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Trump Discusses North Korean Nuclear Threat with Japanese, Chinese Leaders; U.S. Destroyer Sails Near Disputed Island Amid "Negative Factors" in U.S.-China Relations; President Macron Shakes Up French Political System; Tropical Storms Heads for Japan; White Shark Research Trip Off Cape Cod. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired July 03, 2017 - 01:00   ET

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


[01:00:00] CYRIL VANIER, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. President wrestles with CNN in his latest tweet, capping a week of angry attacks against the media. Plus, Donald Trump weighs in on Qatar's diplomatic crisis, talking to three Gulf state leaders on the phone. And a CNN exclusive: this Syrian mother waiting in anguish for her daughter trapped in the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa. Hi, everyone! Thanks for joining us. I'm Cyril Vanier, live from the CNN NEWSROOM in Atlanta.

The U.S. President is ramping up his attacks on the news media. His supporters say his latest tweet is a joke, but his critics fear it could encourage violence. Donald Trump posted a doctored video that shows him beating up a man with a CNN logo. The video then calls CNN, fraud news network. CNN released a statement saying, "the President was encouraging violence against reporters." At a faith rally on Saturday, the crowd cheered when President Trump assured them that his agenda would not be derailed by what he keeps calling "fake news." Our CNN Media Correspondent, Brian Stelter, reports this latest controversy, is raising deeper questions about the tone the White House is setting.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN STELTER, CNN MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: This anti-CNN video from the President of the United States has become one of his most popular tweets ever, as measured by the number of people who are sharing it on Twitter. This is unlike anything we've really ever seen from President Trump or any American President for that matter. He's taken a video that seems to have come from the pro-Trump message boards of Reddit and then shared it on his platforms to millions of fans.

It is an escalation in his long-running war against the media and that includes outlets like the New York Times, the Washington Post, recently the cast of MSNBC's "MORNING JOE" and this network. CNN released a statement on Sunday responding to this Twitter video saying, "It is a sad day when the President of the United States encourages violence against reporters." The statement referenced Deputy Press Secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders' recent comment that the President has never encouraged violence in any form.

CNN statement said, "Clearly, Sanders lied when she said the President had never done so. Instead of preparing for his overseas trip, his first meeting with Vladimir Putin, dealing with North Korea and working on his health care bill, he's involved in juvenile behavior far below the dignity of his office." The CNN then ends by saying, "We will keep doing our jobs. He should start doing his."

Now, that kind of sentiment was echoed by some other journalists on Sunday, some Democratic lawmakers weighed in, criticizing the President for that violent tone of the video. However, some of his supporters said this was all an overreaction, that the President was just having some fun and this was an obviously humorous video and to be taken in that way. I can tell you, journalists at CNN and elsewhere are not laughing.

Now, for example, the Reporters' Committee for Freedom of the Press weighed in saying, "This seemed like he was encouraging violence against reporters." I asked Twitter P.R., I asked Twitter public relations if this kind of tweet could violate the Twitter code of conduct, the terms of service that forbid hateful behavior or harassment and incendiary rhetoric and violence, things like that. Hours later, Twitter said this tweet is not in violation of the terms of service.

Of course, it's an obviously newsworthy thing. Here is the President, once again, trying to delegitimize major news outlets. The target this time happens to be CNN but it's been other news outlets in the past. The President seems to think this is to his advantage to be picking these kinds of fights and stoking these kinds of fires. And what we saw mostly on Sunday were his supporters, definitely on his side and a whole lot of criticism from many other corners.

We'll see if he continues this in the week ahead. Of course, a busy week for the U.S. President: traveling overseas, meeting the Russian President for the first time. This is going to be a very busy workweek in the real world for him. We'll see if he keeps up the tweets in the virtual world. Brian Stelter, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VANIER: All right. Let's get into this. We have Ellis Henican, Author of "Trump's America" column from Metro Papers; also with us, Ben Ferguson, Conservative Political Commentator for CNN, host of "The Ben Ferguson Show." Ben, first, your reaction to Mr. Trump's latest tweet?

BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR AND HOST: Yes. This one, actually, I thought, was pretty funny. I didn't think his tweets last week towards MSNBC and "MORNING JOE" were appropriate. I thought they took away from his legislative agenda. But this one, when I saw it, it actually made me laugh because it was funny. It was also a little bit self-deprecating. I mean, you have the President that did a WWE wrestling moment.

Somebody sent him a copy of that moment with the CNN on there. Everybody needs to relax and kind of laugh about it a little bit and realize: this is not the President citing violence. This is not -- you know, journalists should be terrified or afraid. Sometimes there are things that happen that are funny. The same way that people on late night T.V. make fun of the President; he was making fun of some people that he thought have been giving him a hard time. Let's all dial down the emotion and the rhetoric here and actually just say, you know what, this took about eight seconds and it was kind of funny.

[01:05:24] VANIER: Ellis?

ELLIS HENICAN, AUTHOR AND COLUMNIST, METRO PAPERS: If it was self- deprecating, I got to -- I think that would be a first for Donald Trump. And I will tell you, his audience did not take it like that. When I first saw it, frankly, I thought that maybe Baron Trump had gotten his father's phone and was having his own juvenile moment. But then I realized that Baron is going into the sixth grade, so he's probably too old to do that kind of thing anymore.

Listen, I am not worried for the safety of myself or colleagues; we're all big boys and girls and we can handle it. It does provide, though, honestly, another window into the infantile mind of our President. And you know, it is kind of sad. I think the CNN statement is right about that. Don't worry guys, just pity the fellow.

VANIER: Yes. The CNN statement says, "It's a sad day when the President of the United States encourages violence against reporters." So, neither of you feel that's the case?

FERGUSON: No. I don't. Yes. I think we're going to be just fine. This was something that if you watched this -- first off, wrestling is fake, everyone knows it's fake. Having this superimposed on there is something that, yes, you may not like it, but it's not saying go out there and attack somebody. I mean, there have been people on T.V. today, literally, that have been saying what is it going to take for the President to stop tweeting things like this, a journalist being murdered? This wasn't advocating for that, stop being so self- righteous and self-important. A lot of people in the media think --

VANIER: Hold on. Ben, we're just a few weeks removed from a violent incident where a man picked up a gun and opened fire on Congressman. At the end --

FERGUSON: Right --

VANIER: Hold on. At the end of last year, a man picked up a gun because he saw a fake news about an alleged child sex ring in a Pizzaria; he opens fire in the Pizzarea. It was fake news. So, there in violence out there, you know.

FERGUSON: Right. But this is a, obviously, a fake wrestling video of WWE. There have been real calls for violence against the President calling assassination from Johnny Depp. But guess what, I didn't see a bunch of journalists out there demanding that Disney fire Johnny Depp when he actually called for the actual assassination of the President?

HENICAN: Come on. Seriously, we know that part, it's worse than that, honestly. I mean, I don't worry about --

FERGUSON: Something's -- HENICAN: Hold on a second, Ben. It isn't the safety of our colleagues that we worry about. It's the fact that we've got a guy in the White House who considers that funny, right? I mean, that is not the kind of humor that a grown man or a grown president ought to think. It's just hilarious. It's stupid stuff, really. It really is too young for Baron, isn't it?

VANIER: Gentlemen, listen to a Republican Senator, Ben Sasse, and what he made of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BEN SASSE (R), NEBRASKA: There's an important distinction to draw between bad stories or crappy coverage and the right that citizens have to argue about that and complain about that and trying to weaponize distrust. The first amendment is the beating heart of the American experiment and you don't get to separate the freedoms that are in there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VANIER: Ben Ferguson, let me ask you the question in a different way. This is what was missing from politics. Is this what you want to see from a Republican President?

FERGUSON: Look, I said this earlier, I think that at some point, you have to ask yourself any time you're tweeting and you're an elected official, was it worth it? I don't think this tweet, and I don't think the tweets last week were worth it, because it took the President off-message and it allowed the media to cover him in a different way than the actual things he was focused on: health care reform, border security, having that travel ban partially being imposed at 8:00 the other night. Instead, they were talking about tweets.

So, I would say to the President, it's not worth it. You need to think about that. Because ultimately, what people elected you to do was to lead on these issues and that's what they care about. They're not going to re-elect you because of the tweeting war that you have with anybody. But again, this one this morning was nothing, I think, a more than someone that's also he was funny and he decided they would tweet it, especially after feeling like they'd been getting a raw deal. I'm not saying I would've tweeted it, but people acting as if this is somehow World War III against the media. The media sometimes take themselves, I think, and I'm in the media, a little bit to make themselves a little bit too more important than they really are.

VANIER: Ellis, I want to read to you again the last part of the CNN statement: "We will keep doing our jobs, he should start doing his." How do you feel about that?

HENICAN: That's a very nicely written dig, I can say as a writer. You know, I go back and forth on whether this is a purposeful, strategic thing that the President is doing to try and divert attention from less pleasant, most serious or whether it's just his Id running wild. And I guess a tweet by tweet, day by day we have to bounce back and forth. I think this one was more the Id than any strategy. But I'm with Ben on this, why don't we get to being President, sir?

VANIER: Ellis Henican, Ben Ferguson, a pleasure to have you both on the show. Thank you very much.

HENICAN: Good to see you, guys, always.

FERGUSON: Thanks.

[01:10:25] VANIER: The U.S. President just spoke by phone with leaders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi; it lofted a row over Qatar's role in the region. Earlier on Sunday, Doha was granted two more days to decide if it wants to meet the demands of this Saudi-led coalition. It seems unlikely at the moment that Qatari officials will agree. A few of the request involved distancing themselves from Iran, stopping the construction of a Turkish air base and paying hefty reparations. But the biggest demand may be asking to shut down the al-Jazeera T.V. network. Earlier, I spoke to Mehran Kamrava, Professor at Georgetown University in Qatar and I asked him which demands Qatar could possibly meet?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MEHRAN KAMRAVA, PROFESSOR, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY QATAR: There are some areas where Qatar might be able to give. For example, Hamas, whose leadership is currently in Doha, could conceivably find another home either in Iran or in Turkey or somewhere else in the region. But I think demands such as the closure of al-Jazeera, the payment of reparations and a number of other demands were really made not to be met. They're untenable.

VANIER: So, that's exactly what the Qatari Foreign Minister has been saying, that those demands weren't even made to be met, as you say. So, if that's the case, then where is this headed?

KAMRAVA: Well, I think we're headed for some sort of a showdown. I think it was the Kuwaitis that asked for a 48-hour extension. I think next step is likely to be a ratcheting up of pressure on Qatar. For example --

VANIER: What kind of pressure?

KAMRAVA: Well, the Emiratis have already threatened to punish businesses that conduct business in Qatar by denying them contracts. And so, for example, that could be one of the pressure points exerted on Qatar.

VANIER: How long could Qatar hold out in that case? Because if you're going toe-to-toe with Saudi Arabia, you know, as far as your financial reserves, that's a tough proposition.

KAMRAVA: Well, Qatar has a number of ways and has a number of tools in its toolbox to withstand the pressure. For example, it's got robust investments, it has healthy foreign reserves and now it is getting supplies, foodstuffs and other essential goods from Turkey and Iran. So, it can withstand. It's the Qatari business community that is suffering, a business community that has multiple roots in places like Dubai and in Saudi Arabia. And I think that's the critical point: how long will the business community in Qatar remain behind the government's position?

VANIER: Sir, it was put to me recently that Saudi Arabia can outlast Qatar in this -- in this competition if you will because the prices of gas and oil are low. That hurts both of them. However, given the vast resources of Saudi Arabia and given the financial resources they have, the money they have, they can outlast Qatar in this.

KAMRAVA: No doubt, absolutely. Saudi Arabia has a much more complex and a much more robust economy than Qatar, whose biggest limitation is size. So Saudi Arabia couldn't -- and for that matter, United Arab Emirates could definitely outlast Qatar. I think it's not necessarily, though, a question of oil reserves, because much of Qatar's foreign revenue comes through the sale of liquefied natural gas.

VANIER: But the price of gas is down, as well.

KAMRAVA: The price of natural gas is down, as well. But those contracts are usually 20 or 30-year contracts. So for the time being, I think Qatar can withstand the pressure. But you're absolutely right, in that Qatar is subject to far more intense pressure right now than Saudi Arabia or the UAE.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VANIER: Abu Dhabi has become the first airport to be removed from the U.S. laptop ban. UAE Airline, Etihad, has been given the approval to allow passengers to carry personal electronic devices onto flights to the U.S. That's after security enhancements were made and verified at the Abu Dhabi airports. The ban is still in effect for U.S. bound flights from nine other airports in the Middle East and Africa. We're going to take a short break, but when we come back:

[01:15:10] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As coalition forces circled the ISIS capital Raqqa, Syria, somewhere in the city, a daughter records messages for her mother. She begs for help, whispers for rescue from ISIS and air strikes. The mother weeps as she listens.

VANIER: Short, simple messages that mean the world to this mother. The messaging tool WhatsApp is nothing short of a lifeline for one Syrian family.

Also to come on the show, why some Iraqi nationals caught in a U.S. Immigration raid say deportation could be a death sentence for them. Stay with us.

And later, President Trump is keeping busy this holiday weekend in the U.S. Details on his calls for the leaders of Japan and China, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) KATE RILEY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kate Riley for your CNN WORLD SPORT Headlines. The Confederations Cup has been won by the underscore of the competition, Germany. The World Cup holders beat Chile in the final in St. Petersburgh after 20 minutes. A simple tap-in put the Europeans ahead, 1-0 the final score and the Germans lift the cup.

Manny Pacquiao suffered a short defeat at the hands of the Australian boxing Jeff Horn. There's been widespread surprise at the outcome of this fight in Brisbane. The 29-year-old Horn caused problems for Pacquiao, causing him above of both eyes, but the Philippine veteran hit back in style with a counterattack of his own in the 9th round and at one point, it looked as though the fight was going to be stopped. But the judges handed Horn a unanimous decision giving him the WBO World Welterweight title.

And finally, to the Tour de France where defending champ, Chris Froome, was sixth after the opening time trial. And he didn't do much better on Sunday. Froome crashed with around 30 kilometers left when another rider lost balance in front of him. The Brit got back on his bike with the right side of his shorts torn. Now, the German Marcel Kittel power to victory at the end of the huge sprint team.

And that's a look at all your Sports Headlines, I'm Kate Riley.

VANIER: For several years, residents of Mosul have lived under the brutal unrelenting rule of ISIS. Well now, we're going to show you something that many people there may not have thought possible until right now; scenes of celebration. Soldiers and civilians alike are anticipating the fall of ISIS any moment now. The military has been making key games against the terror group in Mosul's old city and troops are now fighting street to street.

ISIS is also rapidly losing ground in Syria. According to activists, U.S. backed forces are pushing into Raqqah, the city that ISIS considers its capital. Washington is backing the Syrian Democratic Forces, the SDF, and providing air support, but this might be of little comfort for the many civilians who are in constant danger there. And their agony is felt by loved ones overseas. In this exclusive report, Atika Schubert meets a Syrian mother now living in the Netherlands, whose lifeline to her daughter is the messaging service, WhatsApp.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[01:20:49] ATIKA SCHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As coalition forces circle the ISIS capital in Raqqah, Syria, somewhere in the city, a daughter records messages for her mother, a world away in the Netherlands.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Mom, I have nightmares. I dream that they come after me to kill me. I see them everywhere.

She begs for help, whispers for rescue from ISIS and air strikes. The mother weeps as she listens.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Get me out of this horrible situation. I am tired. My son is exhausted. Get me out of here. I beg you.

SCHUBERT (voice-over): Wafa is not the mother's real name. She does not want to be identified fearing ISIS will target her daughter but her voice is enough to understand the horror of life in Raqqah.

WAFA, MOTHER IN NETHERLANDS (through translator): When you go to the market to buy food and other things, you see a hand here, a leg here, a head there that ISIS has left. We used to drink coffee there. Now it's full of bodies.

SCHUBERT (voice-over): Wafa has already lost one daughter to the sea when she fled for Greece. The boat sank, and the little girl drowned. She was two and a half years old. Her body washed up on the shore months later, now buried on the Greek Island. Now Wafa is determined not to lose her eldest daughter in Raqqah, to get her out. The 23- year-old had tried to leave, but ISIS arrested then beheaded her husband. Her son, Wafa's first grandchild, is almost two years old.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I'm exhausted, Mom. I can't bear life anymore. My son is sick, and there's no medicine or clean water or anything for my child. It was really hard to find some milk yesterday.

SCHUBERT: you've never seen your grandson before?

WAFA (through translator): No, I haven't seen him. My dear, I wake up in sadness. I go to bed in sadness. I don't know any other emotion than sadness. Every day I live in fear of tomorrow.

SCHUBERT: But when you see those photos and you get those messages, it gives you hope that it might be possible.

WAFA (through translator): When I see the pictures, my heart breaks into pieces. There is no hope. The only hope is their voice. The only hope I have are their voices.

SCHUBERT (voice-over): You cannot see her face, but Wafa weeps as she talks. She clutches at her phone, and her heart is filled with hope and dread at every new message. She doesn't respond straight away, but only once her voice is steady.

WAFA (through translator): Sweetie, the most important thing is that you take care of yourself and Adai, and God-willing, as I promised, I will come and get you. God will come and get you, and we will see each other again. Stay strong.

SCHUBERT (voice-over): A mother's plea, only one voice of so many struggling to be heard amid the terrifying noise of war.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We moved to another place today. I don't know when I'll be able to get online again. The army (ISIS) is all over the place.

SCHUBERT (voice-over): Atika Schubert, CNN, the Netherlands.

(END VIDEOTAPE) VANIER: Some 200 Iraqi nationals have been detained in raids by U.S. immigration and customs enforcement agents since May, and they fear for their lives. Many are Christian and believe they will die at the hands of ISIS if deported to Iraq. A federal judge temporarily blocked the deportation of over 100 of them, but the 14-day stay of removal expires this weekend. CNN'S Kyung Lah has their story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A daughter screaming for her father. He has just been detained by immigration and customs enforcement among nearly 200 here targeted for deportation since May. But the difference with some of these detainees say families, who wave to their loved ones from behind a gate, is the country they fear they will be sent to, Iraq. A war zone where ISIS terrorizes civilians, executing all those who resist, people like Najah Konja.

NAJAH KONJA, IMMIGRANT (via telephone): Everybody here like me are scared to death.

[01:25:47] LAH (voice-over): He's on the phone calling his brother from an ICE facility in Youngstown, Ohio. He's terrified because he's a Christian. In Iraq, they're an ethnic minority known as Chaldeans. ISIS has targeted the Chaldeans, marking their homes with this red Arabic letter, proclaiming them a target, undergoing what human rights groups call genocide.

Konja emigrated to the U.S. from Iraq with his parents when he was 15, four decades ago. At age 21, he was convicted of drug conspiracy charges and served 20 years in prison. Since his release, he's opened a business, paid taxes and hasn't been in trouble, not even a single traffic ticket says his brother.

The federal government, just two days before this ICE sweep, agreed to reopen Konja's case to obtain a green card due to the possibility he would be tortured in Iraq.

SHOKI KONJA, NAJAH'S BROTHER: Is this United States? Is this what this country is about?

LAH (voice-over): Most painful form him like many other Christian Iraqis he knows in Michigan, he voted for Donald Trump.

S. KONJA: We thought they're picking up some hardcore criminals. We thought they're not going to touch the innocent people, people who are turning their life around.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[01:27:02] VANIER: The Press Secretary for U.S. Immigration And Custom Enforcement issued a statement about the raid saying, "The operation in this region was specifically conducted to address the very real public safety threats represented by the criminal aliens arrested. The vast majority of those arrested in the Detroit Metropolitan area had very serious felony convictions, multiple felony convictions in many cases. I applaud the efforts of the law enforcement personnel who day in and day output their lives on the line to protect this community."

Coming up after this break, the U.S. and Russian Presidents are set to meet at the G20 summit. Will election meddling be on the agenda? We'll tell you when we come back. Plus, French President Emmanuel Macron prepares for a major address in the coming hours. A look at his presidency so far. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:31:15] CYRIL VANIER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and a warm welcome back. We're live from the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Cyril Vanier, with the headlines this hour.

(HEADLINES)

VANIER: President Trump is also taking time to catch up with some of his foreign counterparts this holiday weekend. He had back-to-back phone calls with the leaders of China and Japan on Sunday night to discuss the North Korean nuclear threat. Japan says President Trump and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed to work with South Korea to step up pressure on North Korea to end its nuclear program. The White House says Mr. Trump also brought this up with Chinese President Xi Jinping, along with the two nations' commitment to a de-nuclearized Korean peninsula.

Meanwhile, a U.S. Navy destroyer has sailed within 20 kilometers of an island in the South China Sea. That's inside waters that China claims as its territory. A U.S. military official says it was part of a freedom-of-navigation exercise.

CNN's Alexandra Field is in Beijing.

Let's try to unpack all of this. Alex, let's start with what the Chinese state media are now saying, that the U.S.-China relations have been adversely affected recently.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Cyril. For days now, we have been talking about what appears to be this cooling relationship between the U.S. and China. When we say that, we mean a cooling relationship between President Trump and President Xi Jinping, the two leaders who seemed to hit it off at Mar-a-Lago summit earlier this winter, where they pledged cooperation with issues like how to deal with North Korea. But there have been a series of messages that Washington has been sending to Beijing. Beijing has been reacting. Now you're getting the readout of this phone call between President Trump and President Jinping, in which the Chinese state media saying that President Xi Jinping acknowledges there have been negative factors that affected the relationship that was established at Mar-a- Lago. But the Chinese feel that significant progress has been made, despite that, since this Mar-a-Lago summit happened.

You also have a readout on this phone call from the White House. It seems both the Chinese state media and the White House assessments of this phone call seem to underline the express fact that these two leaders are committed to working together. But you did have that key line reported by Chinese state media about these adverse factors. They go on to say that they believe there was a great deal of importance that during this phone call, President Trump expressed again his adherence to the One China policy. Those were key words for the Chinese. They seem to have needed to hear that in this phone call. As for the White House's readout, they make the point saying that President Trump expressed to President Xi Jinping the importance of establishing a more balanced trade relationship.

So you have both sides talking about key issues specific to each of their countries, while the cooperation seems to continue to be on the North Korean frontier -- Cyril?

[01:35:12] VANIER: I think what you're explaining is reminding us that while President Trump has mostly viewed the relationship with China through the prism of North Korea and how China can help the U.S. reign in the North Korean nuclear program, it's more complex than that. It's more global. And a lot of things can get in the way of that.

FIELD: Yes, there are a lot of important facets of this relationship between China and the U.S. Certainly, North Korea is not the only shared interest they have here. But the approach that you've seen the Trump administration take over the last few months has been to let everything else fall from the spotlight in service of building cooperation, to get China to cooperate with them on the North Korea issue. We say all the time it is China that has the most leverage over North Korea because of the economic relationship between China and North Korea.

So President Trump put a lot of faith in the Chinese for being the key players in this, being able to reign in North Korea. But lately, you've seen a lot of frustration from the White House. You had a tweet from President Trump saying that the Chinese efforts in dealing with North Korea have failed.

Then you saw a series of movements from D.C. that seemed to turn up the pressure on Beijing. Labeling China among the worst human traffickers in the world. Issuing sanctions on a Chinese bank. Going forward with an arms sale to Taiwan. These are all things that officials in Beijing reacted to, responded to, and pushed back against. That's why it was suspected that the relationship could be cooling.

So you've had this conversation now. You know they'll be meeting at the G-20. They are publicly pledging that they'll continue to cooperate with each other. But you know that both sides will go into whatever meeting they have with important priorities, even other than North Korea -- Cyril?

VANIER: Absolutely.

CNN correspondent, Alexandra Field, reporting live from Beijing, thank you very much.

And U.S. President Donald Trump has a busy week ahead on the world stage. He's set to meet face to face with Russian President Vladimir Putin at that same G-20 summit in Germany that Alexandra was telling us about. He's also going to meet Central and Eastern European leaders in Poland. And importantly, Trump administration officials tell CNN that the U.S. president is not, not expected to raise the issue of election meddling with Vladimir Putin when he sees him, but will focus on Syria and Ukraine.

For more on this, here's our global affairs correspondent, Elise Labott.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: President Trump has a full agenda this week before he even sits down with President Putin. He visits Poland on Wednesday, to take part in a gathering of leaders from Central Europe and the Balkans to boost trade. The president wants to promote U.S. natural gas exports there. But that's making European leaders nervous. They see President Trump as supporting the right-wing government in Poland in their disputes with the E.U.

When he arrives in Hamburg, Germany, on Thursday for the G-20, he could be also headed with a collision course with European leaders. German Chancellor Angela Merkel predicted difficult talks with the president over climate change and trade, when the leaders meet. Since his last visit to Europe, the president has pulled out of the Paris climate agreement and repeatedly criticized Germany over its trade surplus.

Then, of course, there's the meeting with President Putin. Both sides are playing down expectations. National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster said there's no agenda, just what the president wants to talk about. Everyone wants to know whether President Trump will bring up Russia meddling in the U.S. election, warn him not to do it again. I think we're more likely to see the leaders put the elections aside and move forward on issues like Syria and Ukraine. But the body language in that meeting is going to be very interesting and telling.

Elise Labott, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VANIER: President Trump is also set to travel to France later this month. He's been invited by French President Emmanuel Macron for Bastille Day on July 14th.

The new French leader has shaken up his country's political system. And in the coming hours, he will deliver his first State of the Nation address, as promised during his campaign.

Paris correspondent, Melissa Bell, has more on Mr. Macron's young administration, from showdowns with other world leaders to his party's stunning success in parliamentary elections.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC) MELISSA BELL, CNN PARIS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From his first determined steps as France's president-elect, Emmanuel Macron has sought not so much as to fill the role as to redefine it. France's youngest ever president seems also to want to be the strongest since the founder of the fifth republic, Charles de Gaulle.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Congratulations. Great job.

BELL: Through his handshakes with other world leaders, like Donald Trump at the NATO summit in May, and Vladimir Putin, who was welcomed there five days later and then given a lecture on human rights, Macron has not hesitated to impose himself on the world stage. Going so far as to twist Donald Trump's campaign slogan after the American withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord, in an address to the world, delivered in English.

[01:40:12] EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT: Make our planet great again.

(MUSIC)

BELL: And nationally, Emmanuel Macron has also shaken up the established order. Having seen off the mainstream parties in his campaign, his movement won an unprecedented victory in June's parliamentary elections, handing him an absolute and historic majority.

In his new official portrait, Charles de Gaulle's memoirs sit on the desk behind Macron, a portrait that's been described as more imperial than presidential.

Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VANIER: Two engineers in Hong Kong have come up with a bright idea, a smart bicycle helmet. More after the break.

(CROSSTALK)

VANIER: The island of Japan is on alert for a newly formed tropical storm churning up the sea in its direction.

Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri joins me now with more on the storm's track - Pedram?

[01:44:14] PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Cyril, good seeing you.

You know, this is an area we've seen a lot of rainfall in recent days, so a couple of concerns going forward the next 24 or so hours. I want to show you this, because this is our tropical cyclone, tropical storm that sits there just north and east of Taipei. The particular storm is a narrow, confined disturbance. Off shore on the eastern parts of eastern China, there's also a frontal boundary in place that's producing a lot of rainfall across the region. We put the maps in motion, you notice plenty of rainfall in advance of this storm system. Back towards eastern China, plenty of rainfall because of the front I mentioned across that region. And then look into parts of Japan. Additional rainfall expected the next 48 hours. Areas in orange, 150 to 200 millimeters of rainfall inside a couple of days' time. The steering currents in the atmosphere are such that this storm system will make a right turn and go towards Japan because of the high pressure to the east and the west. So it will kind of direct the storm system where we don't want to see it. Again, a defined disturbance.

Now, I want to show you something when it comes to what has occurred in parts of China. We know some 300,000 hectares of land have been destroyed. About the same number of people have been impacted in places that is a direct tributary to the Yangtze River there. We've seen significant flooding. In fact, all-time record values for flooding there. Again, not related to the tropical storm, but related to the seasonal rains. When you bring additional moisture, it's going to be problematic.

We think Tuesday morning local time, across some of these southern prefectures of Japan, it will be just shy of a category 1 type storm. But it will be pretty strong, still bringing in tremendous rainfall towards the southern portion of Japan. Eventually, by midweek, parts of Tokyo will be getting in on the heavy rainfall. Cyril, notice the temperatures gradually, with all that rainfall, come back down to 27 degrees. So maybe if you have travel plans around Tokyo, maybe some delays in the works later in the week there -- Cyril?

VANIER: Pedram Javaheri, form the CNN International Center, thank you very much.

JAVAHERI: Thanks for having me.

VANIER: Now, two engineers-turned-entrepreneurs put their heads together and came up with a bright idea for bicycle safety.

Kristi Lu Stout has their story in this edition of "Iconic Hong Kong."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTI LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jeff Chen and Eu-wen Ding met at Harvard in 2013, as engineering students with a shared passion for cycling.

EU-WEN DING, CEO, LUMOS: Both of us would constantly lose our lights at the time. So that was why we thought we'd do this. But it was not just the functionality of the lights but trying to use the design and technology to give you back that sense of freedom we used to have while cycling.

STOUT: Hey, there, Jeff and Eu-wen.

(CROSSTALK)

STOUT: Nice to meet you. (CROSSTALK)

STOUT: And nice to see the helmet.

I know there's a lot of underlying technology embedded in there.

(CROSSTALK)

STOUT: How long does it take to charge? And how long is the battery life?

JEFF CHEN, CEO, LUMOS: For the helmet itself, it's about an hour to charge. If you put in a flashing mode, it will last six hours. But if you keep it solid, it will last around three hours.

DING: So it's a simple product. There's only one button on the helmet and two on the remote. I explained the idea to my mom and she got it in five seconds, so I knew that was good.

STOUT: I think I read you used the following words to describe your first prototype. You called it, quote, "butt ugly.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

STOUT: Was it really that ugly?

DING: We were very proud of it, because it was the first we built. But the reaction was not negative. It was, oh, it's nice.

CHEN: Then we knew there was a problem.

DING: Yes, we knew there was a problem.

STOUT: Ding and Chen went to work refining the look of the helmet more than 50 times, by their count. And the attention to aesthetics paid off. Earlier this year, Lumos beat out Tesla in the transfer category for the honor.

ANNOUNCER: With more than 60 built-in LEDs, Lumos really helps you stand out at night.

STOUT: Lumos launched on Kickstarter two years ago, raising more than $800,000. Ding and Chen chose Hong Kong for their headquarters but manufacture over the border in China.

DING: I studied here and Jeff has studied here. We both felt strongly to build a good product, you have to be near the factory. A lot of our advantage is through Facebook and Google. Those things are not terribly accessible in China, whereas, it is in Hong Kong.

STOUT: Lumos has sold about 18,000 Smart Helmets so far, mostly in North America and Europe. But Ding and Chen are optimistic about opportunities for growth in Asia. And Ding says the company is set to close a new round of funding. These two engineers may be new to navigating the business world, but it seems they're well on the road to making a safer place for cyclists.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[01:49:13] VANIER: More white sharks are showing up in the waters just off Cape Cod, giving researchers a chance to examine them closely. When we come back, we'll tell you why they're showing up in such big numbers.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VANIER: So beachgoers in parts of the U.S. will need to be alert over the Fourth of July holiday weekend after shark sightings in several states.

CNN's Boston affiliate, WCBV, reports that researchers spotted great whites this past week near Cape Cod, Massachusetts. One person, however, is probably not too scared.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: One trained to be the best, since the day he was born. The other has been perfected by evolution. The great white shark meets the greatest of all-time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VANIER: Olympic Champion Michael Felt is going to race a great white for the U.S. TV network Discovery's "Shark Week" later this month. It all part of an effort to raise awareness about the threats that white shark populations face.

CNN went to the coast of Cape Cod to meet the underwater predators in their natural habitat.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're heading out to survey the area for white sharks. We'll videotape them, and if possible, place some tags on them.

In a second, we'll hear the voice of our spotter pilot. He's canvassing the entire shoreline looking for white sharks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a big slow-moving one, south.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got a shark.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're going to see it very shortly.

[01:54:41] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I see the shark. It's lazily moving along here. God, that's beautiful. He's looking right at my camera. Did you see him? Dorsal came right out. What a beauty.

We've discovered that the white shark numbers are increasing here off of Cape Cod and have been for roughly the last decade. We believe that's driven by the growing seal population. Those seals, piled up here on the coastline of Cape Cod, are drawing these white sharks in, because white sharks feed on seals. Now we have the opportunity to study them for the first time.

He's dead ahead of me, slow down. Make him head into shallow water and tag him.

Magnet off. He's coming up a little.

(CHEERING)

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoa!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We went ahead and placed an acoustic tag on this shark. You can see it right there. We'll get a sense of where it spends its time over the course of the next 10 years around Cape Cod.

What are you thinking, 13, 14 on this one?

I've been doing it for several years and I've studying sharks for over 30 years. Every time I go out, I'm like a kid opening my presents on Christmas morning. I love it. I love it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VANIER: That's it from us. Thank you very much for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Cyril Vanier.

The news continues after this with Natalie Allen and George Howell. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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