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In Just Over 24 Hours' Time, The Us President Set To Sit Down With His Russian Counterpart As US Intelligence Warns Of Russian Threats To Upcoming Elections; France Favored Over Underdog Croatia, But Both Are Going For The Gold; In The Middle East, An Apparent Ceasefire Is In Place After A Day Of Heavy Fighting Between Israel And Militant Groups; On The Korean Peninsula, US And North Korean Officials Are Meeting In The Demilitarized Zone; A Wave Of Protests Is The Latest Challenge For The Prime Minister Of Iraq; Violent Protesters Broke Out In Chicago After An Officer Shot And Killed A Man There Just Hours Earlier; A Massive Iceberg To Tell You About Parked Near A Small Village In Greenland; A Beautiful Landscape That Could Possibly Turn Deadly. Aired: 5-6a ET
Aired July 15, 2018 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
GEORGE HOWELL, HOST, CNN NEWSROOM: In just over 24 hours' time, the US President set to sit down with his Russian counterpart as US intelligence warns of Russian threats to upcoming elections.
Plus this, Hamas and Islamic Jihad say they have reached a ceasefire with Israel after a serious spike in fighting along the Gaza border. We'll have that report for you. Also ahead this hour, France favored over underdog Croatia, but both are going for the gold. The World Cup Final kicks off in just six hours' time in the Russian capital.
We are live at CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta. We want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm George Howell, the "CNN Newsroom" starts right now. At 5:00 a.m. on the US east coast, the President of the United States will leave his golf course resort in Scotland in a few hours' time headed for Helsinki for this historic summit with the Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Mr. Trump managed to squeeze in more golf, Sunday morning, we watched there with his son Eric. On Saturday protesters had come together within shouting distance as they played.
Hanging over the upcoming summit is new evidence of Russian meddling in the 2016 Presidential election. Mr. Trump says he'll raise the issue, he'll bring it up with President Putin, but his latest tweet, well, it seems to point the finger at his predecessor, Barack Obama for as President Trump says not dealing with it at the time.
CNN has our correspondents following this very important summit around the world. Our Phil Black live in Turnberry, Scotland and our international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson live in Helsinki.
Phil, first to you. Tell us more about the President's time in Scotland looking ahead toward his time to Helsinki. PHIL BLACK, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Well, George when President Trump
first arrived here at Turnberry, he tweeted saying that he'd be spending two days of making calls, having meetings and hopefully playing some golf. As we speak right now, President Trump is out playing golf on the course just behind us here at Turnberry.
He's only just moved out of our line of vision just in the last few moments, but over the last half hour or so, we've watched him play about three, three and a half holes of golf. We could show you some video there. He's wearing a black suit, a white cap as he's been making his way around this course, one of three championship courses at the Turnberry Resort.
He's driving his own golf buggy leading a convoy of at least 15 other buggies. It was difficult to keep track of, there could very well have been more than that. He looked relaxed, waved to some of the police officers that were standing guard at this perimeter to the resort grounds and then continued to play on. Difficult to make out precisely who he's playing with this morning.
An impressive security presence here. The number of police officers at this perimeter did jump quite noticeably just in the minutes before he moved out on to the course. This is the second time that he has played this course in the last two hours - last two days, I should say. And his time here at Turnberry is fast coming to an end. He'll be leaving here in the next few hours.
What else he has been doing here? We don't know. As I say, he was predicting meetings and calls, we can only presume that that's been a big part of his time here along with preparation for this Helsinki summit. But in the next few hours having finished playing golf here again, he should be leaving the Turnberry Resort and driving about 30 minutes or so to Prestwick Airport, where Air Force One sits parked and ready to take off to fly him to Helsinki, George.
HOWELL: All right, again, President Trump preparing for this very important summit, getting in a little more golf before he heads to Helsinki. Phil Black, stand by as we cross over to our colleague Nic Robertson. Nic, just for some context here, look, a historic summit for sure, but this cloud hangs over it all overshadowing this this latest indictment that squarely points the finger at Russian state operative interfering in US affairs and now the question, will Mr. Trump be assertive in defense of the United States or passive with Mr. Putin?
NIC ROBERTSON, INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR, CNN: So far, we don't know. The indications that President Trump has given over the past couple of days when he's given press conferences has been that he's more likely to be lenient. He said that he will raise the issue, "I'll absolutely raise the issue," he said. He said, "I'll raise the issue that you all like, that you all want." He's said that, "I will ask, did you do it? Don't do it again." And he said, "I expect President Putin will deny it."
What we do know is that the last time or the first time they met face- to-face at the G-20 back in Hamburg a year ago when President Trump asked that question, President Putin denied it. They said there was no evidence and then very sort of quickly ...
[05:05:13]
ROBERTSON: ... President Trump took the decision we were told afterwards to move on, to press forward in the relationship, and of course that is a concern now for many people worrying that President Trump will take the tame tact again. And his comments at the moment have sort of indicated that he doesn't think that he can persuade President Putin to take more responsibility or at least listen to the fact that there is evidence to support what President Trump will tell him.
But now there is that evidence in the form of those 12 indictments against 12 different former - different Russian military intelligence agents. That is an effort of the state to meddle in the United States elections in 2016. So President Trump has the opportunity to put that evidence forward. We haven't heard him say that he will.
And in the last 24 hours, we've heard from the Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen saying that Russia right now is engaged in the same type of meddling, preparatory efforts for the midterm elections coming up in the US in the next couple of months. So if you will, President Trump is now armed with what we've heard him say that meddling in 2016 was under President Obama's watch, now he's being armed with information saying that Russia is doing it again under his watch.
And the Secretary of Homeland Security has said that this is an assault, an attack on American democracy and should not be allowed. So-called pressure, added pressure on President Trump to listen to his intelligence chiefs, to press President Putin more robustly on this and the likelihood or the expectation that there would be sanctions on this attack on American democracy.
HOWELL: Nic, one other question to you, just given the importance of this meeting, there are many other topics at play from North Korea to Iran to Syria. Nuclear weapons - will these be important points of discussion?
ROBERTSON: President Trump has said that they will be. He said, look, both countries are engaging in, you know, improving their weapons systems, upgrading their weapons systems that he feels that nuclear proliferation is one of the big issues that's happening on his watch and there is a real understanding and feeling more broadly in the diplomatic community that the issues of the strategic arms limitations agreements that have expiration dates, that they really need to be addressed.
That the two countries need to begin a dialogue about this. So President Trump has indicated that that is something he wants to speak about, but the pressing issues are Ukraine, where the ceasefire's not holding, Syria where the war is coming to an end, where both the United States and Russia, really need to be talking more actively to ensure there is longer term regional stability. So these are issues that transcend the relationship between the United
States and Russia. These are issues that affect many, many, many countries.
HOWELL: Nic Robertson, thank you so much. And Phil Black, thank you both for the reporting and the context. We'll keep in touch with you ahead of this very important meeting that CNN will cover with our global resources. Thank you.
Let's bring in Anna Arutunyan, she is a senior Russian analyst with the International Crisis Group live in Moscow this hour. A pleasure to have you here on the show to get your perspective on this, Anna, so the mere fact that these two are meeting, this is a very important summit. There are many issues at play that we just spoke about with our correspondents, but the broader question here, how important is this for President Putin? Because surely he has been focused on raising Russia's stature, a position to be key in world affairs, world issues. Does this execute that strategy?
ANNA ARUTUNYAN, ANALYST, INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP: Well, of course. I mean, by virtue of having the summit itself, by virtue of the fact that it was Trump who was making these overtures to Putin all along, this is already by the fact of having the summit in Helsinki a major win for Putin.
And next we've got - I mean, you've got several things going on. We don't know quite what's going to come out of it. We do know that in terms of optics, this is very likely going to be very good for Putin because no matter what Trump does or says, given his track record, it's going to make Putin look good by comparison. For instance, in terms of the meddling, to what extent Trump brings this up, to what extent Putin responds? What Putin's going to get out of this is that Trump is going to believe him more than his own intelligence community.
[05:10:03]
ARUTUNYAN: This is very important and, once again, showing just how much adult Putin and the Kremlin look by comparison. Secondly, and this is more problematic, I don't think that the Kremlin is really expecting any serious deals out of this. In fact, they're quite concerned that diplomatically, pragmatically speaking this is not the kind of leader that you can really expect to make a deal with given his unpredictability. And we're not really counting on any serious breakthroughs.
HOWELL: Well, we've heard President Trump talk just a bit about this. He mentioned it during his time in the United Kingdom. I want to play that sound bite and let's talk about this here on the other side.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Because I know you'll ask will we be talking about meddling? And I will absolutely bring that up. I don't think you'll have any "Gee, I did it, I did it, you got me." There won't be a Perry Mason here, I don't think. But you never know what happens, right, but I will absolutely firmly ask the question and hopefully, we'll have a very good relationship with Russia.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: And the question gleaning from that comment, what seems more important here - is it about bringing up the, you know, Russia meddling in the US election? Is it more about the relationship? Keeping in mind that as our reporters have pointed out, there is concern that this could be happening again in the lead-up to the 2016 US election, Russian meddling possibly again.
ARUTUNYAN: Well, I mean, given that Trump has called all of this fake news, that he has resisted this investigation, that he's doubted his own intelligence community, yes, I mean, it seems like for him, the interest here is just to tick off the box that he asked Putin, Putin denied it, let's move on. This is wonderful for Putin because, of course, yes, Putin's going to deny it, but it's going to accomplish several things for the Kremlin and making the Kremlin again look important, scary, and indispensable.
And once again, be just showing how much in disarray the political community is in Washington over these allegations.
HOWELL: I want to get your perspective, of course, there in Russia on the Russian leader. He's been in that role for some time. He's been playing a long-game strategy, again, to raise Russia's role as a vital player on the world stage even despite a weak economy at this point.
In your view, is this newly elected President of the United States prepared to play chess with Mr. Putin?
ARUTUNYAN: I don't think this is going to be a game of chess among equals, if we're talking about a game of chess. And I think that Putin understands this. There are ways in which Putin can take advantage of him once again primarily through - in terms of optics and he will do that as he's done before.
In terms of major deals, I think, here, the Kremlin is not expecting much because it understands that there's only so far that you can take unpredictability, the kind that we've seen from Trump. The Russian officials like dealing with - would have liked to deal with a true artist of the deal. They like dealing with pragmatic Republican leaders who are more about striking deals than about values, but it's clear that Trump has not proven to be that kind of leader and like I said, in terms of optics, this raises a lot of advantages for the Kremlin, but in terms of deals or breakthroughs, not really.
HOWELL: Anna, we appreciate your time and perspective live there in Moscow. We'll keep in touch with you as the world watches on. Thank you.
ARUTUNYAN: Thank you.
HOWELL: Fighting flares on at the Gaza border. But there may be a ceasefire agreement between militant groups and Israel. The latest from Jerusalem ahead. Plus, we're also following events in Moscow ahead of the World Cup Final. CNN live in Russia. Get ready.
[05:15:00]
Welcome back to "Newsroom," I'm George Howell. In the Middle East, an apparent ceasefire is in place after a day of heavy fighting between Israel and militant groups. Hamas and Islamic jihad say they have reached a ceasefire with Israel. The Israeli Prime Minister's Office has no comment about those reports.
Following the story, our Ian Lee is live in Jerusalem. Ian, can you tell us anything more about this purported ceasefire?
IAN LEE, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Well, George, basically that it's holding or it appears to be holding right now. It's been about nine to ten hours since the last exchange of fire where we saw mortars, rockets and Israel retaliating with these airstrikes, but yesterday, was the greatest bombing campaign in Gaza since the 2014 war with dozens of Hamas targets hit according to the Israeli military.
The Israeli military also saying that at least 200 rockets and mortars were fired into Israel. You had two Palestinians killed in Gaza, a dozen injured, and then four Israelis injured in this exchange, but we are also hearing from the Israeli Prime Minister this morning saying that there is no ceasefire as long as these - these fire kites, fire balloons continue to cross over from Gaza into Israel lighting these fields on fire.
And we heard this from other Israeli politicians, too. They say any ceasefire has to include - or any cessation of violence has to include these kites and balloons. So we're hearing this morning that there have been some of them, so we'll see how this plays out in the coming hours, but we also need to point out how pivotal Egypt has been in bringing calm back to this area.
Egypt has played a very pivotal role in the past as well bringing the sides, talking to them, this is what we're hearing, to really stop this before it escalates further into potentially a war, George.
HOWELL: Ian, many of us have followed your reporting over the last several weeks leading up to this, but, again, if you could explain the conflicts that have brought us this point?
LEE: Really to get down to the root of it, it is the situation in Gaza, this blockade that is on the Gaza strip that makes it difficult to bring in certain goods, certain items. This is being imposed by Israel as well as Egypt, and when you talk to people, this is why they say they protest and these protests are along that border fence that separates Gaza and Israel and since March, we have seen dozens of Palestinians killed by Israeli soldiers.
[05:20:03]
LEE: The Palestinians protesting with rocks, with Molotov cocktails. The Israeli military saying, at times, throwing grenades. This really creating a tense situation and that's where we're getting these flare- ups where we will have these retaliations, where we'll see rockets, mortars fired and then Israel coming in with these air strikes. So, it just shows how this really builds up into this conflict that we see between the two sides.
HOWELL: Ian Lee following this purported ceasefire. We'll keep in touch with you as you monitor developments there.
On the Korean peninsula, US and North Korean officials are meeting in the demilitarized zone. They're working out details of the returning the remains of some 200 US service members killed during the Korean War. They make up some of the 5,300 service members unaccounted for after the war. Again, this is part of the agreements signed by the leaders of both countries last month's in Singapore.
Developing news we're following out of Iraq where a wave of protests is the latest challenge for the Prime Minister of that nation.
The unrest is mostly in southern and central Iraq, some demonstrators are peaceful there but others have turned violent. They're fed up with things like unemployment and lack of services in the country. They are staging rallies and they've stormed government offices. We continue to follow that story.
You can see that Iraq remains fractured despite declaring ISIS defeated. The terror group's impact is still being felt in the country especially by the Yazidis. Many in the religious minority had to escape the country to survive. As one tells CNN's Nima Elbagir, their hardships didn't end there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it was a simple life. We were happy to get out. We had no idea that on the 3rd of August, our life would change forever, like a living hell.
NIMA ELBAGIR, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Majur Abdulahaji is a Yazidi from Sinjar, Iraq. In 2014, ISIS fighters swept through Yazidi villages.
MAJUR ABDULAHAJI, SURVIVOR: Hundreds of children and old people died. Many of my family, my relatives and friends were captured and killed by ISIS.
ELBAGIR: They butchered the men, enslaved the women, and conscripted the children, wiping out whole families. To this day, no one knows how many Yazidis were killed and how many are still missing. Majur is one of the lucky ones.
ABDULAHAJI: I ran with the thousands of people to the Sinjar mountain. Then we get safety to Australia by foot.
ELBAGIR: You walked?
ABDULAHAJI: Yes, we walked from the Sinjar mountain to Syria.
ELBAGIR: Dubbing them devil worshippers, ISIS systematically set out to decimate this already dwindling minority. Like many Yazidis, Majur suffered the pain of betrayal. As his Muslim neighbors under threat from ISIS turned against him.
A persecution, Majur says followed them even as he fled across Europe all the way to the makeshift migrant Calais.
ABDULAHAJI: When a group of Kurds people found out that we were not praying in the mosque, they captured us, they took us to a small caravan and they beat us up badly, really badly. And luckily, there was a big fire broke out in the camp.
ELBAGIR: That saved your life.
ABDULAHAJI: Yes.
ELBAGIR: Now finally in the UK, the British Home Office have rejected Majur's request for asylum.
ABDULAHAJI: They said there are safe places in Iraq. I said, but not for Yazidis people, it's not safe for us. They have no idea how much in danger we are in Iraq.
ELBAGIR: But help has come from an unexpected courses, Anne Norona, a nurse from Cornwell has taken up his case. It is a long way from Cornwell to Sinjar.
ANNE NORONA, NURSE, CORNWELL: You know, there are so many problems and there are no big NGOs helping there. It's incredible to me. If I can do it from Cornwell, why can they not help?
ELBAGIR: Anne sets up her own organization, Yazidi Emergency Support to provide medical care and aid to the most vulnerable Yazidis
NORONO: They're so threatened. There's probably 800,000 left in the world scattered like seeds all over the world.
ELBAGIR: Majur's own relatives are among the scattered.
[05:25:16]
ELBAGIR: One sister is in a refugee camp in Greece, another in a camp in Kurdistan while one of his cousins remains in ISIS captivity. Despite the nation's ruling what happened to the Yazidis as a genocide. The UK does not currently distinguish between Yazidis and other Iraqis. Their suffering is not considered.
The fate of Majur's appeal now rests in the hands of Britain's Home Office. All Majur can do is wait and hope, the alternative? Unthinkable.
ABDULAHAJI: These people never hurt anybody, so I think we didn't deserve this fate.
ELBAGIR: Nima Elbagir, CNN, London.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
HOWELL: Nima, thank you. Majur's hearing is set for Tuesday, that's the day for the hearing. We've reached out to the Home Office and they told us they don't comment on ongoing cases.
Now, two student protesters in Nicaragua, they are dead after pro- government forces launched an attack there. The students were inside a university in the country's capital of Managua. They escaped to a church after an assault started there. Gunfire trapped 100 students, priests, and journalists inside the church for several hours. The Organization of American states says at least 273 people have been killed since antigovernment protests started in April.
Of course, CNN following a big day around the world, the World Cup. Football's biggest game hours away. Of course we're live in Moscow with all the latest. Stay with us.
[05:30:16]
HOWELL: Live, coast to coast across the United States and to our viewers around the world this hour, you're watching CNN "Newsroom" live from Atlanta. I'm George Howell with the headlines we're following for you.
The US President was back out on the golf course on Sunday morning at his resort in Scotland. Mr. Trump and his son, Eric with him. In just a few hours' time, the President leaves for a summit, a historic summit with the leader of Russia, Vladimir Putin set for Helsinki, Finland. The meeting with the Russian leader is set for Monday.
Hamas and Islamic jihadists, they have reached a ceasefire deal with Israel, this following a day of heavy fighting along the Gaza border. The Israeli Prime Minister's Office has no comment about those reports so far. Palestinian officials say two teenagers were killed in an Israeli air strike.
Civil unrest keeps spreading across southern and central Iraq. Protesters there stormed a provincial government building Saturday. They're upset about issues like high unemployment, lack of services. There are reports security forces are on high alert there.
The British Prime Minister Theresa may has a warning for her Brexit supporters to watch out for Brexit or it won't happen at all. Those comments to the mail on Sunday referred to lawmakers critical of her plan to leave the European Union and speaking to the BBC Sunday, Theresa May also revealed that Donald Trump's advice to her was to sue the EU rather than negotiate on Brexit.
I don't know about you, but I cannot wait to see what happens. We've had more than a month of the World Cup. It all comes down to this. The tournament final just hours away in Moscow. Croatia looking for an upset as they face, again, face-off against the tournament favorite, France. CNN has got this match covered from all angles. Our Alex Thomas live in Moscow, Melissa Bell in Paris and Oren Liebermann in the Croatian capital of Zagreb, Alex first, to you, let's talk about this unlikely matchup, certainly Croatia an underdog going into this. A lot of expectations on France, but it will an interesting match to say the least.
ALEX THOMAS, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Yes, and when you come down to just one final match, anything in theory could happen, George. So Croatia have a chance, but they're definitely massive underdogs having reached a World Cup Final for the first time in their history. Remember, a very small country in comparison to the other 31 teams. And, you know, 30 teams have been here, tried and failed to win the World Cup. They're heading home - it's just left those two countries, France and Croatia.
We are here at Sparrow Hills with this wonderful scenic view of the Moscow City skyline including the Luzhniki Stadium where kickoff will be in just over five and a half hours' time. Before that, a bit of pomp and ceremony, not too much, but there will be a performance of the official World Cup song "Live It Up" featuring American singer and actor Will Smith. A huge security operation under way here as you can imagine because of all the VIPs, including the Russian President, Vladimir Putin who will attend the game as well as the French President Emmanuel Macron.
As well as having this wonderful scene behind us here, what you can't see behind my cameraman about a hundred meters or so that way is one of the official FIFA fan zones where 100,000 are to watch on a big screen. There will be almost 80,000 in the stadium behind me and the global TV audience that organizers say could be as much as a billion. But, you know, sometimes that gets overestimated, probably more like to be hundreds of millions.
Still certainly if you leave the multisport Olympics to one side, the biggest single sporting event on the planet and France or Croatia within touching distance of glory, George.
HOWELL: A lot of people watching to say the least. Alex Thomas, stand by for us. Thank you. And now let's bring in our colleague Melissa Bell in Paris, the streets of Paris, just coming off Bastille Day there, so Melissa, you know, if France wins, does the celebration just go on through the weekend?
MELISSA BELL, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: That's right, and you wouldn't believe, George, that there's five hours - more than five hours to go before this match kicks off judging by the party that's already begun here on the Champs Elysee the fans are out, people are tooting their horns as they pass in the car and that is because France believes that this time, George, they are in with a real chance.
And there has been really a sort of spring in the step of power ever since that win in the semifinal earlier this week. France couldn't believe they've made it that far. They now believe that the final is within reach. That was the big match really with Belgium, so strong with the two sides. And as you can see behind me, a great deal of enthusiasm. This part of Paris, the Champs Elysee will be, if France wins, a massive party tonight.
[05:35:12]
BELL: But first of all, about 100,000 fans will be gathered around the Eiffel Tower for a giant fan zone there to watch the match. These guys of course will be amongst them. How are you feeling?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A very great day for us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For football.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll win.
(CROSSTALK)
BELL: You can see the hero of the hour. We have his youngest fan with us here with us, Valentino, tell us, how are you feeling about it? Are they going to win.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're okay. Yes, of course they're going to win.
BELL: They have a great deal of hope, George and as I said, five hours to go, France will be gutting if they don't win this particular final.
HOWELL: Great deal of excitement there on the Champs Elysee, Melissa Bell, thank you. Let's cross over now to our Oren Liebermann. Again, Oren, on the streets of Zagreb, Croatia, I've got a buddy over there who's really pulling for Croatia, this underdog team. But the excitement in Zagreb, I imagine is palpable.
OREN LIEBERMANN, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Underdog is the word they've become very used to here in Zagreb in Croatia. They're used to that term. They've been underdogs in all of the elimination games until now and they're not afraid of that status once again against the favorite, France. This is the main square in Zagreb, Croatia. This is where tens of thousands of fans will come over the course of the next few hours. There is a bit of a drizzle here and that has held away the crowds now, but the rain is supposed to stop before the World Cup Final begins and this will absolutely fill up this - of course, the big screen. There have been songs, there have been a couple of football songs that we've heard, one just ended a short time ago.
I suspect, it won't be all that long until there is another one, and let me take you around to the main piece here. This is Ban Josip Jelacic, a Croatian national hero. He has been dressed up for the game here. He is ready, the fans are ready, and they know the odds are against them. They know they're not the favorites here. They know the team has played extra time in multiple games and yet they're not afraid. Many people here we talked to will say, "Look, we acknowledge that France is the better team, the more well rounded team, but we have heart and that's something they say, the French don't have." And that's why they're hopeful about the game.
George, I will point out one more thing. In everybody we've spoken with from the fans to some of the visitors here, more importantly perhaps some of the former coaches and trainers of some of the players on the Croatian, the national team, they say regardless of the outcome, tonight, win or lose, victory or defeat, Zagreb, Croatia will have a celebration tonight and that tells you how proud everyone here is of how far the Croatian national team has gotten. HOWELL: It is a talented team. They've come quite a long way. We'll
have to see what happens. Oren Liebermann, thank you. Stand by. Let's bring back in Alex Thomas. Alex, I want to get your perspective here. So, again, let's describe these two teams. I mean, the talent on either, how do you see this coming together?
THOMAS: France are going to start as favorites because they were one of the heavily tipped teams coming into this World Cup because they've been world champions in the past and because of the quality of the players at their disposal. Their main stars are Paul Pogba, the tall graceful midfielder who plays for Manchester United, also Kylian Mbappe, the world's most exciting teenage player, the most expensive teenager after he moved from Monaco to Paris Saint Germain, the super rich club who are the current French champions, also alongside him in France's attack, Antoine Griezmann who plays his football for Spain's Atletico Madrid and does it very successfully.
He was targeted by some of the biggest clubs on the planet. So, there's no doubt that France have the talent but Croatia have good players, too, from some of the biggest clubs in Europe as well, Real Madrid's Luka Modric who is the captain of Croatia, Barcelona's Ivan Rakitic, Inter Milan's Ivan Perisic as well, and also Mario Mandzukic who is the striker who plays for Juventus, the current Italian champions.
So, there's a spine of players in Croatia who are exceptional, but Oren did point to one huge obstacle Croatia have as well as getting past the French, that's the additional time they've played - all three of their knockout games have gone to extra time and two of them to a penalty shootout as well, it all adds up to them having played one match more than France and they've had a day less to prepare. But it is a one-off game, anything can happen, George.
HOWELL: Alex Thomas again with that beautiful view in Moscow at the stadium behind him. The excitement on the streets at the Champs Elysee with Melissa Bell and of course, in the city center in Zagreb, Oren Liebermann, the excitement, the stats, we've got it all. Of course, we'll see what happens. Thank you so much all, and we'll keep in touch with you.
Now, the Wimbledon men's final, just hours away. Novak Djokovic will go head to head with South Africa's Kevin Anderson. Djokovic hoping to secure his fourth Wimbledon title and in the women's final, Angelique Kerber of Germany defeated Serena Williams Saturday with a 6-3, 6-3 victory in straight sets. Williams says that she played to inspire mothers like herself.
[05:40:08]
HOWELL: The Duchess of Cambridge and the Duchess of Sussex known to many as Kate and Meghan were also at the match in a royal box. The Duchess of Sussex cheered on Williams who is a close friend of hers.
It is a strange arrest video to say the very least. Two police officers asked heads or tails using a coin flip to determine whether to arrest a woman. We'll have that story ahead for you. Plus the smile that's worth a thousand words and then some. We'll bring you the story of this mother and daughter's joyful reunion, this after a long month apart, separated, now back together.
Violent protesters broke out Saturday night in the US City of Chicago after an officer shot and killed a man there just hours earlier. Police say that the crowd was combative, you see the scene of what happened from this video here. Officers seen hitting people there with batons. They also dragged a man along the street as another man was being arrested. They also knocked a journalist's phone from his hands.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not telling you again. I already told you enough times, back off. Back off. [ bleep ]. Back off. [ bleep ]. Take your phone and get out. Now. This is private property. Get out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: That's the video. There's still a lot to sort out, at least four people were arrested, several officers were injured. Chicago's Civilian Office of Police Accountability says it will investigate the shooting that led to the unrest there.
[05:45:08]
HOWELL: Now two police officers here in the US state of Georgia, they've been caught on camera joking about whether to arrest a woman based on a coin toss. CNN's Kaylee Hartung explains.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
KAYLEE HARTUNG, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: The decision to arrest or release a speeding driver in the state of Georgia debated between two officers with the help of a coin flip app on a cell phone. Listen to what this body cam captured.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KRISTEE WILSON, POLICE OFFICER, GEORGIA: A head, R tails?
COURTNEY BROWN, POLICE OFFICER, GEORGIA: Okay.
WILSON: This is tails, right?
BROWN: Yes.
WILSON: So release.
BROWN: Twenty-three.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARTUNG: The two officers you hear in that body cam video, they've both been placed on administrative leave. The local police department saying they've opened up an internal investigation. They did so as soon as they learned of this incident. The Police Chief has gone so far as to say he's quote, "appalled that any law enforcement officer would trivialize the decision making process of something as important as the arrest a person."
In April, Sarah Webb was late for work. She was speeding driving down roads that were wet after it had rained. She was pulled over. Then a discussion ensued inside the officer's patrol car, would they arrest her or would they release her. They turned to a virtual coin flip to make that decision. And what's interesting when you actually listen to the back and forth go, the coin lands on tails which they had agreed meant they would release the driver. They arrested her regardless.
She was charged with reckless driving, too fast for conditions and speeding. But when the prosecutor saw this body cam footage, all of those charges were dismissed. Kaylee Hartung, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
HOWELL: Thank you for the reporting. The US government is evaluating whether more than 2,500 migrant children in its custody are eligible to be reunited with their parents. The court order deadline for those reunions is July 26th and for the kids, it is a terrifying wait illustrated by the recordings of what we've heard. One six-year-old girl sobbing for her mother.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: [Speaking foreign language.]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you going to call my aunt so she can come pick me up? And then, so my mom can come as soon as possible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: The sobs and wails of a child, a recording that helped bring the US migrant crisis to the world's attention. And this little girl and her mother we now know that they have a happy ending. CNN's Gary Tuchman has the story of their reunion.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Six-year-old Allison Jimeno walking off her first plane ride ever. She looked out the window and wandered during the flight, a flight with her doll, coloring her coloring her book. Getting off in Houston with two social workers hours after being released from a shelter in Arizona, getting ready to see the mother she was separated from one month ago.
While she waited for her mom to arrive, the two spoke by phone. Mother Cindy telling her she and her lawyer are on a very long drive to the airport from South Texas but will be there soon. After Allison was done talking to her mom, I told Cindy I was on the plane with her daughter.
She was not scared on the plane. Si? You are very strong, right?
At 3:00 a.m., Cindy arrives at Houston Intercontinental Airport for the reunion she has been dreaming of for a month, finally getting to hold hands with her daughter. The little girl heard the world over on the gut wrenching Propublica audiotape back with her mother, a mother released from a detention center in Texas after being approved to proceed with her asylum claim following a journey from El Salvador.
Cindy not even knowing where her daughter was after they were separated a little over four weeks ago. Allison says I missed my mommy. I was so happy to see her at the airport. I'm happy I will now see her all the time. Cindy says she isn't going to take her eyes off Allison and is excited they are now in this country together.
Cindy says everyone knows the United States is a great country, it's safer. There is better education, a better health system, but most importantly the safety for my daughter. Mother and daughter will live with Cindy's sister in the Houston area while proceeding with her asylum claim hoping the sadness and separation are behind them. Gary Tuchman, CNN, Houston.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
[05:50:03]
HOWELL: Gary, thank you so much. Showing that reunion again of a mother and child. A massive iceberg to tell you about parked near a small village in Greenland, a beautiful landscape that could possibly turn deadly. Take a look there. We'll explain what happens. Wow. Stay with us.
Icebergs are famous as hazards to ships, but now there's one big iceberg off Greenland that is threatening a whole village. Our meteorologist, Derek Van Dam is here to tell us about that, Derek.
DEREK VAN DAM, METEOROLOGIST, CNN: It's huge, 11 million ton, that's 11 megatons that's parked itself off the western coastline of Greenland.
Here it is and notice closely on your TV screen what's happening to that iceberg. That is a Calving event. That's when ice breaks away from the original iceberg.
There are concerns that rising temperatures, warmer weather there and even rainfall could cause more of this iceberg to break apart. But what I really want you to notice is the last 45 seconds of this video, which we'll kind of fast forward, put it on the screen behind me.
Look at what that ice calving event forced with the waves that moved on shore, and also it forced this small community of roughly 170 inhabitants to move to higher grounds because they're fearing for the potential of a tsunami. You can imagine the amount of water that was displaced by that large of an iceberg.
[05:55:13]
VAN DAM: Well, how much? Well, ice bergs can be roughly the size of a stadium, but that's only what you and I see above the surface of the water. In fact, 80% to 90% of an iceberg is actually below the surface, so you can't actually see it. And by the way, an iceberg can be the size of a stadium.
So, the ideal outcome for this iceberg off the coast of western Greenland is for it to get caught up in what is known as the Baffin current and it will be basically pushed off to sea, crisis over, not a problem. But, if mother nature doesn't play along, rises the temperatures and allows for more melting and more calving events to happen, the potential for a tsunami exists for that very sparsely populated area of western Greenland. So not what we want to see. It certainly makes for some interesting visuals though, doesn't it?
This is interesting, I had to put this in there. The size of that particular iceberg is roughly 10 to 11 megatons. That is an incredibly large and an incredibly heavy piece of ice. But look at this, if you go to a little bit smaller after an iceberg, they are called or have interesting names known as a bergy bit - that's a one hundredth of a megaton iceberg. Big enough for me, right? This is an interesting picture to leave you with as well. This was sitting off the coast of Iceland a few years ago. Dramatic image, but just to watch that video as that happens. I've seen an iceberg calve when I was on an Alaskan cruise once, incredible. It also creates quite a noise as well.
HOWELL: Derek Van Dam. Thank you.
VAN DAM: All right.
HOWELL: And thank you for being with us. This is "CNN Newsroom." The news continues here on CNN after the break.
