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Two Children Killed, 17 Others Injured in a School Mass Shooting in Minneapolis; Indian Exporters Struggling After the Stiff Tariff Increase for U.S. Imports; Prominent World Leaders to Attend China's Military Parade; U.S. to Hit La Nina Winter in the Coming Months. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired August 28, 2025 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world and to everyone streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church. Just ahead.
Exclusive video reveals new details on the deadly attack at Gaza's Nasser Hospital. What experts are now saying about the double tap tactic as global condemnation around the strikes intensifies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
Don't just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now. These kids were literally praying.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Yet again, another deadly school shooting in the U.S. Outrage, grief and a search for answers.
Plus, Kyiv residents shelter underground as a deadly wave of Russian missiles and drones pound Ukraine's capital.
And later, Japan's Mount Fuji hasn't erupted in over three centuries. But what would happen if it did? New A.I.-generated video aims to show Tokyo's residents just that, warning them to be prepared.
UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Rosemary Church.
CHURCH: Thanks for joining us.
Well, if the White House has any plans for ending the war between Israel and Hamas, it's keeping them under wraps for now. A source tells CNN a top-level meeting on Wednesday focused mainly on charting a course for what happens after the war's over.
And there were two unexpected people taking part, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Despite his broad portfolio during the first Trump administration, Kushner has no official role now, but he does have close ties to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Secretary of State met in Washington with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, reaffirming unwavering U.S. commitment to Israeli security. Take a listen to Saar's hardline response to reporters' questions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Sir, how was the meeting?
GIDEON SAAR, ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER: Very good meeting.
REPORTER: What are you guys talking about? What was the big agenda here? What's the plan on the Palestinian state? What's the plan?
SAAR: There won't be any.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Well, now to a CNN exclusive on the Israeli attack on Nasser Hospital that killed at least 22 people. New video obtained by CNN reveals not two but three strikes on the facility, leading to a lot more questions for the Israeli military.
CNN's Paula Hancocks has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A live Reuters feed of the Gazan city of Khan Younis. At 10:08 a.m., the shot freezes and the sound drops.
Israel has targeted the fourth floor of the Nasser Hospital where the camera stood. Reuters' cameraman Hussam al-Mazri is killed.
Emergency and health workers rush to the scene, along with journalists from a ground floor media tent. It is all broadcast live by AlGhad TV from the street below. The damaged camera and live streaming unit are held up and shown to the crowd.
Visible on the staircase is Mariam Abudagga working for A,P, Al- Jazeera cameraman Mohamed Salama and freelance journalist Muath Abu Taha in the final moments of their lives. Reuters cameraman Hatem Omar, seen here in a red T-shirt, films the scene on his phone.
A rescue worker says they carried two body bags down. As they gathered remains of a third body, there was a second explosion. It was 10:17 a.m., nine minutes after the first strike. Footage filmed seconds later is too horrific to show, lifeless bodies piled on top of each other.
New video obtained by CNN reveals that this second explosion was in fact two near-simultaneous strikes. The second and third strikes, less than a second apart, appear to have caused most of the deaths. One weapons expert says, quote, "It suggests a more carefully coordinated attack rather than a single vehicle firing at a target of opportunity."
DR. MOHAMMAD SAQER, DIRECTOR OF NURSING, NASSER MEDICAL COMPLEX: What is the point of waiting for humanitarian and medical staff to arrive to a specific area and target them once they arrive?
[03:05:05]
HANCOCKS (voice-over): Israeli statements have evolved over the past 48 hours, Israel's Prime Minister called the deaths a, quote, "tragic mishap." The IDF now says it was targeting a camera, quote, "positioned by Hamas in the area of the Nasser hospital that was being used to observe the activity of IDF troops." No evidence was offered.
The IDF claims six terrorists were killed, disputed by Hamas and health officials in Gaza. The IDF has not addressed the double strike. Adding gaps will be examined, including the decision-making process and approved munition.
Satellite images show Israeli combat vehicles, including tanks, stationed nearby the hospital. An Israeli security official tells CNN the military fired on the hospital with tank shells.
The staircase was often used as a live camera position by Reuters, A.P. and other global media outlets. With international media kept out by Israel, local journalists grouped together here searching for cell signal to feed their material to the world.
The last functioning hospital in southern Gaza already struck multiple times. The United Nations says targeting hospitals, journalists and rescue workers is forbidden under international law. Calling for accountability and transparency, adding neither have been readily apparent in previous incidents where Israel has investigated itself.
Paula Hancocks, CNN, Abu Dhabi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Meantime Israel is asking a global hunger monitor to retract a recent assessment that Gaza City and its surrounding areas are suffering from famine. According to Reuters, Israel calls the report deeply flawed and unprofessional. The assessment says close to a quarter of Gaza residents are experiencing famine and they expect that number to rise by more than 100,000 by the end of September.
Meanwhile, every member of the U.N. Security Council except the U.S. is calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, citing the famine report.
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TRISHALA PARSAUD, GUYANA'S DEPUTY PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE TO THE UNITED NATIONS: We express our profound alarm and distress at the IPC data on Gaza published last Friday. This is the first time famine has been officially confirmed in the Middle East region. Every day more persons are dying as a result of malnutrition, many of them children. (END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Joining me now from London is Jasmine El-Gamal, a foreign affairs analyst and former Middle East adviser at the Pentagon. She's also host of the podcast, "The View from Here." I appreciate you being with us.
JASMINE EL-GAMAL, FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND MIDDLE EAST ANALYST, FORMER MIDDLE EAST ADVISER AT PENTAGON, AND HOST OF "THE VIEW FROM HERE" PODCAST: Good morning, Rosemary. Good to be with you.
CHURCH: So as we just saw in a CNN report, CNN has learned that Gaza's NASA hospital was hit not twice but three times by Israel, suggesting a more coordinated attack that killed at least 22 people. What's your reaction to this new information?
EL-GAMAL: Well, Rosemary, it's unsurprising. I mean, Israel over the last 22 months has had a history of targeted assassinations against not just journalists, but health care workers as well. We've seen this.
The most high profile case because they were foreigners was the World Central Kitchen aid workers that were killed in a car. But there have also been attacks against health care workers that have been in ambulances with the evidence buried afterwards in order to hide it.
We've seen the entire Al Jazeera team in Gaza City assassinated just a couple of weeks ago. And now this horrific footage that was essentially live streamed for the world to see. So this is not something new, unfortunately.
The Israeli military -- the Israeli government have not been accountable for any of the previous incidents. The reaction from the international community has generally been to ask the Israeli government and the Israeli military to investigate itself. And so it's unsurprising, Rosemary, to see this happen again and again.
CHURCH: And Jasmine, we've also learned that the White House wrapped up a meeting on the war in Gaza with few public details on how to end the fighting. But one source told CNN the main focus was on crafting a plan for a post-war Gaza. What does that indicate to you?
EL-GAMAL: Yes, thank you for asking that.
So the details of the meeting are unclear. The meeting really hasn't been briefed out to reporters much other than what you just said, that it was a meeting to discuss the post-war planning in Gaza. So I'll just mention a couple of things about it.
[03:10:01]
We know that Tony Blair, the former Prime Minister of the U.K., and Jared Kushner, who was formerly involved in advising the President on the Middle East and is still unofficially advising him; they were both involved in the meeting and supposedly presented a plan to the President. The President supposedly has said that he wants to get this done.
Now, what this is exactly is unclear, Rosemary, because if we look at what's happening on the ground and the obstacles that this administration faces in terms of getting to a ceasefire and getting to that post-war planning phase are pretty much the same obstacles that were there under the Biden administration as well.
So we know that, for example, as of this moment, Hamas has agreed to the latest ceasefire proposal put forward by Steve Witkoff, the president's special envoy for the Middle East, but Prime Minister Netanyahu has yet to respond to it.
We know that Prime Minister Netanyahu is reluctant to enter into a ceasefire deal to end the war permanently, because he's beholden to his coalition members, the right-wing extremists Ben Gvir and Smotrich, who have said that they would withdraw from that coalition, thereby putting Netanyahu's political survival at risk. We also know that Prime Minister Netanyahu has entered into this, has put forward this plan to increase operations in Gaza City. That's something that is going to take at least several weeks, it's not something that'll happen overnight.
And we also know that Prime Minister Netanyahu has said that he does not want the Palestinian Authority to be involved in post-war planning in Gaza, so not just Hamas, but the post-war planning as well.
So the question, Rosemary, really is, just like Biden had said that he wanted this to end, but didn't really have the political will to put pressure on Netanyahu to do so, it appears that President Trump is in the same position, where he keeps saying he wants this to end. The same obstacles remain, and the same lack of political will to pressure Netanyahu to put an end to this war is also there.
CHURCH: And Jasmine, the U.S. Secretary of State met in Washington Wednesday with Israel's Foreign Minister, who told the assembled press there that there won't be any Palestinian state. No mention was made of the ceasefire and hostage deal that remains on the table, as you point out, accepted by Hamas, but still waiting on a response from Israel, even after Tuesday's mass protest in Tel Aviv, demanding the Israeli government end the war and bring home those hostages.
What does all this signal to you, particularly these comments from the Foreign Minister?
EL-GAMAL: Right, well, Rosemary, I think you and I talked about this the last time that we spoke a few days ago, when you were asking me about the plans that Smotrich approved to build settlements in the E1 area, which essentially would prevent the emergence of a contiguous Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, which is why I keep saying again and again that we really have to differentiate between the sort of the play that the Israelis are participating in, the Israeli government is participating in, where they're saying we're thinking about the ceasefire, we're thinking about these talks.
Actually, what we need to be doing is looking at what the Israeli government is doing on the ground in Gaza, some of which you've just reported right now. And the statements that are coming out of their ministers, like the Foreign Minister, as you just mentioned, the Finance Minister Smotrich, and of course what those leaders are saying to their own press domestically in their own language, all of which point to a complete refusal, a real complete and utter refusal, to move forward with anything related to a day-after plan, Palestinian authority involvement in that day after, or a Palestinian state.
CHURCH: Jasmine El-Gamal in London, many thanks for joining us, we appreciate it.
EL-GAMAL: Thanks, Rosemary.
CHURCH: Community members in Minneapolis, Minnesota are vowing to fight for change after yet another mass shooting targeting school children in the United States. Families, neighbors, and government leaders came together for vigils on Wednesday, many now calling for gun reform.
Earlier in the day, two children just eight and ten years old were killed after they and their classmates from Annunciation Catholic School gathered for mass, 14 other children and three adults were injured but expected to survive. The FBI is searching for a motive for the shooter who police identified as 23-year-old Robin Westman, who attended the school previously according to a yearbook photo obtained by CNN.
[03:15:08]
The school serves children from kindergarten to grade eight. The shooter opened fire through the windows of the church on campus and was later found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Westman was found carrying a rifle, a shotgun, and a pistol, all were purchased recently and legally according to police, who along with state officials described the attack's lasting impact.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF BRIAN O'HARE, MINNEAPOLIS POLICE DEPARTMENT: The dozens of officers that responded to this scene, many of them are deeply traumatized by what they saw, as are obviously all of the children, all of the staff members, Father Dennis, everyone who was at mass this morning.
GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN): And we often come to these and say these unspeakable tragedies or there's no words for this. There shouldn't be words for these types of incidents because they should not happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: CNN's Shimon Prokupecz has more on what we know so far.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'HARE: The sheer cruelty and cowardice of firing into a church full of children is absolutely incomprehensible. SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SR. CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-
over): Two children are dead and 17 others wounded in Minneapolis after a gunman fired through the windows of a church.
UNKNOWN: Any troopers responding, we just need a lot more medical.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Police say dozens of children and worshippers were attending a morning mass to mark the start of the school year at Annunciation Catholic School.
O'HARE: Two young children, ages eight and ten, were killed where they sat in the pews.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Principal Matthew DeBoer says teachers were crucial in saving lives.
MATT DEBOER, PRINCIPAL, ANNUNCIATION CATHOLIC SCHOOL: Within seconds of this situation beginning, our teachers were heroes. Children were ducked down, adults were protecting children, older children were protecting younger children. And as we heard earlier, it could have been significantly worse without their heroic action.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Of the 17 people injured, authorities say 14 of them were children. All remaining victims are expected to survive, according to police.
DR. TOM WYATT, CHAIRMAN OF EMERGENCY MEDICINE, HENNEPIN COUNTY MEDICAL CENTER: Two of them were adult patients, nine pediatric patients. Four of them required the operating room.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): The shooter was armed with three weapons, according to police, a rifle, shotgun, and a pistol. Officials say all three weapons were legally purchased by the shooter recently.
O'HARE: The coward who fired these shots ultimately took his own life in the rear of the church.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Ten-year-old Weston Halsne, a fifth grader at the school, described the unimaginable.
WESTON HALSNE, SURVIVOR: I just ran under the pew and then I covered my head. My friend Victor like saved me though because he laid on top of me. We waited like 10 to 5 minutes, I don't really know.
And then we went to the gym and then the doors locked just to make sure he didn't come. And we waited in the gym for more news. My friend got hit in the back.
REPORTER: Did he go to the hospital?
HALSNE: Yes, he went to the hospital.
REPORTER: What went through your mind when you saw that?
HALSNE: I was super scared for him, but I think now he's okay.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Some neighbors also rushed to help after hearing the gunfire. Patrick Scallen comforted three young victims.
PATRICK SCALLEN, NEIGHBOR (on the phone): I told him and assured him I'm not leaving you until the ambulance gets here and they're going to take good care of you. You're going to be okay and you're going to be with your parents real soon. I think that's all I could do.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): The mayor of Minneapolis clearly frustrated after yet another all too familiar American tragedy.
MAYOR JACOB FREY (D), MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA: Don't just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now, these kids were literally praying. It was the first week of school, they were in a church.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Our thanks to Shimon Prokupecz for his reporting. One more thing, the Associated Press reports that one of the shooter's uncles is a former Kentucky lawmaker. He says while he didn't know Westman well, the attack is, quote, "an unspeakable tragedy."
A Ukrainian delegation will soon head to the U.S. for talks on ending the fighting with Russia. More on that and the view from Moscow just ahead.
And in the face of Russia's threat, Europe rebuilds its military capabilities. We'll go inside a German ammunition factory built in record time. Back in just a moment.
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[03:20:00]
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CHURCH: We are following developments out of Ukraine, where President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Kyiv has been hit by a massive Russian attack overnight. Officials say at least 10 people were killed, including a child, when drones and missiles targeted the capital.
This comes as a Ukrainian delegation prepares for talks in Switzerland before sitting down with U.S. officials in New York on Friday in a push to end the conflict. Meetings were also held earlier this week in Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
Ukraine's President says he hopes these talks show Russia how serious the world is and how bad the consequences may be if Russian troops continue the fighting. But it doesn't appear the Kremlin's being moved to take action.
CNN's Frederik Pleitgen reports from Moscow.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Russian state T.V. pushing Moscow's view that when it comes to finding ways to end the fighting in Ukraine, America's European allies are against the U.S. and Russia.
[03:25:03]
Trump clearly said all that is happening is a European conflict, this analyst says, but they don't want it to be their conflict. They want it to be an American conflict.
The Kremlin remaining tough, not offering a timeline for a possible face-to-face meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and also giving a big net to the idea of European NATO states troops keeping the peace in Ukraine.
From the very start, it was the advancement of NATO military infrastructure and the infiltration of this military infrastructure into Ukraine that we can say were among the root causes of the conflict situation that arose, the Kremlin spokesman says. Therefore, we have a negative attitude towards these discussions.
While President Trump threatened Russia with tough sanctions and tariffs if there's no fast progress towards peace talks.
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: It will not be a world war, but it will be an economic war.
PLETGEN (voice-over): The Kremlin relaxed, Vladimir Putin saying this weekend he believes U.S.-Russia relations could be fully back on track soon.
I am certain that the leadership qualities of the current President, President Trump, are a good guarantee that relations will be restored, Putin said, and I hope that the pace of our joint work on these grounds will continue.
But Russia is taking a beating as well. A Ukrainian drone hitting this building in Russia's southwest overnight, causing a major fire. And authorities putting up anti-drone nets around schools and nurseries in the Belgorod region, close to the border with Ukraine.
Still, the Russians say they're ready for a protracted conflict if President Trump's peace initiative fails. Moscow's Defense Ministry releasing this video of recruits signing up to participate in what the Kremlin calls its special military operation.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Moscow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Meantime, Europe is scrambling to boost its own defense capabilities. A growing threat from Russia is leading nations like Germany to take matters into their own hands.
CNN's Sebastian Shukla has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEBASTIAN SHUKLA, CNN PRODUCER (voice-over): Europe is forging ahead to tackle dwindling ammunition supplies.
In central Germany, Rheinmetall, one of the largest contractors in Europe, has just opened this cavernous ammunition factory. Spread over the size of five football fields, it aims to produce 350,000 rounds of ammunition by 2027. The Lower Saxony plant has been finished in record time, just 18 months, and it has already started churning out NATO- standard 155 millimeter artillery shells.
ARMIN PAPPERGER, CEO, RHEINMETALL: Well, I think it's very important to give a signal also how fast we are able to be so we can react. Europe is able to react, NATO is able to react.
SHUKLA: The opening of this factory is symbolic, if not significant. It's also very serendipitous. Europe is looking to replenish its ammunition stores, and the idea of security guarantees for Ukraine is also back on the table.
SHUKLA (voice-over): NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, alongside German Vice Chancellor and the German Defense Minister, putting on a show.
But the question of security guarantees for Ukraine is still largely unclear.
MARK RUTTE, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: This is detailed, difficult stuff. You have to hammer it all out. So the fact that nine days later we have not agreed on everything is not a bad signal. It means that we are working hard, and I'm absolutely sure we will get there.
SHUKLA (voice-over): While the future of European security was on show in Lower Saxony, in Berlin, Germany was shaping its new security and defense posture. Chancellor Friedrich Merz held a symbolic cabinet meeting inside the Defense Ministry, the first in 20 years, from a room known as the U-Boat, German for submarine. The reintroduction of voluntary conscription and the formation of Germany's first ever National Security Council, all discussed and approved.
FRIEDRICH MERZ, GERMAN CHANCELLOR (through translator): Russia is and will remain the greatest threat to freedom, peace and stability in Europe for a long time to come, and the German government is responding to this with determination.
SHUKLA (voice-over): Europe then is making serious strides in its own security posture and capabilities, but tangible details on their support to end the war in Ukraine is still lacking precision.
Sebastian Shukla, CNN, Unterluess, Germany.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[03:29:52]
CHURCH: Still to come, more on the deadly school shooting in the state of Minnesota and how some residents are pushing for stricter gun control. And Thursday's mass shooting marks yet another incident of gun violence in a country with more firearms than people, what one U.S. Senator says about America's gun crisis.
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[03:35:00]
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CHURCH: Welcome back to "CNN Newsroom." I'm Rosemary Church. I want to check today's top stories for you.
The White House isn't saying much about a high-level meeting on the war in Gaza. A source tells CNN, President Trump and his top advisers focus mainly on what happens after the war's over. The President's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair joined the meeting.
Ukraine's President says Russia launched a massive attack on Kyiv overnight. The death toll has been rising in the last few hours. Officials now say 12 people have died, including three children, an urgent search is underway for anyone who may still be trapped. Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the Russian missiles and drones are a, quote, clear response to everyone in the world who's been calling for a ceasefire and real diplomacy.
Communities around Minneapolis and Minnesota came together Wednesday night to remember the two young lives taken in a deadly shooting. Police are still looking for what motivated the shooter to open fire through the windows of a church at a Catholic school where students were gathered for mass. The shooter died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The attack has sparked renewed calls for stricter gun laws since police say the shooter was found with a rifle, a shotgun, and a pistol, all acquired legally. Along with that is the fear parents experience when hearing of what happened, one father described the panic of not being able to find his daughters when he arrived at the school.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNKNOWN: And I just, you know, selfishly was just like, where are my girls? Where is June and Olive? That's all I could think about. And I couldn't find them and it was awful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Speaking with CNN, U.S. Senate Democrat Amy Klobuchar noted the tragedy should inspire people to act.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN): I don't know of anything but these kids praying in a church, packed into the pews, joyful about their first week in school, their new teachers, and then getting shot through church windows. If that isn't enough to move people, that we have to make some changes in this country, I don't know what is. (END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: The tragedy in Minnesota marks the 286th mass shooting in the U.S. so far this year. That is according to the Gun Violence Archive, an online database tracking incidents of gun violence in the U.S. It reports that since 2021, more than 500 mass shootings have occurred each year. The archive defines a mass shooting as an incident where four or more people are shot and killed, not counting the shooter.
Minnesota Senator Tina Smith called out the issue of America's broad access to firearms and she told CNN the country is at a tipping point.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TINA SMITH (D-MN): We have more guns than we have people in the United States of America. We have over 400 million guns and we have this toxic mix of hatred and violence that is then connected with guns and that pain and that violence is so too often playing out in schools, which should be the place where our little kiddos should be safest, where they should be the most comfortable and confident as they're learning and as they're growing. I think it is a terrible reflection.
My view of this in this moment is that we should look at the tipping point that we are at and we have to all ask ourselves, are we going to continue to go down this road or are we going to take a step back? The level of violence in this country is so unacceptable and when dangerous, violent people have access to guns, tragically too often this is what happens.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And earlier I spoke with Jacqueline Corin, co-founder and executive director of March for Our Lives. She's also a survivor of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida in 2018 and I asked her what goes through her mind when she hears details of continued shootings like these. Here's part of our conversation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAQUELINE CORIN, CO-FOUNDER AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, MARCH FOR OUR LIVES, AND SURVIVOR OF MARJORY STONEMAN DOUGLAS HIGH SCHOOL SHOOTING: Every time this happens, I'm taken right back to when I lived through a shooting over seven years ago now. I was a junior at the time and now I'm 24 years old continuing this fight because this happens time and time again in the United States.
[03:40:03]
Gun violence is the leading cause of death for children in America, so unfortunately what happened today to those little kids in Minnesota is happening to young people all across this country all the time and so that implores all of us to think collectively what do we need to do at a systemic level to change this. It's easy to jump into the specifics about the shooter's life and what happened but really what we need to focus on is how did that person fall through the cracks and how can we close those cracks to make sure we can actually stop this from happening once and for all.
CHURCH: And Jackie, that is exactly my next question. What does need to be done to keep guns out of the hands of those most likely to do harm to others and to themselves and given Congress has no appetite it seems to act beyond offering thoughts and prayers, what options are available to stop this from happening again and again in this country?
CORIN: Yes, well we saw the first piece of federal gun violence prevention legislation passed in 2022 after the Uvalde shooting called the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. So of course we always need to be pushing our federal legislators to do more work.
Unfortunately under this Trump administration that's going to be very challenging so we need to be pushing as citizens, our state legislatures, our local officials to actually think through and implement common sense common sense gun safety laws and I recognize that the shooter today bought their firearms legally and that highlights the complexities in our gun laws especially how someone can pass legal purchase requirements and yet still commit such a devastating act of violence and so that prompts important conversations we need to be having as a society.
There's a need for stronger oversight. Is there a need for expanded intervention systems like red flag laws? And the answer is yes there is a need.
There's a lot of different laws that together actually comprehensively prevent this violence and we need to pass all of these at a federal level and until that happens we need to be working at a state level to make sure we protect Americans.
CHURCH: And Jackie we don't know the motive in this case but the shooter released a manifesto containing what police say were disturbing writings. How does knowing a motive change anything given the history of these mass shootings in America?
CORIN: Yes, these manifestos are so typical for mass shooters like the one today and knowing that often there are warning signs of someone wanting to become a mass shooter whether a written manifesto internet comments that's exactly what things like red flag laws that basically allow for firearms to be temporarily removed from an individual who is showing warning signs of wanting to hurt themselves or others.
That's why that needs to be implemented around this country to make sure those folks are monitored and they don't have access to firearms when they so desperately want to commit violence to feel power because in this country firearms equal power and that's not a message we want to continue to showcase to our kids our young people.
So it's, again, not about any one shooter it's about making sure we at a systemic level are ensuring those folks don't get their access on firearms when they so badly want to commit this violence.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CHURCH: India is dealing with steep U.S. tariffs amid President Trump's trade war. Coming up the alternative plans one Indian business is making as it struggles to keep its doors open. Back with that and more in just a moment.
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[03:45:00]
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CHURCH: Welcome back everyone.
Indian exporters say they're struggling under U.S. President Donald Trump's new 50 percent tariffs with many of them looking for alternative markets to keep their companies afloat. CNN's Rhea Mogul reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUDHIR DHINGRA, OWNER, ORIENT CRAFT LIMITED: There will be job losses and it's very painful. This is worse than COVID.
NEERAJ PANDEY, FACTORY WORKER (translated): If this goes away, I have no other work. I don't know how to do anything else.
RHEA MOGUL, CNN NEWS DESK REPORTER, SOUTH ASIA (voice-over): Millions of jobs like these are on the line as President Donald Trump's 50 percent tariff on all imports from India kicks in. Neeraj Pandey has worked 22 years at this factory near Delhi sewing garments sold by big American brands. These are jobs that India can't afford to lose with youth unemployment already high.
PANDEY (translated): I am the sole earner, I am the only one who earns there is no one else. I look after my home, pay for my kid's education, all from my earnings here.
MOGUL (voice-over): The new U.S. tariff adds a 25 percent tax levied as punishment for India's continuing purchase of sanctioned Russian oil. Geopolitics has come to the factory floor.
JINUL ABEDEEN, FACTORY WORKER (translated): If the country is in trouble, we're in trouble. That's how it is.
[03:50:03]
MOGUL (voice-over): Workers like Abedeen earn modest salaries despite their training.
ABEDEEN (translated): This is definitely an art skill. It took me a year to learn this, 365 days.
MOGUL (voice-over): The boss here, Sudhir Dhingra, is looking to new markets to try to recover the lost business.
DHINGRA: (inaudible), what, rebuilding takes a very long time. MOGUL (voice-over): And while the U.S.-India relationship suffers, the tariffs might have another unintended consequence.
DHINGRA: As we know, Russia closed its doors to (inaudible). I think that's the place to go to.
MOGUL (voice-over): The workers here likely won't care where their products go as long as they can keep their jobs.
Rhea Mogul, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un are among the world leaders expected to attend China's massive military parade. The parade is part of China's commemorations to mark 80 years since Japan's formal surrender in World War II. But it's also a showcase of the country's growing military might.
CNN's Marc Stewart explains.
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MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: China's upcoming military parade is a chance for Beijing to show off its military hardware and its influence as a political power. The announcement of the attendance of both Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is an example of that. This will mark Kim's first visit to China since 2019, while Putin has made several trips here over the years. According to a Chinese government official, 26 heads of state will attend, this includes Pakistan's Prime Minister and Myanmar's acting President and junta leader.
The parade follows the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Tianjin, an alliance of nations here in Eurasia. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be attending the meeting, but not the parade.
Here in Beijing, we've seen lots of preparations for the massive military parade taking place on September 3rd. It will mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. More than 10,000 troops will be featured, along with weapons, and it's a chance for China to show off its military might at a time when it faces constant tension with the U.S. and its allies over claims to the South China Sea and Taiwan.
Marc Stewart, CNN, Beijing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: As forecasters say, a La Nina system may be on its way. What that could mean for winter weather across the U.S. after the break.
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[03:55:01]
CHURCH: Welcome back everyone.
Well much of the U.S. will soon be getting a preview of the upcoming change of seasons. But will unusually cool temperatures mean it's going to be a cold winter? Forecasters say probably not, as a La Nina weather system looks likely to hit the country in the next couple of months.
CNN's Allison Chinchar has more.
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ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: As we head into the weekend, cooler than normal temperatures is really going to be the focus for much of the eastern half of the country. But the real question is, is this going to be a hint at what we can expect going into fall, or perhaps even the winter? Well, the Climate Prediction Center recently just issued us under a La Nina watch, meaning conditions are favorable for development of La Nina coming up here in about the next six months.
Now, typically in a traditional La Nina winter, these are the kind of conditions that you can expect. And that includes much warmer and drier conditions across the southern tier of the U.S. and slightly cooler and wetter conditions, especially across the Pacific Northwest.
So what does that mean in reality? Well, the overall forecast, when we look ahead to what winter is expected to be like, in some cases looks very similar, especially across the southern tier, where above average temperatures are expected pretty much from coast to coast.
And then off into the Pacific Northwest, those below average temperatures are also in the forecast. Another concern is going to be the drier conditions, because again, most of the southern tier is looking at below average precipitation.
The concern here will be what impact this has on a lot of the fires, especially in the southwestern portion of the U.S. In terms of above average, the only spots we're looking at above average precipitation could be perhaps right around areas of the Ohio River Valley, as well as portions of the Intermountain West, specifically up around Montana and Wyoming.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Well, Japan's Mount Fuji could erupt in the future, and the government is urging nearby residents to prepare now. Officials released a new A.I.-generated video showing the spread of volcanic ash and highlighting the impact an eruption would have on transportation and people's health.
Japan lies in the Pacific Ring of Fire, an area of intense seismic and volcanic activity. And while the video doesn't suggest an eruption is imminent, the government says there is an 80 percent chance of a severe earthquake in the next 30 years.
Well, visitors to China's giant panda breeding base are getting a cuddly dose of cuteness. The first newborn cubs of the year are making their public debut.
Dozens of baby pandas have been born at the center in Chengdu since it started its breeding program back in 2023, these cubs don't have names yet. We'll look forward to that news.
Thanks so much for your company, I'm Rosemary Church. Have yourselves a wonderful day. "Amanpour" is next, then stay tuned for "Early Start" with Audie Cornish coming up at 5 a.m. in New York, 10 a.m. in London.
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