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Parts Of U.S. Under Threat From Fires And Flooding; Putin In Vietnam After Signing Deal With Pyongyang; Philippine Ship Collides With Chinese Coast Guard; Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders Emerge as Key Voting Bloc; New Louisiana Law Requires Ten Commandments Be Displayed in All State-funded Classrooms; Stonehenge Sprayed With Orange Paint by "Just Stop Oil"; Historic Building in Italy Damaged by Parkour Tourists; Oldest Wine in Liquid Form Discovered in Tomb in Spain. Aired 2-2:45a ET

Aired June 20, 2024 - 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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[02:00:33]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States around the world and streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church. Just ahead.

From fires to floods, dangerous weather conditions are sweeping across parts of the U.S., leaving a trail of damage and destruction.

Russian President Vladimir Putin touches down in Hanoi, Vietnam just hours after signing a mutual defense pact with Pyongyang.

And tensions flare in the South China Sea after a confrontation between the Philippines supply ship and the Chinese Coast Guard.

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

CHURCH: Thanks for joining us. Well, we are following the devastating impacts of severe weather across the U.S. and Mexico right now. A powerful tropical storm is set to make landfall in Mexico in the coming hours. While in the U.S., New Mexico and California are racing to contain raging wildfires. Tropical Storm Alberto is already thrashing the Texas coast with heavy rains and strong winds.

The National Hurricane Center predicts this will continue through Thursday. And there's a possibility of tornadoes in some areas. Meantime, western U.S. states are dealing with fast moving wildfires that are burning large areas of land. In New Mexico, officials report at least two people have died as a result of the fires and residents of the mountain village of Ruidoso have been forced to evacuate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL SCOTT, RUIDOSO, NEW MEXICO RESIDENT: We reached a point where it was just a solid blackout. I've never seen anything like it. But the thing that kind of startled me more than anything, my truck was being hit with chunks of ash. I could feel him hitting the hood and the gray. It was almost like big gray rain hitting my truck.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Wildfires are continuing to spread in California as well. Cal Fire reports the post fire in Los Angeles County has now scored nearly 16,000 acres, that's more than 6000 hectares. And meantime, extreme heat is still posing a threat to other parts of the U.S. More than a dozen daily high temperature records were either broken or tied in the Northeast. CNN Meteorologist Chad Myers has a look at how hot this weekend could get.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It sure would be nice to get some of those rains here from parts of Texas into New Mexico where the fires are. And yes, we will see a few scattered showers here. But really more we're going to get will be -- the wind. We're going to see winds 20 to 25 miles per hour in areas where the fires are. Now the wind is from an opposite direction that could put firefighters in some danger, but also could push the fires back onto areas that have already burned.

But you never like to see 20 to 30 mile per hour winds over a fire zone. I'd like to see some wind here in the East maybe blowing this heat away for a change or at least giving you a windchill factor which certainly won't be the case. Again, we're talking about heat index, about 260 million people or more going to see temperatures above 90 over the next few days. Maybe not every day. But certainly, you will.

There's where the heat will be for today. A little bit farther towards the west tomorrow and really just expanding toward even D.C. by the weekend where temperatures will be almost 100 degrees. And that's not heat index, that's thermometer. We still have these excessive heat warnings and watches all the way across the U.S. where we're just now seeing just long duration days where it's day after day over 90 degrees, over 95 degrees in some spots.

Even New York City today all the way to 92 and if you are not in the wind or if you are in the sunshine or between buildings with the concrete, it will feel warmer than that without a doubt. Today's heat index in Syracuse, a lovely 99 this afternoon. And 99 not with heat index but with the air temperature for D.C. Saturday and for Sunday. A lot of folks going to be doing things out and about in D.C.

Make sure you try to stay cool there. Lots of water for you, the pets, the kids, and even the plants because they're going a little bit of water, please. Have a great day.

CHURCH: All right. Back to Tropical Storm Alberto now. More than two million people in southern Texas are under a tornado watch right now, due to the massive storm.

[02:05:06]

Paulette Guajardo is the mayor of Corpus Christi in Texas and joins us now. Appreciate you being with us. PAULETTE GUAJARDO, MAYOR, CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS: Hi, thank you.

CHURCH: So, the National Hurricane Center says Alberto is expected to bring more heavy rain, flooding and winds. What more are you learning about conditions ahead and what are you doing to prepare for this and of course possible tornadoes?

GUAJARDO: Yes. We are under a tornado watch now as we speak. And, you know, as a coastal city, we are -- we have a strong protocol. And we work with our departments very closely to make certain that we know exactly what we need to do and have all of our resources and our partnerships with other agencies. So, what we've been doing the last 24 hours is working very diligently proactively and with our departments or many departments, most especially our Texas Department of Emergency Management.

The Division of Emergency Management with the state of Texas. And so, it's been -- there's been a lot of good partnership and good deployment of resources here in Corpus Christi.

CHURCH: So, what are you telling residents to do to prepare for the worst-case scenario here?

GUAJARDO: So, we're telling them, of course, what we hear in Texas, you know, turn around, don't drown and make certain to stay in if you don't need to leave because we don't know, you know, the rains are. There come and go and they're very heavy at times and they're lighter and others. But there are different flood levels around the city. And so, there are low lying areas, there are some areas, for example, in North Beach, which is it sits below sea level.

And so, it can be very dangerous. And so, we're asking people to stay alert to our public news releases. We have reverse alerts which are constantly going out, letting everyone know what's going on. And of course, just to stay safe, and not to leave your home is if you don't have to or if actually right now, we are really monitoring everything. Really, it's by the minute. Like we just said there's a tornado watch now until a few hours later from now.

But we just -- we're just keeping everyone abreast and apprised of everything that's happening in that's ever changing.

CHURCH: Of course. Critical advice there too. So, what damage has been done so far? And what are you able to tell us about power outages and other problems that people need to know about in your region and indeed across Texas?

Can you still hear me, Mayor? Are you still able to hear me? I think we have lost the Mayor Paulette Guajardo in Corpus Christi in Texas.

All right. Let's move on to another story we're watching very closely. Vladimir Putin is in Vietnam for a two-day visit fresh off his landmark trip to North Korea. The Russian President attending a formal welcoming ceremony outside the presidential palace just a short time ago. Mr. Putin is looking to boost economic ties with friendly countries in a bid to show that Western isolation is not having an impact on Moscow.

Now before he arrived there, Vietnam's Communist Party newspaper published an op ed from Mr. Putin thanking the government for its balanced position on the conflict in Ukraine. Here's North Korea trip ended with the signing of a trade and mutual defense treaty, which some experts say may be an attempt to justify the reported use of North Korean munitions in the war in Ukraine.

And I do want to bring in CNN's Beijing Bureau Chief Steven Jiang now. Good to see you, Steven. So, what's been China's reaction to this strengthening of bilateral relations between Russia and North Korea and of course, the signing of this trade and mutual defense agreement between the two nations and what concerns might China have about all of this?

STEVEN JIANG, CNN INTERNATIONAL BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: Yes, Rosemary. Officially the Chinese have not said much about this trip. Of course, they're watching everything very closely. But (INAUDIBLE) including selling China have described this upgraded relationship between Moscow and Pyongyang as transactional. At the end of the day, I think the Chinese are very confident about their relationship with both Pyongyang and Moscow because they understand their role is indispensable when it comes to propping up both economies. Beijing, of course has been providing an economic lifeline to Pyongyang for decades.

[02:10:00]

And increasingly they've been helping Moscow dodge severe Western sanctions by rapidly expanding their bilateral trade and investment relationships as well. And not to mention Beijing has been providing political covers on the global stage for both regimes as well. And all three leaders, Xi Jinping as well as Putin and Kim, of course, also share their grievances against the U.S.

And a lot of the language you heard in the past few days from Pyongyang in terms of attacking this hegemonic power -- hegemonic power suppressing other countries interests very much echoing what we often hear from Beijing officials as well. But unlike Moscow and Pyongyang, though China is still very much part of the globalized economic and trading system and China does still need Western technologies and investments at a time when they were facing strong economic headwinds, not to mention Xi Jinping has his own ambitions.

For example, playing a potential peacemaker in the war in the Ukraine, so you're not going to hear him throw a full support publicly behind putting his war efforts in Ukraine. And ultimately, though, Beijing is also very much concerned about these tensions that's been building up on the Korean peninsula, this tit for tat cycle with North Korean testing weapons, then the U.S. and its allies respond with military drills.

This kind of tensions and potential conflict instability not in China's interests because everything's happening on its doorstep. That's why interestingly, although Beijing insisted coincidentally Chinese officials actually were in Seoul on Tuesday talking with their South Korean counterparts about diplomacy and security on a day when Putin was arriving in Pyongyang. So, they're very much trying to strike a very delicate balance here. Rosemary?

CHURCH: And Steven, how did all of this play out across the region? What was the reaction saying Vladimir Putin visiting there in North Korea?

JIANG: I think, of course, it causes alarms and potential worries and concerns. But Putin, of course, is doing this to show the U.S. and the West, he still has friends on the global stage, he has places to go to be received and hosted as a head of state with all the pattern trees associated with it. And of course, he's also trying very much to expand Russian's relationship and grow in the countries he visited not only in Pyongyang, but also in Hanoi, his latest stop.

Russia remains Vietnam's largest arms supplier. He very much wants to keep that and they still have a very strong -- a very strong ties in the oil and gas field with their joint venture of really generating millions of dollars for both countries. So, that kind of practical purposes of this trip is also very much what Putin wants to do. And other countries, including Vietnam is definitely accommodating him because for Vietnam, for example, they are very much -- very adept in playing the Strato game trying to -- trying to have this relationship with all the major powers not only Moscow, but also of course, Beijing and Washington as well. Rosemary?

CHURCH: All right. Steven Jiang joining us live from Beijing. Many thanks for that. Appreciate it. Well, Ukraine is voicing its frustration over the security and trade pact signed by Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un. An advisor to Ukraine's President calls it a brazen undermining of international sanctions and restrictions on North Korea. He goes on to say there are practically no more rules and the silence from the U.N. is deafening.

As we've mentioned, the deal signed in Pyongyang includes a mutual defense provision. Some call it an attempt to justify the use of North Korean munitions by Russia in the war in Ukraine.

Well, some Ukrainians call it the second frontline and the country's war with Russia. The repeated and unrelenting attacks on Ukraine's power grid, putting average civilians to the tests left only to hope the lights will stay on. And as Clare Sebastian reports, their prospects often don't look bright.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Blackouts turns simple daily activities like taking a toddler out to play into Herculean tasks.

KATERYNA SERZHAN, KYIV RESIDENT: Because we live on the 15th floor and sometimes when warrior wants bicycle it's kind of complicated.

SEBASTISAN (on camera): It's created a situation where it's actually hard for you to leave your house.

SERZHAN: Maybe it's easier to leave our house, but it's hard to come back, you know.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Starting in late March, Russia launched a series of massive attacks precision targeting Ukraine's power generating facilities. For the first time in summer rolling blackouts are now almost a daily occurrence. I guess camping stove the only way to cook a hot dinner. And yet Kateryna's resilience belies the scale of this crisis. By early June the attacks are destroyed 40 percent of the country's electricity generating capacity says DTEK, Ukraine's largest private energy company. And winter is too close for comfort.

[02:15:07]

DMYTRO SAKHARUK, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DTEK: We have 120 days left before the start of the winter season. 120 days. So, it means that the speed in which we need to move should be extremely high. It may not be business as usual.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): There's no quick fix. Rebuild where possible in some cases, using parts from decommissioned power plants in Europe start building more smaller power units to spread the risk, input more from Europe.

SEBASTIAN (on camera): Are you worried that it won't get done in 120 days that is going to mean that there are still deficits going into the winter?

SAKHARUK: The deficits will be higher than today. And that will mean that people will not have lights in their houses up to 20 hours.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Even with scheduled blackouts the unexpected still happens.

We lost the lights. That's the reality we live in says this Ukrainian news anchor.

SVITLANA GRYNCHUK, UKRAINIAN DEPUTY MINISTER OF ENERGY: We called it the second frontline energy now it's like second frontline. We understand that the winter period will be difficult for us and but we are we are doing our best and we try to be ready.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): And that means being ready for more attacks.

GRYNCHUK: First priority is to protect our energy facilities, to protect our energy infrastructure. And the best way it's air defense.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): There is progress on air defense and funding. But it's not quick enough for Kateryna and her daughter now looking to leave Kyiv for the winter and rent a house with a wood burning stove.

SERZHAN: We come on the apartment here and we understand that it will be really cold over here.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Clare Sebastian, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE) CHURCH: Philippine Navy boats are outnumbered as they face off with China's Coast Guard near disputed islands, just ahead. The latest confrontation in the South China Sea which is raising concerns it could escalate into a bigger conflict. We'll explain when we return.

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[02:21:11]

COLEMAN: Welcome back, everyone. The U.S. is offering assurances it'll have the Philippines back following its Navy's latest run in with China's Coast Guard. It happened near the disputed Spratly Islands on Monday where a Chinese Coast Guard vessel collided with a Philippine supply ship. But this video released by Manila appears to show Chinese vessels swarming and surrounding the Philippine boats.

Concerns are growing that incidents like this one could snowball into a more serious confrontation. And for more, Ivan Watson joins us now live from Hong Kong. Good to see you, Ivan. So, what more can you tell us about how this all unfolded and what both sides are saying?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. Well, the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines has accused China of acts of piracy of attacking Philippine Coast Guard and marines and sailors with bladed weapons of looting and destroying equipment and boarding Philippine vessels. Now this could be perceived as just accusations or hyperbole.

But then you look at some of the footage that has been released overnight by the Philippine Armed Forces. And it does backup some of those accusations. There you can clearly see uniformed helmeted Chinese officers surrounding, swarming a small Philippine boat with uniformed Philippine personnel on board. We see Chinese officers waving an axe, stealing a bag off of the Philippine boats.

We see a Chinese boat ramming the Philippine boat. That is, of course heavily edited. It's coming from one side. The Chinese side so far has only released a couple of still images. Meanwhile, there has been a denial of some of the accusations coming from the Chinese Foreign Ministry. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LIN JIAN, CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON (through translator): China urges the Philippines to immediately stop its infringing and provocative actions, China will continue to resolutely safeguard its sovereignty and rights in accordance with the law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: At heart here is a long running territorial dispute between China and the Philippines over shoals and reefs in the South China Sea. I think we can show you a map of roughly where this took place. China claims virtually all of this body of water for itself ignoring competing claims from many other countries in that area. And if you look, the second time has shown is much closer just by the eye to the Philippines than it is to mainland China.

And yet China still goes ahead with these claims. The confrontations have been escalating over the course of the last year. And I was on board, a Chinese Coast Guard ship just -- last March and I saw how -- sorry, a Philippine Coast Guard ship and I saw how the Chinese vessels swarmed that much smaller fleet of Philippine vessels and how tense and dangerous it could potentially get.

What happened on Monday here is clearly an escalation. And it is one that the Philippine president has been warning about saying that if a Filipino is killed in one of these confrontations, it would be a crossing of the Rubicon. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FERDINAND MARCOS JR., PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES: Filipino citizen is killed by a willful act, that that is, I think, very, very close to what we define as an act of war. And for we will respond accordingly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: Those are very, very serious words. And they have much larger implications when you consider the fact that the Philippines is a mutual defense treaty ally of the U.S. and could invoke that treaty if it does feel itself under attack from China.

[02:25:12]

So, this is a hotspot, a growing area of tension that we should watch closely because it could have very large implications going far beyond this contested area.

CHURCH: All right. Our thanks to Ivan Watson bringing us that live report from Hong Kong. Appreciate it.

Asian-Americans are fast emerging as a key voting bloc in the U.S. Ahead, a closer look at how they could shave this year's presidential election. Back with that and more in just a moment.

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CHURCH: U.S. election season is revving up with both U.S. President Joe Biden and Donald Trump looking to court voters. One key voting bloc that's emerging this year, Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders. A Pew poll says they have been the fastest growing group of eligible voters since 2020 and over the past two decades. And this November, about 15 million Asian-Americans will be eligible to vote.

Karthick Ramakrishnan is the executive director and founder of AAPI Data which publishes data and Policy Research on Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders. He joins me now from Las Vegas. Appreciate you being with us.

KARTHICK RAMAKRISHNAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND FOUNDER OF AAPI DATA: Thank you for having me. CHURCH: So, what has your data revealed in terms of just how crucial Asian American and Pacific Islander voters my proved to be in shaping this year's presidential election?

RAMAKRISHNAN: Well, if we look at the last two presidential elections, what was remarkable with both of these populations, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, is that they were the fastest-growing electorates, meaning the population that is eligible to vote. But we also saw the biggest increases in voting turnout among those who were eligible to vote. And in particular states like Georgia, for example, that proved to be very critical, not only for the presidential election, but also for control of the Senate. Asian American and Pacific Islander voters made up that margin of difference.

And we are seeing several states now in 2024, states like Nevada that have been perennial battlegrounds where AAPI voters make a critical difference. But, we are also seeing states like Arizona, Georgia is back in the picture, Pennsylvania, now these are states that people might not normally think of as Asian American states, but the population is fast growing and the margins of victory are getting smaller and smaller, and the growth of the Asian American Pacific Islander electorate is part of that story.

CHURCH: And as you point out, Asian Americans have been the fastest growing group of eligible voters in the U.S. over the past two decades, their number has grown apparently by 15 percent in the past four years. That's according to the Pew poll. But, who are they more likely to vote for, Donald Trump or Joe Biden, particularly given the rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans?

RAMAKRISHNAN: Well, we've seen, and so I've been doing survey research on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders for nearly two decades now and what we've seen is a definite trend towards the Democratic Party. And there are a host of reasons for that. Part of it is because of the positions of the Democratic Party when it comes to racism and discrimination, but also on issues like abortion and gun control.

At the same time, the Republican Party has seen a rise in restrictive views on immigration, but also rhetoric that many perceive to be racist or racially motivated. And that has turned off a lot of Asian American voters away from the Republican Party. But this vote is still very much up for grabs.

We have a lot of -- we have hundreds of thousands of Asian Americans entering the electorate both through naturalization, people gaining citizenship, but also a lot of younger Asian Americans that are aging into the electorate. So these are important trends to look out for and our surveys take a deeper dive into some of the issues that they care about.

CHURCH: And according to the Pew Research Center, about 15 million Asian Americans are projected to be eligible to vote in 2024. How likely is it that most of them would vote? And how significant could that voting bloc potentially be?

RAMAKRISHNAN: So, what we've seen in the last two decades is the proportion of eligible voters that end up voting in presidential elections has jumped considerably. So it used to be closer to 50 percent and now it has exceeded 60 percent in terms of turnout among eligible voters. More of the big questions heading into this election is whether the big increases that we saw in 2016 and 2020 will sustain themselves into 2024.

What we saw in the 2022 elections, these are midterm elections, they tend to be lower turnout. Asian Americans continue to outpace the rest of the country in terms of changes in voting over time. So, it looked -- they will very likely make a difference. And especially in states -- our analysis at AAPI Data looks at states like Pennsylvania, like Georgia, like Arizona, like Nevada -- those four states could decide the presidency. And so that vote is indeed very critical.

CHURCH: And President Joe Biden has declared the month of June "National Immigrant Heritage Month," how much of that is about wooing AAPI votes, do you think?

RAMAKRISHNAN: Well, you know, so Immigrant Heritage Month is something that has been renewed for many years now. May, just prior to this, is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. And the Administration rolled out a lot of policies and reminders about policies to convince Asian American voters that they have their best interests at heart.

And one of those major announcements over the last few months is data disaggregation, making sure that our communities are seen in the data of federal agencies, so that we understand whether our communities are being served and how we can improve the ability of our communities to be served. That's one amongst several policies including small business and other policies that they've passed, language access policies to try to appeal to this community.

[02:35:00]

CHURCH: Karthick Ramakrishnan, thank you so much for joining us and sharing your analysis on this. Appreciate it.

RAMAKRISHNAN: My pleasure.

CHURCH: A new battle over religious freedom and government overreach is brewing in the United States after Louisiana's Republican governor signed a law requiring schools to put a poster-size display of the Ten Commandments in every classroom. It applies to any school that receives state funding from kindergarten to universities. Civil liberties groups immediately vowed to challenge the law in court. They say it violates longstanding supreme court precedent and the U.S. Constitution itself, which prohibits the government establishment of religion.

Days before signing the law, the governor spoke at a Republican fundraiser where he said, "I can't wait to be sued, suggesting he will take this fight all the way to the supreme court if needed."

And we'll be right back.

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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Environmental protesters have spray painted one of the world's most famous prehistoric monuments, Stonehenge in England was covered in orange paint on Wednesday by to activists from the group called "Just Stop Oil." Both were arrested. It comes as huge crowds are expected at the monument for the Northern Summer Solstice. "Just Stop Oil" wants the U.K. government to phase out fossil fuels by 2030. The group also made headlines last month when protesters smashed the glass protecting the Magna Carta at the British Museum in London.

Well, some British tourists are accused of damaging a UNESCO world- heritage site in southern Italy.

[02:40:00]

A London-based parkour group visited the ancient city of Matera, running, climbing, and leaping through the streets and over precious stone structures. The group posted video online showing one of its members breaking a stone ledge during a jump and injuring himself in the process. CNN has reached out to police for comment. Matera is thought to be among the oldest continuously inhabited settlements in the world, going back thousands of years.

Well, they say wine gets better with age, but this one may be the exception, a 2,000-year-old wine believed to be the oldest ever found in liquid form. It was unearthed five years ago from a tomb in southern Spain. The wine which researchers determined was a white wine was found inside an urn along with human remains. They say it is an almost impossible discovery because wine, it tends to evaporate quickly, but it was somehow hermetically sealed, keeping it preserved all this time. Probably doesn't taste that great.

I am Rosemary Church. For our international viewers, "World Sport" is next. For our viewers here in the United states and in Canada, I'll have more "CNN Newsroom" after a short break. Do stick around.

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