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NGOs Criticize Greek Authorities for Not Launching Rescue Mission Until Too Late; Ukraine Pushing for Fighter Jets; Ukrainian Drone Unit Attacks Russian Positions; At Least 15 Dead after Bus and Truck Collide; Boris Johnson: Report is 'Rubbish' and a 'Charade'; Breach Blamed on Russian Hacking Group; Justice Department to Investigate New Golf Merger; Record High Temperatures in Early June. Aired 12-12:45a ET

Aired June 16, 2023 - 00:00   ET

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

JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Ahead here on CNN, the boat was unsafe, overcrowded, not a life vest to be seen. So why didn't the Greek Coast Guard move sooner to rescue the hundreds of migrants who are now feared to have drowned?

[00:00:45]

Slow and unsteady. Ukraine's counteroffensive grinds on, with NATO allies moving one step closer to agreeing to Ukrainian requests for F- 16 fighter jets.

Smashing records and baking the planet. From the warmer start to June to the record-high ocean temperatures, the climate crisis is now.

ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with John Vause.

VAUSE: Thanks for joining us here for CNN NEWSROOM.

In the hours before a migrant boat capsized and sank off the coast of Greece, the Greek Coast Guard took this aerial photograph. What is clear to anyone is that the boat looks battered and dangerously overloaded with no one on the upper or lower outer decks appearing to be wearing a lifejacket.

It's hard to see any women and children in this photo. Most are believed to have been traveling in the cargo hold. The U.N. says at least 40 children were on board.

Either before or after that photo was taken, the captain abandoned ship, and then hours later, the engines are believed to have stalled in high seas. The boat capsized and sank.

Before that, the Greek Coast Guard shadowed the boat for hours. Greek authorities say attempts to render assistance were rebuffed by those on board, and because they were in international waters, there was little they could do.

But that just doesn't ring true to many maritime legal experts, who point out search and rescue does not require consent. Knowing the boat was unsafe, the Greek Coast Guard was legally required, under maritime law, to attempt a rescue, regardless of what the passengers did or did not want.

As many as 750 people were on that boat; 104 survived. Right now, they're being kept in a dockside warehouse and will eventually transferred to a facility in Athens. Many are said to be in shock, deeply traumatized. They're asking about their children.

The leader of the Greek opposition blamed Europe's immigration policies for causing so much needless heartache and death.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEXIS TSIPRAS, GREEK OPPOSITION LEADER (through translator): I want to say that, unfortunately, in this Europe, where great ideas and great values are the life that we're born (ph), human life does not have the same worth for everyone. I want to say there are huge political responsibilities with the migration policy that Europe has been following for years. A migration policy that turns Mediterranean, our seas, into watery graves. And I think that it is time to speak the truth, because this policy has to change.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: CNN's Melissa Bell is in the Greek port city Kalamata and has our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's the biggest rescue operation they've ever undertaken, said Greek authorities. But far too little, far too late, say several of the NGOs who patrol the Mediterranean Sea. Now the deadliest migrant crossing in the world.

The boat, here hours before it sank, the Greek Coast Guard says refused help. Greek authorities say that it took just 10 to 15 minutes for it to sink. Only 104 people survived.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): All women died, all children died. Because women stay all in one room, it was so impossible they would survive. Impossible. So difficult. All women and their children died.

BELL (voice-over): Those who did make it out alive say the boat may have carried up to 750 people. Only 78 bodies so far have been found.

Among the missing, the young wife and brother-in-law of Kassam al-Azid (ph), a Syrian who's lived in Germany for seven years. His friend says they paid $5,000 per person to be smuggled to Europe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Five thousand dollars for a quick death.

BELL (voice-over): At least 40 children were on the vessel, the U.N. says. And as the search for bodies continues, there are questions about how long it took to send help. The boat started out from Libya, heading towards Italy, and called for

assistance Tuesday afternoon, one charity said. It claims the authorities had hours to reach the vessel, but a rescue operation was, quote, "not launched" until it was too late.

GIORGIA LINARDI, SPOKESPERSON, SEA-WATCH ITALY: This intervention did not result in a rescue, and this is the point. Even if authorities went to check on the vessel, as a matter of fact, the rescue operation was not carried out. And this is a clear duty of search-and-rescue authorities under international laws.

[00:05:16]

BELL (voice-over): Countries like Greece and Italy have long been calling for harder borders. Last week, the E.U. took another step towards a long, elusive compromise that goes in their direction.

But so far, the signals that Europe's borders are closing have done nothing to dissuade those willing to risk death in the name of life.

Melissa Bell, CNN, Kalamata in Greece.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: At least 23 people are injured as Tropical Cyclone Biparjoy batters Northwest India and parts of Pakistan. The storm is unleashing heavy rain and destructive wind after making landfall late Thursday evening, local time, in India's Gujarat state.

But far from the border -- not far, though, from the border with Pakistan.

Biparjoy has wind speeds equivalent to a strong Atlantic tropical storm and will continue to weaken as it moves further inland. The cyclone has already brought down power lines, uprooted trees in some coastal areas.

Flooding remains the biggest threat for the next 48 hours. More than 180,000 people were evacuated across India and Pakistan ahead of the storm.

Ukraine says its counteroffensive continues to liberate Russian- occupied villages and settlements and is moving forward, albeit slowly. Ukrainian commanders report more than 100,000 square kilometers -- 100 square kilometers, I should say -- in the Zaporizhzhia region has been re-taken over the last week.

Russian forces were reportedly pushed back up to a kilometer near the city of Vuhledar.

In Bakhmut, Ukraine says Russia is bringing in reinforcements after Ukrainian troops advanced three kilometers over the past ten days.

And Russia is putting up stiff resistance across the front lines, according to the Ukrainians, even trying to go on the offensive in some parts. Meantime, Ukraine is getting hundreds more missiles for its air

defenses from NATO allies who met in Brussels on Thursday. The U.S. defense secretary says helping Ukraine remains a long-term commitment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LLOYD AUSTIN, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: Ukraine's fight is a marathon, and not a sprint. So we will continue to provide Ukraine with the urgent capabilities that it needs to meet this moment, as well as what it needs to keep itself secure for the long term from Russian aggression. And make no mistake: we will stand with Ukraine for the long haul.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: David Sanger is a CNN political and national security analyst, as well as a White House and national security correspondent for "The New York Times." Good to see you.

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Great to be with you, John.

VAUSE: OK. So, depending on the day of the week, this Ukrainian counteroffensive is either going gangbusters or it's slow and steady, or it has suffered some early setbacks, with the Russians proudly displaying captured and destroyed U.S. hardware. And on that, here's the U.S. secretary of defense.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AUSTIN: I think the Russians have shown us that same five vehicles about 1,000 times from ten different angles. But, quite frankly, the Ukrainians have -- still have a lot of combat capability -- combat power.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: That power keeps flowing in. These initial reports are -- they're rarely are as good or bad as they initially sound, and we say there's some early confusion, is fairly typical?

SANGER: Well, it's all a bit hard to tell, because nothing in this war has been typical. Right? I mean, we started this war thinking, with Europeans thinking it wasn't going to happen, and then thinking the Russians would win in five days.

Then, you know, the war shifting right back down to the South and the East.

So I'm not quite sure what to compare it to, John. I would say this: that counteroffensive is across a pretty broad area. And we knew that the opening days and weeks of it would involve the Ukrainians testing to see where the Russians are weakest.

And I think that we're seeing some of that. They're going to lose some equipment, as they did. The big risk, I think, for the Ukrainians is really a political one here, in addition to the risk of the lives, of course, not to be diminished at all, those who are fighting in all of this.

But the political risk is that, having given them all of this equipment, all of this training, if that doesn't look like it's punching through, it may be difficult, in the United States and Europe, to sustain these levels of support.

VAUSE: Well, the Ukrainians say a lack of air cover and air defense is slowing their advance on the ground. And Thursday NATO moved one step closer, it seemed, to getting to the point of maybe supplying Ukraine with fighter jets. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OLEKSII REZNIKOV, UKRAINIAN DEFENSE MINISTER: Today we got the commitment of our partners that trading forces will start, and we will build up together construction of this consortium of fighter jets. It all started with the F-16, with the Netherlands and Denmark as the leaders. And other countries will join.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[00:10:09]

VAUSE: One issue with the F-16s and Ukraine is that there's a lack of airfields in Ukraine, it seems, which can actually handle the F-16s.

SANGER: That's right.

VAUSE: But besides that, I want to give you a few "ifs" here, so bear with me.

If the Ukrainian counteroffensive -- if the Ukrainians continue to defy expectations and learn how to handle this equipment much faster than first thought, as they've done so far with pretty much everything, if NATO allies can deliver F-16s and, if the counteroffensive, as many predict, drags on for a few more months and months, could we see Ukrainian pilots in F-16s, providing air cover for this counteroffensive?

SANGER: Well, I imagine you could. You know, in the United States, an F-16 pilot is, you know, a year or two of training.

But it's not just the pilots who have to go train. You have to train all of people who are going to be servicing these planes, getting them back in shape, repairing them, getting the spare parts in. So there's a whole stack of issues that come along with flying an F-16.

As one person in the Defense Department put it to me a few weeks ago, it's a little like you've had a Ford truck sitting in your driveway, and all of a sudden, you're supposed to go maintain a fleet of Ferraris. So that's going to be, I think, the gating issue.

VAUSE: Now for something totally different, a delegation of leaders from African nations, from Senegal, Uganda, Egypt, Republic of Congo, Zambia, and South Africa expected in Kyiv later Friday and then St. Petersburg on Saturday.

They're presenting this peace initiative. So, apart from good intentions, do they have any leverage here to try and get concessions from either side to try and get them to sit down and begin talking?

SANGER: They don't have leverage. The fundamental problem here is not simply that you need peace agreements, but that President Zelenskyy has to make a fundamental decision about whether he is going to declare outright, as he has so far, that no peace agreement could be reached, as long as Russians are on his territory.

And Russians were on his territory before the invasion, as well. But -- and the question is does he include Crimea, you know, in that defamation, as well as the areas that have been attacked since February of last year.

So it's not just, oh, let's propose a peace agreement. It's, what do those terms look like? And frankly, while the counteroffensive is underway, I don't see a motivation for either side, John, to want to necessarily come to the bargaining table.

VAUSE: Good point. David, as always, great to have you with us. We really appreciate it.

SANGER: Great to be with you, John.

VAUSE: Never before have drones played such a major and critical role in a conflict. Both Ukraine and Russia have used them for both attacks and reconnaissance.

CNN was given exclusive access to an elite drone unit with the Ukrainian military as it attacked a Russian position along the Southern front lines.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen has our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): A 3-D-printed stabilizer fine, some plumbing tubing, lots of glue, and the bomb is ready.

Then it's night-vision goggles on, lights off, and full speed ahead to the front line.

We're with an elite drone unit of Ukraine's security service, SPU, as and the patrol police, looking to take out a key Russian anti-tank position with a precision strike.

"We found this target only recently," a team leader says. "It was discovered literally today, and today it will be destroyed."

PLEITGEN: We're going to the drone launch site right now. It's obviously extremely dangerous, and we have to watch out that the Russians don't see us. PLEITGEN (voice-over): Speed and precision are essential. The drone: a

quadro-copter on steroids, able to carry a massive payload, up to 45 pounds. In this case, a mortar shell the Ukrainians say they got from retreating Russian forces elsewhere and are now using to hit Putin's army.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now we finished our preparing.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The bomb is ready. And ready to go.

PLEITGEN: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ready, steady.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): It's big, it's loud, and it's heading straight to the Russian position.

We need to hide. Out here, the hunters quickly become the hunted.

PLEITGEN: So for the Russians, the drone crews are also high-value targets. Obviously, the Russians want nothing more than to kill these guys.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): Unfazed by the showing around us, the pilot flies straight to the target and releases the bomb.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

[00:15:04]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This moment we call from Ukraine --

PLEITGEN: So you just dropped the bomb?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): This is what the blast looks like from the drone's camera. Pitch black, the strike fully automated. It's not until daytime that a reconnaissance flight proves they've hit and destroyed the target. Not clear how many Russians were killed and wounded here.

"This will allow the defense forces of Ukraine to move forward and continue the offensive," he says. "With minimal losses, we'll inflict maximum losses on the enemy for the victory of Ukraine."

But it's not over, as they UAV flies back, intercepted text messages show the Russians have heard the drone and are targeting it. "Enemy bird spotted," a Russian text. "Understood," another answers.

They launch flares to spot the drone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

PLEITGEN: Are they shooting those up to see the drone? Or why?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They cannot see the drone, but they should force us out.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): Finally, the drone makes it back. They need to get out of here fast.

PLEITGEN: Can we follow you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, let's go. Follow me.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): After what they say was a successful mission, the drone warriors leave exactly the way they came.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, in Southeastern Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: The fighting in Sudan is now into its third month, with no end in sight. More than 2,000 people are believed to have been killed, and the U.N. reports most hospitals near the conflict areas are out of service.

Doctors Without Borders described the capital of Khartoum as profoundly chaotic and a violent situation that almost defies comparison.

Fighting broke out in April between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. In an exclusive report, CNN's Nima Elbagir reports how the notorious Russian mercenary group Wagner is involved in the conflict in Sudan. Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The fighting on the street of Sudan is relentless. Cease-fire after cease- fire has not held.

The RSF's key ally, the notorious Russian mercenary group Wagner, has been sustaining their fight and providing the impetus to slaughter innocent people by supplying arms. We're going to show you how.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Nima's full report airs later Friday, 3 p.m. in London. That's 4 in the afternoon in Khartoum. You'll see it only here on CNN.

When we come back, a collision on the Trans-Canada Highway turns into one of the country's worst mass casualty traffic events. Police are investigating how and why a semi-trailer crashed into a bus filled with seniors.

Also ahead, a damning new report has dropped, finding Boris Johnson deliberately lied about illegal lockdown parties during COVID, but it seems there will be few consequences for the man they call Bo Jo.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:20:04]

VAUSE: A town in Texas took a direct hit from a dangerous tornado Thursday afternoon, causing extensive damage. Now law enforcement and emergency crews from surrounding areas have been deployed to the region.

A fire chief there tells CNN at least three people were killed. One hospital says it's treating 50 to 100 patients hurt during the storm.

At least 15 people are dead, ten injured after a semi-trailer collided with a bus carrying senior citizens at a level crossing in rural Canada. Police in Manitoba say it's one of the worst traffic accidents ever in the province.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted, "I cannot imagine the pain that those affected are feeling, but Canadians are here for you."

CNN's Paula Newton has details, reporting in from Ottawa.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Police officials were clear to say this was no local accident. In fact, they say that so many people are still reeling from what has become now a national tragedy.

What we know. We know that a group of seniors, about 25 of them, were traveling on about a two-hour drive on a bus to go to a casino in Manitoba.

That casino, Sand Hills, confirms to CNN that they were supposed to be there throughout the afternoon. That bus approached a four-lane highway and, in attempting to cross it, was hit by a large tractor trailer, a large truck.

Apparently, the accident scene for miles, there was smoke billowing, flames. People rushed to the scene and attempted to help those who are there. But people described a very grim scene with so many people having to be triaged there by the side of the highway.

I want you to listen now to the police official describing what it's going to take now to try and figure out exactly why this happened. Listen.

SUPERINTENDENT ROB LASSON, MANITOBA RCMP: So this is new for us and our investigators, and it's very emotionally draining for them, as well. And as I mentioned, this is a very complex, large investigation with lots of things we have to unfold and unpack.

NEWTON (voice-over): Police say a forensic reconstruction team will be on the scene to try and figure out what happened. You have to remember that, witnesses say that the skies were blue, the road was dry. There really isn't an explanation so far. They also said a couple of other interesting things. They say that

perhaps there was a stop sign missing there at the intersection. Police would speculate, but they say that it's something that they're investigating.

And also, crucially, that the two drivers have survived, and while they are injured, police will speak to them when it's time. And in fact, hospital officials say that they still do not have a status report on those injured.

Paula Newton, CNN, Ottawa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Pope Francis is expected to be discharged from a Rome hospital in the coming hours. These are the first photos of the pontiff released by the Vatican since his abdominal surgery last week.

During a visit to the children's cancer ward at the hospital, he greeted patients, parents, and medical staff. The Vatican says this was the third time the pontiff has visited the ward.

Britain's disgraced former prime minister has described a Parliamentary committee as a kangaroo court after its investigation found he lied about Party-gate.

The report says Boris Johnson knowingly deceived lawmakers when he asked -- when he was asked about Downing Street parties that violated his own government's COVID lockdown rules.

The committee is mostly made up of members of Johnson's own Conservative Party, and he called the report rubbish and a charade.

CNN's Scott McLean has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This committee was specifically looking at the question of whether or not Boris Johnson --

MCLEAN (voice-over): -- deliberately misled Parliament when he made statements like the one that he did in December of 2021, when he was asked by the leader of the opposition about a Christmas party that had taken place about a year earlier. Here's that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As millions of people were locked down last year, was a Christmas party thrown in Downing Street for dozens of people on December the 18th?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Prime Minister.

BORIS JOHNSON, FORMER BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Mister Speaker, what I could tell there, right honorable gentlemen, is that -- is that all guidance was followed completely during No. 10.

MCLEAN: The report is more than 100 pages long, and it looks at, in painstaking detail --

MCLEAN (voice-over): -- what Boris Johnson said and what he knew at the time.

The committee is made up of seven people. Four of them were actually from Boris Johnson's own party. And they looked at six events or gatherings in particular. Some of them were leaving (ph) drinks, Boris Johnson's birthday party. One of them had 200-odd people invited to it, and they were told to bring their own booze.

Ultimately, the report concludes that Boris Johnson did mislead the House when he gave, in the words of the report, "unsustainable interpretations" of the rules that he helped to write.

MCLEAN: For example, he insisted, and in some cases, continues to insist that some of these gatherings were essential for work purposes.

So, in its conclusion, the report found --

MCLEAN (voice-over): -- in part, quote, "We came to the view that some of Mr. Johnson's denials and explanations were so disingenuous that they were, by their very nature, deliberate attempts to mislead the committee and the House, while others demonstrated deliberation because of the frequency with which he closed his mind to the truth."

Johnson released his own scathing statement in response, which read, in part, "For the committee now to say that all such events, thank yous, and birthdays were intrinsically illegal is ludicrous, contrary to the intentions of those who made the rules, including me and contrary to the findings of the Met. And above all I did not, for one moment, think they were illicit at the time or when I spoke to the Commons."

MCLEAN: The report ultimately recommends that Boris Johnson be suspended as an MP for 90 days, which will likely trigger a by- election for his own seat.

All of that, though, is very much a moot point, considering that Boris Johnson resigned his seat in the House of Commons last week in anticipation of his report.

Scott McLean, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: The merger that shocked the golfing world is now facing even more scrutiny.

Ahead here on CNN, details on the investigation, which could derail the hookup between the PGA and Liv Golf.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Welcome back. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

The U.S. is assessing damage from a cyberattack Thursday which impacted several government agencies. The breach is blamed on Russian hackers, known for extorting ransom from their victims.

CNN's Natasha Bertrand has detail now, reporting in from Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Several U.S. federal government agencies have been hit in a global cyberattack in which hackers have managed to exploit a flaw in a widely-used software.

BERTRAND (voice-over): The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency told CNN on Thursday that it is, quote, "providing support to several federal agencies that have experienced intrusions affecting their MoveIt applications and is, quote, "working urgently to understand impacts and ensure timely remediation."

Now, MoveIt is a widely used file transfer software that hackers appear to have found a vulnerability in earlier this year and began exploiting in late May.

Progress, the U.S. firm that owns the MoveIt software, has now urged victims to update their software packages and has issued security advice.

Now, so far, the U.S. Department of Energy is the only federal agency to confirm publicly that it was hit, saying in a statement that records from two of its entities were compromised and that the department is investigating the incident.

[00:30:01]

BERTRAND: But look, the hackers have used the vulnerability to target not only federal agencies but also state governments and academic institutions --

BERTRAND (voice-over): -- including Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and Georgia's statewide university system.

In terms of who is behind the hack, a Russian-speaking ransomware group known as Clop last week claimed credit for some of the cyberattacks which have also affected employees of the BBC, British Airways, oil giant Shell, and state governments in Minnesota and Illinois, among others.

Now, while the Russian hackers were the first to exploit the vulnerability, experts say that other groups may now have access to software code that is needed to conduct attacks and are simply taking advantage of it.

So broadly, the new hacking campaign really shows the widespread impact that a single software flaw can have if it's exploited by these skilled criminals. And it's putting new pressure --

BERTRAND: -- on federal officials who have pledged to combat the ransomware attacks that have hobbled schools, hospitals, and local governments across the U.S. Natasha Bertrand, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: A proposed merger between the PGA Tour and Saudi-backed Liv Golf has already angered fans, outraged families of 9/11 victims, thrown loyal golf professionals under the bus, and sparked two U.S. Senate investigations.

Now "The Wall Street Journal" reports a U.S. Justice Department investigation might just scuttle the whole thing. Here's CNN's Brian Todd.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a controversial sports megadeal from the get-go, and now it could soon be the subject of a Department of Justice investigation.

"The Wall Street Journal" reports Justice has notified the PGA Tour that it will investigate the tour's planned merger with Saudi-backed Liv Golf. "The Journal" says Justice officials will be looking at antitrust concerns.

SHAN WU, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: It's the idea that, if you have, within one industry, major players that merged together, there's no longer any competition.

I mean, the whole point of the economy under our system is for people to be able to compete. So, if you have the two major entities merging with each other, they're going to suck all the oxygen out of the free competition.

TODD (voice-over): According to "The Journal," antitrust lawyers have cited comments like this from PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan who discussed why the merger would be good for the tour.

JAY MONAHAN, PGA TOUR COMMISSIONER: Ultimately to take -- take the competitor off of the board, to have them exist as a partner, not an owner.

TODD (voice-over): Last year Liv Golf succeeded in luring away top PGA players like Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau and Dustin Johnson.

It reportedly offered superstar Tiger Woods between 700 and $800 million to join, which Woods turned down.

The PGA Tour fought tooth and nail to stem Liv Golf's momentum, barring defecting players from competing in some PGA Tour events, engaging in legal disputes with the Saudi-backed tour.

What changed?

DAN RAPAPORT, GOLF JOURNALIST, "BARSTOOL SPORTS": The money won out in the end. The Saudis had way more money than the PGA Tour. The PGA Tour, I guess, came to a conclusion that they couldn't continue to fight this fight. They just didn't have the resources to continue.

TODD (voice-over): The surprise announcement of the merger last week outraged critics, who pointed out that one of America's most iconic sports entities was now teaming up with a tour, backed by a wealth fund chaired by Mohammed bin Salman, known as MBS, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, the man who U.S. intelligence said approved the operation which led to the murder and dismemberment of "Washington Post" columnist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, which bin Salman has denied.

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: Basically, the headline is "never mind." Everything we talked about, the outrage of the PGA Tour, how they spoke about the 9/11 families and their concern about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, that's all out the window. The PGA Tour has wimped out. Let's just say what it is.

TODD (voice-over): Could a Justice Department investigation kill the potential murder?

WU: Yes. A DOJ investigation like this could stop the merger. The DOJ could not approve it and say this is going to violate antitrust laws.

TODD: CNN has reached out to the Department of Justice, to the PGA Tour, and to Liv Golf, seeking comment on "The Wall Street Journal" report of an investigation. We haven't heard back.

This comes just days after two entities in the U.S. Senate -- the Finance Committee and the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations -- announced their own investigations into the merger.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Still to come, new evidence our planet is not only getting hotter, but it's also heating up much faster than expected and, yes, that's really bad news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:36:30]

VAUSE: Across the globe, the first 11 days of June, some of the highest temperatures on record for this time of year. It wasn't even close. That's according to the E.U.'s Copernicus climate change service.

It's also the first time in June that global surface air temperatures surpassed pre-industrial levels by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Other new research from the group Climate Central shows the near record heat forecast in much of Texas and Mexico has been made at least five times more likely by human-caused climate change.

Triple-digit Fahrenheit temperatures are forecast from now into next week. That's over 40 degrees Celsius. It's not even summer yet here in the Northern Hemisphere. For more of this, Leah Stokes is an environmentalist and associate

professor at the University of California in Santa Barbara. She's also the co-host of the "Matter of Degrees" -- "A Matter of Degrees" podcast.

It's good to see you. Thanks for coming in, for being with us.

LEAH STOKES, ENVIRONMENTALIST AND ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA IN SANTA BARBARA: Thank you so much for having me on, John.

VAUSE: OK. Here's a quick look at headlines. This is just in the past couple of hours, OK.

"New climate alert as 1.5 degrees Celsius global warming limit breached for the first time in nine years." Another headline, "Fears of hottest year on record as global temperatures spike." And this one, "The world just saw its hottest early June on record."

OK. So we know that the arrival of El Nino brought, you know, expectations of higher temperatures, but it seems that this is a lot hotter and a lot sooner than initially thought?

STOKES: Yes, you know, look, a chart is worth 1000 words, and some of the charts that have been circulating from scientists over the last few days are really disturbing.

You know, we're seeing temperatures in the North Atlantic that are really unusual. We're seeing areas of Canada burning in a time when the fire season has usually not even started more area has burned already for the entire year.

So, you know, these are not good signals. It suggests that we are starting to potentially push up against some really scary warming limits. Earlier than we necessarily thought that we would.

VAUSE: And so with that in mind, there's also been this dramatic rise in the average global ocean temperatures this year, which is now outpacing the past four decades from satellite observations.

Warm water has less oxygen, which leads to large-scale fish kills. Warm water causes coral bleaching. And there's no apparent reason here for this sudden surge in temperatures.

So, to your point, are we reaching that tipping point here? Are we at the point of no return yet when we have done too much damage and the debt planet cannot protect itself?

STOKES: Look, I don't think people should be hopeless. There's always more to do. The fact is that we can cut carbon pollution. How do we do that? We get off of fossil fuels.

And we started to have some policies in a lot of countries around the world that actually helped people get an electric vehicle, rather than using their gas-powered car. Get a heat pump rather than using gas to heat their homes.

So these are technologies that are available now that are often cheaper and are, quite frankly, better.

And so we are starting to see people adopt them. We need that to happen as fast as possible, because the other thing, John, that we haven't talked about yet is that scientists have rerun the numbers.

And it turns out that we really shouldn't be cutting carbon pollution and getting to zero by 2050 anymore. We need to be doing it closer to something like 2035 or 2040.

So the clock is really starting to run short, and we have to get the world off fossil fuels as fast as possible.

[00:40:04]

VAUSE: Which is pretty much what the U.N. secretary general said. He warned that we're all heading towards this global disaster, full- steam. Here he is on fossil fuels.

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ANTONIO GUTERRES, UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL: The problem is not simply fossil-fuel emissions. It's fossil fuels, period. The summation (ph) is clear. The world must phase out fossil fuels in a just and equitable way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: We're like junkies on coal and oil. We just can't give it up. Mostly because it's being subsidized, too, at such an incredible level.

It's not the cheapest form of energy on the planet anymore. So, this is what I don't understand. You know, we don't just need to phase out fossil fuels. If you want, that will just sort of get us to a neutral point. What we need to do to fight this extreme weather is negative carbon. We need to start taking carbon out of the atmosphere?

STOKES: Look, the first thing we have to do is stop burning fossil fuels. And as you said, fossil fuels are not the cheapest form of energy. There are studies from a group called Energy Innovation which shows that coal plants across the United States could be shut down tomorrow, replaced by wind and solar, and save people money.

Keeping this dirty, polluting fossil-fuel infrastructure open is not just bad for the planet. It's not just bad for public health. It's also bad for our pocketbooks.

So that's why we really need to transition off of fossil fuels as quickly as possible. And that's starting to happen. I'll tell you my house, for example, no longer uses fossil fuels to heat it, for example.

And the car in my driveway no longer uses fossil fuels. This isn't some magical thing for the future. We have the clean technologies we need today to do this.

Solar panels, electric vehicles, heat pumps. People can get access to them, and they really can help us get off of fossil fuels.

VAUSE: It is possible. It is doable, and if you can, you know, it's -- it's absolutely necessary at this point. So Leah, thanks so much for being with us.

STOKES: Thanks for having me on.

VAUSE: Always a pleasure.

Well, congratulations. Eighty-three-year-old Al Pacino, a new dad, again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AL PACINO, ACTOR: Say hello to my little friend!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Well, we'll say hello to his new son called Roman, his fourth child. Both mother, his 29-year-old girlfriend, and child are said to be doing well.

Seventy-nine-year-old Robert de Niro welcomed his seventh child last month, and he released a statement saying, "Go Al. God bless him."

God bless Al.

I'm John Vause, back at the top of the hour, more CNN NEWSROOM. First please stay with us. WORLD SPORT starts after a short break. See you back here in a little under 18 minutes.

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