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Argentina Vice President Survived Assassination Attempt; IAEA Inspectors Visit Zaporizhzhia; CNN Reporting Helps Ukraine Identify War Crimes Suspect; Decision to Appoint Special Master Could Come Any Time; Chengdu is Under COVID Lockdown; Amazon Rainforest Sees Worst August Fires In Over A Decade; Pakistan Enduring Its Worst Flooding In Decades; PM Narendra Modi Commissions First Home-Built Aircraft Carrier. Aired 2-2:45a ET
Aired September 02, 2022 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[02:00:00]
KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Live from CNN world headquarters in Atlanta, welcome to our viewers from around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is "CNN Newsroom."
A failed assassination attempt in Argentina. A gun is pointed at the country's vice president just outside her home, inches from her head.
Also --
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RAFAEL GROSSI, IAEA DIRECTOR GENERAL: It is obvious that the plant and the physical integrity of the plant has been violated.
BRUNHUBER: International nuclear experts finally get a firsthand look at Europe's largest nuclear plant. Some now intending to stay there.
And a city of 21 million people under lockdown. A stark reminder of China's zero-COVID policy at all costs.
UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Kim Brunhuber.
BRUNHUBER: Shocking images out of Argentina of a failed assassination attempt against the country's vice president live on television. Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner was getting supporters outside her home late Thursday when a man pointed a gun directly at her face and pulled the trigger. Now, for some reason, the gun didn't fire, and the vice president was unharmed.
The suspect was quickly taken into custody. Argentina's president addressed the nation soon afterward to condemn the attack.
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ALBERTO FERNANDEZ, PRESIDENT OF ARGENTINA (through translator): This is an incident of extreme institutional and human severity. An attack has been made on our vice president, and social peace has been disturbed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Journalist Stefano Pozzebon has more on what the president said and what police revealed so far.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEFANO POZZEBON, JOURNALIST: The president of Argentina addressed the nation shortly afterwards to send a message of calm, of quietness, but also calling it the most serious attack that the nation has faced since the restoration of the democracy in the 1980s.
In particular, the president of Argentina, Alberto Fernandez, said that the gun was armed with five bullets, and that he said, and I quote, "Cristian is alive only because for some technical reason that we have not clarified yet, the gun did not detonate, calling it then a clear assassination attempt.
He also called for a day of national holiday on Friday, which is tomorrow here in South America, to rally the population around Cristina Kirchner and calling for a moment of reflection.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Stefano Pozzebon reporting for us from Bogota, Columbia. We will continue to bring you more information as we get it.
To Ukraine now, the U.N. nuclear watchdog says it is not going anywhere now that its inspectors are inside the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. Officials from the International Atomic Agency reached the plant on Thursday for the first time since the war began. The organization said its goal is to prevent a nuclear accident after the plant repeatedly repeatedly took artillery fire in recent weeks.
A Russian news outlet later showed this video of inspectors inside the facility. Now, most inspectors left after a few hours. The agency's chief says his goal is to have a permanent presence at the plant. Ukraine's nuclear operator says at this point, only five of them have remained in Zaporizhzhia, and they are set to stay only until Saturday. President Zelenskyy says the plant should be demilitarized. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (through translator): Demilitarization of the territory of the station is the goal of Ukrainian and international efforts, and it is bad that we have not yet heard the appropriate messages from the IAEA despite the fact that we talked about it with Mr. Grossi during our meeting in Kyiv. It was the key, the key security point of our agreements. It was outlined clearly, demilitarization and full control by our nuclear workers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Never before has an IAEA team carried out safety checks in operational nuclear plant in the middle of a warzone. An on their journey to Zaporizhzhia facility, the nuclear inspectors came within eyeshot of artillery and mortar fire. Here is CNN's Melissa Bell.
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[02:05:00]
MELISSA BELL, CNN PARIS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The shelling began at dawn around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. The worst that the town of Enerhodar has seen since it was occupied in March, according to its mayor. Briefed on the situation but undeterred, IAEA inspectors decided to head through the front line nonetheless.
GROSSI: We are moving now.
BELL (voice-over): The 14 strong team seen for itself as it travelled the artillery and mortar fire that led to the shutting down of one of the plant's last two functioning reactors. After an hours-long delay on its way, the IAEA inspectors arrived. A glimpse, at last, into a plant that's been occupied by Russian forces for months.
GROSSI: It is obvious that the plant and the physical integrity of the plant has been violated several times. This is something that cannot continue to happen.
BELL (voice-over): Which is why, he said, five members of his team had stayed behind to ask more questions and to dig deeper in a plant controlled by Russian forces but manned by workers who say that it's been almost impossible for them to do their jobs.
We feel like hostages. We actually can't do our jobs. We can't carry phones, flash drives, memory cards, and God forbid, if you look at a soldier the wrong way, you could be thrown into the basement.
GROSSI: The Ukrainian employees, I was with them throughout the day. Of course, they are in a difficult situation, but they have an incredible degree of professionalism. I see them calm and moving on.
BELL (voice-over): The plan, he said, for the IAEA to establish a permanent presence at the plant and to make good on his words to its workers that the U.N. nuclear watchdog is now there to stay.
Melissa Bell, CNN, Kyiv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: On the frontlines, Ukraine says the Russian offensive in the east has largely stalled.
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BRUNHUBER: Officials say Ukrainian troops have kept Russians at bay for weeks despite all their attempts to advance. The latest attempt came on Thursday but Ukraine says Russians failed again. Down south, Ukraine says its artillery is keeping up the pressure on Russian supply lines. Ukraine says it struck multiple targets on Thursday, including a bridge and a pontoon crossing the Kherson region.
Ukrainian prosecutors have identified a Russian war crime suspect. Thanks in part for reporting you saw right here on CNN. Back in May, we showed you a video of Russian troops gunning down two civilians in the outskirts of Kyiv. Now, prosecutors have announced the name of one suspect, saying CNN reporting played a key role in their investigation.
Sara Sidner has the story. We want to warn you, some images in this report are graphic.
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SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Ukrainian prosecutors say, this is the moment an undeniable war crime was carried out by Russian soldiers. This video clip obtained by CNN has yet to be seen by the public. It shows Russian soldiers firing at something alongside a business they have just overtaken on the outskirts of Kyiv. It turns out, their target is two unsuspecting and unarmed Ukrainian civilians, who they shoot in the back.
We first reported on this portion of the video in May, showing the business owner dying where he falls, and the guard initially surviving, but bleeding to death after making it back to his guard shack. Both men had just spent the last few minutes speaking calmly with the Russian soldiers who appear to have let them go, but we now see two of the soldiers return and fire on them.
UNKNOWN (through translator): My father's name is Leonid Oleksiyovych Plyats.
SIDNER (voice-over): The guard's daughter, Yulia (ph), told us then she wanted the world to know her father's name and what the Russians did to him.
(On camera): Yulia (ph), have you seen the video?
UNKNOWN (through translator): I can't watch it now. I will save it to the Cloud and leave it for my grandchildren and children. They should know about this crime and always remember who our neighbors are.
SIDNER (voice-over): And now, the Bucha prosecutor's office says with the help of CNN story, it has finally identified one of his executioners. The suspect's name, Nikolay Sergeevich Sokovikov.
Ukraine has informed Russia that their pretrial investigation has zeroed in on Sokovikov as the perpetrator of the cold-blooded killing. While prosecutors will not reveal exactly how they identify this particular soldier, we have seen one part of the process being used by Ukrainian officials, facial recognition technology.
(On camera): It is really fast.
(Voice-over): The ministry of digital transformation gets an image, loaded into the program they created, and it scrubs social media looking for a match.
Once they have a match of a soldier, dead or alive, they try to corroborate it with friends and family on the soldiers' social media sites.
[02:10:01]
SIDNER: (voice-over): We have identified about 300 cases, he says.
The identification of the latest suspect for war crimes was months in the making, but is at least one step towards justice for the families who have had something taken from them they can never get back, the life of someone they loved.
Sara Sidner, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Russia's defense ministry hasn't responded to CNN's request for comment, either to Sara Sidner's story or our reporting back in May.
The Kremlin says the Russian president won't attend the funeral of Mikhail Gorbachev, claiming his work schedule won't allow it. Now, despite the apparent snub, Vladimir Putin did pay his respects on Thursday, laying flowers by the former Soviet leader's coffin.
In recent years, Gorbachev had grown more critical of President Putin, who in turn blamed him for the demise of the USSR. A public farewell ceremony for Gorbachev will be held on Saturday with the funeral later that day.
There are growing questions over the death of a Russian oil executive. State media reports Ravil Maganov fell out of a Moscow hospital window. Maganov was the chairman of Russia's second biggest oil and gas company Lukoil which said he passed away following a severe illness. Lukoil did not mention a fall.
The gas giant made headlines in March when it spoke out against Russia's war in Ukraine, calling for it to end as quickly as possible. State media cites a law enforcement source says Maganov died from an apparent suicide.
His death may be part of a growing pattern. Since January, at least five prominent Russian businessmen have reportedly died by suicide. Three of them are accused of killing members of their own families before taking their own lives, and four of them were associated with Russian state energy company Gazprom, one of its subsidiaries.
Now to U.S. politics, another fiery speech from President Joe Biden. He took direct aim at Donald Trump and his closest followers, branding them as extremists trying to undermine American democracy. Biden says he won't stand by while MAGA forces roll back people's rights, spread baseless conspiracies about elections, and promote political violence. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards. Backwards to an America where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy, no right to contraception, no right to marry who you love. They promote authoritarian leaders, and they fan the flames of political violence.
I will not, the will of the American people be overturned by wild conspiracy theories and baseless evidence street (ph) claims of fraud. I will not stand by and watch elections in this country stolen by people who simply refuse to accept that they lost.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: I will not stand by and watch the most fundamental freedom in this country, the freedom to vote, and have your vote counted, and be taken from you and the American people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Earlier on Thursday, House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy demanded Biden apologize for recent comments comparing MAGA philosophy to semi-fascism.
A decision could come at any time on whether to appoint a special master to review top secret documents seized from Donald Trump's home last month. The federal judge declined to make her ruling at Thursday's hearing, but asked the Justice Department, what is the harm? We get the latest from CNN's Sara Murray.
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SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): No ruling yet, as lawyers for Donald Trump and the Justice Separtment went head-to- head in court over whether a special master should review documents seized at Mar-a-Lago.
DAVID SCHOEN, REPRESENTED TRUMP FOR SECOND IMPEACHMENT: If the government's case is as they think it is, let us just play it straight. Let a special master come in.
MURRAY (voice-over): Trump's team saying the Mar-a-Lago search was suspect, according to reports from the courtroom, and argued a special master should pour over materials that the government says included more than 100 documents marked classified.
Trump lawyer Jim Trusty described the battle over whether classified materials were illegally kept at Mar-a-Lago is comparable to a dispute over an overdue library book.
UNKNOWN (voice-over): Was this really akin to a library book?
MURRAY (voice-over): And Christopher Kise, the newest member of Trump's legal team, encouraged the judge to appoint a special master to help lower the temperature in the nation. The judge indicating, if she appoints a special master, she may still allow the intelligence community to review the seized documents as part of a damage assessment.
Prosecutors in the meantime arguing the special master was unnecessary and saying Trump's team has offered no evidence there was any disregard for the former president's rights, as the judge asked prosecutors what is the harm in appointing a special master.
Beyond the courtroom, Trump --
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (voice-over): It's not like this was some sinister plot.
MURRAY (voice-over): Insisting whatever ended up at Mar-a-Lago was the result of hastily packing up to leave the White House.
[02:15:01]
TRUMP (voice-over): You accumulate a lot of stuff over a term, and then all of a sudden, you're leaving and stuff is packed up and sent.
MURRAY (voice-over): Trump's team downplayed the documents found at his Florida home and private club without denying they were classified, saying, simply put, the notion that presidential records would contain sensitive information should have never been cause for alarm.
UNKNOWN: Attorneys for Trump.
MURRAY (voice-over): Trump's team also taking issue with the extraordinary photo the DOJ revealed this week showing documents with highly classified markings recovered from Trump's office.
ALINA HABBA, DONALD TRUMP'S LAWYER: They give you this appearance that you walked in, and there are these top-secret documents just thrown about.
MURRAY (voice-over): Inadvertently highlighting the security risk of hoarding documents in a heavy foot traffic.
HABBA: That is not the way his office looks. Anybody that knows President Trump's office, he has guests frequently there.
MURRAY (on camera). The judge also said she is considering publicly releasing a more detailed inventory of the materials that were seized during that search in Mar-a-Lago. We are waiting for her final word on that and a number of these issues that popped up during the hearing. She is expected to issue her ruling in writing. No timeline for when that ruling could come.
Sara Murray, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: And CNN legal analyst Areva Martin joins us from Los Angeles. Thanks so much for being here with us. So, we heard the judge signaled she seemed open to appointing a special master. So, if so, what impact could that have?
AREVA MARTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Well, first of all, Kim, it is important to note that that point of this being Donald Trump, this would be a no-brainer. This would never happen. If this were you, if this were me, if this was any other citizen, the issue of a special master, it would have never gotten this far.
Donald Trump is not entitled to a special master. He refuses to accept that when he left the White House, the documents that were at the White House no longer were accessible to him. These are not his private records, and he continues to act as if they are.
And, Kim, to equate not returning confidential and highly sensitive records, to failing to return a library book, it just goes to show how Donald Trump and his entire team just aren't taking this matter seriously and giving it the weight that it deserves.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah, so, I mean, you've outlined some of those arguments against getting the master, but as the judge sort of said there, what is the harm really?
MARTIN: Well, the harm starts with your entitlement. He is just simply not entitled to it. There is no law, there's no legal basis for him to have a special master appointing. The Department of Justice has already gone through the documents. The documents have already been reviewed. So, it is redundant, it is unnecessary, and there is a risk.
DOJ pointed out that there is still an assessment being made by the Department of Defense as to what assets may have been put at risk as a result of these documents not being returned. So just because there is Donald Trump who is saying there is no harm or the judge is asking that question doesn't give him a legal right to these documents.
BRUNHUBER: So, in the meantime, all of the statements that Donald Trump has been making, for instance, on social media, how damaging have they been to his case? It seems as if he sorts of keeps further incriminating himself.
MARTIN: Well, he's incriminating himself and, as you know, Kim, his stories continue to evolve. They are inconsistent. They change daily. The clip you just played said, well, when you pack up your goods you are leaving the White House, documents end up in boxes.
Early on, after the raid, he was saying that documents were planted at his private residence, suggesting that the FBI had planted those documents. We've heard him say that, yes, the documents were there and I magically declassified all of them before I left the White House.
So, it is hard to know which of these stories he is actually sticking to. But it does not matter, the reality is he removed classified and highly sensitive documents from the White House that did not belong to him, he has no legal basis for having them, and then he lied and his team refused to return the documents after 18 months of negotiations by the National Archive.
And even when the FBI went to visit the property, we know that there is this affidavit that was submitted by his attorney stating that a diligent search of all records had been made and that all records would be or had been turned over to the government.
We find out, as a result of this raid, there were over 100 documents, more documents found during the raid that were turned over voluntarily by his team. So, we've seen petulance and we've seen complete fabrications.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah, you talked about a statement signed by the lawyer. I mean, it underscores how much legal jeopardy potentially his legal team might be in as well.
MARTIN: Absolutely, Kim. We know the lawyer that signed that affidavit, she was not in court today. There is some suggestion that she is no longer on the legal team.
[02:19:57]
MARTIN: And that lawyer that actually prepared the affidavit, although was in court, apparently did not make any arguments and did not make any statements during the proceedings.
And from what the Department of Justice response or how that response reads, those lawyers at best ere witnesses and at worse could be themselves the subject of obstruction of justice charges. So, they could be facing criminal indictment themselves.
BRUNHUBER: Oh. Before we go, I just want to ask you something about what Donald Trump said yesterday in an interview about the January 6th insurrectionists. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP (voice-over): If I decide to run and if I win, I will be looking very, very strongly about pardons. Full pardons.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: The January 6 insurrectionists. I mean, it is not the first time he has dangled the pardons of the people charged in the attack on the Capitol. I remember he made the same promise in a speech. I think it was in Texas earlier this year. But it still is just quite striking, isn't it?
MARTIN: It is mind-boggling, Kim. Today, an ex-New York police officer was sentenced to 10 years for his involvement with respect to the January 6 insurrection. We are not talking about people who stole candy from a candy store. We are talking about insurrectionists that went to the U.S. Capitol, invaded that Capitol, put the lives of our Congress people at risk, broke windows, doors, caused the death of a woman, battered and brutalized officers who were on the scene that day. And to think that these violent thugs, that is what they are, we have to call them what they are, these violent thugs would somehow be given a reprieve or would be given some kind of pardon by Donald Trump if he were to be reelected as president, I think in the best-case of evidence as to why he should never, ever be reelected to any public office and definitely not the office of presidency.
BRUNHUBER: All right. We will have to leave it there. Areva Martin, as always, thank you so much. I really appreciate it.
MARTIN: Thank you, Kim.
BRUNHUBER: Just ahead, millions of people on lockdown as China enforces its zero-COVID policy. We will have a live report coming up. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Twenty-one million people in one city in China are now under lockdown as Beijing enforces it's hardline zero-COVID policy. All residents in the mega city Chengdu have been ordered to stay at home except for mandatory testing.
On Friday, the city reported 150 new local COVID cases. A third were asymptomatic. This Friday, local health authority says the city has reported more than 900 local transmissions of COVID since August 25th.
For more details, I'm joined by CNN's Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. Kristie, this issue on -- you can't get a break here. It is already dealing with drought, heat, wildfires.
[02:25:01]
BRUNHUBER: Now, its capital is in lockdown. What does this mean for the people of Chengdu?
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, you got 21 million people in Chengdu who are now confined to their homes. This is the largest citywide lockdown in China since the Shanghai lockdown earlier this year in April.
The apparent trigger here, On Wednesday, Chengdu reported 156 new local cases of COVID-19. Today, reported 150 new local cases of COVID- 19. And yet, right now, 21 million residents are forced to undergo mandatory mass COVID-19 testing.
Residents there, they have been urged to stay at home except to go out for that COVID test. Only one person per household is allowed to go out per day to fetch groceries. And companies have been shut down except for essential services like supermarkets, as well as pharmacies and hospitals.
It is not just Chengdu. A number of megacities across China right now have been ramping up their anti-pandemic measures. For example, in the south, you have the high-tech metropolis of Shenzhen. The world's biggest high-tech market is located there, and that market is closed because of rising COVID-19 cases in Shenzhen.
Meanwhile, in Dalian, it is a major port city in the northeast of China, you have three million residents who live there now under lockdown. It wasn't that long ago in April when Shanghai went through that punishing two-month lockdown.
It led to food shortages. It led to family separations and disruptions in medical care. It also led to a major economic toll for China and also for the world because of the supply chain disruptions it caused as well as the stalls and suspension in factory production.
And despite the rising economic toll and mounting public frustration caused by these zero-COVID policy, it remains firmly in place across China as we are witnessing this day in Chengdu.
Back to you, Kim.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah, I mean, Kristie, you just listed all of the harms that the zero-COVID policy has sort of have. So, what will take for China to move away from this?
LU STOUT: Yeah, and this is what the residents in China are waiting for. Look, there is a lot of attention and all eyes on the party Congress that is coming up on October the 16th, when the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, will be effectively installed as party leader yet again, securing an unprecedented additional term in power.
Up to now, all the party bosses and provincial officials across China have been under massive pressure to prevent additional flare-ups or outbreaks of COVID-19. There has been hope that after the party Congress, perhaps there could be some clarity or relaxation of COVID- 19 zero-COVID policy, but, a reminder, the government in China has not provided yet any sort of timetable about any sort of shift in that policy. Kim?
BRUNHUBER: All right, we will be watching. Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong, thank you so much.
LU STOUT: Thank you.
BRUNHUBER: The Centers for Disease Control has released data on the efficacy of current COVID-19 vaccines. In the first year, these vaccines reduced global COVID deaths by 63%. That is an estimated 14 to 16 million deaths prevented worldwide.
But despite the success, COVID vaccinations have stalled here in the U.S. Only about two-thirds of Americans have received the initial vaccine serious. Less than half of that group has also gotten a booster.
A few storms are lashing parts of Asia with heavy rain and strong winds. In a moment, we will check in the path of typhoon (INAUDIBLE). Plus, floods in Pakistan have left millions of people in dire need of humanitarian aid. We will look at the root cause of the destruction, next. Stay with us.
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to all of you watching us around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber, this is "CNN NEWSROOM."
Brazil has reached another terrible milestone, wildfires in the Amazon rainforest surged to levels not seen since 2010. More than 30,000 fires were recorded in August. Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro has suggested the increase in fires is a result of natural events and indigenous communities. Experts disagree, telling CNN the fires are more often than not manmade.
Parts of Asia are getting hit with heavy rain from Typhoon Hinnamnor. It's not expected to make direct landfall in Taiwan or the northern Philippines, but it could reach the southern islands of Japan and the Korean peninsula as it moves slowly north. So let's bring in CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam. Derek, you've been assessing whether this is strengthening or weakening, what's the latest?
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: OK, so it's no longer a super typhoon. That's the latest information. So there has been some weakening within the past 24 hours. But it is forecast to re- strengthen going forward. And I'll show you that in just one moment. But look at the satellite imagery and I want you to show just how expensive this is.
So, the outer rain bands, you know, just south of Hong Kong, certainly impacting northern portions of the Philippines into eastern sections of Taiwan, even southern portions of the Ryukyu Islands, we're talking several 100 kilometers in diameter. It's a large storm, 175 kilometers per hour sustained winds with this typhoon that makes it an equivalent, strong, and Category Two Atlantic hurricane, for instance.
And this is the official forecast from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center. And I want you to see that within the next 48 hours it is forecast to strengthen, 72 hours out winds over 200 kilometers per hour just east of China. So this is a formidable storm as it speak -- as we speak but as it moves northward, impacts some of these remote islands into the southern Ryukyu area. This has the potential to strengthen and brings significant winds and rain as well as storm surge.
Now I want you to see this graphic that we put together. This is what is known as the Fujiwara effect. And why am I telling you this? Well, it's really interesting to see and analyze the satellite imagery that has taken place within the past few days. There was this low-pressure system that actually interacted with the stronger typhoon as it advanced over the western Pacific.
And in fact, it did this almost intense dance around a very common center between these two systems. And you can see that the Tropical Depression was actually absorbed by the more powerful storm system. And that has been coined the Fujiwara effect if one is stronger than the other eventually absorbs the system and helps actually deteriorate the system for a moment in time.
But we do expect that again it will start to gain some strength going forward, open waters and warm ocean waters helped fuel the storm. One thing's for certain it will bring heavy rainfall to places like China -- well, Shanghai I should say, Okinawa, and then eventually by the first parts of next week into the Korean Peninsula as well. You can see some of the rainfall totals in to Luzon in the northern Philippines exceeding 300 millimeters in the days ahead. Back to you.
BRUNHUBER: All right, interesting. We'll stay on top of that. Thanks so much, meteorologist Derek Van Dam, appreciate it.
VAN DAM: OK.
BRUNHUBER: In Pakistan, floodwaters have wiped away entire villages with the World Health Organization saying 6.4 million people are now in dire need of humanitarian aid. It's given Pakistan its most severe emergency rating and it's releasing $10 million to treat the injured, bring in supplies, and prevent the spread of diseases. CNN's Jennifer Gray has more.
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JENNIFER GRAY, CNN METEOROLOGIST (voiceover): Pakistan is coping with its worst flooding in living memory. More than 1100 people have died, hundreds of thousands are homeless, and tens of millions of people are impacted. And Pakistan's chief meteorologist is pinning the blame on climate change.
SARDAR SARFARAZ, CHIEF METEOROLOGIST, PAKISTAN METEOROLOGICAL DEPARTMENT: Speaking in a foreign language.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Basically, the reasons behind the floods were the factors supporting our rainfall, Pacific Ocean temperatures, Indian Ocean temperatures, and there has been excessive heat from March to June.
[02:35:03]
And that excessive heating created low pressure and the monsoon access remain tilted to the south, which is why more rainfall occurred in southern Pakistan, in Sindh and Balochistan provinces.
GRAY: The South Asian nation of 225 million people saw the heaviest rains on record with little relief since mid-June. Some areas have seen five times their normal levels of monsoonal rainfall, and the most, by far, ever recorded in one season in the country. But climate change is not just affecting the monsoon. It's also melting glaciers, which is adding more water to the floods.
SARFARAZ: Speaking in a foreign language.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This year, in our northern areas of Gilgit- Baltistan, 16 glacial lake outburst flood incidents took place. Such incidents occur after glaciers melt due to a rise in temperature. Normally, there are usually five or six such events, but this year they were 16. Climate change is the basic reason for such things.
GRAY: The flooding has had a devastating impact on a country that's responsible for just 1 percent of the world's planet-warming gases, according to data by the European Union. The Global Climate Risk Index found that Pakistan is the eighth most vulnerable nation to the climate crisis.
ANTONIO GUTERRES, UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL: South Asia is one of the world's global climate crisis hotspots. People living in these hotspots are 15 times more likely to die from climate impacts. As we continue to see more and more extreme weather events around the world, it is outrageous that climate action is being put on the back burner as global emissions of greenhouse gases are still rising putting all of us everywhere in growing danger.
GRAY: Guterres is calling for $160 million in emergency funds. Officials say the estimated cost of the recovery efforts could be $10 billion, and it may take years to rebuild. Jennifer Gray, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: And millions of people as you saw are being impacted by those devastating floods, so find out how you can help go to cnn.com/impact.
The race is on to contain what's called a significant oil leak off the coast of Gibraltar. Authorities say collusion between the ship and the natural gas carrier on Tuesday caused the spill. The cargo ship was carrying hundreds of tons of heavy fuel and diesel at the time of the wreck. It has since been beached to keep it from sinking. Officials describe the situation as stable. The government says most of the diesel should be pumped out in the coming hours.
All right, coming up. India ratchets up the arms race with its regional rival, China, celebrating the first Indian belt aircraft carrier. We'll have a live report coming up. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Serena Williams has likely played her last ever doubles match with her sister Venus. The pair lost the first round of the U.S. Open Thursday night to a team from the Czech Republic. Serena has a third-round singles match in the day ahead just a few weeks after she hinted at retirement. She's won 23 Grand Slam titles on her own and 14 doubles titles with her sister. And stay tuned for highlights and analysis right here on "CNN WORLD SPORT" coming up in about five minutes.
Well, it's a historic first for India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has just commissioned the country's first aircraft carrier designed and built in India. The country hopes the INS Vikrant will help it catch up with regional rival, China, which now joins a small number of nations with more than one aircraft carrier in service.
All right, for more on this, I'm joined by CNN's Vedika Sud in Delhi. So, Vedika, tell us about the significance of this.
VEDIKA SUD, CNN REPORTER: Well, the message is very strong from the decks of this aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant, that has just been commissioned about an hour ago came. Narendra Modi, India's Prime Minister has made it very clear from the deck of this aircraft carrier, which is almost the size of two football fields that India, A., will be self-reliant now when it comes to building aircraft carriers or warships in the nation, and B., that they want to be seen as a formidable power in the Indian Ocean region.
Now, this aircraft has taken 17 years to construct and it's taken 2.5 billion U.S. dollars to make That's a staggering amount. And there is a third aircraft carrier, the Navies in talks with the government. Now, this really talks about how important it is for India that is seen as the biggest counter to China in the region to actually have those carriers in its arsenal. The chief guest of the occasion was Indian Prime Minister, Modi, and here's what he had to say from one of the southern cities in India.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NARENDRA MODI, INDIAN PRIME MINISTER: Speaking in a foreign language.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the past, in the Indian Pacific region and the Indian Ocean, security has been neglected. But now this region is a major security priority for us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SUD: In terms of the QUAD, which is an informal alliance of Australia, Japan, India, and America, they're going to be a happy lot came at this point because they have a carrier that India has to offer in the Indian Ocean region. This is going to be seen as a counter to China's mission, China's expansion in the region, and this is something that perhaps will give India a more important role to play in the Indo- Pacific region as well.
Now, what we need to know at this point is it's going to take another 15 months for this aircraft carrier to actually be operational in the region. It's going to take a few more sorties in terms of the aircraft carriers, and that the sea trials, while they're on, will take as long as I just mentioned. But this is definitely a red letter day for India and the waiting for that aircraft carrier the, second in the Navy's arsenal, to actually get into the waters and continue with the sea trials, Kim.
BRUNHUBER: Interesting. All right, thanks so much, Vedika Sud in Delhi. Appreciate it.
And thank you for joining us, I'm Kim Brunhuber. "WORLD SPORT" is up next.
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