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CNN International: Five Killed in Philadelphia Mass Shooting; Israel Conducts Major Military Operation in West Bank; Vladimir Putin on the World State at the SCO Summit; Vladimir Putin Speaks to Virtual Summit Hosted by India. Aired 4:00-4:30a ET

Aired July 04, 2023 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States. Happy Fourth of July -- perhaps appropriate for across the pond. I'm Bianca Nobilo.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Max Foster going you live from London. Just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A 40-year-old male opened fire shooting as many as 50 shots on this block.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Unfortunately you have six victims here. But it could have been more.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The IDF launched a comprehensive action against terrorist strongholds in Jenin.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a crucial part of this strategy is getting out there, of trying to show not his only his people that he is still in charge, in control.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The concern calls for ease that Russia and China will try to make this an anti-West bloc.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo.

FOSTER: It's Tuesday, July 4th, 9:00 a.m. here in London, 4:00 a.m. in Philadelphia where investigators are searching for the motive of yet another mass shooting on this Independence Day holiday.

NOBILO: Police now believe five people are dead after a gunman wearing a bulletproof vest opened fire along several blocks of the city's southwest side. Two children are also in the hospital with injuries. Bob Brooks, a reporter at WPVI has the latest from the scene.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BOB BROOKS, REPORTER, WPVI: Two children ages 2 and 13 luckily,

they're in stable condition but they were also shot here at the scene. And behind me, you can see it is still clearly active. There are shell casings all over the street. Sources tell me that at least 40 shots were fired by a male suspect, he's 40 years old.

Preliminary reports from Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw, she said that the suspect came here armed with a rifle, a handgun, a bulletproof vest and a scanner. He started firing at his victims somewhere along the route here at 56th and Chester. He shot his victims and then continued moving through this neighborhood. Police were called, they came in, they found his location and then a pursuit went on. They chased him down into an al alleyway, we're told on the 1600 block of Frazier. They cornered him in an alleyway and that's when officers at the Philadelphia police department did incredible work, they cornered him and they got a him to surrender. Here's the commissioner, let's take a listen.

DANIELLE M. OUTLAW, PHILADELPHIA POLICE COMMISSIONER: Our officers were able to apprehend the male in the rear alley of 1600 Frazier St. and when they did, this male was wearing a bulletproof vest with multiple magazines in the best. He also had a scanner and an AR style rifle and a hand gun underneath his body. He was taken into custody without further incident.

BROOKS: Still very early in this investigation here. Police trying to get to the bottom of why the suspect came in here and did this. But again, he clearly had a plan. Clearly there is a lot of work to be done around this. That suspect again in custody. A second man is also in custody. According to the commissioner, that second person pulled the gun and actually started firing at the original shooter. So a lot to uncover and we'll surely be following along with this story as it unfolds.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Bob Brooks from WPVI. According to the Gun Violence Archive which tracks these incidents in the U.S., this now makes 341 mass shootings in the country so far this year. It's well over halfway to last year's total.

NOBILO: And that number includes the shooting in Baltimore this past weekend which left two dead and more than two dozen injured. We'll have much more on that investigation later on in the hour.

Storms and other severe weather could force some Fourth of July party goers to change their plans. High temperatures and thunderstorms are predicted throughout much of the day.

FOSTER: It's a busy travel day as well. But more than 400 U.S. flights have already been canceled or delayed according to the tracking website FlightAware. CNN meteorologist Chad Myers has the holiday forecast for the U.S.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: A couple areas of concern across the U.S. for today. Thunderstorms across the Midwest, some could contain hail, gusty winds, maybe the possibility of a small tornado. And then across the deep South, there are always showers on the Fourth of July, some of them though may contain more lightning than usual.

So the storms from Monday are gone. They're off shore now. But things are going to fire up, they're going to heat up in the heat of the day again and then cool down.

[04:05:00]

So just simmer down their heat here across parts of the Northeast by the time is time to let off the fireworks. So that is some good news.

Across the Deep South though, that may take longer to actually go away. Those storms may hang around until 7:00, 8:00, 9:00 at night when you really want to be outside watching fireworks being shot off. If there's lightning around, you still need to be in a car or a house, someplace safe, make sure that you know where these storms are and where you are as well. By Wednesday morning everything is just completely all gone.

The bigger area of interest is through the Midwest from Minnesota, through Nebraska and Kansas where things are going to get a little testy by late at night -- especially around sunset. We're going to go from Minneapolis, down to Omaha, Lincoln, and even all the way down into Kansas. This is where that weather could contain hail, could contain very gusty winds and maybe even a tornado.

Now by Wednesday morning, it's all gone, but really the sunset is the time that everybody is really concerned about. And sunset looks really good in D.C., somewhere around 80 degrees. It'll still be hot across the Deep South. It always is every Fourth of July. There are always thunderstorms out there on the Fourth of July. They are just not going to be everywhere. But if they're where you are, and you're outside, that's where we're most concerned with.

Back out towards the Southwest, even accents that. It's still going to be blazingly hot. A bit little cooler than on Monday, but still Palm Springs, Vegas, Death Valley, Phoenix all above 100 degrees.

So, yes, we have a few things out there to worry about on Tuesday. Later on today things are going to get a little bit bumpy around, but for the most part I'd say 90 of you either have hot or at least a dry Fourth of July.

FOSTER: This year's Shanghai Corporation Organization Summit is under way in India. And Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to address the virtual gathering any minute now.

NOBILO: It will be his first appearance on the global stage since the Wagner rebellion stunned Russia just over a week ago. Experts believe the Russian president will use the forum to project an image of power and reassure Moscow's partners that he remains firmly in control. And CNN of course is covering every angle of the story. We're joined by Vedika Sud in New Delhi, Marc Stewart in Tokyo, and Clare Sebastian here in London. Marc let's begin with you. What's on the agenda for this summit? And what do you think President Xi Jinping and Putin's objectives are for this -- these countries to cooperate?

MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, sure, sure, Bianca. Look, if there's one theme that has come up in the conversation leading up to the summit is the fact for a need for some common ground. Yet perhaps leaving room for the notion of compromise. If we look at China for example, obviously it is a nation that -- I'm sorry?

FOSTER: Technical problems.

STEWART: If we look at China for example, it is a nation that is having to look toward the West for help right now because of severe economic distress. Yet it also needs to be aware of its presence toward the world especially in view of NATO nations. So this is a chance for these nations, Russia and China, which are the founding members of SCO, to basically say to the rest of the world we are unified against the West to an extent yet leaving room open to lean on the West for help.

So for example, China has not directly condemned the war in Russia. And is making a point not to disrupt things so much. I want to point to an editorial that I just read in Xinhua -- is the Chinese state news organization, it's newspaper -- just published an editorial saying to the effect that today's human society is undergoing accelerating changes unseen in a century. Regional conflicts are raging. The Cold War mentality and group politics are resurfacing, and so are unilateralism and hegemonism. Economic globalism also encountering headwinds. A more turbulent and intertwining world is calling for an SCO type community.

So expect to hear compromise when possible and an effort not to offend the West too much that it can't progress on future discussions.

FOSTER: Thank you, Marc. And Vedika, I mean, India is really caught in the middle of that, isn't it? Because obviously you've got Russia and China trying to create this alternative axis, but India has good relations on all sides.

[04:10:00]

VEDIKA SUD, CNN REPORTER: Absolutely. And you just had the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi return about 10 days back from the U.S. You and I spoke even back then, Max, if you remember, of how successful that trip was between Biden and Modi and how it strengthened ties between the U.S. and New Delhi.

But of course, Moscow was watching closely, Beijing was watching closely. And today Modi is sitting at that table with the leaders of Russia and China. But it's a tight rope walk for India and for Narendra Modi simply because he's going to have to navigate very, very rough waters there in terms of rough diplomatic relations across the board.

On one hand, there are deep ties with the U.S. that you've seen, there was grand welcome for him, a red carpet welcome by Biden just about two weeks back. On the other hand, India is very close to Russia. It buys oil from Russia. It buys more than 50 percent of its weapons from Russia. And this a traditional oil ally of India, if I may. So at this point it doesn't want to be seen only as a friend of the West or the East, India wants to be seen as a friend of both.

And today a lot of experts are concerned over the fact that China and Russia will want to make this bloc an anti-Western grouping. And that's what India wouldn't want to do given its independent foreign policy -- Max.

FOSTER: OK, Vedika and Marc, thank you.

NOBILO: And Clare, Putin took pains to portray business as usual and he wants to project power if he can. He will be doing this though virtually. So what are the possibilities here for him?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So I think even though it's virtually -- and I think that is probably somewhat of a disappointment for him, he is denied the opportunity for the photo ops that we got at the same grouping last year. Which is the first time he even met with Xi Jinping since the start of the invasion. But it is still a chance to show, one, his people that he's still out there in charge and in control. And two, to show the world that they have failed to isolate him as a result of the invasion of Ukraine. These alphabet soup groupings, the SCO, the ASEAN, you know, the Eurasian economic union, they all matter to Putin. Because they are counterpoint to the Western grouping like NATO and the EU.

And unlike India, Russia really does want this to be seen to the counterpoint to what it calls the Western hegemony over the world. I think clearly the insurrection will be the elephant in the room here. If not directly addressed, it will have rattled Russia's allies in this virtual room. Because of the political risk that it highlighted. Because of the economic risks that it highlighted. But for Russia right now they need these alliances, these oil customers that are mopping up their oil that has been displaced from Europe more than ever. Oil and gas revenues in Russia were down in the first five months of the year by half compared to last year. But because of sanctions, but also because of the oil price dropping, defense spending is going up. So the economics really matter here.

NOBILO: Clare Sebastian, thank you so much. And do stick around for a while because Russia's defense ministry is accusing Ukraine of launching a drone attack on Moscow. They say five drones were intercepted near the capital. Though there are no reports of injuries or damages.

FOSTER: And Moscow's mayor says some flights were diverted at one of the city's airports because of the alleged attack. But now the airport is operating as normal.

NOBILO: And back even sooner than I thought, Clare Sebastian. Clare, so again Russia will be saying that this is an act of terrorism, a provocation, Ukraine I presume hasn't actually directly assumed responsibility for the attack. What's the strategy here? What impact does it have?

SEBASTIAN: So Russia is saying it's terrorism. In fact, the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova went as far as calling it international terrorism. Saying that this just shows that the West is, you know, supporting a terrorist regime in Kyiv. Claiming that those drones have been bought with money donated by the West. As you say Ukraine has said nothing. But this is -- to the best of my knowledge -- the third time drones have targeted Moscow in the space of just over two months.

It was obviously the Kremlin at the beginning of May that was hit by several drones. And then we saw those -- that sort of larger scale drone attack that targeted some of the wealthiest suburbs around Moscow. And now this.

Now the five drones Russia is saying were all shot down, but we are seeing some video emerging -- it can't be independently verified -- but you see this now a sort of smoke rising. This is not the kind of imagery that Russia wants at a time when it's trying to show, as we've said, that business as usual, you know, Putin is in charge as he is speaking at this Shanghai Corporation Organization. The air defense is being activated. And this is the first time that airport operations have been disrupted.

NOBILO: Yes, I think that is a very interesting point and juxtaposition. Like we were just discussing he's keen to project power, stability if possible and yet the capital seems to be under attack. Clare, thank you so much.

Ukraine's president acknowledges that the fighting in the past week has been difficult for his forces. But he insists that the month-old counteroffensive is on track. Ukrainian military officials say Russia has deployed more than 180,000 troops to the two major eastern fronts. There's some 50,000 troops near Bakhmut.

FOSTER: Though the fighting is fierce and tricky with the same position changing hands several times a day. Ukraine says their forces are gaining ground slowly but surely, reclaiming some 37 square kilometers in the past week.

[04:15:03]

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that the Russian president's response to the Wagner rebellion in late June was, quote, weak.

NOBILO: In an exclusive interview with CNN's Erin Burnett, Mr. Zelenskyy also said that Vladimir Putin was losing control of his own people. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Yes, we see the reaction after certain Wagner steps. We see Putin's reaction. It's weak. Firstly, we see he doesn't control everything. Wagner is moving deep into Russia and taking certain regions shows how easy it is to do. Putin doesn't control the situation in the regions. He doesn't control the security situation. All of us understand that his whole army is in Ukraine. Almost entire

army is there. That's why it is so easy for the Wagner troops to march through Russia. Who could have stopped them? We understand that Putin doesn't control the regional policy and he doesn't control all those people in the regions. So all that vertical of power he used to have just got crumbling down.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: You can watch Erin Burnett's full interview, exclusive interview, with President Zelenskyy on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. on the U.S. East Coast. That's midnight Thursday in London.

NOBILO: Hundreds of Palestinians are fleeing the West Bank city of Jenin as Israel presses ahead with its largest military operation there in more than two decades. Israeli forces have carried out drone strikes and deployed hundreds of soldiers to target what they say is a militant command and control center in the refugee camps near by.

FOSTER: Israel says it has ten primary targets remaining to search in the refugee camp and it says it has detained 120 people. Palestinian officials say at least ten people have been killed and almost 100 injured and streams of families have fled from the camp and are now placed.

NOBILO: This is the second Israeli raid into Jenin in a little more than two weeks and has much more intense. The first left five Palestinians dead.

FOSTER: Let's go to CNN's Elliott Gotkine who is in Jerusalem. Elliott, we haven't seen anything on this level really, have we, in years.

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: We haven't, not for about 20 years, Max. And this operation is still ongoing. We're just something like two hours shy of 36 hours since this incursion began. It began with drone strikes on what Israel says was a command-and-control center belonging to the Jenin brigade -- which is affiliated with Islamic Jihad.

The death toll as you say, is 10 Palestinians so far. Israel says that no uninvolved Palestinians have been killed. The implication being that all ten of those were either members of militant groups or they were involved somehow in attacking Israeli forces as they entered the refugee camp.

The wounded so far, Palestinian Ministry of Health saying about around 120 of them seriously wounded. And we talked -- you were talking just before about the Palestinians fleeing some neighborhoods of Jenin. And we understand from the Palestinian Red Crescent that some 3,000 have left. And that's -- and they've only left from three neighborhoods because that's where Israel is very much focused on at the moment. So there's something like between 8- to 12,000 more Palestinians who remain in the Jenin refugee camp who haven't been asked to leave by the Israelis.

But as I say, this operation continues. Israel as you mentioned, Max, is trying to target ten more targets. It says these are infrastructure targets before it can say that this is a job done. And it says that it has destroyed and/or confiscated a number of weapons and weapons manufacturing facilities as well. And says that this operation could continue for a few hours or it could continue for another day.

And this operation has been condemned, I should say, by the Palestinian Authority, by the Jordanians, the Egyptians, the Emiratis. The United States for its part has reiterated its support for Israel's right to defend itself, while highlighting the need to avoid any civilian casualties. But of course, the longer this operation goes on, the more danger there is that both the casualty count will grow and that the possibility of escalation, not just within the West Bank, but perhaps to Israel's other borders, either with Gaza or with Syria and Lebanon in the north. The more danger is and what the greater the danger that this fighting going on in Jenin could escalate to those other parts of Israel and its borders -- Max.

FOSTER: Yes, very sensitive. Elliott, thank you very much for joining us from Jerusalem.

Now still to come, police in Baltimore, Maryland investigate another mass shooting in the U.S. We'll have latest on the search for who opened fire at a community party.

NOBILO: Plus, French mayors appeal for calm, with marches through the suburbs of Paris and other cities. President Macron pledges to investigate a week of violence protests.

FOSTER: And a high-speed chase on the wrong side of a highway, we'll tell you how it ended and what authorities found inside the truck.

[04:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: Live pictures as Russian president Vladimir Putin speaks to the summit of the Shanghai Corporation Organization.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): It's important that all the members of SCO are assessing the same way the situation in world politics, security, economy and financials. And this organization is moving towards the forming of the just and multidirectional world order. Which is based on the mutual respect of the sovereign countries with the United Nations central and coordinated role.

And on this constructive basis we're building the practical work of SCO. This organization plays a much more tangible role and supporting the peace and stability, providing the economic growth of the countries and strengthening connections between the peoples. Especially, and of present circumstances when the geopolitical contradictions are being seen and the world security system is degrading.

The new global economic crisis is happening with the uncontrollable growth of national debts. The worsening of the food and eco security. All these problems, one of which is very dangerous and it brings us to a dangerous point. Russia feels all this in our own experience.

A long time ago, they were realizing projects in Ukraine. In fact, the anti-Russia, they were supplying weapons for Ukraine for all eight years. And they were closing their eyes on aggression of a peaceful population of Donbas and neo-Nazi ideology in order to hit the security of Russia and hold the development of Russia.

Now we're going through the hybrid war and illegitimate sanctions against Russia being introduced. But I have to reassure you that Russia is withstanding all these sanctions and provocations and of the present circumstances our country is steadily developing Russian people and is consolidated as ever. And the Russian political circles, the whole society, demonstrate the united front against the coup d'etat.

And using this opportunity, I want to thank all the colleagues from the Shanghai Corporation Organization who expressed the support for Russian leadership. We appreciate it very much. And we will be deepening the connections with Shanghai Corporation Organization countries and these connections will be multi-level.

Our trade with the SCO countries increased more than a third, 37 percent, reaching an absolute record $266 billion. And in January to April this year, it was increased even further of 35 percent.

[04:25:04]

More than 80 percent of our commercial deals within Russia and Chinese Peoples Republic, dealt with local currency ruble and Chinese yuan. And in 2022, we increased 40 percent the trade with countries of SCO. And we agreed on many useful documents at the previous meeting of SCO in Samarkand. We have to adopt certain measurements to remove barriers to sort out the independent financial system. And of course, it will only help the realization of the economic strategy of the SCO until year 2030. And Russia is supporting the investment and banking corporation.

NOBILO: Clare Sebastian is with us again just to debrief from what we've been listening to the Russian President saying. Clare, perhaps most significantly at the beginning of Putin speech, he was discussing the quote, geopolitical contradictions that exist in the world and saying that the international security was degrading. I mean, this is just so factually disingenuous.

SEBASTIAN: Well, I think if you look at the truth of the situation, Russia is responsible for the degrading of security in much of the world through its invasion of Ukraine. He did not miss this opportunity to address the situation, to reiterate his accusations against the West for supplying Ukraine with weapons. He said they have been doing this for the last eight years. He talked about sanctions, which is his favorite topic. Said this was a hybrid war.

And then addressed the elephant in the room which was of course the insurrection that Russia faced some 10 days ago. Said the whole of Russia is united and thanked the people at the summit for standing by him, for supporting the Russian leadership. It was essentially the stump speech that we hear a lot from Putin, but

I think it crucial that he is doing this now as part of this tour trying to show that he is in charge. And that he's, you know, maintained control after this insurrection. This of course, is the first opportunity he's had to do this on the global stage. And comes this morning as we've seen, Russia air defenses activated yet again over Moscow to thwart a drone attack that Russia is blaming on Ukraine.

FOSTER: This is the forum he sees as the future forum for stability and economic cooperation as an alternative to the Western system -- the G7 effectively, right?

SEBASTIAN: So, this is one of them. Certainly these organizations like the SCO, ASEAN, Eurasian Economic Union, CIS, all of these are part of what Russia sees as its sphere of influence counter to, you know, the Western alliance. Things like NATO and the EU.

I think in many ways he doesn't have a choice now as to whether he sees these as economical allies or not. Because sanctions have basically put pain to the economic relationship that Russia had with Europe and in part to the U.S. only to a lesser extent. He now relies very heavily on China and India to purchase his oil supplies. Oil revenue in Russia is down a lot so far this year. This is contributing to a worsening of the already slow economic decline that we've seen Russia in. So, you know, in some ways he is sort of de facto one of the leaders of this grouping. But in other ways this is a time when Russia needs these allies more than ever.

FOSTER: Clare, thank you.

Police in Baltimore, Maryland are offering a $28,000 reward for information on those responsible for a deadly shooting at a block party over the weekend. Two people were killed and nearly 30 injured in the attack.

NOBILO: For now they're relying on eyewitnesses and hospitalized victims to help them with the search. Police say anyone who had a weapon at the scene will be a suspect until proven otherwise. They're also investigating whether the shooter specifically targeted the event known as Brooklyn Day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ACTING COMMISSIONER RICH WORLEY, BALTIMORE POLICE DEPARTMENT: We did not as law enforcement we know and we are definitely looking into this to see if anyone knew ahead of time that Brooklyn Day was occurring.

BRANDON SCOTT, BALTIMORE, MARYLAND MAYOR: This is who we should be focused on, a few people who cowardly decided to shoot up a big block party celebration for our community. That's where our focus should be. On them, the weapons they used, where they got those weapons from, how they got them in their hands and how we are going to hold all of them accountable.

(END VIDEO CLIP) NOBILO: Now to France where President Emmanuel Macron will meet in

just a few hours with the mayors of cities hit hard by violent protests. An uneasy calm has returned to most areas after a week of riots and looting. This was, of course, sparked by the shooting death of a 17-year-old boy by police during a traffic stop.

FOSTER: Hundreds of people marched through a Paris suburb on Monday in support of a mayor whose house was attacked by protesters. His wife and young child were hurt.

NOBILO: Live now to Paris and CNN senior international correspondent Jim Bittermann. Jim, I was reading this morning --