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U.S.-Israel War with Iran; Second Year of Record-Breaking Measles Cases in U.S.; Russia's War on Ukraine; Venezuela Earthquake Victims' Family Shares Grief; New Tariffs on U.S. Trading Partners; Paramount Takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery Delayed; Dems Race to Bolster New Candidate in Must-Win Race; Cockroach Protesters Demand Indian Education Minister Resign; SpaceX Starship V3 Makes Successful Test Flight. Aired 4-5a ET

Aired July 25, 2026 - 04:00   ET

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

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SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hello and a very warm welcome to our viewers joining us from around the world and in the U.S. I'm Salma Abdelaziz in London. Let's get into the headlines.

No word of another round of U.S. airstrikes in Iran but an end to the war may not be any closer. We're going to take a look at whether airstrikes can accomplish much more.

Plus, Russia and Ukraine exchange strikes of their own as president Vladimir Putin sees his war again hit close to home. We'll have the latest for you.

Plus, U.S. measles cases reach a 35-year high. We're going to trace the disease's comeback after being declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Salma Abdelaziz.

ABDELAZIZ: I want to start with what appears to be a pause in U.S. attacks against Iran. The U.S. military did not announce it was launching strikes on Friday. This is after pummeling Iran for 13 straight nights.

And we're also getting -- not getting any reports of Iranian attacks on U.S. allies in Bahrain, Jordan or Kuwait overnight. Now all of this comes after president Trump met with top advisors and cabinet officials to discuss a potential escalation of the war. That's according to a source.

The president says the U.S. is still actively negotiating with Iran after their ceasefire agreement crumbled earlier this month. But he has also suggested that U.S. forces could press on with their campaign and even expand it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: There's a military exit where we just keep going just the way we are and we can even make it a heavier dose and it's knocking out everything they have or there's a smarter strategy that let's you make a deal. And they want to make a deal. I just don't think they're ready yet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: Leila Gharagozlou joins us live now from here in London.

So for the first time in nearly two weeks, Leila, it looks like the U.S. may not have carried out any airstrikes in Iran.

Is that a positive sign for diplomacy or how do we read this?

LEILA GHARAGOZLOU, CNN PRODUCER: It's very unclear right now what it means that they did not, the U.S. did not strike Iran last night, given all the mixed messages that we've heard over the last couple of weeks.

Now president Trump has gone back and forth between his messaging around this conflict. One day he says that they're going to hit Iran very hard. The next day, he says that they are in potential talks. So it's very unclear what it means for them to hold off for a single night.

A lot of analysts that I've spoken to do expect things to flare up again, given that there is no ceasefire, there's no actual negotiations. And the MOU that was signed just a couple of months ago has basically fallen apart.

Now president Trump just yesterday again gave mixed messaging, saying that the U.S. was locked and loaded. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We're locked and loaded and ready to go but we're talking to them. So I think while we're talking, we'll see what comes of it. We are talking right now and we'll see what comes of it. I'm not, you know, despite what everyone says about the election, I'm not in a hurry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GHARAGOZLOU: Now the Iranians haven't said whether they are actually talking to the U.S. Both sides through the last two weeks have said that they would be open to some negotiation and returning to find a way out of this conflict and an offramp.

But they've also both been striking around the region. So it's very unclear what this really means. At the core of this ultimately lies this issue of trust, which is something that we've seen since the very beginning of this conflict in February. Neither side really has trust in the other to stick to a negotiation, to a deal and find a diplomatic offramp.

I mean, even that MOU was incredibly vague and there were a lot of discrepancies over its implementation and it eventually, as we saw, fell apart. So trust really becomes the key issue here. And what little trust there was has basically fallen to the wayside.

So whether they are talking or not talking is very unclear; whether this conflict escalates any further is also very unclear, although, as I said, most analysts that I've spoken to assume that this conflict will keep going, if not escalate even beyond what we've seen over the last two weeks, Salma.

[04:05:04]

ABDELAZIZ: Leila Gharagozlou there on what is in short supply right now, which is trust. Thank you so much.

Joining me now from Brisbane, Australia, is Mike Ryan. He is a retired major general in the Australian Army.

Thank you so much for joining us this morning. First of all, we've brought you on here to discuss how much further these airstrikes can continue and what they can really accomplish militarily for president Trump. We've seen 13 consecutive nights of airstrikes. No update from CENTCOM this morning. So it looks like there's a pause.

Does that mean these airstrikes have reached the limits of what airpower can do here?

MAJ. GEN. MICK RYAN (RET.), SENIOR FELLOW FOR MILITARY STUDIES, LOWY INSTITUTE: Well, good morning, Salma. I think we're approaching that point.

These airstrikes have not been as intensive as the original airstrikes we saw in the first month of the war or several months ago. So what we're seeing now probably is the U.S. military, just giving a pause for a while, probably a little bit of that as they need an operational pause a little bit is to see how the Iranians react.

But at the end of the day, more airstrikes are probably not going to force the Iranians to the table at this point. The U.S. will need to do something different, whether it's militarily diplomatic or economic.

ABDELAZIZ: But Trump has claimed many times that the campaign he has carried out has essentially wiped out Iran's military. Clearly, that is not the case, given that Tehran continues to be able to strike American assets in the Gulf.

What has the air campaign accomplished and what has it not accomplished that the president needs to see?

RYAN: Well, it's certainly degraded Iran's military capability. It certainly removed some of their rocket launch and rocket construction capability. It's removed a large part of the large surface fleet vessels from the Iranian Navy and has probably restricted access to some nuclear facilities.

But it's clear that these claims have been overstated and that the Iranians are feeling pretty confident about where they sit in this war at this point in time.

ABDELAZIZ: So the Iranians feeling pretty confident. But you are also saying that president Trump is trying to force them to the table.

Given all of these different factors, what is the logical next step here for president Trump if he wants to escalate this conflict, if he wants to force them to the table?

I assume a ground invasion is not possible, given that there's simply not enough assets in the region.

What is possible?

How could he take this to the next level?

RYAN: Well, the primary aim is to end this war. I think president Trump wants to get out of this war as soon as he can. I know he says he's not in a rush but that's a negotiating statement. That's not a statement, a reality.

The U.S. does not want to be in Iran forever. It doesn't want to be there by the time of the elections at the end of this year, the midterms. So Trump has several options. The first option is to simply walk away. That was speculated about early in this war. It hasn't occurred. I think that's low likelihood but it still remains an active option.

A second one is to significantly escalate airstrikes, although, once again, the U.S. could do that. But I'm not sure it's going to result in too much activity from the Iranians with regards to negotiations.

The other option is to undertake ground raids and have a larger proportion of the U.S. Navy enter the Strait of Hormuz and go into action there. They are possible but they're extraordinarily dangerous and they'll be at a cost that the Trump administration may not want to pay.

ABDELAZIZ: You're laying out all the options there for president Trump walking away, militarizing the Strait of Hormuz further. But what we're hearing from our White House reporters is that the president is reportedly weighing a massive attack.

What could that be?

What does that mean?

And does it indicate that he's been holding back in some way?

RYAN: Well, the U.S. military is certainly much larger than the force it has deployed in the Gulf and only has two of 10 aircraft carriers there. It could deploy much more of its Air Force to areas from which it might strike Iran even harder. But at the end of the day, even a massive attack would probably not

bring the Iranians to the table. We've seen this strategy right since the beginning of the war, where Trump thinks just hit them a bit harder and they'll come to the negotiating table. That just has not worked.

This isn't a problem of hitting the Iranians harder. It's a problem of fundamentally rethinking U.S. strategy toward Iran and the wider region. And that's what needs to happen, not just escalating military operations.

[04:10:04]

ABDELAZIZ: Mick Ryan there telling president Trump he needs to rethink his strategy on Iran.

Thank you so much.

President Trump is using the rescheduled White House Correspondents' Dinner to repeat his refrain that the war in Iran is going, as he put it, extremely well. And perhaps missing the irony, he told attendees, don't believe the fake news.

The dinner, which was postponed after a shooting incident in April, had security and a smaller guest list. The president appeared to doze off while some of the awards were presented.

But then he delivered a speech that ran for an hour and four minutes and was straight out of the Trump playbook. He hurled insults, told jokes that mostly fell flat and took aim at perceived enemies, including multiple journalists sitting in the room.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: But Karoline may have one of the hardest jobs in the White House. She has to deal with all of you, all of the time and you can be very difficult. You can be very, very difficult people. But I'm probably being a little bit oversensitive. Sometimes, I really do think that some of you don't like me.

(LAUGHTER)

In fact, I read a report, I get 93 percent negative publicity. Ninety- three. I said, how the hell did I win the election by so much?

Think of it. I don't think that's true. I can't believe it's 93. In the 80s, maybe but not 93.

(LAUGHTER)

But this place is really the largest group of Trump derangement syndrome people ever put together at one time, I suspect.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: Mr. Trump also said that he would run for president again in 2028 and seek a constitutionally prohibited third term but then declared he was, quote, "just kidding."

Officials now say that a substance found in the van of a man shot and killed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Texas was not illegal drugs. The Harris County district attorney's office announced the test results on Friday. An ICE agent shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo during a traffic stop in Houston on July 7th.

In a warrant filing, the FBI said it believed a white powder that was found in the vehicle was illegal drugs. The family's attorney suggested it was salt, which Salgado Araujo used to make a homemade electrolyte mix.

The U.S. is experiencing record breaking cases of measles for the second year in a row. The disease was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000 but there have been more cases recorded in the past 18 months than any in the previous 25 years combined. More on this from CNN's Meg Tirrell.

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MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, already just seven months into 2026, we have already surpassed the historic year we saw for measles cases in the United States last year.

Now more than 2,300 cases, you can see the vertical trajectory of measles cases here, and this really shows you that this is quite unusual. Typically a year looks more like 2023. We'd see fewer than 100 cases recorded in the U.S. all year.

You can see here also historically, this is just tremendously unusual to have so many cases reported. And really where we've seen these cases, of course, last year in West Texas, there was a massive outbreak where we saw two school aged children die from measles.

There was also a large outbreak even larger than West Texas that started in October in South Carolina. That one was finally declared over in April, recording almost 1,000 cases. There are still ongoing outbreaks going on right now, one on the border of Utah and Arizona, another in Virginia, another in Pennsylvania.

And this one really is one that folks are watching very closely because it started last summer. And as it relates to measles elimination status, the way we define that here in the United States is that we don't have ongoing transmission for a year or longer.

And so if this one is determined to have gone on for at least a year, that will threaten our measles elimination status. And in fact, many public health experts think we really have actually reached that point.

Now the reason we are here is essentially that vaccination rates have been falling too low to stave off measles in a major way. You want to keep measles vaccination rates above 95 percent in order to protect the community through what's called herd immunity, because measles is the most contagious virus that we know of. But only these states here in green have actually reached that 95

percent threshold for kindergartners on a statewide basis. And you can see that this has really declined since before the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is the national vaccination rate for U.S. kindergartners. We were above 95 percent in the 2019-2020 school year, now down to 92.5 percent in 2024-25. And, of course, it is school age children who are affected the most by these measles cases.

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We have about 70 percent of the cases being in kids under the age of 19. And 93 percent of them have not been vaccinated or have unknown vaccine status. And so the warnings that we are hearing from public health folks right now is that measles cases could continue to get worse if we don't see a turnaround in vaccine status.

And also that it could potentially be the tip of the iceberg because it's such a contagious disease. Other ones are going to follow, potentially, that are also vaccine preventable, which would really be a public health tragedy.

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ABDELAZIZ: Russia takes aim at a weapons exhibition near Kyiv to deadly effect and now Ukraine's president is suggesting someone in his country could be held responsible. That story coming up.

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ABDELAZIZ: Ukraine's president is berating a weapons exhibition that was held near Kyiv. Russian missiles struck that area during the event on Friday. It killed at least 10 people and wounded more than 100 others.

Now president Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the exhibition is drawing scrutiny from Ukrainian investigators. Meanwhile, Ukraine is not missing a beat in its escalating strikes deep inside Russia.

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The latest target was this factory. It's about 500 miles or 800 kilometers northeast of Moscow. It was hit on Friday. Russian officials say six people were killed and 26 others were wounded there. For more on all of this, we have Larry Madowo. He joins us live from Nairobi.

Good morning to you, Larry. So president Zelenskyy is saying that this weapons exhibition essentially should not have taken place.

What are you learning about what happened and why? LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Salma, we know that this weapons exhibition was showcased in drone technology. And members of Ukrainian security services and many in the drone industry were there. A Ukrainian official saying that it involved three ballistic missiles, only one of which was intercepted.

A Russian defense ministry spokesperson confirmed that they did target this exhibition, claiming that people who manufacture drones that have been used to target civilian sites in Russia were there, showcasing some of that long-range drone technology.

And that they targeted it because they do target civilian population and civilian facilities in Russia. But the Ukrainian president said they should not have happened in the first place, because this is the third time that a weapons exhibition like this has been attacked since 2022, when this war began.

And so there's general guidance that these exhibitions should not take place. In this case, this one was widely advertised and was well attended, according to multiple reports. And now an investigation has begun into who exactly allowed this to happen and what kind of safety measures were in place. Listen to president Zelenskyy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Today, I spoke with prosecutor general Ruslan Kravchenko and received reports from law enforcement. Criminal investigations have been opened to what happened.

Of course, the strike was caused by Russian missiles, by Russian terror and nothing else. But we have already said 1,000 times that in these wartime conditions, with an enemy like this, you definitely cannot hold any weapons exhibitions with large crowds of people, especially near residential buildings.

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MADOWO: That Russian attack on Ukraine happened just hours after the latest Ukrainian attacks inside Russia. Over the past week, it has ramped up attacks on distribution facilities and warehouses for Wildberries.

That is, the Russian Amazon. And these attacks have led to lots of damage, sometimes essentially hundreds of thousands of products up in flames, especially, affecting many small and medium sized businesses that have been in uproar over these attacks.

Ukraine claims that they supply Russian forces in Ukraine and that's why they're legitimate military targets. Russia denies that. But we did a search on Wildberries and found 78,000 military basically supplies that are available, from body armor to kits to all sorts of stuff that could be used on the front lines.

So that is this push-and-pull between Russia and Ukraine regarding what are legitimate military targets but also this Ukrainian long- range drone technology that is bringing the war right back to Russia's doorstep, Salma.

ABDELAZIZ: Larry Madowo there with the latest from Ukraine. Thank you very much.

A month after twin earthquakes struck Venezuela, thousands of families are still searching for loved ones. Officials say over 5,000 people have died. The International Rescue Committee says tens of thousands remain missing.

CNN's Carolina Peguero spoke with a family in the U.S. who lost loved ones in the disaster and are still dealing with the heartbreak.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAROLINA PEGUERO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just weeks ago, Antonella Narvaez was celebrating her high school graduation surrounded by her friends and family, her --

ANTONELLA NARVAEZ, MOTHER KILLED IN VENEZUELAN EARTHQUAKE: I want to honor my mom in the way that just to make my sister happy. That's all. Because my mom, she will always make my sister happy, so, that would be the way.

PEGUERO: Antonella shares it was just a normal day on June 24th, she had spent the day talking to her mom, Chloe (ph) sent her younger half-sister, Isabella, who both had decided to move this summer back to La Guaira.

A. NARVAEZ: Just chatting with my mom through WhatsApp and then I sent her one last message, hoping for her to reply. She never replied. I don't -- I don't really know how to feel or how to manage this whole situation.

PEGUERO: Things rapidly took a turn when she didn't hear back from any of them after the earthquakes struck the nation. Hours later, the family back home in Tampa were notified her mother and her husband had died under the rubble while Isabella had been rescued by neighbors but had suffered several injuries.

A. NARVAEZ: My sister and I were always together, we were always -- we always have like this really strong bond. And, of course, right now, we're not together and that makes it really tough for me to be there for her.

[04:25:02]

NOEL NARVAEZ, FATHER OF ANTONELLA NARVAEZ: We are trying to do the best that we can do with the tools that we have.

PEGUERO: Antonella's father, Noel, commits to providing a stable home, support and love to 12-year-old Isabella that lost both her parents and that, has been in Venezuela since then under the care of extended family.

N. NARVAEZ: We are here for her. If she is listening or if she is watching us, we are here willing to provide all the support that she needs.

PEGUERO: Aunts and uncles back in the states have also offered their help in raising their nieces together like they promised their mother.

MARIELA GARI, AUNT OF ANTONELLA NARVAEZ (through translator): She told me if she was no longer here, that I would become Antonella and Isabella's mother. And wow, although it's a difficult challenge and big shoes to fill, I will do everything in my power to help raise them.

And as the family gathers around Antonella and she checks in on her sister and her recovery, they plead to the Trump administration to help them make a sister's dream come true of being together once again.

N. NARVAEZ: We really would like to have some support from the government with a visa or any other kind of relief that led us, you know, reunify this family.

PEGUERO: Carolina Peguero, CNN, Tampa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABDELAZIZ: In southwestern France, more than 140,000 people are fleeing massive wildfires. Authorities ordered evacuations from tourist hotspots along the Atlantic coast, where two major fires are threatening both campsites and homes.

Now some people are seen fleeing the area by boat. Authorities say the wildfires are burning so intensely that they're actually generating their own weather system. France's interior minister says one of the fires is moving toward the Bordeaux metropolitan area. Dozens of firefighters have been injured so far.

President Emmanuel Macron is asking other European countries to help in battling the blazes.

We're going to take a quick break. For our viewers in North America, I'll have more news for you in a moment. For our international viewers, "CNN CREATORS" is next.

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ABDELAZIZ: Welcome back to our viewers joining us in the U.S. and Canada. I'm Salma Abdelaziz in London.

President Trump's latest tariff move is already facing its first legal challenge and it comes from the same libertarian advocacy organization that brought the Supreme Court challenge against the levies earlier this year. Tariffs between 10 percent and 12.5 percent went into effect on dozens

of countries Friday. CNN business reporter David Goldman has more for us.

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DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR REPORTER: New tariffs are in place. They are going to sound a little bit familiar, 10 percent.

Why does that sound familiar?

Well, that has been the tariff that was in place for the past several months. Now they could go up to about 12.5 percent, depending on which country.

Now there are 60 different trading partners that are subject to this. That sounds like a lot. And it is a lot because that covers 99.4 percent of all U.S. imports. If you are not one of these countries, you're pretty much not doing business with the United States.

Now the old tariff regime had a problem. It gave us 10 percent tariffs on all goods that were imported into the United States. But because of the trade clause that it used, it only lasted for 150 days. And that has now expired. So something needed to replace that. And in effect is now Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act.

What is this?

Why is this so significant?

Because they are citing forced labor as the reason why the United States has the legal authority to charge these tariffs. Remember, the Supreme Court told president Trump that he cannot universally and unilaterally charge tariffs forever using emergency authorities. There needs to be a reason why.

They did an investigation and they're citing forced labor pretext. Maybe. But that is the legal authority that they think is going to stand the test of time. There's more coming, too. This is just the beginning.

Canada now subject to a 50 percent tariff on a number of goods, about $20 billion worth of goods. And Brazil also subject to 25 percent tariffs on most goods, some exceptions like coffee and beef and things like that.

But using these different laws, including one that dates back to 1930, the Trump administration believes that it now has the legal authority to get back to the tariffs that we had before the Supreme Court ruling, just using some different authorities. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABDELAZIZ: Now U.S. stock markets closed out the week with a mixed finish. The Dow Jones industrials gained almost half a percentage point, while the S&P closed barely in the red. The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell by 0.6 of a percentage point as investors weighed concerns about massive spending on artificial intelligence.

Now despite Friday's modest rally by the Dow and the S&P, all three indexes finished this week at a loss. I want to bring in now Ryan Patel. He is a senior fellow with the Drucker School of Management. He joins us live from San Diego, California.

Thank you for coming to us in the middle of the night. I really appreciate it because I really want to break down these new tariffs, right?

They are intended, according to the administration, to combat forced labor in global supply chains. But as you heard from our reporter there, they look suspiciously similar to the previous tariffs.

Is this a credible rationale or is president Trump just trying to circumvent the Supreme Court's ruling here?

RYAN PATEL, GLOBAL BUSINESS EXECUTIVE: Well, there's two parts.

First, the human rights issue in general is real, right?

Every company should absolutely know where their products come from and ensure ethical supply chain. I think that's something what businesses should be doing, period, and create a transparent, transparent framework.

The second piece, this is very similar to, I think, why the markets didn't really react is back to what Trump is doing with those type of tactics. To be able to create leverage, it doesn't really take too much people too much to read.

[04:35:00]

That's what's going on here. So if you're under that assumption that that is what's going on, it creates this economic cost again, where companies don't know what the rules are going to look like and the markets are pretty much going, well, we've seen this before. It is a part of a negotiation.

And if it's not any of those and it is about the forced labor, forced labor only change, it takes a while to change actual systems.

Should there be those types of evidence across all those countries?

So that's where I think those two points are different. But you have to assume and under the assumption that Trump is looking for a deal.

ABDELAZIZ: So assume that president Trump is looking for a deal. These countries may view this as a negotiating strategy, as you said. So give us a read here.

What nations are going to be most impacted?

What industries are going to be hardest hit?

How significant is the risk of retaliation from major partners like China, the E.U. Australia, Brazil?

Give me a sense.

PATEL: It's going to be what, you know, I would say, you know, buckle up at least, because we're going to see this again of the rhetoric going to get stronger, should president Trump impact those tariffs back. And the countries that were the most vocal was China, was Canada and Europe. Right.

But you know, the ones that got deals done quicker the last time we've seen this, right, it was the U.K. It was potentially Australia. So countries that have those great relationships with president Trump, you look for them to kind of move on, especially since they cannot weather that economic sanctions.

So I feel like it's going to cause the same kind of pattern that we've seen before. And it's going to be the countries that play ball and the ones that are wanting to push back. And if president Trump is really serious about enacting this forced labor cause, we're going to see a lot more rhetoric pretty quickly.

ABDELAZIZ: And we've seen only the slightest downturn in the markets. It seems like they're weathering this news quite well so far.

Why is that?

Are investors simply not seeing the consequences?

Are they not fearing the possibility of renewed trade uncertainty?

Why haven't we seen this play out in the markets yet?

PATEL: I think part of it is it's not real yet. What I mean by that is the markets, the consumer, you know, they don't wake up just thinking about supply chains, right. They you know, consumer spending is still where it needs to be. You know, price on the shelf.

You know, when we start to see -- and we saw this with the oil spike, you know, we start to see these products start to rise, you start to see people not be able to afford certain things, businesses and markets react a little bit more.

Because it's been status quo, there hasn't been any change or any indication for markets to show that there is this risk behind it. And also companies, many of the ones, not many of the ones, the ones that are doing well, they have a lot of cash on hand as well to invest. So that's sitting on the sidelines as well.

So AI, as you mentioned, AI and tech have been leading in the last, you know, few quarters. That hasn't been as drastically affected as the trade, you know, the trade wars, you would say, with more supply chains versus that.

ABDELAZIZ: And speaking of people who don't wake up thinking of supply chains, myself included, I assume most American consumers are the same. When are they likely to see everyday products become more expensive

because of these tariffs and feel that actual hit?

PATEL: Yes. I mean, I think there's three things.

I think, one, how long will this rhetoric continue to be?

We've seen this. It could be short term and just there's a deal to be had or there's I think we will see it a little bit faster than normal.

What I mean by that is the companies cannot absorb these costs. We've seen in the past that, you know, the supply chains are not even going to be that resilient when it comes to rerouting supply chains. So it will get to the cost to the consumer quicker.

Is it six months?

Is it three months?

You know, we went through this last time but I have a feeling that there's a lack of satisfaction for companies to absorb the costs. So we will get to that point quicker. Again, if we see this, you know, threat, you know, as a tariff, you know, held long term.

ABDELAZIZ: Ryan Patel there on the new tariffs announced by president Trump and how they could play out as more of a negotiating strategy. Thank you again so much.

Paramount's takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery has been put on hold, possibly until next year. In a court filing Friday, Paramount agreed to delay the mega merger with WBD, which is the parent company of CNN, until an antitrust trial takes place or until next June, whichever comes first.

[04:40:00]

Lawsuits filed by the Writers Guild of America and 12 state attorneys general claim the merger would reduce competition and hurt consumers.

Paramount released a statement saying, quote, "This is the fastest and clearest way to prove that this transaction is good for competition, good for consumers and good for creators, a conclusion dozens of competition authorities around the world have already reached."

After a Senate candidate's campaign blew up into a scandal, Democrats in Maine are about to rally behind this man.

But is it too late to defeat a longtime Republican incumbent?

A special report for you after the break.

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(MUSIC PLAYING) ABDELAZIZ: One of the most closely watched and competitive U.S.

Senate races is in Maine. Democrats are racing to name a new nominee. This is after Graham Platner's dramatic exit following a very disastrous campaign.

Now Troy Jackson is expected to formally secure the nomination at a Democratic convention. That's later today. His campaign says more than three-quarters of the delegates are committed to supporting him.

He'll have just 101 days to campaign and make his case to voters. He'll try to unseat Susan Collins, the 30-year incumbent and the longest serving Republican woman in Senate history. Jeff Zeleny has more from Maine.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: So just looking around at some of these signs here, I'm struck by just obviously this sign of how quickly things have changed. I mean, he was running for governor. There's a Graham Platner sign. I mean things have changed dramatically here.

How do you think voters have processed all this?

SARAH BIGNEY MCCABE, MAINE AFL-CIO ORGANIZING DIRECTOR: I'd say whiplash. It's been a roller coaster.

ZELENY (voice-over): That roller coaster could determine control of the U.S. Senate as one of the most consequential races of the year is set to start over 100 days before the midterm elections.

[04:45:00]

This weekend, Maine Democrats are selecting a new candidate to try what others have been unable to do for three decades, defeat Republican Senator Susan Collins.

TROY JACKSON (D-ME), FORMER U.S. SENATOR: My name is Troy Jackson. I'm a fifth generation logger from Allagash, a card carrying union member and the former president of the Maine Senate.

ZELENY (voice-over): One of the most picturesque summertime states in the country has endured one of the messiest Senate races in memory, with Troy Jackson set to replace Graham Platner, whose campaign imploded after months of controversy.

JACKSON: We're not from the left. We're not from the right. We're from the bottom and we are rising.

ZELENY (voice-over): Jackson is a logger from the North Woods of Maine who found his way into politics nearly a quarter century ago. He came up short in the June primary for governor but he quickly coalesced support as Democrats scrambled to find a new Senate candidate.

MCCABE: We're not just voting for Troy. We love Troy. We respect Troy. But this is a vote for all of us. This is a vote for the issues that we care about, for health care, for child care.

ZELENY (voice-over): His long record now faces fresh scrutiny, including a conservative to progressive evolution on same sex marriage and abortion rights. Crystale Lapham, a volunteer organizer for Platner, says she trusts Jackson and is all in for his campaign.

ZELENY: Do you like Troy Jackson?

CRYSTALE LAPHAM, DEMOCRATIC ORGANIZER: I think in many ways, Troy is kind of the original in the state of Maine, the original kind of political outsider fighting for a different type of government that works differently for Mainers.

ZELENY: But he's been an elected official for a couple of decades.

LAPHAM: Yes, at the state level, which is very different than at the federal level.

ZELENY (voice-over): There are still signs here of the Senate race that might have been amid questions about whether Democrats are united as they work to win over independent voters and turn the focus back to Collins.

DAN KLEBAN (D-ME), FORMER SENATE CANDIDATE: There is such an appetite to send her back home and put someone new down there that I think that's going to go a long way toward galvanizing folks.

ZELENY (voice-over): Dan Kleban is the co-founder of Maine Beer Company. He ran for Senate last year, dropped out and jumped back in after Platner's collapse. He said meddling from Democrats outside Maine hurt their goal.

KLEBAN: Everybody up here on the Democratic side wishes that this primary didn't play out the way that it did. And I hope we've learned our lesson so we don't do it again.

ZELENY: So has this made it easier for Susan Collins to win reelection?

KLEBAN: I mean, obviously, I don't think we did ourselves any favors.

ZELENY: Many Democrats are eager to get on with this and try and change the conversation into one about senator Susan Collins' record.

That should happen for the next 100 days after Democratic delegates gather here in Bangor on Saturday. But this race is going to also be one to define Troy Jackson, relatively unknown, at least outside of the state but well known here in Maine.

There's no doubt one of the most consequential Senate races in the country has had an unusual summer. What happens in the fall will determine the outcome in November -- Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Bangor, Maine.

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ABDELAZIZ: Protests were held across India on Friday, led by opposition parties and student groups. The demonstrators want India's education minister to step down over exam paper leaks. They're also demanding education reforms.

Now earlier activist Sonam Wangchuk ended his 26-day hunger strike in solidarity with those demonstrators. CNN's Rhea Mogul has the latest.

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RHEA MOGUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's been a remarkable week, watching just how much these protests have grown. What started as something that was quite contained to New Delhi has spread to other cities across India.

And just over the last few days, Indian celebrities have joined in to voice their support for the students that are demanding reforms to India's education system.

On Friday, student protesters met with representatives of the government where they discussed their key demands. Key among them being the resignation of India's education minister over an exam scandal they say has cheated millions of a fair chance at a future.

That meeting ended without a resolution but talks are expected to continue on Saturday. Protesters have made it clear they're not going to back down until their demands are met, putting the ball in the government's court.

Prime minister Narendra Modi has released two videos in the past week addressing the protesters' concern and that's a noticeable change. His government doesn't typically respond to public criticism and Modi has weathered a lot of civil society protest movements during his 12 years in power.

Rights groups have also criticized Modi's government for what they say has been a crushing suppression of dissent in India.

But he remains very popular and was reelected to a rare third term in power just two years ago. And his party has recently made inroads in parts of the country that have been historically quite resistant to his politics and to his ideology.

[04:50:00]

But the fact that he has responded could say a couple of things. First, that perhaps his administration underestimated just how powerful and how big these protests would get.

And second, that there might be signs of anxiety within the Indian government. And they don't want to let this anger spill into something even bigger.

India's youth population is one of the largest in the world, representing a significant share of current and future voters. Modi and his party are keenly aware that they can't afford to lose that support -- Rhea Mogul, CNN.

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ABDELAZIZ: A huge announcement from NBA superstar LeBron James. We're going to take a look at his next chapter as he announces his move to the Philadelphia 76ers after the break.

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ABDELAZIZ: A Starship V3 rocket from SpaceX launched successfully on Saturday from Texas. All 33 engines lit up perfectly on the pad. There was a contrast to the last test in May, which had a series of engine outages.

[04:55:00]

The test flight ended an hour later when the rocket made a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean. It was described as soft but still faster than expected. Starship also deployed 20 Starlink test satellites and made contact with each of them. SpaceX called it all a dream scenario.

LeBron James is heading to the City of Brotherly Love, announcing Friday that he'll be joining the Philadelphia 76ers and Philadelphia is already rolling out the red carpet for him ahead of his record extending 24th season in the NBA. Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro proclaimed July 24th is LeBron James Day.

In response to the news, 41-year-old LeBron said he had been considering retirement after leaving the Lakers but he is not ready to walk away from the game, also saying he thinks he can help bring Philadelphia and the 76ers a championship.

The four-time champion signed a two-year contract with the team for a mere $8 million. CNN spoke with ESPN senior NBA insider to get his take on LeBron's decision.

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SHAMS CHARANIA, ESPN SENIOR NBA INSIDER: I reported a few weeks ago at ESPN that LeBron James was not going to make a decision on finances. This was not going to be a money-driven decision. This was going to be based on happiness somewhere where he can go and not have to gut a roster.

He's not going to the Sixers and they're having to shed this salary or trade this person there or do all these different machinations. He's just sliding right in on a minimum contract. That's the most they could give.

But that was the most the Cavs could have given. That's the most he could have given. That's the most the Warriors could have given. So it's not a, you know -- it makes a lot of sense that his finalists were all teams that had championship aspirations, that had the minimum contract to offer him. And clearly for him, winning was the utmost priority.

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ABDELAZIZ: Thank you for watching. I'm Salma Abdelaziz. I'll be back with more news right after a quick break.