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U.S. President Approves Disaster Declaration for Maui; Ecuador Requests FBI's Help to Investigate Assassination; West African Leaders Order Activation of Standy Force to Niger; Russia Steps up State Media Campaign Over Ukraine War; Outrage After Areas Flooded to Save Beijing; Spain Beats Netherlands 2-1 in Quarterfinal Thriller. Aired 12-12:45a ET

Aired August 11, 2023 - 00:00   ET

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

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes. Appreciate your company. Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM.

[00:00:35]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: None of it's there. It's all burned to the ground.

Officials say it was like a bomb went off. The latest on wildfires being called the worst natural disaster in Hawaii's history.

Plus, the beginning of the end of a nightmare. Iran agrees to eventually free five imprisoned Americans in exchange for billions of dollars in frozen funds.

And rare protests in China, where people are furious their homes were deliberately flooded by their government.

ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Michael Holmes.

HOLMES: Tremendous devastation, a sense of deep loss and a scramble to save whatever can still be saved. That's all happening right now on the Hawaiian island of Maui, where 53 people have been killed by wildfires being described as apocalyptic.

The death toll is likely to go higher as emergency crews sift through dozens of properties now in ashes. Much of the historic town of Lahaina has been burned to the ground. Tens of thousands of people, tourists and locals, have been evacuated now from Maui.

The wildfire, now the second deadliest in the U.S. in a century, and the governor says it is likely the largest national disaster ever in Hawaiian history. He estimates billions of dollars in losses.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JOSH GREEN (D), HAWAII: It is going to take many years to rebuild Lahaina. When you see the full extent of the destruction of Lahaina, it will shock you. It does appear like a bomb and fire went off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Much of the fire is now contained, and U.S. President Joe Biden has greenlit a disaster declaration that will free up federal aid for Hawaii. CNN's Veronica Miracle reports from Maui.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is anybody still out here? It's time to go.

VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Chaos and panic as the relentless wildfires continue to ravage the paradise island of Maui, leaving loss and destruction in its wake.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my God.

MIRACLE (voice-over): Some residents escaping by boat, watching the flames engulf their town as they sailed away. Historical Lahaina essentially gone as the fire torched hundreds of houses, cars, and businesses.

We caught up with volunteers today in Kahului Harbor, while they were loading up supplies to be taken to nearby Napili.

CAMPBELL FARRELL, VOLUNTEER COORDINATING RELIEF EFFORTS: We've had firebombs that were so big they were sucking oxygen out of the air. People were -- didn't have oxygen to breathe.

I think this is an absolutely top-level national disaster. We have never seen anything like it. I've been here 32 years.

MIRACLE (voice-over): The before and after images show the horrific scene left behind and fears of a rising death toll.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What we are seeing is just this widespread devastation across many different neighborhoods in Maui.

MIRACLE (voice-over): For some who escaped, like Florian Doyal, who was able to get out with his kids and dog Bizou (ph), a feeling of guilt that he couldn't do more to help others.

FLORIAN DOYAL, ESCAPED FIRE IN MAUI: There's a lot of people, more than 36 people, that didn't make it. I tried to warn them, as many people as I could. We tried. There was a lot of people. Like, I think it was just, like, so chaotic that nobody knew. There was no phone connections. And as much as I was trying to save and let people know there were no options, I just had to go and get my kids. And now I got the news that there's, like, so many friends that --

MIRACLE (voice-over): The Coast Guard pulled more than 50 people from the ocean, who had jumped in to escape the flames.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We still get dead bodies in the water floating and on the seawall. MIRACLE (voice-over): Nearly 11,000 customers remain without power.

More than 2,000 residents are in shelters, and thousands of travelers are still stranded on the island.

The National Guard reports they dropped 150,000 gallons of water over the fires Wednesday to help suppress the flames, and while the fires still rage on, the search-and-rescue efforts continue.

MAJ. GEN. KENNETH HARRA, ADJUTANT GENERAL, HAWAII DEFENSE DEPARTMENT: The primary focus is to save lives. And to prevent human suffering, and mitigate great property loss.

MIRACLE (voice-over): Lt. Gov. Sylvia Lake toured the damage by helicopter Wednesday and was shocked by what she witnessed.

LT. GOV. SYLVIA LAKE (D), HAWAII: It looked as if it's just the whole town was devastated.

[00:05:06]

MIRACLE: The one road into Lahaina remains closed. People can leave, but they cannot go back in.

And others have been waiting on the side of the road, hoping that the moment this road opens up, they can go see their homes and their community.

But the governor of Hawaii saying earlier today he estimates about 80 percent of Lahaina has been decimated.

There's a glimmer of good news. That fire that decimated Lahaina, it is now 80 percent contained. Firefighters have been able to make progress, despite these conditions.

Veronica Miracle, CNN, Maui, Hawaii.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Erica Fleishman is the director of the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute and a professor at Oregon State University.

Professor, thanks for your time. I guess, you know, when we hear the factors behind the Maui fires-- high winds, low humidity, drought conditions -- how much blame for those conditions and what's happened do you think can be put down to climate change?

ERICA FLEISHMAN, DIRECTOR, OREGON CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH INSTITUTE: Yes, I wouldn't say blame. I would say that the conditions are consistent with trends that are happening in Hawaii and trends that are happening in many parts of the world that have been observed and projected as climate continues to change.

HOLMES: We've already seen, you know, massive fires in Canada. There have been the fires in Europe, as well. Do you think the size and ferocity of these sorts of fires is here to stay now?

FLEISHMAN: In many parts of the world, wildfires are becoming larger. They are becoming much more difficult to contain.

In part, that has to do with things like temperatures in a relative sense are increasing more overnight than they are during the daytime.

When you get the type of high wind speeds that have been happening in Maui over the past several days, it's extremely difficult to contain wildfires. They spread quite rapidly, especially when the vegetation is as dry as it is, and the temperatures as high as they are.

So it's, unfortunately, quite tragic for the people involved and very dangerous for any of the firefighters that are trying to contain the wildfires.

HOLMES: It was interesting. I've been reading about this, and I know you've spoken about it, too, the aspect of non-native plant species fueling the blaze. Guinea grass was one example. It grows quickly. It can get three meters tall. And when it dries out, it burns ferociously.

Is that sort of thing, introduced species, an issue to you?

FLEISHMAN: It is an issue, and -- and non-native grasses, especially in many parts of the world, would be a challenge, even if the climate was not changing. Many of them are doing quite well as climate changes.

They also, again, whether the climate is changing or not, they tend to be highly flammable. They also, in many cases, tend to respond, from the plant's perspective, quite well after fire.

So, in many parts of the world, as the plants -- as the types of plants in an area change, you tend to see more frequent wildfires and larger wildfires.

HOLMES: And when you think of the medium to long-term impacts, are we -- are we sort of stuck with these sorts of disasters now? Can it -- can it be turned around, or are we being forced now into an adaptation phase on the planet?

FLEISHMAN: For the next several decades, at least, even if the emissions of heat-trapping gases halted today, temperatures would continue to increase.

So in terms of these extreme events happening, we likely are going to be dealing with them for at least the next several decades.

But that doesn't mean that people can't adapt to -- to some of these types of events, that -- that people's livelihoods and quality of life and cultural identities, with political will, with resources, with community engagement, that those can't be safeguarded to some extent.

HOLMES: Yes. Yes, exactly. The changing world. Professor Erica Fleishmann, appreciate you making the time. Thank you so much.

FLEISHMAN: You're welcome.

HOLMES: And we turn now to a major development in the contentious relationship between the U.S. and Iran.

Five Americans have been released from an infamous Iranian prison and are now under house arrest, according to one of their attorneys. We do know the identities of three of the men, declared by the State Department to be wrongfully detained. You see them there on your screen.

A source says it could take weeks before they return to the U.S., however.

The deal calls for the U.S. to release six billion dollars of Iranian funds, which are frozen in South Korea. But that money can be used only for non-sanctionable trade, including things like food and medicine.

The U.S. secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said the State Department had spoken with all five Americans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: This is a positive step, but I don't want to get ahead of its -- its conclusion, because there's more work to be done to actually bring it home. My belief is that this is the beginning of the end of their nightmare, and the nightmare that their families have experienced.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: More now from CNN chief international anchor. Christiane Amanpour, who broke the news of the Americans' release.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR (voice-over): It was a heartfelt plea heard around the world.

SIAMAK NAMAZI, IMPRISONED IN IRAN (via phone): Honestly, the other hostages and I desperately need President Biden to finally hear us out, to finally hear our cry for help and bring us home. And I suppose desperate times call for desperate measures. So this is a desperate measure. I'm -- I'm clearly nervous.

AMANPOUR (voice-over): Siamak Namazi was Iran's longest held American prisoner. He was arrested in 2015 while on a business trip and then sentenced to ten years for, quote, "collaborating with a hostile state."

Namazi, a dual citizen, always denied the charge, and Washington accused Iran of wrongfully detaining him. This was the desperate appeal he made to us from inside Evin Prison in our unprecedented conversation.

S. NAMAZI (via phone): I think the very fact that I've chosen to take this risk and appear on CNN, from -- from Evin Prison, it should just tell you how dire my situation has become by this point. I spent months caged -- I spent months caged in a solitary cell that was the size of a closet, sleeping on the floor, being fed like a dog from under the door. And honestly, that was the least of my troubles.

AMANPOUR (voice-over): Siamak's elderly father, Baquer, who's now 86, was lured to Iran in 2016 with the promise of seeing his son. Instead, he too was arrested, imprisoned for two years, and then barred from leaving the country.

He was finally allowed out last October to seek medical treatment abroad. He's never stopped publicly campaigning for his son's release.

BAQUER NAMAZI, FATHER OF SIAMAK NAMAZI: I will never truly be free until Siamak Namazi is beside me. I could not be more proud of his courage, but I don't want him to have to be brave anymore. I want him to be safe. I want him to be free, to live life he should have been living for the past seven years. I want him to be home.

AMANPOUR (voice-over): Among the other hostages released along with Namazi, a businessman, Emad Shargi, and Morad Tahbaz, who have both been held for more than five years.

They say they never so much as jaywalked, and they were held only as Americans to be traded on the geopolitical market. Before their release, their families tried to rally support.

NEDA SHARGI, SISTER OF EMAD SHARGI: I know that they are desperate, that they are scared, and they feel like they've been forgotten. They have been determined, officially, by the Department of State, by our secretary of state, as having been taken, detained by the Iranians for one reason; and that is because they are Americans.

TARA TAHBAZ, DAUGHTER OF MORAD TAHBAZ: My father is an amazing person. He is so calm, so kind, so generous, so noble. And I think just how my siblings and I have been able to carry ourselves through this surreal nightmare is just a testament to him and my mother and everything that they've instilled in us and who they are.

AMANPOUR (voice-over): Former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, who advocates for some of these families, puts it bluntly.

BILL RICHARDSON, FORMER NEW MEXICO GOVERNOR: And this has happened in Russia, Venezuela, Iran, North Korea. It's a pattern. It's a new hostage diplomacy that we have to start confronting.

S. NAMAZI (via phone): Just do what's necessary to end this nightmare and bring us home. Thank you.

AMANPOUR: We'll get that message out, Siamak.

AMANPOUR (voice-over): These few may finally have been released, but will they be the last American hostages taken by Tehran?

Christiane Amanpour, CNN, London.

{END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: A team of FBI agents is expected to arrive in Ecuador soon to help that country investigate the shocking assassination of a presidential candidate.

Six Colombia nationals are now being held in connection with Wednesday's fatal shooting in the capital. All are said to be members of organized crime groups.

The suspect gunman, also Colombian, was killed.

Journalist David Shortell joins us now from Mexico with the very latest.

So David, what is the FBI likely to do in terms of helping the investigation? Bring us up to date.

DAVID SHORTELL, JOURNALIST: Sure. Hi, Michael. A day of really fast- moving developments in Ecuador capped off by that news that the FBI is on their way now to get to the bottom -- help get to the bottom of this assassination.

We now know that six men were arrested in those series of overnight raids in the capital city of Quito. Those men all Colombian nationals, according to the country's interior minister.

Authorities also finding a real arsenal of weapons during those raids, as well, including a machine gun and several grenades.

[00:15:08]

The men, as you said, all said to be connected to organized crime in the country, although authorities didn't say which gang they may be associated with.

Now, commentators and analysts in Ecuador are adding some important context to that piece of news. They say that, perhaps, these men were a member of the game, but organized crime is really so entrenched in the Ecuadorian government at this point that there are some important questions about potential political connections to the killing.

That, of course, will be one of the items under investigation by the FBI as they get on the ground in Ecuador in the coming days. That U.S. federal law enforcement agency bringing with it extraordinary experience investigating murders, complex cases like this across the globe.

They also have sophisticated tools at their disposal, including -- including some measures to help them trace the origins of guns that are being used in crimes like this.

Now the FBI and the other investigators in this case are also, of course, going to be very interested in how the killer was able to get so close to Villavicencio on Wednesday evening as he left that political rally in Quito.

We learned some new information today about the security detail that he had with him that evening. According to authorities, there were two patrol cars as part of his security detail present outside of that rally, and he also had several police officers following him around, protecting him as his detail.

Interestingly, Villavicencio's campaign is said to have had an armored vehicle, but authorities said that the armored vehicle was actually being used in a different city in Ecuador that evening.

Michael, the three -- three police officers that were within Villavicencio's detail are among the injured in the shooting. They're said tonight to be in stable condition.

HOLMES: All right. Appreciate the update, David Shortell there in Mexico City. Appreciate it.

SHORTELL: Thanks.

HOLMES: Now, tough talk coming from leaders in West Africa during a meeting to discuss how to deal with the military coup in Niger.

Plus, also still to come, Russian media coverage versus reality on the ground in Ukraine.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: West African leaders are raising the stakes in their stance against the military junta that took over Niger last month. At a meeting Thursday of the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, leaders called for the activation and the deployment of a regional stand-by force to restore order.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OMAR ALIEU TOURAY, ECOWAS COMMISSION PRESIDENT: Direct the committee of the chief of defense, to activate the ECOWAS standby force with all its elements immediately. Order the deployment of the ECOWAS standby force to restore constitutional order in the republic of Niger.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[00:20:09]

HOLMES: ECOWAS did not give a timeline, and it's not clear what that force would entail.

Several analysts tell CNN that a military intervention in Niger is probably not imminent, because it takes time to assemble the ECOWAS forces.

The Nigerian president and other ECOWAS leaders have said they prefer to find a diplomatic solution, and use of force would be a last resort.

For more, we're joined by Ebenezer Obadare. He's a senior fellow for Africa Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. And thanks so much for making the time.

Let's start with, what do you make of ECOWAS ordering the, quote, "activation and deployment" of standby forces? I mean, the military option? Most people think that would take a long time to actually do, but what do you think the messaging is?

EBENEZER OBADARE, SENIOR FELLOW FOR AFRICA STUDIES, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: I thought the message was very clear. The message is this. If you don't quit, General Tchiani, they are going to come in and drag you out.

Up to about two days ago, if you had asked me, given developments in Nigeria over the last week, given developments across the sub-region, and given the shift in the public mood in Niger itself, if ECOWAS was still going to go ahead with the previous plan for a military invasion, to -- to (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- if you told me that the ECOWAS announcement would have this kind of muscle, I would have doubted it.

But I thought this was pretty significant.

HOLMES: And you have written -- and I was reading some of your stuff today. You have written that -- that force is needed. But what are the risks in taking that course of action? The -- the junta, of course, has threatened fierce resistance. Is it a good idea?

OBADARE: I think it's a good idea in principle, so let me explain. You want to send a message that the region is no longer going to have military invasion (ph), period. And whoever plans to take over a democratically-elected government is going to have something to pay. So that's my -- that's my basic idea.

Having said that, given what has happened in Niger over the last few days, given the shift in the mood within Nigeria, given all of those things, I'm not sure about how this is actually going to pan out.

And I wonder if the defense chiefs, the military chiefs of ECOWAS have the kind of intelligence that, I think, that's giving them the confidence to -- to make the kind of call that they're making right now.

HOLMES: The junta has reportedly asked for help from the Russian mercenary group, Wagner. What are the risks of those potential ties, should it come to that? And closer ties with Russia, more broadly?

OBADARE: That was always in the cards. And that's -- that's one of the problems from the get-go, that given that Wagner was next door already in Mali, in Burkina Faso, and other parts of the region, the odds were that, if this coup were to succeed, that the junta was going to invite Wagner to come in.

If this takeover of the government in -- in Niger is not reversed, I think you might as well give up and expect Wagner to move in at some point.

HOLMES: The junta announced a new government on Wednesday, and more than half of the 21 positions are filled by civilians, the rest military appointments. Is that likely to calm regional concerns?

OBADARE: No. So, nothing surprising here for me, at least because I'm a Nigerian, so I'm very experienced in the language of the military. But here is a way to look at. Twenty civilian appointees under a

military government is still a military government. The problem is not with the number of civilian appointees. The problem is that military rule itself is not what you want. It's the very opposite of democratic rule.

Those who have taken over power in Niger are borrowing from a set of -- they are playing a game that anybody who's familiar with military rule in Africa is -- is very familiar with.

So I'm really not impressed. I'm not surprised that they' re taking that path. But it just strengthens my own determination that this abomination has to be -- to be terminated.

HOLMES: The days and weeks ahead will tell. Ebenezer Obadare, thank you so much. Appreciate your time.

[00:25:06]

OBADARE: Thank you for having me.

HOLMES: A U.N. humanitarian official says she is appalled by a Russian strike on a hotel frequently used by the organization, as well as various NGOs in Ukraine.

The missile attack happened on Thursday in the city of Zaporizhzhia. Ukraine says one person was killed, 16 others wounded. The building also serves as a children's day camp, which closed for the day just an hour before the strike.

Ukrainian officials called the timing a miracle that likely saved many children's lives.

Also in the South, reports of heavy fighting but little movement on the front line as Ukraine tries to push ahead with its counteroffensive.

Ukraine has also ordered an evacuation of civilians from the Northeastern city of Kupiansk, which is under Russian military pressure.

As Ukraine tries to make a breakthrough in its counteroffensive, Russian state media is making its own push on the airwaves. Their take on the Ukrainian offensive is that it's already dead in the water.

Matthew Chance reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is how the Russians say they're taking advantage of Ukraine's flagging counteroffensive.

(ARTILLERY)

CHANCE (voice-over): The latest defense ministry pictures showing Russian forces advancing on land and in the air.

We can't independently verify Russian planes, but officials here insist they're now making daily military gains on the battlefield.

IGOR KONASHENKOV, SPOKESPERSON, RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY (through translator): During the day, seven counterattacks from armed forces of Ukraine were successfully repelled in Kharkiv region.

CHANCE (voice-over): On the country's flagship news show, they're already branding Ukraine's counteroffensive a bust, looping videos of Ukrainian troops in Western-supplied kit getting bogged down, ridiculing what they say are Western excuses for Ukraine's failure.

"At first, Westerners justified Ukrainian failures with the weather, General Frost," the anchor says. "Later, it was General Mud and now, it's the turn of General Thistle. The Russian army is now aided by the greenery. This insurmountable obstacle is why the Ukrainian army is failing to push forward, supposedly," she says.

In fact, Ukraine says it is making progress, albeit slow, without the weapons it says it desperately needs to overcome heavily-defended Russian lines.

And it's going on the offense, stepping up drone attacks on Russian shipping and other targets to pressure Moscow and disrupt supply lines.

(ARTILLERY)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

CHANCE (voice-over): Bringing home Russia's special military operation like never before.

"We're all shocked that it's happening here," says this woman in Moscow, "but we're not politicians, so we don't want to comment," she told local media.

"I've got two kids and want to stop being ashamed that they were born in this time," says another, her face blurred to protect her identity.

But on the battlefield, Ukraine's slow progress is fueling Kremlin hopes that a turning point may soon be reached and that patience with Ukraine in the West may eventually run out.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Still to come on the program, outrage in China as the government deliberately sends flood waters into people's homes. We'll have the reason why, when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:31:34] HOLMES: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Michael Holmes.

Now, authorities in South Korea have evacuated more than 14,000 people in the wake of Tropical Storm Khanun. Officials shut down schools and canceled hundreds of flights, train routes and ferry crossings due to the heavy rains and flooding.

The former typhoon is sweeping through the Korean Peninsula after pummeling Southern Japan twice. South Korea's interior ministry says at least one person has died.

Khanun is weakening as it continues over land and into North Korea. According to reports, the military and political ruling party there had been ordered to prepare for the flooding and to salvage crops.

Northern China also seeing rain from Khanun, even as it recovers from Typhoon Doksuri that hit about two weeks ago. And in the past couple of hours, China said at least 29 people in Hubei province died because of flooding and heavy rains from Doksuri.

Meanwhile, there have been rare protests in China after the government deliberately directed floodwaters towards people's homes in the wake of that typhoon and the record rains that followed.

CNN's Ivan Watson with that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A rare moment of defiance in China. Angry residents on the steps of the municipal government building in the city of Bazhou.

Their sign says, "Give me back my home. The flood was caused by floodwater discharge, not by heavy rainfall."

At some point, men with police shields dispersed the crowd.

The incident took place after deadly floods caused by the heaviest rains to hit Northeastern China in 140 years. A typhoon that killed dozens of people in and around the Chinese capital, Beijing, forcing the evacuation of more than a million people from their homes.

WATSON: Over the last two weeks, these three provinces all saw dramatic flooding, but we're learning that some communities weren't just damaged by a natural disaster.

The small city of Bazhou, where the protest took place, was deliberately flooded by authorities, following a government disaster plan aimed at protecting bigger cities like Beijing and Tianjin.

WATSON (voice-over): At two a.m. on August 1st, authorities activated a flood control plan, releasing water from dams into flood storage and detention zones. They then had to evacuate more than 800,000 people living in those zones, which quickly flooded. State TV showed the Communist Party chief of Hubei province touring

the disaster area, instructing subordinates to reduce flooding pressure on Beijing, and vowing to resolutely be the capital's moat.

In the event of a crisis, experts say countries often plan to redirect rising water, but usually towards flood zones that are unpopulated.

ASHISH SHARMA, PROFESSOR OF HYDROLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES: It seems like a planning problem. Somebody allowed development or over-development in an area that was designated to be a flood control zone.

WATSON: Provincial governments thanked evacuees for their sacrifice, adding, "History will record your contribution." That's cold comfort to people who've seen their homes and livelihoods destroyed for the greater good.

[00:35:05]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Nearly all the factories in our area were seriously damaged. Ninety-nine percent of the factories have little hope of salvaging the losses.

CHANCE (voice-over): Under Chinese rules, people are entitled to compensation of 70 percent of the value of property submerged in flood control areas. Experts say planning for the next extreme weather disaster will only get harder.

SHARMA: I think the entire world is scrambling to get prepared for the problems that climate change is unfolding onto us.

CHANCE (voice-over): Which seems like an almost impossible challenge.

Ivan Watson, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: The quarterfinals of the Women's World Cup are underway, and the first match of the stage was a thriller. Spain and the Netherlands took their match into extra time. We'll have the highlights in a live report from New Zealand coming up after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: For the first time in 47 years, Russia has successfully launched an unmanned spacecraft to the moon. The Lunar 25 is expected to enter orbit around Earth before transferring to a lunar orbit and then descending to the surface of the moon.

The Lunar and an Indian spacecraft that launched last month are both expected to land at the moon's South pole on August 23. It's a race to see which country will land first.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Five. Three, two, one, release, release, release. (END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: And more than a decade after it began selling tickets to space, Virgin Galactic has finally launched its first tourist to the edge of space.

The company, founded by British billionaire Richard Branson, launched the VSS Unity from a New Mexico space port on Thursday, attached to a massive twin fuselage.

The craft carried three paying customers on board. Unity traveling more than 80 kilometers above the Earth's surface, the altitude that the U.S. government considers to be the boundary of outer space.

The Women's World Cup quarterfinals are underway in New Zealand, and fans couldn't have asked for a more thrilling start to the stage. Spain and the Netherlands taking their match into extra time after a nail-biting 90 minutes plus stoppage.

CNN's Amanda Davies is outside the stadium in Auckland. And yes, I will admit I wasn't working. I was watching it. We are getting to the point of the end, and this was a cracker of a finish to the Spain- Netherlands quarterfinal. Walk us through it.

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN WORLD SPORT: Yes, it was brilliant, Michael. A real proper quarterfinal matchup, which has seen in Spain ultimately into the Women's World Cup semifinal for the first time in their history.

[00:40:11]

Undoubtedly, one of the most talented squads in this tournament, booking their place at the expense, of course, of the 2019 runners-up, the Netherlands.

And for all their talent, you feared for a long time they might come to rue some of their missed opportunities. Spain very much dominating possession, having the best of the chances at early draws, but they couldn't make the breakthrough to get the ball past the Netherlands goalkeeper, Daphne van Domselaar, in their goal.

And it looked like it was going to be one of her veteran teammates, Stefanie Van der Gragt, who was going to steal the headlines, first for committing the foul, the handball that led to a penalty that ultimately put Spain ahead, but then very quickly, making amends as she feared it might be her final game at a World Cup, in fact the final game of her career. Because she had announced that the World Cup will signal the end of her career before retirement.

She then found the equalizer that put the game into extra time.

But ultimately, it was 19-year-old Spanish sensation, Salma Paralluelo, who made the difference. Spain's youngest-ever Women's World Cup goal scorer. Until a year ago, she was actually juggling between athletics and football. It seems she made the right call, though, putting her sight into their first ever World Cup semifinal. HOLMES: Yes, and looking ahead, Japan-Sweden coming up in another

quarterfinal match in New Zealand where you are right now. I think you're outside the stadium aren't you?

DAVIES: Yes, very much. Here at Eden Park, of course, such a classic sporting venue that has seen so many heavyweight rugby clashes over the years. And we are set for a real heavyweight Women's World Cup in counter, as well.

Sweden against Japan. Japan, the only previous World Cup winners left in this competition, who've really have been picking up a lot of fans over the last couple of weeks because of their style of play. The ease with which they are playing football and scoring goals. The tournament's top scorers so far with 14 goals.

One of the fans they've picked up is actually the Sweden captain, Kosovare Asllani. She has been talking about how much she's enjoying watching them play, but she is looking after a side who have won in all sorts of different ways. A late winner against South Africa; set plays against Italy. Of course, that late, late penalty shootout against the USA.

It was, interestingly, Sweden who beat Japan the last time these two sides met. So that was in the Olympic quarterfinal on home soil. Sweden well aware that Japan wants something of revenge for that.

HOLMES: Yes, yes. Well, enjoy the game. We'll check in with you and see how it's going. Amanda Davies in Auckland, New Zealand, thanks so much.

And I'm Michael Holmes. I will be back at the top of the hour with more CNN NEWSROOM, but first WORLD SPORT after the break.

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