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Iran Issues List of Demands for U.S. Before Reopening Hormuz; Senate Votes to Confirm Todd Blanche as AG; Strong Winds Hamper Fire Crews; Ceuta Crisis Aftermath; Five Teachers and Staff Killed in Thailand's School Shooting; Zelenskyy: U.S., Ukraine Agree on Air Defense Deliveries; Cracking Down on A.I. Aired 4-5a ET

Aired August 09, 2026 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a very warm welcome to our viewers joining us from around the world and in the U.S. I'm Salma Abdelaziz in London. Let's go straight to the headlines.

A deal to open the Strait of Hormuz may be closer, but we're going to tell you what Iran is demanding from the U.S. first. And strong winds are hampering fire crews trying to keep blazes from spreading around Spokane. We'll hear from an eyewitness that helped to catch the man suspected of setting one of them. And cracking down on using A.I. to cheat, how one country is making sure their students are really doing the work.

ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN Newsroom with Salma Abdelaziz.

ABDELAZIZ: Our top story, Iranian state media is sharing footage of the country's new supreme leader. This is the first time this has happened since he took power in March and his father was assassinated. Now, the video shows Mojtaba Khamenei giving a religious lesson to a group of people, but it is unclear when the video was shot and why it is being released now.

Khamenei is believed to have been wounded on the first day of the U.S. and Israeli bombardment, but he does not appear injured in this newly released footage. Khamenei has yet to appear in public and has only been heard of from through messages issued by state media.

Meanwhile, Iran's national security chief has issued a list of demands for the U.S. to complete before Iran is willing to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. This is according to state media. They include the U.S. paying compensation to Iran, unfreezing its assets and lifting that naval blockade. The U.S. would also have to withdraw its military forces and permanently end the war. The U.S. vice president says the Strait is what the Trump administration is most focused on right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JD VANCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: Our expectation is you're going to see the same amount of oil and gas come out of the Gulf that you saw before the conflict started. That is what the Iranians have told us that they are going to do. That's what the entire Gulf coalition wants to do as well.

But, you know, we don't trust, we verify. We actually look not at people's words, but at people's deeds. You see some people within the Iranian system, of course, talk about tolling. The Iranians have told us they have no plans to toll the Strait of Hormuz. But again, we're going to see what actions actually happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: We're going now live to Clare Sebastian. She joins us here in London. Good morning to you, Clare. So, we have this new list of demands from Iran that it is making to D.C. to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Talk me through these demands and are they actually new here?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They're not, Salma. These are pretty much the same demands that were in the memorandum of understanding that the two sides signed in June and then promptly collapsed. The lifting of the U.S. naval blockade, withdrawing military forces, essentially ending the war, and then the whole issue of paying compensation for damages caused by the war. Those are all part of these new six demands that were released on Saturday by Iran's national security chief.

But look, making them a condition for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, that is clearly not a toughening of Iran's position. And I think it makes it very clear that they are not willing to give up this leverage, their stranglehold over the Strait and international shipping, the Strait where, of course, 20 percent of the world's oil flowed before this war.

Look, in terms of the talks that are happening with Oman right now, there is clearly still some hope, especially around the region, that this will be the first sort of baby step, a sort of small piece of the jigsaw towards restarting proper peace talks and essentially, hopefully, ending this conflict.

And we did hear positive noises from Iran and Oman on Saturday, Iran's foreign minister saying, we are almost very close to the result. The Omani foreign minister saying that the talks were positive and constructive. These are talks, of course, on establishing a temporary set of routes through the Strait. The proposal, as it stands at the moment, looks like the inbound traffic would go in Iranian territorial waters and outbound nearer to the Omani coast. So, that does mean that Iran would still have some control over this traffic.

But look, just like we heard from JD Vance over the weekend saying that they're still in the middle of the game. This isn't over yet. Iran is also tamping down expectations. The foreign minister saying that even if they do reach this deal, which he says they're close to, that doesn't mean that the Strait would immediately open again because of these conditions. So, this is where we stand as of now.

[04:05:00] These are talks on temporary routes through the Strait of Hormuz. And Iran is jacking up the way it uses this leverage with this new list of demands for the U.S. Salma.

ABDELAZIZ: Clare Sebastian there on what you described as a piece of the jigsaw puzzle there that mediators are waiting on a deal between Oman and Iran. Thank you so much for those updates.

Most of the U.S. was asleep when the Senate confirmed President Donald Trump's pick for attorney general. Now before dawn in Washington on Saturday, Todd Blanche will officially now become the country's top law enforcement officer. That is despite concerns that he could surrender independence of the Justice Department to President Trump. Critics say that independence has already evaporated. CNN's Brian Todd explains how he was confirmed anyway.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The central question among the senators who were on the fence about Todd Blanche was, is he going to continue Donald Trump's retribution campaign and use the Justice Department to do that? Is he going to continue that campaign against Donald Trump's political enemies? The answer, of course, is really not clear at the moment. And the senators who were on the fence about Blanche knew it wasn't clear. And that's why this vote was so tight.

In the end, the final vote, 50 to 49, to confirm Todd Blanche as attorney general with Republican senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski voting with the Democrats against the Todd Blanche nomination. That concern about using the Justice Department to go after Trump's political enemies was verbalized by Senator Murkowski, who said this ahead of the vote, quote, "The country needs an attorney general who will check the worst impulses of this administration. I hope Mr. Blanche is able to achieve that if confirmed, but I simply do not have confidence that that will be the case," end quote. That was from Senator Lisa Murkowski.

So, it did come down to Senator Bill Cassidy, the Republican from Louisiana, who had his own concerns specifically about Cassidy Hutchinson, the former White House aide who was a pivotal witness in the congressional probe into January 6th. There are concerns that she might be indicted. Cassidy -- Senator Cassidy had concerns about that, and he was apparently reassured, at least in some measure, by Todd Blanche about that. It's still unclear whether Cassidy Hutchinson will be indicted, but Senator Bill Cassidy was -- at least had, did have his concerns alleviated there, so he then declared that he would favor Todd Blanche for attorney general.

Another piece of business that the Senate passed that was pretty critical before they left for their August recess was that they did a vote early on Saturday morning to extend the funding of the government to December 11th. Now, that averted a possible shutdown, that could avert a possible shutdown of the government ahead of the midterms. At least that's what the senators were trying to do.

There was a September deadline to pass that funding for the government, but still it's not clear whether they're going to be able to avert a government shutdown before the midterms, because that measure has to be taken up now in the House. Its fate there is uncertain because the House has passed an alternative measure for government spending.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABDELAZIZ: The strong winds and dry heat that are fueling the fires in Washington state show no signs of letting up. Fire crews are fighting to keep blazes in the Spokane area from spreading, but wind gusts of up to 25 miles an hour and 90-degree temperatures are in the forecast. This means an uphill battle this weekend.

Now, there are more than 40 fires that are burning in Washington and Oregon state, and at least three fire-related deaths have been reported. Prosecutors say they've a man with arson. This was after he was seen near one of those fires. CNN spoke with a man who was nearby.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL CHILD, SAW ARSON SUSPECT: I just happened to see this guy standing by the train tracks and, you know, just standing there looking into the woods, and I was thinking, well, what's he doing? But he wasn't really doing anything at that time. We were returning back from getting my grandson's friend, and we're coming back up our road, and then he was still there only this time. He was kind of bent over and doing something in the bushes. He saw us, and he basically stood and faced us, and then kind of fidgety, got a little kind of nervous, and then, you know, my grandson made the comment, I said, what's he doing?

And so, we continued up the road, got to my house, and then probably five minutes, five to ten minutes max after we got to the house, my daughter, who was sitting on the back porch, happened to see some smoke. And so, I ran out there, and, of course, my first comment was, you know, that SOB started a fire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: Investigators say the man that they charged also confessed to setting more than two dozen other fires just in the past year.

[04:10:00]

A fast-moving wildfire in western Canada has sparked a province-wide state of emergency in British Columbia. More than 20,000 residents have been ordered to evacuate. The Bald Range fire spread across 19 square miles within hours of the first report on Friday. The British Columbia Premier said the wildfire is destroying properties and has already prompted several rescue operations.

Now to southern Spain where hundreds of people have been evacuated from their homes as firefighters there battle a wildfire that's burned for at least 4,000 hectares. That's about 10,000 acres. Now authorities say shifting winds, record heat and drought conditions have complicated the efforts to contain the blaze and in Serbia crews are struggling to fight a wildfire that is devastating a natural reserve. The fire has burned thousands of hectares of protected woodland but first responders have so far prevented the loss of nearby homes.

Eastern China is shutting down ports and ferries and bracing for the arrival of Typhoon Dolphin. It is expected to make landfall in the coming hours and authorities in China have rated the system as an orange category typhoon. Now, that is the second highest threat level. Some coastal communities are expecting waves of up to eight meters that's 26 feet and forecasters say that winds could top a hundred miles an hour near the center of the storm.

As the initial rain bands of Typhoon Dolphin made landfall in Taiwan something very unusual happened. A tornado which is very rare in the region touched down just outside Taipei shocking both residents and local meteorologists. Our Will Ripley has more on this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A rare tornado formed just outside Taipei. The twister appeared Saturday afternoon as the outer bands of Typhoon Dolphin swept across northern Taiwan.

People here are used to powerful typhoons but tornadoes are much less common. When they do happen, they're often spawned by the intense thunderstorms that form within a typhoon's outer rain bands. Meteorologists say that's what happened here.

Even though Typhoon Dolphin's center stayed hundreds of miles north of the island one of its rain bands moved across northern Taiwan generating this dramatic tornado.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABDELAZIZ: Relations between Italy and Spain hit a rough patch following the migrant crisis and still ahead it's a diplomatic tit for tat with travelers between the two nations paying the price for it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:15:00]

ABDELAZIZ: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says it's going to issue every field officer and agent a body camera by the end of August. Now, this expansion comes as the agency faces growing scrutiny following two fatal eye shootings that took place in July. Neither shooting was recorded with body cameras. Now, whether or not the public will actually get to see the footage that is captured on these body cameras still remains largely up to ICE officials who say the restrictions are intended to protect investigations and privacy.

A Honduran migrant is back in the U.S. This is after a federal judge ruled that the Trump administration may have violated his due process rights. Jose Martinez-Andino was deported by Homeland Security back in April. This is despite being in the U.S. legally. He claims he was coerced into self-deportation and was denied a lawyer. CNN's Rafael Romo spoke to his attorneys as they attempt to get their client out of DHS custody.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Department of Homeland Security confirmed to CNN in a statement that Jose Martinez-Andino was returned Wednesday to the United States to comply with an order by a federal judge. CNN shot this video of the immigrant at the airport in San Pedro Sula, Honduras just moments before his flight.

A federal judge in the District of Columbia ruled in June the U.S. Departments of Justice and Homeland Security must facilitate Martinez- Andino's return because his detention and subsequent deportation may have violated his due process rights by allegedly not allowing him access to an attorney and coercing him to sign papers for voluntary departure he did not understand.

ICE spoke with the immigrant's legal team after Martinez-Andino was returned to the United States and they told me their client should not have been deported in the first place because he had legal status in this country.

ALLISON CHAN, MARTINEZ-ANDINO'S ATTORNEY: There was a due process violation, that there was a judge who listened to both sides and ruled in favor of the plaintiff and then ordered the government to return him and facilitate his return and then the government complied with that order and now he is back this week.

ROMO: If he had legal status to work in the United States and live legally in the United States, how can he end up being not only detained but also deported from the country?

AYLA BLUMENTHAL, MARTINEZ-ANDINO'S ATTORNEY: That can happen if someone commits a crime or some other change in circumstances takes place to justify detaining that individual but none of that took place here and there was no procedure here. That's really where we came in saying that due process has been violated.

ROMO: According to his attorneys, Martinez-Andino had what is known as special immigrant juvenile status that allowed him to live and work in the United States under a visa meant to protect immigrant children. But during the current administration, one of Martinez-Andino's attorney says minors in this category who do not yet have their green card may also be targeted by ICE.

DERRICK HENSLEY, IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY: In this case, the ICE officers or border patrol were able to take advantage of that and say, hey you don't have your green card yet, we're going to tell you that you don't have a right to remain here even though in point of fact he was within a couple months from being able to get his green card.

[04:20:00]

ROMO: In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security told CNN that Martinez Sandino was taken into custody on March 18, accepted a voluntary removal and was returned to Honduras on April 10. On August 5th, Martinez Sandino was returned to the United States by court order and is currently in Border Patrol custody. The 21-year-old immigrant has a three-year-old daughter who is a U.S. citizen and his attorneys told me they're trying their best to get them reunited soon.

Rafael Romo, CNN, Athena.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABDELAZIZ: We're getting reactions from passengers. This is after Italy and Spain imposed border checks on travelers between the two countries. Spain temporarily imposed visa and passport controls on travelers from Italy on Saturday. This is following a very similar move by Rome affecting those coming in from Spain. Now, Madrid says the checks are random and don't actually affect all passengers, but some of them still call this dispute utter nonsense and dismiss it as just politics. Italy said it imposed the border controls because of the migrant crisis in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, but most migrants who had stormed that border have already returned to Morocco.

Standing by for us now in Rome is our Stefano Pozzebon. Good morning to you, Stefano. I mean, this is such a fascinating diplomatic tit- for-tat spat. How will this continue? What is the beef? And can these measures actually be imposed here?

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's the real question. Can they actually impose them, Salma, isn't it? Like we're in the middle of the summer. Millions of Europeans just want to go to the beach to fight a heat wave, and yet here we are once again with two member countries at odds with each other over the issue of migration.

And this is why I think, Salma, many people in this continent believe that the European Union is failing to front up the challenges of our times. And behind that measure, that retaliatory measure that Madrid announced on Friday, you can feel the frustration from the likes of Pedro Sanchez, the Spanish prime minister, because for years the Italians have complained that the European Union and the E.U. member countries were not sharing enough of the burden when it comes to migration, Italy, of course, being one of the countries most impacted by the migration crisis, with all the speedboats arriving to the island of Lampedusa in the south of Italy, and of course Italy complaining that Europe was not doing enough.

Now, instead is Spain facing a migrant crisis in the exclave of Ceuta, and of course the first thing that Italy does is suspend the Schengen agreement that guarantees the freedom of movement between the two countries. And yes, utter nonsense is what many of the people that we've spoken with are telling us. This is, for example, how one person that recently traveled from Italy to Madrid had to say to the cameras.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LUIGINA CUCCI, ITALIAN VISITOR FROM ROME (through translator): Everything that has happened strikes me as utter nonsense. In Italy we are basically, well, we just keep going, hoping it will end. These kinds of interventions without any real justification seem to us like nothing more than a way to divert attention, avoid taking a stand, and dodge actual action. (END VIDEO CLIP)

POZZEBON: So divert attention, for example, Salma, the bickering of the two politicians, Giorgio Meloni, prime minister of Italy on one side, Pedro Sanchez, the prime minister of Spain on the other side, perhaps both of them more interested in speaking to their own constituencies ahead of the fall and upcoming elections, especially here in Italy, where Meloni for the first time is facing a challenge from the right flank of her coalition, and that is why many think that she is taking such a strong stance of migration.

But actually, the reality is that here we are, once again, heat summer and the two countries fighting with each other. Salma.

ABDELAZIZ: Stefano Pozzebon there with a very interesting detail that it might be internal politics that's affecting an external spat between two E.U. countries. Thank you so much.

A 12-year-old girl is now among those killed in Thailand's worst school shooting in years. She is the first student confirmed dead in Friday's attack, which also claimed the lives of five teachers and school staffers. Our Ivan Watson was on the scene with more details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is a community very much in mourning after a 14-year-old student opened fire on the campus of this high school, killing at least five school teachers.

So, we've been watching well-wishers come in, light candles, say a prayer, lay flowers here. The victims include a math teacher, a Thai language teacher, a guidance teacher as well. The school saying, quote, "Your goodness and virtue and your spirit as a teacher will remain in our memories forever."

[04:25:00]

And I spoke with a father of a student who is grateful. He says the teachers protected the children effectively with their bodies from the bullets in this deadly incident. And yet he says he's going to bring his boy back here when the school reopens.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't see anything wrong with this school at all for me, really. So, that's why next week, school open, I send my son to come to school the same.

WATSON: You're confident?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel confident. I'm not scared of anything. Just sad. Only see this school. I used to come every day with a good feeling, but today I came with a hurt feeling. Yes.

WATSON: Authorities have confirmed that a 12-year-old girl also succumbed to her injuries on Saturday. A disturbing detail I'm hearing from my witnesses is how long the shooting went on with rescue workers flooding into the scene, helping evacuate wounded and some of the thousands of survivors and the shooting continuing afterwards.

And this is, of course, opening up big questions about mental health and gun safety since these kind of mass shootings have been happening with increasing frequency in recent years here in Thailand.

Ivan Watson, CNN, Nonthaburi, Thailand.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABDELAZIZ: Thousands honor the man who gave families closure after losing loved ones in Ukraine's fight against Russia. When we return, the mission that claimed the life of the man called the Collector of Souls.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:30:00]

ABDELAZIZ: Welcome back to CNN Newsroom. I'm Salma Abdelaziz in London.

Iran says it will not reopen the Strait of Hormuz until its demands are met. According to reporting from Iranian state media, the country's national security chief says the U.S. must withdraw its troops, lift the naval blockade, and permanently end the war. He also said, quote, "Until America corrects its behavior, the Strait of Hormuz will not be reopened." Iran also wants the U.S. to pay damages and release frozen Iranian assets. Meanwhile, we are also hearing that both Iran and Oman have indicated that they're close to an agreement on managing the Strait.

Now, to Ukraine, where authorities have long been appealing for more military hardware to defend itself in its war with Russia. We are now hearing that that request will be fulfilled. Kyiv will start getting regular monthly deliveries of very desperately needed U.S. missile interceptors. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made this announcement during a visit to Serbia, a longtime Russian ally, on Saturday. Both countries are trying to join the European Union, and Serbia's leader said his country supports Ukraine's bid, despite the U.S. arms deal. Mr. Zelenskyy said Ukraine needs even more help.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): First of all, who has anti-ballistic missiles and a system? The manufacturer is the United States of America. Can they help? We're working on it. Will they supply us with missiles every month? Yes. We have agreements in place. Are these missiles enough? No.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: Thousands of Ukrainians paid their respects to the man known as the Collector of Souls. Funeral services were held yesterday in Kyiv for Oleksiy Yukov. He was on a mission to exhume a body when he stepped on a landmine and was killed. The 40-year-old was known for recovering the remains of soldiers and civilians, Ukrainians and Russians alike, who were killed in Russia's war on Ukraine. His efforts to retrieve remains over two decades have brought closure to countless grieving families on both sides of this conflict. A friend summed up Yukov's work, saying he gave names back to the dead.

In Russia, controversy is growing over so-called black widow scams. These are women allegedly entering sham marriages with soldiers in order to claim death benefits if they're killed. Our Matthew Chance has this story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A mass wedding of Russian soldiers before they're packed off to the front lines.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I want to shake your hand and thank you for not running away, for not being scared.

CHANCE (voice-over): But not all marriages offer love. Russian military wives get thousands of dollars compensation if their husbands are killed in action. And officials say ruthless scammers dubbed Black Widows now tricking vulnerable recruits into wedlock.

The father of Maria from St. Petersburg died after being shot in Ukraine last year. She told me she only found out her dad had joined the army after he was killed, and only then did he had a new wife.

CHANCE: How did you feel when you found out that your dad had got married just days before he went off to war?

MARIA, DAUGHTER OF RUSSIAN SOLDIER (through translator): It felt unreal. When I was being issued the death certificate, they asked if he was married. I said no, but they told me he was. I never even managed to contact the woman. I simply didn't know what to say to her because I suspected it was a scam.

CHANCE (voice-over): It's just one suspected case in a growing number scandalizing Russia.

CHANCE: With the war in Ukraine now in its fifth year, and casualty rates at catastrophic highs, it's hard to imagine there are people out there marrying vulnerable men and encouraging them to join the military just so they might financially benefit if they're killed on the front lines. No wonder there's outrage across Russia at the spread of these Black Widow scams.

CHANCE (voice-over): There are numerous allegations of recruits honey trapped before dying on the front lines, even marrying on their deathbeds in hospital. This woman who married a soldier 10 days after meeting him, then posted images of herself with other men, was branded a Black Widow in the Russian media and denied compensation when her husband was killed before their divorce went through. She denied any wrongdoing, saying the allegations had blackened her name. [04:35:00]

But there's growing public anger at how cynical some Russians have become about the war, the Kremlin calls its special military operation. If I want an apartment, where am I supposed to get the money? The host of this podcast asks. It's simple. The guest who's a real estate agent, responds, find a man serving in the special military operation. And when he's killed, you get 8 million rubles, she laughs.

The podcasters were prosecuted and forced to apologize, a rare intervention by the Russian courts.

Back in St. Petersburg, Maria takes us to the block where her dad's old apartment has now been sold off, convinced he was also scammed out of his home.

CHANCE: Do you know who the new owner is? How long, how many years did your dad live here?

MARIA: Five Years.

CHANCE: Five years. This is it. It's open.

CHANCE (voice-over): Behind the broken door. The new occupants insist it was a legitimate sale and that they never even met the seller. It means the money and the widow, just like Maria's dad, are now long gone.

Matthew Chance, CNN, in St. Petersburg.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABDELAZIZ: Artificial intelligence is posing new challenges in the world of academic learning. Coming up, how Denmark is combating a growing trend of high schoolers using A.I. to cheat.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ABDELAZIZ: Denmark is cracking down on A.I. cheating among high school students. A new emergency measure requires that students in upper-secondary education verbally defend all major assignments that are written at home. There are other initiatives, too, including tools to monitor students' screens during exams, implementing firewalls to filter content that students can access during exams or class time, and encouraging students to complete more assignments in school under controlled environments.

[04:40:00]

The education minister says he hopes this is to ensure A.I. does not undermine students' ability to think for themselves.

Joining me now for a deeper dive into all of this is the Danish Minister for Education, Mr. Magnus Heunicke. Thank you so much for being on with us today and for sharing this very interesting step that your country has taken to combat A.I. cheating.

Start by explaining the problem to me here. How widespread was the use of A.I. in cheating in Danish schools and what evidence convinced you, look, it's time for us to take some urgent action here?

MAGNUS HEUNICKE, DANISH MINISTER FOR EDUCATION: Yes. So, I am convinced that the problem is real and our students will --

ABDELAZIZ: Our apologies there. We have lost the Danish education minister. We were so glad to have him on. We'll let you know if we are able to get a hold of him again.

Moving on. Texas put a hold this week on the approval of any new data centers in the state. They'll have to go through a, quote, comprehensive verification and audit before they can connect to the state's power grid. The move reflects the growing opposition to these facilities, even as demand for A.I. computing capacity is, of course, exploding. CNN's David Goldman explains why they're facing that uphill battle.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR REPORTER: All right. There is significant public opposition to A.I. data centers. A recent Gallup poll said that 71 percent of Americans are opposed to building a data center in their neighborhood. But that's not the only thing that is preventing these data centers from getting built. In fact, 50 percent of data centers that are scheduled for 2028, they aren't going to be built on time, according to Goldman Sachs.

And we're looking at significant construction delays. In fact, 60 percent of all data centers that are planned for next year, they aren't even begun. They haven't even begun to get a shovel in the ground. And then of the ones that have, 7 percent are delayed. So, that means that a significant portion of the planned data centers are not going to meet their deadlines.

Now, we do have quite a few data centers in this country, more than 5,000 in the United States, but there are a lot more planned. Almost 4,000 new data centers planned over the course of the next several years. But look at this, only 802 are under construction at the moment. That means that a significant portion of these data centers are either in the planning phase or they're not even going to happen at all. And a lot of that has to do with materials shortages and chips in particular. If you can't get the computers to run the A.I., well, then you don't have an A.I. data center.

Power is an enormous problem because they suck power, and a lot of states are saying you need to build your own power if you are going to build a data center. Labor, if you don't have people to build them. We know that immigration policy has restricted the amount of construction workforce in this country. How are you going to build your data center? And then of course, public opposition. People don't want them, and a number of states are starting to restrict the construction of data centers. Now, the plan was to get about 11 times the amount of computing power that we currently have. We're at 50 gigawatts. They wanted to get that up to 565 gigawatts in a decade, but Columbia thinks probably more like 180. That's still three times what we have right now, but it gives you a sense of what the dream is and what the reality is.

Now, data center construction is happening, and it is growing fast. Up 46 percent in June, over June of 2025. That is a significant increase in growth, but it's also a significant cost. For each data center, these things can cost $8 billion to build. This isn't something that's to happen overnight, for sure, for all of those reasons, and because people just don't want them. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[04:45:00]

ABDELAZIZ: I want to welcome back now the Danish Minister for Education, Mr. Magnus Heunicke. I'm so glad we were able to connect with you again. We had just started our conversation, and you were explaining to me how widespread this issue of using A.I. to cheat in Danish schools was, because this is not just, of course, in your country. This is a worldwide problem. What convinced you that it was time to do something about it?

HEUNICKE: Yes. I was getting reports from both teachers, but actually also students, saying this is not fair. What we can see now in the numbers from the exams is that, unfortunately now, it is actually undermining our students' skills. It is undermining their ability to think for themselves, and also their academic knowledge, and that's why we have education.

So, we need to make sure that these things are in place, and that when teachers are giving assignments, well, then it's going to be the students who are understanding, writing the books, reading the books, and writing the assignments themselves, not an A.I. tool.

ABDELAZIZ: And talk to me about the process here. How did you begin to detect, or how do teachers still continue to detect, that A.I. is being used to produce work? And how do they approach students about this? Because it's difficult, right? They're seeing it all around them. How do you tackle it in a way where you really engage them in these new measures?

HEUNICKE: Yes, that's right. It is all around, and I even got reports from principals saying that they got letters from students complaining about, well, when they are sitting in classrooms and a teacher is asking a question, they can see that some of their fellow students, well, they are just really quick in asking a ChatGPT or another A.I. program, and then it is providing the answers, and then they raise their hand, and that is not the way to educate, because then we risk, which is a really big, serious risk, that we are not using A.I. to get smarter. On the contrary, we are at the risk of creating a new generation that is getting dumber, and that is, of course, not the purpose. ABDELAZIZ: I'm so interested in this idea of verbally defending their assignments, because, as you said, it's the critical thinking aspect that you are concerned about, and so you're preparing them for that ability to converse, but the reality is, of course, that students will have A.I. in their future. That is going to be a part of their future careers, of their future lives. So, how are you preparing them to use it in a responsible manner, rather than just banning it?

HEUNICKE: That's right, and that's one of the really hard things in Denmark and around the globe, when I follow the debates all around. One of the things is that the education system is, of course, always evolving, but that normally takes a long time to find out what's the next step, how could we teach, how could we learn, what's the process here, but A.I. is fast, fast, fast, and it is a revolution that is evolving at a speed that we've never seen before.

So, that is a big task for us in all governments to keep track of that, and also to make sure that A.I. is used in the right way, because, of course, also in Denmark, well, the students must know how to use A.I., not to cheat, but to use it to be even smarter, and the key issue is to be able to read a book, all -- and let me -- I must stress this, sometimes it is hard to read a book. It's a long book, it's maybe boring, but that's a part of the process, and you have to do that in order to be able to critically make up your own mind and to think for yourself, and that's why we -- that's the whole idea.

ABDELAZIZ: The Danish education minister there, Mr. Magnus Heunicke, thank you so much for sharing with us these extraordinary measures that your country is taking to stop A.I. cheating and protect critical thinking in schools. Thank you so much.

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After the break, football legend Lionel Messi heads home for a final farewell as he and his family mourn the loss of his father and long- time agent, Jorge Messi.

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ABDELAZIZ: Former U.S. President Joe Biden's prostate cancer is spreading to other parts of his body. Now, this is according to his son, Hunter Biden, who says the cancer is now in his father's bones and beyond, that it's causing him pain even as he continues making public statements. Mr. Biden announced his diagnosis in May last year, just months after he left the White House.

Football legend Lionel Messi has arrived in his hometown of Rosario, Argentina, to say a final farewell to his father, who passed away just this weekend. CNN World Sports' Patrick Snell has more on Jorge Messi's life and his legacy.

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PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Tributes have been pouring in this weekend following the passing of Jorge Messi, the 68-year-old father of the iconic Argentine great Lionel. Jorge Messi died in the early hours of Saturday morning, this according to Sanatorio Centro, the hospital in Rosario, in Argentina, where he was being treated.

[04:55:00]

Now, the hospital also adding that no further details regarding the death would be released out of respect for the family's privacy. Newell's Old Boys, that's Messi's first professional club, which he joined as a youth team player, also confirming Jorge Messi's passing. The Rosario-based club is where Lionel played as a youth before moving to Europe, where he enjoyed a storied and highly decorated career, most notably with Spanish giants Barcelona.

Jorge Messi was his son's longtime agent and representative throughout his career. The Argentine Football Association on Saturday expressing its sadness and regret at the passing of Jorge Messi, father of our captain and emblem Lionel Messi. From here, we accompany with the whole family in this hard time and we send them the most heartfelt, warm and affectionate embrace.

And in a brief message accompanied by an image that reads, Fuerza Leo, the Argentine national team also expressing its support for Messi's family. We are with you in this difficult moment. We send you our most heartfelt hug and our own condolences as well from us here at CNN going out to the Messi family this weekend. Our thoughts very much with the Messi family at this time. And with that, it's right back to you.

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ABDELAZIZ: The political stalemate in Kosovo seemed to hit a new low when inquiry opposition lawmakers threw eggs at the country's acting prime minister, Albin Kurti.

Now, Kurti was asking parliament for more time to put forward a candidate for speaker, and that's when parliament member, Time Kadrijaj, pelted him with eggs, yelling, shame, shame. This latest incident comes as Kurti holds negotiations with other parties on forming a governing coalition and electing a president.

Thank you so much for watching. I'm Salma Abdulaziz. I'll be right back with more CNN Newsroom right after a quick break.

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