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CNN International: Millions of Americans Under alerts and Amid Searing Heat Wave; Wildfires Prompt Greece's Largest-Ever Evacuation; Texas Faces Deadline Today Over Border Barrier Removal; Thousands Protest in Israel as Lawmakers Debate Legislation; Russian Drones Target Ukrainian Ports Along River. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired July 24, 2023 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and all around the world, I'm Christina Macfarlane in for Max and Bianca here in London. Just ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Almost certain that July will be the warmest month that this planet has seen in recorded history.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tons of millions of people today and there are going to be more than that by Wednesday and Thursday because the heat is going to spread out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Texas did not have the authorization to set up the floating barriers this month.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's barbaric treatment. It's extreme cruelty. There's no need for that kind of cruelty.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is crowd control and it is ready to go, potentially, if they need to. If police feel like they want to clear out these protesters from in front of the Israeli Supreme Court.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo.

MACFARLANE: Hello and welcome. It's Monday, July 24th, 9:00 a.m. here in London. 1:00 a.m. on the U.S. West Coast, where a record heat wave that has tortured Americans for more than a month threatens to extend into August. Millions of people are under a combination of heat advisories and excessive heat warnings from coast to coast. By the middle of the week, high temperatures are set to expand to the majority of the country. Health and weather experts are warning everyone to stay indoors if possible especially in cities and states like Texas and Arizona push higher into triple digits. Despite innovations to beat the heat, the mayor of Phoenix, Arizona says this year has been tough on her city. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATE GALLEGO, PHOENIX, ARIZONA MAYOR: The heat has been unrelenting in our community. We have to be innovative. And that is the Phoenix way. We build for extreme temperatures in the summer so that we've made infrastructure investments that help us get out of these challenges. But this summer has set some tough records.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Well, CNN meteorologist Chad Myers has more on what's in store for the U.S. but first CNN's Camila Bernal tells us how the heat is affecting the country.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In places where temperatures are reaching 110, 120 degrees, officials really trying to encourage people to remain indoors and to avoid the heat as much as possible.

But for some who maybe work outside, it is impossible to avoid the heat. They to be outside. And those people are being reminded to wear the appropriate clothes. To take water breaks, to be in the shade. To stop working when you feel dizzy or when you begin to feel sick.

And it is very important to point out the significant impacts of these heat waves. Starting with hospitals, for example, who have reported an increase some of the patients that they're seeing, heat-related illnesses and heatstroke for example in some of the hospitals in the most affected areas.

And then there's also the economic impact of all of this. A recent study showing that it costs the U.S. about $100 billion a year, and that's only in productivity loss alone. That's what the extreme heat is costing the U.S. and many of the industries. The most impacted being agriculture and construction. But really there is no industry or business that is immune to this. Think about, for example, a food truck and being in a kitchen when it's extremely hot. Think about pets or animals at the zoo and people that actually work at the zoo. But even people who are working indoors and have to go to work are seeing the impacts or effects of these heat waves. Take a listen to this librarian and what he had to deal with.

JOHN JANEZIC, LIBRARIAN, SANBORN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: I was crossing the students, crossing the parents. All of a sudden when I was gone, I turned around, I'm sweating. I'm tired. I want to come back to the library where it's nice and air conditioned. And as I'm walking back, I tripped. It just happened. And I trip because this part of the shoe right here was like this, and looked like this.

BERNAL: And in some cases the effects of the heat wave can be felt like easily. You can buy a new pair of shoes. But it is important to point out there are dozens of deaths that have already been reported as a result of these heat waves. The U.S. has set more than 2,300 records because of the heat that we're seeing in different parts of the country. And unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any relief in sight.

Camila Bernal, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[04:05:00]

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Tens of millions of Americans still under some type of heat watch, warning for Monday. And that number will likely go up for your Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. And I will show you why. Corpus Christi, though, look at you later on today, 112 for the feels like temperature. You don't need humidity out here to get the air temperature. And these are numbers in the shade. Vegas around 110, Phoenix, still around 117, Death Valley right around 120.

Now this heat dome that we've been talking about for weeks will eventually begin to spread out a little bit. It's going to move out to the north. The jet's going to get pushed up into Canada and these temperatures are going to begin to slide off to the east rather significantly. Temperatures are going to go up a lot as we work our way to the middle part of the week from 80s to over 100 in some spots. Like Minneapolis, so for today, 91, but then by Thursday, Friday, you're up above 100 degrees. And this is typically not a dry heat in Minneapolis. Because the corn is all through Ohio and Iowa, Indiana, we call it corn sweat, the expo transpiration of the corn that's out there giving humidity to the air, and so 101 is going to feel much warmer than that is some spots. And then for New York City, you're going to take a little longer to get to that heat you're going to be all the way to 96 on Friday. So get ready for some much warmer weather out there.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: Our thanks to Chad.

Now the virtual global heat wave is fueling wildfires like this one time the Greek island of Rhodes. Officials say it's the largest evacuation effort in the country's history. More than 19,000 tourist and residents have left their homes and hotels and the island. Some running on foot from the flames. The fires have been burning on the central and southern part of Rhodes since Tuesday. And a heat wave is making it far worse. Among all the chaos and destruction, stranded tourists are filling up airports waiting to fly home. Some of them describe harrowing journeys to safety.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HELEN PICKERING, BRITISH TOURIST: The hotel was literally crowded full of people. As soon as they sent those buses to the airport, we were right, that's it, you know. And it was has, absolutely. The surges towards, you know, with two or three buses that arrived. Everyone screaming and shouting and crying. Because people couldn't even get on the flights yesterday and were desperate to get home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Let's get the latest now from Elinda Labropoulou, joining me live from the town of Mandra, just northwest of Athens. And Elinda, I mean, this was no small evacuation happening on one of Greece's most popular islands. Do we know if the authorities have managed to get those wildfires now under control?

ELINDA LABROPOULOU, JOURNALIST: Unfortunately, Christine, we just had word in right now that basically these big fires are rekindling. The big fires in Rhodes are rekindling and there are actually houses on the islands burning right now. More forces have been sent in, about ten aircrafts and helicopters are operating on the island right now. Including assistance from other countries that have come after Greece's request for international assistance.

The tourists have seem to have been mostly evacuated. The people wanted to leave the island. Mostly have or they're. Waiting to be evacuated. Some will remain in other parts of the island because the area we're looking at is about 10 percent of the island, the area that's now in great danger. So many people have been moved to other places. This time of the year Rhodes is jam-packed with tourists. So some people are also going to other islands and airlines are doing their best to get people out. Some airlines are also suspending services to the island of Rhodes.

Now Rhodes is not the only fire unfortunately that we actually having Greece right now. We had a large fire that has been developing since yesterday on the island of Corfu. It's another very popular island with tourists. We understand that authorities are now sending more forces there as well. At the moment, we don't have any houses burning, just preliminary, precautionary, evacuations for the time being. But they're preparing in case they need to get more people out.

This has been an incredibly hot time in Greece. It's been the most prolonged heat wave in Greece's known history so far. And with temperatures that are likely to remain extremely high for at least the middle of the week. So, as we understand, the country really feels like a tinderbox right now. There are strong winds in most parts of the country which makes conditions extremely difficult -- Christine.

MACFARLANE: Yes, just a nightmare all around. Elinda Labropoulou live from Athens, thank you.

Now Texas Governor Greg Abbott says his state has the sovereign authority to defend its border as it faces a deadline today to commit to removing floating barriers on the Rio Grande. The deadline was set by the U.S. Justice Department which has warned the state could face legal action. CNN's Priscilla Alvarez has details now from the White House.

[04:10:00]

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: The Justice Department has given Texas Governor Greg Abbott until Monday afternoon to tell the administration whether he is going to remove the floating barriers along the Rio Grande. It's the latest escalation and the feud between President Joe Biden and Texas Governor Greg Abbott over the handling of the U.S./Mexico border.

In a letter on Thursday, the Justice Department said that Texas did not have authorization to set up the floating barriers this month. Citing a clause in the law to that effect.

They also went on to say, quote, the state of Texas's actions violated federal law, raise humanitarian concerns, present serious risks to public safety and the environment, and may interfere with the federal government's ability to carry out its official duties.

Now, officials have been talking for months within the administration as to what actions if any could be taken by the Justice Department as they watch with concern the action that the Texas governor was taking along the Texas/Mexico border. Those floating barriers have for example, posed a potential drowning risk to migrants who are crossing.

Now the Texas governor in a tweet said that it is the sovereign authority to defend our borders. So, he is standing firm on his position keep the those barriers. But again, he can reply by Monday afternoon as to whether or not he will take them down. If not, the Justice Department says in their letter, they're ready to take the Texas governor to court.

Priscilla Alvarez, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: Now, authorities in Mexico say five migrants from Colombia and Peru has been rescued from a mountain pass on the U.S. border after they were abandoned by their guide. Mexico's National Institute of Migration says a 15-hour operation was launched last week after one of the migrants phoned authorities for help, saying they have no food or water. One minor was among the group. They were taken to a shelter in Tijuana after their rescue.

Now, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is now out of the hospital after undergoing surgery for a pacemaker implant. He was hospitalized over the weekend for what doctors say was a transient heart block. This comes as Israeli lawmakers are debating a bill that would curb some powers of the country's Supreme Court and a preliminary vote is expected in the coming hour. Mr. Netanyahu earlier said he would attend the vote. Meantime, this was the scene or the scenes outside of Parliament this morning, as thousands of demonstrators continue to protest against the legislation. These are in fact live pictures coming into CNN here. And police are using water cannons to try and disperse this protest.

For more, let's go to journalist Elliott Gotkine who's live and joining us live from Tel Aviv. These protests, Elliott, as we know have been going on for months now, six or seven months. And today, we could see the beginning of the complete reshaping of the Israeli judiciary. But we do know that attempts to bring a compromise is still ongoing. So how likely is this bill to pass today?

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: Christina, I suppose it really depends on how those talks are aimed at brokering some kind of compromise and led by President Isaac Herzog. Would depending on how those talks fare. As things stand, these votes which are due to take place in the coming hours, if the government wins this vote then this will be on its way to becoming law. But I should add that the government coalition has 64 out of 120 seats in the Knesset. So it would be incredibly surprising that if and when it comes to a vote that the government coalition doesn't have its way.

But as you say, it is under tremendous pressure, not just from those protesters out on the streets, not just from tech workers and some business organizations that are going on strike today, not just from reservist who are saying that they will turn out for duty if this first part of this judicial overhaul is passed.

There's also pressure, of course, from none other than President Joe Biden in the U.S. He has again, for the second time in the week, made his feelings known about his part of the judicial overhaul.

In a statement to CNN saying that given the range of threats and challenges confronting Israel right now, it doesn't make sense for Israeli leaders to rush this. The focus, he says, should be on pulling people together and finding consensus.

And that's what President Isaac Herzog first from a visit to Joe Biden, to the White House, got off the plane here in Israel last night. Went straight to see Prime Minister Netanyahu in hospital -- as he was then. He was discharged earlier today. He then held talks with opposition leaders and is doing his best to try to broker some kind of compromise. Which may result, for example, in some of the judicial overhaul aspects being kicked down the road by several months or longer.

But for now, this vote is due to go ahead. And if it is passed then it doesn't necessarily become law either. Because the president has to sign it into law. Now he could in theory refuse, although that would be unprecedented. And then the Israeli Bar Association has already readied a petition to file to the Supreme Court to block passage of this law.

[04:15:00]

They would want to get some kind of injunction and then the Supreme Court would form a panel of judges to oversee this and then decide if it can become law -- Christina.

MACFARLANE: Yes, and Elliott, as you're speaking and we're watching these live pictures of protests happening right now, I'm wondering if perhaps Israel is headed for the same situation we saw in March. There was this unprecedented general strike that forced the legislation to be paused. You know, at that time it affected airports and businesses. You mentioned military reservists are also threatening to strike right now. But do you think we could potentially be headed to the same scenario?

GOTKINE: We don't know. I mean, it is crunch time, that much we do know. But course, last time there was a different element, we had the Defense Minister Yoav Gallant calling for a pause of judicial reform. So someone like allies with Netanyahu, from within his own party, within his ranks, the defense minister, such an important role in Israeli politics calling for pause. He hasn't said anything yet. He has expressed his concerns about the issues with the reservists and Israeli Air Force. He has been trying to hold talks with them as well.

As things stand there is one big business group that has announced a strike or today, along with tech workers. The main labor federation, the Histadrut, has not called for a strike just yet. Now that could change. But that was what seemed to push Netanyahu to pause passage of this judicial overhaul last month and to kind of cut it up into bite- size pieces. We're not there yet, but we could get there -- Christina.

MACFARLANE: All right, a very few important you hours I had, Elliot Gotkine reporting from Tel Aviv. Thanks so much, Elliott.

OK, still to come, The death toll from the collapse of a middle school gymnasium roof in China has gone up. The latest on the incident ahead.

Plus, drone warfare ramps up in Ukraine and Russia. Details on the latest attacks from Moscow to the Danube.

Also, we'll take a look at why an unarmed Black man was attacked by a police dog despite surrendering with his hands in the air.

[04:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACFARLANE: In northeast China, the death toll is now 11 after the roof of a mild school gym collapsed on Sunday, according to Chinese state media. Rescuers have found the body of a student who had been trapped inside. Authorities say a preliminary investigation reveals construction material on the roof gained weight after being soaked in the rain, leading to the collapse. State media reports those in charge of the construction are in police custody.

Russia and Ukraine are accusing each other of launching a new wave of drone attacks overnight. In the Odesa region, Ukraine says Russia has targeted more of its ports, this time along the Danube River. Officials say six people were wounded in the strikes, several storage tanks were damaged and a grain hanger was destroyed.

In Moscow, meantime, the Defense Ministry says it intercepted two drones in what has been called a terror attack by Kyiv. This video geolocated by CNN appears to show one of the drones flying above the Russian capital. It happened as more attacks were reported in Crimea, where Russians says 17 Ukrainian drones were launch.

CNN's Clare Sebastian is joining us with more. Clare, what more do we know about the Moscow drone attack?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we're looking at two locations. One very, very essential where the state media, the news agency TASS, reported in the morning that debris was found, the road was briefly closed. This was very close to the Russian defense ministry. Really just about a ten-minute drive from the Kremlin. So this while the whole incident, I think it's the fourth time we've seen Moscow targeted with drones. This is the most central location we've seen since that very first incident when the Kremlin itself was actually hit. So that's significant.

The second location down in the southern part of the city, a nonresidential building sustaining some damage. Take a listen to one of the residents close by about what she heard.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POLINA, MOSCOW RESIDENT (through translator): I was asleep and was woken up by an explosion. Everything started to shake. It felt like the whole building had come down. I looked out of the window. I live in the neighboring building on the side where there's less damage and it felt strange. The damage was so minor. Well, OK, not minor. Any explosion is scary. But it sounded worse than it looked. As it seemed like the whole mall had exploded. After that, I looked online and saw the amount of damage from this side. And we came and had a look from here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEBASTIAN: So, obviously, this is no casualty, according to the mayor, no serious damage. But we are seeing separately in Crimea, as you're saying, the Russian military of defense are saying they averted 17 drones. But the head of that region, the Russian head is saying that any ammunition depot and a house were destroyed. They are apparently evacuating residents within a five kilometer radius of that incident.

And all of this comes, of course, after a week of Russian strikes on Odesa. Ukraine's digital transformation minister coming out saying drone attack, the Russian capital in Crimea last night, electronic warfare, he says, and air defense are becoming less and less capable of protecting the occupier's skies. So that's as close as you're going to get I think to a claim there.

MACFARLANE: Yes, it does sound that way. More reported strikes on a grain infrastructure overnight as well. This time on the Danube. This as Putin claims that Russia can actually pick up in replacing lost grain from the deal obviously that fell through.

SEBASTIAN: Yes, I mean, I think what's significant about these overnight strikes is that, one, there seems to be a fair amount of damage through pictures that are coming out. They're showing destruction to grain terminals, things like that. Second, at this is not the Black Sea ports, these are the Danube ports. So the Danube ports are the plan-B. So once the Black Sea ports are not possible to used to transport grain, they may turn to those Danube ports which they started doing before the grain deal kicked in last summer. Which now becomes more and more important.

So that speaks to Russia essentially trying to destroy that effort on top of the Black Sea ports. And all of that coming as you say as Putin wrote this article which was published by the Kremlin on Sunday, where he said, that Russia can pick up where Ukrainian grain might have left off. Russia will be able to supply African countries with the food they need.

[04:25:00]

An attempt, really, to soften the blow to these allies, with Russia has been cultivating since the beginning of the war and essentially trying to sort of soften the blow of the fact that canceling that grain deal, will it really threaten their food supply

MACFARLANE: Basically trying to play those. Clare, thank you.

Well, the U.S. Secretary of State says Ukraine has recaptured about half of the territory Russia seized since at the start of the invasion. Antony Blinken told CNN that Russia has failed to erase Ukraine from the map and that Ukrainian troops are poised to take back even more land as their counteroffensive grinds on.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Now, Ukraine is in a battle to get back more of the land that Russia seized from it. It's already taken back about 50 percent of what was initially seized. Now they're in a hard fight to take back -- to take back more.

These are still relatively early days of the counteroffensive. It is tough. The Russians have put in place strong defenses. But I'm convinced with the equipment and support they've received now from more than 50 countries, with the training that their forces gotten -- and many of the forces who've gotten their training have not yet been put fully into this fight. And maybe more than anything else, with the fact that unlike the Russians, the Ukrainians are fighting for their land, for their future, for their country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Blinken also says Ukraine will likely receive U.S. made F- 16 fighter jets. But it would take months before they're operational.

Now, it's an important week in Washington with the U.S. Federal Reserve set to meet on Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss another likely interest rate hike to combat inflation. A quarter point increase is expected after the Fed paused its rate hikes in June. Second quarter GDP figures are also due out later this week.

And here's a quick look at U.S. futures ahead of opening bell on Wall Street. You can see all the indices are up and in the green. And we will wait to see in the coming hours if that remains the same.

Now, on January 6, angry protestors chanted "Hang Mike Pence" but the former vice president still isn't sure President Trump is to blame for the events of that day. What Pence told CNN, next on CNN NEWSROOM.

Plus, we have video of the moment a Black man was attacked by a police dog in Ohio, despite being unarmed. Details after this quick break.