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Fires Under Extreme Heat Wave in London; U.K. Breaking Heat Records; President Macron Criticized Over Poor Leadership; Ukrainians Now Using Weapons Supplied by the West; Europe Bracing for Energy Crisis; Sri Lanka with a New Leader. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired July 20, 2022 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. You are watching CNN Newsroom. I'm Lynda Kinkade.

Just ahead, climate change bakes Europe fueling large destructive low wildfires while tens and millions in the U.S. and China also suffered through a withering heat wave.

We will go live to Sri Lanka where at any moment the country's parliament will select its next president tasked with leading the country out of a political and economic crisis.

Plus, Netflix loses nearly one million subscribers this quarter, why that is being heralded as good news for the streaming giant.

UNKNOWN: Live from CNN center, this is CNN Newsroom.

KINKADE: Thanks for joining us. A global heat wave is scorching much of the Northern Hemisphere from Europe to the U.S., as well as parts of Asia. Records are being shattered. New fires are igniting and people are dying.

The high temperatures are tormenting Europe, and they won't break until the middle of next week that's according to the World Meteorological Organization. But the U.K. will cool down some in the coming hours after setting an all-time heat record on Tuesday 40 degrees Celsius. That's 104 Fahrenheit.

And it set off a surge of fires in the London area, some spreading to homes. Officials warn that's because the ground is tinderbox dry and any spark can lead to flames. Well, 21 European countries are under heat alert, and stretch as far east as Poland.

And deadly wildfires are still tearing through parts of France and Spain where tens of thousands people have been evacuated. In the northern outskirts of Athens, hundreds of firefighters are trying to contain a large wildfire. Power has been cut in several areas with hospitals on high alert.

And scientists are now warning a very high levels of ozone pollution in Europe which can harm health, agriculture, and ecosystems.

Well, CNN's Barbie Nadeau is live for us in Rome. But I want to start with our Nina dos Santos, she is joins us in the London village of Wennington, where crews battled that wildfire in the searing heat.

Good to have you with us, Nina.

So, London firefighters have been describing the battle as unprecedented, stretching resources to the limit.

NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. London had to declare a major incident yesterday after the capitol saw blazes on all four corners from north to south to east to west. And the worst of those polices was hit in Wennington which is about three to four miles away from the center of the British capital on the fringes.

As you can see, we have been pushed back to quite a distance away from the town, so you can't see the blaze itself. But about half a mile down there, we saw 90 acres of scrubland, two rows of terrace houses. Various detached buildings, and 12 stables burned to the ground. Five cars were also destroyed in this. And animals from nearby farmland had to be moved to safety.

Local residents, 90 of them are living in temporary accommodations not knowing when they'll be able to get back to their homes, or indeed, whether it's safe to inhabit yet again. These are scenes that we saw, perhaps not as dramatic as fashion, but we have still seen right across parts of the outskirts of London as blazes broke out in people's back gardens, forest fires happened to the north of the capital and further afield as well.

We have various other fire emergency services declare major incidents in the east of England and also in the midlands and in the west as well. Now, the mercury as you said hit a record of 40.3 degrees Celsius, that's 104.5 Fahrenheit yesterday afternoon. At about the time when this blaze started. It started at about 1 p.m. in somebody's backyard.

They were unable to put it out very quickly, as you said with the parched ground, it spread to other houses and to nearby fields. It took local fire fighters to almost 10 p.m. to put out the flames. And they put out more flames overnight in various other parts of the capital.

And even those things have updated a little bit, Lynda. This is been a wakeup call for London because the specter of wildfires raging so close to the capital has really worried people.

[03:05:03]

The government, in particular, the outgoing prime minister, Boris Johnson has said this reinforces the need to try to keep those climate change targets that the U.K. stuck to, notably the net zero pledge. Lynda?

KINKADE: All right. Our thanks to you, Nina. I want to go to Barbie in Rome where wildfires are continuing to rage across parts of France, Spain, Portugal. What can you tell us?

BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes. These fires are devastating. And you know, they just continue, and as Nina was saying, you know, it is anything that is so dry is vulnerable to these fires. And it's really stretching the services.

A lot of these firefighters are working in unthinkable conditions under the blazing sun trying to put out these fires as they just spread out of control. Causing mass evacuations of tourist areas, of small villages, you know, and it's really threatening a lot of homes and a lot of agricultural land as well, Lynda.

KINKADE: And in France, tens of thousands of people have been enforced from their homes because of those fires. I understand the French president is being criticized for his handling of the situation?

NADEAU: That's right. You know, there is a lot of criticism directed at him for not being more prepared, for not having his ministries have allocated better equipment, they're missing their candid air of airplanes that are used to douse these flames and things like that.

And he's under a lot of criticism because a lot of people warned that this could happen. You know, these aren't, this sort of high temperatures are normal in some parts of southern Europe and in France. You know, they've had fires before. And they're saying that he should have -- he should've been better prepared, or had his ministries prepare those areas a little bit better, Lynda.

KINKADE: All right. Barbie Nadeau for us in Rome. Our thanks also to Nina dos Santos in London.

Well, I want to go to our meteorologist Pedram Javaheri. Pedram, these are incredible heat waves we're seeing and temperatures the highest ever recorded in the U.K. far from the only place smashing records .

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It is. It's happening concurrently with what's occurring across North America. We have remarkable heat also in place there, Lynda. Look at this, just in the past 24 hours the top 10 hottest temperatures ever observed in recorded history across the U.K. Every single one of those top 10 temps occurred yesterday afternoon.

In fact, a 40-degree observation, 104 Fahrenheit had never occurred across the U.K. It occurred eight times at eight different locations yesterday. So, again speaking to the severity, the significance, the widespread coverage of this heat wave. All time warmest temperature now across the U.K. having occurred on Tuesday afternoon.

Notice, France's all-time hottest temperature occurred just three years ago, Spain's all-time hottest temperature occurred just 11 months in Portugal back in 2003 as well. So, again, more recent years and recent decades when we've seen these events set up to where temps are reaching their all-time maximums.

How hot was in Paris yesterday? How about a 41-degree afternoon, 24 is what is typically expected in the hottest time of year, which is this time of year of course into the latter portion f July.

In London, that 40-degree observation warmer than what has occurred -- and was observed across Tehran at 38 degrees there. But good news here at least for the immediate term. Around the northwest a cooler air on the horizon that will bring with it much cooler temperatures as early as the next couple of hours.

In fact, even into the early morning hours here across portions of the U.K. temperatures far more bearable at 20 degrees. This time yesterday it was already 26 degrees on its way up to 40. We expect highs this afternoon to be significantly cooler.

Look at Paris, only 24 after a 41. London only 26 is what we expect after the 40 that we saw yesterday. Now the heat, it's still on the fire risks, still in place there across portions of the south. But the next system that is pushing through wobbling with it much cooler weather.

Now, Lynda, take a look at this comparison here of the recent decades. Essentially since the year 2000 through 2021. From right around here, or eastward, or off towards the right, I should say, is when you can kind of see this map that shows the carbon dioxide levels that have kind of risen at the same time as the warmest temperatures we've observed in human history.

So, again, we're showing what is happening here and how it kind of aligns very well with greenhouse gas emissions. And the more prominent ones, carbon dioxide, and how that corresponds well with temperatures rising since the year 2000 or so. Lynda?

KINKADE: Yes. Certainly, very clear, indeed. But good, Pedram, that some of the temperatures are finally coming down in London. Pedram Javaheri, thank you so much.

I want to go to Ukraine where a rocket strike has cause major damage to a critical bridge in the Russian occupied Kherson region. According to Russian state media, Ukraine used long-range rockets provided by the west to target Antonovsky bridge for the second day in a row.

And in its latest update the British defense ministry said the bridge was particularly vulnerable, because it's one of just two roads crossing points over the Dnipro River.

[03:09:59]

And to the east, Russian troops are ramping up efforts to seize complete control of the Donetsk. Ukrainian officials say at least one person was killed Tuesday in a Russian missile strike in the city of Kramatorsk. The strikes were also reported in Sloviansk, a key target in Russia's push to capture more cities in the Donetsk region and take control of that entire Donbas.

Well, areas to the west coming under attack again. In Odessa, officials say at least six people were wounded in an overnight attack. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy calling the strikes clear evidence of Russian terrorism. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (through translator): Every day, the occupiers give new reasons for recognizing Russia as a terrorist state. Last night, they carried out a missile attack on a village in the Odessa region. Seven C-based caliber missiles against an ordinary village.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: In nearby Mykolaiv, the mayor there urging residents to leave as soon as possible. He says the city is being shelled every day, and it's more than their defenses can handle.

Well, the U.S. is warning on Tuesday that Russia is likely planning annexation attempts in the occupied southeastern regions, following the same playbook they used in Crimea back in 2014.

In Kyiv, Ukraine's parliament has officially voted to remove the country's top prosecutor, as well as the head of Ukraine's security service. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked for their dismissal, saying they failed to purge traitors in their ranks.

Well not long after Tuesday's vote, the former prosecutor general sat down with our Nic Robertson in this CNN exclusive.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, the first big political firings by President Zelenskyy since the war began. His security chief bowing out saying that he made some mistakes but that he was happy with his track record. The prosecutor general also voted out by the parliament, stepping down, saying that she wasn't quite sure why the president was letting her go, but she was part of his team and it wasn't about to criticize him. I sat down and talk to her.

While were you fired?

IRYNA VENEDIKTOVA, FORMER UKRAINIAN PROSECUTOR GENERAL: My personal opinion, because it is now time for prosecutor general maybe was their views.

ROBERTSON: What's the tactic to remove you when you are being successful?

VENEDIKTOVA: No. the situation in Ukraine, we are in war, and who will listen to me even better than my husband. Maybe it will be our enemies, Russian Federation --

(CROSSTALK)

ROBERTSON: So you don't want to criticize the president for his choices because this will be use by --

(CROSSTALK)

VENEDIKTOVA: I could not criticize president. I was part of his team.

ROBERTSON: So, let me ask you about what the president say. He said that there were people who were treasonous and collaborators within your department.

VENEDIKTOVA: Actually, he spoke that he saw these people in the system. Collaborationist it's only people who worked in occupied territory.

ROBERTSON: It sounds like what you are saying collaboration and treason problem is tiny and minuscule and you've been very affected against it. If you were doing so well there, then what is the real justification?

VENEDIKTOVA: You know that my chair it is a political chair. It's a real political in Ukraine and this is my answer.

ROBERTSON: Real politic?

VENEDIKTOVA: Real politic, yes.

ROBERTSON: So, what are the challenges now for the prosecutor coming in, particularly with the war crimes?

VENEDIKTOVA: We have more than 23,000 cases on both war crimes, and crimes which are connected with the Russians. It means as if that our prosecutors, that they should do exactly what they have done before. I appreciate very much for prosecutors, investigators in this team. Experts from the international society who have done their job on the ground.

ROBERTSON: Should they now look at working with the prosecutor general's office in Ukraine in a different light, knowing that this is a political position?

VENEDIKTOVA: I ask the authority and the offices, please send us your professionals more and more, because it's very important for us. I hope that international framework will be successful. And I hope that President Zelenskyy will do everything to build this strong Constitution.

ROBERTSON: And will your replacement as prosecutor general be strong enough to help him do that properly?

VENEDIKTOVA: We'll see.

ROBERTSON: And that issue of not wanting to give Russia any opportunity to see political divisions here to exploit those divisions, and to try to create weakness on the battlefield, that's a very live issue here. No one wants to give Russia that opportunity. So, despite the changes, no criticism of President Zelenskyy.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Kyiv, Ukraine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[03:15:06]

KINKADE: Our thanks to Nic Robertson's for that interview. But the impact of Russia's war is leading to hunger and starvation across the globe, as many countries depend on Ukrainian grain.

Russian President Vladimir Putin could help end the crisis tomorrow by ending the war, but instead, he's in talks with Turkey as Ankara looks to play mediator. But both leaders met on Tuesday. Mr. Putin thanked Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his efforts to negotiate between Russia and Ukraine.

It comes as Kyiv accuses Russia of blocking the shipment of more than 20 million tons of grain.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Initially, we raised the issue in such a way that it should be package together. Namely, that we would assist with Ukrainian grain. We proceed from the fact that all restrictions related to possible supplies of Russian grain for export could be lifted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Well, the latest of Russia, Turkey and Iran are touting their cooperation, particularly on security matters following the summit.

Meantime, Iran's oil ministries announced a $14 billion agreement with Russian gas company Gazprom. Iranian officials say the deal will include investments by Gazprom in Iran's oil and gas fields in collaboration on liquified natural gas projects and pipelines.

Russia isn't only -- the only country busy signing these energy deals. Europe is bracing for potential full-blown crisis later this year. The immediate concern is Nord Stream 1, that crucial pipeline supplying Russian natural gas to Germany and beyond.

It's due to restart operations Thursday after 10 days of routine maintenance. But amid concerns, Russia might not resume supplies. A number of European countries have struck deals with energy producers in the Middle East and North Africa.

CNN's Clare Sebastian joins us from London with more on all of this. Good to see you, Clare. So, North Stream 1 scheduled to restart Thursday. Just how worried is the E.U. that it won't and what is at stake?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The E.U. says it's preparing for the worst. It wouldn't comment on whether it expects the -- whether the pipeline will open or not, but it says that its duty here is to get Europe ready for Russian gas to be cut off completely. So, we'll talk in a minute about how it's going to do that.

But what's at stake here, is really the difference between whether Europe experiences shortages of gas going into winter, something which experts say could tip the continent into recession.

Right now, they're targeting a storage level of about 80 percent by November 1st. They're about 64 percent right now, so they have some way to go. Experts say, if Nord Stream resumes at the 40 percent level that it was cut to in June, then they do have a chance of making those storage targets. It's only if it doesn't resume at all that they might have a serious problem.

But obviously, whatever they do, even if the gas restarts in the Nord Stream 1 pipeline on Thursday, the specter of what Russia could do to its energy supply still hangs over them. Don't forget, Russia has already cut off the gas (Inaudible) to about 12 E.U. countries. It suspended it through the Yamal pipeline, which is another pipeline running through Europe.

So, it was already at a low level, that means that the Nord Stream was even more important before the supply was slashed through that pipeline in June. And this is a very critical moment for Europe. A moment of truth, in fact, where we see whether or not Russia is willing to go even further to weaponize its energy exports, and just what exact extreme measures Europe will have to bring in to try to combat that.

KINKADE: Yes. And of course, as you talk about Europe worry that Russia will cut off its deliveries, it is set to unveil a plan on Wednesday to reduce gas demand. What more can you tell us?

SEBASTIAN: So, I think, you know, we saw this coming, and to some degree, Lynda, Europe has always been quite clear that you cannot replace Russian gas with other gas, there just isn't supply out there or the infrastructure to handle it. They've already ramp up from other areas. You saw that the E.U. has signed a deal with Azerbaijan to increase gas imports.

They're already actually importing more LNG, more liquified natural gas from the U.S. than they are gas from Russia at the moment. But they're pretty much maxed out when it comes to infrastructure for LNG. So, the only thing now that they can do is demand reduction.

And the E.U. today is set to unveil a plan called save gas for safe winter. Now we don't know exactly what's in it. The E.U. is not commenting yet. But in a leaked draft seen by Reuters suggest that they will come up with a voluntary target, first of all for European countries which could turn to mandatory targets if the E.U. faces a real gas emergency.

So, a very serious situation if it starts to ration energy that can hit industry. And then we put these fragile economies in an even more precarious situation.

KINKADE: Yes, exactly. Clare Sebastian, staying across at all for us from London. Thanks very much.

Well, we've got some news just in to CNN. Inflation in the U.K. has jumped to its highest level in 40 years, rising to 9.4 percent last month. That increase was driven by higher costs for food and energy, and transport costs are also well up.

[03:25:09]

Right now, food prices in Britain are almost 10 percent up from last year.

Well still to come, breaking news Sri Lanka's parliament just announced who will be the country's new president. We will have a live report next.

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KINKADE: Breaking news. Right now, Sri Lanka's parliament has just elected the country's new president. Former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was selected after 225 lawmakers voted by secret ballot. Wickremesinghe will serve the remaining two years and four months of the former president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa's, term.

All right, I want to bring in CNN's Will Ripley who joins us in Colombo. Will, this was a person that the country wanted out of the job of prime minister. He's now president.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He is for the next two and a half years. Also, about the remaining two and half of the term of the former president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa who fled the country. And last we heard he was in Singapore, although we really haven't had any updates lately as his whereabouts.

But now we know who the president is. He's no longer the acting president, or the president-elect. Ranil Wickremesinghe, who I interviewed just a couple of days ago at the parliament building where this vote took place. Parliament sits on an island in the middle of Colombo. It is, as I've said, it's a gorgeous building.

But in many ways, sitting on that island is symbolic what some people say of a disconnect between the mood on the streets, and the people in parliament who have now chosen the new leader of Sri Lanka.

This is a six-time prime minister. He's worked under a number of administrations. And most recently, he was prime minister for two months under the exiled former president. And of course, during those two months, it was very tumultuous. They were increasingly large protests culminating a couple of weekends ago with more than 100,000 people filling the streets behind me, storming the presidential palace, which is just down the road that way. And they still occupy -- the secretariat which is around the corner.

And so, the numbers of protesters have diminished considerably. The question now, because President Wickremesinghe has said, and he said in our interview with him, he will not allow government buildings to be occupied anymore. He will not allow what happened to him, have his residence set on fire.

He said he has declared a state of emergency, has deployed the military and the police and he has given them orders to protect government infrastructure at all costs, and they're heavily armed. So, will protesters continue to heed the state of emergency and

protest peacefully and specify locations? Or will the crowds grow larger, and will there be an attempt, once again, to try to, for the people, to insert themselves into -- into government facilities?

[03:25:06]

Given that, they demanded the resignation of Wickremesinghe. He was the prime minister but they want (AUDI GAP). Now he's their president, so they got basically, one, to resign, but the other is now at the helm for the next two and a half years.

I will say, Lynda, when I spoke with him, he very much distanced himself from his former boss of two months. He said that the old administration was not truthful with the people of Sri Lanka, that they covered up facts about the economic crisis that has left this country more than $50 billion in debt. A crisis that has made this country so broke, they can't pay off creditors.

He says his specialty is the economy. And talked about when he was brought in in the early 2000s to turn the Sri Lankan economy around when it collapsed some 20 odd years ago. And so, he was very confident in his credentials, confident that Sri Lanka could see some sort of a recovery by 2024.

He even talked about fuel distribution happening tomorrow here in Colombo. He said they're trying to get medicine to hospitals, trying to get food deliver to people. But given how deeply in the whole this country has been, the turnaround and the recovery is going to take some time and some of the hardest times may still lie ahead.

But he said one thing that is not productive for the government's efforts to make lives better for the people, is for the groups of protesters to act the way that they did a couple of weekends ago. And he said he simply won't allow it to happen again here in Sri Lanka.

So, now we wait and watch and we monitor, and we see what the protest organizers say because there were some, including the inner student federation that said that there could be potential anarchy if Wickremesinghe was selected as a new president.

Because they said they refused to respect him as a legitimate leader. They think it's just more of the same even though he vehemently denies that and says he's very much different. He's trying to move away from this executive presidency, the 20th amendment in Sri Lanka.

They are reintroducing the 19th amendment which gave more power to the parliament, less power to the president. So, the decision (AUDIO GAP) here is not going to be necessarily one man calling the shots. And in the case of the former president, driving their economy into the ground. That's what he's accused of doing.

And clearly, the economy couldn't get much worse. Now, it's going to be more of a group decision in process involving parliament. Will it work? What is Sri Lanka's future hold, Lynda? Those are the open questions; those are the long-term questions. The short-term question is, are we going to continue to see peace on the streets here or are we headed towards a pretty chaotic period for Sri Lanka?

KINKADE: Well, indeed. Will Ripley will stay across it for us. I can imagine that there will be many people that are very happy with this decision, but as you say, he has helped turn the country around in the past. We'll see what happens.

Sri Lanka has elected a new president, Wickremesinghe has just won that secret ballot. And we will bring you more on that as it develops. Will Ripley in Colombo, thanks very much.

Well, a deal between anti-government protesters in Panama and the country's leaders to address rising inflation didn't even last the day. And the demonstrations are back on the streets.

More now on the growing crisis from CNN's Patrick Oppmann.

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For over two weeks, anti- government protests have paralyzed Panama. A country that up until now has been a rare example in recent decades of political stability in Latin America. Protesters are demanding the government address rising food and fuel prices, and combat "official corruption.

"They have to lower the price of food essentials, of gasoline, of everything," says this protester.

While the protests have been largely peaceful, demonstrators have closed off roads and highways, keeping food from coming in the cities and bringing the economy to a near standstill. In response, Panama's president announced that his government would lower the price of basic food items and slash government spending.

"I understand the unhappiness of the resistors (Ph), says, for the situation we are living caused by the pandemic and the consequences of the war in Ukraine."

On Sunday, it appeared the government and some protest organizers had reached a deal to lift the roadblocks after the country's vice president agreed to subsidize the cost of gasoline.

But the deal fell apart within hours after demonstrators who had not been at the negotiating table, said the government's concessions weren't enough, and the protests would continue.

"We are unaware of any agreement that was reached," this protester says. "The irresponsibility of the government in their maneuver to find someone to sign an agreement with them without all the participants in the fight is unacceptable."

Panama had just been emerging from the economic impacts of the pandemic when the country which uses the U.S. dollar was hit by rising inflation and the impacts of the war in Ukraine.

[03:30:05]

So far, operations in the Panama Canal have not been impacted by the protests, but any disruption would cause further chaos with the world supply chain. Even though the protests were supposed to combat rising food prices, local farmers say the roadblocks are destroying their livelihoods and will likely lead to greater instability.

"Milk producers cannot deliver their milk. They have to throw it away," he says. Farmers are losing their harvests.

Government concessions have failed to get demonstrators to go home. And as the protests drag on in Panama, it's becoming less and less clear when and how they will end.

Patrick Oppmann, CNN.

KINKADE: Well records smashing temperatures, ongoing drought, and fast-moving wildfires, all linked to a deadly heat wave in Europe.

Plus, dozens of high heat warnings right across China. But relief may be in sight. We'll go live to Beijing with the latest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KINKADE: Welcome back. It could be the middle of next week before Europe gets any serious relief from its searing temperatures. Heat waves are being shattered across the region. And over the past 10 days wildfires have torn through more than 40,000 hectares in France, Spain, and Portugal.

CNN's Melissa Bell picks up the story.

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A fire rages through a field in Spain as homes burn. In greater London, a house is swallowed by wildfire. These just some of the many sweeping across Europe where temperatures have soared in a heat emergency that stretches across the globe.

China's heat wave began last week with 51 cities including Beijing now under the second highest heat alert level. European cities sweltered under new highs in what is the continent's second heat wave of the summer now entering its second week.

Ireland seeing its hottest day in a century. In the United Kingdom, temperatures reached 104 degrees, a first with London's fire brigade declaring a major incident on Tuesday because of a quote, "huge surge in fires across the capital."

UNKNOWN: I think we just have to adapt, don't we, our homes have to change, our way of life has to change really, doesn't it?

BELL: Here in France, the temperatures reached 105 degrees, difficult enough for Paris, which is not accustomed to such extreme temperatures, but down in the southwest of France, the impact has been far more devastating.

[03:34:59]

The French president is due down by those wildfires that have been spreading for several days under pressure from local officials who accuse him of not having done enough, soon enough.

Down near Bordeaux wildfires have continued to spread burning through still more of the parch pine forests that run all the way down to Spain. Already tens of thousands of people have been forced to evacuate their homes in southern Europe. The extreme heat causing fires in Texas and causing the planes to swelter all the way up to the Dakotas.

Temperatures as high as 110 filling as high as 115. Experts say that climate change can no longer be ignored.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID WALLACE-WELLS, AUTHOR, THE UNINHABITABLE EARTH: We're talking about weather events that we probably would've expected to see a decade or two down the line, but what's more striking than that I think is how poorly we're preparing and adapting because we know these temperatures were coming.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BELL: For many people across the Northern Hemisphere, this Tuesday brought those temperatures and those weather events into far sharper focus.

Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.

KINKADE: Well, dozens of cities in China have issued high alert, temperature alerts in the midst of what is a sweltering heat wave, but rain showers in the days ahead could bring some relief to some areas.

CNN's Selina Wang has more from Beijing.

SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The heat wave continues across China, but rain showers through the south are expected to slightly cool the weather but only briefly. More than 30 cities have issued an orange alert, meaning temperatures are expected to reach 98 degrees Fahrenheit.

Only one city in Xinjiang issued a red alert, meaning temperatures are expected to reach 104 degrees. Now compare that to last week when more than 80 cities issued red alerts with some logging temperatures of more than 110 degrees Fahrenheit, but China's meteorological administration says this relief will be short lived and they expect the heat to crank up again in southern China tomorrow and then later in the north.

Now this heat wave has been ferocious. According to state media, by mid-July the heat engulfed half the country and impacted more than 900 million people. That is more than 60 percent of China's population.

This is all part of the global trend of more extreme weather driven by climate change. It is not just heat, but also flooding in China. Flooding in recent months have displaced more than a million people and destroyed crops in central and southwest China. The crop damage threatens to push up inflation. And it is bad news for an economy already battered by the pandemic.

The heat wave has also pushed up electricity demand to extreme levels as people turn up the air conditioning. For instance, Xinjiang province, a major manufacturing powerhouse urged its 65 million residents and businesses to save power.

And all of this coming as COVID cases are rising in China, the snap lockdowns and mass testing continues across the country even in the scorching weather. There have also been growing reports of COVID workers collapsing in the heat and residents across the country are still required to wait in long lines for the regular COVID tests, even under the brutal temperatures.

Selina Wang, CNN, Beijing.

KINKADE: Well, nearly a million more subscribers drop Netflix in just the second quarter. So why is this seen as a win for the streaming giant? Details on that next.

Plus, Twitter wins the first round in its legal battle with billionaire Elon Musk. New details on when the trial is set to begin.

[03:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KINKADE: Well, sometimes a loss can be a win. Almost a million subscribers drop Netflix in the second quarter. Yet investors were actually cheering that news Tuesday.

CNN's Brian Stelter explains.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Hey there. Netflix lost 970,000 subscribers in the second quarter of 2022, but that's being heralded as good news for the beleaguered streaming giant. That's because Netflix had predicted that it would lose about two million subscribers in the second quarter. It lost only about half as many. So that's being cheered as good news. Some investors buying up the stock in afterhours trading as a result of this earnings report.

All eyes in the media world had been on Netflix's earnings because as so, as goes, Netflix often goes the streaming sector as a whole. Other companies like Disney will be reporting earnings in the days and weeks to come.

And there's a lot of focus right now among investors on the performance of these streaming platforms and on the future of streaming video. We know Netflix is taking some steps to diversify, to try to bring in subscribers in different ways.

For example, it talked on Tuesday about experiments around password sharing, trying to crack down on password sharing in some countries in order to entice more households to pay for the service.

The company is also working on an ad supported version of Netflix that would cost less, trying to gain more subscribers that way. The company says that in the third quarter of the year it expects to gain about one million subscribers. That's not as many as some Wall Street analysts had been hoping, but it does seem still to be somewhat good news for the company, following a dramatic correction in the stock price earlier this year.

Netflix, of course, the giant in streaming business, turning out so many shows, so many movies and that's going to continue although the company is looking to cut costs in some ways. Most of the declines of subscribers are coming from the United States, from Canada, from parts of Europe.

The company continues to grow quickly in Asia. It is a global platform and wants to continue to grow that way. It's interesting to see how the company is trying to evolve in a much more competitive streaming environment.

Back to you.

KINKADE: Our thanks to Brian Stelter there. Who the judge has ruled the Twitter's lawsuit against Elon Musk will go to trial in October? The social media giant is suing the Tesla CEO for backing out of the $44 billion acquisition deal.

Musk blames Twitter, saying the company never provided data about bots and fake accounts on its service. If Twitter wins at trial, the court could order Musk to either go through with the purchase or pay a $1 billion breakup fee.

Well, thanks so much for joining us. I'm Lynda Kinkade. Living golf is coming up next. Then my colleague Christina Macfarlane will be here with more news from around the world. Stay with us. You're watching CNN.

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