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National Day of Mourning in Afghanistan After 80 Killed in Kabul; Vigils Grow in Munich for Victims; IOC Will Rule on Whether All Russian Athletes Banned; Brazil Preps for Olympic Athletes; Leaked DNC E-mails Raise Questions; Turkey Blames American Cleric for Failed Coup. Aired 5-6a ET

Aired July 24, 2016 - 05:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:00:24] IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Today is a national day of mourning in Afghanistan after ISIS claims the lives of 80 people in Kabul.

The mood in Munich is a somber one as vigils grow for the victims of Friday's mass shooting. What we know about the gunman?

And in just a few hours the International Olympic Committee will rule on whether all Russian athletes can participate in the Olympic Games.

Hello I'm Ivan Watson, and this is "CNN NEWSROOM."

In Afghanistan the president has declared Sunday a national day of mourning after twin suicide bombings killed dozens of people in Kabul. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the Saturday attack.

The blasts targeted a peaceful demonstration by a mostly Shiite ethnic minority. An official says at least 80 people were killed, and 260 others wounded. Another official says security forces killed a third attacker before he detonated his bomb.

Now for more on the bombings in Afghanistan, our Nick Paton Walsh joins us now from Beirut. Nick, ISIS is not the main player on the ground when it comes to militants, Jihadi militants in Afghanistan. That's the Taliban. Is this a game changer, this horrific attack in Kabul when it comes to the ongoing war and the battle for power there?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think it's possibly a way in which people will realize ISIS have a significantly greater reach across Afghanistan than previously thought. Much of their activity was limited to the east of the country, where they've been under attack from the Afghan military, U.S. air power, and drones, as well, in the past month. Those onslaughts have pushed them out of some population centers but they have begun to creep back.

The fact they're able to launch, this their biggest, most deadly attack in the capital yet, and of course all of Afghanistan suggests that yes, they are still able to operate in a way which can evade and get round security put in place by Afghan officials.

Remember this protest was long telegraphed. There had been security measures put in place to some degree that still these three attackers got through and they're very hard to stop, frankly, three people willing to give their own lives, of course, this level of gruesome bloodshed.

But today, the Ashraf Ghani, the Afghan president declaring a day of mourning, and also renaming the Demazang area where this blast happened, martyr's square. A grim recognition, I think, that this is an attack so huge in the number of casualties, that its cause that it will live on in the short-term future and those living inside Kabul, a city which has got so used to violence on a day-to-day basis, but nothing quite for a long time on the scale of this, Ivan.

WATSON: And, Nick, I was in Kabul a couple weeks ago on assignment. I was struck by just how demoralized many Afghans seemed when it came to confidence in their security forces, and in just security in general in the Afghan capital. What will the likely effect be of this horrific attack on ordinary people who are just seeing security apparently deteriorate in Kabul and in other cities?

PATON WALSH: It is a battle for the confidence and sense of safety of Afghans that many wonder if the Afghan government is winning at the moment. They have a very strong messaging campaign in which they tout their successes, but they've seen territorial losses in Helmand in the south. They've held some of that back recently, as well I guess.

But it is that sense of confidence that is slowly eroded by things like this. Many are looking at this attack as a bid to transfer some sort of sectarian element to the conflict in Afghanistan.

Now ISIS' statement about the attack, in fact, made a reference to how some of the Shia Hazaras, who are predominantly the victims here in this grotesque attack, some of the Hazaras have, in fact, been recruited in Syria to fight alongside the Syrian regime, which is also Shia, a small number.

But that was referenced in the ISIS statement as a possible motivation for the attack, perhaps, a bit to cast some sort of rift between the Shia Hazara and the predominantly Sunni remaining population of Afghanistan. It hasn't worked in the past, but it is a troubling new tactic which many perhaps perceive ISIS is latching onto.

They failed though I say in the past that Taliban's reach significantly stronger and they have been fighting ISIS, as well. But this kind of attack reminiscent so much of Iraq and the sectarian strife there has many Afghans worried of potentially a new chapter in their life.

[05:05:04] WATSON: That's right, but the specter of this Sunni/Shiite conflict that has been tearing apart other parts of the Middle East to the west. That's Nick Paton Walsh, thank you for analysis from Beirut.

Now, Michael Weiss is a senior -- CNN Contributor and the co-author of "ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror" and he spoke earlier with CNN about the Kabul attack, and ISIS global aspirations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL WEISS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: But the Taliban is now seen as the somewhat softer Islamic fundamentalist organization in Afghanistan. This is the reason that the Russians and the Iranians are even trying to work with them to rebuff ISIS' advances in that country.

I mean, look, ISIS is billing itself globally not just against the Taliban but also al-Qaeda and other competitive Salafi Jihadi organizations, as the vanguard movement. The only one that has got a nation-state to its name, the one that is inspiring people around the world to take up whatever weapons available at their disposal to kill infidels.

And, you know, they are the custodian and the defender of the Sunni mosque, so they're spreading their so-called (inaudible) or provinces around the world, Afghanistan, Yemen, Libya, the Sinai peninsula, now even in Indonesia and the Philippines and Bangladesh as we saw last week.

So, you know, the question though is will they actually make significant inroads into Afghanistan? I don't think that they have the capacity there to do what they've done in Syria and Iraq, which is to take and hold terrain.

But with this kind of attack is exactly what they are resorting to now internationally. You know, discombobulating traumatic terrorist assaults. You mentioned the Hazaras minority group is Shia.

ISIS is perhaps above all other Jihadist organizations genocidal when it comes to Shia. They are very committed to their extermination worldwide because they do not consider the Shia to be Muslim and this goes back to their founding father Abu Musab al-Zarqawi who even alienated Osama bin Laden with his pathological confessional hatred of that Islamic minority population. So this is exactly par for the course for ISIS.

We saw it in Baghdad as well and this happens by the way every day at least -- at best we focus on the attack that affect westerners, but now you've seen, what, 60-plus people blown up at a protest rally, asking for electricity and these are the poorest of the poor at Afghanistan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: The United Nations, the U.K., and the U.S., have all condemned the attack.

I want to turn now to Europe, and the aftermath of a very different, very deadly act of senseless violence in Munich, Germany, people have raided an apartment after a shooting rampage killed nine people on Friday.

Neighbors say the man living in that apartment is 18-year-old Ali Sonboly. Police believe he's the gunman who shot several people at a McDonalds and a nearby shopping mall before killing himself.

People in Munich are remembering the victims, most of whom were sadly teenagers. Mourners are setting up vigils and memorials and laying flowers for the lives lost and our Will Ripley, he's live in Munich near one such display.

Now, Will, the information we're getting from the raid on the apartment as well as this audio recording when the shooting was actually taking place, what does it tell us about the gunman and his possible motives?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It paints the picture, Ivan, of somebody who clearly was psychologically disturbed and angry, and in fact the police have acknowledged that this 18-year-old, Ali Sonboly, was likely receiving psychological treatment in addition to going to school full time and may have been treated specifically for depression. That's something that they're trying to assess as they continue speaking with his parents.

The video and audio that you're referencing was actually taken from the fifth floor balcony of that apartment building there. It's just beyond the Olympia Mall here and the exchange is really telling because as they were shouting insults back and forth the people on the balcony taking video and then shooter shouting back.

One of the things that the shooter supposedly said on the tape is, "Because of you I was bullied for seven years and now I have to buy a weapon and shoot you all." And then they started shouting more insults back and forth at each other.

He talked about growing up in a low-income area here in Munich. He said he was born in an area using a slang word for unemployment benefits in Germany. He said he hasn't done anything since the fifth grade and then there were shots fired directly at the people, with live ammunition, at that apartment building there.

Police have said that going back to 2011, 2012, when this shooter would have been 13, 14 years old, he was beaten up by a group of other young people. He was the victim of theft. And he even referenced bullying going back earlier into that time period.

Now, of course, it's important to point out that many young people sadly are the victims of bullying and certainly that doesn't cause them to act in this way, which is why the police are really zeroing in on mental health issues, perhaps warning signs that may have gone unnoticed, which sadly is a narrative that we have seen time and time again in other mass shootings, certainly growing up in the united states.

[05:10:06] You and I, Ivan, grew up in Connecticut where Sandy Hook happened. That shooter was reading and researching shooting and why people go on these types of things, almost in an attempt to self- diagnose.

And police said that they found evidence, also, in this attacker's apartment that he was doing the same. He was researching, perhaps trying to figure out what was going on inside of his own mind.

WATSON: And, you know, in that video, he seems to be hurling expletives at Turks who are a large community, Turkish immigrants and the descendants in Germany, but also identifying himself as a German even though he is the son of Iranian immigrants. What can we glean from that?

RIPLEY: It's difficult to put the pieces together as to how the perceived insults toward foreigners, you know, factored into the shooting. It seemed as if the age of the victims was certainly one very important factor given the fact that there were several 14-year- olds, 15-year-olds, seven of the nine who were killed were teenagers from 14 to 19 years old, the other victim 20, and then one who is 45, and the attacker himself 18 years old before he turned that gun on himself.

But, what, if anything, that factored in to his motivation, did he know that some of the people who -- he was shooting at had Turkish citizen, dual citizenship or were from Kosovo they have dual citizenship as well, because the German government says all of these people were German nationals, even if by heritage they also came from other countries.

WATNSON: And its worth noting that among the victims, all of them were German nationals, but three of the victims were also Turkish passport holders, as well as one Greek citizen. That's Will Ripley live from Munich. Thank you very much for the update.

Now, the German Chancellor describes the attack in Munich as a night of horrors. Frederik Pleitgen is in Munich and he has more on the victims.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FREDERICK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Mourning the dead. Many clearly overwhelmed by pain, sadness and anger at the makeshift memorial near the scene of the killings.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm so glad that no one of my friends is affected, and they are all alive and safe. But, I'm so sorry for the people who were here at the moment.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean I'm scattered in pieces. I don't know. I haven't foreseen that like happening in your own -- in your own neighborhood, you know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pray for Munich and pray for the world.

PLEITGEN: The shooter, identified by CNN as 18-year-old, Ali Sonboly, killed nine and wounded more than two dozen when he opened fire here on Friday afternoon.

Police are still trying to determine what may have motivated the shooter to go on this rampage, but they say there are strong indications that he may have specifically been targeting younger people. So far none of those killed or wounded have been publicly identified.

PETER BIBERTHALER, KLINIKUM GROSSHADERN HOSPITAL: We have all the equipment inside you need for every management ...

PLEITGEN: But at Munich's biggest hospital, Professor Peter Biberthaler and his team remember all too well the mass casualty situation they were confronted with, treating several wounded, but unable to save one of those rushed here.

BIBERTHALER: Really makes me sad because I want to fight for every life, and especially in young victims, this is not a good thing for a physician.

PLEITGEN: The aftermath of this crime weighing heavily on Munich and all of Germany as this country grieves for those killed, and struggles to understand what may have motivated the man who took their lives.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Munich, Germany.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: 67 Russian track athletes are already banned from this year's Olympics and now the whole Russian team maybe facing a similar fate. That is coming up. Plus, why the mother of a U.S. ambassador killed in a terror attack has some harsh words for Donald Trump. Stay with CNN.

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[05:16:46] WATSON: Welcome back to CNN, I'm Ivan Watson live from Hong Kong. Let's take a look at the upcoming Olympics now, and controversies there.

The International Olympic Committee is set to rule on banning Russia from the 2016 Rio Olympics. 67 Russian track athletes have already been banned following allegations of state-sponsored doping.

For more on the controversy, we're joined now by former CNN Moscow Bureau Chief and my former boss, Jill Dougherty in Moscow. Good to see you, Jill. How are Russians reacting to this upcoming news? And how are they going to react if the entire Olympic team is banned from Rio?

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FORMER MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: Yeah, well, I can tell you, 387 Russian athletes are on pins and needles right now, awaiting this decision by the IOC whether or not the entire team will be banned.

And, you know, in the life of an athlete, if you miss four years, if they can't go this year, four years is an eternity in an athlete's life and they may not -- might not be able to compete again.

But on the other side, people look at that report from the world anti- doping agency, the McLaren report, and say that these allegations of state-sponsored doping by Russia are so egregious that the team should be punished, that they should not be allowed to go, because it was a massive doping scheme.

So those are kind of the stakes and then, of course, for Russia and for President Putin, it has a lot to do, it's a real threat to Russia's image, its prestige around the world and also President Putin's image and prestige around the world. Ivan?

WATSON: Is there any self-criticism going on in Russia about these really alarming allegations of a state-sponsored doping scheme?

DOUGHERTY: You know, that is a good question. Actually, I don't think that there has been that much. That said, President Putin insists there is no state-sponsored doping program in Russia.

But they also, I would say, admit that problems may exist, and that's why you've had the president suggesting that the Russian Olympic Committee create this commission to look into anti-doping, internationally based. We have experts from all over the world.

But if you look at the media and the way they have been covering it, much of it is knocking down the McLaren report. They've had experts that I've read saying, look at this point, look at that point, it's not right, it's not right.

And so I think if you were a Russian sitting there watching the media, you'd say, it's all made up, or at least, you know, maybe half of it is right. But the whole thing is basically a lie. And this is yet another attempt to blacken the image of Russia around the world.

WATSON: Clearly a deep skepticism in Russia about this investigation. Jill, always good to talk to you. Thanks for the update there from Moscow.

Now Russia's doping woes aren't the only concern dogging the Rio Olympics. With Brazil in recession, athletes can expect sparse accommodations. Organizers even considered charging for air conditioning. But there are some amenities athletes won't find anywhere else as Shasta Darlington shows us from Rio's Olympic village.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[05:20:09] SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: 31, 17-story towers.

PAUL RAMLER, CEO, RGS EVENTS: So this is a typical apartment. This is the social space surrounded by the bedrooms, bathrooms. Minimal amount of seating, but ...

DARLINGTON: Getting a tour of the athletes' village from the man who's been providing the Olympic furniture for them since Sydney 2000, 3,604 apartments, 18,500 beds, disposable wardrobes. With Brazil in recession and the Olympic budget tight, these rooms being called basic, even austere, definitely cold.

There was this discussion about whether or not there would be air conditioning. They didn't want to pay for it, but with the Zika scare they had to put it in the rooms? Is that right? RAMLER: Well, they put air conditioning in all the bedrooms. Fans in non-bedrooms, but no televisions.

DARLINGTON: In the bathrooms, shared mirrors and 13,000 toilet seats.

But no drawers for the 42 condoms per athlete then.

RAMLER: No. I guess that's going to be stuck in the bedside table.

DARLINGTON: But what it lacks on the inside, it makes up for on the outside.

RAMLER: Swimming pools, tennis courts, everything you can imagine. This is a five-star accommodation environment that you've never -- I've never seen in the games village before.

DARLINGTON: Also bike lanes, a massive cafeteria and gyms. And with all this space for pool parties and barbecues, you got to wonder who's going to miss all of those television sets? Shasta Darlington, CNN, Rio de Janeiro.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: Let's take a look at U.S. politics. Hillary Clinton and her vice presidential running mate are campaigning together ahead of next week's Democratic convention.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

WATSON: That is Virginia Senator Tim Kaine and he spoke in Spanish at times to the crowd in Miami, Florida. 17 percent of Florida's voters are Latino and Florida is a crucial battleground state where Clinton and Kaine are trying to rally support in November's election.

SEN. TIM KAINE (D-VA), DEMOCRATIC V.P. NOMINEE: I spent most of my life in public service because I believe in doing everything I can to make a positive difference in people's lives.

I've been able to see how government works, and how sometimes it doesn't. From just about every perspective and I've always believed that however you serve, what matters is whether you actually deliver results for people and that's been my goal, that's been my goal in every position I've ever held.

Now, I know for a lot of you, this might be the first time you're hearing me speak, and hey, let me be honest, for many of you, this is the first time you've even heard my name. But that's OK, because I'm excited for us to get to know one another.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: Now, the secretary of the Democratic National Committee says no favoritism has been shown to Clinton over her primary rival Bernie Sanders. She's responding after WikiLeaks released nearly 20,000 e- mails from committee staff members. Chris Frates looks at why e-mails are once again creating such a stink within the party.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bernie Sanders and his top aides have complained for months that the DNC under Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz is putting its finger on the scale for Hillary Clinton and these new e-mails add fuel to that fire.

Now, take this one from May 13th, just days after Sanders won West Virginia. An aide to Wasserman Schultz informs her that Sanders campaign manager, a guy named Jeff Weaver, thinks Sanders should take his fight all the way to the convention floor. And she responds that Weaver quote, "He is an ass."

A few days later on May 17th, that same aide tells Wasserman Schultz that in an interview with CNN, Weaver was asked about violent behavior by Sanders supporters at the Nevada Democratic convention, and he then criticized the Nevada state party.

Wasserman Schultz replies, "Damn liar, particularly scummy that he barely acknowledges the violent and threatening behavior that occurred." Now, it's worth repeating that CNN has not independently established the e-mails' authenticity.

The e-mails could flare tensions ahead of this week's Democratic National Convention in Philly. They could threaten a truce between Sanders and Clinton and that includes a more progressive party platform in exchange for Sanders dropping his fight to replace Wasserman Schultz as the DNC chair.

And Republican Donald Trump really tried to stoke those flames of discontent this morning by tweeting about how the e-mails show the DNC was planning to destroy Bernie Sanders.

[05:25:07] And for Clinton and other Democrats who are really hoping to unite the party in Philadelphia this week, these e-mails are really bad news. Chris Frates, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: And sure enough, Donald Trump has chimed in on this bad news writing, "The WikiLeaks e-mail released today was so bad to Sanders that it will make it impossible for him to support her unless he is a fraud!

The mother of the U.S. ambassador killed four years ago in Benghazi, Libya, she says she wants Trump and the Republican Party to stop using her son's name in its election against -- in its election campaign against Hillary Clinton.

J. Christopher Stevens was one of four Americans killed in the terror attack. Some conservatives allege that Clinton, who was then U.S. secretary of state and the Obama administration were responsible for security failures at Benghazi.

But the Ambassador's mother has written to "The New York Times" saying, "I know for certain that Chris would not have wanted his name or memory used in that connection. I hope there will be an immediate and permanent stop to this opportunistic and cynical use by the campaign."

Let's move on now, Turkey's president is stepping up his attacks against the cleric he accuses of a failed coup. How an upcoming rally may test the president's commitment to democracy. That's coming up next.

And near Los Angeles, California, the body of a man has been found as a wild fire is expanding. That story and more coming up next. Stay with CNN.

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[05:30:12] WATSON: Welcome back to our viewers in the United States and around the world. You're watching "CNN NEWSROOM." I'm Ivan Watson coming to you live from Hong Kong. The headlines this hour.

Neighbors say the apartment that Munich police raided after a deadly shooting Friday belonged to 18-year-old Ali Sonboly. Police say the gunman had no connection to ISIS but he had researched shooting rampages extensively. People in Munich are mourning the victims, most of whom were teenagers.

ISIS is claiming responsibility for a suicide attack on a peaceful protest in Kabul, Afghanistan. The country's president is declaring Sunday a national day of mourning for the 80 people killed. The twin blasts wounded 260 others. A security official says a third attacker was killed by police.

Hillary Clinton's running mate is hitting the road at her side, ahead of next week's Democratic Party convention. Senator Tim Kaine spoke at a rally in Miami. Kaine said Republican nominee Donald Trump leaves a trail of broken promises, and wrecked lives, wherever he goes.

Police in Munich are investigating the man behind Friday's deadly rampage. Details on a troubled young man are helping to paint a picture of who would do this, our Atika Shubert has more.

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Amid the killings and the chaos, reports of shootings across town and multiple attackers, Munich spent a night in lockdown. But by morning, German police announced all of this was the work of one person.

An 18-year-old German of Iranian descent with dual citizenship, captured in this startling video.

ROBERT HEIMBURGER, PRESIDENT BAVARIAN STATE CRIME OFFICE (through translation): Where it comes from and other details need to come out via the investigation as soon as we have the serial number. He probably was not legally allowed to have this weapon.

SHUBERT: At his home, neighbors identified the suspect as Ali Sonboly. Police took his family in for questioning. They found no suicide note, no ties to any terror network. Only research on mass shootings, including a book titled "Rampage in My Mind: Why Students Kill."

Outside the apartment door, stack of flyers, his neighbors say he delivered every day.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): I saw him all the time delivering flyers, his neighbor said. He worked really hard. I thought he's such a hard-working kid, it can't be. It's just too shocking.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He don't talk too much. He's a young boy. A lot of people would sometimes -- a lot of people may address him, he's not aggressive, he's someone who respect everybody. He say hello.

SHUBERT: I talked to neighbors in the building but one in particular went to school with him. And she didn't want to appear on camera but what she revealed to us may be the motive for this horrific attack. She said that at school he was deeply unpopular, bullied all the time, and he was a loner. She also said that everybody made fun of him.

In fact, police say he had been a victim of a violent incident in the past, and that he may have been treated for a mental health issue. In this amateur video shot around the time of the shooting, the suspect specifically talks about being bullied.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHOOTER: Because of you I was bullied for 7 years.

WITNESS: You're (inaudible) is what you are.

SHOOTER: And now I have to buy a gun.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHUBERT: Police say that he used that gun to kill nine people. Finally, turning it on himself. But the fear and chaos he unleashed has left this city and others on edge. Atika Shubert, CNN, Munich.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WATSON: And from Germany to Turkey, still reeling from a deadly attempted military coup. The government there says it has arrested a top aide of the cleric it accuses of the failed coup. And that cleric Fethullah Gulen, as seen here, and denies any involvement. The aide entered Turkey two days before the coup attempt.

And Turkey's president is increasing the maximum amount of time criminal suspects can be detained without charges from four days, all the way up to a month. The government can also now listen in on conversations between people detained, and their lawyers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN, TURKISH PRESIDENT (through translation): This coup attempt was not only against the state, the government, and the parliament, but it was also against Turkish armed forces. Turkish armed forces and our soldiers are cherished by us. On July 15th, we also rescued our armed forces from these terrorist and militaries, with the failure of this armed coup attempt Turkey has entered a new era.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[05:35:00 WATSON: Later on Sunday, Turkey's main secular opposition party is expected to hold a pro-democracy rally in Istanbul and our Ian Lee joins us live from Istanbul.

Now, Ian, I know from personal reporting experience, that the government and the police do not tolerate groups of critics coming out into that very square you're standing in front of. They very quickly respond with tear gas or water cannons, or pepper spray even if it's women protesting for women's rights, or an LGBT pride rally. Is the government going to allow the main CHP Opposition Party to gather there in Taksim Square?

IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ivan, these are some strange times in Turkey. And so far, yes that rally is going ahead. Including in that rally are going to be speakers from the AK Party, Erdogan's party, the main political party here. They asked to join the CHP in this rally today. And they agreed to it.

This is a strange bedfellow. These are two parties that are usually at each other's throats, very divisive politics here. Looking down at Taksim Square, you are seeing the police prepare for this rally today with crowd control measures. But from what it looks like, it should be going forward. We're not expecting any violence, or any sort of clashes with the police. At least that's what we're not expecting.

But, again, yes, this is a very strange time where you do have all these opposition parties, as well as the main political party coming together in unity against this coup, pro-democracy, although there are some cracks forming where you do have the CHP, that main opposition party, as well as the HDP, the pro-Kurdish party, both saying that the state of emergency is unnecessary.

WATSON: It certainly will be remarkable to see opposition supporters and government supporters side by side in a public demonstration. Let me ask a different question here. The Turkish government has equated the Gulen group to al-Qaeda and ISIS Actually saying it's worse than them. Is anybody asking how it's possible that supporters of this cleric in Pennsylvania have become so deeply entrenched as the government has alleged within so many different layers of bureaucracy in the Turkish police, the judiciary, the military, even educational circles, during 14 years when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has essentially ruled the country?

LEE: Well, you know, the ironic thing about all of this, Ivan, is that Fethullah Gulen's supporters got so deeply entrenched into the government, and all the different areas of the government, with the help of President Erdogan. It wasn't until 2013 that the two had a falling out, and that Erdogan started criticizing Fethullah Gulen, and the opposite.

But in those years when they were allies, you saw Gulen supporters becoming members of the judiciary, of the police forces, throughout all different sectors of society, education. And President Erdogan even came out and said, about his supporters, about Gulen, saying that, you know, "What didn't you ask for that we weren't able to give you?"

So essentially saying that anything they asked for, they were given. His supporters, and so there is a sense of betrayal here, although that goes back to 2013. Also, kind of the ironic part of it is, when these Gulen supporters were being put in these positions of power, they were purging it of secularists. And now it seems like today, at least, you have the secularists, as well as the AK Party coming together in unity. But as far as Gulen's movement, his supporters, in -- and the government, it's somewhat like Erdogan helped make this bed, now he has to lie in it.

WATSON: Wow, one-time political allies now in open war against each other. Ian lee, and you'll be covering the upcoming rally there in Istanbul. Thanks a lot, good talking to you.

Let's move on to Malaysia now. Where officials say the search for Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 will be suspended if the aircraft isn't found soon. And we're also learning new details about the movements of the pilot just a month before the plane went missing two years ago.

And for details I'm now joined by Asia Pacific Editor Andrew Stevens. He's in the Malaysian capital. Good to see you, Andrew.

Two years since this plane disappears, the biggest mystery in aviation recent history, and only now we're getting these details about the pilot and his computer?

[05:40:05] ANDREW STEVENS, ASIA PACIFIC EDITOR: that's right, Ivan, and that's the key question, why has it taken more than two years for this information to come out.

At the moment, we can only say that this information has been published in a magazine in the U.S., the New York magazine. And it says the pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah had actually plotted on his home flight simulator a path that took him down to the deep southern Indian Ocean, where, in fact, flight MH-370 is believed to have flown and crashed into the water.

So, the FBI said that they had found some deleted programs on his flight simulator, which showed that the captain had actually done this, which does suggest that this could have been a suicide. But the people here in Kuala, Lumpur, the families of the people on board, Ivan, they're really struggling to digest this. Because the Captain Zaharie was essentially cleared in an investigation by the Malaysian police of any personal problems, any financial problems, anything that could have linked him to an altered state of mind, or a political view that could have led to him taking the plane down there and knowingly crashed it into the southern Indian Ocean. So, the people here, the families are really struggling with this. I've been speaking to a couple of families members. Grace Nathan represents a group called Voice 370 who are demanding the truth and have been demanding the truth. Her mother was on that flight. Listen to what she had to say when she heard about this new report.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE NATHAN, VOICE 370: I doesn't know what to believe. And until there is, for example, like the Malaysian authorities and the investigation team in Australia have said that they already dismissed, that it was possibly like pilot suicide or a controlled ditching or at least dismissed the pilot suicide portion of it. So I mean I can just feel like I'm back to where I always am like in the middle floating around not knowing what to believe, and it's all very stressful, really.

STEVENS: This is the thing. What great sense there about not knowing, being right back in the middle of it. That's something you hear here very often and I'm sure it's the same in China, so many Chinese, more than 130 Chinese nationals on that flight. Until they can get some facts they can really grasp hold of, they just don't know what happened. None of us know what happened to what happened, Ivan.

And to the old question about why now, I asked that question to Grace, in fact I asked it to a couple of people down here, and they all say that the Malaysian authorities have been very, very slow and very non- transparent in this whole investigation. And they feel this is just another sign of the lack of transparency in this whole investigation into what happened to MH-370, Ivan.

WATSON: It certainly has been a tortured relationship between the families of the passengers, and the Malaysian government. Andrew, thank you for that update from Kuala Lumpur.

Now, let's move on to history now in the making. A plane is taking off on the final leg of its journey around the world, and it's powered only by energy from the sun. Details about that story coming up after this break.

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[05:45:48] WATSON: Welcome back to CNN, broadcasting live from Hong Kong. There's a view of the late afternoon sun over the island of Lantau at the entrance to Hong Kong's Victoria Harbor.

Now, a very different scene northeast of Los Angeles, California, that's where the body of a man has been found near where a wildfire is expanding. An investigation is under way. The so-called sand fire near Santa Clarita has grown to 20,000 acres. That's around 8,000 hectares. The fire is just 10 percent contained. Hundreds of people have been evacuated, and people in 1,500 more homes, they've been told to get to safer ground. The weather forecast, it will continue to challenge firefighters trying to get a handle on the wild fire.

So Meteorologist Karen Maginnis is at the World Weather Center. Good news or bad news for residents and firefighters there?

KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Unfortunately, it looks like at least in the short term over the next five to seven days, it looks like the weather is going to remain unfavorable to control the fire. We're looking at low relative humidity, breezy conditions, and soaring temperatures. This was a fire that just a day and a half ago was just a minor brush fire. And now, about 8,000 hectares or 20,000 acres, and temperatures have been in the triple digits.

Take a look at these astounding pictures coming out of this fire that is just to the north of Los Angeles by about 30 or 60 kilometers, or about 30 or 35 miles. There have been structures that have burned. There are about 1,000 personnel that are on hand battling this fire. And it looks like the weather is not going to be very conducive for that.

Take a look at Hawaii and some of the battering waves along the Paradise Park Coast. We saw the wind gusting as high as 60 miles an hour, about 100 kilometers per hour. But now it's weakening rather rapidly, but still producing this very heavy surf and it looks like we could see some mudslides or landslides as much as 15 inches of rainfall is possible. Back to you, Ivan.

WATSON: Thanks for that update. Karen Maginnis live from the CNN World Weather Center.

Now, to be a different story, an aircraft powered only by solar energy and it has begun the final leg of its flight around the world. Solar Impulse 2, it took off from Cairo Sunday morning on its journey to become the first-ever fuel-free flight across the globe. The plane is en route to its final destination of Abu Dhabi, the same city where its voyage began in March of 2015.

Now, the Tour de France is set to finish up later Sunday. And we'll introduce you to the man poised to win it all, stay with CNN.

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(WORLD SPORTS)

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WATSON: Welcome back to CNN. Cycling enthusiasts the final stage of the Tour de France, it will begin in just a few hours. Stage 21 will begin later Sunday as a slew of racers finish at the Champs-Elysees in Paris.

And Britain's Chris Froome is a sure bet to win. He's set to capture his third title in just four years. Froome says the accomplishment means the world to him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS FROOME, CHAMPION CYCLIST: Yeah. I mean, just an amazing feeling, absolutely amazing. It could be the first -- first tour all over again for me. Again, just all those emotions coming down that final descent, just the suspense, obviously, of not putting a foot wrong and making sure I just got down there safely, but coming to that last kilometer with my teammates around me, just the feeling of happiness.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: All right. Now, let's face it, who doesn't like water slides in the summer, kids, adults, all of us, right? This next story may make you think twice next time you try to get on a water slide. Get ready.

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JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Giant water slides. They're supposed to be fun, whether sliding down an enclosed tube, featuring a light show or enclosed in a capsule where the door opens beneath you. It's supposed to be scary, but not this scary.

[05:55:00] Watch Dallas resident David Salmon use his arm to try to steer himself down a slide near Austin, Texas. It's even more frightening in normal speed.

32-year-old David posted on his Facebook page, two-dang-old to be going down water slides. Fell off this one that is over a rocky cliff, broke my arm and fractured ribs, multiple lacerations. EMS had to carry him up the hill and take him to the hospital. He's since been released.

But this wasn't at some water park. This was at somebody's house, their own, private water slide. At a rental house near Lake Travis, Texas, the water slide snakes down the canyon from the back patio. The video quickly got over a million views, commented one friend, "So glad you're not dead. Also, so glad this was caught on video because it's amazing. I can't stop watching." Less sympathetically, someone posted, "Ha, ha, ha, ha, he will never be a bobsledders."

We weren't able to reach David but he seems to have a sense of humor judging from the hashtags he chose, among them #notdead.

For To those of you who crave the thrill of a water slide,

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoo, that was a hell of a ride.

MOOS: No, this is a hell of a ride. Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WATSON: If you're going on a water slide, be careful. That's it for us in Hong Kong and in Atlanta. Thanks for joining. I'm Ivan Watson.

For viewers in the U.S., "New Day" is just ahead. For everyone else, State of the Race starts in just a moment.