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Israel Launches Major Strike On West Bank's Jenin; Zelenskyy: Cannot Imagine Ukraine Without Crimea; Macron Attempts To Restore Calm, Order; Reports Due On Popular Sugar Substitute; Yellen To Visit Beijing, Looks To Mend Relations; Lemon8 App Growing In Popularity. Aired 10-10:45a ET

Aired July 03, 2023 - 10:00:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:00:30]

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: I'm Eleni Giokos, live from Dubai. I'm in for my colleague Becky Anderson. This is CONNECT THE WORLD.

Coming up this hour. The death toll rises and the largest Israeli military operation engineer in over 20 years. In an exclusive interview with CNN,

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy says Putin's power is crumbling.

The World Health Organization is taking a closer look at the potentially harmful health effects of the artificial sweetener, aspartame.

And Wimbledon gets underway in London.

Now, two fast moving developments from Ukraine, at least one person has been killed in a drone strike on residential buildings in the city of Sumy

in northeastern Ukraine.

That information is coming from the Ukrainian presidential office. It follows a barrage of drone attacks overnight.

Ben Wedeman is in eastern Ukraine where there are developments in the battle for the city of Bakhmut.

Ben, great to have you on. Look, the front lines, the most contested when you look at what's happening in Bakhmut. Could you take us through the

latest in terms of what we're seeing on the ground?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The latest we've heard from the deputy defense minister of Ukraine, Eleni, is that the Ukrainians

in the last week around Bakhmut have been able to take nine square kilometers, which isn't a lot of territory.

The fighting there appears to be very intense. So, it's very hard at this moment to get access to that area because of the intensity of that

fighting. But what we've seen really over the last week is at best marginal gains by the Ukrainians in the southern area, south of Zaporizhzhia.

They've taken perhaps 29 square kilometers, which really brings the total amount of territory they have seized from the Russians since this counter

offensive began were now into the -- it's well into its third week, maybe somewhere between 150 and 160 square kilometers.

Now, in fact, in the in the round the town of Svatove, which is in the Luhansk region, it's that town is currently held by the Ukrainians. But the

Russians apparently are launching a counter offensive of their own in that area. And the Ukrainian troops are under severe pressure in that town.

So, it appears that even though our focus now for many weeks, if not months, has been on the plans and then execution of this counter offensive,

it appears that the Russians, despite all we've heard about poor supplies, poor logistics, poor leadership, they still are capable of launching

counter offensives of their own.

So, the situation very ambiguous given that, as I said, the progress has been modest at best as far as the counter offensive by the Ukrainians go.

Eleni.

GIOKOS: Yes. All right. Fast moving situation there. And of course, we'll bring you that exclusive interview with President Zelenskyy and Erin

Burnett in just a moment.

That was Ben Wedeman for us.

All right, the Palestinian health ministry says, at least eight people have been killed during the Israeli military's latest assault in Jenin in the

West Bank.

Israel's foreign minister, telling reporters a short time ago that the operation is striking what he calls a terrorism hub with great strength. At

the same time, Israel is bracing for another round of protests at its main airport near Tel Aviv over the government's effort to overhaul the

country's court system.

We've got Elliott Gotkine in Tel Aviv for us. Elliott, great to have you with us. I want to start off with this raid. We hear that it's possibly the

largest that we've seen, the biggest, and perhaps most intense, in 20 years. We've ascertained that the IDF is saying that they are targeting

terrorist hotspots.

Where are we right now? This is many hours into this raid, and we've seen fatalities and injuries as well.

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: Indeed, we have, Eleni. This operation is still ongoing. It started at 1:00 am local time. It's now, 5:00 p.m. local

time.

So, what has been going on for some 14 hours. And it began with a drone strike by the IDF against this command-and-control center that you

mentioned, that Israel says was being used by the Jenin Brigade, which is a militant group affiliated with Islamic Jihad.

[10:05:03]

It said that this building was also be used as an observation post and also as a kind of shelter for militants that would use Jenin as a base to carry

out attacks against Israelis. And they would then go back into that building or into the Jenin refugee camp in order to seek shelter.

And this is one of the objectives of this attack, which as you say, is the biggest since the 2002, As far as we can understand, the biggest incursion

into the -- into Jenin, into the West Bank in 20 years.

One of the objectives is to -- in the words of the IDF, to break this safe haven mindset that Jenin is a place of refuge for militants carrying out

attacks on Israel. And Israel, saying that it has been used as a base for some 50 shooting attacks against the Israelis over the past year, resulting

in the deaths of 25 Israelis and 19 militants then fled back to Jenin after carrying out attacks.

So, as I say this operation is ongoing. It's not only been using drones and also ground forces the battalions worth according to the IDF, which means

several 100 troops we understand. But also, aircraft has also been carrying out strike, for example, against a weapons production facility they say,

and an explosive device storage facilities.

So, the operation is still ongoing. There have been a number of deaths so far, as you say, eight deaths in total. According to the Palestinian

Ministry of Health, more than at least 50 injured as well. 10 of those at least seriously. And these incursion by Israel has been condemned by the

Palestinian Authority, by the Egyptians, by the Jordanians.

And the United Nations' Middle East envoy to the -- to the region has also called for an urgent de-escalation. But for now, there's no sign of it

ending, it is ongoing, and the Israeli Defense Forces has said there is no -- there is no time limit, really they will be there for as long as they

feel they need to be to carry out their objectives.

However, they have said they had no intention of holding ground remaining there in Jenin. Eleni?

GIOKOS: And what would assume if they are continuing in this raid and strike is continuing, it means they have not met their objectives.

You talked a little bit about Jeanine and just how important it is, and the fact that it's a place of refuge for militants. And that's -- that is what

the IDF messaging has been.

Could you give us a little bit more insight into the importance of Jenin, and also the fact that we have seen many strikes, many raids over the past

year or so, specifically looking at that area?

GOTKINE: Well, as you say, we have seen a year of escalating violence, and Jenin really seen as a hotbed of militancy or -- and attacks against

Israel.

And we saw just a couple of weeks ago, Israel using an Apache helicopter to carry out an airstrike there, which itself was the first time something

like that had happened in some 20 years as well.

So, it's already sees this as the kind of epicenter of this rising wave of militant attacks against Israeli citizens, not just in the West Bank, but

in inside the green line as well against Israelis. And that is something that Israel's right-wing government is very keen to try to stamp out.

And of course, the other objective of this incursion that we're seeing today is try to reduce the amount of future attacks that can be carried out

against Israelis as well.

But it is a very densely populated area. And inevitably, there will be some people that are not infinite, uninvolved, who will be either injured or

perhaps worse, in this incursion.

We don't have all the details just yet. But as I say, it's ongoing. And so long as this operation continues, one would expect the casualty figures to

rise as well.

(CROSSTALK)

GIOKOS: Yes.

GOTKINE: Eleni?

GIOKOS: I want to talk a little bit about the protest action that is expected near Tel Aviv. We have seen this increasing in momentum, right? in

terms of the overhauling of the judicial system and the pushback. What are we seeing right now on the ground?

GOTKINE: So, these protests, as you say, they've been going on for something like six months ever since this government unveiled its plans for

an overhaul of the judicial -- of the judiciary, just to remind viewers that there are two main things that the protesters are up in arms against

them, that is number one, reducing the Supreme Court's powers to overturn law -- overturn laws passed by the government that it feels are

unconstitutional, and also to enable the government to effectively pack a Supreme Court with judges that are to its liking.

So, those are the two main prongs that these protesters have been protesting against these past six months. Earlier today, they blockaded the

Port of Haifa, this is one of Israel's two main ports in the north of Israel. And then, now, they are -- have been descending on the airport, Ben

Gurion International Airport, just outside Tel Aviv.

This is basically with the exception of a Latin, the south, which is really just for tourists. This is the main entry and exit point for anyone coming

to or from Israel.

Some 90,000 passengers were expected had to travel today in and out of the country.

[10:10:01]

The schools have already broken up for the summer so a lot of parents now taking their kids away on holiday, other people coming to the country as

well for the summer. And Israel is trying to ensure that that these flights continue as usual. But delays were expected.

And I can tell you, I have one friend telling me this morning, she got to the airport six hours before her flight, which I think is due to take off

in the next hour or so. So, she got there six hours, just in case there are any problems in getting there. And the advice is for people to go by train,

not by car. Eleni?

GIOKOS: All right. Elliott Gotkine, thank you so much.

Well, in a CNN exclusive, Ukraine's president is calling Vladimir Putin weak over his response to last month's Wagner rebellion. Speaking to Erin

Burnett, Vladimir Zelenskyy said it was a sign Mr. Putin's power is crumbling.

He also spoke about the importance of Crimea, a territory annexed by Russia in 2014, saying the ultimate goal is to liberate it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (through translator): We cannot imagine Ukraine without Crimea. And well, Crimea is under the Russian

occupation, that means only one thing. War is not over yet.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: To be clear, in victory, in peace, is there any scenario where Crimea is not part of Ukraine?

ZELENSKYY: It will not be victory then.

BURNETT: I know the US CIA Chief Bill Burns has come and visited you regularly. He was here recently. What did you tell him about your plans to

take back territory in the counter offensive?

ZELENSKYY: To be honest with you, I was surprised to see the information in some media, both in the U.S. and Ukrainian, and European media.

My communication with the CIA chief should always be behind the scenes and the media attention because we discuss important things, what Ukraine

needs, and how Ukraine is prepared to act.

We don't have any secrets from CIA, because we have good relations and our intelligence services talk with each other. I don't know what were other

contacts. I don't really remember which media I read it in.

The situation is pretty straightforward. We have good relations with the CIA chief, and we are talking. I told him about all the important things

related to the battlefield, which we need.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GIOKOS: All right. Well, you just heard Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, talking about his recent secret face to face meeting with the

head of U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.

The U.S. official tells CNN meetings between the two men have been happening regularly in Ukraine since Russia first began its aggression more

than a year ago.

For more on this, let's bring in CNN national security reporter, Natasha Bertrand. She joins me now from Washington. We just heard President

Zelenskyy saying that these meetings are important. They, of course, show the U.S.'s commitment in terms of supporting Ukraine and figuring out

strategy.

But what do we know about the content of these conversations, particularly the last conversation that was had?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, Eleni.

Well, we don't know much. A U.S. official did tell us that Burns, as he had -- as he has many times over the course of the war, he traveled to Kyiv to

discuss with Zelenskyy, of course, U.S. assessments on the battlefield situation in Ukraine, as well as to hear President Zelenskyy's thoughts on

what the Ukrainian intelligence services need to know.

But broadly, this is something that Burns has made a point of doing since even before the war began. He has been going back and forth between the

U.S. and Ukraine to serve as kind of an emissary between the U.S. and the Ukrainians in the intelligence sphere.

Not only that, of course, he has also been an interlocutor with the Russians. We saw just last week, that he actually called his Russian

counterpart during that Wagner rebellion to reiterate that the U.S. had nothing to do with it. So, he's a very trusted kind of confidant and

trusted emissary of the president. And he has been going back and forth between Ukraine and talking to the Russians as well about the broader

situation in the region.

And so, what he does during these visits, he actually traveled to Kyiv, as recently that we know of as January. He discusses with the Ukrainians, of

course, the intelligence sharing partnership that the U.S. has, because it is so vital for the Ukrainians to have accurate and good intelligence about

what the Russians are planning, where their capabilities are perhaps lacking, where the Ukrainians can exploit that, and, of course, where the

Russians are potentially planning to advance inside Ukraine?

And so, this is a very important intelligence sharing partnership that did take somewhat of a hit when we saw those -- that big leak of those Pentagon

documents earlier this year that disclose some of the really sensitive kind of Battlefield operations and vulnerabilities of Ukraine's military, which

caused Ukraine to kind of pull back a little bit in terms of how much intelligence it was sharing with the U.S.

But the U.S. in turn has really not curtailed its intelligence sharing with the Ukrainians, and that is something that Kyiv, that President Zelenskyy,

that Ukrainian officials obviously greatly value, Eleni.

[10:15:08]

GIOKOS: All right. Natasha Bertrand, thank you.

Police in France report a comment, (PH) though uneasy night of protest, with more than 150 people detained, but there was still destruction.

It was the sixth day of protests involving the fatal police shooting of a 17-year-old in a Paris suburb. Sunday, French President Emmanuel Macron met

with top officials on the handling of the mass protests. Today, he meets with members of the French Parliament.

CNN's. Melissa Bell joins us now from L'Hay-les-Roses (PH), France suburb of Paris. Melissa, unbelievably tumultuous period in various parts of the

country.

I want you to take me through what we've been seeing from Emmanuel Macron. We know that there is been a procedure or some kind of investigation that

is going to be launched to figure out the root cause of this protest action.

In the meantime, of course, the grandmother of the teenager that died, is also called for calm. There's just been so many moving parts this Monday.

MELISSA BELL, CNN PARIS CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Here in L'Hay-les- Roses (PH), it was a demonstration of a peaceful protest behind the town's mayor, in his support, given the unfortunate events that took place in his

home in the early hours of Sunday morning.

A car ramming into his house and investigation for attempted murder has been open. The understanding is that those who drowned the car into his

house may have been trying to set it alight when his wife and two small children were inside.

That's why you've got the show support here in L'Hay-les-Roses, and these calls for calm, frankly, with what we saw as a huge escalation on Friday

night. And then, little by little fewer and fewer arrests over the course the weekend, until last night, with just 157.

But still, a determined effort from the part of the president to figure out what happened, he'll meet not only with those assembly leaders and Senate

leaders tonight. But with 220 mayors from some of the towns and cities that have been so badly affected by the violence of the last few days.

Perhaps the most important call for calm and we have yet to know whether this will make all the difference. In fact, the Paris police chief has said

-- has welcomed the fact that there has been a dampening down of the tension and the fact that there have been fewer degradations and fewer

arrests, but still warns that this might not be over yet.

This is what young Nahel's grandmother had to say on Sunday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NADIA, GRANDMOTHER OF SHOOTING VICTIM (through translator): I blame the policeman who killed my grandson. I'm the grandmother. I blamed the

policeman who killed my grandson. That's all I want.

The police, they are here, fortunately. They are here and the people who are breaking things, they tell them stop, stop. They use the house death as

a pretext. Now, they must stop.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BELL: Now, whether the calm that we saw overnight was directly linked to that appeal or not, we'll have to wait for a few days to see. But clearly,

the authorities are taking no chances they will continue to live 45,000 police men and women on the streets to try and make sure that this Monday

night is as calm as last. Eleni.

GIOKOS: Yes. All right. Melissa Bell, thank you so much.

And just ahead, reports are set to be released soon on a popular sugar substitute. What they could say about the potential dangers of aspartame?

We'll be right back.

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[10:20:36]

GIOKOS: Well, the World Health Organization is taking a closer look at the potentially harmful health effects of the artificial sweetener, aspartame,

specifically, its potential links to cancer.

Aspartame is one of the most common artificial sweeteners used in drinks and food, especially those marketed as sugar free or diet products.

Late next week, WHO committees are set to release their findings on possible carcinogenic effects of the sweetener. CNN health reporter

Jacqueline Howard joins us now with more.

Jacqueline, great to have you with us. Look, what are we expected to learn from this WHO report? I think there's been a lot of fear, many people are

talking about it, and I guess the devil will be in the detail because it all has to do with dosage, I think.

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: That's exactly right. You know, one of the WHO committees that will be doing this risk assessment will be the

Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives. And they're going to look specifically, Eleni, at what is the daily amount of aspartame a person can

take that they consider to be acceptable when it comes to potential health effects. So, those are one of the areas where this group is going to

assess.

And what we know about aspartame, I mean, it's in a several food and drink items like diet sodas, and cereals. But also, it can be found in chewing

gum, cough drops, even some toothpaste. So, this is an ingredient that many of us encounter on a daily basis.

And we know that WHO assessed the safety of aspartame back in 1981. And the decades since then, there have been several other studies on this

ingredient.

And here, the United States, the FDA has its recommended limited amount of aspartame to have each day. It says for a 175-pound man, the limited amount

would be 22 cans of diet soda, because that's equivalent to consuming about 50 milligrams of aspartame per kilogram of body weight per day.

So, as you know, that's an enormous amount. So, people should know there are questions about the potential health impacts of aspartame, but you

really need to have a large amount to see these potential harmful health effects that are being assessed.

So, that's kind of the takeaway here. But again, it will be interesting to see what the WHO committee has come out with in the coming days on July 14,

when they announced their risk assessment.

GIOKOS: Absolutely. As you say, it can be found in so many different products. We don't even know how much we're consuming, but we have to be

consuming a lot for it to be dangerous.

From what we know right now. We wait for that report next week.

Jacqueline Howard, great to have you with us. Thank you so very much.

HOWARD: Absolutely.

GIOKOS: Well, the Biden administration is making another effort to smooth over ties with China.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, heads to Beijing this week. This trip coming after two weeks after President Joe Biden compared Chinese President

Xi Jinping to dictator. Anna Coren has those details for us.

ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The U.S. Treasury Secretary will be heading to Beijing later this week to further improve relations

between the two superpowers. It comes two weeks after the successful visit to China by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to reestablish dialogue.

Janet Yellen is expected to meet with her Chinese counterpart and other high-ranking officials for what we are hearing will be constructive and

frank conversations.

But like with Blinken's trip, officials say they are not expecting any significant breakthroughs.

She is not expected to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Yellen has long signaled the Biden administration's desire to improve communications

with the Chinese and lower the temperature between the world's two largest economies, which are deeply entwined.

Back in April while giving testimony before Congress, she stressed the importance of maintaining ties with China, and said that decoupling would

be a big mistake.

And last month at the Paris finance summit, onstage with Chinese Premier Li Qiang, she said, "As the world's two largest economies, we also have a

responsibility to work together on global issues. It is something the world expects of us."

Yellen's trip comes at a time of heightened uncertainty for the global economy. China is struggling to reboot its economy posed COVID following a

slew of poor economic data, while the U.S. is trying to contain inflation and avoid recession.

[10:25:10]

Global challenges and mutual areas of concern will no doubt be on the agenda, bus the airing of grievances is also a priority. The US has imposed

sweeping restrictions on China's access to advanced technology, specifically semiconductor technology, citing national security threats to

the U.S.

While the U.S. is concerned about the scope of China's new counter espionage law and the challenges it could present for foreign companies.

We know that Yellen will be meeting with American companies operating in China. There certainly will be a lot to discuss during her three-day visit.

But at the end of the day, there's $700 billion in trade between the U.S. and China each year, and both countries need each other.

Anna Coren, CNN, Hong Kong.

GIOKOS: Well, protesters are vowing to block Israel's main airport over plans for a judicial overhaul. This, as Israel's military launches a major

raid in the West Bank. We'll have a live report from the region.

Plus, the growing popularity of lifestyle app Lemon8, and why it's raising eyebrows among security experts and lawmakers. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GIOKOS: Welcome back. I'm Eleni Giokos. I'm in for my colleague, Becky Anderson, and you're watching CONNECT THE WORLD.

Here are your headlines this hour. In a CNN exclusive, Ukraine's president called Vladimir Putin week of his response to last month's Wagner

rebellion.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy said it was a sign Mr. Putin's power is crumbling. He also told our Erin Burnett that his goal is to liberate Crimea, which was

annexed by Russia in 2014.

President Macron meets with members of the French Parliament today in an attempt to restore order. France has been wracked by nearly a week of

violent nationwide protests after the police killing of a teenager.

The year's third Grand Slam tennis tournament is underway in London. World men's number two Novak Djokovic is vying for his fifth straight Wimbledon

title and eighth overall.

Djokovic is currently leading in his opening match and we'll have more later in "WORLD SPORTS".

Now, Israeli forces have launched another major operation against Palestinian factions in the West Bank. Palestinians are condemning the

raid, which is centered on the densely populated Jenin refugee camp. The Israelis say it strikes on ground forces have been used.

[10:30:02]

Palestinian officials say, at least eight people have been killed and more than 50 wounded.

Israel's foreign minister says his country is going after Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants.

Meanwhile, the Israeli government is also bracing for domestic unrest. Protesters this hour are set to try and block access to Ben Gurion Airport

that demonstrating against a bid by the Netanyahu government to overhaul the country's judiciary.

Elliott Gotkine joins us now with more. I want to go back to this raid and we've ascertained now what the objectives are. This is still ongoing. We've

seen fatalities and injuries as well.

Elliott, anything that's changed since we last spoke.

GOTKINE: Yes, Eleni, in the last hour or so, the IDF, the Israeli Defense Forces have said that they have found -- they have discovered a number of

explosive manufacturing facilities in Jenin. And as a result, they said they've confiscated --

GIOKOS: All right, we seem to have lost Elliott Gotkine there. We will try get him back when we can try -- is it there? Elliott, can you hear me?

GOTKINE: I am still here. Yes, sorry.

(CROSSTALK)

GIOKOS: Oh, there you are.

GOTKINE: So, they discovered the number of weapons manufacturing facilities, the IDF says. Facilities, which they say manufacture them and

other things, improvised explosive devices. They also said that there have been further gunfights.

Now this, incursion into Jenin is ongoing. Israel's Foreign Minister Eli Cohen described Jenin earlier today as a terrorist hub. And as we were

discussing earlier, you know, that it's not just a question of targeting wanted militants that Israel is after and also destroying some of the

infrastructure that it says is supporting these militant groups, in particular, the Jenin Brigades, which is -- which is affiliated with

Islamic Jihad, but it's also they say about changing the mindset, changing the way that Jenin is perceived by the militants, as a place of refuge, as

a safe haven, as somewhere as a base from which they can launch attacks against Israel.

Because ultimately, what Israel is trying to do is to reduce the likelihood, and certainly, the frequency of attacks that are emanating from

Jenin. And, but of course, the longer this goes on, not only could we potentially see more casualties, but we can also see the risks of

escalation growing as well.

We've already seen pictures from Gaza, where some people have burning tires now. There's no sign of that flaring up just yet. But of course, in this

region, we know that, you know, things can change very quickly.

So, Israel doesn't have any intention it says of holding ground in Jenin, but it does say that it is open ended that it will continue this incursion,

this operation until its objectives have been met.

Eleni?

GIOKOS: Yes.

Elliott, let's talk about the protest action near Ben Gurion Airport and what kind of delays and impact are we expecting?

GOTKINE: So, we've seen images of some protesters who managed to get into the arrival (INAUDIBLE) -- at the -- at the arrival's hall at Ben Gurion

Airport, and some of them being forcibly removed by the police.

They're the -- there before this started, the government had said that there would be a particular area that was going to be allowed for these

demonstrators, to protest some 5,000 of them. Clearly, the demonstrators in order to make themselves heard with the -- some of them will be doing their

best to try to disrupts things at Ben Gurion Airport.

There's no major word of any major cancellations or delays just yet, but this is really just going they were just -- they were talking about this

thing roundabout now, the kind of time that they were planning to descend on the airport.

So, the roads around the airport and it's really just one main highway that kind of goes there have -- will no doubt, have been experiencing more

traffic than usual.

And passengers flying some 90,000 are expected to come in and out today are advised to go to the airport and leave the airport by train. Eleni?

GIOKOS: Yes. Elliott Gotkine, thank you so much for that update. While staying within the region, Iran's state media reporting that Tehran isn't

sending its new ambassador to Sweden to Stockholm.

That's after a copy of the Muslim holy book was burned in the Swedish capital last week. It sparked angry protests across the Muslim world.

Sweden calls Wednesday's Koran burning by a lone protester, free speech, but critics have described it as incitement.

Twitter is limiting how many posts users can read. Twitter owner Elon Musk made the announcement over the weekend calling it a temporary cap.

Verified accounts are reportedly now limited to reading 10,000 posts a day, unverified accounts 1,000.

[10:35:02]

And new unverified accounts are limited to 500 posts.

Musk, says the limits were imposed to prevent extreme levels of data scraping and systems manipulation.

Now, there's a relatively new social media app on the scene known as Lemo8. It's owned by TikTok's parent company and used for sharing content related

to fashion, travel, and more.

But as the app's popularity grows, so do concerns of how its data is being used.

Vanessa Yurkevich has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MADISON SHAPIRO, INFLUENCER, SISTERSNACKING: People started saying, oh, have you heard about Lemon8? What is this, like Lemon8? What? I don't know.

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN DIGITAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): With more than half a million followers on TikTok and Instagram combined --

YURKEVICH: You guys are known as?

SHAPIRO: Sistersnacking.

YURKEVICH (voice over): Even they hadn't heard of Lemon8.

SHAPIRO: People were saying it was TikTok's new app, kind of like a mix between Instagram and Pinterest.

YURKEVICH: They joined Lemon8 in April and have less than 40 followers, but say it isn't about follower count for them just yet.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When you hear about something like this, especially if it's from TikTok, you want to make sure your -- some of the first people

there.

YURKEVICH: Lemon8 is owned by ByteDance, the same company behind TikTok. That's raising some eyebrows among security experts and lawmakers.

But TikTok has 150 million users in the U.S., compared to Lemon8, which has only 900,000 active monthly users, and say they're creating a community

where people discover and share content related to beauty, fashion, travel, and more in an authentic and diverse environment.

LINDSAY GORMAN, SENIOR FELLOW, GERMAN MARSHAL FUND-ALLIANCE FOR SECURING DEMOCRACY: Even when you're talking about a platform like Lemon8, which can

start with something that seems quite benign.

There might be less of a national security concern, but four or five years ago, when we started raising the alarm about TikTok, we encountered the

same thing.

YURKEVICH: Now, bills like the Restrict Act are swirling around Congress to address concerns that foreign countries could access U.S. user data through

social media apps.

SHOU ZI CHEW, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, TIKTOK: Two years ago, I became the CEO of TikTok.

YURKEVICH: TikTok's CEO testified in March he's seen no evidence the Chinese government has accessed any of that data. Lemon8 declined to answer

questions about where data on its app is stored.

SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA): Good afternoon, everyone.

YURKEVICH: The bill's co-sponsor, Senator Mark Warner, told CNN, "Today, we're talking about TikTok, but as the growth of Lemon8 shows, new apps and

tools are popping up constantly. We need a real strategy to address them, no more whack-a-mole.

GORMAN: I think it's definitely possible that ByteDance is seeing some of the writing on the wall with TikTok in the U.S. and is looking for a plan

b.

YURKEVICH: N.K. Medani says she was hired and paid by an influencer agency to create content promoting Lemon8.

N.K. MEDANI: I was a little skeptical at first. I didn't know what it was. I had never heard of it.

YURKEVICH: But now she says she's having fun exploring what Lemon8 could be, but it's no rival to TikTok, yet.

MEDANI: That buzz of Lemon8 came from the almost removal of TikTok. A lot of -- more people are talking about it now, but I think it is solely

because of that mini scare that we all had.

YURKEVICH: And where consumers are, brands follow.

FIONA CO CHAN, FOUNDER, YOUTHFORIA: I think social media has driven a lot of our organic awareness. So, I think it counts for about 85 percent of our

sales.

YURKEVICH: The beauty brand Youthforia found massive success on TikTok, and is seeing if it can squeeze some more juice out of Lemon8.

CO CHAN: I think the fact that it's created by a parent company that's really successful, that's very, very successful at creating a social media

platform, that was really interesting, and I'm watching it kind of pick-up steam. It's still to be determined if Lemon8's going to be that platform

for us.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GIOKOS: Well, that's Vanessa Yurkevich, for us, bringing a report on the latest on Lemon8.

We'll head on sports, Novak Djokovic, start his quest for a fifth straight Wimbledon men's title. We'll have your results from London. Stay tuned for

that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:41:11]

GIOKOS: Welcome back. Now, my colleague Becky Anderson recently sat down with a very special interviewee indeed, Sultan Al Neyadi, the first time

Emirati astronaut to perform a spacewalk.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SULTAN AL NEYADI, FIRST EMIRATI ASTRONAUT TO PERFORM A SPACEWALK: The name is spacewalk, but we don't walk, we use our hands. So, we need to have a

very strong forearms to be able to move from one place to another.

So, it was amazing. It was seven hours continuous. I didn't feel it, because I was really focusing into the mission. And it was -- it was

really, really great feeling.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GIOKOS: All right. Well, you can take a listen to that full interview in the next hour.

Now, onto sports, the years third Grand Slam tennis tournament is underway in London. And the big question in the main straw, can anyone stop the

four-time defending champion from making it five in a row?

Amanda Davies joins me now. Novak Djokovic, citing his tournament -- this tournament exactly where he ended the last four on center court. Can he

maintain this momentum? What is your sense?

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN SPORT ANCHOR: Well, Eleni I have to tell you, the stage was set perfectly. The strawberries and cream that were laid out all the

All England Club looking resplendent in his purple and green, the grass court cut to perfection.

Novak Djokovic took to center court. He won the first set. And then guess what happened? The rain started falling.

It wouldn't be Wimbledon without a little bit of rain, would it? So, his quest for first round victory has been put on hold for now.

But there has been a pretty busy morning are already the All England Club. We've got news of what's been going on coming up in just a couple of

minutes in "WORLD SPORT".

GIOKOS: Yes. Right. Yes, we -- you've got lots more for us right after this, and I'll be back at the top of the hour. See you after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WORLD SPORT)

END