Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Turkiye's Erdogan Supports Ukraine NATO Membership; New U.S. Military Package to Include Cluster Bombs; Ukraine Claims More Advances around Bakhmut; U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen Holds Key Meetings in Beijing; Palestinian Man Killed by Israeli Forces in West Bank. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired July 08, 2023 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
LAILA HARRAK, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us around the world. I'm Laila Harrak.
Turkiye throws its support around Ukraine as the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets with Turkiye's leader in Istanbul.
Repairing the relationship, the U.S. Treasury Secretary is in talks with leaders in China. Janet Yellen is hopeful the two countries can work more closely on climate issues.
And professional footballer Kylian Mbappe shoots some hoops as he visits his father's native country, Cameroon.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Laila Harrak.
HARRAK: Five hundred days into the brutal war, Ukraine has been trying to shore up more support. Earlier, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan who pledged to back Ukraine's future membership in the NATO alliance.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN, PRESIDENT OF TURKEY (through translator): Ukraine deserves NATO membership. I would like to reemphasize a point I have always defended persistently. A fair peace creates no losers. It is our most sincere desire to return to the peace effort.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRAK: During those talks, he also said Turkiye was working to extend a deal with Russia to export Ukrainian grains through the Black Sea and said the Russian leader would visit Turkiye next month.
The White House, meanwhile, the national security adviser says Ukraine will not be joining the NATO alliance during this summit in Lithuania next week. But Jake Sullivan insists the gathering will still mark an important step in the country's path toward membership. Here is what he told reporters at the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAKE SULLIVAN, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Yes, it will be an important moment because the United States and our allies will be able to discuss the reforms necessary for Ukraine to come up to NATO standards. So this will in fact be a milestone. But Ukraine still has further steps it needs to take before membership.
So Ukraine will not be joining NATO coming out of this summit. We will discuss what steps are necessary as it continues along its path.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRAK: The Biden administration has confirmed that highly controversial cluster munitions will be included in the package to Ukraine. We get more from Natasha Bertrand.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The weapon is banned by over 100 countries around the world, including key U.S. allies like the U.K. and Germany. Now the U.S. defended its decision by saying that the cluster munitions are what Ukraine needs right now in order to successfully continue its counteroffensive against Russia.
The Ukrainians are running very low on artillery ammunition and are burning through it at a very high rate. And the U.S. is worried that, if they continue to use this much artillery, ammunition, the next several months they could run out. The U.S. simply can't produce it at a rate that is fast enough that Ukraine can continue its counteroffensive.
So the U.S. now saying they want to tap into these cluster munitions that will provide Ukraine with a bridge, a temporary bridge to serve until the U.S. and the West is able to produce more of that more conventional ammunition.
There are, of course, concerns by allies about this provision of U.S. cluster munitions to Ukraine because many of them have, in fact, banned the munition.
And the problem with these cluster munitions is that they can actually fail to explode on impact and they can pose a long term risk to civilians that is very similar to the danger that is posed by land mines.
But the U.S. says they have managed to convince allies behind the scenes in conversations over the last several weeks that this is what Ukraine needs right now.
And importantly, they note, according to the U.S. national security adviser, who spoke to reporters today, the Ukrainians could be using these to defend their own territory and take back their land from Russia, not to attack another country as Russia has done.
[03:05:00]
BERTRAND: That is why the U.S. believes that Ukraine is not going the use these cluster munitions to target civilian areas inside Ukraine.
Ukraine wants to protect its own population and has given the U.S. assurances that it will do everything possible to avoid civilian areas while it is conducting its counteroffensive -- Natasha Bertrand, CNN, at the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRAK: U.S. President Joe Biden had long resisted Ukraine's request for the cluster bombs. In an exclusive interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria, Mr. Biden explained why he has now agreed to send them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: we are in a situation where Ukraine continues to be brutally attacked across the board by munitions, by these cluster munitions that have dud rates that are very, very low -- I mean very high, that are a danger to civilians, number one.
Number two, the Ukrainians are running out of ammunition. The ammunition -- and I think they call them 155-millimeter weapons. This is a -- this is a war relating to munitions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRAK: As he has often done, Ukraine's president was quick to thank the Biden administration for the latest military aid.
In a tweet, President Zelenskyy predicted the additional new weapons will, quote, "bring Ukraine closer to victory over the enemy."
On the front lines, Ukrainian troops have reported, quote, "hot" fighting against Russia as their counteroffensive grinds on. They say enemy fighters have tried to break through their positions. But so far, those attempts have failed.
All around Bakhmut, the Ukrainians are claiming to have advanced more than 1 kilometer in about 24 hours and they say they are putting on so much pressure, Russian forces are now trapped in the city.
And in the south, Ukraine says it is destroying Russian equipment and weapons and that Russian forces are suffering, quote, "significant losses in manpower." CNN's Ben Wedeman has more on Ukraine's frontline advances.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As soon as one artillery round blast toward Bakhmut, the crew rushes to prepare for another. Ukrainian officials report gains around the town since last year has been the epicenter of the war.
Gun commander Artem has been in the area for months.
The task of taking down coordinates and barking orders now routine. He says, he is now half deaf from the blasts. Yet, he has sensed the change.
WEDEMAN (voice-over): "It seems like they're often running away," he says, referring to the Russians and then the order to fire.
There's barely a let up in the distant thud of shelling. "The Russians," says this gunner -- callsign Aries -- "are falling back. We know because they hit us much less. One or two months ago, there was a lot of incoming. It was scary to be here. Now it is different.
On another flank, the big guns are out. This is a Bohdana, a Ukrainian made 155-millimeter self-propelled howitzer.
Ukraine claims the Russians have poured as many as 50,000 troops into the defense of the town, dug in deep.
WEDEMAN (voice-over): "The Russians had fortified their positions and stands strong," Commander Dmytro tells me, "but I think that's temporary."
Russian soldiers captured in the battle here told us the shelling on their positions was relentless.
WEDEMAN: That was a high explosive anti-personnel munition fired at the direction of Russian troops outside of Bakhmut.
WEDEMAN (voice-over): As soon as they fire, they prepare to fire again -- Ben Wedeman, CNN, near Bakhmut.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRAK: The U.S. and China are holding key meetings as both countries work to repair their strained relations. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is in the middle of a four-day trip to Beijing.
On Friday, she met with the Chinese premier, who said Beijing hopes the U.S. will meet it halfway and push their relations back on track soon. Well earlier today, Yellen had a roundtable meeting with climate finance leaders and a lunch meeting with female economists.
Later this hour, she is set to meet with China's vice premier. And CNN's Anna Coren is covering the story for you from Hong Kong. She joins us now with the very latest.
Any breakthroughs in this latest diplomatic effort to improve ties between the U.S. and China?
ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No breakthroughs. We are getting reports that this has been a very productive trip. [03:10:00]
COREN: That's according to the U.S. ambassador to China, Nick Burns. He said her meetings are helping to establish that U.S.-China relationship.
This morning as you mentioned, Yellen took part in a roundtable with climate finance leaders, where she said the threat of climate change was a top global challenge and both countries must work together. Let's have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JANET YELLEN, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: As the world's two largest emitters of greenhouse gases and the largest investors in renewable energy, we have both a joint responsibility and ability to lead the way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: But Yellen's most important meeting was yesterday with Chinese premier Li Qiang. It went on much longer than expected. Yellen has pushed to maintain economic ties with China, argued against tariffs and warned that decoupling would be disastrous. And the premier alluded to that. Take a listen to what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LI QIANG, CHINESE PREMIER (through translator): Secretary Yellen, you have long been engaged in China-U.S. exchanges and cooperation; in particular, China-U.S. economic and trade relationships. You are not just a participant but also a builder.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: The U.S. Treasury Secretary says the Biden administration seeks healthy economic competition, not winner take all. That will benefit both countries and the disagreements should not lead to misunderstandings that worsen the bilateral relationships.
So she is really trying to smooth things over and reset relations so both countries can move forward.
HARRAK: What do we expect to come out of the meeting with the vice premier later on?
COREN: For sure, look, Yellen, in the next 20 minutes, will meet with vice premier He Lifeng. He's a loyalist to Xi Jinping, which means that whatever messages, thoughts that the Chinese leader wants to convey -- because he is not meeting with Janet Yellen on this trip -- they will be conveyed this afternoon.
Yellen and the vice premier will go on to have dinner. At the end of the day, these two countries are deeply entwined economically. We know that, globally, these are uncertain times. China is struggling to get its economy back on track post COVID. And you have the United States fighting to contain inflation and avoid
a recession. So whatever the grievances are -- and there are plenty between the United States and China -- they do need to work together.
And this is what this trip is all about, cementing those lines of communication, to avoid misunderstanding and find ways to work together moving forward.
HARRAK: Anna Coren, thank you.
Arguments over migration policy causing a collapse of the Dutch government. Now one of Europe's longest serving leaders says he will submit his resignation. Details next.
And 12 years on from disaster, officials are trying to alleviate fear of the plan to release treated wastewater from the Fukushima power plant. But that is not sitting well with many in the region.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:15:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
HARRAK: Big changes coming to the Netherlands. The Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte is tendering his entire cabinet's resignation to the king, saying the government failed to come to an agreement with his coalition partners about immigration policy.
The crisis came after his Conservative Party pushed to limit the flow of asylum seekers to the Netherlands but half of his coalition refused to support the effort.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK RUTTE, FORMER DUTCH PRIME MINISTER (through translator): It is no secret we have differing opinions about immigration policy. We have to conclude the differences have become insurmountable. Therefore, I will tender the resignation of the entire cabinet to the king.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRAK: He says the next step is to set new elections.
The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog is in South Korea to calm public fears over Japan's plan to release wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear site. It is a controversial move 12 years after the plant's meltdown.
Japanese authorities and U.N. officials insist the plan is safe. The water will be treated to remove the most harmful pollutants and will be released gradually over many years in highly diluted quantities. But CNN's Paula Hancocks reports fisher men and consumers in South Korea have concerns. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lee GI-sam watches his crew unload the fish from the night's fishing. The IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency, gave Japan the green light to release treated wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear plant.
LEE GI-SAM, SOUTH KOREAN FISHER MAN (through translator): I have my doubts. I don't trust the South Korean government. They keep talking about scientific verification without announcing any plans for the future.
HANCOCKS (voice-over): The IAEA says Japan's plan meets international safety standards. But a Gallup survey shows 78 percent of those polled were very or somewhat worried about the contamination of seafood.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I will probably stop eating seafood once the water is released.
LEE (through translator): If the public avoids seafood, we will face bankruptcy. I think it is going to massively hurt the business.
HANCOCKS (voice-over): Lee is not even sure he would get his own children eat seafood after the release. South Koreans have been panic buying sea salt. Wholesale prices have soared more than 40 percent since April.
The government claim weather has played a significant role in the jump. South Korea's government says it will maintain a ban on Japanese seafood imports from the Fukushima area but does respect the IAEA report.
For Lee and thousands like him, the future is uncertain, dependent on the public's trust or lack of in seafood.
LEE (through translator): I want to live and work in my fishing village until my last day.
HANCOCKS (voice-over): Paula Hancocks, CNN, Seoul.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRAK: Iran has executed two men accused of a shrine attack. IRNA reports the attack on a shrine in southern Iran killed 13 people and injured dozens more in October 2022. The funerals drew huge crowds as you can see.
CNN reported at the time ISIS had claimed responsibility but it is not clear if the attack was related to protests the same day. That marked 40 days after a 22- year-old woman died in police custody for apparently not wearing her hijab properly.
The escalating violence in the Middle East has claimed another victim. According to the Palestinian health ministry, a Palestinian man was killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank on Friday. The official Palestinian news agency reports residents in a town in the West Bank --
[03:20:00]
HARRAK: -- have planned a protest march against a new illegal settler outpost nearby. But the Israel Defense Forces tell CNN it responded with live fire after Palestinian residents instigated a violent riot and threw rocks at Israel border police forces.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRAK (voice-over): The town is no stranger to violence. This was the scene two weeks ago.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRAK: And an Israeli border police officer has been acquitted of charges related to the fatal shooting of a Palestinian man with autism three years ago. Protesters rallied outside the courtroom prior to the verdict. The officer said he thought the 32-year-old man had a gun. Police chased after him and shouted in Hebrew to stop.
The man's mother said her son had the mental capacity of a 6-year-old and did not speak or understand Hebrew. Israeli police confirmed after the shooting that he was not armed.
At least three railway officials are under arrest in India following last month's deadly crash. India's central bureau of investigation announced the arrest Friday. It is part of an ongoing investigation. More than 280 were killed and over 1,000 were injured in the crash in eastern Odisha state involving two passenger trains and a freight train.
It was India's worst rail disaster in more than two decades.
At least eight people are dead after a building collapsed in Brazil. The apartment building came down early Friday morning. Two young children are listed among the victims.
As of late, Friday night, civil defense forces say four other people have been pulled out alive. The cause of the collapse in northeast Brazil is not yet clear. But the area has been experiencing very heavy rains.
A former Afghan interpreter escaped the Taliban takeover over of his country only to be shot and killed in his new country, the United States; 31-year-old Nasrat Ahmad Yar has been working an extra shift in his ride share job in Washington, D.C., trying to provide for his family.
He was shot early Monday. Well now, police are asking for the public's help in solving the case. CNN's Tom Foreman has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Close to midnight, gunfire, four people running. Behind them, police say, is a man left dying in his car.
Investigators have been pouring over the surveillance video all week looking for clues in the apparent murder of 31 year old Nasrat Ahmad Yar, a Lyft driver pulling and extra shift to support his wife and four kids, an immigrant searching for peace after a war torn past.
MOHAMMAD AHMADI, YAR'S COUSIN: He was a hardworking person. He was a very friendly person. He was happy to be here. He was -- he taught his -- preaching safety and security for himself and for his family.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take cover, take cover.
FOREMAN: Ahmad Yar's path to America started when he served 10 years as a local interpreter for U.S. military forces in his home of Afghanistan. Anyone who took that role knew the risk if the Taliban caught them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If they found me, they'd kill me and they'd kill my family.
FOREMAN: So when the U.S. military pulled out in 2021, President Joe Biden said this to those Afghans who had helped.
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our message to those women and men is clear, there is a home for you in the United States.
FOREMAN: After living under the threat of violence for so long, Ahmad Yar brought his family to a new land with new hopes and now this -- police are offering a reward but so far no news of an arrest.
Lyft says it will fully cooperate with investigators to try to solve this case and it has offered its condolences to the family.
So have several veterans, who have pointed out they could not have done their work in the name of the United States in Afghanistan without the brave work of young Afghans like this one -- Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRAK: Still ahead, from friend to foe: after falling out of favor with the Russian leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin has not been seen in public for two weeks.
Plus "The Wall Street Journal" reporter remains in detention in Russia on charges he denies. We will tell you what the U.S. is trying to do to secure his release.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:25:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
HARRAK: Welcome back to our viewers all around the world. I'm Laila Harrak. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM.
Belarus says it has put on hold plans to host Wagner mercenaries after their short-lived rebellion in Russia. President Alexander Lukashenko said that the Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin is not in Belarus and neither are his forces. But should they come, he says the country has set up a camp that would house them. CNN's Matthew Chance reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is the closest we've ever come to a Wagner camp. Not in Russia, nor the Ukrainian front lines but standing empty for now in Belarus.
Well, this is where we thought that Wagner soldiers invited to Belarus could be housed, in vast tent city that supposedly this disused military base, about 100 kilometers, 70 miles or so outside of the Belarusian capital, in tents like these that have been set up to house a couple of dozen fighters at any given time.
For the most part, empty at the moment and that's because the plan to invite Wagner and its leader over here into Belarus after the military uprising of Russia, it now appears to be on hold.
Recent satellite images showed how quickly the camp at Asipovichy was transformed, ready to house large numbers of troops at short notice. And the Belarusian general who gave us access told me that Wagner forces could still be deployed here if the political decision is made.
There is room for up to 5,000 soldiers, at this camp alone, he tells me. And we have other facilities, too.
Have you've been told to prepare this camp for the possible arrival of Wagner fighters? Is that what you are told? We have prepared it for training and for territorial defense, he says.
It was the sudden announcement by the leader of Belarus that neither Wagner nor its leader was in fact in the country. It seems to have thrown planning into disarray.
Lukashenko insists his offer which helps bring Wagner's armed uprising to an end last month is still on the table. But with new questions over Wagner and its leader, it seems unlikely that this would-be Wagner camp will ever now be filled -- Matthew Chance, CNN, Belarus.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRAK: Well, Prigozhin's fate in Russia remains as uncertain as his whereabouts. Once the Wagner chief was considered a close ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin and a crucial part of the country's operations in Ukraine.
But after he led that short-lived uprising last month, he was branded a traitor by the Russian leader. Now many are wondering how Mr. Putin will deal with Prigozhin --
[03:30:00] HARRAK: -- and what will become of him, especially now that he is out of the public view.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HARRAK: Joining me now is Jill Dougherty, a CNN contributor and former CNN Moscow bureau chief, she is also an adjunct professor at Georgetown University.
Jill, so many unanswered questions still. The ways of the Kremlin opaquer (sic) than ever. Let's start with the Wagner Group leader, who has not been seen in public quite some time now. He was once omnipresent.
Is he being erased (ph) at the moment?
(LAUGHTER)
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: That's a question. Isn't it?
He has definitely disappeared to a certain extent. Nobody can definitively say where he is. Then we had the bombshell a couple of days ago, where the president of Belarus said, surprise, surprise; he's not here in Belarus, which was the deal to put down that uprising by Prigozhin.
No, actually, he is back in Russia, back maybe in St. Petersburg, Moscow, who knows. But this was really shocking. When you think of that uprising, at least a couple of weeks ago, that was such a bombshell and to have it all of a sudden stopped, looked like a plus for Putin.
And the deal apparently was brokered by Lukashenko and now Lukashenko is saying the complete opposite from what that deal was supposed to be. So it is very strange.
HARRAK: I will talk to you in a second about the role the Belarusian president seems to be playing here.
But is it possible to determine independently where Prigozhin is and also, is it strange that he can move freely, if you can?
DOUGHERTY: Well, determining where he is -- maybe the FSB or the CIA know where he is. But for regular people, no. Based on what Lukashenko is saying, he is in Russia somewhere.
But now, why is he in Russia?
That's the question. Because, again, this was all supposed to be, he goes; he doesn't get prosecuted and he goes to Belarus. So there are various theories. And they are really only theories at this point.
Remember Prigozhin is or maybe was the head of a giant -- you would have to call it corporation. And that corporation was not only the Wagner fighters -- they were obviously in Ukraine; they are in Africa. They are in many different countries. And then also, he was running the troll factory, interfering in the
American election. And then, he had a media empire, a lot of it online.
So this is really a major, major enterprise that was carrying out duties or jobs for the Russian government, which the Russian government didn't want to have his fingerprints on publicly, could have deniability. That is valuable to Putin.
And so you have to say OK, at least the company is valuable. I don't know about Prigozhin. That is another question. But you can't just unwind it overnight. So maybe that is why he is in Russia.
HARRAK: In Russia, striking images have been broadcast by Russian state media of a raid being launched at Prigozhin's lavish house in St. Petersburg -- gold bars, wigs -- but we also got to know the home of a decorated Russian.
How have those images, do we know how they have been received by the Russian public?
DOUGHERTY: Well, I'm sure with a lot of confusion. Again, just a few weeks ago, Prigozhin was being praised by the government, recruiting all over Russia. Then he has a rebellion against the government.
But there has to be a purpose for that. It is on state television. Nothing gets on state television unless the government wants it to be there.
So why would it be there?
Well, it is obviously sullying the reputation of Prigozhin. It's also undermining what he is saying about those generals, who are completely botching the war, he would argue, those generals are lining their pockets.
[03:35:00]
DOUGHERTY: And they are misleading our president, President Putin. And they are in it for the money, et cetera. So when all of a sudden on TV, you see the riches of Prigozhin, gold bars, millions of dollars in cash and then the bizarre things like wigs, it gets very strange.
And I have to tell you, there are actually a lot of memes based on those disguises and passports for Prigozhin, showing him in a variety of different guises. It is almost amusing -- except this is pretty serious.
HARRAK: It is pretty serious. I want to get a final thought from you, Jill, regarding the role that the Belarusian president is playing right now, Alexander Lukashenko.
DOUGHERTY: Yes, so Alexander Lukashenko has been in power for a very long time. He is essentially a Soviet style politician. And he has always been very good at playing one side off against the other. So here you have him, apparently helping Putin by solving a rebellion
but he also has his own domestic considerations. And Belarus doesn't like the fact he has done the bidding of Vladimir Putin.
So you have Lukashenko maneuvering with this very strange, inviting reporters to see a camp, supposedly where the fighters for Prigozhin were going to be coming. And saying, surprise, there are no fighters here.
Why would he do that?
So whatever it is, he is maneuvering himself to get into the best position. But I don't really feel this drama is over. There is more, obviously, that is going to happen. We'll have to find out where Prigozhin is. We'll have to find out what happens to him.
HARRAK: Jill Dougherty, thank you so much.
DOUGHERTY: Sure.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRAK: "The Wall Street Journal" reporter Evan Gershkovich has now been locked up for 100 days.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELLA MILMAN, EVAN GERSHKOVICH'S MOTHER: I rely on President Biden's promise to bring Evan back. I rely on his team.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRAK: The White House says the U.S. and Russia have discussed a potential prisoner swap but, so far, there has been little progress.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAKE SULLIVAN, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: There have been discussions. But those discussions have not produced a clear pathway to a resolution. So I cannot stand here today and tell you that we have a clear answer to how we are going to get Evan home.
All I can do is tell you we have a clear commitment and conviction that we will do everything possible to bring him home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRAK: The White House also says President Biden has no higher priority than securing the release of Gershkovich and other Americans detained abroad.
Drone operations against ISIS in Syria have been hampered by Russian fighter jets. The United States Air Force says it is the third day in a row that Russian pilots have interfered with the drones.
According to the U.S., Friday's encounters lasted almost two hours with Russian fighters making 18 close passes of three U.S. drones. Well, the pattern of harassment began early Wednesday, when Russian jets hounded several U.S. drones, dropping flares and using other aggressive tactics.
The French military says its warplanes in the region have also become targets of Russian harassment.
The Amazon rain forest is facing a slew of hazards, made worse by a relaxing of protections and increased threats from organized crime. Details ahead.
And also coming up this week, the planet saw its four hottest days on record. It's the latest evidence that the Earth is heating up much faster than expected and another wakeup call in the climate crisis.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:40:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
HARRAK: On Saturday, Colombian president Gustavo Petro will welcome his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva for a bilateral meeting. They are pushing for renewed international attention to save the Amazon from illegal mining and drug traffickers. Stefano Pozzebon has the details
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Amazon is the largest rainforest in the world. But spanning over nine different nations, it is also a vast trafficking
region for international criminal networks. Illegal miners and drug traffickers know no border.
BRAM EBUS, INVESTIGATOR, AMAZON UNDERWORLD: A few days ago, we took a plane and flew over a cross-border river that springs in Colombia and
finishes in Brazil. This river is plagued by illegal mining barges which are destroying the waterways and using a toxic quicksilver called mercury
in the extraction process of gold. On this river there have been several military crackdowns to destroy the mining barges but they always have
returned because there is no structural control in the Amazon.
POZZEBON (voice-over): According to the United Nations, Narco- deforestation, which means laundering drug traffic and profits into land speculation and cattle ranching, is posing a growing danger to the Amazon,
potentially increasing the effect of climate change.
On Saturday, control over the region will be sent to stage as Colombian President Gustavo Petro welcomes his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula
da Silva for a bilateral meeting here on the shores of the Amazon River. The two leaders are pushing for renewed international attention to this
corner of the world.
Deforestation in the Amazon is still at record levels despite commitments by companies and governments to cut it down and scientists believe the
ecosystem will be further threatened this year by the emergence of a climate pattern called El Nino. New research this week shows that Latin
America saw its highest rate of warming over the last three decades. For a leader like Gustavo Petro, the bilateral is also an occasion to raise his
profile on the international stage.
JUAN CARLOS RUIZ, PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, UNIBERSIDAD DEL ROSARIO: I think this agenda could be interesting for Colombia because it
allows Colombia to present itself as a stakeholder and an agent against greenhouse gases in Latin America or at least for the preservation of the
Amazon.
The meeting will serve to prepare an international conference over the future of the Amazon to be held in Brazil next month. But activists believe
of concrete steps must be taken urgently.
EBUS: Before new plans for the Amazon are made, we must recognize that there is a grave security crisis that needs more understanding and a better comprehensive answer by the respective governments.
POZZEBON: The Colombian city where the two presidents will meet on Saturday is only 30 kilometers away from the Brazilian village, where, last year in June, British journalist Don Phillips and Brazilian activist Bruno Pereira were brutally murdered in a case that has become a symbol of the security crisis hanging over the Amazon forest.
Just last month, Brazilian prosecutors charged two men, including the alleged mastermind of the crime.
[03:45:00]
POZZEBON: And the two men are awaiting trial and are still under custody -- for CNN, I'm Stefano Pozzebon, Bogota.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRAK: The planet's daily average temperature reached another record daily high on Thursday, the fourth day in a row of record global heat. Early data from U.S. meteorologists show Thursday's temperature climbed to more than 17.2 degrees Celsius or roughly 63 degrees Fahrenheit.
Experts say the extreme heat is an enormous wakeup call for the climate crisis as senior scientists say this is almost certainly the warmest the planet has been in at least 100,000 years. And it comes after last month saw the planet's hottest June by a substantial margin above the previous record.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HARRAK: Joining us now from London is Bob Ward. He is the policy and communications director for the Research Institute on Climate Change and Environment at the London School of Economics.
Bob, so good to have you with us. Four straight days of record highs. It's a grim milestone for the planet.
What drives this?
BOB WARD, LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS: We have two factors here: one, the Earth is undoubtedly warming due to the rising levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, mostly generated through the burning of fossil fuels. So that warming trend is unequivocal.
We have also natural climatic patterns. We have just entered El Nino, which is an upwelling of warm waters in the southeast Pacific but which then usually generates warmer temperatures around the world.
Traditionally July is the warmest month in the world. The Northern Hemisphere is where most of the continents are. And the land heats up more than the waters of the oceans in the Southern Hemisphere cool down. So traditionally, July is the warmest month and this is likely to be the warmest month perhaps since the end of the last Ice Age.
HARRAK: If I understand you correctly, the climate crisis amplifies what would normally occur. And this is a global phenomenon.
What are the effects you are seeing around the world as a consequence of this heat wave?
WARD: Well, the measurements that are being made, are of the global average temperature. So taking the temperature all around the Earth's surface. But we are seeing extremes also becoming more intense and frequent.
At the moment, there is a very severe marine heat wave going on in the North Atlantic, including around the coast of Britain. Temperatures are four to five degrees higher than normal. It is having impacts on all sorts of marine life. We have seen all sorts of disruptions of fish stocks. These are
happening all around the world. We will also see undoubtedly, over the next few weeks, the next couple of months, increased heat waves.
Last year there was an intense heat wave in Europe; in the U.K. temperatures incredibly got above 40 degrees Celsius for the first time. And they have real impact. The heat wave conditions last summer in the U.K. killed almost 3,000 people. So these are very severe impacts.
HARRAK: Very severe impacts.
Now as the planet continues to warm up, have we hit a point of no return?
How do we stay cool and protect our lives?
WARD: Well, we have all signed up. All the countries have signed up to efforts to try and keep the global temperature from going above 1.5 degrees above its preindustrial level. We are getting perilously close to that.
And the scientists have already laid out a number of major impacts that could happen, not just through increased heat wave periods. We also get increased periods of heavy rainfall because a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture. So when it rains, it rains harder and it overwhelms our drainage and sewage systems.
We get flooding, particularly in city areas. It can wipe out crops, threaten our food security. So we have got to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Absolutely no alternative. And we have to do it urgently and get it down, essentially get our emissions down to zero by the middle of this century if we can.
[03:50:00]
HARRAK: Bob Ward, thank you so much for joining us.
WARD: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRAK: A cluster of shark attacks has New Yorkers on edge. But the seeming increase in shark sightings may have something to do with our cell phones. Polo Sandoval has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GEORGE GORMAN, REGIONAL DIRECTOR, NEW YORK STATE PARKS: We have more surveillance, more lifeguards out there than we've ever had in the past.
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Five suspected shark attacks within 24 hours leading officials to ramp up shark patrols along New York's coast.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's their territory and we're invading their territory.
SANDOVAL (voice-over): The incidents happened at five different locations on Long Island beaches. On July 3 officials say a 15 year- old girl was bitten while swimming at Robert Moses State Park and a 15 year-old boy says he was bit at Kismet Beach.
PETER BANCULLI, SHARK ATTACK VICTIM: My first reaction to when the shark grabbed my foot was to immediately get out the water and get help.
SANDOVAL (voice-over): Then on July 4, three, four incidents this time all involving adults at three separate locations, all five swimmers had non-life threatening injuries. CNN obtained this drone footage from Robert Moses State Park beach on July 4 of what was initially described as sand sharks.
Deciding to lay the beach is opening but state park officials now say the animals were likely been other species of fish according to "The New York Times."
GORMAN: What we're hearing from the shark experts is that these baits are undoubtedly a mistake. They think the sharks think they're feeding on bait fish or bunker fish. And that's why these are bites.
SANDOVAL (voice-over): That's why park officials say having an eye in the sky is a critical asset.
LT. ALEX GOODMAN, NEW YORK STATE PARKS: The drones are much more inexpensive to fly, they can be deployed very rapidly, we are entering the natural habitat of these animals. And there's always the potential for risk. But with all the assets and manpower that we have employed here, the idea is to keep people as safe as possible.
SANDOVAL (voice-over): And it's not just the Northeast that's on heightened alert. This was the scene Monday in Pensacola Beach, Florida, where a shark was spotted swimming near the shore. It will, may seem like we're seeing more shark encounters. Experts say that isn't necessarily the case.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot more documentation occurs because everybody's got a cell phone. So we see more of these things. So they come into our living rooms really quickly.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRAK: And that was our Polo Sandoval reporting from New York.
A rapturous welcome in Cameroon for a football superstar. We'll have the latest on his visit to his father's homeland after this break.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING) HARRAK: French football superstar Kylian Mbappe is visiting his father's native country, Cameroon. The forward played basketball with local kids and a former NBA player, whose family also comes from Cameroon.
Mbappe arrived in Cameroon Thursday and was greeted by cheering crowds. He plans to travel to his father's home village in the coming hours and says he is thrilled to be visiting the country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KYLIAN MBAPPE, FRENCH FOOTBALL SUPERSTAR: It is an honor for me to be here. To be in the country, to be with my family --
[03:55:00]
MBAPPE: -- to see all the people there. They show me some love. All the thing. And I'm really grateful for everything. Today was a great day. Yesterday was even better.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRAK: Now it is not exactly who you want crashing your guitar practice. A hawk flew in through an open door, frightening an unsuspecting musician and her dog. Jeanne Moos reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Watch this video like a hawk because the hawk on the railing is going to sneak up behind Nikki Kundanmal. She may be contemplating giving up guitar but the hawk is contemplating dropping in for a snack.
Nikki may be blissfully unaware but her feisty little dog, Khushi, started going nuts.
NIKKI KUNDANMAL, TIKTOKER: No barking.
MOOS: To warn her about the hawk.
KUNDANMAL: Khushi, quiet.
MOOS: Nikki notes she yells out for her roommate who moved down months ago. As her energy drink spills onto her laptop, the energy in the room only intensifies. Hawks screeching, the bowl flying and then silence reigned. The bird flew the coop.
Commenters called this little TikTok video of cinematic masterpiece. OK, maybe it wasn't Hitchcock's The Birds. But it left viewers in suspense did your laptop survive?
Nikki declined to do an interview telling CNN I've been very overwhelmed but everything is good here. After all, the hawk didn't get tangled in Nikki's hair like this woodpecker did.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why is that thin on your head? MOOS: Brittany Bronson's brother had to untangle its feet. And the hawk didn't mimic this parent.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One just landed on the old pirate.
MOOS: But it sure made a hero out of little Khushi who got off his tushy to defend mom -- Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRAK: I'm Laila Harrak. Do stay with us. I'll see you tomorrow.
