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Europe Sweltering Under Brutal Heat Dome; Property Brothers Star Rebuilding Home to Withstand Fires and More; U.S. Search and Rescue Teams Deploying to Venezuela; Devastating Quakes Strike Venezuela, Killing 188; World's Loudest Man Makes as Much Noise as a Jet Taking Off. Aired 3:30-4p ET
Aired June 25, 2026 - 15:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:30:00]
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Record high temperatures are baking Europe for another day. France just broke its average temperature record, the UK hitting its highest temperature for June, plus this is expected to be the hottest day of the week in Ireland. And while air conditioning is common in the U.S., in Europe only one in five homes has AC. Listen to some Londoners who are withering under these conditions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Going back to Worthing, my little boy's about to be off school because he's been sick with heat exhaustion.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've been traveling like through London and it's like so hot. Like I Ubered to the train station even though it's like a 15 minute walk. It's been a nightmare.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: CNN's Anna Stewart is joining us from London where I see a lot of people including yourself going sleeveless for that built-in air conditioning, Anna. How are people getting through this?
ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: We are struggling. I can tell you it has felt too hot to honestly do anything at all. Around 36 degrees, well higher actually earlier today, I think that's about 97 and a half degrees Fahrenheit.
That is hot. And of course we still have to go to work. Now for those people that work in an air-conditioned office, they are the lucky ones. That is fine.
I look at my colleagues in the CNN office in London and they are having a nice day in the office. Outside, really very hot and some workplaces of course are not in air-conditioned offices. In the UK there is no legal requirement in terms of an upper limit of what workplaces should be.
The only requirement is that employers provide a and I'll quote -- reasonable temperature in the workplace. But what does reasonable really mean and frankly how can you keep temperatures low in some parts of the UK, in some buildings which just simply weren't built for this sort of weather. In the UK, generally older buildings were built to keep heat in, not to make things cool.
So I have been to dry cleaners. I have been to construction sites. I've been in the kitchens of restaurants where it has hit 48 degrees centigrade.
That is a 118 degrees Fahrenheit. It is so hot and even those restaurants that do have air-conditioning, it's buckling. It's not working and one general manager of a restaurant called Hoppers in Soho, I spoke to earlier today.
He spent his morning on the roof of the restaurant trying to fix the AC unit. Here you can hear about his day. This is Tam.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TAMLIN ARMSTRON, RESTAURANT OWNER: AC units were set too low so then they were like struggling and conking out. And yes, then we had some guests just say it's just too hot. You know you imagine like this, it's a small restaurant but a very busy one. So once you get the entire place full, all those bodies in here just sort of increases the temperature as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEWART: The good news, I've been having this thermometer. I've been taking everywhere with me. It is now just 29 degrees centigrade.
It's below the sort of magic 30 level. That for you is around 86 degrees Fahrenheit.
[15:35:00]
I think this now feels cool Brianna. I'm happy.
KEILAR: You are just enjoying the day now but I see that's 105 in Paris today. Wow, I mean you guys are suffering through it, Anna. Thank you so much for that report -- Boris.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Happening now, jurors in California are nearing hour 13 of deliberations in the Palisades fire arson trial and as we monitor for a verdict, we're learning more about a new effort to rebuild in a way that could not only help families recover but also protect them for years to come. It's also getting a big celebrity boost thanks to the Property Brothers. CNN's Elex Michaelson got an exclusive tour with Jonathan Scott.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Celebrity contractor Jonathan Scott is showing us a way to build homes he says are virtually fireproof, earthquake proof, tornado proof and hurricane proof.
MICHAELSON: This is something that could be implemented all across the country, right?
JONATHAN SCOTT, HGTV HOST: Absolutely.
MICHAELSON: This is something that could be implemented all across the country, right?
SCOTT: Absolutely.
MICHAELSON (voice-over): Jonathan and his brother Drew are known as "The Property Brothers."
SCOTT: And it just looks fancier.
MICHAELSON (voice-over): For over 15 years, they've renovated hundreds of homes, including many on HGTV, which, like CNN, is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's really special?
MICHAELSON (voice-over): Jonathan is engaged to actress Zooey Deschanel.
ZOOEY DESCHANEL, ACTRESS: Get out! Don't look at me.
MICHAELSON (voice-over): She appeared in the Christmas classic "Elf."
DESCHANEL: So that happened.
MICHAELSON (voice-over): And starred on Fox's "New Girl" for seven seasons. Zooey and her sister Emily, also an actress, grew up in L.A.'s Pacific Palisades neighborhood.
For 42 years, the Deschanels lived in this 100-year-old Spanish style home. This is what it looked like after January 7, 2025.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God.
MICHAELSON (voice-over): The Palisades Fire killed 12 people and burned nearly 7,000 structures, including the Deschanels'.
SCOTT: It gets emotional.
MICHAELSON: Yes.
SCOTT: It's hard to see your loved ones in pain. And everybody's experiencing that. Everybody.
MICHAELSON (voice-over): Soon after the fire, Jonathan returned to that home --
SCOTT: Just know that there is hope.
MICHAELSON (voice-over): -- to film a public service announcement for the city of Los Angeles. Around that same time, he first heard about a technology called RSG 3-D. SCOTT: This wasn't a technology that was on my radar. I had seen it in, you know, industrial applications, but I didn't know it was available for residential.
MICHAELSON (voice-over): Jonathan is now trying out that technology for the first time ever, while rebuilding his in-laws' home.
MICHAELSON: How does it work?
SCOTT: RSG is simply just no wood. You're building a structure that's reinforced steel with a polystyrene core, and it's concrete on the surface, both the inside and the outside.
The entire structure, roof, walls, floors, everything is tied together. So, it's hyper-efficient, incredibly strong, and fireproof from both the inside and the outside.
MICHAELSON (voice-over): Here are some examples of completed homes built with RSG 3-D technology. The Deschanel home should look almost identical to the way it did before the fire when construction is expected to wrap up by the end of the year.
SCOTT: It looks rough. I find it sexy. I think this looks really sexy.
MICHAELSON: It is sexy.
SCOTT: So, this is how it comes from the factory.
MICHAELSON (voice-over): Scott says it takes about a third of the time to build like this, versus traditional wood.
SCOTT: So, it's way faster, and the cost is about 10 percent more than the traditional. But I would never have to deal with anything again. If anyone's ever had a flood or termites or rot.
MICHAELSON: Yes.
SCOTT: It doesn't affect us because there's nothing organic in here.
MICHAELSON: Now, while the Deschanel House is being built over here with the new technology, just across the street, multiple homes are being built with old-school wood.
When you see that, that would literally across the street from you, what goes through your mind?
SCOTT: I'm like, am I crazy? Either we're ignorant or we're stupid.
MICHAELSON (voice-over): On the Same day as our visit, Jonathan shows off the technology to L.A. Mayor Karen Bass. He's also talking with insurance companies.
SCOTT: Tell us, if you build this way, we will make this neighborhood more insurable.
MICHAELSON (voice-over): Jonathan doesn't have any financial stake in this technology. He simply wants to use his sizable platform to increase awareness.
SCOTT: They used traditionally, if you wanted a fully hardened home, it was going to be like twice the price. That's not the case anymore. It's just a matter of people don't know about it.
MICHAELSON: Right.
SCOTT: And now they do.
MICHAELSON: Thanks --
SCOTT: And now they do.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: Our thanks to Elex Michaelson for that story.
Still ahead. Devastating scene in Venezuela. The urgent search and rescue efforts taking place right now as families try to reach their loved ones. We'll speak to an expert about the arduous task ahead -- next.
[15:40:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: Right now, frantic rescue efforts are underway after powerful back-to-back earthquakes rattled Venezuela last night. Video shows rescuers desperately climbing rubble and combing through debris of toppled apartment buildings. And we just learned that two of the United States's most accomplished and sophisticated urban search and rescue teams are deploying to Venezuela to try and help. Both the Fairfax County, Virginia and Los Angeles County search and rescue teams tell CNN that they have been activated.
Fairfax County will send 80 rescue specialists and six dogs as well as, quote, heavy breaching and breaking equipment to rescue people who may be alive but are buried deep inside of collapsed buildings. We're joined now by Ciaran Donnelly, senior vice president for the International Rescue Committee. Ciaran, thanks for being with us. I mean, this is what we are looking at is just kind of cataclysmic here.
Put this humanitarian crisis in perspective for us. How bad is it and how prepared was Venezuela for this?
[15:45:00]
CIARAN DONNELLY, INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE: So as you say, what we're seeing are cataclysmic scenes. Our team and we've worked in Venezuela for over five years and our team on the ground, like many of the population had to flee from their homes last night as the as the earthquake stuck. It little struck a little under 24 hours ago.
Many of them spent the night sleeping outdoors, fearful of aftershocks or further damage. And this morning they regrouped and came to the office and started planning for an assessment. And what we're hearing validates very much what you've been reporting throughout the day.
Scenes of absolute destruction and real need. Many people still fear trapped in a rescue effort that is only now really gearing up. Reports of international support coming is very much welcomed.
Alongside that search and rescue effort, of course, is the work of supporting those people who have survived and who've been displaced from their homes. And that's where our focus is today and, in the days, and weeks ahead is going to be focusing on the health needs of people who've been displaced from their homes or impacted helping with basic needs like food, shelter, water. We'll start to look at things like sanitation systems, which often get broken and disrupted in an earthquake situation, and that can lead, of course, to outbreaks of communicable diseases that put populations even further at risk.
All of this in a context in which Venezuela has about eight million people estimated by the United Nations to be in humanitarian need. That's from the assessments at the beginning of this year. So it's a country that has a significant underlying humanitarian crisis, real challenges with malnutrition, health care, food, security and so on.
And the humanitarian capacity on the ground has been degraded because of global cuts in the sector. And so it's a really challenging environment for all of us who are scrambling to respond and to scale up.
KEILAR: Yes, you wrote in January for Time that Venezuelans can't afford another catastrophe because they're already in this vulnerable situation. Of course, we've had earlier this year the U.S. led ouster of President Nicholas Maduro. How could that challenge? How could that sort of change that shift, challenge or help when it comes to the response here, both internally what leadership can provide, but also knowing what may be coming to Venezuela that ordinarily would not be.
C Yes, so it's been a turbulent political time in Venezuela since the change in in government and relationships with the U.S. are now more constructive than they have been in the past.
We've seen very clear statements of support from Secretary of State Rubio and others today that help is on the way, something we very much welcome. We're hoping we're in touch with our U.S. government counterparts and hoping to be able to partner with them in this response. So that is some potential hope for the government in Venezuela who are leading the response as they should. They're working with partners on the ground with their international partners, but they're going to need help to be able to do it.
They're going to need financial help, technical specialized help and not just in the coming days around the response from recovery efforts, but over the coming weeks and months because building back from something is devastating as this earthquake is a long term effort on. And it's all the more of an uphill struggle when you're coming from a situation of very limited social services, very limited public infrastructure, the financial and economic challenges that Venezuela has continued to experience. KEILAR: Yes, we can see that in these pictures from La Guaira, the hardest hit area there. Ciaran Donnelly, thank you so much for speaking with us. We appreciate it.
DONNELLY: Thank you.
KEILAR: Boris.
SANCHEZ: Now, with some of the other headlines we're watching this hour. New York prosecutors are dropping a rape charge against Harvey Weinstein after his accuser said she did not want to testify again. The trial would have marked Jessica Mann's fourth time testifying against him, something she says she simply could not endure. Mann claims that why Weinstein raped her in 2013.
And although he was convicted in 2020, an appeals court overturned that verdict. Two later trials both ended in hung juries. Weinstein denies the allegations. His other convictions still stand, and he remains behind bars.
Also, the L.A. Dodgers are said to be fulfilling a $1 million pledge to families affected by last year's federal immigration raids. According to the L.A. Times, the money went to two California nonprofits, which gave gift cards to 1,000 families and provided more than 4,000 more with food assistance. The Dodgers faced backlash, you might recall last summer, for not denouncing targeted ICE operations, even though the team refused to let agents on stadium property.
[15:50:00]
The Times also reports that the investment firm run by team owner Mark Walter has divested its stake in a private prison company which operates ICE processing centers.
And Dolly Parton, making a surprise appearance of the grand opening of her new Tennessee and Travel Stop just weeks after canceling her Vegas residency for health reasons. The country music icon told fans that she, quote, couldn't leave it to beavers, seemingly to tease the popular Bucky's chain.
Dolly's store will be open to visitors 24 7 featuring a gas station, southern restaurant, barbecue, a dog park, live music and a Cup of Ambition coffee shop. Just one location for the Tennessee and Travel Stop for now.
Coming up on new central, we're going to speak to the world's loudest man. You won't want to miss this. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:55:00]
KEILAR: Hear ye. Hear ye. The Guinness World Records has officially named a new world's loudest man.
Joseph McGrail-Bateup is a professional air conditioner, cleaner and honorary town crier in Canberra, Australia -- which full disclosure that is where I was born. The 58-year-old recorded the loudest ever shout by an individual yelling now at 122.4 decibels.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSEPH MCGRAIL-BATEUP, WORLD'S LOUDEST PERSON: Now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: To put that in context, this is the same range as a chainsaw, a jet taking off an ambulance siren at close range. It broke the previous record of 121.7 decibels set by a northern Ireland schoolteacher who yelled the word quiet. Joseph McGrail-Bateup, the world's loudest man, joins us now from Canberra, Australia.
Joseph, thank you so much for being with us. When did you realize that you had this particular superpower?
MCGRAIL-BATEUP: I didn't. When I was at school, I was the shy one. So you wouldn't hear a peep out of me at school.
Then I joined the theater when I left school and realized that I needed to have a louder voice. Then in 2017, the original town crier that was here in Canberra decided to retire and they asked for auditions for a town crier. I was in a three by three room and was shouting at these two people in that were auditioning me -- at me.
And basically, I got the parts and here I am today.
KEILAR: So you have the, I guess a certain voice that kind of projects once you were able to kind of practice that. Why did you pick that particular word now?
MCGRAIL-BATEUP: That was my daughter. We were trying quiet, but because that's a two syllable word, it doesn't really register on the decibel meter that well. So she was looking up a few words and we settled on "now" because it has that aww sound.
It gets the air out of your lungs. It gets you diaphragm working as well. So that's why we decided that word.
SANCHEZ: We would love for you to give us a sample of how loud you can be, but I understand that it's two 30 in the morning in the middle of the night where you are and your daughter's actually sleeping. So we will refrain. I do wonder, is this something that you train for, Joseph? Are you sitting at home practicing now, now just yelling at the top of your lungs?
MCGRAIL-BATEUP: Well, my daughter is deaf now. No, sorry. No --
KEILAR: Don't do that to us.
MCGRAIL-BATEUP: It's something that you can't train for. It's something you can't train for because if you do, you'll lose your voice straight away. And on the day, it's just not going to be there.
So on the day of the attempt, I was just pushing it as hard as I possibly could.
SANCHEZ: Talk to us about being the town crier, what it what it demands of you and what it means for your hometown.
MCGRAIL-BATEUP: Being a town crier here, it's a ceremonial role. So I can do things like fates. There's a lot of town criers over here that will do things like citizenship ceremonies, but I haven't done one of those yet.
Uh, but opening fates, doing car shows, the one with the llama there that was a south fest celebration here in Tuggeranong in Canberra. But you can do any kind of thing. You can introduce important people.
The outfit I've got on here, this is my secondary outfit for town crying. It's the more the man from Snowy River look.
So I've got both looks. I've got the kilts and the man from Snowy River. So it's a lot of fun.
KEILAR: You also are a former Guinness world record winner in archery with the fastest time to shoot 10 arrows. I mean, that's incredible. Which record are you more proud of?
MCGRAIL-BATEUP: I'm actually proud of this one. The loudest shout. The archery one, though I was I was doing archery probably for about three months and I thought, well, I'm not going to be an Olympic champion in this sport.
So I turned to the Guinness records for that one. And, yes, successfully beat the person that came before me, Hamish. I think he was from the U.K.
And that was finally taken over from me in about six months by a six- year-old boy.
[16:00:00]
KEILAR: Wow, that's amazing. Well, Joseph, we're proud of you and I'm proud of you hailing from Canberra and someone with the -- I have a voice that projects as well. So now I know why I think it's geographic.
SANCHEZ: Something in the water.
KEILAR: Yes. Joseph McGrail-Bateup, great to speak with you. Thank you so much.
And "THE ARENA" with Kasie Hunt starts right now.
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