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Russian President Shows Public Support After the Failed Mutiny Attempt; 17-Year Old Teenage Boy Killed by Police at a Paris Suburb; Sudan Holiday Ceasefire Breaks Down, Violence Still Erupts as Number of Refugees Rises Dramatically. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired June 29, 2023 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. You are watching "CNN Newsroom" and I'm Rosemary Church.
Just ahead, Vladimir Putin puts on a show of public support amid new reporting that his top military leaders were targets of the Wagner Mutiny. We will discuss new details about the rebellion and its impact on Putin's war. Plus --
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Anger is running high in a Paris suburb after a police shooting that killed a 17-year-old boy. We'll have a live report on what the victim's family attorney is saying.
And more than 120 million Americans are under air quality alerts as smoke from wildfires in Canada spreads south. We'll show you where the worst spots are.
UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN Newsroom with Rosemary Church.
CHURCH: And we begin this hour in Russia where President Vladimir Putin is expected to speak at a business forum today. It's the latest high profile appearance as he works to reassert his authority after last weekend's rebellion by Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin.
On Wednesday, Mr. Putin visited the Dagestan region in southern Russia where supporters gave him an enthusiastic welcome during the uprising. Meanwhile, "The Wall Street Journal" reports Yevgeny Prigozhin had plans to capture Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu and Army General Valeriy Gerazimov. But he abandoned the idea after Russia's Federal Security Service found out and decided to march on Moscow.
A European intelligence official tells CNN there were hints that the Russian military or security services knew about the planned revolt and might have wanted it to succeed. More now from CNN's Alex Marquardt. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SR. U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: With Yevgeny Prigozhin now believed to be in Belarus, questions still remain about what his ultimate goals were when he undertook his insurrection over the weekend. A U.S. official tells CNN that the Biden administration does not have a clear understanding of what Prigozhin's real intentions were. This after CNN reported that U.S. intelligence did assess that Prigozhin was going to mount a rebellion after moving troops, equipment and weapons.
On Wednesday, "The Wall Street Journal" reported that as part of his insurrection, Prigozhin had intended to capture the defense minister Sergei Shoigu and the top general Valeriy Gerasimov, whom he'd been railing against for months. The Russian internal security services, the FSB, reportedly picked up on his plans and they were foiled. So, Prigozhin launched his mutiny early, first taking over the military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don, and then his troops continued their march towards Moscow.
Now, a senior European official tells me that Prigozhin did seem to be targeting Shoigu and Gerasimov, but that still does not explain Prigozhin's continued march on Moscow when that plan failed, nor his sudden turnaround on Saturday.
There is speculation that Prigozhin thought that some in the Russian military and security services would join his rebellion, but that didn't happen, nor did much Russian military resistance materialize before Prigozhin struck a deal and agreed to go to Belarus. was averted, many questions remain unanswered.
Alex Marquardt, CNN, New York.
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CHURCH: CNN's Clare Sebastian is following developments for us. She joins us live from London. Good morning to you, Clare. So Vladimir Putin made this rare public appearance in Dagestan in an effort to show the support he enjoys from his people in the wake of the attempted weekend mutiny. How did that come across? So did it look like he was in control of that whole situation?
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, it was very unusual for Vladimir Putin, who we've got used to, certainly over the past year or so, of seeing him at a distance from people, many events. He holds virtual meetings. You'll remember that extra long table from the days of the COVID-19 pandemic. So seeing him there in his shirt sleeves, shaking hands, getting among the people was pretty unusual.
Clearly, I think, another sort of sign of the length the Kremlin is going to reassert his authority, but also perhaps a bit of counter- pro- programming to the support that we saw in Rostov for those Wagner fighters as they left that city.
[03:05:17] Putin perhaps trying to garner some of that sort of populist fervor show that he is in amongst the people and can just like people like Prigozhin, perhaps even President Zelenskyy of Ukraine also be someone approachable to his population. That's part of it. Dagestan perhaps also carefully chosen. This is a city, an area of Russia where we saw quite a lot of protests, particularly to the partial mobilization of Russian civilians, reservists back in the autumn.
So perhaps he's chosen that to try and regain some support from there. I think though you can't assume even with events over the weekend that he has lost a lot of support. Frankly in Russia, the people don't have a clear alternative and if he is able to bring back even an element of stability he will be able to regain a fair amount of support among his people.
CHURCH: And Clare, many questions surround the whereabouts of General Seroviken and also this report in "The Wall Street Journal" on what Yevgeny Prigozhin was trying to do with his rebellion, his aim here. What are you learning?
SEBASTIAN: So I think there's certainly an element of information coalescing around the idea that people inside and outside of Russia may have known about Yevgeny Prigozhin's plans ahead of time.
We know from CNN reporting that U.S. intelligence officials had built up a fairly clear picture but didn't share it now. "The Wall Street Journal," saying that the FSB had got wind of what Prigozhin was planning, and that's why he sort of changed his plans from an attempt to capture General Gerasimov and Sergei Shoigu to doing this then- aborted march on Moscow.
I think two things. One, that shows that there was perhaps an element of chaos in the way this whole thing was conducted from Prigozhin's side, that he had to change his plans, that things weren't quite executed as he had wanted.
And I think, secondly, the suggestion that we're getting from the speeches and comments from Vladimir Putin and those around him is that he is not over this yet, despite officially Russia having dropped the charges of rebellion against the Wagner group that he may be looking for a way to make someone pay for this. This is, I mean, that's still very unclear in Russia at the moment.
CHURCH: All right, Clare Sebastian, joining us live from London. Many thanks.
Joining me now is retired Colonel Matt Dimmick. He is also the former director for Russia at the National Security Council. Thank you, sir, for being with us.
COL. MATT DIMMICK (RET.), FORMER DIRECTOR FOR RUSSIA AND EASTERN EUROPE, NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: Well, thank you for having me.
CHURCH: So Vladimir Putin is doubling down on efforts to repair his damaged leadership after Yevgeny Prigozhin's short mutiny over the weekend, even greeting supporters in a rare surprise appearance in Dagestan on Wednesday. How staged do you think that was and does it help or hurt the President in this apparent desperate bid to seize back control and authority?
DIMMICK: You know, it's hard to say if it's staged. You just never know with Putin's appearances how carefully crafted those are. It just shows that the president can go about doing mundane tasks and is not concerned about risks to his power base.
CHURCH: And, Colonel, "The Wall Street Journal" is citing Western officials who say Prigozhin planned to capture Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Army General Valery Gerasimov. But had to change his plans once Russia's security service learned of his plot. What do you make of that?
DIMMICK: The FSB saw the picture and maybe alerted some of the people who they thought might have been in on it, maybe General Surovikin and so forth, that, you know, the plot has been revealed. That may have dampened a whole lot of people's interest in supporting Prigozhin.
And I think when Prigozhin realized that he was getting no support, he was expecting I think a lot of military units and security service units to open the doors for him and join sides and throw in with him when he realized that wasn't happening, then I think he realized that there was no point in pursuing it.
CHURCH: You mentioned the general there. Earlier, "The New York Times" was reporting that top Russian general Sergei Sorovkin may have been involved in the planning of that mutiny and now rumors suggest he may even be under arrest. How big do you think this could be, this effort to perhaps eventually replace Putin?
DIMMICK: Well, you know, I'm not sure that was really in Prigozhin's mindset. He was really setting out to remove Minister Shoigu and General Gerasimov from power, and I don't believe that Prigozhin had any designs on toppling Putin.
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You know, that being said, Putin certainly doesn't want Prigozhin going around taking out members of his administration without his approval. So, you know, this is certainly a threat to Putin's power.
But, you know, I think Putin's going to have to ask a lot of questions of his security service. Who exactly was sympathetic to Prigozhin? Who was in on it? Who knew about it and didn't say anything? There's going to be potentially a lot of housecleaning going on in the near future.
CHURCH: And meantime, Prigozhin is reportedly in Belarus, although we have no confirmation of that. What happens to him? And to President Lukashenko who was very quick to take credit for ending this short revolt, even claiming he saved Putin, which of course then demeans the Russian president even more?
DIMMICK: So I think Prigozhin is in a tight spot. His circle of influence and his ability to take any action going forward is that circle's getting smaller. And Putin's got more tools in his toolkit to keep that circle small and keep Prigozhin sidelined.
So Prigozhin is gonna have to figure out how to pick up the pieces now that his Wagner group is going to be dismantled and reassembled in other ways and that his enterprise, that's one of his most lucrative sources of income now is going to dry up. He's going to have to figure out how to proceed without being able to lean on his enterprises in St. Petersburg.
And also he may be facing some corruption charges that Putin may be lining up for him in the future. So, Prigozhin's future is very cloudy and very limited, but I think his days of being a major actor and being able to wield any political influence is going to be fairly limited.
Lukashenko, I think, comes out to be somewhat of a winner in this. He was in the right spot at the right time, was able to communicate with Putin and Prigozhin and potentially he may have helped both sides come to an agreement that avoided a major bloodbath that would have been bad for Russia, would have been bad for both parties and let Putin save a little bit of face and deal with Prigozhin later without having to kill a whole lot of Russians.
CHURCH: All right, retired Colonel Matt Dimmick, many thanks for joining us and sharing your analysis. I Appreciate it.
DIMMICK: Thank you.
CHURCH: Turning now to Ukraine, where President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says a coordinator of the attack on a restaurant in Kramatorsk is now in custody. The missile strike on Tuesday is the deadliest attack against civilians in months. At least 12 people were killed. Mr. Zelenskyy did not give any specific details on who was detained, only that the person would be charged with treason.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Today, the Secret Service of Ukraine together with the Ukrainian government are working with the police special forces detained the person who coordinated this terrorist attack. They struck a cafe in Kramatorsk, a popular pizzeria.
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CHURCH: Authorities say three teenagers were among those killed, including these 14-year-old twin sisters. Dozens of others were injured in the attack, including a baby.
Still to come, fiery protests in Paris after a teenager was shot to death in a traffic stop, the latest on calls for justice and accountability.
And more violence sweeps across Sudan's capital on one of Islam's holiest days. Plus from the ocean floor near the Titanic, crews recover pieces of
that ill-fated submersible along with possible remains of its passengers.
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CHURCH: French police used tear gas in an effort to control crowds on Wednesday during a second night of protests after a teenager was shot dead at a traffic stop. Protesters threw rocks and fireworks at police. They overturned and burned cars and set fire to government buildings and schools, according to officials. It prompted French President Emmanuel Macron to call a meeting of the inter-ministerial crisis unit, which ended just moments ago.
And CNN's Salma Abdelaziz, joins me now live from London. So Salma, what is the latest on these protests and the unrest?
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. France is set for a third night of unrest. You mentioned that inter-ministerial crisis meeting that French President Emmanuel Macron just stepped out of his first comments to reporters were about last night's demonstrations, describing it as unjustifiable violence.
I know you're playing those very dramatic images of police trying to contain those demonstrations last night. According to French authorities, dozens of buildings, including schools, were set on fire. Dozens of cars were set alight and at least 24 police officers were injured.
French authorities responded by arresting at least 150 people. But today there are more events planned, including a march for justice that's been called by the victims family. The 17 year old boy Nile, who was shot by police officers, his mother has called for this planned rally to take place today.
I want to take a step back though, Rosemary, and just remind people here of the wider context. Yes, there have been repeated calls for calm from the French president. He has described the shooting death of this 17-year-old boy at the hands of police officers at this traffic stop. Of course, with that very dramatic social media video, the French president has described that as unjustifiable. He has called for calm in order for justice to take place.
But French police have long been accused, particularly by communities of color, of systemic racism, of bias and discrimination, particularly when it comes to traffic stops, rights groups have many cases and many examples and have published many times about this issue, about the issue of ethnic profiling by police during traffic stops.
So the death of this 17-year-old boy is absolutely not in isolation. It is within the wider context of these longstanding tensions and just calls for calm and calls for justice might not be enough to satisfy those demonstrators on the streets.
CHURCH: And Salma, you mentioned the family of this young man who was fatally shot by police. What's their attorney, what are their lawyers saying about this?
ABDELAZIZ: They are absolutely taking this to court. They are seeking justice for the 17 year old boy and they want answers. Take a listen to what the lawyer for the family said.
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YASSINE BOUZROU, LAWYER FOR VICTIM'S FAMILY (through translator): This is an 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.
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ABDELAZIZ: You hear him there, this lawyer describing it as voluntary manslaughter. I again want to reference that video that's been shared on social media over the last several days. I also want to note that it's Eid al-Adha, one of the most important Muslim holidays of the year.
So many in the community will be very closely watching their phones, very closely speaking to each other, sharing these messages. And for many of these communities of color, many who live in France and feel marginalized and disenfranchised by the French government, this is yet another example of the brutality of the police towards them.
And that video, that 17-year-old boy being shot, it has, of course, ignited these demonstrations, but this call for justice is more complicated than that, Rosemary. There is a fear among activists, among rights groups, among those who come from these communities that justice will not be served.
That's why you see those demonstrations continuing on the street today. French President Emmanuel Macron is going to have to just not address this incident as a singular one, potentially wider problems when it comes to policing in France.
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CHURCH: All right. Salma Abdelaziz joining us live from London. Many thanks.
Well the shooting in France has renewed allegations of systemic racism by authorities. CNN European Affairs commentator Dominic Thomas says there's evidence to support those claims and officials just aren't acknowledging it.
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DOMINIC THOMAS, CNN EUROPEAN AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: 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 of 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 they're 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.
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CHURCH: Sudan's warring parties marked the Islamic Eid al-Adha holiday with renewed fighting, breaking a ceasefire that both sides had promised. Residents say air strikes and anti-aircraft fire rang out in the capital on Wednesday.
Sudan's army was targeting the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group, who had captured this police headquarters building in southern Khartoum on Sunday. The increased fighting is driving more people to flee. Already some 650,000 people have fled to neighboring countries. The U.S., U.K., and Norway are condemning the violence, saying there has been increased ethnic violence in Darfur and other southern states. They blame most of it on the paramilitary RSF and their allied militia in the region.
Norway's ambassador to Sudan and Eritrea, says the situation on the ground is a living nightmare.
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ENDRE STIANSEN, NORWEGIAN AMBASSADOR TO SUDAN AND ERITREA: But it's not that coordinated, even though there are links between the different groups. So you have, you know, a situation that is approaching, they are not, but it's maybe the word chaos is better. But you have groups that go after each other and using what these groups do when they're fighting a war. And that is everything at their disposal, including sexual violence.
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CHURCH: After 10 days of searching the ocean floor near the wreckage of the Titanic, crews have recovered what appear to be human remains and large parts of the doomed submersible Titan. The evidence was offloaded at a port in Canada on Wednesday.
Paula Newton has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The U.S. Coast Guard announced that it had found what it presumed to be human remains on the seafloor 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 submersible.
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. The 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.
Paul Newton, CNN, Ottawa.
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CHURCH: Coming up next, the future for Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin remains uncertain after leading a rebellion in Russia. We'll look at the fate of others who dared to challenge Vladimir Putin.
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Plus, smoke from Canadian wildfires is blanketing the skylines of many U.S. cities. An update on how much longer the haze will hang around.
And many Latin American countries are experiencing record high temperatures and drought. What climate change has to do with it after a break.
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CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. Well, let's get you up to date on our top story. New video from southern Russia shows adoring crowds greeting President Vladimir Putin in the Dagestan region. The images released by the Kremlin are an apparent effort to project strength and support after the short-lived weekend rebellion.
Meanwhile, "The Wall Street Journal" reports Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Army General Valery Gerasimov, were key targets of Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin. The journal cites Western officials who say Prigozhin intended to capture the pair, but had to change plans after the Russian security service uncovered the plot. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Prigozhin's rebellion was
a direct challenge to Putin's authority. The Wagner leader is now in Belarus, according to its president, but the exact whereabouts of the mercenary boss are unclear. But what could be next for the man who's uprising rattled Putin's grip on power?
CNN's Brian Todd takes a look at the fate of previous Putin challenges.
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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Despite guarantees of his security from the dictator of Belarus, Wagner mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, observers say could well have a target on his back. From the former KGB colonel in the Kremlin who can't tolerate the level of disrespect, Prigozhin just showed him.
BILL BROWDER, PUTIN CRITIC ON RUSSIA'S MOST WANTED LIST: In order for Putin to have been the leader for 23 years, he's have to be the -- and seemed to be the meanest guy in the prison yard, the one who would cause damage to anybody who even looked at him the wrong way. And Yevgeny Prigozhin didn't just look at him the wrong way. He disrespected him in the most massive. humiliating way.
TODD (voice-over): Prigozhin, now at risk of joining a haunting list of those who've challenged Vladimir Putin and paid the price.
Alexei Navalny, Russia's most prominent opposition leader, has allegedly been poisoned several times and is now serving a long sentence at a maximum security prison.
A similar fate for Putin critic and journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza.
VLADIMIR KARA-MURZA, JOURNALIST AND PUTIN CRITIC: It's a dangerous location to be in opposition to Vladimir Putin's regime in Russia.
TODD (voice-over): Kara-Murza says he's been poisoned and sent into a coma at least twice. He was recently sentenced to 25 years in a Russian penal colony. Kara-Murza is a protege of Boris Nemtsov, once one of Russia's most outspoken opposition leaders, who was gunned down on a bridge at the foot of the Kremlin in 2015.
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Then there were the former Russian spies who Putin saw as threats.
ANDRE WEISS, AUTHOR, ACCIDENTAL CZAR: THE LIFE AND LIES OF VLADIMIR PUTIN: But even Putin has a particular beef with people he calls traitors. And he has gone after them in various parts of the world, including in London, in the case of a former FSB agent, Alexander Litvynenko, as well as the attack on a former Soviet double agent, Sergey Skripal, in the southern English city of Salisbury in 2018.
TODD (voice-over): Former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter were poisoned and nearly killed in Britain with the powerful nerve agent Novichok, an attack which British investigators tied to Putin's government.
In 2006, former Russian intelligence agent Alexander Litvinenko, who'd been digging up information potentially tying Putin to organized crime, was killed in London when someone slipped the radioactive substance polonium into his tea.
ALEX GOLDFARB, AUTHOR, DEATH OF A DISSIDENT: The British investigators found beyond reasonable doubt on evidence that two agents of the Russian security services poisoned Mr. Litvinenko. They found that Putin is very likely was the person who gave orders.
TODD (voice-over): Putin's regime has denied involvement in those poisonings. Analysts say with Putin, these cases are all about message sending.
WEISS: When you see incidents of members of the Russian business circles or others who've met on unfortunate early demise, it's more about the sensational ripple effects that creates.
TODD (on-camera): Some analysts expect Vladimir Putin to engage in a sweeping crackdown, possibly among Russia's elites in the wake of the Prigozhin revolt. But one Putin critic, financier Bill Browder, says Putin himself is vulnerable now, that if he's perceived to be weakened enough by the Prigozhin episode, someone will have a go at him.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
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CHURCH: Sweden is taking political flak from several Muslim countries over its decision to allow a one-man protest that involved the burning of a Quran. Iraq, Egypt, Kuwait, Turkey and Saudi Arabia all blasted Sweden. Morocco is also recalling its ambassador to Stockholm, according to a state news agency.
The burning incident happened Wednesday, which also marked the major Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha. CNN's Jomana Karadsheh has details.
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JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is the second time this year that Swedish authorities have allowed the burning of the Quran to go ahead. Earlier this year in January it was a far-right Danish politician who burnt the Quran 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 Quran outside a main mosque in 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 these 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 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 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.
[03:35:03]
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 is very clear that this is going to make an already complicated situation even more complicated.
Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, London.
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CHURCH: Smoke from Canadian wildfires is 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 U.S. and millions more in Canada are under alerts for poor air quality, and in some cities the haze is not expected to clear for a couple of days.
Meanwhile, other parts of the U.S. are experiencing extreme heat. And now that heat wave is set to expand northward and eastward. CNN meteorologist Chad Myers has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
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 are 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. Take away the humidity and you see numbers in the thirties. So It's
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 the 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, in 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 in 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 but a few more days of some very unhealthy air across the northeastern part of the U.S.
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CHURCH: Meantime further south in Mexico, health officials report that more than 100 people have died due to the heat since the beginning of March and nearly 1600 others have been treated for heat related problems as well.
And along with the heat, parts of Latin America are also experiencing severe drought. CNN's Rafael Romo has that.
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RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Boats that used to be on water are now lying on grass. Residents can now walk where they used to be able to swim. This is Alajuela Lake, which serves as a reservoir for the Panama Canal.
There used to be boats right here where we are, this nearby resident says. Water came this far.
A severe drought has forced authorities in Panama not only to implement water-saving measures but also to impose restrictions on cargo ships crossing the key global trade route.
(on-camera): Panama is the latest example of countries in Latin America having to deal with severe drought conditions. A report published by the European Commission states that precipitation deficits, above average temperatures and recurrent heat waves, are causing one of the worst droughts in decades in the region.
(voice-over): In the fall of 2021, in the spring of the following year, low water levels at the Parana River, which flows for nearly 4,900 kilometers, 3,000 miles through Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina, cause cargo ships to stop delivering goods.
CHASE HARRISON, AMERICAS SOCIETY/COUNCIL OF THE AMERICAS: The situation in Argentina is unprecedentedly bad. They're having the worst drought conditions in 75 years, and we're seeing those conditions exist in neighboring countries as well.
[03:40:04]
Chile having the worst drought conditions in 50 years, and Uruguay having the worst drought conditions in 80 years.
ROMO (voice-over): Mexico is now recovering from a late spring heatwave, and last summer, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador declared an emergency in the northern state of Nuevo Leon due to lack of water, a situation that experts believe aggravated conditions that have pushed many Mexicans to leave their country.
HARRISON: So, if we have large-scale movement of people from one place to another, it's going to put a strain on the social services of those countries. It's also just going to create economic dead areas in some of these countries where there cannot be business.
ROMO (voice-over): An analysis by Grow Intelligence published in 2021 concluded that Mexico's corn crop is threatened by the country's most widespread and intense droughts in nearly a decade, and tight corn markets are likely to transmit the shockwaves worldwide.
Back in Panama, the government agency that manages the canal imposed draft restrictions, meaning cargo ships with a very low hull can't transit, which may slow the delivery of goods worldwide.
Rafael Romo, CNN, Atlanta.
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CHURCH: Earlier, I spoke with Kristina Dahl, principal climate scientist for the Climate and Energy Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, and I asked her how extreme heat could impact people's lives.
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KRISTINA DAHL, PRINCIPAL CLIMATE SCIENTIST, UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS: -- concern amongst climate scientists and public health officials is the effect of extreme heat on our health. So you may have experienced a hot day that made you feel dizzy or irritable or exhausted. And those are just minor consequences of heat. But as the accumulation of heat in your body increases, as the amount of time you spend on the heat increases, you can actually develop heat stroke, which can be fatal.
Heat can affect cardiovascular issues. It can affect respiratory issues like asthma. It can even bring on preterm labor in pregnant people. So there are a number of different health effects that we see, but heat can also affect things like our infrastructure.
Rails for railroads, for example, can deform or buckle when it's extremely hot. Planes can't take off when it's extremely hot. And outdoor workers who keep our societies running with construction projects and maintenance could be particularly affected by the heat.
So it's a number of different things that we worry about when we see heat waves like we're experiencing right now in the Southern U.S.
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CHURCH: There's growing speculation the federal investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election could soon result in criminal charges.
After months of silence in the investigation, we have learned that special counsel Jack Smith and his team recently questioned two prominent figures with first-hand knowledge of these events.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger was interviewed yesterday. You will recall, of course, Trump had pressed Raffensperger to find thousands of votes that would give him the win in Georgia. And another key figure, ex-Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani has also been questioned in recent weeks. He was among the most vocal in promoting falsehoods about the election results.
In the classified documents case against Trump he is now offering yet another explanation for an explosive audio recording obtained by CNN in which he boasts of possessing a secret military document after leaving office. At one point, he even admits he can't declassify it because he's no longer president.
The incident is cited prominently in the federal indictment against Trump. Here's what the former president has to say about it now. He told the news website "Semafor" that he was merely engaging in a moment of bravado and that he didn't really have any classified documents in his possession.
Well, signs of trouble ahead for Japan. The population is aging and couples are not having enough children. Coming up, how Japan is working to overcome the looming population crisis.
And fans will have to wait a little longer to see Madonna in concert. Why she's delayed her upcoming world tour? We're back in just a moment.
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CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. Well, Japan is facing a demographic crisis. The country's population is aging and couples are choosing to delay having children if they have children at all.
CNN's Will Ripley reports.
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WILL RIPLEY, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just after sunrise in the Japanese countryside. No alarm clock needed. The Yokobori family feeds their flock of chickens, feeding themselves freshly laid eggs. French toast for breakfast, bread baked on a wood burning stove. Wood they chopped from cedar forests surrounding their home.
10 years ago, Miho was an office worker in Tokyo. Today, she's a homemaker. Former graphic designer, Hirohito, now a woodworker. The couple runs a small bed and breakfast. For them, city life lost its luster in 2011. Japan's massive earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown paralyze Tokyo.
MIHO YOKOBORI, KAWAKAMI VILLAGE RESIDENT (through translator): Everyone was panicking, so it was like a war, although I've never experienced war.
RIPLEY: Did something change fundamentally for you after that disaster?
M. YOKOBORI: After that, I have to live the life.
RIPLEY (voice-over): A new life in the mountains of Nara Prefecture. Their home miles from the nearest train station. Around here, you need a car to get around.
RIPLEY: It's so beautiful, but you're so far away from all of the 24-7 convenience of Japanese city life.
RIPLEY (voice-over): They move to Kawakami Village, a tiny township tucked away on windy roads. The tree's taller than most buildings. When the young couple got to know their neighbors, they got quite a shock.
RIPLEY: Did you guys know before moving out here that the average age was as old as it is?
M. YOKOBORI: No.
RIPLEY: You didn't know.
RIPLEY (voice-over): The mayor tells me more than half the village is over 65.
TADAAKI KURIYAMA, KAWAKAMI VILLAGE MAYOR (through translator): Forty years ago, the population was around 6,000. Today it's 1,156.
RIPLEY (voice-over): The village population plunging faster than anywhere else in Japan. Some say it's in danger of disappearing for good. As people pass away, abandoned homes sit empty. Others sit underwater. Casualties of a dam and reservoir finished a decade ago.
RIPLEY: When you see the prediction of, you know, under 300 people living here 20 years from now, how do you, what do you do as mayor to try to stop that from happening?
KURIYAMA (through translator): I'm not optimistic, but I don't think it will be that bad. I believe that people should live in such a nice place.
RIPLEY (voice-over): The population data is dire, and not just in Kawakami Village. Nearly every local government in Japan predicts a lower population and higher average age by 2045. Entire villages on the verge of extinction. Japanese society is shrinking and aging so fast, its future survival is at stake.
I'm going to one of the few places in Japan with population growth. You can probably guess where it is.
RIPLEY: For decades, Japanese young people have been fleeing their small rural towns, lured by the draw of big cities like Tokyo and Osaka, all of them connected by the bullet train.
[03:50:10]
RIPLEY (voice-over): But there's no magic bullet for Japan's population problems. Even in Tokyo, the towers are high, birth rates hit record lows. Japan's population plummeting for more than five years. If the trend continues, experts fear it will fall past the point of no return, with too few women of childbearing age.
RIPLEY: Why are so few women in Japan having children?
DR. YUKA OKADA, GYNECOLOGIST: People usually, for now, don't have money.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Many don't have time either, says this Tokyo gynecologist.
RIPLEY: Is life here in Tokyo too busy for a lot of people to find a partner?
OKADA: Working not in the office and at home, so very difficult to meet other people.
RIPLEY: It sounds like there's a lot of lonely people in this big, massive city.
OKADA: Yeah, it's so, I think so too.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Things are so bad, Tokyo's government is starting to subsidize egg freezing, hoping working women today become working moms tomorrow.
New parents in Japan already get a baby bonus, thousands of dollars to cover medical costs. For singles, a state-sponsored dating service powered by artificial intelligence.
So far, boosting Japan's birth rate has been a losing battle. The Yokoboris are doing their part.
RIPLEY: So when he was born, he was the first child in this village in how many years?
M. YOKOBORI: 25 years.
RIPLEY: 25 years.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Their neighbor, a lifelong villager, says Kentaro's birth boosted everyone's spirits.
KAORU HARUMASHI, KAWAKAMI VILLAGE RESIDENT (through translator): He calls me grandpa. My grandson lives in Kyoto, and I don't get to see him much.
RIPLEY: It sounds like Kentaro has a lot of adopted grandparents here.
HARUMASHI (through translator): I think so. I really think it's a big deal.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Also, a big challenge. Raising a child in the mountains? No neighborhood kids to play with. Just six children in his kindergarten class. The nearest high school, more than two hours away.
HIRO YOKOBORI, KAWAKAMI VILLAGE RESIDENT (through translator): We'll do the best we can, but the rest is up to Kentaro.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Both say it's okay if their son decides to leave someday. Population data does show more young people moving to the countryside, lured by the low cost of living, clean air, and low stress lifestyle. The key question, is Japan doing enough to pull up its plunging population before it's too late?
Will Ripley, CNN, Nara Prefecture, Japan.
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CHURCH: After nearly two years Simone Biles may be returning to gymnastics. Coming up, how the seven time Olympic medalist is signaling she may be ready to compete again.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CHURCH: U.S. gymnastic superstar Simone Biles may be returning to competition. The 26-year-old is on a list of gymnasts taking part in the U.S. Classic event in August in Illinois. The seven-time Olympic medalist has not competed since 2021.
She withdrew from four individual women's finals at the Tokyo Games, citing mental health issues.
[03:55:08]
The sports governing body says registering for the U.S. Classic does not guarantee participation.
Madonna is postponing her world tour after a serious health scare.
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In an Instagram post Madonna's longtime manager confirmed the pop singer is 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.
Well, singer Lewis Capaldi is taking a break from touring as well.
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The 26-year-old singer has been struggling with Tourette syndrome. The neurological disorder causes involuntary movements and sounds. The announcement follows a difficult performance at the Glastonbury Festival in England over the weekend. A documentary about his diagnosis and living with the syndrome was released by Netflix in the spring.
Well, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has invited nearly 400 new artists and executives to become members. That makes them eligible to vote for the annual Academy Awards and among the new class is a surprising name.
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Yes, singer Taylor Swift scored an invite though she has never been nominated for an Oscar, but it's not a requirement for membership apparently. Also invited Academy Award nominees Stephanie Hsu and Austin Butler as well as Oscar winners Kee Huy Quan, and the composer and writer for last year's best original song for the film RRR.
And before we go, the model Chrissy Teigen and her musician husband John Legend have just welcomed a new addition to the family, a baby boy. Teigen broke the news on Instagram. She says her son was born with the help of a woman named Alexandra, whom she called the most incredible, loving, compassionate surrogate they could ever imagine. Teigen herself gave birth to a daughter, Esti, just five months ago. She and husband John have two other children. And thank you so much for your company. I'm Rosemary Church. Have
yourselves a wonderful day. "CNN Newsroom" continues with Max Foster, next.
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