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Report: 1,500 Migrants Try To Enter Eurotunnel; Syrians Pay Smugglers To Flee The Fighting; Trump Distances Himself From Aides Rape Comment; Donald Trump And The 2016 Presidential Campaign; Zimbabwe Seeks American In Killing Of Lion; Turkey Strikes Kurdish Militants And ISIS Targets; Growing Number Of Escalator Accidents In China; Massive Tornado Hits Central Canada; Twitter's Influence On World Events Grows; Alleged Drugs, Sex Affair Costs UK Lord Sewel His Seat. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired July 28, 2015 - 03:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ERROL BARNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Hundreds more migrants try storming the Eurotunnel overnight in an attempt to cross from France into England.

ZAIN ASHER, CNN ANCHOR: But first Donald Trump is on the defensive. This time it's the controversial comments made by a member of his staff.

BARNETT: And the hunter is now the hunted. Authorities search for an American dentist who they believe killed a majestic lion illegally.

ASHER: Hello. A warm welcome to all of our viewers in the United States and around the world. Glad to be with you for the next hour. I'm Zain Asher.

BARNETT: I'm Errol Barnett. Good to have you here, Zain. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

Migrants desperate to reach England have reportedly made new attempts to enter the Eurotunnel overnight. According to AFP, at least 1,500 migrants tried to storm the tunnel from the French side. One was found dead.

ASHER: All right, in the meantime, British Prime Minister David Cameron is saying that both countries are working to increase security at the tunnel.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: This is very concerning, as you said, we're working very closely with the French. The home secretary met with the French Interior minister. We invested money in the fencing around Calais. We are also putting fencing around the entrance at the tunnel. We're doing everything we can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: The latest attempt follows a similar late Monday night, when tunnel officials say about 2,000 migrants tried to enter the Eurotunnel in France. The British Freight Transportation Association released a statement just a short time ago saying the migrant situation has become, I'm quoting here, "a national emergency."

BARNETT: Speaking of migrants, many Syrians caught up in that country's civil war, dream of a future across the Mediterranean in Europe.

ASHER: That's right. If they have the money, smugglers can get them there. Senior international correspondent, Arwa Damon, is investigating the lucrative trade. Here's her report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's the illusion that lies beyond these waters. The illusion of a better life in Europe, that drives many to make the treacherous journey. The vast majority of them, Syrians, their country, decimated. They are easy prey for the smuggling vultures.

Earlier this year, we met this Syrian family, that doesn't want to be identified. A barrel bomb hit the home next to theirs, covering them in dust. We used to hide underground, sometimes for three to four days, Mohammed says.

His children still have nightmares of the dead and shredded bodice. This 12-year-old says, he wanted to bring his English and math books and his younger sister, her toys. Mohammed sold everything, to come up with the $5,500 each the smugger was charging.

It's an industry that has always thrived along these Turkish shores with their hidden hard to reach coast, now, made all the more lucrative. Facebook pages, regularly changing, openly advertise smuggling services.

The names of known cafes, where smugglers can be found, spread by word of mouth. We call a number for one of them. The smuggler asks, if I would like to travel by plane or boat. The boat would cost me $5,700.

He calls back later and says, I can even fly to Europe from Turkey, with a European passport that he can obtain and would cost me around $10,000. This man, Halid, is another smuggler, who agrees to speak to us as long as we conceal his identity.

The cost varies between Italy or Greece between $4,000 to $7,000 Halid tells us. I put you in a home. I get you food and drink, he continues. I call you to tell you the trip is happening in an hour and to get ready.

From there, small fishing boats take the migrants out to larger cargo ships, waiting in international waters. But in the last six months, the Turkish Coast Guard has cracked down, along this particular shoreline on the Mediterranean.

[03:05:05] The lieutenant colonel shows us the ships in the area, the yellow markers. None of them on this day is suspicious. The success here forcing the smuggling operations further north into the Aegean, where opportunist continue to thrive on the misery and desperation of others. Arwa Damon, CNN, Turkey.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BARNETT: There's so much more to this story. You can see more of Arwa Damon's exclusive reporting that some of the desperate steps that so many are making to flee their country in the hopes of making it to Europe. Watch "Migrant Journeys" all week, right here on CNN.

ASHER: We want to take you to India now where at least nine people are dead after a residential building collapsed in a suburb off Mumbai. That's according to a local mayor.

BARNETT: Seeing some of the footage here. The condemned building was going to be demolished. It was raining heavily, though, when it collapsed, and residents were warned to get out. At least 11 people were rescued and hospitalized. Several people remain missing at this hour. It's thought some others are trapped in the rubble. The search for survivors has been called off.

ASHER: To politics now. U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump finds himself at the center of another controversy. What is new, right, and he's distancing himself from some pretty controversial comments.

BARNETT: This time, they are being made by the billionaire frontrunner, but by a close adviser to his campaign. Jeff Zeleny has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Donald Trump's presidential campaign has weathered one storm after another.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists.

ZELENY: But a new controversy over offensive language is suddenly hitting far closer to home.

TRUMP: Who is doing the raping?

ZELENY: As he keeps riding high in the polls, his team is trying to clean up another set of comments. This time, it has nothing to do with illegal immigration, but Trump's own marriage. His long-time counsel and spokesman, Michael Cohen, is under fire for telling "The Daily Beast," you cannot rape your spouse. Those five words set off a firestorm.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A decade-old allegation against Donald Trump.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Donald Trump's campaign is issuing a strong response this morning. ZELENY: Cohen made the comment while trying to keep "The Daily Beast" from reprising a 1989 allegation made by Trump's first wife, Ivana. In their divorce proceedings, she allegedly said Trump once forced her to have sex against her will. A statement she later recanted.

Today Cohen backtracked, saying, "In my moment of shock and anger, I made an inarticulate comment, which I do not believe, which I apologize for entirely." Marital rape is against the law in all 50 states.

The Trump campaign famously unapologetic quickly distanced itself from Cohen, who has been one of the most prominent faces of Trump's candidacy. Trump's campaign manager told CNN, Michael Cohen is a corporate employee and is not affiliated with the campaign in any way.

In the middle of it all, Ivana Trump issued a statement of her own saying their divorce was a time of very high tension. But she added, I have nothing but fondness for Donald and wish him the best of luck on his campaign.

All this with only a week to go before the first Republican presidential debate, as Trump's standing soars. Tonight, a new poll of New Hampshire voters shows Trump's on top of all GOP candidates with twice the support of his nearest rival, Jeb Bush.

BRUCE BLODGETT, NEW HAMPSHIRE VOTER: He is doing well because he's speaking his mind. He's a breath of fresh air. He's not like all of the other politicians who have focus groups and tell him what to say and how to say it and what words to use.

ZELENY: Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Nashua, New Hampshire.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ASHER: CNN actually spoke with Donald Trump on Tuesday evening. He admitted that he disagreed with Michael Cohen's comments regarding rape and marriage. We asked Trump where Cohen currently stands within his campaign. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: You have to understand, Michael was extremely angry because he knew it never took place. He knew this website was a joke, considered a joke and he was very angry. Maybe he didn't understand the question. I don't. I disagreed with him.

When I read it, I disagreed. Who knows what he said because frankly, I'm not sure that they report it accurately anyway. But assuming he said, no, I disagree with that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're not going to fire him or get rid of him?

TRUMP: No, I'm not.

(END VIDEO CLIP) (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARNETT: Let's talk about this with Rick Wilson. He's a Republican political strategist who worked on successful campaigns for George H.W. Bush and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Rick, thanks for being with me.

You've called Donald Trump dangerous. You believe he is running a scam on the Republican Party, but the truth is with each controversy he's been through, he's only risen in the polls. Donald Trump aside, what does that say about Republican sentiment right now, the electorate?

[03:10:06] RICK WILSON, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Look, the Republican electorate, there's a lot of anger out there in the Republican electorate. Everyone acknowledges that.

Unfortunately, Donald Trump isn't the solution for that anger. Donald Trump is exploiting that anger, as a guy who is a talented showman and a conman, where he is tricking Republican conservatives to believing he is one of them. He's not. He's a liberal.

BARNETT: What is the outcome for the Republican Party ahead of debates? Is this a distraction or a shakeup that the party needs?

WILSON: It's certainly a distraction. I believe you're going to have a lot of very high-quality candidates on that stage, with one exception, Donald Trump. And those folks have all thought through a lot of serious alternatives to Hillary Clinton's policies to Barack Obama's legacy, et cetera.

And unfortunately, it's going to be something where Trump tries to exploit and redirect the conversation to make it the Donald show when it really should be about Republicans putting out their ideas about how to redirect the country after six disastrous years of Barack Obama and to prevent a Hillary Clinton presidency, whose ideas are equally consequential and terrible.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BARNETT: Republican strategist, Rick Wilson, speaking with me earlier there.

ASHER: It will be the Donald show, the debates, coming up in August.

BARNETT: It will be fireworks, but each will be going at each other. Can Donald Trump allow --

ASHER: Allow someone else to speak.

BARNETT: Show some discipline, I don't know.

ASHER: Another story we are following, the National Football League has upheld a four-game suspension for star quarterback, Tom Brady, for his role in the so-called deflate-gate scandal. The league commissioner said Brady tried to hide evidence by having his cell phone destroyed. Investigators say the phone may have held incriminating text messages.

BARNETT: You're wondering what deflate-gate was, this entire controversy began when Brady's team, the New England Patriots, were accused of underinflating game balls to get an edge in January's AFC Championship game.

ASHER: In Texas, authorities have released hours of video in an effort to quell rumors that Sandra Bland was dead before she was brought to jail. Officials say that the woman here, in the orange jumpsuit that is Sandra Bland.

BARNETT: She was found dead in her jail cell, three days after being arrested for a traffic citation. This is back on July 10th. Officials say she hanged herself with a plastic bag, but her family and others questioned that account.

Rumored spread quickly on social media that Bland was dead when this mug shot were taken. But officials say those rumors are simply not true and all of those rumors are to the suspicion of the treatment of Sandra, after her arrest for failure to signal.

ASHER: The family cannot believe that she committed suicide. They said that she had so much to live for so they're not buying that.

Meantime, an American dentist is being sought in the death of a prized lion in Zimbabwe. Walter Palmer said in a statement that he hired professional guides and thought his hunting trip was legal.

BARNETT: So this has people all around the world, particularly on social media, outraged. Zimbabwean officials say the 13-year-old lion named Cecil was killed illegally.

CNN's David McKenzie has more on the lion's death and renewed calls to change hunting regulations.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Cecil was one of Africa's best-known lions, a major tourist draw for Zimbabwe. Conservationists and police say he was lured out of the national park and killed by an American hunter. Alleging it's this man, Dr. Walter Palmer, an avid trophy hunter in his 50s and a dentist from Minnesota.

In a statement, Palmer admits to killing Cecil, but he says he didn't know the lion's significance and relied on the expertise of local guides. Cecil's killing has sparked outrage on social media and renewed calls to ban trophy hunting. Conservationists have been calling for a ban for years.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Killing such an animal just because you want to have a picture and the skin on your wall, for me it's a form of sickness.

MCKENZIE (on camera): Does it make you angry?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Extremely angry. MCKENZIE (voice-over): There's a sanctuary that's rescued scores of big cats. Many of them were bred just to be hunted.

(on camera): When he was a few weeks old, he was taken away from his mother. He was bred to be killed. And trophy hunters for a gorgeous male lion will pay tens of thousands of dollars.

(voice-over): Hunting group says that money can be funneled back into conservation, but lion numbers have plummeted, up to 90 percent in Africa.

(on camera): Wow. Should trophy hunting be a crime?

[03:15:02] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is murder. This is really cold blooded killing of a creature that cannot defend. If she can defend, OK, we are equal.

MCKENZIE: And other conservationist wants the killing of Cecil to spark change. David McKenzie, CNN, Lion's Rock, South Africa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ASHER: And of course, Palmer said he only found out the lion's identity after he killed it. That was his defense, but of course, a lot of people are angry that that lion was killed in the first place.

BARNETT: Yes, even if that is true, is this the way to help conservation?

ASHER: And the way the lion was killed, as well.

BARNETT: Still to come for you here on CNN, NATO is pledging its support for Turkey's war against terrorism. Why some are concerned about airstrikes against a key ISIS enemy?

ASHER: Plus, how the shooting death of a young Palestinian has sparked anger and controversy in the West Bank.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ASHER: Welcome back, everyone. Jonathan Pollard, a convicted spy for Israel, will soon be free after spending nearly 30 years in a U.S. prison.

[03:20:06] Pollard was a former U.S. Navy intelligence analyst, sentenced to life behind bars for giving top secret U.S. government information to Israel.

BARNETT: Just look how old that file video is. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he's pleased with the U.S. decision and said the following, quote, "Throughout his time in prison, I consistently raised the issue of his release in my meetings and conversations with the leadership of successive U.S. administrations. We are looking forward to his release.

ASHER: Staying in that region now, there is outrage in the West Bank after a 20-year-old Palestinian was shot and killed by an Israeli soldier.

BARNETT: It's typically the case in these types of incidents. Details surrounding it are still murky, but the anger and sorrow are very clear. CNN's Erin McLaughlin has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The body of 20-year- old Mohammed Abu Latifah taken for burial. He died after running away. The Israelis had come to his house at dawn to arrest him and another man. They had been suspected of planning an attack. Abu Latifah ran to the roof.

The border police say they fired as his legs and say he was critically injured after he fell from a rooftop. His family denies he fell. They shot him. All of the injuries were to the bottom of his body. Then, he was arrested, his uncle says.

After less than hour, we were informed he was dead. Now, his mother weeps over his grave. Beside her, the fresh tomb of 18-year- old, Mohammad Al-Kaspa (ph), three weeks ago, a high-ranking Israeli commander shot him dead. Video shows he was running away.

It shows him throw a stone at an Israeli vehicle and then he runs. Two soldiers exit the car ready to fire. The shooting happens out of frame.

(on camera): The incident was recorded on a camera at this gas station. It took place just over that way. Palestinian medical report says he was shot three times, twice to the back and once to the side of his face.

(voice-over): The Israeli military says it's still investigating. It released photos of the shattered Israeli windshield and an undated photo of him holding a machine gun.

The military put out a statement, "The commander fearing a lynch that would place his subordinates and himself in mortal danger, exited his vehicle and implemented standard procedure for the apprehension of suspects.

After its own investigation, the Israeli human rights group, Btsolam (ph), was skeptical of the military's explanation.

SARIT MICHAELL, BTSOLAM: It's impossible to see how a youth who was running away from you, can pose a mortal danger that would justify shooting to kill at him.

MCLAUGHLIN: High-ranking government officials express support for the Israeli commander. On his official Facebook page, the education minister posted, "If a man comes to kill you, kill him first. I fully back the Binyamin Brigade Commander who acted against a terrorist to protect himself and the lives of his soldiers. This is the conduct that we expect from IDF commanders."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is sending a very clear message to soldiers that this is acceptable and even desirable behavior.

MCLAUGHLIN: This is the third son his mother has buried. Two other sons were killed about 15 years ago during the second intifada. She has little hope for justice. Every time a new generation comes they cut them off and kill them, she says.

Down the road, from the house, Palestinian youth throw more stones at Israeli soldiers, protests of the latest Palestinian death. The soldiers fire back, both real and rubber bullets. And the cycle continues. Erin McLaughlin, CNN, Columbia Refugee Camp, the West Bank.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BARNETT: Now, to the U.S., where a South Florida man is under arrest, charged with planning to use a weapon of mass destruction.

ASHER: His name is Harlem Suarez. He is 23 years old and he planned to bury a nail bomb on a beach in Key West and set it off with a cell phone. He first came to investigators' attention by posting pro-ISIS messages on Facebook.

BARNETT: Now this moment, it's just past 10:00 a.m. in Turkey, where the country's military has new support for its fight against terrorists. NATO leaders on Tuesday condemned recent attacks inside Turkey and along its border with Syria.

ASHER: There is some concern about who exactly Turkey is targeting. Here's our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Turkish war planes pound Kurdish targets this time in Northern Iraq, after a round of air strikes inside Syria. It comes as NATO held a rare session, to hear Turkey's rising concerns over the terror threat it faces along its border from both ISIS and the Kurds.

JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: All allies stand in solidarity with Turkey.

[03:25:05] STARR: The U.S. wants to focus on the fight against ISIS, but the Turkish president making clear he is also going after Kurdish militants opposing his government.

RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN, TURKISH PRESIDENT (through translator): Those who walk in the country's side and in big cities wearing masks and carrying guns will get the necessary response from our security forces.

STARR: The Obama administration, willing to back Turkey against Kurds, known as the PKK, a group Washington already labels as a terrorist organization. The Pentagon is still trying to work with moderate Kurds and the Turks, in Northern Syria to fight ISIS.

U.S. military planners are now finalizing how and when the U.S. will conduct airstrikes from bases in Southern Turkey, providing essential air cover to highly effective Kurdish fighters, Syrian rebels and protect civilians on the ground.

COL. PETER MANSOOR (RETIRED), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: We're going to be walking a very fine line, with the application of our airpower. It's hard to specifically just target ISIS targets when you have Turkish troops, now, on the border.

STARR: The newly proposed safe zone is envisioned to be a 68-mile strip along Syria's border, west of the Euphrates River, reaching towards Aleppo. But it's still not clear how the U.S. and Turkey will resolve their different goals.

MANSOOR: I'm sure they realize we're not going to attack the Kurds but they will. This is going to be a tightrope that we're walking with the Turks.

STARR: Barbara Starr, CNN, The Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ASHER: OK, with that, we're going to take a quick break here on CNN NEWSROOM, when we come back, severe storms ripped across parts of Canada, including, take a look here, this tornado. It looks like something out of a movie.

And storm chasers got uncomfortably close to that.

BARNETT: Plus, new details on what happened moments before a mother was killed while riding this mall escalator in China.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:30:38]

BARNETT: You are watching CNN NEWSROOM, the last half hour of the day with the two of us. I'm Errol Barnett.

ASHER: And I'm Zain Asher. Let's give you your headlines.

Migrants desperate to reach England have reportedly made new attempts to enter the Eurotunnel overnight. According to the press, at least 1,500 migrants tried to storm the tunnel from the French side and one person was found dead. The latest attempt follows a similar one late Monday night when tunnel officials say about 2,000 migrants tried to enter the tunnel.

BARNETT: In India, at least nine people are dead after a condemned residential building collapsed in a suburb of Mumbai. That's according to a local mayor. The three-story building had been scheduled for demolition and residents were warned to leave. At least 11 people were rescued and everyone believed to be in the building has now been accounted for.

ASHER: And the National Football League has upheld a four-game suspension for star quarterback, Tom Brady. The league commissioner says, Brady tried to hide evidence in the so-called deflate-gate investigation by having his cell phone destroyed. Brady's team, the New England Patriots, was accused of underinflating balls to get an edge in the championship game.

BARNETT: Authorities in Zimbabwe say they are seeking a U.S. dentist for illegally killing a prized lion in a national park. The 13-year- old, Cecil, was revered by visitors and by locals. The American, Walter Palmer says he hired professional guides and thought his hunting trip was legal and properly handled.

ASHER: I want to take you to China now where a family is grieving after a mother was killed while riding a mall escalator with her young son. The video is very disturbing.

BARNETT: It certainly is. The now preliminary investigation shows that mall employees had some 5 minutes to shut down what would become this deadly escalator before the woman was killed. We have to give you a warning. What you are about to see is disturbing. Will Ripley has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was supposed to be a relaxing day at the mall. Her husband says there were no warning signs at the escalator. Nobody is telling her not to step on. She picked up her child when the staff member warned that the escalator was dangerous. She picked him up and prepared to step over.

But then, the floor panel collapsed. Adding to his pain, new security footage showing workers at the upscale mall in Central China had 5 minutes warning, 5 minutes to shut the escalator down.

At 10:01, Sunday morning all appears normal. But at 10:05, two workers almost fall through the door. The escalator keeps running even after workers contact mall maintenance. At 10:10, Chang and her son step on that moving staircase.

Workers point to the same loose panel and seconds later, the mom is swallowed by the trap door, pushing her son to safety, before the escalator pulls her to her death.

It's been a dangerous month at Chinese malls. Almost two weeks ago, this little girl was playing near another mall escalator, her hand suddenly trapped inside. Firefighters rescued her, terrified but alive.

In a separate incident Sunday, a boy suffered minor injuries after his foot got stuck in an escalator at a Beijing mall. Kyung's family is outraged. The mall stayed open, customers unaware of the horror on the seventh floor.

It took crews four hours to dismantle the escalator and find the body of the young mother lying on the steel plate, gone forever because her son just wanted to ride the escalator.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RIPLEY: A local official blamed human error for what happened. The mall has not returned our repeated phone calls and the elevator maintenance company had no comment.

But this is not unprecedented in China. There was an incident last year when 13 people were injured when an escalator suddenly reversed direction. And a similar incident back in 2011 in a subway here in Beijing, injured 30 people and killed a teenager. Will Ripley, CNN, Beijing.

BARNETT: Want to take you to Central Canada now because people there had to take cover from a series of violent storms. We can show you one of them in the province of Manitoba. This massive tornado ripped through --

ASHER: It's like the movie "Twister."

BARNETT: It certainly is. The tornado ripped across farmland and prairies on Monday for 2-1/2 to 3 hours. That's a very long time.

[03:35:06] ASHER: And tornadoes usually last only a few minutes. This tornado in particular, snapped some utility poles, damaged a bridge and tore the asphalt off of roads.

Our meteorologist, Ivan Cabrera is joining us now. So Ivan, believe it or not, despite all of that, the damage is actually pretty light considering.

IVAN CABRERA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It was pretty light because it was moving through prairies and farmland. A little further to the east, Winnipeg, that would have been a different story. That's we talk about tornadoes that hit the tornados in the United States.

When you hit major cities, you get into trouble. In Manitoba, in this part of southwestern Manitoba, not too many folks here. Just north of the Dakotas in the United States and well defined tornado vortex here. That moved through on Monday night. And that brought down that wedge tornado.

We're thankful it hit rural areas. A wedge tornado can have winds in excess of 200 miles per hour. This is a big storm system. On the backside of it, we've been seeing snow, in Montana, that's happening. To the east, a heat wave under way.

In the southeast this, this is the way it's been for a couple of weeks now. Temperatures in the 90s and humidity do points in the 70s. Makes it feel like it's about 105-110. A little bit better certainly to the north and west.

But to the north and east, get ready. It's hot and it will stay hot and it will remain hot through the weekend. Look at New York City. Boston, you're doing okay in the upper 80s, New York City, 90s, 90s in Philly.

And in D.C., it will be in the mid-90s as well. You will feel the humidity. It will feel awful out there. We will get thunderstorms rolling through Thursday. And by Friday, we'll clear things out.

Look at the temperatures, they stay the same. But the difference is, we'll be in the low 90s with lower humidity. By Friday heading into Saturday and Sunday, still will be hot. Not as oppressive although the overnight temperatures, staying in the 70s.

The buildings that take on that radiation from the sun during that day and then release it at night so that means you don't cool off in the urban heat island.

Quick check on our friends here in portions of the Bay of Bengal, we have a tropical cyclone continues to develop, 65-mile-per- hour winds. It's the rain. It's going to incredible here for the next few days, anywhere from 500 millimeters of rainfall. You imagine that. Look at the spin.

It is stalling over Bangladesh. That's a big issue. They have been raining with the same low will likely get a name. It won't matter. The big threat will just be terrific rains that will come over the next couple of days.

BARNETT: Yikes.

CABRERA: More flooding.

ASHER: Thank you so much, Ivan.

BARNETT: Still to come here on CNN NEWSROOM. Twitter shares had a rocky day after the company announced its earnings. How it beat expectations but somehow fell short, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:41:23]

BARNETT: It was roughly 24 hours ago, when we were reporting on the breaking developments surrounding steamy allegations rocking the British House of Lords.

ASHER: Lord Sewel, the man charged with somewhat ironically setting standards for parliament, now finds himself in the middle of a scandal, said to involve drugs and prostitution. Here's our Max Foster with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "The Sun" on Sunday, Lord Sewel, allegedly snorting cocaine at a sex party with prostitutes. He resigns from his committee roles.

On Monday wearing an orange bra and allegedly criticizing senior politicians including the prime minister. The police announce an investigation and Sewel takes a leave of absence, as he calls it, from the Lords.

"The Sun" on Tuesday, he's quoted as bragging about adulterous affairs and resigns from the lords once and for all. He'll keep his title, though. It was the flood of scandalous detail emerging from this covert video in his London flat that undermined Sewel.

And even he conceded threatened the reputation of the Lords. The bigger question is whether or not my behavior was compatible with the House of Lords, he says, and whether my continued membership would damage and undermine the public confidence in the House of Lords.

I believe the answer to both of these questions means that I can best serve the House by leaving it. He had few defenders, least of all, the conservative leaders of the House, Barroness Stowell.

BARONESS STOWELL, LEADER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: I think it's really important that all of us, as members of the House of Lords, especially because we are unelected, consistently meet the expectations that the public have of us.

FOSTER: The liberal Democratic leader, Tim Faron, said the scandal showed the Lords was rotten to the core. But Prime Minister David Cameron appeared to rule out reform, saying he had tried and failed in the last parliament to do so and was not planning to go down that route again.

There may be more salacious detail to come, but this House hopes the mud won't stick here now that Sewel has gone. The irony being that he was in charge of setting parliamentary standards. Max Foster, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ASHER: Certainly an embarrassing development for Lord Sewel.

A report on Twitter's earnings sent the tech company stock on a wild ride on Tuesday. The company beat expectations in the second quarter on revenue of about $502 million and that caused shares to soar by more than 5 percent, but the story changed somewhat, didn't it?

BARNETT: That's right because growth among new Twitter users wasn't as strong rising 15 percent from the previous year. Investors said that new Twitter features were not attracting and keeping new users and that created what you see, shares diving 11 percent after an after-hours trading. That's, you know -- it wasn't good. You get the point.

ASHER: Twitter's influence continues to grow despite its problems.

BARNETT: Yes, the social media platform is playing a pivotal role in global events from the Greek economic crisis to Taylor Swift's beef with Apple even. CNN's Claire Sebastian explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLAIRE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From politics to popular culture, over the past few months, Twitter has been at the center of it all. Athens, June 27th. The Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announcing a shock referendum on the bailout terms set by Europe. It didn't end there. Throughout that day, he tweeted 23 times, each more defiant than the last.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't need to ask permission to let the voice of the Greek people to be heard.

SEBASTIAN: As the crisis escalated, parallel protests unfolded on the streets and on Twitter. The Greek finance minister even tweeting out his resignation.

MARK SHAEFER, AUTHOR, SOCIAL MEDIA CONSULTANT: Today, there's an expectations of transparency. There's a lot of politics that take place on Twitter and it can be perilous because some of the negotiations are extremely complex.

SEBASTIAN: They don't come much more complex than a nuclear deal with Iran. To say key parts of this historic moment played out on Twitter would be an understatement.

(On camera): On the day the deal was reached, the Iranian president's Twitter account sent out 21 tweets. And the White House, faced with the task of selling the deal to a skeptical Congress, they went one step further.

(voice-over): They set up a brand-new account, @theirandeal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Using Twitter for what it was designed for explaining complex nuclear agreements involving several nations.

SEBASTIAN: Jokes aside, Twitter has become a powerful tool and no one knows that better than Taylor Swift. On June 21st, the pop star tweeted to Apple, to her 61 million followers. It was an open letter saying she would not release her album on Apple's new music service because the company wasn't paying artists during its three-month free trial. Her protest worked, Apple reversing its policy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think that's an amazing example of how influence and authority has really has been democratized today. Here we have a performer who stopped one of the most powerful companies in the world in their tracks, within 24 hours.

SEBASTIAN: Twitter, the company, is in a period of transition. The power its users can wield seems to be greater than ever. Claire Sebastian, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BARNETT: Now about two years ago, Amazon introduced a prototype program to use drones to deliver packages within half an hour.

ASHER: Now, the company is proposing dividing up air space into so- called drone zones to ensure safe delivery. At a conference Tuesday, the vice president of Amazon Prime Air said the traffic would be based on a drone's mission and capabilities.

For example, 0 to 200 feet above ground, would be for low-speed traffic, such as recreational drones. Errol, I think we're in the future.

BARNETT: It sounds like it. Package delivery drones would be between 200 and 400 feet above ground, what Amazon calls the highway to drones. This would connect to a highway network that manages flights in real-time.

ASHER: We're going to take a quick break here on CNN. When we come back, he lost his hands and feet, but he had an impossible dream. Now, that dream is a reality, thanks to an incredible team of doctors and a confident little boy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: I want to say to you guys, thank you for helping me do this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[03:52:19]

BARNETT: Welcome back, everyone. "Politico" is reporting that U.S. President Barack Obama held private meetings with comedian and "Daily Show" host, Jon Stewart at the White House.

ASHER: If only you could be a fly on the wall during those meetings.

BARNETT: Yes, I would have loved to have seen what they discussed. Now "Politico" discovered these meetings which haven't been publicly reported until now in the official White House visitors' log. We don't know what they talked about.

ASHER: But we know that the president requested visits with Stewart in 2011 and 2014. "Politico" also reports that top White House aides knew that Stewart's show was influential and they made sure to field calls and e-mails from him and his staff.

BARNETT: Now we've all been there. Driving and you see someone parked where they shouldn't have put their car. What do you do? Zain gets angry and smashes the window.

ASHER: That's me. I've got a temper on me.

BARNETT: But you shouldn't do that. Some people park so close to your car, you have a hard time getting in, as well. Wouldn't it be nice to move that car with your bare hands?

ASHER: Well, a very big guy did that with a small car or did he? Here's our Jeanne Moos with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's the kind of thing you see in movies.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got this, right?

MOOS: But instead of Vin Diesel in "Furious 7," this is an allegedly furious bike rider who singlehandedly picks up a car. A car blocking a bike path in Brazil, moves it foot-by-foot, to the amazement of onlookers.

When he's done, he just pedals away. Is he just hulk in Brazil or is this a marketing stunt? It's been a pick-me-up for commenters. This guy can move a car with ease. It takes me 10 minutes to open a jar of salsa.

The last time we saw something like this, it was a viral ad featuring a specially designed lightweight taxi, a fake traffic cop and a fake cab driver. In real life, not so easy after this biker ran into a car and got trapped underneath.

It took Dallas police, firemen and civilians to lift the vehicle and pull out the biker. Look how many Good Samaritans it took to lift a BMW a few years back. That biker also survived. But could a single strongman do this alone?

Fiat salesmen agree it looks like a Fiat Uno.

(on camera): Would that be hard to pick up?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

MOOS: Now if he picked up a tank like this, it would be a big deal.

[03:55:03] But some are saying that a car like the Fiat Uno weighs only about 1,600 pounds total. Since he picked up the end where the engine isn't it means only picking up a few hundred pounds.

(voice-over): Only a few hundred, that's probably what the family guy thought when he offered to serve as a human jack -- Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BARNETT: Still pretty awesome.

ASHER: Was that real, though? I wonder. A bit more skeptical.

Finally, all an 8-year-old boy dreamed of doing was being able to throw a football. After a serious infection that resulted in the amputation of his hands and feet, many thought his dream would never come true.

BARNETT: But all of that changed earlier this month when he received two, new hands in the world's first pediatric hand transplant.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZION HARVEY, HAND TRANSPLANT PATIENT: Thank you for helping me through this bumpy road.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: He was saying thank you, there, to all of the doctors. The groundbreaking operation at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, required a team of some 40 doctors and nurses.

ASHER: Zion is now undergoing hand therapy several times a day to improve his hand function. He's looking forward to returning home and tossing around that baseball.

That does it for us. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM, everyone. I'm Zain Asher.

BARNETT: I'm Errol Barnett. Please do stay with CNN. EARLY START is next for those of you in the U.S.

ASHER: And for the rest of you, another edition of CNN NEWSROOM begins after this quick break.

BARNETT: Have a great day.

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