Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Rare Access To Russian Prisoners Of War In Ukrainian Jail; Iran Tried To Seize Two Oil Tankers; Israel Ends Jenin Incursion But Threatens Return; Taliban Order Closure Of Beauty Salons; Global Average Temperature Breaks Record Two Days In A Row; Yellen: World's Top Two Economies Must Work Together; Calls for Stricter Gun Laws after Weekend Shooting; Scotland Celebrates Coronation of King Charles III. Aired 12-12:45a ET
Aired July 06, 2023 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:00:25]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Coming up here on CNN. Nuclear fears, Ukrainian president warns of an imminent Russian attack on the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.
The Taliban ratchet up their war on women, a child bride marrying women hating draconian rulers of Afghanistan now banning beauty salons.
And the world set a new record high temperature on Monday, only to be broken again on Tuesday. And yes, it's proof the planet is getting much hotter, much faster than predicted.
ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with John Vause.
VAUSE: Wherever you are around the world, thanks for being with us for a CNN NEWSROOM.
We begin in Ukraine in a deadly overnight attack on the western city of Lviv, not far from the border with Poland.
The city's mayor says at least three people have been killed in a Russian missile strike on an apartment building. As dawn breaks over the city, rescue teams are working to find residents believe trapped beneath the rubble and debris from the badly damaged building. At least eight people are reported to have been injured in the missile strike.
In eastern Ukraine, Moscow backed officials in occupied Donetsk say a Ukrainian missile strike set fire at an oil depot in the industrial city of Makiivka with 68 engine from Ukrainian shelling in the region on Tuesday, a sharp increase officials there say in recent days.
And Ukraine military command says Russia continues to focus its firepower with dozens of combat engagements around the city of Lyman, Avdiivka and Marinka in the past day. Fighting also continues around Bakhmut, with Ukrainian forces feeling positive and optimistic they say about their progress after claiming to have retaken territory from Russian occupation.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia is preparing a possible attack on the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. He's accusing Russian forces or placing, "Objects resembling explosives on roofs around the facility". Ukrainian officials say they have procedures in place if anything happens.
But the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency has a word of caution, saying as of now there are no visible indications of mines or explosives at the facility. Mr. Zelenskyy tells CNN's Erin Burnett why he says certain in spite of the IAEA's claims.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: The Zaporizhzhia, I know you've been touring the nuclear plants. You have warned that Putin could be prepared to have a terrorist attack on Zaporizhzhia. Do you feel that that could be imminent?
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: So, I have reel from intelligence, I have documents. I don't -- I can't tell you what kinds of documents. But it's something connecting with Russia.
I said that they are technically ready to do something. It's very important that they mined some local minings, yes.
BURNETT: At Zaporizhzhia?
ZELENSKYY: Yes, at Zaporizhzhia, in the station. They technically are ready. And that's why we pushed (INAUDIBLE) in English. I'm sorry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: IAEA.
ZELENSKYY: Yes, IAEA. We pushed them. And we said, look, your team there, you're four -- there are four, four people. And this plant is like city. It's really, like huge.
BURNETT: Huge. Huge.
ZELENSKYY: It's huge. It's very big. Four people will not find mines.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Zelenskyy accuses Russia of using the plant as cover to shell nearby Ukrainian positions. The facility has been under Russian control for 16 months from the early days of the war. Experts have continually warned that Russia mishandling and incompetence could lead to a nuclear disaster.
Well, Russian prisoners of war who surrendered to the Ukrainians have described the appalling conditions on the front lines, including senior military officers getting high on painkillers and then giving nonsensical orders. The POWs spoke with CNN's Ben Wedeman. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): No longer on the front lines, Anton (PH) recounts how he ended up prisoner of war.
Back in Russia, he was behind bars for the third time for drugs.
When they put me in prison, I heard they were recruiting, serve six months and they pardon me, he tells me.
So, he signed up with Storm-Z a unit made up of convicts attached to the Russian Defense Ministry. After only two weeks of basic training, he was shipped off to the front lines near Bakhmut.
[00:05:10]
After days of intense shelling, no food and only rainwater to drink. He heard Ukrainian troops outside his foxhole, he assumed they were executed.
I thought that was the end, he recalls, I switched my rifle to single shot mode and thought, I'll shoot myself, but I couldn't.
This video shot by soldiers of Ukraine's third assault brigade shows the tense moments when Anton and his comrades Slava (PH) surrendered. The Ukrainian troops told them, unlike Russians, we don't kill prisoners.
We spoke to Anton, Slava and another soldier in a makeshift jail in eastern Ukraine, concealing their faces and not using their real names.
The third assault brigade granted us access to the POWs and two of their soldiers were in the room for the interviews. The POWs will soon be transferred to Ukrainian intelligence. They didn't appear to be under duress and agreed to share their stories.
Slava also serving time for drugs, said conditions in the trenches were grim. Food was scarce. We didn't have medical kits, he says. His commanders took all the painkillers to get high, he recalled, and as a result, issued nonsensical orders. Morale was terrible.
Sergey (PH) was wounded by a grenade before surrendering to Ukrainian troops. He was a contract soldier, not a convict. He completed his six month contract in Kherson and went home. But when he hesitated to sign another contract, a military prosecutor gave him a choice, prison or back to the front.
He ended up outside Bakhmut, under constant Ukrainian fire, discipline collapsed, the officers fled, all illusions were shattered.
It was very different from what I saw on T.V., a parallel reality says Sergey. I felt fear, pain and disappointment in my commanders.
A law passed last year in Russia imposed sentences of three to 10 years for soldiers who surrender voluntarily. If he returned home in a prisoner exchange, Anton may end up again back in a Russian prison.
Ben Wedeman CNN, eastern Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: The U.S. Navy says it prevented Iranian warships from seizing two commercial oil tankers in international waters in the Gulf of Oman on Wednesday. Patrols in the region have been stepped up by the U.S. Navy because of ongoing Iranian threats to commercial traffic.
CNN's Oren Liebermann has details reporting in from the Pentagon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: A series of tense military encounters in the Middle East underscoring the volatility of the region. It starts early Wednesday morning when the U.S. Navy says at about 1:00 a.m. local time, an Iranian Navy vessel approached a commercial oil tanker, the U.S. saw this happening and even before that tanker called for help, or issued any sort of distress, a U.S. Navy destroyer, the USS McFaul intervene getting close to the incident.
And according to the U.S. Navy, that's when that Iranian Navy vessel changed course and headed away from the scene. But that wasn't the end of these encounters.
Only several hours later in international waters in the Gulf of Oman, so very near where this first incident happened, another Iranian Navy vessel approaches another commercial oil tanker, this time that Navy vessel drew even closer, hailing on that oil tanker to stop so it could be boarded or seized according to the U.S. Navy.
The oil tanker issued a distress signal and that same U.S. destroyer, the USS McFaul responded at full speed.
Before it got there, personnel on board that Iranian Navy vessel opened fire with small arms, hitting the oil tanker and doing damage to the ship.
No personnel were injured on board that oil tanker but according to the U.S. Navy, some of those shots landed very close to the crew living quarters.
And in fact, you can even see some of these pictures where those shots hit and some of the shrapnel from those bullets in these images from the Defense Department.
As the USS McFaul that destroyer approached once again the Iranian Navy vessel changed its heading and left that incident.
The U.S. has seen these sorts of encounters and attempts at seizures before. In fact, it was in late April, early May after Iran seized two commercial vessels within days of each other that the U.S. and its partner nations increased maritime and military patrols in the area specifically to avoid incidents like this. But even after all of this, the Middle East wasn't done yet. Several
hours later in the skies over Syria, three U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drones were conducting a mission against ISIS targets when according to U.S. Air Force Central Command, three Russian fight jets came in and you can see video of this encounter released from U.S. Air Force Central.
[00:10:13]
The Russian fighters got in the way of the MQ-9 Reaper drones, dropped parachute flares and even opened up full afterburner in front of the MQ-9 Reapers forcing the U.S. drones to take evasive action against the heavier, more powerful and faster Russian fighters. The U.S. called it unsafe and unprofessional, warning Russia not to continue in this sort of behavior.
But we have seen Russia continue down this path according to you -- according to the U.S. military, ignoring the deconfliction protocols, getting close to U.S. aircraft, even in one case several weeks or months ago trying to dogfight a U.S. aircraft.
And of course, it was several months ago that Russian military aircraft actually hit us MQ-9 Reaper drone over the Black Sea, forcing it down.
Oren Liebermann, CNN in the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Israeli military raids in the West Bank, in particular in the Jenin refugee camp appear to be over for now, with the IDF saying the goals of a recent operation have now been achieved.
But the reprieve may be short lived, with warning from the military of further rates if and when needed. 12 Palestinians were killed during the two day incursion, the largest in the West Bank city in more than two decades.
Israel claims all of those who were killed were combatants involved in terrorism. Damage though to the sprawling refugee camp is immense, homes have been destroyed, roads dug up by bulldozers.
The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned that anyone who attacks Israelis will find himself in the grave or in prison.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): The widespread operation in Jenin is an expression of a change in policy and a change in the equation. Instead of reaction, we act. Instead of waiting, we surprise. Our forces will continue to operate at any moment when they are needed, with full freedom of action in Jenin and all of Judea and Samaria.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: There's been widespread criticism especially from the U.N. Human Rights Commission, which says Israeli forces operations in the occupied West Bank killing and seriously injuring the occupied population, destroying their homes and infrastructure and arbitrarily displacing thousands amount to egregious violations of international law and standards on the use of force and may constitute a war crime.
Huge crowds turned out for the funerals those killed during the Israeli incursion, but the military crackdown may only serve to increase Palestinian defiance.
CNN's Salma Abdelaziz reports now from Jenin.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER (voice over): Chants of anger in defiance rang out in the city of Jenin. The morning after Israel's military withdrew thousands filled the streets to bury the dead.
The Israeli military says that all 12 killed in its incursion were combatants and that its operation aimed to dismantle terror networks here.
But this father says he is proud his 19-year-old is what he calls a martyr and was a fighter for one of the Palestinian armed factions killed in the incursion.
My son told me he didn't want to get married or have a family, he says. He said all he wanted to do was to dedicate his life to Palestine to fighting the occupation.
ABDELAZIZ: This funeral is quickly turning into a demonstration of resistance. Many of the armed Palestinian factions are here to show that they are unbound, unbroken by Israel's raid.
ABDELAZIZ (voice over): for many Palestinians, Jenin is a name and place synonymous with suffering and resistance. But this battle has come at a heavy cost.
In the aftermath, the camp's residents were left without running water, electricity or basic services. And families return to destroyed homes.
Hanet Shelaby (PH) says she and her three daughters were caught in the crossfire. Our home, all these material things, they can be replaced, she says, but how can I rebuild the psyche of my little girls? How will they ever feel safe again?
She takes me upstairs to show me what's left of her daughter's room. My youngest, she's only 7 years old, she tells me. She says she wishes she was never born. She says I should never have birthed her into this horror.
Israel's military says it's achieved its operational goals, wiping out weapons depots and command centers and Jenin but it has also deepened the hatred and motivated the resistance in a city notorious for always fighting back.
Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, Jenin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: In Tel Aviv renewed protests against the Israeli government with hundreds blocking the city's main highway on Wednesday in support of the police chief there who was forced to resign.
[00:15:00]
Israel's far right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir tried to demote the commander claiming he was too lenient on protesters earlier this year.
The police chief says he could have used unreasonable force against demonstrators, but tried to avoid bloodshed.
When we come back, the Taliban's latest assault on women's rights, this time, taking aim to their access to beauty salons. What Afghan women are telling us about this latest restriction.
Also, the planet reaches record high temperatures twice in back to back days, experts warned it's likely to happen again. The latest wake up call in the climate crisis, the future is now, that's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: First came in order to cover up, then a requirement to be accompanied by a male family member in public. Then came the ban on high school, university, ban on almost every other job out there in Afghanistan.
Now, the Taliban have ordered the closure of or beauty salons. The Islamic draconian leaders seem to have just one policy as a government, a war on women.
CNN's Katie Polglase has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATIE POLGLASE, CNN INVESTIGATIVE PRODUCER (voice over): Driving through the streets of Kabul among the brightly colored shops is one last symbol of women being visible in the public life. Squeezing them out of sight, Taliban authorities ordered beauty parlors to be shut within the month, sending shockwaves for women already gripped in a chokehold.
A salon owner, who did not want to be identified for safety reasons, told CNN the Taliban's order means her poverty stricken family cannot afford the bare essentials.
I don't understand why beauty salons should be banned, she says, my husband is jobless. And this beauty salon is the only means to feed my family. I have four kids, they need food and clothes.
The Taliban seized back power in the summer of 2021 with thousands of terrified families flocking to Kabul airport, desperate to escape the group's barbaric rule. While the Taliban vowed reform, promising to be more progressive than their previous rule, women were quickly erased from public life, banning teenage girls from secondary and higher education and ordering non-profit organizations to stop their female employees from coming to work.
The salon owner we spoke to says she doesn't know what more can be taken from them before there's nothing left at all. No women is showing off her face with makeup outside and were already wearing hijab in public, she says. This will further deprive women of their rights and freedoms.
As the Taliban slowly chips away at their rights, hope is slowly dwindling for some women. But others still haven't been deterred from raising their voices, even if it means risking their lives.
Katie Polglase, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Twice this week, the world set new record highs for global average temperatures, first on Monday, which was the warmest day on record for all of just one day. Because Tuesday was even hotter, get the picture?
[00:20:03]
Multiple U.S. and European agencies have confirmed the record highs. Climate scientists say this is more evidence the planet is warming much faster than expected.
And with an El Nino weather pattern in place, bringing warmer conditions, more record setting temperatures are expected this month.
Kristina Dahl joins us now from San Francisco. She's the Principal Climate Scientist for the climate energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. Thank you so much for being with us.
KRISTINA DAHL, PRINCIPAL CLIMATE SCIENTIST, UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS: Thank you.
VAUSE: OK, so there is the El Nino factor in all of this. And I want you to listen to a senior climate scientist from the World Meteorological Organization with more on that, here we go, listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILFRAN MOUFOUMA-OKIA, WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION: The impact of the linear event on global temperature is likely to surge the global temperature, because our linear will add up to the anthropogenic warming and likely to increase the global temperature.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: So, break this down for us. How big of a role is El Nino playing? And how much of a role are we playing in this accelerated rate of warming?
Because we're still pumping out an unprecedented amount of carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels like never before. So, it seems almost easy to blame El Nino for this -- for this weather pattern.
DAHL: Yes, so what happened this week with us breaking global temperature records two days in a row is really due to a combination of factors.
So, first off, its northern hemisphere summer, so this is typically the hottest time of year for the planet. We then have the El Nino weather pattern, which we know causes global temperatures generally to be high higher than average.
But those are two natural factors. And the real unnatural factor here is the human caused climate change that decade over decade is driving our temperatures up.
So, it's really that human caused climate change that is causing us to smash all of these temperature records.
That said, we know that the last hottest year on record was an El Nino year. So, it does have a significant impact on our temperatures.
But without that human factor, it's unlikely we'd be setting the records that we're seeing this week.
VAUSE: So, here's the forecast for what we can expect in the coming months from the World Health Organization. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, DIRECTOR GENERAL, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: Over the coming months, we expect a range of extreme weather events, including droughts, floods, hurricanes, and heat waves, all of which harm human health.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And part of the statement from the World Meteorological Organization states that this is a signal to governments around the world to mobilize preparations to limit the impacts on our health, our ecosystems and our economies.
I mean, it's good advice, given what we're facing, but at this point, is any major country, any major government out there taking any significant action to minimize the impact from El Nino?
DAHL: Yes, absolutely. So, this might be the latest alarm bell that the climate is sending us, but it's certainly not the first and it certainly won't be the last.
And the real question is, when will we finally wake up and start taking the measures that we need to take? We need to be preparing communities and individuals for increases in extreme heat like we're seeing, we need to prepare for greater wildfire risks, for amplified droughts, stronger hurricanes.
And what we're seeing around the world is that we are already not able to cope with the climate that we have today. And so, we really need to ramp up so that we are prepared for what is coming down the pike.
At the same time, we need countries around the world to be implementing their pledges to reduce heat trapping emissions from the burning of fossil fuels, countries have made those pledges for years, we know that most countries are falling short of those pledges. And we know that the pledges to begin with were insufficient to limit the extent of climate change in the future.
So, we really need all nations around the world to be bringing their best to this problem right now, that particularly applies to wealthier nations, like the United States, that have historically contributed the most to the problem. Whereas it's developing countries and countries with fewer resources that are bearing the brunt of the issue.
VAUSE: And we had protesters at Wimbledon on Wednesday interrupting two tennis matches to bring attention to their demand to stop using oil, you know, which is a catch all phrase for just stop using fossil fuels, leave them in the ground.
Where are we at with the economic cost of a total shift to renewable energy over a relatively short period of time, you know, like an environmental Marshall Plan, if you like, with the economic costs we're facing from increasing severity and frequency of severe weather disasters, which are caused by a warming planet?
DAHL: Absolutely. So, we know that investments that we make in clean energy and climate resilience now will pay off in the future in the form of less damage in less costly disasters. When you couple that with the fact that the cost of renewable energies like solar and wind energy has plummeted in the past decade, it's really become the most efficient way to build new power systems.
[00:25:25]
And so, we need to be incentivizing that and making sure that all countries are able to develop in a clean energy economy.
VAUSE: Let's just make that clear. Solar and wind and renewable power is cheaper than it has ever been before. And it's time to make that switch.
Kristina Dahl, thank you so much for being with us.
DAHL: Thanks for having me.
VAUSE: First, Blinken. Now, Yellen. U.S. Treasury secretary is (INAUDIBLE) Biden cabinet member dispatched to China? So, what will they get out of this visit? Who knows? More on that in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) VAUSE: For the second time in less than a month, the high ranking member of the Biden administration is heading to China. This time, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and her visit is aimed at lowering the temperature between the two superpowers. She is scheduled to meet with her Chinese counterpart and other officials, but notably not President Xi Jinpin., that U.S. President Joe Biden labeled a dictator at a fundraiser last month.
Bert Hofman is a Professor in Practice at the National University of Singapore and the director of East Asian Institute and he is this hour in Singapore. Thank you for being with us.
BERT HOFMAN, DIRECTOR OF EAST ASIAN INSTITUTE, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE: Thanks for having me back.
VAUSE: OK, now Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and her to do list seems to be growing by the day, with Reuters and others reporting on Wednesday, China's chipmaking export curbs, just a start, Beijing advisor warns before Yellen visit.
So, these export controls were imposed on two strategic raw materials critical to the global chipmaking industry. But according to the Foreign Ministry in Beijing, nothing to see here. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAO NING, CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON (through translator): It is an international common practice for the Chinese government to implement export control on relevant items in accordance with the law. And it does not target any specific country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Yes, it is common practice by China, maybe according to some kind of obscure meaningless Chinese law, because the reality is these export controls are simply a part of geopolitics, 99 times out of 100.
So, this is not really a welcome message for Janet Yellen. What is the message that China is sending specifically with these export restrictions?
HOFMAN: Well, China sends the message that they also have means to affect the global economy, and it's particularly in chipmaking. It's if you want to reply to the measures that the United States has announced and implemented since last October.
[00:30:09]
Interestingly, the countries most affected are actually Japan and the Netherlands, two of the U.S. partners that were convinced to join the United States in restricting exports of machine tools that make the chips and materials that make the chips to China.
So it is clearly a signal in -- if you wanted a chip war.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Now, Janet Yellen laid out what seems to be her approach to some kind of future relations with China. Here she is, speaking a few weeks ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JANET YELLEN, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: As the world's two largest economies, we have a responsibility to work together on global issues. It's something we can do and something the world expects of us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: It's sort of a new normal, which comes down to both sides can argue and fight and moan and complain at each other, you know, over trade and human rights. But you know, all the other stuff.
But when it comes to big issues like maybe the pandemic, the climate crisis, they need to grow up. They need to actually work it out for the good of the planet. Is that how you see this future relationship, at least as far as Yellen is concerned?
HOFMAN: So that's clearly Yellen's approach. And Yellen is also less hawkish, if you want, on the economic side, through the economic strategic side. She says we need to de-risk. We don't need to decouple.
Decoupling will be devastating for the U.S. economy as well as the world economy. So we need to de-risk in very narrow areas. And that now has become, if you want the U.S. approach.
Then second, the U.S. approach is to also work together on issues of global concern such as climate change, the debt situation for developing countries, the international military system, all -- all issues of good value.
China thinks a little differently there. They basically say, well, we don't want this competition and this de-risking. We just want to engage across the board.
I think that that station has passed, and China will accept that they would have to work a more -- more focused areas with the United States.
VAUSE: Earlier this month, the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, was actually sounding quite optimistic. That was during a visit by the secretary of state, Antony Blinken. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
XI JINPING, CHINESE PRESIDENT (through translator): The Chinese side has made our position clear, and the two sides agree to follow through on the common understandings President Biden and I had reached in Bali. The two sides have also made progress and reached the agreement on some specific issues. This is very good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Notably, it was just a day or two later that word came that the U.S. President Joe Biden described Xi Jinping as a dictator. And this time, notably, Yellen won't be meeting with Xi. So has that dictator comment caused a setback in these efforts to improve relations?
HOFMAN: Actually, I don't believe so. I mean, this -- this was one of the gaffes that -- that Biden is known for. And I don't think the Chinese would hold it against him for a long period of time.
This may be one twist that Yellen doesn't get to see Xi Jinping this time around, but I don't think it will derail the attempt from both sides to at least have those visits and to build -- rebuild some of the confidence so that it at least lays the basis for some cooperation in specific areas and to safeguard the competition in others.
VAUSE: Bert Hofman, great to have you with us, though. We appreciate your insights and your experience. Thank you.
Well, when President Biden heads to the NATO summit in Lithuania next week, he had hoped that Sweden would already be a member. That hasn't happened. Mostly because of objections by member states Turkey and Hungary.
Meeting with the Swedish prime minister on Wednesday, Biden said the U.S. is committed to Sweden joining NATO as quickly as possible. Sweden and Finland both applied for NATO membership shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
But only Finland has been formally accepted into the alliance so far.
Well, anger and frustration are now growing calls on gun control after a holiday weekend marred by violence across the United States. A series of mass shootings rattled multiple cities over the last few days, adding to more than the 350 mass shootings which have already taken place in the U.S. this year.
CNN's Ryan Young has more on the tragedies and the push now for change.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The long Fourth of July holiday ended in tragedy for many communities across the country. A series of mass shootings over the four-day period left at least 16 dead and 94 injured, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
In Philadelphia Monday night, a 40-year-old man, armed with an assault rifle and a handgun, fired randomly along several blocks in the Southwest part of the city, killing five people, one of whom was just 15 years old, and injuring at least four others.
The suspect, who's being held without bail, made his first appearance in court today.
The city's district attorney says authorities are still trying to determine if the assault rifle used in the shooting was purchased legally. Larry Krasner also lashed out over the state's gun regulations, calling them crap in comparison to other states in the Northeast.
[00:35:07]
LARRY KRASNER, PHILADELPHIA DISTRICT ATTORNEY: It's time for people who are running for office to swear off NRA money, to swear off gun lobby money, to swear off this absurd interpretation of the Second Amendment that has been put out there by militias.
YOUNG (voice-over): Gunfire erupted late on the night of the Fourth at a community block party in Shreveport. Police say the shooting killed four people and wounded seven others. No suspects have been arrested.
TABATHA TAYLOR, SHREVEPORT, LOUISIANA CITY COUNCIL: You have caused us grief. You have caused us pain. And I want whoever you are to pay. And I want you to pay relentlessly.
YOUNG (voice-over): Also on Monday, in Fort Worth, Texas, several unknown men started firing into a crowd, killing three people and injuring eight others during a neighborhood Fourth of July parade. Victoria Sally lost her 18-year-old nephew in the shooting.
VICTORIA SALLY, SHOOTING VICTIM'S AUNT: That was his -- that was his first day off in, like, forever, and he just wanted to enjoy a little of whatever was going on.
YOUNG (voice-over): A mass shooting at an annual block party in Baltimore killed an 18-year-old woman and a 20-year-old early Sunday. Twenty-eight other people were injured.
GOV. WES MOORE (D), MARYLAND: I think, frankly, people are tired of the finger-pointing in the politics. And nothing happens. And nothing gets done, except we just continue going from tragedy to tragedy.
YOUNG (voice-over): In the nation's capital earlier this morning, shots fired from a speeding SUV injured nine people who were celebrating the Fourth. The victims include a ten-year-old and a 17- year-old whose injuries weren't life-threatening.
MAYOR MURIEL BOWSER (D), WASHINGTON, D.C.: We are also troubled by violent incidents that we've seen around the country, where violence and guns marred a holiday weekend.
YOUNG: So a very violent holiday weekend here in America. With so many shootings, there are citizens who are asking for help. They want Congress to step in to help some of these local governments. There have been such a great increase in the shootings, especially during the summertime. We have citizens who are quite concerned.
Ryan Young, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Still ahead here on CNN, whose king is he? After his coronation in Scotland, King Charles receives an earful from critics.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not my king! Not my king! UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not my king! Not my king!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not my king! Not my king!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Chants of "not my king" at a celebration for the monarch's recent coronation.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Coco Lee's music career began when she entered a song contest to try and pay for repairs to her mother's car. She would ultimately become famous the world over.
Her family, though, says on Sunday that she died, hospitalized after attempting to take her own life on Wednesday. She was 48 years old.
Lee's music interested (ph) Asian and then global audiences, mixing R&B and hip-hop with her light and airy voice. She won an Oscar nomination for "A Love Before Time" in the movie "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."
[00:40:10]
Set a powerful mood with her ballad "Reflection" from the movie "Mulan."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC: "REFLECTION")
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: According to her family, she had suffered from depression for years. It was a long battle. They also say her rays of light will last forever.
If you ask, Britain's King Charles and Queen Camilla will visit a number of locations South of Edinburgh before finishing their trip to Scotland.
It follows a day of festivities on Wednesday, when Scotland held its own events to mark the king's recent coronation.
CNN's Anna Stewart has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNA STEWART, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It had pomp, pageantry, and crown jewels, but no, you're not having a bout of deja vu, and this wasn't another coronation.
Instead, a celebration of the new king in Scotland. Crowds gathered along the Royal Mile from Edinburgh castle to St. Giles Cathedral to catch a glimpse of the procession, which included notable figures from Scotland, charities, and some 700 members of the armed forces, and finally, the king and queen. At which point you could hear that not everyone felt like celebrating.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not my king! Not my king! Not my king!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not my king! Not my king! Not my king!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not my king! Not my king! Not my king!
STEWART (voice-over): Not my king? A chant from anti-monarchy campaigners, audible even over the national anthem.
The king and queen wore Order of the Thistle robes, as did the Prince of Wales, who attended the ceremony with his wife. In Scotland, they're known as the duke and duchess of Rothesay.
The robes mark a difference from when the ceremony was last performed for the late queen in 1953. She came under some criticism for wearing a less formal day dress.
The moment so many were waiting for: this. The presentation of the honors of Scotland. Ancient symbols of monarchy that date back to when Scotland was an independent nation.
In fact, these jewels are far older than the Crown Jewels used in the coronation. These ones were successfully hidden from Oliver Cromwell's armies during a turbulent and republican time in British history.
More modern was the sword, newly crafted and named The Elizabeth in memory of the late queen. This ceremony wasn't just about a new king but a celebration of Scotland's union with England, albeit a union under pressure from nationalists.
STEWART: And not for the first time in this nation's ancient history.
Anna Stewart, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: I'm John Vause, back at the top of the hour with more CNN NEWSROOM. But first, WORLD SPORT starts after a short break. We'll be back here in 17 and a half minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:45:37]
(WORLD SPORT)
