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North Korea Orders Troops To Wartime State; South Korea Threatens Retaliation; Thai Government Increases Bombing Suspect Reward To $56K; Donald Trump Leads Pack In Florida; Jimmy Carter Announces He Has Cancer; Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras Stepping Down; Josh Duggar Faces More Controversy After Ashley Madison Data Dump. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired August 21, 2015 - 01:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:00:29] GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR: The rhetoric in the Korean Peninsula is ratcheting up. North Korea has ordered troops in to a wartime state. South Korea warns it will retaliate if necessary.

Plus, traces of the suspect's footsteps. CNN walks the same path as the alleged Bangkok bomber before the explosion.

And Donald Trump overtake s Jeb Bush in the polls in the former governor's home state.

From CNN world headquarters here in Atlanta, I'm George Howell.

This is CNN NEWSROOM.

Good day to you. And welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. We begin this hour in South Korea where it is 2:00 p.m. this hour.

And defense ministry officials is there promising strong retaliation if the country is provoked by North Korea again. This statement comes after reports that Kim Jong-Un just ordered his military in to a state of full readiness for war against the south. Tensions between both sides increased following an artillery exchange along their heavily fortified border on Thursday.

The Japanese government just weighed in on this conflict saying quote "we are strongly concerned over North Korea's actions. North Korea should exercise self-restraint in making such provocative acts."

Let's turn to CNN's Kathie Novak. She is closely monitoring the situation there, the tensions on the Korean demilitarized zone.

Kathie, good to have you with us. The very latest from the South Korean defense ministry is that South Korea will strongly retaliate if there is any additional provocation from North Korea. What more are you hearing and seeing there?

KATHIE NOVAK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, South Korea's military is on high alert. That was the order given by the president Park Geun-hye yesterday as well to strongly take action against any further provocation from North Korea. And we are hearing out of North Korea state news agency that Kim Jong-Un, the leader, called together his central military commission and told them to be fully battle ready, to be prepared to launch surprise operations from anytime in the next few hours.

That after it issued an ultimatum yesterday. This followed this exchange of artillery fire at the border not far from where I am right now, George. What happened was South Korea reported two shells being fired in its direction along the demilitarized zone, known as the DMZ. It fired dozens of its owned shells back. And then Pyongyang said that South Korea must stop broadcasting propaganda messages across the border by tomorrow at 5:00 p.m., or it will take military action.

George, if I can just set the scene of what led up to this. Tensions have been rising over the past couple of weeks. And it all started when two South Korean soldiers were badly injured by land mines. Seoul blamed those land mines on Pyongyang. It said that North Korean soldiers crossed in to South Korean side of the DMZ to plant those land mines. So in retaliation it restarted this program of what it calls psychological warfare using the speakers to blast propaganda messages across the border.

This something that South Korea haven't done in more than ten years and something that is known to anger the regime of King Jong-Un that likes to keep a very tight control on communications within North Korea. So North Korea has been threatening to blow up the speakers. It is thought that these speakers were the target of the shells yesterday. And it also had been warning that it will launch indiscriminate strikes against South Korea if this campaign of psychological warfare does not stop, George.

HOWELL: And South Korea giving no indication that campaign will stop.

So Kathie, I'm just curious, as far as people there, around, near the DMZ, what's the feeling? What's the mood? Because this type of rhetoric is nothing new. Are people concerned?

NOVAK: It isn't new. We hear this kind of (INAUDIBLE) rhetoric coming out of North Korea often, particularly around this time of the year. That's because this is the time when the United States holds joint military exercises with South Korea. And we often hear threats coming out of the regime of Kim Jong-Un on the weekend. In fact, it was threatening to attack the U.S. mainland because of the joint military strikes.

But as I say, this campaign of psychological warfare is something that hasn't happened in more than a decade and that is new. And the tensions have been rising here. So the reaction has been cautious. There were evacuations yesterday. Residents nearby where this exchange of fire was going on were evacuated from their homes and brought to evacuation centers and we're told that a few dozen still remain in those centers --George.

[01:05:08] HOWELL: And Kathie, the North Koreans are also demanding that emergency U.N. Security Council meeting over these military exercises. So we will have to see what happens with that. But of course, stay in touch with you there.

Kathie, thank you so much.

Thai authorities are trying to find a woman they say may have been involved in Monday's deadly Bangkok bombing. Police there say two men seen on surveillance video turned themselves in on Thursday, but it does not appear that they are linked to the attack.

Police say at least ten suspects were involved but Thai officials say it is unlikely the attack is linked to international terrorism. Thailand's government run news agency said a reward for the main suspect seen here as now doubled to about $56,000. Thai police say they are not sure whether the main bombing suspect is still in the country.

CNN's Andrew Stevens is there following the case.

Andrew, good to have you with us. So police at this point are looking for a woman wearing a black shirt. That's all we know. Though, have authorities, have they indicated that they have learned anything new?

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: At this stage, not a lot. It is a very frustrating task that police are facing at the moment, George. Considering that early on they had identified a man they thought was the bomber and very soon after that they said they were very sure he was the bomber. But since then, it's been very difficult to actually pin anything else down.

As you point out, there were two other suspects they thought were accomplices who were seen in the shrine very close to the bomber. A man wearing a white shirt and a man wear red shirt. And it appeared as if they were almost covering for him as he sat down at that bench and took his backpack off.

Police believe that backpack contained the pipe bomb. He put it under the bench and disappeared very shortly afterwards. Those two people have now been - they have been discarded from the investigation because they both went into the police saying, look, we are just tourist and tourist guide and is nothing more than that. So a very frustrating for the police at the moment, George.

HOWELL: Andrew, any idea from authorities about a motive in this particular attack?

STEVENS: Well, again, the police and the government, as far as the prime minister himself -- remember, this is a military-led government now, said that they thought this attack and another attack too where there were no injuries but the same type of explosive device was used were both aimed at disrupting tourism. And they are aimed at sites. So the Erawan shrine is a very popular site. And the plan was to disrupt tourism and by station disrupt the Thailand economy. And tourism is one of the very few bright spots in the Thai economy at the moment. So that is what the government is and remains working on.

What they really do know at this stage, though, with any degree of certainty, given the sheer number of CCTV cameras around Bangkok, particularly around this area which is such a popular shopping destination and tourist destination, they do know the movements of the bomber just before -- just after the attack and we have been able to get some documents from the police to show what happened. So just take a look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEVENS: CNN has been given internal police documents that track through CCTV pictures the path just before and after that deadly explosion. And it begins with a man in a yellow shirt getting out of a (INAUDIBLE). These are among the most popular forms of transport in the city.

We are outside of the grand Hyatt hotel, easily noticeable by those big white columns. The time was with 6:37 on a Monday evening.

From where he was dropped off to the entrance of the shrine has taken me just over one-and-a-half minutes to walk, but it took him almost 14 minutes and we don't know why. Police say this is the missing link in the time line. But at 6:51, security cameras show him inside the shrine walking towards this corner, the blast site. There was a bench there at the time. There was also a man in a red shirt sitting on the bench.

At the time this place was busy. Local Thai people coming home from work were mingling with tourists, all offering blessings, hoping for a bit of good luck.

Video shows what happens next. The suspected bomber slips off his backpack and leaves it on or under the bench. The time is 6:52. Three minutes later, the bomb detonates killing 20 people.

This security camera captures the suspected bomber about 50 seconds after the blast outside of the peninsula plaza. He's come back the same way he went in. He's about a block and a half away from that shrine. He would have heard the blast.

A little more than a minute later, he's pictured on the back of a motorcycle taxi driving away from the blast, on his way to Lumpini (ph) park. And this is where the got off where it is only about two minutes or so up the road. The reason we know he got off here is that we spoke to the rider who brought him up. He didn't want to go on camera, but he did tell us that the suspected bomber gave him a piece of paper with the Lumpini (ph) which is just over here written in English on it.

They didn't speak but said he heard him on the phone and it sounded like he was speaking in a foreign language. But from here, the trail goes cold. It is conjecture now where he went from this point. And the driver told us one last chilling thing. He said, the suspected bomber seemed completely calm.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[01:11:10] STEVENS: Now, they still don't know, actually, George, whether he is still in Thailand. They are combing through CCTV footage from the two international airports here in Bangkok. So they can't say with any degree of certainty whether he is still here.

HOWELL: Andrew Stevens, your report there walking us through step by step really sets it up and gives some perspective there.

Andrew Stevens, thank you so much live there in Bangkok. We'll stay in touch with you.

A new poll shows Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is leading the pact in the battleground state of Florida. Trump has a four-point lead over Jeb Bush, the former governor of that state. The billionaire businessman is also out polling Florida Senator Marco Rubio who is tied for third with neurosurgeon Ben Carson.

But it's not just the battle of the polls between Trump and Bush. Athena Jones has more on these two Republican heavyweights going to war with words.

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JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You win when you campaign like this. You don't win when you campaigning like this.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jeb Bush hitting back at Donald Trump today.

BUSH: You win when you connect with people about their aspirations. Not about how great you are. How rich you are, how this or how that you are. That's not leadership.

JONES: Those remarks coming on the heels of Wednesday's war of words between Bush and Trump. The real estate mogul dissing Bush with comments like this.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't see how he is electable. Jeb Bush is a low energy person.

JONES: And echoing an emerging narrative that the former governor isn't energizing voters.

TRUMP: You know what is happening to Jeb's crowd, as you know, right down the street, they are sleeping. They are sleeping now.

JONES: In fact, one woman dozed off at Bush's town hall today. Even his fans say they are concerned about Bush's lack of energy.

BRIDGET PEARCE, BUSH SUPPORTER: He basically is just flat. He has no energy. Out of all of the Republican candidates he's the one that I feel safest with. He would be the one that has the most experience.

JONES: I asked him today how he is going to change that narrative.

BUSH: There's a big difference between Donald Trump and me. I have fought for Republican and conservative causes all of my adult life.

JONES: New poll numbers show Bush is struggling, even in his home state of Florida where he is served two terms as governor. He also trails Trump in Iowa, Pennsylvania and here in New Hampshire, a state seen as key to his run. The billionaire businessman is drawing crowds several times bigger than Bush's.

TRUMP: Thank you very much.

JONES: His campaign moved on Friday in Alabama to a stadium after more than 35,000 fans RSVP'd for the event. This as other candidates struggled to command the spotlight.

Senator Marco Rubio laying out his tax policy.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: As president I would begin by fundamentally over hauling our tax code.

JONES: An event overshadowed by the Trump-Bush face off.

Now I asked Bush why he is trailing Trump even in Florida, his home state, in the latest Quinnipiac poll. HE told me look, he is beating Hillary Clinton in Florida while Trump is losing to her right now in the polls. But that's not actually true. The same poll shows Trump leading Clinton in Florida, as well.

Athena Jones, CNN, New Hampshire.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: Jeb Bush is also defending himself for using a term that for many is deeply offensive. In an interview with a conservative radio host, Bush said greater enforcement was need so you don't have quote "anchor babies" coming in to the country. It is a term that refers to children born in the United States to parents who are not citizens. Bush said he doesn't believe the word is offensive and got testy with a reporter that asked him about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: Anchor baby, is that not bombastic?

BUSH: No, it isn't. Give me another word.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: Children of immigrant of the U.S.

[01:15:00] BUSH: That is not another word. That's a seven - look, here is the deal. What I said was it is commonly referred to that. That's what I said. I didn't use it as my own language. What we ought to do is protect the 14th. You want to get to the policy for a second? I think that people born in this country ought to be American citizens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Democrats have been quick to pounce on the term including Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. She tweeted out this response to Bush's taunt. To give him a different term for so- called anchor babies. How about babies, children or American citizens. Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter said the cancer found in his liver

has spread to his brain. The 90-year-old gave a news conference on Thursday and spoke about his diagnosis saying the future is now in God's hands.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY CARTER, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I felt it was confined to my liver and that they had -- the operation had completely removed it. So I was quite relieved. And then that same afternoon we had an MRI of my head and neck and it showed that it was within four places in the brain. So I would say that night and the next day until I came back up to Emory, I just thought I had a few weeks left.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: So the message to other patients, is your message of hope, is that acceptance?

CARTER: Well, it is one of hope and acceptance. Yes, hope for the best and accept what comes. You know, I think I have been as blessed as any human being in the world with having become the president of the United States of America and governor of Georgia and work at the Carter center and big, growing family and thousands of friends. So I don't think -- and living to be 91 years old the first of October. So I have had everything that has been a blessing for me. So I'm thankful and hopeful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Mr. Carter, who's nearly 91 years old spoke for almost 40 minutes with grace and acceptance. He reflected on his life and his regrets.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: Anything you wish -- I'm sorry -- that you had not done or done differently.

CARTER: I wish with I had sent one more helicopter to get the hostages and we would have rescued them and I would have been re- elected, but that may have -- that may have interfered with the foundation at the Carter center. If I had to choose between four more years and the Carter center I think I would choose the Carter center. Thank you. Could have been both.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: The former president began radiation treatment later Thursday afternoon and added that he was at ease with his diagnosis.

You are watching CNN NEWSROOM.

Still ahead, a major announcement from Greece as the prime minister there says he is stepping down. More on what that could mean for the country in a live report straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [01:21:44] HOWELL: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm George Howell.

We now go to Greece where Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is stepping down. And he has called for early parliamentary elections. Tsipras apparently plans to run again. He says it is up to the Greek people to decide who will lead the country forward. Tsipras' move comes one month after Greece approved tough economic reforms in order to secure a third bailout.

Let's turn now to Elinda Labropoulou, live in Greece who's been closely monitoring this developing story.

Elinda, good to have you with us. So look, there's already a great deal of uncertainty in Greece as it stands now with the economy and now the prime minister's resignation. What does it mean for the country? And also what does it mean for the future of Tsipras' party?

ELINDA LABROPOULOU, JOURNALIST: Well, traditionally, when we approach election time what tends to happens is the country grinds to a halt. So we are looking at a month, but we are looking at these elections expected to take place about a month from now. But not very much is likely to happen.

Of course, this means going to be a very short campaign. We know that Mr. Tsipras really is leading in all the polls. He's a very popular politician despite everything that has happened in the last seven months.

At the same time, we are looking at someone who is going to the polls with the country still enforcing capital controls and a number of other limitations, with parliamentary support within his own party having diminished.

And this is really the main reason why Mr. Tsipras seems to be taking Greece to elections. During the last parliamentary votes in order to endorse, in order push through the new bailout, he lost many of the parliamentarians, about a third of them. So basically what he is trying to do with these snap polls is really clean house is I think we could put it. He's trying to make sure that he has enough support if he is re-elected, which is what the majority of people here expect in order to then be able to then seal the support of the rest of parliament, to be able to endorse this tough measures that he has just signed for.

At the moment, we know the bailout is remain extremely unpopular in Greece. So Mr. Tsipras said so himself yesterday. He has been basically using the same lines all along. He's been saying this is a bad deal. We know it is a bad deal but it is better than no deal. And this is really the card that he's going to use when he goes to the polls next month -- George.

HOWELL: Political maneuverings. We will stay in touch to see how this plays out.

Elinda Labropoulou, live in Greece for us. Elinda, thank you so much for your reporting. Turning to the pain on Wall Street where U.S. stocks suffered the

worst day of the year this Thursday. All three major U.S. stock market indices lost two percent or more. The Dow Jones industrial average plunged 358 points. The blue chip index also dropped below 17,000 for the first time since October.

There's less than two hours until the major Chinese markets close, but it's been another rough day on the Asia-Pacific markets you see here. All of these major markets trading down presently.

Traders at European stock markets hope the bleak trend will end when they open in a couple of hours. Those markets finished broadly lower though on Thursday, as well.

Fresh fears of the global economic recovery is part of what's behind this market slide. For some context let's bring in Peter Churchouse, the director for the investment firm Lindh advisers in Hong Kong.

Peter, good to have you with us. Let's talk big picture first.

PETER CHURCHOUSE, DIRECTOR, LIM ADVISORS: Good to be here, George.

HOWELL: Thank you so much for your time today. Big picture. You have China, Brazil, and Russia, all slowdowns with those countries. You got oil mired at six-year lows and mixed messages from the fed here in the United States on whether it might raise interest rates. This all sounds really bad. People are asking, when do you hit the panic button with this?

CHURCHOUSE: Well, quite frankly, I think the world is just realizing that the turns of liquidity that central banks around the world have thrown at the global economy in the last six, seven years have not reignited sustainable economic growth. Every forecast we see pretty much at the moment is downgrading growth forecasts for emerging markets, developed economies, as well. And so, I think that is affecting people's perception of earnings growth around the world. And certainly we're very concerned about devaluations of currencies, certainly in Asia that's for sure.

HOWELL: Devaluation of currency leads to me to my next question, China. Factory activity has hit 77-month low indicating that the country's factories are losing momentum. And Chinese investors are dumping stocks. It leaves many people asking the question, how much further will stocks fall? What are your thoughts?

CHURCHOUSE: Well, I think firstly the question on devaluation, I think many people in the western markets have got it wrong. They have been quite hysterical about China's supposed sort of competitive devaluation. This isn't a competitive devaluation at all. It is basically reestablishing a regime which is going to make the currency more driven by market forces.

But having said that, there is certainly no question that the China economy is probably slowing much more than the official figures would suggest. And we are certainly seeing earning growth in many sectors coming under pressure. So I think the rationale for the decline in the China market is pretty real. And there is even more so in some of the other countries where we are seeing current account deficits and even more problems with currencies in markets like Indonesia, South Africa, Brazil, and so on.

HOWELL: Will allowing its currency devalue make exports cheaper to help to turn things around in China?

CHURCHOUSE: I'm not convinced by this at all. We have seen a devaluation of about three percent to date so far. Quite frankly, China's currency has appreciated about 25 percent against most other currencies over the course of the last three or four years. We have seen the Japanese currency has devalued by about 40 percent against major currencies in the last two or three years. And have we seen a major stimulus of Japanese exports as a result of that? Not really.

We have also seen devaluations of a lot of other currencies. But have we seen exports driven higher? Not really. So I think the case for devaluation led driving exports is really not really that well established.

HOWELL: Peter Churchouse, thank you so much for your insights. We will be paying close attention, I'm sure, to what happens with the uncertainty right now in the markets. Thank you.

Thousands of people are being forced from their homes in the Pacific Northwest in the United States as wildfires tear through. In Washington State, they mourn the deaths of three firefighters. We will have the latest on the conditions there as the news continues here worldwide on CNN international and CNN USA.

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[01:32:16] HOWELL: Welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM. Good to have you with us. I'm George Howell.

The headlines this hour, South Korea says it will strongly retaliate if provoked by North Korea again. The statement comes after reports that Kim Jong-Un just ordered his military in to a state of full readiness for war against South Korea. Tensions between both sides increased following an artillery exchange along their heavily fortified border on Thursday.

Britain will spend millions of dollars to help France curb the influx of migrants in to Europe. That includes more security cameras, better fences and combined police operations at the euro tunnel in Calais. There will also be a fast-track asylum process for thousands of migrants in the French city.

No relief appears to be in sight in Washington State. Firefighters there battling more than 100 wildfires. Flames are burning 390,000 acres right now, well, that is close to about 160,000 hectares. One wildfire near the town Twist killed three firefighters Wednesday and injured four others.

Let's go directly now to Twisp, our reporter Tom Yazwinski. He is live there with our affiliate KCPQ13 in Seattle.

Tom, good to have you with us. So what's the latest on the ground with these fires from what you have seen?

TOM YAZWINSKI, JOURNALIST: Well, firefighters are working around the clock to battle these blazes out here. So far, fires are to blame for burning 400,000 acres here in Washington State. It is a record- setting year. And I know it sounds cliche to say that crews have never seen dry conditions like this before, but they tell us that dry conditions that they would typically see in August, they saw this year around May and June. So it speaks to how dry it is out here right now.

They are also experiencing a lot of heavy winds out here and very low humidity. And that's to blame for killing three firefighters yesterday. These unpredictable winds suddenly whipped up, trapping firefighters. The fire closed in on them, killing three of them. (INAUDIBLE) actually lives here in Twisp and he was killed in that fire. We spoke to his family today. He comes from a long line of firefighters. We talked to his parents and they are so proud of their son.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The light of our life, you know. We would have given anything to have yesterday not happened. Only had one week to go. He was going back to school next week. Just want people know what a wonderful person he was. How bad we feel about it all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YAZWINSKI: And these conditions are not expected to get any better. We are expecting more gusty winds tomorrow up to 40 miles an hour, very low humidity. There is a red flag warning in effect for Washington State until 11:00 tomorrow night. And we have 3,000 pairs of boots on the ground. Dozens of aircraft in the sky fighting this fire. And we are expecting more resources from around the country, as well as Canada.

One last thing I want to mention, Governor Jay Inslee spoke about these firefighters losing their lives. He said this fire has burned a hole in the heart of many Washingtonians out here, George.

[01:35:38] HOWELL: Tom Yazwinski, there live in Twisp, Washington. Tom, thank you so much for your reporting there.

Saturday marks 100 days until world leaders come together in Paris at COP 21, a conference hailed as the last chance to avert a climate catastrophe. Here's why this meeting matters.

It's hope that COP 21 will produce the first ever legally binding, universally applicable plan to combat global warming. The agreement would especially be a more comprehensive and legally enforced successor to the Kyoto protocol. That deal expires in 2020 and excludes top greenhouse gas emitting countries. In 2009 an attempt to reach a similar agreement at the climate

conference in Copenhagen failed. All eyes are on COP-21 for a lasting solution.

And when it comes to climate change, scientists are stressing the importance of one number -- two degrees Celsius. Here's why.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: Two degrees Celsius. It's probably the most important number you have never heard of. Environmental policy experts say that temperature, two degree Celsius or 3.6 Fahrenheit, maybe the edge of the cliff for climate change. If global average temperatures warm more than that we greatly up the odds of new and worsening climate capacity. Stay below that mark and we may be able to avoid some of the worst aspects of global warming like super drought, mass extinctions and extreme sea level rise which will hit coastal cities.

When we burn gas in our cars or coal in our power plants, we are adding carbon to the atmosphere and warming the planet. Scientists say the earth's surface temperature has warmed 0.85 degrees Celsius since 1880, the industrial revolution. If we want to slow climate change, we are going to have to cut back and fast. If we don't the world could hit two degrees Celsius in just a few decades.

This simple little number raises a bunch of huge and complex questions. What is exactly happens if we cross that threshold or even get close? How can we prevent that from happening? Many experts say it is still possible for us to stop short of two degrees, to stay back from the cliff, but it will take a global effort.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: A lot of talk about climate change at COP-21, very important for a lot of people who will be attending that conference.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: The big question is, like the story say, can everybody work together trying to come up with a resolution. It's been tried before. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. So that's really going to be I think the key factor with this, is can everyone come together to create some type of agreement.

The one thing to note is we have lot more statistics. This go around at this particular meeting, is they didn't have in past ones to see whether or not that really makes an impact. And one of the things we are talking about is actually just how warm this past July has been. Take a look.

Global temperatures, we had a record warm July so far this year, 16.61 degrees Celsius. The average 15.8. So not just a little bit above but considerably above. And we take a look at the July. It is a about a full degree above the average for the entire 20th century. So not just compared to say the last year or two, but really for much of the century. Now, here's a look at where we had record July warmth. South America,

the fifth warmest July on record. Now, a little bit farther north into the United States, we were warm but only just a slightly above. Moving off towards Europe, western and central Europe had record high temperatures as well for the month of July. And Africa topping out at the second warmest July on record.

So here we take a look. We talked about Europe, for example Spain, warmest July on record. Austria, same thing, France had the third warmest July on record. And then again, individual cities throughout Europe also picking up pretty very significant heat and hot temperatures, as well.

Now, here's the correlation that we have to global warming. Heat events, heat waves, coastal funning, rain events very strong evidence tying that to climate change. But we have talked before, things like tornados and tropical cyclones, that's where we have our weakest evidence in terms of tying it to climate change.

However, we can tie it pretty consistently towards El Nino. And we are having a rather large El Nino year so far and we have double trouble out in the western pacific right now. We have typhoon Goni and typhoons Asani out there right now. And notice at least for typhoon Goni right now currently sitting between Taiwan and the Philippines before it finally begins to makes its way a little bit further off towards the north and east and divert its path. So that's good for folks especially along the western portion of Taiwan.

[01400:29] HOWELL: Allison, thank you so much.

For more on CNN's climate change coverage and the run up to that conference, the COP 21, you can log on to get information two degrees Celsius. That's at CNN.com.

A growing majority of Americans now say they are against the Iran nuclear deal. According to a new CNN/ORC poll, 56 percent of Americans say they think Congress should reject the deal. That's up from 52 percent, less than a month ago. This shift seems to stem from increasing partisan polarization of the deal. But the same time, 50 percent of Americans say they favor striking a deal with Iran that would ease some of the economic sanctions in exchange for major restrictions of the nuclear program.

The Obama administration has acknowledged that Iranians would likely be involved with inspections at the Parchin military facility in an arrangement that critics of the nuclear deal are upset about. U.S. Republican senator and presidential candidate Lindsey Graham says quote "allowing the Iranians to inspect their own nuclear sites, particularly notorious military site, is like allowing inmates to run the jail," end quote. The U.N.'s nuclear watch dog, the international atomic energy agency does allow for Iran to swipe samples at the site but the IAEA inspectors must be present or monitoring them at that time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JAMES ACTON, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT INTERNATIONAL PEACE: You are literally taking a material that looks a bit like cotton and you are swiping it over a surface and you are putting it in a bag. If it is a face saving measure for the Iranians to do that physically watched over by IAEA inspectors to make sure it is done properly, then frankly, I think that is an entirely unproblematic procedure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: The IAEA denies it made a deal with Iran giving it responsibility over inspecting that military site.

Reality TV star Josh Duggar admits to cheating on his wife after being exposed by hackers. And it's not the first time he's faced a major scandal. We will have more on that story ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:45:48] HOWELL: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm George Howell.

U.S. reality TV star Josh Duggar is calling himself a hypocrite after he was ousted as a user of the site Ashley Madison. The family values advocate was featured on the now cancelled reality show 19 kids and counting and his is the first big name to be revealed since the site was hacked.

Our Randi Kaye has the story.

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RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Among the names of 32 million wannabe cheaters, hackers posted online, one name stands out, Josh Duggar, the same Josh Duggar of reality TV fame who earlier this summer was exposed for having sexually molested his teenagers when he was a young teenager. Including one sister who was just five years old and now this. Two active accounts connected to Josh Duggar on the website AshleyMadison.com, a site that proudly helps married people cheat by hooking them up with sex partners. Ashley Madison's slogan is life is short, have an affair.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't wait up.

KAYE: The address attached to Duggar's first account called Josh the man matches the address of his Fayetteville, Arkansas home. The second account ready for this D.C. appears to be open when he was spending time in Maryland leading a group that lobbied against same- sex marriage. Records show Duggar paid almost $1,000 to the cheating Web site since 2012. Duggar's second account included an initial fee of $250. And an affair guarantee, your money back if you don't have an affair within three months.

Duggar's information posted online was verified by a cybersecurity company for CNN. His most intimate desires are listed as bubble baths, sex toys, oral sex and fantasies. He was interested in someone he can teach, who was open to experimentation, someone good with their hands who likes cuddling, hugging and sex talk. Here's what he listed as turn ones, muscular, fit body, naughty girl,

confidence and also a good listener and someone with a secret love nest who has natural breasts and is disease free.

JOSH DUGGAR, REALITY SHOW STAR: I Joshua, take thee Anna to be my wedded wife.

KAYE: When Josh and his wife, Anna, took their vows on their reality show in 2008, viewers had no idea he had sexually assaulted his sisters, a secret hidden by his own parents for years. Josh apologized in May and apologized again on Thursday for cheating. His statement reads in part, I have been the biggest hypocrite ever while espousing faith and family values, I have been unfaithful to my wife. I'm so ashamed of the double life I have been living. He goes on, the last few years while publicly stating I was fighting against immorally in our country, I was hiding my own personal failures.

Duggar was likely referring to his stint of the family research council, a conservative group which champions marriage and family. The group fought against the legalization of same-sex marriage. Josh Duggar stepped down when news of his sister's molestation was made public but the dates line up. He worked championing marriage, while paying Ashley Madison Web site to find a secret lover.

Randi Kaye, CNN, New York.

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HOWELL: Los Angeles police have searched the home of Kiss front man Gene Simmons. Authorities say the crimes against children task force in southern California served a search warrant at the rock star's home on Thursday. But no one in the Simmons family is a suspect. A representative for Gene Simmons says a crime may have occurred at the home last year while the singer was on tour. Authorities have not released any more information at this point.

A new pool coming to London gives new meaning to clear waters. We'll show you what that means and you'll hear from the man behind the sky pool as CNN NEWSROOM continues.

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[01:53:47] HOWELL: If you are in to swimming, got some news for you. There's a new swimming pool coming to London and it's definitely not for those with a fear of heights. It lets you to all the way down to the bottom, way, way down below.

Jeanne Moos has the story on the sky pool as its called.

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JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is across between the glass sky walk over the Grand Canyon and a swimming pool, it is the sky pool. Ten stories up, a see-through pool suspended between two luxury apartment blocks in London.

I don't know, it seems possible to get vertigo while swimming.

Developer John Mulryan says that when while his father first approached the idea.

JOHN MULRYAN, MANAGING DIRECTOR, BALLYMORE GROUP: We weren't sure if it was possible.

MOOS: But after a year and a half of consulting with engineering and even aquarium experts, Mulryan says the sky pool is a sure thing. Ninety feet long, made out of crystal clear acrylic that is eight inches thick. Gives whole new meaning to the term sky diving. But you have to be careful about diving in to this pool it is only four feet deep.

It may not be among the highest pools like the marina bay sands in Singapore or among the deepest pools in like the Nemo 33 in Belgium or the largest pools, the San Alfonso Delmar in Chile, but the sky pool will make you want to keep your eyes wide open under water.

What are you thinking it would feel like to swim in this pool?

MULRYAN: Well, yes. I mean, I suppose we don't 100 percent know because it has never been done before. But I mean, the idea was we thought it would feel like, you know, you kind swimming through air.

MOOS: Rarefied air. The sky pool is for residents in the apartments being built at Embassy Garden start at $940,000. Construction won't be complete for another three years. No worries about falling off the pool. Acrylic extends well beyond the water's surface.

Skinny dipping in this pool would be very exposing.

MULRYAN: You know, you are ten floors up. So you have a little protection.

MOOS: We'd look like tad poles up there in that human aquarium in the sky.

Jeanne Moos -- where's the lifeguard sit -- CNN.

MULRYAN: On the edge.

MOOS: CNN, New York.

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HOWELL: A crack in that pool would be a really bad thing. It is a pool that I can assure you will not see me swimming there.

We thank you for joining us this hour on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm George Howell. My colleague Natalie Allen is next with another hour of news from around the world.

Thank you for watching CNN, the world's news leader.

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