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Ron DeSantis to Announce his Presidential Bid via Twitter; Counter-terrorism Operation in Belgorod is Over; Mawar Pummels Guam; Search for the disappearance of Madeleine McCann Resumes after a Bad Weather; India Reintroduces Cheetahs to Avoid Future Extinction; Grandmother and her Grandson Completes Tour of 63 U.S. National Parks. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired May 24, 2023 - 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)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead on "CNN Newsroom," plenty of new twists in the 2024 race for the White House. Ron DeSantis has chosen an interesting way to announce his candidacy, while Donald Trump will likely be facing a criminal trial right in the middle of a critical primary month.

A monster storm is barreling down on Guam right now. The island is bracing for torrential rain, life-threatening storm surge and 165 mile an hour winds from typhoon Marwa.

Plus Grandma Joy's road trip, we will speak to the 93-year old woman who just visited all 63 U.S. National Parks, the oldest living person ever to do it and the grandson who went with her on this wild adventure.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Good to have you with us. Well, Republican Ron DeSantis will kick off his presidential campaign in the hours ahead but not in typical fashion. The Florida governor will make the announcement during a conversation with Twitter owner, Elon Musk, on the site's audio platform Twitter Spaces.

Musk says there will be real-time questions and answers, unscripted, and stressed that he is not making an endorsement yet. DeSantis has seen his standing slip in recent weeks but he's still widely considered the most formidable challenger to Donald Trump ahead of the primary and we're hearing the former president intends to turn up the heat on DeSantis, which is not a huge surprise. Trump has been on the offensive for weeks now and his team has reason to expect his campaign attacks to work or in this case work again.

CNN's Randi Kaye explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: The poll just came out and I'm tied with Jeb Bush, and I said, oh, that's too bad. How can I be tied with this guy? He's terrible. He's terrible.

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): That was Donald Trump in 2015. This was Donald Trump more recently.

TRUMP: The problem with Ron DeSanctimonious is that he needs a personality transplant and those are not yet available.

KAYE (voice-over): Familiar tactics, but two very different opponents.

DOUG HEYE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Jeb Bush and Ron DeSantis are light years apart from each other, even though they had the same job.

KAYE (voice-over): That same job now means Donald Trump would have to dismiss yet another Florida governor if he wants to make it back to the White House. But what worked on Jeb Bush --

TRUMP: Jeb Bush is a low energy person. Very, very low energy, so low energy that every time you watch him you fall asleep. Jeb is a nice person. He's very low energy. I'm not used to that kind of a person.

HEYE: We know that low energy Jeb is something that really stuck with Republican primary voters.

KAYE (voice-over): -- may or may not work on Ron DeSantis.

TRUMP: Rhino Ron DeSanctimonious. I'm leading DeSanctimonious by a lot. Today, I'm the leader of DeSanctimonious.

HEYE: Once Donald Trump had Jeb Bush in his sights, you could see just the slow death march of the campaign.

JEB BUSH (R-FL), FORMER FLORIDA GOVERNOR: Please clap.

(APPLAUSE)

HEYE: Ron DeSantis has that attitude that's very Trumpian. He's not going to not just back down from a fight, he picks fights.

KAYE (voice-over): DeSantis is 44 and still governing, while Bush was 62 when he ran against Trump and had been out of office for eight years.

(on-camera): And Bush was a more traditional candidate, part of a political dynasty. DeSantis is pitching himself as a fresh face and leader on the front lines of the culture wars. DeSantis is also still riding high from a 19-point gubernatorial victory here in Florida.

SUSAN MCMANUS, FLORIDA POLITICAL ANALYST: So far, he sees DeSantis as more challenging than he did Bush. Trump is laser focused on DeSantis because he does have DeSantis has the highest name recognition, he's been able to raise big money, get some good endorsements, had major policy accomplishments.

KAYE (voice-over): Florida political analyst Susan McManus says this time around Trump does have the advantage of a new angle, taking credit for DeSantis' rise.

MCMANUS: Every single day, Trump reminds whatever audience he's speaking to that he was responsible for DeSantis' election to governor.

[03:05:00]

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): Welcome to Florida, Mr. President.

HEYE: It's one of the skills that Donald Trump has is that he's able to find a candidate's weakness and he's able to exploit it really well.

TRUMP: Ron's foreign ship was a total bomb.

KAYE (voice-over): Exploiting DeSantis' weaknesses may be tougher. He doesn't have the family legacy Bush had, nor does he come from money. DeSantis grew up middle class in a suburb of Tampa Bay. His father installed TV equipment for Nielsen and his mother was a nurse. In the end, Republican strategist Doug Heye says DeSantis will need to take on Trump directly.

HEYE: Ron DeSantis has really positioned himself to be the heir apparent to Donald Trump. The challenge for DeSantis is Trump is not ready to leave the stage. And until that happens, you're not going to beat Donald Trump by going around him. You've got to confront Donald Trump head on.

TRUMP: Make America great again, that's what we want.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Donald Trump's criminal trial for allegedly falsifying business records will start on March 25th of next year, right in the middle of presidential primary season. Trump appeared by video link in a New York courtroom Tuesday for a hearing on what he can and can't say publicly about the case. The former president has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts. The case revolves around payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about their alleged affair.

Trump's legal team is requesting a meeting with U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to discuss what they call the ongoing injustice being perpetrated by the special counsel. CNN has reported that Jack Smith is close to wrapping up his investigation into Trump's handling of classified documents and possible obstruction. He's also looking into the former president's role in the January 6th Capitol insurrection.

Well, the man accused of crashing a truck into security barriers near the White House will be in court in the coming hours. 19-year-old Sai Kandula has been arrested and charged in federal court with depredation of property in excess of $1,000. Court documents reveal he threatened to quote, "kill the president," while praising Adolf Hitler after his arrest. The suspect told police he had been planning the attack for six months. He's being held without bail, and has not entered a plea yet.

Another state has moved to restrict women's reproductive rights. South Carolina's Senate on Tuesday approved a bill that would ban most abortions in the state as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. It passed by a vote of 27 to 19. The controversial legislation now heads to Governor Henry McMaster's desk to be signed into law. McMaster tweeted, he looks forward to signing it as soon as possible.

It has been one year since the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, where a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers. U.S. President Joe Biden will mark the somber day in the coming hours with remarks from the White House. He will remember the victims and reiterate his call for Republican lawmakers to take action to stop gun violence. Meanwhile, Texas will hold a moment of silence and lower state flags to half-staff in honor of the victims.

Officials in Russia's border region of Belgorod say a counter- terrorism operation is over, following a rare ground attack by anti- Putin Russian fighters. Despite reports of new fighting Tuesday, the regional governor says there were no new incursions, but that a car was damaged by an explosive device dropped from a drone. Russia's Defense Ministry is now claiming to have killed dozens of anti-Putin fighters and pushing the remainder back into Ukrainian territory.

CNN's Salma Abdelaziz joins me now live from London. So Salma, how is Russia dealing with this attack in Belgorod? What's been the response?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Russian officials have described this very rare, very brazen cross-border land attack as one of deep concern. They launched, as you mentioned, these counter-terror operations.

They bust all civilians essentially out of the area. You can see footage, or the Russian Defense Ministry rather, provided footage of what appeared to be strikes on, again, what Russian officials called saboteurs.

Moscow directly blamed Ukraine for this attack, saying these were Ukrainian fighters on the ground that had raided again across the border into this region of Belgorod.

[03:09:54]

But, there are two groups, two Russian national groups, backed by Kyiv's defense forces that have claimed responsibility for the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Freedom of Russia Legion. They say they've taken up arms against President Putin, against Russia, siding with Ukraine.

Now, Kyiv has distanced itself from this group, saying it operates independently, regardless of where these murky claims of responsibility lie. It does have, of course, an impact. Take a listen to how a spokesperson for the Freedom of Russia Legion, one of these groups, described their motivation behind the raid. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEXEI BARANOVSKY, SPOKESPERSON, FREEDOM OF RUSSIA LEGION (through translator): The situation in Belgorod has been going on for some time, and we see it draws huge attention. Therefore, Russia will be forced to bring reinforcements from other parts of the front line.

If they move any units from the Ukrainian front line, it will make things easier for Ukraine to advance in the counteroffensive and liberate its territory. This is one of the tactical goals. We are united with Ukraine in our fight against Putin's aggression. Ukrainians are liberating their lands, and we are beginning to liberate ours.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: So, as you heard there, one of the objectives was essentially to stretch Russia's resources, to stretch Russia's military, even further, cause them to spread out, have to respond to this attack in Belgorod, pulling them away from critical places like Bakhmut, especially ahead of this expected Ukrainian counteroffensive. I think the other objective here is quite clear, Rosemary, it was to embarrass Moscow, to violate its border, to show a moment of weakness there.

I think the next thing to watch out for, this counterterrorism operation is now over according to Russian officials the area secured, but the next thing really to watch out for here is Kyiv's allies next steps. Remember that NATO the United States have been very reticent to engage Russia directly on Russian territory so the question is, is this a one and done or will we see more of these brazen attacks.

CHURCH: All right thanks for staying on top of this. Salma Abdelaziz, joining us live from London, many thanks.

Well with Russia seemingly in control of Bakhmut, the big question now is when Ukraine's widely expected counter-offensive will come? And for now, Ukrainian forces are finding success with unusual hit-and-run tactics against Russian targets in the eastern part of the country.

CNN's Nic Robertson got to see some of those tactics first hand.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): Everything about this attack is unconventional. A 1950s anti-aircraft gun fired flat and the drone operator next to it guiding the shots, old and new, fused as one. The target, a Russian base a mile away beneath two white towers, easy for the drone to see, becoming an easier shot for the gunner.

We learned how to fire this ancient cast iron gun from hidden positions, callsign Al says. They broadcast the video on our tablet and we can see where we hit. It allows us to aim very fast and precisely. (on-camera); It's real shoot and scoot stuff. They have been on the

position less than five minutes. They are getting out before the Russians can get a bearing on them and fire back.

(voice-over): Nearby, a smaller gun, more improvisation, more shoot and scoot. For much of Ukraine's long front lines, hit and run is how troops probe for Russian weaknesses and an opening for the long- expected counteroffensive.

GEORGIY KUPARASHVILI, 3RD ASSAULT BRIGADE OFFICER: It's not like just, hey, we're going. No. It's got to be a specific time where all the situation is good and we have advantage for it.

ROBERTSON (on-camera): Do you feel that's close?

KUPARASHVILI: Yes. Yes, definitely.

ROBERTSON: How close?

KUPARASHVILI: It's pretty close.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): It's what commanders have been saying for a while. Reality, right now it's cat-and-mouse, hiding, waiting, watching.

KUPARASHVILI: Russians understand that we will concentrate our forces. They try to hit us much so we, you know, not to gather this, not to accumulate the forces. But on daily basis, we have all information, changes in the tactics, changes in the operations, changes in the situation.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): The lessons of Ukraine's recent small gains around Bakhmut. Russia regroups fast, steps up shelling, rapidly reinforces with troops from other front lines, meaning smaller attacks can create opportunity.

(on-camera): When the big counteroffensive comes, the Ukrainians will need to muster as much firepower as they can, even old equipment like this, to put down the Russians before they can send their own troops in.

[03:15:00]

(voice-over): Only smartly used, sustained and overwhelming force will win. And even then there is no guarantee.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Eastern Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: China's new ambassador to the United States arrived in New York on Tuesday amid a tumultuous period for the relationship between Washington and Beijing. One of Ambassador Xie Feng's main goals is to improve those relations which he says are facing serious difficulties and challenges. He laid out Beijing's expectations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

XIE FENG, CHINESE AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S.: We hope that the United States will move in the same direction with China. We hope that the United States will work together with China to increase dialogue, to manage differences, and also to expand our cooperation so that our relationship will be back to the right track.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The US-China relationship has been increasingly strained over a range of issues including Taiwan, the Chinese balloon shot down over the United States and China's ties with Russia.

Still to come, heavy rain and winds are lashing Guam. As Typhoon Marwa closes in, we will head to CNN's Weather Center for the latest update.

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[03:20:00]

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CHURCH: A flash flood warning has been issued for the entire island of Guam as Typhoon Mawar edges closer to the U.S. Pacific territory. It's expected to make landfall next hour and its outer bands have already been battering the island with heavy rain and strong winds.

CNN meteorologist Britley Ritz is in the weather center and CNN's Kristie Lu Stout joins us live from Hong Kong. Good to see you both.

So, Britley, let's head to you first for an update on what is happening with Typhoon Mawar and what you're seeing.

BRITLEY RITZ, CNN METEOROLOGIST: The latest advisory just came out from the National Weather Service in Guam and they have indicated that the center of the low, which you can kind of see the eye redevelop, is just 30 miles north-northeast of Guam. So if that's the case then the northerly track starts to take hold. And with that being said, some of the stronger winds would then come toward the southern part of the island of Rota and the heaviest rains would stay right over Guam.

Right now the strongest of the winds, again, around that center, 140 mph, it is crawling at 6 mph. The slowing of that system also plays a big role in how much rain we are about to get, which I'll talk about here in just a minute.

The line, don't pay attention to that. I want you to pay attention to the cone. There's still wiggle room with the storm. Each wobble plays a big role in where this storm will actually make landfall. But what this northerly track does is bring storm surge down on the easterly side of the island and brings it up on the westerly side because of that northerly shift, we get more of an onshore flow wrapping around the island.

So the totals now for storm surge on the westerly side up to one to four feet, still roughly above 20 feet in some cases on the easterly side of the island, but will likely see that lesson a bit. No further update yet from the National Weather Service in Guam. We've lost some of our sensors. Notice Anderson Air Force Base gone. We can't even give you a wind reading, but gusts over near where the radar was at over 90 miles per hour. We've also lost radar data. That's how quickly conditions are deteriorating.

Again, I mentioned some of the heaviest of the rain moving into the southern part of the island. That will finally start to taper back here within the next 72 hours, but within the next five days, even a little bit of rain on saturated grounds. We're talking about 10 plus inches, nearly 20 inches in some locations, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Unbelievable. And Kristie, what is happening right now in Guam as the population deals with this approaching typhoon and the bad weather that's coming with it?

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, conditions are worsening. Mawar is bearing down on the U.S. territory of Guam right now, and it is expect to bring this triple threat of devastation. Those are the words that we heard from the U.S. National Weather Service of Guam. That triple threat is essentially torrential rain, catastrophic winds, storm surge that will pose a major risk to life and property, especially in these vulnerable coastal areas.

Up to 70 percent of the foliage of the island could be ripped away. Power, water may be unavailable for days or even longer. And a flash flood warning is in effect for the entire island. On Tuesday, Guam entered this condition of Readiness I or Core I. The governor, he urged the island's residents, some over 150,000 people, to stay indoors.

I want to bring up a statement from the office of the governor. It said this, quote, "The community is advised to remain indoors until Core IV is announced. All residents in low-lying, flood-prone and coastal areas are ordered to evacuate and seek shelter in private residences or designated government shelters in higher elevation no later than 6 p.m. on May the 23rd." That's Tuesday.

Now, the U.S. military in Guam is also prepared, with all personnel instructed to shelter in place. The International Airport in Guam has also been affected. We can show you the website. You can see dozens of flights have been canceled or delayed. A number of visitors and residents who perhaps had plans to travel, they can't. They are now stranded. They will have to wait and sit through the storm. Now, help is on standby.

We know that the U.S. President Joe Biden has already issued an emergency declaration for Guam. And even before the storm's arrival, the U.S. National Guard said that they are always ready, always there. Back to you, Rosemary.

CHURCH: All right. Many thanks to Kristie Lu-Stout for that. I Appreciate it.

[03:24:55] Well still to come, new details from police on why they've returned to a reservoir in Portugal to search for clues of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Inflation in the U.K. is now below 10 percent for the first time since last August. New government figures put the April inflation rate at 8.7 percent. Still, economists had expected a more significant drop and widely expect more interest rate hikes from the central bank to bring inflation under control. The drop was driven in part by lower gas and electricity prices, but food prices continued to rise last month.

[03:30:00]

Well, the search for new evidence in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann is expected to resume today. Heavy rain and wind forced crews to postpone their work Tuesday in southern Portugal. A police source in Germany told CNN Portugal that pictures of the reservoir investigators are searching were found on a computer belonging to suspect Christian Bruckner. Madeleine McCann vanished in 2007 during a family vacation in Portugal. She was just three years old at the time.

And CNN's Scott McLean is live in London, he joins us now. So, Scott what more are police saying about why they've returned to this reservoir to search for clues in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Rosemary. We don't have the full picture here, but we are getting bits and pieces of it. And part of the puzzle appears to be that there were photos, as you mentioned, on the prime suspect's computer, Christian Bruckner, a convicted sex offender in his mid-40s of this dam and reservoir area, which may have led investigators back to this spot.

He apparently spent a lot of time at this reservoir area at the time he lived in Portugal, which was the same time that Madeleine McCann went missing, and apparently he called it his paradise. But we're talking about a very vast area, a sort of scrubland area that stretches on for quite a large ways, quite kilometers and kilometers.

And so, on the surface, it seems like this might be a needle in a haystack, but our colleagues at CNN Portugal say that police have said that they are searching a very defined area of this reservoir or the land around this reservoir based on what investigators in Germany looking into this man have told them.

The search method as well is quite interesting. You can see that there are police there sort of standing in a line, a dozen or more of them from what I -- from what I've counted, and they're prodding the ground there with polls. And so, that might indicate that whatever it is that they're looking for might be hard and buried just under the surface, but we don't know for sure.

Authorities have reported that they found something. According to our colleagues at CNN Portugal, they found some material that will be analyzed by experts, but we don't know precisely what that is. We also heard from the prosecutor in Germany yesterday, who is working on this case, who insists that the search efforts at this area are not in vain.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HANS CHRISTIAN WOLTERS, GERMAN PROSECUTOR (through translator): The measures in Portugal are related to the Madeleine McCann case. This means that we are investigating there in Portugal on the basis of certain indications. I cannot disclose the background at the moment why we are searching there and what we hope to find. That is to remain our secret for the moment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCLEAN: So, Rosemary, there are also boats on site, there are divers on site as well, but we understand from our colleagues that neither of those have actually been used as part of the search. So far, it remains concentrated on land. Rosemary?

CHURCH: Such a sad story. Scott McLean joining us live from London, many thanks.

Still to come, an ambitious program to reintroduce cheaters in India for the first time in more than 70 years has gotten off to a rough start. We'll explain.

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[03:35:00]

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CHURCH: One of the four cubs born to a Namibian cheetah relocated to India as part of a reintroduction program died on Tuesday. Forest Department officials say the cub is believed to have died due to weakness. It was the fourth cub to die in nearly two months.

CNN's Ivan Watson has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A sight not seen in India for more than 70 years, a litter of cheetah cubs born nearly two months ago to Siyaya. She is one of eight Namibian cheetahs brought last year to India's Kuno National Park. Hunting and habitat loss led to the extinction of cheetahs in India in 1952. But a plan decades in the making is returning these fast felines to India.

Last September three males and five females made the long journey. The arrival of the cheetahs coincided with the birthday of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi who celebrated their release into a special quarantine zone.

NARENDRA MODI, INDIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Today, the cheetah has returned to the Indian soil and I would also say that along with this cheetahs, the nature-loving consciousness of India has also been awakened with full force.

WATSON (voice-over): In February, authorities shipped a second group of 12 additional cheetahs from South Africa to India.

Veterinary wildlife specialist and associate professor Adrian Tordiffe helped choose the best cats for the move.

ADRIAN TORDIFFE, VETERINARY WILDLIFE SPECIALIST: There are a few criteria that we were interested in. One, we wanted young animals, obviously, a certain sex ratio of the animals that are going. And then we also wanted to make sure, because they're going into areas where there's quite a high leopard density, we wanted animals that are really quite wild and very used to being with other large carnivores, lions, leopards, and so on.

WATSON (voice-over): For wild animals like these, a journey of up to 20 hours can induce high levels of stress. And then successful acclimatization is not guaranteed.

[03:40:00]

In recent weeks, four of the cheetahs have passed away, including one of the cubs.

TORDIFFE: In terms of the numbers, this is definitely better than expected.

WATSON (voice-over): Some experts have criticized the project from the start.

RAVI CHELLAM, WILDLIFE BIOLOGIST: My problem is the science is inadequate. The preparations are half-baked. India just does not have the space. How do we do? Do right, go back to the drawing board, secure the habitats.

WATSON (voice-over): These big cats have a long history in India. They're mentioned in ancient Sanskrit texts, and Indian royalty used them for hunting for centuries.

The Indian government now plans to introduce 50 more of these big cats over the next five years. The dream behind this high stakes project for these wild animals to once again run free in India.

Ivan Watson, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And thanks for joining us, I'm Rosemary Church. For our international viewers, "Marketplace Europe" is next. And for our viewers here in the United States and in Canada, I'll be back with more "CNN Newsroom" after a short break.

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[03:45:00]

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CHURCH: A new study finds global warming may be affecting us in a very surprising way by causing us to lose sleep. Researchers looked at almost 50,000 adults in nearly 70 countries and found notable changes in the length of time people are sleeping as overnight temperatures rise. They estimate we are already losing 44 hours of sleep per year on average and by the end of the century that number could grow almost 60 hours.

Joining me now is Kelton Minor, the co-author of this study and research scientist at Columbia University's Data Science Institute. Thanks so much for being with us.

KELTON MINOR, RESEARCH SCIENTIST, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY DATA SCIENCE INSTITUTE: Thanks so much for having me, Rosemary.

CHURCH: So for many people, of course, sleep can prove elusive, especially for those who work the overnight shift. So how is a warming planet adding to that problem of getting a good night's sleep?

MINOR: Yeah, so we all know just from personal experience that sound and sufficient slumber is really critical for our human functioning and well-being.

And what people typically don't know is that nighttime temperatures have been outpacing the rise in daytime temperatures across most regions globally in the recent record.

And what we found through our global scale sleep study was that as nighttime temperatures become hotter, people slept less. And this really was consistent across the global temperature distribution with hotter temperatures needing to progressively greater sleep loss per person.

CHURCH: Now, your study estimates that people are already losing an average of 44 hours of sleep per year, and you also estimate that number could rise to around 58 hours by 2099. How did you come up with that number of lost sleep hours, and how do you know it's related to the warming of the earth rather than perhaps increased problems that people are having like anxiety and depression and perhaps other factors playing into this?

MINOR: Yeah, that's really an excellent question. And there are a lot of other factors that can influence our sleep, as we know, the work week, the time of year due to seasonality.

And so, one of the really amazing things about the scale of this study, it was really unprecedented. We analyzed over seven million nighttime sleep records over a period of multiple years for over 47,000 participants.

And we were able to conduct a natural experiment to compare what happens when people were randomly exposed to unseasonably warm nights to their individual baselines, because we all sleep a little bit different.

And what we found is that that unseasonably warm nighttime heat really harms human sleep, but it does so in an unequal way. So, we found that the impacts were three times larger in lower middle income countries compared to high income countries, potentially suggesting that there are underlying disparities in adaptive amenities like air- conditioning.

And we also found, very importantly, that the elderly were over twice as impacted per degree of warming in terms of sleep loss and that females were 25 percent more impacted than males, again, suggesting that there are disparities in this hidden nocturnal burden of nighttime warming.

CHURCH: So what can we all do to counter this increasing loss of valuable sleep hours due to a warming planet?

MINOR: Yeah, so insufficient sleep is associated with many of the same adverse physical and mental health outcomes shown to increase on hot days, including reduced cognitive performance, increased risk of injury and cardiovascular risks. And so, it's really important to try to adapt and support actions that will help people to sleep better and be more resilient to nighttime heat.

Unfortunately, we didn't find much evidence that people are adapting well today. We actually found that people weren't catching up on hot sleep loss at night with additional sleep through napping, for instance. We even found that people who were already living in the hottest climate regions around the world, who we would suspect to have had time to adapt, were actually over twice as impacted per degree of warming.

[03:50:03]

And so we really need to identify and conduct additional research to help to reduce some of these disparities and ensure that we can all sleep well in a warming world.

CHURCH: And what about those people who live in very cold climates? So presumably they benefit in that instance with a warming planet. Did you do any research on that?

MINOR: Yeah, I'm glad you bring this issue up because, for instance, when we look at mortality, that's a U-shaped relationship. So when it's really cold or really hot, we find that the incidence of mortality increases on both sides. That's not what we found for sleep. Actually, across the entire global temperature distribution, we found evidence that colder nights help people to sleep better and that hotter temperatures consistently and progressively erode time slept.

Unfortunately, that also means that we see projecting into the future that a warmer world will exacerbate some of these existing geographic disparities in night time sleep loss due to temperature without further climate action to reduce those.

CHURCH: It is a fascinating study. Kelton Miner, thank you so much for joining us and sharing some of your material. I Appreciate it.

MINOR: Thanks so much for having me on.

CHURCH: America's top medical official has given an unprecedented warning about social media and mental health. The U.S. Surgeon General says social media presents a, quote, "profound risk of harm for kids." And he's putting the pressure on lawmakers and big tech companies to do something to protect children.

The Surgeon General says in a new report, there's no guarantee that social media is safe for kids of any age. And research points to the negative impacts like depression, anxiety, body image issues, eating disorders, online bullying, and low self-esteem. And here's more from the U.S. Surgeon General.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. VIVEK MURTHY, U.S. SURGEON-GENERAL: On average, teens are spending 3.5 hours a day on social media. That's on average. That means many kids are spending much longer than that. But the key point is that the data also shows when kids are spending more than three hours on average, that they face nearly double the risk, increased risk of depression and anxiety symptoms. That's really profound.

And, you know, there are more concerning facets here, but what we have to understand from all of this is that it is urgent that we take action, to protect our kids and to make sure that their experience on social media is safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The report says 95 percent of 13 to 17 year olds in the U.S. use social media. More than one third of them say they use it, quote, "almost constantly." And despite age limits on most social media, nearly 40 percent of 8 to 12 year olds use it too.

Here's a happy story. A 93-year old woman has proved nothing is impossible after traveling to all 63 U.S. National Parks with her grandson Brad. Joy and Brad Ryan have stood on glaciers, watched the sun on the desert horizon, splashed in the ocean, and made a lifetime of memories while hiking through parks across the United States.

Grandma Joy and Brad have been traveling for nearly eight years, yes. But they already know where they want to go next. They received certificates at their last stop in American Samoa.

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BRAD RYAN, GRANDSON WHO VISITED 63 U.S. NATIONAL PARKS: Grandma, 63.

JOY RYAN, GRANDMOTHER WHO VISITED 63 U.S. NATIONAL PARKS: Yep. 63.

UNKNOWN: Congratulations.

B. RYAN: Thank you so much.

UNKNOWN: So this is the National Park quarter for American Samoa.

J. RYAN: Oh, my heaven.

UNKNOWN: Yeah. There you go.

J. RYAN: Oh, thank you.

B. RYAN: Thank you, Jessica.

UNKNOWN: You're welcome.

J. RYAN: This is just like Christmas. It is like Christmas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And I asked them earlier, what prompted them to undertake this expedition.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

B. RYAN: I knew that she had this hunger for life, this thirst for adventure that had never really come to fruition. She'd been stuck in her little town in Duncan Falls, Ohio for 85 years, and it was time for her to live the life she always dreamed of.

CHURCH: It is a wonderful story. And Joy, what did you think when your grandson said he wanted to take you on this quest to complete a full circuit of every U.S. National Park and make history because not every grandson would want to do that?

J. RYAN: Well, I thought he'd lost his mind, to begin with. But I decided, well, I'll just give it a whirl, back the suitcase and away we'll go.

CHURCH: I love it. And Brad, it doesn't end there, of course. What is your next quest with your grandma?

[03:54:54]

B. RYAN: Well, we've already landed on a glacier in Alaska in front of Mount Denali, which is the largest summit in all of North America. We're headed to Kenya in July. We're gonna see Mount Kilimanjaro. So, I wanna take her to the seven continents. For the person that never saw a mountain, I figure we should see the seven tallest mountains in the world. Seems like a smaller, more manageable number than 63.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Two wonderful people. If you want to see that whole interview, you can go to my Twitter account @RosemarieCNN. And if you want to follow Joy and Brad Ryan on their next adventure, you can follow their Instagram page, Grandma Joy's Road Trip. Do check it out.

And thanks so much for your company. I'm Rosemary Church. Have yourselves a wonderful day. "CNN Newsroom" continues with Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo, next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)