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Lukashenko to CNN: Prigozhin in Russia, not Belarus; Israel Threatens Return after Ending Jenin Incursion; Crowd Protest Resignation of Tel Aviv Police Chief; Israeli PM: Elizabeth Tsurkov Held Captive in Iraq; Pioneering Pop Star Coco Lee Dies at age 48; At Least 15 Killed, Tens-of- Thousands Displaced. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired July 06, 2023 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ELENI GIOKOS, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: This hour the status of the Head of the Wagner Mercenary Army is uncertain after the Leader of Belarus said
Yevgeny Prigozhin is still in Russia. He has not been seen in public in almost two weeks.
At least five people are dead after a Russian missile slams into an apartment building in the Western Ukrainian City of Lviv. A local official
describes it as the most devastating attack on the city since the war began. Israel's strike Southern Lebanon after rocket lands in Israel it's
the latest salvo move following Israel's military incursion into the occupied West Bank.
Meta launches a new social media app with over 10 million users signed up in the early hours can it rival Twitter? And the new report showing last
month was the planet's hottest June by a "Substantial margin". We'll delve into all of this in just a moment.
Well, the mystery is deepening over weather and whereabouts of the Head of the Wagner Mercenary Group. We haven't seen Yevgeny Prigozhin since last
month stunning uprising against Russian President Vladimir Putin. Today we know where he isn't?
The President of Belarus says Prigozhin is not in his country despite an exile deal but rather in Russia. Russian state media is showing what police
found in a recent raid on Prigozhin's home money, passports and even wigs. President Alexander Lukashenko was responding to a question by CNN's
Matthew Chance.
Matthew joins us now from Minsk. A bombshell news frankly on the whereabouts of Prigozhin and the fact that he is in Russia, so many
questions about his fate, the fate of Wagner Group as well. What did you discover?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, so many questions that this rises about the whereabouts of the Wagner Leader,
and what the fate will be of the organization. I mean, actually, we have expected Yevgeny Prigozhin to be sort of wheeled out at this extraordinary
news conference that was staged by Alexander Lukashenko, the Leader of Belarus.
But that didn't happen. And so obviously, it was one of the first issues that I asked him and that was addressed during the press conference, take a
listen to how that went down.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHANCE: I wonder if you could provide us all with a bit of an update on the whereabouts of the Wagner Leader Yevgeny Prigozhin is he in Belarus or not?
ALEXANDER LUKASHENKO, BELARUSIAN PRESIDENT: In terms of Yevgeny Prigozhin, he is in St. Petersburg, or maybe this morning he would travel to Moscow or
elsewhere, which is not on the territory of Belarus now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHANCE: Not on the territory of Belarus well, that contradicts earlier statements made by Alexander Lukashenko that he had arrived to take up that
offer of exile in Belarus. And of course, you also have to put it next to the dramatic scenes we've been seeing played out on Russian television over
the course of the past day or so where it seems that police have raided in Russia have raided one of the St. Petersburg residences of Yevgeny
Prigozhin.
They've seized gold bars, they've seized cash and ammunitions fake passports, some of them, apparently, allegedly belonging to Yevgeny
Prigozhin. And some extraordinary items of costume like wigs, you know, we don't quite know what the reason was for but so he could disguise himself
presumably.
But it's all looking like an attempt by the Russian authorities to move against Yevgeny Prigozhin to discredit him as a Leader of the Wagner
Organization. And it's been coupled with the fact that the Wagner Organization has been slowly taken to pieces, the troll factory, and the
media empire that was controlled by Yevgeny Prigozhin that's all now been dissolved.
You add to that the revelations from Alexander Lukashenko that actually, no one from Wagner, including Prigozhin has taken up that offer of exile. And
it starts to make you think that deals that was negotiated apparently by Lukashenko to bring to an end Wagner's armed uprising last month inside
Russia is now being renegotiated. I suppose you could say, by the Kremlin. And that may not end well, for the Wagner Leader.
[11:05:00]
GIOKOS: Yes. So Matthew, I mean, when all of this was playing out when Prigozhin, you know, waged this rebellion in Russia, everyone was looking
at the soft handed approach by Vladimir Putin. Things could be taking a very different direction now.
But Lukashenko was very non-committal about what the fate of Prigozhin will be. But he also mentioned he doesn't think that Putin will kill him, which
is quite an interesting line. Once you look at what the messaging is from Lukashenko at this point?
CHANCE: Sure. I mean, look, I mean, you're right. He was pretty non- committal about what will happen to Prigozhin. And what will happen to Wagner, because I think the reality is, he doesn't know. He's not in the
loop when it comes to that.
But he did go to some lengths to out of the blue really say, but I don't think that, you know, he's going to kill him. You know, I think he's not
going to do that. But he didn't feel that he was speaking from a position of authority was just this sort of gut talking.
But nevertheless, the fact that, you know, the idea of Prigozhin being killed by Putin was raised by the leader of the neighboring country of
Belarus, I think is a bad sign if you're Yevgeny Prigozhin.
GIOKOS: Yes. Matthew Chance, thank you so much great to have you on! Well meantime, Russia's war on Ukraine today shaking the Western City of the
Lviv to its core, a Russian missile slammed into this apartment building, killing five people and injuring dozens houses, school and even an
orphanage also weren't spared.
A local official calls the most devastating attack on civilians in the city since the war began. CNN's Ben Wedeman is following this for us from
Eastern Ukraine and joins us now with the latest. Extraordinary attack on Lviv a place that was basically a safe haven since the start of the war we
haven't seen this level of attack happen since the war started, right, Ben?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Well, there have been attacks on Lviv but certainly not with such a high number
of civilian casualties. Now the strike took place at about 2:40 am on this residential building.
The weapon used was a Russian caliber cruise missile. That's a hypersonic missile, with a payload of 500 to 600 kilograms of high explosives. Now,
among the dead is a 21-year-old woman, a journalist and a 95-year-old woman who survived the Second World War.
Now one of the issues that have come up is that when this strike took place, it turns out that 10 bomb shelters in Lviv had been shut locked
shut. The assumption is that because the Lviv is so far from the front lines and compared to other parts of Ukraine has been spared this kind of
Russian firepower, perhaps nobody thought it was necessary. So now the local prosecutor is carrying out an investigation as to why those bomb
shelters were shut Eleni?
GIOKOS: Yes. Ben, tell me a little bit more what are you seeing on the ground? What is happening on the frontlines?
WEDEMAN: Well, one of the most interesting developments today is that there has been a prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine, the 47th of its
kind in this instance, they exchanged 45 prisoners.
We don't know the details of who the Russian prisoners, but according to the Ukrainians, most of them were soldiers and officers with a civilian as
well among them. Mow, we've spoken to Russian recently, two of whom were convicts.
Now, we've been told that the Russians when it comes to these prisoner exchanges, which are the result of very complex and difficult negotiations,
the Russians don't want these convicts turned soldiers to be returned and they're looking for officers.
They're looking for people like pilots of helicopters and planes, who are of some value to the Russian war effort. But the convicts apparently are
almost never part of these exchanges. Now according to the Ukrainians until now, the number of prisoners turned over rather, Ukrainians who have
returned is 2576.
We don't know the exact number of Russian prisoners that have been returned in total, but this is the sort of thing they are actually behind the scene
contacts between the Russians and the Ukrainians to conduct these occasional prisoner exchanges, Eleni.
[11:10:00]
GIOKOS: All right, Ben Wedeman for us. Thank you. Well, NATO leaders are meeting next week at the top of the agenda Russia's war on Ukraine and
Sweden's bid to join the alliance. NATO Chief Jens Stoltenberg a short while ago saying it's still possible that a positive decision on Sweden
will happen at the summit.
He says the leaders of Sweden and Turkey will meet beforehand to talk about Turkey's opposition. U.S. President Joe Biden showed his support for Sweden
when he hosted the Prime Minister at the White House Wednesday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Reiterating fully, fully support Sweden membership in NATO, and the bottom line is simply Sweden that is
going to make our alliance stronger as the same value set that we haven't really looked at -- and looking forward for your membership.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: Well just ahead, anti-government protests erupt again in Israel as Tel Aviv's Police Chief Heads for the exits. We'll unpack the political and
the politics with the journalist from Harrods and later if you thought June was warmer than normal, you were right the new reports on the record
breaking news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GIOKOS: Well, Lebanese security sources telling CNN a rocket fired from Southern Lebanon has landed in Israel the source says authorities believe
Palestinian militants are likely behind the rocket fire.
We're also being told that the shelling has stopped after Israel fired 15 projectiles into Lebanon. This comes as the UN says this week's Israeli
incursion into Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank may constitutes a war crime.
Let's go now to Jerusalem CNN's Salma Abdelaziz is standing by. Salma, you spent some time in Jenin camp. You witnessed firsthand the destruction to
homes. You spoke to people on the ground. You're seeing the deficits in terms of electricity and water. Could you give me a sense of the aftermath
of this 40 hour incursion?
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely residents they're really trying to piece their lives back together. They return to a city that has
already been deeply impoverished, deeply marginalized, even more destroyed by what Israel calls its largest military operation on Jenin in 20 years,
as you mentioned basic services.
Some of them were cut there was attempts to restore them. Schools were shut because of this lack of services cutting off thousands from education. And
families were entering their homes trying to rebuild them simply with their bare hands, a broomstick and whatever they -- whatever help they could
find. But alongside suffering in Jenin, we also saw a spirit of defiance. Take a look at what we found.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ABDELAZIZ (voice over): Chance of anger into science ring out in the City of Jenin. The morning after Israel's military withdrew thousands filled the
streets to bury the dead.
[11:15:00]
The Israeli military says that all 12 killed in its incursion were combatants and that its operation aimed to dismantle terror networks here.
But this father says he is proud. His 19-year-old is what he calls a martyr and was a fighter for one of the Palestinian armed factions killed in the
incursion.
My son told me he didn't want to get married or have a family. He said all he wanted to do was to dedicate his life to Palestine to fighting the
occupation.
ABDELAZIZ (on camera): This funeral is quickly turning into a demonstration of resistance. Many of the armed Palestinian factions are here to show that
they are unbound, unbroken by Israel's raids.
ABDELAZIZ (voice over): For many Palestinians, Jenin is a name and place synonymous with suffering and resistance. But this battle has come at a
heavy cost. In the aftermath that camps residents were left without running water, electricity or basic services. And families return to destroyed
homes.
Hannat Shalabe (ph) says she and her three daughters were caught in the crossfire. Our home all these material things they can be replaced. She
says how can I rebuild the psyche of my little girls? How will they ever feel safe again?
She takes me upstairs to show me what's left of her daughter's room. My youngest she's only seven years old she tells me. She says she wishes she
was never born. She says I should never have birthed her into this horror.
Israel's military says it's achieved its operational goals wiping out weapons depots and command centers in Jenin. But it has also deepened the
hatred and motivated the resistance in a city notorious for always fighting back.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ABDELAZIZ: You mentioned Eleni the UN statement accusing the Israeli military of potential war crimes in its operation on Jenin. That statement
goes on to criticize Israel for what the UN calls the collective punishment of the residents of Jenin.
If you begin to take an understanding of the geography of the area it begins to explain why the UN is making these accusations? It is an area
that is only about half a square kilometer in size but home to some 17,000 people very densely populated very poor.
Many of the streets are just these tight alleyways making it extremely difficult for the Israeli military to move its vehicles through that might
explain the use of force throughout the camp. And it means of course, that family's residents are always caught in the middle in any operation carried
out by the Israeli military there.
GIOKOS: Salma it was such an important perspective. Thank you so much. Well, staying with -- region, protests against the Israeli government
appear to be heating up again large crowds blocking Tel Aviv's main highway late Wednesday after the Police Chief resigned.
He accused the government of wanting to use excessive force against demonstrators. My next guest was asked about those protests and he says
"The movement has been slowing down in the last few months. And for a long time, it wasn't clear where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was heading.
Now in recent days, he is moving forward".
My guest is also discussing the Jenin incursion, saying Israel may have bought itself a temporary respite from West Bank terror, but military
operations will not achieve long term quiet Amos Harel is a Military Correspondent and Defense Analyst for the Israeli Newspaper Haaretz.
He joins me now from Tel Aviv. Amos, great to have you with us! I want to start with that last quote. And also just, you know, refer to a lot of what
Salma Abdelaziz just told us about the anger that is brewing on the ground and the devastation in the aftermath of what we saw with this incursion.
What is the long term plan here? This cycle of violence continues in Jenin, and while Netanyahu says the objectives were achieved, he opened the door
for this not being over this is going to continue.
AMOS HAREL, MILITARY CORRESPONDENT AND DEFENSE ANALYST: Look, it's never over. It's -- I don't think there's much of a long term planning on the
Israeli side. This is a battle that's been going on for four decades.
Recently, we've seen quite a few attacks from both the Jenin and Nablus area towards either Israeli settlers or Israeli military units. Netanyahu
was under enormous domestic pressure to react. He's the head of a right wing government which was very critical of the previous government for not
dealing with the security situation.
So he was faced with a dilemma and he had to act and this is why he decided on this incursion, but in the end, this is quite a limited scope of an
operation. 48 hours about the thousand soldiers they were out by the time this ended there's no new occupation or an invasion of the Jenin refugee
camp.
[11:20:00]
The Israelis hoped that this would push back against Palestinian attempts for retaliation for the next few weeks and maybe more of these rates would
again help to weaken the status of those military organizations acting from the Jenin area.
Other than that, I don't think there's a solution in sight. We'll probably see unfortunately, more of these skirmishes, more terrorist attacks and
more bloodshed.
GIOKOS: I mean, the question now becomes is Israel in some way empowering emboldening the militant groups that are becoming more attractive for
youngsters on the ground, specifically in the aftermath of these raids. We saw the Marksman at the funerals that were armed as well, so many questions
about whether this is really averting the militants in the camp as opposed to actually empowering them in some way.
HAREL: The Israeli government itself, spokespersons for the Israeli army will tell you that this is helpful that this is effective that to some
extent, it helps deter other Palestinians from joining the armed fight. And that sense, quite a few weapons were caught and quite a few explosives were
destroyed, and maybe some of the expertise is lost, then these groups are at least slightly more dangerous in the near future.
However, when you talk of the, when you look at the bigger picture, the bigger perspective, it's quite clear that we have no, we have nothing on
the horizon on the political level with no diplomatic solution in sight with no negotiations regarding the so-called peace process that ended a few
years ago.
And even the previous government, which was a center left government in Israel wasn't able or interested in renewing those negotiations. It's quite
clear if nothing happens on this level, then that will, that we will see more attacks and more, more of those incidents, both in west bank and also
probably --
GIOKOS: And it's an important point, right, because the Palestinian authority says that it ceased contact communication, the security
coordination pact is not operational right now that they're not communicating that further exacerbates the scenario.
HAREL: Yes. Yes. But on the other hand, the Palestinian authority has done nothing to help regarding situation, especially in the Jenin area, which is
absolutely chaotic for two years now. It never had the courage to actually deal with those militants with those gunmen in their different groups.
For quite a long time the Israelis have been asking them as Israel's so- called security partners to do something about this. And they didn't, because they were too afraid of dealing with those militants. So the PA, it
has its own problem. It's a corrupt regime. It didn't have any kind of elections since 2006.
It's led by an elderly politician, Mahmoud Abbas who was 87 years old. He's not a terrorist, but he doesn't push forward on any kind of attempt to
achieve law and order in the Jenin area. So Israel is, in a way, it doesn't have much choice from its point of view, rather than to act because in the
end, there are more and more of these attacks, whether intended towards Tel Aviv or Haifa, inside Israeli borders, or towards the settlements in a
northern West Bank.
GIOKOS: Yes. You know, on the backdrop of all this, we have been seeing protests action against the judicial reforms. Let's talk about what
happened around Ben Gurion Airport where you saw highways and roads being blocked. And now you see the Tel Aviv police chief that has resigned.
What is the messaging right now from government, as well as from the former police chief? There's a sense that they have to be a lot more aggressive in
dealing with protesters.
HAREL: The police chief was actually removed. It's the district commander of the Tel Aviv area, and he was actually removed from his office in late
March, but it was never implemented. And yes, yesterday evening, he finally left office and gave a press conference in which for the first time he told
the public through the media, that he was actually pushed by the government, especially by the minister who's in charge of the police, a far
right politician to break some bones to act much more aggressively towards those demonstrators who are blocking roads in Tel Aviv and near the Ben
Gurion Airport.
And he decided that this was not part of his job that he should be careful, that he should be cautious about the well-being of those demonstrators.
This is part of democracy, and this is why he refused to act accordingly. What we're seeing now I think, is more aggressiveness on behalf of the
police.
At least this is what we saw yesterday night when there were administrators all over the place in Tel Aviv blocking roads. And we may see more of this
because of the political pressure on the police to show some results from the government's perspective.
[11:25:00]
This is very worrying right now. On the other hand, it did, it did give the protest movement as sort of a shock, which pushed them back into action
after a few weeks where things were quite slow.
GIOKOS: Yes, I mean, what does this mean for protesters who want to have their voice heard if there's a sense that they are going to be dealt with a
far stronger hand, if that's the anticipation here? What does this mean for the movement?
HAREL: I think that the younger generation would be energized and more willing to fight not violently, but to fight for their beliefs and act in
order to protest against the government's plans for a judicial overhaul. Some of the older protesters may be more cautious and may try to stay away
from attempts to block roads and so on.
But apparently this looks to turn into a much uglier struggle. It's still of course a democracy, if there's still the freedom of speech that people
are more and more worried about the government's attempts to push them back and to move forward with the reforms.
GIOKOS: Amos Harel, thank you very much for joining us, great to have you on the show and sharing your insights with us. Well, straight ahead on
"Connect the World" a live report from South Africa where authorities are investigating a toxic gas leak where they think the fatal cloud came from.
A two minute hearing in federal courts in Florida is over for former U.S. President Trump's personal valet. We'll have a live report on what he's
accused of and how he pled, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GIOKOS: Welcome back to "Connect the World" with me Eleni Giokos, I'm in for Becky Anderson. These are your headlines this hour. The Kremlin is not
commenting to CNN on the whereabouts of Wagner Chief Yevgeny Prigozhin. This after the president of Belarus responding to a question by CNN said
Prigozhin was not in his country but in Russia.
The Kremlin said Prigozhin had a deal to go to Belarus after leading an uprising in Russia last month. This is what's left of homes in the western
Ukrainian city of Lviv after Russian missile strike. Five people were killed when the missile slammed into apartments, three dozen were wounded.
A local official says it is the most devastating attack on civilians in Lviv since the war began. Now CNN is learning that a rocket fired from
southern Lebanon has landed in Israel. The Lebanese security sources authorities believe Palestinian militants are likely behind the rocket
fired.
[11:30:00]
At the same time the UN says Israel's deadly operation in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank may constitute a war crime. Right, moving on
authorities in South Africa now says 17 people have died from nitric gas inhalation near Boksburg. Three of the dead are children three others
remain hospitalized in critical condition.
The leak apparently came from a gas cylinder that was being used by illegal miners to process gold. Joining us now from Johannesburg Senior
International Correspondent David McKenzie, a tragic story here, David take us through what happened.
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Eleni, if you look at this video that shows these tightly packed shanties in a formal
settlement east of where I'm sitting, where, according to authorities; there's was this poisonous gas leak. And you see the cylinders there, in
fact, video taken by the Premier's office of those gas cylinders that appear to be either stored there or they were manufactured, placed gas in
there.
The accusation is that this comes from somehow linked to the illegal mining sector here in South Africa, which is very large, and often very dangerous.
But for those investigators that came onto the scene in the late evening on Wednesday, it was a very tragic scene. Women, men and children died from
this poisonous gas. Here's the premier of the province.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PANYAZA LESUFI, GAUTENG PROVINCE PREMIER: This scene was heartbreaking, for us heartbreaking. I regret it why we have to go through that. It was
heartbreaking. So it's something that we might need assistance personality, because it was, the bodies were scattered literally everywhere.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCKENZIE: Well, Eleni, you and I have both covered the issue of illegal miners here in South Africa. There is an ongoing battle between the police,
the special prosecuting authority and private security against these illegal miners. It's still no one has been arrested in this particular
case.
But there's an almost weekly announcement here in South Africa of ongoing battles with this group of gangs that has a multimillion dollar industry of
siphoning gold off of disused mines here and selling it on the worldwide market, Eleni?
GIOKOS: Yes. And you know, and David, as you know, I mean, often the gold is processed in plain sight a lot of the time. I mean, the question here
isn't, as you say this is informal settlement, densely populated. In terms of the investigation, in terms of immediacy, surely the community could
assist in terms of identifying who had set up those structures.
MCKENZIE: We'll have to wait and see if that happens. I think a broader issue here is the fear that people live in with these illegal mining groups
which are known as Zamazamas here in South Africa. These groups are heavily armed, sometimes with automatic weapons.
There's been several instances in the last few months where attacks have been attributed to these groups. And several have been arrested. Just a few
weeks ago, in fact that many of these illegal miners were potentially killed in an explosion in another part of this province, this is a major
issue.
The mining companies and the South African government is literally losing millions and millions and millions of dollars every year to these illegal
miners. But they seem powerless to stop these armed gangs. In this case, it isn't yet definitively linked to these miners.
This is what the authorities are saying. But if you look at the type of gear that they found, and the condition that they're in, it certainly looks
like this had something to do with these gangs and a very tragic death of innocent civilians in that part of Johannesburg, Eleni.
GIOKOS: Yes, absolutely, absolutely tragedy. David McKenzie, great to see you, thank you. Well, the U.S. Navy says it prevented Iranian warships from
season two commercial oil tankers in international waters in the Gulf of Oman. In one incident U.S. official said, Iranian navy ship opened fire as
a tanker with small arms.
No one was injured, Iran says, its navy had a court order to seize the tanker after it collided with an Iranian vessel. The U.S. Navy and its
allies have stepped up patrols in the region to counter Iranian seizures of commercial ships.
Israel's Prime Minister says the dual Israeli Russian citizen missing for several months in Iraq is being held by an Iranian backed Shia militia
group. Benjamin Netanyahu says "Elizabeth Tsurkov is still alive and we see Iraq as responsible for her fate and safety". He says she traveled there
for academic research.
[11:35:00]
The militia group Kata'ib Hezbollah was designated a terrorist group by the U.S. in 2009. Now, moments ago Donald Trump's right hand man pleaded not
guilty in Miami federal courts and classified documents case Trump's valet, while an otter was charged on the same indictment as trumped otter is
facing six felony charges including conspiracy to obstruct justice and civil counsel mishandling classified documents.
The Justice Department says it has surveillance of a video of him moving boxes of the documents around the property. CNN's Carlos Suarez is outside
the federal courthouse. Carlos, what can we expect from the hearing?
CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Eleni just a few minutes ago, 40- year-old while not left the federal courthouse here in South Florida, minutes after pleading not guilty to obstruction charges and lying to
federal investigators. The 40-year-old did not say a word as he left the federal courthouse here in downtown Miami and got into an awaiting car.
Prosecutors here say that now to move to several boxes with classified documents from a storage room at the Mar-a-Lago resorts. And he moved it to
other parts of the property and lied to federal investigators about the whole thing. Prosecutors say that the move was all in an effort for a Trump
lawyer not to find the classified documents that had been subpoenaed by a grand jury.
Now the U.S. government says that they have surveillance video of Nauta moving these boxes with these classified documents inside of them before
the FBI search the Mar-a-Lago property Nauta as you referenced that there is a personal aide to the former president.
Again, he was in court this morning and he was joined by his DC based attorney as well as a new attorney that is going to represent him here out
of South Florida. Trump, the former President as well as Nauta have been close since the federal indictment came down on both these men. Nauta was
in South Florida for Trump's arraignment last month, however, because he did not have a local attorney to represent him.
He was not able to enter this not guilty plea. Again, just a few minutes ago, Nauta left this courthouse after entering a not guilty plea on
obstruction charges and lying to federal investigators in connection to the search of these classified documents that the former president is being
accused of having at his resort, Eleni?
GIOKOS: All right. Great to have you on thank you so much. Well, we don't know if that promise cage match between Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk will
ever happen. For now their apps are fighting it out online as Meta's new effort to take on Twitter goes live. That is coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:40:00]
GIOKOS: Well, Facebook's parent company Meta has launched a new social media app that is a direct rival to Twitter, the app is called Threads. And
I had to try it out for myself. I logged on a little earlier and was able to sync everything up really easy to log on, by the way. CEO Mark
Zuckerberg is saying some 10 million people signing up for the service in the first few hours.
For comparison, Twitter had a user base of around 300 million people. And let's not forget that Zuckerberg has a long standing feud with fellow tech
billionaire Elon Musk, who bought Twitter last year. I want to bring in Brian Fung, who's standing by. You know, I just I haven't spent a lot of
time on Threads. But it just feels sort of like a reset.
It feels like the early days of Twitter that we had no idea what to write and do. And I just see so many people having fun. And the name Threads, I
guess is sort of a play on words. When you're on Twitter, you create a Thread to write and like more information. I guess question is can it
really take on Twitter?
BRIAN FUNG, CNN TECHNOLOGY REPORTER: Yes, that's the question Eleni that everyone is trying to figure out whether or not this is a Twitter killer.
And so far, we've seen this app have a very strong start. You mentioned that Mark Zuckerberg said that 10 million people have signed up for this
app within the first seven hours. Well, Mark Zuckerberg gave an update to that just a few minutes ago, saying that number is up to 30 million in the
first 16 hours.
So you know, we're seeing, you know, heavy, heavy usage now of this app. And, you know, this looks like it could be a credible competitor to
Twitter. You know, especially when you consider that Meta has a huge existing installed user base of people who are on Instagram, who had can
then encourage to come onto this new platform and draw them away from Twitter, which of course, you know, in the last few days has done a lot to
make it harder for people to use, and view tweets on its service.
So all of that is sort of contributing to this perfect storm where, you know, Meta is trying to copy a major rival in this space. And at the same
time, this rival is making it very easy for people to leave and to jump ship onto this new platform. So you know whether this actually ends up
being a killer for Twitter, we'll have to see.
GIOKOS: Exactly, I was actually just checking if I can edit my Thread. I can't edit it that would have really been a game changer. So I mean, look,
I think Mark Zuckerberg is really taking it quite seriously that this is, I mean, he's copying in some way. We saw that meme earlier with two spider
man standing.
And actually, Mark Zuckerberg hasn't tweeted in 10 years, he gets on to Twitter to kind of take on Elon Musk. But in terms of the capabilities of
what he's able to do through this app, he's got to move the big newsmakers right that have become so well known on Twitter to use Threads as a serious
platform so that it doesn't mimic Instagram.
FUNG: That's right. Yes. And it seems like what's been happening in the past few days, even before the public launch, it seemed as if the folks at
Meta were trying to court, high profile celebrities and business leaders and brands to come on to Threads, so that there would already be an
existing array of content there for people to discover when the public launch happened last night.
And so, you know, you have clearly Instagram very conscious of the fact that, you know, there needs to be some gravity, some amount of poll by high
profile users so that people will have a reason to spend time on this new app. And you know, as well, you see, Instagram creators and influencers now
also beginning to flush out content on this new app.
And all of that is something that, you know, has historically not really been on Twitter as much. And it seems like, you know, Meta is trying to
sell that as an extra selling point for Threads.
GIOKOS: Exactly. And I mean I'm spending a bit of time on Threads as you're speaking. Fascinating times, I'm curious to see how this is going to
evolve. You know, the social media platforms take a life of their own. Just another thing for me to update it gives me so much more work, Brian, thank
you so much for joining us, great to have you on.
Well, fans around the world are mourning the death of Coco Lee, a pioneering singer and the first Chinese American to perform at the Oscars.
Lee's family says the Hong Kong born singer died Wednesday at the age of 48. After suicide attempts, they say she had been battling depression.
Lee became one of the first Asian singers to shoot to fame on the international stage. In 1999, she told CNN her goal was to have a global
voice.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COCO LEE, SINGER: The whole world that's my goal, you know, to break into the whole world because I believe, I can do it. I think there has never
been an Asian American artist that broke into the United States successfully.
[11:45:00]
And I have a team of people who believe I can do it. And that's what I'm working on right now. And hopefully my album would do well and hopefully
everyone in the world would get to hear Coco Lee's voice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: While she achieved her goal, and as fans grieve her passing, they're also saluting 30 years of Coco Lee singing career. U.S. Treasury
Secretary Janet Yellen arrived in Beijing for a three day visit. Her trip is aimed at mending frayed ties between the world's top economies.
She said to me, China's premier seen as a close ally to President Xi Jinping. A Treasury Department official says Yellen will have the chance to
make serious connections in a first meeting with China's new economic leadership. Yellen is also expected to address issues like human rights.
And a recent comment that China's lending policies have left developing nations trapped in debt.
Now we head to New York with this drone footage shows about 50 sharks swimming near the beach of a state park in Long Island. It is not clear
what kind they are. And experts say they are likely San sharks. And they're causing alarm after five people were bitten in what they call a large
marine animal in 24 hours alone.
Authorities say those were most likely shark bites. Long Island is stepping up its shark patrols to keep swimmers informed and safe. A 15-year-old boy
described what happened to him when he felt a bite.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETER BANCULLI, BITTEN BY SHARK: My first reaction to when the shark grabbed my foot was to immediately get out the water and get help.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I didn't believe it at first, and then my reaction was pure panic. I needed to get to him right away.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: Torrential rain in China has led to devastating floods Just ahead a look at the deadly floods and the impact on the upcoming harvests. And
later it was a record breaking June for heat around the globe. We'll have a live report.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GIOKOS: Earlier this week, temperatures around the globe set a record temperature and now a new report is out that shows us that the month of
June also set to record. The European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service says, this past June was the planet's hottest and by, "Substantial
margin".
The previous record was just set in 2019. With more on this, I'm joined live by CNN's Chief Climate Correspondent Bill Weir. We're talking a lot
this week. I'm happy because we get to engage in conversation, but it's not good news. I want to get a sense in terms of how the data is correlated,
how we get this global average?
You've got to keep in mind that the southern hemisphere is in winter season at the moment. So if you look at the global average, it is worrying,
because that means that the summer season in the northern hemisphere is either getting hotter and winter is not that extreme in the southern
hemisphere.
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Exactly, exactly. This new record is just a scooch over 17 degrees Celsius, just under 63 degrees
Fahrenheit. And that sounds like a comfortable temperature. But when you just like you say Eleni, when you factor in the whole half of the planet
that's supposed to be locked in winter right now, it's come up at an alarming rate.
And there's a great metaphor in the climate space that if you see a man walking a dog on a beach, and you want to know which direction they're
going, watch the man not the dog.
[11:50:00]
These daily records, these monthly records are like a dog is radically going back and forth. But the trend of the man walking is up on the charts
of temperatures now. And so, the last, the hottest nine Junes ever recorded are the last nine Junes, the 10th was 10 years ago in that list.
And so, we're in an age of sort of broken record breaking where we set a record on Monday of this week. It was broken on Tuesday tide again
yesterday. Now the World Meteorological Organization just a couple of years ago said there's a 66 percent chance that the humanity will blow past the
1.5 degrees Celsius, sort of ceiling goal set by the Paris Accords and the IPCC.
And this is I guess how that happens, right. You start breaking these, these, these average surface temperatures for the whole planet, and then
tying it in and up and up and up. And so it becomes sort of a game of Whack-a-Mole. But the big message is, ultimately, the more fossil fuels
that are burned, the hotter it's going to get, and that has not subsided, humanity's appetite for energy is unchecked.
And all the new renewables that are coming online at a rapid rate are really encouraging to those hopeful for a transition. But it's not nearly
at the speed to keep up with the changes we're now measuring.
GIOKOS: It's not. It's the speed. You're right. It's the speed. We've got COP28 later this year, so lots to talk about there as well. But I want to
quickly touch on where have we seen the most heats? Where's it getting really hot, which it shouldn't be? I mean, I don't want to talk about the
UAE where it's like 42 degrees Celsius right now. But where is it just changing dramatically?
WEIR: The most startling, I think are on the both ends of the planet, the north towards the north and South Pole. On Monday, the very tip of Quebec
way up in the Arctic was warmer than Miami. It was 93 degrees Fahrenheit up there. At the same time they were setting heat records in Antarctica.
Ukraine science station on the islands down in Antarctica, set a new temperature record. And again, that's in the height of winter. As a result
of that, so much sea ice has melted around Antarctica, it would cover an area the size of India, and instead of that ice reflecting it's absorbing
into the seawater.
GIOKOS: Wow. Wow, Bill Weir, thank you so very much.
WEIR: You bet.
GIOKOS: Well, in China devastating flooding has killed at least 15 people. I want you to take a look at these images from Southwestern China. Tens of
thousands have been forced from their homes and there are fears that the flooding could cause potentially devastating crop damage. Here's CNN's Anna
Coren with the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It was the last thing this couple was expecting on their engagement day. While driving to the
ceremony, a flash flood in China's central Henan province washed away the car. They're only salvation scrambling to the roof of the vehicle. Rescue
used a drone to drop a rope and life jackets to the pier before they were dragged to the riverbank by a crane.
The extreme flooding comes as several parts of China have been hit with torrential rain over the past month, killing at least 15 people in the
southwestern city of Chongqing according to local authorities and state media and prompting for counties in the city to issue the highest Red Alert
warnings.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We woke up this morning and saw so much rainwater, the floods submerged roads and crops.
COREN (voice over): Neighboring Sichuan province has also been hard hit where more than 85,000 residents have been displaced, prompting Chinese
leader Xi Jinping to order authorities to "Give top priority to keeping residents safe and minimizing losses". Continuous heavy rain just before
the harvest threatens to ruin crops this year. This farmer in China's central Henan province says heavy rain has drenched his wheat fields.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After a few days of rain, the ground is very wet. And now the harvester cannot enter the field. We probably need to wait another
four or five days to start harvesting. This is a real disaster.
COREN (voice over): To help Henan province deal with harvest losses, China's finance ministry announced it will allocate nearly $28 million to
help the farmers. But severe damage to the crops could potentially push China to buy more wheat from the global market, where it's already expected
to see less supply as the ongoing war in Ukraine continues to curtail its grain exports.
DARIN FRIEDRICHS, CO-FOUNDER, SITONIA CONSULTING: If there is damage to the crop, and we're still figuring out how much it is, then it's likely that
China will need to increase its imports next year. So that would obviously have an impact on global prices and an impact on global markets.
COREN (voice over): With the seasonal rain slowly shifting north, Central China is now bracing for heavy rainfalls. Anna Coren, CNN, Hong Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[11:55:00]
GIOKOS: Well in tonight's parting shots, I want you to take a look at this. The running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain is off with a bang, a
ceremonial firework launch kicked off the iconic nine day festival. Every morning thousands of people will run to avoid six balls charging through
Pamplona streets.
It's an event seeped in history and culture, but also controversy. Bulls involved in the run will be killed during the festival. And over the years
revelers have been gouged and even killed as well.
Well, thanks so very much for joining us on "Connect the World". "One World" is up next. From me Eleni Giokos, I will see you tomorrow.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:00:00]
END
