Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Car Bomb Kills Daughter of Putin Ally near Moscow; At Least 21 Dead After al-Shabaab Militants Attack Hotel; Beijing Suspends Some Fish & Fruit Imports from Taiwan; Doing the Dangerous Work of Clearing Mines from Ukraine; Photojournalist Documents War's Impact on Ukrainians; Extreme Drought Grants Access to "Spanish Stonehenge;" Tropical Depression Forms East of Philippines; Unmanned Rocket Launches for the Moon at End of August. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired August 22, 2022 - 00:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:00:26]

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, coming to you live from Studio 7 at the CNN Center in Atlanta. I'm Michael Holmes. I appreciate your company.

Coming up here on CNN Newsroom, a brazen attack near Moscow, a murder investigation underway after a car bomb kills the daughter of a key Putin ally.

Burying the dead, we'll look at the immense toll of Russia's war on Ukraine with people with full lives often reduced to a number in death and those struggling to give them a sense of dignity.

And the economic fallout from U.S.-China tensions. Farmers in Taiwan struggling to make ends meet.

ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN Newsroom with Michael Holmes.

HOLMES: A murder investigation now underway in Russia after a car bomb near Moscow killed the daughter of a prominent ally of President Vladimir Putin. Daria Dugina died on Saturday night after the vehicle she was driving exploded. The Russian Investigative Committee says it believes the blast was pre-planned. A foreign ministry official has implied Ukraine might be responsible. Ukraine, however strenuously denying that claim.

Dugina is the daughter of Alexander Dugin, who's been described as Putin's brain and called the spiritual guide to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. According to the Russian News Agency TASS, the investigation has now revealed that 400 grams of TNT was used in Saturday's carb on. CNN's Frederik Pleitgen following all the developments from Moscow.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A car engulfed in a massive fireball on a highway outside Moscow. Police say the vehicle exploded and then crashed, the driver dead on the scene. That driver was Daria Dugina, a well-known commentator and supporter of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, who was sanctioned by the United States and by the U.K. She was also the daughter of prominent right- wing ideologues Alexander Dugin, who promotes Russian expansionism.

According to Russian state media, an explosive device detonated Saturday night setting the vehicle on fire. Russia has opened a criminal investigation. The investigative committee says they believe Dugina was murdered. Taking into account the data already obtained, the investigation believes that the crime was pre-planned and of an ordered nature a statement said, while forensic work continued the Foreign Ministry implied that Ukraine may be behind the attack.

If the Ukrainian trace is confirmed, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on Telegram, then we should talk about the policy of state terrorism implemented by the key of regime. The Ukrainians deny any involvement.

MYKHAILO PODOLIAK, ADVISER TO THE HEAD OF THE OFFICE OF THE UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I emphasize that Ukraine definitely has nothing to do with this, because we are not a criminal state, which the Russian Federation is an even more so, we are not a terrorist state.

PLEITGEN: But some in Russia believe Daria Dugina wasn't the actual target of the explosion, but rather her father. Alexander Dugin, also sanctioned by the U.S. remains highly influential in Russia, as he calls for the annexation of large parts of Ukraine and ultra- conservative philosopher and TV personality with roots in the Orthodox Church, he's a champion of Russian expansionism, some claiming he may have influenced Vladimir Putin's decision to further invade Ukraine.

In 2014, Dugin said Russia must, "kill, kill and kill the people running Ukraine and that there should be no more discussion."

Daria Dugina was 29 years old when she was killed. Russian investigators say they are frantically working to find those responsible. Frederik Pleitgen, CNN Moscow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Matthew Schmidt is a professor of national security and political science at the University of New Haven. He joins me now.

Good to see you, Professor. So Alexander Dugin has been called Putin's brain, but what do we know about how close he really is to the Russian president? How much influence he's had or could that connection be overstated?

MATTHEW SCHMIDT, PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAVEN: He's had enormous influence. He's not that close to the President personally, at least not anymore. Putin has distance themselves since a second term in office but if you look at the speeches that Putin gave leading up to the invasion of Ukraine, he's practically quoting Dugin's magnum opus, right? The foundations of geopolitics when he's talking about Ukraine not being a real nation, not being a real language. That's all Dugin. And Dugin has been out there doing that, since the 1990s.

[00:05:21]

HOLMES: After the explosion, eyes initially turn to the Ukraine, given what father and daughter for that matter, have said, as you pointed out, but a lot of attention speculation, too, on whether this could have been an internal Russian operation. You know, it's speculation, but what what's your read? How likely would that be?

SCHMIDT: Well, there are a few theories out there, right? One is that it was Ukrainian hit. Although the Ukrainian government has steadfastly denied that it was. Second is that Putin did it. We haven't heard anything from the Kremlin. And the other real theory out there is that it was some other group, either on the left or on the right now, a former Russian lawmaker, was given a statement by a group called the National Republican Army, which is this left wing group, supposedly, in Russia that's claimed credit for the murderer, but we really don't know anything about them.

HOLMES: If it was an internal Russian job, I mean, obviously, it's messaging of some sort. What could that message be? And, you know, you do get the sense there, there could be concerned there could be more to come.

SCHMIDT: I think if it was this national Republican Army, it's a sign that there's a real internal conflict, there's a real civil war brewing in Russia. Now, I'd caution that that one hit isn't a war, if they can pull this off again, somewhere else. And yet again, then I think you start to see a real threat to the governing bodies in the Kremlin. So you know, the other thing is, is that I think the Kremlin is going to react to this no matter what the truth is, by trying to hit back harder in Ukraine by trying to really go after Zelenskyy and other Ukrainian figures.

HOLMES: It was Daria, the daughter who was killed of course, but by all accounts, the father, Alexander was meant to be in the car with her and got out at the last minute, got into a different car. He has long agitated on behalf of the separatist regions in Donetsk and Luhansk. You mentioned his opus, what are his longer term vision for the greater Russia?

SCHMIDT: Well, Dugin, and his daughter who is a well-known TV personality, have long advocated for this idea of the Russian world, or something called Eurasianism. And it was this idea that countries like Ukraine, or Kazakhstan, or the other countries in Central Asia, aren't real, right? They're part of this broader Russian world that's ruled from Moscow, and that this whole world is actually anti-Western, right? It doesn't share our values. It's anti-Democratic, it's anti- gay, it's anti-free speech. And that what they're trying to do is exactly what Putin has said, right? It's the fight against the instruments of the West, like NATO. So they see this war as not being against Ukraine so much as being against the western empire that they oppose.

HOLMES: Fascinating. So as we say, and when we repeat, we don't know who did it, or what the motivation was, but in your experience, you know, covering the region and looking at the region and studying the region and him, do you think Vladimir Putin might be nervous tonight?

SCHMIDT: I think he is, although you'll never see it in him. He's been nervous, you know, not just because of this hit, but there has been a lot of dissent, right? There have been a lot of attacks going on in Russia and he has to be wondering where they're coming from. And his biggest fear isn't that they're coming from Ukraine. Your sets are coming from inside that they might be coming from elements in his own security service.

HOLMES: Always fascinating to get your analysis. Professor Matthew Schmidt, thank you so much.

SCHMIDT: Good to be here.

HOLMES: Now, the government in Kyiv says Russia may be planning show trials for captured Ukrainian soldiers in Mariupol this week. It comes as Ukraine prepares to market Independence Day on Wednesday, six months to the day since Russia invaded. In his nightly address Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that trials would make future negotiations with Russia impossible.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (through translator): If this despicable core takes place, if our people are brought into these settings in violation of all agreements, all international rules there will be abused. This will be the line beyond which no negotiations are possible. Russia will cut itself off from the negotiations. There will be no more conversations. Our state has said everything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Meanwhile, Russian troops are trying to advance in Eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region with their constant shelling reported along the front lines still Russian forces appear to be gaining little ground.

[00:10:03]

To the north, officials in Kharkiv are building bomb shelters at bus stops. Russia attacks have spiked in the region, including one on an apartment building that killed at least 18 people on Wednesday.

Turning to Somalia now, emergency crews sifting through the rubble of what once was an upscale hotel. They're searching for any remaining explosives after security forces ended a 30 hour standoff with al- Shabaab militants on Sunday. At least 21 people were killed, more than 100 wounded in the Hayat Hotel attack. CNN's Larry Madowo explains how the siege unfolded and how it ended.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It lasted more than 30 hours, an attack by al-Shabaab, that's been described as one of the longest hotel sieges for the al-Qaeda linked terror group in Somalia in over a decade. And there are signs all around the Hayat Hotel in Mogadishu of just how intense and prolonged the battle was.

Police say it began on Friday night when militants blasted their way into the building, shooting civilians as they tried to escape. Witnesses say the attackers barricaded themselves inside and blew up the stairs in order to trap some people on upper floors.

Hour by hour, fierce gun battles erupted between the insurgents and elite armed forces who eventually regained control of the hotel. Authority say more than 100 people were rescued. But one Somali police commander says it was hard fighting.

He says it's shocking that innocent people lost their lives here and adds security forces were engaged in rescuing people one by one and in groups. Police say the hotel is badly damaged, and they are sweeping the debris for explosives that were left around the hotel. And they say they're still counting the dead. Or some relatives may have buried their loved ones instead of taking them to hospitals. But the attacking the hearts of the country's capital just months after Somalia's new president was elected shows just how dangerous al- Shabaab is and how difficult it will be to defeat them, as the Somali government has promised to do. Larry Madowo, CNN, Nairobi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Now, in the coming hours we'll find out if Kenya's former Prime Minister follows through on his promise to challenge the presidential election results in court. Raila Odinga has until the end of the day Monday to file his claim with Kenya's Supreme Court.

Last week after officials declared he narrowly lost the presidential race, Odinga said he completely rejects the results. His opponent Kenya's Deputy President William Ruto says he will engage in any possible court proceedings that may come about. Official declared Ruto won the presidential election with just over 50% of the vote.

Still to come here on the program, why some of Taiwan's farmers feel they're caught in the middle of the recent diplomatic tensions between Beijing and Washington. We'll have that story when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:15:36]

HOLMES: Taiwan is now hosting a third delegation of U.S. lawmakers in less than a month. This time the group led by Indiana governor Eric Holcomb. He and several other state officials are on an "economic development trip" that will also take them to South Korea.

Holcomb is meeting with Taiwan's President while he's visiting the island. His trip coming after a visit of course by the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi earlier this month, and a delegation led by Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey last Sunday.

Now, Beijing reacting to these visits from U.S. lawmakers by suspending some trade with Taiwan, including the import of certain fruit and fish and some of the islands farmers feel they're caught in the middle of all this diplomatic friction. CNN's Blake Essig explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLAKE ESSIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In a small township in the south of Taiwan, farmers, like Li Meng-han, are battling more than Mother Nature to make a living. But geopolitics that's something is hard work can't change.

LI MENG-HAN, OWNER, CHINGCHUAN ORCHARD (through translator): It's some kind of political issue between Taiwan and China. We simply want to grow fruits and sell them at a good price.

ESSIG: A reasonable request but one that just got a whole lot more difficult following House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's recent stop in Taiwan.

REP. NANCY PELOSI, (D) HOUSE SPEAKER: We will not abandon our commitment to Taiwan.

ESSIG: China reacted by flexing its military missile executing at least six days of live fire drills, while at the same time exerting its economic power over this democratic Island. This time going after what some consider low hanging fruit.

(On camera): Citrus fruit like this pomelo was included on the most recent list of Taiwanese items banned from entering China. Beijing says the reason it's because of excess pesticides, accusations that farmers here deny. It's a move that experts say less about healthcare or the economy and all about politics.

MENG-HAN (through translator): I didn't see the ban coming so fast. We were caught off guard.

CHIAO CHUN, AUTHOR, FRUITS AND POLITICS (through translator): We all know that politics is behind the bans. This is a politically motivated economic sanction on Taiwan to exert economic pressure on Taiwan.

ESSIG: The latest sanctions on fruit and fish went into effect on the same day Speaker Pelosi met with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, sanctions that will cost farmers like Li a lot of money. And if things don't change could force him and other farmers to let employees go.

SUN TZU-MIN, GENERAL MANAGER, MADOU FARMERS' ASSOCIATION (through translator): It's been hard for farmers, a southern ban can put everything on hold. The pomelo trees can live for decades, and their fruits get sweeter as the trees get older. So it's impossible for farmers to abandon them.

ESSIG: Each year, roughly 72,000 tons of pomelo are produced here in Taiwan, only about 7% are exported to China, vast majority of being sold and processed here locally in places like this.

(Voice-over): A small number on paper, but one that will have a big impact on farmers financially and mentally.

CHUN (through translator): I think psychology is a bigger factor here. And they can say that they have banned a large number of food items from Taiwan and want to go.

ESSIG: Well, Pelosi is now gone, the impact of her visit still being felt, with farmers forced to get creative by transforming the pomelo into something different to make up for that loss revenue.

MENG-HAN (through translator): Taiwanese people shouldn't suffer from the tension between the U.S. and China. They always come and then they leave the next day. The impact is felt here by Taiwanese farmers.

ESSIG: It's the collateral damage of world powers going toe to toe. Whereas it's usually the case, it's not the politicians that suffer but everyday people just looking to pick some fruit and feed their family. Blake Essig, CNN Madou, Taiwan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Pope Francis has made his first public comments on the Catholic Church's ongoing confrontation with the Nicaraguan government. On Friday police raided the Diocese of Bishop Rolando Alvarez, a leading critic of President Daniel Ortega. The Pope did not mention those bishops specifically but he said he is following the crisis with concern and sorrow.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE FRANCIS (through translator): I wish to express my hope that there will be sincere dialogue and a basis for respectful living together can be found in Nicaragua. I pray that the Lord may inspire the concrete will to dialogue in Nicaragua to find the solution to the difficulties there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[00:20:04]

HOLMES: The bishop's current location and condition are not known at the moment. Also arrested with several priests, a seminarian and a cameraman. Police say they were taken to a prison in Managua.

After months of fighting in Ukraine, the land is littered with live rounds of ammunition that could explode at any time. Find out what's been done to make Ukraine safe long after the war is over.

Plus, documenting the wars toll on Ukrainians, I'll speak with New York Times Photojournalist Lynsey Addario about her work capturing the impact of the war on ordinary civilians. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Nearly six months, the almost constant bombardment of Ukraine by Russian forces has left the country littered with destroyed buildings, as well as unexploded ordnance, which could detonate at any time. The U.S. State Department recently committed almost $90 million to help clear the landmines in Ukraine calling it one of the worst challenges of its kind in decades. CNN's David McKenzie spent time with a team doing this dangerous work. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN "MONTY" MONTGOMERY, FSD TEAM LEADER: That's where the vast majority of the contamination has gone.

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For each devastating strike is a deadly chain reaction.

MONTGOMERY: An item of on, struck this building any ammunition which didn't detonate on that initial blast has been kicked out. It's been thrown from here, and it can travel up to several 100 meters.

MCKENZIE: Ammunition like this live round can kill civilians often children long after the fighting has stopped.

MONTGOMERY: You see before us the sort of carnage that's been left by the ammunition trucks, which are privileges great detonating.

MCKENZIE: In March, Ukrainian forces struck this farm warehouse hosing tons of Russian shells and rockets.

MONTGOMERY: I can only imagine the fireball and the sound that was produced when it happened.

MCKENZIE: For this explosive ordinance disposal team in Chernihiv.

JOHN ALDRIDGE, FSD TEAM LEADER: We don't go in aggressive, obviously, there's a threat out there.

MCKENZIE: The threat is very real.

ALDRIDGE: Well, you will continue with the search straightforward. If I say stop at any time, do you stop immediately, advance.

MCKENZIE: We have to be all the way back here for our own safety. It shows how dangerous this work is. And it's painstaking. This small area has taken several days and you're not even finished?

MONTGOMERY: No, we've merely scratched the surface.

MCKENZIE: And you've got an entire country potentially?

MONTGOMERY: Yeah.

MCKENZIE: How could you possibly do that job?

[00:25:02]

MONTGOMERY: If me doing this job and being here in Ukraine, removing one item, however small or however large it saves one life, then for me personally, that's a goal that I've reached.

ALDRIDGE: OK. Stop.

MCKENZIE: When they spot a suspected shell.

ALDRIDGE: Everyone come back.

MCKENZIE: Team Leader John Aldridge must go it alone. Using only his fingertips. John works very, very carefully. These shells are designed to destroy defensive positions, a bomb even the slightest nudge could set it off.

(On camera): What is it like when you're there scrambling to not knowing what exactly you're going to find?

ALDRIDGE: Yeah, it's an interesting one, I think it's something that you get used to after time, but there's still that element of, you know, sort of adrenaline kicking in a little bit. Yeah. And few beads of sweat.

MCKENZIE: This shell can be moved safely.

ALDRIDGE: Great.

MCKENZIE: Soon they'll have Ukrainian team leaders clearing their own land.

NATALIA (ph): This will be an enormous task says Natalia (ph). Since all this must be done carefully. You just can't rush this job.

ALDRIDGE: Nice and steady, yeah.

MCKENZIE: Even if this was stopped today. It could take years per country to be safe. David McKenzie, CNN, Chernihiv, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: And we're getting a clearer sense of the human toll Russia's war is taking on Ukrainians. The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights says the war has killed more than 5500 civilians and injured more than 7000 countless more killed or wounded on the front lines defending their country. Some are likely to never be accounted for in the mayhem of war. But despite the circumstances, some Ukrainians are working hard to give dignity to the dead.

And my next guest has witnessed and is documenting those efforts. Lynsey Addario is a photojournalist with the New York Times. She joins me now from Kyiv. Huge respect for you, Lyndsey and your work. Your latest photo essay in the New York Times incredibly powerful, like all the others, what would you like people to take from that one? It was in Bucha, of course?

LYNSEY ADDARIO, NEW YORK TIMES PHOTOJOURNALIST: Well, I think the interesting thing about where we're at now is that there's this false sense of the war being over in Kyiv and around these areas that were so rife with death. I mean Bucha, Irpin, people have come back, the cafes are open. People are getting married. There's this incredible life that's returned yet the funerals continue. And that is, it's important to remember what has happened here. The war is still very strong in the East and in the south, of course, but it's to see the fact that people are still being buried six months on is really astonishing. HOLMES: Yeah, it is. There was one particular photograph of a group of men at a cemetery. And what is what was striking to me when I looked at photos, the sheer exhaustion etched in their faces as sadness, if you like, but give us a sense of the determination, the character of those working with the dead in such a dignified fashion?

ADDARIO: Yeah, I mean, the Ukrainians I've met over the last six months are extraordinary. They are resilient, they are strong. I mean, these are grave diggers who have buried hundreds of people. They just keep going on. That day was sweltering hot, it was high noon, and one after one they offloaded the bodies with dignity. They brought them each one, the priest, Priest Andrei (ph), who has buried almost all of the dead and Bucha just went and blessed each grave. I mean, they're -- you know, no effort is spared to give people dignified deaths.

HOLMES: Yeah, what is it about the power of a photograph versus words? I mean, what advantages does the photo have, particularly in the context of war? And, you know, in the context of a place like Bucha?

ADDARIO: I mean, it's hard to say, I mean, I think your photo, obviously, someone like myself, I'm trying to capture the emotion I'm trying to show, you know, those little moments that can be captured in words. But I think obviously, when you look at a page, a photo stands out if it's powerful. And so, for me, it's all about trying to capture those moments.

HOLMES: So often, for journalists, a tough task is to have people look beyond the numbers, the broad strokes, I found this myself in Iraq, many times, to have people see the individuals, as people to make those looking at the photographs or reading the words, make a connection on a human level. How important is that aspect of what you do?

[00:30:03]

ADDARIO: I mean, that is kind of everything that that that I'm trying to do is to try to humanize these stories to try to bring, you know, a sense of who these people are, that are suffering, you know, to make the connection between those sitting in their homes in the United States, and people in Ukraine so they can understand that these are regular people who were living their own lives until February 24. And I think that that's very important for people to realize. And so that's why I do these human stories. I mean, the series of deaths in Bucha, The New York Times has done an extraordinary job of covering Bucha. I'm also trying to continue that coverage. So people do not forget about what's happening here, but also show other aspects.

HOLMES: Yeah, absolutely. I know, you've been asked this before, you probably don't like being asked, but war takes a toll on everyone who, who's touched by it. I know it has for me over the years, how do you maintain the will to return to such places over and over again?

ADDARIO: It's such a hard question to answer. I just fundamentally believe in journalism and the importance of showing what's happening and of documenting history. And I, you know, that's really what drives me. HOLMES: What -- your book is called, "It's What I Do: A Photographer's Life of Love and War." And it's a remarkable book, what reward do you get from your work? What makes you say, I don't know, yes, that was worth the risk or the heartache because it led to this or this?

ADDARIO: I mean, sometimes I get a sort of direct rewards where a photo essay I do will lead to sort of funding for the victims or funding for women who are dying in childbirth. Sometimes I get emails from readers saying, you've opened my eyes to this. Sometimes, it's just sort of feedback from people, you know. And sometimes there's nothing at all. Sometimes I have -- I work in a vacuum. I just keep working. And I don't know the impact of my photographs. But it's not -- that's not the reason why I do it, really. I guess it's because I believe that someone has to be here telling these stories so that we look back and 20, 30, 40 years. We know what happened here and there is proof and there is evidence and I think it's really important.

HOLMES: Yeah, bearing witness in a powerful way. Lynsey Addario mad respect for what you do. Thanks for making the time today, I really appreciate it.

ADDARIO: Thank you so much.

HOLMES: And we will take a quick break. When we come back, a summer drought in Spain reveals a rarely seen historic site. Why archaeologists are racing to examine it. That's when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Welcome back. In Spain the effects of climate change have uncovered a prehistoric site containing dozens of upright stones arranged in circles despite the country's worst drought in decades. Researchers now have the perfect opportunity to take a closer look. CNN's Isa Soares has more on the Spanish Stonehenge.

[00:35:20]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ISA SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Emerging from the receding waters of a reservoir in West Central Spain, a prehistoric stone circle, now fully exposed as the region battles one of its worst droughts in decades.

ENRIQUE CEDILLA, ARCHAEOLOGIST, COMPLUTENSE UNIVERSITY OF MADRID (through translator): The current situation with the heat waves and drought is very sad for all of us. But in this case, it does offer archaeologists a unique chance to be able to study again a site that had not been thoroughly studied before.

SOARES: Since it was first discovered by German archaeologists in 1926, the Dolmen of Guadalperal, as it's officially known, has become fully visible only four times, believe today back to 5000 B.C., it is one of several Dolmens of vertically arranged stone formations that exist across Western Europe. How such heavy boulders were moved and erected 1000s of years ago, it's still largely a mystery. CEDILLA (through translator): We believe the Dolmen of Guadalperal is a collective to burials took place in it for more than 2000 years. So everything that was found there when it was first discovered, are remains of items that accompanied the dead.

SOARES: The emergence of what's been dubbed the Spanish Stonehenge is the read benefit of little rain and blistering temperatures, while many suffer in the extreme heat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We have not had enough rain since spring, so the ponds run out of water, and there isn't enough for the livestock and we have to go get water and bring it here. But this is just unsustainable.

RUFINO GUINEA, LOCAL FARMER (through translator): Most orchards have not grown this year. All the peppers have dried up. Crops have been devastated because of the heat, and the cattle have hardly any water to drink.

SOARES: A study published in the Nature Geoscience Journal last month found that due to climate change parts of Spain and Portugal are the dryers they have been in more than 1000 years. Conditions revealing a prehistoric landmark as they wreak havoc on a region in an increasingly warming world. Isa SOARES, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: But Spain isn't the only place where extreme ground conditions are revealing new discoveries more than 20 warships have been exposed along the Danube in eastern Serbia. Experts say the ships were scuttled by Nazi forces during World War Two as they retreated and still contain active ammunition and explosives.

And in southwestern China, plunging water levels of the Yangtze River have revealed a small island with three Buddha statues. The statues believed to be at least 600 years old, both sides will likely disappear once water levels are restored.

Meanwhile, heavy flooding has killed hundreds in countries across South Asia. Have a look at the aftermath in eastern Afghanistan, where state media say at least 20 people have been killed floods ripping through homes, forcing residents to dig through rubble in an effort to find any personal items still intact.

The death toll is even higher in Pakistan where officials say more than 200 people have died from heavy rains and flooding since June.

Now, a new tropical depression has formed east of the Philippines and is expected to dump heavy rain over the country as it moves out into the South China Sea. Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri joins me now with the latest. I could name a few countries that would like some of that rain.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, me too. You know, Michael this has been as such as seen across portions of the Philippines. We've seen so much rainfall. But of course, as you noted, the disparity between where needs to see the rainfall and where it's been seeing the rainfall is really kind of off here. And you'll notice tropical depression 10, folks, the weather authority here PAGASA naming this Florita, local name for this storm system. But right now just a complex of unorganized thunderstorms that has produced quite a bit of rainfall here in the last couple of days. And in fact, in the past 24 hours. School resuming back to face-to-face session. So really the timing couldn't be worse here for bringing quite a bit of rainfall across the region here as finally folks get back into in-person class settings.

But notice, we talked about the month of August across the Philippines. Baguio, in particular around Northern Luzon. This is the wettest time of year often associated with these tropical systems. So certainly not unusual. The rainfall here going to make it a soggy one to start off the week and certainly could continue for at least 24 hours, kind of skirts the northern coast there of Luzon, eventually pushing it towards Cagayan, Babuyan Islands and eventually into the South China Sea.

You'll notice conditions are conducive here for this system to want to strengthen. We think sometime by mid-week notice where it approaches, possibly a high end Tropical Storm. Doesn't look like it'll have what it takes to get the typhoon status but anytime you're talking about a population density as is the case across Hong Kong, it's going to impact quite a bit of people when it comes to rainfall.

[00:40:11]

So heavy rainfall possible there across the southern periphery of Guangdong province as early as Tuesday night into Wednesday. Speaking of Hong Kong, no surprise, this is again among the wettest times of year here in the month of August into September. So we do expect the rains really to make their presence felt. If anything, Michael, a good comes out of this across that region is much cooler temperatures expected back into the upper 20s in Hong Kong with the rainfall.

HOLMES: Yeah, yeah, yeah, record temperatures in China. Pedram Javaheri, good to see you. Thanks so much, Pedram.

Now, Nepali Sherpa is back home after breaking his own climbing record.

That Sanu Sherpa receiving quite the welcome traditional dance songs and colorful scarves. The 48-year-old is the only person to scale all the world's 14 peaks higher than 8000 meters, and he's done it twice. Eight of the 14 highest peaks are in Nepal with Everest of course straddling the Chinese Nepalese border. The others are in Pakistan and Tibet.

For the first time in 50 years, NASA plans to send humans back to the moon, a first step towards that goal takes place later this month with the launch of an unmanned rocket and the beginning of the Artemis Program. CNN's Christina Macfarlane reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A make a moon rockets on a slow 6.4 kilometer ride aboard a giant NASA cooler before reaching its launch pad this week. One of the final steps before the unmanned Artemis 1 begins a mission set to journey farther than any spacecraft built for humans before.

It is the first time in about half a century that a NASA built rocket is set forgetting about liftoff. On August 29, the Artemis I mission is set to begin a 42 day journey that travels around the moon before returning to Earth. Sitting atop its rocket is NASA's Orion astronaut capsule, designed to separate from the rocket in space. It carries 54 kilograms of cargo, including a Command Mannequin, a suited mannequin that can collect data on what a human crew might experience. Two other phantoms Helga and Zohar will be a board, made of material that mimics the soft tissue, organs and bones of a woman. This time the mission is unmanned, but the launch of the most powerful rocket ever built kicks off a more ambitious plan. This is the start of NASA's Artemis Program, which aims to land the first woman and first person of color on the lunar surface by 2025, eventually build a lunar base and make way for further exploration to Mars and maybe even beyond Christina Macfarlane, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Well, how much would you pay for one of the coolest and most iconic cars ever seen in a movie?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES BOND, ACTOR: You'll be using this Aston Martin DB5 modifications. Now pay attention please. Windscreen bulletproof, at other side and the rear windows.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Yes that's Bond James Bond in the movie Goldfinger in that is his 1964 Aston Martin DB5 tricked out of course with the 007 guns gadget and ejector seat of course. Actor Sean Connery loved the car so much he bought one just like it and owned it until he died. That Aston Martin recently sold at auction for $2.4 million. The buyer remains anonymous, but whoever it is, it's hopefully celebrating with a martini, shaken, not stirred. It's mine. I bought it.

Thanks for spending part of your day with me. I'm Michael Holmes. World Sport, next. I'll see in 15 minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WORLD SPORT)

[01:00:00]