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Biden Embarks Today on High-Stakes Trip to Europe; Biden Defends Decision to Send Cluster Bombs to Ukraine; Yellen Heads Home After Productive Talks in Beijing; Brazilian and Colombian Leaders Discuss Ways to Heal The Rainforest Often Called the "Lungs of the Planet"; Soccer Trailblazer Megan Rapinoe to Retire. Aired 5-6a ET
Aired July 09, 2023 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and 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. President Biden will be wheels up for Europe in the coming hours, with Russia's unprovoked war in Ukraine looming over the trip, we'll look at why the stakes couldn't be higher for the future of NATO. And this comes as Ukrainians mark 500 days of war. We'll speak with one journalist in Kyiv documenting alleged war crimes and the search for justice.
Plus.
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JANET YELLEN, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: This nations have an obligation to responsibly manage this relationship.
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BRUNHUBER: U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen concludes her trip to China, while the live report on whether the tensions between the two countries have finally thought.
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ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN Newsroom with Kim Brunhuber.
BRUNHUBER: In just a few hours, U.S. President Joe Biden will head to Europe for one of the most important summits of his presidency and his top priority at the NATO meeting in Lithuania is to shore up allied support for Ukraine in a very critical time in the war. Biden's first stop will be the U.K. where he's expected to arrive later today.
While in London, he'll meet with the Prime Minister and King Charles, who will then travel to Vilnius, Lithuania where he will meet with the Lithuanian President and attend the annual NATO Summit. Finland is NATO's newest member and the President's final stop will be
Helsinki. There, will attend his first Nordic summit with the leaders of Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Denmark and Finland.
Now this is all happening while Biden is on the defensive over his decision to include cluster bombs in his administration's latest military aid package to Ukraine. Human rights groups oppose cluster bombs which carry dozens or even hundreds of smaller explosives known as bomblets. Now sometimes the bomblets don't explode on impact on the unexploded ordnance can kill and maim civilians years later. More than 120 countries have outlawed cluster bombs, but not the U.S., Russia or Ukraine.
For more on the President's upcoming trip, here's CNN's Priscilla Alvarez.
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PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: The stakes couldn't be higher for the future of the NATO alliance at a critical time with the ongoing war in Ukraine and the failed coup attempt in Russia just last month. So President Biden is going to embark on this three-country trip. He's going to start at the United Kingdom, where he's going to meet with King Charles, as well as the British Prime Minister then move on to Lithuania for the NATO Summit and conclude his trip in Finland. But that summit is going to be key. And it is one in which there will likely be discussions about whether or not Ukraine will join NATO.
Now, on Friday, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters that it's unlikely that coming out of the summit, Ukraine will be joining NATO, but they could be discussing steps forward. And that is something that President Biden himself has acknowledged would be premature for Ukraine to join now, but they could be discussing what that looks like moving forward.
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JOE BIDEN, (D) U.S. PRESIDENT: I don't think there is unanimity in NATO about whether or not to bring Ukraine into the NATO family now, at this moment, in the middle of a war. For example, if you did that, then, you know, we -- and I mean, what I say we're determined to commit every inch of territory that is NATO territory. It's a commitment that we've all made no matter what. If the war is going on, then we're all in war. You know, we're at war with Russia, if that were the case. So I think we have to lay out a path for the rational path for Russia, for -- excuse me, for Ukraine to be able to qualify to get into NATO.
NATO is a process that takes some time to meet all the qualifications, and from democratization to a whole range of other issues. So in the meantime, though, I've spoken with Zelenskyy at length about this. And one of the things I indicated is the United States would be ready to provide while the process was going on, and it's going to take a while, while that process is going on to provide security all -- the security we provide for -- for Israel, providing the weaponry, the needs, the capacity to defend themselves. If there is an agreement, if there is a ceasefire, if there is a peace agreement.
ALVAREZ: The question of whether Ukraine will join NATO will be a flashpoint over the course of the next week. And President Biden would be a key player in determining criteria or timeline so that is really where the focus is going to be over the next few days is will Ukraine eventually join NATO and also what does long-term aid look like as the war is ongoing in Ukraine, especially after the U.S. committed to sending cluster munitions to the country.
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BRUNHUBER: And a quick programming note, you can see the entire interview with President Biden today at 10 a.m. Eastern on Fareed Zakaria GPS right here on CNN.
Ukraine's President has brought back five former commanders who had been sent to Turkey by Russia after being captured in battle. The group returned home on Saturday greeted by supporters and church leaders in a ceremony. In this speech they pledged to return to the battlefield and join the counter offensive against Russia. The group was released on the 500th day of the war. To mark that milestone, Ukraine's Deputy Defense Minister listed some of the country's achievements, she said one of them, was striking the bridge that links Russia to occupy Crimea.
Now, her statement appears to be the first time Ukraine has acknowledged it was responsible for the bridge explosion in October, and over the past day, more attacks have been reported by both sides. On Saturday, Russian officials said the Belgorod border region had come under heavy shelling from Ukraine and happened on the same day that Russia shell the eastern Ukrainian town of Lyman killing at least nine people according to Ukraine. CNN's Nada Bashir joins me now from London. So Nada, first, let's start with the latest attacks. What more are we learning?
NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: As we've heard from the governor of the Belgorod region, who has accused the Ukrainian Armed Forces of firing over 100 artillery shells at the region, they say damaging civilian infrastructure and also injuring at least two people. But at this stage, no official response or comment has been made by Ukrainian officials. And as you mentioned them that very same day, we saw those devastating rocket attacks by the Russian armed forces on Lyman. At this stage we've heard from officials confirming that at least nine people have been killed with at least a dozen also injured across the region. This comes as Russia intensifies its attacks on the Donetsk region, as we've heard from Ukrainian military officials earlier in the week. Lyman is believed to be among the new key focuses of the Russian Armed Forces as they continue their bombardment of the Donetsk region.
BRUNHUBER: All right and then, that controversial decision to send cluster munitions to Ukraine, so take us through the international reaction there? BASHIR: Well, it has received mixed reaction. Of course, when we look at Moscow, they've accused the United States of continuing their anti- Russia aggression. They've also accused the Biden administration of seeking to prolong the war in Ukraine by supplying Ukraine with these cluster munitions. We heard from the Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova making these accusations but she also said that the transfer of cluster munitions is an act of desperation and evidence of failure of the highly publicized Ukrainian counter offensive. It will not affect the course of a special military operations, Zakharova said, which goals and objectives will be fully achieved.
Now, of course, this is a deeply controversial move. We've heard from the U.S. State Department acknowledging that this has come in response in part to the slower pace of the Ukrainian counter offensive, it certainly has not gone as quickly as NATO allies would have hoped. The gains that have been made by the Ukrainian Armed Forces certainly haven't been as substantial, as had been anticipated. But of course, this is deeply controversial. The U.S. itself began phasing out the use of cluster munitions back in 2016. And there has been some backlash from even the U.S.' own NATO allies. We've heard from the United Kingdom, they've said they won't be supplying, they're part of a convention force, which outlaws the use of these munitions. Take a listen.
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RISHI SUNAK, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: The U.K. is a signatory to a convention which prohibits the production or use of cluster munitions and discourages their use. We will continue to do our part to support Ukraine against Russia's illegal and unprovoked invasion. But we've done that by providing heavy battle tanks and most recently long-range weapons. I'll be heading off to the NATO summit next week in Vilnius, where we will be discussing exactly this with our allies how we can strengthen our support for Ukraine.
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BASHIR: Look, and we've seen these cluster munitions used to devastating effect in the past. We've seen them in Syria used by the Russian armed forces there. But they've also been used on the ground in Ukraine by both sides in this conflict. Of course Ukraine has received cluster munitions from the Turkish Government as part of their military aid packages. The real concern is that these canisters deploy submunitions or bomblets which often failed to detonate and the concern is that this then poses a long-term risks to any civilians, who later encounter them. That is a significant concern. They've been outlawed by more than 100 nations but of course the U.S. hopes that this may lead to a turning point on the battlefield when it comes to Ukraine's ongoing counteroffensive.
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BRUNHUBER: All right, thanks so much Nada Bashir in London.
And for more on this, I'm joined now from Ukraine by Independent Journalist, Nataliya Gumenyuk. She is been working hard to reveal incidences of war crimes. So first, I just want to go back to what we were just talking about there, your perspective on that decision to send cluster munitions to Ukraine. Do you think that is the right decision? I mean, knowing that years from now maybe decades, a civilian, a child, God forbid, could -- could stumble on one of these and get maimed or killed?
NATALIYA GUMENYUK, INDEPENDENT JOURNALIST: So of course, it's the -- the moral choice, but there is definitely the difference on the way how to use it. Of course, the probability of any weapon is -- is really bad for the human lives. But it really depends on how it's used. Because we had in -- in Ukraine within the last years, the Russians using anti-ship missiles, bombing the shopping mall in the peaceful town, the, you know, recreation center, hotel in -- near Odessa, war, for instance, yes, they used cluster ammunition to fire the train station in Kramatorsk, where there were 3000, mainly women and children fleeing, you know, so that's the point.
While working on the recommending war crimes, we also can say that the Ukrainian army isn't really fighting against civilians, it's fighting against numerous infantry, which is what the cluster ammunition is. It's definitely difficult decision what I understand and the Ukrainians would prefer to have a better, more precise weapon. They are, you know, advocating for the fighter jets, which would also speed up the counter offense. So I understand this decision is taken, as I made speculate or even guessed that, you know, this is what the U.S. is ready to give, it would be something better, that would be -- that would be better.
Maybe the one excuse, which I would say that, you know, in the frontline area where there is now the counter offense, the fight is going on for a year and a half. It's mainly already unlivable. The city of Bakhmut which the world heard had 70,000 people living before the war. Now, there is around 1000. It's really a bit like a dead, you know, this zone, where nothing is already there. So it's the only weapon. And in that event, in the defense war, wherever you have, the sticks and hammer, you will defend your life to exist. So there is a bit of like a different thinking. But despite the better weapon would be better.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah. You talked about how long this war has been going on. I mean, Ukraine has been marking this emotional milestone this weekend, 500 days of war. So how are you in those close to you processing this?
GUMENYUK: So I think this day, you know, coming to 500 days, in fact, and being on air with you reminds me that I was on air and CNN maybe during the first days of the war, it was a day before when we were talking about Kyiv before and after four, three days, which didn't happen. So I think that's also very important to mark that Ukraine still control most of its territory. And somehow managed to have a livable OK life for the majority.
But of course, even now, we have this year, the strengthening of the Russian indiscriminate attack on the peaceful towns, and in particularly on the civilian infrastructure and the civilian object like houses in western Ukraine, like in Lviv this week, in Kramatorsk, like on the pizzeria last week, and also on Kyiv and other towns. And as well, we recorded more and more relations and the Russian occupation. So, so far, the Ukrainian general prosecutor office registered over 90 sovereigns cases of possible breaches of the, you know, the way how the Russians fighting this war. It's really a lot. And unfortunately, you know, what we really now can, with confidence, say the life and the occupation is really unbearable. So there is no other way. There is no other way for the Ukrainians rather than to free their own people.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah. Can I -- can I just ask you, I mean, you -- you referenced that -- that Russian attack on the pizzeria in Kramatorsk. I know from -- from your writing, you wrote about it, it was something that really touched you personally. Take us through that.
GUMENYUK: So yes, it's -- what is important to understand it's one of the many attacks however, of course, it's more dreadful for you if we had the close colleague, the writer, Victoria Amelina, who was also documenting the war crimes. So she was there in, you know, it's a peaceful place. It's a town close to the front line, however, where there's -- whether soldiers will take the breaks and there would be still a lot of locals. Now, we know that it was targeted with Iskander, extremely precise weapon by the way, you know, which usually should be used for something super specific but no it showed the, you know, the pizzeria or the Russian propaganda was saying and that's as much again I'm referring to how -- how the discourse is going on, that there was, on the second floor of this pizzeria, there was some, you know, military compound. There is no second floor, just not there.
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So unfortunately, we all lost the dear friends, we lost -- and as -- you know, 13 people die. And it's obviously devastating, you know, you feel numbed. But really the task of the Ukraine today is really to keep the people accountable for these because it's not the random tragedy, what is important for us to say, it's -- it's not like inevitable if Russia stops, you know, there won't be shelling. If -- if Russia moves the -- the troops out, if they just stopped that's enough, that much how it's enough for them to do that. But our task is still to, you know, pursue to -- to fight for the accountability, instead of just accepting, you know, the losses of the -- of the life of the people.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah, that's why you wrote that it's important to hold people accountable to prevent more tragedies like this from happening in the future. Really appreciate to hearing from you again, Nataliya Gumenyuk. Thanks so much.
GUMENYUK: Thank you.
BRUNHUBER: A gunman on a scooter opens fire in several areas of New York City, killing one person and wounding three others. Police are saying about the motive behind the attacks.
Plus, while President Biden prepares for his trip abroad at top cabinet official is heading home after high level talks in China. Relations between Washington and Beijing had been strained for a long time to look at whether or not maybe changing after this by the U.S. Treasury Secretary. And protesters across Israel vent their anger with the Prime Minister's proposal. Proposed judicial reforms is one of the latest on demonstrations now in their 27 consecutive weeks. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: After months of strained relations, we may be seeing a relaxing of tensions between the U.S. and China. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is heading back to America from Beijing right now after wrapping up what she describes as direct, substantive and productive tops with the Chinese Premier, Vice Premier, the Minister of Finance and other top officials. Yellen held about 10 hours of talks over the past two days aimed at stabilizing the relations between the world's two largest economies. Elon says the U.S. anticipates more frequent and regular communication with Beijing.
All right, let's get more from CNN's Will Ripley live for us in Taiwan's capital of Taipei. So, Will, for Yellen mission accomplished here?
WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This mission? Certainly, yes. I think, by all accounts, the messaging the images, they got along pretty well. China treated Secretary Yellen with a lot of respect, they came to the table with ideas that they wanted to talk about. And in the end, they both claim that they have this plan in place to have a stable system of communication, which is going to be so crucial, because now that you have this crucial, you know, step kind of checked off, they have so much they need to talk about, so many contentious issues that have been building up and building up leading to what many have said are the lowest level of relations between the U.S. and China in 50 years, and also in many ways, the most unstable because of the heavily militarized, South China Sea, Taiwan Strait and those close calls that we've been telling you about in recent months, and years. All of this leading to a lot of concern that the U.S. and China could be spiraling closer to conflict. But this is a diplomatic off ramp that began with Secretary Blinken. But really, it began with President Xi and President Biden in Bali in November. And this all might have started, Kim, a lot sooner had it not been for that suspected spy balloon from China that just kind of flew over into the U.S.
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JANET YELLEN, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: The United States is not seeking to decouple from China. There is an important distinction between decoupling on the one hand, and on the other hand, diversifying critical supply chains, we're taking targeted national security actions. We know that the decoupling of the world's two largest economies would be disastrous for both countries and destabilizing for the world. And it would be virtually impossible to undertake.
(END VIDEO CLIP) RIPLEY: But, you know, that suspected spy balloon when she talks about those -- those targeted actions, they blacklisted a number of suspected balloon manufacturers in China. And -- and of course, China often retaliates with their own -- with their own measures as well. So you're still going to see that sort of thing, Kim, but in terms of something more bigger, more dangerous, more disruptive, the hope is on, you know, the economist side, that they can keep this relationship professional and they can get through this long list of contentious issues they have to deal with.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah, well, I mean, as you say, for all the positive talk, there's still plenty of areas of disagreement. So what are some of the main topics of disagreement there?
RIPLEY: Well, I mean, if you're talking about, you know, specifically the economy, obviously, China has been criticized for not opening up its economy enough in terms of giving foreign businesses freedom to, you know, to operate in ways that they would be able to in other countries that are more business friendly, having to share their -- their confidential technology, having to share user information in order to -- you know, so that the government can monitor users, which some platforms said they just weren't willing to do.
But on a bigger picture, of course, you have human rights concerns, you have concerns about people who are working in factories in China, that was certainly an issue, maybe -- maybe less of an issue now than it was, you know, 30 or 40 years ago, but still, human rights, particularly for the Uyghur Muslims are the -- you know, the takedown of democracy in Hong Kong and the ongoing threats over this island of Taiwan. They have a lot of Western democracy is concerned and those issues persist.
But, you know, all of those Western democracies, a lot of them probably their number one trading partner, Kim, is China. So they've got to make it work, that, you know, the economies are interlinked and there really isn't any way economists say that you could actually pull them apart without essentially, you know, just devastating beyond what we can even describe the global economy.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah, so much just take as you say there. All right, Will Ripley in Taipei thanks so much.
Protesters in Israel kept up the pressure on the government for a 27th consecutive weekend over the Prime Minister's proposed judicial changes. Hundreds of thousands marched in Tel Aviv and other cities on Saturday to oppose a bill they say restrict Supreme Court power and undermines democracy, and even gathered outside the home of the country's defense minister in northern Israel calling on him to join the demonstrations.
In Tel Aviv, police use water cannon on people blocking a main highway. The protests come ahead of the planned first reading of the bill in the Knesset on Monday. Demonstrators say they're worried about the future. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): They are trying to make it seem like the reform is frozen, if they want to negotiate and that they are not going forward with it. But behind the scenes, they are constantly advancing more and more laws. There is a law they're playing to pass soon. And I hope we will be able to stop it one way or another by exerting pressure on some Knesset members so they will vote against it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I attend all the protests every Saturday, and I don't think things are getting any better. My concern hasn't dropped. I see that the government actually wants to proceed with a law that will infringe on people's ability to fight for the rights. And I'm currently concerned about our future here.
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BRUNHUBER: 22 people have died in an airstrike on Sudan's most populated city Omdurman. That's according to a Reuters report saying the Sudanese Ministry of Health. Have a look this video is from the rapid support forces paramilitary group. They dispute the official death toll saying more than 31 people were killed. The RSF has been fighting Sudan's army for months. The government says it did carry out an operation in Omdurman but insists it targeted only rebel fighters and combat vehicles.
Japan's plan to release treated wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear plant is drawing more criticism. This time from North Korea. Pyongyang released a statement saying the move is evil and anti-humanitarian. Hundreds of people turned out in South Korea's Capitol Saturday to protest the plan. The day after a visit from the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The group declared Japan's plan to be in line with international safety standards. Japan will treat the water to remove pollutants then it will be released gradually in highly diluted form and that process will begin sometime this summer.
President Biden and other NATO leaders will soon meet in Lithuania to discuss their ongoing support for Ukraine but this year's summit is already overshadowed by Biden's controversial decision to arm the Ukrainians with cluster bombs. Those details just ahead. And special counsel Jack Smith's team is asking questions about what happened at Oval Office meetings weeks after Donald Trump lost the 2020 election? We have details next on CNN Newsroom. And a soccer trailblazer announces her retirement. We have a look at Megan Rapinoe's impact on and off the field with CNN Sports Coy Wire. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: And welcome back to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and all around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN Newsroom.
I want to get back to one of our top stories this hour. In the coming hours, President Biden is heading to Europe to shore up alliances at a critical time. During his week-long trip he'll visit the U.K. first, while he'll meet with the Prime Minister and King Charles, he'll then travel to Vilnius, Lithuania he'll meet with the Lithuanian President and attend the NATO Summit. His final stop will be Helsinki, Finland where he will meet with the Finnish President and attend the U.S.- Nordic Leaders' Summit.
In last hour I spoke about the President's trip with the former Obama White House official Brett Bruen, who now heads the global situation room. And I asked him if sending U.S. cluster bombs to Ukraine undermined America's moral authority in trying to deal with this crisis. Here he is.
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BRETT BRUEN, PRESIDENT, GLOBAL SITUATION ROOM: For the better part of the last year and a half, we've heard a lot of rhetoric, we've gotten a lot of promises. But there has been I think a big gap in terms of what Ukraine has actually gotten. And Ukraine has been fighting with one hand tied behind its back in a lot of respects as the U.S. as well as other allies put restrictions on the length of missiles that they can receive or in this case, obviously, cluster munitions. And while the U.S. obviously went through a very difficult process deliberating this, I think at the end of the day, they came out at the right spot, they have to help Ukraine take back territory and stop the civilian casualties that Russia is inflicting on their own population.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah, I mean, you say they've been grappling with the situation for a while. I mean, how do you think President Biden has handled this crisis?
BRUEN: Well look from the standpoint of stepping up when it mattered, I think Biden gets an A plus. However, and this is going to be important for Vilnius and the deliberations that are taking place this week, we've got to see more of a strategy because right now what you have is kind of like a potluck dinner where everyone is bringing a dish it doesn't all necessarily fit together. And Ukraine is somewhat struggling with the arms that they've gotten, how they work together and what they actually need in order to push Russian forces out of their territory.
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BRUNHUBER: For now, some political headlines in the U.S. a long list of priorities awaits Congress as it returns from recess this week. The deadline for U.S. government spending is due in less than two months in the House and Senate are still miles apart on the budget. Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is struggling to bring his own conference together. House Republicans are weighing whether to file impeachment proceedings against President Biden along with the Homeland Security Secretary, the FBI Director and Attorney General.
And CNN has learned that controversial Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has been ousted from the House Freedom Caucus for name calling her colleague, Congresswoman, Lauren Boebert, on the floor of the House.
Now in the first public accounting of his expenses, it's been revealed that Special Counsel Jack Smith has spent more than $5 million on his high-profile investigations into former President Donald Trump. This week, sources told CNN the Smith team questioned several witnesses about a chaotic Oval Office meeting after Trump lost the 2020 election. Zach Cohen has details.
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ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: We've learned that Prosecutors have asked multiple witnesses in just the last few weeks about this chaotic Oval Office meeting that took place on December 18, 2020 after Trump lost the presidential election.
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Now, the timing of this meeting is important, as sources tell CNN that prosecutors are focused on what took place between December 14, 2020, four days earlier when states ratified their election results. And January 6, 2021, when rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol in an effort to stop then Vice President Mike Pence from certifying Joe Biden's win.
Now, prosecutors specifically had questions about a group of outside advisors who were pushing Trump to take extreme steps to overturn the election results. That includes using the military as these voting machines and appointing a special counsel to investigate baseless claims of widespread fraud. This group included Trump's former National Security Adviser Mike Flynn, former overstock CEO Patrick Byrne, and former Trump Lawyer Sidney Powell.
Trump's former personal attorney Rudy Giuliani also participated in the meeting, and it was asked about it when he sat down with prosecutors in recent weeks. In the meeting, Giuliani alluded to a plan for gaining unauthorized access to voting systems in Georgia with the help of local election officials there according to witness testimony obtained by the House January 6 committee. January 6 was already on Trump's mind when he left this meeting on December 18, as he sent a tweet encouraging his supporters to show up on that day and, "be wild." Zach Cohen, CNN, Washington.
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BRUNHUBER: Republican voters in Iowa could be the first to choose their new presidential nominee. The State Central Committee voted unanimously to hold their first in the nation caucuses on January 15. Several other states have yet to declare the dates of their nominating contests but the Iowa date would be the earliest start to the nomination process since 2012.
Former President Donald Trump called on Nevada supporters to help turn out voters in massive numbers and send him back to the White House. Trump lost Nevada in 2020 in the 2020 election by 2.4%, but at a volunteer recruitment event in Las Vegas, he repeated his usual lies about election cheating, went on to criticize his leading opponent Ron DeSantis, from called the Florida Governor disdainful nickname and criticize him for wanting to use Nevada Mountain as a nuclear waste repository. Here he is. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: DeSanctimonious voted to fund, you come out as a dumping ground for nuclear waste. So just DeSanctus wants to use Yucca -- Yucca Mountain, which affects your whole state. That's not just a little area, that stuff, it's all over the place. What a mess. So he wants Yucca Mountain as a dumping ground for waste. Now, he's not going to say that, I don't know how he gets out of it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Police in New York have apprehended a man they say shot and killed one person and injured three more while riding a scooter through parts of New York City. Police say the shootings appear to be random. Our Polo Sandoval has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the indiscriminate nature of this violence is what's particularly disturbing here as NYPD investigators believe that the gunman was simply shooting people randomly in parts of Queens and in parts of Brooklyn, New York. And all five scenes, according to investigators, the suspect aboard a scooter is a nine-millimeter pistol with an extended magazine that you can clearly see in some of those photographs that were released by investigators to shoot for people. The arrest of the suspect happened less than two hours after the Spree started. Investigators quickly able to get pictures of the suspect out to officers that led to this -- to a Hispanic 25-year-old man and he was arrested without incident. He -- I want you to hear directly from one police official as they updated us on Saturday about what they know, regarding this weekend shooting and its motive.
JOE KENNY, ASSISTANT CHIEF, NYPD DETECTIVE BUREAU: It seems that it's actual random, if you look at the demographics and pedigree of the victims, they're all different. At this time video shows that he's not targeting anybody. He's not following anybody as he's driving on his scooter. He's randomly shooting people.
SANDOVAL: In terms of the weapon itself, police went on to say that they have not yet found a serial number on it. So it's too soon to say if it's a ghost gun which is privately assembled and impossible to trace weapons or possibly that that identifying information was just filed off. So there's certainly turning to federal investigators with that aspect of the investigation. This is really just the latest shooting of its kind to the United States. It was just this past Monday that a masked, armed -- and armored suspect opened fire in a neighborhood in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania shooting and killing five people. Polo Sandoval, CNN, New York.
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BRUNHUBER: Officials in New York New Jersey say the cargo ship fire that killed two firefighters has now been contained. The fire has been burning since late Wednesday. Crews made progress in the overnight hours and were able to contain it on the 11th deck of the massive ship. Officials say all the firefighters who were injured have now been released from the hospital. The cause of the blaze still is unknown.
All right still to come, scorching temperatures continue to sweep across parts of the U.S. We'll have a look at forecast next.
[05:40:05]
Plus, the leaders of Colombia and Brazil meet to discuss ways to save the Amazon rainforest. We'll tell you why the region is so important for all of us no matter where we live.
And later, Elton John says goodbye with this final performance of his Farewell tour. We'll have a look back in his remarkable career, that's coming up. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: From scorching heat to severe storms, extreme weather will be impacting millions of Americans today. A dangerous heatwave will continue in the Southwest. Texas and Florida, high temperatures are expected to reach well into the triple digits in some parts and severe storms are possible across the southeast, the Carolinas and the Mid Atlantic main threats, damaging winds and hail. Torrential rainfall is pushing rivers above their warning levels in parts of China. Have a look at this.
With more rain forecast for the next several days, some areas in the Northeast have seen flash flooding along with hail storms and mudslides, rising floodwaters forcing hundreds of people to evacuate low lying areas in the southwest.
Heavy rains have brought parts of the Indian capital to a standstill with several streets in New Delhi underwater. People have been wading through waterlogged areas that they struggle to get around the city. Indian meteorological officials say more spells of intense rain are expected in the coming days.
The presidents of Brazil and Colombia are meeting to discuss ways to save the Amazon. The rainforest is often called the lungs of the planet is under assault by everything from mining, to cattle ranching, to cocaine processing. And of course, climate change, as we hear from Stefano Pozzebon a bilateral meeting comes ahead of an international summit on saving the Amazon.
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STEFANO POZZEBON, JOURNALIST: The meeting between Gustavo Petro and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Saturday in the border city of Leticia signals a renewed interest over the Amazon rainforest by the two largest nations in South America.
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The two leaders met ahead of a crucial summit to be held in Brazil next month, where a new park to protect the Amazon will be discussed. At the end of a week when the world recorded its highest temperature in thousands of years, Petro stressed that real investments are needed for the world to avoid climate catastrophe.
GUSTAVO PETRO, PRESIDENT OF COLOMBIA (through translator): Saving life on the planet and overcoming the climate crisis requires an investment of $3.3 trillion per year, that means a change in the world's economic relations. It means prioritizing life over capital.
POZZEBON: Lula stops short of pledging a ban on oil and gas exploration in the Amazon, but invited all nations sharing the forest to effectively stop illegal deforestation by 2030. And Saturdays there was Lula's first official visit to Colombia since he took office in January, and he took place as a new researcher from the work metrological organization showed that these ways that Latin America is particularly sensitive to extreme climate events such as drought, catastrophic floods, and hurricanes. For a CNN, this is Stefano Pozzebon, Bogata.
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BRUNHUBER: Officials in Brazil say at least nine people have been killed in the collapse of an apartment building.
You see there, rescue workers are using sledge hammers and power tools to break through the concrete and search for five people who are missing. CNN Brazil reports that the body of a 19-year-old woman was pulled from the rubble on Saturday morning. The building crumbled early on Friday when many people are still asleep.
All right, still ahead, one of the greats of women's soccer has announced that she's retiring. Megan Rapinoe is a trailblazer on and off the field. We'll have a look at her career and impact with CNN's Sports, Coy Wire, striding up right now. Nice to see you.
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BRUNHUBER: In a surprise announcement Saturday, U.S. Women's National Team Star Megan Rapinoe says she will retire from the professional soccer at the end of the 2023 season. With me now is CNN Sports, Coy Wire. You know it's hard to overstate her impact on and off the field. You know what's been the reaction to her announcement?
COY WIRE, CNN WORLD SPORT: It was a bit of a shock and it was bit emotional as you see in the soundbite. We have Megan Rapinoe for her as you can imagine, I mean, she is -- her longtime teammate Alex Morgan, who's a co-captain of Team USA coming up for this World Cup here. She's put it best yesterday saying that, at least she gets to go out on our own terms and hopefully on a high note. Rapinoe looking to make the U.S. the first nation ever to win three straight World Cups. She's won the last two. She's an Olympic gold medalist in 2019. She became the first woman to win the Ballon d'Or and World Cups best player award. And she's one of just seven U.S. women's national teams players with 50 career goals and assists, but given all of her accomplishments, Kim, on the pitch, she'll be remembered just as much, if not more so for activism off of it as one of the most outspoken athlete advocates for social and racial justice, the LGBTQ plus community and gender and equity pay. But she says that she is still focused on what's soon to come.
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MEGAN RAPINOE, SOCCER TRAILBLAZER: I feel like as excited to play the rest of my career as I do, to retire and to step away from this beautiful games. I know that I'm really lucky to be in this position that I get to have agency over the end of this really beautiful part of my life. And so in a way I feel like it's a little bit of borrowed time and something I feel really grateful for and really excited about.
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WIRE: Now, Rapinoe, she'll become just the 14th American ever to reach 200 international cups today as Team USA take on Wales in California at 4 p.m. Eastern, it'd be their final tune up and for the Women's World Cup kicks off 11 days from now. And I mentioned something that her teammate Alex Morgan said something else she said was, well now with this news now we have to go out and win the whole damn thing.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah, that's right. Well, listen on that I mean, you know, the women have to be a favorite going into this, how do you think they're going to do?
WIRE: They are -- they are one of the favorites along with Team England. They're also right up there towards the top. You have Germany as well, it's going to be someone to watch, a team to watch. And also look out for Japan. How could I -- I'd be remiss --
BRUNHUBER: I know you're going to say Canada, Coy.
WIRE: Canada, of course. You guys save the best for last, of course, our boy here from Canada. And they are to looking pretty good.
BRUNHUBER: All right, so let's turn to baseball now. And I understand, you know, I'm not a huge baseball fan, but I know something historic happened.
WIRE: Yeah.
BRUNHUBER: Take us through out there?
WIRE: So I was here yesterday with you in the Chicago Cubs. They had done something, their franchise had never done, get a win at Yankee Stadium. Now, here we have Detroit, the Tigers founded in 1901 and they have gone out and thrown for their first ever combined no hitter. Three guys on a rainy sleepy Saturday in motor city where the game was delayed 90 minutes, Matt Manning, starting the party that woke the people up. Former first round pick just had a broken foot last month and he was dealing.
Checkout hoppy buyers dealt with a great catch to start the six, keeping the Blue Jays hitless Manning is like oh, yeah, baby. I'll take it. He went six and two-thirds ending before turning it over to Jason Foley and Alex Lange and with two outs in the bottom of the knife.
Lange would have to keep Vlad Guerrero Jr. from getting the hit. He'll be in the Home Run Derby at the All-Star game this week. But Lange gets on the ground out as the Tigers beat the Blue Jays to zip. It's been a rough Season 10 games under 500 so far, but just 20 teams in MLB history, 20 times rather have been a combined no hitter and this is Detroit's first.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Man, holy (bleep). How about that, Detroit?
ALEX LANGE, DETROIT TIGERS CLOSING PITCHER: There we go. Sticking to third away. Let's go. Come on, right now.
MATT MANNING, DETROIT TIGERS STARTING PITCHER: Honestly, I swear I had no idea I mean after I, you know, had a scuff on the first I was just trying to beat up innings. We had to run lead. I was just trying to protect that lead and I was figured I was like, yeah, I mean, we are fully coming in like, just won the game. Let's go.
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WIRE: Got to level we break out the bleep button.
BRUNHUBER: Fired out there.
WIRE: All right, finally, the NBA releasing details of a new midseason tournament. It starts November third, all 30 teams participating each conference separated into three groups. The best team from each group. Plus, two wildcards will reach the knockout stage with the championship game being played in Las Vegas December 9. Players on the winning team get a half a million dollars each, not bad. Every game cast for the regular season standings, Kim, accept that championship game so you think the players have to like it they get to potentially play in the championship game in --
BRUNHUBER: Much money?
WIRE: -- half a million. Yeah, the WNBA has the Commissioner's Cup something that the NBA Commissioner said he's keep an eye on and influence this decision.
BRUNHUBER: Will be fun to watch.
WIRE: Yeah.
BRUNHUBER: Thank you so much, Coy Wire. And, you know, we had Megan Rapinoe saying goodbye, a different kind of goodbye here. It's official Elton John has left the building. The pop superstar reposted this retirement from touring announcement he made with CNN's Anderson Cooper five years ago.
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ELTON JOHN, SINGER: I'm not going to be touring anymore, apart from the last year which is going to start in September of this year and it'll be a global tour. And it's the last time that I will be touring and traveling the world.
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BRUNHUBER: COVID and hip surgery delayed his farewell tour with fans in Stockholm, Sweden, got his final show on Saturday. What a remarkable career, 50 plus years of touring, 32 platinum or multi- platinum mountains, 21 gold albums more than 300 million records sold and millions race for his AIDS Foundation, of course. Elton says he wants to spend more time with his two sons and husband David Furnish. I'm Kim Brunhuber. You can follow me on Twitter at Kim Brunhuber. For viewers in North America, CNN This Morning is next, for the rest of the world, it's Marketplace Asia.
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