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Thousands Protest as Legislators Debate Judicial Overhaul; Russia Attacks Odessa, Damages Historic Sites; Wildfires Prompt Greece's Largest-Ever Evacuation; No Clear Winner in Spanish Snap Elections; Sweltering Heat Wave Hits Middle East, North Africa; Musk to Change Twitter Logo to "X"; Big Tech Agrees to Voluntary A.I. Guidelines. Aired 12-12:45a ET
Aired July 24, 2023 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes. Appreciate your company.
[00:00:30]
Coming up here on CNN NEWSROOM, protesters in Israel not going anywhere, camping out in the streets as lawmakers debate the proposed judicial overhaul ahead of a highly-anticipated vote later today.
Drone strikes on Moscow. Russia says Ukrainian drones were suppressed, in their words, in an attempted attack on their capital.
And in Greece, more than 19,000 people have fled wildfires in the largest evacuation effort in the country's history.
ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Michael Holmes.
HOLMES: And we begin in Israel, where thousands continue to protest as the government presses ahead with its controversial judicial overhaul plan.
Right now, lawmakers are debating a bill that would curb the powers of the Supreme Court. A vote is expected in the coming hours. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he will attend that vote. He's been recovering at the hospital after being fitted with a pacemaker over the weekend.
CNN's Hadas Gold with more on what protesters are saying about the legislation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HADAS GOLD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Thousands of protesters are, once again, here in Jerusalem just outside of the Israeli Supreme Court and across the country, both against this judicial overhaul legislation that is currently being debated in the Israeli Parliament.
There is a protest in Tel Aviv that is for the judicial overhaul. These protesters are saying this reform, as they're calling it, is sorely needed.
But for many of these protesters here in Jerusalem today, they are terrified of what this legislation could mean for the independence of the Israeli judiciary and for what it could mean for the power of the Israeli government.
Because the legislation being debated right now in the Israeli Parliament would strip the ability of the Israeli Supreme Court to declare government actions unreasonable, saying they just wouldn't be able to say that a government action should not be able to take place.
Now, the coalition government, led by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, they want to take that ability away. And this is just one part of this massive judicial overhaul package that the Israeli government is trying to push through that would completely reshape the Israeli judiciary.
And that's why you have these protesters who have been out for six months now on the streets, but their protests have really ramped up in recent days, because this legislation is now officially on the table.
If this legislation passes, it will be the first part of this overhaul package that will finally, and officially, pass and could potentially turn into law.
The protests here in Jerusalem have been ongoing for days. They even marched from Tel Aviv into Jerusalem. And then they actually have set up a tent city in one of the largest parks in Jerusalem, where they say that they will camp out until, and for as long as necessary, until this legislation is off the table.
But the governing coalition led by Benjamin Netanyahu are showing no signs of backing down, saying that the vote will take place. This, despite the pleas, not only from these protesters, but pressure from the U.S.
The Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, returning from the United States and going, actually, straight to the hospital, where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is hospitalized, because he's been fitted with a pacemaker.
All of this happening, of course, at the same time, in the middle of the night on Saturday night, the prime minister's office announcing that the Benjamin Netanyahu was being fitted with a pacemaker for a heart problem.
That doesn't stop politics here, and the Israeli president driving straight to the hospital to have an emergency meeting with the prime minister to try and convince him to slow down the legislation, to come to sort of compromise.
But all signs are pointing that this vote will take place on Monday, and it could be the beginning of the complete reshaping of the Israeli judiciary.
This, of course, also happening while thousands of Israeli military reservists are threatening not to serve if this legislation passes. That could have major implications for Israel's military readiness. A lot happening in politics is Israel right now, all at the same time.
Hadas Gold, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: And, joining me now from Jerusalem is Yaakov Katz, senior columnist and editor of "The Jerusalem Post." It's good to see you.
I was reading your tweets earlier, and one of them you said, quote, "The nation is being ripped apart at the seams." How extraordinary has the public response to this legislation been and -- and the longevity of the protest movement?
YAAKOV KATZ, SENIOR COLUMNIST AND EDITOR, "THE JERUSALEM POST": We've never seen anything like this, Michael. Six months of having hundreds of thousands of people on the streets, protesting against something that, seemingly, is just legislation -- Right? Just laws -- is something that Israel has never seen.
[00:05:11]
We -- imagine, just for comparison purposes, that you would have about 2 and a half, 3 percent of the U.S. population staying on the streets every week or coming out for 29, 30 weeks straight. That would be like eight, 9 million people in large American cities. It's unheard of in the U.S., as well, and that's what we're seeing here.
And there's a feeling of desperation. There's a feeling that people are losing the country, that they hold dear. You have a tent city just outside the Israeli Parliament here nearby where I am living in Jerusalem. You have hundreds of thousands of people who marched, and tens of thousands, at least, from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in the heat of 100 degrees Fahrenheit over the weekend to come to the capital, to declare that they will do everything they can to stop this legislation from passing.
HOLMES: Yes.
KATZ: And you have thousands of IDF reservists, who say we will not follow call-up orders.
VAUSE: I was going to ask you about that next, actually. You have hundreds of reservists, they're not going to respond to call-ups. You've got dozens of top security officials, interestingly, backing their stand.
Corporations are going to go on strike. And most Israelis, not over 50 percent but most, don't want this. Why is it persisting? Why is Netanyahu so determined to get this through?
KATZ: Well, because you remember Michael, Netanyahu wanted to pass in the beginning of his term in office now, his most recent term that started six months ago, he wanted to pass a large package, a large reform. Right? And it was going to come all at once, a bunch of different pieces of legislation that were going to really overhaul the -- the balance of power and the character of Israel's democracy.
He decided to back down because of the protests and because of threats of strikes, and also then reservists were making their claims that they would no longer serve. So he decided to step away. We had some negotiations. There were compromises that were put on the table. That fell apart, of course.
And now we're talking about this one piece of legislation, the reasonableness law, that is being brought to a vote in just a few hours here in Jerusalem.
The -- the fact is that Netanyahu feels weak politically. He is surrounded by coalition partners who are demanding that he allow this to pass and, if he doesn't, they threatened to bring down his government. He had appeared already wants to back down.
He doesn't feel that he can appear again to be and to back down, so he has to plow forward at whatever price it's going to cost this country.
HOLMES: Yes. And it's interesting that he has broken it down into smaller parcels. It is an interesting strategy rather than one enormous bill. How -- to give people a sense of where this -- you know, where this anger is coming from, how might Israel change if the protests are ignored and all of these parcels are actually enacted?
KATZ: Well, I don't even know if we need to get all of these parcels. Right. Just the fact that this one vote will pass today, if that happens, you have a great feeling of desperation and disappointment and frustration among a huge segment of this country.
These are people who -- the engine of Israel's economy. These are the people who carry the burden of service in the Israel Defense Forces and the IDF, whether it's in the mandatory compulsory service, but also in the reserves. Like the pilots, the special forces people who serve weeks and weeks every single year to keep this country safe.
We know, Michael, of the threats that Israel faces, whether it's Iran, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza. Conflict is, sadly, always around the corner here in Israel.
This could play out in terrible ways. It could play out with Israel being weak and our enemies sensing and smelling that weakness. It could play out with Israel's economy tanking. It could play out with Israel -- I spoke about being ripped apart at the seams, literally ripped apart at the seams.
This is something that we don't yet know how this journey is going to end, and, you know what? At the end of the day, leaders are meant to bring their country together. They're not meant to rip their country apart.
HOLMES: Yes, it is about as polarized as it can get. It really feels like a pivotal moment for Israel. Yaakov Katz, we'll be checking in with you there in Jerusalem as this progresses. Thanks so much for making the time. Now, Russia is claiming to have a thwarted a Ukrainian drone attack on
Moscow in the early hours of Monday. The defense ministry says it intercepted two UAVs that subsequently crashed in the capital.
Moscow's mayor says no one was hurt, but two nonresidential buildings were hit. This video that you're looking at here was geolocated by CNN. It does show significant damage to a high-rise building in the city.
And there's another video out there, as well, that shows shattered glass along the street. According to state media, drone fragments were found nearby, but CNN cannot independently verify those reports.
[00:10:09]
The newly-formed NATO Ukraine Council is scheduled to meet this Wednesday and is expected to discuss security in the Black Sea. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the date of that meeting hours after Russia's latest missile barrage on the port city of Odessa. They say at least one person was killed in the strikes. Several more cultural landmarks were severely damaged.
CNN's Alex Marquardt reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Odessa is reeling from this fifth wave of attacks by Russia in just the past week.
Most of the destruction on Sunday in the early hours was in this historic city center, which is a UNESCO world heritage site. A local military official says that some 25 different architectural monuments have been damaged, including the Church of the Transfiguration, which is a historic cathedral. It was destroyed in 1936 during the Stalin regime and was rebuilt once Ukraine got independence.
At least one person was killed. It was a security guard.
President Zelenskyy, in the wake of this fifth wave of attacks, saying that Ukraine needs a full-fledged sky shield, more air defenses from its Western allies, which he says are the only way to defeat Russian terror.
The call for more air defenses is something that we have heard from a number of Ukrainian officials, including the defense minister, Oleksii Reznikov, who we spoke to this weekend in an exclusive TV interview. We spoke to him about a wide-ranging number of subjects, including the recent NATO summit in Vilnius; the Ukrainian frustration about not getting a concrete timeline for when they might join NATO.
But he also told us that he does have a date in mind for when Ukraine might become a NATO member. Take a listen.
OLEKSII REZNIKOV, UKRAINIAN DEFENSE MINISTER: It's absolutely understandable that it will be political decision. After then, we will win this war.
During this war, we have no options to have unanimous voting, because article No. 5, and some countries will be reluctant.
But, after the victory, after then, we will win this war, it will be in the interest of NATO, because we became a real Eastern shield of NATO, or Eastern shield of Europe. NATO's proof that we have a real combat experience, how to deter Russians, to defeat them, to beat them, and when. Using NATO standard weaponry. So, how many arguments they need more?
MARQUARDT: Why do you think the United States is not saying the day after this war is over, Ukraine will be a member of NATO?
REZNIKOV: I think that it's not necessary. So we will continue providing our reforms during this war time, also, but we will continue our reforms. So it means that it will be after one day or two weeks.
But my perception, next year will be a summit in Washington to see. Seventy-five years, history of this alliance. Who knows? Maybe it will be very important day for Ukraine.
MARQUARDT: You might expect to join NATO is in a year's time?
REZNIKOV: It's just -- it's just my forecast.
MARQUARDT: Do you think the war will be won by next summer?
REZNIKOV: Yes. And we will win this war.
MARQUARDT: To win the war, Reznikov tells us Ukraine does need those U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets. He says that training for Ukrainian pilots will start next month, and it will be in Denmark and the Netherlands, possibly the United Kingdom and Poland, as well. Not just pilots, but technicians and engineers, as well.
That training is expected to take it least six months, meaning he believes that fighter jets will be in Ukraine by early next year. He thinks those F-16s could be in the skies above the battlefield by next spring.
Alex Marquardt, CNN, in Kyiv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: After attacking Odessa and quitting a deal that allowed Ukrainian grain to be exported from that city, Russia's president is now, incredibly, offering it to replace Ukraine's wheat supplies to Africa.
In an article addressed to the continent -- yes, the whole continent -- Vladimir Putin wrote that his country can provide both commercial and free-of-charge shipments. He claimed that the previous Ukrainian grain deal did not offer enough support to nations in need. He called it meaningless.
For its part, Ukraine says Russia's actions are an attempt to weaponize hunger and destabilize the global food market.
Wildfires forcing thousands of people to flee from the Greek island of Rhodes. Officials say it is the largest evacuation effort in the country's history.
More than 19,000 tourists and residents have left their homes or hotels on the island, some running on foot from the flames. The fires have been burning since Tuesday, and a heat wave is making it even worse.
[00:15:13]
Have a look at these satellite images that show the damage on Rhodes. On the left, that's from January. On the right, you see there the smoke rising and the hills now brown. That one is from Sunday.
And, among all the chaos and destruction, stranded tourists are struggling to get home.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HELEN PICKERING, BRITISH TOURIST: The hotel was literally crowded full of people. As soon as it sent the buses to the airport, we were right, that's it. You know? And it was chaos, absolutely. The surges towards, you know, two or three buses that arrived, everyone screaming and shouting and crying, because people that couldn't even get onto flights yesterday were desperate to get home.
ERIC MATHERS, SWEDISH TOURIST: I tried to find a flight. It's fully booked. Everything. So we -- we don't know yet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Barbie Nadeau tells us more about the Greek island's massive evacuation. A warning: the report does show images of dead wildlife.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We are hearing harrowing stories of survival and escape from the Greek island of Rhodes.
NADEAU (voice-over): Now, this is a picture-perfect getaway island, normally turquoise sea, blue skies. This here, it's an entirely different, hellish situation for so many tourists. Nineteen thousand people so far evacuating between Saturday and Sunday.
And these fires now burning since last Tuesday, burning out of control. Some of the stories we've been hearing from survivors, one family with an 11-year-old described running down a dark road late at night, around 2 in the morning, after trying to reach safety.
NADEAU: They said they could actually feel the heat of the fire behind them, worried at a certain point that they weren't going to make it.
Another family describing -- NADEAU (voice-over): -- how they're the ones that had to tell the hotel that they had to evacuate, as the -- as the smoke became so thick they escaped, too.
Now, these people, most of them, are making it to the beach area, being evacuated by the Greek Coast Guard, by Greek military officials, by private boat. People going there now to try to take people off the island, especially this part that's so dangerous.
NADEAU: On the other side of the island that's not affected by the fires -- yet, anyway -- we're seeing flights going in, you know, charter flights going in empty, just to take people out.
NADEAU (voice-over): What happens to them once they get off the island, many of them trying to get to the mainland, trying to find another place to finish their holidays. We've got a lot of countries now, working to try to get their -- their nationals home. You know, a lot of people had maybe planned a two-week vacation, now cut short, have to, you know, find new tickets, find new ways home.
All the while, the heat continues. The fires burning out of control.
NADEAU: And it's been a terrible, terrible holiday for a number of people.
Barbie Latza Nadeau, Rome.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: To Canada now, where the search continues in Nova Scotia for at least for missing flood victims, two of them children.
Officials say rushing waters swept all four away from their vehicles. Rescuers had to be lowered by chopper to save several other people stranded by the flooding on Saturday.
Roads and homes have been damaged, as well as a major rail line. It's believed to be the heaviest rainfall in the Halifax region in more than 50 years. The city's mayor calling it biblical proportions of rain, three months' worth in just 24 hours.
There's a state of emergency in effect until August the 5th.
Spain is almost done counting votes from its snap election, but who will lead the country? Still very unclear. We'll take a look at where things could go next. That's coming up.
And, a little later, bye-bye birdie. Elon Musk is sending Twitter's iconic bird logo into retirement in favor of an "X." We'll explore the possible reasons.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[00:21:16] RICARDO GONZALEZ, SOCIALIST PARTY SUPPORTER AND PUBLIC WORKER (through translator): I was so afraid. I lived through the far-right when I was young, and I do not want to remember. This brings me huge happiness.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): The results are terrible. I don't understand why people voted that way. I don't understand. The people that voted for them are the people that live off payments.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: With more than 99 percent of the vote counted now, there is no clear winner in Spain's snap election, no single party winning enough Parliamentary seats to form a government on their own. And that means the tough task of trying to build a coalition must begin.
Pau Mosquera has more now from Madrid.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAU MOSQUERA, CNNE SPAIN CORRESPONDENT: As predicted by previous polls, conservative Popular Party --
MOSQUERA (voice-over): -- won the general elections in Spain by securing 136 seats in the Parliament.
Nevertheless, this result won't allow their leader, Alberto Nunez Feijoo, to rule alone, so negotiating is going to be key to form a new government. One of the most probable alliances is the one with far- right Vox Party, but again, adding their result to the count would neither make possible an outright majority.
Santiago Pascal (ph) party got a total of 33 seats in Parliament, which may keep them seven seats away from an absolute majority.
On the other hand, the Socialist Party celebrated their second position in this election, not because they have a good result, but because they will somehow block the Popular Party and Vox from ruling together.
With 122 seats, they may try to get support from minor (Ph) and regional parties, as to get Pedro Sanchez back in office.
Left-wing platform Sumar would we would be one of those allies with their 31 seats, though more support would be needed.
In summary, as none of the main political parties in Spain got enough seats in the Parliament, negotiating --
MOSQUERA: -- and getting the support of other parties, it's going to be key. And mandatory as to clear the path for a new government.
Pau Mosquera, CNN, Madrid.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: And, joining me now is CNN European affairs commentator Dominic Thomas. Good to see you, Dominic.
I think it's probably fair to say this election hasn't been as much about the two main parties, but rather about their potential coalition rivals, far left and far right; and the far-right underperformed. So, what are we likely to see now? Horse trading, a new election, or chaos?
DOMINIC THOMAS, CNN EUROPEAN AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: All of the above, probably, Michael. I mean, this has kind of been a pattern over the last decade in European elections. We've seen the gradual erosion of major political parties and the proliferation of smaller parties, which has made coalition formation all the more challenging, and also made sure that they were increasingly fragile.
So, in this particular case, although the polls were accurate in terms of the rankings, they were not spot-on when it came to the performance of different parties.
Yes, the conservative reactionary P.P. did come out ahead, but this Pedro Sanchez's PSOE socialist party actually improved on its number of seats.
And the king maker, the Vox Party that was hoping to assist the P.P. party, actually ended up underperforming and losing its seats in Parliament, which has made the path forward incredibly complicated.
And I think that, when it comes to selecting who will have a chance to go with the next prime minister, I think it is a hard argument for the P.P. to make, that Pedro Sanchez's government has been rendered illegitimate.
[00:25:08]
It performed well. It increased its seats, and there's no one with an outright majority, or even an easy path towards a majority coalition, Michael.
HOLMES: The socialist party, it faced a lot of criticism for how it dealt, particularly with separatist groups, although it performed well with the economy and other things. So, what would Sanchez have to do if he does keep his job to push that at bay?
THOMAS: Well, yes, this is a complicated question. So there are two, I think, issues that become complicated when it comes to coalition formation on both sides of the political spectrum.
One of them you mentioned it. It's the question of succession, whether it applies to Catalonia, the Basque country, and to those particular regions, and who is willing to take on issues that are important at a local level, but not at a national level, versus those political parties on the role who are unwilling to form coalitions with the far- right, which makes the P.P.'s path to power increasingly complex.
So for Sanchez, it's reaching out to the sort of cluster, one can call it, on the left-wing-leaning parties. But the likelihood of reaching that magic number of 176 -- the legislature has 356 seats -- is a complex ones and would involve, most likely, somewhere around four to five political parties, which, as you can imagine, Michael, makes for very difficult coalition talks and also, ultimately, a very fragile government, should they come to the and with some kind of conclusion or agreement.
HOLMES: There's always -- there's always deals that have to be done in coalitions, not all of them palatable. I mean, the very -- the very prospect of the far-right VOX Party being in government, it really unnerved a lot of people, not just in Spain but throughout the European Union.
What does that right-ward shift in Spain, even if it doesn't lead to being in government this time, suggest about popularism and the right in Europe more broadly?
THOMAS: Yes, it's a great observation, Michael. I mean, this had been the pattern in Europe for at least the sort of the past decade, where you see these elections being run around a kind of Venn diagram of issues that have to do with immigration, and identity, the culture wars, and these kinds of debates.
And I think what the Spanish case is further confirmation of is a kind of encroachment, not simply of far-right political parties, but of their ideas gradually entering into mainstream politics. So that, for example, the immigration debate is no longer exclusively the terrain of the far-right.
And, this has been compounded by the fact that conservative or reactionary parties have been willing to kind of remove the stigma around these parties and entertain coalition agreements.
In some cases, in Germany, this has taken place at their local level, but I think that in American politics, when you see the shifts in the Republican Party, when you saw the debates play out in the Conservative Party in Brexit, in the U.K. between far-right fringes, this is the kind of pattern moving forward.
So, yes, in this particular case, I think they underperformed, but when you look at the range of ideas they were pushing forward, you could argue that their underperformance comes from the fact that so many of their ideas are now mainstreamed in European politics, Michael.
HOLMES: Always -- always insightful analysis from Dominic Thomas. Good to see you, my friend. Thank you.
THOMAS: Thank you.
HOLMES: All right. In Cambodia, the prime minister, Hun Sen's, ruling party has declared a landslide victory in the general election. The party spokesperson said on Sunday they've won, but, quote, "can't calculate the number of seats yet."
The contest was effectively a one-horse race, though, with the prime minister's party facing no opponent after a ruthless years-long crackdown on political rivals. The only opponent with any real clout, well, he was disqualified from
running.
Critics have dismissed the election as a sham, aimed at cementing the party's rule before an expected transfer of power to the prime minister's son.
Still to come here on the program, temperatures soaring across the Middle East, as well, forcing people to get creative to keep themselves and their animals cool. How they're trying to beat the heat, when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:31:58]
HOLMES: Welcome back to our viewers all around the world, I'm Michael Holmes. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
Now, in Northeast China, ten people have died after the roof of a middle-school gym collapsed on Sunday. That's according to Chinese state media.
Rescue efforts are underway, with one person reportedly still trapped inside. Authorities say a preliminary investigation reveals construction material on the roof gained weight after being soaked with rain, leading to the collapse.
State media reports those in charge of the construction are in police custody.
Now, we've been reporting on this program about the heat in Southern Europe, but people in the Middle East and North Africa, they are also sweltering through a heat wave, too. Some have figured out ways to lessen the impact of the soaring temperatures, but many are finding the heat is just a little too much to bear.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES (voice-over): On any given day, hauling sacks of wheat in Syria is backbreaking work. But some workers say the oppressive heat makes the loads feel that much heavier.
MOHAMMAD AL-AHMAD, SYRIAN WORKER (through translator): We're suffering from the high temperatures, but we're forced to be here. We have to feed our families. We cannot survive if we don't work.
HOLMES (voice-over): Getting enough drinking water in this town, in the Northeast of the country, is also hard work. Even before the heat wave, aid agencies reported that many households had insufficient access to water.
These women line up to fill their containers from a local tank. They, too, complain that it's just too hot.
HAYAT HAMOUD, HASAKAH, SYRIA, RESIDENT (through translator): The temperatures exceeding 42 degrees Celsius. We're dying from the heat. Moreover, we're transporting water in the heat at 60 years old.
HOLMES (voice-over): Across the Mideast, July and August are normally the hottest months of the calendar, some countries enduring long stretches of extreme temperatures.
But this year, not even halfway through the summer peak period, forecasters say they are already seeing red flags.
According to the National Weather Service, one airport in Iran recorded a heat index of nearly 68 degrees Celsius on Sunday, or 154 degrees Fahrenheit. Experts say that's so high, it would be difficult for human bodies to properly function.
For years, Iraq has been paralyzed by high summer temperatures, the sizzling heat striking again in Baghdad, temperatures hovering near or above 47 degrees Celsius over the last few days.
Air conditioners and misting fans help to cool people down, but power cuts in the city make it hard to run them around the clock without a generator.
The heat wave extending the Egypt, too, with temperatures in Cairo expected to top 40 degrees Celsius through mid-week. City trains and metro lines are operating at reduced speeds to avoid any problems from the high heat.
There have been power cuts here, too, though some residents have found simpler ways to chill out.
AHMED HASSAN, CAIRO, EGYPT, RESIDENT (through translator): The heat wave this year is stronger than any other year. We tried to stay in the shade more, drink more water, and eat more iced food, drinks, and ice cream.
[00:35:02]
HOLMES (voice-over): Many people preferring to stay off the streets in other cities.
In Doha, this delivery driver one of the few to brave the heat. He says he's grateful his company allows him to use a car during the hottest parts of the day.
Qatar banned the use of motorcycles for deliveries last year during certain hours to protect drivers from the torrent temperatures.
In nearby Dubai, some beaches have opened at night, so people can take a dip when it's cool enough to enjoy it. A welcome break from the sun's glare, that in so many places right now, is just too hot to handle.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Coming up, Barbie wins the weekend box office. How the summer blockbuster is making history at movie theaters. That's when we come back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, Twitter is about to have a new look. No bird. CEO Elon Musk announcing he wants a black logo like this one, only with an "X" rather than the bird. The bird that has become a worldwide icon.
As CNN's Clare Duffy now explains, that might signal Musk's desire to build Twitter into a much more wide-ranging platform.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: I think, in some way, this is an evolution, the continuation of what Musk's vision for this company has been since he bought it.
He bought Twitter with a company called X Corp, and he talked about the idea, the goal of turning Twitter into this everything app called X, sort of in the style of China's WeChat, wanting to make it a place where users not only communicate, but they can also shop and consume entertainment.
And so, in some ways, I think this -- this move to get rid of the Twitter branding and to replace it with "X" is in service of that vision. It's also interesting timing.
Musk said just last week that Twitter still has negative cash flow because of 50 percent decline in ad revenue. And so I think this could also be an effort on his part to continue to try to shift the image of the company in the mind of advertisers, as a way of trying to lure them back onto the platform.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Musk says he is ready to change the logo as soon as he can, maybe even on Monday.
The rapid advance of artificial intelligence has many experts worried it could easily spin out of control. Human control. That includes some of the companies racing to develop the technology.
And so, seven of the biggest names in tech have come up with some voluntary safeguards. But as CNN's John Sarlin reports, this may be just the first moves to regulate A.I.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JON SARLIN, CNN DIGITAL PRODUCER: What is this first step? It is a voluntary agreement between seven companies, including the largest tech companies in the world, like Meta, Amazon, and Facebook. And then, start-ups like OpenAI, who are agreeing to a voluntary set of frameworks.
Most notably, they're agreeing for external experts to test their products for safety before they reach market. This is something called red-teaming. Red-teaming is where researchers go in and essentially act as villains, bad-faith actors to try to break these products. [00:40:13]
This is something that these companies do internally, but with this agreement, they're saying they'll let external researchers do the same.
Now, but that being said, this is a voluntary agreement. There's a lot we don't know. It doesn't have substantive teeth.
Who are those external researchers? One of the standards that they will uphold, it will have veto power if they find something that they don't like. We don't know. As the White House says, this is a first step.
Also notable, the companies have agreed to try to make a watermarking system to identify A.I. audio and images. You know, we've seen a raft of A.I. images that are really only, at this point, we're able to detect with our eyes and our ears whether something is an A.I. audio or A.I. video.
Notably, though, they don't agree to, in this agreement -- there's nothing on text. OpenAI obviously is ChatGPT. We've seen in schools and universities students use ChatGPT to create essays. And there is no real good way to identify that.
This agreement with the White House does not include text.
Now, what are the next steps? The White House says they're prepping executive action later this summer. There's a whole host of bipartisan bills being written. It's unclear which ones the White House will support.
And then the FTC has signaled they are taking an aggressive approach to A.I. It's been reported that they are identifying that they are investigating OpenAI.
So, right now, a first step, but many more to come.
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HOLMES: Well, you can add bona fide movie star to Barbie's long resume. The new queen of the box office reigns supreme this weekend, bringing in a whopping $155 million in the U.S. in box-office receipts. That's a lot of money.
Fans showed up in their best Barbie-themed outfits to see the film directed by Greta Gerwig, based of course, on the popular toy doll. It marks the highest grossing opening weekend in the U.S. so far this year, but it's also the biggest debut for a female director ever.
The film's marketing was helped by a healthy competition with the Christopher Nolan thriller "Oppenheimer," with many fans opting to see both films as a double feature.
Thanks for spending part of your day with me. I'm Michael Holmes. You can follow me on Twitter, or X, or whatever it's going to be tomorrow. Instagram, and Threads, @HolmesCNN.
Stick around. WORLD SPORT is next. And my colleague and friend, Laila Harrak will pick it up with more news in about 18 minutes.
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