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New Wave of U.S. Strikes as Iran Expands Gulf State Attacks; Texas Floods; Firefighters Battle to Contain Wildfires in Norway and Spain; DHS Secretary Threatens to Jail State Election Officials; Israel Begins Election Season as War in Iran Drags On; Britain's Next Prime Minister; Cyclospora Outbreak Linked to Fast Food Lettuce; Argentina Fans Perform Good Luck Rituals ahead of Final. Aired 5-6a ET
Aired July 18, 2026 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hello and a very warm welcome to our viewers watching from all around the world and in the U.S. I'm Salma Abdelaziz in London. Let's get into the headlines.
Gulf nations report new attacks as the U.S. strikes Iran for a seventh night running. We're live from the region.
And we're going to take you to Texas, where some counties saw nearly a year's worth of rainfall in just a few days. How one community is dealing with dangerous flash floods.
Plus, some might say it's superstition but, for these Argentina fans, it is tradition. We'll show you how football fever is building ahead of the World Cup final.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Salma Abdelaziz.
ABDELAZIZ: A troubling new chapter is unfolding in the war with Iran. Several Gulf states say they are fending off new attacks. It comes after the U.S. completed yet another round of airstrikes against Iran.
This is the seventh night in a row the U.S. military says it hit surveillance sites, military logistics hubs and underground weapons depots. But an Iranian official claims several missiles struck electrical facilities and desalination water pumps in southern Iran, leaving 20 villages without water.
A top Iranian military advisor is warning the U.S. could face, quote, "a full-scale offensive" in the coming days if those airstrikes continue.
Now Tehran is already striking back in the region, Jordan reported intercepting 10 Iranian missiles and Bahrain's military says it repelled several attacks. Kuwait announced that Iran hit another power generation and water desalination plant. And as the war intensifies, the U.N. Is sounding the alarm.
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FARHAN HAQ, U.N. SPOKESPERSON: The secretary general remains deeply concerned by the continuing military escalation between Iran and the United States of America. He's particularly concerned about attacks on civilian infrastructure in Iran and across the region. Such attacks are unacceptable.
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ABDELAZIZ: I want to bring in now our international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson. He is live in Jerusalem.
So a full week of U.S. airstrikes here.
What does CENTCOM say they are targeting in Iran, Nic?
And how has Iran responded so far?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, they say that they're targeting the IRGC's maritime control points. Another one was targeted on Larak island, a small island in the Strait of Hormuz; militarily, if you will, insignificant.
But it does seem that the U.S. is trying to blind, if you will, Iran to being able to see what vessels could be moving through the Strait of Hormuz. We've seen them do that in other -- in other ports and along the Gulf areas.
They say they're targeting missile storage areas. You know what we're hearing from the Iranians is that key bridges and tunnels are being targeted.
The highway from -- that links Bandar Abbas to the north, the most direct and best highway that links that Strait of Hormuz port to the rest of Iran, two bridges there about 25-30 miles north of Bandar Abbas, were hit.
And then five miles north of there, a tunnel was hit. It's not clear, other than denying Iran the ability to resupply munitions to Bandar Abbas and other areas along the Strait of Hormuz that are also coming under attack, it doesn't -- it's not quite clear what the value of hitting road infrastructure would be.
That's what the Iranians are saying that was hit. But both sides here are claiming that their water and desalination plants are being hit, both in Iran, both in Kuwait. And this is the lifeblood of communities in both the south of Iran and along the Gulf there.
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Without desalination plants, water goes into very limited supply. Without electricity, air conditioning is not available. The temperatures are up to 50 degrees. So it really does begin to hit the civilian population. But this does seem to be an escalation cycle right now.
ABDELAZIZ: Nic Robertson there on an escalation cycle that is yet again leaving civilians caught in the crossfire. Thank you so much for those updates.
Israel says it is reviewing reports that its military has hit unintended victims in Gaza. Just a warning, the images I'm about to show you are deeply disturbing.
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ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): Now Palestinians say at least seven people are dead and 20 are injured. This is after the IDF hit a funeral procession on Friday. Local journalists say the funeral was for a man who had been killed in a separate Israeli strike just hours earlier.
Now the IDF says the second attack targeted an Islamic Jihad cell in central Gaza. Israel and Hamas did sign a ceasefire deal last October. But a father whose children were injured in Friday's attack says he doesn't see any truce on the ground.
MAHMOUD LABAD, FATHER OF WOUNDED CHILDREN (through translator): They say we're in a truce.
Where is this truce they're talking about?
This is not a truce. This is a war. Blood is everywhere, from a child, from a tree, from a boy, from absolutely anything, blood is just pouring down. They haven't spared a tree. They haven't spared a piece of land. They haven't spared a child. They haven't spared a home. They haven't left anything.
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ABDELAZIZ: Let's go next to Ukraine, where protesters are calling for the dismissal of the country's armed forces chief. They returned to the streets in Kyiv on Friday. This is after Ukraine's popular defense minister was fired.
Mykhailo Fedorov was ousted this week despite a track record of success on the job. He pushed for military innovation, particularly in the development of Ukraine's drone program.
But analysts say he clashed with the military's old guard, including armed forces general Oleksandr Syrskyi. Demonstrators now say Syrskyi is the one who has to go.
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ANDRIY, UKRAINIAN COMBAT MEDIC (through translator): So we see that big changes have happened. Syrskyi had conflicts not only with the defense minister but also with brigade and corps commanders. If he stays, we will simply be ineffective. We could simply lose this war. We could lose.
NINA, WIFE OF UKRAINIAN SOLDIER (through translator): Syrskyi is in fact part of the old system while Fedorov is young, intelligent and a man of conscience.
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ABDELAZIZ: Relief is coming for people in the U.S. Midwest, Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states that have been impacted by unhealthy air quality. This is caused by thick plumes of smoke from Canadian wildfires. More than 100 million people across 18 states and the nation's capital are under air quality alerts.
Canadian cities are impacted, too, of course. The smoke is coming from some of the 3,500 fires that have burned across more than 6 million acres in Canada this summer. The hazardous air quality stretches from northeast Minnesota all the way to southeast Virginia.
The smoke is expected to thin out from west to east on Saturday. Rain, shifting winds and a cold front should eventually help clear out the smoke. But the air quality may not improve immediately.
The forecast, however, is improving. And the threat of significant rainfall has ended for parts of southern Texas, hard hit by heavy rain and flooding this week. Disastrous flash floods swamped the region on Friday from intense rainfall in slow moving storms. Multiple boat rescues were reported.
In addition to the more than 230 rescues that were made throughout the week, at least two people have died in this flooding. Sirens have been put in place since last year's catastrophic floods killed more than 100 people.
The system did work, blaring out warnings, allowing some people to get out of harm's way. Others are assessing the damage.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Honestly, I'm upset and mad because I could have -- I felt like I could have maybe saved it, done more. I mean, first, it is my, you could say, first home I bought last year, Christmas. And now what to figure out what to do is the next thing.
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ABDELAZIZ: For more on the impact of this flooding, I'm joined by reporter Mia Valdez of sanantonio.com. Thank you, first of all, for coming to us in the middle of the night. Mia. I really appreciate that. And I just want to start by asking you about your personal situation because you're in born and that's just north of San Antonio. How are you faring?
What have you seen in the last few days?
What are you worried about in the coming days?
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MIA VALDEZ, REPORTER, SANANTONIO.COM: Yes, absolutely. Thank you for having me on. I'm here in Boerne, Texas. And the situation over the last few days has been difficult to see. So many of my neighbors and people in the Hill Country community going through these flash floods again.
We've been hit several times over several days. And so that's been tough. I know a lot of people are struggling because it reminds them so much of incidents that happened last year.
Currently the situation on the ground here in Boerne is it looks like things are OK right now. But there are a lot of -- like the aftermath of the flood is impacting a lot of people right now. A lot of neighborhoods were flooded. a lot of property was damaged. So that's been tough as the community is shifting toward recovery efforts.
ABDELAZIZ: And this is the same area that saw more than 130 deaths in flash floods last summer, including, of course, that very tragic case of the 25 girls at Camp Mystic who lost their lives.
What is being done differently this year in terms of rescue and evacuations, to make sure we don't see that loss of life again?
VALDEZ: Well, a lot of Texas local officials here, they've, there's a consensus that the community was far more prepared this year after that tragic loss of life. Boerne is located -- it's a little south of Kerrville, Kerr County, which saw the brunt of the floods last year.
But in an update yesterday afternoon, governor Greg Abbott, he also shared that the community was, you know, on -- they were on their toes. Everybody has been keeping a watchful eye out so that what happened last year never happens again.
Like you said, resources were in place and they worked this year. That kept a lot of people safe. There was a loss of life. But it was far smaller than what we saw a year ago. But it's a tragic event. And people in the Hill Country are, it's a part of life here.
We live in flash flood alley. It's very scary. I know me, personally, I'm always on the lookout after what happened last year. You can't drive through the hills of this region, the Hill Country, without thinking about what happened.
The Guadalupe River is still recovering. There are 100 -- there are probably 1,000-year old cypress trees that were struck down last year that you can still kind of see the damage. So yes, this year --
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ABDELAZIZ: -- describing that -- thank you so much for describing that emotional impact because I'm sure there is still so much that people are feeling after what happened last year. You say there's more resources in place but I can imagine that more is still needed.
What additional resources does this region need for help? VALDEZ: Right now, so many communities are looking at the financial cost of what has been lost. I've spoken with residents in Uvalde who are still, they have to be watchful for probably the next 36 hours, the governor said, for, even though the rains have stopped, floodwaters are still expected to rise as they travel downstream.
That's a scary thought for a lot of people who have, you know, more than 100 people were remaining in a shelter earlier this last -- yesterday afternoon when the governor spoke. But a source I've spoken with said that so many people are -- they're worried about how they're going to rebuild their homes, their lives.
Infrastructure, critical infrastructure was damaged during this incident. So a lot of people are turning now to another journey toward rebuilding. And after several days of repeated rainfall and flooding, I think people can imagine how difficult that's going to be for people to think about during this tragedy.
ABDELAZIZ: Mia Valdez there, journalist Mia Valdez there.
Thank you so much for explaining that impact to us of these flash floods in Texas. Stay safe and be well. Thank you so much.
In Europe, the summer of extreme heat and wildfires rages on, with flames breaking out as far north as Scandinavia.
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More than 100 homes were destroyed in -- on Friday by fire in southern Norway. Rescue officials deployed helicopters to combat the outbreak, which authorities say has spread to a nearby forest.
Meanwhile, a wildfire in northern Spain has scorched more than 7,600 acres of land. At least 1,000 people had to flee their homes as firefighters struggled to contain the flames. We're joined now by Barbie Latza Nadeau. She is live in Rome for us.
Good morning to you. First of all, let's start with these wildfires, because I understand, in northeastern Spain, firefighters were trying to tackle an area the size of San Francisco.
Were they able to contain that wildfire?
And what other wildfires are wreaking havoc across Europe right now?
BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You know, Salma, good morning to you. The fire is still active in Spain.
And one of the things that, you know, the experts are telling us is that this extreme weather that we saw even earlier on in the springtime, with this extensive rain, causes vegetation to grow, which then caused the fire, the forests to be a little bit more lush. Then they dried out.
And that's why we have these extreme fires, is because there was just more forest, more underbrush. All of these things are cyclical in this extreme weather. The experts, climate change experts saying that there is no end in sight, either.
Now earlier on in June, we saw heat waves where you generally didn't see heat. Obviously in London where you are. We saw that in Paris. Here in southern Europe we are used to the heat. Hot summers are nothing new here.
But we have just seen a prolonged, intense heat that has -- just seems to have no stop. And that's what's also fueling the fires. We've had fires here close to Rome. We've had temperatures hitting 47 degrees in Sardinia.
And one of the bigger issues here as well is water loss. We've seen in the Netherlands this extreme drought conditions that have caused it very, very difficult even for the locks to work on the waterways there.
We've seen here in Italy, on the River Po, the water is so low that the shellfish are actually cooking in the streams. And all of these things are cyclical.
We've, you know, we've had storms in northern Italy yesterday, heat here in southern Italy. The whole region is just under this continuous pressure. You know, now we're looking at situations that are tied to blackouts because everybody that has air conditioning is using their air conditioning, putting a strain on the electrical grids.
It's just an infernal summer all across Europe. And, you know, we're really still just in July. So Salma, there seems to be no end in sight. And the worrying conditions just seem to spread across Europe right now. Salma.
ABDELAZIZ: Barbie Latza Nadeau in Rome there on the heat waves and the wildfires that just seem to continue on and on this summer. Thank you so much.
The DHS chief is threatening some state election officials with prosecution or even jail. After a quick break, we'll explain how the Trump administration is following up on the president's election interference claims.
Plus, we're going to examine the documents the Trump administration says support its allegation of election meddling. Stay with us.
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ABDELAZIZ: The Trump administration is doubling down on its push for state voter data, threatening election officials with jail time if they refuse to hand over sensitive voter records.
Now Homeland Security secretary Markwayne Mullin repeated president Trump's claims that non-citizens are registered to vote in four states. But letters the DHS sent to those states acknowledged that the numbers are not verified.
So far, the administration's efforts to seize voter information have been struck down in more than a dozen courts. Despite those legal setbacks, Mullin threatened state election officials with prosecution if they refuse to comply.
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MARKWAYNE MULLIN, DHS SECRETARY: The states have to do their part. I will tell you if the states that choose not to participate with the same program and they choose not to participate in securing the elections. We will make sure that we make those states a priority.
If the election officials, once we gave them the information they need to secure their elections and they chose not to. Then those individuals can also be held accountable by fines, by penalties and even depending on how far it goes, prison time.
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CNN's senior reporter Marshall Cohen has more on the president's election claims and whether the documents that the Trump administration has released actually support them.
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MARSHALL COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Donald Trump is making the case once again that U.S. elections are not secure and need a complete overhaul. He's been pushing this for years.
And as part of his escalating efforts to undermine confidence in the current U.S. midterm elections, he declassified hundreds of pages of intelligence reports on Thursday.
With new information becoming public for the very first time about what U.S. spy agencies believe about vulnerabilities with our election systems and threats from foreign actors, including China, Iran and Russia.
Now as is often the case when president Trump talks about elections, there are a lot of false claims. There are a lot of key pieces of context that are not included and that must be covered. And that's what we're here for.
We went through all these dozens of reports and memos that were released for the very first time by the White House and we looked to see, what do they say and what do they don't?
And on some big claims that Trump made on Thursday night, the information just does not back up his allegations.
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Specifically, taking a look at the allegation of hundreds of thousands of non-citizens and undocumented immigrants on the voter rolls in the U.S.
A new report from the Department of Homeland Security alleged that there were a quarter of a million undocumented immigrants on the rolls in just four states, which, of course, would suggest that there are many, many more in the rest of the country.
Now we took a look at that DHS report and they used commercial databases that are prone to false positives, that are filled with sloppy data. It's just not a reliable piece of data collection. That's what we found. That's what the independent experts who speak about elections also have been saying.
There are some reliable counts out there when they look at the voter rolls and try to determine who is a citizen and who is not. There's something called the SAVE system that the federal government uses in coordination with the states. That was also mentioned in this report.
It wasn't as heralded by the White House as that much larger number and probably because, when they looked at 68 million voter registrations across the country, they only found about 28,000 non- citizens who were actually registered.
And, of course, I should point out that being registered to vote is not the same thing as actually casting a ballot. And there are many safeguards built into the process before you actually walk into the polling place and cast a vote.
There was also a lot of discussion on Thursday night about China and potential attempts by China to interfere with our elections. The president said that China was trying to penetrate our voter rolls, possibly to manipulate results.
But the intel reports that were made public this week, and that we looked at very closely, said clearly that China has never attempted to change the results, meddle with the vote tallies, delete voter records, tamper with the voter rolls.
What the administration did point out is that China has obtained data on millions of Americans from the voter rolls. It's not necessarily a good thing. But it's also not necessarily a bad thing, because a lot of that data is actually public. A lot of people don't realize.
But states actually sell this data. It's available commercially. You can buy it if you want. China can buy it if they want. And obviously they have taken efforts to obtain the rolls.
The intel agencies say that they also used hacking to get some of this data, which, of course, would cross the line into more sensitive areas and possibly being some criminal election interference.
Those are the top lines from this. The bottom line from this is that administration officials still have not pointed to any evidence that foreign adversaries have changed votes, flipped votes, deleted votes or otherwise changed the outcome of a single election that has ever been conducted in American history -- back to you.
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ABDELAZIZ: Israel's Knesset dissolves itself, putting the country in election mode. Still ahead, we're going to go live to Tel Aviv and analyze what's at stake in October's election.
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ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): Welcome back. I'm Salma Abdelaziz. Let's check some of today's top stories.
The hazy skies and unhealthy air quality from wildfire smoke is expected to start clearing up in the coming hours. More than 100 million people in 18 U.S. states and some Canadian cities have been impacted by plumes of smoke from hundreds of wildfires burning in Canada.
Now shifting winds, rain and a cold front should eventually help clear the smoke. But the air quality might not improve immediately.
The Homeland Security secretary is threatening jail time for state election officials who refuse to submit voter data to the DOJ.
At a news conference on Friday, Markwayne Mullin repeated the president's claims that non-citizens are registered to vote in four states. But letters the DHS sent to those states acknowledged that the figures have not been verified.
Plus, U.S. forces say they have wrapped up a new round of strikes against Iran. This marks a full week of nonstop attacks. An Iranian official claims several missiles struck electrical facilities and desalination water pumps in southern Iran, leaving 20 villages without water.
It comes as U.S. allies in the region report a fresh wave of Iranian attacks.
As the fighting with Iran drags on, Israel is kicking off its election season. Now the country's parliament dissolved itself on Friday. This paves the way for the national election on October 27th.
But before that dissolution, the Knesset passed a series of last- minute laws favored by right-wing and ultra-orthodox lawmakers. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has now served a full term, which is a first for an Israeli leader in 38 years.
Recent polls show his coalition will fall short of a majority to form a government again but the opposition is divided along ideological lines. For more on all of this, I want to head to Tel Aviv, where we're joined by Gideon Levy. He is a columnist at the "Haaretz" newspaper. He also served as an advisor to former prime minister Shimon Peres.
Good morning, first of all, to you, Gideon. Thank you so much for joining us. Before we get into the dissolution of the Knesset, I want to talk about the days leading up to that, because there's some very controversial legislation that was pushed through in the 11th hour.
So controversial, in fact, that I hear that the prime minister was essentially booed out of the chamber.
What legislation was passed and why did it anger so many?
GIDEON LEVY, COLUMNIST, "HAARETZ": Its endless legislations, which all get together with one purpose, to make Israel from a liberal democracy as it used to be, at least for its Jewish citizens, into a kind of a different regime. I don't want to say dictatorship. We are not there yet.
But a fundamentalist, theocratic regime where not only there is a legal difference between Jews and Arabs, from now on there is also a legal, very clear difference between seculars and orthodox. And this is unprecedented.
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I mean, there is a certain set of rules which applies only on the orthodox community with a lot of budgets and a lot of rights and privileges that no other part of the population gets it. It makes us a different state.
ABDELAZIZ: Now the Knesset has completed a full term. This is something that no Israeli government has accomplished since 1988.
What do we read into that?
Does that tell us that prime minister Netanyahu is popular or that the nation is fragile right now?
LEVY: There is a third possibility, that the opposition totally failed in creating an alternative. You see, Salma, if I would, if you would have told me three or four years ago that after a fiasco like the 7th of October 2023, Netanyahu will remain in office, I would think you are out of your mind.
And this happened and he is still there, alive and kicking. I'm not sure he's going to be reelected but he's still there, very powerful. And this is due to few reasons. One is, as I say, lack of opposition or lack of an effective opposition.
His capabilities, we have to admit it, he is a political magician and also certain popularity that he gains among certain parts of the population. Netanyahu is the most beloved and the most hated Israeli politician ever. And the camp that followed him follows him blindly and automatically.
ABDELAZIZ: But as you mentioned, most loved, most hated. He is fighting for his political survival here. But you also said the opposition can't seem to get it together.
Are he -- is he going to have any real rivals here?
And what alternative vision are they going to offer Israeli voters?
LEVY: So those are two questions. I think that the next government will not be run by him. No poll, no real reliable poll until now showed that he has a majority. He will not have a majority. And the opposition will be the biggest part.
I don't know if they will have a total majority. There is one problem with the Israeli opposition that they, until now, exclude the Arab parties of being part of their camp. By this, they don't only say we are not going to create the next government but is the remaining -- is now also show how racist they are, not less than the right wingers.
But in any case, I believe there will be some way to create a government without Netanyahu. But don't expect too much. Things will be better in many, many issues.
But in the core issues of continuing the wars in all fronts of the occupation, continuing the occupation, the apartheid, the genocide in Gaza, in all those issues, almost all the Jewish parties in Israel speaking the same language. And this is quite depressing.
ABDELAZIZ: Gideon Levy there on what is sure to be a very heated election campaign in Tel Aviv.
Thank you so much for breaking it down for us.
For the seventh time in a decade, Britain will usher in a new prime minister on Monday. Andy Burnham, who will succeed Keir Starmer, was confirmed on Friday as the leader of the ruling Labour Party.
He returns to Parliament after winning a crucial by-election last month. Burnham is promising his supporters that, when he moves into 10 Downing Street, it will not be business as usual.
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ANDY BURNHAM, INCOMING U.K. PRIME MINISTER: I will work to build a new politics. The country is crying out for it. We might enjoy the point scoring against others. The public don't.
How can politicians point fingers when living standards are falling?
And politics as a whole isn't working for them. It infuriates them and makes them switch off.
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ABDELAZIZ: Burnham has become one of the country's most popular politicians in recent years. As CNN's Clare Sebastian reports, he has embraced social media to help create that political identity.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BURNHAM: Better not put that one on the camera.
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Britain's incoming prime minister belongs to a new generation of politicians, one that understands the power of social media. From campaign trail highlights to football skills to a viral roasting of the British opposition leader who called him ..
ANDY BURNHAM, LEADER, U.K. LABOR PARTY: It's dark blue, actually.
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SEBASTIAN (voice-over): That video racked up over 5 million views on X. The strategy, especially with these signature selfie style videos, is really part of an effort by Burnham to present himself as an outsider here in Westminster, a regular guy despite, of course, his many years spent in parliament previously.
His style is true to Andy and that isn't going to change. A source close to his campaign told me, he's not trying to land a point with every post.
JAMES LYONS, FORMER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR FOR KEIR STARMER: He feels comfortable. He feels relaxed. And to be honest with you, it reminds me of that famous phrase that Margaret Thatcher had about Ronald Reagan. He's engaged in the great because of cheering us all up.
BURNHAM: We're doing it to change labor, to make it better, to make it work for you, that's what we're all about.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): And yet optimism and hope don't always get the clicks.
EMMA CONNOLLY, FELLOW, UCL DIGITAL SPEECH LAB: He has got a harder job, in terms of his content compared to someone like Trump or like Farage.
BURNHAM: If you come to the U.K. illegally, you will be detained and deported.
CONNOLLY: We know that social media algorithms prioritize or amplify emotionally charged, polemic, kind of controversial content in any way. But I would look to someone like Mamdani, for example, who have managed to navigate that.
ZOHRAN MAMDANI, MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY: I'm freezing. You're right.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): New York mayor Zohran Mamdani is emerging as a template for progressive politicians on social media and the parallels with Burnham aren't hard to find. Using social to amplify grassroots campaigning, lighthearted ways to discuss major policies.
MAMDANI: Start spreading.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Even singing. BURNHAM: I left the north again. I traveled south again.
ANDREW BARD EPSTEIN, FMR. COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, MAMDANI CAMPAIGN: I like when people take risks and try things out and aren't afraid of cringe.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): But says Mamdani's former Communications Director, Burnham's desire to unify may have come at the expense of clarity.
EPSTEIN: The agenda and the message is a bit more muddled than Zohran's was. And the risk that Burnham runs in being, being all things to all people or not being totally clear on where he falls on particular issues or ideological debates, I think can risk reading to people as just being another politician.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): And that's exactly what Burnham is trying to avoid.
BURNHAM: I am going to do things differently.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): He's used social media to make himself accessible to regular people, facing criticism on the way for neglecting traditional media, something he denies. No questions allowed from journalists at this recent big policy speech. Instead, a few days later.
BURNHAM: Send your questions in.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): He took to Reddit for a public ask me anything session that was so popular, the site crashed midway through, the source told CNN.
BURNHAM: Right. Oh, thanks a lot. Cheers. All right. Better hit the road.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): The challenge now to strike a balance between running on TikTok and running a country. Clare Sebastian, CNN, London.
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ABDELAZIZ: A major producer pulls its iceberg lettuce from store shelves in the U.S. The latest in the investigation of a parasite outbreak is just ahead.
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ABDELAZIZ: Taylor Farms says it is pulling its iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico from the U.S. market. Now this was after it was linked to a major cyclosporiasis outbreak. Federal health officials are also urging people to avoid shredded
lettuce at Taco Bell locations in five states. CNN health reporter Jacqueline Howard has more on what you need to know.
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JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH CORRESPONDENT: Here's what we know so far about this Midwest cyclospora outbreak. The CDC has confirmed that more than 1,600 people have gotten sick as part of this outbreak, 94 of them have been hospitalized.
And this is across five states -- Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and West Virginia. And the FDA says that it is working directly with the supplier of this shredded iceberg lettuce to determine whether the contaminated lettuce has been sent to other places outside of Taco Bell. So this is an active, ongoing situation.
And we also know outside of the Midwest outbreak, which has been connected back to the shredded iceberg lettuce at Taco Bell locations, across the country, there are several other states reporting cases of cyclosporiasis.
Health officials are still investigating those other cases. It's not clear whether they are connected with the Midwest outbreak or not. But
in response to the Midwest outbreak, Taco Bell has said in a statement, quote, "Based on ongoing conversations with public health officials and out of an abundance of caution, Taco Bell has taken immediate action to voluntarily remove potentially impacted lettuce from a supplier in select states.
"The affected ingredient from our supplier is being indefinitely removed from our supply chain nationwide and will be replaced within 24 hours in select states," end quote.
For now, CDC says do not eat shredded iceberg lettuce served at Taco Bell locations in those five states. And if you do develop symptoms, like watery diarrhea, sometimes explosive diarrhea, or nausea, fatigue, definitely call your doctor and let them know what you may have eaten in the past few days. Back to you.
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ABDELAZIZ: Argentina will try to become the first team in 64 years to win back-to-back World Cups on Sunday and their fans are leaving nothing to chance. The superstitions and rituals they won't let go of are just ahead.
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[05:50:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING) ABDELAZIZ: President Donald Trump is revisiting that World Cup
controversy over the red card that was given to U.S. striker Folarin Balogun.
Mr. Trump attended a FIFA reception in New York on Friday, where he and FIFA president Gianni Infantino lavished praise on each other. The U.S. president is expected to attend Sunday's final between Spain and Argentina.
During the reception, he made light of his controversial phone call to Infantino before FIFA reversed Balogun's one-game suspension.
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TRUMP: A tournament like no other, filled with fierce competition, unforgettable moments yet unforgettable moments, like probably the most unforgettable is when they gave that gentleman -- is it a red card?
And I was forced to call Gianni and just make a recommendation.
I said, "Gianni, I'd like to make a recommendation. Let the guy in the game."
No, I didn't say that. I said I'd like to wage a complaint. And actually I had no idea what was going to happen. But you know, it's so much better the way it worked out because there's no controversy.
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ABDELAZIZ: Meanwhile, Spain and Argentina are putting the final touches on their strategy before they go head to head on Sunday. The match pits the World Cup title defender against the reigning European champion. They'll duke it out at the New York New Jersey stadium.
But there is concern the game could be affected by the heavy smoke that is gripping much of the northeastern U.S. Before that, France and England will play for the third place in Miami on Saturday.
In addition to the consolation title, the winner will go home with $29 million in prize money. Argentina's fans are working hard to send good luck to their team ahead of the big match. Stefano Pozzebon explains.
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STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a ritual that takes place every four years.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking foreign language).
POZZEBON (voice-over): When Argentina gets to the knockout stage of the FIFA World Cup, it's the time of cabalas, rituals that fans perform for good luck or simply to send positive energy to the team on the pitch.
[05:55:03] Someone dresses up as an alien, others carry a figurine of their hero to every match. Others still put a sticker of their opponents in the freezer.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking foreign language).
POZZEBON (voice-over): Cabalas are everywhere, the symbol of a crazy relationship between Argentinian fans and their football.
POZZEBON: If football is a religion in Argentina, we have come to the local church. This is a bodegon. It's a restaurant that is owned by the football club and it's so that supporters and fans can enjoy a meal before a match or on any given day of the week.
And here is where most of these rituals are born.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Cabala means do not cut the trend of good luck. So for example, if you were wearing some socks on that match, you will use the same socks for the rest of the tournament.
POZZEBON: Some of these people were able to travel to the World Cup final. But of course, not all of them. So just asked if this is going to break the cabala. He hopes not because we managed to get it to the final. But Sunday is another match.
POZZEBON (voice-over): But to find out if the rituals work, you must put it to the test.
First, there is tension, almost disbelief. But you have to keep the faith because miracles do happen.
POZZEBON: This is what it feels like to win a semifinal in Argentina.
POZZEBON (voice-over): Argentina won against England with two goals in the last 10 minutes, pushed by its players and the faith of its people. And to win the fourth star, they are ready to do it all again -- Stefano Pozzebon, CNN, Buenos Aires.
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ABDELAZIZ: Thank you for joining us. I'm Salma Abdelaziz in London. "CNN THIS MORNING" is coming up next.
