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One World with Zain Asher
Man Pulled Alive from Rubble in Miraculous Rescue; Iran Pauses Talks for Late Supreme Leader's Funeral; U.S. Job Growth Slowed More Than Expected in June; USA Overcome Bosnia & Herzegovina 2-0 Despite Red Card; Source: Taylor Swift & Travis Kelce to Hold Wedding Rehearsal. Aired 11- 11:30a ET
Aired July 02, 2026 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN HOST, ONE WORLD: Hello. everyone. Live from New York. I'm Bianna Golodryga. Zain is off today. You are watching "One World".
Eight days after Venezuela's worst earthquake disaster in over a century, we're seeing scenes of extraordinary strength and resilience.
Crews just pulled a man out from under the rubble of a nine-storey building in a miraculous rescue. You hear all of the cheers there as this 44-year-
old man, who had been trapped beneath nine meters of concrete after a shopping mall parking lot had collapsed, is being rescued finally.
Search teams were able to reach him following a delicate days-long operation. The remarkable rescue comes as the death toll has now risen to
nearly 2300 people, and that number is expected to rise as thousands more remain missing.
CNN's Stefano Pozzebon joins me now, live from La Guaira, with more. And Stefano, amidst all of -- do we have Stefano? Stefano, we have a very
shoddy connection here, so I don't want to belabor the introduction. Just give us your reaction there, and the reaction of those around you to this
miraculous recovery.
STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: We're standing, Bianna, just literally 100 meters away from where that miracle happened. Hernan Gil, a middle-
aged, his wife told us he was 45 then 44. He's a security guard at a parking space here, parking lot here in Venezuela. This is the apartment --
the departmental store where he used to work.
You can see the wounds from and the destruction from the strength of the earthquake. But it's just been taken away from here alive and brought to
Caracas to a hospital after being trapped underground for eight days, seven days and counting, more than seven and a half days. We are now in the
eighth day here.
Normally, the vast majority of the survivors from earthquake are rescued within 72 hours from the quake. Hernan Gil was successfully rescued after
more than seven days, and still he was able to react to the press that was here, trying to -- try to talk to him, try to bring him out.
And once Bianna they will forever stand with me, there is a saying that we say that to grow a man it takes a village. Well, to save a life take the
whole world, Bianna, because here we saw units and teams from all over the world working in tandem. The Portuguese were the people in charge.
They were able to give us the news that Hernan Gil had been rescued. But together with them, there were Costa Ricans, Chileans, United States teams
from Virginia, Florida, and Los Angeles. There were, of course, 100 dozen of Venezuelan rescue workers from the firefighters committee department to
civil protection unit to members of the armed forces, they all came together in working in a truly -- in a truly complex situation.
I think that Bianna, at some point, Hernan Gil had dozens of tons of concrete on top of him. He will stay in several floors underground in
underground parking lot of this departmental store, where we are standing at it. It's a mixed building, residential building and departmental store.
Even Hernan Gil was in the basement of the structure in the underground parking lot. And he was able to be rescued alive less than an hour ago. It
was a truly remarkable moment and a peace abuse story that everyone in this nation had been waiting for, because this is the type of story that fills
you with hope.
And right now, this nation is fueled by hope. Venezuela is on its knees, the devastation and the level of catastrophe that this double earthquake
has brought to this country after 10 years of dramatic economic crisis is unfathomable.
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But stories like the one of Hernan Gil, rescued alive after seven and a half days underground, are what will fuel the reconstruction of Venezuela,
Bianna.
GOLODRYGA: Such a delicate operation here. Days in the work, and I have to say, seeing all of these first responders there, and the rescue teams from
all over the world cheering and congratulating each other for this incredible work, it really is moving. Stefano Pozzebon, you'll continue to
cover this for us. Thank you.
Well, search efforts continue across Venezuela, and aid groups are on the ground providing assistance to those affected. For more information about
how you can help the earthquake victims, please go to cnn.com/impact or scan the QR code on the screen there.
All right, overnight, a massive assault on Kyiv. Ukrainian authorities say Russian attacks have killed at least 21 people across the capital. Here,
you can see multiple explosions lighting up the night sky as thousands of Ukrainians rushed to bomb shelters and underground metro stations.
Ukraine's air force says that out of the nearly 500 Russian drones and missiles launched, most were intercepted, though 33 projectiles still made
an impact. Moscow calling this retaliation for recent Ukrainian attacks on civilian infrastructure. Rescue teams are searching for people feared
trapped under the rubble. Nada Bashir reports on this deadly assault.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESONDENT (voice-over): The moment of impact in yet another round of deadly Russian strikes. The night sky over Kyiv
illuminated as fires tear through the city into the early hours of the morning. Hundreds of Russian missiles and drones are said to have been
intercepted, but officials say at least 33 made impact, killing more than a dozen people and wounding at least 86 others.
IRYNA MOSKAEVA, KYIV RESIDENT: My kids and I wanted to get out of the room, we jumped out of the bed and started running, but there was nowhere left to
run. All the windows in the room were shattered and the door was jammed. I couldn't open it.
BASHIR (voice-over): This latest attack came with some warning. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy calling on civilians to heed the sirens and
take shelter in anticipation of an extensive Russian attack. More than 50,000 Kyiv residents are said to have packed into metro stations across
the city Wednesday evening, preparing for a long night.
Russia's Defense Ministry claims precision weapons were used to target Ukraine's military and energy infrastructure, but local officials in the
capital have condemned what they have described as significant direct hits on residential buildings across the city. In this Kyiv neighborhood,
families went anxiously for news of their loved ones as emergency services searched through the rubble of destroyed homes for casualties.
IHOR KLYMENKO, UKRAINIAN MINISTER OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS: A miracle happened here today. Thanks primarily to the work of the rescue teams. This is the
first time in Ukraine that seven people have been rescued from under the rubble.
BASHIR (voice-over): A miracle moment for some, but for others only grief, Nada Bashir, CNN in London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GOLODRYGA: Qatar says there was positive progress after separate talks in Doha between U.S. and Iranian negotiators. Mediators say both sides have
agreed to continue discussions on issues tied to the Memorandum of Understanding. CNN's Jeremy Diamond joins us now live from Tel Aviv.
And Jeremy, this is all happening as we are finally seeing the official funeral for the Ayatollah Khomeini, who was killed in the early hours of
this war, February 28th. It is quite unusual, to say the least, to wait this long for a funeral. Just give us a sense of what we can expect to see
in the hours and days to come.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, after several days of negotiations in the Qatari capital, we now see a break, it appears, in
these negotiations between the United States and Iran in order to allow for what are going to be very grand funeral processions for the late Supreme
Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
It is indeed rare in Islamic tradition for a funeral to be delayed by so long, and it speaks of course to the extraordinary circumstances that were
taking place in Iran, a wartime Iran, and also, of course, the kind of position of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the reverence that his followers
have held for him, of course, for so long.
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And the role he has played in the wider Middle East. We saw that Qatar said that there was quote positive progress over the course of these
negotiations the last few days. It's still unclear exactly what was discussed in Doha? Iranian officials said that they were focused on
unfreezing Iranian assets.
U.S. officials appear to have been focused on securing free passage for commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz. And of course, we know that
the ongoing negotiations and discussions about the continued conflict in Lebanon also factored into those discussions.
But now the attention, at least inside of Iran, is very much shifting to this funeral procession, which is going to take place over the course of
several days in Iran next week. The Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian calling on Iranians to turn out in quote large numbers to portray a united
front inside of Iran to the world.
There are going to be some 100 countries represented at this funeral, according to Iran's Foreign Ministry, with senior officials from China,
Iran, India, and Pakistan expected to attend. We also one big question mark here is whether or not the current Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, the son
of the late Supreme Leader, who is going to be buried next week, whether or not he will attend?
And of course, that question still looms because of the fact that we still have yet to see him in public since his father was killed and he was
injured, and ultimately since he ascended to become Iran's third Supreme Leader.
Now, another question is whether or not there could be any strikes during this funeral procession. Certainly, seems very unlikely from the U.S.'s
point of view, also relatively unlikely from Israel's point of view. But a senior Iranian military official is warning both the United States and
Israel against carrying out any military action against Iran during this funeral, vowing a quote regret-inducing response should any strikes take
place, Bianna.
GOLODRYGA: All right, Jeremy Diamond, reporting live for us from Tel Aviv. Thank you. Still to come for us, a thrilling World Cup win for the United
States. Thrilling doesn't explain it. We are live in California with all of the highlights. Plus, fans gobble up every detail of that round. The
expected wedding between Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, we'll take you live to New York.
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GOLODRYGA: The U.S. managed to add jobs last month, but at a snail's pace. New numbers just released show the economy added 57,000 jobs in June, that
is well below what economists had expected, and less than half the jobs the country gained in May. The unemployment rate, meanwhile, dropped a 10th of
a point to 4.2 percent.
Well, America is gearing up, as you know, to celebrate its 250th birthday, seen here President Trump's Great American State Fair on the National Mall
ahead of the July 4th holiday, it's just one of several events the president has planned to mark America's big anniversary.
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And, as Jeff Zeleny reports, Trump is making sure that he remains at the center of celebrations.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN U.S. CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He flew on his new plane, and for the first time as president he rode on a
train. Donald Trump is making a splash, heading into Independence Day, a celebration of America's 250th anniversary and himself.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: On July 4th, it's going to be approximately 107 degrees out, and I'm going to go, and I'm
going to make a really long speech, just to show that I can do anything.
ZELENY (voice-over): He visited the Badlands of North Dakota today, his motorcade escorted by rough riders on horseback. He toured the new Theodore
Roosevelt Presidential Library, seeing tributes to the 26th President and offering himself one.
TRUMP: Part of the country that I love, and I think they love me, because I have the all-time record in presidential voting.
ZELENY (voice-over): This year-long grand celebration of America has often felt like more of a presidential vanity project, placing the Trump imprint
far beyond the normal trappings of the office. While the president has long wrapped himself in the flag, quite literally, during this memorable moment
at a conservative gathering in his first term.
America 250 has taken things to a new Trumpian high. He commandeered planning for the celebrations, bypassing the bipartisan America 250
organization enacted by Congress a decade ago, in favor of Freedom 250 a separate group he and his ally's control.
His renovation projects have sprouted up across Washington, and his face now adorns many government buildings. At this moment of American history,
Trump is placing himself at the center of it all, to the delight of his admirers, like Tiffany Bowl Green (ph), who came from Fargo to see him
today.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Best president in the world of our time. And what he stood up for, and what he has done for this country, and what he has been
up against. I mean, the man is incredible.
ZELENY (voice-over): From a UFC fight on the South Lawn of the White House to a visit Friday to Mount Rushmore, surprising a stop he made in 2020.
TRUMP: There could be no better place to celebrate America's independence.
ZELENY (voice-over): Trump's handling of a semi-quincentennial is a far cry from the nation's bicentennial in 1976 when President Gerald Ford took
pains to remove partisan politics from an American celebration.
In his autobiography, A Time to Heal, Ford wrote, rarely in the history of the world had so many people turned out so spontaneously to express the
love they felt for their country. Trump has taken the opposite approach, making himself the star of the show. Yet, as the weekend finale approaches,
the modest attendance at the Great American State Fair is sparking anxiety inside the White House.
TRUMP: Then, on July 4th, we will have the greatest show of all on the National Mall. Your favorite president will be speaking, so please show up.
ZELENY (voice-over): The president's words offered a telling window into one of his biggest fears, a small crowd.
TRUMP: Because if we have two empty seats, you know what's going to happen. The fake news is going to say he didn't fill out the arena.
ZELENY (voice-over): Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Medora, North Dakota.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GOLODRYGA: That's one of my favorite animations we've had here at CNN. All right; football insiders say that it is going to be a war. England takes on
Mexico Sunday night in Mexico City, as both countries advance to the round of 16. England advanced after Wednesday's dramatic 2-1 victory over the
Democratic Republic of Congo, both goals courtesy of Harry Kane.
And Belgium are celebrating a dramatic late game combat capped by a penalty kick in extra time, beating Senegal 3-2. Belgium will take on the U.S. now
on Monday in Seattle after the Stars and Stripes defeated Bosnia and Herzegovina 2-0.
Coy Wire joins us now from Stanford, California, with the highlights from the dramatic match. My blood pressure last night, Coy was racing. I was so
nervous, so excited, cheering. What a game? I don't think I've ever seen such a soccer match where there was so much heart unknown, a red card that
I didn't think was called for, and a team that this country has truly come to embrace.
COY WIRE, CNN WORLD SPORT: Yes, the whole roller coaster of emotions. Your blood pressure was high. I lost all my hair. The last time the World Cup
was hosted in America in 94 the U.S. lost in a famous knockout round match against eventual champs Brazil, right here in Stanford Stadium.
But this time in the Bay Area in this World Cup knockout, the U.S. got the job done, despite a controversial red card.
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Fans were running stars and stripes, flying high hours before kickoff, and once again the U.S. team came out breathing fire. Breakout star Folarin
Balogun lit the fuse early, burying the opener, breaking out the LeBron James silencer celebration afterwards. But then came the plot twist.
Balogun given a red card, so there were 30 nerve-wracking minutes left of 10 versus 11, but Malik Tillman uncorked a laser from 20 meters out after a
yellow card that hit the back of the net like it had a boarding pass. Q the Bedlam (ph), the U.S. went 2-0 first World Cup knockout win since 2002 only
their second ever America marching on to the round of 16.
Now the next mountain to climb, Belgium in Seattle. And it comes with this glass case of emotions, because they will be without their star Balogun
suspended for a full match after that red card. American fans are floating on Cloud Nine, maybe ten after the win. But we caught up with some of them
on the way out, and it is clear they are not happy about this decision, listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The refs were probably being paid off. It was absolutely ridiculous. That red card was horrendous.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We miss Balogun, I mean, his energy is just like peak. I mean, he saw it today, we heard it today when he's out on the pitch. And
he's just -- he's got the ball, people are just electric, so yeah, we're going to miss him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very disappointed about the red car that happened. Number 20 is a great player, we're going to be missing out on, but we're
ready for you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: All right, losing your leading man, Bianna, could crack a team, or it could further forge them together. If sports are an emotional roller
coaster, this one skipped the brakes, as you mentioned. American fans saw joy, panic, relief, and now a bit of euphoria. Their World Cup dream is
still very much alive, and it is full steam ahead.
Now we have plenty more action coming our way today, with some European powerhouses hoping to avoid the drama we saw on Wednesday. European champs
Spain and Lamine Yamal take on Austria. Portugal will be hoping to find their best form as they take on a veteran Croatia side.
41-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo, 40-year-old Luka Modric going head-to-head, having played a combined 47 World Cup matches in their career. Who will
extend their streak? And the late kickoff today, Bianna sees Switzerland take on Algeria. I will be praying for you and your blood pressure as we
continue to march on through this tournament.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah, it's gone down a bit, but just come find me Monday night when we take on Belgium. I do feel for Balogun. I hope the team comes
together like they did after he left the game. That Tillman goal was incredible. Go Team USA. Coy Wire, I'm sure that was fun to experience.
Thank you. And happy fourth.
WIRE: Good to see you. Thank you too.
GOLODRYGA: Well, the scene outside Madison Square Garden in New York City this week could be mistaken for a top-secret military operation, but no
need for alarm. It is just preparations for Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's expected Friday wedding.
Sources say around 1000 people are set to attend, and the rehearsal dinner is scheduled for tonight. CNN's Brynn Gingras is outside of Madison Square
Garden. Brynn, I want to see you, as we said yesterday, inside celebrating like you should be with all of those guests, alongside Travis and Taylor.
Is this really happening? I mean, there's been some speculation that this is just a decoy. It sounds like that's a long way to go to hide a wedding.
BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. I agree with you, Bianna. You know, it's funny. I was talking to some Swifties who came out
to look at all the spectacle yesterday, and I asked the same thing. I'm like, are we delivering the wrong news here? And they're like, no,
actually, I really do also think this is happening.
So, it's not just us who believes this. But I can tell you, Bianna, the closer that we get to the start of these festivities, which is around 06:00
o'clock tonight, is that quote unquote rehearsal event inside Madison Square Garden. The more sort of reasons we can believe this is actually
happening.
Let me give you a few of those Easter egg hunts -- Easter eggs that we love to get from Taylor Swift, and I'm spotting one. We're seeing a lot more
barricades be put up, cutting off streets from traffic or any sort of major wanderers, pedestrians are still allowed to cross over and take their
pictures, which we've seen a lot of from people from Swifties.
But we're seeing that on both sides of the garden. We're also seeing more of a police presence, which we know we were going to hear that, you know,
there was going to be canine units out here. There's going to be top-notch security, as you can expect for such an A-list event that's about to happen
in the next couple of days.
Other little things that we're spotting, Bianna, we're still seeing crews bring in things into the garden. We saw sort of an arch-like subject. We
saw a beer truck being delivering some liquor. We saw some baked goods being brought in. So, there's definitely something happening, and we do
believe, of course this is the wedding, and the rehearsal for Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift.
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We expect 500 guests Bianna to be brought in through SUVs when it comes to the wedding ceremony that is expected to happen tomorrow. 500 guests
through SUVs into the garages of Madison Square Garden, that is so no paparazzi can get pictures at all. We've been seeing tents erected on the
other side of Madison Square Garden again, so cars can just pull up, guests can get out.
No pictures can be taken, so every level of security and sort of cloak and dagger is being taken to keep this top-notch and secret. Still, though,
we're seeing Swifties, as I said, come out Bianna and trying to get a picture of whatever they can, it's very funny. I really want to tell you
the story.
As I was walking here, there was a little girl, she's clearly not from New York. She came here, her mom is like, I'm sorry, honey, we're probably not
going to see anything, and this little girl is like, why can't Taylor just arrive early? So, everyone wants to see something, Bianna, but we're not
seeing much. I have to tell you.
GOLODRYGA: All right. Well, for that little girl, if for nothing else, Taylor, arrive early. You've got a lot of fans that are going to be
standing outside in sweltering heat, trying to get just a glimpse of you. If this is in fact what's happening this weekend. Brynn Gingras, thank you.
Happy 4th, my friend.
GINGRAS: All right, you too.
GOLODRYGA: And stay with CNN. I'll be back with more "One World" in about 30 minutes time, but next "CNN Creators".
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