begin a damage assessment phase. An assessment phase they hope here is not a big one but one that they are prepared for nonetheless. Federal emergency management officials are on the ground here. The governor says about 500 personnel or so. And President Trump did sign an emergency declaration for the island here to make sure that they can be mobilized and ready to go whenever necessary.

President Trump says the White House is monitoring the track of the storm closely. But also in that same breadth criticized San Juan's Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz here and that came after she criticized him yesterday. So that's a relationship we will keep an eye on moving forward especially as resources get dealt.

But nonetheless, there are shelters open and emergency officials have just tried to make sure they disseminate all the relevant phone numbers and all the relevant locations for anyone that may need it when this Dorian event comes through.

[10:10:04] Again, with Hurricane Maria's two year -- close to two year anniversary coming up, still very much top of mind. Robyn?

CURNOW: Yes, it certainly is. And we've heard story after story about how people were still struggling to rebuild their lives after that.

So I do want to hear more about the conversations you've had with people. How are they feeling? Is there a sense of strength or is there a real concern that they're about to be hit again and perhaps also not get the support they need from the Trump administration?

JIMENEZ: I think there's a little bit of both as far as a concern versus strength. And look, there are many people who when the threat of Dorian even came on the horizon, immediately they went to the grocery stores, went and got exactly as much as they needed and some parts. When we got here two days ago, you had to search far and wide for just a packet of water bottles. And I think that showed that how seriously people were taking this. Even if this is coming in at much strength that Hurricane Maria came though.

Now, on the other hand, we spoke to someone who still had part of their home destroyed from when Maria came through, and she frankly said she was nervous. There are parts of her roof, her makeshift roof now, that do have leaks in this. So whenever it rained a period, water would come into their home.

And she was scrambling yesterday with one of her family members just to try and patch up portions of that roof. So whenever the amount of rainfall comes through that at least they can stay dry underneath again would -- has been a makeshift thin roof for her at this point.

So it is a little bit of both on that front and as far as resources on the other side of this, the mayors here, we've spoken to a few of them of at this point, say that it starts with them. Seventy eight mayors on the island of Puerto Rico and the first responders for when Dorian is actually on the ground, they hope they never even have to get to the point where they were asking for help from the outside.

So that is where it's going to start. And we at least know from this point is that FEMA is already here, Federal Emergency Management officials here trying to mobilize certain resources if they need it, about 500 or so. So we'll keep an eye on that.

But as far as the mood, people are ready. They are nervous, they are anxious for what Dorian will bring and hopefully it just passes with nothing close as to as serious as what we saw on Maria.

CURNOW: OK. And of course, CNN will continue to monitor that. Thanks for that report there. Omar Jimenez there, appreciate it. OK, and we do have some breaking news. I want to take you straight back to London. Max Foster is standing by with more on the Queen and Brexit and parliament.

FOSTER: Yes, absolutely, Robyn. I wish I had confirmation that the Queen has granted the suspension of parliament that the prime minister requested. She's on holiday at Balmoral, so the formalities are involved here that Privy Council has to be present. Three members of the Privy Council have to travel up there to Scotland which is interesting because they managed to keep all of this very much under wraps.

So the Queen found out before the rest of the nation, which is often the case in these situations. But it's interesting that they managed to keep it quiet. It's also significant because the leader of the opposition, Jeremy Corbyn, has appealed to the Queen to sort of turn down this request.

Now that we know it's been approved, there's no going back on it. There will be a suspension of parliament and the new parliament coming up next month. Peter Bones with me Member of Parliament who's been pretty well-spoken on this issue. Where do you stand on this latest move?

PETER BONE, BRITISH CONSERVTIVE MP: Well, I hope you're referring to parliament because I'm hopefully regarded as a very strong parliamentary and happy to vote against the government when they're wrong. But they're absolutely correcting this.

This restores parliamentary democracy. The current assessment of parliament is being gone on for more than two years. It's the second longest parliament ever. The last one was as longer as hundreds and hundreds of years ago. And the thing is we need to reset the parliamentary time table. The government has to say what is legislative program is. We have to allow the opposition to scrutinize that over a number of days, try to amend it or vote against it.

Of course of they defeat the Queen's speech, they effectively bring the government down and we're off to general election. So this is absolutely normal. The fact that --

FOSTER: Why is this speaker of the House? Why does this lead the opposition, all of these people saying this is an affront to democracy because parliament is sovereign not the government.

BONES: Yes, but absolutely it is and I support that entirely.

FOSTER: Let the debates flourish here, so in closing it down effectively.

BONES: I don't know but --

FOSTER: It's not just for one week, isn't it? It's effectively for two weeks because then you have a week's worth of debate over the Queen's speech.

BONES: Well, what actually happened is you may have noticed, we've had three and a half years were talking about Brexit?

FOSTER: I had noticed.

BONES: You know, anymore debate is going to change anybody's mind, I think is (inaudible). But the truth of the matter is there is this period when we go into the conference recess, which every year we break for three weeks on the middle of September. There's a Liberal conference, a Labour conference and Conservative conference. And so --

FOSTER: And that's going to be even longer so parliament left on --

BONES: No, it's not. It's not actually. If you look at it, I think we're only losing two days debating time.

FOSTER: Even with the debate over the Queen's speech?

[10:15:01] BONES: Well, the Queen's speech -- well, surely, that's what the opposition wants is a debate on the governments pro -- which they can amend and vote unless this thing they've been calling for.

It's not -- if this was an abuse of parliament what would happen is Boris would have said I'm suspending parliament to the 1st of November. That would have been against that but that's not. This is normal.

FOSTER: Just on the note about, so there's this idea that Boris Johnson definitely wants to deal and this is all about going back to Europe saying, "Right, I've got control of parliament, so therefore you have to do a deal." But when it comes back to the likes of you, is it enough that he has some sort of negotiation just about the Irish border or is he going to have to come back with a lot more?

BONES: I think really this is what's quite interesting about it, it's not clear to me if he would brought a deal back now under this existing session. The speaker could have allowed it to be debated because it was already debated it three times and defeated it three times. So I think that's one of the reasons why they're resetting the clock. So I do, do a deal they can bring it back.

Now I would look would have the bill comes before parliament and I would support it or amend it depending on what it says. But that's another reason we need to prorogue parliament so if there is a deal that new deal can be brought back.

FOSTER: How much more likely are we to go through a no-deal Brexit as a result of what happened today?

BONES: I think they make plenty of difference. If they want -- if Labour think they can bring the government down, if the opposition thinks they can bring them down, they could move a motion on Tuesday on next week, vote on it on Wednesday and stop Boris Johnson and the government in their tracks.

The reason they don't do it Jeremy Corbyn and labor don't have the votes in parliament, and much more, they don't have the votes in the country. And (this goes) with general election now Boris Johnson and Conservative to be in term with big prerogative.

FOSTER: Some sympathies for the Queen up in Balmoral today with Privy Council is turning up on her doorstep. Jeremy Corbyn get -- basically saying object to the Prime Minister.

BONES: The Queen has done exactly the right thing and also the government has if they've gone to Balmoral. The idea for instance of a Queen could come down to London -- no, no. They've done it the right where -- it's been -- you wouldn't expect anything different with Jacob Rees-Mogg as leader of the House of Commons. It's spot on.

FOSTER: How did they keep that quiet as well? I'm fascinated by, you know, these three members of the Privy Council going up and no one finding out about it until Boris Johnson comes out.

BONES: Isn't it refreshing those government -- isn't refreshing government isn't leaking well.

FOSTER: Well, we should be consulting widely perhaps.

BONES: No. I mean, this is a decision for the government and the Queen isn't a decision for a parliament. Prerogative is for the queen.

FOSTER: Peter Bones, appreciate your time.

BONES: Thank you.

FOSTER: Thank you very much. Nice weather here for a change. We will be back in just a moment. Robyn will have the rest of the day's news.

(COMMECIAL BREAK)

CURNOW: Well, cheetah is the world's fastest land mammal but there is growing concern about the specie's survival. This magnificent feline as we know, are being hunted and then smuggled out of Africa, in a growing trade for luxury pets in the Middle East.

Here's Jomana Karadsheh with this exclusive report.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[10:20:00] JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Barely a couple weeks old, Garles (ph) is clearly in desperate need of his mother. But this orphan cheetah is one of the lucky ones rescued from the illegal wild life trade.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Three in here.

KARADSHEH: Across the Horn of Africa, if the mothers aren't killed, the cubs are snatched from them, smuggled in cramp crates and card board boxes. By the time they get to the shelter, they're barely alive.

According to the Cheetah Conservation Fund, some 300 cubs are smuggled out of this region every year. And for everyone that makes it into captivity, another three die on the way.

That valley down there is becoming known as the cheetah super market. That's because many of the trafficked cheetahs are being smuggled across this porous border with Ethiopian into Somaliland.

This breakaway state from Somalia is the main transit route for the trafficked cats out of the Horn of Africa, smuggled across the Gulf of Aden to the Arabian Peninsula.

The survivors of the rough journey become an exotic accessory like designer bling, as rich Gulf Arabs compete for social media clicks. At least a thousand cheetahs are estimated to be in private hands in Gulf States.

According to experts, most die within a year or two in captivity. Although private ownership and trading of wildlife is banned in most Gulf States, enforcement is lax. Illegal online sales are starting to be policed. But if you really want a cheetah, they're not hard to find.

This is an online Saudi marketplace. And when we search for cheetahs, several listing came up. Some advertising 2 to 3-year-old cheetahs, others selling young cubs.

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

KARADSHEH: This man in Saudi Arabia is eager to sell.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): Whatever cheetah you want. You want male, you want female, it's not an issue. From Africa, we import through a website with a guy and we have another Saudi trader. I got more than from them.

KARADSHEH: $6,600 seems to be the starting online price in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi government did not respond to CNN's repeated request for comment.

There are only 7,500 cheetahs left worldwide, half the number from just a decade ago.

LAURIE MARKER, CHEETAH CONSERVATION FUND: People who have a cheetah as a pet are causing the species to go extinct. It's leading the way towards extinction.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Bottle is one of the favorite toys that we found.

KARADSHEH: American biologist Laurie Marker and her Cheetah Conservation Fund are racing to save the species from extinction.

MARKER: This is not how a baby cheetah should be living. They need to be living out in the wild.

KARADSHEH: They setup this safe house in Somaliland for the rescues. It's bursting at the seams.

MARKER: Seeing them in here, it breaks my heart.

KARADSHEH: You can see why people call them cats that cry.

MARKER: It's our responsibility to give them the very best care they can have and to try to save every single one of them.

KARADSHEH: Ten month old Kitty is in intensive care, the last survivor of three sisters.

MARKER: She is not one of our healthiest cats and it probably does have a lot to do with where she started in life.

KARADSHEH: Despite the team's efforts, Kitty didn't make it.

MARKER: These animals are a smaller population, a very rare population and from that each one of them do carry a different genetic code. This one is a male.

KARADSHEH: Every cub gets microchipped, their DNA is recorded. Without a mother they have to be taught how to hunt and survive in the wild.

MARKER: It takes sometimes months to try to get one cheetah to get on its feet.

KARADSHEH: Neju Jimmy, a soon to be vet, is their main caregiver.

NEJU JIMMY, MAIN CARER, CHEETAH CONSERVATIVE FUND: I love them so much. I don't even see my mom once a week. She lives over there.

KARADSHEH: According to Marker, there are only about 300 adults in the unprotected-areas in the Horn of Africa.

MARKER: If you do your math, the math kind of shows that it's only going to be a matter of a couple of years that we're not going to have any cheetahs in this region left.

KARADSHEH: Many have already been lost in conflict with humans. Somaliland wildlife authorities are busting traffickers. It's illegal here along with private ownership. But in the capital of Hergeisa a popular restaurant advertises burgers and captive lions pacing in the background for selfies.

For three years this cheetah on a short rope has been the star attraction for paying clients to pet, poke and posed with. The owner insists it's legal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[10:25:00] ABDIRASHIQ ALI MOHAMED, LION RESTAURANT OWNER: No, here we have a license to keep these animals. And plus, this guy, he's with -- there's only one cheetah here and he has lot of space to run around.

KARADSHEH: Why it was tolerated in plain site went unanswered by the authorities. More are hidden behind walls. Even as we're leaving Somaliland, two more cheetahs has been confiscated from a house here in Hergeisa.

Three more were seized just a few days later. As long as there's a demand by the rich, creating a lucrative trade for the poor, the cheetah's future hangs in the balance. Time is not on their side.

Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, Hergeisa, Somaliland.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CURNOW: Powerful report there. Thanks to Jomana and to Laurie Marker for her great work her and her team are doing, OK.

So still ahead, new do return to our breaking news. The Queen has approved a plan by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to suspend parliament. That will shorten the time lawmakers have to debate Brexit. So we are live outside the Houses of Parliament, Max is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: Story this hour, British Prime Minister Boris -- Top story this hour, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has asked Queen Elizabeth to suspend parliament next month and she's approved it. Just days after lawmakers returned from their summer break. Parliament would then return in mid-October, less than three weeks before the Brexit deadline, October the 31st. That decisions being met with outrage by many lawmakers here in Westminster and prompted the leaders of the opposition to write to the queen. Little too late though, Nic Robinson, because we've learned that she's approved it and actually there's no going back on that so we're going to have the suspension, right?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLMATIC EDITOR: We're going to have the suspension. It's going to mean a loss of days of deliberation and consideration, and conversation in parliament and that's what the fuss is all about. It's only a tiny handful of days. You might be able to argue if you were in Boris Johnson's camp. But if you're on the other side of that camp, you would argue in percentage terms of the number of days actually available to debate in parliament what he will propose in terms of changes, withdrawal agreement. It is a reduction and it's a significant reduction.

FOSTER: So what you're saying is there were a certain amount of days, not many considering we're about to leave anyway to debate this issue and potentially to block the government if he disapproves of their decision to absorb head towards a no-deal Brexit even if you do want the deal. But there's not enough time really to solve that is there particularly when the side opposing him is so divided anyway.

[10:30:06] JONHNSON: Absolutely. Ad this is -- he is -- he is only -- Boris Johnson is on the offensive. Yesterday, they sounded like they were coalescing around an idea.

But let's face it, they spent kind of all summer, over a month, to get to this position of deciding that they were not going to go for a vote of no confidence, that they would go to try to find a legislative way of blocking a no-deal Brexit.

So they're moving slowly. They're finding it hard to coordinate. They're finding it hard to get together in an effective manner.

FOSTER: Right.

ROBERTSON: And now he is taken the fight to them.

FOSTER: Yes.

ROBERTSON: And this doesn't bode well for them. Although Jeremy Corbin you heard him today say it again that they will try for a legislative mechanism or a vote of no confidence but again those words that he says when we think the moment is right.

FOSTER: Just explain this argument that this is undemocratic?

ROBERTSON: The idea that it is undemocratic is that there isn't enough time to debate this fully. There isn't enough time to consider the outcome of whatever the European Council decides, about whatever Boris Johnson is able to cobble together, what agreement or lack of agreement it's able to get from them.

But then the undemocratic part is you're not allowing parliament to do its job. That's what the people of this country voted for. That's what democracy is. And by taking even a small amount of time away from that process, that is reducing democracy.

FOSTER: The counter argument as we've heard on the show is that they've actually had three and a half years to debate this. They've had plenty of time. They haven't come up with a solution. So actually at some point you've got to play hardball.

ROBERTSON: And Boris Johnson is playing hardball and that's what he was -- that's what why his party put him in this job because they believe that he could play hardball. He's certainly got a lot of hardball MPs behind him moving that sort of keep this result.

He's got some very strong and strategically smart advisers behind him.

FOSTER: Yes.

ROBERTSON: And they will continue to help him play hardball. And he is on the offensive. He has knocked the ball firmly into the court of the other side.

FOSTER: We've got a time line here, if you can talk this through, September the 3rd parliament returns. So that's next month from summer recess. It was meant to be in session for up to two week, but that's now changed, hasn't it? So on the 14th, the new session of parliament begins with the Queen's speech.

ROBERTSON: `14th of October, yes.

FOSTER: Sorry, 14th of October, but then you've got a week of debating that speech as well. So, I mean what's your estimate? Would you say there's two weeks less debating time?

ROBERTSON: Some people are characterizing it as a few days less debating time because some of that period was going to be taken up by the party conferences. But in terms of all the MPs sitting in parliament together able to put forward a vote on motions, I think it's been reduced. It's not clear to me by how many days it's been reduced.

FOSTER: There's some concern, you know, the Queen obviously got dragged today, her Holiday was disturb. Members of the Privy Council having to go up to see her in Scotland to approve what the Prime Minister's requested. If ultimately this becomes a showdown between government and parliament, with Corbyn on one side and Boris on the other side, what does she do? She's going to get dragged in this, isn't she?

ROBERTSON: She -- well, you could argue she's already dragged in but she has left it to them and allow the process to continue. You know, that it was muted that maybe as the head of the state because he'll be the head of the state that would have to ask the European Union for an extension but somehow we might arrive at the point where the Queen is asking that --

FOSTER: Is dispatched.

ROBERTSON: Is dispatched and ask -- to ask the European Union for the extension.

FOSTER: Yes.

ROBERTSON: It's hard to imagine how we would arrive at that level of involvement of the monarchy.

FOSTER: Yes.

ROBERTSON: And that seems very far-fetched at the moment.

FOSTER: Yes.

ROBERTSON: But the reality is we don't really know where this process is going to go. I don't think it's going to draw the Queen into a central position, but it's going to undoubtedly be something that's uncomfortable for her. And given her experience with many previous prime ministers, many previous governments, is this going to feel very uncomfortable and not the sort of legacy that she is going to want to see the country have, you know, under her rein.

FOSTER: Absolutely. Nic, thank you very much indeed. Truly, Robyn, uncharted territory and one of the big issues we've got in this country with all of these shorts of things, is there's no written constitution. So we sort of make it up as we go along. And ultimately it does come down to the Queen. So we look to her. We'll see what she comes up with.

CURNOW: Yes. But either way, down to the wire. Thanks so much. Max Foster there, appreciate it. But I do want to update you folks on some other news that we are following here at CNN. We are focusing on the legal talks that could have implications for the opioid crisis in the US. A pharmaceutical company is reportedly offering billions of dollars to settle claims related to this epidemic.

Now the drug giant Purdue Pharma which makes the highly addictive painkiller Oxycontin is facing thousands of lawsuits from across the US. It's accused of fueling the nation's opioid crisis. NBC news report Purdue is willing to pay between $10 and $12 billion to settle.

[10:35:09] And at this hour, we are also watching efforts to form a new government in Italy after its previous coalition with the League Party collapsed earlier on this month. The Five Star Movement is talking with the Democratic Party about a new coalition. If negotiations are successful Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte is expected to remain in office.

Meanwhile, still ahead Brazil finally says it is open to foreign aid to help fight the fires consuming the Amazon. More on how international spats are playing with that crisis that affects us all.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CURNOW: So now to the international fight, the struggle to fight the fires consuming the Amazon. Brazil has changed its mind and now says it is open to foreign aid. The Brazilian government has accepted Britain's offer of more than $12 million.

President Bolsonaro has rejected a separate offer from the G7 of $20 million in aid. But the country has then walked back that rejection.

Meanwhile, we're getting new images of one of the hardest hit areas in Brazil. There's been about an 80 percent increase in the number of fires there since last year as we've been reporting. And as you can see the fires are consuming also parts of Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina.

The Bolivian President joined fire fighters on the front lines in his country. He suspended his re-election campaign to focus on the fires.

So joining me more -- joining me now with more on all of these, Nigel Sizer with the Rain Forest Alliance. Great to have you sir, thank you for joining us because this is story and a -- the impact of this is not going away. So let's first of all talk about the money, the aid that is being offered. Does Brazil need this money?

NIGEL SIZER, CHIEF PROGRAM OFFICER, RAINFOREST ALLIANCE: Well, it's great to see Brazil starting to accept the offers of assistance, but Brazil has significant resources of its own to address this problem. It's a modern industrialized country and really the issue here is not one of money. It's one of politics and policy, and the positions that this government has been taking since it came into office.

CURNOW: And what we're seeing on the ground is an immediate response to some of these policies. It's about, you know, allowing for loggers and ranchers to do what they want. Do you think this international pressure will push for a change in policies?

SIZER: I think what's been remarkable on the international side is what's been going on in social media which mirrors what's happening in Brazil. While heads of state have been having this spat back and forth between Bolsonaro and President Macron of France about these issues, people around the world have been rallying.

We launched a campaign on Instagram last Thursday promising to donate 100 percent of what others gave to us to the groups in the Amazon. Yesterday we were already, Rainforest Alliance was already able to transfer half a million dollars to groups on the front lines in the Amazon working to fight these fires and support the indigenous communities.

CURNOW: So the question is, if this is about politics and pressure even if it's on social media, will this push the Bolsonaro government to change their policies? Does it become a political imperative for them to reverse course?

[10:40:00] SIZER: Well, I think they now know and they were taken aback last week by the tremendous out pouring of concern not only internationally but especially in Brazil. They now know that the world is watching, their people are watching, and if they don't take steps to send a clear signal that illegal clearing and burning across the Amazon rainforest is not going to be allowed, it's not going to be green lighted. If they don't take steps to do that then they're going to be in big trouble. There have been calls for boycotts of Brazilian agriculture products from around the world. Brazilian industry is very concerned about that.

CURNOW: So what you're saying is the global outcry might just be working?

SIZER: It's clearly working. We saw a huge U-turn in the rhetoric from the Brazilian government last week. At the end of last week, President Bolsanaro stopped joking about the issue and made an impassioned statement to the Brazilian people about how serious he is about fighting these fires. Now we need to see him follow through on that.

The pressure needs to stay on. People around the world can help by voicing their concerns through Instagram, Facebook and so on.

CURNOW: We've just also reported and then we can probably bring that image up of fires in other countries, not just in Brazil. Are there different reasons for that, or are we also looking at the same political conditions that neighboring countries are dealing with and what can be done about those?

SIZER: It is a very serious situation also in Bolivia, which has had much less coverage and the dynamics behind it are actually very similar. President Evo Morales also encouraged farmers to move into areas of forests, encouraged them to clear and burn, that is now out of control. He's had to actually suspend his presidential campaign to address this challenge. So again, we see the actions of politicians and the policies that they adapt is so key here. They create these problems, they can address them.

CURNOW: OK, great to have your perspective. Thanks for joining us on the show, Nigel Sizer, appreciate it.

SIZER: Thank you so much.

CURNOW: And for more on the Amazon and how you can help and also keep up the pressure as you've just heard, please visit our website, cnn.com/impact.

Thanks so much for joining us. I'm Robyn Curnow here at the International Desk. Of course Max Foster is being in London. You can catch me on twitter and on Instagram @robyncurnowcnn.

Coming up next, of course, World Sport with Amanda Davies.

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AMANDA DAVIES: Hi, thanks for joining us. Welcome along to World Sport live from London with me Amanda Davies.

You know that saying, it's tough to make it to the top but even tougher to stay there.

[10:44:58] Well, the current US Open Champion Naomi Osaka is discovering exactly what that feels like in her first Grand Slam as the defending champion.

She admitted she's never been as nervous in her life as she was in her first round match of flushing meadows. But she did manage to overcome a pretty shaky start to scrape through to the second round with a three set win over 20-year-old Russian Anna Blinkova for more. I'm pleased to say I'm joined in the studio by my World Sport colleague Christina MacFarlane.

Christy, this has been quite a year for Naomi Osaka, and you really get the impression of everything she's doing on the court, there's a whole lot more than just her tennis that she's getting equipped with.

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN WORLD SPORT: Yes. So it's much mental as it is physical for her and this was really a roller coaster match. To answer the few questions for us that we have coming into this US Open, the first is, how is her injury? Remember she withdrew from since last year with the knee injury.

Well, it still seems that she is struggling a little bit from residual soreness which is something she said after that game. And also the question around her mental stability, well it is so apparent. She is still struggling with the immense burden that she's under and that stalked her all season for being out there ahead.

You know the defending champion, two time Grand Slam winner now back up to world number one. And when you add to the fact she' has gone out early in the last two Grand Slams, Wimbledon and the French Open in round one. She had a lot on her shoulders yesterday which wasn't helped by the fact either that I think the scheduling of her match was a little unfair.

She played in the middle of the day and a weekday, there weren't many people there to see her as the defending champion, the world number one when you consider the night before. We have Sharapova and Serena, and that night we had Sloane Stephens, the American obviously playing under the lights and the crowd. It was perhaps a little unfair on her

DAVIES: But she did make it through. Things didn't quite go to plan on the men's side. There was a surprise early exit for the Greek eight seed, Stefanos Tsitsipas.

The 21-year-old who's been hotly tipped as a future Grand Slam champion became increasingly frustrated in his hard fought full set defeat to Andrey Rublev. And he started letting his irritation show particularly with umpire Damien Dumusois.

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STEFANOS TSITSIPAS, GREEK TENNIS PLAYER: I hope you changed.

DAMIEN DUMUSOIS, US OPEN CHAIR UMPIRE: No. It's too late though.

TSITSIPAS: I hope you change.

DUMUSOIS: It's too late so you going to get one more time.

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TSITSIPAS: I don't care. Do whatever you want because you are threshold worst. I don't know what you have against me, because you're French probably and you're all weirdos. You're all weirdos.'

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DAVIES: He was docked to point for time violation which leads it's a past to claim "you're all weirdos" and he was also warned for getting coaching from the stands. And afterwards he said the umpire was very incorrect in what he was telling me during the match. "He has something against me. I don't know why."

Christy, what do you think is going on here because that seems more than just frustration, that's how things were playing out on the court? And he's not a player that we have come to expect those things from?

MACFARLANE: Yes, that is true. I mean describe the headlines not at least because we're back at the US Open and we've got another incident with an umpire. I mean that's kind of, you know, still very much front and center in peoples minds of what we saw from Serena last week. And that was a little uncomfortable to watch.

But as you mentioned this is unexpected from Tsitsipas. He is not the sort of players that is prone to this kind of outbursts. So I think we have to look at what was going on behind the scenes. And for me, this was reflection of total burn out from this player.

He has played 20 tournaments this year. That's, you know, a tournament almost every other week. We were surprised when he announced that schedule at the beginning of the year. They told this might have on him and here I think we are seeing what it's doing to me is cramping through out that match. And afterwards he spoke in the press conference and reflected I think the immense strain that he's been under. Take a listen.

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TSITSIPAS: I feel like I'm doing the same thing over and over again, and my brain can't really take it anymore. I feel like I'm doing the same routines on the court, the same execution, the same play. I mean, the same strategies and everything. And I feel like my mind is just -- I don't feel inspired. I played out in the court and I don't feel like I'm chasing something.

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MACFARLANE: I mean, you can just see the immense exhaustion on his face there and it doesn't excuse what he did. But you can kind of understand the point to which he had got with that.

CURNOW: And it's been very interesting this run of tournaments in terms of the focus on umpires. They always say they don't want to be the center of attention, but it does seem more and more the business of sports and the pressure on these tennis players is playing out. And they're getting a lot more of the scrutiny. That discussion may be for another time.

I can't let you go without mentioning Rafael Nadal though because for everything that happened with Tsitsipas, Nadal won his match and things suddenly look a whole lot better than maybe just winning a first round encounter.

[10:50:04] MACFARLANE: Yes. And by comparison, the only thing that Nadal faced in that match was a code violation for timing of upon which he just caught of, you know, waved the way, he didn't say anything to the umpire. So it's quite --

DAVIES: What do you want to ruin his routine Nadal?

MACFARLANE: Exactly, exactly.

DAVIES: Yes.

MACFARLANE: And the things were looking goods for Nadal already. I mean, it's looking really good for him now on this side of the draw. Remember he's on the opposite side from Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. Now, four of the top ten seeds are out on this side of his draw so in many ways the pathway is clear now for him to go all the way to the final to face Roger or Novak.

And so, we're back to the whole idea of, you know, chasing the all time record aren't we as two away from Roger Federer on '18. The only player potentially though who could still stand in his way in the side of the draw is a certain Nick Kyrgios. And we know between these two there is a little bit of bad blood. So we will wait and see for that.

But as first game yesterday sailed through straight sets against John Millman, looking very strong indeed. And remember he won the warm up match in Montreal Canada ahead of this US Open. I think of the three, many are backing Nadal to go all the way this year.

DAVIES: OK. Christy, thanks very much indeed. Stay with us.

Up next from missing the cut to going under the knife, while his rivals were taking part at the tour championship, Tiger went back on the operating table.

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DAVIES: Welcome back. You wouldn't be surprised if Tiger Woods has his surgeons on speed dial these days. The former world number one has been back in the operating theater, this time for a fifth surgery on his left knee.

Tiger revealed in a statement he's aiming for an October return to action for an event in Japan having undergone the procedure to repair cartilage damage last week.

He was able to have the operation, of course, after missing out on qualifying for the PGA Tour season ending towards championship after really next couple of months in terms of his form, a niggling injury since winning the Masters in April.

Now we're into the final count down to the 2019 Rugby World Cup and two time defending champions New Zealand have named their 31-man squad for the tournament in Japan with Coach Steve Hansen seemingly opting for youth over experience.

He's named 19 players who will be making their tournament debuts with only three players, Sonny Bill Williams, Kieran Read and second row Sam Whitelock in the squad who are veterans of both the 2011 and 2015 World Cup winning sides.

The approach means the surprisingly no place for prof Owen Franks, the player with over 100 caps for his country. And Hansen admitted it was a tough decision to make.

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STEVEN HANSEN, NEW ZEALAND RUGBY COACH: He is one of the great All Blacks. He's certainly shown true character, his professionalism both on and off the field has been magnificent over the years. He's played over a hundred of these matches. But unfortunately, we as the three selectors, we believe the game requires us to have big mobile number ones and number threes. And in this case we just think the other guys we've named are more so than he, and therefore we had to make a tough decision. And we'd also like you to just take a moment and reflect the hard effort and the disappointment of the people that have missed out. So it was a really tough time in their career and really, really tough win in a lot of cases and the guys have missed out. It's not because they're not good enough it's just because they've got so much talent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DAVIES: Yes, a lucky problem for New Zealand to have but really tough for the tournament every four years for those players to miss out.

In football news, though, Red Star Belgrade, Dinamo Zagreb and Olympiacos book their place in the Champions League group stage for this season on Tuesday night leaving just three places left in the drawer which will take place in Monaco on Thursday.

[10:55:08] And there's a whole lot of interest to see what happens to Ajax.

Remember them, they were the most exciting young teams in Europe last season. They won the Eredivisie in the Netherlands knocked out Juve and Real Madrid in the Champions League, and came within a whisker so close of making that final. But despite being semi-finalists last year they've had to go through the qualifying rounds again this season and they go into the second leg of their tie against APOEL Nicosia with nothing to split them. Both sides are goalless. And this a very different looking side to the one we saw run riot last year.

They've sold both Matthijs de Ligt and Frenkie de Jong, both are at ten hard has described it as a must-win game for his side.

Well, if Ajax has seen some stars leaving them in recent time so too as the men's draw at this year's US Open as you've been hearing. So as we end our show here's a look at some of those early exits in your latest Rolex minute. Thanks for watching.

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