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Ukraine Says It Destroyed Russian Ammo Depot in Kherson; Explosions, Gunfire Reported in Russian-Held Enerhodar; Heathrow Asks Airlines to Stop Selling Summer Tickets; Brutal Heat Wave Grips Parts of U.S., Europe; Twitter Sues Musk for Baking Out of $44 Billion Deal; NASA Unveils First Images from Webb Space Telescope. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired July 13, 2022 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster. If you are just joining us, let me bring you up-to-date with our top story this hour. Sri Lanka's government has appointed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as acting president of the country. This comes after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled Sri Lanka for the Maldives. Protestors have been clashing with police and military officials outside the Prime Minister's office amid the country's growing political and economic crisis.

Ukraine is claiming a victory in the south even as Russian forces continue hammering the country's east. On Tuesday, the Ukrainian military announced that it has destroyed a Russian ammunition depo in an occupied part of the Kherson region. Russian backed officials in the area are accusing Ukraine of using long range artillery supplied by the U.S. to carry out the attack. Ukraine isn't directly confirming those reports.

Meanwhile, Russian forces appear to be stepping up attacks on other parts of Ukraine. On Tuesday, more strikes pounded Ukraine's second largest city of Kharkiv. Further south Ukraine is reporting heavy shelling and airstrikes in the Donetsk region as Russian forces look to capture the entire Donbas.

For more, let's go to CNN's Scott McLean live in Kyiv. This is all part of the strategies that were really making ground yesterday.

OK, we will come back to Scott when we can actually hear him. But a brutal heatwave -- we have his microphone. Scott, can you hear me?

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Have you got me now -- Max?

FOSTER: Yes, we have. Go ahead and give us the latest.

MCLEAN: My apologies. I was saying the Ukrainians are trying hard to take territory around the city of Kherson which is been occupied by the Russians for some time. You mentioned the Russians have said that they are trying to use long range missiles to strike what the Ukrainians said was an ammunition depot. Now President Zelenskyy didn't confirm the use of U.S. supplied HIMARS system, but he heavily hinted at it. Listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The occupiers have already felt very well what modern artillery is and they will not have a safe rear anywhere on our land which they occupy. They have felt that the operations of our reconnaissance officers to protect their homeland are much more powerful than any of their special operations.

[04:35:00]

Russian soldiers, and we know this from interceptions of their conversations, are truly afraid of our armed soldiers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCLEAN: Now they were also, Max, explosions reported in Enerhodar. This is significant potentially because this is where the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is located. It's also under Russian occupation and has been for some time.

Now the Russians say these were Ukrainian drone strikes. The Ukrainians deny that. It's not actually clear what caused these strikes but of course, any fighting in that city is plenty of cause for concern.

And one other thing to mention in in that is that a couple hours from now, there is a court hearing for the very first Russian soldier who was convicted of a war crime since this latest invasion of Ukraine began. He is a 21-year-old named Vadim Shishimarin. He's accused of -- convicted I should say -- of killing a 62-year-old man who was on his phone riding a bicycle unarmed just four days into the war. During the initial trial, he faced the widow of the man that he shot and killed saying that he fired out of fear.

A witness, another Russian soldier, said that he was directed to fire by a superior Russian soldier. So, he is not changing his story, he is still pleading guilty. What he thinks though was unfair was the life sentence. He going to argue that the punishment doesn't fit the crime because he was under all kinds of pressure from his superiors and from the Russian state to carry out a mission and he was simply following orders -- Max.

FOSTER: OK, Scott in Kyiv, thank you.

Now a brutal heatwave is gripping the Western United States. CNN's Gene Norman has a preview for you.

GENE NORMAN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's right, Max. We're tracking that heat as it continues to expand and we'll also talk about the heat gripping Western Europe. That's all ahead on CNN NEWSROOM after the break.

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[04:40:00] FOSTER: Surging demand for summer travel is forcing London's Heathrow Airport to put a limit on the number of daily passengers. The airport wants airlines to stop selling tickets over the next few months as staff shortages and strong demand has already led to long lines and flight cancellations, many of them last-minute. Our CNN's Anna Stewart has details from London.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: Heathrow like many airports around the world is bustling under a huge resurgence in travel demand as the world opens back up. And Heathrow Airport is asking airlines to stop selling tickets for the summer and reduce capacity of departing passengers to 100,000 a day. And that's going to go right through early September.

Now currently the airport says airlines have capacity for 104,000 departures a day, so around 4,000 departures more than it thinks that it can manage. And on average over a third of those seats have already been sold. Which means we can expect more airport cancellations to come.

Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye wrote an open letter to passengers and explained that this resurgence in demand was unprecedented. I think he said it was 40 years of demand in just four months. He says it's been hard to recruit people. They started in November for this busy season, but it takes time to train people. And he also said there's a significant shortage in some areas like ground handling which is why Heathrow Airport particularly has had an issue when it comes to missing bags.

Now Willie Walsh who is the director general of IATA -- the global airline association --said he is surprised that Heathrow hasn't been able to get their act together better than this. And he added that they're trying to maximize the profitability that they can get from the airport at the expense of airlines.

Heathrow says they're going to be enforcing this capacity gap, they are asking airlines to help them get there and they're not alone. Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport and London's second busiest airport, Gatwick have introduced similar measures as well. So good luck to people in Europe still hoping to jet away for the summer holidays.

Anna Stewart, CNN, from Heathrow Airport outside of London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Some frightening moments for passengers aboard United Airlines flight after it landed in Denver and apparently caught fire.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Come this way, come this way! Come this way! Come this way! Leave your bags, leave your bags. Come this way!

(END VIDEO CLIP) FOSTER: Imagine, that is the flight crew telling passengers that they need to get off the plane immediately. There were reports of smoke and flames under the aircraft. And then the firefighters say they put out a small fire. There were no reports of injuries. A passenger said he felt a little panicked but was relieved that they were on the ground.

Many other airplane passengers didn't even get on to their flights though. Heavy storms in the Eastern United States contributed to the cancellation of more than 500 flights on Tuesday. And there were more than 4,000 delays. Airlines have been under pressure lately with spiking travel demand and crew and air traffic control staffing shortages as well.

Much of the United States is baking in that heavy summer heat right now. And so is the western part of Europe after its second warmest June on record. In the U.K. officials are issuing heat health alerts as temperatures could near or break records this weekend. They worry the sweltering weather could melt roads and call rail and air travel delays -- more of them. Let's get more from CNN's Gene Norman. Good morning -- Gene.

NORMAN: Good morning, Max. Another day of triple digit heat in Texas. We had places like Lufkin and Tyler break records. Meanwhile, College Station, Austin and Houston tied records that were set back in 1954. Different day, same weather across a good part of Texas and Louisiana. The heat index once again climbing close to 112. That's over 40 degrees Celsius. And boy, take a look at the heat index.

The combination of the temperature and the humidity will make it feel like it's 109 in Shreveport, 107 in Houston, 106 in Dallas. And they keep on ticking off those 100 degree days across a good part of the Lone Star state.

Also looking at a heat advisory for sections of Montana, a little piece of Idaho, and excessive heat warning in effect in and around the Salt Lake City area. Now the heat is just going to expand over the next couple days and then actually shift in to the Northern Plains.

Meanwhile the storms that you mentioned earlier, they're going to end up in the southeast today.

Let's quickly go over to Europe and talk about their triple digit heat. Another day of really hot temperatures across Spain especially. They're going to be looking at 108 by tomorrow. Sevilla up to 113 today and tomorrow. Lisbon knocking on 100 and so is Paris. And as we work our way into the weekend, watch as a little pocket of cool air moves away, high pressure builds in, more heat expected for the U.K.

[04:45:00]

In fact, an amber warning is in effect now from Sunday and Monday, temperatures could approach 100. Could be looking at the all-time record which is 38.5 Celsius, so 101, and that could be coming as we head toward the weekend, Max. So hot here in the U.S. as well as in western Europe.

FOSTER: Absolutely, Gene, thank you.

Now a picture may say 1,000 words, but sometimes it brings some people to tears as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my gosh, it really does work. And so, for me, definitely it was the -- I think personally, I had I had and had a good cry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: And NASA unveils stunning images of star and galaxies thousands of light years away. Unlike anything that we've ever seen before.

Plus, Twitter sues Elon Musk after he tries pulling out of a $44 billion deal to acquire the company. We'll have a live report on how this may ultimately impact the social media platform.

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[04:50:00]

FOSTER: Updating you on our breaking story this hour. Sri Lanka's political turmoil and leadership at the top is changing rapidly. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has been appointed acting president of the country. It comes after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled Sri Lanka for the Maldives hours before he was due to formally resign today.

Earlier the Prime Minister had ordered a state of emergency for the western province which includes the capital after police fired tear gas and clashed with protestors outside his office. We'll keep you up- to-date.

Twitter meanwhile is now suing billionaire Elon Musk to force him to complete a deal to buy the social media company. The lawsuit was filed after Musk said he wanted to pull the plug on his $44 billion acquisition claiming Twitter has withheld data he requested to evaluate the number of fake accounts on the platform. Twitter's legal team argues Musk is violating their purchase agreement and the deal is now likely heading for a lengthy backup. CNN's Clare Sebastian is joining me now. The bigger question is what they are both playing out. Some suggestion that Twitter just wants some sort of settlement. But Musk wants a cheaper price.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT Yes, so the reason that Musk has stated for wanting to pull out of the deal is, as you say, the number of fake or spam accounts. He says Twitter has not provided enough information on that and has understated it.

Twitter in its very lengthy filing which sort of details the ongoing saga of this says that that is actually a pretext and they say that he wants to pull out because the market has dropped. And if you look at Twitter shares over the last sort of few months, you can see that it shot up when he first disclosed his stake and then he said he wanted to buy the company. We've now seen an almost a complete reversal.

FOSTER: Back down to where it was before all of that.

SEBASTIAN: Yes, it has lost about a third of its value. So that makes that a 37 percent drop compared to what he has offered for the company which is 54.20. And so, you can understand that perhaps which is he's thinking that perhaps he just wants to pull out because it's looking expensive right now. So, they are saying that you can't do that if you sign the contract, you have to honor it. His only response so far to that lawsuit, which of course was threatened, which many of us saw coming, has been a tweet where he said, oh, the irony lol.

FOSTER: What did he mean by that?

SEBASTIAN: Unclear. I mean, I think a lot of what has played out has been on Twitter with memes and all kinds of things which has been reproduced in this filing.

The filing itself actually says -- and I quote -- for musk it would seem Twitter the interests of its stockholders, the transaction Musk agreed to, and the court process to enforce it all constitute an elaborate joke. It all constitute an elaborate joke.

So, they are obviously very upset by this. The question of what comes next, it could well go to court in which case we could either see Twitter win and force him to buy it under the original settlement, or we could see maybe some kind of renegotiation on the way to court. Of course, there is a small chance that Musk could win in court and not have to pay to buy the company or any kind of breakup fee. But as it stands, this is now heading into a new phase of this ongoing saga and a very dramatic turn of events.

FOSTER: And it's sad, isn't it, because it's caused a huge amount of tension within Twitter. It's because the share price to fall. The company, the social media network, which so many users rely on, has suffered as a result of this, while these two sort of boards basically battle it out.

SEBASTIAN: I mean, you could -- some would argue that while it has fallen some 30 odd cents since it reach that peak in mid-April. I mean, were talking about a deal and that's actually less than a lot of other tech companies we have seen. We have seen a big fall back in tech companies which of course, have benefited so much during the pandemic.

So, some would suggest that there is still a sort of Musk premium on the share price. But I think what comes next is really important for the company because they are in limbo right now while they wait to see what happens. There's a hiring freeze, they're sort of putting off big decisions. And the company would have to try -- the board has to try to do what the best thing is for shareholders which is why on the surface it looks like they are trying to salvage the deal.

FOSTER: OK, we'll keep across it. Clare, thank you. Now the moment many have been waiting for, a glimpse into previously

unseen parts of the universe. These are new full-color infrared images that show some of the deepest views of space ever captured. NASA released these breathtaking images on Tuesday all taken by the largest space telescope ever built, the James Webb Telescope. This is the southern ring nebula, it's about 2,500 light years away. NASA says this image is capturing the star's final performance. And this is Stephen's quintet, a grouping of five galaxies. They're among a number of unprecedented images NASA released to the public on Tuesday.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHELLE JONES, NASSAU GODDARD COMMUNICATIONS CHIEF: It may have taken us more than 20 years to get here, but after you see these images, you'll know that all of that time your hard work was well worth it. Congratulations.

BILL NELSON, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: Every image is a new discovery and each will give humanity a view of the universe that we've never seen before.

JANE RIGBY, WEBB OPERATIONS SCIENTIST: So, the first image is a deep field and it's also a deep field with a cluster. So why don't we walk through this just a little bit.

So, if we come up and look at this image, first of all, it's really gorgeous. And it's teeming with galaxies.

[04:55:00]

And that's something that has been true for every image we've gotten with Webb. We can't take blank sky. Everywhere we look there's galaxies everywhere. And so, with this image as we're looking at it, what we're seeing is not just all the galaxies but there's a cluster here. And so, the cluster, all these white kind of ethereal galaxies, we're seeing them as they looked back in time, right. The speed of light is only so fast. And so, as we're seeing distant galaxies out in space, we're seeing them as they looked billions of years ago.

KARI GORDON, WEBB INSTRUMENT SCIENTIST: So, this is a planetary nebula. It's caused by a dying star that has expelled a large fraction of its mass in successive waves.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This stunning vista of the cosmic cliffs that are occur in a nebula reveals new details about this vast stellar nursery. Today for the first time we're seeing brand new stars that were previously completely hidden from our view.

NELSON: It's clear that Webb represents the best of NASA. It maintains our ability to propel us forward, for science, for risk-taking, for inspiration. And we don't want to ever stop exploring the heavens nor stop daring to take another step forward for humanity. In the words of the famous Carl Sagan, somewhere something incredible is waiting to be known.

(END VIDEOTAPE) FOSTER: On Monday this was the first Webb Telescope image released to the public, NASA says this image covers a patch of the sky about the size of a grain of sand if it were held at arm's length by someone on the ground. Incredible.

Thanks for joining me here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster in London. For our viewers in the U.S. "EARLY START" with Erica Hill is next. For everyone else, I'm going to come back next hour for the very latest on that breaking news out of Sri Lanka.

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