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Banging Sound Heard During Search For Titan Submersible; Palestinian Gunmen Killed Four Israelis; Hunter Biden Agrees To Plead Guilty To Two Misdemeanor Tax Charges, Strikes Deal To Resolve Felony Gun Charge; CNN Follows Ukrainian Pilots Fighting In Offensive; Andrew Tate Indicted on Rape, Human Trafficking Charges; Five-Man Crew Revealed on Missing Submersible; Dozens Die as Temperatures Soar in North and East India. Aired 12-12:45a ET

Aired June 21, 2023 - 00:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:00:22]

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM, signs of life. International search crews looking for the Titan submersible, report the sound of regular banging over a four-hour period.

Israeli settlers on a rampage, sending dozens of cars on fire, vandalizing homes, and reportedly leaving dozens injured in West Bank, Palestinian towns, just hours after a Palestinian attack kills four Israelis.

Hunter Biden's plea deal is now America's Rorschach test, either the president's son received a sweetheart deal or approve the independence of the Justice Department.

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

VAUSE: Great to have you with us and we begin with search crews in the Atlantic looking for the Titan submersible reporting regular banging sounds and other noises, raising hope the five people on board are still alive and their location can be found.

According to an internal U.S. government memo, banging was heard every 30 minutes on Tuesday. It's unclear though for how long and when it was heard again, hours later, more sonar devices were deployed. They've also heard other sounds which were not described as banging.

Well, there is now renewed hope time is running out, with the crew estimated to have less than 30 hours of oxygen. This up owned by the underwater exploration company OceanGate disappeared Sunday on its descent to two of the wreckage of the Titanic, almost 400 nautical miles southeast of Newfoundland, Canada.

The wreck sits in two pieces at the bottom of the ocean more than two miles or four kilometers below the surface.

As many as eight vessels from the United States, Canada, France had been sent to assist in the search, which is happening from the air, on the ocean surface as well, as beneath the water.

We have more now in those efforts with CNN's Miguel Marquez reporting in from Newfoundland.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAPT. JAMIE FREDERICK, U.S. COAST GUARD: This is a complex search.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A complex search now more complicated by time, which they're running out of.

FREDERICK: We know there's about -- there's about 40 hours of breathable air left.

MARQUEZ (voice over): Deep water, submersibles and gear converging on St. John's Newfoundland, from the U.S. and Canada. It's the closest land to the search zone.

If the Titan can be found, they'll need to bring all resources to bear as quickly as possible.

FREDERICK: You're dealing with a surface search and a subsurface search. And frankly, that makes an incredibly complex operation.

MARQUEZ (voice over): The five person submersible started its dive run 9:00 a.m., Newfoundland time on Sunday, its last contact with its mothership, the Polar Prince was an hour and 45 minutes into a dive expected to last just over nine hours.

At 6:35 p.m., Newfoundland time on Sunday, the sub was reported missing when it failed to surface at the scheduled time of 6:10 p.m. The vessel has oxygen for five people for about four days. But oxygen is only one critical element.

TIM TAYLOR, UNDERWATER EXPLORER: If they are alive and they're -- and they're going to be at almost freezing temperatures, assuming they lost all their power, that's why they can't communicate, that it's going to be dark, cold. And oxygen is their most precious resource. So, consuming that, staying calm, sleeping.

MARQUEZ (voice over): The vessel and search area extremely isolated and deep, roughly 460 miles south of St. John's Newfoundland and 900 miles east of Boston, and possibly more than two miles below the surface where pressure is nearly 6,000 pounds per square inch.

FREDERICK: We will do everything in our power to effect the rescue.

MARQUEZ: I'm going to show you what's going on on the ground here now in St. John's. This is the Horizon Arctic, it's the sister ship to the Polar Prints that took the Titan submersible out there and is now part of the search for it.

We believe that the C-17s, three C-17s now here at St. John's airport have geare, including submersibles that we believe are headed to this ship that will then go out. There's already another Coast Guard ship from the Canadian Coast Guard that is on its way to the search area. But all of this -- all of this is to search for a vehicle that they

cannot find yet. This is the bigger -- the biggest issue right now.

The easy part should be finding that vehicle, finding that submersible because it has a beacon of some sort, they have not been able to hear it so far.

The hard part will be -- will come if they find it, then they'll have to retrieve it and get those people back hopefully safely, back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Joining us now is David Gallo, Senior Advisor for the Strategic Initiatives for the company, which owns the exclusive rights to the Titanic.

[00:05:05]

David, thank you for being with us. Just from your opinion here, how hopeful are you now hearing the news of this, the banging and other sounds?

DAVID GALLO, SENIOR ADVISOR FOR THE STRATEGIC INITIATIVES, RMS TITANIC INC.: We are very hopeful that raised my hopes through the roof and with a bit of caution is that, for instance, in Malaysian Air, we heard all sorts of things. We were sure it was the aircraft and they turned out not to be.

But my hope is that they've spent a lot of time and -- assets and time trying to locate where these bangs are coming from. And time is of the essence. Because once you do that, and have an area where you know the bangs are coming from, then you need to get assets there, submarines, robots for sure, over that spot to investigate, you can't wait to slowly prove that there's something there, you should assume that there's something there, move things now, because time is running out.

VAUSE: Here's part of the government internal memo that CNN has seen. Part of it reads, additional acoustic feedback was heard, and will assist in vectoring surface assets, also indicating continued hope of survivors.

So, is this what you're actually talking about now managing the vector of the search narrowed down that initial search zone, which we were initially told was the size of the state of Connecticut?

GALLO: Yes, I thought that was a bit odd. I didn't know how they could come up with a search zone, that's a big haystack for a very tiny needle.

And I thought it should be much, much smaller than that, maybe even 10 kilometer circle or something like that, center down to where it was last heard from, but that's certainly nothing like the state of Connecticut.

VAUSE: There is a gap here of four hours between hearing the banging, and then hearing other noises, more noises, not described as banging. Was that simply a gap in time when they deployed the more sonar and other equipment, moving it closer to where they thought the sound may be coming from?

GALLO: That's a very good question. And I don't know what I'd be really speculating, trying to come up with some reasoning for that. I don't know.

But like I said, once they realized there was a banging every 30 minutes because P.H. Nargeolet, my very good dear friend, is the kind of person that if you were in that submarine that he would -- he would think this thoroughly through and would do something like that every 30 minutes.

But they've got to get moving, get stuff over there right away. They've set vector materials in that direction. But get your ass in gear, get it over there.

VAUSE: Absolutely. I want you to listen to part of a CBS News report from a crew which spent time last year on the Titan, listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's no GPS underwater. So, the surface ship is supposed to guide the sub to the shipwreck by sending text messages.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Turn 30 degrees right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But on this dive, communication somehow broke down. The sub never found the wreck.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were lost. We were lost for 2-1/2 hours.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: OK, so those same communications went out this time between the Titan and the surface ship. Now that we're hearing the banging, does that give you any indication of what may have happened here? What the event may have been that caused the communications to end, what sort of shape the Titan is in?

GALLO: No, I don't think so. I mean, I don't think that helps sort that out. That kind of thing I think we'll only know -- well, assuming that banging is coming from the sub, it means the hall's intact. And there was some sort of a power issue.

Earlier we heard there was an implosion that was heard and so, the sub -- there was a catastrophic failure in the sub imploded, but now that's been disregarded.

So, that made my hopes dive and now with my hopes, like I said, are through the roof. But again, time is of the essence. It's not like something could say, well, tomorrow we'll start moving things, they need to start and I assume they are doing that right now, getting the right tools over there, even if they haven't identified what the banging is or where it is, but get stuff in that area right away. VAUSE: Yes, we wish them Godspeed. David Gallo, thank you, Sir, we appreciate your time.

GALLO: Good job, thank you.

VAUSE: A lot more ahead on the five men on board the sub, they include renowned explorer and space tourist, a wealthy father and son. An expert diver who's made dozens of trips to the Titanic wreckage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's difficult to imagine what it must be like inside that tiny craft. What kind of leadership calm character would he bring to that situation?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: CNN's Melissa Bell will have a lot more later this hour.

Officials in Honduras fear the death toll from a riot at a women's prison could rise as rescue efforts are ongoing. At least 41 people were killed, several injured when authorities believe a brawl broke out between rival gangs in the early hours of Tuesday.

Officials say some of the deaths were the result of burns. Others had gunshot wounds. The country's prisons have a history of deadly incidents about 63 people died in a prison riot in 2003. More than 300 died in a prison fire in 2021.

[00:10:03]

There's a more bloodshed in the West Bank as tensions continue to soar between Palestinian and Israelis in what the militant group Hamas calls a natural response to Monday's Israeli raid in the refugee camp Jenin, which leaves six Palestinians dead. Two Palestinian gunman opened fire Tuesday at an Israeli settlement and a gas station. Four Israelis were killed and four others were wounded.

Settlers are believe who responded to that deadly attack by rampaging through at least one village, possibly more in the West Bank. Palestinians say the settlers set fire to more than a hundred cars as well as farmland and Huwara. Settlers went on a rampage earlier this year.

Journalist Elliott Gotkine is in Jerusalem with details of Tuesday's violence.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: It is the deadliest attack on Israeli since January. According to the IDF Palestinian, a gunmen first struck at a restaurant near the West Bank settlement of Eli, they opened fire killing three civilians before killing a fourth at nearby gas station.

Four Israelis were injured in the attack which was claimed by the militant group Hamas. Unarmed civilians shot and killed one of the gunman, the other stole a car and fled.

Israeli security forces set up roadblocks eventually locating the second Palestinian assailant in the village of Tubas in the northern West Bank. The IDF says he was killed as he attempted to escape.

It also says it recovered to weapons presumed to have been used in the attack. In a video statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that all options were open, we will continue to fight terrorism with full force and we will defeat it, he said.

Elliott Gotkine, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Steven Cook is a senior fellow for Middle Eastern Studies with the Council on Foreign Relations. Good to have you with us.

STEVEN COOK, SENIOR FELLOW FOR MIDDLE EASTERN STUDIES, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: Great to be with you.

VAUSE: OK, so after this latest deadly attack on Israeli settlers in the West Bank by Palestinian militants, the Israeli Minister for national security called for a major military operation. Here he is referring to the West Bank by its historical name, Judea and Samaria. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ITAMAR BEN-GVIR, ISRAELI NATIONAL SECURITY MINISTER (Through translator): As I said before the operation in Gaza, the time has come to launch a military operation in Judea and Samaria. Yes, back to the air targeted abilities, take down buildings.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Also calling on settlers to arm themselves, which most already are. And here's part of a statement from the Gaza base military with Hamas, which claimed responsibility.

It goes on to say, just the beginning of a series of acts of resistance that will disturb Israel's fragile state and turn the night of their soldiers and settlers into a nightmare.

So, at this point, it seems both sides are calling for blood. And once again, when this cycle of violence, you know, one attack is retribution for an early attack, which is retribution for an earlier one. And neither side seems to be looking for an off ramp, at least not yet.

COOK: It does definitely seems that we're in for a significant escalation in the West Bank. Both Hamas as well as Israeli authorities, as you point out seem intent on going, you know, to use a biblical term eye for and eye here.

The IDF is certainly going to surge more forces into the West Bank, and you heard Itamar Ben-Gvir, call for actual airstrikes in the West Bank. I think that that's unlikely.

But we have seen in the last few days, the introduction of Israeli helicopter gunships, which is something that we hadn't seen since the days of the Second Intifada in the early 2000s.

So, I suspect that the violence that we have seen, the tit for tat in Jenin in this -- at this settlement, Eli just today is the beginning of a continued cycle and spiral of violence that will escalate.

VAUSE: An opinion piece for Ynet.com, which is the online website for one of Israel's biggest newspapers makes this point about Monday's idea (INAUDIBLE), writing that it will be a turning point in the military's operational conduct, not only because of the hours it took to extract a troop carrier after it was damaged by an IED, but because of the powerful explosive device that illustrates how the area is beginning to resemble South Lebanon before the IDF 2000 withdrawal.

The piece also goes on to make a comparison to Gaza as well. So, do the Israelis had this military capability to defeat a threat from Hezbollah and the north from Hamas in Gaza in the south, also now possibly the West Bank, which is looking increasingly like Gaza, as well as a major direct threat from Iran?

COOK: Well, this is what the IDF is actually built for. But what's interesting is the -- is the reference to South Lebanon. It's very clear that the Iranians not to suggest that the Iranians are manipulating things but the Iranians do want a coordination between Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah and kind of cross pollination of capabilities among those groups.

And the fact that you saw this powerful roadside detonation that damaged Israeli armor in the West Bank would suggest that that is in fact succeeding.

So, the Israelis do have significant threat to ideas operational security in the West Bank as a result of this.

[00:15:07]

So, once again, it looks as if the Israelis are going to surge more troops into the West Bank and it is going to look much different from which it has looked previously, over the course of the last 15 years, it's going to look more like patrolling police work, security work, and it's going to look more like a war zone.

VAUSE: The Palestinian Authority, you know, is calling for urgent and genuine international intervention, particularly from the United States. That seems to reflect the PA's increasing loss of control of security in many parts of the West Bank.

COOK: It is, the PA has become mostly irrelevant in these conversations, standing on the sidelines asking for international intervention.

I suspect that the United States is going to have to at some point take stronger action than condemning from the sidelines. But until this point, President Biden has not wanted violence between

Israelis and Palestinians to occupy the front pages of the newspapers in the United States forcing his hand but it looks like the logic and dynamics of a violent spiral are upon us and he's not going to be able to avoid it.

VAUSE: Steven, thank you for being with us. We really appreciate it. Steven Cook there, Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies with the Council on Foreign Relations. Thank you, sir.

Still ahead on CNN, let's make a deal. The president's son Hunter Biden agrees to plead guilty on tax charges. Republicans call it a sweetheart deal.

Also ahead, meter by meter, Ukrainian forces taking back land once occupied by the Russians, and they say the full force of their counter-offensive is yet to come.

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VAUSE: A plea deal between the son of the U.S. president and government prosecutors will see Hunter Biden plead guilty on federal tax charges.

Joe Biden has said very little about his son's legal problems and a statement from the White House read the president and the first lady love and support their son. Sources tells CNN Hunter Biden is unlikely to serve any time in prison.

CNN's Senior Legal Affairs Correspondent Paula Reid has details reporting in from Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice over): President Biden's son Hunter reaches an agreement with the Justice Department to resolve a long running criminal investigation.

According to a letter filed Tuesday by federal prosecutors, Hunter will plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges and struck a deal to resolve a separate felony gun charge if he complies with his end of the plea agreement.

According to court documents, Biden owed at least $100,000 in federal taxes for 2017 and at least $100,000 for 2018 but did not pay the IRS by the deadline. His lawyers say he eventually paid the tax bill along with fees and penalties.

As part of this deal, the Justice Department has agreed to recommend a sentence of probation for the tax charges according to sources, but the final punishment will be up to the judge.

[00:20:08]

On the gun charge, prosecutors allege he possessed a gun despite his addiction in violation of federal law. Biden's lawyers met with the Justice Department in April, and sources

tell CNN that negotiations to resolve the case have ramped up in recent weeks.

The deal comes after a broad year's long investigation that also looked at Hunter Biden's foreign deals and possible money laundering.

On Capitol Hill, Republicans have been focused on the president's son and his foreign business dealings, but prosecutors haven't charged him on those claims. On Tuesday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy criticized Hunter's deal.

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA), HOUSE SPEAKER: My first reaction is that it continues to show the two-tier system in America. If you are the president's leading political opponent, the DOJ tries to literally put you in jail and give you prison time. If you are the president's son, you get a sweetheart deal.

REID (voice over): The Hunter Biden investigation has been overseen by Trump appointed U.S. Attorney David Weiss.

In an interview Tuesday, Biden's lawyer Chris Clark called the investigation dogged but fair.

CHRIS CLARK, HUNTER BIDEN'S LAWYER: This was a five year very diligent investigation pursued by incredibly professional prosecutors, some of whom have been career prosecutors, one of whom at least was appointed by President Trump and they're -- no one has ever said they're not competent, good or diligent.

REID: We're still waiting for a date to be set for Hunter to head into court for his arraignment and to plead guilty. We expect that'll happen in the coming weeks.

But I want to emphasize that this deal including that recommendation for probation is still subject to approval by a judge.

Paula Reid, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: With a counter offensive now underway, Ukrainian officials say their early goal is to exhaust Russian forces before the main strike. And to do that, this is a drone video released by the Ukrainian military saying it's the successful strike on Russia tanks in the south eastern front line. Sign of things to come according to Ukraine's president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Currently, our soldiers in the south and east are very actively destroying the enemy, physically clearing Ukraine, this will be the case in the future as well. Defense against terror meets the destruction of terrorists, and it is a guarantee that the evil state will never again have the opportunity to bring evil to Ukraine. (END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Ukraine's government claims Moscow is hemorrhaging resources on the front lines. They say Russia is losing the same amount of equipment and fighters as they did during the month's long battle for Bakhmut.

Well, some of the most high risk battles are being fought from the sky. CNN's Fred Pleitgen shows us what's at stake for the fighter pilots behind the controls.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Ukrainian Su-25 attack aircraft given the go to assault Russian positions.

Against all the odds, Ukraine's Air Force is still very much in the fight pilot Oleksiy tells me.

PLEITGEN: Are you helping the ground forces now a lot in the south with a counter offensive operations?

OLEKSIY, UKRAINIAN AIR FORCE: Yes.

PLEITGEN (voice over): The missions extremely dangerous, especially for frontline attack aircraft. Ukraine's ace is trying to keep Russian air defenses off balance.

OLEKSIY: We lost too many young pilots from our brigade. This taught us to change something and day by day we try to fly not the same as yesterday.

PLEITGEN (voice over): Wakiv (PH) says it's counter offensive is progressing. The battles are tough and gains hard to come by.

The biggest threat Ukraine says Russian airpower, this video purporting to show a Russian combat helicopter taking out a Ukrainian vehicle.

The Ukrainian say Russian interceptor aircraft like the advanced Su-35 often stopped their old MiG-29 jets from operating near the front lines. This MiG-29 pilot who asked us to hide his face and use only his call sign Juice (PH) tells me.

JUICE, UKRAINIAN AIR FORCE: You can be like a Maverick. But these result, the proper hardware you can't win.

PLEITGEN (voice over): The Ukrainian say they need F-16s from the U.S. and its allies to level the playing field and to fully utilize the air launch missiles the U.S. has already given them.

In between the taxing wartime missions, pilots are already learning the basics of the F-16, hoping they'll be able to fly them in the future. JUICE: We are trying to improve our English skills. We are flying simulators. So, at the moment, we have like improvised simulators of F-16, almost on all the bases.

[00:25:04]

PLEITGEN (voice over): The pilots say for them, it's a matter of life and death. The attrition rate among combat aviators extremely high.

Both Alexei squadron leader and his wing men killed in combat he says.

OLEKSIY: Witnesses an explosion of your colleague and my eyes in real time, it's a -- it's a shock to -- it's a shocking picture. And it's really big, difficult in this situation. It's how to -- how to sit in aircraft again, again and again and again.

PLEITGEN (voice over): But when the call comes, they say they will be ready and back in the seat taking the fight to the Russians.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Kyiv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Amid ongoing military support for Ukraine, Western allies are now turning their attention to rehabilitation after the war.

More than a thousand officials from more than 60 countries including the U.S. Secretary of State will meet in London for a two-day Ukraine recovery conference.

The British government plans to unveil what it calls a landmark financial support package for Ukraine on Wednesday. Antony Blinken says U.S. will be offering new aid as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: President Biden said from the outset of Russia's aggression against Ukraine that we would stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes and both of our countries are deeply committed to that. We will continue to deliver on that commitment, including through a new robust U.S. assistance package that I'll be able to announce tomorrow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Ukraine is looking for $40 billion to fund the first part of its plan to rebuild a battered economy, also needs assistance for mind clearance, disaster relief and energy projects.

Still ahead here on CNN, dozens dead after a heat wave broke parts of India. We'll have a live report from New Delhi in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Andrew Tate, the self-proclaimed misogynist online influencer is now facing charges of rape and human trafficking in Romania. He's due in court along with his brother in the coming hours.

CNN's Salma Abdelaziz has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDREW TATE, ONLINE INFLUENCER: I do believe if I had to predict the future that they will charge me.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER (voice over): Another chapter in the saga of divisive social media influencer, Andrew Tate. Now, he, his brother and two female Romanian citizens have been indicted in Romania.

Prosecutors say the charges are human trafficking, rape and setting up a criminal gangs. The Tate brothers and the women have been under house arrest during the criminal investigation for alleged abuses against seven women, accusations they have denied.

[00:30:05]

But who is this self-proclaimed misogynist? Back in 2016, Andrew Tate found his first came to notoriety, when he was removed from the British reality TV show, "Big Brother," with no public reason given.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You learn a lot more by being quiet.

ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): In the years since, Tate turned his attention to online creation, where he shot to Internet fame, racking up at least 11.6 billion views on TikTok, mostly for his views on masculinity, gender roles, and wealth.

ANDREW TATE, CHARGED WITH RAPE AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING: I don't think the world has ever been equal. I think that the modern society we live in has been built by men. All the roads you see, all the buildings you see, everything around you, men built.

ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): Like this video, where the former kickboxer speaks about his version of so-called equality.

TATE: You had a completely different role --

ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): Tate's rhetoric prompted concern from critics about his influence on teenage boys before being suspended by most major social media networks last August for violating their policies.

Controversies around Tate and his brother slowly became a legal issue, as Romanian prosecutors pursued claims of human trafficking and rape. Just before his December arrest, Tate became embroiled in a Twitter spat with Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, over his car's emission.

TATE: I'm not actually mad at her. Please bring me pizza and make sure that these boxes are not recycled.

ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): Now, as the brothers await trial, Tate's Twitter has since been reinstated, with more than 6.9 million followers reading his every word. Commentators wonder whether it may take more than a clever tweet to change the tide.

Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Well, now on our top story. Search-and-rescue crews have reported a regular banging sound and other noises in the area where the Titan submersible has gone missing in the North Atlantic. An internal U.S. government memo reveals the sounds were heard every 30 minutes on Tuesday. It's unclear, though, how long.

Sonar devices picked up more sounds hours later. The U.S. Coast Guard says searches have yielded negative results but continue after Canadian P-3 aircraft detected underwater noises in a search area for a missing Titanic tourist submersible.

Titan lost contact with its mothership Sunday, less than two hours into its descent to the wreckage of the Titanic. It's believed the crew now has less than 30 hours of oxygen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPT. JAMIE FREDERICK, U.S. COAST GUARD: Obviously, getting salvage equipment on scene is a top priority. Unified Command is working through that to prioritize what equipment we can get there. I can't give you an exact time line of when that's going to happen.

What I can tell you is there is a full-press, full-court-press effort to get equipment on scene as quickly as we can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: It's still unclear what caused the sub to lose communication contact. Ships and aircraft from the United States, Canada and France are all assisting with the search effort.

The sub's five-man crew included two world-renowned explorers and underwater adventurers, as well as a wealthy father and son on their first-ever trip of this kind. More now from CNN's Melissa Bell.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL-HENRI NARGEOLET, FRENCH DIVER (through translator): The 24th of July, 1987, was my first dive to the Titanic with two team members. And it was an unforgettable moment. We had been waiting a long time.

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): That's Paul-Henri Nargeolet. The 77-year-old Frenchman has made more than 30 times to the Titanic, earning him the nickname, Mr. Titanic.

David Gallo is Nargeolet's close friend, colleague and an oceanographer himself.

DAVID GALLO, DEEP SEA EXPLORER: I'm sure he did everything he could, or would do everything he could do to make sure that they had every chance of surviving whatever it was.

BELL: It's difficult to imagine what it must be like inside that tiny craft. What kind of leadership, calm character would he bring to that situation?

GALLO: He thinks outside the box all the time. That's the kind of guy you want on the scene when things like this happen. The wisdom that that guy has is pretty amazing. It's just now sinking in that this is not something that will be gone tomorrow. It's something that could be forever.

BELL (voice-over): For Stockton Rush, the chief executive of the firm behind the dive, who's also on board, the experience of those involved has always been crucial.

STOCKTON RUSH, CEO AND FOUNDER, OCEANGATE: There are five individuals that can go on each dive. Three of those are what are called mission specialists. So those are the folks who help finance the mission, but they're also active participants. So why we're not a fan of the tourist term is because these are crew members.

BELL (voice-over): One of those crew members is the British billionaire and explorer, Hamish Harding. He was part of two record- breaking trips to the South Pole and achieved a world record for the fastest circumnavigation of the globe via both polls.

Last year, he went into space with Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin company.

HAMISH HARDING, BILLIONAIRE EXPLORER: I've always wanted to do this, and the sheer experience of looking out of the window is something I'm looking forward to.

BELL (voice-over): In a post on social media over the weekend, he described feeling proud to be part of the Titan's expedition.

[00:35:06]

Also on board, Shahzada Dawood, who comes from one of Pakistan's richest family and lives in the United Kingdom with his wife and two children. He'd taken his son, Suleman, reportedly 19 years old, along with him.

The family now asking for prayers for their safety and privacy for the family, as the race to find the men enters a critical phase.

Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: A heat wave in India is being blamed for dozens of deaths in the Northern state of Uttar Pradesh. For more, let's go live now to CNN's Vedika Sud in New Delhi.

What more do you know about the number of people who've perished in the heat wave and just how bad has it been? VEDIKA SUD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's been pretty bad,

John. At least 100 people dead in two of India's most populous states in Northern India, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

Let me start with Bihar. According to state officials there, the number stands at 40 plus for now. There could be an increase in the death toll. The heat in June is quite bad here in India, especially Northern India, where the temperatures soar to as high as 46 degrees Celsius.

That was what it was in parts of Eastern and Northern India last week.

Now, let's talk about Uttar Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh is the most populous state in India. It is governed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party.

Now, there have been more than 60 deaths in one district itself in the state of Uttar Pradesh. And (UNINTELLIGIBLE) have been raised over the reasons behind it. There are concerns that the state government is really not coming clear on the reason behind it.

Initially, it was said by health officials in the district that these deaths were purely due to the heat wave that the district is facing. But very soon, it was (ph) shouted out to another district in Uttar state by government officials, and the other health officials after have been saying there could be various reasons for the deaths that they have seen in Ballia district in Uttar Pradesh.

Now, what's clear is that the temperatures have been very high, but what we also know from eyewitness accounts is that there's been a massive surge in the number of patients coming into one district hospital in Ballia.

According to eyewitness accounts, the staff out there is overstretched. There are too many people coming in. However, CNN cannot verify if all these patients coming into that district hospital are purely due to heat-wave-related issues, medical issues.

What's also clear is that India has been seeing extreme climates for the last few years. Take February this year, John. In February, which is supposed to be a cool month, given it's still winter -- although the winter is tailing off in the country -- in Northern India, the temperatures were higher than it's ever been in the last century.

The last time India saw temperatures as high as they did in Feb. was in 1901. So clearly, there have been too many incidents due to climate change that India has been seeing, and they will continue, and that's the fear.

The central government, health minister of India did hold a meeting yesterday, where he's been taking stock of the situation. He's promised that there will be action on the ground, but for now, the death toll stands at more than 100 in just two states in Northern India -- John.

VAUSE: Vedika, thank you. We appreciate the update. Vedika Sud, live for us in New Delhi. With that, we'll take a short

pause. Back in a moment. You're watching CNN.

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MATT LEBLANC, ACTOR: Aaa!

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VAUSE: Well, it seems that Ross and Joey on "Friends," that sweet little nap together may not have been so bad after all.

New research says daytime naps may be good for our brains. A study in "The Journal of Sleep Health" links napping to larger brain volume, which could lower the risk of dementia and other diseases.

Earlier research showed frequent or excessive napping was associated with high blood pressure and Alzheimer's. But doctors say that might be because people who nap a lot probably aren't getting proper sleep at night.

A celebrity chef in Australia taking some heat after banning vegans from his restaurant.

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JOHN MOUNTAIN, CHEF: I'm done with vegans. I'm absolutely done, done, done with vegans.

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VAUSE: That's chef John Mountain. He says the band came after a dispute with a diner at Fyre, his restaurant in Perth.

The customer skewered the eatery on social media, claiming she was served an unsatisfying vegetable meal, for which she was charged 22 U.S. dollars. She was also unhappy about the lack of vegan options.

The restaurant posted on Facebook this: "Sadly, all vegans are now banned from Frier [SIC] -- Fyre, rather" -- in parenthesis -- "for mental health reasons."

The chef says he's fed up.

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MOUNTAIN: Please, go find another kebab shop somewhere that's happy to give you that plastic rubbish that you enjoy to eat so much. Go enjoy your life somewhere else. I've worked with some of the best chefs in the world, and to be told

that you're not good enough by some sort of influencer-type vegan person that I'm not into the 2023s, killed me.

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VAUSE: The ban is being described by vegans as a form of discrimination. Others support the chef's decision to run his business how he wants.

Perhaps he should just get rid of all vegan options, and they won't come back.

I'm John Vause. I will be back at the top of the hour with more CNN NEWSROOM. But first, WORLD SPORT starts after a short break. See you back here in 17 minutes or so.

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