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Hurricane Lala Leaves 100,000 Plus Without Power In Hawaii; Indonesia Earthquake Death Toll Rises To At Least 51; At Least 11 Killed In Israel Strikes On Southern Lebanon; French Court Blocks Social Media Ban For Children 15 & Under. Aired 5-6a ET

Aired August 16, 2026 - 05:00   ET

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

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[05:00:34]

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us in the U.S. and all around the world. I'm Salma Abdelaziz in London. Let's go straight to those headlines.

Hurricane Lala is bringing damaging wind and heavy rain to parts of the Hawaiian Islands. We're going to speak to a storm chaser on the ground.

And Indonesia is grappling with the impacts of a devastating earthquake as aftershocks rock the country. We have images of that devastation.

Plus, another country is finding out just how hard it is to stop teens from using social media. We're going to discuss what's working and what isn't when it comes to social media bans.

ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Salma Abdelaziz.

ABDELAZIZ: This hour, Hurricane Lala is located just south of Hawaii, moving northwest and battering parts of the state with damaging wind and heavy flooding. Weather officials say the storm is not expected to make landfall. But earlier, Lala's eye wall brushed the Big Island southern tip with sustained winds of 80 miles an hour.

Hawaii's governor says one person has been killed in a storm related car accident. Lala is still at Category 1 strength. It is forecast to weaken as it moves across the island chain, but is still expected to pack a big punch.

Power is out for more than 100,000 customers across the state. This is according to poweroutage.us, including more than 70 percent of Hawaii County on the Big Island.

I want to welcome now to our program Jonathan Petramala. He is an independent journalist and a storm chaser. He joins me from Hawaii's Big Island.

Hello to you, first of all. I can see that you're in the middle of it, in the thick of it right now. So, just start by telling me, Jonathan, what are you seeing on the ground and where are the greatest dangers that remain from Lala?

JONATHAN PETRAMALA, INDEPENDENT JOURNALIST: The water, you might be able to hear the rain that's still falling on the car that I'm sitting in. The water really is the biggest threat with this hurricane, and it has been from the beginning. These tropical cyclones that come near, they shift usually when they come close to the Big Island and they still bring a lot of rain.

Hurricane Lane a few years ago brought about five feet of rain. This has brought well over two feet of rain and it's causing significant impacts throughout the island. Roads are being washed out. Rivers are roaring. The falls, Rainbow Falls, which is really famous. A lot of people around the world probably know that just absolutely filled to the brim.

Bridges are being threatened as well. Hearing reports from some government officials on the southern tip of the islands and two houses might have been washed away in this flash flooding. So, the rain is relentless. It keeps falling. Much of it's falling on the mountains, Mauna Loa, Mauna Kea, and that rain has to go somewhere and it goes downhill. And unfortunately, there are communities on the bottom of those mountains and they're feeling the impacts.

ABDELAZIZ: And as you're sharing what you're seeing around you, we had some of the images that you provided CNN with right there. And I want to talk to you about this idea that, yes, there has not been direct landfall. Correct.

But does that make people -- make people maybe feel too safe? And how close did the island actually come to a much more destructive scenario?

PETRAMALA: Well, I think that people here were cautiously skeptical from the very beginning. I've been here for a couple of days talking to people as they were preparing. And when I say cautiously skeptical, they didn't believe that this hurricane was ever going to make landfall because there's been so many near misses in the past where a powerful hurricane would be heading towards the big island of Hawaii.

And then it would shift or something would happen and it would weaken. But those impacts that they felt from those hurricanes in the past that did weaken or did shift, even if they're 100 miles away, caused significant impact. So, that's why they were cautiously preparing, where they were filling their sandbags, they were buying their supplies, food, water, even generators, because they understood as well that this is not a hurricane hardened island. They're not used to big wind events here. And so you have a lot of trees that are weak wood trees that fall on power lines. Power lines themselves are wooden as well. Even structures, older structures are not built to modern codes to protect against hurricanes.

[05:05:04]

So, a lot of that factored into this preparation. This hurricane rushed by, as you mentioned earlier, and it came very, very close to the southern tip of the big island.

And I think in modern history, at least, this is probably the closest it's ever had to a hurricane landfall. But it didn't matter if it was going to be a hurricane or even a tropical storm or if it was going to make landfall. The rain from the very beginning was what was going to be the biggest impact. And this is a big storm and it's just funneling like a firehose moisture here to the windward side of the big island. And you're talking again over two feet of water falling on the mountains. It's going to cause problems.

And unfortunately, it has in Hilo, where I'm on the eastern coast here, there is flooding here in downtown. Roads are impassable in various areas here. People are going to the Wailuku River to see the roar and feel the bridges shaking because of just how powerful that river is right now. And it's normally not like that. It's normally just a stream or -- or even dry in spots. So, it's something that even locals are impressed with and they're out getting video of because it's not something they see very often.

ABDELAZIZ: And Jonathan Petramala there, describing the rain as funneling like a water hose on parts of Hawaii right now. Thank you so much for bringing us that account.

Officials in the state of Indiana are reporting five storm related deaths in the past few days as more torrential rain threatens part of the -- parts of the Midwestern United States.

Indiana's capital city has experienced its most severe flooding in more than 30 years. That's according to its mayor. Heavy rainfall has drenched the region for more than a week, with Indiana suffering some of the worst of it. State leaders say the federal government is offering help.

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MIKE BRAUN, INDIANA GOVERNOR: And I just hung up with the president about 15 minutes ago. They're in the process of galvanizing FEMA to do a declaration, which then speeds up that process. And that doesn't really happen very often. It would take something like the magnitude of what happened down in North Carolina a few years ago. And for Indiana, this is about as widespread of a weather issue we've had in years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: Now, another round of storms is expected to continue through early Sunday. This is according to weather officials with Indiana, Ohio and parts of Illinois and West Virginia most at risk of flooding rain. The flood threat may ease somewhat later on Sunday as the rain moves to the north and east.

The death toll is rising from Saturday's powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake in Indonesia. At least 51 deaths so far are tied to that quake. It hit just off the island of Flores, which is home to some two million people. And Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency says some 113 people have been injured. Now, just hours after that initial tremor, a 6.9 magnitude earthquake

hit northern Sumatra. This was followed by a series of aftershocks. Officials say rescue crews have yet to reach the region closest to the epicenter. This is because of landslides that have been blocking the roads. They evacuated about 2,000 people in the hours after the quake. And officials say some people may still be trapped in buildings across the region. Indonesia is prone to powerful earthquakes because of its location along the Ring of Fire.

I want to bring in now CNN's Gage Goulding. He has been tracking developments for us from Hong Kong. So, Gage, do officials have a sense yet of who is missing? Is there a list so that rescuers know who they're looking for and where to begin their search?

GAGE GOULDING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, that's a big question that I think we're still waiting to get answers on, particularly because for these rescue crews, the search and rescue agency, it's been difficult to get to a lot of these remote towns. Landslides were a big problem for the island of Flores, where this earthquake primarily impacted. It's a very mountainous town or island, excuse me, with the towns more along the coastal regions.

But up in those mountains or getting to town from town along the coast can be difficult. And that's where some of those impacts are seen. This video here from the town of Maumere, where, for what I'm told, many of the people here were stranded outside their homes, scared to go back inside, staying in makeshift tents. You can see the makeshift hospitals there as well that these people are going to for care.

You said the number there, 113 people were hurt. That death toll now rising to 51. It could continue to rise. That's the fear as search and rescue groups continue to go through the rubble and do that painstaking process. But to your point, you spoke about it aftershocks.

[05:10:01]

It's been a big deal. More than 340 aftershocks have hit the region as recent and as strong as just a few hours ago, coming in at a 5.5 magnitude, which on its own would be a decently strong earthquake within itself.

So, there's just a lot of different mitigating factors, a lot of different danger factors that these crews have to go against, that the search and rescue crews have to work against. And at the same time, the people that call this place home, they're nervous about going back to whatever they might have left, to even see if they have a home to go back to. Here's one person who is kind of on the fence, nervous about going back.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): It happened when we were at home. We were awakened by quite a large tremor because we live in a residential area near the port and we rushed to evacuate to higher ground. At the moment, we don't dare go home just yet because the situation isn't stable. We still worry that there might be more tremors coming.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOULDING: Yeah, you can hear there the fear that more tremors are coming. That's not a fear, that's the reality. More tremors are coming in those different earthquakes around Indonesia, you know, some up to about 1,600 miles away.

So, I wouldn't necessarily classify those as aftershocks, but still there's earthquakes happening and there are aftershocks happening in that area to quantify this. You see this, I mean, horrific video of buildings collapsing and being damaged during the earthquake. About 1,300 homes were either destroyed or damaged. That's according to the Indonesian government.

On top of that, I'm told that there's 87 schools in 18 different healthcare facilities that received damage, many of the hospitals not able to be used, which is why you see many of those people being treated in those outdoor tents. Nonetheless, it is a long road to recovery here in Indonesia, and especially for those search and rescue crews that are working against all kinds of different obstacles.

Salma?

ABDELAZIZ: Gage Goulding there with the latest on those rescue efforts after the earthquake. Thank you so much.

Emergency crews are working at the site of the latest Russian strikes on Kyiv. This is according to President Zelenskyy, who is speaking out after a wave of strikes that hit a local market and injured six people in the region. Officials earlier said at least four people were killed in overnight strikes across Ukraine. And on the other side of the border, Russia's state news agency says the country has just seen the largest Ukrainian drone attack of the year.

Officials say some six people were killed as air defenses reportedly shot down more than 800 drones, but those strikes still managed to set this Wildberries warehouse on fire near Moscow.

Meanwhile, Romania says a NATO jet has shot down a drone that illegally entered the country's airspace. The wreckage fell in an unpopulated area. Romania did not say where that drone came from.

The clock is ticking for the U.S. and Iran to negotiate the final terms of a peace deal. The 60-day window, as outlined in that memorandum of understanding signed by both countries in June, is on the brink of expiration. Both sides remain deadlocked over control of the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran maintains it is Washington and Israel that are to blame for the current instability on that critical waterway.

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ESMAIL BAGHAEI, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON (through translator): The United States continues to speak with pride about implementing a naval blockade against Iran. This is an admission of an aggressive act against Iran. According to international law, this is an act of aggression. Its threats continue, and other violations of the memorandum of understanding to end the war continue. While in these circumstances, we naturally cannot say that security and safety are established in the Strait of Hormuz.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: Now, further complicating those shipping disruptions on the Strait of Hormuz are the Iran-backed Houthi rebels. Yemen's Mokha port, a strategic port on the Red Sea, has suspended operations after being hit by dozens of missiles in recent attacks by the militant group. The port's director says the attacks killed at least seven people and caused some $15 million in losses. Yemen's internationally recognized government said that Houthi rebels launched six ballistic missiles at the port city on Friday.

The Israeli military says it has killed a senior Hezbollah commander. This announcement comes just one day after the IDF launched deadly strikes across southern Lebanon, killing at least 11 people, including women and children.

Saturday marks the deadliest day of IDF strikes since the two countries came to an agreement in late June. The Israeli prime minister's office says three soldiers were seriously wounded in a Hezbollah attack and accused the Iran-backed group of violating the ceasefire. Hezbollah responded by saying the attacks would be, quote, "met with what they deserve."

[05:15:07]

I want to welcome now CNN's Jerusalem Bureau Chief Oren Liebermann. Thank you so much for coming to us this morning. Start by explaining to me, why now is Israel unleashing these punishing airstrikes on southern Lebanon? And what are you learning about their impact?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's important to know that ever since the agreement between Israel and Lebanon in late June that was supposed to bring a ceasefire under the auspices of the Trump administration, there has never really been a decisive end to the fighting between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. And that underlies the problem here. Nevertheless, Saturday marked the single deadliest day of Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon.

We have seen since late June when that agreement was signed. According to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health, at least 11 people were killed in Israeli strikes in the towns of Ansar and Nabataeans, including women and children. Again, that marks the deadliest day of strikes we have seen since that ceasefire agreement was signed. It's also worth noting that Hezbollah rejected that agreement, instead pointing to other agreements relating to Lebanon that it had agreed to.

And that is -- is part of the confusion that covers the entire scenario here and makes it all that much more complicated, not only in Lebanon, but as it relates to Iran as well. Israel says they launched those strikes after a Hezbollah drone seriously injured three Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon early Saturday morning. And that was when we saw Israel unleash those strikes across southern Lebanon.

Israel says those strikes killed a commander in Hezbollah's elite Radwan force, as well as his family. The Israeli military says his family was not the target of those strikes.

Now, Israel and Lebanon had held a seventh round of talks related to that ceasefire agreement earlier this month. The question is, is there more progress to be made? That agreement called for Israel to withdraw from two areas along the so-called yellow line in southern Lebanon. That's the border for the area that Israel occupies in southern Lebanon.

And the goal was to expand that, for Israel to withdraw further. But that's where the talks hit a snag earlier this month. And it's not clear if and how progress can be made. There's no date set yet for a further eighth round of talks, but one is expected perhaps next month. That is where the agreement stands right now. Israel says it won't be withdrawing from southern Lebanon until there is a complete disarmament of Hezbollah.

Meanwhile, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has called on Israel to halt its attacks and said it's the Lebanese military and the Lebanese government that should deal with security in southern Lebanon and that should allow for the withdrawal of Israeli forces, even as Israel has made clear that withdrawal isn't happening anytime soon.

As it relates to Iran, Lebanon has repeatedly complicated the ongoing talks between the U.S. and Iran. Iran has demanded that there be a complete halt to the fighting in Lebanon, something Israel has rejected.

ABDELAZIZ: Escalating fighting there between Hezbollah and Israel in Lebanon as mediation efforts stall has brought to us there by Oren Liebermann. Thank you so much for that update.

More countries are considering setting a minimum age limit for social media. Still to come, a closer look at France's latest attempt to pass a ban into law for children under 15.

Plus, the family of an embattled British professor is weighing in on his death, saying he endured sustained abuse.

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[05:22:29]

ABDELAZIZ: The French government is seeking a new approach when it comes to banning the use of social media for children under 50, and on Friday, the country's constitutional council struck down a bill ruling that the proposal was too broad and raising concerns over privacy and infringement upon freedom of expression.

Now, this comes despite the fact that French lawmakers voted overwhelmingly in favor of the bill last month. Australia also voted a minimum age limit for social media into law in December. And now countries around the world, including the U.K., Spain, Greece, and Denmark are considering very similar measures.

For more on all of this, we're now joined by Professor Sonia Livingstone. She is the Director of the Digital Futures for Children Center at the London School of Economics.

Good morning to you, Sonia. Thank you so much for joining us today, because when I saw this headline, I really struggled to understand it. Why? Can you explain the reasoning of the court here? Why did the -- why did France's constitutional council decide that this ban went too far? What rights or legal principles did it believe were being infringed?

SONIA LIVINGSTONE, DIRECTOR, DIGITAL FUTURES FOR CHILDREN CENTER, LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS: Well, the judgment is that the French law was a blanket ban. They actually used those words to prevent all children under 15 in France from accessing social media. They didn't make a distinction about different kinds of social media and recognizing that some are potentially more harmful than others. They didn't consider the specificity that some features might particularly be risky, for example, live streaming or suggesting children as possible contacts for unknown adults. So, it wasn't about the features. It wasn't about particular platforms.

It wasn't about the particular risks. It was just children under 15 can't access any social media. And that was considered to overstep the mark because children, yes, encounter risks on social media and that must be addressed, but they also gain benefits and they exercise their right there to speech, to expression, to see their friends, to make connections, to raise their voice. So, it was too overreaching, too underspecified. And I think the French lawmakers need to think again.

[05:25:01]

ABDELAZIZ: But the timing is striking, right? We talked about French lawmakers overwhelmingly voting to agreeing to this bill. We talk about parents broadly in agreement that social media can pose a real threat to children's well-being. Does this ruling risk putting the courts out of step with public concern? Or is this, as you said, almost just the need to rewrite the law, the back and forth here of the legal measures that need to take place to get the scope of this right?

LIVINGSTONE: I think we, I mean, it may be that in France that is the decision they reach, that public opinion is absolutely strongly behind them, at least adult public opinion, I would say, because children themselves have different views and do not wish to be banned, by and large, from social media.

So, I can see that the French lawmakers might go back and say we need a more specified law, we need to be more careful about which platforms, which functionalities, for which reasons, and leave open ways in which, firstly, platforms could, and I would say should, make their services safer, but especially leave open ways in which children can still meet their friends, find expression, you know, and participate in a digital world.

But as you say, the timing is curious, and actually the timing of the French law itself was curious, because the platforms in Europe are regulated by Europe-wide regulation, particularly the Digital Services Act, and that regulation itself is now being brought into effect, and the European Commission is taking legal action against the big platforms, against Meta, against TikTok, in ways that are leveraging big fines and requiring big changes of the platforms.

So, that's happening, and at the same time, at the European level, the President of the European Commission is about to announce the result of a special task force precisely to determine how best to keep children safe in Europe, and we expect that announcement in September.

So, in a way, it's kind of odd that France was sort of jumping the gun. Many things are happening right now at a pan-European level, and I think the European developments are both kind of more nuanced and careful in the requirements they make of platforms while leaving children still able to participate in a digital world, and they're more likely to be effective because a pan-European regulation, you know, represents a much bigger market than even a sizable country like France possibly can.

ABDELAZIZ: We've talked about parents, we've talked about, of course, teenagers and users. I also want to ask you about the tech companies. What message does this send to them? You're talking about this myriad of different attempts to control, constrict the use of social media among teens that these tech platforms are going to face. What message would they take out of this, and what next steps could we expect from them?

LIVINGSTONE: I think that's a good question. In many ways, the tech companies have been surprisingly quiet on the discussion of all the bans that are being brought in around the world. There are very few public announcements.

They insist that their platforms are already safe and that they are taking all the steps they can to make them safe. I think the public no longer finds that credible, and there is widespread evidence of harm promoted through platforms as the regulators, as the European Commission, as the governments have been announcing.

So, there's definitely a mismatch between what the platforms are saying and what the public and the experts and the evidence are documenting.

So, how they will respond? I think many people believe that until there is concerted action really at very significant scale across Europe and also across America and many other places, it is proving very hard to get the tech platforms to make the fundamental changes in treating children's data and their safety with respect and as a priority.

So, I think, sitting here in Europe, I think we take heart that there are also very significant cases now going forward in the United States with serious fines being levied against the platforms. It may be that together that is beginning to be enough. If not, I think the public is also becoming too frustrated to continue to engage, and we also see signs of families beginning to withdraw from so much social media engagement. I hear children saying, perhaps this is not good for me anymore, I need to find alternatives. And, you know, ultimately that may be a positive.

[05:30:24]

ABDELAZIZ: Professor Sonia Livingstone there on the ubiquitous problem of trying to regulate social media for the youngest. Thank you so much.

A man in New York is facing hate crimes charges after he allegedly disrupted Shabbat service at a synagogue ahead of what police say he did.

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ABDELAZIZ: Welcome back. I'm Salma Abdelaziz. Let's check some of today's top stories. Yemen's strategic Mokha port, which lies on the Red Sea, has suspended operations after a recent barrage of attacks carried out by Houthi rebels. The announcement is just the latest obstacle in the region's shipping dilemma. The port's director says the strikes killed seven people and caused an estimated $16 million in damage.

Hurricane Lala is just south of the Hawaiian islands, and it is not expected to make landfall, but it is still packing a big punch, slashing parts of the state with powerful wind and flooding rain. Hawaii's governor says one person has been killed in a storm-related car crash. More than 100,000 customers are without power across the state.

At least 51 people are dead and over 100 others wounded following a powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake that hit off the eastern coast of Indonesia on Saturday.

[05:35:10]

Just hours after that initial tremor, a 6.9 magnitude quake struck northern Sumatra. Rescue crews are continuing to search for survivors, but landslides have made some roads impassable.

Jason Arday's family is speaking out about the challenges he faced after the British professor was found dead on Friday. Arday resigned from the University of Cambridge amid plagiarism allegations. His family described him as a gentleman who faced sustained abuse over the claims against him.

CNN's Larry Madowo has this report for us.

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LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: British Prime Minister Andy Burnham describing the death of a high-profile academic as a tragedy on so many levels. Jason Arday was once celebrated as the youngest ever Black academic at Cambridge University. He was found dead on Friday in London just nine days after he resigned from that prominent position after allegations of plagiarism in his academic work.

The British Prime Minister saying he was thinking of all who knew Jason, his family and friends, and also saying this.

ANDY BURNHAM, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: It's a moment for reflection, I would say, reflecting on how -- how things came to this. A really sad and sorry state of affairs and I think we just all today think of Jason, his contribution and his family and friends.

MADOWO: Professor Arday's family put out a statement asking the press to leave them alone, saying the campaign of misinformation was too much for Jason, who was a gentle man and who always wanted to see the best in everyone. He was in shock to have lost this amazing father, partner, brother, uncle and son.

After Professor Arday's death was announced, there was a wave of criticism online from both friends and people who didn't know him from the academic community, people who felt that he was hounded by the media.

Some British media stories called him Professor Plagiarism and a poster boy for diversity. At the time of his resignation from Cambridge, he said he had reached the limits of what any person should reasonably be expected to endure. A friend told the "BBC" he didn't leave his house and had lost a lot of weight. But he had become the subject of the culture wars in the United Kingdom, in the U.S. and other parts of the world, and people saw him as somebody who did not deserve the position he had.

But his position was always going to be prominent because in the U.K., only about one percent of professors are black. So, somebody like Professor Arday getting a position at Cambridge was always going to be an important, significant achievement. The 41-year-old sociologist's story was incredible, from a nonverbal autistic child to a Ph.D. and eventually one of the youngest ever professors at Cambridge University. And that was the subject of his memoir, "The Great and Unfortunate Things."

Larry Madowo, CNN, Nairobi.

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ABDELAZIZ: A man is facing hate crime charges after New York police say he allegedly injured a woman. This is when he was disrupting Shabbat services on Friday. According to officials, 46-year-old Larry Montes has a history of mental health issues and has been previously arrested for other crimes.

The attack comes at a time when the U.S. has seen a rise in reports of antisemitic violence. CNN's Rafael Romo has the latest for us.

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RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A law enforcement official has told CNN the suspect entered the synagogue during Shabbat services Friday night and was sitting down for roughly 10 minutes before he got up and was confronted by security.

A clip from the synagogue's live stream obtained by CNN affiliate WCBS shows how congregants scrambled as shouts of panic erupted while a security guard is seen trying to restrain the suspect as he barreled down the aisle.

The law enforcement source also told CNN that when the suspect tried to make his way toward the rabbi, security tried to escort him out and that's when he proceeded to attack a woman and the security guard while also yelling a racial slur at him. New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch identified the suspect as 46-year-old Larry Montes from the Bronx.

She also said the suspect has now been charged with two counts of assault as a hate crime and one count of criminal mischief also as a hate crime among other charges. Tisch also said that no one was seriously injured and that the NYPD increased security at the synagogue. The synagogue's rabbi opened the service Saturday morning by saying the congregation is grateful to be safe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our day of rest was interrupted last night by a security incident in our main sanctuary but we are OK. We are safe. We are grateful to be here. We are grateful to our security team for supporting us. We feel so grateful for our community.

[05:40:10]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We went through something really hard and scary last night and I think this healing prayer can be focused on the whole community, on all of us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a post on "X" that this despicable act has no place in our city and our administration will do everything in our power to keep Jewish New Yorkers safe. The law enforcement official familiar with the investigation also told CNN that Montes, the suspect, tried to walk toward an area that is not open to the public and when they confronted him, he proceeded to chop with his hands at two candles each valued at $10,000.

According to CNN's source Montes has several sealed arrests, some of which were robberies as well as a history of mental health issues and investigators do not have evidence that he was targeting anyone inside the synagogue. CNN reached out to the federal public defender's office in the southern district of New York but we were told the suspect had not yet been assigned an attorney.

Rafael Romo, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE) ABDELAZIZ: The presidential race in Brazil is heating up ahead of October's election, still ahead, who U.S. President Donald Trump is endorsing amid a growing political rift between the two countries.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ABDELAZIZ: We want to bring you an update on a story that we had brought you earlier. Romania says a NATO jet shot down a drone that had illegally entered the country's airspace. The wreckage fell in an unpopulated area.

A short time ago, a spokesperson for NATO's military headquarters said that while the incident is being investigated, the drone does appear to be Russian.

Last month, Romanian pilots shot down three Russian drones breaching national airspace. That marked the first time after dozens of such incursions since the start of Russia's war in Ukraine.

[05:45:04]

Brazil is weighing its path forward amid mounting political disputes with the United States. The country's high-stakes presidential election in October will see incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva face off against Flavio Bolsonaro.

President Lula da Silva has recently rejected visas for some U.S. officials over concerns of election meddling. And this comes as President Trump strongly endorses Bolsonaro's bid for office.

CNN's Dario Klein has more on those simmering tensions.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP (R), U.S. PRESIDENT: The American dominance in the Western hemisphere will never be questioned again.

DARIO KLEIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: South America's left-wing stronghold facing its ultimate test. The Trump administration made no secret of its support for Brazil's right-wing candidate Flavio Bolsonaro.

TRUMP: Our relationship has never been closer.

KLEIN: He's the son of Jair Bolsonaro, who governed Brazil from 2019 to 2023, but is barred from running this election on house arrest since late 2025, convicted of attempting a coup after the '22 election.

FLAVIO BOLSONARO, BRAZIL PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (through translator): On a trip as a presidential candidate, we did more for Brazil and the safety of Brazilians than the Workers' Party and Lula did in their 17 years in office.

KLEIN: Two months after that trip, Washington imposed an additional 25 percent tariff on thousands of Brazilian products. Brazil estimated the measure would affect 18 percent of its exports to the U.S. Washington also revoked the visa of Brazilian ambassador to the U.S. in response to what it called delays in approving the U.S. ambassador's designate to Brazil.

Far from being intimidated, Brazilian president and re-election candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is eager to show he's still in shape at 80, is turning the punishment on Brazilian production into an electoral opportunity. He's positioning himself as a defender of Brazil's independence and sovereignty.

LUIZ INACIO LULA DA SILVA, BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I want to be prepared so that no one invades this country and takes the president away as they invaded. I want to be prepared for peace, not for war. I want to be prepared so that no one dares to take us for fools. We need to invest in the defense industry.

KLEIN: But foreign involvement in Brazil's election is not only coming from the north, it is also coming from the west.

JAVIER MILEI, ARGENTINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We trust you, Flavio, to stop the socialist garbage. That's why I believe Flavio is the person who could stop Lula today and lead a real change for all Brazilians.

KLEIN: The Argentine president's campaign appearance with Bolsonaro further strained diplomatic relations between the two countries. Brazil recalled its ambassador for consultations, although the strong trade relationship between the two Mercosur partners does not appear to have been affected. Brazil remains Argentina's largest buyer and trading partner.

Unlike what we have seen in Europe, Canada and Australia, in Latin America, the Trump administration's involvement has been successful so far. In Argentina, in Honduras, Chile and Colombia, the candidates it supported won, along with the military intervention in Venezuela. In Brazil, however, the story is still being written.

Dario Klein, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABDELAZIZ: The Democratic National Committee is switching things up ahead of the high-stakes 2028 presidential election in the U.S. The party appears to be shifting focus towards states with more diverse populations to kick off the primary candidate nominations contests. At the top of the early voting schedule in 2028 is South Carolina, which has a substantial population of black voters. Following close behind are Nevada and New Mexico, which both contain large groupings of Latino voters.

The DNC chair told CNN that the calendar is the most diverse in the party's history and will battle test nominees early as Democrats seek to unify, despite those ideological divisions.

Baseball's trade deadline has passed and the rich just got richer. After the break, we'll ask Hall of Famer CC Sabathia whether anybody can stop the Dodgers from winning another World Series. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:53:19]

ABDELAZIZ: CC Sabathia should definitely know a World Series contender when he sees when the Hall of Fame pitcher won baseball's biggest prize with the New York Yankees back in 2009. And when Don Riddell caught up with him, he shared his thoughts on who could be heading towards the fall classic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CC SABATHIA, NETFLIX BASEBALL ANALYST: I picked the Dodgers to win the World Series at the beginning of the year, you know, before they traded for Skubal. I think, you know, a healthy team with them, they're getting Blake Snell back, getting Glasnow back, you know, adding Kyle Tucker. I think it was a great, you know, offseason after them.

But I think everybody's all up in arms about the Dodgers trade for Tarik Skubal. And, you know, this has nothing to do with how much money they have. This has everything to do with how they develop players and the prospects that they have in their organization and being able to, you know, make these type of trades.

I mean, you know, you can't really blame them for, you know, drafting well, you know, developing players well and having players in their system that other teams are deemed valuable. So, I mean, you know, I think, you know, yes, they have a lot of money, but two, they develop players well. They have a great culture and they're doing things right in the minor leagues. And I think that's what helped them land Tarik Skubal. I think that's what's going to help them land the third, you know, World Series in a row.

DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Clearly you fancy them. If anybody was going to stop them, who would it be?

SABATHIA: You know, my pick right after the trade deadline was the Phillies, but they have gotten off to a kind of a tough start here when they traded for a rise. But, you know, I still think it could be them. Earlier this year, I thought it would be the Brewers, but I thought the Brewers needed to make a trade for either Skubal, another bat, just to kind of add to help the morale of the clubhouse.

[05:55:10]

Because when you're having a good summer and the front office goes out and trades for another piece, it just adds to, you know, the fuel that you're burning to try to win a World Series. So, I felt like the Milwaukee kind of blew an opportunity right there to add to their team to, you know, to just give the guys a little more fuel to go out and want to play better every single day. So, I think that Tarik going to the Dodgers kind of killed off the Brewers season for me, to be honest.

RIDDELL: The Red Sox have had an extraordinary turnaround overall up and down season. But, what do you make of the journey so far and where they're headed?

SABATHIA: I don't think they're as bad as they were in April and May. And I don't think they're as good as they are now going 32 and five. I think they're somewhere in the middle of that. But I think their pitching holds up, right? Like Ranger Suarez is legit. Sonny Gray obviously is a veteran, 14 and three. They'll get Garrett Crochet back. They got the young lefty and Connelly. So, I think their pitching is good enough for them to be in this position, right?

Their lineup can continue to do the things that they've been doing. I think they'll be fine. But I think they're in this position right now because of the way they pitched in their bullpen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: In Lithuania, a group of dogs with tiny legs and big personalities raced their little hearts out. About 130 corgis from eight countries took to the track, or at least that was the idea. But some of the pups had little interest in following the rules.

Some froze at the start to get in a few extra kisses from their owners. And others stopped to play along the way. The annual event also featured a corgi costume contest and a prize for loudest bark.

Thank you so much for watching. I'm Salma Abdelaziz. For our viewers in North America, "CNN This Morning" is coming up next, for the rest of the world, it's "Inside Africa."

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