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Blast Rips Through Political Gathering In Pakistan, Killing At Least 44; Saudi Arabia To Host Ukraine Peace Talks; Tensions Tighten In Niger Amid Threats, Protests, Diplomacy. U.K. Using High Tech Surveillance To Track Migrants Boats; Extreme Heat Puts World's Coral Reefs At Risk; CDC Warns Of Mysterious Meat Allergy Passed By Ticks. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired July 31, 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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LAILA HARRAK, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to all of our viewers watching from around. I'm Laila Harrak. Ahead on CNN Newsroom, a deadly bombing at a political convention in Pakistan. We're live in Islamabad with the latest.
In Niger, thousands take to the streets to protest in support of the coup in front of the French Embassy and CNN investigates how the U.K. is using high tech surveillance to monitor and deter migrants attempting to cross the English Channel.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from CNN Center. This is CNN Newsroom with Laila Harrak.
HARRAK: A deadly day in Pakistan at least 44 people were killed and more than 100 injured in a suspected suicide bombing at a political convention in the northwestern part of the country on Sunday. Members of an Islamist party had gathered in a town near the border with Afghanistan. Police say the attacker detonated explosives near the convention stage but no one has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.
For more let's go to CNN producer Sophia Saifi live for you in Islamabad, Pakistan, Sophia, what more have you learned about this fatal blast?
SOPHIA SAIFI, CNN PRODUCER: Laila, we know according to police official that CNN spoke to yesterday, right after the attack took place at this was a suicide attack that the attacker had about 10 kilograms of explosives on them when they went towards the stage and detonated their explosives.
The death toll still stands about 44 people dead, over 100 injured close to 17 people still in critical condition. Now this happened in this district of Bajaur which is very close to the Afghan border and there have been attacks of this level in many, many years ago in this area of Pakistan and the northwest of Pakistan in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. So these kinds of scenes previously were not unusual in this part of Pakistan but it's been quite a while since and attack of this scale has taken place in Bajaur. Laila.
HARRAK: Sophia, who did this attack target and why now?
SAIFI: So this was a party convention of the JUI-F which is the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl party, it's part of the coalition government the PDM in power, it's led by a divisive figure Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman but elections are due to take place later this year.
In late October, early November, our political parties have started campaigning, and there has been a very deadly history of attacks on political campaigns during previous election cycles here in Pakistan. We saw something similar happened about five years ago in July of 2018. There has also been an increase in attacks in managing to tax generally in Pakistan, the Pakistani government has blamed the Afghan Taliban across the border in neighboring Afghanistan for harboring these militant groups.
We saw a deadly attack and Peshawar in January, then another in the city of Karachi in the south in February. So there has been an increase in attacks, there's been an increase in attacks in the district of Bajaur itself.
The Islamic State has previously claimed responsibilities for the past attacks. But again, as of right now, we do not have a claim of responsibility. There is a heightened sense of insecurity in the country. There's a heightened state of security. The Chinese Vice Premier is currently visiting Islamabad. There is a sense of urgency to understand who was behind this attack, but we're only going to figure that out as the day unfolds. Laila.
HARRAK: Sophia Saifi reporting from Islamabad. Thank you very much for your continued coverage.
Saudi Arabia is preparing to host an international summit to discuss a peace initiative for Ukraine. That's according to Kyiv, which is expected to participate in the talks along with Western powers and key developing nations like India and Brazil.
Russia though will not be involved. Ukraine hasn't specified when the meetings would be held but it says they're meant to unite the world around a 10-point peace plan which was developed by its president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
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And Mr. Zelenskyy he says war is gradually returning to Russia and that strikes on its territory are quote inevitable. While this after the Kremlin accused Ukraine of launching a new drone attack in Moscow on Sunday. Russia says it intercepted three unmanned aerial vehicles but a business center was damaged in the strike. It happened on the same day that another drone reportedly crashed in Russia's Rostov region near the border with Ukraine. Meanwhile, Moscow was set to have launched attacks of its own on
Sunday. According to Ukraine, Russian troops shelled a civilian area in the eastern region of Donetsk, leaving at least one person dead and five wounded. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh has more on the strikes reported on Sunday including the alleged drone attack and Moscow.
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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Russian officials say there were three drones in total are fired, one intercepted two taken out by electronic jamming but still damage inflicted on Moscow city, a very opulent part of the Russian capital part of the glass towers of Russia's elite summon like glass shattered as possibly as the preconception they had over the past months the wall was something distant not necessarily affecting the sophisticated lives in the Capitol.
We've seen those slowly bids by Ukraine who did not take direct responsibility for this more opaque statements about how Russia is tranquil backwaters we're no longer so calm. Ukraine trying to impact Russian psychology by hitting areas like this.
Even the Kremlin two subjects of a drone strike. Russia saying nobody injured in this but again, it is simply a taste of what Ukrainians have been experiencing over the past nearly 18 months now, nightly strikes often on parts of civilian Ukraine.
In Sumi in northern Ukraine, 20 injured to killed from Russian barrages at the same time as Moscow was being hit and even here in Zaporizhzhia city to dead in the last 24 hours and to injured from yet more attacks by Russia. Russia targeting civilian areas it seems repeatedly day after day.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying how the strikes on Moscow were a sign that the war was returning to Russian territory, but also to touting gains by Ukraine in the east near Bakhmut, and also a slower steadier, less publicly touted progress in the south near where I am here.
This counteroffensive by Ukraine moving forwards it seems slowly. They targeted part of Russia's railway supply line up from Crimea into Zaporizhzhia in the last 24 hours as well. That's potentially key for Russia's ability to defend the frontlines. It's urgently holding on to at the moment despite these Ukrainian advances but still Moscow being hit in such a way repeatedly now, it seems will have an impact on those in Russia. We're told by the Kremlin that this could be a matter of days this war, and now we're in its second year. Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine.
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HARRAK: Poland's Prime Minister says troops with the Wagner group in Belarus have been spotted near a key corridor on the Polish border. It's called the Suwalki Gap and it connects Belarus to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad. On Saturday, the Polish Prime Ministers said his government had
information that more than 100 Wagner mercenaries were moving to a nearby town in western Belarus. Well, thousands of Wagner troops are reportedly in Belarus after last month's failed military uprising in Russia. The Belarusian president has asked Wagner to train his country's military.
Joining me now is CNN military analyst and retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton. A very good day. According to the Polish Prime Minister more than a 100 Wagner mercenaries have now moved towards the so called Suwalki corridor. This is a potentially disquieting development, but at the same time, how much of a realistic threat?
COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, Laila, the basic idea is that, you know, when you have just 100 of anything, it's probably a pretty small number. And in this particular case, that would definitely be a small number. But the key thing to remember is these troops are basically mercenary forces who are force multipliers. And if they do perform acts like the little green men, the so called Little Green Men did in Crimea in 2014, they could cause a lot of damage. They won't capture points of Polish territory, at least not for a long period of time, like they did Crimea back then. But they can cause some danger, they can cause things like sabotage, they could do damage like that.
So they are dangerous. But if the Polish forces and their Lithuanian partners keep an eye on what's going on, they shouldn't be able to handle the situation fairly well.
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HARRAK: Now Germany has already pledged that NATO would defend Alliance member Poland in case of any potential attack. And I'm wondering how is NATO's eastern flank preparing for a potential attack? And what conversations might be taking place about dealing with, you know, an unconventional group like the mercenary group? Wagner?
LEIGHTON: Yes, so the basic movements that take place in a case like this are troop movements. And what the polls have already done is they've moved to troops into the northeastern part of their country, it also happens to be the case that American forces are stationed in an area not too far from Suwalki Gap. And then, of course, the Lithuanian forces and the Lithuanian forces also have American, German, British and other NATO partners at their disposal within their countries.
So, NATO has basically move forces in this pertain -- to this particular area. But there are also are, of course intelligence assets that are keeping an eye on this as well. So the intelligence picture is going to be a preeminent feature of NATO preparations for this.
Plus, of course, they're going to increase frontier patrols with a Polish frontier believe (ph) that that's going to be a major factor in this particular case. HARRAK: And I'm wondering, though, I mean, how much of this is just simply posturing by Wagner slash Russia, Belarus to, you know, for propaganda purposes and is the move potentially of tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus more worrying than the movement of more than 100 mercenaries?
I mean, are they really the change makers in terms of security? I mean, you address that part of the question already.
LEIGHTON: Right. So they're not as much of a change maker as the employment of a tactical nuclear weapon would be that would be extremely destabilizing if that were to happen. But what, you know, what is the case, I think, in this situation is that they can kind of serve as a precursor to other potential operations.
In the days before Finland became a NATO member, the Russians could have easily used these troops to cut off the Suwalki corridor and potentially start the encirclement of the Baltic states. But that's a much more difficult proposition now that Finland is a NATO member, and that avenue I think is cut off for the Russians at this point in time.
HARRAK: Now, Poland is at the same time also cautioning that Belarus is manipulating migrant flows, weaponizing migrants with its ally, Russia to put pressure on the European Union over sanctions against Minsk. How does that complicate things?
LEIGHTON: Well, this is one of the more difficult aspects of this, Laila, because migrant flows, of course, are civilians, or at least they're supposed to be civilians. And if the Wagner mercenaries are interposed within migrant groups, they could potentially become a stealthy entrant into a country like Poland where a country like Lithuania, so the frontier controls will have to be quite rigid when it comes to the migrants. It is absolutely true that the Belarusians have decided to use migrants as potential pressure point, and they're doing so at the behest of the Russians.
But if the Polish authorities are paying as much attention to this, as we believe they are, then I think the migrant flow problem is one that can at least be managed. And it's very unlikely that a large number of Wagner forces would will get through, but they have to be careful no doubt about it.
HARRAK: And finally, in a few words, if you can remind us of the significance of the Suwalki corridor.
LEIGHTON: So the Suwalki corridor is one that connects the Kaliningrad blast to Belarus, in the old days it connected due to the Soviet Union proper. But of course in this particular situation, it is basically Russia's only entrance into the Kaliningrad Oboist, which is the headquarters of their Baltic Sea Fleet, and which also is a major economic activity area for the Russian Federation. So it's a very important area for them and they clearly want to have access to it.
HARRAK: Cedric Leighton, thank you as always for sharing your insights with us.
LEIGHTON: You bet, Laila. Thanks for having me.
HARRAK: In West Africa, sanctions, threats, chaos, confrontation and diplomacy all coming to bear Sunday in the political crisis in Niger. Thousands took to the streets to express support for the leaders of Wednesday's coup, which is that the nation's democratically elected president.
In neighboring Nigeria, regional economic leaders hit Niger with a host of sanctions and threatened to use force if the coup leaders don't restore President Mohamed Bazoum to power within a week. Well, meantime, the president of Chad met Sunday with coup leaders the ousted president and a former President of Niger hoping to find a peaceful resolution.
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Niger is a former French colony and some of the most tense demonstrations were held outside the French Embassy. CNN's Larry Madowo has been monitoring developments from Nairobi.
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LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Angry Nigerans (ph) smashing windows of the French Embassy in the capital Niamey. Thousands of people outraged at the country's former colonial power, a day after it suspended aid and financial support from Niger with immediate effect.
Down with France, some said, condemning friends support for ousted President Mohamed Bazoum. Unable to get into the heavily protected compound, a window is set on fire and a French flag trashed a common sight since Wednesday's military coup.
Secure security forces eventually deployed tear gas to disperse the protesters. France warned it would retaliate immediately and in a strict manner in case of any attacks against its embassy, national army or diplomats, the (INAUDIBLE) thing and Sunday, adding that President Emmanuel Macron will not tolerate any attack against France and its interests. The military junta that ousted the West African countries democratically elected president keen to show France and the world that it has the backing of the public.
MAMAN SANI, PROTESTER (through translator): We also came out to tell this little Macron from France that Niger belongs to us. It's up to us to do what we want with Niger. What we want, we deal with who we want and how we want. We reaffirm our support for the army.
MADOWO: I sea of people outside the Niger's parliament, denouncing France and some raising Russian flags. As anti-France sentiment has grown in the country, many have warmed up to Russia. Long live Putin and Long live Russia. The protesters say demanding that foreign armies leave the country.
France has about 1,500 troops in this year, a key ally in the fight against terrorism in the Sahel. The U.S. has about 1,000 troops in the country involved in counterterrorism operations. IBRAHIM, RETAILER (through translator): As citizens of Niger, we're against French bases, American bases, Canadian bases, Italian bases. All the bases that are in Niger, we don't need them.
MADOWO: The head of the presidential guard general Abdourahmane Tchiani, deposed his boss and declared himself Niger's new leader on Friday, saying he would suspend the Constitution and rule with the so called National Council for the safeguard of the homeland.
ZEINABOU BOUKARI, PROTESTER (through translator): They're really brave and I support them 100 percent. We've really suffered a lot. We've suffered a lot because they are our children. A lot of blood has been shed in Niger. We want peace. We want peace.
MADOWO: In neighboring Nigeria and emergency summit of the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, regional leaders announced sanctions including closing borders, a travel ban and no fly zone, freezing assets and the deadline.
ECOWAS has given the Niger junta one week to reinstate President Bazoum or threatened to take all measures to restore his government.
OMAR ALIEU TOURAY, ECOWAS COMMISION PRESIDENT: In the event, the authorities demands are not met within one week. Take all measures, necessary to restore constitutional order in the Republic of Niger. Such measures may include the use of force. To this effect, Chiefs of Defense Staff of ECOWAS, are to meet immediately.
MADOWO: But many protesters in the streets don't want any ECOWAS military intervention or involvement. And the military contest says it's ready.
COL. MAJOR AMADOU ABDRAMANE, NIGER MILITARY JUNTA CNSP (through translator): We once again remind ECOWAS and those who wish to adventure in this of our firm determination to defend our country.
MADOWO: President Bazoum has not been seen in public since Tuesday, but continues to receive calls of support from world leaders. Larry Madowo, CNN, Nairobi.
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HARRAK: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas says a meeting of 14 Palestinian factions was a first step to end division and to achieve national unity. His comments come -- came a Sunday during talks between rival factions in Egypt at a time when violence between Israel and Palestinians has surged.
The talks followed a meeting between Abbas and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh last week, where the two leaders agreed to find ways to end internal divisions.
Still to come, China focuses on recovery efforts after the storm. Doksuri sweeps through the country, a look at the damage when we return.
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HARRAK: China is still bearing the brunt of Doksuri, one of the strongest storms to hit the country this year. Thousands of people were forced to evacuate their homes because of the intense rain and flooding. While typhoons are a common threat to the area, the lasting damage of Doksuri is deeply affecting residents.
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HARRAK (voiceover): Rescuers and speedboats zoom across the water in southeastern China. It's the best and a times only way to access cities flooded by recent heavy rains. The boats navigating the tight streets at times floating up to the front doors of homes to ferry stranded residents to safer ground.
Officials say over the weekend more than 500,000 people have been evacuated from the region, where a powerful storm named Doksuri made landfall as a typhoon Friday after battering the Philippines. It's since been downgraded. But officials are warning of torrential rain and hazardous flooding for any city in this path. And that's includes Beijing, which has been doused with heavy showers that are expected to continue until Tuesday.
Authorities have urged residents in the Chinese capital to stay indoors, and thousands of people have already been evacuated from areas with flood risks. Authorities say there could be potentially hazardous conditions like those seen in other parts of the country.
In eastern China, security camera footage captured a man caught in rushing waters on a street. A bus driver stopped to help him as the breeze surrounds them. But the man is eventually dragged out of the water with the help of some people passing by.
In the southern part of the country, some residents are taking stock of the damage and trying to salvage what they can from their water logged homes. But that break may not last for long as another powerful storm could possibly make landfall in China later this week.
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HARRAK: And we're also keeping a watch on another storm in the Pacific Ocean that's picking up strength. Typhoon Khanun was elevated to typhoon status on Sunday and is expected to make landfall on the Okinawa Island in the next 48 hours. It's then expected to move north towards China but forecasters with the Joint Typhoon Warning Center say its track is uncertain.
There's much more to come on CNN including a closer look at British efforts to monitor and deter migrants attempting to cross the English Channel in boats. Do stay with us.
Plus, the U.S. State Department says it's working to secure for the safe return of an abducted American nurse and her child in Haiti. We'll have the latest for you on the search just ahead. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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HARRAK: Welcome back to our viewers all around the world. I'm Laila Harrak and you're watching CNN Newsroom.
In the U.K., the government is ramping up measures to deter migrants crossing the channel for France and a controversial new law has been passed that will include criminalizing anyone who seeks asylum there this way. Well, to aid this, the country has invested millions in high tech surveillance to spot small boats. But despite this, a CNN investigation found no evidence it was used during the deadliest incidents in the channel last year. CNN Katie Bo Lillis reports.
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KATIE POLGLASE, INVESTIGATIVE PRODUCER: (voiceover): It's three in the morning on the 14th of December 2022 in the middle of the English Channel. A fisherman has spotted multiple people in the water and is trying to haul them out.
RAYMOND STRACHAN, FISHERMAN: It was a pitch dark. It was a very cold, night, minus one, minus two. And there was a lot of screaming.
POLGLASE: In total, they rescue 31 people from the sinking vessel, including two Afghan boys just 12 and 13 years old.
STRACHAN: This is not a area that we fish in a lot, and if we weren't there, everyone there would have probably drowned.
POLGLASE: U.K. authorities arrive later and rescue eight more. Four died in what becomes the worst migrant tragedy in the channel that year. But officials have been informed of the incident nearly an hour earlier.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please help. We have children and family in a boat. Please, we are in the water.
POLGLASE: And just before 2:00 a.m. the boat have made a distress call here to Utopia 56, a French migrant charity that passed it on to the French and U.K. authorities. The French Coast Guard say the boat is undetectable on shipping radar, but estimate it will shortly cross into British waters.
Now CNN has found that at the time of the incident, the U.K. Government had expensive AI technology designed to spot these boats and knowing that the vessel was soon entering their territory and that there were people freezing in the water including children. They could have sent this.
A Tekever AR5 drone designed to detect small boats and capable of deploying a life raft. It's licensed by the U.K. Government. Even the British Prime Minister proud to show it off. CNN has established it flew over the same area where the distress call was made on multiple previous journeys, it even flew the day before and after the incident, but not in the hours the vessel was sinking. Instead, it took more than an hour for the first U.K. lifeboat to arrive, in which time a fishing crew rescued the majority onboard.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We must stop the boats.
POLGLASE (voice-over): This tech form is part of a campaign of deterrence and hostility by the government towards those attempting to reach British shores. Millions of pounds have been spent on AI cameras trained to find rubber dinghies, some able to see beyond U.K. waters, drones with automatic identification abilities.
And while the company's tout their life saving capabilities, footage from these drones has also been used to identify those driving the boats and prosecute them for human trafficking. A new bill will take it even further criminalizing anyone who seeks asylum in the U.K. this way.
PETRA MOLNAR, HUMAN RIGHTS AND MIGRATION LAWYER: Yes, technologies could very easily be used for search and rescue for finding votes faster, for preventing these horrific disasters. But unfortunately, the reality on the ground is the opposite. It's assisting powerful actors to be able to sharpen their borders make it more difficult for people to come and again using surveillance for these kinds of ends.
POLGLASE (voice-over): And it follows a global trend in digitizing border security.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These towers operate 24/7, 365.
POLGLASE (voice-over): The same century towers made by the American tech startup, Anduril, that line the U.S.-Mexico border have recently been installed along the British coastline to identify and track boats. Another company, Sirius Insight AI, whose technology is also available to the U.K. authorities insisted their tech is used for saving lives, but stopped short of talking about how the government uses it.
MALCOLM GLAISTER, CEO, SIRIUS INSIGHT AI: Our equipment shows any vessel it's in the U.K. territory waters, where it is and where it's going. And if that vessel is in distress, it allows the lifeboat to get to that precise location because we're tracking it.
POLGLASE (on camera): And so we've been following some of the incidents that have unfortunately led to fatalities in the channel. If we have this technology, why are people dying?
GLAISTER: I don't think I can comment on those instances because of the commercial nature of their relationship with the Home Office.
POLGLASE (voice-over): The Home Office declined to comment on the incident on the 14th of December. In response to a freedom of information requests submitted by CNN, U.K. Border Force said revealing the text capability might aid the criminals facilitating the crossings and increased risk to life at sea. The Coast Guard declined to comment citing an ongoing investigation into the incident and a court case underway to prosecute the alleged driver of the boat. A new record was set for June with nearly 4,000 people detected arriving to the U.K. But for those that do make it they face an increasingly hostile welcome.
Katie Polglase, CNN, London.
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LAILA HARRAK, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. State Department says it's working to free a kidnapped American nurse and her child in Haiti. They were abducted on Thursday, according to the Christian Aid organization where she works. CNN's Athena Jones has the latest.
ATHENA JONES, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know U.S. authorities are working closely with their Haitian counterparts and with U.S. government interagency partners to try to resolve this crisis. But there's also a lot of things we don't know. It's unclear right now, who was responsible for this kidnapping or whether they've made any demands, whether for ransom or anything else.
El Roi Haiti, which is the human humanitarian organization, the Christian humanitarian organization, this nurse from New Hampshire was working for put out a statement here's what they said in part, Alix is a deeply compassionate and loving person who considers Haiti her home and the Haitian people her friends and family. Alix has worked tirelessly as our school and community nurse to bring relief to those who are suffering as she loves and serves the people of Haiti in the name of Jesus.
Now, El Roi has also said their highest priority is a safe return this mother and her child. And they want to limit the amount of information they're sharing. We also heard from a State Department spokesperson saying that they have no higher priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas. But this kidnapping comes at a time of growing concerns about the worsening violence in Haiti.
It was just two years ago this month that then President Jovenel Moise was assassinated by a gang. And there's been a power vacuum ever since with some gangs taking control of various different swaths of the country. The State Department has warned Americans not to travel to Haiti because of the frequency of kidnappings, crime, civil unrest, and also the poor health infrastructure.
And just last week, the State Department are ordered all family members and non-emergency personnel of the embassy to leave the country immediately because it's so unsafe. This came after at least three days in a row of restrictions where embassy staffers and families were supposed to stay. They're on the embassy compound because things were so dangerous.
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The U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said during a recent visit to Haiti that Haitians are trapped in a living nightmare with humanitarian conditions that are beyond appalling. Guterres went on to say, we are calling for a robust security force deployed by Member States to work hand in hand with the Haitian National Police to defeat and dismantle the gangs and restore security across the country. But bottom line here, we're still awaiting more details of this scary, dangerous situation there in Haiti.
Athena Jones, CNN, New York.
HARRAK: And still to come, rising temperatures are putting the world's coral reefs at risk. CNN joins a team of experts to survey the damage.
Plus, could a decline in the amount of butterflies in the U.K. signal larger environmental issues. One charity group thinks so and they've got the data to back it up.
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HARRAK: It's that time of year when humpback whales are heading for warm waters off the Atlantic coast of Brazil. And it's quite the site. Take a look at this video of one swimming with her calf. This aerial footage was captured at a beach in Rio de Janeiro. From July to October, a number of humpback whales returned to these waters where they were born so they can start their mating rituals.
The sweltering heat wave across the U.S. is also affecting ocean life. CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam teamed up with scientists who study coral reefs to see how record breaking temperatures are affecting the oceans ecosystem.
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DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We're leaving the marina on a scientific expedition with some of the world's top coral scientists. We've come here to determine how the coral reefs off the Florida peninsula are coping with unprecedented ocean heat. If anyone can tackle this problem, it's these people. They're inspired. And they're motivated. And they're on the frontlines of this climate emergency every single day.
ANDREW BAKER, UNIV. OF MIAMI SCHOOL OF MARINE, ATMOSPHERIC & EARTH SCIENCE: I think one of the big questions that we have a scientist is what explains why some corals bleach really severely and other ones don't.
VAN DAM (voice-over): Scientists aren't just worried about the high water temperatures. They're concerned this is only July and the hottest months are still ahead of us.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, corals are really sensitive to heat. I'm a little bit worried that we might see quite a few bleached and stressed out corals.
VAN DAM (voice-over): You see more than 90 percent of excess heat from greenhouse warming is stored in our oceans. And that doesn't just disappear, it can supercharge storms, melt our glaciers, and bleach our coral reefs. Bleached corals are still alive but they're extremely stressed, highly vulnerable and if the heat continues, they may die. So this is part of why scientists worry. The first location we go to was south of Key Biscayne.
BAKER: I think we saw exactly what we feared which is that this is the moving front of severe bleaching up through the keys and now up into Miami Dade.
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VAN DAM (on camera): It was just a remarkable moment to stand next to the century old giants, right? I mean, how else do you describe it. But it was very eye opening to see this array of a mixture of completely dead coral, bleached coral, and healthy coral. So I saw hope. But I also saw a tough situation. And I can see what heat stress really does to these animals. They're sensitive. And I witnessed it. It was humbling.
Is there still hope?
BAKER: Absolutely, there's still hope. You know, the water conditions are actually cooling down somewhat. And on a day like this, we have some overcast conditions, that all helps because it decreases the amount of heat stress building up on the reef. And I think as far as this bleaching front going, we hope that it doesn't continue to increase and move northwards. But the next few weeks are going to really tell our story.
VAN DAM (voice-over): Next we headed north to Miami to see the impact on the reef there. You may be thinking why does the coral reef matter so much to us? Well, they are part of an interconnected ecosystem. It acts as habitat for marine wildlife. So any impact on the coral will have an impact on the entire water ecosystem. And something a lot of people may not realize it's not just ocean life that relies on our coral reefs being healthy. They are Mother Nature's natural barriers against hurricanes and storm surge.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Coral reefs provide this really amazing structure that's actually key for braking wave energy as it comes toward our shores. So they helped to protect our beaches and our coastal properties.
VAN DAM (voice-over): And on this second dive, there was obvious relief felt by these scientists.
(on camera): That was completely different.
DR. WILLIAMSON: Better. A lot better.
VAN DAM: If you were happy. I was happy. I could see it in your eyes. I mean, we just did a heart to each other because saw how much more alive these corals are.
DR. WILLIAMSON: I can't tell you how relieved I am to see those nice big dark happy colonies.
VAN DAM: That was a big difference. It really was. You could just see how healthy some of the corals were. It gives me a lot of hope that, you know, if we can keep the temperatures down that these corals are going to survive. That was good.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAN DAM: Lots of coral cliffhanger. It's not the end game. Research scientists on the boat tell me that because we still have the warmest months ahead of us, we need to watch for the advancement of this severe coral bleaching and coral mortality moving from south to north through the Florida peninsula. Could the waters cool? Definitely. We need rain, perhaps tropical system to bring some upwelling from the deep ocean below. But that's just something we'll continue to monitor.
CNN meteorologist, Derek Van Dam, Miami Beach.
HARRAK: A charity in the U.K. is hosting the world's biggest butterfly survey in an effort to gather data on the environment. While last year's event led to some shocking findings. The Butterfly Conservation claims 80 percent of the species are in decline with the insects no longer present in nearly half the places they were 50 years ago. The group says it's a grim sign for the state of the planet.
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AMY WALKDEN, VOLUNTEER, BUTTERFLY CONSERVATION: Having a yearly record of what is around and what isn't around I think is really good scientific data to indicate changes such as global warming and habitat destruction. Butterflies are sensitive indicators of what's going on. So it's really important.
RICHARD FOX, SCIENTIFIC DIRECTOR, BUTTERFLY CONSERVATION: The major causes of the decline are what we humans have done to the landscape in the U.K. over the past 50, 60, 70 years. And so that's things like the intensification of agriculture, which is not just chemicals that go into that, pesticides and fertilizers, but also changes to the landscape.
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HARRAK: A royal gesture for planet Earth. Britain's Prince William surprise Londoners, Sunday, as he served environment friendly burgers from a food truck. He teamed up with the founders of YouTube channel Sorted Food to hand out what are called Earthshot burgers. The burgers highlight the work of last year's winners of his Annual Earthshot Price which he set up to help develop solutions to major environmental issues.
U.S. health officials are warning about a mysterious and potentially deadly allergy caused by the bites of what's known as the lone star tick. It can make you allergic to red meats and dairy products. And scientists are only beginning to understand this syndrome even though it could be affecting hundreds of thousands of people. CNN's Meg Tirrell explains.
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KIM CONWAY, CONTRACTED ALPHA-GAL SYNDROME: I tried to avoid the IV because that seems to be very titillating.
MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Kim Conway love to garden in her backyard and Hollow, New Jersey, that changed one day in May.
CONWAY: I was cleaning up my gardens on May 13th and found a tick in the middle of my back on May 14th. And then two weeks later, I had red meat for the first time and I became violently ill gastrically.
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TIRRELL (voice-over): Conway had developed a sudden allergy to red meat which she'd eaten before without issue. The reason why might surprise you, the bite of a lone star tick.
DR. SCOTT COMMINS, ALLERGIST, UNC SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: Humans get tick bites and that seems to develop into an allergic response to this sugar called alpha-gal. And it turns out that alpha-gal is in all lower mammals. So anything that's, you know, cows, pigs, sheep, deer, so when you eat the meat or products from those animals after having a tick bite, you can develop an allergic reaction.
TIRRELL (voice-over): These ticks called lone star for the distinctive white mark on the back of adult females are believed to have the alpha-gal sugar in their saliva and can trigger an allergic response to it with their bite. The phenomenon has a name, alpha-gal syndrome. A new CDC research suggests it's much more common than previously thought affecting an estimated 96,000 to 450,000 people in the U.S. since 2010.
But a CDC survey of 1,500 primary care providers found more than 40 percent had never heard of it. And fewer than a quarter felt confident diagnosing or managing it.
COMMINS: So you have the patience, just expanding on the one side, but yet, really a lack of knowledge on the provider side.
TIRRELL (voice-over): Recent cases have been concentrated in the Southern, Midwest and Eastern U.S. where the lone star tick is more prevalent. But experts say it's moving farther north and west.
CONWAY: In my freezer, there's many things that I cannot have, for instance, the hamburgers, the meat balls.
TIRRELL (voice-over): For Kim Conway, it's meant changing not only what she eats, but even what medicine she takes and products she uses because they contain animal products with the alpha-gal sugar.
(on camera): So this is all of the stuff you can no longer safely take.
CONWAY: Correct.
TIRRELL (voice-over): There's no treatment for alpha-gal syndrome, except to avoid things that trigger the allergic reaction. And doctors say it's another reason to take care to avoid tick bites. Meg Tirrell, CNN, Hollow, New Jersey.
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HARRAK: A World Cup underdog stuns a former champion at the thrilling play that helped Columbia secure an upset over Germany.
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HARRAK: Rapper Cardi B is the latest performer swept up in a dangerous trend where fans are throwing things on stage at concerts. At a show in Las Vegas, Saturday, someone in the audience appeared to hit the rapper with a drink and she responded by throwing her mic into the crowd. CNN's Chloe Melas breaks down what happened along with details on musicians speaking out on next year's U.S. presidential election.
CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: Cardi B was performing in Las Vegas when a concert goer threw a drink at her. It was caught on video. Cardi B responded by throwing her microphone at the fan in the audience. Now this is a growing trend of seeing concert goers throw items on stage. And you have seen artists get severely hurt. We saw Bebe Rexha have a phone thrown at her eye recently while performing. She had to get stitches. Harry Styles was hit in the face at a concert recently but he managed to keep going.
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You've had artists speak out. Tim McGraw recently to me, you've had Adele speak out while she was performing saying that this has to stop or the way that we see live music will not be able to continue because there will have to be more safety measures put into place. Now moving on to another music story I actually caught up with Moby. And Moby is now turning to the world of podcasts.
He has a podcast called Moby Pod with his co-host, Lindsay. And they are covering all types of topics, even getting political. And he had a lot to say about former President Donald Trump when we spoke. Take a listen.
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MOBY, MUSICIAN, AUTHOR, ACTIVIST: I mean, if the options are Trump and I've known Trump in the Trump's for a very -- for decades and decades and decades, and I -- I mean I just have to agree with almost everybody who served in Trump's cabinet. He's unfit to hold office, you know, whether it's -- and I'm just saying what Bill Barr or Rex Tillerson or John Kelly are like, they just keep repeating the same thing is he's seriously mentally ill and unfit to hold office. So that's not even a partisan opinion. That's the opinion of the people who've worked with him.
And I've been around him for a long time. And I have to reiterate that like he is a dangerous, dangerous mentally ill person. So, not to make light of mental illness, but there's something actually profoundly wrong with him. So my vote and my support will be pretty much anybody who's not Donald Trump, because I don't see how our republic survives another Trump presidency.
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MELAS: Moby told me that, yes, there are a lot of podcasts out there, but he's excited to connect with his fans in this new medium. Back to you.
HARRAK: It's the world's longest single building slackline and one man walked right across it. Renowned athlete, Jaan Roose was across the slackline between one of Qatar's newest and most iconic architectural landmarks. The three times slackline world champion from Estonia walked the 150 meter plus distance, managing to achieve the feat on his very first try.
And it doesn't seem to matter in what position Max Verstappen starts a Formula One race, he just seems to win it. Verstappen from the six the back at the start to post a crushing eighth consecutive victory and seal the Belgian Grand Prix for his Red Bull team. Verstappen's 13th consecutive victory has now made the team the first in the sports 73- year history to win the opening 12 races of a season. Verstappen's next race is the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of August. If he wins there, he'll tie Sebastian Vettel's 2013 record of nine successive wins in a season.
At the Women's World Cup, Columbia is celebrating one of the most remarkable victories in tournament history.
Fans of the South American team were jumping for joy on Saturday after witnessing a two-one upset against two-time World Champs, Germany. It was a nail biting finished with Columbia scoring the winning goal in the closing seconds of the match. Fans could barely contain their excitement.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I don't have any voice left, because I yelled until the last second. And I think that now is the time we start celebrating female football in Colombia because so far it hasn't happened. But as you saw, we were playing as if we were at home. The stadium was full of Colombians, and in the end, we won and that's what matters. Let's continue supporting Colombia in this World Cup.
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HARRAK: And we'll have more football action in the coming hours. Eight teams are scheduled to play today including Australia who will try to qualify for the round of 16 after their co-host New Zealand fell short. CNN's Don Riddell has the details.
DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: The FIFA Women's World Cup is only 11 days old but already it's over for some of the teams. And for the co- host New Zealand it has ended in absolute heartbreak. Sunday's action saw the completion of group A and this was such a tight group that anything could have happened, any of the four teams could have qualified for the knockout stage, but just as equally any of them could have been knocked out.
Norway were always expected to make it through. They arrived at the tournament with a squad boasting some of the best players in the world. But they left it pretty late to get going having not even scored in their first two games. They needed something big in their last match against the Philippines in Auckland. And they delivered. Sophie Roman Haug doing most of the damage with a hat trick as the Norwegians romped to a six-nil win.
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That was emphatic, but it still might not have been enough. They also had to hope that New Zealand didn't win their last game against Switzerland. The football ferns had made such a bright start to this tournament winning their first ever World Cup match but a shock defeat to the Philippines really set them back.
They had their chances, Jacqueline hand hitting the post. But in the 12 shots they mustered none found the back of the net. Goalkeeper Victoria Esson hoping for something in the dying moments, her head it went wide. A final whistle was just devastating confirming that this New Zealand team will no longer feature in the tournament that they're co-hosting.
Amidst all of that drama, we also witnessed the biggest upset of the tournament so far, and this one truly was a shocker as Germany previously two-time world champions lost their first group game since 1995. They rub against Colombia whose 18-year-old Linda Caicedo was rapidly making a name for herself and living the dream. Just three years ago, she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. A second goal of this tournament was an absolute beauty.
Colombia brought a physical intensity to this game. Germany never really got into a rhythm, but they thought they'd salvage the point in the 89th minute when Alexandra Popp scored a penalty, her third goal of the tournament. But Colombia weren't quite done. In the seventh minute of injury time, Manuela Vanegas, headed in a sensational winner, sending the Columbian fans in Sydney into a state of ecstasy.
And historic nights are also elsewhere in group eight, as Morocco stunts South Korea for their first ever World Cup win. Morocco ranked 72nd in the world, Korea 17th, but that all meant nothing as Ibtissam Jraidi scored their first ever World Cup goal in the six minute that turned out to be the winner. History also made by Morocco's defender, Nouhaila Benzina. She became the first player ever to wear a hijab in a World Cup match.
This group will be wrapped up on Thursday. Here's where they all stand. Columbia have six points, three clear of both Germany and Morocco. Columbia need only a point against Morocco to be sure of advancing. Germany though might have to beat Korea in their final game, if they want to stick around a little bit longer. Back to you.
HARRAK: And finally, Dutch cyclists, Demi Vollering, has won the 2023 Tour de France Femmes. She finished second in the eighth and final stage to take the overall title. This was the Tour de France Femmes' second year and Dutch riders have won them both.
All right, I'm Laila Harrak. CNN News continues with Rosemary Church, next.
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