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Titanic Sub Suffered Catastrophic Implosion; Biden Warmly Welcomes India's Modi Despite Questions About Human Rights Issues; Russians Hope To Repair Chonhar Bridge In Few Weeks; Sierra Leone Gears Up For Presidential Election Amid Economic Crisis; Nation Caught in Economic Crisis Ahead of Vote; Remembering Those Killed in Titan Disaster; Over 495,000 People Impacted by Floods in India; Mystery Surrounding North Korea's Han Kwang Song; Lawsuit Alleges Amazon Duped Customers to Sign up for Prime. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired June 23, 2023 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[01:00:22]
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome everyone. I'm Michael Holmes. Appreciate your company. Coming up here on CNN Newsroom. Worth fears realized. Officials say a catastrophic implosion destroyed that missing submersible killing old five on board. India's Prime Minister gets the red carpet treatment at the White House despite his questionable human rights record, and --
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ADAM SILVER, NBA COMMISSIONER: San Antonio Spurs select Victor Wembanyama.
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HOLMES: A French basketball phenom joins a shortlist of number one NBA draft picks who've never played for a U.S. team before.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from CNN Center. This is CNN Newsroom with Michael Holmes.
HOLMES: Now the day's long search for the Titanic bound submersible has ended in tragedy with the U.S. Coast Guard confirming the sub suffered a quote, catastrophic implosion. Officials made that call after debris from the sub was located Thursday morning near the bow of the Titanic.
We're also learning that the U.S. Navy had detected a likely implosion on Sunday but ruled the sound to be quote not definitive. All five people on board lost their lives and it's not clear yet whether remains can even be recovered. Jason Carroll picks up the story.
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REAR ADMIRAL JOHN MAUGER, U.S. COAST GUARD: This morning, an ROV or remote operated vehicle from the vessel horizon Arctic discovered the tail cone of the Titan submersible approximately 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic on the seafloor, the debris is consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber.
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Four days after it was first reported missing, the U.S .Coast Guard confirming the worst about the Titan submersible, a catastrophic implosion resulting in the loss of life of all five onboard.
PAUL HANKINS, DIRECTOR, U.S. NAVY SALVAGE OPERATIONS AND OCEAN ENGINEERING: We found five different major pieces of debris that told us that it was the remains of the Titan. The initial thing we found was the nose cone, which was outside of the pressure Hall. We then found in large debris field.
CARROLL: Rear Admiral John Mauger confirmed the families if the crew were immediately notified and briefed.
MAUGER: The ROV will remain on scene and continue to gather information. We're still working to develop the details for the timeline involved with this casualty and the response.
CARROLL: A spokesperson for Pelagic Research Services confirmed to CNN, it was their ROV remotely operated vehicle that found the debris field near the Titanic. That complex search and rescue mission has attracted international attention garnering assistance from the U.S., Canada, France and the United Kingdom.
In the last 24 hours search efforts had accelerated over the massive area, twice the size of Connecticut for the missing vessel, as officials feared the 96 hour oxygen supply was running out.
MAUGER: The outpouring of support in this highly complex search operation has been robust and immensely appreciated.
CARROLL: The Titan began its dive Sunday but lost communication one hour and 45 minutes into its excursion to the site of the Titanic wreckage the five passengers British businessman Hamish Harding, CEO of OceanGate Stockton Rush, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his teenage son Suleman, French explorer Paul?enry Nargeolet lay on board confined to a small area about the size of a minivan. The U.S. Coast Guard says the search for those onboard will continue.
MAUGER: This is a incredibly unforgiving environment down there on the sea floor. And the debris is consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel. And so we'll continue to work and continue to search the area down there, but I don't have an answer for prospects at this time.
CARROLL: Jason Carroll, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Joining me now David Marquet, a former submarine commander he's also the bestselling author of the books "Turn the Ship Around" and "Leadership is Language." [01:05:08]
Thanks for being with us. You know, very sad news. For the lay people among us, explain what catastrophic implosion means. I mean, how does that happen? What does it look like?
DAVID MARQUET, FORMER SUBMARINE COMMANDER: It doesn't look good. What's happening is the submarine is descending through the water column, the pressure is building up. And these are pressures that we have really no conception of when an airplane takes off, and you're riding in it, and you feel that deep pressurization, that's about a quarter or a third of one atmosphere. That's the pressure we feel at sea level.
Here we're talking about 300 atmosphere. So it's 1,000 times that pressure change that that you feel on your ears, and a minute crack a hairline fracture of bolt that's not tighten just quite exactly or a fitting is going to turn into a catastrophic failure, and when the ocean is pressing, and then exploit that that hole and it just comes in with explosive force into the vessel. It disintegrates everything inside and it blows the vessel apart.
HOLMES: And literally in the blink of an eye. So we're told, I mean, it goes without saying that --
MARQUET: That's the only thankful thing we have. The thankful thing we have here because it would have been instantaneous.
HOLMES: Yeah, yeah, flicking a light switch somebody said. It goes without saying that the sub, you know, is designed to not implode. But so what could have gone wrong? What have failed to make that happen? You mentioned maybe a loose bolt, could it have been the makeup, the carbon fiber makeup?
MARQUET: Yes, so carbon fiber is a strong material. And -- but it's a relatively new material. One of the things that happens when we take a submarine deep is it's compressed very tightly. And then it when we take it back up to the surface, it relaxes. And so there's this repeated compression, relaxation, compression and relaxation.
We know from our submarines, which were made out of -- they're made out of a relatively common material, common carbon steel. And we have a long experience with it. And we know that it creates little tiny hairline cracks, those cracks have a certain type of propagation, we can inspect them, we measure for them, we have machines that can sense the size of those cracks.
And here we have carbon steel. We have titanium -- for this submarine, there's titanium and bells bolted on to carbon steel, with a viewing window. That's three different materials. Those are all going to react differently. They might expand and contract differently.
And so I worry that maybe the submarine was fine one, two, three, four or five times but without really analyzing what happens with these repeated stressors --
HOLMES: Right. Yeah.
MARQUET: -- problems can had.
HOLMES: Yeah, yeah. Over multiple journeys, as you say. What do you make of expeditions like this? I mean, doing this sort of stuff in the first place, does it need to be more regulation? I know you've spoken about the balance between risk embracing innovation and basic safety.
MARQUET: Yes, I mean, it's a tough call. I mean, I really admire the exploratory cutting edge discovery, spirit. And it's important for the human species that we have people willing to go over the mountain and try and round Cape Horn and risk their lives and sometimes lose their lives.
But at some point, it transitions from the Wright Brothers flying and getting on a 737 and expecting to fly safely. And I'm not exactly sure where we are in this. I wouldn't want to lose that entrepreneurial, embracing spirit. But when you end up with, in this case, I'm particularly sad about the son of the businessman. I think the adults probably were not naive about what they were signing up for. But I'm not sure that son really had a chance to say no --
HOLMES: Yes.
MARQUET: -- he wanted to.
HOLMES: Yes, there are reports he was nervous about going he did it because it was Father's Day. Real quick. Would you have gone down in this sub knowing what you know about it?
MARQUET: No, I would -- no, I would not go down on that submarine. And it's really because there's significant personal risk, and for me, there's very little personal gain. I'm be willing to take on risk, but there needs to be a compensatory gain. And for me, looking at the shipwreck and the tomb of the Titanic through a window, it's just not that appealing to do.
[01:10:06]
HOLMES: Yes. Risk versus reward. David Marquet, thank you so much. Appreciate your expertise.
Now, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the guest of honor on Thursday at only the third state dinner held by the Biden White House. The vegetarian menu was part of the charm offensive as the U.S. tries to woo India away from buying Russian oil and weapons and act as a counterweight to China's rising influence.
New trade deals and defense initiatives were announced on Thursday. And President Biden talked up the relationship in this toaster his guest.
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JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: Chose to our partnership, to our people to the possibilities lie ahead. Two great friends, two great nations and two great powers. Cheers.
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For a second time in seven years, Prime Minister Modi delivered a joint address to Congress receiving an overwhelming welcome by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, except for six progressive Democrats who boycotted the speech over Modi's record on human rights. Details now from CNN's Manu Raju.
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MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Capitol Hill on Thursday, giving the rare honor of a foreign leader to address a joint meeting of Congress. Many House members and senators sitting in the chamber of the House listening to Modi's speech, and where he stressed the common bonds between Americans and Indians and about the alliance between the two countries, particularly amid the threat from China, something that the United States see is essential with the partnership with India, which is one reason why President Joe Biden has given Modi a red carpet treatment as he has come to United States.
Well, everything from a state dinner to meeting with the press, as well as a private audience with the President and the Prime Minister of India. But when addressing the United States Congress earlier the day on Thursday, Modi made clear that he believes that the United States alliance and relationship with India is essential and that he believes it will continue to grow in the years ahead.
NARENDRA MODI, INDIAN PRIME MINISTER: Become circumstances and history. But we are united by a common vision and by a common destiny. Whenever partnership progress, economic resilience increases, innovation grows, science flourishes, knowledge advances, humanity benefits, our seas and skies are safer, democracy will shine brighter, and the world will be better place.
RAJU: Modi on Capitol Hill was greeted by congressional leaders including Speaker McCarthy who escorted him into the House. Later, he met with other congressional leaders, including Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, as well as Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell.
But there were some members of the Progressive Caucus in the House who refused to attend Modi's speech that included Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, others who had criticized Modi over concerns that India is backsliding on some key democratic ideals such as freedom of the press, as well as silencing some political opponents in India.
Modi was asked about this at the White House, he pushed back on the notion that India is no longer a democratic country amid concerns of his heavy handed approach that his critics say as essentially cause the country to backslide on some of those democratic ideals. But nevertheless, the United States sees India the world's largest democracy as an essential partnership -- partner amid the growing threats from China. Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.
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HOLMES: Ukraine's counteroffensive is only just getting started. But the early assessment by U.S. officials who spoke to CNN is that so far expectations are not being met. It seems Russian defenses are harder to crack than expected. And Russian mines and airstrikes have bogged down Ukrainian forces. Still, the long term outlook remains optimistic.
Ukrainian officials on Thursday pushing back saying defensive lines in the Easter holding and gains are being made albeit slowly in the South. Here's more from Ukraine's Prime Minister.
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DENYS SHMYHAL, UKRAINIAN PRIME MINISTER: Counteroffensive is not Hollywood movie, is not easy walk.
[01:15:03]
Counteroffensive is number of military operations sometimes it's offensive, sometimes it's defensive. Sometimes it could be tactical poses. Unfortunately, during our preparation for this counteroffensive Russians were preparing too, so there is so much minefields which really make it slower to, I mean movement into their head.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Russia have installed officials say it will take only a few weeks to repair a key bridge to Crimea damaged by Ukrainian strike. The Chonhar Bridge is now close to traffic after an apparent missile strikes Thursday morning. It is one of the few crossings that connect Crimea with the occupied part of southern Ukraine.
And according to a former Ukrainian defense ministers shutting it down creates a major choke point for Russian supply lines in the region. Details now from CNN's Matthew Chance.
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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): On Russian state television news of the latest Ukrainian strike, punching through a key bridge to Crimea. A military supply routes the anchor says which Ukraine hit with missiles to cut off. Instead of hiding the bad news, Russia is using it to bolster support.
Kremlin appointed governor of occupied Kherson was quickly at the siege to condemn the attack and blame the West. It's another senseless act by the Kyiv regime at the behest of London, he says. It will make no difference to the result of the special military operation, what Russia calls its war.
Along the vast frontlines in Ukraine, a much anticipated counteroffensive is seeing fierce but limited fighting. Some Ukrainian officials are pushing back hard, though, on Western assessments to CNN that expectations are not being met. One senior Ukrainian official telling CNN it's still way too early to assess the overall trajectory of what the official says was shaping operations. The real counter offensive the official told CNN has not even begun yet in earnest.
Still, the Russian military is taking credit for holding Ukrainian forces back. Releasing dramatic images of what they say our enemy positions being pounded, characterizing the Ukrainian push as unsuccessful.
The Kremlin though is sending an unusual note of caution. Ukraine's offensive potential has not yet been exhausted, the Russian President warns his defense officials. It's strategic reserves he says have not all been activated. It is a recognition of what Ukrainian officials also insist. This battle may be slow, but it is far from over. Matthew Chance, CNN, Kyiv.
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HOLMES: Spanish emergency services rescued more than 200 migrants near the Canary Islands on Thursday, one day after a migrant boat sank in the same area. Aid group say they fear more than 30 migrants died when their inflatable dinghy sank.
The Canary Islands have become the main destination for migrants trying to get to Spain from West Africa. The U.N. estimates nearly 600 people died last year trying to reach the Canaries.
For the fifth time since its decade long civil war, Sierra Leone will soon head to the polls to choose its new leader. What's at stake for the country. That's next here on CNN Newsroom.
Also, in an exclusive interview CNN is Christiane Amanpour asked former US President Barack Obama about the state of democracy in America and around the world. His answers when we come back.
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HOLMES: Tensions between Serbia and Kosovo are growing despite an E.U. effort to ease pressures at the border with emergency talks in Brussels. EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell called the leaders of both countries to Belgium for crisis management meetings on Thursday. But the two leaders did not meet face to face instead talking separately with Borrell.
The latest flare up between the two countries came after last week's detention by Serbia of three Kosovo police officers after disputed elections in northern Kosovo.
Brazil's highest electoral court is deciding the political future of Jair Bolsonaro. The former Brazilian president's trial kicked off on Thursday. He's accused of abusing his political power last year when he publicly launched unfounded attacks on the country's electoral system to foreign diplomats. Bolsonaro has trivialize the trial and said that the charges aren't justified. If convicted, though, he could be ruled ineligible to run for public office for up to eight years. Bolsonaro lost last year's election by a narrow margin to the current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
CNN's Christiane Amanpour sat down with former U.S. President Barack Obama for an exclusive in-depth interview about the state of democracy around the world. Here's just some of what the former president had to say about Russia's war in Ukraine. And Joe Biden's chances of winning a second term as President.
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CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: President Biden is running for reelection.
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Yes.
AMANPOUR: Everybody's talking about his age, people are talking about his polls, even there's some challenges within the Democrats, maybe somebody will might start to, you know, to try to primary him, et cetera.
But what I would like to know is, many say that his policies and his legislative and his wins, frankly, should speak for themselves. And yet, according to the way to win, it's a Democrat leaning company firm. Only some 22 percent of Latino voters, 33 percent of black voters can actually identify something that they say he's done to specifically make their lives better.
What would you say to that? And would you would -- how would you advise them to connect in a reelection?
OBAMA: I think, Joe Biden has done an extraordinary job leading the country through some very difficult times. I do not think that there's going to be any kind of serious primary challenge to Joe Biden, and I think the Democratic Party is unified.
You know, there was a lot of talk. You'll remember when he was first elected, because Bernie Sanders had run that somehow there was this huge split between progressive Democrats and more centrist Democrats. And the truth is, is that partly because of how Joe is governed. Those divisions have been bridged.
I think what's true in American politics generally is until you get to campaigns, people aren't paying much attention. People have gone through a difficult time, because of COVID and the pandemic and lock downs, because of inflation, primarily in the result of both the war in Ukraine and rising energy prices, as well as supply chain issues, and so people have memories about the OK, eggs got more expensive and gas was more expensive.
And they haven't been paying as much attention to the fact that for example, the African American unemployment rate is lower than it's been in decades. [01:25:05]
The campaign will allow President Biden to make those arguments and I think that, you know, in a -- in an immediate environment that's so cluttered, it's very hard to break through until you get to election time. You'll recall when I ran for reelection, in 2012, my poll numbers weren't that great. And we ended up winning comfortably.
Part of that was just we started campaigning, and we were able to get a message out and people said, yes, you know, that policy or this policy or this thing left undone, that irritated me a little bit. But overall, I think he's done a good job. And I think that's what they're going to conclude by Joe Biden as well.
AMANPOUR: When Russia started his illegal invasion, the second invasion of Ukraine.
OBAMA: Yes.
AMANPOUR: I believe you said that democracy's it's a clarion call. It's a wake-up call democracies are getting flabby and feckless. Where does Ukraine in your view stand in the fight to preserve democracy?
OBAMA: I think it's vital. It's interesting, before I left office, I gave speeches, not just here in Athens, but also in Hamburg, in London, and one of the arguments I made is do not take for granted the extraordinary achievement of the European Union, and the fact that a continent that was wracked by war and bloodshed for centuries, was now as prosperous and as peaceful as any in history.
And then, now we've seen the first war on European soil in recent memory, and I think it was a wake-up call to Europe. And I think it was a wake-up call to the west end to democracies around the world, that the old ways of thinking might makes right big countries can do what they want to small countries that, you know, people cannot independently determine their futures, that those forces have to be confronted.
Watching the Ukrainians themselves with such courage and bravery fight back, I think that reminded Europe of who they were. And I've been impressed by the degree to which in not easy circumstances, Europe has stood up, it has provided the aid that was necessary.
I think the Biden administration has very deftly managed maintaining that alliance to support Ukraine. And I believe the stakes are high to send a message to somebody like Putin that they are not going to just be able to willy-nilly determine the borders of other countries.
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HOLMES: And you can watch Christiane's entire conversation with the former U.S. President Barack Obama later today. 1:00 p.m. in New York, 6:00 p.m. in London.
All right, millions in Sierra Leone are expected to head to the polls on Saturday to choose their next president. The vote coming as the country's caught in an economic crisis, with inflation and unemployment soaring and the country's currency plunging in value. Now Stephanie Busari with the latest.
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STEPHANIE BUSARI, CNN SENIOR EDITOR, AFRICA (voiceover): The Sierra Leoneans are calling up for change, as the West African state heads to the polls to elect a new president on June 24th. Among the issues citizens are battling a soaring cost of living and massive unemployment, with inflation sitting at around 37 percent in April, according to the IMF.
AMINATA FANTA KOROMA, OPPOSITION PARTY MEMBER: The country is so tight. And we are not doing prospect. These things are coming down because internal inflation is very high, very high.
BUSARI: Around 3.3 million less than half the population are registered to vote in this the fifth election since the end of the country's brutal decade long civil war 21 years ago hunger (ph) at the current state of the country spilling over in August last year.
With more than 20 people killed in anti-government protests across Sierra Leone. Incumbent president Julius Maada Bio's view of those protests.
JULIUS MAADA BIO, PRESIDENT OF SIERRA LEONE: This was not a protest against the high cost of living. The chant of the insurrection is also a violent overthrow of the democratically elected government.
BUSARI: Former Sierra Leonean child soldier and author and human rights activist Ishmael Beah says the mood in the country is not a hopeful.
ISHMAEL BEAH, HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST: even as we lead towards election the security situation has gotten tense in the way that you have more presence of armed police, armed military that are basically patrolling the streets as if going to an election is also going to war.
[01:30:08]
BUSARI: Among the 12 candidates challenging Maada Bio in the general election, is the leader of the opposition All People's Congress Party, Samura Kamara.
SAMURA KAMARA, SIERRA LEONE OPPOSITION LEADER: I want to call all Sierra Leoneans to come out and vote on the 24th, come rain come sunshine, come the usual barrage of bullets or come anything else to protect their votes.
BUSARI: The 72-year-old former cabinet minister is facing trial on corruption charges which he denies. If convicted, Kamara would be barred from holding public office. He appeared before court in April, but the case has been adjourned until after the general election.
59-year-old Maada Bio, seen here dancing in the rain on the campaign trail has promised if reelected to feed the nation and create half a million jobs for young people in five years.
For the people of a country that has faced so much tragedy, its future is by no means decided.
Stephanie Busari, CNN -- Lagos.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Still to come here on the program, more on our top story. That deadly Titan submersible disaster and the families now mourning the loss of their loved ones.
We will be right back.
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HOLMES: Welcome back.
You are watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Michael Holmes. Thanks for sticking around.
Now, we've got more on our top story. U.S. officials say all five people on the Titan submersible were killed when it experienced catastrophic implosion on Sunday. The U.S. Navy detected an acoustic sound consistent with an implosion at that time. Although it was not considered definitive, they did tell the commanders leading the search.
What followed was a huge days-long international effort involving numerous ships and aircraft. The submersible had been diving to the wreck of the Titanic some 13,000 feet deep or nearly four kilometers on the floor of the North Atlantic Ocean. That is where search teams found evidence of the implosion on Thursday.
The director of the film, "Titanic", James Cameron is himself a deep sea explorer with more than 30 trips to the Titanic wreckage. He spoke to CNN about the sub's fateful trip.
[01:34:56]
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JAMES CAMERON, DIRECTOR: I think there is a great, almost surreal irony here which is Titanic sank because the captain took it full steam into an ice field that night on a moonless night with very poor visibility after he had been repeatedly warned by telegram, by marconigram, by radio during the day that that's what was ahead of him.
And so I think we are also seeing a parallel here with unheeded warnings about a sub that was not certified, whether the entire deep submergence community actually -- well, not the entire community, but a large number of them got together to write a letter to OceanGate, the company and say we believe that this could lead to catastrophe.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HOLMES: Officials will now try to figure out exactly what happened and perhaps how to prevent it happening again.
Meanwhile families and friends of the victims are now grieving the loss of loved ones. The men on board were fathers, sons, explorers, and industry leaders.
CNN's Brian Todd with more.
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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Stockton Rush once said he wanted to be remembered as an innovator. Two years ago he explained to Mexican travel blogger, Allen Estrada, his mindset while constructing the Titan submersible.
STOCKTON RUSH, CEO, OCEANGATE: I think it was General MacArthur who said you are remembered for the rules you break. And you know, I have broken some rules to make this, I think I've broken them with logic and good engineering by me.
TODD: Rush's penchant for breaking rules often brought controversy. Submersible industry leaders, as well as some former employees of OceanGate claimed he was dismissive of regulations and safety standards. Rush once countered his critics by saying quote, "We risk capital, we don't risk people." And he always seemed to have an eye on the future.
RUSH: The future of mankind is underwater. It's not on Mars. We're not going to have a base on Mars or at the moon. You know, we'll try and waste a lot of money. We will have a base under water.
TODD: 77-year-old French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet had earned the nickname Mr. Titanic because of his 30-plus dives down to the sunken ocean liner. Fellow explorer Bill Blaesing (ph) met Nargeolet in 2010 when they traveled in a ship together over the Titanic.
BILL BLAESING, FORMER PRESIDENT, BLUE HOLE EXPEDITIONS: He is absolutely passionate about it. And the great thing is that he is humble and kind. He is not arrogant like some of the folks in this business. He is a true gentleman explorer.
TODD: This wasn't the first adventure for British billionaire Hamish Harding either.
HAMISH HARDING, BRITISH BILLIONAIRE: I've always wanted to do this, and the sheer experience of looking out of the window is something I'm looking forward to.
TODD: Last year, Harding went to space Jeff Bezos on the Blue Origin flight, and was known for exploring every corner of the earth.
JANNICKE MIKKELSEN, EXPLORER AND FRIEND OF HAMISH HARDING: Hamish is larger than life, he lives exploration. He is an explorer to the core of his soul. He has been to the bottom of Planet Earth, in the Mariana Trench, to challenge the deep. He has even been in space. We circumnavigated the planet together over the North and South Pole and set a world speed record.
TODD: Shahzada Dawood came from one of Pakistan's most wealthiest families, his teenage son Suleman was on board Titan with him. Shahzada Dawood friend Bill Diamond describes him as intelligent, perpetually curious, and believes his friend was aware of the risks he was taking.
BILL DIAMOND, FRIEND OF SHAHZADA DAWOOD: He's not what I would consider, you know, one of these sports adventures. He does not go on, you know, death defying missions or ride motorcycles over cliffs, or any of these sorts of things -- parachuting, scuba diving, to the best of my knowledge. So I never thought of him as a daredevil in any sense.
TODD: Stockton Rush's connection to the Titanic, could well have been about more than pushing the bounds of exploration. The "New York Times" reports that Rush's wife, Wendy, is a great, great granddaughter of two first class passengers who were aboard the Titanic on its fateful voyage -- retailing magnate Isidor Strauss and his wife Ida, who the "Times" says died when the Titanic sank.
Brian Todd, CNN -- Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: In India, half a million villagers are suffering through dangerous flooding. So far, one death reported.
CNN meteorologist Chad Myers with that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: A risky walk through a flooded road. These women and their children trek barefoot across worn out bridges and away from their homes. They're running from flooding in northeastern India that disaster officials say has affected at least 780 villages and up to 120,000 people.
Some of them are farmers. Hectares of farmland that once kept them afloat are now underwater. Their houses, schools and belongings too.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have no one to help me. My wife and I are now alone. I am sick and if I go to my house which is flooded I will fall down. The flood water has damaged my home and most of my belongings.
[01:39:53]
MYERS: Some managed to save their livestock -- hens, goats and cows. Assam State has set up 31 relief camps to house over 2,000 displaced people, including over 400 children.
MANOJ RAJBONGSHI, ASSAM RESIDENT: At least 200 -300 people are there staying in makeshift tents here.
MYERS: Flooding in Assam this time of year is not uncommon. Humanitarian organizations say nearly 2,000 people died between June and September last year, due to monsoon flooding across India.
Chad Myers, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Thursday set a new heat record in Beijing for the month of June. The Chinese capital reaching 41.1 degrees Celsius, but Beijing wasn't alone in hitting heat records, several other locations across northern China also did. A few cities even set all-time records for any month, and there was no relief in sight. Temperatures are predicted to be well above average through next week.
And in Texas in the U.S., people are getting a little relief. Temperatures are going to be a few degrees cooler than the past few days but heat alerts are expected to continue until the end of the day Friday for some 20 million people across Texas and surrounding states. And by the start of next week, another round of heat will again impact the state.
Joining me now, Michael E. Mann, a presidential distinguished professor and director of the Penn State Science, Sustainability, and the Media at the University of Pennsylvania. He is also the author of the book, "The New Climate War".
Always good to see you professor. Climate Twitter has been louder than usual lately on the warming going on. What factors are in play? What is your level of alarm of what has been happening?
MICHAEL E. MANN, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: Thank you, it's good to be with you. And you know, we have a number of things going on at the same time. As is often the case, you know, when you see, for example, a warming spike. There can be a few different things going on. In the background of course is human caused climate change. It is the warming from carbon pollution.
And so we have this ever rising baseline. Every year on average tends to be a little warmer than the last one.
And what we see on top of that, however, is sort of the fleeting effects of things like El Nino. And for a few years, we have been in what's known as a La Nina, where that tropical Pacifica Ocean is colder than normal and that actually leads to a slight cooling of the planet, a couple of tenths of a degree Celsius.
Now what we're seeing is the flip side. We have gone from a La Nina, we're heading in to a La Nina event. And so when you take sort of the cooling from La Nina which can be a couple tenths of a degree, and you have the warming from an El Nino which can be a couple of couple tenths of a degree then the difference can be the better part of the half a degree Celsius.
And so we see that warmings spike from this transition into El Nino, on top of that ever, you know, increasing warmth of the planet from rising greenhouse gases.
HOLMES: I guess, aside from but linked to temperatures on land, ocean temperatures are high. Ice melt is breaking records. I mean it used to be that we looked years perhaps even decades out to see catastrophe. What do you see though in the short to medium term?
MANN: Yes. So again, a lot of different things going on. There is the steady warming from rising greenhouse gases. And the planet will continue to warm up, and the oceans will continue to get hotter and hotter until we stop putting carbon pollution into the atmosphere.
And on top of that, you have this burst of warming from El Nino and then on top of that you have something else that is going on. And it is something we have studied and other scientists have studied where the warming of the planet, and in particular the pattern of the warming where the arctic is warming up faster than say the lower latitudes, the mid latitudes.
And it is actually that temperature difference that is responsible for the jet stream. So when you reduce that temperature difference by warming up the polar regions more than the tropical and subtropical regions, you actually slow down the jet stream.
And the jet stream especially in the summer, when those temperature differences are smallest, you can basically get a stagnant jet stream, a jet stream that slows down and wiggles more. So you get those big high and low pressure centers that are associated with extreme weather.
And one of those big, high pressure centers right now is located over Mexico and southern Texas. And we are seeing again record heating because of an atmospheric phenomenon that is probably being made more common and more intensified by the warming of the planet from greenhouse gases, from carbon pollution.
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HOLMES: Right, at the roots are the fossil fuels. I guess it's also very important for to remember, isn't it that, you know, all we've been talking about and the wildfires, the droughts, the floods, and the heat waves. They are all within the so-called safer range of climate warming, the 1.2 to 1.5 increase.
It's frightening to contemplate 2 or 2.5 degrees of warming. But is that where we are headed?
MANN: Yes. You know, in fact, very briefly back in 2016 we crossed that two degrees Celsius warmer than the pre-industrial. We crossed that two degrees Celsius warming threshold very briefly.
And so we have to distinguish between those excursions where we temporarily cross that threshold and that's already happened. What we're really concerned about though and when we look at the impacts and we talk about the devastating impacts of a degree and a half Celsius warming of the planet, that's when the trend line crosses 1.5.
So we may briefly cross those thresholds, for example, because we have an El Nino event that temporarily warms up the planet above that threshold. What we really have to worry about though is when that baseline, that
rising baseline, the trend line crosses 1.5 Celsius. And that will happen in a matter of a decade or two if we continue to warm up the planet.
So we are getting perilously close to that danger threshold, but we can still avoid crossing it if we can bring our carbon emissions down dramatically within the next ten years or so.
HOLMES: Yes. And I know, you're always a voice of reality but also optimism. And hopefully that comes to pass.
MANN: Stubborn and cautious optimism, but yes.
HOLMES: There you go, Professor Michael E. Mann, always a pressure. Good to have you on.
MANN: Thank you. Always a pleasure Michael.
HOLMES: When we come back, Victor Wembanyama might end up being better than Lebron James, maybe. Why there is so much buzz around the French 19-year-old who just became the number one pick in the NBA draft. That's when we come back.
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HOLMES: He's being called the future face of the NBA.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The San Antonio Spurs select Victor Wembanyama.
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HOLMES: The San Antonio Spurs choosing 19-year-old Victor Wembanyama or Wemby to his fans, as the number one pick in the NBA draft on Thursday night.
He is more than 2.2 meters tall, that is seven feet-four inches in the old money. And is the most hyped prospect since Lebron James. Fans in San Antonio thrilled with the pick, not surprisingly.
[01:49:57[
HOLMES: Wembanyama played professional ball in France the last three seasons leading the French league in scoring, rebounding, and blocked shots. And he also became the youngest ever regular season MVP.
North Korea's most famous football star has not been seen in three years. Han Kwang Song made his last public appearance in August of 2020 winning the Qatar Stars League trophy for Al Duhail. Since then, his whereabouts have been unknown.
CNN's Paula Hancocks reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He became known as the Little North Korean. Bursting into the soccer world in 2017, Pyongyang-born striker Han Kwang Song, impressed teammates and coaches.
Rising to the heady heights of Italian giant Juventus aged just 21. Then he vanished, his whereabouts still unknown.
MAX CANZI, FORMER CAGLIARI U-19 COACH: He's losing the best years of his career.
HANCOCKS: Max Canzi (ph), then the under 19 coach for Italian Club Cagliari was asked to assess Han at the start of his career.
CANZI: He was very fast and he took very fast decisions. And he was very, very good in controlling the ball, shooting with both feet, and he was -- he was a very good talent. Very good talent.
HANCOCKS: Signing him was a challenge, navigating U.N. sanctions ordering member states to repatriate all North Korean workers, following a North Korean nuclear test in 2017.
Han joined Cagliari as an academy player, just two months later he was playing in Serie A, the top division of the Italian soccer league.
HAN KWANG SONG, NORTH KOREA FOOTBALL PLAYER: The strongest emotion I have had, to be honest is, my first Sere A goal. Everyone is nice to me and here people are very welcoming. I live far away from my family but I feel at home here.
HANCOCKS: A blockbuster, $3.7 million transfer to Juventus followed, then a 4.6 million to Al-Duhail in Qatar his last sporting move. Winning the Qatar Stars league trophy in August 2020, this was the last time he was seen in public.
Months later, a U.N. document showed Han had been deported in line with sanctions, boarding a Cathay Airways flight from Doha to Rome in January 2021.
It is here that the trail goes cold. North Korea's borders are still shut due to COVID-19, making repatriation impossible.
The former coach of the North Korean team Yun Anderson (ph) tells CNN, he believes that Han Kwang Song is still in Italy but cannot play football. An official close to the issue says that Han is last believed to have been living in an unspecified North Korean embassy.
Now we have reached out to Italian authorities asking for clarification on his whereabouts but have yet to hear back.
For Han, one of his former teammates say the tragedy is a promising career cut short.
NICHOLAS PENNINGTON, FORMER TEAMMATE: You're dedicating your whole life to that and it gets taken away from you because of political reasons. HANCOCKS: Pennington says Han was well liked, can fit in easily. But
was always accompanied by an Italian man he called security. More likely he was his minder, a common way Pyongyang monitors its own when overseas.
Any time Pennington asked about North Korea, he says the conversation ended abruptly.
PENNINGTON: He would just say, yes, good. And that's it, nothing else.
HANCOCKS: Han was once a success story of North Korea sporting aspirations. Only 24 years old, the young striker could now be a victim of it s nuclear ambitions.
Paula Hancocks, CNN -- Seoul.
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HOLMES: They are both billionaires and rival titans of the tech world, but could Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk actually come to physical blows? We will talk about it after the break.
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HOLMES: Online retail giant Amazon is being sued by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission over what the government calls deceptive marketing.
CNN's Karin Caifa with that story.
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KARIN CAIFA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The FTC alleges Amazon tricked customers into enrolling in automatically renewing Prime memberships, and created a cancellation process the FTC describes as labyrinthine.
JOHN BREYAULT, NATIONAL CONSUMERS LEAGUE: The FTC is saying that the tactics that Amazon is using to get people to enroll in Prime and the sort of challenges they put in front of consumers who want to cancel their Prime subscription, amounts to an unfair, deceptive practice under the law.
CAIFA: The FTC lawsuit filed in a federal court in Seattle Wednesday also alleges Amazon buried key details about recurring billing in fine print and takes aim at its use of so-called dark patterns, elements used by many retailers to drive consumers to take certain actions.
BREYAULT: For example, it could be a ticking time clock that you see at the top of your screen when you are going to buy an event ticket. That makes you want to rush through the process before you have a chance to read all the fine print.
CAIFA: In a statement, Amazon called the FTC's claims false on the facts and the law. The FTC in March proposed new rules to make it easier to cancel free trials and unwanted subscriptions ranging from cable services to gym memberships until any new rules are in place, consumers should keep close tabs on their signups.
BREYAULT: Become familiar with the cancellation process before your term of the trial is up for example or even before the subscription service is going to renew.
CAIFA: In Washington, I'm Karin Caifa.
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HOLMES: Well, they're two of the richest and most powerful men in the world of tech. Well now it seems, they're ready to come to blows to settle their long-standing rivalry. Twitter owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted that he would be quote, "up for a cage fight" with Mark Zuckerberg, the head of Meta and creator of Facebook.
Zuckerberg fired back posting a screenshot of that tweet with the caption "send me the location". It's unclear whether they're serious or joking, but bookmakers are already making Zuckerberg the odds-on favorite. Musk has the size, but Zuckerberg won gold and silver medals in a jujitsu tournament last month. We'll see what they make of that.
Thanks for watching everyone. I'm Michael Holmes.
CNN NEWSROOM continues with Kim Brunhuber after the break.
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