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Dozens Killed In IDF Strike On Gaza Cafe; Trump Visits Controversial Migrant Detention Site In Florida; Eighteen Countries Issue Heat Wave Warnings For Wednesday; Partial Verdict Reached In Sean "Diddy" Combs Trial; Jury Reaches Verdict On Four Of Five Criminal Charges In Diddy Trial; Buddhists Gather In India For Dalai Lama's 90th Birthday. Aired 12-12:45a ET

Aired July 02, 2025 - 00:00   ET

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

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JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Amid talk of a looming Gaza ceasefire, an Israeli airstrike leaves dozens dead, ahead this hour on CNN NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: This teddy bear was hers. Now that and her purse are all that remain.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: So far, no word on why a seaside cafe in Gaza was targeted by Israel, killing mostly women and children.

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JAMES UTHMEIER, FLORIDA ATTORNEY GENERAL: People get out. There's not much waiting for them other than alligators and pythons.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Alligator Alcatraz, the Trump administration's new detention center in Florida, designed to terrify undocumented immigrants.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sweating, you know, I've had three, four, five liters already this morning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: They're sweltering across Europe. The first heat wave of the summer. Just a hint of what is yet to come.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with John Vause.

VAUSE: We've been here before, and there are still no guarantees. But after 633 days of war in Gaza, it seems Israel and Hamas might just be ready to call a ceasefire. Word came from U.S. President Donald Trump that Israel has agreed to the terms for a 60-day truce, but Hamas remains an open question.

The president has warned Hamas, make a deal or, in his words, it will only get worse. The Israeli prime minister, scheduled to be at the White House Monday to meet with President Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We hope it's going to happen and we're looking forward to happen sometime next week.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Well, sources tell CNN the Israeli prime minister held a number of high level meetings Monday to either pursue a ceasefire or ramp up the military offensive. President Trump says he believes Netanyahu is now ready to end the fighting in Gaza, Israel's longest running war.

Talk of a ceasefire remains just that, as the deadly grim reality of this conflict continues to play out every minute of every hour of every day.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond reports on the aftermath of a deadly IDF airstrike on a popular beachfront cafe.

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DIAMOND (voice-over): Mohammed combs through the debris of another Israeli airstrike, looking for anything his sister has left behind.

"This is the place where my sister was when she was killed. This is her blood," Mohammed says. 23-year-old Nita was killed at this seaside cafe where she and other students and journalists came to connect to the internet and try to escape the reality of war. "I can't describe the shock I went through. No one can describe the shock," Mohammed says.

This teddy bear was hers, a gift her friend brought her that fateful day. Now that and her purse are all that remain.

This was the chaotic scene moments after eyewitnesses say an Israeli missile smashed into the bustling cafe. At least 41 people were killed, according to the director of Al-Shifa Hospital. Most of them women and children. The Israeli military declined to answer questions about why it targeted the cafe, saying it, quote, "struck several Hamas terrorists," and that the incident is under review.

Just five weeks ago photojournalist Ismail Abu Hatab had filmed another airstrike from that very same cafe. Now his body is draped in a white shroud. And his family cries out in mourning. Inside Ismael's room, his father Hussein recounts the moment he learned his son had been killed in that cafe strike. He told me, "Ismael is a martyr. The words Ismael is a martyr were very, very, very hard on me. Unconsciously, I ended the call." Ismael is the 228th journalist to be killed by the Israeli military

during the war, according to Gaza's Government Media Office. The 33- year-old's photos had been featured in exhibitions in the U.S. and Europe. But beyond his talents, his parents say the world has lost a kind person who never hesitated to help others. And his mother has lost her eldest son and confidant. After she buried him, she says, she came directly to his room and lay on his bed.

"I remembered everything beautiful, everything beautiful," she says. "Everything he had was beautiful."

That beauty, now ripped from this world.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: After narrowly passing in the U.S. Senate, Donald Trump's budget bill now heads to the lower house. Once again some Republican lawmakers are demanding changes.

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Senators approved the bill after a marathon voting session, more than 24 hours, the longest ever. And Vice President JD Vance was there to cast the tie breaking vote. House Republicans have a July 4th deadline, this Friday, imposed by the president to pass the bill. Senators made changes to the legislation, especially the Medicare requirements, adding additional funding for some rural hospitals.

They also scrapped at the last minute tax on future wind and solar energy projects. And President Trump called the bill's passage music to his ears.

And the U.S. president toured a new controversial migrant detention facility in Florida Tuesday. His administration calls it Alligator Alcatraz and says it can hold thousands of people awaiting deportation. The White House publicly touts its location in the everglades as dangerous, too dangerous for anyone to try and escape.

That rhetoric is part of what angers protesters. They say it's another example of the Trump administration's inhumane policies towards undocumented immigrants.

CNN's Randi Kaye has more.

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TRUMP: It's an amazing job.

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Donald Trump getting an up close look at Florida's brand new migrant detention center, dubbed Alligator Alcatraz.

TRUMP: You don't always have land so beautiful and so secure. We have a lot of bodyguards and a lot of cops that are in the form of alligators. You don't have to pay them so much, but I wouldn't want to run through the everglades for long.

KAYE: Alligator Alcatraz sits right in the middle of the Florida everglades, surrounded by a swamp which is home to alligators, pythons, and other wildlife. Officials don't think security will be an issue.

TRUMP: It might be as good as the real Alcatraz site. You know, it could be. Well, that's a spooky one, too, isn't it? That's a tough site. I'd like to say, you know, a little controversial, but I couldn't care less.

KAYE: Located in both Miami-Dade and Collier County, the facility is on the same footprint as an old airport that has been used for military training. It's expected to house at least 3,000 detainees in repurposed FEMA trailers and tents.

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R), FLORIDA: They come here, say they already have been ordered to be deported. You drive them 2,000 feet to the runway and then they're gone. It's a one-stop shop.

KAYE: The state-run facility is expected to cost about $450 million for the first year of operation. Governor Ron DeSantis says the federal government will reimburse the state of Florida.

Protests have erupted outside the gates in response, with environmentalists and immigration rights activists. Members of Florida's indigenous community also raising concern about the threat to their sacred lands.

ZAC COSNER, PROTESTER: This is an absurd affront to the people, the nature, the community of South Florida. This is an environmentally destructive and spiritually poisonous prison camp.

KAYE: Environmental groups are suing the federal government and the DeSantis administration over potential impacts to the ecosystems and endangered species. Immigration rights groups call the plan cruel, noting detainees will be housed in makeshift facilities in the middle of hurricane season in Florida's sweltering summer heat.

The photo-op, a reminder that the president's immigration policy is not just rhetoric.

TRUMP: I will say I ran on the issue of illegals and we have to get them out.

DESANTIS: They're going to sweep this six times.

KAYE: Trump and DeSantis appeared in lockstep as they walked the grounds, despite their strained relationship coming off last year's presidential race. DeSantis and other state officials here have aggressively worked to help the Trump administration up the number of mass deportations.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How would you describe the relationship and what future does Governor DeSantis have? TRUMP: I think it's a 10, maybe nine, nine, because there might be a

couple of little wounds. So maybe not. I think we have a 10. We get along great.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Joining us now from Washington is Andrea Flores with FWD.us, a bipartisan group advocating for immigration and justice reform.

Thank you for being with us.

ANDREA FLORES, VICE PRESIDENT, IMMIGRATION POLICY AND CAMPAIGNS, FWD.US: Thanks for having me.

VAUSE: OK, so just to be clear, here's the operational security plan for this detention facility in Florida. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: With the Alligator Alcatraz, is the idea that if some illegal immigrant escapes, they just get eaten by an alligator or a snake or something?

TRUMP: I guess that's the concept. This is not a nice business. I guess that's the concept.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: On top of that, officials believe conditions at Alligator Alcatraz will be so dire, so terrifying, but act like to see some kind of deterrent. Here's the governor of Florida.

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DESANTIS: Why would you want to come through Alligator Alcatraz if you can just go home on your own? I think a lot of people are going to make that decision. So you're going to have a lot of deportations that are going to be done by the administration. But I think you're going to have a lot of voluntary as well. So this is a force multiplier for the president's efforts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: There are laws about how detainees should and should not be treated. This facility, to put it mildly, doesn't seem to meet those very basic standards.

FLORES: It absolutely doesn't. And it's a huge liability and also just a safety risk for any human being who's held there.

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There are big questions right now about also who is running this facility. Is it the state? Is it the Department of Homeland Security? Is it ICE? These questions are really important because those are the entities that are responsible for keeping people safe. And right now it looks like just theatrics in the state of Florida.

VAUSE: And what's notable is this facility has gone from concept to reality in, what, just days? Listen to Florida's attorney general talking up the project late last month. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UTHMEIER: You don't need to invest that much in the perimeter. People get out. There's not much waiting for them other than alligators and pythons. Nowhere to go, nowhere to hide.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: And here are a few comments which were posted on X after he posted that video. One said, "Amazing, this is what I voted for. A badass administration restoring law and order across all America for real Americans." Another posted, "Thank you, thank you, thank you. The American people who want a country that is safe and secure for their families say thank you."

You know, well, Donald Trump's immigration policies are increasingly unpopular among most Americans. Can you explain this small, hard group of sort of MAGA supporters who can't get enough of this sort of cruelty because the cruelty is the point here.

FLORES: So I think President Trump has actually been consistently dishonest about his immigration policies because if you look what he promised on the campaign, he was going to focus his enforcement policy on people who had certain criminal convictions, who may be posed threats to public safety and national security.

We now have the evidence and what many of his voters may not understand is that these are people who may have had legal status that President Trump is now ending. These are people who have been vetted by the federal government and passed security checks. These are people who have been living in U.S. communities for decades, now getting moved to places like Alligator Alcatraz.

It's going to get really scary and get much worse. And I think you'll start to see even his base be shocked by some of these tactics. So right now, it may seem like a law and order tactic, but once you see human beings going into those spaces, we see that public opinion is very thermostatic, right? It's very responsive to images. And the images are about to get worse.

VAUSE: Well, speaking of images, Florida's attorney general is spruiking a line of Alligator Alcatraz merch, including beer cozies as well as hats. In the bigger picture, the White House has also been playing its crackdown on immigration for a few laughs, posting clips like this to social media. Check this one out.

(VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: There's another one that talks about, you know, has a song saying, na-na-na, hey, goodbye. That was posted by the White House as well. Here it is. (VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: So bring all this together here, from the cartoonish alligators as prisoner guards at the detention facility in Florida, to the merch, to the mocking on social media. So what does this say about, you know, the Trump administration and any sort of serious attempt at immigration reform?

FLORES: I am a former Department of Homeland Security official. I've served in two administrations. The idea that government channels are being used for that type of imagery and comedy, the enforcement of immigration laws is not humorous, right? It's a very serious endeavor. And that people elect presidents to run the immigration system fairly and in an orderly manner.

That's not what is happening here. These are complete sort of -- it's political theater. Whether it's sending 200 innocent people to El Salvador to be indefinitely detained in a prison, whether it's building this structure in Florida, when you could maybe build how many housing units in Florida, or how many sort of hurricane preparedness steps could they be taking right now. Instead, they want Americans to, you know, see that their taxpayer dollars are going to these types of theatrics.

It's really embarrassing, actually. And I think that it's going to backfire on this administration, especially since the Senate just voted to take 17 million Americans, you know, off of Medicaid in order to fund things like Alligator Alcatraz. These trade-offs are going to become apparent.

Biden's -- you know, President Biden's immigration agenda was unpopular. But this is going to an extreme that I think most Americans and really anyone abroad would find horrifying.

VAUSE: It's certainly something we've never seen before, to put -- to say the least.

Andrea, thanks so much --

FLORES: It's all unprecedented. Yes, it's unprecedented.

VAUSE: And in the wrong way. So good to see you. Thanks very much for your time. Really appreciate it.

FLORES: Thank you so much.

VAUSE: We'll take a short pause. When we come back, dozens of heat records set to tumble across France as the extreme heat sweeps across Europe.

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VAUSE: The White House has paused some weapons shipments to Ukraine, including air defense missiles, which are crucial in defending against Russian airstrikes. An administration official says the pause is the result of a month's long review by the Pentagon of international military assistance, and reflects the president's policy to put America's interests first. No word if military aid to any other country besides Ukraine is affected.

Last month was the warmest June ever for England and Spain, with much of Europe facing an extreme heat wave, which is now peaking in France and other places, with Tuesday expected to be one of the 10 hottest days ever recorded in France. And while cooler weather is coming for northwestern Europe, at least 18 countries in the central and southern parts of the continent remain under heat warnings.

Here's CNN's Melissa Bell filing her report from a sweltering Paris.

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MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is one of Paris's main train stations, the Gare Saint-Lazare, and you can see people have come out to distribute water to passengers. But perhaps more importantly, in a bigger reflection of the impact of this heat wave on cities like Paris that are simply not used to coping with temperatures like this is that all the trains are now at a standstill and will be for the next several hours because we're told the heat has impacted the rail network.

It is a reminder amongst so many others of some of these very difficult conditions being faced across Europe as a result of this heat wave.

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Not just high temperatures of more than 104 degrees in many parts of Europe this Tuesday, from Italy, Spain, Greece and France, but it is also that this heat wave, which has come at an earlier time than many of the heat waves we've seen in previous years, 2023, '24 had already seen record set as experts told us this was the new normal. This time the heat has come earlier and of course that means greater risks and dangers looking ahead, if this continues to be a very hot summer of wildfires and all the other difficulties linked to extreme heat conditions, as Europe settles into what is in its normal Europe, which is currently the fastest warming continent in the world.

Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Just to pick up on that point about how early this heat wave has come, that's due to a dangerous combination of atmospheric conditions, as CNN's meteorologist Derek Van Dam explains. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Our blistering heat wave continues across Europe. It was so hot on Tuesday that they closed the observation deck on top of the Eiffel Tower. Schools were moved to outdoor learning. This is impacting residents and tourists on the ground. And this heat

is just downright dangerous. Temperatures across parts of France on Tuesday topped 40 degrees. And get this, there were over 30 July monthly records set across the entire country. So once they crunch all of the numbers they look back at the data Meteo-France believes that Tuesday will end up being one of the top 10 hottest days ever recorded in France's history. That puts this all into context just how hot it actually has been.

But it's not just France, it's much of Western Europe, including England, that had its hottest June on record. So did Spain. In fact, they had their hottest June day ever recorded in Barcelona, just shy of 38 degrees. So as we start the new month of July, we're coming off of these back-to-back heat waves that are impacting many of the same locations. And of course, the overnight lows are not giving much relief to people.

So that's what makes this so incredibly dangerous, especially considering so many people don't have air conditioning or the ability to cool themselves off. So what is causing this? What's amplifying the heat? It has a lot to do with this marine heat wave over the Western Mediterranean. We're picking up on some of these ocean temperatures. These are sea surface temperatures that are five degrees Celsius or more above average for this time of year.

So that really retains the humidity levels. It doesn't allow for overnight lows to drop that much, especially across the coastal areas here throughout France and into the Iberian Peninsula. So we still have had several countries with heat alerts, some reaching their highest criteria level, including Paris for the day on Tuesday. That will extend right into Wednesday. But I want you to see how these heat alerts start to advance a little bit to the east.

So Germany and Poland for the day on Wednesday. This is where we're expecting the peak of the heat wave to impact your region for the middle of the week. So we drop our temperatures off in Paris after Wednesday, 28 degrees on Thursday. But notice how they climb right back to around 30 degrees for the weekend. We do have a cold front that's going to blunt the temperatures across the northern portions of Europe, but really contain the heat southward across the Mediterranean.

We talked about how the abnormally warm ocean waters here across the Mediterranean helped amplifying these temperatures, so we want to keep a close eye on that. And this is dangerous heat. In Wimbledon, we had the hottest start to the two-week tournament ever. Of course, we've cooled things down with that cold front, but notice the temperatures rebounding from Thursday into Friday. Not quite dangerous, but certainly want to take into consideration if you're a spectator or an athlete.

Here's a look at Amsterdam's forecast. Will cool off considerably, though, as we head into Thursday and Friday.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Derek, thank you.

An unexpected sight for beachgoers in Rio. A penguin swimming in the warm waters. Lots of images posted on social media. We should note the penguin is native to Patagonia. That's a region spanning parts of Southern Argentina and Chile. It's a pretty safe guess that he or she was, of course, from his or her usual migratory route. I think it's a he. They usually get lost.

Still to come here on CNN, jurors set to begin a third day of deliberations in the trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs. That's after reaching a partial verdict. The very latest in a moment.

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VAUSE: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause. Let's take a look at today's top stories.

According to Donald Trump, Israel has agreed to terms for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza. It's unclear if Hamas will agree to the deal. The U.S. president is set to meet with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Monday.

New satellite images appear to show repairs underway at around Fordow nuclear facility. The images captured on Tuesday show heavy machinery and a crane besides craters left by U.S. bunker buster bombs. Donald Trump claimed the U.S. obliterated Fordow and two other nuclear sites in airstrikes less than two weeks ago.

And a partial verdict has been reached in the trial of entertainment mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs. But the jury remains deadlocked over the racketeering conspiracy count. Combs has pleaded not guilty to all of the five charges.

Let's get more of that now. Entertainment and media lawyer Lisa Bonner is with us now for more on the jury's partial verdict.

Thank you for taking time to speak with us.

LISA BONNER, ENTERTAINMENT ATTORNEY: Thank you and good morning.

VAUSE: Good morning. OK, so Friday here in the U.S. is a July 4th Independence Day. It's a holiday. It's important to never underestimate the motivation of a three-day weekend. So if the jury remains deadlocked, at what point -- despite the weekend, at what point does the judge declare a mistrial on that first count?

BONNER: Well, before they would -- the judge would declare a mistrial, the judge would go back to the jury and give what is called an Allen charge. It's basically the dynamite charge. They -- the judge only gives this in the instance that the jury is hopelessly deadlocked, meaning that he instructs the jury to go back into the deliberation room and to consider each person's point of view, the other opposing person's point of view, without abandoning your own beliefs.

But the instance that they want to preserve is they want to preserve the right for appeal because if you give this -- the Allen instructions too early, that could be a coercive element on appeal. So you don't want to give that too early. So they probably would not give that until Monday. And it is important to remember, Thursday the courts are closed and Friday is the official holiday.

The judge did say, if they want to come back and deliberate on Thursday, they could do that, as well. But they can also wait 'til Monday.

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So, we've got a little bit of time to go.

VAUSE: They only deliberated for, like, 13 hours. It seems kind of quick to get to the point where they have these unresolved differences.

BONNER: That is correct. That is why the judge basically told them, listen, we're not -- I'm not giving the Allen instructions yet. I'm just going to tell you to go back and just listen, talk to them, and reconsider. We're not hopelessly deadlocked. You've only been deliberating a very short time. So, just go back and continue to deliberate. There's no Allen charge yet. So, it's a little bit early for that.

VAUSE: Yes. And we know there is agreement. There's a verdict on the four charges. We just don't know whether it's guilty or not guilty.

And those charges include two counts of sex trafficking. And a guilty verdict here requires proof of force, fraud, or coercion, which seems a pretty high bar. Is that the hardest of all these charges to prove? And what does that say in relation to the racketeering charge? The fact that they can't agree on that one?

BONNER: OK, let's break down the counts one, two and three, because they all involve an underlying element of sex trafficking.

The RICO charge means that the -- that Sean Combs used his human and commercial resources in furtherance of the sex trafficking. So, if you believe that, that means that he used his assistants, allegedly, and his security guard, and his chief of staff in furtherance of the elements of sex trafficking.

Counts two and three are sex trafficking of Jane and Cassie. However, it is only Combs individually. No elements of the enterprise. So, that's where the RICO count one differs from counts two and three.

They all involve sex trafficking, but count one involves RICO, meaning that he used the elements of his enterprise in furtherance of the elements of sex trafficking.

VAUSE: These charges that they have agreed to, let's assume some of them are guilty or not guilty. We don't know. But let's just say that they do get a guilty verdict on at least one of these charges.

The penalties are fairly stiff as they are. So, what's the likelihood that the prosecution, if they get a mistrial on that first charge, decide to pursue it again? Or will they just let it go, knowing that they had this other -- these other wins, if that's what happens?

BONNER: That's a great question. And I think, if they do not come to a unanimous verdict with respect to RICO, let's say we have a hung jury, for example.

In that instance, it is probably unlikely that the prosecution will retry the RICO case, simply because you've gotten the elements -- you've gotten great success, if you will, from the prosecution's point of view. You've convicted him for a count which involves a minimum of 15 years.

RICO, you know, can give you 15 years to life. So, if they do get a verdict on counts two and three or the lesser counts of prostitution, that's a pretty good win for the -- for the prosecution, I'd say.

VAUSE: Yes, we'll see what happens. Time is ticking down to the -- July 4th.

Lisa, thank you so much for being with us. Getting up there early in Thailand. Good to see you. Thank you.

BONNER: Yes. Thank you for having me.

VAUSE: Pleasure. Thank you.

We'll take a short break. When we come back, Buddhist followers gathering in Northern India for the Dalai Lama's 90th birthday celebration. All happening this weekend. He can give some clues as to who his eventual successor will be. Well, it will be him. He'll just be reincarnated. We'll find out who.

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VAUSE: Celebrations are kicking off this hour in Northern India for the Dalai Lama's 90th birthday this weekend, but his monks and followers are gathering for a religious conference to mark the occasion. The Dalai Lama could also share clues about his spiritual successor as the head of Tibetan Buddhists.

Let's go live now to Beijing. CNN's Steven Jiang. Will they be celebrating the -- the 90th birthday there in Beijing with the Communist Party? Maybe not.

So, what are the details there? What are we expecting in the coming days?

STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: Yes, John, this is certainly a milestone event, not only because of the birthday celebrations attended by religious leaders and some of the Dalai Lama's celebrity friends, like Hollywood star Richard Gere.

But also, as you mentioned, everybody's trying to find out his succession plans. He actually just released a written statement, reaffirming that the sole authority in deciding his successor will lie in -- with members of a trust established by his office.

Now, we have also seen some recent clues and hints in his writings and remarks, including in a recent memoir, where he said his successor, or reincarnation, will be born in the free world, meaning outside China.

Now that's a notion very much rejected by the Beijing leadership. So, really setting things up for potentially another round of clash between the Dalai Lama and the communist authorities here, ever since he fled his homeland back in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

Now, the thing is, even though the Communist Party is officially atheist, the leadership here has insisted they have the sole authority. They have the final say in deciding the next spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism.

The concern here, the fear is they're going to deploy the same playbook as they did back in the 1990s, with the second highest ranking figure of Tibetan Buddhism, called the Panchen Lama.

When the previous Panchen Lama died, the Dalai Lama, already in exile, actually recognized a six-year-old boy in Tibet as his reincarnation. That boy then got taken away by Chinese authorities, has never been seen again.

Instead, Beijing installed its own choice to that position, and that person obviously has been toeing the party's official line when it comes to China's Tibet policy and religious policy, even though he is still very much viewed as an impostor by the Dalai Lama and his supporters.

So, the concern here is, of course, is when the Dalai Lama passes away, the same scenario of a rival Dalai Lama is going to emerge. That's going to have major implications, not only for the 7 million Tibetans still in Tibet, but also followers of Tibetan Buddhism around the world, not to mention geopolitics, as well, as China, John, as you can imagine is surely going to pressure other governments to recognize its choice of the Dalai Lama -- John.

VAUSE: It does get confusing at times. Steven, thank you. Steven Jiang in Beijing.

Apple Studios has announced its latest collaboration with actress Jennifer Aniston, on Tuesday announcing a new TV show inspired by the best-selling book from former child star Janet McCurdy.

Aniston will star in and executive-produce the series, just like she did for "The Morning Show."

This new show is called "I'm Glad My Mom Died," based on McCurdy's 2022 memoir with the same title. Apple says the new dramedy will center on the codependent relationship between an 18-year-old actress and a hit kids' TV show, and her narcissistic mother. That will be played by Aniston.

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MERYL STREEP, ACTRESS: And it's sort of comical, how you think that you've made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry, when in fact you're wearing a sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room from a pile of stuff.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: "The Devil Wears Prada" lives on. 20th Century Studios has announced that the sequel is in production. That's 19 years -- yes, 19 years -- after the original was released.

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The announcement comes at a decisive time in the fashion industry, which inspired the movie. Days ago, Anna Wintour stepped down from her almost four-decade-long career as the editor-in-chief of "Vogue."

Wintour is believed to have been the inspiration for Meryl Streep's iconic character, Miranda Priestly, who, by the way, will be back in the sequel along with Anne Hathaway, Stanley Tucci, and Emily Blunt.

The best line from that movie is "I am one stomach flu away from my ideal weight."

Well, the long, agonizing wait for BTS fans is finally over. The K-pop supergroup has announced plans for a new album and a world tour next year.

All seven members have been reunited after finishing their mandatory military service in South Korea.

The album will be their first since 2020. It's a long time between drinks. And they'll be performing their first live shows since 2022.

Can't wait. Looking forward to that one.

Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause, back with more news at the top of the hour. In the meantime, please stay with us. WORLD SPORT starts after a short break.

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