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Connect the World
U.S. Signals Pause in Iran Strikes for Diplomatic Push; At Least One Killed, 29 Injured in Van-Ramming and Stabbing; CBS News Polls: Trump's Overall Approval Rating at 39 Percent; Tech Companies Warn Against Restricting Open-Weight AI Models; Danube River Hits Record Low Water Levels. Aired 9-10a ET
Aired July 27, 2026 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: The U.S. pauses strikes on Iran, giving talks quote some space as the conflict enters its sixth month.
It's 09:00 a.m. in Washington, 04:30 p.m. in Iran. It is 02:00 p.m. here in London. I'm Becky Anderson. You're watching "Connect the World".
Also making headlines today, firefighters in France race to contain devastating blazes as a heat wave there looms. And a shooting at a food
festival in Seattle leaves multiple people dead and wounded. Well, the stock market in New York opens about 30 minutes from now. Futures currently
indicating a higher open for the trading week as oil prices fall back in response to the lull in fighting in the Strait of Hormuz.
It's a big week for Big Tech, Meta and Microsoft reporting Wednesday results for Amazon and Apple later this week. What these reports say about
CapEx, very specifically AI spend, is very much the focus for investors, and we are on Fed watch this week with a rate decision Wednesday. Likely no
change, but worth keeping an eye out for any indication that stubborn U.S. inflation could mean a rate rise there in the near future.
Well, as diplomatic efforts appear to ramp up between the U.S. and Iran, Tehran is now embroiled in another conflict. In a stunning development Iran
claims Ukraine attacked one of its vessels in the Caspian Sea over the weekend. Now, Ukraine's President says drones targeted several ships which
were transporting military cargo from Iran to Russia. That's the story out of Ukraine.
Iran says at least one person was killed and three injured, and is now threatening Ukraine. This all comes as U.S. military operations against
Iran do appear to be on hold. But despite the U.S. signaling new diplomatic efforts, Tehran insists Washington will not determine the timing of this
war.
Look, from Europe to the Gulf, we aren't following all sides of this evolving story for you today. We've got Clare Sebastian in London, Eleni
Giokos is in Dubai. And let's start if we can, Clare, with Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warning that this incident in the Caspian Sea
cannot go unanswered. What is going on there? And why would Kyiv risk getting mixed up in another conflict?
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Becky, I think it's a calculated risk for Ukraine here. I just want to be clear: we're not 100 percent sure
at this point what exactly happened. We have different accounts from different sides. Ukraine says it hit cargo ships that were under
international sanctions, as well as a sort of missile boat, a military ship.
It's not saying which countries they were flagged under or owned by. It's saying they were involved in transporting military equipment between Iran
and Russia, those were the exact words of President Zelenskyy over the weekend.
Iran, of course, on the other hand, is saying that one cargo ship, civilian cargo ship, was hit and one seafarer was killed and several injured, and
that the ship was on its way from Russia to Iran. So, we have different accounts there. But why would Ukraine take the risk here, I think, is a
really big question.
Look, on the one hand, the position of Zelenskyy is that Iran has effectively already attacked Ukraine through its supply to Russia of Shahed
drones and then the subsequent licenses, ballistic missiles, also reportedly, and so that is his sort of official position that this is a
legitimate target.
But I think the timing here is really interesting because, of course, Zelenskyy is now going into this big diplomatic week. He's in the UK today.
He's heading, we think, to Washington tomorrow to meet with President Trump.
And these strikes do allow him to sort of reargue the prowess of Ukraine's deep strikes to help with this flipping of the narrative around the sort of
patron-client relationship that we used to have with Ukraine when it visited its Western allies, towards the sort of mutuality of these
relationships.
And of course it helps bring Ukraine up the priority list, especially in the eyes of President Trump, if he sees that Ukraine is now potentially
able to help weaken Iran through strikes like this. And also, the danger of the burgeoning military relationship between Russia and Iran, and how that
could affect the course of the war with Iran.
[09:05:00]
So, I think all of that helps bolster those arguments for Zelenskyy going in to a critical diplomatic week, and of course, especially a critical
meeting in the White House, Becky.
ANDERSON: Eleni, let me bring you in here at this point, a pause in strikes, of course, in the Strait of Hormuz. The Americans, they say,
wanting to keep the window open for diplomacy. But as you and I go to air at this hour, some worrying news just coming in from Saudi. What are we
hearing?
ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. So Saudi Arabia air defenses activated. They intercepted incoming drones, Becky, from Iraq. And the
Saudi Ministry of Defense saying that these are Iran-backed terrorist militias trying to target attacks on oil capabilities, refineries, and
assets in Saudi Arabia.
That news just coming in from the Saudi Defense Ministry. These oil facilities are specifically in the Eastern Province and in the Riyadh
region. Now, keeping in mind, over the weekend, we actually saw an expansion including Saudi Arabia, where the Yemeni Houthis, which is an
Iran-backed proxy, targeted another vessel in the Red Sea, a Saudi vessel.
Coalition forces in Saudi Arabia responding by targeting military targets in Hodeida. The Houthi say it's escalation for escalation. They targeted
Yanbu and then they targeted the Jizan Province. We have seen satellite imagery of black smoke billowing from Jizan Province, Becky, which
basically shows that perhaps there is a facility, an oil facility that has been set alight, that has been impacted by these strikes.
Then, hearing the news today from the Saudi -- from Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Defense that more drones coming in this time from Iraq, Amina Baker from
Kepler says to me, this is a clear expansion of the war, and it's very worrying regionally.
ANDERSON: It isn't clear what happens next, but this is very worrying. It would be extremely worrying for the region to see a new front open up
between, for example, Saudi and the Houthis. Not least on a day when we see news of these incoming drones from Iran-backed militia in Iraq.
What's the industry saying about oil prices, oil supply at this point? And we've seen prices come off a little bit. Obviously, that this lull in
fighting has taken the heat out of oil prices over the past 24 hours or so. What's the current thinking in the industry?
GIOKOS: So, it's fascinating. It's sort of two camps right now. The one that's the trading camp, focusing on the fact that President Trump has
paused on any strikes in Iran. That is the reason that we're seeing a huge drop in Brent Crude and WTI prices because they're seeing that as potential
de-escalation, perhaps some kind of diplomatic off-ramp.
The reality in the Strait of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb Strait completely different. I spoke to Maersk CEO a little earlier today, and they were
looking at the data. In Strait of Hormuz over Saturday, Sunday, and today there were only 78 vessels, Becky, that transited the Strait of Hormuz, 58
of which are the ones that have that were not flagged by Iran, and those all opted for the northern route, the Iranian route.
We're talking about a trickle of vessels on a daily basis. If you look at what's happening in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the industry is very
concerned around a further escalation, including Saudi Arabia. What is encouraging, I guess, in the Red Sea is that Chinese-linked vessels,
despite them carrying Saudi oil, have been able to negotiate transit through the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
So, it's still very tenuous, but it seems that Iran, as well as the Houthis, are trying to formalize again some kind of control in both of the
Straits.
ANDERSON: Good to have you. Thank you. You are up to speed, folks, both on the Ukraine, Iran, Caspian Sea development, and indeed on what is going on
around the Gulf. Thank you.
Well, officials in Spain say wildfires just west of Madrid are advancing more slowly, but remain active and uncontrolled. It's just one of several
areas in the country fighting to hold back the flames at this point. In Spain's Castellon Province, thousands of hectares have burned.
Firefighting aircraft have been sent by Greece and Italy to help emergency crews there. It's now a waiting game, frankly, for residents anxious to get
back to their homes and to assess the damage.
Well, France's President held a crisis meeting this morning. The response to wildfires sweeping across the southwestern part of that country blaze in
the Gironde region, creating dangerous clouds, generating their own weather and worsening conditions.
Fire officials say the country has never seen a phenomenon like it. The unprecedented fires prompting France's biggest peacetime evacuation since
World War II.
[09:10:00]
CNN's Melissa Bell joining us live from Lege near Cap-Ferret. What's the picture there, Melissa?
MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've moved on now, Becky, closer to the sort of south eastern front of this fire, because
what's been remarkable over the course of the weekend is just how quickly it spread, sort of zigzagging from side to side according to the direction
in which the wind was blowing, and it has spent a lot of the weekend blowing fairly hard, which has not helped things.
So, we're kind of to the south east now of this monstrous fire. When you look at a map, its area is absolutely enormous. And it is this southeastern
tip of it that is pushing ever more closely to those outer settlements of Bordeaux, where about 20 kilometers from the city itself. And so, you've
seen these successive waves of evacuees as the flames have been pushed closer and closer to these sorts of satellite towns and villages.
Hence, all of these people who've had to leave their homes at the very last minute. Essentially, the fire has been behaving we're told by firefighters
extremely erratically. It is because of the nature of the fire. It is because of its scale. It is because it has created its own internal weather
system, creating its own winds.
And I just want to show you, Becky, the nature of the ground behind me. All of that soil that you see there that continues to smolder well after the
flames have moved on elsewhere. You can see how tenuous the link to it being over is. Any moment, those flames can pick up again because of the
nature of that soil and how dry it is.
These drought conditions that have allowed and favored these wildfires across Europe. Not just here in France and in Spain, but when you look at a
map of the continent, it is remarkable just how many parts of it are currently dealing with these kinds of fires, Becky.0
ANDERSON: And just to underscore the enormity of the crisis again, I repeat, it's the biggest peacetime evacuation since World War II in France.
As authorities try to keep residents out of the way of these fires, it's good to have you. Thank you.
Germany's Chancellor vowing the country will remain united after what authorities there are calling an Islamist terror attack near Berlin's Pride
celebrations. Police shot and killed the 21-year-old German suspect on Sunday after an extensive manhunt.
Authorities say the attack had killed one person, injured 29 others during Saturday's vehicle ramming and stabbing attack at Tiergarten Park near the
crowded LGBTQ Plus event. The festival, one of Europe's largest pride celebrations, drawing hundreds of thousands of people. CNN's Fred Pleitgen
following the story for us from Berlin. What is the update from there, Fred?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Becky. I'm actually inside that Tiergarten Park that you were just talking about. And
we're actually right on the area on that path where this ramming attack took place. I'm actually at the end of where this person drove through that
crowd, as you were talking about people who were going and coming from that pride parade.
The actual route of the parade, I would say, is about maybe 200 yards in that direction. But as you can imagine, with that park right next to it, a
lot of people were coming and going via that park. I want to draw your attention to something because you can see this tree here. This is actually
where the car ran into this tree and came to a standstill, if you will.
Probably, the fact that it hit this tree may have actually saved a lot of other people. In the end, 29 people were injured. One person succumbed to
her injuries and was pronounced dead. But you can see the tree barely moved, but a lot of the bark was taken off. And I can tell you we were here
for the better part of Sunday.
We watched the forensic crews work on that wrecked car, and the front of that car was absolutely destroyed. So, the police are saying that the
suspect definitely plowed through here at an enormous pace. And there's really two questions that the authorities are asking now.
One of them is they had a pretty big and elaborate security concept to make sure that no vehicles actually get into this park, and somehow that vehicle
still managed to breach that perimeter. There were a lot of barriers that were set up.
And the other big question is whether or not the suspect, a man named Abdul B, who is a German of Lebanese descent, whether or not he was acting alone
in that vehicle alone, or whether or not there were other people inside as well? All of those investigations are ongoing. The police obviously finding
out things by the hour.
A lot of that's still very fresh. At the same time, you do have German politicians obviously coming forward. A lot of people here in the city
obviously coming forward in mourning. You can actually see, I think, over there some people have laid down some flowers here, very close to the place
where this ramming rampage ended.
As you can imagine, the country very much in shock. A lot of other people in Europe also in shock, as well as the German Chancellor has come out and
said that Germans will stand strong in the face of extremism, Becky.
ANDERSON: Fred Pleitgen, there at the scene of what was that shocking incident. Fred, good to have you. Thank you. Look, when we come back, a
food festival struck by tragedy.
[09:15:00]
We're going to get you a live report on the Seattle, Washington deadly mass shooting and the search for a suspect there. And the Pentagon has updated
its Iran war casualty counts. The latest figures are after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Three people have been killed and at least four others injured following a shooting at a food festival in Washington State last night. One
suspect taken into police custody, and authorities are searching for one other person believed to be involved. Now that shooting happened at the
three-day Bite of Seattle Festival attended by hundreds of thousands of people annually. Here's how one eyewitness described what happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was one volley which we heard, and I don't know multiple shots, but I can't say how many. And then a lot of people didn't
react at first because we thought, oh, it must be firecrackers or something. I mean, nobody thought that it was that dangerous.
But then there was a second volley, and that's when we saw people storming through the area across the Fisher Pavilion, long trying to get south and
get out of the area.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, CNN's Julia Vargas joining us in Seattle. What are officials there saying today, Julia?
JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're still very much looking for one of the people involved in the shooting, Becky. One person
is in custody. It's unclear if that person is cooperating. They are saying that there is no risk for the community at large at this time.
But I want to give you a sense of what the scene is like here, Becky. We are in an area. This is basically the busier area of Seattle. I'm right by
the Space Needle here. 12 million people come to this area every year visit. So, we're talking tourists, locals.
This area, this is where the festival was taking place. Some of the videos that we've seen of people running out and looking for cover, looking to
hide wherever they could, were taken right here. And this morning, as Seattle is just starting to wake up, we're seeing people coming in with
their empty carts to get their belongings.
This whole scene is like it was frozen in time as of 06:00 p.m. last night, and now these vendors, the people that were here to celebrate and show a
good time to festival goers now coming in to kind of collect their belongings and collect themselves. I think this is something that's very
difficult to come back from the fear that something like this instills.
We've seen in so many other places where you have a big gathering of this kind, where families are, where children are present, and you have
something like this take place. It will take, for sure, a long time for the city to recover.
[09:20:00]
Just want to show you a little bit of more of the (Inaudible) of what's going on here. Of course, this was the last day of the festival. Perhaps
because of that, is why this is already ongoing. Unclear we don't know what's going on.
But this investigation today is turning to that person who is in custody, Becky. Here in Seattle, the way that this works is there's an initial
appearance, so this person will be taken to see a judge, and the initial fact will be presented. We will surely learn more later today, possibly
this afternoon.
According to authorities, and then prosecutors will have 72 hours to decide if they will and how they will charge the suspect in custody right now. And
again, unclear if this person is cooperating or not with authorities to find that second person, they say was involved in the shooting here Becky.
ANDERSON: Yeah, appreciate it. Understandably, people very concerned there. Those who went through it and those who are now living there know there is
somebody on the run, as it were. And apologies, viewers, for slight technical problem with the microphone there. But you heard Julia's
reporting on the scene.
Well, the Pentagon has updated its war casualty database, added more than 140 wounded and restored four soldiers killed in Iranian strikes last
weekend. Since the U.S. launched its war with Iran on February the 28th, 18 U.S. troops have died and 624 have been wounded. Now this comes after the
Pentagon faced scrutiny last week, when an apparent data glitch on the website meant the casualty numbers actually decreased.
Well, CNN's Davis Winkie is joining me from Atlanta for more. Understandably, people now seeking further detail on the latest casualties,
the updated figures, who they are? How they were injured? And why it is that these numbers were reduced over the weekend, not increased? Davis,
what do we know at this point?
DAVIS WINKIE, CNN REPORTER: Becky, this saga is really interesting in that it goes a lot to show the way that this Pentagon's approach to transparency
breaks from that of previous administrations. They've been treating the Defense Casualty Analysis System, this online database, as the ongoing
source of truth that the public and the media can access for updated information on war casualties.
The issue with that, though, is that we've been observing this website on a minute-by-minute basis for a week at this point, and we saw data
fluctuations. We saw numbers changing from minute to minute. And those fluctuations, when they would appear on the website and be reproduced by
people who are looking to it as the source info for casualty info, led to widespread scrutiny, whether it was from the media and it also came from
some lawmakers.
The 12 Democratic Senators on the Senate Armed Services Committee wrote a letter to the Pentagon, the Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last Thursday,
demanding answers on the issues with the database. They updated it over the weekend to add these additional casualties, as you said, and they also
added a new category called overseas operations, which is distinguished from their Operation Epic Fury category.
Epic Fury being the first phase of the Pentagon's war with Iran. The new overseas operations category is interesting because it doesn't have a ton
of information on the where these things occur? How these things occur? And we're waiting on clarifying info from the Pentagon on that.
But the really important bit is that it starts on July 7th. That's significant, Becky, because the Trump Administration says July 7th is when
a new conflict with Iran began for the purposes of the War Powers Act. You know the U.S. the president has 60 days to conduct military action before
they need congressional approval to continue.
Trump Admin said that clock stopped from the first phase of the war, when they declared the ceasefire in April, what with the new period of the
conflict starting on July 7th, that's the significance of why we're seeing the new category pop up to align with that date moving forward, Becky.
ANDERSON: That's fascinating. Good to have you, Seb (ph). Thank you and welcome. Well, we are now less than 100 days out from the U.S. midterm
elections. A new polling released by CBS News shows President Trump's approval rating is under water as election day approaches.
That poll finds 39 percent of Americans just approve of Trump's job performance. 61 percent disapprove. On the Iran war, just 35 percent say
they approve of how the president is handling the conflict, with 65 percent disapproving.
[09:25:00]
Well, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has yet to commit to holding votes on quote progressive policy issues should Democrats win back a
congressional majority in November. Some candidates calling for immigration and customs enforcement, for example, to be abolished in the U.S. Here's
how Jeffries responded to CNN's Dana Bash when asked about that proposition.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. HAKEEM JEFFIRES (D-NY): Well, I've spoken to several of the incoming members of Congress across the ideological spectrum. Not a single person
has raised those issues, other than obviously what they've seen from House Democrats in pushing back against an out-of-control I.C.E., because we
believe that immigration enforcement in this country clearly should be fair, just, and humane, and that's not what's taking place.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, Jeffries could oversee a divided caucus after several progressives surpassed moderate Democrats in key primaries. The House
Minority Leader says his party remains focused on ending the quote MAGA extremism that has been unleashed on Americans. More as we get it, of
course.
Well, it's up, then down, then up again, and as we speak, oil losing ground again. More on these fluctuations after break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Welcome back. I'm Becky Anderson in London. You're watching "Connect the World". These are your headlines this hour. Tehran condemning
what it says is a Ukrainian strike on an Iranian vessel in the Caspian Sea. Over the weekend, Kyiv said it targeted ships that were transporting
military cargo from Iran to Russia. Iranian officials say the vessel was carrying iron from Russia to Iran.
Well, new video emerging from Spain highlights the enormous challenge facing crews as they battle multiple fires across the country. More than
75,000 people have been evacuated, and another 30,000 have been ordered to shelter in place as the fires continue to burn.
More than 200,000 people have been displaced in France as fires rage through the southwestern part of the country. Forecasts show no rain in
sight and high heat this week. Scorching temperatures expected to reach up to 38 degrees celsius, or 100 degrees plus fahrenheit.
[09:30:00]
Well, we are awaiting the opening bell on Wall Street, ringing that opening bell and opening the trading week this week the Catholic Charities of New
York. There you go, ringing the bell out of the gate, and these markets were expected to be higher on the open. We'll just give them a couple of
moments to settle.
The DOW Jones normally the first to settle. We'll get you an indication of what it is up to after the U.S. and Iran paused hostilities over the
weekend. Oil prices are down sharply as the pause in strikes between the U.S. and Iran does appear to hold. Brent, which is the global benchmark for
oil, of course, trading there.
You can see around $90 a barrel. WTI, the U.S. benchmark, dropping to around 84, spot 50. Still, reports show that traffic through the Strait of
Hormuz and the Bab el Mandeb Strait to the west off the Saudi coast, two key maritime choke points, did slow over the weekend, and that has left
traders very wary. More coming up.
Well, dozens of tech companies, including Nvidia and Meta, have signed an open letter warning against U.S. restrictions on Open-Weight AI models. Now
they say it would, and I quote here, stifle competition or drive innovation overseas. Now these are models that users can download and adapt for their
own platforms.
Chinese models are quickly gaining traction, fueling a debate over whether to restrict them in the United States. Well, Ben Powell is Chief Investment
Strategist for the Middle East and APAC at the BlackRock Investment Institute. Joining us from London, good to have you, sir.
Look, and I want to start with this open letter written by some key heavyweights in the AI industry. Why are those officials considering these
restrictions on open way AI models now? And what do you believe the repercussions would be globally, particularly, for example, in the GCC,
which is a big focus of attention for you?
BEN POWELL, CHIEF INVESTMENT STRATEGIST FOR APAC, BLACKROCK INVESTMENT INSTITUTION: That's right, Becky. This is a critically important issue, not
just economically, but geopolitically. And what we're really seeing at the moment is the kind of intersection of the economics with the geopolitics,
which is, I think, going to be a feature of markets and life more generally in the months and years ahead.
So, the open-source movement would very much argue that they can provide intelligence cheaper, more abundantly, and that's good for companies. It's
good for people. It's good for everyone. Maybe the closed source companies, some of the bigger leading models would suggest that they have something of
an unfair advantage, leveraging the advantages and the money that's been spent by the big companies, the leaders at the moment.
So, this is going to run and run. There's a genuine tension within that, I think, and there is a geopolitical overlay because a lot of these open-
source models, as you say, at least in origin, they are Chinese, which gives another kind of aspect to this whole complicated situation.
ANDERSON: Yeah, it's fascinating, isn't it? Because I mean, this sort of you know race for supremacy in the world of chips and AI between China and
the U.S. is a focus, sort of. It feels almost on a daily basis. We're seeing some of these Chinese chip companies, for example, doing extremely
well off late.
This is a big week for U.S. tech earnings, with results to be announced for Meta, Apple, Microsoft, and others. CapEx spend very specifically the spend
on AI infrastructure will be keenly in focus for investors. What are you expecting to see?
POWELL: We're expecting the boom to continue. So, you're right; the spending is really astonishing, perhaps an unprecedented build out in human
history beyond electricity, beyond steam, beyond whatever your historic kind of favorite might be. That's going to continue.
Where we as -- where we are focused as investors is more on where that money is going on these choke points, be that memory, be those
semiconductors, the kind of specific areas of shortage that we're seeing up and down the AI stack, because where the money is going, that's the key.
Like where it can earn a return, and where we're seeing these shortages play through.
And as you're saying, we're looking at the U.S. companies. They're spending a lot of the money, but some of the beneficiaries are all over the world.
So, we obviously want to have a broader perspective, while being very focused on these huge and important American companies later this week.
[09:35:00]
Ben, this show is normally based in Abu Dhabi, as you will know. I'm in London for a couple of weeks. But I'm very keen to get your framing of the
GCC in what is BlackRock's 2026 mid-year global outlook. You describe the region as an investment powerhouse, particularly for AI enhancement.
I mean, clearly the conflict in region has sort of, for many people, overshadowed the sort of outlook for the individual countries. You do
highlight the risks in the outlook. Can you just expand on what your position is?
POWELL: Yeah, I'm happy to do that. So, the GCC, I guess these Gulf countries, they've been famous for exporting capital, you know, helping
create infrastructure all over the world for many years, even decades. That's going to continue.
But where I think the story is evolving is now the GCC is becoming a very exciting investment destination in its own right. And actually, the events
of the last six months, I think, are accelerating that. We need to see the infrastructure build out domestically in the GCC to help drive societal
progress. That's going to continue.
The urgency around that, I think, is even greater than it was six months ago. Maybe there's some kind of incremental urgency around the importance
of self-reliance. We're going to need to have more energy, be that nuclear in Saudi Arabia and so forth.
So, I think in terms of the investment opportunity in the GCC, it's still very, very significant. And actually, I think the complexity of the last
six months, if anything, has made that clearer, at least in our minds at BlackRock.
ANDERSON: Yeah, fascinating, Ben, good to have you, and we should catch up again. Thank you. Well, as Formula One enters its summer break. There was a
familiar face atop the podium. More on that up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Well, Europe's prolonged heat wave and drought has reduced water levels in the Danube River. Record lows hit last week in Hungary and in
Croatia, Serbia, and indeed in Romania, causing problems for commerce and tourism, of course, whilst also revealing once forgotten pieces of history.
CNN's Ben Hunte with this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN HUNTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hidden beneath the Danube River for nearly a century, the skeleton of a sunken ship emerges from the
shallow water, only visible now because water levels on the famous waterway have plunged to record lows, exposing relics of the past to the light of
day again.
LEA VIDIC, LOVAS MUNICIPALITY MAYOR: As we record one of the lowest water levels on history, a ship that sank way back in 1937, has surfaced. It's
the Hungarian cargo ship Fulton, which at the time was transporting 50 wagon loads of coal.
[09:40:00]
HUNTE (voice-over): But it's not the only piece of history revealed by the shrinking waters. In Budapest, a World War II shell was found lodged in a
riverbed, which shut down a major bridge until a bomb squad could clear the area.
The past resurfacing because of some very modern problems. Extreme heat and drought have shriveled up the Danube in parts of Hungary, Croatia, Serbia,
and Romania, along with other factors.
VLADIMIR STAKIC, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, RIBOLOV MAGAZINE: It might be partly driven by electricity consumption and partly by the extreme water usage for
intensive farming. When you combine that with the lack of rain we're experiencing due to climate change and the temperature rise of a few
degrees, it leads to higher water evaporation.
HUNTE (voice-over): And that's disrupting the flow of river traffic. Some cruise ships have had to alter or cancel itineraries because they could not
operate on some stretches of the river, and many cargo vessels are reducing their loads.
Serbia's Energy Minister says barges and tankers are only operating at 30 to 40 percent of capacity to safely navigate the river. Residents living
along the riverbank say the depleted landscape was months in the making.
ZORAN TASIC, RESIDENT: To me, it looks like a natural disaster because nobody caused it on purpose or by accident. It just happened. There was no
rain, no snow all winter, no reserves in the mountains that should be melting now to maintain water levels. Instead, there is no water.
HUNTE (voice-over): Forecasters say some rain is expected in the region, which could cause a slight spike in levels. But experts say it's a quick
fix to a long-term crisis. Ben Hunte, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Well, we are at the midway point of the Formula One season, and it has been all Kimi, Kimi, Kimi Antonelli so far. But on Sunday in
Hungary, World Champion Lando Norris returned to the top step of the podium for his first win of the season. Coy Wire joining me now? So, it's sort of
getting a bit more exciting at the top there, Coy.
COY WIRE, CNN WORLD SPORT: Yeah, it is. And Becky, first of all, I like Kimi, Kimi, Kimi. I'm going to use that in my upcoming show here. And you
know what sounds great right about now? A summer vacation, right?
And I'm sure the Formula One drivers would agree their last race before summer break. But before those paddocks packed their bags. They gave us
some fireworks, including Lando Norris, the reigning world champ, coming out getting his first win of the season.
So, is this the start of another charge after the summer break to get another championship, or do you just have a good weekend, like hopefully
you had as well? We'll talk with Phil Duncan, our CNN Contributor, who was there in Budapest for that race to help break it all down and make sense of
it all.
ANDERSON: Let me tell you, I was at a traitors' weekend. I thought I was having a weekend off, but I ended up being at a traitors' weekend, which
was wild. Let me tell you. I didn't get much of a break, but I'll recommend it a lot.
WIRE: I need to hear more about this.
ANDERSON: Over my weekend, yeah, exactly. Coy, good to have you. "World Sports" up after this short break. Stay with us.
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