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Humanitarian Pause in Gaza; Talking Trade; Thailand and Cambodia Clashes. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired July 27, 2025 - 03:30   ET

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

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[03:00:00]

BEN HUNTE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello wherever you are in the world. You are now in the CNN Newsroom with me, Ben Hunte, in Atlanta, and it is so good to have you with me.

Coming up on the show, a humanitarian pause in Gaza as desperately needed aid is let in. Some groups warn it's too little too late.

U.S. President Donald Trump will be talking trade with the E.U. commission president in the coming hours as he begins his second full day in Scotland.

And Thai and Cambodian officials said they were ready to talk about the ceasefire, but fighting between the two countries goes on.

Welcome. Israel says a humanitarian pause in parts of Gaza is now underway. It will last until 8:00 P.M. local time and will continue daily until further notice. The IDF released a map showing most of Gaza in a dangerous combat zone except for Al-Mawasi, Deir al Balah and part of Gaza City. It comes as global outrage grows over the dire starvation crisis.

Egyptian T.V. showed dozens of aid trucks moving toward the border with Israel earlier. They were reportedly bound for Kerem Shalom Crossing, where the borders of Egypt, Israel, and Gaza meet. Meanwhile, Israel says they have started dropping aid into Gaza. They also plan to open humanitarian corridors for United Nations convoys to make aid deliveries.

But the head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees called the airdrops a distraction, saying they'll do little to alleviate the suffering. Gaza's Health Ministry says at least 127 people have died of starvation or malnutrition since the war began.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UMM ABDALLAH AL-SHARATY, DISPLACED PALESTINIAN: I have been here and I haven't eaten, neither me nor my children, and we haven't drink anything as well. I have a two-and-a-half-year-old daughter. When she saw the empty pot, she started to slap her face. There's no food, no water. I give her a sip of water to make her stop. Then our neighbor gave her half a loaf of bread. He told her, take this eat. We are living with no food or drinks, no food, no bread, not even water. We're craving even the water.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: My goodness. Joining us now is Larry Madowo live from Nairobi, Kenya. Larry, what is the latest you'll hear about this devastating crisis?

LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ben, we're just a few minutes into this tactical pause and military activity as the Israel Defense forces are describing is there's not a lot to stage us yet. This is supposed to last from 10:00 A.M. local time, so right now until 8:00 P.M., and continuing until further notice, every day until further notice. That's the way it's been described. The IDF also says it's designated secure routes from 6:00 A.M. until 11:00 P.M. that will allow the U.N. and other humanitarian agencies to distribute food and medicine throughout Gaza.

The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees said it had about six, 6,000 trucks waiting in Egypt, waiting to get across to the Gaza Strip. And this morning, Egyptian television has broadcast the video of dozens of trucks that's at the Rafah border crossing, that they'll be making their way across the Kerem Shalom crossing. That's where the borders of Egypt, Gaza, and Israel converge. And this has been a feature of this conflict since it began.

We have reported, I have been to the Rafah border crossing and there's always a backlog, huge line, sometimes several miles long of trucks trying to get across to the Gaza Strip. But it's a slow clearance process, and that's what you're seeing in this situation as well.

The Israeli Defense Forces also says it's the resumed airdrops into Gaza, but the U.N. refugee agency for Palestinian refugees said, this is not the best way to do that. They say this is expensive, inefficient, and sometimes can even kill starving civilians. So, they see a better way to stop the blockade and to allow as much aid as possible into Gaza.

But I need to point out that this is not universally popular. This technical positive military activity has been criticized by the far right in Israel. It's been led by Israeli far right, national security minister, and he said this is a total surrender to Hamas, in his view, and he complained about not being included by the Israeli cabinet decision to do this humanitarian pause. In his view, no aid should get into the Gaza Strip.

[03:05:01]

There has to be a total blockade over the strip and to encourage people getting moved out of the strip. That's the only way to bring back the hostages.

Obviously this allowing of humanitarian aid into Gaza comes after huge international outrage with the numbers of those who are at risk of starvation and malnutrition having increased in recent weeks. Ben? HUNTE: Well, yes, something has to give. Just seeing these images is absolutely awful, so, so sad.

Larry Madowo in Nairobi, thank you for now, I appreciate it.

The Red Cross has described a situation in Gaza as abhorrent, as Palestinians struggle to get even one meal a day. CNN's Nic Roberson reports.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice over): Empty bellies, empty food pots, life in Gaza reduced to this, searching for food. Nothing else counts. Join the food line. A brave face, but this is not a game, a necessity. Kids here are dying from hunger and they know it. So, wait, clean your pot, hope this will be your lucky day.

Like so many battle-weary soldiers, faces filled with suffering, thousand yard stares fixed. Hunger has become everything, life on hold. And soup kitchens like this one facing food shortages too, the only chance these kids and their parents have to put their bellyaches in remission. This young girl telling us we only get food once a day. We thank the people working in this kitchen. Without them, we would've starved. Sometimes we get food. Sometimes we don't.

The woman waiting next to her telling us, I'm pregnant, I have to come here. My husband is blind and diabetic. I have to bring it, the food for my kids because they're young. Sometimes I come back with an empty pot and they're waiting with plates and spoons.

The closer to cook the food becomes, the greater the desperation. Missing out means hungry for another day. More people crushing at the fence. More pots hanging thrust over. More than obvious, the food in the cauldron cannot fill them all.

And then it begins, the moment everyone's been waiting for. A thin lentil (INAUDIBLE) ladled out where bombing destroyed lives, fighting off starvation, degrades them.

Food now made a frontline in this war, turning Gazans against one another for the scraps. Survival reduced to this.

Nic Roberson, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: Protesters and family members of Israeli hostages took to the streets of Tel Aviv on Saturday, renewing their demands to end the war and bring back their loved ones.

The protesters marched to the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv appealing to President Donald Trump to intervene in negotiations. The demonstrations have become a fixture in Israel since the start of the conflict. Some hostages' family members criticized the Israeli government for not doing enough to reach a ceasefire.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) YOTAM COHEN, BROTHER OF HOSTAGE NIMROD COHEN: Enough is enough. The partial deals doctrine has turned out to be ineffective. One deal, one deal, a comprehensive one to release all hostages and end the war, that is the only safer alternative way to get all of our hostages, amongst them my brother, home alive and safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: Now to Scotland where President Donald Trump will soon begin the second full day of a five-day visit. In the coming hours, he'll meet with European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Trade tops the agenda with the August 1st deadline for higher tariffs rapidly approaching. Mr. Trump has threatened the E.U. with a 30 percent tariff. Meanwhile, hundreds of protesters gathered on Saturday in Aberdeen and in the capital, Edinburgh, to demonstrate against the presence of the U.S. president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Donald Trump shouldn't be here in Scotland. He's a convicted felon. I mean, we don't even know what's happening in terms of the Epstein thing that's going on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: CNN's Chief US National Affairs Correspondent Jeff Zeleny is in Scotland and has more on Mr. Trump's visit.

[03:10:01]

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: President Trump is scheduled to meet on Sunday here in Scotland with Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, negotiating E.U. tariffs on behalf of the member countries hoping to avoid a transatlantic trade war.

Now, the Trump administration, of course, has used the threat of tariffs throughout its first six months in office on again, off again. But this new deadline is approaching in August and the Trump administration is threatening a 30 percent across the board, a tariff rate for all European Union nations. They're desperately and scrambling to lower that with a proposal of 15 percent. A deal could be at hand as President Trump signaled as he arrived in Scotland.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: In terms of a deal, we're meeting with the European Union and that would be actually the biggest deal of them all, if we make it.

ZELENY: The American president signaling, there's a 50-50 chance in his view that there could be a trade deal reached. We shall see how that meeting progresses on Sunday.

Trump also is set to meet with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday. Of course, the trade deal with the United Kingdom in the United States is largely already inked, but so many other items to discuss, the Gaza humanitarian crisis, no question, the Ukraine war as well.

Again this golfing weekend for President Trump, also adding some significant work in it as well, he'll return to Washington on Tuesday after dedicating another golf course here in Scotland.

Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Edinburgh, Scotland.

HUNTE: Let's stick with this story. Katy Ballsis Washington editor and columnist for The Times on the Sunday Times of London. She's joining us from Troon near Glasgow in Scotland. Thanks so much for being with us, Katy. How are you doing?

KATY BALLS, WASHINGTON EDITOR AND COLUMNIST, THE TIMES AND SUNDAY TIMES OF LONDON: Thanks for having me.

HUNTE: You are so welcome. In a few hours, President Trump should be meeting Ursula von der Leyen on Friday. He called her a highly respected leader and said there's a 50-50 chance of a U.S.-E.U. trade deal. Now, if that happens, how big would that deal be for the relationship between Washington and Brussels?

BALL: Well, I think it would be big, to answer your question, in a sense that if you look at how much trade there is between the U.S. and E.U. It would be an incredibly substantial and impactful, I think, for both economies. And it's one where there's obviously been lots of nerves across the continent in Europe that there's August 1st deadline, but it's also one of those trade conversations, trade wars at time, you could call it, whereby there's so much baggage. We know that Donald Trump and many in the administration think that they've been treated -- America has been treated unfairly in the long-term by the European Union and there have been past comments about, you know, how the European Union is almost designed to hurt America. So, it is a chewy issue.

But, certainly, the mood music from Donald Trump has been pretty positive, saying 50-50. He also is an optimist and therefore there is a chance there is some white smoke today. And if that was one of the, I think, the more loaded of the trade fights was able to clear, I think it would be important for both economies, but it also be a very clear signal to other countries in the world that when it comes to liberation day, obviously a few months ago now. There is actually a resolution and countries which may find it tricky to deal with America for various reasons because Donald Trump takes issue or because they don't want to get to the table, there is a way through.

HUNTE: Yes. Back here in the U.S., there has been so much political chaos, even as President Trump flew out to Scotland. What can you tell us about the mood in Washington right now and how is it impacting this Scottish trip?

BALLS: So, I think, I mean, the trip is an interesting trip in many ways. One being that it has been described as a private visit, but, of course, it has a traveling press pack, and there's also these political meetings taking place. So, that's part business government, part world affairs. When it comes to the American backdrop back home, there's obviously Donald Trump heading to his 200-day mark on Monday. And if you think about those, everyone always focuses on the first 100 days, don't they, you know, in terms of things to get done. But in the past 100 days, we have seen so many court fights. We have seen, you know, battles about tariffs, but also about who is in charge on immigration and so forth.

I think that if you speak to figures in D.C. about what is going right and what is going wrong for the administration at the moment, they will talk about immigration as something they think is going right. I don't think is a coincidence that Donald Trump is criticizing Europe for immigration, in a way, as a way to praise his own record on it, saying, well, I'd be more hard-lined.

But, obviously, whether are negatives though it has been the Epstein story, which just won't seem to go away at the moment, and I think the past two weeks, that's been one of those stories that just keeps creeping up again in Washington, D.C. And every time you know, members of the administration think they turned a corner, it comes back again.

HUNTE: Yes, it's definitely not going anywhere for now.

[03:15:00]

Your latest column describes this trip as a MAGA British summer. So, can you tell us why is Scotland so special at the moment?

BALLS: Well, Scotland's very special to Donald Trump. His mother, of course is from Scotland originally. She was on -- grew up in the Hebrides in a small place called (INAUDIBLE) Stornoway. And when I was writing this column, you know, looking back at his past comments in Scotland and he was talking about his golf courses, so was a planning dispute in one near Aberdeen. And he did say, if it weren't for my mother, maybe I wouldn't be -- you know, wouldn't have done the golf courses in the first place in Scotland, perhaps wouldn't be fighting so hard.

So, I think he has a deep affection for Scotland. You mentioned the protest, but also there have been -- you know, I think it was notable when the plane landed, there's also been positive receptions in some places. There were some cheers, for example. But, certainly, he has always been like that.

And the fact that you have J.D. Vance in a few weeks time coming to the Cotswolds, then you have Donald Trump back in September for the unprecedented second state visit, this is why I had a Republican in D.C. say to me, oh, this is a MAGA British summer. And both Barack Obama and Joe Biden would go to Ireland, seeing it as their ancestral home. You have an administration that is very interested in the U.K.

Now, that does mean they have views on what the U.K. should and shouldn't be doing, the interest and how closely they look can't be denied.

HUNTE: Yes, indeed. Well, for now, let's see what happens next. Katy Balls Troon, Scotland, thank you for being with me. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

Next scary moments on a Boeing 737 about to take off In Denver, nearly 200 people were forced to evacuate as smoke filled the air. We'll explain what happened coming up.

Plus a three-year-old in Alabama died after he was left in a sweltering hot car by an Alabama state contract employee. The investigation and his dad's reaction just after the break.

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[03:20:00]

HUNTE: Welcome back. An apparent tire fire forced nearly 200 people to evacuate a plane in Denver. You can see people sliding to safety in this video that's shot by one of the passengers. The American Airlines Boeing 737 was taxing and about to take off from Miami. Passengers say they heard a loud bang and a plane that started tilting and vibrating.

The airline says the plane had an issue with at a tire and was taken out of service and one person was hospitalized with minor injuries.

In Washington, D.C., politicians are going back home to their districts for the summer and they're bracing for plenty of questions from voters, including about documents related to the late convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein.

Our Julia Benbrook has the latest.

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It doesn't seem like interest in the Epstein investigation is going to be going away anytime soon when the Department of Justice and the FBI released a memo weeks ago now announcing that they had not found a so-called client list incriminating associates of Jeffrey Epstein. It really reignited the conversation around this probe and the memo came just months after Attorney General Pam Bondi had hyped up some soon to be released documents suggesting that she had the client list sitting on her desk. She later clarified that she was speaking about other documents.

But all of that to say there are still a lot of questions and concerns. And despite President Donald Trump's calls for his supporters to focus on other issues that he believes are more important right now, some of the loudest calls for more transparency are coming from his own MAGA base. And this is something that lawmakers will have to navigate as they speak with constituents in their districts.

During a recent virtual town hall, Congressman Mike Kennedy of Utah, who is a practicing physician. That is an important piece of context when you hear how he responded to this. But he compared the conversation around the Epstein investigation to a wound, that, if not taken care of properly, could become worse. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. MIKE KENNEDY (R-UT): I am a big fan of full transparency and, of course, healthcare and how it's delivered is a big way of thinking about things is if you've got a festering, boil infected wound with pus underneath there, you can continue to just let it fester and potentially that's going to grow inward and create infection in your bloodstream and cause the whole body to be sick. Well, it's another way, and I've done this many times over the course of my doctor career, is I just had to put a put a needle or a knife in it and cut it open and let it drain. And in the case of this Epstein stuff, absolutely, let it out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BENBROOK: Now, we have seen some movement when it comes to calls for more information on the Epstein case. A House Oversight Subcommittee voted a bipartisan vote, I might add, to subpoena the Department of Justice for more documents related to the Epstein case.

Julia Benbrook, CNN, Washington.

HUNTE: Police say 11 people were injured in a random stabbing attack at a Walmart in Michigan. Officials say it happened near the checkout area on Saturday. They have a 42-year-old suspect in custody. The FBI and local law enforcement are investigating.

A Walmart corporate spokesperson tells CNN, quote, violence like this is unacceptable. Our thoughts are with those who were injured and we are thankful for the swift action of first responders. We'll continue working closely with law enforcement during their investigation.

There is shock, outrage, and disbelief in Alabama where a toddler, a three-year-old boy, died after he was left for hours in a baking hot car. What makes this even worse, he was in the custody of a contract employee of Alabama's Department of Human Resources, and that is the very agency whose job is to protect children.

CNN's Rafael Romo has the latest and the timeline leading up to this tragedy.

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The day the three-year-old boy identified as Ke'Torrius Starkes was allegedly left, strapped inside a car. It was humid with temperatures ranging from 93 to 96 degrees. During the five hours in the afternoon, he was left alone.

According to our own CNN Meteorologist, those temperatures felt like 101 to 105 degrees with heat index values, not even considering the car the boy was in direct sunlight. This is according to the family's attorney. According to officials and the family's attorney, a worker employed with a company contracted by the Alabama Department of Human Resources picked up the boy who went by K.J. from daycare at 9:00 in the morning on Tuesday for a supervised visit with his father.

The visit, they say, ended around 11:30 A.M. But instead of returning the boy to daycare, the family's attorney says the contract worker made several personal errands with K.J. buckled in a car seat in the back of her car. The attorney says the worker finally returned home by 12:30 P.M. parking her car and leaving the three-year-old boy strapped inside the vehicle with all windows up and the car engine off. It was not until five hours later, around 5:30 in the afternoon, when the worker received a call from daycare asking why the boy had not been returned, that she apparently realized what had happened, this according to a timeline, the attorney provided.

911 was called, and K.J. was pronounced dead at 6:03 P.M. This is how the boy's father told CNN affiliate WVTM he will remember his son.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KE'TOURRIUS STARKES SR., FATHER OF DECEASED THREE-YEAR-OLD K.J. STARKES JR.: Small, brilliant, bright little child. I'm talking about when I said, yes, respectful. I'm talking about I knew how to count, knew his color, three years old, knew all the animals, I'm talking about, he was very intelligent.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, he was, bro. He was real nice and all that.

STARKES: Like he was just joyful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: I had an opportunity to speak with Courtney French, the family's attorney. He told me, he spoke with the family about what they're going through right now, and they're understandably having a hard time coping with the loss of their child.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COURTNEY FRENCH, STARKES FAMILY ATTORNEY: So, it's just hard to comprehend that you would leave a baby in a hot car and just have no recollection, whatsoever, that the baby's, a three-year-old child, is trapped in your car.

He died a brutal death.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: CNN also obtained the statement from the Alabama Department of Human Resources, a child in DHR custody, the statement reads, was being transported by a contract provider when the incident occurred. Due to confidentiality, the DHR cannot comment further regarding the identity of the child or the exact circumstances.

According to Kids in Car Safety, an organization dedicated to raising awareness about the dangers of hot cars for children and pets, this is the first hot car death to occur in Alabama this year and the 16th nationwide.

Rafael Romo, CNN, Atlanta.

HUNTE: Okay. Still to come, Thailand says it is not ready for a ceasefire with Cambodia as a deadly border of dispute between the two countries drags on. We'll bring you the latest on the conflict.

Plus, the barrage of Russian air attacks on Ukraine continue to take its toll on civilian targets.

Those stories and so many more when we come back,

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[03:30:00]

HUNTE: Welcome back. I'm Ben Hunte. Let's take a look at today's top stories.

U.S. President Donald Trump is on a five day trip to Scotland. He spent Saturday on the Gulf Links at his Turnberry Resort. In the coming hours, Mr. Trump is set to meet with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Trade will top the agenda with the August 1st deadline for higher tariffs, rapidly approaching.

Israel says a humanitarian pause in three areas of Gaza is now underway. These pauses will last for ten hours and continue daily until further notice. It comes after Israel faced mounting pressure to do something about the unfolding hunger crisis in Gaza.

An apparent tire fire forced nearly 200 people to evacuate a plane in Denver. The American Airlines, Boeing 737 was taxing and about to take off in Miami. The airline says the plane had an issue with a tire and was taken out of service. One person was hospitalized with minor injury.

Thai and Cambodian forces are fighting for the fourth straight day in a deadly border dispute. Cambodia says Thailand has hit several locations with drones, tank fire cluster, and aerial bombs. Thai officials accused Cambodian troops of firing heavy artillery into civilian homes.

On Saturday, Thai and Cambodian officials signaled their readiness for ceasefire negotiation after U.S. President Donald Trump called for an end to the conflict, but no let up in the fighting is in sight of the moment and Thailand's government has just issued a new statement saying it is, quote, currently not ready to cease operations to preserve their national sovereignty.

Thai and Cambodian officials now say at least 32 people have been killed, and at least 200,000 civilians displaced in the worst fighting between the two nations in 13 years. The conflict broke out Thursday over sections of the country's land border that have been contested for more than a century. Each nation accuses the other of firing first in its latest escalation, but civilians insist the fighting must stop regardless. One Thai man lost his wife, daughter and son to a Cambodian shell and is speaking out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KOMSAN PRACHAM, WIFE AND DAUGHTER, SON KILLED IN CONFLICT: Just shortly after I parked, and it was about one to two minutes after my wife got out of the car, I heard a blast, and then nothing was left.

I want them to think more about this. The war is good for no one. They should both talk to each other peacefully. The war only brings loss, loss and losses.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: Let's bring in Thitinan Pongsudhirak, professor of Political Science at Chulalongkorn University. He's with us live from Bangkok, Thailand. Thank you so much for being with me.

Can I just ask, how are you doing at the moment?

THITINAN PONGSUDHIRAK, PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, CHULALONGKORN UNIVERSITY: I'm okay. I mean, the -- we're not okay at the border areas and I think the two countries and two governments, two peoples are not okay. The escalation is conspicuous. The military confrontation, clashes are still increasing now. It's a kind of a blame game now about who started it and who's unwilling to stop first. There's been some, you know, offers of interventions, mediation from Malaysia, even from President Trump. But I think the two sides are still going at it.

HUNTE: Well, let's talk about that because President Trump says that both Thai and Cambodian leaders have agreed to meet four ceasefire talks. How influential has the U.S. really been in shaping the conversation? And do you think that linking peace to trade deals is actually a wise idea?

PONGSUDHIRAK: Well, there's two sides to the coin. On the one hand, the U.S. has been retrenching its role, reducing its role in the region and becoming more protectionist.

[03:35:03]

So, the tariffs are really much on the minds of all these countries in Southeast Asia been hit hard by the tariffs from April 2nd. So, President Trump has something to leverage with, and that is the tariffs with the Cambodia and then Thailand. Thailand is 36 percent, Cambodia at 32 percent. So, he has something. But I think the two sides are not ready for some kind of a truce or ceasefire yet.

Maybe I think the (INAUDIBLE) in context with Malaysia's (INAUDIBLE) chair might be more fitting. But, certainly, President Trump's offer or threat, if you will, has registered on the minds of both governments. But at the same time, they're still fighting.

HUNTE: The rival border claims are so deeply rooted. What kind of assurances do you think that each country would need before rebuilding trust? And do you think that level of trust is even possible?

PONGSUDHIRAK: The flare-ups, you know, take place from time to time. And this is a thousand year old conflict. It goes back to the Angkor Wat era, if you've been to the Angkor Wat area a thousand years ago, these temples were built by the Khmers, so they feel like they own the land. I mean, there's a kind of -- on both sides, they feel like they've lost territories. The Siamese before the Thai's ancestors lost to the French, and then the Khmers, Cambodians, feel like they're lost to the Thai. So, there's a lot of bad blood over the years every now and then that this flags up. In this round, I think this is the worst that we've seen. Like 2003, the Cambodians burned down the Thai embassy 2011. There also military clashes, but this time using heavy artillery weaponry, fighter jets. We've not seen this before and I think it's also complicated by this family ties between the Chinois family that run the Thai government and also the Hun family. It's got personal with them, between them. They used to get along really well, but now they're sworn enemies.

And then the two countries, the two peoples also have traditional, longstanding antagonism and resentment. And then you add on the other problems, the economic problems, challenges, and Cambodia slowing down the economy, and also in Thailand, the low growth and the tariffs President Trump. So, a lot of things are going the wrong direction. I think some kind of a third party voice would be needed, but at the same time, you have a dangerous situation because Thailand does not really have a civilian control of the military and Cambodia is run by one family.

HUNTE: So many people have been displaced so far, and reports of civilian deaths have been surreal. I mean, what do you think the immediate humanitarian priorities should be? And are the governments doing enough to protect civilians in their countries?

PONGSUDHIRAK: On the Thai side, they have been evacuating hundreds of thousands of people. I mean, the fighting areas have been spreading into the Northeast Thailand and on Cambodian side too, you know? so both sides the worst victims are the civilians who rely on border trade, on their livelihoods in that area. So, both governments, I think, they're certainly concerned.

But I think on the Thai side they have been evacuating. On the Cambodian side, you know, the Hun family runs Cambodia. On the Thai side, you have military now running -- the Thai army, running the border policy. So, it is a dangerous recipe, because on the one side you have the military in charge in Thailand, and you have the Hun family in Cambodia provoking and the Thailand retaliating. So, this could go on for some days ahead until we have some kind of a mediation and both sides can step back.

HUNTE: And looking ahead, if a ceasefire does happen, just quickly, what happens next?

PONGSUDHIRAK: Yes. Eventually there'll be a ceasefire. I think it's just a matter of under what terms and whose terms. I think there has to be some kind of enough trust for both sides to stop just blaming the other for continuing. I think Cambodia has been provoking and Thailand's been retaliating and they say the other way around.

So, you know, after the ceasefire, there's a lot of damage has been done. It's bad for us, and it's bad for the neighborhood to have two member states of ASEAN fighting like this. So, a lot of recovery needs to be done with the border areas. But once you have ceasefire, then that's a step in the right direction. And then they can kind of walk back and try to re rebuild the relationship and get back to the border trade again for the livelihoods of the people. But until we have that ceasefire, it's very difficult.

HUNTE: Okay, we'll leave it there. Thitinan Pongsudhirak, thank you for being with me. I appreciate it.

Russia launched another massive overnight barrage of drones and missiles on Ukraine early on Saturday. A drone damaged the regional military administration in the center of Sumy's Independence Square. An official said there were no casualties. But three people were killed in Dnipro and nearby, according to officials there.

Russian Forces launched an estimated 235 drones in 27 missiles in the region.

[03:40:00]

Ukraine's Air Force set 10 missiles and 25 drones hit residential and commercial buildings causing fires and damage.

Dozens of migrants risked their lives to reach a European enclave in North Africa on Saturday. According to Spanish reports, at least 54 children and about 30 adults swam from Morocco to Spain's autonomous city of Ceuta.

The migrants swam in dangerous conditions, including rough seas and fog. Spain's civil guard rescued some of them from the water. Others made it across the Ceuta, one of the two Spanish enclaves on Morocco's coast that share the European Union's only land borders with Africa.

Still to come, farm workers in California are facing tough choices as immigration rates spread fear through their community. How the workers and California's agricultural industry are impacted, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HUNTE: Welcome back. Raids by immigration agents across California are spreading fear among undocumented farm workers and frustration from their employers. This is forcing many people to make some very hard choices, as CNN's Julia Vargas Jones reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): On their hands and knees for hours at a time, these California farm workers brave the elements daily to put food on America's tables. Now, many are forced to choose between going to work in risk arrest, or stay home and lose their livelihood.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shame on you. Shame on you.

JONES: Ventura County fields were among the many locations targeted by immigration agents in early June raids that rattled California. And in July, a farm worker died after falling off a roof during another ICE raid in Camarillo. The chilling effects of those raids are hitting hard, a state that is the top producer of agricultural products in the country. California's agriculture is a $60 billion industry. More than one third of all vegetables and two thirds of fruits and nuts in the United States are grown right here.

[03:45:01]

34-year-old Marisol says she came to the U.S. from the Mexican state of Guerrero 12 years ago looking to make an honest living in a safe place.

You've been paying your taxes this whole time?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Si.

JONES: And now grappling with the fear of being deported each day she goes to work.

Many of us are scared to go do our jobs, she says. But then we have to pay our rent and bills and we have no option but to go to work and pray nothing happens to us, but we are scared.

She and her husband are both farm workers. Her main concern if they were arrested by ICE, she says, is their four-year-old daughter.

I don't have anyone that could take my daughter, she says, except for her daycare teacher.

Even those in less precarious situations are afraid here.

You have authorization to work in this country. (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE).

Yes, I am scared. Patricia says she's heard of American citizens and legal temporary workers getting detained by ICE agents. She says they just come and sometimes even hit you before asking if you have authorization to work or not.

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE did not respond to CNN's requests for comment.

For growers, like Yemo Jimenez (ph) who depend on this workforce daily, it's more than a nuisance, especially in summer when produce is ready to pick.

We are also fearful, he says, because we've sowed the seeds, but we can't harvest without people.

Would you be able to find American hands to work here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE).

JONES: The day after the Camarillo raids, 14 workers didn't show. It takes 18 people to harvest one field. Jimenez says if that pattern continues, he will have to scale down.

(END VIDEOTAPE) JONES (on camera): Now, it's not just the farm workers and farmers that are suffering from this. There's a whole parallel economy that is dependent on the income that those farm workers make. If those farm workers are not spending their money in shops and restaurant and vendors, the whole economy of the area is suffering too.

Julia Vargas Jones, CNN, Los Angeles.

HUNTE: Still to come, CNN gets rare access inside the iconic Goodyear blimp. That story and more after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:50:00]

HUNTE: It has been a year since the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympics in Paris and volunteers reunited on Saturday to celebrate, remember, and watch the hot air balloon that carried the Olympic cauldron lift off gracefully once again. The balloon has been at TWI Gardens in Paris since June, where it takes breathtaking a sense every day at sunset.

The Goodyear blimp might be one of the world's most iconic aircraft, as well as iconic marketing. CNN Aviation Correspondent and Pilot Pete Muntean got a rare chance to get behind the controls and take it for a spin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welcome.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Thank you. How's it going?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good. And you?

MUNTEAN: Good. I'm about to do something pretty cool and very rare. I think I'm one of the only reporters to ever take a flying lesson in the Goodyear blimp.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you nervous?

MUNTEAN: A little bit, yes. This is totally different than what I'm used to, so don't judge me too hard.

I'm at the world's biggest air show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. There are 10,000 planes here, three quarters of a million people, the busiest swath of airspace in the world right now.

You can see down there, that's the North 40. That's where I'm camping with my plane and maybe the biggest and most unique flying machine here is the blimp.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. So when you're ready, I'm going to give you the controls.

MUNTEAN: Okay. I'm ready. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, great.

MUNTEAN: I'm going all over the place. Yes. This is a hoot. It feels like I'm driving a bus. You put in the controls and then you kind of wait and wait and wait. And then it does something and then it does a lot.

This is the hundredth anniversary of the Goodyear blimp, which is maybe the most successful aerial advertising campaign of all time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you like to see some of the maneuvers the ship can do?

MUNTEAN: Heck yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you can make blimp wave.

MUNTEAN: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And just rock back to forth like a boat, right.

MUNTEAN: So, I just did an air show maneuver in the blimp.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You did, yes.

MUNTEAN: Cool.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lower the nose down close to 30 degrees of pitch.

MUNTEAN: Okay. I feel like I'm looking straight down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But you're going up, right?

MUNTEAN: But.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You want to try a 360-degree spin?

MUNTEAN: Sure, yes. Okay, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, you're just going to go all the way left.

MUNTEAN: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There you go. And then if you get a sink, you're adding some thrust.

MUNTEAN: Little more power.

It's kind of like turning an elephant around. I mean, for such a huge thing. It's pretty maneuverable.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is.

MUNTEAN: I took it for granted. It looks like the blimp is so graceful, I'm fumbling through the air, but it's really -- it's quite the flyer. I'm surprised. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's fun to fly.

MUNTEAN: Yes, it's totally fun to fly.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: Astronomers have made a surprising discovery next to one of the brightest stars in the night sky. The red super giant star Beetlejuice may have a hidden companion star orbiting it. Scientists say this blue dot could be that companion star. Beetlejuice is so bright for objects near it are difficult to spot. Researchers are hoping they can soon confirm that a companion star exists.

Astronomers say a building-sized asteroid that appeared to be on course to collide with Earth earlier now looks like it has a new target, the moon, possibly in seven years.

CNN Contributor Kristin Fisher explains.

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: You may remember, this is the asteroid that everybody thought might hit Earth just a few months ago. Back then, it had the highest percentage ever recorded in history in terms of a chance of it actually hitting Earth.

[03:55:01]

We now know for sure that it is not going to hit Earth, so that's the good news. But it -- that's good, right? Okay. We're safe, but the moon perhaps not so much, right?

Now, I should caution, this is a very small percentage, still just over 4 percent chance of this asteroid hitting the moon in late 2032. But it's a big enough chance that scientists are now seriously starting to study what the ramifications could be, not to Earth and not to earthlings. We're not going to go the way the dinosaurs with this asteroid, but to the moon itself, and also some things that are very important to humans, things like our satellites that are needed for communications and GPS.

By that point in time, 2032, NASA and China are hoping to have NASA astronauts and Chinese taikonauts living and working on the surface of the moon. I think a lunar base there is a bit too aggressive of a timeline by then, but if an asteroid were to hit the moon, that would -- you can't have astronauts on the moon if an asteroid were to hit the moon. So, those are some of the things that scientists are starting to look at and study.

HUNTE: NASA says it's cutting 20 percent of its workers. That's nearly 4,000 people who will be out of a job. The space agency says those workers accepted offers of deferred resignation, early retirement, or voluntary separation.

This comes after the Trump administration's cuts to the federal workforce recommended by the Department of Government Efficiency. NASA says that after the cuts, it will have about 14,000 employees. There's a new version of man's best friend and it debuted the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai on Saturday. The Chinese company, Deep Robotic, showed off an autonomous four-legged robo dog named Lynx M20. The Lynx can roll, climb, and even walk upright. It's designed to endure unforgiving environments as well as perform emergency search and rescue operations. Well, it was walking. Gosh, look at that.

Okay. Thanks for joining me and the team. That's all I've got for you. I'm Ben Hunte in Atlanta. I will see you tomorrow. And there's so much more CNN Newsroom coming up in just a moment, so don't go anywhere. See you tomorrow.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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