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Hundreds Die During Hajj Pilgrimage As Temps Hit 120 Degrees Fahrenheit; Alleged Rape of 12-Year-Old Jewish Girl Sparks Anti- Semitism Outcry, Protests In France; 15,000 Car Dealerships Deadlocked For Days After "Cyber Incidents"; 2 Astronauts Wait To Come Home As Boeing Races To Understand Spacecraft Issues. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired June 21, 2024 - 14:30   ET

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

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[14:31:41]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: The global heatwave is having a devastating effect on the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.

The death toll is climbing as hundreds of worshippers enroute to Mecca are succumbing to temperatures hitting as high as 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Many have also been hospitalized with heat stroke and other heat-related conditions.

CNN Scott McLean joins us now with an update.

And, Scott, officials are fearing that the death toll could climb even higher. And you have some disturbing images of what it looks like on the ground.

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. There's new images that were getting in that show bodies lying on the ground, Boris, and these Hajj pilgrims walking past them.

And we're talking about a huge number of people who have died, at least in part, because of the very extreme heat. Obviously, the Saudi Arabian desert is hot at any time of year, but it is especially hot, unseasonably hot even for right now.

We're talking, as you mentioned, temperatures that actually, on Monday, briefly reached 125 degrees Fahrenheit. And even at nighttime, we're talking about lows of 87 degrees.

And look, a million and a half people or so, officially, are going to this year's Hajj. We're talking about something that's an obligation for Muslims under Islam to do this, at least once in their life, at least if they're financially or physically able to.

And so there's not going to be much that will stop people from doing what they feel is their religious obligation. Obviously, Saudi officials have tried to do what they can to try to accommodate people with water stations and misting systems, things like that.

But we're talking about something that is, by and large, outdoors and there's some physicality to it as well as people walk from the various sites involved.

But you mentioned that the numbers are likely to rise and that is because, well, for a few reasons, some people that are hospitalized may yet still die.

Some are unaccounted for. And some are not registered as official pilgrims, which may also explain some of the discrepancy. We've been able to confirm around 500 or so people had been killed. But there are reports that suggest the true number is over 1,000.

Saudi Arabia, because of events like what happened in 2015 where there was a deadly stampede, more than 2,000 people killed, have tried to count the number of pilgrims coming in, and given caps of different countries.

But look, in this day and age, to get to Saudi Arabia, you don't need a special Hajj visa. You can go there on a tourist visa. And it seems a lot of these people are doing that.

It just doesn't seem like perhaps you have access to all of the amenities that the official pilgrims have. Like, for instance, an air- conditioned tent in the desert.

You actually have countries like Jordan and Egypt now actually investigating some of the companies that help get some of these pilgrims to Saudi Arabia through these unofficial routes -- Boris?

SANCHEZ: Scott McLean, live for us from the region, thank you so much.

Brianna?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: We have a really disturbing story to tell you about out of France. The alleged gang-rape of a 12-year-old Jewish girl there has triggered an outcry over surging anti-Semitism in the country.

The deeply troubling incidents sparking widespread outrage and protests across France.

[14:34:59]

This is an alleged attack that took place in a Paris suburb. A French TV station says three boys blocked the girls path home and began to physically attack her as they hurled anti-Semitic insults and death threats towards her.

Two boys, ages 12 and 13, have been taken into custody.

We have CNN's Melissa Bell following the story for us now from Paris.

Melissa, what more do we know about this incident and the investigation that it's triggered?

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What we understand from the local prosecutor, Brianna, is that these boys -- we're talking about, 12- and 13-year-old boys -- are now being investigated, have been charged, two of them with gang-rape, insults, violence and death threats. And the third, with insults, violence and death threats.

And this is a probe that is also going to look into the question of whether the fact that the girl was Jewish contributed to her being attacked.

And it comes as you say, at a time when France has been grappling with rising anti-Semitism.

And the figures are pretty stark. When you look at 2022 to 2023, there was a rise of 284 percent in the number of anti-Semitic incidents recorded in France.

And what we've seen as a result of the war in Gaza -- this is a country, remember, that, in Europe, has both the largest Jewish population in Europe and France, and the largest Muslim population in France.

And the tensions in the Middle East have really been exacerbated here. And seeing a sharp rise. Again, in the first few months of 2024, the number of anti-Semitic attacks rose threefold, Brianna, compared to just a year before.

KEILAR: Oh, this is incredibly troubling.

Melissa, we'll continue to follow this. Thank you for the update.

And we'll be right back.

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[14:41:12]

SANCHEZ: If you're in the market for a new car, you may run into some trouble. For the third day, thousands of dealerships in the United States and Canada are experiencing a major software outage after two consecutive "cyber incidents."

Let's bring in CNN's Matt Egan.

And, Matt, we're learning that this outage could last for several days.

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: That's right, Boris. This is very much an ongoing situation. These back-to-back cyberattacks on CDK Global are causing disruptions across North America because this company's software powers thousands of auto dealers.

Now some of those auto dealers are being forced to resort to pen and pad to process sales and repairs.

And listen, the timing here is awful, right? This is the first official weekend of summer. Normally, a lot of these auto dealers would be packed with car buyers.

Now some of those car buyers are going to face delays. Some of the dealerships are going to lose some business. So here's what happened. CDK suffered a cyber incident. They announced

that on Wednesday. They were able to bring their systems back online. But then they suffered a second cyber incident that evening.

Now, the company is telling dealers that systems could be down for several days. That's according to two sources briefed on the situation.

Here's why this is such a big deal. CDK powers about 15,000 auto dealers in the United States and Canada. They rely on this company's software to process sales and repairs and other critical functions.

One executive from a Maryland dealership told CNN that this is a major hassle. And he worries that customers are going to go across the street to other dealerships that are not having the same trouble.

CDK put out a statement where they say they're working with third- party experts to try to assess the impact.

They say, quote, "We've remained vigilant in our efforts to reinstate our services and get our dealers back to business as usual, as quickly as possible."

I know there's a lot of car buyers and dealers that are hoping that's going to get back to normal very soon.

And listen, at the end of the day, this is another reminder of how disruptive and costly these cyber incidents can be.

I mean, here you have a situation where thousands of auto dealers, countless car buyers are being impacted by a cyberattack on a company that those of us outside of the auto industry had never even heard of -- Boris?

SANCHEZ: A lot of cyber incidents lately.

Matt Egan, thanks so much for the reporting.

Brianna?

KEILAR: Now some of the other headlines that were watching this hour.

A green light from the Food and Drug Administration for the first gene therapy that treats a rare form of muscular dystrophy.

Elevidys already has FDA approval for small children, but the agency now says it's safe for people ages 4 and older suffering from a certain mutation associated with muscle strength.

The new drug does, though, come with these staggering price tag, about $3.2 million for treatment.

And Amazon is joining a growing list of companies that will no longer use plastic cushioning in delivery packages. The company says paper wrapping that can be recycled will replace the roughly 15 billion air pillows that it uses each year. If you were worried that your order won't be as safe, Amazon says the

paper provides the same level of protection as plastic. Of course, we will be the judges of that, won't we?

And if the Olympic Games began today, well, Paris would have a big problem with some of its swimming events. Water samples show the Seine River is too polluted to hold the triathlon and other events on the Olympic calendar.

French officials blame heavy rainfall and other factors for the higher levels of E. coli bacteria found in this famous waterway.

[14:44:59]

And still ahead, two astronauts delayed in space. They're going to be there for at least a few more days. Boeing now racing to figure out how to fix their Starliner aircraft -- spacecraft, I should say, to bring them home.

We're talking to a former NASA astronaut about what could be going on here.

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KEILAR: Two NASA astronauts who made the trip to the International Space Station on Boeing's Starliner spacecraft are overdue. They are delayed quite a bit to come home. They're going to be waiting for a few more days now.

Officials announcing that spaceflight veterans, Suni Williams -- she's the one making that exuberant entrance here. Love her personality and her spirit.

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[14:50:00]

KEILAR: -- and Butch Wilmore, also really fun. Just doesn't have as much hair maybe.

SANCHEZ: More subdued.

KEILAR: That's right.

SANCHEZ: More subdued.

KEILAR: They're going to return no earlier than next Wednesday.

SANCHEZ: It would be incorrect to say they're stuck up there.

KEILAR: Correct.

SANCHEZ: They're just delayed.

KEILAR: That's right.

SANCHEZ: And they've been on the ISS since June 6th. Boeing is now racing to figure out what's wrong with its spacecraft.

The Starliner was troubled on its way into space by, among a couple of problems, helium leaks and thrusters that stopped working.

Joining us now is former NASA astronaut, Garrett Reisman. He's also a professor of astronomical engineering at USC.

Garrett, thank you so much for joining us.

How concerned are you about the Starliner's return flight?

GARRETT REISMAN, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT & PROFESSOR OF ASTRONOMICAL ENGINEERING, USC: Hi, Boris. Hi, Brianna.

Well, I'm pretty concerned because Suni Williams is a really good friend of mine. So I'm -- she's -- she's wonderful. And not just because of the hair.

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REISMAN: But so -- so when you -- so there's some concern. And this is a serious system, the propulsion system, the thrusters, that provide the pointing for the spacecraft. It's like your steering system in your car. But this is not some trivial system.

But I do know that NASA is very confident that they -- that they're working properly now. They've been testing them over the past week. They've gotten some good test results. And so they're confident that everything is going to be OK.

KEILAR: Yes.

She makes this -- she makes space trouble look so fun. And she and Butch are just so competent, right? I mean, we've heard people talk how great they are at what they do.

But you can't help but being concerned because this is not -- you know, this is not a casual profession they are in.

So I wonder, in your travels to space, have you ever experienced a similar situation where you've had some kind of mechanical issue and what do you do to make sure that, yes, everything is going to be ship- shape?

REISMAN: Well, you know, it is a certain element of danger when you go up and travel space and sometimes things do go wrong.

When I was on the space shuttle and were preparing to come home on one of my missions, a piece of the space shuttle floated away. And now most of the pieces of the space shuttle, you need, OK? So there aren't too many spare parts like (INAUDIBLE). There's nothing.

So what -- we got pictures of it. And what NASA is really good at is, once they have a problem, to work and figure out what's going on, they have a team of incredibly smart people that can really dive in and do a lot of testing and a lot of analysis and figure out what's wrong. They -- within an hour, they knew exactly what that piece was that floated away from the space shuttle. It turned out to be one of the very few things you don't need. And we came home and everything was fine.

They're working really hard diagnosing what's wrong with Starliner right now. They've got some good test results. And they know what's happening.

They're not -- they would like more data. Engineers always want more data. And they want to know not only what is going wrong, but why, what is causing it to happen.

And so there's still a little bit of concern. But again, everything right now is, with the exception of one, out of 28 thrusters is functioning just fine.

SANCHEZ: So what is it exactly that they're testing to get more data? Is it the actual thrusters? How does that work? And you know, what does it look like when they gather that data and then sort of analyze it to predict potential outcomes?

REISMAN: Right. So five of those thrusters, which are little rocket engines that point the spacecraft, five of the 28 failed as they were approaching the space station.

One of them failed so bad that they've just turned it off and they're not going to even try to use it again for the rest of the mission. So that leaves four thrusters that are kind of suspect.

And what they did was, once they docked at the space station, then they let them cool down. They let them relax for a little bit. And then they fired it -- fired those four thrusters again.

First, just for a very short period of time. And they looked and they saw that they produced the proper amount of thrust that they expect.

And then they fired him a little bit longer. And this is really creative. What they did was, while it was docked at the space station, they fired the thrusters and they looked at how the space station moved in response to those thrusters firing.

And they could tell how much thrust those -- those rocket engines were making by how much the space station moved. And the space station is like a million pounds, literally.

So those little thrusters are not going to move it very much. So there's some error bars on this. And that's what I mean that they would always like that more accurate data.

But that was a really clever way to figure out if those thrusters are working properly and they aced the test. So right now, they look OK.

The question is, when they come back and they're firing in succession again, getting ready to come home, if they will continue to be OK. KEILAR: What is it like, do you think, for them? They're up there --

they are being delayed. I mean, is part of it they are happy to have a little more time in space, but there's also anxiety with exactly what is going on with the craft?

[14:55:02]

I mean, how -- how do they experience this situation that so few people have had?

REISMAN: Well, getting extra time in space is always a good deal for any astronaut. I don't -- I think all of us would like a little bit more time. There's always one more picture you want to take or.

And also, they're helping out with the operation of the space station. So the space station program is pretty happy to have the extra hands on deck. So there's some silver lining.

And at the same time, Boeing is happy and NASA is happy because, actually, with a longer period of time up there, they are getting more data from this Starliner.

Which is -- this is a test flight. So they're getting more and more information the longer it's up there. Not only on the thrusters, but how the electrical power system is working and all the other systems on board. So there is a silver lining to this.

But whatever there's something questionable about your vehicle, that is in the back of your mind. And Suni and Butch are both professionals, are both test pilots. They know how to compartmentalize that. And there'll be fine.

But it's there. And we're all aware of that.

SANCHEZ: More time to dance and big hugs and big smiles.

Garrett Leisman, appreciate your perspective. Thanks for joining us.

LEISMAN: My pleasure. Anytime.

SANCHEZ: Of course.

Still ahead, former President Donald Trump converting his conviction into cash and erasing President Biden's edge in fundraising. How much they have in their war chest as the campaign kicks into high gear.

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