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Multiple People Killed at a Shooting During Seattle Food Festival; Berlin Pride Shooting Suspect Killed by Police After Manhunt; Cubans Celebrate the 1953 Revolution Anniversary Despite Crippling Energy Crisis Amid U.S. Blockades. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired July 27, 2026 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

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POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Hi, everybody. Thank you so much for being with me. I'm Polo Sandoval, live in New York, and this is "CNN Newsroom."

A shooting at a food festival in Seattle, leaving multiple people dead and more wounded. We're following the very latest.

Plus, the U.S. and Iran attempting to return to diplomacy amid a pause in strikes.

And firefighters in France racing to contain a devastating blaze as a heat wave looms ever so closely. Stay with us.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from New York, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Polo Sandoval.

SANDOVAL: Alright, let's begin with breaking news out of the U.S. state of Seattle, Washington, where at least three people were killed in a shooting on Sunday. It happened at a summer food festival where families were gathering.

Officials say that at least four other people were injured in the shooting, and that includes a two-year-old child. Here's how one person at the festival described what they saw.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: I saw families, kids, everyone just, like, running out of the fair. And he had told me, like, just run, active shooter. Someone was yelling active shooter, I jumped the fence quickly and I ran, I just kept running.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

So here's where the investigation stands. Police say that they have at least one person considered a suspect in custody after the shooting. They believe that the person may have been shooting at another individual who police are still at this hour searching for. But for now, they say that there is no threat to the community as

investigators still remain at the scene at this hour in Seattle.

Let's get some analysis now from an expert. Richard Kolko is a retired FBI supervisory special agent, he joins me. Richard, it's always good to see you. Thank you for joining us.

RICHARD KOLKO, RETIRED FBI SUPERVISORY AGENT: Thanks, Polo.

SANDOVAL: So, Richard, you've been listening closely to what authorities are saying about this. We heard from Assistant Chief Tyrone Davis just in the last hour that they have that individual detained already, speaking to that individual, and they're trying to make contact or find a second person to try to see if they were potentially involved here. But they're also pleading to eyewitnesses, anybody that saw something, to come forward and say something.

The chief said that at this point they're really not getting a whole lot of information from witnesses, so they want more. I'm curious what this is telling you thus far about maybe what possibly happened in Seattle on Sunday.

KOLKO: Well, Polo, I think that thankfully it's not going to be a terrorism-related event is what it sounds like, at least, reading between the lines of what the assistant police chief said there. It looks like it might be crime-related, gang-related, as he described it, two people shooting it out with each other.

Unfortunately, three people, three innocent people killed and others wounded. So they've got one in custody right now. Plenty of witnesses.

I mean, this food festival attracts up to 100,000 people a day, so there's plenty of people that certainly have some information. What they've got to do now is pick up the phone and call the Seattle Police Department. And we heard the chief pleading with them to please do exactly that.

SANDOVAL: We know that at least three people have been confirmed dead, several others injured, including that child that we mentioned at the top. What does that tell you about the incident itself? At this preliminary stage, and just based on what you're hearing in all these reports coming from officials, does it look to you that many of the victims there were essentially caught in the crossfire?

KOLKO: I think that's exactly it. I think these were innocent bystanders, is how it's going to play out.

Not targets of the two that were, at least two that were involved in the shooting. Very sad and unfortunate for those innocent bystanders.

But law enforcement's going to work hard. They've got forensic evidence, they've got two guns that they've recovered there, so perhaps they'll get fingerprints. There are videos out there from spectators that shot videos, so that maybe they'll get some facial recognition. They'll get some witness interviews, so it'll just take a little time,

but over the next few hours they'll gather some of that information. And whether it's cell phone analysis, license plate readers, whatever it is, they'll put two and two together. They'll come up with another suspect there, their intelligence bureau may already have some information on who that person may be.

And then they'll put out what's called a BOLO, or be on the lookout. They'll be asking the community to help identify and locate that person, as well as police will be out doing their job to locate them and hopefully be able to arrest that second person and determine if they were involved very quickly.

[03:05:10]

SANDOVAL: Richard, you've no doubt seen some of the footage, some of the cell phone footage that people shot that day, or actually during the incident on Sunday evening, where it shows just a mad scramble of people trying to seek shelter. Seattle police saying that they are, you know, that they're roughly 350, I should say that the Bite of Seattle Festival's website says it draws some 350,000 guests over three days of the festival. So just maybe speak to the challenges that police officers face when they're responding to an event that's hosting potentially thousands of families.

KOLKO: Well, this is defending a soft target. This is a thing we've heard about now for years. I mean, there's only so much you can do to make an event like this attractive for people to come to, yet safe for people to be at.

You can limit some of the access points. You've got one of very high police presence. Just seeing a police officer in uniform can provide some security, makes people feel more comfortable, and if anybody has any bad intentions, it can, you know, perhaps scare them away.

Police are always on the lookout for anything suspicious. They encourage people, if they see something, say something, to go ahead and make that call. And that's all part of keeping people safe.

And then as far as the investigation, they'll have to look at the videos that are available. They always wish there were more, but they'll vet the ones that come through and find that additional piece of information and track down the second person.

But 100,000 people coming through a very famous food festival, it's important for the community, it's important for Seattle. They don't want to put a stop to this, and they want to find a way to make this safe and comfortable for everybody.

SANDOVAL: Yes, so many people, including children. And Richard, just strictly speaking as a retired law enforcement officer, you've had interactions with crime victims, I should say. Can you speak to the level of emotional trauma, also, that so many people are probably having to deal with at this hour?

I mean, in the video you see families, you know, holding their children running to cover. That has to have, I assume, a lasting effect from a law enforcement perspective.

KOLKO: It does have that lasting effect. It's terrifying for these people. You'll hear a lot of the early interviews, and they say, I thought it was fireworks. You know, I'm not recognizing that it's gunfire.

Well, those people there that were there now, every time they hear fireworks right after this, they're going to think it's gunfire first, when in reality it will be fireworks. This kind of changes them forever.

And not only do you have the -- once the gunfire starts, people are shot and are down, now you've got thousands of people evacuating, and evacuating not in a calm way, but in that chaos, additional people can get hurt. We see some of these big concerts or other events where people run away or evacuate, and people are sometimes crushed or injured in that kind of chaos, so that's very problematic as well.

So it's not just the shooting that's dangerous, the entire event is dangerous. It changes people's mindset on being in these events. They get a form of PTSD, and just way too many of these active shooter events, and absolutely problematic, has lasting impact on everybody involved.

SANDOVAL: Yes, you and I have spoken one too many times, you know, as we cover these circumstances where what's supposed to be a peaceful event is interrupted by the sound of bullets.

Nonetheless, Sir Richard Kolko, we're grateful for your analysis. It's always helping us get a better understanding of what's happening. Thank you.

KOLKO: Absolutely, Polo.

All right, we do want to turn now to the conflict in the Middle East. U.S. military operations appear to be on hold after nearly two weeks of strikes against Iran. And U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz says that diplomatic efforts have ramped up, and that President Trump is now giving talks with Iran, quote, "some space."

In the meantime, sources say that the U.S. Vice President and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff have raised some concerns of their own about escalating the war and depleting U.S. munitions stockpiles. And this comes as the Pentagon updated its casualty tolls for Operation Epic Fury on Saturday. At least 18 U.S. troops have now died since the war started on February 28th, and another 624 have been wounded.

Well for more now, I want to head now to CNN's Eleni Giokos, who's following the latest out of Dubai. So, what is the latest right now as this conflict does continue? But apparently, the trading of strikes does not.

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. And there's a pause in U.S. strikes against Iran. From what we understand, President Trump had huddled with advisers over the weekend, and according to sources, Vice President J.D. Vance had raised the concerns around depleting munitions, which, of course, have been used extensively since the start of this war.

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According to the source, General Dan Caine, the Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, had also raised these concerns and also just weighing up what a continued operation in Iran would mean. A high death toll of Iranians, a big concern around striking bridges and power plants, and, of course, that impacting the way that Iran would respond to Gulf neighbors, retaliation against Gulf states, where we've even seen desalination plants, Polo, like the one in Kuwait over the past week or so, that was targeted.

So, while the United States, while President Trump is sort of weighing up the next move, there is sort of talk around a potential diplomatic off-ramp. That is still very much the hope.

But when you just turn our attention to the Bab al-Mandab Strait, Iran's proxy, the Houthis, have been striking Saudi-linked vessels. On Saturday morning, when a vessel was struck, the Saudi coalition forces struck military targets in Hodeidah.

The Houthis say that it's going to be escalation for escalation. They claimed responsibility for strikes in Yambu as well as Jazan State. And I want to show you satellite imagery from NASA showing smoke billowing from Jazan.

Now, Jazan is really important because it has a lot of facilities held by Aramco downstream oil facilities. If I show you this image of the smoke billowing on the satellite image, it's around 200 kilometers long. And it basically implies that there could be a fire that is ongoing.

A street view image that we've seen that was, you know, reported by Reuters also showing the smoke billowing from a potential facility. We've reached out to Aramco. We don't have any news on this front as yet.

But importantly, when I speak to maritime operators, as well as CEOs in the risks industry, they are very concerned about what's happening in the Strait of Hormuz and also restricted traffic, Polo, through the Bab al-Mandab Strait and concerned that the war could be widening further south.

SANDOVAL: Eleni Giokos, thank you so much for keeping us up to speed.

And the suspect in what German authorities are calling an Islamist terror attack in Berlin's Pride celebrations was shot dead by police following an extensive manhunt. At least one person was killed and nearly 30 others were injured in Saturday's van-ramming and stabbing at the German capital's Tiergartenpark.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and other government officials visited the site of the attack on Sunday, paying their respects to the victims. And the attack came just hours after hundreds of thousands attended one of Europe's largest and longest-running LGBTQ Pride parades in the area.

I'm joined now by independent journalist Matthew Karnitschnig. He joins me from Berlin to bring us up to speed. Matthew, thank you so much, I know you've been keeping us posted since yesterday.

I'm curious if you can bring us up to speed now on what new information you've learned that has surfaced about this 21-year-old suspect who was killed as he rushed police on Sunday.

MATTHEW KARNITSCHNIG, INDEPENDENT JOURNALIST: Yes, that's exactly right.

He had hidden in a kind of urban garden colony on the outskirts of Berlin, and there's some question about where exactly he was in that colony and why. He did rush police with a knife, and they shot him and killed him. I think the main question many people still have, though, is how this happened in Germany right after we've seen a spate of similar attacks involving vehicles, involving, in many cases, Islamist terrorists.

So there's a lot soul-searching going on here, given the prominence of this event and the fact that the gay and lesbian community in Germany would be an obvious target for Islamic extremists. So there's going to be a lot of political fallout, I think, from this in the months to come.

SANDOVAL: And let's stay on that, too, Matthew, because, as you point out, the expectation was that there was going to be this increased level of vigilance on behalf of authorities overall. But then when you're really zeroing on the suspect as well, I mean, according to the Associated Press, had attempted to join the Islamic State previously.

So what are some of those questions, as you point out, that are being asked about what German officials may have done or maybe did not do to continue following and monitoring this individual?

KARNITSCHNIG: That's exactly right. He didn't just try to join the Islamic State.

He traveled to Syria or intended to travel to Syria to join them. He got as far as Lebanon, which is where his family was originally from. He was born and raised in Germany, but his parents are from Lebanon.

The Lebanese authorities ended up arresting him and sending him back to Germany, where he was convicted just in May for terror-related offenses. And the court, unfortunately, decided to give him a suspended sentence instead of the prison sentence that prosecutors had asked for. They were looking for three years of prison time for him.

[03:15:08]

That meant that he was released from detention in just -- in May, so a few weeks ago, and he'd been undergoing a kind of counseling to de- radicalize Islamic extremists, which obviously didn't really work out very well in his case. So I think along all of these steps, there are going to be hard questions for the German authorities as to why this happened. Is it because they have so many of these cases that they can't cope, the system can't cope, and they end up letting people go who should be in detention? Or are there other reasons for it?

SANDOVAL: And if you could just remind our viewers also some of the previous incidents, you know, why German authorities have been concerned leading up to the event. I mean, I saw one report that showed that some 2200 officers were deployed around Berlin ahead of Saturday's event. So just curious, tell us about these incidents that prompted authorities to be perhaps in a higher sense of awareness.

KARNITSCHNIG: Well, it started about ten years ago in Berlin as well at a Christmas market in central Berlin where a man drove a truck, one of these, kind of, 18-wheel trucks, into this Christmas market and killed 12 people.

This was another Islamic terrorist, and that really kind of rattled the country deeply given the resonance of Christmas markets in Germany. There were a lot of tourists there. It was a horrific event and this is someone who wasn't a German citizen who had come in from Syria, I believe.

And, you know, that kind of led to a little bit more soul-searching about how the authorities deal with suspects in these cases, because this is somebody who was also on their radar. And then, you know, we've seen just, you know, every couple of years or so another similar attack.

There was one in February, in fact, in Munich, which also involved an Islamist. So, you know, this is obviously a very difficult problem. But the political resonance of it is that the far-right in Germany has continued to strengthen.

There are going to be elections in Berlin in September, and the populist far-right party, the Alternative for Germany, is already leading the polls in Berlin. And I think one could expect that they will use this incident in the campaign, and they'll probably do quite well.

SANDOVAL: Matthew Karnitschnig, thank you so much for that very important context as we continue to follow that developing situation out of Berlin. Thank you for your reporting as well.

KARNITSCHNIG: Thank you.

SANDOVAL: And still to come here on "CNN Newsroom," another heat wave that is set to hit Europe this week. And firefighters, they are racing to contain wildfires in France and Spain. And that's before conditions deteriorate.

We're going to have the very latest developments on this in a moment.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SANDOVAL: Welcome back.

In Spain's Castellon province, thousands of hectares have burned in wildfires. And it's just one of several regions in the country that are currently fighting to hold back the flames.

Officials are saying that the fires in some areas are the biggest in Spain's recent history. You see some of the firefighting aircraft here. They've been working around the clock.

They've been sent by Greece and Italy to help emergency crews. And it's basically now a waiting game for residents who are anxious to get back to their homes and check to see what, if anything, was left by the flames.

And in neighboring France, firefighters there, they are taking advantage of some lighter winds before an oncoming heat wave can worsen conditions there. In the country, it is currently in the midst of its biggest evacuation since World War II. So that's telling, that's about 220,000 people who have been forced to leave their homes as flames have engulfed communities, forests, and entire fields.

Many of them are fleeing from France's southwest region, specifically the Gironnes and Lorraine departments. Now the fires are now just nine miles, or some 15 kilometers, from the historic city of Bordeaux, where thousands of people are currently sheltering. And the city's mayor says that while communities around the city have been evacuated, the city center is not yet directly threatened.

So let's find out if anything's changed. We're joined now by Suzie Bernard-Meneguz, a correspondent for BFM TV. Suzie, thank you so much for joining us.

I wonder if we can bring our viewers around the world up to speed on what the latest is.

SUZIE BERNARD-MENEGUZ, CORRESPONDENT, BFM TV: Yes, now we can say it's better than yesterday, because the wind is low today, so it's better. And also the rain helped the firefighters this night.

But we have to be precautious, because tomorrow, he said, there is a heat wave that is expected here, and the heat wave will not be good for the fire, because it will be bigger and bigger. And he said it also, the fire is getting closer to Bordeaux, the main city here. So a lot of cities have been evacuated.

Here, I'm in Lege-Cap-Ferret, and it has been evacuated three days ago, because it was too dangerous. And yesterday, I was in Bordeaux, and the smoke was so hard, it was difficult to breathe.

So behind me, you can see there is firefighters, they're organizing themselves to struggle against the fire today, because the fire is still very strong. We don't know what's going to happen today. Even if this morning it's quiet, we don't know, maybe it's coming back, the fire is really fast. And yesterday, for example, we saw just how fast was the fire, which

was really impressive. But it could be the same, it's really, part of the firemen is really worried now, because in that sense, actually evacuating, and also getting closer to Bordeaux, we see all the trees around here are burned.

[03:25:05]

SANDOVAL: Yes, without a doubt, these fires are shaking the lives of so many individuals there, and so many families. Susie Bernard- Meneguz, thank you so much for your time and for your reporting.

Well, Europe will be facing more extreme heat this week, which could potentially worsen both Spain and France's wildfires, because there's no rain in sight. You see, by Wednesday, meteorologists are saying that Bordeaux region, it could reach up to 107 degrees Fahrenheit, that's 42 degrees Celsius. And in Madrid, temperatures there forecast to hit 102 degrees Fahrenheit, that's 39 degrees Celsius.

And parts of the northeastern United States, they could see flash flooding this week, a slow-moving coastal storm system. It is expected to bring several rounds of heavy rain. And the flash flooding risks, they come as the U.S. is already dealing with extreme heat. CNN's Allison Chinchar explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Roughly 100 million people are under some type of heat alert, both today and tomorrow, all thanks to this heat dome that is set up across the southern tier of the U.S. And in the coming days, it's going to start to spread eastward, impacting even more people as we head closer into the middle portion of the week.

Now, high temperatures for Monday, you're still looking at several locations in the triple digits, but even places like Denver, Kansas City, Chicago may not reach the triple digits, but they are still well above average for what they normally would be this time of year. The heat risk map, the focus here is really the red and especially the purple color, showing where the biggest impact is going to be from the heat.

Now, notice in the coming days, how the purple color really starts to expand across the southern plains and even into the southeast, because that's where we're going to start to see the heat spreading in the coming days. A place like Dallas, looking at every single one of the next seven days above average.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: Allison Chinchar, thank you so much for that.

And still to come here on "CNN Newsroom," Ukraine's President will be meeting with the new British Prime Minister and the U.S. President this week. We'll tell you what you can expect to come out of those visits. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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SANDOVAL: Welcome back. I'm Polo Sandoval and these are today's top stories.

The Pentagon updating its Iran war casualty database over the weekend, more than 140 wounded soldiers have been added. That brings a total to 624 wounded and at least 18 troops that were killed since fighting started on February 28th. And the update comes after Democratic leaders, Democratic lawmakers demanded answers from the Defense Department over changes in the data.

And another European heat wave could worsen conditions for France and Spain. They are facing destructive wildfires that have already forced more than 300,000 people from their homes. Meteorologists are saying that temperatures in both countries will rise to triple digits by the middle of this week.

And at least three people are dead after a mass shooting in Seattle, Washington on Sunday. It happened at a summer food festival with massive crowds in attendance, at least four other people were wounded, including a child. Police say they have one suspect in custody, but they're actively looking to speak to another individual.

Well, for now, officials say that there is no threat to the community that they held a late night news conference just a couple of hours ago related to that incident.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASSISTANT CHIEF TYRONE DAVIS, SEATTLE POLICE DEPARTMENT: This is going to be an ongoing investigation. We're going to be out here for several hours trying to figure out exactly what happened tonight.

Right now, we believe that we have no outstanding threat to the community. We do have one suspect that is being interviewed. We've recovered two guns.

All four victims that are hospitalized are in stable condition. Again, we're going to be out here for several hours trying to figure out what happened tonight. We have a number of agencies that are here to support us with our criminal investigation, and it's ongoing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will be meeting with the new British Prime Minister on Monday. Andy Burnham said to welcome Mr. Zelenskyy as his first international visitor. And the Prime Minister's office says that it showcases his government's strong support for Ukraine.

Burnham's predecessor, former Prime Minister Keir Starmer, was a staunch ally of Ukraine. Earlier this month, he visited Kyiv and pledged $345 million for the purchase of new fighter jets. The new Prime Minister is promising to continue that resolve, saying quote, "We will not back down until we achieve long-lasting and just peace for Ukraine."

Well Tehran is condemning Ukraine's strike on an Iranian vessel in the Caspian Sea. Over the weekend, Ukraine said that it struck ships that were transporting military cargo from Iran to Russia.

CNN's Larry Madowo with more.

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LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Iran is accusing Ukraine of violating the United Nations Charter and seeking to expand its war after Ukraine said that it hit ships transporting military cargo from Iran to Russia and a warship in the Caspian Sea.

The Caspian Sea is more than 1000 kilometers away from Ukrainian- controlled territory and Ukraine has been touting this as a symbol of its long-range drone capability. But Iran says this was a commercial vessel and that Ukraine's attacks caused an explosion that killed one sailor and injured another.

Iran calling it a hostile and criminal act and that it will defend its territory. It has summoned the Charge d'Affaires at the Ukrainian Embassy.

As this escalates between Russia and Ukraine, that development came as President Zelenskyy claimed that President Putin is setting the stage for an expanded mobilization in Ukraine in the fall. That will include, according to Zelenskyy, 30,000 troops from North Korea and several ballistic missile launches. Listen to what he said in his nightly address Saturday.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): This is a threat not only to Ukraine. Russia is helping North Korea learn how to wage war, improve its weapons and gain real combat experience in using them. All of this poses a threat to every country in Asia that lies within range of North Korean missiles.

MADOWO: President Zelenskyy appeared to suggest in that nightly address that even the extra Russian men would not make a difference in this war. He claims that in 2026 alone, Russia has enlisted 221,000 soldiers but has lost 131,000 soldiers at the same time in that same period. Hours later, the Ukrainian military gave even more numbers, claiming that since the start of the war in 2022, Russia has lost more than 1.4 million soldiers in this war.

[03:35:09]

CNN cannot independently verify these numbers and Ukraine does not release its own casualty figures so we don't have a way to compare Russian losses against Ukrainian losses. But President Zelenskyy is expected to meet with Trump on Tuesday and he at least has something that he will be bringing to President Trump, the ability to disrupt this flow of weapons between Iran and Russia, which would be useful as he tries to get more American support as this war drags on.

I'm Larry Madowo, CNN, Nairobi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: Whilst Cuba celebrates its biggest public holiday, its president is slamming the U.S. again, this time accusing the Trump administration of, quote, political genocide. We'll have the details on that in a moment.

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SANDOVAL: Cuba's President is currently slamming the U.S. for its oil embargo and sanctions on the alienation, calling President Donald Trump's policies, quote, "political genocide." The speech was part of a celebration marking Cuba's Rebellion Day, the anniversary of the start of the Cuban Revolution.

CNN's Juan Carlos Lopez reports from Cuba.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JUAN CARLOS LOPEZ, CNN EN ESPANOL CHIEF CORRESPONDENT: People are leaving this plaza in Pinar del Rio on the western part of the island. Every year a different province organizes the July 26th commemoration. What happened on July 26th? It was 1953. A group of rebels attacked military installations in Santiago de Cuba on the other side of the island, and that seemed as a precursor of the Cuban Revolution that came to place in 1959 with Fidel Castro heading that movement.

Today's act happened very early, 5:15 in the morning, according to the organizers, it had to do with the time the attack happened. So you had people congregating at this very early in the morning.

[03:40:00]

The act took only one hour, and the main speech was that by Miguel Diaz-Canel, who rejected U.S. foreign policy, said U.S. foreign policy will not make them leave government. He called it a genocide and criticized the U.S. for imposing a recurring number of sanctions that include the restriction of fuel supply to the island, where fuel is very scarce.

Rolling blackouts are the norm, finding fuel is very difficult and it's very expensive, but he said they are keeping their promises and they are trying to overcome this crisis with political reforms, economic reforms, that will be discussed by the National Assembly the following week.

Juan Carlos Lopez, CNN, Pinar del Rio, Cuba.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: After massive protests across India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is creating a task force to overhaul India's exam system. The youth-led demonstrations were a response to the leak and sale of exam papers. Two million students had to re-sit the entrance exam for medical schools. And that galvanized anger over the lack of prospects for young Indian students.

Now Mr. Modi said that exams should be trustworthy and that legislation would be introduced to tighten laws and also to increase penalties for exam leaks. India's education minister resigned over the scandal over the weekend, fulfilling a key demand of the Cockroach Janta Party, which was behind these protests.

For our international viewers, "World Sport" is next. And for those of you watching here in North America, I'll be right back with more of your headlines here on "CNN Newsroom."

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[03:45:00]

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SANDOVAL: Well, we're now less than 100 days out from the U.S. midterm elections. A new polling released by CBS News. It is showing the President Trump's approval rating. It is underwater as Election Day approaches.

That poll is currently finding that 39 percent of Americans approve of Trump's job performance. You see there's 61 percent disapprove. On the Iran war, just 35 percent say that they approve of how the President is handling that conflict, while 65 percent say they disapprove.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: They were saying wind was so wonderful, except you couldn't watch your television. They wanted to watch the debate. Donald Trump against sleepy Joe Biden. Nobody could watch it because the wind wasn't blowing. Remember that?

Darling, we'd like to watch the debate tonight. I'm sorry, the wind isn't blowing. That's one of the great scams of all time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: All right. So you may not know what the President was talking about there. You see the president earlier this week remembering a massive television outage two years ago. However, that never actually happened. CNN senior reporter Daniel Dale dug into this claim and also some other examples of Trump's imperfect recall.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANIEL DALE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: This was President Trump asking Americans to remember something that never actually happened. He made it up. There was no massive television outage on June 27th, 2024.

That debate was watched by over 51 million people on television alone, including, of course, people in the state that uses by far the most wind power. That is Texas, Republican dominated Texas, which was also the most populous state that President Trump won.

Now, the underlying premise of the story was that the state was not a state of power also makes no sense. You've been saying for years that where wind power is used, T.V.s go out, houses can't keep the lights on when the wind isn't blowing. That is not the case.

And that's because wind is used as part of a mix of power sources, not as the only source. And also, batteries exist that can store wind for use during low wind periods. So this debate, television outage story, completely false, and the underlying premise also completely false.

But this was far from the only time that President Trump had asked Americans to remember something that never occurred, that was a fabrication he had made up. He also did it, for example, last year when he said, remember when I correctly predicted Brexit when I was at my golf course just before the vote?

He claimed he was in Scotland. In fact, he went to that golf course the day after the Brexit vote. So people could not have correctly remembered that prediction because it did not occur.

Now, in this past month alone, President Trump has offered a number of anecdotes about history that are just not true. So listen to two claims he made early this month, one about George Washington and one about the Panama Canal.

TRUMP: He picked a good location. But George Washington had two desks in his pre-White House.

And they were right next to each other. One was for business and one was for the presidency. Had two desks in the same room.

And by the way, 38,000 Americans died to give us one of the greatest engineering feats of all time, the Panama Canal.

DALE: Both of those stories inaccurate. I contacted a number of historians who specialize in George Washington about this claim that Washington had two desks, one for official business and one for his own personal business affairs. Not true.

All of them said they did not know what President Trump was talking about. And then this claim that the Panama Canal cost 38,000 American lives.

Also, not even close to accurate. About 5600 people died during the U.S. construction phase in the early 20th century. But of those 5600, more than 5000 were not American, they were poorly treated Caribbean workers, most of them Black. So the President keeps claiming that he's offering accounts of what happened in the past, even the recent past, but even the recent stories, just not accurate.

Daniel Dale, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: You may be hearing more about flock cameras, automated license plate readers used by law enforcement. You see now, according to the nonprofit public interest firm Institute for Justice, cases of police misusing the readers are growing. Multiple law enforcement officers are accused of using these cameras to run unauthorized personal searches, and that includes searches for romantic partners and exes.

Here's CNN's Rafael Romo to explain.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There has been a series of cases nationwide involving the alleged misuse by law enforcement officers of automated license plate readers or ALPRs that were originally designed to locate vehicles and drivers potentially involved in a crime.

[03:50:07]

Here in Georgia, employees of multiple law enforcement agencies have been accused of misusing flock safety and other ALPR systems. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation confirmed a police dispatcher supervisor in Conyers was arrested Wednesday after it says, a GBI investigation reveals, she had accessed the system more than 30 times between April and July for non-law enforcement purposes.

Earlier this month, the GBI also said it arrested five former Albany Police Department officers as part of another investigation into the misuse of their access to the flock safety system. Officials say the Albany Police Department requested the GBI to investigate the officers following an internal audit of the flock license plate reader camera system.

Earlier this month, a former Milwaukee police officer was sentenced to 12 months of probation and a $500 fine after pleading guilty to attempted misconduct in public office as part of a deal. Detectives investigating officer Josue Ayala found he secretly used Flock to learn the location of his romantic partner 124 times and that partner's ex 55 times, according to a February criminal complaint.

UNKNOWN: With that position of trust, Mr. Ayala was given tools to investigate crime. And one of those tools Mr. Ayala used for his own personal reasons.

UNKNOWN: Every time there's a misuse of flak by a police officer, Mr. Ayala's picture is on the news as a result of this.

UNKNOWN: As you heard, I dedicated 11 years of my life to law enforcement targeting violent offenders, making a difference in the community. And I don't offer that as an excuse, but I just wanted to -- don't want that incident to reflect the person who I truly am and have been.

ROMO: The Institute for Justice says its ongoing review of media reports and public records, quote, "has identified at least 28 cases nationwide of officers allegedly abusing ALPR data to stalk romantic interests, with the bulk of those incidents happening since 2024." Nearly all of these officers were criminally charged and lost their

jobs either by resigning or getting fired. Most of these systems are made by Flock Safety, the largest ALPR company based here in Atlanta, which says its network includes more than 120,000 cameras across 49 states.

Flock CEO and co-founder Garrett Langley told CNN in an interview the company last month launched an audit assistance tool that alerts an auditor to abnormal uses of its system.

Rafael Romo, CNN Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: A sentencing hearing for a convicted school shooter resumes in the coming hours in Georgia. 16-year-old Colton Gray pleaded guilty to all 55 charges against him in the deadly 2024 rampage at a high school about 50 miles from Atlanta.

And the attack killed two teachers and two students and also injured nine others. On Friday, the court heard victim impact statements.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BREANNA SCHERMERHORN, MASON SCERMERHORN'S MOTHER: Every morning I wake up to the reality that my son is gone. Every night I go to bed knowing that there is nothing I can do to change it. I have lived 688 days so far of a sentence with no parole, and that is what he should receive as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: All right, we're going to continue to monitor those proceedings.

For now, though, maybe we shift some gears. Over the weekend, the Swiss Alps, they were filled with the sound of bells ringing, whips cracking, yodlers yodeling, and also the ensemble pieces of around 100 Alp horn players. It was the annual International Alp Horn Festival. It attracted players of the ancient horn from around the world.

Here's CNN's Ben Hunte.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN HUNTER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Warming up for the big event. Playing the alphorn, an ancient wooden instrument over three meters long. Isn't just tooting your own horn, it's mastering the sounds of the Alps.

PHILIPPE CHEVALIER, ALPHORN PLAYER FROM GSTAAD, SWITZERLAND (through translator): What's beautiful about a piece is thinking that the audience sees a story in it. And that's the most beautiful thing that can happen, playing something that gives people goosebumps.

HUNTE (voice-over): And when more than 100 Alphorn players come together for a musical performance on a Swiss mountain plateau, more than 2200 meters above sea level, it's a stirring symphony of the instrument's past and present.

PHILIPPE BABAZ, ALPHORN PLAYER FROM FRANCE (through translator): It's refreshing, it's magnificent, and we're in a truly superb mountain setting like this. And it's really where the instrument lends itself to being played.

[03:55:02]

Players from around the world gathered over the weekend at the annual International Alphorn Festival in Switzerland to perform together using the iconic instruments that mountain folk once used to call their cattle and communicate across valleys.

OLIVIER BRISVILLE, ALPHORN PLAYER FROM FRANCE (through translator): People imagine that the alphorn is always played in the mountains, but in fact, most of the time it is either in towns, in villages or in halls. So playing it outdoors in its natural setting is really a pleasure.

HUNTE (voice-over): A sound that carried across the Alps for centuries. Still resonating today by calling people together.

Ben Hunte, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar joining cyclists greatest champions after winning a record qualifying equalizing fifth Tour de France title. Well he dominated the three week race with five stage wins before cruising across the finish line in Paris. This is now his third straight Tour de France victory.

Only four other riders have won the Tour five times in a news conference after his win. He said that he's still deciding if he'll race the next month's Vuelta a Espana. For now, he just wants that victory to sink in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TADEJ POGACAR, 2026 TOUR DE FRANCE CHAMPION: Right now I just want to enjoy the moment of winning the Tour. If it's fifth or the first, it doesn't matter. It's unbelievable to wear the yellow jersey and cross the line in Paris winning it.

So I will just enjoy the moment, not thinking about any history, about any clubbing or whatever. I just want to live this moment and come back home and relax and enjoy small things in life as well.

So yes, I'm really happy and proud to win the fifth tour.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Who needs clubbing when you're the Tour de France champ? Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Polo Sandoval, in New York. I'll

be right back with you in a moment with more of your breaking news coverage.

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