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Brexit Fallout Continues; E.U. Foreign Ministers Meet in Berlin; Scotland Talking about Leaving the U.K.; Trump Meets with Rupert Murdoch; Brexit Fallout Continues; U.K. Voters Voice Doubt with #Regrexit; Newly Expanded Panama Canal Reopens; Euro 2016 Fans React to Brexit. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired June 26, 2016 - 03:00   ET

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

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CLARISSA WARD, CNN HOST: Welcome to our viewers around the world, as we continue our special coverage of Britain's decision to leave the E.U. I'm Clarissa Ward.

MAX FOSTER, CNN HOST: I'm Max Foster. Reactions to the U.K.'s Brexit referendum continue whilst the shock hasn't really worn through yet.

Following Britain's vote on Thursday, the foreign ministers of the six founding E.U. countries met in Berlin. In a statement on Saturday, they called for exit negotiations as soon as possible. But at a separate event, German chancellor Angela Merkel suggested there wasn't a hurry.

WARD: Meanwhile, back here in Britain, yet more political turmoil overnight, with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn under big pressure from members of his own party. The British Press Association says Corbyn has sacked shadow foreign minister Hilary Benn at 1 o'clock this morning British time, after reports that Benn was planning a coup against him.

Corbyn backed the Remain campaign but was criticized by some in his party for what they saw as his weak contributions.

FOSTER: In an incredible development overnight, for more on how E.U. leaders have responded to the Brexit more generally, we're joined by Atika Shubert in Berlin.

WARD: And for developments here in Britain, Diana Magnay is outside 10 Downing Street.

But Atika, I want to start with you. Just explain to us, we heard Chancellor Angela Merkel saying there's no hurry. We've heard other E.U. leaders saying we need to get this rolling right away.

What is the reality?

What do European leaders want to see going forward?

And what can we expect this week?

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think the reality is we're seeing a lot of different levers being pushed here to try and pressure the U.K. to do what the E.U. nations want it to do.

Yes, they want to see an exit that is quick, that is painless and smooth. So this is why we're seeing foreign ministers saying, we want to see this process get rolling. Let's evoke Article 50 already. That, of course, is the legal mechanism by which the U.K. would leave the E.U.

On the other hand, Germany's chancellor, Angela Merkel, knows that this is not going to happen overnight. The political reality is there won't be an Article 50 invoked until there's a new prime minister in the U.K. And that's at least several months away. And then there are negotiations after that.

So what she said is, no need to get nasty about this. Let's remain calm and collected. Yes, the new relationship needs to be renegotiated. But that is going to take some time.

So there's a lot of conflicting interests here. On the one hand, yes, things need to be renegotiated. On the other, there is definitely the feeling that somehow they must show that no other E.U. nation should take these steps, so kind of a deteriorate effect. And they've got to figure out how to do that, what kind of a deal they can negotiate with the U.K.

FOSTER: OK. Diana, we're going to come to you. But, first, we're just going to explain who Hilary Benn was. He's been sacked by Jeremy Corbyn, who's the leader of the opposition party because Benn was the shadow foreign secretary until about 1:00 this morning, I think it was.

He'd been there since May of last year. In December, he split with Corbyn when he sided with the government in the debate over airstrikes against ISIS in Syria. He got a lot of support in the party for that. He's also well-known as the son of the late Tony Benn, who was a long- time leftist Labour MP, really a legend, wasn't he, in Parliament.

But, Diana, he's been fired by Corbyn. That's a big story for British politics.

DIANA MAGNAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is a big story because he is such a political heavyweight. He made a very, very rousing speech back in December, supporting the government, as you say, for airstrikes against so-called Islamic State in Syria. And got a lot of support for that very rousing speech.

But it was in defiance of Jeremy Corbyn. Hilary Benn was very much on the Remain side. And he had a telephone call with Corbyn overnight and told him that he'd lost confidence in his leadership, whereby Corbyn dismissed him. And the likelihood that that will do Corbyn any favors is very small. Hilary Benn has a great deal of support within the shadow cabinet. And the shadow cabinet are expected to meet, the parliamentary Labour Party is expected to meet this week, when they will presumably be discussing whether or not to table a vote of no confidence in their leader.

Hilary Benn will be appearing on one of the major Sunday political talk shows this morning, "The Andrew Marr Show." It will be very interesting to hear what he has to say then. And certainly, you do get the sense that there is a groundswell --

[03:05:00]

MAGNAY: -- of opinion against Jeremy Corbyn. And just to give you a sense, Tristram Hunt, a prominent Labour politician, wrote in one of the dailies this week, he said, "The British people have been sold a pup" -- i.e. Jeremy Corbyn -- "and now we need the Labour lion to roar."

And I think that that is a sentiment that you're increasingly beginning to sense, certainly amongst the shadow cabinet -- Max.

WARD: Atika, I just want to go to you now. This sort of political turmoil is exactly what European leaders wanted to avoid. We've now heard right-wing party leaders in France and the Netherlands coming out, demanding their own referenda.

How concerned are European leaders that this contagion might be spreading?

SHUBERT: Very concerned; we've seen the turmoil on the financial markets. But to be honest, that's the least of their worries.

The biggest challenge, especially for Germany and France, is keeping the European Union together. And that means finding a way to keep Marine Le Pen's Front National in check. She is already calling for a referendum. And she's facing elections shortly.

And then, we have of course the far right party in the Netherlands, Geert Wilders, also for a similar deal like Brexit.

Germany has its own alternative for Germany party here, that is also eurosceptic. So the danger here is that Brexit is essentially fueling these far right eurosceptic movements across Europe. And so what we're seeing, when we saw the foreign ministers' meeting here in Berlin yesterday, is basically an attempt to regroup, consolidate and say let's keep the union together.

What do we need to do this?

What kind of deterrent effect do we need to put in place?

How do we reform the E.U. so that the current members who are in don't get any ideas that they should be leaving?

FOSTER: OK. And Diana, just imagine David Cameron's thoughts as he has to go over to Europe this week. He has done up a meeting, doesn't he, to explain what on Earth happened here in London last week in front of 27 other leaders, a painful moment.

At the same time, he's still the only person actually left the government.

So do you expect more Tory leadership members to go?

MAGNAY: I think the expectation is, Max, that George Osborne, the chancellor, will go. He's kept a very low profile since the Brexit result was announced. He hasn't been seen at all. He's been active on social media but he was very prominent in the Remain campaign, trying to convince the British people that the economic impact of Brexit would be very, very significant.

And it was a message that just didn't seem to come across to people who perhaps feel that, economically, their situation couldn't get much worse, in the north of England, in the Midlands, those sort of hardcore who voted to leave.

So he is expected to go at some point, as the Tory leadership aligns itself into a battle, presumably between Boris Johnson and Theresa May, the home secretary, who was on the Remain camp but would act more as a unifier really within the Tory Party.

And that is absolutely what the Tory Party needs, some kind of stability, some kind of unity, just as the Labour Party do at the moment -- Max.

FOSTER: Absolutely. Huge amount of instability, financially, politically. Thank you, Diana in London.

Also Atika in Berlin.

WARD: And it's going to be a very busy week ahead. Here are a few key Brexit-related events that you should be watching out for.

On Monday, the British Parliament returns after its recess to begin planning its exit from the E.U. It is also likely Conservative MPs will start organizing plans for a leadership election to choose the next prime minister.

FOSTER: Also Monday, German chancellor Angela Merkel invited the leaders of France and Italy as well as the European Council president to Berlin to discuss post-Brexit vote plans.

Then on Tuesday, a two-day E.U. summit is scheduled to begin in Brussels; all 28 leaders, including David Cameron, imagine, will meet to discuss the U.K.'s impending divorce from the European bloc.

Now the U.K.'s decision is making waves throughout Europe. Mujtaba Rahman leads the Eurasia Group's Europe practice. He joins us now from Brussels.

When David Cameron appears before the 27 other leaders, what is he going to be able to say to them that's going to reassure them or help them in any way? MUJTABA RAHMAN, EURASIA GROUP: Nothing, really. In the very short term, there's a fairly strong constituency within the E.U. that wants Cameron to articulate very quickly how he intends to extricate the U.K. from the E.U.

And as we know David Cameron doesn't intend to do that. Instead what Cameron is looking to do is let the Tory succession work itself out. And only once a new leader has emerged, begin the process of unraveling the E.U. and taking the U.K. out. And I think that --

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RAHMAN: -- immediately puts him at odds at least with I'd say one- third of the membership, something like that. So it's going to be a hostile reception and a difficult few days for Cameron.

WARD: We've already heard some of the most vocal faces of the Leave campaign sort of back-stepping on some of the platforms that won them this referendum.

I just wonder, can you give us a sense of what is practical and what is feasible for this new Brexit government to achieve in terms of extricating itself from the European Union?

There seems to be a lot of going back and forth about what this new Britain will look like.

RAHMAN: Right. There are really three tension points that I think are very acute and important.

The first, as you've articulated, is what's happening within the Leave campaign, where there's little or no consensus regarding what post- Brexit Britain should look to achieve via the European Union.

The next tension point is really between the new government that's going to emerge, whether that's Boris Johnson or Theresa May, and the wider Parliament. I think Parliament is going to want to deal that broadly retains fairly comprehensive and substantial access to the single market. And I think that's going to put them at immediate odds with the new government.

And the third tension point of course is with the broader European Union, where you're going to have a division among hawkish and dovish states. I'd put Germany in the pragmatic, in the pragmatic campaign. But you're going to have serious divisions at the E.U. level as well.

Now the essential trade we're looking and talking about is full access to the single market in order to accept free movement of labor and fiscal transfers. That's essentially the deal that has to be done.

Now can Boris or Theresa May sign up to that agreement?

Very hard to believe, given the campaign they ran.

FOSTER: In terms of the time process here, obviously the Leave campaigners are saying they want to -- you know, they're absolutely in no rush. It's also up to London to invoke the two-year process.

How is Brussels going to take that on?

Because we know that most people there, certainly in France and Germany, or from France and Germany, want this to happen straightaway.

RAHMAN: I think the situation internally in Germany is a little more complicated. I think the Social Democrats are definitely trying to use this as a wedge issue to distinguish themselves from the CDU. So you see Steinmeier and Schulz in a very different position from Merkel on this question.

I think Merkel ultimately will fall on the side of pragmatism. I think there's a recognition in the chancellery that you can't force Cameron's hand. You also don't want to deal with a lame duck Cameron.

I mean, even if Cameron came with a mandate and said he wanted to negotiate the Article 50, on what basis can he do that?

He's going to be out of power in the next few months. So I think there's a recognition certainly within the most important part of Berlin, if I can put it like that, as well as a fair number of member states here in Brussels, that this is actually going to have to wait until October.

And I anticipate the statement that emerges on Tuesday or Wednesday will probably speak to that.

The bigger concern is once Boris or Theresa May assume the premiership in London, that they then try and delay the process further. And I think if that happens, there's going to be real opposition in the E.U. and a really much, much more difficult consideration for the U.K. at that juncture.

FOSTER: And we go make sense of it, Clarissa. I mean, really.

Thank you so much indeed for joining us with that. This is such a complicated thing. And we just need to look at all the different strands.

The Brexit decision could make it more expensive for the U.K. to borrow money on world markets, for example. One of the leading bond rating agencies is cutting its outlook for the country to negative.

WARD: It says a Brexit will usher in, quote, "a prolonged period of uncertainty for the United Kingdom."

Another credit giant, Standard and Poor's, still rates the U.K. with a pristine AAA but it warns a cut to that rating could be coming soon.

FOSTER: The Brexit vote is the biggest decision the U.K. has made in decades and is bringing an entirely new set of questions.

WARD: Our Nina dos Santos looks at what we can expect from the markets come Monday.

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NINA DOS SANTOS, CNNMONEY EUROPE EDITOR: It's not sure whether the markets will rise or fall, what is sure they will be listening out to every single twist and turn. At a time when the prime minister says he is going to be stepping down over the next three months.

There's questions hanging over the leadership of this country and also this week on Wednesday, markets will be very finely listening out to what's said in Brussels because we've got a big E.U. heads of state meeting that will be happening there.

As one CEO of a bank put it to me over the course of the weekend, Friday was tough but at least that was just buying and selling the news. The news of being a decision in favor of a Brexit was much harder, he said, is to buy and sell the rumor that will come over the next --

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DOS SANTOS: -- few weeks to come -- Nina dos Santos, CNNMoney, London.

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WARD: Let's try to put the economic fallout into perspective and look at the numbers behind the U.K.'s place in Europe.

E.U. countries invested more than $700 billion in the United Kingdom in 2014. That's almost half of the total investment according to official figures.

FOSTER: Forty-five percent of the U.K.'s exports go to other E.U. states; 53 percent of the U.K. imports come from within the European. European citizens have the right to live in the U.K. and the estimated 3 million are doing just that.

WARD: On the flipside, though, only 1.3 million British citizens are living in other E.U. states. The United Kingdom is a net contributor to the E.U. budget, paying in around $14 billion, more than it received last year.

And Scotland is reviewing its options following the Brexit vote. Why the country's first minister says an independence referendum is very likely on the table.

FOSTER: Plus, in France, the Brexit vote is adding fresh momentum to calls for a Frexit.

How the French leaders are responding.

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FOSTER: Welcome back. Scotland's first minister says the country will likely seek independence from the U.K. again. Scottish voters rejected independence in a 2014 referendum.

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WARD: Now Nicola Sturgeon says a second referendum is very much an option, as the government considers its next move; 62 percent of Scots voted for staying with the E.U. on Thursday.

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NICOLA STURGEON, SCOTTISH FIRST MINISTER: Cabinet agreed that we will seek to enter into immediate discussions with the E.U. institutions and with other E.U. member states to explore all possible options to protect Scotland's place in the E.U.

In doing so we are determined to draw on as much support and advice from across Scotland as possible.

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FOSTER: Joining us now with more on this is CNN's David McKenzie. He is in Edinburgh in Scotland.

What's she -- what's her game plan here, do you think, David?

Because we know that fundamentally she believes in independence; she hasn't said she's going for independence yet. She's going to Brussels first.

So what's she up to?

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly, you're right. The Scottish National Party and Nicola Sturgeon, they've been pushing for independence for years and for decades, in fact. It could prove, this vote that saw the E.U. -- the U.K. wanting to leave the European but Scotland wanting to stay could provide a strategic opportunity for her.

So right now the question is, how are they going to do it?

One thing they want to really find out is if they do call for an independence vote, will they actually win that vote?

So that public opinion is incredibly important.

Let's look at the morning papers here on Sunday in Scotland: 59 percent yes. This is from the "Sunday Post," an online unscientific survey, asking people, well, do you want to have independence?

You've seen a swing, certainly on sentiment on the street here in Scotland as well because they feel betrayed in some way by the English voters. Here, "We're going nowhere" from the "Sunday Mail," showing the

Scottish flag -- or, sorry, the Scottish geography over here embedded within the E.U. flag.

And leading all of this, as you suggest, Max, is Nicola Sturgeon, a popular figure here in Scotland and a main proponent of independence in the past.

So the issue is, will they try and push this through with a vote?

Will they try to appeal directly to the E.U.?

And if they do, is there even an avenue for Scotland to stay within the E.U. and leave the U.K? -- Max, Clarissa.

WARD: And, David, talking to people in Scotland, do you sense there's a lot of resentment against people in England who voted to leave the European Union?

Are people angry with the establishment here?

MCKENZIE: Yes, there's certainly a lot of anger both at Westminster for allowing this vote to happen and also just at the English. There's a history of enmity often between Scotland and England, at least on the joking side. But now it's become much more serious because many Scots we've talked to, at least here in Edinburgh -- doesn't represent everyone obviously -- say they feel betrayed by the English and they want to stay within the E.U.

The question is, is it even realistic for them from a political or a diplomatic sense to do that?

If -- or, as we know, there's no precedent for the situation. But if Scotland were to leave with the U.K. and then try and rejoin, you would have countries like Spain pushing potentially against that because of their own Catalan situation. They wouldn't want a break- away republic that could feel they could stay in the E.U. but then get some kind of their own country within Spain's borders.

So Scotland faces an uphill battle with certain parts of the E.U. member states, which could veto their chances; perhaps they will try and find some third option. But it's unclear just how they will push for staying in the E.U., given that constitutionally, of course, Scotland is part of the United Kingdom.

WARD: OK. We'll be watching that very closely. Thank you very much, David McKenzie in Edinburgh.

Now the presumptive U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is back in New York after a two-day trip to Scotland.

FOSTER: In addition to defending his attitude towards the Brexit, he softened his tone on his proposed Muslim ban and met with media mogul Rupert Murdoch as well. Senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta has the details.

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JIM ACOSTA, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Trump took questions from reporters during a rolling press conference across his golf course here in Aberdeen, Scotland. He sounded confident that the financial panic unleashed by the Brexit would subside in time.

And he also defended his trip in response to GOP critics, who say he should be tending to his campaign back home, telling CNN earlier today that he spent part of this visit working on his vice presidential selection process.

Here's what he had to say.

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DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's coming along good. A lot of people who want it. I will tell you one thing, I'm getting calls from a lot of people and they want it. The only people that say they don't want it are the people that were never asked.

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TRUMP: I read, everyone says, they said they don't want it. They weren't asked, but we have a lot of people that want that slot.

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ACOSTA: Trump also made time for dinner with Rupert Murdoch, personally driving the media mogul around in his golf cart. The presumptive GOP nominee also suggested earlier in the day that he is softening his position on temporarily banning Muslims coming into the U.S., saying he would welcome a Muslim from Scotland and other nonthreatening countries, as he said to reporters.

Trump will be back on the campaign trail in the U.S. next week -- Jim Acosta, CNN, Aberdeen, Scotland.

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WARD: Coming up, in France right now, the big question: could a Frexit come next?

The French president holds emergency talks as calls grow for his country to hold its own E.U. vote.

FOSTER: Plus, we'll tell you how millions of U.K. voters are now voicing their doubts over the Brexit referendum.

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WARD: Welcome back to our continuing special coverage of Britain's decision to leave the E.U. There is a lot going on this hour. I'm Clarissa Ward.

FOSTER: I'm Max Foster. E.U. leaders calling for Britain's swift departure from the bloc following the Brexit vote on Thursday. Foreign ministers of the six founding E.U. countries met in Berlin. And in a statement on Saturday, said they wanted exit negotiations as soon as possible.

[03:30:00] WARD: Meanwhile, back here in Britain, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is under pressure from members of his own party. The British Press Association says Corbyn has sacked shadow foreign minister Hilary Benn after reports that Benn was planning a coup against him.

Corbyn backed the Remain campaign but was criticized by some in his own party for what they saw as his weak contribution to it.

FOSTER: Now a huge reaction right now throughout British politics after that dramatic decision by Jeremy Corbyn, not least from within the Labour Party itself. Here's what a prominent Labour MP, Chuka Umunna, is saying on Twitter.

Let's just post office that Hilary Benn and Chuka Umunna were seen as the front-runners to replace Jeremy Corbyn. Effectively what we've got here is Chuka Umunna throwing his support behind Hilary Benn and pulling out of that race.

So just before this tweet came out, he said Hilary Benn is one of the finest foreign secretaries, shadow foreign secretaries we have ever seen. So he's throwing his support.

And then he goes on to say, "Either you look your flaws in the face and address them or you stick your head in the sand, destroy the Labour Party and the country suffers."

We could read into that he is intimating that that was about Jeremy Corbyn. And then whilst we've been on air, we've also heard that another member of the shadow cabinet has resigned, Heidi Alexander. She is the shadow health secretary.

She's just issued a statement, saying, "It's with a heavy heart that I'm writing to you to resign from the shadow cabinet."

She says, "It is the result of the referendum last week, which means that our country is facing unprecedented challenges."

We'll bring you more of that a bit later on.

WARD: Clearly, the political turmoil is spreading.

Meanwhile, across Europe, far right politicians are calling for their own countries to follow in Britain's footsteps.

On Saturday, French president Francois Hollande met with various political parties, among them the National Front, one of the loudest voices calling for France to have a referendum on its own. Its leader, Marine Le Pen, says she raised the issue with President Hollande and here is how she says he responded. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARINE LE PEN, LEADER, NATIONAL FRONT (through translator): To the question about a referendum taking place, he answered no. It's as if we had used a swear word, as if the people came last.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WARD: Let's talk more about the fallout of the Brexit vote in France. Joining me now is Manuel Lafont Rapnouil via Skype. He is the head of the Paris Office of the European Council of Foreign Affairs.

You heard Marine Le Pen there.

Are we going to see a Frexit?

MANUEL LAFONT RAPNOUIL, EUROPEAN COUNCIL OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS: I don't think we are; at least, not anytime soon. I don't see any E.U. leader who would be a pro-European leader for calling for a referendum and doing the same mistake as Cameron did.

Obviously there's a lot of discussion all across Europe and including in France. And if you look at what the opposition party says, they are considering a referendum. It's about the win next year's presidential election in 2017. But what they want to put to the referendum is not a leave or stay question. It's more a question about what's the new direction that Europe should take?

There need to be a new deal, a new impetus, a new project for Europe. And that's the project, that's the question that they would put to the vote. Only Marine Le Pen is calling for a exit of France from the E.U.

FOSTER: In terms of where we go from here, we're seeing British politics pretty much collapse around our ears here. Today we're seeing the opposition party, just as while I speak, there are shadow members of the cabinet all resigning today.

What does Europe need from the U.K. right now?

Because it's very hard to give a clear message about what the British government wants because there isn't a British government at the moment. There even isn't a political system at the moment because there's no leadership.

RAPNOUIL: Well, that's part of the message that was sent yesterday by the European leaders or figures: we need some clarity.

During the campaign, during the campaign for the referendum, Prime Minister Cameron said that, in case of an exit vote, of a leave vote, he would invoke Article 50, which is the article by which the U.K. will tell Brussels that it wants formally it wants to leave the E.U. And then, the negotiations can begin.

And you can get a lot of clarity by invoking that article and getting the terms of the conversation soon enough. Of course, the conversation, the negotiation will take time. And

there's a delay which is two-year delay to get that negotiation. But you can get more clarity than the situation where we are now because David Cameron eventually decided not to invoke Article 50 himself and wait for the next prime minister.

And at the same time, that there won't be another prime minister before October, which is obviously way too far from now to get some clarity for the days and weeks and even months are in face of us. That obviously makes it much more difficult for everyone, for the U.K. --

[03:35:00]

RAPNOUIL: -- and for the rest of Europe.

WARD: OK, growing resentment in Europe and growing political turmoil here in the U.K. Thank you very much for that.

Now an online petition is gaining traction in the U.K., calling for a second E.U. referendum.

FOSTER: It's now received more than enough signatures to require a debate on the issue in Parliament, 1,000 signatures a minute, we reckon, according to our analysis in the gallery here. Samuel Burke has more.

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SAMUEL BURKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: By the time folks in the U.K. went to sleep just two days after voting in favor of a Brexit, this online petition calling for a second E.U. referendum on the official U.K. Parliament website had already received more than 2.4 million signatures.

That is well beyond the 100,000-signature threshold required to have something like this considered for debate by a committee in Parliament. Now we have to put that number in context, though; even though it seems large, it is well below the 16.1 million people who voted to have the U.K. stay in the E.U. and also much fewer than the 17.4 million people who voted for the U.K. to leave the E.U.

David Cameron has said from the get-go there will not be a second referendum. And since the leader of the opposition, Jeremy Corbyn, has also said there will not be a second referendum.

That said, one of the members of Parliament, who's a member of this committee, says that the select committee will be considering this petition on a second E.U. referendum this Tuesday.

We have a map here that shows the density of where these petitions are coming from, these signatures are coming from. And as you can see here, red represents the highest density coming really from London, which is, of course, one of the few places that voted in favor of staying in Thursday's election.

A lot of people are also dismayed to see that the second most searched term on Google in the U.K. is, "What is the E.U.?"

One has to hope that those are people searching who didn't vote on Thursday. And we're also seeing the phenomenon of the Regrexit, this hashtag being used, regret about the Brexit.

People like this woman in England saying, "I personally voted Leave, believing these lies. And I regret it more than anything. I feel genuinely robbed of my vote."

And commentary also on Facebook of this nature, anecdotally, we see people like Ajaz (ph), saying, "I made the biggest mistake in my life voting to leave. Now I'm regretting it." -- Samuel Burke, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Just look at the numbers. They're going up all the time. Many more people signing up every minute, even since Samuel filed that report. Maybe Samuel had an effect on the report. Now everyone knows about it.

Where are we at, 2,875,000 signatures. You know, they've got to take notice of it.

But we should point out, all it does is instigate a debate in Parliament; it doesn't have any impact beyond that --

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WARD: Doesn't mean there will be a second referendum. In fact, that's very unlikely.

FOSTER: Much more on the fallout from the referendum but first, we're going to take you live to CNN Center in Atlanta to check some other stories we're following for you.

WARD: We'll be right back after a quick break. Stay with us.

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NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Natalie Allen, live in Atlanta with more news coverage for you. We'll return to London in just a moment. But we want to bring you the latest on other stories we're following.

And one is a trip by Pope Francis. Right now he is wrapping up a visit to Armenia after three days in the country. He's attending this Orthodox service at the moment.

His trip has been marked by significant moments. On Saturday, the pope delivered an interfaith prayer for peace. But he sparked controversy by calling the mass killing of Armenians during World War I "genocide." A number of countries described the deaths as genocide but Turkey emphatically rejects that term, saying it was a time of war and there were casualties on both sides.

The death toll has now risen to 24 in West Virginia, which is reeling from devastating floods. President Obama has signed a disaster declaration for the state after torrential rains triggered the deadliest flash flooding in the U.S. in six years.

You can see what the flooding left behind. A river overswept its banks and just came barreling down from the mountains. The waters are receding now. But there's going to be quite a mess left behind. And many people are now homeless.

In the U.S. state of California, a fast-moving wildfire has scorched more than 14,000 hectares of land. The fire has killed at least two people and destroyed some 150 homes.

Hundreds of people have been evacuated. But there are fears some were not able to get out in time. The fire was just about 5 percent contained on Saturday but it grew overnight.

So let's turn now to Derek Van Dam. He's watching the big weather stories for us.

You know, two deaths in California; normally, you don't see deaths associated with these wildfires. They're used to getting out quickly.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, that's true. And unfortunately the new death toll in West Virginia now at 24, which it was 23 earlier in the evening here in the Eastern Seaboard in the United States.

So we've got flooding on one side of the U.S. and fires on the other, both of which are creating all kinds of problems, especially for the cleanup efforts and people trying to gather their lives back together.

This flooding event in West Virginia was described by the National Weather Service as a 1,000-year event, meaning one in 1,000 chance of this happening in any given year.

This particular flood in one instance killed more than all the tornado events in 2016 in the United States. This is the cleanup effort that you're watching right now and you can see just the destructive nature of the flooding that took place in that area.

Remember, flash flooding is a rapid rise in water, thanks to excessive amounts of rainfall in a short period of time.

So how much rain actually fell?

Well, this map shows it quite well, where it zoomed into the central portions of West Virginia. Anywhere you see that dark shading of red, that's where rainfall totals exceeded about --

[03:45:00]

VAN DAM: -- 9-10 inches in some locations. That's for our domestic viewers. For international viewers, that's just about 250 millimeters. And the majority of that occurred within a six-hour time period.

Get a load of this. What you're looking at is a river gauge called the Elk River. And look at this rapid rise in the water level across this area, allowing for the river to overspill its banks and create the destruction you saw in the video just a moment ago.

But that rapid rise took place in about six hours during that heavy rain event. The river actually rose 17 feet in that short period of time. The good news here is that the rain is moving out. So the water levels are starting to recede. And they get a break from the severe weather at the moment.

But for the other side of the country, this is where they're dealing with the cleanup efforts from the Erskine fire, over 35,000 acres burned and, unfortunately, the containment went from 5 percent to 0 percent. And the weather conditions are not going to be favorable for this fire to be under control anytime soon.

We'll leave you with some of the footage of the individuals trying to take care of this particular fire. And unfortunately, the governor, Jerry Brown, has declared a state of emergency in Curran County, 150 homes destroyed.

ALLEN: Just terrible. All right, Derek, thank you.

Other news we're following: After nearly a decade of work, the expanded Panama Canal opens Sunday. This is the canal's largest expansion project since it was built more than 100 years ago. The project is at least $1 billion over budget and two years behind schedule. But Rafael Romo reports there's already a waiting list of ships ready to pass through.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SR. LATIN AFFAIRS EDITOR: It's the kind of moment in history that prompts people to mark the occasion. The Varcici (ph) family traveled across the continent from Argentina to watch one of the first ships cross through the all-new and expanded Panama Canal.

"My husband has been working on this project since 2007, when it was only a plan on paper," this woman says.

"Being here at this moment, it's a dream come true."

The Panama Canal has been in operation for more than a century but it was never built for the kind of modern supersized cargo ships that are vital for today's global commerce.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking foreign language)

ROMO (voice-over): Ilia Spino di Marota (ph), an executive with the Panama Canal expansion project, says that they already have more than 120 supersized ships on a waiting list to use the expanded Panama Canal.

ROMO: The canal expansion took nine years and it cost more than $5 billion.

Without the expansion, Panamanian authorities say the 50-mile shortcut between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans would have lost a lot of business from global shipping companies.

ROMO (voice-over): Crews have been conducting performance tests for months.

"We have been testing how ships behave in all circumstances, including how we rope them, how we tow them and how we push them through the canal's captain said.

The Panama Canal, originally built by the United States in the early 1900s and turned over to Panama in 1979, has long been a source of pride for Panamanians like Alberto Rodriguez.

"This is history in the making," he said.

"Long live Panama."

According to the Panama Canal Authority, the expansion project doubles the canal's capacity and will have a direct impact on economies of scale and international maritime trade -- Rafael Romo, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: Coming up here, we'll continue our special coverage of the U.K. vote to leave the E.U. We're back live in London. And you'll hear how Euro 2016 fans are reacting to the news.

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[03:50:00]

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FOSTER: Brexit, a very fast-moving story, indeed. This just in to CNN: the Labour Party shadow house secretary has just resigned. Heidi Alexander says on Twitter, "The Labour Party needs a new leader after the U.K. voted to leave the E.U." Alexander says that Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, quote, "does not have the capacity to shape the answers our country is demanding."

WARD: And this comes right after reports that Corbyn fired his shadow foreign minister. It's believed that Hilary Benn was fired early today after indications that he was planning a coup against Corbyn.

FOSTER: Labour leaders have criticized Corbyn for not campaigning hard enough during the Remain campaign in the E.U., some accusing him of losing it. Some Labour politicians are calling for his resignation. But Corbyn says he's not going anywhere. He's going to seek re-election, he says.

And we've also heard today from Chuka Umunna, who's the key member of the Labour Party, he was seen as running a possible potential, along with Hilary Benn, to replace Corbyn. He's now backing Hilary Benn. So this does seem as though Hilary Benn is emerging very quickly as the front-runner to replace Jeremy Corbyn, who is refusing to move. He's saying he had a mandate.

He did, didn't he, by a landslide.

WARD: And he -- and he -- and there will be on Monday, tomorrow, a vote in Parliament, too, a no-confidence vote to see whether or not he is fit to continue leading the Labour Party.

FOSTER: Local media saying up to half the shadow cabinet could be resigning and that would give them momentum that they need and Hilary Benn needs.

But we'll see.

In France, meanwhile, football fans from across Europe are cheering for their teams.

WARD: People attending the Euro 2016 tournament are also talking about the U.K.'s Brexit vote. Our Will Ripley talked to some of the fans.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Politics and football: few things have such power to unite and divide. Flags and jerseys, colors of national pride, competitors fighting to win or lose.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Happy days. If we leave, we leave.

RIPLEY (voice-over): Even before kickoff of the Wales-Northern Ireland game, these Welsh fans felt like winners.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got our country back. Same as that. We got our ball, it is back. And our government by Brussels.

RIPLEY (voice-over): Fans from Northern Ireland...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We voted that we stay in.

RIPLEY (voice-over): -- worry what the United Kingdom's departure from the European Union --

[03:55:00]

RIPLEY (voice-over): -- will mean for their mobility, their jobs, their future.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The whole day, we might let on that we do, but we do. I'm still having the time of my life here. I'll worry when I go back home.

RIPLEY (voice-over): Outside the Parc des Princes, we find fans from three of four countries of the U.K. represented.

RIPLEY: The fans here seem to be divided based on where they live. The Welsh fans backed the Brexit whereas Northern Ireland voted largely to remain. And those from England, they are split right down the middle.

RIPLEY (voice-over): These fans from West Yorkshire and Birmingham backed the Leave campaign.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I think that moving out of England is the best thing that could happen to Britain.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of people voted because of immigration.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Terrorism, that's the fear. Terrorism, that's the fear.

RIPLEY (voice-over): They admit much of that fear fueled by a lack of knowledge about what leaving the E.U. really means.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've already said to yourself so it -- we won't be educated much about it.

RIPLEY (voice-over): This student from Northwest England voted to remain.

RIPLEY: Do you think people were aware of the consequences when they voted to leave?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I really don't. And I have seen many videos of people on Facebook, saying if they'd realize what would happen to the pound (INAUDIBLE) overnight that they wouldn't have voted leave.

RIPLEY (voice-over): No matter who they root for or how they voted, all these fans share the challenge that lies ahead: pulling off a win for the U.K. no matter what Brexit leaves behind -- Will Ripley, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WARD: And you're watching CNN. I'm Clarissa Ward.

FOSTER: I'm Max Foster. We'll have much more special coverage of this momentous British vote to leave the European Union and the current implosion in the opposition Labour Party -- after this break.

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