Return to Transcripts main page

Connect the World

EU's Borell: Growing Risk of War "Spilling" into Lebanon; Questions Over 1031 Deaths During Hajj Pilgrimage; U.S. Supreme Court Set to Rule in Another Abortion-Related Case; Three Days Until Biden-Trump Debate on CNN; Croatia, Italy Meet in Crucial Group B Match. Aired 9-9:45a ET

Aired June 24, 2024 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: Today marks two years since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade removing American woman's

constitutional rights to an abortion. Now, it's a crucial issue in the presidential election. You're watching live pictures from Washington where

it's 9 am. It's 5 pm here in Abu Dhabi, I'm Eleni Giokos. And this is "Connect the World".

People in Southern Russia are in mourning after deadly attacks on police, synagogues and churches. And Benjamin Netanyahu says the intense phase of

Israel's war with Hamas is nearly over but the focus is shifting to the Lebanon border.

Well, the stock market in New York opens in about 30 minutes from now and it's a mixed picture ahead of the opening bell. Will bring you those

numbers on how the DOW futures are faring right now. As you can see, DOW is up around two tenths of a percent, NASDAQ sitting down three tenths of a

percent, the S&P is flat investors are still pondering whether the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates.

And there's been no move so far with U.S. inflation remaining stubbornly above the 2 percent target range. We'll bring you an update on the opening

bell, and about half an hour from now. Well, the intense phase of the war with Hamas is about to end. Those are the words of Israel's Prime Minister,

and his first one on one interview with Israeli media since October 7th attacks.

Now Benjamin Netanyahu also said that Israel's military could shift its focus to the northern border with Lebanon. His comments coming as Israel's

Defense Minister is in Washington to meet with top U.S. officials. I want to bring in our Paula Hancocks live from Jerusalem, Paula, great to see

you.

The prime minister also making comments about a partial deal with Hamas, tell us about how Hamas is responding to that and very crucial messaging,

frankly, from Benjamin Netanyahu at this point?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, so this is Eleni, one of the first real moments of clarity publicly and on the record that we've had from the

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in some time when it comes to the future of what is happening in Gaza.

Now, as you say, he has said the intense part of the war is over, the military's focus can shift to the northern border, shift to the increasing

cross border attacks between Hezbollah and the Israeli military.

But when it comes to the actual war itself, he has said that that is not over. He has said that the current stage that we are seeing in Rafah could

be phased out that could be over but not the overall war. And this feeds into what he's saying when it comes to the hostage ceasefire deal that's on

the table at this point.

So he said that he is ready to accept a partial deal with Hamas for some hostages. Now, he has also said that once that ceasefire is over, then he

will go back to the war. And he will go back to trying to eliminate the group and he is not willing to give up on the idea of destroying Hamas.

And what this really means is it appears to be at odds with this U.S. lead hostage deal which U.S. President Joe Biden has very publicly put his

support behind. The Biden Administration even suggesting it was an Israeli proposal that Israel had signed on to, but what we're hearing from

Netanyahu is that he's only partially invested in this.

Now there has been criticism from the hostage families themselves saying it cannot be just some hostages which come home that did have to be all of

them. And we've also had a statement from Hamas saying that this shows that Netanyahu is rejecting a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a

complete ceasefire and also rejecting the plan that has been pushed by President Biden.

Hamas has been clear that it wants a more specific timeline for a permanent ceasefire. And that is not what we're hearing from Benjamin Netanyahu at

this point, Eleni.

GIOKOS: Yeah, all right, Paula Hancocks for us, thank you so much, live in Jerusalem. Now the European Union's Top Diplomat warns the risk of Israel's

war spilling over into Lebanon is growing. Josep Borrell says he's much more worried than before pointing to increase bombings on both sides of the

border. Ben Wedeman is in Lebanon where life goes on as the shadow of war looms large.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a day of joy and celebration here in South Lebanon.

[09:05:00]

WEDEMAN: Israeli forces are just about five miles away from here but nonetheless here in the town of Hasbaya, there's a wedding going on.

WEDEMAN (voice-over): It didn't seem right to spoil this special day for newlyweds Temor (ph) and Fatin (ph) with questions but the dark clouds

covering over Lebanon. But one guest told us off camera we're celebrating here world war is around the corner. Hasbaya has been spared the worst of

the barrages and counter barrages between Israel and Hezbollah.

Here they stop anyone from firing towards Israel. Parliament Member Elias Jarade was elected to represent Christians in this area.

ELIAS JARADE, MEMBER OF LEBANESE PARLIAMENT: Majority of the Southern people, majority of the Lebanese people from all sects, all religions, all

parties. They are in one way or another they are committed with a Palestinian.

WEDEMAN (voice-over): Everyone we spoke with had a completely contrary opinion. Few people wanted to speak on camera about the looming danger of

war for fear of repercussions. Off camera we got an earful. There is zero appetite for escalation, little support for Hezbollah. 85 year old Abu

Nabil (ph) has seen it all war and Civil War invasions and occupation. War is ruination, he says. In war everyone loses even the winner Abu Nabil (ph)

knows of what he speaks.

WEDEMAN: Since October, Israel and Hezbollah and its allies have been engaged in low intensity warfare, largely limited to the border if full

scale war breaks out, that war will spread well beyond the frontier on both sides.

WEDEMAN (voice-over): Last week, Israeli generals approved a plan to attack Lebanon. While Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah recently warned if it

comes to war, the group will fight Israel on land, sea and air and also inside Israel itself. The Iranian backed groups sophisticated attacks have

surprised Israeli officials, including precision strikes on surveillance posts on the border, shooting down high flying Israeli drones, and knocking

out anti-missile and anti-drone defenses.

And posting online, more than nine minutes of what it claimed was drone footage of sensitive military and civilian infrastructure in and around the

City of Haifa. The bell summons the faithful to mass in the predominantly Christian town of Marjayoun. More than 90,000 people have already left the

south for safer ground. Aman (ph) says she's determined to stay, but ads.

If things escalate to war, and it reaches here like it did before with some shelling, of course, like others will have to leave. For now they can only

pray for peace and hope those prayers are heard.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GIOKOS: Ben Wedeman joins us now from Beirut. Ben, I want you to unpack this for us because the rhetoric has definitely changed. There's a sense

and major concern about potential escalation. Israel last week approving operational plans for potential offensive in Lebanon, Netanyahu is saying

they might shift focus to Lebanon.

How are people responding on the ground and where they reading into this new rhetoric about the prospects of a bigger conflict?

WEDEMAN (on camera): Well, people have heard here in Lebanon for months now sort of saber rattling, coming from Israel. But I think what has people

really worried with was what we've heard reported on CNN, that the Biden Administration has expressed its full support for Israel in the event of a

full scale hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, which is rather reminiscent of the full body of support the Americans voiced at the

beginning of the disastrous war in Gaza.

So really, that has people worried and we're already seen signs of things. For instance, cancellations in hotels, Lebanon in the summer, Lebanon is

highly dependent on members of the Lebanese diaspora and tourists to come here to bring badly needed hard cash. There have been many cancellations at

-- hotels and elsewhere.

[09:10:00]

We also know that Kuwait, Sweden and North Macedonia have warned their citizens not to travel to Lebanon under the current circumstances, and

those who are here to leave immediately. This is reminiscent of course of the kind of things we were seeing back in October last year.

And finally, the London Telegraph has put out a report saying that the Beirut International Airport has been used as a storage depot for weapons

by Hezbollah. Now Lebanese officials have come out and flatly denied that the Minister of Information, the Minister of Transport, and the Foreign

Minister actually led a tour of journalists and foreign diplomats to show them.

There's nothing there. But people are worried that this is a sign that for instance, there's a target that the Israelis might hit the airport which is

essential for this small country, which only has one international airport, Eleni.

GIOKOS: Yeah, Ben Wedeman, thank you so much for that analysis. Good to see you. Well, now to Dagestan, Russian region in mourning today after a string

of deadly and apparently coordinated attacks. Authorities say at least 19 people were killed when gunman opened fire on multiple places of worship

and a police traffic stop on Sunday.

Four civilians are among the dead including a priest. The other victims were all police officers, some praise for the attack has emerged on a

telegram channel used by ISIS-K but there's been no claim of responsibility. We've got CNN's Clare Sebastian, who's reported extensively

from Russia for us, joining us now from London.

Clare, a tragic story here! These attacks happening on multiple locations, authorities are saying that they were coordinated. What more do we know?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I can bring you some updated numbers that no we're hearing from the Health Ministry in Dagestan that

they now are reporting 20 people have died, 46 injured, of the injured seven are assessed as being as in a serious condition. So those numbers are

slowly creeping up as the scale of this attack unfolds.

As you say they are confident this was coordinated. We saw these attacks happening starting in the sort of early evening of Sunday in two cities

more than 100 kilometers apart Makhachkala just the original capital and that event and ancient city, just south along the Caspian Sea Coast of

Dagestan.

What we don't have yet is a claim of responsibility. But as you say, we are seeing now some praise for this attack on an ISIS affiliated telegram

channel and a channel used by the Islamic State Khorasan Province, also known as ISIS-K, the same group that almost immediately claimed

responsibility after that very deadly terrorist attack on Moscow, the Crocus city concert hall three months ago.

So this is different, this is not a claim of responsibility. So this means that there are still questions around who exactly was behind this and

whether or not there are still accomplices or attackers at large the Investigative Committee which is now handling the criminal investigation

into this says that five militants were killed, but we understand that there are still efforts on going to find more accomplices.

But as I said, this is just three months after the deadliest terror attack in Russia in several decades at the Crocus city concert hall. So there will

be questions being raised serious security questions over why another attack has happened again.

GIOKOS: All right, Clare Sebastian for us in London. Thank you. Well, the questions keep coming about how more than 1300 people died during the Hajj

pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. Various authorities are pointing to a combination of extreme heat and what they call unauthorized trips.

Temperatures during last week's pilgrimage peaked above 50 degrees Celsius or 122 Fahrenheit. Some witnesses are blaming the Saudi government saying

there was poor organization and poor infrastructures. Well CNN's Salma Abdelaziz joining us now with more on this.

Salma look, we finally have the official death toll number after frankly many days, Saudi Arabia saying the unauthorized trips accounting for many

of the fatalities. We've spoken to witnesses specifically over the weekend, they are talking about poor organization, not enough adequate

infrastructure. Is there an official investigation into what actually transpired here?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this week, Eleni, we're really beginning to see the reverberations of those who died during Hajj. You have

to remember of course, this is an event that draws 1.8 million people from around the Muslim world. This is the week of homecoming.

This is when the worshipers should be returning to their homes celebrated among their families. But of course we have this figure at least 1300 of

those individuals will not be returning home. That death toll potentially could rise.

[09:15:00]

Saudi authority saying some 83 percent of those individuals who died during the Hajj were, quote, an authorized and we keep hearing this statement from

other governments as well that many of those who died simply did not have the proper permissions to be on the ground in the Hajj. But I want to break

that down for you.

First of all, you have to remember just how important the Hajj is for worshippers. This is one of the pillars of Islam. People save up their

entire life, they are well into the later years, when they finally if they get that green light, that permission that they apply for year after year,

they finally get that green light that OK to go. And when they get that OK, it often comes from a tour group.

Now many governments are saying that some of these tour groups were operating illegally without proper permissions, meaning those pilgrims,

some of them simply didn't know that they didn't have the correct paperwork until they arrived in Mecca to find themselves without proper

accommodation, without proper access to cooling facilities, without the buses that need to take them those many, many miles to the sites.

I'm going to give you one example. This is from eyewitness accounts. One of the key rituals is to go to the Mount of Arafat. This is a miles long,

kilometers long, walk if you walk it, you should be taking a bus particularly when the heat reaches up to 125 degrees Fahrenheit, 50 degrees

Celsius.

But eyewitnesses saying that many worshipers these unauthorized individuals, some of them simply not knowing they were unauthorized arrived

to find no buses, some of them again, elderly choosing to take that journey on foot. Eyewitness is telling us that route was scattered with the bodies

of people who were collapsing, who are falling unconscious, some who were ill unwell, others who had died.

Eyewitnesses saying there simply weren't enough medics on the scene, there weren't enough infrastructures. So there are absolutely people being held

to account right now, especially those tour groups, those tour operators, but the investigations continue in the bigger question, Eleni, why did 1300

people have to die for these governments to begin to take action?

GIOKOS: Yeah, big questions there, Salma, thank you so much, good to see you. And still to come, back to back hearings today as pre-trial arguments

go on in Donald Trump's classified papers case. While the former president be gagged again. It is two years to the day since the U.S. Supreme Court

overturned Roe versus Wade.

Ahead on the show, how that has -- that ruling has affected abortion access in America? And how could two new rulings complicate the picture further?

We'll be back right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GIOKOS: Welcome back and in just a few hours pre-trial hearings will resume up in Donald Trump's classified documents case. Judge Aileen Cannon will

hear submissions on two separate issues. One is Trump's motion to dismiss and his team claimed Special Counsel Jack Smith's office is on lawfully

funded.

[09:20:00]

Then Judge Cannon will hear arguments on Smith's request to impose a gag order on Trump. CNN's Senior Crime and Justice Reporter, Katelyn Polantz is

outside the courthouse in Florida with more, Katelyn, always good to see you. Judge Cannon has been criticized for slow walking this case, what do

you make of this hearing and how she's handled it especially on Friday?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Eleni, slow walking or just taking her time. She has a lot of questions. We know that because

she was in court with both, Trump and his co-defendants lawyers on Friday, as well as the prosecutors from the Special Counsel's Office.

They're back again today in part two of a four part hearing, there are four different things that she is going to be looking at and questioning over

the course of three days in court. So today, this morning in about an hour, she's going to start looking at the funding of the special Counsel's

Office.

A special prosecutor appointed by the Attorney General is the money that's being used for that legal under the way Congress dedicated those funds.

Now, that is a question that others in other cases have tried to test. And they have not succeeded as if that, but Judge Aileen Cannon. It's her

courtroom.

This is a separate district, a separate case. So she is going to be looking at that. And then this afternoon, it turns to a prosecutor requests. The

prosecutors are quite concerned about what Donald Trump has had to say publicly about law enforcement, specifically FBI agents that took part in

the search of Mar-a-Lago in August of 2022.

He said false and misleading things such as that he was in danger that they were authorized to use force against him. And we're looking to do that that

is not the case. There were standard protocols in place for that search. And Trump wasn't even in Florida when it took place. So prosecutors are

going to the judge and saying he should not be able to keep speaking this way.

It is dangerous for the FBI and the agents involved. And potentially it could hurt the upcoming trial whenever that may be still a lot to go in

this case heading forward. We don't have a trial date. And no word yet on whether Judge Cannon would even rule on any of these issues today.

GIOKOS: Yeah, so just a few hours to go before this pre-trial hearing begins. Katelyn Polantz is on the story for us. Thank you so much. Good to

see you. Well, today marks two years since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade ending the federal right to abortion in America.

That ruling has fueled fierce battles of abortion access across the country. Now since the ruling 14 states have established now or total bans

on abortion, making it one of the top issues looming of the 2024 race between incumbent President Joe Biden and Former President Donald Trump.

CNN Senior Supreme Court Analyst Joan Biskupic joins us now with more, Joan, great to have you on. Look, the ruling overturning Roe versus Wade

came after Donald Trump appointed three conservative justices during his term. The same court will soon announce another case that will impact

reproductive health care. Tell us more about this and what this ultimately means?

JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN SENIOR SUPREME COURT ANALYST: Sure, good to see you, Eleni. You know, you mentioned those 14 states that outright ban abortion

and there are several others that have imposed restrictions that are affecting women nationwide. And just think of how it's changed the debate

over in vitro fertilization even it's just the repercussions of that ruling two years ago are vast, including, as you say, in politics, particularly

for this election campaign.

But the justices will weigh in at least one more time on abortion rights before that election. As soon as Wednesday when the justices next take the

bench, we could see a ruling in a clash between the state of Idaho, which is one of those states that has imposed a ban on abortion, and a federal

statute that covers emergency treatment in hospitals nationwide.

And I'll tell you where the clashes. Idaho has begun enforcing a law that criminalizes any abortion provided by a physician or anyone who assists in

an abortion, except with the one exception to prevent the death of the mother. Now separately, there's a federal law that dates to 1986 that was

originally enacted to prevent patient dumping and it covers any hospital that accepts Medicare funds, which is the vast majority of hospitals

nationwide.

And under that federal prohibition, hospitals must provide emergency treatment to stabilize a patient. And what the federal government the Biden

Administration is saying is that in some cases that law would kick in to help a woman who has complications from pregnancy who might need an

abortion to save her health, to preserve her reproductive health down the road and not go so far as to actually prevent death.

[09:25:00]

The justices heard arguments in that case at the end of April and we expect that ruling to come soon. And as you say it's the first time we'll see the

next chapter of abortion access after the momentous Dobbs ruling of two years ago exactly today, Eleni.

GIOKOS: Yeah. And so much at stake, Joan so much at stake right now. Right, Joan Biskupic, thank you so much for that. I want to get you up to speed on

some of the stories that are on our radar right now. In the U.S., deadly weekend violence with at least 13 mass shootings, in which four or more

people were shot reported across the country.

The worst is in Fordyce, our console where a man is accused of opening fire in a grocery store killing four people and injuring nine. A fire at a

lithium battery factory in South Korea has killed at least 22 people. The fire broke out mid-morning Southwest of Seoul. Officials say most of those

who died were Chinese nationals, at least two of the survivors of being treated for severe burns.

Royal source tells CNN Britain's princess Anne sustained minor head injuries at a Gatcombe Park estate in Western England on Sunday. Buckingham

Palace says the 73 year old is expected to make a full recovery but was taken to hospital for observation after being concussed. It's not saying

exactly what happened, but the source tells CNN her injuries are consistent with being hit by a horse's legs or head.

And still to come on CNN we're counting down to the first U.S. presidential debates of this election season happening right here on CNN this week, how

President Joe Biden and Donald Trump are preparing. Plus, we'll look at why mission officials are delaying Starliner's man return to Earth once again,

live reports that's coming up ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:30:00]

GIOKOS: All right, that is the sound of the opening bell in New York, a new day, a new week and the last week of June. Markets looking pretty buoyant

right now, so much excitement around artificial intelligence kind of tempering the concerns around whether interest rates will remain the same

given the inflation concerns have been causing a bit of a dampener.

And overall the markets have been performing quite well. They're not too far off record highs. As you can see, DOW JONES is up three tenths of a

percent, NASDAQ is in the red right now. So too is the S&P but overall, we're seeing a relatively buoyant market with some concerns coming through.

All right, well, just three days from now, U.S. President Joe Biden and Former President Donald Trump meet for the first presidential debates of

2024 here on CNN when they take the stage in Atlanta on Thursday. It will be the first time, a sitting U.S. president and a former president face

off.

Biden's campaign says the President spent the weekend hunkered down at Camp David for intense preparation and held mock debate sessions. Trump has

taken the opposite approach by holding informal briefing sessions with his advisors and allies and as kept up an active campaign schedule so lots

happening on that front.

CNN's Kevin Liptak is focusing on Biden's campaign debates and prep. And we've got Alayna Treene covering Trump's campaign for us as well, bringing

you both sides of the spectrum here. We got, Kevin, I want to start off with you President Biden deep into debate prep from what we understand.

What are Biden campaigns plans for the weekend? And what are his priorities?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah, he's on day four of debate camp out in Western Maryland, you know, Camp David, it's in the

woods, not many distractions. And you know we don't actually expect to see President Biden before Thursday when he heads down to Atlanta for this

debate.

And I don't think it's any secret why his campaign and why the President is spending the better part of a week in these preparations. They know that

they can't afford an underwhelming performance. And they recognize you know, any kind of slip up, a mental slip up, a verbal slip up, is just

going to be magnified in the glare of those debate lights.

And so that's why the President is spending so much time down there. I think one of the questions for the Biden campaign and one of the struggles

in preparing for a debate with Donald Trump is you don't necessarily know which version is going to show up on the debate stage.

Is it you know, pugilistic, interrupting, yelling Donald Trump, or is it a more restrained, more presidential Trump? And according to Biden advisors,

they are preparing for both of those scenarios. Now, we did get something of an insight into the strategy heading into the debate.

The Biden campaign put out this memo yesterday sort of laying out their efforts to boost enthusiasm among their supporters for this debate. But it

also sort of laid out the issues that President Biden wants to really hammer in on and there are three of them in specific.

One is on abortion, and certainly the Biden campaign believes abortion and the restoration of Roe vs. Wade will be a galvanizing issue for Democrats

in November. The other is democracy, the potential threat to democracy that Trump poses. And the third is the economy, which is obviously the number

one issue for many voters. So President Biden really hammering those issues as he continues this debate preps this week.

GIOKOS: All right, Alayna, Former President Donald Trump, is he taking a different approach? When it comes to prepping for this debate? What are you

hearing?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: He is. I mean, Donald Trump's team is really trying to downplay the amount of preparation he needs. They argue that his

campaign appearances, his rallies, his media interviews, that is his version of prep, and we did see him keep an aggressive campaign schedule

over the weekend, he traveled to Washington, D.C. to speak at a Christian Conservative Conference.

Later that night, he gave a rally and remarks at that rally in Philadelphia. But look behind the scenes, of course, Donald Trump and his

team are doing their homework. They also recognize the high stakes of this Thursday debate. And so what I've been told is that Donald Trump has

engaged in more than a dozen of what his team is dubbing policy discussions, more informal policy discussions.

But really, he's been meeting with a series of vice presidential contenders, senators, policy experts, as well as people from his former

White House administration to prepare for this debate. And what they're doing is really walking through a series of issues that they think Donald

Trump is the most vulnerable on, one is his handling of the January 6 attack on the capital and American democracy overall.

[09:35:00]

Something that they think, he really needs to sharpen his rhetoric on and work on a specific framing for how he may answer questions in that space,

he's also been doing a lot of homework on the economy and inflation. And one other thing that I just find really fascinating, Eleni, is that they're

also trying to manage expectations. Now for months, Donald Trump and his team have really painted Biden as this weak and feeble candidate.

Someone they argue can even stand on stage for the full 90 minutes allotted for this debate. However, that's set the bar pretty low for Joe Biden, and

now we're seeing a Donald Trump himself but also his team come out and try to raise those expectations, arguing that perhaps Biden is a worthy

debater, and that the prep that he's doing will make him better position for Thursday.

So I would expect to see a lot more of that from his surrogates this week, trying to manage those expectations and really paint Biden in a different

light than they have for several months now.

GIOKOS: Yeah, I think there's a lot of enthusiasm about this particular debate. Alayna Treene for us and Kevin Liptak, thank you. Good to see you

both. Well, you can tune in to watch the CNN presidential debates on Thursday at 9 pm Eastern and we'll replay the entire debate at 7 am in

London, that is 10 am here in Abu Dhabi.

Mission officials are delaying Boeing Starliner's returned to Earth until July. Now officials have pushed back the spacecraft's departure date

several times, they scrambled to learn more about the issues that plagued its journey to the International Space Station earlier this month.

The entire round trip journey with two astronauts onboard was initially expected to last around a week. We've got CNN's Tom Foreman covering the

story for us. Tom kind of scary, I mean, delaying your trip back home, can't imagine what that must feel like but give us a sense of what's going

on here?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, it took me a long time to get this rocket off the pad and up into space many, many setbacks. Finally, they

have this beautiful launch that everyone's thrilled about. But if you consider this sort of a test drive, they're halfway through it. And now

they can't seem to finish. The issues are helium leaks and thruster problems or 24 thrusters on this.

And they had a five -- four of them shut down, several of them shut down. I can't read the exact number on that they had five helium leaks that

occurred here. Helium is an inert gas generally. It's not something that's going to react with a lot of things. But in space, it has a lot of

applications, one of which would be to pressurized fuel tanks.

So without gravity, it pushes the fuel to where it needs to be to be ignited. That may be the issue here. We don't know how much helium they

lost, really, we don't know how much they had to burn and testing to figure out where the leaks were. And we don't know where that leaves them in terms

of helium now, to use the thrusters to get away from the space station, and to deorbit.

That's why this is concerning. The bottom line is it was supposed to come and go. And space is a place where you like things to be predictable, a lot

of work, a lot of time and a lot of technology goes into just that. And this is now an unpredictable situation. That's why it's such a concern.

GIOKOS: Well, we wish them a safe journey back home. That's for sure. Tom Foreman, good to see you. Thank you. And still to come warming up for a big

game tonight and hoping for a bit of luck. Croatia badly needs a win at Euro 2024. But so do Italy, it'll be tough. We'll explain after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:40:00]

GIOKOS: Welcome back, Taylor Swift stunned a London audience on the last night of the era's tour there. The pop star's boyfriend American football

star Travis Kelce appeared on stage literally sweeping her off her feet between songs. It was a sight for sore eyes. His cameo has gone viral

across social media as we'd expect of course.

Right, it's moving on, on two sides looking to avoid an early excerpt from Euro 2024. So expect fireworks when Croatia meets defending champions Italy

in Leipzig. And neither team has played at the very best so far Croatia lost to Spain and drew with Albania which is far from encouraging. Coy Wire

joins us now, quite good to see you.

COY WIRE, CNN WORLD SPORT: Hi, Eleni.

GIOKOS: I'm sure you're watching this very closely or you're watching -- what happened with Taylor Swift over the weekend but you know -- 2024 --

WIRE: Yeah, and here you are sweeping off my feet now -- Yes, and I'm seeing all of this and hearing all about in our sports department going

crazy over euros look, both of these teams, Italy and Croatia both loss to Spain already so it's made for this precarious situation the defending

champs Italy.

They can advance with a win or a tie but they certainly wouldn't want it to come to that only one team's ever did successfully defended their Euro

crown now Croatia, they can only guaranteed to advance with a win. They have 38 year old legend Luka Modric on their site, you know the team is

going to rally around Tim is sure to be yet another stellar game in what's been an outstanding euros 2024 so far. We'll have much more of that coming

up on "World Sport".

GIOKOS: All right, Coy. We're looking forward to your updates right after the short break. I'll be back at the top of the hour, stay with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:45:00]

(WORLD SPORT)

END