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Tech Disruptions Hit Airlines, Businesses Worldwide; Biden in Isolation Amid Growing Calls to Step Down; Trump Delivers Lengthy, Off-Script Speech at RNC; Tel Aviv on Heightened Alert After Deadly Drone Attack; IDF Strikes Hezbollah Command Centers in Southern Lebanon; Trump Accepts Republican Nomination on Final Night of RNC. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired July 19, 2024 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, folks. I'm Fred Pleitgen here in London, and we are returning to our breaking news story. Global cyber outages have caused delays and issues at European airports affecting travel, the media, and also the London Stock Exchange website, among many other things here on the continent.

After mass outages worldwide have caused IT systems to shut down, airports in Europe have reported issues with their IT systems, with Berlin's BER airport saying that it is experiencing delays to check-in due to a, quote, technical fault. Some airlines in the United States are grounded due to the outages, and the outages are also affecting Australia, New Zealand, and China as well. Australian airlines Virgin Australia and Qantas have been impacted by massive tech disruptions.

Marc Stewart has been covering all this for us and is back with us once again. Marc, tell us what's going on in your part of the world.

MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Fred, we heard from an analyst earlier who described this as an enormous problem. Now we are really getting a true indication as to the size and scope, especially here in Asia, as well as worldwide, with problems really first being reported at around 2 o'clock in the afternoon here in Beijing. Many people experienced what are being described as blue screens on their computer.

But let me focus on the aviation aspect of all of this, because a lot of people here in Asia are getting ready to take flights, and of course it's morning or early morning in Europe, as well as the United States and North America. The list of airlines seeing the impact of this keeps growing. You mentioned Qantas and Virgin Australia, but also added to the list Turkish Airlines, United, Delta, American, Allegiant, as well as Air India Express, SpiceJet. That is just a sample of what we've been able to gather so far.

Airports across Asia are certainly being impacted. To add to the list, you mentioned Berlin Airport in Germany. Also problems now being reported at London's Gatwick Airport, Scotland's Edinburgh Airport. Ryanair, also a very low-cost carrier in Europe, is also now reporting some issues.

This is truly impacting people's everyday lives. If they're not traveling in some parts of Asia, at least people are having a hard time getting groceries. This is having a big impact on banks and many people who work in telecom, including Visa and Optus, which are some of the bigger names in this part of the world.

You mentioned the London Stock Exchange having issues. Also issues with the Malaysia Stock Exchange, as well as banks in New Zealand having issues. Grocery stores also having some problems, at least in Australia.

[04:35:00]

The reason for all of this still very much under investigation. But as we were talking in the past half hour, Fred, you know, this has started early in the morning here in Asia. It's now moving globally around the world as people start to wake up and realize just how significant of a problem this is, likely attached to some of these Microsoft products -- Fred.

PLEITGEN: Yes, absolutely huge. And as you were speaking, we saw some of those blue screens at some of those self-checkout counters. That was actually in Australia, as you've mentioned. This is a massive issue across all of Asia and really moving towards Europe, isn't it?

STEWART: It is moving toward Europe. And as we know, especially with the airline system, if there is a problem in the system of one part of the world, it's likely going to affect the rest of the world. United Airlines, for example, said that some of its flights that were in the air, they were able to operate, but other flights likely are going to be delayed or halted.

Also, I can't help but think about the financial impact of all of this as well, not just for airlines, but for even small businesses that depend on different IT products, different computer products, just to do basic transactions. So the problems, the financial aspect of all of this is adding up and it may take days before it's seen. Plus, not clear exactly how far along we are in the troubleshooting and all of this and how close we are to any kind of resolution -- Fred.

PLEITGEN: Yes, I just spoke to a cybersecurity expert who said he believes it could take around 12 hours or even more for the outages to go away.

But one of the things that I think we need to talk about, and you mentioned it a little bit, is that when airlines in Asia are affected, of course, those in Europe get affected because all of their travel is dependent, but it also takes a very long time for all of that to get back in sync. So people who are experiencing delays now, they might be in trouble for a considerable amount of time, right?

STEWART: Right, if aircraft, if airplanes cannot leave their base in Asia or Europe, which are easily 10 hour plus flights, people who are in the United States trying to get to Asia and to Europe are now going to experience delays. It can also certainly -- it's also certainly impacting the domestic air travel system in North America. It can take at least a day and a half, even two days for things to fully recover. And that's what we see during a weather event. And now we have these IT issues. I mean, a big problem is also just getting people through the travel process.

I mean, we heard from airport officials in Hong Kong that they're having to check people in manually. And as we know, there's so much dependence on these computer systems, these electronic kiosks, where you just scan a QR code on your phone to check in for your flight. Well, that's been held up.

So it is just problem after problem collectively resulting in all of these delays and all of these headaches for people in airlines, but also people who are just trying to do their everyday jobs.

PLEITGEN: A deeply intertwined world and someone's just thrown a wrench in the system. Thank you so much, Marc Stewart, for being on top of that for us from Beijing. Thank you.

And here are some of the other top stories that we're covering today.

Top Democratic officials are reportedly ramping up the pressure to get Joe Biden to step away from the 2024 presidential race. The president faces metaphorical and literal isolation after testing positive for COVID earlier this week.

Donald Trump has officially accepted the nomination to be the Republican Party's pick for the Oval Office. The former president took the stage at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His family and closest political allies spoke on his behalf.

Trump finished the night with a record-breaking speech, lasting one hour and 32 minutes and beating his own record from 2016. He spoke for the first time about his experience being shot at during a political rally in Pennsylvania last weekend. And more on the convention and Trump's speech now from our own Phil Mattingly.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF U.S. DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: Well, for Donald Trump, there was no question. His third convention speech, accepting his third Republican presidential nomination was a massive moment, especially after nearly losing his own life just a few days ago. And it was a story he told in detail for the first time to the sold-out crowd here in the convention hall in Milwaukee, including saying this, which brought an immediate response from the crowd. Take a listen.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm not supposed to be here tonight. Not supposed to be here.

(APPLAUSE AND CHEERS)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, you are! Yes, you are!

(APPLAUSE AND CHEERS)

CROWD CHANTS: Yes, you are! Yes, you are! Yes, you are! Yes, you are! Yes, you are!

MATTINGLY: But for Trump and for many people in the crowd, that was potentially the most notable high point of the speech that was deeply personal.

[04:40:00]

The rest of the speech was deeply long, frankly. That was the comment one delegate made to me, that it was just, good speech in their mind, it was just very long.

Whether or not it was good, there was one thing that was very clear. It was definitely not an on-script, throughout state of remarks. In fact, watching the teleprompter throughout the course of the night, you could see the former president try and stay on-script, then make a clear decision that he wanted to go off and start talking about things like they stole an election that was proven to never have happened, his relationships with foreign leaders.

He'd start talking about President Biden, even though he said he wasn't going to mention his name at all. It was, in some level, just vintage Trump going off-script, but it was a very long version of going off-script and one that certainly took him off a message that for the better part of four days had been consistent, tightly, tightly controlled. And by all accounts, including some Democrats I've spoken to, quite successful.

Where this goes from here, that is certainly an open question. Everybody you talked to in the arena leading up to the speech said it was among the most energized they've ever seen a political convention.

Now, with months left in the campaign and frankly, a lot of uncertainty about who the former president will be running against, he heads off into the campaign trail for a critical fall, the highest of stakes elections.

Phil Mattingly, CNN, from the convention floor in Milwaukee.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PLEITGEN: And Donald Trump met with Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle on Tuesday to discuss the failed assassination attempt, according to a source familiar with the meeting. Now, Trump's top campaign advisor is calling on the Secret Service Director to resign. She will likely face some pretty tough questions about the security failures from angry House Republicans during a hearing on Monday.

Questions will be sure to include why law enforcement identified the gunman as, quote, suspicious, a full 19 minutes before the shooting took place, but failed to locate him.

Meanwhile, the Secret Service is defending its female agents amid misogynistic criticism from some right-wing personalities. Critics are claiming the female agents in Trump's detail were incapable of protecting him on Saturday.

Another big story we're following for you. Houthi rebels in Yemen are claiming responsibility for a deadly drone attack in Tel Aviv.

And coming up, the latest on the investigation in a live report to the scene of the attack. That's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PLEITGEN: All right, folks, let's get you up to speed with the latest on that deadly drone attack in Tel Aviv. An Israeli military official says air defenses detected the craft on its way to the city, but it wasn't shot down because of, quote, human error. The drone struck the city's diplomatic section several hours ago, killing one person and leaving 10 others injured.

Yemen's Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for the attack, but CNN can't independently verify their claim. Israel is investigating, but the military believes there are no further threats, at least for now.

And we have our own Jeremy Diamond, who's on the ground in Tel Aviv at the scene of where that drone struck. Jeremy, tell us what the latest is and what you're learning.

[04:45:00]

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, we are in the street right now where this explosive-laden drone that the Houthis are now claiming responsibility for appears to have exploded, sending shrapnel flying into apartment buildings and cars in this area. You can see right behind me a vehicle that was struck by some of the shrapnel from this -- there's multiple vehicles in this area that were damaged by shrapnel, but really the main damage is up above.

I'm going to have my cameraman Matthias pan here. As you can see, most of the windows on this building have been shattered by the power of the explosive blast, as well as likely by shrapnel as well. And you can see damage from shrapnel on all of the residential buildings in this area.

Now, one other thing that is interesting here is if you look how close we are, actually, to a pretty significant site, and that's because behind me, down this street, you can see the American flag there. That is the U.S. Embassy branch office in Tel Aviv. There's no indication that that was the target of this attack, but nonetheless, it is notable how close that building actually is. The U.S. Embassy says that there was no damage to that building.

Now, in terms of injuries and fatalities, one man in his 50s was found dead in his bed due to what the Israeli Magen David Adom services described as, quote, penetrating injuries.

Another eight people were taken to the hospital for injuries. Five of those have been released so far. The status of the three others is unknown at this time. But I also just have to note how incredibly rare an event like this

is. This is the first time that a drone fired allegedly by the Houthis has actually successfully hit a target in Tel Aviv. They have hit the southern Israeli city of Eilat before, but this is a first for Tel Aviv. And the Israeli military says that they actually detected this drone, but due to human error, it was not intercepted. Sirens did not go off in this area.

I spoke to one man whose car was severely damaged by this drone attack. He says that he was woken up in the middle of the night by the sound of the explosion, but most notably it was the sound of glass breaking, glass falling on the street below.

And, again, we've seen damage on multiple areas, although a lot of the damage on this street has already been cleaned up -- Fred.

PLEITGEN: That looks like a pretty big explosion, and that drone would have had to fly a pretty long way. Thank you very much, Jeremy. Diamond there on the ground in Tel Aviv from where that apparent drone strike took place.

And our own Nada Bashir here in the studio to talk about other developments as well. Because, of course, as all this happened, and it happens, of course, also as the war in Gaza continues, and, of course, you have that standoff between Hezbollah and Israel in the north of the country, in the south of Lebanon, where the Israelis say that they took out pretty key commanders yesterday. What are you learning about that?

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. We've continued to see that crossfire between Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and the Israeli military in the north of Israel. We've heard from the Israeli military confirming that they carried out a number of airstrikes, according to the IDF, targeting the elite Erdogan forces belonging to Hezbollah.

Two key commanders killed in that attack, according to the Israeli military. Key amongst them, Ali Jaafar Maatouk, who they say is a key field commander, field unit commander, belonging to Hezbollah. Hezbollah has acknowledged this attack and the death of Ali Jaafar Maatouk.

But, of course, the Israeli military claims that these commanders were involved in terrorist activity, so targeting Israel in these continued strikes that we have seen between both sides since the outbreak of the war in Gaza. And we have really seen that ramping up. And, of course, this has had a significant civilian impact as well.

We've seen, of course, much of border region, northern Israel being evacuated. Nearly 100,000 people in southern Lebanon have been forced to flee their homes as well. And we've seen this continued ramping up of that crossfire.

And on Tuesday, in fact, we saw more airstrikes targeting an agricultural region of southern Lebanon, according to officials in Lebanon. Dozens of civilians were injured in those strikes. Three children said to have been killed as well. So significant concern there around those ramping tensions that we're seeing.

PLEITGEN: So, and you just mentioned those tensions ramping up. And all of this, of course, has led many people to fear that there could be a wider, larger war between Israel and Hezbollah on the horizon. How big do you see that threat now after these strikes?

BASHIR: Absolutely. And we've been hearing repeatedly now from Hezbollah that they don't want to see a war on that southern border, that their actions are in direct response to what we're seeing in Gaza, that if there is a ceasefire, that they will cease their targeting of Israeli territory.

And that's really what the international community has been focusing on, trying to get that ceasefire deal struck between both sides, between Israel and Hamas, in order to ensure not only that the war in Gaza comes to an end, but that we don't see this war expanding and spreading throughout the region, particularly in Lebanon, where, of course, there is that concern.

We've heard from the Israeli military preparations are believed to be underway for a potential ground incursion. That is certainly a key fear there.

[04:50:00]

The Lebanese government, for its part, again, crucial to underscore that this is separate from the Iran-backed Hezbollah group. They have said that they don't want to see a war but can't stand idly by if they are provoked.

But they don't want to see Lebanon dragged into a full-scale war. Lebanon certainly isn't in a place right now where it could handle, perhaps, a full-scale war. And yet, we've continued to see Hezbollah striking Israeli territory since October.

So, certainly, concern from the international community. But mounting pressure as well for a ceasefire to be struck, for a diplomatic solution to be reached. And, of course, on the Israeli side, there is pressure domestically from many calling for a ceasefire to be reached in order to ensure the release of all remaining hostages.

PLEITGEN: And, of course, we know that any sort of escalation would have devastating consequences, no doubt, for Lebanon. Thank you very much, Nada Bashir, for joining me here. And we'll be right back after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PLEITGEN: Returning to our breaking news, global cyber outages have caused delays and cancellations at airports around the world. Airports in Europe have reported issues with their IT systems, with Berlin airport saying that it is experiencing delays to check in due to, quote, a technical fault. Some airlines in the United States are grounded due to the outages. The number of flight cancellations is growing by the minute. At last check on flightaware.com was reporting 700 cancellations worldwide, including more than 350 flights into and out of the United States. It's also affecting the media and other businesses, including the London Stock Exchange website, after its IT systems shut down.

Even Hong Kong's Disneyland says it's impacted by technical issues. Stay with us for updates on this very quickly developing story. We're, of course, covering it from all angles.

Meanwhile, the Olympic torch continues its own Tour de France. Stage 60 of the relay saw the torch making its way through northern France, finishing the latest phase of the voyage in the town of Beauvais on Thursday, where French Olympic fencing champion Sophie Moressee- Pichot, who won gold at the 1996 Atlanta Games, lit the cauldron. The relay will culminate one week from today with the lighting at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony.

Netflix is phasing out its basic plan, the cheapest ad-free version of the streaming service. It currently costs $11.99 a month in the U.S. The company is pushing users to sign up for its ad-supported plan at $6.99 a month. That, of course, is in U.S. dollars. The phase-out starts in January in Canada and in the U.K., with France and the U.S. to follow. Users can still get the streaming service without advertising. The standard plan goes for $15.49 a month, and the premium plan costs $22.99 a month.

Thanks for joining me here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Fred Pleitgen in London. CNN "THIS MORNING" is up next, but first, a look back at the Republican National Convention.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This convention will come to order.

ERIC TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP'S SON: We hereby nominate every single one of them for the greatest president that's ever lived, and that's Donald J. Trump.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

[04:55:00]

Hereby declaring him the Republican nominee for president of the United States of America.

(Kid Rock live performance)

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

SEN. TIM SCOTT (R-SC): On Saturday, the devil came to Pennsylvania holding a rifle. But an American lion got back up on his feet, and he roared.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE) HULK HOGAN, FORMER PROFESSIONAL WRESTLER: Tried to kill the next president of the United States. Enough was enough. And I said, let Trumpamania run wild, brother.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

Let Trumpamania rule again. Let Trumpamania make America great again.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

VIVEK RAMASWAMY, FORMER U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you want to restore law and order in this country, vote Trump.

NIKKI HALEY, FORMER U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald Trump has my strong endorsement, period.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We do it in solidarity with our President Trump because we love him, we support him 100 percent.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And if somebody has to wear a cast, we'll wear a cast. If somebody has to have a bandage, we'll wear a bandage. We're behind him 100 percent.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The gold star families of our fallen heroes.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

CHRISTY SHAMBLIN, GOLD STAR MOTHER: I had expected to meet an arrogant politician. Instead, I met a man who had empathy for us. He was compassionate, and he spent time with us. Because he knew it would make us feel better. Thank you, President Trump.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

CROWD CHANTS: At ease! At ease! At ease! At ease!

SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), U.S. REPUBLICAN VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I stand here humbled, and I'm overwhelmed with gratitude to say I officially accept your nomination to be Vice President of the United States of America.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

KAI TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP'S GRANDDAUGHTER: When we play golf together, if I'm not on his team, he'll try to get inside of my head. I know. And he's always surprised that I don't let him get to me.

(CHEERS)

But I have to remind him, I'm a Trump too.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

D. TRUMP: With faith and devotion, I proudly accept your nomination for President of the United States. Thank you.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

(Kid Rock live performance)