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Greece "At War" With Wildfires; Israel's Judicial Overhaul; Russia's War On Ukraine; Police Remove Greta Thunberg from Protest in Sweden; Special Counsel Gets Documents from Giuliani Team; Elon Musk Rebrands Twitter as X; Women's World Cup 2023. Aired 1-2 ET
Aired July 25, 2023 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Ahead here on CNN Newsroom. Israel in crisis, mass protests nationwide strikes and a looming constitutional showdown for a new law rolling back judicial oversight over the government passes through the Knesset.
No end to week long fire emergency on the Greek island of Rhodes, forcing more evacuations and warnings of worse to come.
And bye-bye birdie, the Twitter logo joins two thirds of the company's employees fired by Elon Musk replaced with the next.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN Newsroom with John Vause.
VAUSE: Good to have you with us for another hour here on CNN. We begin with the wildfires burning out of control across Europe. They may be unprecedented in size, intensity and duration but the EU's crisis management commissioner says they're not surprising. And he warns us new normal means the world needs to prepare for more devastating fires in a lot more places.
The new normal seems anything like that on the Greek island of Rhodes where wildfires have forced the biggest evacuation in Greek history. 20,000 tourists have been evacuated to safer areas. Those who are able to leave describe harrowing circumstances where they were afraid they would not make it out alive. And there are fears for the ones who are still there.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How on earth never thought I'd be caught up in something like that. There's -- someone's going to end up dying out there seriously. There are thousands of people that are still out there. There's young kids, there's older people, the islands on fire, they've got nowhere to go. There's no food, no water, and they're just basically been abandoned on, you know, I mean, we've just come from the floor of a school. The only reason we got out is because my wife had an asthma attack. And I was like, yes, you need to go. It's just horrible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Fires have been burning for a week just outside the Greek capital. And from there, Elinda Labropoulou filed this report.
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ELINDA LABROPOULOU, CNN REPORTER: Cars, homes images of the great devastation that the large fire that burned outside Greater Athens for six whole days in the last week has left behind. But this is not the only area that has been burning as a result of an extended heatwave that has been plaguing the country for over a week.
The island of Rhodes has been heavily hit, and it's a very touristy island where a lot of people were spending their holiday. It's peak season in Rhodes. Over 20,000 people have been evacuated. And what the authorities have said has been the largest evacuation of its kind ever, and this is only to get out of the burning areas on the island.
Along with Rhodes, we hear about fires on the island of Corfu, another popular destination, and the island of Evia, an island that burned down heavily two years ago. All of this as Greece prepares for the third wave of an extended heatwave that's likely to hit as of tomorrow. We're expecting to see temperatures over 40 degrees Celsius, over 104 Fahrenheit hit Athens and the rest of the country. And the authorities here tell us that there will be strong winds blowing as well, making conditions very difficult.
The Greek Prime Minister has spoken about being at war with the fires and has promised to do the best he can in order to help those that have been most affected. At the same time, we expect these evacuations to continue. And we expect really that in some ways this is more of a developing story simply because the fires are not likely to go away anytime soon. Elinda Labropoulou, CNN, Greater Athens, Greece.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: At least 34 people have been killed by wildfires sweeping across Algeria, among the dead soldiers involved in evacuation operations. Right now, 8,000 firefighters have been deployed to the fine lines. A major heatwave has made conditions much worse in Algeria and other North African nations.
Eliot Jacobson is a climate researcher and retired professor of Mathematics and Computer Science. He joins us this hour from Santa Barbara in California. Professor, thank you for being with us here on CNN Newsroom.
ELIOT JACOBSON, CLIMATE RESEARCHER: Glad to be here.
VAUSE: So, I want to start with some of your findings and some of the graphs which you sent us and which are out there on Twitter. I want you to explain them and go through them for us and then we'll get to what they will mean in a moment. But first, here's graph of global temperatures measure two meters above ground so not surface temperature.
So 21 days between July 3rd And July 23rd, every day hotter than the record set last year in 2022. So, what was a ceiling in terms of record highs from last year? What is that now a new floor? Is that where this is all heading?
[01:05:03]
JACOBSON: Well, what's happening is that we're very quickly getting to the 1.5 Paris limit. And in the process temperatures are just have to rise. This is a natural and inevitable consequence of the greenhouse gases we pumped into the atmosphere. So yes, we set a new record this year and that record is playing out all over the globe in terms of heatwaves and other climate effects. We're at 17.25 Celsius as a global average. That previous record was about 16.9 Celsius, so it's a huge year over year leap.
VAUSE: OK. So then there's also the North Atlantic sea surface temperatures anomaly as the other graph. This is a difference between the current temperatures, and 2023 is in the red line, compared to 1991 to 2020 with the mean -- sorry, of 1991 to 2020 being used for 1982 to 2023. So, what are we actually looking at here in this particular graph?
JACOBSON: So what we essentially do here is we take each year and brought, for example, we have the line. And the location about line is either above or below the zero line, which indicates simply whether it's an above average or below average year. And so, you can kind of see everything is sort of clustered in the middle there, except for this year.
And you see that red line just completely spiking upwards. And what that means is that we have a situation with North Atlantic sea surface temperatures that is just unheard of, unexpected, and beyond anything that we really are able to fully understand the implications for.
VAUSE: OK. And then, there's also the daily standard deviations for Antarctic sea ice for every day from 1989 to 2023. And again, the red line we see there is for 2023, we're halfway through the year. So, what are we looking at here in terms of sea ice?
JACOBSON: So right now it is winter in Antarctica, and so sea ice should be growing and should be growing kind of fast. And what that tells us is that the ice is just not growing at the speed that it's grown every previous year. And that deficit just isn't a little bit. Right now, it is close to 2.5 million square kilometers.
I think that comes out to about eight Britains worth of deficit of sea ice. And so that's just right now of all the things that are under expectation. That one is by far the one that is sort of off the charts below expectation.
VAUSE: So bring these three graphs together. What are they telling us? What's the future telling us with these three graphs?
JACOBSON: Well, I'm going to put it in real simple terms for you. We are witnessing the sixth great extinction right now. We are witnessing the collapse of global industrial civilization. And these are just sort of illustrating a huge step towards those eventualities. They're going to happen, there's no question about it.
And so, it's the fact that we have all three of these at once. It's just stunning. It's stunning. Climate scientists and everybody else who's looked at these things, as a career professional, their whole life, they can't believe this is happening. I'm surprised by just how fast it's all happening. But that's where it's heading. It's heading towards a mass extinction event.
VAUSE: Mass extinction being us?
JACOBSON: Well not necessarily. So the definition of a mass extinction event is 75% of the species on the planet. And so that's certainly what we see happening right now. We have at least 10 times the background rate of extinctions happening globally right now. And typically that the timeline for a mass extinction event is about 2.8 million years.
So the actual definition of mass extinctions losing 75% of species over 2.8 million years, we're going to do it in 100 years. That's how fast this is happening.
VAUSE: Wow. One other point I just want to make is, if you look at data from the Geophysical Research Letters, this was a report that they published. It also was put in Live Science. Greenland's glaciers melting 100 times faster than estimated, and that's because scientists were using an old model developed in Antarctica, water and ice interact differently at the bottom of fjord, compared to a floating ice shell.
The reason why I bring this up, because it seems we have another stark example of what seems to be extremely common. At almost every turn, the models of predictions of forecasts have underestimated the impact of climate change, and the pace at which it's happening. So if you take all this together, your prognosis, your expectation, we're looking at these three graphs. What are we looking at here in terms of 1.5 degrees Celsius? Is it possible to turn this around? What if we stopped using carbon fuels right now which is impossible, but is are a way that we can avoid this from happening?
[01:10:02]
JACOBSON: So, what you're talking about with that particular event, James Hansen actually has been more or less dead on with his predictions of the temperature rise, tracking the amount of greenhouse gases. What these models seem to universally be getting wrong, are how catastrophic the events are for the given amount of warming that we're experiencing. So you just mentioned one of them. So one point to see, we don't expect to have the things happening in Antarctica and the North Atlantic, and those sorts of things, and yet we are. So that's where the models are failing us.
And how are we going to solve this? Well, here's the point. During the pandemic, that year where the whole world was shut down, we cut CO2, cut greenhouse gas emissions by about 7% for that year. If we had followed up in 2021, '22, '23, with similar 7% cuts, so taking the austerity of the pandemic and repeating that year after year, after year, that's what it would mean to be on target to meet the Paris goal of staying under 1.5.
We need to roughly cut by 50% from today's rates by the year 2030, which is about 8% or 9% per year we would have to reduce now. Meanwhile, 2022 was the highest CO2 emissions on record. So we're going in the wrong direction. So that Paris limit is gone. We're going to blow through it, and we already see how bad 1.2 is.
VAUSE: Professor Jacobson, thank you so much, I think, for being with us. It is a point well worth making. It's something which we need to look at much closer. Thank you, sir.
JACOBSON: Well, thank you. And the Philippines bracing for a Super Typhoon Doksuri, expected to make landfall on the islands in the north before heading towards Taiwan with some military exercises have already been cancelled. Officials fear the super typhoon could be the most damaging to hit the Philippines in nearly four years.
Israel is facing the biggest domestic crisis in the country's history amid ongoing mass protests. 150 corporations owning businesses from real estate agencies to shopping malls have joined a day long strike. Doctors and medical workers will also take part and the country's main labor federation, poised to declare a nationwide strike is well.
All this after the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, passed the first law of a controversial judicial overhaul by the Netanyahu government. That far right coalition unanimously voted for the bill, which reduces the Supreme Court's oversight over the government decisions and appointment. All opposition lawmakers walked out of the chamber in protest, meaning it passed 64 to zero in the 120 seat chamber.
However, Netanyahu causes a necessary move for democracy, but thousands of Israelis continue to protest in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Many attempted to block access to parliament on Monday, at least 19 people have been arrested and protesters are vowing to fight on.
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SHIKMA BRESSLER, PROTESTER: Clearly, what is happening right now, it's not an anti-Netanyahu protest, it was never an anti-Netanyahu protest. It's called democratic protest. I think, I hope, the discard legislation will be rolled out by the Supreme Court and that later on the other, you know, gatekeepers will do their job and stick to the law and not to the government.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: He's more now from CNN's Fred Pleitgen reporting in from Jerusalem.
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FRED PLEITGEN, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Israeli police trying to disperse the crowd using water cannon trucks but facing massive resistance.
(on-camera): Now the protesters are telling us they believe it's so important for them to stay out here right now and voice their anger at the decisions that were made today in Israeli parliament that they say they are not going to budge --
(voice-over): As the police try to wrestle them away, anger unloading after parliament with a far right majority has the law severely curbing the Supreme Court's power to check the government. Opponents saying democracy is at risk.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're trying to do our best in all those to protect democracy in our country.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It could have an impact in the world, to say that we are not going done slowly and quieter.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): It's called the Reasonableness Bill and is part of a set of plans to not only cut the Supreme Court's power, but also to make it easier for the government to change the makeup of the court itself. All opposition Knesset members walked out in protest during the vote, saying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far right coalition are destroying Israel's democracy.
In a televised address, Netanyahu firing back.
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translation): Today, we performed the democratic need. According to most people of Israel, this is the essence of democracy, to do what the majority wish.
[01:15:01]
PLEITGEN (voice-over): But many Israelis not just those out on the streets of Jerusalem say they fear for the country's future says Israeli actress Noa Tishby, was dismissed as an Israeli special envoy for criticizing the judicial overhaul.
NOA TISHBY, ACTRESS: The majority of the Israeli population is not behind this particular vote, that's just the truth. That Israeli people are not going to stop fighting to make sure that Israel stays a liberal democracy, which is strong, safe and secure.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): And those scaffolds continue well into the night in Jerusalem and other Israeli cities. Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Earlier I spoke with Edward Djerejian, he's a former US ambassador to Israel.
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EDWARD DJEREJIAN, FORMER US AMBASSADOR TO ISRAEL: The time for a dialogue was before the vote was taken today to change the basic law in terms of the powers of -- diminishing the powers of the Israeli Supreme Court, and making any government that's in an office have a greater ability to do its will without judicial oversight, or with reduced judicial oversight.
So I think that's a false promise on the part of Bibi Netanyahu. He was told, remarkably, in terms of your second question on the United States view, he was virtually told by President Biden in a public interview that the President gave to stop the vote, to give time for a broad consensus to be established before going forward on such a change that can actually affect the very definition of Israel's democracy.
So, the country is in an impasse, I think Israel is having probably a historic, major identity national identity crisis, as to -- its democratic and Jewish nature.
VAUSE: It has a fundamental problem come down to a failing, if you like, by this far right coalition government, to understand what a democracy actually is. It's not just a vote by the majority. A democracy comes with checks and balances, independent courts, upper houses of parliament, the rights and individuals or minorities are protected against the tyranny of the majority. Is that something that's big (inaudible) here?
DJEREJIAN: It is. It is a threat to be lost in terms of Israeli democracy. As you've stated, elections alone democracy do not make. I've served in many Arab countries, I've served in Israel. And elections are an essential part of democracy, but the rule of law and the peaceful transfer of power, all these are vital aspects of democracy, which are now being threatened in Israel.
And that's why I think the attitude of Washington because, you know, we constantly say that one of the basic tenets of the US-Israeli relationship is shared values. Well democracy is a shared value, it's at the top of the list. And yet, Israel's democracy is now being threatened.
They do not have constitutions we have. They have what they call the Basic Law. And this legislation that was passed today virtually undercuts the Supreme Court's ability to check and balance what the government does. So yes, this is a national identity crisis and it has led and will continue to lead to protests and civil unrest, and the future is ambiguous.
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VAUSE: Thanks to Edward Djerejian, who is a former US ambassador to Israel.
New developments in Ukraine were, just hours ago, Russian drone attack on the capital was stopped by air defense systems. Local officials say all air targets were destroyed with no damage reported on the ground.
Meantime, to the south, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency says experts have found mines on the side of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is currently being controlled by Russian forces. IAEA chief Rafael Grassi says the mines were found in a restricted area and we're facing away from a site called having explosives that are inconsistent with the agency safety standards, as well as nuclear security guidelines.
Ukraine's defense minister says airstrikes on the ports of the Odesa, especially those targeting grain warehouses is further proof that Russia is a terrorist state. And Oleksii Reznikov also spoke with CNN's Alex Marquardt.
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ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As Russia has pounded Odesa so too has Ukraine stepped up strikes on Russian occupied Crimea, at least five attacks in the past week, including a drone strike today on a Russian ammunition depot. Are you escalating your attacks against the peninsula?
OLEKSII REZNIKOV, UKRAINIAN DEFENSE MINISTER: I would not say that we escalating something. We are fighting for our freedom.
[01:20:01]
MARQUARDT (voice-over): This weekend, we sat down for a wide ranging exclusive TV interview with Ukraine's defense minister, Oleksii Reznikov, who admitted that while Ukraine's counteroffensive is behind schedule, Ukrainian strikes deep into Crimea and beyond will become the norm.
REZNIKOV: It means that we will use every options to hit their fuel depot, ammunition depot, their artillery systems,
MARQUARDT: It was rare to see Ukraine claim responsibility for the attack on the Kerch Bridge. Is it your goal to permanently disable the bridge?
REZNIKOV: It's normal tactics, to ruin logistic lines of your enemy, to stop the options to get more ammunition, to get more fuel, to get more food and et cetera, et cetera. That's why we will use these tactics against them.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): Russia's latest attack in the Odesa Region early on Monday morning, with the closest they had struck to NATO territory, drones destroying a grain hanger right near the border with Romania, the latest in a series of Russian attacks on food storage.
REZNIKOV: So, this approach is absurd but it's a real. And that's why it's a new evidence that they're really a country who are real terrorists. They're terrorist state.
MARQUARDT: Have you been surprised at how ferocious these attacks had been?
REZNIKOV: Honestly not because after the February of last year, it's very difficult to surprise me. MARQUARDT (voice-over): After almost two months, Ukraine's highly anticipated counteroffensive has produced you gains. Russian troops are on the offensive and the east while Ukrainian progress is modest at best in the south.
REZNIKOV: I think that it's our misperception that every counteroffensive should be quick. We had a time to prepare our armed forces with our partners, but they also had the time to make security zone, with the trenches, with their mines.
MARQUARDT: You knew you were going to face these tough Russian defenses. So, is this a question of needing more equipment or is it a question of Ukrainian forces not necessarily fighting in the way that they should be?
REZNIKOV: It's a question of the ammunition, of their artillery shells, of their more artillery systems. It's a question that we have a very long battlefield light also. And we have against us big quantity of enemies.
MARQUARDT: Do you acknowledge, though, that the plan is behind schedule?
REZNIKOV: Yes.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): This week, Reznikov says Ukraine owes the Pentagon a report on how the highly controversial American cluster munitions that were sent to Ukraine have been used against Russian troops.
(on camera): Are you able to say where the cluster munitions have been most effective?
REZNIKOV: They will be most effective especially against their artillery systems, and also they will be efficient against their armed personnel carriers or infantry fighting vehicles. They will be good against their infantry in the fields.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): Alex Marquardt, CNN, Odesa.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Still to come on CNN, a wave of deadly violence spreading across Ecuador, from prison riots to the killing of a local mayor. What the government plans to do, that's next. Also, Spain at a crossroads, deadlocked election leaves socialists and conservatives both trying to form a coalition government.
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VAUSE: In the coming hours, Ecuador's president will hold an emergency cabinet meeting to try and address growing violence across the country. State of emergency has been declared in two provinces after the killing of a city mayor and uprisings in a number of prisons. _has more now, our reporting unit from Bogota.
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STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN REPORTER: Ecuador remains mired in a deep security crisis just weeks before its general election. According to the country's prison service, more than 90 prison guards are currently being held hostage inside several penitentiaries by the inmates who are demanding better conditions. This is falling in yet another weekend of violence inside Ecuador's prisons, where clashes have killed at least six inmates over the last a few days.
And on Sunday, the mayor of Ecuador's sixth largest city, Manta, was killed in an attack that the government has called a terrorist action. The outgoing president, Guillermo Lasso, has declared a state of emergency in two provinces in the country and has vowed to bring the culprits to justice.
He has also asked for a meeting of the state and Public Security Council for Tuesday. The general election is due to be held on August 20, and the three main candidates are competing to be Lasso's replacement all expressed their condolences over the crimes. And they have all pledged to restore this faith in the country's security services and to bring these a spiral of violence under control. For CNN, this is Stefano Pozzebon, Bogota.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Guatemala is preparing for a presidential runoff next month, with former first lady, Sandra Torres, running against diplomat Bernardo Arevalo. US officials are calling for an end to interference and harassment of candidates there, a sentiment echoed by the White House.
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KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We are deeply concerned by ongoing efforts to interfere with the elections in Guatemala. Guatemalans deserve the right to vote for their preferred candidate between the certified winners of the first round of elections on June 25th without any interference. Threats to arrest election officials or party officials threatened to undermine Guatemala's democratic process.
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VAUSE: Last week, officers of Arevalo's anti-government ideograph party rather were raided by police. Notably the prosecutor leading the investigation is on the US State Department's list of corrupt and undemocratic actors.
After winning the most votes, but not a majority in Sunday's election, the center-right People's Party in Spain, now working to form a coalition. The party's leader says negotiations are underway. More now from Al Goodman reporting in from Madrid.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) AL GOODMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The coalition building towards a new Spanish government could take weeks and the outcome is uncertain. But one result seems clear from Sunday's vote, Spain voted to keep the far right Vox Party out of the Spanish government. The main conservative party came up with well short of a parliamentary majority and even adding on the far right seats. They still came up short.
The far right has been making gains across Europe. It governs in Italy with hard right Prime Minister Meloni. It's got part of the government in Finland. But on Sunday, the Spaniard seem to be saying not here, not now. The main conservative leader says he'll reach out to try to form a conservative coalition. But some analysts say the socialist prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, may have a better chance of forming a coalition because he's already got one in his current term. He's got the context and the experience.
But a senior member of the socialist party told CNN this day that this second time for Sanchez to try to build a coalition could be a lot more difficult because the nationalist parties in Catalonia near Barcelona and in the Northern Basque Region could try to extract a much higher price for their support. In fact, in Barcelona on Sunday, the leader of one of the nationalist parties said that they would not be giving Prime Minister Sanchez another round in exchange for nothing. She said that their priority is Catalonia, not the governance of a Spanish state.
Al Goodman, CNN, Madrid.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Police in Sweden removed climate activists Greta Thunberg from a protest on Monday, just hours after a local court find her for disobeying police at a similar protest last month. 20-year-old pleaded not guilty but admitted she had disobey police saying she acted out of necessity.
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GRETA THUNBERG, CLIMATE ACTIVIST: While we're here and, of course, other environmental and climate, and human rights activists all around the world are facing even worse consequences for their actions of protecting life as we know it. And we must remember who the real criminals are, the ones who are committing the real crime. And that will be true even if we have jailed all climate activists in the world, because we have truth on our side, and we have morality on our side. And, yes, and that will not change.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Earlier this year, Thunberg was taken into police custody during a protest in Germany, over a coal mining expansion but was released later that day.
Still ahead, Donald Trump's ever changing tune praising election security in the months leading up to the 2020 election, then crying he was robbed when he lost. Also the latest on efforts to communicate with North Korea about a US soldier who dashed into its territory.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Police in Sweden removed climate activist Greta Thunberg from a protest on Monday just hours after a local court fined her for disobeying police at a similar protest last month.
The 20-year-old pleaded not guilty but admitted she had disobeyed saying she acted out of necessity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GREGA THUNBERG, CLIMATE ACTIVIST: Well, we are here and, of course, other environmental and climate and human right activists all around the world are facing even worse consequences for their actions of protecting life as we know it.
We must remember who the real criminals are. The ones who are committing the real crime. And that will be true, even if we have jailed all climate activists in the world because we have truth on our side and we have morality on our side, and yes, that will not change.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Earlier this, year Thunberg was taken into police custody during a protest in Germany over a coal mine expansion but was released later that day.
Still ahead, Donald Trump's ever-changing tune praising election security in the months leading up to the 2020 election and then crying he was robbed when he lost.
Also, the latest in the efforts to communicate with North Korea about a U.S. soldier who dashed into its border (ph).
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VAUSE: Welcome back, I'm John Vause. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM.
A 2020 White House meeting when then-President Donald Trump praised election security in the U.S. is now the focus of investigators from the Justice Department.
Just a few months after that meeting, after losing the election bigly, Trump claimed the vote was rigged.
Investigators are also looking at thousands of documents from a team led by Trump ally Rudy Giuliani, trying to uncover voter fraud.
CNN's Paula Reid will have those details in a moment. But first, here is CNN's Sean Lyngaas.
SEAN LYNGAAS, CNN CYBERSECURITY REPORTER: Special counsel Jack Smith's office has asked multiple U.S. officials about a February 2020 election security briefing in which U.S. officials told President Trump about the ways in which they are preparing to secure the 2020 election.
The special counsel's office appears to be interested in the mindset that President Trump had at the time of this briefing when he received factual information about different ways that the election will be secure.
Trump, according to our sources, even suggested that DHS and FBI hold a press conference to tout the election security work that his administration have done.
This is a stark contrast to Trump's public rhetoric just weeks later when he questioned the validity of the elections and the integrity of elections.
I'm Sean Lyngaas in Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA REID, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Special counsel Jack Smith is now in possession of thousands of documents that were created by Rudy Giuliani's team in the days and weeks following the 2020 election. The team was tasked with trying to find some evidence of fraud.
[01:34:53]
REID: Now one of the people on this team is the former New York Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik. He is a close associate of Rudy Giuliani, and he has been in possession of a lot of these documents.
The January 6th committee was trying to get all of these materials. But he would not hand them over. Even though he is not a lawyer he claimed that he was working for the legal team and therefore they were privileged.
But in recent weeks, special counsel investigators have reached out to Kerik to schedule an interview and also to collect evidence. And after they reached out, Kerik went to the Trump campaign, have them review the materials, and the Trump campaign were told, that look, they were not going to argue privilege over this which suggests that they believe there is not anything too incriminating in these documents.
But now the special counsel investigators have these. I mean, this is something that no other investigator has been able to obtain. So this is going to be the first time you are able to see these materials. And it could be some key evidence in their ongoing investigation.
Now, Kerik has also scheduled an interview for early August. He will sit down with investigators and face questions, some of which they have likely already written. And maybe some new ones based on the documents he just handed over.
Paula Reid, CNN -- Washington. (END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: North Korea is still keeping quiet about U.S. Private Travis King currently in their custody. But has made one acknowledgment, kind of. CNN's Oren Liebermann explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: On Monday, the deputy head of the United Nations command in South Korea said a conversation has commenced, his words, with North Korea related to private Travis King who has now been in North Korean custody for about a week.
That was the first indication that there has been any sort of communication about King and what should happen to him. But the State Department made clear that that is not a new conversation -- simply acknowledgment from the North Korean side that there was outrage from the United Nation's command, and a desire to speak about King. But it didn't go beyond that. There wasn't a back and forth from what we understand having spoken to U.S. officials. The United States command reached out and said we would like a starting a conversation about Private Travis King or something along those lines. And the North Korean simply acknowledge receipt of that.
There was no back and forth so it wasn't much of a conversation in that sense. But there at least was that bit of communication.
The State Department made clear on Monday that they have tried repeatedly to reach out to the North Koreans but without success. And that has left the U.S. wondering, what is his condition, where is he detained? And what is North Korea's intent with him.
North Korea hasn't actually acknowledged or said anything, made any statement, about detaining Private Travis King. Why they are holding him. Where they're holding him, what condition he is in. Which means the U.S. has very little information to go on here.
Simply, that he was supposed to have left the country last Monday. And then instead he got on a tour and ran into North Korea last Tuesday. Since then there hasn't been much more information that has come out.
What is North Korea's intent with him? That too very much a mystery. In addition to not making any statements, they haven't put out any information, or really engage with the U.S. in any way.
So it is unclear what they are looking to do here, and what his condition is. The U.S. still trying to figure all of that out. If North Korea wanted to, they could use the U.S. Army soldier as a propaganda coup. But again they haven't made any statements.
Oren Liebermann, CNN in the pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: This is all happening now two days before the 70th anniversary of the Armistice Agreement that ended the fighting on the Korean Peninsula. According to North Korean state media, a Chinese delegation will visit to Pyongyang to mark the occasion led by a senior member of the Communist Party Politburo.
This will be the first known visit by any foreign delegation to the North. Since closing borders during the COVID pandemic.
China's political leaders are laying out a new program to try and jump-start the country's lagging economy.
But as state broadcaster Xinhua reports, they acknowledge the recovery will be wave-like and full of twists and turns.
According to Xinhua lawmakers want to stimulate growth by keeping the currency stable supporting innovation and small and medium sized businesses. Removing risks as well in the real estate markets.
China had expected a quick return to economic growth after lifting COVID restrictions. But now it blames the stalling economy on lower demand food products, and what it calls complex external challenges.
Still to come, the blue bird has been X'd. We'll look at how Elon Musk's re-branding of Twitter with 15 years of equity gone. What it means for the platform's future.
[01:39:28]
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COLLINS: This segment on CNN NEWSROOM is proudly brought to you today by the letter X. As in Xerox. Xbox, Xfinity, X video, Xanax, and just X, the new name for Twitter. X owner Elon Musk seems to have decided that a bird in the hand with 15 years of brand equity was worth far less than an ex, possibly an x on a treasure map, marking where he would find more revenue for the struggling micro blogging site.
Or maybe that X would lead to the $44 billion he spent to buy what was once an iconic brand, if nothing else.
Normally a rebranding like this will take months or maybe more but already Twitter headquarters or what was Twitter headquarters now lit up with the number 10 in Roman numerals, which is also an X.
Mike Isaac is technology correspondent for the "New York Times", and author of "Super Pumped, The Battle for Uber".
He is live this hour from San Francisco. The one person I wanted to talk to about this is you. Good to see you.
MIKE ISAAC, "NEW YORK TIMES": Thanks for having me, John.
VAUSE: Ok. So the problem here, it may be called X but you can't X a tweet, you know, they call (INAUDIBLE) still Twitter. They still call it tweets, because calling it exes sound stupid. I am getting a feeling this branding may not have been planned through all that well. ISAAC: It definitely feels like a late Saturday night tweet that
turned into people following the boss's orders basically. I mean, I totally agree with you, you know, they spent, you know, more than a decade building up brand equity, I literally -- I walk around my neighborhood and see, even old logos for Twitter on different sides, different shop fronts and store fronts.
Everyone knows that you kind of have to have this thing. And he has had this sort of single-minded obsession with the letter X and naming his company's X from the PayPal days. So he is going through with it.
VAUSE: Yes, and the Twitter now ex CEO Linda Yaccarino x'd out, "X is the future state of unlimited interactivity. Sent in an audio, video, messaging, payment, banking, creating a global marketplace of ideas, goods, services, opportunities, powered by A.I. X will connect us all in ways we are just beginning to imagine."
That is awesome, but how about dealing with the hate speech? The crashing service. The (INAUDIBLE) ad revenue first. You know? This is a company which is in serious trouble.
ISAAC: No, I mean I think she is kind of in a position where she basically has to sell what Elon's ideas are to everyone. And, like look, I will try to be fair, a sort of everything app that he is envisioning is definitely popular and other regions. You know? China has WeChat, Japan has Line. There is a lot of different apps that do a lot of stuff.
But to your, point Twitter is currently Twitter. And it is already riddled with problems that come up. You know? Like they don't need to add on, fixing the entire world commerce system on top of it.
VAUSE: And you know, there was a general report which came out last year, Reuters reported on this and found that cryptocurrency, not safe for work, NSFW content which includes nudity and pornography -- you know this sort of alt Twitter -- are the highest growing topics of interest among English-speaking heavy users. Is this a sign where Musk is heading with x. You know, porno tweets and x videos?
[01:44:58]
VAUSE: I mean --
ISAAC: I mean, I guess he could pivot to pornography if he wants to. There is definitely -- I mean look, you know, it is funny, but like there are a lot of -- there is like a bunch of different subcategories on Twitter, including very active pornography sort of browsers and sex workers -- so who knows.
But I think if he wants to get this out to the, you know, the Facebook level scales that he seems to aspire to. There is -- he is just sort of chasing these, you know, flights of fancy that don't really seem like they are going to pay off. I really think he -- I think his problem is he is just not really surrounding himself with people who are telling him this is probably not a good idea. And I am not sure how long that that's been the case. VAUSE: Yes because I' m just wondering, you know, what the thought
process is here. Is it a way of distracting, you know, from Threads. Is it just sort of trying to reboot stuff?
I want you to listen to the designer, his name -- of the original logo -- Martin Grasser, talking about this change. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTIN GRASSER, TWITTER LOGO DESIGNER: It feels like something you remember fondly from your teenage years that probably is going to change and not be the same as the way it was which is a shame.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: You know, Twitter did change like a sweet innocent child who grows up to use hate speech, while only living as a porn star.
This does not bode well though at the end of the day for Twitter because if this is where it's going, the sort of random moves that don't seem to be thought through, that seem to be detrimental to the future of the company, what happens to the $44 billion Elon Musk spent on the company?
ISAAC: Yes, I mean, it's wild how much he seems to not care about the amount of money he spent on this thing. I mean literally, you know, it's tens of billions of dollars more than any of us could ever fathom. I think he has just -- I mean this was -- I was speaking to an executive the other day, and clearly he has had success in other industries. But software and software companies and social media companies are something he has not done before. And his instincts have not proven to be correct, at least in my in pinion have not proven to be correct initially.
And so I think if he wants to actually try to build a prolonged, lasting business in an arena that he is not necessarily familiar with outside of enjoying the service he should surround himself with people who are experts in that, you know.
Maybe try poaching from Facebook or people who still admire him for the sort of world changing visionary that he is. So we'll see.
VAUSE: Yes. Look, this is in his bag at the end of the day. I mean, you know, Tesla, SpaceX, not Twitter, I guess.
ISAAC: Right. Very different.
VAUSE: Absolutely. Good have you with us. Appreciate your time. Thank you, sir.
ISAAC: Thanks for having me, man. Always good to talk.
VAUSE: Always fun. Thanks, mate.
Well, the box office smash "Oppenheimer is sparking outrage among far- right Hindu groups in India because of explicit scenes involving their holy scripture. In the scene the protagonist reads a famous passage from the text while having sex with another character. Some have called it a disturbing attack on Hinduism, which (INAUDIBLE) was comparing it to waging a war on the Hindu community.
Now they are calling on director Christopher Nolan to remove the scene from the film.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UDAY MAHURKAR, FOUNDER, SAVE INDIA CULTURE, SAVE INDIA FOUNDATION (through translator): It's a great grant, I would call it, which has the power, you know, which can lead the entire world. It is a message for the entire world not for just the Hindu community. To demean the book in such a manner, so it is an assault on our civilization when you -- it's an assault on Hindu community.
And therefore we have returned a very strong letter to the director, Christopher Nolan that he should withdraw the scene from the film.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Well despite the unhappiness, "Oppenheimer" grossed more than $3 million in India over the weekend and has well received in many other countries around the world.
Iranian authorities have banned a film festival over a promotional poster showing an actress without her head covering. The film featured on the poster is from 1982, before the hijab was mandatory across Iran. According to state media, the poster was deemed inappropriate, in violation of the laws by Iran's ministry of culture and Islamic guidance.
Earlier this month Iran announced the morality police will again start enforcing a strict Islamic dress code. This comes after 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was arrested last year for improperly wearing a hijab. She later died in custody, sparking months of nationwide anti-government massive protests.
Beauty salons across Afghanistan are closing the doors for good today after they were outlawed by the misogynistic Taliban. An estimated 12,000 beauty shops are expected to shutter, putting g more than 60,000 women out of work according to industry estimates cited by Reuters. Experts fear it will put even more strain on an already struggling economy.
[01:50:01]
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am experiencing one of the worst and darkest days of my life. Total absolute disappointment. We started our work with lots of passion and enthusiasm, but unfortunately everything is over now.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I request the Taliban not to bother women, specially those who have suffered a lot in order to stand on their own feet. Please let the women work. Women are half part of the society.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Similar laws from the Islamic fundamentalist have banned women from attending high schools, universities, from working for aid groups in the country, from going out without a male chaperone, to leaving home at all.
Brazil's World Cup campaign is off to a stunning start with a hat trick to boot. Ahead, highlights and a look at Tuesday's action.
Plus, should he stay or should he go? The Saudi club makes a record offer for French striker in Kylian Mbappe.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTOINE ARNAULT, CEO, VICE CHAIRMAN, CHRISTIAN DIOR: What unites us today is building the success and the legacy of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
After 100 years of waiting, the Olympic Games are back in Paris. A global event, the games are opportunity for France. It is part of every French person's pride and so unites all forces of good faith that wish to contribute to its success.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: That was Christian Dior CEO Antoine Arnault announcing luxury giant LVMH's deal to sponsor the Olympic Games. Just over a year ago, organizers have also unveiled the many fan zones. There will be some 200 sites across France, including 23 in Paris where fans can watch the competition on big giant screens and cheer on the athletes.
One of the world's top footballers may be headed to Saudi Arabia. Multiple reports say the Saudi Club Al-Halal has submitted a world record bid of more than $330 million to Kylian Mbappe. He still has a year left on his contract with Paris Saint-Germain.
Reports say PSG's owners are ready to accept that deal, who wouldn't, rather than let the 24-year-old striker walk for free next year.
Kylian Mbappe would be a huge boost to Saudi Arabia's efforts to create a competitive league. If you've got the money.
Women's World Cup co-host New Zealand are vying for a second win in the group stages, that would secure their spot in the knockouts, kind of. They kicked off against the Philippines minutes ago.
Meantime Colombia has just netted a two-nil victory over South Korea.
More now from World Sport's Don Riddell.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: By the end of Tuesday in Australia and New Zealand, we will have seen every team at the Women's World Cup play at least once. And up until Monday, most of the games had been pretty close, but all that changed when Brazil and Germany went out and started banging in the goals.
Brazil's thrashing of Panama in Group F was notable for more reasons than one. Ary Borges was making her World Cup debut and she marked it with a stellar performance. That is why she was so emotional after heading in the opening goal.
But there was so much more to come. This was a brilliant goal and Borges played a key role, by keeling (ph) it to (INAUDIBLE) for the goal of the tournament so far. Have another look at it.
It is well worth seeing again on the slow motion replay. By this stage, Borges had already scored twice herself, and she made it a night to truly remember by completing a hat-trick 20 minutes from time.
[01:54:56]
RIDDELL: That is an emphatic 4-0 win for Brazil, maintaining their record of always winning their first game at the World Cup.
Meanwhile, in Group G, Italy need an 87th minute winner to seal off Argentina in their opener. Striker Cristiana Girelli coming off the bench to replace the 16-year-old Julia Dragoni. Dragoni has been named a Little Messi. She only made her debut internationally three weeks ago. She was something of a surprise in the starting 11 but 16 years and 259 days old, she is now one of the youngest players in the history of the tournament.
But it was the experience of the 33-year-old Girelli that ultimately made the difference scoring with a looping header, 3 minutes from time to secure all 3 points.
Argentina still looking for their first ever World Cup finals win. They have now lost 8 of the 10 games they have played.
The tournament's biggest wins so far came from the former 2-time champions Germany who thrashed Morocco in the opening game. Morocco one of the eight teams making their debuts in this expanded World Cup format. And there was no repeat of the heroics of their men's team in Qatar last year.
Germany where just far too good for them. Their star player Alexandra Popp making up for lost time after missing the Euros through injury. She caught twice. Morocco gifted them a couple of own goals, as the Germans cruised to a 6-0 win.
And frankly, they could have had so many more, they hit the frame of the goal twice. They had another one disallowed for offside.
So all in all, a very convincing performance that supports their billing as one of the tournament's favorites. That's the latest from the Women's World Cup.
Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
V3; Thanks, Don. Well, oops, she has done it, again. Britney Spears has hit another music milestone. Her hit 2003 single "Toxic" has surpassed one billion streams on Spotify, her first song to reach that mark. Spears joins other artists like Abba, Whitney Houston, and D.J. Khaled, in the billions club.
She's recently announced the release of a new memoir called "The Woman in Me". That's due out in October.
And an emotional goodbye from Harry Styles who ended his nearly two- year long tour of Italy over the weekend. Boy, is he tired. His final show ended with an extra encore and an emotional speech. His "Love on Tour" started in Las Vegas in September 2021. The show made stops in 5 continents and became one of the 10 highest grossing tours of all- time.
That is according to Billboard. As of last week, Styles had earned nearly $600 million from the tour. No wonder he is crying because it is the end of the money.
Thank you for watching. I'm John Vause.
CNN NEWSROOM continues with my friend and colleague Rosemary Church after a short break.
See you right back here tomorrow.
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