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Quest Means Business

Elon Musk Set To Interview Former President Trump On X; Trump Team Blames Iran For Alleged Campaign Attack; Russia Orders More Evacuations Amid Ukrainian Offensive; Evacuations Ordered Near Athens As Wildfire Rages; Greek Authorities: 685 Firefighters, 32 Aerial Units Deployed; Blink Fitness Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired August 12, 2024 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:06]

PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: And there is the bell, no it is not the bell from Paris, but you know, it is the USA volleyball team fresh from

medals in Paris.

Now the market, not so much medaling today. You see the Dow there actually off some lows down about a third of a percent. The S&P, I will call it

flat. The NASDAQ though, a little bit of an impressive gain there, all three -- and this is last week you'll remember -- made some impressive

recovery after a volatile week. Those are the markets, and these are the main events.

Donald Trump back on X. The former president is due to speak to Elon Musk live on the platform that's just a few hours from now.

Ukraine says its troops now control about a thousand square kilometers of Russian territory.

And hundreds of firefighters working very dangerous conditions to control a fire just outside Athens, Greece.

Live from New York, it is Monday, August 12th. I'm Paula Newton, in for Richard Quest and this is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.

Good evening.

Tonight, Donald Trump is returning to his old stomping grounds as he tries to regain momentum in the presidential race.

Now, the former president is set to do a live interview with Elon Musk on the X platform just a few hours from now. Trump marked his return to that

platform earlier today with a series of campaign posts.

Now, he has largely avoided X you'll remember since Musk reinstated his account in November 2022.

Now, tonight's interview comes after an encouraging set of polls for Vice President Kamala Harris. "The New York Times" surveyed likely voters in the

Rust Belt. It showed Miss Harris leading Trump by four percentage points in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin -- all key states, I will remind you.

Now, that is just inside the margin of error for all three of those all all-important swing states.

Jeff Zeleny is in Washington for us, Clare Duffy is in New York. Nice to see both of you.

Jeff, the poll certainly moved in Harris' favor. What was interesting I thought was former Speaker Kevin McCarthy had some unsolicited advice for

Trump, stop questioning the size of her crowds and start questioning her position on policy. Do you think that the president -- well, the former

president will now pivot, given some of the poll numbers that we are looking at.

He has done it before, he did it in 2016, and it worked out for him. He won.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Paula, that is the central question. It is not just Kevin McCarthy. I mean, it is virtually

every Republican I talk to say, why isn't he talking about inflation? Why isn't the former president talking about immigration? Why isn't he

hammering her on a variety of issues?

Instead of making fun of her intellect, questioning her crowd sizes or the fact that how she even has any crowd, the former president made an

outlandish claim over the weekend saying that her crowd in Detroit, which was filled with thousands of people, was actually AI-generated.

You can see those images right there. I was actually at that rally in Detroit watching the vice president and her running mate walk off the plane

there. It was not AI-generated at all.

But look, you're right, the former president in 2016 certainly defied the odds. He was elected and he certainly has a lot of supporters out there.

But the question is, is he sort of being -- is he sort of flatfooted here? Is he rattled by this Democratic ticket?

The blue wall states have been largely trending toward him and Republican. This is a complete turnaround. It is a new moment in the presidential race.

There is no doubt about it.

There are 85 days to go, but Democrats absolutely have more excitement and enthusiasm than they have had all year long and she has consolidated a lot

of those younger voters and voters of color as well.

But look, this is not yet a policy debate, so there is going to be one. She is releasing some of her policies later this week on the economy, and the

economy is still front and center on the minds of voters. So never mind all of this conversation about crowd sizes, her intellect, the issues actually

will drive this race.

NEWTON: Yes, the economy and likely immigration as well.

Clare, we now go to this interview. This is vintage Trump, we will say, the kind of interview that he wants because he believes it will be good

primetime theater and I guess, he hopes it will also be a cultural moment, right? But why Elon Musk, why X and why now?

CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Yes, Paula, I mean, look, this platform, X, formerly known as Twitter was once sort of Trump's main playing field in

terms of communicating his plans and his policy issues and sort of revving up support among his supporters.

[16:05:02]

And in particular, in this moment right now, if he is looking for an easy win as he tries to regain momentum, if he is looking for a friendly

conversation, I don't think he could find a much friendlier place than X and Elon Musk.

Elon Musk has, of course, endorsed former President Donald Trump. He has encouraged his supporters to support him and Musk has become increasingly

aligned with many of Trump's positions over the past few years.

He has railed on the Biden administration's immigration ration policy. He shared racist conspiracy theories about immigration. Of course, we know

immigration is an important talking point for former President Donald Trump.

Musk has also criticized Kamala Harris, Trump's opponent. He has shared an AI-generated manipulated video of Kamala Harris. And so I think for Trump

going into this conversation, whereas as if he were to do an interview with a journalist, he might face being factchecked in real time, Trump can be

pretty confident that going into this conversation with Elon Musk, there is going to be no effort to do that because Musk himself has shared misleading

information about this election.

I also think this is a really notable moment because while we know that social media platforms have played a role in elections past, I mean, you

look at what happened in 2016, you look at what happened in the lead up to the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, never before have we seen the

CEO of one of these social media platforms to really try to leverage the power of that platform to directly influence the outcome of an election in

the way that we are seeing with Musk and X now -- Paula.

NEWTON: Yes, interesting, not going as you said to the independent journalists.

And Jeff back to you, given your experience with campaigns, someone else who isn't speaking to independent journalists right now is the vice

president herself. Do you feel that if you look at these polls, which are so in her favor that you get a bit of 2016 deja vu that they can get the

overconfident in this campaign though.

ZELENY: Now, look, I think there aren't many Democrats I speak to, certainly in the Harris campaign who feel overconfident at this moment. The

reality is, as we see those polls on screen there, that is all within the margin of error. And this is still -- it is basically a reset of the race.

I mean, Democrats were far behind and they certainly were not even hopeful about November. Now, one thing I sense is there is certainly a sense of

optimism. There is certainly more of a sense of hope that its possible for Democrats to win, but to vice president has made it clear that she

believes, they are still underdogs in the race.

And given this set of issues on the economy, on immigration, on inflation, they probably are somewhat the underdogs. In terms of when she will do an

interview, that is very much an open question.

They clearly are trying to make it to the convention, the Democratic Convention, which is next week in Chicago. She clearly is trying to keep

some of this momentum alive without slowing it and that has been one of the things. I mean, there is no doubt that she is a much better politician that

she was when she was running for the presidency at the beginning of the 2020 campaign. Her primary campaign sputtered out basically before the

voting began.

I mean, there is no doubt that she is significantly different. It is a different moment for her, but interviews have often been a challenging

thing for her, so we will certainly see how she does it, and that first debate, September 10th between her and the former president, that is going

to be so, so important.

So for now, Democrats certainly have some optimism, but there is no -- you know, a sense of over confidence certainly would be pretty foolish at this

point.

NEWTON: Yes, no doubt, especially given what happened in 2016 and as I just said, they might be banking on the fact that independent journalists like

the three of us may care about that interview, but perhaps likely voters do not. They will wait until after that all-important convention.

Jeff Zeleny for us, Clare Duffy, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

ZELENY: Thanks, Paula.

NEWTON: Now, the Trump campaign said this weekend that it is being hacked by foreign sources.

Campaign spokesperson, Steven Cheung suggested that Iran was responsible and he pointed to a report from Microsoft that Iranian operatives had

ramped up efforts to sway the election. Now, Trump blamed Iran directly, and said the hackers only got publicly available information.

POLITICO though meantime, previously reported that an anonymous e-mail sent it documents from inside the Trump campaign.

Sean Lyngaas is with me now, and you've been following this very closely. I think what the viewers really want to know here is, what do we know for

sure about this hack? And what happened? And the kind of information that was divulged?

SEAN LYNGAAS, CNN CYBERSECURITY REPORTER: Right, Paula, that's what I've been focused on, just trying to pin down what we know and what we can say

declarative.

What I can say is that the Trump campaign, the FBI, Microsoft, they are all taking this very seriously. We've seen this movie before with 2016 where

there was a hack and leak. Then it was the Russians allegedly that were doing that, targeting the Democratic side and then leaked e-mails to try to

embarrass then candidate, Hillary Clinton, so it is a well-worn playbook, but this is happening eight years later at a time when there is even more

divisiveness, one could argue, social media platforms are even more profuse in spreading this kind of information.

[16:10:10]

So everyone is pretty much on guard about this.

So we know it is being taken seriously. We know that there does appear to be some sort of hack. There was a theft of campaign documents circulated

inside by POLITICO and other outlets, but beyond that, it is still pretty murky, Paula.

We know that this sort of thing is certainly within the capabilities of the Iranian backers, they have done this time and again in terms of cultivating

a target with a conversation and then sending spear phishing e-mail to try to steal something from that e-mail account.

But other than that, we don't know a lot else for certain other than that, we will be finding out more as we report this out -- Paula.

NEWTON: Yes, I am sure more will come out either from the campaign or from law enforcement authorities.

I want to ask you, though, to what end, right, if the former President Trump believes that Iran does not want him to win, and that he believes

that is why they likely hacked his e-mails, his campaign e-mails, if you believe what the Trump campaign is saying hang about it.

And yet have they come up really with any evidence as to what the Iranian - - alleged Iranian hackers were trying to do?

LYNGAAS: They haven't provided that. So, Microsoft put out a report last week that was pretty detailed on various Iranian groups, what they were

doing in terms of social media campaigns, covert influence operations to try to fan the flames. They allegedly set up a website mimicking a

conservative news outlet and one mimicking liberal ones. So it is kind of this seesaw thing where they are trying to sow divisions.

And Microsoft also said that the Iranian -- an Iranian group had tried to hack an unnamed presidential campaign. They did not name the Trump

campaign, but there is no indication that that was not the Trump campaign.

But to ask your question, Paula more succinctly, the Trump campaign has not provided publicly a lot of evidence to back up their claim. They seem to

point to the Microsoft report and say that that is what we are leaning on, and also trying to sort of tap into what the public knows about Iran's

animosity -- apparent animosity towards Trump. CNN and other outlets have reported Iranian assassination plot that was recently foiled by the FBI.

So there is a lot of sort of no love lost given that the Trump campaign and the history of Trump with Iran and ordering the killing of their top

general in 2020.

So there is credibility to that narrative. There just isn't a lot of right now publicly available information to confirm that the Iranian government

did this.

NEWTON: And given the proof that we've had of election interference all around the world in the last decade, no doubt something we will continue to

hear about.

Sean Lyngaas for us, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

And still to come for us, Ukraine captures more Russian territory in its cross border attack. Vladimir Putin speaks out as thousands of Russians

flee to safety.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:15:47]

NEWTON: So Ukraine's military chief says Kyiv's forces now control about a thousand square kilometers of Russian territory. That's since Ukraine

surprise cross-border attack into Russia's Kursk region last week.

This video, geolocated by CNN shows a Ukrainian armored vehicle passing through a Russian village heading north to Valitsa (ph) in the Kursk

region.

Meantime, Russian authorities are evacuating civilians from more areas along that Ukrainian border. President Vladimir Putin vowing to "squeeze

out" Ukrainian troops.

We want to go straight to CNN's Fred Pleitgen.

I mean, Fred, look, you've spent a lot of time along the Ukrainian frontlines in two-and-a-half years. This is a new one, right?

Strategically, what more are we learning and are we learning more about what the endgame would be here?

I mean, obviously most have speculated it is a morale boost for Ukrainian military and Ukrainians at large, but what more is at work here? Especially

as it seems to be escalating in Russia.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it is quite interesting because actually just about an hour ago, Volodymyr Zelenskyy,

the president of Ukraine, he came out and for the first time appeared to state what the objective of all of this might actually be.

On the one hand, you're absolutely right. Of course, this has been a big morale boost for the Ukrainians and also quite frankly, a pretty big

embarrassment for the Russians as well as they seem to be you absolutely not prepared for having even what is not that big a Ukrainian force there

managing to take what even the Russians admit are 28 villages on Russian territory.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy came out tonight and he said one of the objectives that they have is to try and create a buffer zone between Ukrainian territory

and the Russian military. In other words, they are trying to push the Russian military back.

That would seem to mean, Paula, that the Ukrainians want to hold that territory, but it is very much unclear whether or not they have enough

forces in place to actually do that.

One of the other things that the Ukrainians also wanted to do, they have said is divert some of those Russian forces that are pressuring the

Ukrainians in the east of Ukraine and make them divert to try and fight there in the Kursk Oblast, and of course also in the Belgorod Oblast as

well.

The Ukrainians for their part, don't seem to be slowing down and they are seemingly trying to take even more territory.

Here is what we are learning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PLEITGEN (voice over): Ukrainian troops sweeping through Russian territory.

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE speaking in foreign language.)

PLEITGEN (voice over): "Dear Ukrainians," this soldier starts and then says his forces went into a Russian supermarket, but that Ukrainian stores have

a better selection.

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE speaking in foreign language.)

PLEITGEN (voice over): Videos released of several areas inside Russia showing Ukraine soldiers taking down Russian flags and raising Ukraine's.

And while the Kremlin claims its forces have held up Ukraine's advances in some areas, posting videos of bombed out alleged Ukrainian vehicles, the

numbers the Kremlin does admit are staggering.

Almost 30 villages under Ukrainian control, more than 120,000 Russian civilians evacuated in the Kursk region alone and more under evacuation

orders in the Belgorod region to the South.

Russian President Vladimir Putin irate, vowing to respond while ripping into Ukraine and its western allies.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): It appears that the enemy, with the help of his Western masters is fulfilling their will and

the West is fighting us with the hands of the Ukrainians, so it looks like the enemy is seeking to improve its negotiating position for the future.

The enemy will certainly receive a worthy response, and all our objectives will undoubtedly be achieved.

PLEITGEN (voice over): All this, as Russia and Ukraine blame each other for what appears to be a major fire at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in

Southern Ukraine, an area under Russian control.

So far, no increased radiation levels have been detected.

Kyiv has published little information about its offensive into Russian territory, but Ukraine's president justifying the incursion.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: From the beginning of this summer and only from the Kursk region, our Sumy region suffered almost 2,000

strikes artillery, mortars, drones. We also monitor every missile strike and each such strike deserves a fair response.

[16:20:03]

PLEITGEN (voice over): And it seems Ukraine's response is not over yet, even as Moscow scrambles to prevent further loss of territory.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PLEITGEN (on camera): A fairly small, but pretty agile force that is pretty well versed to trying to take territory quickly. Of course, something that

the Ukrainians have done in the late stages of 2022 at the beginning of the war.

One of the things that the Russians are seemingly trying to do, Paula, is they are trying to pull together more forces to stop the Ukrainians from

advancing. So far, it appears as though they've not really been successful in all places as the Ukrainians continuing to say that their troops are on

the move -- Paula.

NEWTON: Yes, it really was quite an ambitious move from the Ukrainians there, but I want to ask you, considering you're in Germany right now, what

kind of response Ukraine might be getting from the allies?

I mean, you and I both know, this would have been unimaginable even last summer.

PLEITGEN: Well, I think that's actually one of the things that we've been talking about quite a bit here as we are in Berlin, but also of course,

other allied nations of the Ukrainians as well because of course, some of the imagery that is coming out is one that I would not say necessarily is

controversial, but it is certainly something that a lot of the allies don't necessarily want to see.

Like for instance, one of the things that we have seen on the battlefield is German infantry fighting vehicles that the Ukrainians are now using on

Russian territory, definitely not something that the Germans necessarily want to be seeing.

There was one video that came out today of Ukrainian forces in a Humvee driving through a Russian town or in a Striker infantry fighting vehicle

made in the US driving through a town as well.

It certainly is something where I think for some allies that is going to be difficult. It is not clear to what extent they may have been informed about

all this, but again, one of the interesting things that Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address is he said that the Ukrainians want permission

from their allies to use some of those longer distance weapons against Russian territory as well to make sure that the Russians don't attack them.

So this is definitely part of Ukraine's plan and it seems as though, right now, the nations that are supporting Ukraine are at least in public, not

saying anything against it -- Paula.

NEWTON: Yes, you hit the nail on the head there. You do wonder what they are saying behind the scenes.

Fred Pleitgen for us in Berlin, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

And we go to the Middle East now. Washington is sharing Israel's concerns that a significant attack by Iran or its proxies is increasingly likely and

could happen within days.

US officials say they are working with European allies to de-escalate the situation and reach a hostage release deal in Gaza.

Meantime, oil prices climbed sharply today as energy markets brace for a potential of escalation in the region, you see there up, look at WTI, up

better than three percent, and Brent just under three percent.

Nic Robertson is now joining us from Tel Aviv.

I mean, Nic, good to see you in the region by the way, again, the region is of course bracing for something, right? But what's the conventional wisdom

this hour in terms of a major escalation or is there a chance that all of this telephone tag with the allies is working? Maybe they have convinced

Iran that there would be too high of a price to pay if they escalate too much.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, I think Iran is already aware that the cost of escalation for them could be massive on

infrastructure and economy and they can't afford it and the same for Hezbollah who is a part of this equation as well in Lebanon.

I think you know, what's the prevailing perspective, it is not as positive as it was a couple of days ago that the narrative around the big talks

about Gaza that is due to take place on Thursday are not sounding quite as good as they were a couple of days ago, that Hamas yesterday had said that

they wanted the talks to succeed, but they wouldn't send a delegate, a source is now telling me that Hamas will send a delegate to those talks.

There is clearly political infighting within Prime Minister Netanyahu's Cabinet between his position and the view of the defense minister and that

tends to show us that Prime Minister Netanyahu, at the moment is sticking to a fairly strong position of trying to put the blame and the focus on

Hamas.

So all of this positioning isn't really conducive, you would think at this stage, to the success of the talks or the possibility that talks can

actually happen, and of course, Iran's decision on whether or not, and how much to strike Israel depends on the possibility of those talks succeeding

because in that, if the torso succeeding, then Israel, then rather Iran can say, well we will forego our threatened strike on Israel because we'd

rather not contribute to destabilizing the situation more, save the Palestinian lives and therefore hold our fire or measure our fire. But at

the moment, it is not clear.

So I think the conventional wisdom does depend where you look, and of course, the intelligence estimate here in Israel is that Iran is preparing

for a strike. The diplomatic assessment in the region is it could be a big one and it could be coming in the next couple of days.

[16:25:20]

It is very, very hard to call right now -- Paula.

NEWTON: Yes, and you know, you cannot overstate the complication of this right now, given they are trying to tell Iran that it is better that they

do not escalate. In the meantime, really trying a delicate balance on this very stubborn plan for a ceasefire, which still has not materialized.

Nic, I want to ask you, some diplomats have said, look, this isn't time to waste a crisis like this. They are hoping still for a breakthrough in the

coming days. Again, the Israeli politics, internal politics really complicating that.

ROBERTSON: It is. You know, you have -- look, Hamas is trying to sort of maneuver, if you will, going into these talks to make Israel look bad. They

have said that we accept we want to ceasefire, we accept the ceasefire framework that was outlined by President Biden at the end of July and after

that, Prime Minister Netanyahu, they say put some add-ons onto that frame that were unacceptable to them.

The domestic infighting here at the moment, if you will, we heard from the defense minister speaking at a closed-door session that was, he said was

leaked, where he essentially called into question Prime Minister Netanyahu's general thesis about defeating Hamas, complete absolutely

victory.

Yoav Gallant, the defense minister said that is not possible. The Prime Minister's Office came out and criticized him and said that undermines the

state of Israel. You should be coming out and criticizing Hamas and Yahya Sinwar, its leader at this time.

The defense minister came out and defended his position again as supporting Israel.

That kind of narrative and the fact that there are hard right members in Prime Minister Netanyahu's governing -- in his government rather tend to

keep him from making the sort of compromises that Hamas wants to see.

In all of this, the expectation from diplomats in the region is that the United States would put enough pressure on Prime Minister Netanyahu. But I

spoke to one diplomat today who said, look, those hopes of last week that the US would bring its diplomatic force to bear, change Prime Minister

Netanyahu's position sort of make him sort of overwrite, overrule his right-wing elements, that doesn't appear to be happening.

That is bringing disappointment and that disappointment manifests in as much as they don't think that the talks on Thursday can be successful

enough to have Iran hold its fire.

NEWTON: Yes, very sobering news yet again, for the families of the hostages and of course, those civilians in Gaza.

Nic Robertson for us, really appreciate it.

Now, a wildfire is raging outside of Athens, Greece, nearly 700 firefighters have been deployed to fight it.

We will be back with that in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:31:53]

NEWTON: Wildfires are tearing through Greece after the hottest June and July there on record. Evacuations have been ordered near Athens, where

emergency crews are up against dramatic conditions. I mean, just look at that smoke. The wildfire is at this point showing no signs of slowing down

and nearly 700 firefighters have been deployed.

Greece's also calling on the European Union for help. Romanian firefighters are already there on the scene. France says it will also send personnel.

CNN's Lynda Kinkade earlier spoke with the nurse responding to the blaze.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VASILIKI DALLA, NURSE, HELLENIC RED CROSS: Right now, I had to, I was in a position now that I was intended to talk to you but unfortunately, we have

to evacuate the place because it's really dangerous. The situation is really very difficult at the moment. The fire is enormous. It's in the

suburbs of Athens right now. Our volunteers and all the stuff of Hellenic Red Cross are operating from the first moment of the outbreak of this

enormous fire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: Nada Bashir has been following all of this in London for us. And Nada, you just have to listen to listen to her voice and hear what she's

saying about how dramatically in the last 24 hours, this fire has only gotten worse and it continues to spread. I mean, what are going to be the

conditions on the ground right now for this to -- in some way, shape or form, come under control?

NADA BASHIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL REPORTER: Well, look, the warning that we're hearing from officials and authorities on the ground, Paula, is that this

is going to take some time. They are expecting the extreme weather conditions to continue at least through Thursday this week, and that could

only make the situation on the ground much, much worse. This fire broke out on Sunday and we've seen firefighters, hundreds of firefighters, battling

the blaze overnight throughout today.

But what we've also seen is the continuous spread of this wildfire across the suburbs surrounding the northern part of Athens. And of course, we've

seen nearly 600 firefighters now on the ground, as well as volunteers, as well as military reservists, trying to contain the fire. But because of

these extreme weather conditions, the dry, hot summer and, of course, the high winds that they're seeing in the area now, this has only made the

situation much more difficult for firefighters to bring under control.

Now, the warning that we're hearing from authorities now is for residents in these areas and the surrounding areas affected in the suburbs to

evacuate immediately for fear that those fires could continue to spread. They say that they've already seen 40 flare ups of the blaze since the

early hours of Monday morning. And of course, there have already been residents in the area directly impacted.

More than a dozen are said to have suffered minor respiratory issues. At least two firefighters so far reporting burns or respiratory issues as

well. And that figure could rise as we continue to see the blaze spreading and there have been other precautions taken as well. Two hospitals have

already been evacuated, another three put on heightened alert, and of course, we are expecting to see yet more emergency workers on the ground as

they continue to battle this spreading Blaze.

NEWTON: Yes. One thing Greece cannot handle right now is for any flare ups in any other areas, and it is calling on other E.U. nations for help. I

mean, how quickly can some of these resources get there?

[16:35:06]

BASHIR: That's right. That urgent call was put out earlier today for both ground and air support from the European Union. And we've already seen

several nations now committing support, both when it comes to emergency personnel and equipment. As you mentioned, France has already pledged

support. They are sending in a specialized helicopter as well as 180 firefighters and 55 fire trucks. Italy is dispatching two firefighting aircrafts.

They're expected to arrive and be in action tomorrow morning to support in that effort to contain the blaze. The Czech Republic sending in 75

firefighters, 25 vehicles. And officials in Greece say they are also expecting support to come in from both Turkey and Spain. There could be

others, of course, that continue to commit support as this effort continues. And this is something typically that we have seen in the past,

nations calling on the E.U. to provide emergency support when it comes to disasters like this, particularly when it comes to wildfires.

And of course, Greece is no stranger to these wildfires. The hot, dry summers make it particularly susceptible to wildfires. But what we've been

hearing from science experts, once again, is that this is only going to get worse because of the extreme weather we're seeing, because of the climate

crisis that is only worsening. We are expecting to see across parts of Europe and around the Mediterranean, yet more wildfires.

But these wildfires are expected to become more intense, potentially more dangerous and deadly, and of course, they are only expected to increase in

frequency as the climate crisis worsens. So, this is definitely a priority for the Greek government. It's also a warning sign for other nations in the

Mediterranean region, as we've seen in previous years, that have been caught up in wildfires during the hot summer months. Paula?

NEWTON: As you said, right throughout the Mediterranean region. Nada Bashir for us in London. Thanks so much.

Chad Myers is with us now from the CNN Weather Center. Chad, 10:36 p.m. in Greece right now. It is going to be a tense night. What do we see ahead in

the next few hours and days?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Things always calm down a little bit wind wise in the evening and the overnight hours. That's typical, because the

air goes up, brushes up into the jet stream, and then it gets a gust, and that gust gets down to the ground. Well, the gusts today were 50 to 60

kilometers per hour, right over the fire line. So, we're in that extreme today. That's a level five out of five.

We don't get worse than what we're having now. Sure, it could be 70 or 80 kilometers per hour, but when you get to level five out of five, there's no

five out of six, or six out of five. It just doesn't get any higher. Tomorrow, a little bit better, down to four out of five as the winds die

off just a touch. But here's Athens. Here's where the fires really began. Kind of in the hinterland up here.

Yes, I mean, there are people, but watch when this starts to sneak its way into the Athens suburbs. Now we are wildland urban interface, which means

if there are trees around your home, your home is in danger if those trees catch on fire. And closer we get now into those Athens suburbs, the worst

things are going to get. There will be more in the way of fire lines, so many places where it's on fire.

You can't put enough firefighters in the way because there are too many places. Here's the smoke coming out of Athens right now, more in the way of

wind today, calming slum tomorrow, but then picking back up again for Wednesday and Thursday. Some of those gusts on Thursday again could be 40

to 50 miles per hour. The pictures are devastating. Talk to people that I know that are from Greece, and they said it's really bad. That's exactly

the word he used. It's really bad.

NEWTON: Yes. Just the pictures that you showing us right now incredible. We will wish them a lot of luck and be thinking of them over the next few

days. Chad Myers for us. Thanks so much.

Now the gym chain Blink Fitness has filed for bankruptcy. It's owned by the health club Equinox and has more than 100 gyms right across the United

States. Some of which are unprofitable. Blink says it's still struggling with the impacts of the pandemic and it comes as consumers, of course, cut

back on spending and as wealthier consumers turn to weight loss drugs like Ozempic.

Nathaniel Meyerson is in New York for us. You know, there's a lot going on here, not the least of which is, some people have predicted this right with

the rise of these kinds of drugs that help with weight loss. But take the temperature of this industry right now for us. Post COVID, post work from

home.

NATHANIEL MEYERSOHN, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: So, Paula, there's a lot going on in the industry. I think that Blink Fitness really represents more of

still, of a hangover from the pandemic, then some of these other trends that we're seeing. You know, Blink shut down during the -- during the

pandemic. It had to defer its lease payments, its rent payments. And so, it's starting to improve, but it still can't make its rents.

You know, the gym industry still is in good shape. You know, just because this company is falling for bankruptcy does not mean that people aren't

going to gyms anymore or they're, you know, not interested in exercise. I think Blink is really using the bankruptcy as a way to cut some of its

leases, some of its, you know, its older -- its older gyms or gyms in areas that never really fully came back after work from home and after the

pandemic.

[16:40:13]

So, I think this is more of an issue with Blank and it's still going to be around rather than kind of a real structural decline of the gym industry.

NEWTON: Yes. I mean, as you said, this happens. This happens and it's cyclical sometimes in these gyms. I guess, just though, as a wider trend,

you know, some people go to a gym where you can pay per use. Others pay very expensive fees for these high-end gyms? Did this place just get caught

in the middle?

MEYESOHN: Yes. Paula, we've seen kind of gyms more in the middle, like Gold's Gym here in the here in the U.S. Those gyms really have been hurt

planet -- excuse me. Blink is a little bit more expensive than some of the really low-price gyms, so it's a little bit more in the middle. And then

meanwhile you have higher price gyms like Equinox that are actually doing very well. So, if you're in the middle like Blink is you're going to

struggle.

But then you do see some budget gyms doing well here in the U.S., like Planet Fitness, and then the higher end gyms, Equinox, Lifetime Fitness.

You know, everybody predicted that the pandemic would be kind of the end of the gym industry, and that people would just be lifting weights from home,

or everybody got pelotons. But, you know, that was kind of short lived. I mean, think about how poorly Peloton and some of these other at home gym

companies are doing.

People have shown they want to be out, you know, in exercise classes at gyms and not home all day. So, I think it's just figuring out, you know,

what the -- what the price is that people are willing to pay. And then giving them a mix of options. You know, I do, you have all these boutique

classes that have come out and people, you know, how many days a week do people want to go to boxing class? So, it's really a mix, you know, you

want a mix of workouts.

NEWTON: Yes. One guess as to how many boxing classes I want to go to. Nathaniel Myers and thanks so much. It is a fascinating look at that

industry. Appreciate it.

Now, U.S. stocks closed mixed today. Video -- and video, pardon me, drove a rally in the tech sector, pulling the NASDAQ into the green. That's a

pretty good gain. In the meantime, the Dow struggle closing lower. Meanwhile, look at these oil prices. They rose as energy markets embraced

for a potential escalation in the Middle East and perhaps fears of a recession in the United States abating ever so slightly.

All right. That does it for us today. That was QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. I'll be back with you tomorrow. Up next though, CONNECTING AFRICA.

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