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Israel Owes Responsibility of the Nasser Hospital Double Attack; South Korean President Wrapping Up His U.S. Tour After Investments and Major Deals Were Announced; National Guardsmen Now Carrying Weapons Across D.C. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired August 26, 2025 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world and to everyone streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church. Just ahead.
A horrific double strike on a Gaza hospital. Israel takes responsibility for the attacks but says journalists were not targeted.
The South Korean President's charm offensive at the White House, flattery, gifts and potentially more than $100 billion in investments.
National Guard troops in Washington, D.C. now carry weapons as Donald Trump orders a major expansion of their role.
Plus, imagine seeing this on your drive home. It looks like a scene straight out of a movie.
UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Rosemary Church.
CHURCH: Thanks for joining us.
Israel is facing renewed outrage and condemnation after it launched back-to-back strikes on a hospital in southern Gaza, killing at least 20 people, including five journalists and four medical workers.
The first strike on Monday hit the fourth floor, followed by a second attack that hit emergency responders who had rushed to the scene. A balcony used by journalists for an elevated view of Khan Younis was struck. Israel's military confirms it carried out a strike in the area and has ordered a probe.
All this taking place as protesters have returned to the streets of Israel, causing major traffic disruptions. They're demanding an end to the war in Gaza and a deal to bring the hostages home.
More now from CNN's Paula Hancocks, but first a warning, some of the images you're about to see are disturbing.
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PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A rush towards Gaza's Nasser Hospital after an Israeli strike Monday morning.
Emergency response crews, health workers and journalists can be seen on live television on a damaged staircase.
A television camera is held up. Reuters says a photojournalist working for them is killed. A white body bag is carried away, and then a second Israeli strike.
Smoke hides the staircase from view. When the dust settles, five journalists and four health workers are among more than 20 killed.
Palestinian journalists who form the backbone of international coverage of this war, working with A.P., Reuters and Al Jazeera, among others. Israel does not allow international media to enter Gaza beyond restrictive embedding with its military.
A double strike just minutes apart. The second impact killing workers rushing to help casualties from the first.
JODIE GINSBERG, CEO, COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS: Just to be clear, if it is a double tap, that is considered to be a war crime. This attack, which we believe was deliberately intended to take out the camera, the camera being used by Reuters' cameraman, he was killed in the first attack.
HANCOCKS (voice-over): Israel's military says it, quote, "Carried out a strike in the area of Nasser Hospital, but does not target journalists or civilians." The chief of staff has ordered an inquiry into the attacks, the IDF adding it, quote, "Acts to mitigate harm to uninvolved individuals while maintaining the safety of IDF troops."
An Israeli security official with knowledge of an initial inquiry says forces identified a camera on the roof of the hospital they claim Hamas was using to monitor Israeli forces. Authorized to strike the camera with a drone, the IDF instead fired two tank shells, the source says, the first at the camera, the second at rescue forces.
Mariam Abu Dagga, 33 years old, worked for A.P. and other outlets throughout the war, most recently highlighting the impact of famine in Gaza.
In this recent video, she says, I can't describe how tired people are, how sad or how hungry they are. It's been two years of this war on Gaza, they can't handle any more.
She spoke to CNN last year about her concerns for her safety, saying when a journalist is targeted, all other media question when it will be their turn.
At her funeral Monday, her family mourns a death they had feared for the 22 months of this war.
[03:05:00] Mariam has a son, her cousin says. He went abroad with his father at the start of the war. She was waiting for the war to end so she could see him again.
An injured journalist working for Reuters says he went to check on his colleague after the first strike but saw he had been killed. There were journalists, patients, nurses, civil defense on the stairs, he says. We were directly targeted.
A 22-month war which has been the deadliest ever for journalists.
Paula Hancocks, CNN, Abu Dhabi.
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CHURCH: David Sanger is a CNN political and national security analyst. He's also a White House and national security correspondent for the "New York Times." Always appreciate you being with us.
DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST, WHITE HOUSE AND NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT, "NEW YORK TIMES", AND AUTHOR OF "NEW COLD WARS": Great to be with you, Rosemary.
CHURCH: So Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement Monday that Israel, quote, "deeply regrets the tragic mishap," unquote, that killed five journalists in southern Gaza, including an Al Jazeera cameraman, as well as contractors for Reuters and the Associated Press. At least 20 people in total were killed in two Israeli strikes, along with aid workers, that's according to the hospital that was struck. How does Israel mistakenly hit a hospital twice?
SANGER: It's pretty remarkable, Rosemary, and I have to say that this is not the first time we've seen this happen. And it's hard to imagine for many other countries simply saying this is a tragic mistake and sort of moving on. We didn't hear a few things today, we didn't hear a promise by the Prime Minister to put together an independent commission, figure out how this has happened again.
Remember, this is not the first time. And to figure out the appropriate way to go deal with those responsible. He didn't talk about compensation for the victims' families, might be too early for that.
This has obviously been the deadliest conflict for journalists, but journalists were just five of the 20 people who were killed.
And most interestingly, there was near silence from the Trump administration, even though within the Trump administration, I think there is deep skepticism about the Prime Minister's plan to basically have Israel take over control of all of Gaza. And Israel has talked about putting another group in charge of Gaza, but it has never specified what that group is.
CHURCH: And while an investigation into these strikes has been launched, Israel's military says it "Carried out a strike in the area of Nasser Hospital, but does not target journalists or civilians." What's your response given, as you point out, this 22-month war has been the deadliest ever for journalists?
SANGER: I'm sure that they probably weren't targeting them, although there were actually two strikes here, right? There was a first one, the journalists and some first responders raced to the site and they were actually killed, it appears from the early reports, in a second strike. So they made this mistake not once, but twice.
The Israeli military did not say what it was they thought they were striking. Presumably they had some kind of other target in mind, but they haven't described what that is.
And Israel continues when these happen and that the military will conduct an investigation. Well, I think there would be reason to question for any country, the United States or a NATO ally or for Israel or anyone else, whether the military in a situation like this can actually investigate itself.
CHURCH: And President Trump did respond to the deadly attack on Nasser Hospital saying he's not happy about it, but quote, "at the same time, we have to end it all right now." And he said that the Gaza war could end soon as Israel expands its military operations. How likely is that, though, given what we've seen in the past 22 months? How many times have we heard President Trump say that the Gaza war could end soon?
SANGER: We heard him pressing for a ceasefire. It was a good thing to go press for. And certainly Hamas bears a good deal of the responsibility for the fact that there has been no ceasefire that has happened.
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But the President's never emerged with a real plan to go deal with this. And just a few weeks ago said that there would be a much larger influx of American aid to those in Gaza who were either depending on what you believe in the midst of or at the edge of a famine. And so far, I don't think we have seen a detailed plan for how what that looks like.
So you hear the same words from the administration repeatedly. The fighting's got to stop, I think everybody's in agreement with that. The question is the conditions, but we've heard the sound of imminence many times before.
CHURCH: David Sanger, many thanks for joining us. I appreciate it.
SANGER: Thank you.
CHURCH: Australia is expelling the Iranian ambassador after its intelligence agency found that Tehran was behind at least two anti- Semitic attacks. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was behind an arson attack on a Sydney restaurant and a synagogue in Melbourne.
He called these, quote, "Extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression." The Iranian ambassador and three other diplomatic staff have seven days to leave Australia, it's the first time Australia has expelled a foreign ambassador since World War II.
South Korea's newly elected president showers praise on Donald Trump and avoids what he called a possible Zelenskyy moment in the Oval Office. We'll bring you the latest analysis of their summit.
And a massive wall of dust covers Phoenix in darkness, causing damage and delays at the airport. More on the impact of this severe storm just ahead.
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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone.
South Korea's president is upholding his country's promise to, quote, "Make American Shipbuilding Great Again." President Lee Jae-myung is set to wrap up his first official trip to the U.S. with a visit to a Philadelphia shipyard owned by a South Korean firm later today.
The visit will underscore major deals and investment plans between the longtime allies. On Monday, Korean Air announced it intends to purchase 103 aircraft from Boeing. Meanwhile, Hyundai Motor Group said it would increase its investment in the U.S. to $26 billion.
South Korea's President said Seoul's biggest players are expected to invest a total of $150 billion in the U.S. That announcement came after he met U.S. President Donald Trump for their first-ever summit on Monday. The trip is seen as a major foreign policy test for Lee Jae, who had little international experience before taking office in June.
But he didn't come unprepared or empty-handed. The South Korean leader gifted Mr. Trump two Make America Great Again cowboy hats, among other things. Defense was a major topic of discussion between the two leaders, as was North Korea and its expanding nuclear capability.
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LEE JAE-MYUNG, SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT (through translator): President Trump and I have agreed to work closely together to establish peace and achieve denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula.
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CNN's Jeff Zeleny has more from the White House.
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JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: President Trump met with South Korean President Lee in the Oval Office on Monday, the latest world leader to come pay their respects and meet the American President. But it was clear for at least Mr. Trump's part, he had North Korea on his mind. DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I'd like to have a meeting. I look
forward to meeting with Kim Jong-un in the appropriate future.
ZELENY: Now, during an hour-long session in the Oval Office, President Trump repeatedly heaped praise on North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who, of course, Trump had a meeting with in 2018 and met with him twice in 2019, trying to forge a partnership, a relationship that did not end up going anywhere.
Of course, the President, as he said, North Korea had major potential. He did not once mention the nuclear weapons program, that it's at the center of the challenges and controversy that North Korea has, and certainly the conflict they have with their neighbors to the South.
But President Trump, even as he repeatedly praised North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, he did also have a warm relationship, he said, with South Korea. He said he wanted to have a good relationship. There were some concerns about would there be a tense meeting, because President Lee is a new leader. Of course, he won the presidency in June.
Conservatives in South Korea are not thrilled by him by any stretch. And President Trump gave some indication going into the meeting that he was also not seeing President Lee with very warm feelings, but that all dissipated. So there were some discussions about shipbuilding, some discussions about economic growth. But one thing that hangs over the relationship between the U.S. and a longtime ally, South Korea, is China.
That was something that was clearly not resolved in the open session, at least. But there was a lunch and a closed-door session where that was discussed even more. President Trump was asked about the decision if he would leave the number of U.S. troops in South Korea, and he did not answer that question, he said it's not appropriate to do so.
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But clearly the meeting went well on Monday in the Oval Office, even as President Trump seemed to focus slightly more on North Korea than South.
Jeff Zeleny, CNN, the White House.
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CHURCH: I'm joined by Duyeon Kim, Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security. I appreciate you joining us.
DUYEON KIM, ADJUNCT SR. FELLOW, CENTER FOR A NEW AMERICAN SOCIETY: Thanks for having me.
CHURCH: When the U.S. President met with his South Korean counterpart at the White House Monday, the two leaders discussed China and North Korea. And while President Lee Jae-myung said they had very good conversations, the issue of U.S. troops stationed in South Korea to deter North Korea is proving problematic, because the Trump administration is demanding Seoul take more responsibility for its own defense, with an eye on using those same U.S. troops to help contain China. So how difficult is this issue for South Korea?
KIM: Right. And now this is a very sensitive issue for South Korea, both politically and practically, because U.S. troops here on the Korean Peninsula are there really for South Korea to protect South Koreans and Americans, a large expat American community living here in South Korea.
And so, you know, North Korea is South Korea's number one security threat. And so for South Koreans, both on the left and right side of the aisle, to hear that some U.S. forces might be here only to deter China brings some anxiety.
However, you know, officials that I have spoken to in the Trump administration have told me that it's not that the U.S. forces will be entirely focused on China. It's that during peacetime, they will definitely be focused on North Korea, but a portion of them during peacetime would exhibit a posture that deters China.
CHURCH: Right. And let's start by looking at those concerns that South Korea has about its vulnerability to the North.
KIM: Sure. Now, you know, for South Koreans, if there's any word, even if North Korea hears that some of U.S. troops would be focused on China and not itself, South Koreans worry that North Korea might see this as an opportunity as seeing America's footprint and posture as weaker.
South Koreans are especially worried that in the event of a Taiwan contingency, that America would want to redeploy some of American troops from Korea to the Taiwan Strait. And that's actually what the United States wants to do, it wants to be able to use its forces flexibly. They call this strategic flexibility and this is something that also brings anxiety to South Koreans.
So, you know, I think the two governments basically have a lot to discuss, to negotiate. But I'm actually really glad that the two leaders, the two presidents did not get into these details because they are very thorny. I think it's best to leave it to what we call the working level officials, everybody under the presidents to really hash this out in private and in closed doors and also very frankly and candidly.
CHURCH: Yes, let's look a little closer at South Korea's concerns about being drawn into a war if China invades Taiwan. I mean, how would that likely play out and what would be South Korea's role in that?
KIM: Well, South Korea's role really remains to be seen. That's really up to South Korea to decide also for the two allies to discuss. Typically, South Korea's broader public would be most worried about, you know, it's the old thinking of sending your sons and daughters to somebody else's war.
That type of sentiment and thinking really concerns the broader public at the same time. It only makes sense to some degree that, you know, if you're an ally of a country that you would help each other out. And the United States and South Korea have what's called a mutual defense treaty.
It's not only America here to defend South Korea, but also means that America's allies should be able to contribute to a certain degree to help secure America's security concerns. And so these are details that the allies are trying to figure out, and I expect it to take some time.
CHURCH: Duyeon Kim, many thanks for joining us. I appreciate it.
KIM: Thank you.
CHURCH: President Trump is giving Vladimir Putin two weeks to end the war in Ukraine. What the President said about Russia's continued attacks, when we come back.
Plus, Venezuela's president is bolstering his country's military as the threat of a U.S. naval fleet in the region drives thousands to enlist. The latest on the rising tensions, coming up.
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CHURCH: Welcome back to "CNN Newsroom." I'm Rosemary Church. I want to check today's top stories for you.
Israel says it's ordered an investigation following deadly strikes on a hospital in southern Gaza. At least 20 people were killed, including five journalists and four health workers, in back-to-back strikes on the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. The President of the Committee to Protect Journalists accuses Israel of deliberately targeting a Reuters camera position.
President Trump has announced he is firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook over mortgage fraud allegations. It's the first termination of its kind in the Fed's 111-year history and marks a significant escalation between the President and the central bank. Cook has not been charged with any crime.
South Korea's President says Seoul's biggest players are expected to invest a total of $150 billion in the U.S. The announcement followed President Lee's Oval Office meeting with U.S. President Trump on Monday. Shortly after the summit, South Korean businesses like Korean Air and Hyundai announced major deals and investment plans mounting to $76 billion.
President Trump is threatening very serious consequences if Russia does not reach a peace deal with Ukraine in the next two weeks. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with U.S. Envoy General Keith Kellogg to discuss future security architecture for Kyiv.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Ukrainian and European foreign ministers, saying the U.S. would be involved in security guarantees but Europe should take the lead. President Trump says he's spoken with Vladimir Putin in just the past week.
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TRUMP: Every conversation I have with him is a good conversation and then unfortunately a bomb is loaded up into Kyiv or someplace and then I get very angry about it. I think we're going to get the war done. It's tough.
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CHURCH: Despite that, no breakthroughs have been achieved, even in establishing terms for a ceasefire. CNN's Sebastian Shukla reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEBASTIAN SHUKLA, CNN PRODUCER: The international diplomatic effort in its attempts to bring about an end to the war in Ukraine appears to be stalling.
In the week after President Trump hosted all of those key European allies to debrief after his summit in Alaska with Russian President Vladimir Putin, progress on trying to reach a ceasefire or some negotiated settlement and a trilateral summit between Moscow, Kyiv and Washington, D.C. appears to be going absolutely nowhere. However, Vice President J.D. Vance took to the airwaves on Sunday, speaking to NBC's "Meet the Press," to say that he felt that negotiations with the Russians have showed some signs of progress and that, as he said it, the Russians have made some concessions to Donald Trump.
J.D. VANCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: I think the Russians have made significant concessions to President Trump for the first time in three and a half years of this conflict. They've actually been willing to be flexible on some of their core demands, they've talked about what would be necessary to end the war.
Of course, they haven't been completely there yet or the war would be over. But we're engaging in this diplomatic process in good faith. We are trying to negotiate as much as we can with both the Russians and the Ukrainians to find a middle ground to stop the killing.
SHUKLA: In the last day and a half, at least three Ukrainians have been killed and 25 at least have been injured. One of each of those individuals killed came from the Sumy, Kharkiv and Donetsk regions of Ukraine. What we have also seen in the last couple of days is a renewed discussion about Ukraine's ability to fire long-range weapons into Russia.
A "Wall Street Journal" report from over the weekend appears to suggest that a new system and protocol that would require Kiev to request permission from Washington D.C. to fire the U.S.-made ATACMS missiles has been put into place.
Effectively, what it means is that a series of requests has to go all the way up to the head of the U.S. Department of Defense, effectively the U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, for him to be able to give the green light for Kyiv to fire U.S.-made missiles. And of course, those long-range missiles have become a key piece of Ukraine's armory as it looks to shift the war back inside Russia.
Sebastian Shukla, CNN, Berlin.
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CHURCH: A former leader of Mexico's infamous Sinaloa cartel, Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, entered a guilty plea to U.S. drug trafficking charges on Monday. His admission includes one count of racketeering conspiracy and one count of running a continuing criminal enterprise.
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Prosecutors say Zambada, alongside Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, helped grow the cartel into the largest drug trafficking organization in the world, with Zambada authorizing and overseeing an array of violent operations. The 77-year-old is expected to face life in prison with sentencing set for January 13.
As tensions with the U.S. continue to rise, thousands of Venezuelans are heeding President Maduro's call to join the country's military. In response, the U.S. is mobilizing its own forces, sending a wave of naval assets toward Venezuela's coastline.
CNN's Patrick Oppmann has the latest.
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PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As a small armada of U.S. Navy ships heads towards Venezuela, the most significant escalation of tensions between the two countries in years.
Embattled Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro says he's preparing for an invasion. Maduro is activating his national militia and imploring regular citizens to enlist to fight off a potential U.S. attack. And Maduro is not letting a crisis go to waste, whipping up support in a country exhausted by years of economic decline and political strife.
NICOLAS MADURO, VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I am enlisting because I love my homeland. Join with your family, join with your community, enlist and join the ranks. Long live Venezuela.
OPPMANN (voice-over): Thousands sign up over the weekend, vowing to keep Maduro in power.
UNKNOWN (through translator): We defend our people, and we, one way or another, are going to defend ourselves.
OPPMANN (voice-over): But even as he claims to have more than 4 million soldiers, police, and militia members ready to do battle, Maduro may be outgunned.
The Trump administration has sent at least three U.S. Navy destroyers, a submarine, attack aircraft, and 4000 Marines to stem the flow of drugs to the U.S., which they say Maduro is responsible for.
PAM BONDI, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: The DOJ has seized over $700 million of Maduro-linked assets, including two private jets, nine vehicles, and more.
OPPMANN (voice-over): Yet Maduro's reign of terror continues. He is one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world, and a threat to our national security. Maduro denies any role in drug trafficking, but he is under federal indictment in New York for allegedly running a shadowy cartel of Army officers turned drug lords.
This month, the Trump administration doubled the price on Maduro's head to $50 million. But collecting that reward likely would require U.S. boots on the ground. Venezuela is roughly 1.5 times the size of Texas, with dense jungles and sprawling slums controlled by heavily armed gangs.
Occupying the country would be a massive undertaking, and even more complicated if Maduro makes good on his promise to arm citizen militias. Armed conflict may still be far from certain, but a showdown is brewing off the coast of Venezuela, with neither side appearing to back down.
Patrick Oppmann, CNN.
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CHURCH: A federal judge has issued an order to keep Kilmar Abrego- Garcia in the United States. The Trump administration is attempting to deport him to Uganda, but a judge says he must remain in the U.S. while she considers his legal challenge against the Trump administration. Abrego-Garcia recently returned to the U.S. after being held in El Salvador's notorious Maximum Security Prison, he is in ICE custody after turning himself in to face human smuggling charges.
Still to come, President Trump moves to expand deployment of the National Guard to fight crime. But not everyone's open to his plans. Details after a short break.
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CHURCH: Welcome back.
U.S. President Donald Trump is expanding his crackdown on crime. He's signed an executive order calling for the creation of specialized National Guard units to be deployed around the U.S. The president suggests Chicago may be his first target. Here he is on Monday pushing back against criticism of the plan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: I made the statement that next should be Chicago because as you all know, Chicago is a killing field right now. And they don't acknowledge it.
And they say we don't need him. Freedom. He's a dictator, he's a dictator.
A lot of people are saying maybe we like a dictator. I don't like a dictator, I'm not a dictator. I'm a man with great common sense and a smart person.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: But the state's governor has a stark warning for President Trump: Don't come to Chicago, we don't want you or need you here.
CHURCH: And here's what Chicago's mayor told CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR BRANDON JOHNSON (D), CHICAGO: What the president is proposing is a military occupation of the city of Chicago and cities across America. Our city is not calling for that. In fact, I don't know of any cities in America that are calling for federal troops to occupy their cities.
This is clearly unconstitutional. It's illegal and it's costly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: We're also learning more about guidelines for National Guard members carrying weapons in Washington, D.C.
[03:45:04]
CNN's Brian Todd has more on troops assigned there and the Trump administration's plans to expand to other cities.
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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We have some of the first visuals of our reporting that National Guardsmen in Washington, D.C. will now be carrying firearms.
We can show you this just over my right shoulder here. Our photojournalist Jay McMichael will zoom in. These are National Guardsmen from the state of Louisiana, you can see the sidearms that they're carrying.
What we're told by a joint task force spokesperson is that the Guardsmen, most of them will be carrying M-17 pistols and some of them will be carrying M-4 long rifles. But it's important to note the spokesperson told us that the Guard is only supposed to use firearms for quote "personal protection," meaning self-defense and not for policing. Now, in relation to the idea of the National Guardsmen actually
conducting police work, President Trump on Monday signed an executive order tasking Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth with establishing quote "specialized units in the National Guard that will be trained and equipped to deal with public order issues." And that includes, quote "quelling civil disturbances." So the Guard could in fact be doing some police work while they are deployed here in Washington, D.C.
I asked Mayor Muriel Bowser about that earlier on Monday when she was at a school event. I caught up to her there. I asked her what her response was to the National Guardsmen carrying firearms in her city.
She said she doesn't really have much more to say about all of this except she does not believe that military troops should be conducting policing actions.
Now, separately, I spoke to two aides for Mayor Bowser who told me that the mayor has been in touch with mayors from other cities that President Trump is considering sending National Guardsmen to. These two aides did not tell us which cities and they wouldn't characterize the specific nature of the conversations, but they did confirm that Mayor Bowser has reached out and has been in touch with the mayors of other cities where this same scene could be repeated if President Trump decides to give that order.
Separately, what we can tell you also is that according to a White House official, there have now been more than 1000 arrests made since this law enforcement surge began on August 7th, including six known gang members, according to this White House official. This official says that 49 homeless encampments have been cleared by multi-agency forces here, and they say that as of Sunday, on Sunday, there were 86 arrests alone in the city.
So White House officials claiming success in this law enforcement surge, saying that the city is safer and better off now. Of course, city officials pushing back on that saying that violent crime was way down in this city before all of this happened, and that this kind of show of force around the city is not at all needed.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Five people were injured and homes damaged in an explosion in St. Louis County, Missouri. Police say an 18-year-old was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries.
Five buildings were ablaze when firefighters arrived at the scene, it's not clear what caused the explosion, but power and gas have been turned off in the area. A bomb and arson unit and other authorities are investigating the blast.
When it comes to natural disasters, most Americans think about fires, flooding, or maybe tornadoes. But a surprising new study finds 25 of the 28 largest cities in the U.S. are sinking. And that's putting major stress on roads, buildings, and critical infrastructure.
Boris Sanchez looks at what's causing this growing problem.
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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Imagine this. You buy a home and soon get a sinking feeling that something isn't right. This slow and gradual sinking of an area of land is called subsidence, and it's putting a strain on the very foundation of infrastructure around the world.
One of the most extreme cases in the United States was in California's San Joaquin Valley, where between the 1920s to the 1970s, the ground in certain areas dropped up to 30 feet.
Here, subsidence was due to the booming growth of agriculture in the valley. The aggressive pumping of groundwater, known as aquifer depletion, removes water from the ground, resulting in open pore spaces that cause the sediment to compact and the ground above to sink.
So, say your new home is in this subsidence-affected area. The value of it likely just sank, too. A study from U.C. Riverside estimates the cost could have dropped over $16,000.
You add up the lost aggregate housing value across the Central Valley, and that is nearly $2 billion.
And subsidence isn't just affecting rural areas. New research finds that 25 of America's 28 biggest cities are sinking. Of these, the fastest sinking city in the U.S. right now is Houston, Texas. Houston is dealing with severe depletion of groundwater, like parts of California.
But here, oil and gas extraction adds another layer to the problem.
[03:50:03]
Some parts of Houston are sinking by as much as two inches a year. And while other areas are sinking slower, that uneven subsiding puts major stress on roads, buildings, and other parts of the city's critical infrastructure.
The process happens slowly, often invisible to the human eye. But it has the potential to impact infrastructure in nearly 90 percent of America's largest cities. Over time, subsidence is literally reshaping the ground we live on.
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CHURCH: And still to come, a new study is linking a healthy Mediterranean diet with significant reduction to a person's risk of dementia. We'll take a closer look at these findings after a short break. Stay with us.
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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone.
A new study says a Mediterranean diet could be the key to preventing cognitive decline. Researchers say it reduces the risk of dementia by 35 percent in people who carry two copies of the APOE4 gene, a major risk factor for Alzheimer's.
The study's authors say meals that include fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grains, legumes, and fish with limited alcohol, red meat, or other highly processed proteins appear to help offset a person's genetic risk for developing dementia. Medical experts are hopeful that additional adjustments to exercise, sleep, and stress levels can further help avoid future health complications.
Well, now to a major breakthrough in science and medicine. After recent successes in transplanting pig kidneys and hearts into humans, a genetically modified pig lung has been transplanted into a brain- dead man.
CNN's Jacqueline Howard has more.
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JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: A new study to transplant a pig lung into a human. I'll break it down into three steps.
In the first step, what scientists did to perform the transplantation is they took a lung from a pig that was genetically modified. This pig had six modifications so that it would be a more compatible organ donor for a human. Without these edits, the organ would be almost automatically rejected.
In the second step, the scientists surgically transplanted that pig's lung into a 39-year-old man who was declared brain-dead after he had bleeding in the brain.
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In the third step, scientists closely monitored the lung's functioning after it was transplanted. And the scientists noticed there was severe swelling that developed about 24 hours after the surgery.
And a few days later, there were some signs of the body rejecting the lung. By day 9, the experiment was terminated. That was at the request of the man's family.
But over those nine days, scientists say the lung itself was viable and it was functioning. So the study demonstrates a major first step in making pig-to-human lung transplantation a possibility. More studies are needed before we see this type of surgery happening among the public.
The scientists, they're based in China, and they wrote this in their study. Quote, "This study demonstrates the feasibility of pig-to-human lung xenotransplantation, substantial challenges relating to organ rejection and infection remain." End quote. So again, more research is needed to see what long-term supports and medications would help make this type of xenotransplantation successful over a longer period of time.
Now there have been separate studies on using pig hearts and pig kidneys in humans, and pig valves have been transplanted into human hearts for the past 30 years. We know that pig organs are anatomically similar to ours, plus we know a lot about pigs medically and scientifically.
Pig products already go into dozens of life-saving drugs and medications, and they are a big part of agriculture. So this is definitely a growing space in medicine to watch.
And we know there is a growing need. More than 103,000 people in the U.S. are currently waiting for an organ transplant, and despite that need, last year just 48,000 transplants occurred. It's estimated, sadly, in the U.S., about 13 people die a day waiting for a transplant.
So the potential when it comes to xenotransplantation is a major area of research right now in medicine and science.
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CHURCH: Fascinating story there.
So imagine flying into Phoenix and seeing this. A towering wall of dust rolled over the city on Monday, causing damage and delays at the airport. 60,000 customers were left without power as the dust was followed by severe thunderstorms.
This is what it's like to be inside the dust storm. Day turns into night and visibility drops to near zero, it's like being inside a blizzard, but one full of desert soil. Dust storms are common in Arizona, but this was an especially severe one, an intense wall of dust like this is known as a haboob.
I want to thank you so much for your company, I'm Rosemary Church. Have yourselves a wonderful day.
"Amanpour" is coming up next, then stay tuned for "Early Start" with M.J. Lee. That's at 5 a.m. in New York, 10 a.m. in London. Enjoy.
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