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Meta Launches Twitter Rival App "Threads"; Royal Visit Scotland Met With "Not My King" Chants; Britain Marks 75 Years OF The National Health Service; Russia Strike On Lviv Apartment Building Kills Four; Rare Access To Russian Prisoners Of War In Ukrainian Jail; Zelenskyy: Possible Explosives At Nuclear Plant. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired July 06, 2023 - 02:00   ET

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

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[02:00:32]

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and all around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is promising a tangible response after a deadly Russian strike in the Lviv far from the front lines as a search and rescue operation continues.

In just a few hours, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will land in Beijing. We'll have a preview of what to expect from her visit to mainland China.

And later. More than five million people have already signed up for Threads. And will Meta's new app be serious competition to Twitter.

ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center. This is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.

BUSARI: We begin with a deadly Russian attack on Ukrainian city far from the front lines. Ukrainian officials say at least four people were killed when a Russian missile struck an apartment building. Rescue teams are working right now to free people who are trapped in the rubble. At least seven had been rescued so far. Meanwhile, Russian-backed officials in occupied Donetsk say Ukrainian attacks are causing chaos there.

A missile strike in the Makiivka district apparently causing this huge fire and oil depot. Ukraine's fighting is very hot around Donetsk and Luhansk. They're reporting dozens of combat engagements in the region and Ukrainian fighters say they feel positive and optimistic about their progress around Bakhmut. It claimed to have recaptured a number of territories and say they're causing huge losses to Russian forces.

Several Russian prisoners of war who surrendered to the Ukrainians have described their dreadful conditions on the front lines, including military officers getting high on painkillers and giving orders that make no sense. A POW spoke with CNN's Ben Wedeman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTENATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): No longer on the front lines and upon recounts how he ended up a 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's 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.

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 (ph) and his comrades Slava surrendered. The Ukrainian troops told them unlike Russians, we don't kill prisoners.

We spoke to Anton Slava (ph) 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.

[02:05:00]

The officers fled. All illusions are shattered. It was very different from what I saw on T.V. A 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 returns home and a prisoner exchange, Anton turn manned up again, back in a Russian prison.

Ben Wedeman, CNN, eastern Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE) BRUNHUBER: Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia is preparing to possibly attack the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. He's accusing Russian forces of 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 is urging caution saying there are no visible indications of mines or explosives at the facility.

Nada Bashir joins me now from London. So, Nada, Zelenskyy claims about Russia mining the plant. I mean, what are we to make of those in the IAEA's response?

NADA BASHIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL REPORTER: Well, look, this is a stark warning from the Ukrainian president. We have heard those warnings around the safety of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in the past. And this has really sparked international concern. We are of course talking about the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. And as you mentioned there, President Zelenskyy reiterating that warning saying that Ukrainian intelligence suggests that objects resembling explosives have been placed around the plant.

Namely mines and in June in fact, President Zelenskyy issued another warning that the Ukrainian intelligence believes that Russia is in the midst of planning a terrorist attack on the plant perhaps necessarily directly targeting the plant or turning the plant into a weapon itself. And that warning was reiterated by President Zelenskyy in his interview with CNN. Take a listen.

(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?

VOLODYMR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE: So, what -- I have really from intelligence, I had documents. I don't -- I can't tell you what kind of documents but it's something connected 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. Zaporizhzhia in this station. They are technically are ready. And that's why we pushed (INAUDIBLE) in English. I'm sorry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: IAEA.

ZELENSKYY: IA --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: EA.

ZELENSKYY: EA. Yes. IAEA. And we push them and we said look, your team there, your four --there are four people. And this plant is like city. It's really like huge. BURNETT: Huge, huge.

ZELENSKYYL: Huge. It's very big. Four people will not find mines.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASHIR: Now, can Ukraine's claims that Russia has place mines around Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant have so far been denied by the Kremlin. And we have heard of course, as you mentioned, there from the IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog. They say there are no visible indications of explosives and mines being placed at the plant. However, they are requesting additional access in order to monitor and assess the situation at the plant namely access to the roofs which is where Ukrainian intelligence suggests these mines have been placed.

Of course, there are questions around the impact on the effect of placing mines around the plant. Some analysts say this will serve no military advantage to the Russian Armed Forces and could in fact cause greater damage to Russian held territory in East. Kim?

BRUNHUBER: All right. Thanks so much. Nada Bashir appreciate it. Another member of the U.S. President's inner circle is heading to China. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's visit is aimed at deepening communication between the world's two largest economies and easing tension after several front -- months. She's expected to meet with China's new economic leaders but not the Chinese president.

CNN's Anna Coren is covering this live from Hong Kong. So Anna, take us through what we're expecting.

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kim, in the next few hours, the U.S. Treasury Secretary will land in Beijing where, as you say, she will continue to try and improve U.S.-China relations, which as we know have been an all-time low. The U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Beijing, you know, just over two weeks ago. Janet Yellen is expected to receive a warm welcome because of her desire to improve communications with the Chinese and really lower the temperature between the world's two largest economies.

Beijing sees her as a voice of reason In the Biden administration but we know she has pushed to maintain economic ties with China.

[02:10:06]

She's argued against tariffs and restrictions on investments in China. While giving testimony before Congress back in April, warning that decoupling from China would be disastrous. Now, her itinerary is yet to be made public. But we understand she plans to meet with her Chinese counterpart and other high-ranking officials for what a -- what we hear will be constructive and frank conversations.

But as you say, she's not expected to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Look, this is not going to be a love fest. The Treasury Secretary has spoken out against China's human rights record and code for diversifying American supply chains away from China. But Yellen will certainly be trying to convince Beijing that the U.S. is not trying to harm the Chinese economy by blocking access to sensitive technology, such as semiconductors in the name of national security.

This is something Beijing certainly does not buy. This week, China retaliated by announcing that it would restrict the export of certain minerals critical for the production of semiconductor chips, solar cells and other tech products. On Monday, we know that Yellen met with a Chinese ambassador in Washington where they laid out issues of concern. And the very next day a spokesperson from the Chinese foreign ministry said.

Let me read you the quote. We always believe the China-U.S. economic and trade cooperation is mutually beneficial in nature. And hope that the U.S. can create a favorable environment for the sound development of China-U.S. economic and trade ties and win-win cooperation and with concrete actions. End of the day, Kim, you know, these two economies are deeply entwined. $700 billion in trade occurs between China and the U.S. each year.

They need each other especially at a time of such economic uncertainty across the globe. China is struggling to reboot its economy post-COVID while U.S. as we know is trying to contain inflation and avoid recession, Kim.

BRUNHUBER: All right. That's an excellent preview. Anna Coren in Hong Kong. Thank you so much. Now I want to go to Robert Koepp. The founder of Geoeconomics and assistant professor of strategy at Chapman University. He's also director of its Asia-Pacific geo Economics and Business Initiative. Thanks so much for being here with us. So --

ROBERT KOEPP, FOUNDER, GEOECONOMICS: Thank you, Kim.

BRUNHUBER: We saw with Antony Blinken's visit. The Biden ministration was downplaying expectations, saying it was basically just to improve communication. Is this more of the same here?

KOEPP: Yes and no, because out of all the relationships that the U.S. has with China, economics is the one that really counts. It could be a lot more. We could be having great diplomatic ties with China, like we do with, for example, Japan or South Korea, but we don't. And the only thing that -- is left as economics. We have no dialogue at the military level, which is even more worrying.

So hopefully they can get something done in terms of building communication report with this visit.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. I mean, they'll have to begin by undoing the damage done by President Biden calling Xi a dictator. I mean, relations seems so low. It just seems like we're sort of trapped in this never ending cycle.

KOEPP: Yes, it does. I mean, I think a little bit of exception with the Cosby necessarily, Biden's comment about Xi being a dictator. I mean, it's definitely a symptom. It doesn't contribute to building positive rapport. That's true. But I think if you looked at the -- on balance, the actions between the two sides. The Chinese have been much cooler towards bridging differences and the U.S. has been in fact, if anything you can argue and a lot of people on the right have critiqued the Biden administration for being too soft on China, Blinken's visit just a few weeks ago that Anna was mentioning. The optics were not great.

I mean, he was sitting down the table from Xi, domestic press and China really played it up as the U.S. coming there as a supplicant, begging for China's forgiveness almost. But a point taken, I mean, both sides can be more diplomatic with each other.

BRUNHUBER: All right. So concretely, then, in terms of issues they're discussing, as we just heard, semiconductors and technology more broadly seems to be one of the most contentious.

KOEPP: Yes. Well, absolutely. I mean, so if, you know, where it is, digital information is the new oil, right? So, if you don't have a strong semiconductor industry or access to one at least, and China wants to build its own semiconductor industry, and the U.S. is trying to prevent that, that's hugely problematic. At the same time, China is part of this global supply chain. Well, it's not making the chips, it's using the chips.

Our iPhones that come from China are using chips that China has to import and so forth. So, it's extraordinarily complex. And then China has the rare earth supply that the previous segment was mentioning.

[02:15:06]

So, you know, that goes into all the semiconductors as well as new electric vehicles and so forth. It's an extremely entwined relationship, regardless of the tensions.

BRUNHUBER: All right. So, then what, if anything, are you expecting to actually come from this visit?

KOEPP: Well, if Secretary Yellen can leave there, having built a little more dialogue, ideally a little more trust, but at least be talking. And by the way, there's been a change in leadership. Now, is she? I mean, he's president for life or chairman for life. But there's a new counterpart Yellen clearly thumb who she's meeting for the first time. So simply getting that kind of dialogue established is positive. Hopefully, they'll do more and build some trust as well.

BRUNHUBER: And before we go, I'm just curious. You were talking about how Antony Blinken was perceived or portrayed rather in the Chinese media as a --as a supplicant. How do you think Yellen's visit is being portrayed in the -- in the state-controlled Chinese media?

KOEPP: Well, I have no doubt they'll try to do the same. Well, that (INAUDIBLE) good question. I mean, I would -- I think that tendency will be to do the same, but maybe they'll back off of it. Maybe that would be, you know, in this grand political theatre that's going on this kind of Kabuki maneuvering. We'll see the Chinese be less harsh on her visit trying to say, yes, we at least see economic relations is important. We'll give you a little more face as the Chinese expression goes. BRUNHUBER: Yes. Excellent. All right. Well, listen knots at stake for both economies. Really appreciate your analysis. Robert Koepp. Thanks so much.

KOEPP: Thank you.

BRUNHUBER: Well, President Biden heads to the NATO summit in Lithuania next week. He'd hoped that Sweden would already be a member, but that hasn't happened largely because of objections by member states, Turkey and Hungary. Meeting with the Swedish Prime minister on Wednesday, President Biden made clear the U.S. is committed to Sweden joining NATO as quickly as possible. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want to reiterate United States fully, fully, fully support Sweden membership in NATO. And bottom line is simply Sweden and is going to make our alliance stronger. And as the same value set that we have in NATO and really looking, anxiously looking forward for your membership.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Sweden and Finland both apply for NATO membership shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, but only Finland has been formally accepted into the alliance.

All right. Still ahead, with Israeli forces gone, thousands of Palestinians filled the streets of Jenin in the West Bank, but Israel's Prime Minister says his military could be back.

Plus, Meta brings the competition to Twitter with a very similar new app but isn't enough to pose a threat. We'll discuss that coming up. Please stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: Israel says it has achieved its goal in a major military operation in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank but it's promising to return if needed to fight what it calls terrorist activity.

[02:20:11]

Twelve Palestinians were killed during the two-day incursion. The largest in the West Bank city in more than two decades. Israel claims all those killed were combatants involved in terrorism. Damage to the sprawling camp is immense with homes destroyed and roads dug up by bulldozers. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says anyone who spills the blood of Israelis "will find himself in the grave or in prison. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL (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)

BRUNHUBER: U.N. human rights experts are blasting the incursion saying "Israeli forces occupations 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 of those killed in the Israeli incursion. But the military crackdown the only serves to strengthen Palestinian defiance. CNN's Salma Abdelaziz reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Chants of anger and defiance ring 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 and its incursion or 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 array.

ABDELAZIZ (voiceover): 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 camps residents were left without running water, electricity or basic services. And families return to destroyed homes.

Hanet Shalibi (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 seven 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 in Jenin. But it has also deepened the hatred and motivated the resistance in a city notorious for always fighting back.

Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, Jennin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: U.S. drones on a mission against ISIS in Syria suddenly intercepted and harassed by Russian fighter jets. Well, those details when we come back. Stay with us.

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[02:26:16]

BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM. The U.S. Navy says it prevented Iranian warships from seizing two commercial oil tankers on Wednesday. Both incidents occurred in the Gulf of Oman in international waters. The Navy says it recently stepped up patrols of the waterway in response to Iran's ongoing threats to commercial traffic.

CNN's Oren Liebermann is at the Pentagon and has our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: A series of tests 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 intervened 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 seize 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. M.Q.-9 Reaper drones were conducting a mission against ISIS targets when according to U.S. Air Force Central Command, three Russian fighter jets came in. And you can see video of this encounter released from U.S. Air Force Central. The Russian fighters got in the way of the M.Q.-9 Reaper drones.

Dropped parachute flares and even opened up full afterburner in front of the M.Q.-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 Russian not to continue in this sort of behavior. But we have seen Russia continue down this path. According to 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 a U.S. M.Q.-9 Reaper drone over the Black Sea forcing it down.

Oren Liebermann, CNN in the Pentagon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Twitter has a new rival and this one could pose the biggest threat yet. On Wednesday, Facebook owner Meta launched a new app called Threads with millions signing up in the first couple of hours. The Instagram-linked app offers a quick signup experience and shares many similarities to Twitter from real time conversations online to similar layout. Threads joins a growing list of Twitter alternatives amid the platform's rocky changes.

[02:30:03]

All right. Let's discuss all this with Josh Constine, Venture Partner at Venture Capital Firm SignalFire. Thank you so much for being here with us. So, you know, I outlined some of the similarities between the two, but just how similar or different is Threads to Twitter?

JOSH CONSTINE, VENTURE PARTNER, SIGNALFIRE: You'd be forgiven for mistaking that you were actually on Twitter while using Threads. But I think what we're all finding out today is whether those pretty cool people we follow on Instagram are actually of any funny at all, because that's what it really comes down to here. It is a shift in attention from Instagrams historic area in the photo and video space to this sort of witty quip tech space that Twitter has long tried to control.

But as Mark Zuckerberg has been saying, you know, Twitter has had over a decade to build up a billion-user public square, and it's failed. And so, with all of the kinds of tumultuous employment changes, bugs, driving advertisers away that's going on at Twitter right now. Facebook saw its opportunity to kind of seize on that, jump in with this new competitor called Threads and try to steal Twitter's future. It's not really about stealing Twitter's current users, it's about preventing it from growing in the future by claiming all those mainstream users who've never even tried Twitter.

BRUNHUBER: All right, so, the ground seems ripe for competition. Since the announcement we've seen millions of people join. But that's also what we saw with a few of the Twitter rivals that popped into existence since the must takeover. We've Mastodon posts, for instance, but the user base has declined fairly dramatically. So, do you think Threads will actually pose a threat to Twitter.

CONSTINE: So, Threads already has over 5 million users that have signed up. That's only a quarter of a single percent of the total Instagram user base, but already more than most of those offshoot competitors. And that means it has a real opportunity, because when people join Instagram Threads, instead of starting from scratch, like they would if they joined Twitter, or Bluesky or Mastodon. They can start with essentially all of their Instagram followers.

And that makes it feel like you're not shouting into the void, like somebody's actually listening out there. And it gives an opportunity for you to have that Twitter style experience with people you actually care about or know in real life. And I think that is the most exciting part about this. It's a good enough product with your existing social graph. And if you remember, that's the exact same formula -- that Instagram used to steal stories away from Snapchat becoming one of Instagrams most popular features.

But that time Instagram made stories, part of its core app is in fact, it's stuck it right at the top versus Threads is a fully stand-alone app. So, its ongoing popularity will in large part hinge on whether Meta and Instagram are willing to heavily promote Threads inside of Instagram, and maybe even give it a big chunk of the home screen.

BRUNHUBER: I mean, all of this tumult around Twitter and the fact that Threads even as popped into existence now, I mean, it seems like a self-inflicted wound by Elon Musk. Are you surprised at all of the moves that he's been making that have sort of created all of this confusion?

CONSTINE: You know, laying off huge numbers of the staff, introducing massive changes to the algorithm that have both angered core users and created massive bugs, repelling advertisers by letting trolls and hate speeches back onto the platform. I think Facebook was right to say that this is a moment of chaos over at Twitter and an opportunity for it to seize on it.

But Instagram is also taking its eye off the ball of what made it popular in the first place, which was sharing with friends and family. And now, there's a whole new crop of social apps coming up, that are trying to steal that opportunity away from Instagram. We're at our funds SignalFire, we use our investment A.I. technology called Deacon to track some of the ex-employees of Instagram who might be going on to start new social apps.

Including one called Retro, which was started by some former directors at Instagram, and is aimed squarely at taking that friends and family sharing use case away from Instagram. So, while it's paying attention to Twitter's tumultuousness and trying to steal its public use case. It's that more personal private friends and family use case that Instagram stands to lose if it's not careful.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, and Twitter is planning to add or has already added a few features that are sort of targeting some of the messaging features from Facebook and WhatsApp and so on. So, the competition sort of goes both ways. I want to -- I want to Josh, with our final seconds here talk about, you know, there's competition between the apps. But there's also seems to be a personal animus between the two at one point, Musk teased about a cage match which Mark Zuckerberg accepted. Is this just a theatre or do they -- do they really, you know, you think load each other as much as they seem.

CONSTINE: (INAUDIBLE) Elon has more on giving that very edgy public personality and meanwhile, Mark Zuckerberg has been trying to become more relatable, more funny, more real. But he's also been training in martial arts, doing incredibly intense strength training and endurance training.

[02:35:13]

I would not want to fight him. I don't think Elon should want to fight him, either. And that's why Elon is Mom said no, no, this fight is not going to happen. It's a convenient out for him. So, I don't -- I don't think that Twitter stands to win that battle in a cage or this battle on the app right now.

BRUNHUBER: All right, we'll shall see fascinating stuff Josh Constine, thanks to you so much for being here with us, appreciate it.

CONSTINE: My pleasure.

BRUNHUBER: All right. Still had opponents didn't hold back as Britain's King Charles attended royal festivities in Scotland, have a look. Chants of not my king in a celebration for the Monarch's recent coronation. All of that coming up, please stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: Britain's King Charles and Queen Camilla are expected to visit several locations south in Edinburgh in the coming hours. That's after Scotland held its own events to celebrate the king's recent coronation, including this ceremony on Wednesday. Have a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: By the symbol of this crown, we pledge our loyalty. In trusting that you reign is our king in the service of all your people.

KING CHARLES III, KING OF UNITED KINGDOM: In receiving this crown, I serve promised by God's help.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BRUNHUBER (voiceover): The ceremony in Edinburgh St. Charles -- St. Giles Cathedral was one of many Scotland held to honor the king. CNN's Anna Stewart has the details.

ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: It had pomp, pageantry and crown jewels. But no, you're not having a bounce of Deja vu and this wasn't another coronation. Instead, a celebration of a new King in Scotland. Crowds gathered along the Royal Mile from Edinburgh Castle to St. John's 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.

Not my king, a chant from anti-monarchy campaigners, audible even over the National anthem. The king and queen will order of the fissile 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 marked a difference from when the ceremony was last performed for the late Queen in 1953.

She came under some criticism wearing less formal day dress. The moment, so many were waiting for this, the presentation of the honors of Scotland. Ancient symbols of Monarchy that day 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 times in British history.

[02:40:15]

More modern was the sword, newly crafted and named the Elizabeth, in memory of the late Queen. This ceremony wasn't just about the new king but a celebration of Scotland's union with England, albeit a union under pressure from nationalists and not for the first time in this nation's ancient history. Anna Stewart, CNN, London.

BRUNHUBER: Play was interrupted at Wimbledon on Wednesday, when environmental activists ran onto the famous grass courts. Protesters from Just Stop Oil tossed orange confetti and small puzzle pieces during the matches. The group later issued a statement demanding the U.K. stomp new licenses and consents for oil, gas and coal. Ground's crews picked the tiny debris out of the grass. All three activists were arrested.

Available to everyone rich or poor, man, woman or child. That's how Britain's National Health Service was first introduced in 1948. And now interacts with more than a million patients every day. Initially a radical idea, over 75 years. The NHS has continued to spearhead medical progress. Among those honoring the service is Aneira Thomas, the first person born under the NHS, who said its introduction after the horrors of war was like quote, "Throwing a comfort blanket around the people of Great Britain."

That's Coco Lee singing Reflection for the movie Mulan. The singer and songwriter whose died at the age of 48. She was hospitalized after attempting to take her own life on Sunday. Her family announced on social media that she passed away Wednesday, leaves music mixed, R&B and hip hop with her light, airy voice.

She was nominated for an Oscar for a performance of A Love Before Time from the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Lee's sister says she'd suffered from depression for a few years. In statement, they said quote, "Although Coco stays in the world for not a long time, her rays of light will last forever." I'm Kim Brunhuber, "WORLD SPORT" is up next. I'll be back in 15 minutes with more CNN NEWSROOM.

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