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Extreme Heat Still Suffers Most of the Northern Hemisphere, Super Typhoon Doksuri Approaches Northern Philippines; More Protests Happened in Israel after the Controversial Judicial Overhaul Bill Passed by the Parliament; NoKor Silent on the U.S. Soldier in Their Custody; U.S. First Lady Visits Paris to Rejoin UNESCO; Two Ecuadorian Provinces Now under State of Emergency due to Violence; Philippines Scores Historic Win at the Women's World Cup. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired July 25, 2023 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. You are watching "CNN Newsroom" and I'm Rosemary Church.
Just ahead, extreme heat plaguing the Northern Hemisphere from the US to China and a new report says there's only one culprit. We will have a live report.
Israel in turmoil, police and protesters clashing in the streets as Benjamin Netanyahu's government pushes ahead with a judicial overhaul that has exposed deep divisions in the nation.
And escalating violence in Ecuador, a state of emergency declared after prison uprisings and the death of a city official.
UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Rosemary Church.
CHURCH: Thanks for joining us. The E.U.'s Crisis Management Commissioner says the wildfires burning in Europe and the heat waves that fuel them are not a surprise, they are the new normal. He warns that the world needs to prepare for more devastating fires in more places. We're seeing the effects of that new normal in Greece right now.
The country's Prime Minister says they're at war fighting the raging wildfires there. Here's one view of a fire burning on Rhodes Island, where the country's largest ever evacuation effort has been underway.
Let's get the latest now from Elinda Labropoulou, who joins us live from Athens. So Elinda, what is the latest on these raging wildfires that of course prompted mass evacuations?
ELINDA LABROPOULOU, JOURNALIST: Well, the fires unfortunately are still raging on the islands of Rhodes, Corfu and Evia, in the south of Evia. At the moment, what we've been hearing from the firefighters is this. They're saying that every day they're managing to contain the flames and every night there are rekindling. And with the strong winds and the temperatures, the sweltering heat that we are experiencing in Greece at the moment, they keep losing that battle.
These fires in Rhodes have now been raging for the seventh day. It's a very long time. And evacuations have been ongoing.
The main part of the island that has been affected is the center and the south. At least 20,000 people have been evacuated so far. Some of them, many of them tourists have left the island, some have been moved to other parts of the island. And we're hearing from the locals as well that are saying okay it's one thing that the tourists have gone home but for us it's the end of the tourist season because nobody's going to come back. It's the end of our business.
So as you can understand, conditions there are very difficult. We've been hearing about evacuations overnight on the island of Corfu as well and these seem to be continuing as firefighters there trying to contain the flames with the help of international efforts as well. Teams are coming in from other countries as Greece has required for international assistance. And meanwhile here in Athens, today the temperatures are extremely hot. It is the third wave of this prolonged heat wave that the country is experiencing.
Right behind me is the Acropolis of Athens that has been shutting down during the warmest part of the day for well over ten days now and it will continue to do so today and tomorrow. We expect temperatures to improve as of Thursday. The country is going to cool down a little bit as of Thursday and this will hopefully give firefighters and their efforts a little bit of breathing space as well, Rosemary.
CHURCH: Let's hope for that. Elinda Labropoulou, joining us live from Athens. Many thanks.
And deadly wildfires are spreading across several regions in Algeria. They've killed at least 34 people so far. Ten of the victims are soldiers who died while evacuating other army personnel and civilians to safety. Right now, some 8,000 firefighters are working to control the flames.
Algeria and other North African nations have been suffering through a major heat wave, making conditions more dangerous for rescue workers and firefighters.
In addition to Europe and North Africa, millions of Americans are also enduring sweltering and even record-breaking heat. And in the Pacific, the Philippines is bracing for its own extreme weather with a super typhoon on its way. CNN meteorologist Chad Myers has more.
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CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: More hot days in a row here for parts of the globe from the desert southwest of the United States across parts of the Atlantic and then into the Mediterranean. These are all high pressure areas that allow this heat to just build right in the same places day after day.
[03:05:10]
Need those to move away a little bit. Then it flattens out. It's still hot in China, but it flattens out a little bit. No real oppressive heat there rather than closer to normal. We call that zonal flow as the jet stream runs across the time zones. We're going to get into the 40s still in Vegas. That's been a broken record for many days in a row, a slight cool down for Athens. We're only going to be 34. Obviously all those fires that are burning out of control in that area, they don't need any more heat.
Something else that's going on here. A super typhoon is now in the water. This is a very large typhoon. This is the Philippines, right? And this is the northern part of the Philippines. Luzon may be hit very, very hard by this 240 km per hour right now. There you see a very distinct eye. Clearly this thing has grown much larger than it was just 24 hours ago and 48 hours ago. This thing was barely any kind of a system whatsoever. So a big time storm in some very warm water, not much shear.
It will likely just graze the top of Luzon, which is the Philippines, and just graze Taiwan with some very big gusty winds, and then make landfall somewhere to the north of Hong Kong. But this is going to do for sure. Yes, it will make wind damage. Yes, it will make storm surge. But this is going to cause significant flash flooding.
Fresh water, rainfall coming down the mountains here. It's this area here that you see in white, also some very almost white there in Taiwan. That's 500 millimeters of rainfall just over the next few days as this storm system continues to move across the warmer water, and then eventually into mainland China.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Experts say the scorching heat waves affecting several countries would be, quote, "virtually impossible without climate change driven by humans." It's part of a report from the World Weather Attribution once again warning that extreme weather will only get worse unless people make big changes.
CNN's Jim Bittermann joins me now live from Paris. So good morning to you Jim. So what more did this report reveal about the role climate change has played in these heat waves across three continents and what big changes is it suggesting?
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think Rosemary, one of the things it does is it lays the blame squarely at world weather climate change, the human induced climate change, is the kind of thing they point to as making the conditions, the kind of conditions that we've seen this summer, the kind of extreme heat conditions that we've seen.
And not only that, but that if things remain the way they are, the severity and the frequency of these kind of events will just continue. Right now they're expecting that they will go from once every 15 years in North America, once every 10 years in Europe and once every five years in China, but that could worsen if in fact the global climate changes further. The kind of thing that's induced by greenhouse gasses being put into the atmosphere, and they're suggesting in fact that what has to happen is there's an urgent need for this reduction and stopping of burning hydrocarbons basically as a way to combat this phenomenon.
So it's a kind of thing that will only get worse if in fact it gets to the point where the world temperatures are averaging two degrees above the pre-industrial age. In fact that will mean that we'll see these kind of extreme weather events once every two to five years. That's something that a lot of people will have to prepare for and they're suggesting that there be ways to adapt that officials should think of the kind of things they have to do to safeguard humans and that's basically what they're aiming at and also this urgent need to stop burning hydrocarbons. Rosemary?
CHURCH: All right, Jim Bittermann, joining us live from Paris. Many thanks for that.
Protests are raging unabated across Israel, hours after the Israeli parliament passed into law the first part of a controversial judicial overhaul plan.
This was the scene in Tel Aviv just a short time ago as Israelis clashed with police and blocked the city's main highway and authorities used water cannon to try and disperse them. On Monday, demonstrators attempted to block access to the parliament during the vote and police say at least 19 people were arrested.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right coalition unanimously approved the legislation after all opposition lawmakers walked out of the chamber in protest. But Mr. Netanyahu is calling the passage of the law a necessary democratic move.
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And CNN's Fred Pleitgen has been following these developments and has more now from Jerusalem.
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FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Israeli police trying to disperse the crowd using water cannon trucks, but facing massive resistance.
(on-camera): For 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 passed a law severely curbing the Supreme Court's power to check the government. Opponents saying democracy is at risk.
UNKNOWN: We're trying to do our best in order to protect democracy in our country.
UNKNOWN: So I think, it has an impact in the world, to see that we are not going down slowly and quietly.
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 translator): Today we performed a democratic need. According to most people of Israel, this is the essence of democracy, to do what the majority wish.
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 Tishbi, who was dismissed as an Israeli special envoy for criticizing the judicial overhaul.
NOA TISHBI, ISRAELI ACTRESS AND ACTIVIST: The majority of the Israeli population is not behind this particular vote. That's just the truth. But the 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 scuffles continue well into the night in Jerusalem and other Israeli cities.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: For more, let's go to journalist Elliot Gotkine, who joins us live from Tel Aviv. Good to see you, Elliot. So as these protests continue and of course strikes loom, what comes next for Israel at this historic and very difficult time for the nation?
ELLIOT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: Rosemary, this is, I suppose, the question that everybody wants to know. We know certain things that are due to happen at certain times, but ultimately we're not quite sure where this is all going to end. So in terms of those protests that Fred of course was referring to, it wasn't until one o'clock in the morning local time that the main highway that goes through Tel Aviv was cleared.
We're not expecting such dramatic scenes today on Tuesday. There is a strike by the Israeli Medical Association, which will be running outside of Jerusalem, which will not be affected, which will be running a similar service that it does on public holidays and on the Jewish Sabbath. And actually right about now is when doctors are supposed to be starting a protest outside the main offices of the main labor umbrella union in Israel.
That main umbrella union, the Hisad Rud, has yet to declare a national strike, at least nothing compared with what it did back in March when the airport was temporarily closed and when there was a strike. but that is still possible. We also may hear from more reservists saying that they will not turn up for duty, but there aren't expected to be major protests of the sort that we saw on Monday.
Meantime, of course, we saw that clip in Fred's report from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He also said that he would like to reach a general agreement on everything with the opposition vis-a-vis the rest of his judicial overhaul plans, among which are included plans to give the government more powers to select judges and to reduce further the powers of the Supreme Court to strike down laws passed by the government.
But given how poorly negotiations over this so-called reasonableness bill fared, it's perhaps unsurprising that the opposition has dismissed these overtures by Netanyahu. Yair Lapid, former prime minister, leader of the opposition, saying that it's just an empty show and saying that Netanyahu isn't really the prime minister. He's not really at the wheel.
He is simply beholden to the more extremist elements of his governing coalition. But in terms of the bill that was actually passed on Monday, there have been petitions filed already. There will be perhaps more petitions filed to the Supreme Court to at the very least get an injunction to delay this bill being passed into law with the hope of ultimately having it scrapped.
And of course, we have this almost ironic situation now that the Supreme Court is being asked to block a law designed to prevent the Supreme Court from blocking certain laws and certain appointments and of course if it does ultimately do that we are set for a kind of constitutional showdown between the government and the supreme court and to be perfectly honest we don't know exactly where that would happen because that, Rosemary, would of course be uncharted territory.
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CHURCH: Elliot Gotkine, joining us live from Tel Aviv, many thanks for that report, I appreciate it.
Well still to come, Donald Trump's ever-changing tune praising election security in the months leading up to the 2020 election then crying foul when he lost.
Plus the latest on efforts to communicate with North Korea about the U.S. soldier who fled into its territory. Back in just a moment.
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CHURCH: The U.S. Justice Department is asking witnesses about a 2020 White House meeting where then-president Donald Trump praised election security. Sources say he even suggested the FBI and Department of Homeland
Security hold a press conference to take credit for their work. Just a few months later, when he lost the election, Trump claimed it was rigged.
CNN's Sean Lyngaas reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
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 were 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 would 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 had 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)
CHURCH: Meanwhile, investigators are pouring over thousands of documents from a team led by Rudy Giuliani trying to find voter fraud. CNN's Paula Reid has details.
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PAULA REID, CNN SR. LEGAL AFFAIRS 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. This team was tasked with trying to find some evidence of fraud.
Now, one of the people on this team is the former New York Police Commissioner Bernie Carrick. He's a close associate of Rudy Giuliani and he has been in possession of a lot of these documents. The January 6 committee was trying to get all 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 Carrick to schedule an interview and also to collect evidence. And after they reached out, Carrick went to the Trump campaign, had them review the materials, and the Trump campaign were told, said, look, they were not going to argue privilege over this, which suggests that they believe there's not anything too incriminating in these documents.
[03:20:05]
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 they're able to see these materials, and it could be some key evidence in their ongoing investigation.
Now, Carrick has also scheduled an interview for early August. He will sit down with investigators and face questions, some of which they've likely already written, and maybe some new ones based on the documents he's just handed over.
Paula Reid, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: North Korea fired off another two ballistic missiles on Monday, the latest in its week-long flurry of missile tests. The missiles flew about 400 kilometers from the Pyongyang area into the waters east of the Korean Peninsula.
The U.N. called the launchers clear violations of Security Council resolutions. These provocations come just days before the 70th anniversary of the armistice agreement that ended hostilities in the Korean War.
Well, meanwhile, we are hearing that North Korea has acknowledged efforts to communicate about the American soldier in its custody. But the North has yet to respond to any U.S. questions about Army Private Travis King, who sprinted into North Korea last week.
And CNN's Marc Stewart is following all this for us live from Tokyo, who joins us now. So Marc, North Korea has acknowledged the Travis king case but offered channels for any dialogue as yet. That's according to U.S. officials. What more are you learning about this?
MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, Rosemary, this is very difficult because for the moment, the United States and North Korea have no formal diplomatic relationship. And despite that overture by the United States, at this point in time, it's silence from North Korea.
So that's why a lot of attention is now focusing on the United Nations command. It has a system in place to reach out to North Korea in situations such as this.
According to the deputy commander, communication lines are open. But Rosemary, at this point, there are still key questions that need to be answered about that soldier, including his location, his health, his condition, his well-being, in addition to any possible next steps. So right now, things are still very much murky.
CHURCH: Indeed. And Marc, we're also learning that a high-level Chinese delegation will visit North Korea this week. What do you know about that? STEWART: Right, this is a big deal, Rosemary, because this may be the
first high-level visit from Chinese officials to North Korea since the pandemic, when borders were closed.
So for these face-to-face talks to happen, these discussions to happen, that's very symbolic. And as we know, China is seen as perhaps a key stakeholder or a liaison, oftentimes, with North Korea to the rest of the world. So we are certainly keeping watch of that.
And separately, I should mention you did allude to those missile tests that we saw overnight. That's separate from what's happening most likely with this visit from China. But it is again an indication, a symbol of North Korea trying to assert itself on the world stage, trying to make itself relevant. It's happening as a U.S. submarine is in some of the Korean ports, a submarine with nuclear capabilities. So perhaps, Rosemary, this is a way for North Korea to say we are definitely watching.
CHURCH: Yeah. All right, Marc Stewart, joining us live from Tokyo. Many thanks.
Well China's political leaders are laying out a new program to jumpstart the country's lagging economy. But a 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 and removing risks in the real estate markets.
China had expected a quick return to prosperity after it lifted its heavy COVID restrictions, but now it blames its slumping growth on low demand for products and what it calls complex external challenges.
Well still to come, CNN sits down with Ukraine's Defense Minister for an exclusive interview on the war and Russian aggression. Why, he says, Russia's attacks on Odessa are absurd.
And the U.S. First Lady heads to Paris to celebrate her country's return to UNESCO. We will explain why it's significant and why the U.S. pulled out in the first place. Back with that in just a moment.
[03:25:00]
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CHURCH: A Ukrainian official says the country's air defense repelled a Russian drone attack on the capital and the Kyiv region just hours ago, and all air targets were destroyed.
Meantime, to the south, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency says experts have found mines on the site of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, which is currently occupied by Russian forces.
IAEA chief Rafael Grossi says the mines were located at a restricted area and were facing away from the site but called having explosives there inconsistent with the agency's safety standards and nuclear security guidance.
Ukraine's defense minister says Russia further showed it is a terrorist state when attacking the port city of Odessa and its grain warehouses which feed many parts of the world.
Oleksii Reznikov sat down with CNN's Alex Marquardt for an exclusive interview to speak ruthlessness and Ukraine's counteroffensive.
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ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SR. NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As Russia has pounded Odessa, 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.
(on-camera): Are you escalating your attacks against the peninsula?
OLEKSII REZNIKOV, UKRAINIAN DEFENSE MINISTER: I would not say that we're escalating something. We're fighting for our freedom.
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, Ukraine strikes deepened into Crimea and beyond will become the norm.
REZNIKOV: It means that we will use every options to hit their fuel depot, ammunition depot, the artillery systems.
MARQUARDT (on-camera): 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, etc., etc. That's why we will use these tactics against them.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): Russia's latest attack in the Odessa region early on Monday morning was 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 real. And that's why it's new evidence that they are really country who are real terrorists. They are terrorist state.
MARQUARDT (on-camera): Have you been surprised at how ferocious these attacks have been?
REZNIKOV: Honestly not, because after the February of last year, it's very difficult to surprise me.
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MARQUARDT (voice-over): After almost two months, Ukraine's highly anticipated counteroffensive has produced few gains. Russian troops are on the offensive in the east, while Ukrainian progress is modest, at best, in the south.
REZNIKOV: I think that it's a misperception. that every counteroffensive should be quick. We had the time to prepare our armed forces with our partners, but they also had the time to make security zone with the trenches, with the mines.
MARQUARDT (on-camera): 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 the artillery shells, of the more artillery systems. It's a question that we have a very long battlefield line also. And we have against us a big quantity of enemies.
MARQUARDT (on-camera); 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.
MARQUARDT (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 personal carriers or infantry fighting vehicles. They will be good against their infantry in the fields.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): Alex Marquardt, CNN, Odessa.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: CNN's Salma Abdelaziz is following developments for us. She joins us live from London. Good morning to you, Salma. So what is the latest on the Russian drone attacks on Kyiv?
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so Ukraine's air defense systems around the capital were in full swing again today. Ukraine says that there is no victims and no destruction. So essentially that those air defense systems did work.
Ukrainian officials describing this as the sixth wave of Russian drone attacks on the capital this month and it comes, Rosemary, really as we see what appears to be an intensification of fighting outside of the bounds of the battlefield.
If you will, Ukraine as you heard in that package there from our Alex Marquardt is ever vocal in the last few days claiming that it has carried out attacks on Russian soil or Russian-occupied soil. It has carried out a wave of drone attacks just in the last 48 hours
on Moscow. The Kremlin saying it was able to neutralize those Ukrainian drones but that they did target two non-residential buildings so unclear if that was a military target.
Also, Ukrainian officials claiming a wave of drone attacks on Russian- occupied Crimea and again in the last 24 hours a Russian ammunitions depot was struck so you see this again as you heard there from Ukraine's defense minister as part of Kiev's growing strategy to target Russia outside of the battlefield in an attempt to weaken it's defense is weaken its supply lines.
But Russia's response to this, of course, has also been an intensification of drone attacks on Ukrainian regions, including Odessa, the port city that has absolutely been pummeled in the last few days by Russian attacks. This, as the Black Sea Grain Initiative has been falling apart again, an all-important deal that's been extremely important for Ukraine's ports and keyed the capital again, very far from those front lines.
As while suffering another wave of drone attacks this morning. Why? Why is all of this taking place? Well, if you look at those front lines, Rosemary, very little progress, very little advance by Ukrainian forces. Ukraine's defense minister admitting they are absolutely behind schedule.
CHURCH: And Salma, what more are you learning about additional military aid being sent to Ukraine?
ABDELAZIZ: Yes, so we have new information today on both Lithuania and Spain providing more help. So Lithuania has approved a three-year military assistance program worth 200 million euros. They say that will be in place as soon as possible to provide that support on those front lines. Spain as well will be or already has sent on the way right now are leopard tanks, humanitarian assistance, armored vehicles, along with more of what Ukraine needs on those front lines.
But for all of these allies, for all of these supporters of Kiev's fight on those front lines, they are eager in waiting to see any gains, any victory, any progress. And again, Ukraine's defense minister admitting that they are behind schedule, but saying, just as we and our allies have had time to prepare for this fight, so has Russia. And so what you might continue to see here, Rosemary, is Ukraine taking that fight again to Russian territory, to Russian- occupied territory, attempts to weaken its defenses so that it is ever weaker on the front lines.
[03:35:14]
CHURCH: All right, our thanks to Salma Abdelaziz, joining us live from London.
The U.S. has criticized the Belarusian president for suggesting Wagner fighters in Belarus are keen on pushing across the border into a NATO country. Alexander Lukashenko told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a meeting on Sunday that those fighters have begun to stress him because they want to go to the West on an excursion, he said, to Poland. Here's how the U.S. State Department responded.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATTHEW MILLER, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: I will say it is another in a series of irresponsible comments by Lukashenko, and the only thing I will reiterate, as I said about another matter earlier in this briefing, the United States will defend every inch of NATO territory.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Lukashenko invited Wagner forces into Belarus earlier this month to help train his country's military. That invitation came shortly after the failed insurrection by Wagner forces in Russia.
U.S. First Lady Jill Biden is in Paris to mark the United States' return to UNESCO. Administration officials say her visit is meant to signal that the U.S. is renewing its commitment to international engagement and leadership.
Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in 2017, accusing it of anti-Israel bias and concerned about mounting membership dues. But the Biden administration says UNESCO has made reforms and the benefits it brings to U.S. prestige and national security are worth the cost.
Joining me now from Los Angeles, CNN European Affairs commentator Dominic Thomas. Good to have you with us.
DOMINIC THOMAS, CNN EUROPEAN AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Thank you for having me on the show, Rosemary.
CHURCH: Absolutely. So Dominic, why is it so important that the United States rejoin UNESCO, particularly at this time when Russia is targeting historic sites in Odessa and of course other parts of Ukraine?
THOMAS: Yeah, it's such an important moment. And I think the fact that the first lady is there is especially symbolic because this is not just the first lady, let's not forget this is Dr. Jill Biden. This is a woman who has committed herself throughout her professional career to education and education, science and culture are the three pillars of this important organization created in the aftermath of the second world war.
And these are important values that are those also of her husband's administration, and that set them apart very much from his predecessor, President Trump, who was neither incorporating those in his value system nor was he committed to the multilateral order. So the United States being part of this organization today is especially important when we look at the various areas in which the organization has evolved and the role that the United States can play alongside the now 194 members of this organization in dealing with global issues and global problems and trying to find solutions to gather Rosemary.
CHURCH: And as we've reported the Odessa Cathedral that was hit by Russian missiles under is now structurally unsound and it's just one of at least 25 architectural monuments in the historic city center of Odessa that were damaged or destroyed by Russian missiles overnight.
Given Odessa is under UNESCO protection as we mentioned, how should the organization respond to this?
THOMAS: Well, this is a perfect example of how the military strategy of the Russian Federation is aimed specifically at these monuments and cultural objects as a way of undermining Ukrainian cultural identity and to weaken this particular nation-state. And the question of cultural preservation of heritage is at the very heart of the workings of an organization like UNESCO.
And UNESCO is important because it is unlike military power, a perfect example of soft power. And an organization like that, like this, has the opportunity to apply from different angles pressure on the Russian Federation in this particular context, so that it's not just the European Union, not just the allies, but also pointing out how in many ways these actions also constitute crimes and more war crimes, if we could call them that way. And I think that this ratchets up the pressure and the international exposure on what exactly they are doing in Ukraine at the moment, Rosemary.
[03:40:03]
CHURCH: Exactly right. And I want to ask you this, Dominic, with Russia continuing to target civilians, residential areas, hospitals, and historic World Heritage sites, has the international community shown sufficient outrage for Moscow's actions? What more needs to be done given Russia continues to be a member of the United Nations, UNESCO, and of course other global organizations while it wages this brutal war on Ukraine and of course its citizens?
THOMAS: Yeah, Rosemary, I mean, you are all the way back to where we were talking about this well over a year ago now, unfortunately, is the question of what engagement represents. Not the, you know, belonging to the European Union, belonging to NATO would constitute the crossings of a red line.
And we've seen evolution there around Sweden and Finland. But yet to this day, Ukraine has not been admitted to either one of those organizations. And that has therefore limited the ways in which the international allies have been able to respond. And I think that the question remains as to what is going to be the ultimate kind of crossing of the line of what is deemed intolerable before greater intervention takes place.
But we see right now tremendous concern about how to go about managing this conflict and attending to the sort of dangers and risks and unpredictability of President Putin and unfortunately this is continuing to stifle the ways in which an international response can really be seen as imposing kind of real muscle in this kind of context, Rosemary. So unfortunately we're back at those sorts of dilemmas and questions as to what will be the ultimate red line here.
CHURCH: Yeah, yeah, you do have to ask it. Dominic Thomas, many thanks for joining us. I Appreciate it.
THOMAS: Thank you.
CHURCH: And still to come, from prison riots to the killing of a public official, Ecuador's government is scrambling to deal with deadly violence across the country. We'll be back with that in just a moment.
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CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. The center-right People's Party in Spain has some work to do to form a coalition government. The party's leader says he's already started a dialogue with other groups after winning the most votes, but not a majority in Sunday's election. More now from Al Goodman reporting from Madrid.
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AL GOODMAN, JOURNALIST: 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 well short of a parliamentary majority and even adding on the far-right seats, they still came up short.
[03:45:04]
The far-right has been making gains across Europe. It governs in Italy with hard-right Prime Minister Maloney. It's got part of the government in Finland. But on Sunday, the Spaniards 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 contacts 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 the Spanish state.
Al Goodman, CNN, Madrid.
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CHURCH: Guatemala is preparing for a presidential runoff next month, and the U.S. is urging the country to hold a free and fair election.
Former First Lady Sandra Torres is running against diplomat Bernardo Arrivalo. U.S. officials are calling for an end to interference and harassment of candidates, 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 threaten to undermine Guatemala's democratic process.
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CHURCH: Police raided the officers of Arrivalo's anti-Graft party last week. The prosecutor leading the investigation is on the U.S. State Department's list of corrupt and undemocratic actors.
Well in the coming hours Ecuador's president will hold an emergency cabinet meeting to address growing violence around the country. A state of emergency has been declared in two provinces after the killing of a city mayor and uprisings in several prisons.
Journalist Stefano Pozzebon has more.
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STEFANO POZZEBON, JOURNALIST: 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 following in yet another weekend of violence inside Ecuador's prisons, where clashes have killed at least six inmates over the last 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 who are competing to be Lasso's replacement, they all expressed condolences over the crimes and they have all pledged to restore faith in the country's security services and to bring this spiral of violence under control.
For CNN, this is Stefano Pozzebon, Bogota.
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CHURCH: Iranian authorities have banned a film festival over a promotional poster for the event. It shows an actress not wearing a hijab, the head cover worn by many Muslim women. The film featured on the poster is from 1982, before hijabs were
mandatory in Iran. But according to state media, the poster was deemed inappropriate and a violation of the law by Iran's Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.
Earlier this month, Iran announced the morality police would again start enforcing a strict Islamic dress code. It comes after 22-year- old Massa Amini was arrested last year for not wearing the hijab and later died in police custody sparking months of mass protests.
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 had pleaded not guilty but admitted she had disobeyed police, saying she had acted out of necessity.
[03:50:00]
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GRETA THUNBERG, CLIMATE ACTIVIST: Well, we are 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.
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, yeah, that will not change.
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CHURCH: Earlier this year, Thunberg was taken into police custody during a protest in Germany over a coal mine expansion, but released later that day.
The football firms try to make history again, how they fared against the Philippines, as Switzerland get ready to take on Norway. That and all of Monday's World Cup action just ahead.
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CHURCH: We are now just minutes away from the start of the next Women's World Cup match, with Switzerland taking on Norway in Hamilton, New Zealand.
Today's action kicked off with Colombia clashing against South Korea in Group H. Colombia won two-nil, and will face Germany on Sunday. And co-hosts New Zealand were hoping for a second historic victory to secure their spot in the knockouts. But the Philippines were not having it. They took an early one-nil lead and hung onto it. Earning first ever women's World Cup victory.
Meanwhile, most of Monday's matches turned into a real gold fest with a hat trick to boot. World Sports' Don Riddell has details.
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DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: 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. Ari Borges was making her World Cup debut and she marked it with a stellar performance. That's 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, backhealing it to Beze Narado for the goal of the tournament so far. Have another look at it it's well worth seeing again on the slow motion replay and by this stage Borges had already scored twice herself and she made it a night to truly remember by completing a hat-trick twenty minutes from time, that's an emphatic four-nil win for Brazil maintaining their record of always winning their first game at the World Cup.
Meanwhile in group G Italy needed an eighty-seventh minute winner to seat-off Argentina in their opener striker Cristiana Girelli coming off the bench to replace the 16-year old Giulia Dragoni. Dragoni has been nicknamed Little Messi. She only made her debut internationally three weeks ago.
She was something of a surprise in the starting 11 but at 16 years and 259 days old she's 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 three minutes from time to secure all three points. Argentina still looking for their World Cup finals win. They've now lost eight of the ten games they've played.
[03:55:02]
The tournament's biggest win so far came from the former two-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 were just far too good for them. Their star player Alexandra Popp making up for lost time after missing the Euros through injury. She scored twice.
Morocco gifted them a couple of own goals as the Germans cruised to a six-nil 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 favorites.
That's the latest from the Women's World Cup, back to you.
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CHURCH: Well, one of the world's top footballers may be headed to Saudi Arabia. Multiple reports say the Saudi club Al Hilal has submitted a world record bid of more than $332 million for Kylian Mbappe. He still has a year left on his contract with Paris Saint- Germain. Reports say PSG's owners are ready to accept the deal rather than let the 24-year-old striker work for free next year, landing Mbappe would be a huge boost to Saudi Arabia's efforts to create a competitive league.
Astronomers have made a first of its kind discovery, a white dwarf star with two completely different faces. White dwarfs are remnants of dead stars whose atmospheres are typically dominated by only one light element. But this newly discovered white dwarf has two, hydrogen on one side and helium on the other. Researchers say it could be in the middle of a chemical transition, so they've appropriately named it after the roman God of transition Janus, who's depicted with two faces.
Well, 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 DJ Khaled in the Billions Club. Spears recently announced the release of a new memoir called "The Woman in Me," due out in October.
And thank you so much for your company. I'm Rosemary Church. Have yourselves a wonderful day. "CNN Newsroom" continues with Max Foster, next.
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