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Russian & Chinese Delegations Visiting North Korea; President Declares State Of Emergency In Prison System; Seine To Take Center Stage At Summer Olympics; The Cost Of Netanyahu's Judicial Overhaul; Italy And Greece Battle Wildfires; Typhoon Doksuri Weakening As It Nears Taiwan. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired July 26, 2023 - 02:00   ET

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

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[02:00:29]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushes ahead with his plan to overhaul the nation's judiciary. Despite protests strikes and a new warning that the controversial doors pose a serious risk to the nation's economy.

In Italy and Greece, firefighters struggle to contain deadly wildfires amid a brutal heatwave. We are live in Athens.

And an American once held in Russia now injured fighting against Russian forces in Ukraine. A live report just ahead.

ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center. This is CNN NEWSROOM with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Thanks for joining us. Well, there may be an economic fallout in Israel after the government pushed through the first part of a controversial judicial overhaul plan. The stock market continues to stumble and the Israeli currency is close to a three-year low. Morgan Stanley has downgraded the country's sovereign credit rating to dislike.

Meantime, thousands of reservists are refusing to report for service. The contentious law passed on Monday would strip the Supreme Court of its power to declare government decisions unreasonable. The legislation has also sparked multiple legal challenges. But if the court strikes down the law gutting its own power, how does the government plan to respond? Here's what one Israeli Minister told CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RON DERMER, ISRAEL MINISTER OF STRATEGIC AFFAIRS: I have no idea whether or not the Supreme Court would make such a decision, it would seem to me a very strange decision for the Supreme Court to make to put it in American terms. Imagine that -- (CROSSTALK)

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Would you -- but we -- we're almost out of time, sir. So, would the government heed that ruling? Yes or no.

DERMER: The government will always obey and abide by the rule of law in Israel, because we're -- we have in Israel, the rule of law. What we don't have is the rule of judges.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: For more, let's go to journalist Elliott Gotkine who joins us live from Tel Aviv. Good to see you, Elliot. So, Israel's economy is suffering in response to Prime Minister Netanyahu's new controversial law. How bad could this get?

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rosemary, if I just take a slightly different tack to start with, which is the economy in terms of the positive side, if you want to take a look at it is that growth is still expected to be about three percent this year. That's not too shabby by any developed countries standards. There are major investments going on in the oil and gas sector. And at the same time, just yesterday, we had this French defense and technology security company tell us buying an Israeli-founded company called Imperva for $3.6 billion.

That's the good news. And that was what Prime Minister Netanyahu and his finance minister Bezalel Smotrich were trying to focus on in response to this flurry of bad news yesterday. But you cannot ignore now this kind of drumbeat of bad news that just keeps on coming. You mentioned Morgan Stanley. We also heard from Moody's one of the three major credit rating agencies yesterday as well.

And it was saying that there is significant risk that political and social tensions over this judicial overhaul will continue with negative consequences for Israel's economy and security situation. And then we haven't even heard from the other two major rating agencies yet. This is Standard and Poor's and Fitch and that could put more pressure on the Israeli shekel, the Israeli currency, and also on the stock market.

We're also seeing an impact on Israel's fabled startup scene as well. Yes, investments from Venture Capital has declined globally into startups. But in Israel, the pace has been much, much greater. And we keep on hearing from startups talking about either shifting their funds or shifting some of their operations outside of Israel, looking at potentially registering overseas as well. So, there's a big concern or not least, because high tech exports accounted for about half of all of Israel's exports.

And then on top of that, you have the Histadrut. The main labor union. Its chairman Arnon Bar-David saying on Tuesday, I call on the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance, in his words, to come to their senses to show responsibility and immediately stop the damage to the economy. So, there are concerns about the weakening of that -- the weakness of the Israeli currency, decline in the stock market, decline in investment.

And of course, as these things happen if they do have an impact on the real economy, which as I say at the moment is still forecast to grow by about three percent according to the OECD, then of course that would make it harder for Israel to attract more talent to immigrate to the country.

[02:05:06]

And there is of course the very real potential that people may start to leave the country. The talent -- the most talented people may start to leave the country as well. And these are all major concerns. It's not quite there yet. But as I say, we've heard from Moody's, we've heard from Morgan Stanley, we will probably hear from Standard and Poor's and Fitch as well. There will be more bad news to come as this judicial overhaul remains in play and these protests remain, and the controversy refuses to go away. Rosemary?

CHURCH: All right. Our thanks to Elliot Gotkine joining us live from Tel Aviv. Wildfires are tearing through parts of southern Italy, leading to one of the country's most difficult days in decades according to one minister. At least four people died Tuesday as a result of the fires. All of the victims were elderly, three of them died in Sicily. Two were found near the Palermo Airport, and another died when fires blocked an ambulance from reaching her.

Wildfires are also burning out of control in parts of Greece where an effort to battle the blaze on one island has ended in tragedy. The country's Defense Ministry says two Greek Air Force officers died while conducting a firefighting operation from the sky. A warning this video is graphic. The plane was dropping water on a fire in the Greek island of area when it crashed into the hillside.

The pilots on board were 27 and 34 years old. Greek officials have announced a three-day national mourning period.

Well, Greece's Prime Minister says firefighters are working 24 hours a day to put out the blazes. But he says the dire situation will likely get worse. Thanks to rising temperatures, strong winds and drought conditions. The main battle fronts are on the islands of Corfu, Evia and Rhodes. More than 20,000 people have been evacuated from Rhodes alone. A Red Cross volunteer says these fires dwarf anything the country has seen in recent years.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARIA FEGGOU, VOLUNTEER, HELLENIC RED CROSS: That further that we have at the moment is -- we cannot describe what is happening. Half of the island is in flames and it seems uncontrollable and we are deeply sorry for that. We feel deeply hurt about this situation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And that Red Cross volunteer also says the Greek government needs to adapt quickly and develop new plans to deal with these types of disasters. Italy and Greece are not the only countries plagued by wildfires. They are burning all over southern Europe and in North Africa as well. CNN's Nada Bashir reports.

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NADA BASHIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL REPORTER (voiceover): The night sky over Sicily, illuminated by flames. A devastating series of wildfires spreading across parts of the Italian island. At one point, even bringing Palermo Airport to a standstill. Europe's southern coast has been gripped by wildfires for days. On the Greek island of Corfu, more than 2000 people have so far been forced to evacuate.

Teams from Turkey, Croatia and Egypt have even been flown in to help tackle the relentless blaze. On the Greek island of Evia, no end to the tragedy. A Canadian firefighting plane crashed on Tuesday with two people on board. And in Rhodes where fires have been raging for a week now, residents scramble to find safety.

ARTEMIS PAPAVASILIOU, RESIDENT: We evacuated the village. Now some houses are on fire. And we came down here. We don't know what to do. It's very, very bad situation. We need help. Send us help from everywhere.

BASHIR (voiceover): But it's not just Europe that is feeling the heat. In Algeria, dozens of people have been killed as a result of wildfires across 16 provinces in the country. Local officials say more than 8000 firefighters are working to contain the spread of the fires. But across the border in Tunisia, smoke fills the sky as both emergency teams and residents do whatever they can to stop the blaze from scorching more land.

Parts of North Africa and the Mediterranean have already exceeded 40 degrees Celsius or 104 degrees Fahrenheit over the last week. Temperatures which according to experts, would have been virtually impossible without human induced climate change. In a new report, the World Weather Attribution Initiative says extreme heat events are expected to worsen in both severity and frequency unless the world rapidly stops burning fossil fuels.

One lead researcher even warning that this year sweltering temperatures could be considered cool in the future. This as E.U. officials warn that wildfires are becoming the new normal.

[02:10:04]

With heat waves across Europe growing even longer and more intense with each passing year.

Nada Bashir, CNN, Rome.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Let's get the latest now from Elinda Labropoulou who joins us live from Rafina. So, Ekinda, what is the latest on efforts to battle these raging wildfires? ELINDA LABROPOULOU, CNN REPORTER: It's been a difficult night for firefighters across Greece. We understand, however, that both the fires in Rhodes and Corfu which are the biggest fires that are currently raging, seem to be subsiding. This is obviously early morning hours. So this is the first impression and what's expected to be a very hot day ahead and with strong winds in both areas.

So, it's -- we're optimistic but on the cautious side. Right behind me is the island of Evia where the firefighter cert plane crashed yesterday. But you can see that the atmosphere is very hazy, you can maybe see a little bit of the smoke in the background as well. Of course, part of the haze is also to do with the very, very hot temperatures that we're experiencing right now. Today's expected it to be the hottest day of the year so far with temperatures reaching 46 degrees Celsius.

So, about 115 Fahrenheit in parts of the country, including Athens as well. This means the country is on high alert for fires. However, the good news is that we have been hearing that we're reaching the end of this heatwave as of tomorrow, temperatures are expected to drop substantially. And this is likely to obviously help firefighting operations as well. All the same now the questions that have started entering the agenda after the initial shock, the initial panic of just trying to get people out.

I mean, the authorities have luckily managed to get everyone out. And this has been a massive operation a huge evacuation of over 20,000 people just from the island of Rhodes alone. But now, you know, this is a peak tourist season. It's -- these islands are normally have hundreds of thousands of tourists every year, and now likely to remain empty for at least the weeks ahead. So the question is what is the future of tourism in this new normal, that's now developing as a result of climate change, Rosemary.

CHURCH: All right. Our thanks to Elinda Labropoulou joining us from Rafina in Greece.

Well, officials in the Philippines have reported at least one death from Typhoon Doksuri which may landfall there on Tuesday. Since then, it started to weaken on its way toward Taiwan with the threat of heavy rain, strong winds and flash flooding. A second landfall in southern China is expected by Friday. It would likely be the most powerful typhoon to hit that country so far this year. And forecasters believe it will move far inland. Fishing boat crews have been worn to seek shelter and farmers to speed up their harvest.

Well, still to come. An update on the condition of Bronny James. The teenage son of NBA superstar LeBron James now recovering from a cardiac arrest.

Plus, a former U.S. Marine wants detained in Russia has been injured while fighting in Ukraine. Now officials are concerned this may complicate efforts to bring his

fellow Americans home. That's next.

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[02:15:38]

CHURCH: Ukraine says its military is advancing toward the Russian held city of Bakhmut. The scene of some of the war's most intense fighting. Ukraine's deputy defense minister claims Russian losses have outnumbered those of Ukraine by a ratio of eight or nine to one. The Ukrainian military has been trying to encircle the city but acknowledges the situation is more difficult north of Bakhmut.

They have also made further gains on cities along the southern battlefront. Meanwhile, the U.S. warns Iran is helping Russia build a drone stockpile orders of magnitude larger than its previous arsenal. Analysts from the US Defense Intelligence Agency say Tehran is aiding in the construction of a new drone manufacturing facility near 1000 -- nearly 1000 kilometers east of Moscow. Iran, for its part denies providing drones for Russia during the war.

Well, U.S. officials tell CNN they are concerned about negotiations with Moscow to free two detained Americans after revelations a previously released former Marine was fighting against Russia in Ukraine. CNN's Clare Sebastian joins us now from London. Good morning to you, Clare. So what more are you learning about Trevor Reed, once held by Russia now found injured fighting in Ukraine and how might this complicate efforts to bring other Americans home?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Rosemary. We don't know the circumstances of his injury, where exactly he was fighting, how long he been there, or the severity of his injury. All we know that he has now been treating -- being treated at an American military hospital in Germany near the Ramstein Air Base. So, I think perhaps you can read into that, that it may be relatively severe if he had to be moved to Germany, but we just don't know at this point.

And obviously, this comes just 15 months after he was freed. And that prisoner swap in April 2020 to the second month of the war in Ukraine, amid concerns from his family that his health was deteriorating. Since then, you know, he's been pretty active, pretty out there on social media, on television, talking about his experiences, the inhumane conditions that he was subjected to and advocating for the release of the Americans who are still detained in Russia.

And obviously, that is where the focus shifts given this news. Paul Whelan, who has already spent more than four years in Russian detention on espionage charges. Now Evan Gershkovich who was detained in March could be facing up to 20 years on charges there. The concern and certainly this was voiced by one U.S. official to CNN is that it could complicate the negotiation process. We know that efforts are already underway to get both of those men freed, perhaps in a prisoner swap that Russia may now try to exact a higher price, may try to slow the negotiations.

Efficiently U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken saying that it shouldn't affect things. Other officials saying that it should be viewed separately, but there is definitely a concern there. And of course, we're looking very closely to see how Russia is going to spin this. There hasn't been a lot of coverage yet, but they may also use this, Rosemary to try to sort of reinforce the rhetoric that the U.S. and NATO are playing an outsized role in this conflict in Ukraine.

CHURCH: Yes. All right. We'll continue to watch this. Clare Sebastien bringing us that live report from London. Appreciate it.

Bronny James, the highly touted 18-year-old son of the NBA superstar LeBron James is said to be in stable condition a day after suffering a cardiac arrest during a college basketball practice. It's a frightening turn of events for the father and son who have long dreamed of playing side by side in the NBA as CNN's Brian Todd reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORESPONDENT (voiceover): A Hall of Famer and his family rallying around their son. Bronny James, the 18-year-old son of NBA superstar LeBron James is in stable condition and out of the ICU after suffering cardiac arrest Monday during a practice at USC where he's been slated to play this coming season. The James family in a statement saying they send their deepest thanks and appreciation to the USC Medical and Athletic Staff for their incredible work and dedication to the safety of their athletes.

DAVE ZIRIN, SPORTS EDITOR, THE NATION MAGAZINE: What happened to Bronny James is beyond shocking partially because we've seen him grow up.

[02:20:03]

TODD: Bronny James has spent his entire life around his father and the NBA. Observers say LeBron James has been a devoted father dedicated to nurturing both his son's basketball dreams.

CARI CHAMPION, HOST, THE CARD CHAMPION SHOW: We see this goat of our time this once in a lifetime generational player coaching AAU basketball tournaments during his offseason. We've never seen it from the likes of Michael Jordan, or anyone else who has that same type of stature.

TODD: With only about a 20-year difference in age between them. LeBron James has talked openly including to ESPN about wanting to play on the same NBA team as Bronny if it can be arranged, citing baseball stars Ken Griffey and Ken Griffey Jr., who briefly played together for the Seattle Mariners in the early 1990s.

LEBRON JAMES, ALL-START FORWARD, LOS ANGELES LAKERS: I would love to do the whole Ken Griffey Sr. and Jr. thing. That's -- that'll be ideal for sure being with him spending a four-year with him in a same uniform. That would be -- that would be the icing on the cake.

TODD: Could Bronny James's health emergency derail those plans?

BEN GOLLIVER, NATIONAL NBA WRITER, THE WASHINGTON POST: I expect that he is going to be putting, you know, the family bonds and Bronny's health before anything else at this point. You know, that being said, this isn't necessarily as far as we know from the publicly available information, a career-ending situation.

TODD: It was just this past January that Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin's heart stopped in the middle of a game after a collision. Hamlin was revived and is attempting to return to the NFL. But similar cases have ended in tragedy. College basketball star Hank Gathers who had an irregular heartbeat collapsed during a televised game in March 1990 stopped breathing on the court and died. He was 23.

Boston Celtics star Reggie Lewis died at the age of 27 after suffering cardiac arrest during an off-season practice.

ZIRIN: Heart ailments reveal themselves in periods of physical stress and the tragic odds are that this is going to be a part of sports in the future just as it's been a part of sports in the past.

TODD: Analysts say the message to take from this is the importance of having trained medical staff with defibrillators and other equipment at the ready during practices as well as games. Those were critical factors and saving the lives of Bronny James, Damar Hamlin, and Dana soccer star Christian Eriksen who nearly died after suffering from cardiac arrest during a game at the European Championships two years ago, and is now back playing with Manchester United of the English Premier League.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Still to come. Ecuador's President declares a state of emergency in the country's prison system amid rising violence. We will bring you the latest on the clashes. But first, a shake up in the highest levels of the Chinese government. Beijing's foreign minister has been missing for a month and suddenly has been replaced. The details and a live report, next.

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[02:25:54]

CHURCH: China's foreign minister has been mysteriously missing for a month and now he's out of a job. Beijing has announced that Qin Gang on the left has been sacked from his high-profile post and will be replaced by China's top diplomatic adviser Wang Yi. It's a significant fall from grace for Qin, a man who was recently one of President Xi Jinping his top aides. CNN's Marc Stewart has been tracking Qin's mysterious disappearance and this abrupt change of leadership from Tokyo.

He joins us now. Good to see you, Marc. So this was very sudden. Walk us through what happened over the past month.

MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Rosemary. Sudden and also somewhat surprising. Qin Gang was last seen exactly one month ago, he was meeting with leaders in Beijing from Sri Lanka, from Vietnam, from Russia. He was a key force, a key figure on the global stage for China. But then suddenly, yes, he disappeared. And was not -- and has not been seen since he has missed key meetings with the E.U. with leaders of the ASEAN, the Southeast Asian Nations.

As well as Secretary -- Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen from the United States, John Kerry. And so, then this mystery has really prevailed. Where is he and why is he out of public view? It's something that the government clearly does not want to talk about. It came up yesterday during the briefing from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, even before his departure was announced.

And the line that was given then was pretty simple, no information to provide, adding if the government was moving as usual, but then later that same day, we received word that Qin Gang indeed had been replaced by Wang Yi. So, what does this mean for global relations? What does this mean for the global outlook? Well, we did hear from a number of world leaders including the United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

He acknowledged. This is China's prerogative to make any kind of changes in its leadership roster as it wants. He did express a strong working relationship with Qin Gang but also expressed some optimism about Wang Yi in the sense that they have worked together and, Rosemary, he feels at this point, the discussions that we have seen recently would likely continue into the future concerning the United States and China. But at this point, no clear narrative as to what happened to Qin Gang.

CHURCH: All right. Marc Stewart joining us live from Tokyo. Many things. Well, Russian and Chinese delegations are arriving in the North Korean capital to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Armistice Agreement, which ended the fighting on the Korean peninsula. It is an anniversary North Korea refers to as victory day even though the Korean War has never officially ended.

The Russian delegation led by the defense minister was welcomed by a North Korean Honor Guard. These are the first high profile visitors to North Korea since it closed its borders during the pandemic. Meantime, the North has launched a flurry of ballistic missiles over the past week. The most recent tests on Monday, all of them banned under U.N. Security Council resolutions.

And still no word from North Korea on the fate of U.S. Army Private Travis King, who bolted into the north last week. On Tuesday, the Pentagon said the priority is to bring him home.

Patrick Cronin is the chair for Asia-Pacific Security at the Hudson Institute. He joins me now from Washington. Appreciate you being with us.

PATRICK CRONIN, CHAIR FOR ASIA-PACIFIC SECURITY, HUDSON INSTITUTE: It's my pleasure.

CHURCH: So, a high-level Chinese delegation is said to visit North Korea and a Russian military delegation arrived in Pyongyang Tuesday led by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. What might this signal and how significant are these two high-level visits at this particular time?

CRONIN: Well, it signals that North Korea is leveraging the 70th anniversary of the Korean War Armistice or Victory Day as they call it to solidify ties with two major powers who share a revisionist agenda, revisionist narrative, one that pushes back on the U.S. led order if you will.

[02:30:09]

But also pushes back on the South Korean U.S. narrative about the Korean War.

CHURCH: And China's President has a very close ties with Kim Jong Un. But how much influence does Xi Jinping actually have over North Korea's leader? And how likely is it that Beijing will try to rein in Pyongyang given its recent ballistic missile launches?

CRONIN: Well, China has a huge a bit of leverage with respect to the economy of North Korea, which is an almost entirely dependent on China. But North Korea doesn't tend to listen to others. North Korea follows its own own counsel, but North Korea really needs China right now, needs Russia.

And therefore, everybody is going to be putting on a very brave face here in Pyongyang for this -- for this celebration. But you will not see China reining in North Korea. You may see North Korea not conducting a nuclear test over the next couple of months before Xi Jinping holds a Summit meeting with President Biden. But it's not at all clear that China is interested in denuclearization.

In fact, China is mostly interested in showing solidarity and strength among Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, that they can represent what they call the democratization of international relations, that is power going to countries other than those that are allied with the United States.

So, don't look for China to rein in North Korea's nuclear program, just the opposite. North Korea is using this parade to give essentially when tacit support from China for its ICBM and nuclear program.

CHURCH: So, given that how concerned would the United States be at this time with the apparent strengthening of Russia and North Korean military ties and cooperation as well as this consolidation of an already strong relationship between North Korea and China?

CRONIN: Well, I think the United States, South Korea, Japan have all been increasingly worried about North Korea's nuclear buildup and the fact that China's unwilling to do much about it. As a result, you see the nuclear consultative group moving forward with strengthening extended deterrence. You've seen three nuclear powered submarines visit North -- South Korea here in the last few weeks.

And you're going to see a continuation of live fire exercises and other drills between the U.S. and South Korea and also with Japan. As a way of saying to China and North Korea, either you're going to have to reverse course, or we're just going to keep strengthening our allied forces. And that's going to be a threat to the region and to not just to North Korea, but also to China. So, there's a competition going on in this region. Nobody wants to throw it all back, they're all throttling forward.

CHURCH: And meantime, the U.S. is trying to establish dialogue with North Korea to enable the return of U.S. soldier Travis King, who fled across the border a week ago. What do you expect the outcome will likely be of that issue?

CRONIN: Well, so far, North Korea has said nothing, and I doubt they will say anything until after the celebration is over this week. But I do think they will use Travis King as a bargaining chip eventually, whether the United States wants to compensate North Korea to return an American soldier who voluntarily fled over the demilitarized zone.

We'll have to see, I do think they will probably release him after a period of weeks or months. And there will be at least a chance for direct engagement between the United States and North Korea. That's something we have not seen in recent years. So, that in itself could actually be a benefit for starting up some dialogue.

I do think Pyongyang and North Korea wants some relationship with the United States. They just want to be accepted as a nuclear power. And as an equal, they don't want denuclearization to be on the table. That's a non-starter for U.S. politicians. But ultimately, North Korea thinks that a next U.S. administration perhaps is going to have to accept this eventually.

CHURCH: Patrick Cronin, appreciate your analysis. Thanks for being with us.

CRONIN: Thank you.

CHURCH: A standoff in a prison in Ecuador has ended in the release of more than 100 prison employees who had been held hostage. Now, the country's President has declared a state of emergency in the nation's prison system to make sure a crisis like this does not happen again. Stefano Pozzebon reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN JOURNALIST (voiceover): The president Guillermo Lasso has declared a 60-day state of emergency across the entire penitentiary system. Seeking to regain control of the prisons which in Ecuador often appear to be run by the inmates themselves. The state of emergency allows for police and the armed forces to be deployed inside the cells and shortly after the expedition of the decree.

[02:35:03]

The Prison Security Service confirmed that at least 106 service members who had been held hostages by the inmates in at least five prisons across the country were finally being released. The authorities are blaming international criminal organizations, we're fighting for control of drug trafficking routes across Ecuador for the violence.

While these securities violence escalation is causing greater worry among the population. According to recent poll, crime is the number one cause of concern for Ecuadorians ahead of the economic crisis or lack of jobs.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

POZZEBON (on camera): The country is holding its general election on August 20. For CNN, this is Stefano Pozzebon.

CHURCH: The opening ceremony for the Summer Olympic Games in Paris is exactly one year from today. How the City of Light is preparing for the big event. And will Japan be the next to seal a place in the knockouts, their latest showdown and other World Cup action just ahead.

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CHURCH: We're just one year away from the start of the Paris Olympic Games. CNN's Melissa Bell shows us how the city's famous river will take center stage.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): With a cheer, Paris had won its bid. 100 years after the Olympics first came to the City of Light, they will be bound.

ANNE HIDALGO, PARIS MAYOR (through translator): A city that managed to transform itself overcome the challenges of the century. And thinking, of course, of the environmental challenges.

BELL (voiceover): With an opening ceremony like no other. Held not in a stadium for the first time ever, but on a river.

BELL: What the opening ceremony will allow is not just more than 10,000 athletes to make their way down this extraordinary waterway. It will also say the organizers allow more people to watch it than any other opening ceremony in history. They expect some 600,000 people to be able to watch from the banks of the Center. For the athletes as well, the Seine as seen is expected to provide an unforgettable experience.

YANNICK BOURSEAUX, EX-PARALYMPIC ATHLETE (through translator): The Seine for me is something mythical that represents Paris and for an Olympic or paralympic triathlon, we absolutely had to swim in it.

BELL (voiceover): But swimming in Paris Seine (PH) waters is nothing new here to the north of the French capital. This basin was created in 2017 and ever since people have been swimming, the waters are tested every day. Cleaning up the Seine, however, has required much more. New (INAUDIBLE), tunnels and a lot of testing.

HIDALGO (through translator): 75 percent of the work is done. The Sein is clean. These games had an accelerating effect. So, we are ready but, of course, more needs to be done.

[02:40:07]

BELL (voiceover): But even as the infrastructure has gone out, unexpected challenges. The offices of Paris 2024, raided in two investigations into financial irregularities. Yet, the head of the organization, himself a three-time gold Olympian, is confident.

TONY ESTANGUET, PARIS 2024 PRESIDENT: There is a control. It's just a control step and we will see what will be the next phase. But at the time we speak now, today, there's no evidence of any wrongdoing.

BILL: And what would you tell the world, what they're going to see?

ESTANGUET: The main power of the games is to provide emotion. And we strongly need after COVID, after the war, after all the social tension. Just to share a positive moment all together and demonstrate what France is able to deliver to the world.

BELL (voiceover): Including already say, Parisian authorities, something that would have sounded like science fiction only a few years ago. A swimmable River Seine. Melissa Bell, CNN Paris

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: For Inter Miami, which is languishing in last place in the MLS East, Lionel Messi is proving to be quite the game changer. The Argentine legend led his club to a four-nil win over Atlanta United in a CONCACAF League's Cup match on Tuesday. Messi scored the first pair of goals and later added an assist. That's after his game winning extra time goal in his debut match last week.

Meanwhile, fans hoping to purchase an Inter Miami, kits with Messi's name on it. We'll have to wait until October. Jersey maker, Adidas says demand for the $160 shirt is truly unprecedented. And about half an hour Spain and Zambia will face off in the Women's World Cup and a win for the Spaniards would secure their spot in the knockouts.

They would likely be the second country to land in the round of 16 with Japan poised to arrive there first. The Japanese are leading Costa Rica right now the score two-nil with just minutes left to play. And later today, Canada will take on Ireland in Group B. And thanks so much for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church, "WORLD SPORT" is coming up next. Then, I'll be back in 15 minutes with more CNN NEWSROOM. Do stick around.

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