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Connect the World

U.S. Launches Strikes on Iran After Trump Says It's "Our Turn"; Poland Blames Russia for Firing Missile into Its Territory; Over 300,000 People Have Been Evacuated in France and Spain; BTS Will Not Submit Music for Next Year's Grammy Awards; UEFA Holds Emergency Meeting to Discuss FIFA Investment Plan. Aired 9-10a ET

Aired July 30, 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: Well, the United States renews strikes on Iran following President Trump's threats to hit it hard as the

conflict expands to Egypt. It is 09:00 a.m. in Washington, 02:00 p.m. here in London. I'm Becky Anderson.

You're watching "Connect the World". Also coming up this hour, rescue operations underway across Ukraine following a barrage of Russian strikes

overnight. And fire crews in France could get some much-needed relief as the weather turns there. But what about Spain?

Well, we will have a live report from there coming up. The stock market in New York opens about 30 minutes from now. And the futures markets

indicating a positive start. The U.S. Fed, of course, Wednesday keeping rates on hold at a range of 3.5 to 3.75 percent for the fifth consecutive

meeting.

And that perhaps one of the reasons these markets have come back a bit. They had, of course, sold off significantly in the couple of rounds before.

So, we'll keep an eye on those. We will get back to Wall Street at the bottom of the hour for the open. We begin in the region of the Gulf amid

fears of a widening Middle East conflict.

Egypt has been hit for the first time. Cairo says a drone strike was the cause of a fire at one of its Mediterranean ports on Wednesday. No one has

claimed responsibility for that attack. At the same time, Iranian media say explosions were heard across the south of the country.

The U.S. says it carried out powerful attacks on military command centers and on drone facilities. Well, Pakistan, which played a mediating role in

last month's U.S.-Iran agreement, says it is trying everything it can to revive negotiations. Eleni Giokos is with us from Dubai for a view from the

region.

First, let's get you to Kevin Liptak at the White House. We are getting the latest on the overnight U.S. strikes on Iran from CENTCOM. What are they

saying?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: They're describing this as a heavy wave of retaliatory attacks for those attempted strikes by Iran on

U.S. positions that happened two days ago. What CENTCOM says they targeted were military command centers, missile and drone facilities, coastal

surveillance and defense sites, and maritime capabilities.

They say that these were all targets of the IRGC, and they were quote, aimed to further diminish threats posed by Iran and its proxies to American

forces, commercial shipping, and neighboring Gulf countries. This does seem to stop short of the full-scale return to war that we know President Trump

has been considering, and that he's received options for.

And you have seen how the U.S. military has been bolstering forces in the region in the occasion that the president decides to go in that direction.

But before the strikes began last night, the president described this as more of a tit for tat. He said it was the U.S.'s turn to strike Iran after

Iran struck its positions in the region.

And he even suggested that those Iranian strikes were the result of miscommunications between different factions in the Iranian regime. He said

that the group of officials that the U.S. was attempting diplomacy with had, in fact, apologized. And so, how the president plans to proceed from

here, I think, at this point, remains clear.

But it is evident that this war is in fact expanding, even at a moment that he's trying to wind it down. You have what's happening in Egypt. You also

have now the Saudis joining in on these strikes against the Iran-backed militias inside of Iraq. Yesterday, we had the Saudi Defense Minister

Khalid bin Salman here at the White House, meeting both with the Vice President J.D. Vance, but also with President Trump.

It was an unannounced visit and went somewhat under the radar, but I think a very important discussion as the president tries to gain the insights of

partners in the region about where exactly they see this heading.

ANDERSON: It's good to have you there. Thank you very much indeed. So, action overnight by the U.S. Meantime, Egypt says that a fire at its

Mediterranean port of Damietta was caused by a drone. Now this is the first time Egyptian infrastructure has been hit. Eleni, with us following this

part of this narrative, this will of course be fueling fears of a broadening war. Are those fears merited at this point?

[09:05:00]

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I mean this is what my sources are telling me, and industry experts and I was alerted to this late last night,

Dubai time, and there was shock in the industry that Egypt and Damietta port was targeted. It is a crucial port for Egypt.

It is strategic. It has an LNG terminal. It is on the Mediterranean, and then initially it was a fire that erupted on the Energas winter, which is a

fuel storage unit as well as a gasification unit. That fire then spread onto the gas log vessel as well, and you can see some of the images of the

fire as well as the smoke.

Egyptian authorities extinguished this fire and then confirming today that indeed it was a drone strike. Now, my sources tell me that we don't know

where this comes from. There are major concerns around the source of this drone, but if this is now a true expansion that extends beyond the Strait

of Hormuz and the attacks that we've seen in the Red Sea, now heading towards Mediterranean ports.

It really poses the question around hostility that is expanding and then drawing Egypt into this. And importantly, it's energy infrastructure again,

Becky, and it basically mimics and it has the hallmarks of what we've been seeing since the start of the war to try and cripple economies not only in

the Gulf region but also now bordering it to the wider Middle East and even Mediterranean ports in terms of impacting a country like Egypt.

We know that these two vessels were quickly pulled out by tug boats. They're now idling in the Mediterranean, according to Kpler, and now Egypt

needs to make you know some kind of plan, contingency plan. These fuel storage units were brought in to deal with the high energy demand for Egypt

over the summer period.

The risk assessments right now by shippers, they don't know what this means, but they're wondering if this is a once-off or whether this is a

true escalation that's now broadened to other ports.

ANDERSON: Right, you are up to date, Eleni. Thank you for that. You're up to date both from Washington and indeed from the wider perspective in the

region, more of course, as we get it, and more this hour as we speak to some experts on the region from the region.

Major overnight strikes by Russia across Ukraine have killed at least eight people, including children, and have left several people trapped under the

rubble. Russia's deadly long-range attacks hit targets across the country, including the capital Kyiv. July has been Ukraine's deadliest month for

civilian casualties since Russia's full-scale invasion back in 2022.

Meantime, Poland's Prime Minister says a missile apparently fired by Russia landed deep inside its territory, causing an explosion. CNN's Clare

Sebastian, following the story from London. Let's start on the latest news out of Poland. We'll reverse into what happened with that very deadly

barrage on Ukraine overnight.

What do we know coming out of Poland this hour?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, at this point, Becky, we have this large crater that was discovered by Polish police after the military

said that they tracked and then lost off the radar this unidentified object after having seen, by the way, about a dozen they said missiles in western

Ukraine that could pose a threat to Polish airspace.

We've got this crater. We also have the Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk saying that in all likelihood this was a Russian cruise missile that

corroborated by the Ukrainian Foreign Minister. But look, Tusk is saying that while they would have, they were ready to shoot this down had it not

disappeared off the radar and apparently crashed.

He is saying there's no reason to believe at this point that Poland was the target here. But look, this is a situation where Poland was already on high

alert. They were warning about the potential for sort of Russian provocations in recent weeks. So, by the way, with the Baltic countries,

this is a key concern, and especially given the moment that we're at in this war with these escalating missile and drone attacks, they were on high

alert.

NATO was on high alert. NATO has come out today and said that they're in touch with the Polish authorities, they're going to continue to do

everything they can to defend their airspace. But I think if you were in any doubt as to the moment of escalation that we're at in this war and the

potential for more Rubicons to be crossed like this, then I think this incident should put pay to that.

ANDERSON: It has been a deadly month for Ukraine. Of course, Ukraine also firing volleys of drones at Russia at this point. You and I spoke at the

beginning of the week about whether there was a sort of realistic pathway in any sort of decent shape at this point for peace.

I mean, what's your sense as we move towards the end of this week?

SEBASTIAN: So, I think, look, what's interesting about what we've seen in the past sort of 24 to 48 hours, Becky, is these overnight attacks. It was

a very large attack, more than 70 missiles, some almost 300 drones were used is that came some 24 to 36 hours after President Zelenskyy?

[09:10:00]

He was in the White House speaking to Trump, and when we've seen those bilateral meetings between Ukraine and the United States before, we have

also seen moves by Russia to try to speak to the Americans, to speak to Trump, to try and wrestle back the narrative in this war.

This has been a narrative tug of war in many ways when it comes to sort of getting President Trump on side. We haven't seen that this time. Instead,

we're just seeing more escalation, this aggressive posture. And yes, there's escalation on both sides. But Russia has clearly seen that much of

the talk in Washington and previously was about the lack of air defenses that Ukraine has, specifically when it comes to fending off ballistic

missiles.

And what you see there is the aftermath of a ballistic missile strike in Kryvyi Rih, that's President Zelenskyy's home town in central Ukraine, on a

residential home some six people, including children, killed there. That was one of nine of that type, the Iskander-M ballistic missiles, that were

fired overnight, and they were not averted by air defenses.

So, Russia is continuing to exploit this weakness. These overnight attacks are continuing to come with relative frequency. And I think again, this is

look, this is a moment of escalation in this war, and Russia, in word and indeed, is not backing down from its stated goals.

ANDERSON: Yeah, Clare, it's good to have you following every twist and turn on this and worrying stuff overnight. Thank you. Well, the fate of

President Donald Trump's nominee for U.S. Attorney General is now in question. The Senate Judiciary Committee has postponed today's scheduled

vote on whether to advance Todd Blanche's nomination after two key Republican senators said that they are not ready to support his

confirmation.

CNN's Manu Raju, following the major setback for that Trump Administration from Capitol Hill for you.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The Senate Judiciary Committee scrapping a critical vote on Thursday and dealing a major blow to

the confirmation prospects of Todd Blanche to be the next Attorney General of the United States.

This after a revolt from two Republican senators, John Cornyn and Thom Tillis, but it is really Cornyn who is driving this. Cornyn, who actually

lost his re-election bid, lost his primary bid after Trump backed his primary foe, Ken Paxton. Cornyn has emerged as a thorn in the side of

President Trump.

Tillis is not running for re-election and is also free from those re- election pressures. But both men are concerned about this so-called anti- weaponization fund, 1.8 billion dollars. It was part of a deal that was reached between President Trump and the IRS over a separate matter.

Trump suing the IRS for 10 billion dollars, claiming that he was injured by the unauthorized release of his tax returns. That led to both the anti-

weaponization fund and a deal that would shield the president and his family from tax enforcement, past tax enforcement actions.

The question that John Cornyn had, in particular, he wanted to end writing that this would not apply to the president in the future. Those that tax

enforcement. Also, he wanted to end the weaponization fund once and for all, kill it all together. Want that written in paper, and it did not come.

And as a result, Chuck Grassley, the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, deciding to delay that vote. And I asked Senator Cornyn whether

or not the fact that he is free from those re-election pressures is making it easier to bark the president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: You would acknowledge, though, having not naving to run for re- election anymore has freed you up to be more independent from the president. Would you acknowledge that? Have you noticed? So, when the

president says that you're doing this political vendetta, what do you say - -

SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-TX): That's a convenient excuse, and it happens to be untrue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Now, can this nomination be salvaged? It is still possible if those demands are met, but the timing is so complicated. The Senate goes on

recess at the end of next week, and the delay means that it is unlikely to hit the Senate floor by next week, which means this could get delayed into

the fall.

And who knows what the political environment will look like then, or if the president moves any closer to meeting the demands laid out by Corona and

Tillis? But no doubt about it, a major blow to Todd Blanche, who had been trying to get the support of Republican senators, but unable to get the

support of two, which means now his nomination will continue to hang in the balance. Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.

ANDERSON: We are keeping a very close eye on a UEFA virtual emergency meeting that's happening now. Now, UEFA, of course, is the European

football body, and it is deciding how to respond to FIFA's controversial bid to bring private investment into the World Cup.

Now, FIFA's plan would involve selling a non-controlling minority stake of the tournament to investors. Other football associations are outraged,

saying they were blindsided by the proposal. More details later this hour during "World Sport" for you. Well, coming up, France and Spain continue to

battle the worst wildfires in living memory.

We're going to get the very latest on the ground for you.

[09:15:00]

And later, the European Commission's Vice President has a fresh warning on. Climate change for the European Union. She joins us live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: In France and in Spain, the battle to keep people safe from devastating wildfires continues. Authorities say that fire crews have

managed to stabilize some of the blazes, but with freakishly hot weather forecast to stay at least until the weekend, things could still get a lot

worse.

Spain's weather service says the fire danger is at a very high or extreme level, driven by hot and dry conditions, and experts are warning that

Europe is entering a new fire era. With blazes in France so intense, they gave rise to a rare fire-generated thunderstorm. Well, a massive fire has

been burning to the west of Madrid.

CNN's Pau Mosquera joins us live from outside the Spanish capital. Look, you've been covering these fires for days now. You and I have been talking,

and you have been moving around the country. Authorities are saying that some of those fires have now stabilized, Pau.

But extreme levels of fire danger are forecast for the rest of the week. So, what's the latest where you are very specifically and around the

country?

PAU MOSQUERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the latest we know is now the fires here that were raging in western Madrid and in the southern part of the

Avila province, Becky, are now stabilized, as you were saying. But this does not mean that they are absolutely controlled.

This is why hundreds of firefighters are still working in the areas most affected to try to put out the last flames. But as these fires keep being

stabilized, now many residents are being allowed to get back home. And it is the time that they have to face the results of the wildfires.

And well, the material damage that they are finding is extensive. Just have a look, for example, here in this area in Pelayos de la Presa, which is a

town located 60 kilometers west from Madrid. I mean, the damage that we have been seeing around is so, so extensive.

Becky, just have a look. For example, to this car, nothing remains but the outer frame. For example, there are no tires left, just the rims remain.

And if you have a look inside, I mean, the flames completely consumed the seats. It is quite a devastating image, but the material damage is also

extensive.

For example, to many different properties, to the houses here we can see this one, and all the vegetation around has been scorched by the wildfire

when it engulfed this area a few days ago. Also, if we have a look, for example, to this wall, you can see how it's completely covered in black,

absolutely charred after the blazes took all this place.

[09:20:00]

And it's actually a little bit dangerous to walk by these streets, Becky, because from time to time we keep seeing some power lines that have

collapsed, and we have to watch out our step. But as you can see, this is the result, the consequence of one of the worst wildfires that has ever

affected the country, Becky.

ANDERSON: -- remarkable. Pau, keep up the good work. I know it's not easy there, and it is very, very hot. Thank you. Well, Europe not prepared for

the consequences of climate change. That is what European Commission Executive Vice President Teresa Ribera recently told the Spanish newspaper

El Pais.

She says Brussels is preparing a new climate adaption strategy to present later this year. That scheme, she says, will aim to strengthen the EU's

resilience against what Ribera describes as a new type of wildfire that takes on a life of its own. And Teresa Ribera joining us now live from

Madrid.

I mean, you'll have just heard Pau's report there. Things couldn't be more worrying. What are the biggest gaps, to your mind, in Europe's preparedness

for climate change? And what needs to change immediately?

TERESA RIBERA, EUROPEAN COMMISSION VP FOR CLEAN, JUST & COMPETITIVE TRANSITION: Hello, and thank you for the question and for the interest,

because I think it is a very worrying question for everybody, not only for Europe, all over the world.

But what it is impressive is that Europe being so committed to climate action is not prepared for the heat waves, for the droughts, for the

floods, flash floods that we are already experiencing. So, we see that the electricity systems do not operate as they should.

The emergency services in hospitals remain collapsed when we suffer these kinds of heat waves. That the ecosystems, the rural areas, the capacity to

prevent wildfires of this magnitude, or even to react and manage, are still a lot compared to what we witness or what we expect as being the risk in

the future.

ANDERSON: So, what will the European Commission's new strategy address? You know, how are you going to address these weaknesses immediately?

RIBERA: We think that we need to pool resources to be able to respond whenever it is needed, but we also need to ensure that the public

awareness, the capacity to identify eventual risk, the resilience by design in any policy, whether we are speaking about farming policy or

infrastructures, urban policies, the management of the land is prepared to cope with these temperatures or with these extreme events happening in the

time to come.

As I said, think about electricity systems being demanded differently or being much more resilient or less resilient to heat waves or freezing

conditions. So, I think that coming along this understanding, being prepared to a temperature that may be three or four degrees higher than the

pre-industrial levels when we arrive the end of the century is very, very important.

ANDERSON: Yeah.

RIBERA: And the insurance only covers around 25, 30 percent of the damages of the losses, so it could impact on people, on infrastructures, and we

need to invest as much as we can and as soon as we can to prevent this type of harm, this type of cost.

ANDERSON: So, I have to say that you sit at the center of several of the biggest stories in Europe right now, you're number two to Ursula von der

Leyen. You oversee the clean industrial deal, the EU's climate targets, energy policy, and competition. This picture in charge of files that

connect, sort of all connect when it comes to sort of wildfires, climate change.

What is going on with sort of energy policy to fight climate crisis? Europe has a big issue when it comes to energy security at this point. Its massive

efforts to address climate crisis and you know its policies for clean energy have been somewhat put to the test since the Ukraine war, of course,

and the issue with energy security, and not least over the last sort of six months with the conflict in the Strait of Hormuz.

I just wonder how concerned are you about the ambition by European countries these days, midway through 2020.

RIBERA: I think that this is -- yes this is --

ANDERSON: -- for action that will that will address climate crisis and the sort of things we're talking about here, because, for example, people, you

know, people's bills in Europe, their gas bills, their energy bills are sky high.

[09:25:00]

What can you do to sort of balance out the narratives to ensure that what we're seeing this year, as far as sort of wildfires and heat and climate

crisis, are adequately addressed?

RIBERA: I come from a country that enjoys the benefits of investing in home-grown clean electricity, that provides stability, affordability, and

quite reliable electricity prices and electricity quality. So, electrifying the final uses of energy could be a very important industrial

competitiveness policy, and that's part of what we try to do.

But now we are speaking about something which is slightly different. Renewable energy may be a good business. Corporates should be thinking on

what type of demand and what type of production will filter, will shape their competitiveness in the time to come, but we are speaking about being

resilient to different physical impacts.

And when we speak about climate change, we know that these physical impacts are taking place. So, the best thing we can do is to take this seriously

and to denounce those, saying that this is fake, that this is work, that this is nonsense. It is not nonsense. It is like saying that driving in an

alcoholic mood is not related to traffic accidents.

It doesn't make sense. It is the same when thinking about climate. We need to reduce emissions, but at the very same time, we need to ensure that our

infrastructures, our cities, our ecosystems are ready for these different heat temperatures, flash floods, and to prevent and to allow people to be

able to react whenever the danger becomes real.

ANDERSON: It can feel like energy security and climate policy are, you know, two very, very different conversations. I think you and I will agree

that they are conversations that intersect. The question is, getting sort of European ambition and support around that intersection will be the

greatest challenge.

Thank you for joining us. We very much appreciate your time out of Madrid today. Still to come, big techs bet -- Let me start there again. Still to

come, big techs AI bets under the microscope. Microsoft's investments pay off with a major earnings win. Meta's spending spree is hitting profits.

We're going to see how markets react when Wall Street opens in just moments from now. On the results we've had from those two companies and how that

might affect the wider tech story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:30:00]

ANDERSON: Right, those cheers in anticipation of the opening bell on Wall Street, and there it goes. Sandwich chain Jersey Mike's ringing in the

trading day this Thursday for you there at the New York Stock Exchange. Now we've had some earnings out from Big Tech, Microsoft and Meta, both with

their numbers.

It'll be interesting to see how the NASDAQ settles in for the trading day. Futures were indicating a higher, a positive start across the board for the

Dow Jones, the NASDAQ, and the S&P. So, let's have a little look and see what's going on. I would just there you go.

The Dow, the NASDAQ, and the S&P doing exactly what we expected them to do, and they are higher. And we are seeing the NASDAQ and the S&P, frankly,

picking up what it lost, what those indices lost in their trading day yesterday. But the NASDAQ, remember, did get into correction territory,

which is a 10 percent reduction from its latest or historic high.

So, you know, perhaps a bit of what is known as bottom picking there on the NASDAQ. The DOW up by about two thirds of 1 percent. But to be honest, that

markets come off yesterday not as significantly as the NASDAQ had over the last month or so, but it is still lower than its historic highs, as is the

S&P.

Right, we will keep an eye on those with the Fed decision now in the rearview mirror. A tale of two tech giants taking center stage on Wall

Street. So, let's have a look at how Microsoft and Meta's shares are trading at the open. Look at that on Meta down 9 percent Microsoft up more

than 10 percent.

This is after both companies released their second quarter earnings on Wednesday. Now let's start with the number on the right there. Microsoft

blowing past expectations with its cloud business surging and its AI investments starting to pay off. Now a very different story for Meta.

That's after its profits fell short of expectations, raising fresh questions about just how much more money that company will spend on AI.

Let's discuss all of this with Brad Erickson, Internet Analyst for RBC Capital Markets. This is fascinating, isn't it?

BRAD ERICKSON, INTERNET ANALYST FOR RBC CAPITAL MARKETS: Yes.

ANDERSON: Microsoft and Meta are getting very different reactions from Wall Street today. What does that tell you about the sort of you know the bar

investors are now setting for Big Tech at this point?

ERICKSON: Yeah, I mean it's tough. It's tough because you know each quarter we have to assess the numbers as they are, and sometimes they paint a

picture of acceleration and better margins, which makes the return on invested capital story work for these big AI investments.

And some quarters they don't, and for Meta, which we cover this quarter, that that answer was firmly they that did not meet the bar. The revenue was

actually fairly good. The miss was by a fingernail, we'll call it, but the margins got hit. They left everyone sort of uncertain on capex for 2027.

And then the big issue is that you know Zuckerberg's pitching kind of these honestly 4, 5, 6, 7, call option opportunities right business messaging

Meta AI maybe they're going to sell cloud compute they have models, right. There's a lot of stuff going on but nobody quite knows what they contribute

to the model.

So, it's just very speculative at this point from a return on invested capital standpoint.

ANDERSON: What are investors asking you? I mean, when you know there was quite some sort of confusion and concern about sort of long-term viability

of AI, not least the capex on AI infrastructure. But you know, obviously, everybody sees that there is an enormous amount of value to be had out of

those who win out of this AI race.

ERICKSON: Yeah.

ANDERSON: What are the classic questions you're getting from investors at this point?

ERICKSON: Yeah, there's kind of like the unanswerable and then some of the answerable questions. Start with the easier ones, the answerable ones. Is

how much could these opportunities be right? How important could business messaging be for driving better outcomes and more sales for companies?

These are products that literally have never existed. So, we can certainly take stabs in the dark at the numbers, and it's you know it's in the

billions of dollars, potentially in the tens of billions of dollars, if they sell cloud compute, right? We know that could be double-digit billions

of dollars.

But the question is, are they going to do it, and when, and how high quality is that? The unanswerable question is, why are they having to do

things like neocloud, right?

[09:35:00]

When your ad business is slowing down, and suddenly you're like, hey, look over here, we're going to go sell cloud compute, all of a sudden, which

we've had all along, suddenly there's a big debate there around, is that defensive? Is that offensive, right? And that's just that's unanswerable at

this point, so.

ANDERSON: That is fascinating. OK, Meta and Microsoft, just the latest, of course, of the so-called Magnificent Seven. We've gotten up there on the

screen to report results. Got Amazon out this week as well as others. What are you expecting?

ERICKSON: Yeah, I think we capex is always going to be kind of the hot button issue to start. I think generally we expect them to probably raise a

little bit. We raised our estimates in front of earnings above the street, so we do expect that. We do think kind of the buy side is looking for that,

though the sell side, the consensus estimates aren't necessarily reflecting that.

And then second, you know, we're looking for another acceleration here for AWS for the cloud business. I think the street there is expecting something

a little bit above, call it the mid-30s, but then we're also looking at the backlog growth, which is the indicator for whether that can continue to

accelerate.

Maybe to call it like 40 percent exiting the year. So, I think that's generally kind of those is kind of the two biggest things people are

looking for.

ANDERSON: It's good to have you on, mate. Thank you very much indeed. A big week for Big Tech. Well, UEFA discussing a number of measures, and let me

put that in inverted commas as FIFA puts forward, what is its new venture? More on that after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: UNESCO has added 25 new sites to its prestigious World Heritage list. It celebrates some of the planet's most remarkable cultural and

natural treasures. CNN's Lynda Kinkade has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LYNDA KINKADE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mount Olympus in Greece, the Polish City of Gdynia, and a Buddhist temple in Thailand. What do they all

have in common? They were just named as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Two Amazonian theaters in Brazil also joined the 25 sites inducted this year,

named by the U.N. committee as having cultural, historical, or nature importance.

CANDIDO GEREMIAS, PRESIDENT OF AMAZONIAN AGENCY OF CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT: The Teatro Amazonas, as an architectural treasure in the state and in the

Amazon has a fundamental role, and now it will bring more tourists to our region, our state. We will have more chances to preserve it and greater

protection.

KINKADE (voice-over): Also newly named, the beaches of Normandy, where Allied forces landed on D-Day. The site is characterized by the World

Heritage Committee as a cultural property, the location of a decisive stage of the battle to liberate Europe from Nazi Germany during World War II.

The committee also added six sites to its danger list, which are sites facing major threats from war, natural disasters, or other risks.

[09:40:00]

The archeological site of Sebastia in the Israeli-occupied West Bank was added to the list this year. According to UNESCO, the site once served as

the capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel during the Hellenistic, Roman, and Islamic periods. Countries nominate their picks for World

Heritage sites and demonstrate their significance.

MICHAL MIEGON, GDYNIA TOUR GUIDE: Gdynia should be a UNESCO site because it's a unique combination of architecture, history of Pomerania, history of

Poland.

KINKADE (voice-over): A selection process by the World Heritage Committee is conducted, and once chosen, the sites are given legal protection by an

international treaty, making them eligible for financial support and emergency protection from the fund.

MIEGON: And also, the people that are welcoming all the tourists to Gdynia, and we are all very proud of the city. We want to show it to all the world.

KINKADE (voice-over): Lynda Kinkade, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: -- members of the K-pop super group BTS say they will not submit any music for consideration at next year's Grammy Awards. Why? Well, it

comes about a month after the Recording Academy announced a new category for Asian pop for the first time.

BTS says they quote, hope the music can be heard and loved for what it is, rather than being divided by region or language. Well, at this hour, UEFA

is holding its emergency meeting. This is to discuss a controversial FIFA investment plan has been at the forefront over the last 48 hours.

So, this is European football talking about discussing and wanting to, you know, organize a response to this FIFA proposal to effectively privatize

the World Cup. Patrick Snell joining me now. What have we got at this point, Patrick?

PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Hi, Becky. It's really interesting what's going on right now. As you mentioned at this hour, UEFA having that

emergency meeting. And look, is the potential for a boycott of FIFA tournaments. Could that be the outcome? We're watching it very closely,

indeed.

That's one of the reported possibilities of this, and that would be massive. I mean, take this year's World Cup, Becky, four, sorry, three out

of the four semi-finalists were from Europe. The winners, Spain from Europe, they win it for the second time in 16 years. Imagine next year a

women's World Cup without, for example, Spain or England, two powerhouse nations of the game.

Just unthinkable, as well as the FIFA Club World Cup as well. Imagine that without clubs like Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain. I do want to remind

everyone to obviously stay focused on CNN TV, but also keep a close eye on our online live blog, our live story online at this hour, Becky. Back to

you.

ANDERSON: Good, will do. "World Sport" up after this short break. We will be back with "Connect the World" 15 minutes from now. Stay with us, both.

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