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Russia Ramps Up Attacks on Ukraine Amid Trump's Deadline; Kim Jong-un's Sister: U.S. Can Only "Hope" for a Summit; At Least 30 Dead in Beijing after Days of Heavy Rain; Ghislaine Maxwell Urges Supreme Court to Overturn Conviction; Toxic Algae Threatens South Australia's Marine Life; Trump Says U.S. Opening Food Centers In Gaza, As He Describes Starvation Crisis As Real; Gunman Kills Four And Himself At Midtown Manhattan Building; Trump Gives Russia 10 Or 12 Days To End War On Ukraine. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired July 29, 2025 - 01:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:00:25]

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, they are starving in Gaza. Ahead on CNN Newsroom.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: It's real starvation stuff. I see it. And you can't fake that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: And for the first time, the U.S. President acknowledged the crisis, demanding Israel allow every ounce of food into the Palestinian territory.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT. Many of them barricaded themselves in their offices with whatever they could.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Fear and death on Park Avenue as a lone gunman armed with a military style rifle opens fire in a New York high rise.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Trump has figured out that Putin is not serious about stopping the war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: And so from 50 days to now, less than two weeks, the clock is ticking for Moscow to reach a cease fire with Ukraine. But the U.S. President will impose secondary sanctions on Russian exports. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN Newsroom with John

Vause.

VAUSE: For the first time, U.S. President Donald Trump has acknowledged starvation in Gaza is real and he says much of the responsibility lies with Israel. A clear rejection of comments from the Israeli prime minister who claims no one is starving in Gaza.

Until now, President Trump has mostly blamed Hamas for the crisis. He's now promising increased U.S. Financial aid as well as establishing food centers in the Palestinian territory.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: But we're going to be getting some good, strong food. We can save a lot of people. I mean, some of those kids are -- that's real starvation stuff. I see it. And you can't fake that. So we're going to be even more involved.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Israeli officials say a 10-hour long pause each day in military operations will continue to ensure safe passage of aid convoys. And along with Jordan and the UAE, Israel has been air dropping food and other supplies into the territory. Still, hospitals report another 14 deaths in the past day due to famine and malnutrition.

The UNAID chief says while there has been a surge in aid deliveries in recent days, much has been lost to looting. And he adds the next few days we make or break for relief efforts. More details now on the starvation crisis in Gaza from CNN's Jeremy Diamond. He's reporting from Jerusalem. But first, a warning. This report contains some graphic images.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Desperate and hungry, thousands of Palestinians scramble onto aid trucks that have just entered the Gaza Strip. They grab what they can, anything for the chance to feed themselves and their families.

Many of whom have gone days without food. This sea of desperation driven by months of Israeli restrictions on aid distribution in Gaza. Amid global outrage, Israel is now reversing course, ceasing fire in parts of Gaza for 10 hours a day and opening designated secure routes to allow more aid trucks to flow in steps humanitarian aid organizations have sought for months.

The U.N. says more than 100 trucks of aid were delivered into Gaza on Sunday. Many more will be needed to even begin to alleviate this crisis.

As children scrape bits flour from the beds of those trucks, the World Food Programme says a quarter of Gaza's 2 million plus population is now experiencing famine like conditions. Israel also allowing air drops into Gaza for the first time in months, sending Palestinians running to grab what they can.

But as a rifle is fired into the air, a reminder that it is often the strongest, like gangs who steal and resell food at higher prices, who are first to eat. I didn't get anything, this elderly lady says. I was crushed in the crowd.

While some manage to grab a full box, others emerge with just a few items flour, oil, pasta. A far cry from what they would get if enough U.N. trucks were entering Gaza.

This aid is disgraceful. We are not dogs to be made to run after aid. People fought over it, this man says. We'd rather die of hunger with dignity than die in humiliation and filth.

Palestinians are also still getting shot and killed while trying to get aid. The Palestinian Health Ministry said 25 people were shot by Israeli forces while trying to get aid during the past 24 hours.

[01:05:05]

The Israeli military said it was not aware of any casualties. He's only 12 years old. What was his fault? This man cries out. He went to get flour to feed little children. His brother survives on sugar water to feel full.

In the hospital's morgue, this body is a testament to an entirely different weapon. Starvation has claimed 20 more lives in Gaza in the last two days, including 10 year old Noor Abu Saleh (ph). She became like this because of hunger, thirst and the siege imposed on us by the Israelis, her uncle shouts. This is a Palestinian child. He says the world would be outraged if only she had been born anywhere else. Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Alon Pinkas is the former Israeli consul general in New York. He joins us now live from Tel Aviv. I got a whole list of questions here, but I want to ask a question first. You saw that story by Jeremy Diamond. You saw the images there of the kids with the bones and you know is horrendous. As an Israeli, as a former representative of the Israeli people, how do you feel when you see that?

ALON PINKAS, FORMER ISRAELI CONSUL GENERAL IN NEW YORK: Ashamed. Shame. That's the only word that comes to mind because this could have been avoided. This should have been avoided. It should never have gotten to this. We can dwell on the politics of it and the strategic calculations and the military operations, but it all can be reduced to one word, shame.

VAUSE: Yes, it's hard to watch, to say the least. Angus King, who is an independent U.S. Senator from Maine, he's now calling for ending U.S. support for Israel while Gaza's hunger crisis continues to here's what he had to say. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ANGUS KING, U.S. SENAE INDEPENDENT: To me, Israel has the resolution of this problem in their hands. They should be sponsoring and encouraging and supporting a massive humanitarian program in Gaza. They have not done that. They have continually slow walked and impeded the ability of aid, particularly food, to get into Gaza. And it's time for them to change their path.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: King does not have a history of being anti-Israel. We now even have the U.S. President saying, you know, it's obvious that people are starving and going hungry in Gaza. There does seem to be a momentum shift here. It's away from the absolute support for Israel, from the U.S. and once support has begun to shift, is it then too late to stop it?

PINKAS: No, it's never too late to stop it because, you know, if you saved one child, you've already accomplished a lot. Senator King made a bold and important statement. Senator Chris Van Hollen did the same a few days earlier. Congressman Jerry Nadler said similar things in a demonstration yesterday in New York City.

Yes, you can feel the, you know, you can feel the change in the public tones. You felt it for a few weeks, but it didn't reach the president. And as you just said, John, now it's reached the president.

Now, you know, when 25 European countries signed a statement demanding that Israel stop the war, when the French president says, as a matter of almost protest, not just political advocacy, that France will recognize a Palestinian state which is declaratory rather than practical, but nonetheless, it was an important statement.

Israel was, you know, quick to dismiss this. Oh well, the Europeans, they've always been anti-Israeli, et cetera, et cetera. But conspicuously absent from that 25 countries statement was the U.S. and the U.S. is the only one that can pressure Israel into doing this. And what we see now, what we heard now rather from President Trump as well as from Senator Angus King and others, is a change in not just the tone, but I think it's going to be reflected in a policy change.

All President Trump needs to do is pick up the phone and tell Mr. Netanyahu to stop this and stop this now because there has been a three month idle negotiation and exercising futility over the hostages and ending the war which both sides have evaded right now.

If this indeed is going to be expressed in a policy change right now the president has a lot of levers of power over Mr. Netanyahu.

VAUSE: Benny Gantz, who's the leader of a centrist Zionist party in Israel, former member of Netanyahu's war cabinet, he's now among many critics of the war in Gaza. Warning of a quagmire for the IDF on social media he put this, the role of IDF soldiers is to protect Israeli communities and residents, not the Gazans.

[01:10:00] We are on a path where our children will end up managing Gaza's sewage system. Reports from the field about soldiers whose mission is to secure food convoys and infrastructure work are serious and troubling. That is not their task.

You know, I wonder about the Pottery Barn rule here. If you break it, you own it. And when it comes to feeding the population, which is under your control, under Israeli control, there are rules and there are obligations, which I don't think Mr. Gantz understands in that statement.

PINKAS: I totally agree with you, John. I think he should have said this a year and a half ago and acted on it rather than sit in the government and only leave for politics. But here's the thing. From almost day one, many have demanded that the government come out with a clear political objective to which the military operations are aligned with. They haven't.

When the Biden administration, late into 2023 and into 2024, came up with ideas on a post-war Gaza, Israel dismissed, derided, refused, was reluctant to even engage them. And still people said, OK, what is your end game? Because if the end game is topple Hamas, eliminate Hamas, eviscerate Hamas, all total victory, all those cliches that Mr. Netanyahu floated, then you need to occupy the entire Gaza Strip.

Now, if you're ready to do that's fine, but like you said, you break it, you own it, you occupy it, you own it. It's not just a sewage system, it's reconstruction, it's potable water, it's food, it's medical supplies, it's law and order, it's the school system that does no longer exists.

And even the IDF, the Israel Defense Forces in the last few weeks has led out on a few occasions that it is extremely unhappy or at least unclear with what exactly the government wants the military to do. Because the military operation, they said, reportedly exhausted itself and certainly exhausted its usefulness and certainly has no attainable military objects. That's it. The next step would be to occupy the Gaza Strip. You want to occupy the Gaza Strip, fine. But then you own the Gaza Strip.

Mr. Netanyahu, as is always the case with him, is an indecision maker. He will never make a decision until absolutely forced to by circumstances and then pay a higher price, which both Israel and the Palestinians are now paying.

So in the end, the war will probably end as a result of American pressure rather than an Israeli clear and coherent strategy on how to end it.

VAUSE: Wars are easy to start. They are hard to end. Alon Pinkas, as always, so thank you for being with us. We really appreciate your time.

PINKAS: Thank you, John.

VAUSE: Well, still no word on a motive after a mass shooting in a Park Avenue high rise in midtown Manhattan. Four people including an off duty police officer were killed when a lone gunman identified as a 27 year old from Las Vegas opened fire inside the building. He was recorded by security cameras walking into the skyscraper armed with an M4 assault style rifle. CNN Shimon Prokupecz has late breaking details Monday night.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PROKUPECZ: The police commissioner releasing new information describing just how everything unfolded. Just around 6:30 when the gunman walked into the lobby, ambushing the people in the lobby, including an NYPD police officer who was working security, killing that officer, shooting others in the lobby, then getting in an elevator and going up to the 33rd floor where he continued his rampage.

A lot still remains unknown. The FBI, the NYPD and also the Las Vegas Police Department and officials there are helping to try and piece some of this. That is where the gunman is from the NYPD saying he drove here, double parked his car and then walked into the building firing at those people.

Of note from the NYPD that the suspect does have a documented mental health issue. That's certainly going to raise a lot of questions. And for now we're just hoping to learn more about the victims. We know a lot about the police officer who was a father of two. His wife was expecting their third child, only 36 years old with about four years on the job. So a lot more still that we need to learn here and hopefully that'll happen in the coming days. Shimon Prokupecz, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Moscow now has less than two weeks to reach a ceasefire deal with Ukraine after a frustrated U.S. President brought forward a deadline for punitive economic measures if Russia fails to make a deal. Details after the break.

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[01:19:13]

VAUSE: Moscow now has less than two weeks to reach a cease fire with Ukraine after U.S. President Donald Trump unexpectedly slashed his initial 50 day deadline to no more than 12 before the U.S. targets Moscow with harsh economic penalties. Trump told reporters in Scotland Monday that his relationship with the Russian president has changed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: It's tough on Putin because I was the one that closed up Nord Stream and Biden came along and opened it up. I was very tough on Putin in one way, but we got along very well. And I never, you know, I never really thought this would happen. I thought we'd be able to negotiate something and maybe that'll still happen. But it's very late down the process, so I'm disappointed. (END VIDEO CLIP)

[01:20:00]

VAUSE: Ukraine's President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised Donald Trump for his determination and on social media thanked him for his focus on saving lives and stopping this horrible war.

William Taylor is a distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council. And during a long and respected career of public service, he served as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine from 2006 to 2009. Ambassador Taylor is with us this hour from Washington. It's good to see you again, Sir.

WILLIAM TAYLOR, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE: John, thank you very much for having me.

VAUSE: Well, this shortened deadline has been welcomed by officials in Kyiv. As you imagine, this is a very low point right now for them in terms of the war. On social media, the Ukrainian president's right hand man, Andriy Yermak, praised President Trump, saying he was committed to peace through strength, adding this the, U.S. President has already said he's shortening the timeline he gave Putin because he believes the answer is obvious. Putin respects only power and that message is loud and clear.

The message may be loud and clear to the Ukrainians right now, but what about to the Russians who seem to shrug off that initial 50 day deadline for a ceasefire just two weeks ago?

TAYLOR: They did. They did. They are committed, John, as you've reported, to taking over Ukraine. And they think they can do that. That's why President Trump has made a significant change in the approach on how to convince Putin that he cannot win, he cannot wait us out.

And it has two components. One is, as you've described, this shortened deadline for tariffs and sanctions, not just on the Russians, but also on the Chinese or the Indians who buy the Russian oil to reduce the flow of revenue into the Russian war machine.

But the second, I think even more important piece that Putin will understand is President Trump's decision to allow the Europeans to buy weapons from American firms and give them to the Ukrainians. That increase that determination to provide these weapons. That's what's going to get Putin's attention. That's what's going to convince him in the end, cannot win this war.

VAUSE: And again, when the 50-day deadline was first announced, the New York Times reported this, that Russian commentators expressed doubt about Mr. Trump's plans, saying the weapons he promises were unlikely to change the battlefield reality. Some also suggested Mr. Trump would be unable to penalize buyers of Russian oil without sharply increasing global oil prices to the detriment of the United States and its Western allies.

You've already talked about the weapons, but if the U.S. President does impose these secondary sanctions, how far reaching will the consequences be, especially for the global economy?

TAYLOR: Well, the Chinese, let's just talk about the Chinese and the Indians, who are the two biggest purchasers of Russian oil. They'll have a choice. If they're facing 100 percent tariffs on anything they try to sell to the United States. As long as they're buying oil from the Russians, they've got two choices. One, they can lean on the Russians to stop the war, which of course, is what President Trump is after, or they can quit buying the oil and they'll look other places that could have effect on oil markets, certainly.

But it turns out there's a lot of oil on the market right now. This probably is a pretty good time to do that. It gives this threat the credibility. One last thing, John.

The U.S. Senate has 85 cosponsors on a bill to do even more damage, higher tariffs on the Chinese and the Indians. And they're ready to do it. They're just waiting on President Trump. So President Trump has political covered, support, backing to take these serious measures.

VAUSE: Ukrainian president believes that the key to forcing Russia into genuine peace talks are, in fact, sanctions. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): It is Russia doing everything to fail peace efforts and prolong this war. There are strikes every night, Russian attempts to hurt Ukraine. We have said this multiple times, and all partners are aware that sanctions are a key element. Russia cares about sanctions, cares about such losses.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Is it still a question of if President Trump imposes these sanctions on Moscow as opposed to when? How big is that? If that's the case. I guess the bigger question is, do you believe that President Trump truly has had an epiphany when it comes to Vladimir Putin?

TAYLOR: I think the answer to that last question, John, is yes. I think he's figured out for the reasons that President Zelenskyy just highlighted, and that is the ruthlessness, the cruelty of Putin and the Russians attacking civilians night after night. I've spent a lot of time there.

The Ukrainians every night have their sleep interrupted multiple times for hours on end. And that has gotten to President Trump. President Trump has figured out that Putin is not serious about stopping the war. Indeed, he's accelerating. The number of drones and missiles, glide bombs that he's sending into Ukraine every night has gone up from 50 to 100 to now to 7 or 800 a night.

[01:25:10]

VAUSE: I'm just wondering, the Russians right now are firing off, you know, as you say, hundreds of drones and missiles every night, it seems. How long can Putin keep up that sort of pace of attack? TAYLOR: Probably pretty long. Sad to say. They've ramped up their

manufacturing capabilities. They of course they got the original designs from the on Shaheds on part of their number of their drones from the Iranians. They don't need the Iranians anymore. It's a good thing they are one less ally that the Russians have in Iran.

But they do have the capability to produce a lot of drones and missiles, getting missiles from the North Koreans. So this is something sadly that can go on until Putin realizes that the price he's paying in all different forms of price is not worth it. And that's going to take what President Trump talking about doing both providing the weapons and putting on the sanctions.

VAUSE: Ambassador William Taylor, thank you for being with us, Sir.

TAYLOR: John, thanks for having me.

VAUSE: We have more now on those ramped up drone attacks. Not only is Russia amping up their attacks, so too is Ukraine targeting St. Petersburg and other cities. All these Russian airstrikes have hit three separate Ukrainian regions in the past 24 hours. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh reports out from eastern Ukraine amid a relentless Russian air attack.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR (voice-over): The space left for Ukraine is shrinking from above too lined with fishing nets to protect cars from Russian drone attacks. This is the road to Konstantinovka, one of three vital towns in the east. Russia is slowly encircling.

WALSH: Extraordinary low tech bit of invention here to counter the high tech problem of drones that have redefined warfare in Ukraine.

WALSH (voice-over): If you live here, you still need to get home. And as we see on this Russian drone footage, the holes let Moscow's smarter drone operators in. One even lies in wait filming the other drone as it strikes.

The town lined with prey. A drone hit this van at dawn. The driver killed. Even if its explosives didn't go off, little has been spared here. Artillery grinding for months.

WALSH: Well, something just flew in over our head there. But again when we move around this town, the clearer how more in the pincers it is of Moscow's summer offensive. But still these bizarre signs of ordinary life trying to persist.

WALSH (voice-over): Tatiana lives on the edge of town and is now carrying her stuff to safety.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We don't have anywhere to go. I live on the outskirts and went to feed my dog and it's heavy there. Really heavy. Everyone has left. WALSH (voice-over): Oddly bustling though, is the central market where you'll notice locals turn away from our camera. OK, so people here don't want their faces shown sometimes a sign that they're concerned the town may change hands or want simply not to be shown on television.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Glory to Ukraine.

WALSH: Calm for now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is no calm today. They are shooting of course.

WALSH: OK She doesn't want to be filmed either. The same story, really. And now we've just been told that a drone's been spotted which may have been surveying the area. So we're told we should leave now.

WALSH (voice-over): With the drones for every new idea, there's something newer.

WALSH: Littering the battlefield now. This fiber optic cable, meaning that drones can't be jammed and are instead linked back to their controller through this tiny, tiny cord that can extend for tens of kilometers.

WALSH (voice-over): It is underground where they try to control the skies. Ukrainian commander Vasyl sees many Russians closing in and no new Ukrainians coming to help. This airstrike, as Ukrainian drone team targeted.

VASYL, 93RD SEPARATE MECHANIZED BRIDAGE: We have a critical shortage of personnel. We hardly get any new recruits, the workload on the troops is very heavy. Ukraine has a lot of people but no one wants to fight.

The war is over for them. The old personnel are left. They are tired and want to be replaced but no one is replacing them. Because there are no people.

[01:30:00]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cloud, cloud, fly around it and give me a close-up.

WALSH (voice-over): They show us one success. This Russian tank covered in protective netting which needed 70 Ukrainian drones to stop it.

Some Ukrainian positions held by just a pair of soldiers isolated. Vasyl said no vehicles able to reach them.

VASYL: We are currently supplying the infantry using drones. As dusk falls, we launch the Vampire of Kazhan. We load 10 kilograms of supplies -- food, ammunition, water, batteries, chargers for radio stations.

WALSH (voice-over): On the screens a lone Russian is hit by a drone's grenade, but survives and shoots at the next one, throwing his helmet as it flies in. He again survives, but another comes and misses him by inches.

He takes off his armor and waves a shovel. Isolated, relentless agonies for both sides.

VASYL: We are tired. Everyone is tired of this war. And I believe that other countries are also tired of helping us. This war must end. That would be the best option.

WALSH (voice-over): Moscow wants that too. Just its ending is yet uglier still.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN -- Kostyantynivka (ph), Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: In a moment here on CNN, Beijing's deadly downpours and the fast-rising floodwaters which forced tens of thousands of residents to evacuate. Ahead, the very latest on this disaster.

[01:31:31]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Welcome back everyone. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

It seems those days of high-level nuclear negotiations between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un might just be a thing of the past. with reports in state media that future summits will only take place if the U.S. drops its demand for complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

The sister of the North Korean leader explains it like this. Things have changed since their last summit more than six years ago.

CNN's Will Ripley following this for us live from Taipei.

So, I guess if you're not going to talk to North Korea about denuclearization, then what are you going to talk to them about?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, things have changed, John.

VAUSE: Yes.

RIPLEY: I mean, when Donald Trump met with Kim Jong-un the first time around he certainly didn't have the close relationship that he has now with Vladimir Putin. There wasn't a war raging in Ukraine which North Korea was not only supplying weapons, you know, artillery, ballistic missiles, but also thousands of troops and a reported troop surge on the way where North Korean soldiers who had been training in theoretical military drills and war games, even though they have a ten-year conscription. Now, they're actually getting real life modern warfare drone training. So Kim has managed to take the geopolitical situation that changed

drastically after his failed diplomacy with Donald Trump.

Remember back in Hanoi, Vietnam he told his own people he was going to meet with Trump. He rode on the train. He went there. He had his cameras rolling.

And Donald Trump walked out. They didn't even have lunch. They left the lunch table, you know, set and nobody ate the meal.

That was a huge loss of face. That would have been a very unpleasant train ride home, to say the least, for a lot of people who had helped orchestrate that meeting, some of whom we don't know where they are, if they're, you know, even on the planet anymore. If you know what I mean.

So now. Kim has restructured. I mean, he learned from that. And he has a lot more leverage. He has a lot more nuclear weapons, most likely, than he did before.

And so -- and they've also rewritten the North Korean constitution to say that now North Koreans are enshrined as part of their national identity.

They look at what has happened to other countries, like Ukraine, for example that gave up their nuclear weapons. And then, you know, you got an Oval Office meeting and President Trump telling the Ukrainian president he doesn't have leverage.

Kim Jong-un never wants to be in a situation where he doesn't have leverage again. And so by signaling through his sister that he is open to talking with President Trump, but the "d" word, denuclearization, needs to be off the table.

And then to hear the White House turn around and say, well, President Trump would love to talk to Kim, but only talk about, you know, getting to the point of a fully denuclearized North Korea.

It does seem that there's a lot of diplomatic legwork that would need to happen before there could be any potential meeting between the two of them.

Now, that said, President Trump is going to be in South Korea in October, John, meeting with China's leader Xi Jinping, meeting with the new South Korean president.

And he'll be in -- he'll be in the region. -- could there be a chance that he could meet with Kim under the right conditions? Never say never.

VAUSE: It could be like a Syrian-style meeting. Something informal, perhaps. I mean, who knows? I mean, but, you know, talking is always a good thing.

[01:39:51]

VAUSE: Will, thank you. Will Ripley in Taipei. Appreciate it.

Well, northern China has been pummeled by heavy rains in recent days and on the outskirts of the capital, Beijing, the storms have turned deadly, killing at least 30 people.

CNN's Kristie Lu Stout is in Hong Kong with the very latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Cars moving, but not the way they should on roads, now rivers in the northern outskirts of Beijing.

According to Chinese state media, dozens of people have been killed after days of heavy rain caused widespread flooding and triggered deadly landslides. Many more are missing.

China's leader Xi Jinping, urging a quote "all out search and rescue effort for those trapped or yet to be found".

"Emergency response must be activated and carried out at the earliest possible moment to fully protect people's lives and property," Xi said in a statement on Monday.

Guo Shuzhen (ph) is still waiting for help. A wall of soil now sits in her auto repair shop after a landslide swept through the second floor of the building in Miyun, a suburb of China's capital.

GUO SHUZHEN, LOCAL RESIDENT (through translator): By the time we got here, the landslide had already crashed into the house. I saw the water had nowhere to go.

STOUT: More than 80,000 people have been evacuated in and around Beijing. And it's not just the capital in crisis. Video from state run media shows downpours and torrents of water in Hebei, Tianjin and Inner Mongolia.

Even when the rains dry up, those affected will have to dig through the destruction left behind.

Kristie Lu Stout, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Thailand's acting prime minister says all is calm in a disputed border region with Cambodia. Earlier, Thai military officials accused Cambodia of deliberately violating their truce. Cambodia has denied that.

All of this comes a day after a ceasefire was declared. Thai officials say the country's militaries are communicating, but have to agree on a location to hold the next round of negotiations.

Last week, clashes broke out over a contested border region, with both nations accusing the other of firing first. This led to the deadliest fighting in more than a decade -- 38 people killed, at least 200,000 were displaced. Independence Day celebrations in the Peruvian capital, Lima turned violent. Anti-government protesters clashed with police. Several people were reportedly injured as the demonstration approached Congress.

That's where President Dina Boluarte was delivering a speech detailing plans for mining and construction projects, all up worth a combined $10 billion.

Still remains to be seen if that deal will help the president's approval ratings, which currently stands at somewhere around 2.4 percent.

Still to come, the convicted accomplice of Jeffrey Epstein wants the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn her sex trafficking conviction. Why her attorney says she never should have been charged in the first place.

[01:42:43]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: For years, I wouldn't talk to Jeffrey Epstein. I wouldn't talk, because he did something that was inappropriate.

He hired help, and I said, don't ever do that again. He stole people that work for me. I said, don't ever do that again. He did it again. And I threw him out of the place, persona non grata.

And by the way, I never went to the island. And Bill Clinton went there, supposedly 28 times.

I never had the privilege of going to his island. And I did turn it down. But a lot of people in Palm Beach were invited to his island.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Even in Scotland, it seems the Jeffrey Epstein scandal continues to follow President Trump. He was there speaking, trying to put some distance again between himself and this ongoing scandal. It's a scandal which just does not seem to want to go away.

And the former girlfriend and accomplice to pedophile Jeffrey Epstein is now asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn her conviction. Ghislaine Maxwell is serving 20 years in federal prison for sex trafficking, but her attorney says she should have been covered by an agreement Epstein made to avoid prosecution.

CNN's Paula Reid explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: The White House and Congress are both embroiled in the Epstein file controversy. Now it could have all three branches of government embroiled in this firestorm because Maxwell -- Ghislaine Maxwell is asking the Supreme Court to take up her appeal of her 2021 conviction. She was found guilty of helping Epstein sexually abuse teenage girls.

Now her lawyers argue that Maxwell should be covered by a 2007 non- prosecution agreement that Epstein was offered in that agreement, which has been very controversial and largely been invalidated.

Epstein was promised that if he pleaded guilty to state level charges, he could avoid federal criminal exposure. Maxwell believes that that agreement should cover his associates like her.

Now, of course, a decade later, Maxwell and Epstein were both charged by federal prosecutors in New York.

Will the Supreme Court want to take this up? That remains to be seen.

One factor that they use in determining which cases they want to hear is whether there is any -- any dissent across the judges in different regions.

And here, there is a circuit split. Judges do not agree on exactly how far these kinds of agreements should go. But of course, if the Supreme Court decides to take this up when they return to the bench in October, a case like this comes with a lot more than just an esoteric legal question.

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REID: And even if the Supreme Court does not offer Maxwell relief, there is out there floating this possibility of a presidential pardon or commutation.

The president has been asked about this repeatedly and has not outright dismissed the idea, even though he's being asked if he would offer relief, clemency to someone who was convicted of recruiting, grooming and, in some cases, sexually abusing teenage girls.

Paula Reid, CNN -- Washington.

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VAUSE: An update now on the mass shooting at a New York skyscraper and a possible motive for the shooting.

A law enforcement source telling CNN the gunman was carrying documents indicating grievances with the National Football League and the handling of CTE, a brain disease linked to repeated head trauma.

We're told the shooter, a 27-year-old man from Las Vegas, played football years ago. The NFL has offices in the building where the shooting took place.

The league's commissioner says one of their employees was seriously hurt in that shooting attack. That person, now in hospital, apparently recovering in stable condition. But in all, four people were killed, including an off-duty police

officer. Authorities say the gunman died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Still to come on CNN, climate change is fueling an ecological disaster of South Australia's coast, one that has killed thousands of marine creatures already.

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VAUSE: Summer heat and dry winds are causing wildfires to flare across the Mediterranean region. In Albania, a helicopter was deployed to combat flames threatening a coastal village Monday.

Turkey has been battling wildfires for two weeks now. One blaze in the northwest of the country burned for a third straight day.

Also Monday, a huge wildfire engulfed a beach on the Italian island of Sardinia, according to firefighters. Beachgoers were forced to flee by boat after flames stopped escape from other routes.

A toxic algal bloom has been choking marine life off South Australia's coast. Experts call it one of the worst marine disasters in living memory.

CNN's Derek Van Dam shows us how climate change is driving this deadly phenomenon.

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DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Ecologists say the toxic algae bloom off the coast of southern Australia is devastating the marine life ecosystem there.

SCOTT BENNETT, CO-FOUNDER, GREAT SOUTHERN REEF FOUNDATION: It's hard to overstate how devastating this algal bloom has been. It has really impacted the entire food web, from the habitat forming species like our seaweeds and sponges and things that make up these reefs all the way through to the highest trophic levels.

So lots of sharks, lots of rays. We've had recorded over ten White sharks washing up on the beach, lots of dozens of species of Rays.

VAN DAM: And algal bloom is an intense concentration of microalgae, often fueled by a marine heat wave. Since March, it has killed more than 17,000 animals from over 470 species of marine life, according to observations on the citizen science site "A Naturalist" (ph).

It's not only impacting sea species, but also the people on land who depend on the sea for their livelihood.

BENNETT: This has just paralyzed the fishing industry, the tourism industry and just really devastated the local population.

So South Australians are grieving right now. This is their really beloved marine environment which has been impacted. And everybody -- everybody's feeling it.

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VAN DAM: South Australia's premier, Peter Malinauskas, visited the Yorke Peninsula on Monday to meet impacted communities. A week after announcing US$ 9.2 million in aid matched by the federal government.

PETER MALINAUSKAS, SOUTH AUSTRALIAN PREMIR: I want to be really clear about this. This is a natural disaster. I don't think -- I think politicians can do themselves a disservice when they get caught up in technicalities.

This is a natural disaster. It should be acknowledged as such.

VAN DAM: Scientists say worldwide marine heatwaves are increasing In size, duration and frequency.

BENNETT: So we -- I think we can expect to see this occur elsewhere. And it's important we don't treat it as a one-off, rare occurrence.

VAN DAM: Derek Van Dam, CNN.

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VAUSE: The winners have been announced for the 11th Annual Mangrove Photography Awards, which aims to raise awareness of one of the world's most vital and most threatened ecosystems.

The top prize goes to Mark Ian Cooke for this striking photo of bright pink spoonbills flying over a shark in the Florida Everglades.

Other winners include a photo of a young monkey eating fruit in a mangrove in Indonesia. Another showing a mangrove forest with Dubai in the background.

Mangroves are found where fresh water meets saltwater and they can store large amounts of carbon, making them key to fighting climate change. Experts though warn more than half of all mangroves worldwide could collapse by 2050.

Well, Billboard says Beyonce's "Cowboy Carter" tour is now the highest grossing country music tour ever, grossing more than $407 million with 1.6 million tickets sold across the tour's 32 stops.

Beyonce is also the first woman and first American artist to have two separate tours make more than $400 million. Her "Renaissance" world tour in 2023 grossed nearly $580 million, shattering the record for R&B music.

She's had a good time in the last couple of months.

Thank you for watching. I'm John Vause.

Please stay with us. CNN NEWSROOM continues with Lynda Kinkade. Hopefully she'll be here after a short break, fingers crossed.

See you tomorrow.

She's right here. She made it.

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