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New York Times Reports Russian General Knew About Yevgeny Prigozhin's Rebellion Plans; Fighting Grinds On Around Eastern City Of Bakhmut; Second Night Of Unrest After Teen Killed In Traffic Stop; "Presumed" Human Remains Found In Titanic Wreckage; Muslim Courtiers Slam Sweden Over One-Man Demonstration. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired June 29, 2023 - 00:00   ET

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

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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM. Has Putin's purge began? Russia's second most senior military officer missing now for days amid intelligence reports he knew the coup was being planned.

Unrest continues to spread across France with another night of violent clashes between riot police and protesters outraged over the point blank police shooting of a 17-year-old delivery driver.

And from deep below, debris from the ill-fated Titan submersible raised from the ocean floor, with questions also raised about the resources and time committed to a long shot search and rescue.

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

VAUSE: Thanks for being with us for this hour on CNN. We begin once more with the fallout from the open military rebellion in Russia, which many believe left the Russian president looking weak and vulnerable.

And that may explain Vladimir Putin stripped to the Dagestan region on Wednesday. There he was greeted by cheering and enthusiastic crowds, but may have been a carefully orchestrated photo-op by the Kremlin to show Russian unity and support for President Putin.

And now, new details on how Yevgeny Prigozhin plan to overthrow the leadership of the Russian military. The Wall Street Journal cites Western officials who say the head of the Wagner Mercenary Group plan to capture both the defense minister as well as the military chief of staff, but Prigozhin change his plans at the last minute when Russia security services learned about the plot.

There are also reports that another top Russian general may have been involved in planning the insurrection. We get details now from CNN's Senior International Correspondent Fred Pleitgen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Russia's president trying to show he's in full control, cheered on by crowds in Dagestan.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I had no doubts about the reactions in Dagestan and throughout the country.

PLEITGEN (voice over): But the uprising led by Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin still reverberates. The New York Times reporting one of Russia's top generals Sergey Surovikin may have had advanced knowledge of the insurrection, the Kremlin trying to brush off the report.

There will now be a lot of speculation and rumors surrounding these events, the Kremlin spokesman says. I believe this is just another example of it.

While Surovikin was quick to call on Prigozhin to stop the insurrection.

GEN. SERGEY SUROVIKIN, RUSSIAN AIR FORCE (through translator): You must do this before it is too late. Obey the will and command of the elected president of the Russian Federation.

PLEITGEN (voice over): There is no doubt Surovikin and Prigozhin are close. But Prigozhin continuously ripped into Russia's defense minister for alleged ammo shortages during the battle for Bakhmut. For Surovikin, nothing but praise.

SUROVIKIN (through translator): This is the only man with the star of an army general who knows how to fight.

PLEITGEN (voice over): Surovikin lead Russia's war in Ukraine for three months last year, just as Wagner's battle for Bakhmut was escalating.

He was also Putin's top general in Syria in 2017, leading a brutal campaign to crush the opposition to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. And they are two working side by side with Prigozhin's Wagner Mercenaries.

So far, there's no indication that Russians implicated Surovikin in the uprising. But Putin has made clear he views those who took part as traitors.

PUTIN (through translator): The organizers of the rebellion betraying their country, that people also betrayed those who were drawn into their crime.

PLEITGEN (voice over): A Russian general claiming Russian intelligence had advanced knowledge of Prigozhin's plans, and yet they couldn't stop them. Another possible problem for Vladimir Putin as he tries to show things are back to normal and he remains firmly at the helm.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Robert Baer is a bestselling author who spent more than two decades as a CIA operative. He joins us this hour from Telluride, Colorado. Bob, good to see you. It's been a while.

ROBERT BAER, FORMER CIA OPERATIVE: Good to be back.

VAUSE: OK, so some details are slowly coming to light. Some reporting the second highest ranking officer in the Russian army, General Surovikin, aka General Armageddon, at the very least may have had knowledge about the plans for a coup.

And the New York Times adds this, American officials also said there are signs that other Russian generals may also have supported Mr. Prigozhin's attempt to change the leadership of the defense ministry by force.

[00:05:07]

Current and former U.S. officials said Mr. Prigozhin would not have launched his uprising unless he believed that others in positions of power would come to his aid.

We now know that General Armageddon is -- well, is reportedly missing, possibly under arrest, which would seem to give those reports of his involvement or he knew something a little more credibility. But what about the rest of it? How far did this plot extend if it did -- if it did, in fact, extend among the senior ranks?

BAER: Well, almost certainly Prigozhin was expecting support. I mean, he didn't have the logistics to make it to Moscow and hold Moscow.

So, what he was hoping was he would initiate a genuine military coup d'etat with important units. No doubt he was in touch with these officers, who also don't like the military leadership, they don't like that they're losing in Ukraine. And you know, it's sort of a wink and a nod. Well, you do something, and we'll line up and we'll help you.

Now, clearly, he got halfway there. And he saw that wasn't going to happen, and turned around to save his life.

VAUSE: That's the point though. So, you know, he may have had the support, but 120 miles out from Moscow, it kind of disappeared, and they left him twisting in the wind. Is there any reason why that happened?

BAER: I think they got scared. I mean, at the last minute, people changed their mind, so I'm not going to take any part of this because they're expecting someone else to move.

I mean, something like this, you would want the airborne troops to hit Moscow simultaneously. And when the other commanders didn't see that happening, or wherever the support was, they quickly turned tail and back, it wasn't me, I was never part of this.

But I would imagine that Shoigu he's -- I mean, that Prigozhin is so close to the military, he truly expected support, because he wasn't going to do this with -- we don't even know how many troops he had, was it 10,000 or 20,000. But nonetheless, it's not enough to occupy Moscow. Unless he's totally out of his mind. He expected support from military officers.

VAUSE: So, this certainly wasn't a, you know, spur of the moment march on Moscow, which, you know, in the early stages, it was sort of made out to be. There was planning, you know, of this, you know, coup if you like, you know, what weeks before it actually happened?

BAER: Oh, I mean, this has been brewing for a long time when he went to Rostov-on-Don, he knew that he could take that military base.

I mean, you have to case it, he know where the troops are, you know, where the troops are going to fight you, because he could have been stopped right there in a battle and he would have gotten nowhere.

So, he knew that he had support at least there in public support. I mean, Prigozhin may be a thug and an ex con but he's not stupid.

VAUSE: Well, in a totally spontaneous moment in southern Russia on Wednesday, President Vladimir Putin was greeted by adoring crowds on a visit to Dagestan. He shook hands with some of them, taking photographs with others, there he is, clearly still Mr. Popularity.

But the U.S. President Joe Biden has a very different take on where things stand right now for President Putin.

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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He's losing the war at home and he has become a bit of a pariah around the world. And it's not just NATO, it's not just the European Union, it's Japan, it's 40 nations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: It's a fair point, it seems Putin can't go anywhere where they can't really coordinate a crowd like the one we saw in Dagestan in southern Russia.

But does it send sort of a clear message, one that was unintended that Putin is really worried about his support at home? He is concerned about holding on to power and disloyalty in the upper ranks?

BAER: Oh, absolutely. I wouldn't put a life insurance policy on him. I don't think he's going to make it for long. The Ukrainians are bloody binded. They're going to go into Crimea and if he loses Crimea, if he loses Donbas, or there's continued attacks, and this is what military intelligence is planning on the Russian homeland, he's going to be weakened by the day.

This invasion of Ukraine was an utter failure. And the military was hollowed out under Putin the last 20 years. And the only person responsible for this is Putin and the Russians know it and the Russian military knows it.

So, I wouldn't -- his chances of dying in his own bed are remote.

VAUSE: Robert Baer, as always great to have you with us, sir, thank you.

BAER: Thank you.

VAUSE: What maybe a sinister twist to an already deadly Russian missile strike on a crowded restaurant in the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk. Ukrainian officials said coordinator of that attack has been arrested and will be charged with treason. At least 11 people were killed in the missile strike. One of the deadliest attacks on civilians in recent months. Here's the Ukrainian president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Today, the Secret Service of Ukraine together with the police Special Forces detained the person who coordinated this terrorist attack. They struck a cafe in Kramatorsk, a popular pizzeria.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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VAUSE: Three teenagers are among the dead including these 14-year-old twin sisters. Dozens of others were hurt, including a baby.

And Ukrainian president says a small group of Wagner Mercenary fighters remain in eastern Ukraine but pose no threat. His comments coming as heavy fighting continues on parts of the frontline.

CNN's Ben Wedeman has more about the grinding battle around the eastern city of Bakhmut.

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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In the woods outside the Russian occupied town of Bakhmut, Ukrainian crew of a Soviet era self-propelled gun prepares to open fire, cleaning the barrel, getting the ground ready, and then the order to fire comes through the radio.

WEDEMAN: This counter offensive is just over. So far, the Ukrainians are only inching forward taking a small village here in a slice of territory there.

WEDEMAN (voice over): Here still a grinding war of attrition for the troops of their 57 Motorized Infantry Brigade. Small advances followed by crushing counter attacks. But most of the time, they hunker down under cover and wait.

When we have targets, we fire fast and precise says the gun commander whose call sign is Diesel. We hit infantry tanks, vehicles, but most of all, infantry.

Their targeting is held by the brigades drone operators. This drone video shows a successful strike on Russian troops on the edge of Bakhmut, but these eyes in the sky can fall victim to friendly fire. That gunfire from nervous troops trying to shoot down their own drone.

Here they heard about the brief mutiny led by Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin and shrugged it off.

I said from the start, it's a lie says drone operator Zaporizits (PH). It was theater.

Their more immediate concern, getting enough ammunition, crates and freshly manufactured 152 millimeter rounds from Pakistan are strewn about near the gun.

Battery commander call sign Shaitan or Satan says he'll believe there's a counter offensive when he sees it.

Until we take a major town or get a tactical advantage he tells me, there is no counter offensive.

Here believing is seen. The only certainty, the war goes on.

Ben Wedeman, CNN, near Bakhmut.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Thousands of police officers were deployed across France Wednesday responding to another night of protest and violence sparked by deadly police shooting during a traffic stop, which left a 17-year- old delivery driver dead.

While the French president has called for calm. He also described the incident as unexplainable and inexcusable.

The working class para suburb of Nanterre where the 17-year-old was killed protesters threw rocks instead of fireworks aimed at police, cars were also overturned and set on fire.

CNN's Melissa Bell has more details on how the tragedy unfolded. And a warning here, it begins with part of the video showing that violent, deadly confrontation.

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MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Police weapons drawn and aimed at the driver of this yellow car. I'll puts a bullet in your head, someone shouts, a gunshot as an officer opens fire and the vehicle drives off crashing nearby at this intersection in the town of Nanterre near Paris.

A 17-year-old boy shot and killed named as Nael M by family lawyers laid amid the wreckage. Another passenger a teen was taken into custody police say the third remains missing.

Overnight, protests erupted and cars burned with around 350 police officers mobilized to quell the unrest. Wednesday morning brought heartache appeals for calm and investigations for what a family lawyer called a cold blooded shooting. French football star Kylian Mbappe tweeted that his heart was aching

for France and call the incident an unacceptable situation, the French President saying Wednesday that nothing justifies the death of a young man.

EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT (through translator): We need calm for justice to carry out its work. And we need calm everywhere, because the situation, we can't allow the situation to worsen.

BELL (voice over): Meanwhile, one police officer was taken into custody for culpable homicide.

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LAURENT NUNEZ, PARIS POLICE CHIEF (through translator): At that time the driver who had first turned off the engine restarted the vehicle then left. It was in this context that the policeman used his firearm.

BELL (voice over): The search for answers now underway.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BELL (on camera): The mother of young Nael is now calling for a march on Thursday in the name of justice for her son.

Melissa Bell, CNN Paris.

VAUSE: Dominic Thomas is CNN European Affairs commentator. He joins us now from Los Angeles. Hi, Dom.

DOMINIC THOMAS, CNN EUROPEAN AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Hi, John. Thanks for having me on.

VAUSE: Always a pleasure, Sir. Now, the initial police account said they opened fire because the 17-year-old was driving his car at them. And then came this video which was posted on Twitter, which showed that wasn't even close to the truth. Here's the lawyer representing the teenager's family.

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YASSINE BOUZROU, LAWYER OF VICTIM'S FAMILY (through translator): This is extremely serious matter. This video clearly shows that a police officer shot a young man in a cold blooded way. This is a case of voluntary manslaughter and there was no self-defense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: It seems almost beyond doubt the police shooting would have provoked anger among many in France. But how much worse has the reaction been because of the vast chasm between that initial account and the video which was posted on Twitter?

THOMAS: Yes, John, the killing obviously. And yet again, you know of a -- of a teenager was enough of a catalyst for unrest and violence but unambiguously made worse by the contradiction between the evidence in video and circulating on social media and the police account.

And of course, worse because this also feeds in to a near total kind of lack of trust in the police and anger at the police and essentially anger because of a lack of accountability of the police force in these repeated incidents of violence against teenagers in France, John.

VAUSE: And French law enforcement agencies have long been accused of systemic racism. Does that initial erroneous account by police give credibility to those accusations?

THOMAS: Yes, John unambiguously. You have an unpopular Minister of the Interior, who keeps talking about the fact that there are a few individuals or a few bad apples in the police force. That in fact, there is mounting evidence, once again, because of videos, social media, and so on, of excessive use of force, of heightened levels of racial profiling in France and have multiple racially motivated incidents over time.

And I think it's not a coincidence that the attorney representing the victim's family has also represented other very high profile cases in France, most notably the Traore case in which the brother died in police custody going all the way back to 2016.

So, you have a Minister of the Interior talking about parts of the system in which there are a problem, and others talking about the fact that this is a much broader problem with the system itself, thereby underscoring and highlighting the fact that this is an issue of systemic violence and systemic racial violence, John.

VAUSE: And the French President Emmanuel Macron was quick to criticize the police involved saying their actions are inexcusable, the equivalent of France's police union -- national police union, has fired back with an angry response.

A statement was posted on social media and they wrote this, like any citizen, the officers have the right to the presumption of innocence, and they went on to say, basically rough translation here. It's conceivable for Macron, in their words to -- it's inconceivable rather, to condemn our colleagues.

You know, the statement goes on. But it seems in some ways, totally disconnected from the video of the police shooting. So, what are the politics here for Macron?

THOMAS: Yes, well, I think it's really interesting. I think, once again, here, what we have is a sort of a seismic shift in the way in which evidence is being treated in these kinds of investigations.

And the video provides incontrovertible evidence that excessive force was used that resulted in the death of this teenager.

And it makes it almost impossible for the French president to not speak out against that political violence, whatever the office of the presidency and the distinction between, let's say, the executive and the legal system may be. I actually think, though, that Emmanuel Macron is less concerned with the kind of escalation of violence as a direct result of this particular action.

In other words, urban uprisings, rioting, and so on, then here's with this latest incident, feeding into a broader sense of dissatisfaction with his government that has been there all the way since 2017-18, when he was first elected with the yellow jackets and their particular grievances.

And, of course, the more recent violent response by the government, to the protests against the labor reform and the retirement and legislation that has gone through.

And there's a real possibility here, that this latest incident will help galvanize that opposition against his government, make it further or increasingly difficult for him to govern and for it ultimately for his government to legislate. And I think that's the political angle that Emmanuel Macron is concerned about here, John.

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VAUSE: He has faced a lot of unrest over recent years. Dominic, as always thanks for having -- thanks for coming in. Good to see you.

THOMAS: Great, thank you.

VAUSE: When we come back, how a burning Koran during a protest could have possible blowback for Sweden's NATO aspirations.

Also, crews recovered pieces of the ill-fated submersible along with possible remains of its passengers from the ocean floor near the Titanic. We'll have more on that in a moment.

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VAUSE: Human remains appear to have been found in the debris of the Titan submersible, which was recovered from the floor of the Atlantic not far from where the wreckage of the Titanic now lies.

CNN's Paula Newton has details.

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PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): The Us Coast Guard announced that it had found what it presumed to be human remains on the sea floor that would be from the submersible Titan. They recovered these remains and now say that the United States medical professionals will conduct a formal analysis of those presumed human remains.

And of course, the family and friends of those five passengers who died on the Titan. They will be comforted by this but also will feel again profound grief, given what the U.S. Coast Guard says was an implosion of that Titan submergible.

What's also happening now is that on Wednesday, the Horizon Arctic retrieved debris in fact, large pieces of debris. They say that they have finished their work out there at the site of the Titanic wreck.

And what's extraordinary here is that they did in fact recover large pieces of that debris. You can see in fact, the dome, with the viewport and a good chunk even of the passenger frame.

Again at issue here is that carbon fiber material that was used to hold those passengers and was used in this kind of deep sea exploration.

U.S. Coast Guard says that now they will begin to examine all of it. And again, there are many investigations underway including here in Canada, that investigation expected to take well over a year.

Paula Newton, CNN, Ottawa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Opening arguments that's scheduled for Friday in the sexual assault trial of actor Kevin Spacey. He was seen leaving court after Wednesday's hearing in London when the jury was formally sworn in and charges against him were read aloud.

The case rests on the allegations of four men who accused Spacey of indecent and sexual assault beginning more than 20 years ago. Abuse which allegedly continued years afterwards, once Spacey became artistic director of London's Old Vic Theatre.

Spacey has pleaded not guilty to all charges. The trial is expected to last about a month.

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Sweden is taking political flak from a number of Muslim countries over its decision to allow a one man protests that involve the burning of a Koran.

Iraq, Egypt, Kuwait, Turkey and Saudi Arabia all blasted Sweden. Morocco is also recalling its ambassador in Stockholm, according to a state news agency.

The incident happened Wednesday which also marked the Eid al-Adha, a major Muslim holiday.

CNN's Jomana Karadsheh has details.

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JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is the second time this year the Swedish authorities have allowed the burning of the Koran to go ahead.

Earlier this year in January, it was a far right Danish politician who burned the Koran outside the Turkish Embassy. This time, it is an Iraqi refugee who tells us that he is now a Swedish citizen. He has anti-Islam views and he decided to express it by burning the Koran outside a main mosque in central Stockholm. On Wednesday, he tells us that this was a legal battle over the past

three months and he was finally granted permission to do this.

Who is behind this and what the motivation is is really irrelevant for Muslims around the world who are angered by this move coming on one of the holiest days in the Islamic calendar, the first day of Eid al- Adha.

We've heard from Swedish officials this time and in the past, they say that they don't agree with the sorts of acts, they find them disrespectful and insulting.

But at the same time they say that this is about freedom of expression. In Sweden, a country where the -- where freedom of expression is protected by the Constitution, where they say it is at the heart of the country's democracy.

We have heard the angry response coming from Turkish officials this of course at a time where a Sweden and Turkey are still in the midst of these negotiations over the accession of Sweden into NATO.

The Turkish foreign minister in a statement saying that this is a disgraceful act against our holy book, unacceptable that Sweden would allow these anti-Islamic actions under the pretext of freedom of expression, and to turn a blind eye to such heinous acts is to be complicit in this.

We've also heard from another senior Turkish official Fahrettin Altun saying that this is a provocative terrorist act targeting our religion on this sacred day. Those who seek to become our allies in NATO cannot tolerate or enable destructive behavior of Islamophobic and xenophobic terrorists.

It's unclear right now if this is going to have an impact on these ongoing talks over Sweden's accession into NATO, but it's very clear that this is going to make an already complicated situation even more complicated.

Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Coming up here on CNN NEWSROOM, Uganda's draconian anti-LGBTQ law has saw so many who live in fear and hiding. A few though are refusing to be silenced. Hear their voices when we come back.

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

The only country in Europe where abortion was totally banned has now made an exception. Lawmakers in Malta have legalized abortion in one and only one very specific circumstance when the life of the mother is in danger. As we say, this exception falls way short of what's needed. It's been exactly a month since Uganda passed some of the harshest, well, the harshest anti-LGBTQ laws in the world. The law criminalizes many aspects of LGBTQ life, including sex education for the gay community, sexual relationships between consenting adults of the same gender.

Human rights groups in and outside Uganda have protested, and many western nations have condemned the legislation. In the weeks since, many gay, lesbian, trans and queer Ugandans have suffered physical and psychological harm from a law which codifies hatred and bigotry.

Some, though, are refusing to stay silent. They are boldly speaking out for their right to exist and live freely in their own country. We have more now from Larry Madowo.

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LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Nash Raphael says he was assaulted on the night the anti-homosexuality act became law in Uganda after months of publicity, fanned hostility towards people like him.

(on-camera): How do you feel about the fact that you keep getting attacked?

NASH WASH RAPHAEL, TRANS UGANDAN MAN: It's bad, it's bad. I wouldn't wish for anyone's daughter or son to go through what I'm going through because I know how worse it is.

MADOWO (voice-over): It was the second time this year that he suffered such a violent attack and the 9th since he transitioned. He says his family disowned him and he got fired from his job for not wearing women's clothes. He's now homeless, jobless and penniless.

RAPHAEL: I've tried to take my own life, it hasn't worked.

MADOWO (on-camera): How would you describe your life right now?

RAPHAEL: It's hell.

MADOWO (voice-over): The act outlaws gay marriage in Uganda, punishes same sex acts with life imprisonment and death for what it calls aggravated homosexuality, which includes sex with a minor or otherwise vulnerable person having sex while HIV positive and incest.

ALL: Uganda! Uganda!

MADOWO (voice-over): It was widely condemned internationally before it even passed.

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This bill is one of the most extreme anti-LGBTQ plus laws in the world. No one should be attacked, imprisoned or killed simply because of who they are or whom they love.

MADOWO (voice-over): The U.S. State Department advised Americans to reconsider travel to Uganda due to anti-LGBTQI plus legislation, warning that offenders could be prosecuted and jailed for life or even sentenced to death.

Opposition MP Asuman Basalirwa introduced a bill that includes a 20- year jail term for what it calls promoting homosexuality.

ASUMAN BASALIRWA, UGANDAN PARLIAMENT MEMBER: I want to disagree with the people who say homosexuality is a western concept. No, it is not. We've lived with homosexuality here in this country, in Africa. What is foreign is recruitment and promotion. That was an African.

MADOWO (on-camera): You don't see any instances where this law will bring harm to the LGBTQ community in Uganda.

BASALIRWA: But how? But how? It is not there. This is like another law. It has no problem.

MADOWO (voice-over): Uganda's LGBTQI plus community is worried that the law accuses all of them of pedophilia, grooming or recruiting young people.

JOAN AMEK, CO-FOUNDER, RELLA WOMEN'S FOUNDATION: There is nowhere that is safe for any queer person living in Uganda. This is the LBQ safe space.

MADOWO (voice-over): Joan Amek's foundation considers this a safe space for queer women. But she has to find somewhere new to live.

AMEK: I have had myself being chased away from where I'm staying.

MADOWO (on-camera): You've been evicted from your house?

AMEK: Yes, I have been evicted from my house. I've been --

MADOWO (on-camera): For being a lesbian woman in Uganda.

AMEK: I have been evicted for being a queer person living in Uganda.

MADOWO (voice-over): More than 80 percent of Ugandans identify as Christian and almost everyone else is Muslim. The Anti-Homosexuality Act is popular across the religious and political divide. The Church of Uganda even defied the Archbishop of Canterbury to support the law.

Ugandan Anglicans are now separating from the Church of England because of differing positions on homosexuality.

REV. CANON JOHN AWODI, ALL SAINTS' CATHEDRAL: This is a social problem. People to learn it. So that is the stand of the church here. It is unbiblical, it is unnatural. It is against the order of God.

[00:35:09]

MADOWO (on-camera): How come the Church of Uganda and the Church of England are reading the same Bible differently on the matter of homosexuality?

AWODI: Well, people interpret the Bible differently. MADOWO (on-camera): Everyone we spoke to in the Ugandan LGBTQ community understood the risk they were taking of putting their faces out there. They could get evicted from their homes, fired from their jobs, even attacked by the community.

But they didn't want to go further underground, go in the shadows. They wanted to make sure that they made a statement that they're here and they will not be silenced.

AMEK: Silence is equals to death. And regardless of whether I stay silent or not, they'll still kill us. They'll still criminalize us.

MADOWO (voice-over): Larry Madowo, CNN, Kampala.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: If you or someone you know are at risk of suicide, there is help and there is hope. Here are some places you can turn. Befrienders Worldwide connects users to the nearest emotional support center for the part of the world they live in. And the International Association for Suicide Prevention also provides a global directory of resources as well as hotlines.

Still to come here on CNN, a thick, smoky haze continues to blanket many U.S. cities, and it's getting worse in parts. The end result of Canada's worst fire season on record. More on that in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Popstar Madonna is postponing her world tour after a serious health scare.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: In an Instagram post, Madonna's longtime manager confirmed she's recovering from a serious bacterial infection, which landed her in the intensive care unit for several days. The 64-year-old Grammy winner was due to launch her 43 city celebration tour next month. According to her manager, Madonna is expected to make a full recovery, but she remains under medical care for the time being.

Smoke from Canadian wildfires once again sweeping across parts of the U.S., covering more than a dozen states from the Midwest to the East Coast. More than 120 million people in the United States and millions more in Canada are under alerts, under alerts for poor quality, air quality. And in some cities, the haze is not expected to clear for a few days.

Meantime, other parts of the United States are experiencing extreme heat. Nearly 90 million are under heat alerts, and the heat wave that impacted Texas now set to expand northward and eastward.

CNN Meteorologist Chad Myers has details.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: A major heat dome has been sitting right over the central part of the United States, making temperatures in the afternoon 10 degrees warmer than they should be. In some spots, 15 degrees warmer. And we're not really into the middle part of summer yet, but excessive heat warnings arcs all the way to New Orleans for tomorrow.

Because of the heat and the humidity that gets added together, it will feel like 45 to 47 degrees outside, and those numbers are in the shade.

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You take away the humidity and you see numbers in the 30s. So still hot, but it's the humidity down here across the Gulf of Mexico that sneaks up into the land areas up here that just makes it absolutely oppressive. Temperatures in the west are going to cool down a little bit for Dallas at least, but all of that heat just moves on off toward the east over the next couple of days, and the humidity stays right with it.

Something else that's going on. There have been significant wildfires in Quebec and Ontario, and the people up there have just been choked with smoke. And obviously the wildfire danger itself. But now this smoke, at least this week, has blown back down into the United States over some pretty big cities. Cleveland, Chicago, St. Louis, Columbus. Ohio, Indianapolis, all of those areas choked with smoke today.

Here's a picture of what it looked like earlier in the day in Cleveland. And here's what it should have looked like. The same exact picture taken just two days earlier. The water and the city you could actually see. Now there is some haze, but not like it was on Wednesday when all of that smoke was right over the Great Lakes. Still there for tomorrow.

Moving a little bit farther to the east as well, into Washington, D.C. Maybe a little bit more into New York City. Making amazing sunsets, but making really unhealthy air for people to breathe here. And you can just see it in Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Ohio. All those areas in the red and in the orange. An awful lot more smoke still to come.

I think, though, that Thursday, today will be the worst day for the rest of the week. We see a lot of smoke still west of Chicago, back into St. Louis. Looks like Lexington and Louisville, Kentucky. Evansville seeing some very, very dark smoke. But the computer model does burn away some of this smoke in the next couple of days.

Thunderstorms will pop up and that will mix up the atmosphere, and some of that smoke will fall out in the form of rain, dirty rain, but still it will get better from here. But a few more days of some very unhealthy air across the northeastern part of the U.S.

VAUSE: Thanks to Chad for that report. Well, there have only been 23 perfect games in Major League Baseball until now. This is number 24 by New York Yankees pitcher Domingo German. The Yanks defeated the Oakland A's 11-0 as the 30-year-old went all nine innings without allowing a runner on base through a hit, error, or walk. The Jamaican-borne player is the fourth Yankee. And there he is to pitch a perfect game. A little slow on the roll.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The 2-0.

VAUSE: How about that?

I'm John Vause back at the top of the hour with more CNN Newsroom. But first, World Sports start after the break.

(WORLD SPORT)

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