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Connect the World
CrowdStrike says it's "Not a Cyberattack"; Trump Accepts Republican Nomination, Delivers Speech; Trump Vows to make Incomes "Skyrocket"; Tel Aviv on Heightened Alert after Deadly Drone Attack; Dozens Dead, Hundreds Injured Amid ongoing Unrest; Hulk Hogan, Kid Rock Show Trump Support at the RNC. Aired 9-10a ET
Aired July 19, 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: Welcome to "Connect the World". I'm Eleni Giokos in Abu Dhabi, and we're following three major news stories
for you this hour. Chaos for banks, airports and just about everyone else, a defect causing a global IT outage, a tale of two presidents while Joe
Biden struggles to remain in the race Donald Trump emergence triumphant from the RNC. And "Wall Street Journal" Reporter Evan Gershkovich has been
convicted of espionage by a Russian court.
Welcome to the show. And let's start with breaking news as the world scrambles to remedy a global IT outage which has impacted banks taking news
networks off the air and grounded flights around the world. Cybersecurity Firm CrowdStrike says it's not a cyber-attack explaining it identified a
defect in one of its software updates for Microsoft systems adding that affects has been deployed.
But the number of flight cancellations is still growing. At last check Flight Away was reporting more than 22,000 cancellations worldwide, leaving
hundreds of thousands of passengers in limbo. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm so upset right now. There are eight people in my party. 8 people $456 a ticket and they're giving me $100 back. That is
that. And we're screwed. This man is getting married. We have reservations. We have cars that we paid for. I paid $380 and a shuttle -- to shuttle
everyone here this morning.
They have been here since before me with many kids. I've been here since three o'clock in the morning. $100 is unacceptable. I am a good. I am a
good customer for Legion. And I feel like I'm being completely screwed over. This is bull crap.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: Well, where you can just hear the emotions there as this outage impact sectors across the world. I want to look more closely at how this is
hitting multiple regions around the world as well. We've got CNN's Marc Stewart in Beijing. We've got Salma Abdelaziz in London for us. Marc, let's
start with you. We know Australia was one of the first countries impacted, because they woke up to the news this morning. But tell me across the board
in Asia, what are we seeing?
MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Eleni, let's start about the air travel issues because that is really top of mind. And it's an issue that is
still causing problems at this late hour. It's well after nine o'clock here in the evening, in China, it's just after 10 in Japan and Korea.
Let me share with you some of the most recent issues that we are learning about. In Hong Kong for example, which is home to Cathay Pacific, which is
a big international airline. They're still having some problems with the electronic check in. They're going to as far as -- telling people to use
their mobile apps to get information to move forward.
And we've also received some new pictures within the last hour from the airport, in Bangkok. In Thailand, where a number of airlines are having to
resort to manual check-in to get -- to get the flight systems operations underway for passengers.
So these flight disruptions are significant and that they will likely have an impact in the hours if not the days ahead. One thing to point out that
even though it is late here in Asia, because of where we are situated in the world, it is not uncommon to see flights very late at night or well
past midnight into the early morning hours. So that's something we're going to keep watch of.
We should point out that it was earlier today, around two o'clock at least you know, in Hong Kong and China when people start to have issues with
their computers. They sell those blue screens that we've been hearing so much about and the issues just keep mounting.
Banks in many parts of the world are having a tough time. The Stock Exchange in Malaysia was having some hardships with their operating
systems. Also just want to check my notes. But we are hearing problems as you mentioned in Australia and New Zealand. In fact, in Australia, some
bigger companies such as Visa and Optus, they were having impact that's the banking and telecom sectors.
In addition, some of the theme parks or at least Hong Kong Disneyland I believe was having problems with some of its online ticket sale. So these
problems are impacting every aspect of life. In fact, grocery stores in Australia are also having some problems in particular with those online
orders which are so popular.
As far as here in China just a short time ago, my colleague and I were out of the building to get a snack to get something to drink. As you know here
in China this is pretty much a cashless society of people depend on online digital payment systems on their phones such as Alipay and WeChat Pay
otherwise known as Weixin.
[09:05:00]
We had no issues with that here. And as you can see, the lights are on the iconic skyline here in Beijing is up and running very well. But that does
not certainly mean that there are other issues. But I think from this part of the world, aviation is something that we're going to have to keep a
close watch on in the hours ahead Eleni.
GIOKOS: Yeah -- yeah, absolutely. Salma I want to bring you in here and give me a sense of what we're seeing in Europe as a whole and particularly
just the amount of sectors that have been impacted by this.
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. I mean, this is a massive outage that has impacted really at the top of the day as people were trying
to get to work trying to get to their airports trying to get to their doctor's appointments Eleni.
And I also want to discuss that we've talked about the travel chaos that continues throughout Europe from London to Barcelona to Madrid to
Amsterdam, airport after airport with cancellations and delays train systems as well here in the UK, Thameslink was delayed, that makes it
difficult to even get to the airport.
In the first place we are used to these types of travel delays, but what was unexpected is that there were delays in the healthcare sector as well.
So the NHS, the National Health Service here, said in the statement earlier today that nearly all GP practices, so that's your local doctor here, all
of them were impacted.
Their booking systems were impacted. One of Europe's largest medical facilities, it's in Germany had to cancel all non-emergency operations. You
also mentioned the media here in the UK; Sky News was off the air this morning when it comes to those doctors again, patients describing just pen
and paper at this point for doctors to be able to prescribe.
So it really takes everyone back and creates that huge backlog that already exists in the health sector across Europe. It really begins to hit that
hard when people can't get that help that they need Eleni.
GIOKOS: Alright, Salma Abdelaziz as well as Marc Stewart, thank you so much for that update. So I want to give you a bit of background on CrowdStrike.
Now the Texas based cybersecurity company was launched in 2011. Its software is used by numerous Fortune 500 companies that includes Microsoft.
CrowdStrike also provides cyber-attack investigations.
Now in 2016, it was hired to look at the Russian hacking of U.S. Democratic National Committee Computers. Alright, so people around the world are stuck
seeing this, that image behind me right now is cold, the blue screen of death.
All right, joining me now to explain what's going on is Professor of Cybersecurity at Monash University, Nigel Phair, joining us from Canberra,
Australia. So thank you so much for taking the time. I think everyone's wondering how this could have happened.
And if you dig a little deeper, this is just a software update that clearly had some kind of error in it. And you wonder where the tests and balances
were before they went live with the software updates? And why are we sitting in this position at this point?
NIGEL PHAIR, PROFESSOR OF CYBERSECURITY, MONASH UNIVERSITY: Yes, it's super interesting, because there's two parts of this process. CrowdStrike with
the ones with the software update, but it was delivered through the Microsoft operating system.
So I would have thought there would have been a lot of testing by CrowdStrike in the first instance, and then a lot of testing by Microsoft
before they put it out through their platforms in the second instance. So should have been picked up along the way here.
GIOKOS: Yeah, absolutely. I just want to refer to what CrowdStrike said, it said that they -- this is not a security incident or cyberattack, the issue
has been identified isolated, and a fix has been deployed. But the fix is not that easy, right? You have to do a manual reboot. When you -- when you
see the response and they're saying, look, we've instituted some kind of fix, but it's actually not that simple. What does that tell you?
PHAIR: Well, it tells me they're trying to ops UK, a lot of their messaging and communications really. And there'll be a lot of organizations will be
very wary about implementing anything through this mechanism again. So they're going to want to do a lot of their own testing before they put it
into the production or the live version of what they're doing.
Indeed, some organizations might think that they're better off going back a version or two if they've got it saved in a backup, and it might not be the
best available option, but it's an option they know for sure that will work. So I'd like to be saying CrowdStrike probably come out a lot more
supportive in the media of organizations rather than what we've made a fix and -- you know best of luck with it.
GIOKOS: Yeah, absolutely. Look, this is a colossal impact on across so many sectors; just seeing some of the images just at the airport it gives you
the sense, but the question is do you believe that this could be a human error? Is it plausible for an error of this nature to have you know fallen
through the testing system?
[09:10:00]
Do you think that there is space to even discuss something nefarious going on, even though CrowdStrike says this was not a cyberattack?
PHAIR: Yeah, I don't -- I actually don't think it was a malicious cyberattack. Whether there was human error? I suppose that there has to be
even if there was a line of code that was miswritten or misconfigured, whatever it is, there's always someone with their fingers on the keyboard
at some stage, so someone hasn't done it right. And the checks and balances that come with it haven't also been done, right.
But regardless whether it was malicious or not, it still opens up the fact that we need to take an all hazards approach to the availability of the
internet, and the online environment. As you rightly point out banks, airlines, et cetera. And the disruption that's been causing is horrendous.
And I can see the lawyers having a field day with this.
GIOKOS: Absolutely. Look, I want to talk about the vulnerabilities that this exposes within -- you know the sector as a whole. But also
importantly, what kind of business continuity procedures should companies have? This kind of, I guess, Black Swan event should be priced in in many
ways where companies know how to fall back on alternative systems?
PHAIR: Absolutely, it's risk management at its purest. You know the likelihood might be very, very small but the consequences as we've learned
very, very large. And all competent organizations of all sizes, particularly a Fortune 500 -- you know that CrowdStrike, or a lot of those
have got and should have very competent risk management processes.
And they shouldn't be going through these scenarios -- you know they'll go through a scenario where there's a cyberattack, they'll go through a
scenario, maybe where attracted digs up the sidewalk and cut through the fiber optic cable into an office, and that causes an outage and want to do
the work around it.
So in these instances, we really need to think about how do we deploy our staff? Do they use different devices? This is only a Microsoft issue. It's
not a Mac issue. So do we deploy people using Mac products or phones? Or what it might be working at the local library, whatever it is, to actually
make sure things can function but we need to practice that and we need to put it into our risk management.
GIOKOS: Absolutely, Nigel great to see you thank you so much for sharing those insights with us. Well, it's been a rough day for banks for airlines
and even doctor's offices. Thanks to that worldwide tech outage, we'll update you on the efforts to get computers back online. Plus, Donald Trump
makes his case for another term as U.S. President at the Republican National Convention a live report is coming up right after this stay with
CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:15:00]
GIOKOS: Well, U.S. President Joe Biden struggles to shore up support in the Democratic Party. Donald Trump has triumphant leap cemented his place as
the Leader of the Republican Party. On Thursday he formally accepted his party's nomination for President at the Republican National Convention for
the third consecutive election.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you very much. Thank you very, very much. Wow. Thank you, Dana.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: Well, Donald Trump from a brush with death tonight his party's official presidential nominee his acceptance speech was 92 minutes is the
longest convention address in modern U.S. history. Trump covered a wide range of topics including the economy, foreign policy, the U.S. immigration
crisis, his assassination attempt and promises to restore peace and stability throughout the world.
He went off script to attack his political enemies and by CNN's counts, Trump made more than 20 false claims on a number of topics during his
acceptance speech, despite at all the party faithful appeared energized by their leader.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: America is future will be bigger, better, bolder, brighter, happier, stronger, freer, greater and more united than ever before. And quite simply
put, we will very quickly make America great again. Thank you very much.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: Well, joining us now to discuss we've got CNN's Alayna Treene at the RNC in Milwaukee and Republican Strategist Rena Shah in Washington
great to see you both. Alayna I want to start with you a big week at the RNC after the assassination attempts on Former President Donald Trump. Tell
me about the key messaging in his acceptance speech.
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Well, it was fascinating because we really saw a tale of two speeches in two different versions of Donald Trump. And
remember prior to the shooting in his -- in Pennsylvania at that rally in Butler last weekend Donald Trump had an entirely different speech he was
planning on giving.
He actually called it a humdinger of a speech. He was expected to go far more critically after Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. And then, after that
failed assassination attempt, they had actually torn up that original speech and wrote a new one that wanted to call for unity and would focus on
his personal experience with what happened over the weekend.
And we really did see that at the start of his remarks last night. He got up on stage and in a very rare and personal moment, he recounted what had
happened to him. And I can tell you from you know, I've gone to countless Trump rallies, I've listened to dozens and dozens of his speeches, it was
probably the most vulnerable I have ever heard Donald Trump before, especially in a setting like that.
Donald Trump does not like to be vulnerable. He sees it as a sign of weakness. But we did see that rare glimpse of that version of him last
night. However, roughly 30 minutes into his remarks he started going off script at this exact point, when he was pivoting his remarks toward laying
out his future agenda if he were to win the election come the fall.
And that's when we really start -- started to hear the Donald Trump we're all accustomed with someone who use sharper, more divisive rhetoric. He
aired his grievances. He rambled, he rest he went after Joe Biden and the Democrats. And so it was really interesting to watch it all last night,
particularly being out there on the floor here in Milwaukee, and just seeing the entirely two different Donald Trumps.
But I think what is worth noting as well is that that speech was very late last night, on the East Coast where a lot of viewers were tuning and it was
even later for them. And the start of the speech really delivered what I think Donald Trump and his team was hoping it would do. It did paint a
softer image of Donald Trump. He did call for unity. And then some of the more aggressive language and rhetoric came later on.
So they got their sound bites. They had the visual imagery that I know the campaign really wanted to portray that WWE style -- you know rally like
stage the lights, they had Hulk Hogan on stage ripping his shirt off for it to say Trump Pence.
So a lot of that imagery paired with again, the softer version of Donald Trump that they were hoping he would be last night. And I think some of
that more aggressive rhetoric that came later on. I'm curious how many Americans were actually staying up for that part of it.
So it'll be interesting to see whether or not they continue to try and walk that delicate balance in their upcoming rallies. And I would note that
tomorrow they actually Donald Trump will be appearing in Michigan alongside his new running mate J.D. Vance. So we'll be watching for that tomorrow.
[09:20:00]
GIOKOS: As you say Alayna, distinct difference in messaging depending on what part of the speech you listen to. All right, so I want to bring in
Priscilla Alvarez to join in the conversation as well. She's in Delaware, where as we said, the President has been recovering from COVID.
Priscilla, great to see you, give us a sense on what we know in terms of health updates from President Biden and of course, as questions start to
swirl and continues to swirl around him about whether he should continue to stay in the race?
PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, as these questions persist, we are hearing directly from the Biden Campaign Chair, Jen
O'Malley Dillon an MSNBC this morning only minutes ago who maintained again at the president is staying in the race. There was acknowledgement that he
has slipped in the polls against Former President Donald Trump acknowledgement that it has been a tough several weeks and days for the
campaign.
But also, she forcefully defended where they are and the fact that the President is going to remain in the race. Now, of course, their sources
have been telling CNN that this has certainly not been easy, and that there really are still concerns around the President's viability as the
Democratic candidate, and he has been increasingly isolated, is his group of inner advisors has gotten even tighter.
So all of this as the president also looks over polling and looks at and has cast out over polling that shows him not being able to defeat Former
President Donald Trump. Now, of course, as we are hearing, almost in real time from the Biden campaign chair they are digging in. And we have
similarly heard that from sources who maintain that this is where this is headed, the president will not be stepping down.
But the other realities that they face, and ones that they were asked about are that donors are not prepared to give big dollar checks right now, given
all of the questions over the president's candidacy, and that there are high profile Democrats who are casting doubt over whether the president
really is up to the task here.
And so this is all really happening in real time and still very much unfolding. But for now, what we are hearing repeatedly from the Biden
campaign is that the president is going to stay in the race even as he is deliberating and is self-isolating at his residence here in Delaware.
GIOKOS: All right, Rina, I want to bring you in. And I want to talk about what Former President Donald Trump promised in his acceptance speech and
his talks about rapid prosperity, economic prosperity, I want you to take a listen to part of his messaging.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Under my plan, incomes will skyrocket, inflation will vanish completely, jobs will come roaring back, and the middle class will prosper
like never, ever before. And we're going to do it very rapidly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: Right, so I want to talk about how feasible these promises are. Because if you look at the underlying economic policies that includes
tariffs, tax cuts, immigration crackdowns, I wonder if we're talking about very contradictory messaging and policy here that might actually see this
plan of rapid growth actually not come to fruition.
RINA SHAH, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, let me be very clear here, the Republicans now have a massive problem on their hands, that Republican
presidential candidate on stage last night at the RNC, yes, the Former President Donald Trump cannot and should not win the presidency, he is not
capable of speaking in hard facts, he doesn't get the data that is able to support these kinds of proposals.
In essence, we can just look at his record in the White House. And that's problematic again for Republicans because as his opponent in the primaries
Nikki Haley said, Donald Trump added $8 trillion to the national debt. That's not a joke. And those were policies that were intended to be helpful
to the American public, in essence, tax credits and whatnot.
But what he's going to end up doing if he gets re-entry to the White House is more of what Biden has had to do in the aftermath of the pandemic, which
are inflationary policies. So I get that there are many people on both sides of the spectrum -- center right, center left, who are yearning for a
candidate that can speak to again, cooling the effects of inflation on our daily lives.
But Trump is going to have to embark upon some of the same measures and take those same measures as the Biden Administration. It's very
hypocritical. And after that speech, the delivery gave me no faith that he can outline a theory of plan to get those things done.
[09:25:00]
GIOKOS: Yeah. So what was interesting and Alayna Treene was just referring to this, is that you know the first part of his speech was that he's
running for all Americans and that he wants to unite the country. I want you to take a listen to that part of his speech.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The discord and division in our society must be healed. We must heal it quickly. As Americans, we are bound together by a single fate and a
shared destiny. We rise together or we fall apart. I am running to be president for all of America, not half of America, because there is no
victory in winning for half of America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: Right, so what seemed like turned down rhetoric at that point. He then quickly turned into an off script, more aggressive tone as well. How
was that actually, you know, characterized by Republicans at the RNC.
SHAH: Look, Republicans in the room in that arena, and at the RNC in Milwaukee, were falling asleep. And I at home, found myself drifting off, I
couldn't keep up with it. At some point, he was rambling, it was incoherent. I didn't know where he was going, especially when he spent so
much time detailing the assassination attempt.
Look, I get it. It's a monumental moment in time. It's a horrible that, you know, he could have lost his life that day in Pennsylvania just a week ago.
But I didn't want to hear every second by second tick of it. And that's where he kind of lost the audience. He was again, going off script, but in
a way that felt more like my uncle after he'd had a heavy thanksgiving dinner.
This was just not presidential in any way. He was subdued and calm. Yes. But he was extremely rehearsed. And that's not the Donald Trump that
resonates and gets people out feeling some kind of way about things.
GIOKOS: Yeah.
SHAH: That's the name of the game here. I've said it many times over. You can kind of turn people out for something. Maybe he was tired. I'm pretty
sure he was tired. But given that he's on the edge of 80. Of course, he's tired. He probably wanted to get to bed.
GIOKOS: Yeah.
SHAH: And after three, four days of just complete phrase, what were we expecting the man to say?
GIOKOS: Yeah, I mean really fascinating insights. And I think that you know, most of the people we spoke to felt that way so interesting and great
to have you on Rina Shah, Alayna Treene, Priscilla Alvarez.
SHAH: Thank you.
GIOKOS: Thank you so much. Right just ahead, more on that global IT chaos and what it's doing to businesses especially banks and the airline industry
a live report is coming up, stay with CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:30:00]
GIOKOS: Right, we are live on Wall Street trading has just begun in New York. It's a new day of trading and let me tell you on the back of colossal
it outages hitting sectors across the world. I'm Eleni Giokos in Abu Dhabi and you're watching "Connect the World". All right, so in the southern
hemisphere that woke up to the biggest tech outage first, with Commonwealth Bank, Australia's largest bank reporting disruptions to its operations.
Banks across the world and are feeling the impact turning to Wall Street, we've just started trading. Right now, as you can see the DOW Jones, NASDAQ
and S&P all with a slight negative bias. We've seen global IT chaos playing out in real time, cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike says it's not a cyber-
attack explaining, there's a defect in one of its software updates for Microsoft Windows devices.
And Microsoft is now saying in its words, the underlying cause has been fixed. CrowdStrike now, its shares coming under significant pressure on the
NASDAQ, it's down around 14 percent, 12 percent now. It has been oscillating quite heavily and volatile before we started seeing trade began
on Wall Street.
Really significantly, everyone's trying to figure out what went wrong? How this era could have a good, a lot of questions coming to the -- We've got
Anna Stewart, who joins us now from Heathrow Airport with an update on our airlines have been affected. And frankly, Anna, it's not just the airlines
in the U.K. and in Europe as a whole. But just so many sectors that have dealt with the brunt of this error in the software updates, which I guess
still has not truly been rectified.
ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I mean it's a single point of failure that is having absolutely huge disruption across a number of sectors and really
across the world wherever you woke up this morning. In some way I suspect this outage will have impacted something in the region you know whether or
not it is banks, whether or not it is your healthcare service.
So we all train operations or of course, travel and particularly aviation. And Eleni, this is one of the biggest, busiest travel days of the year for
people taking to the skies is the start of the summer holidays for so many people isn't actually for the U.K. meant to be the busiest day for air
travel since the pandemic or pre pandemic, but of course, huge disruption.
So we're seeing that at Heathrow, the services, some of the servers down a few outages here, much more disruption at Gatwick and Stansted. But really
across the board looking at Europe, I mean, it's hard to find an airport perhaps that isn't impacted in some ways. Some airlines have more impact
than others.
But we're looking at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport with KLM saying it's been making flight handling impossible airports in Berlin and Paris and Lisbon
and Madrid. So you just have to imagine all those people wanting to fly away for holidays, people getting married this weekend, all those people
that are having disruption.
And I think it's around 1400 flights canceled around the world, but so many more delayed and there will be a ripple effect, as that always is with
flight cancellations and flight delays that can last for a very long time, Eleni.
GIOKOS: Yeah, exactly. I mean, you've got to, you know, start making plans to try and get those people back on planes. But what are you hearing from
the airlines in terms of what interventions they can make right now to get their systems up and running?
STEWART: I think it's a case by case basis for many of the airlines one of the biggest issues has just been checking passengers in, so trying to
enable a way that they can do that manually when so many of them of course rely on kiosks and making things sort of more automated. That's been a big
struggle for many of the airlines.
But it has been different depending on what their exposure is, I suppose to this particular security update on their Windows software. And some
airlines not affected at all, but then they may feel the knock on effect from airports that have been impacted. So it really has been a little bit
different for everyone. You can see some planes -- taking off or some people getting out of here my goodness.
GIOKOS: All right, Anna Steward, great to have you on the ground there. Thank you so much for that update. Well here in the UAE, Dubai
International Airport says it's getting back to normal. It is one of the world's busiest aviation hubs and it was hit earlier by that global IT
disruption.
The airport saying the outage affected its check-in systems for some airlines. Now Tel Aviv is on heightened alert after a deadly drone attack
early on Friday. One person was killed in the explosion and 10 others were injured.
[09:35:00]
The attack occurred in an area that's home to several diplomatic compounds including a U.S. Embassy branch office. The U.S. State Department says
there was no damage. Now Houthi rebels in Yemen are claiming responsibility. But CNN cannot independently verify the claim.
Hamas and the Islamic Jihad movements in Palestine have praised the attack. I want to go now to CNN's Jeremy Diamond who's in Tel Aviv, Jeremy, good to
have you on. Tell us what we know right now about this attack.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, people are still cleaning up the damage from this overnight drone strike that hit in the
street right behind me multiple buildings in this residential area were damaged by the shrapnel from this explosive drone, windows were damaged,
cars broken.
And also the damage of course goes beyond the physical. One man in his 50s was found dead in his bed by paramedics who said that he suffered
penetrating injuries. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Eight other people were hospitalized from this incident, five of whom have been
released from the hospital already at this hour.
We spoke with multiple residents in this area who heard the sound of this very loud, stunning explosion in central Tel Aviv overnight, including one
man who was on the balcony with his friends and had just walked inside when he heard the explosion.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And as soon as I called her up to go around, to close the door behind me, my friends yells what's that? I hear this sound like an
F-35 or an F-15. But it was 40 meters above sea level. And it makes no sense to be that close. And I hear a boom, red orange blasts, and heats on
the back of my neck and we get pushed forward. The doors blast open.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The windows were broken shuttered. A lot of glass ceramics a lot of things were on the floor. And we realize that it was just
outside the door.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DIAMOND: The big question that people have now is how this drone could have made it all the way from Yemen where Houthi rebels claimed that they
launched this explosive drone all the way to Tel Aviv the first time that Houthi rebels have successfully attacked Tel Aviv. They've successfully hit
Israel southern city of a lot.
But for a drone to make it all the way here and not be intercepted by Israel's air defense systems is quite remarkable. The Israeli military and
Israeli military official told us that they did in fact a tech this drone, but that due to what they called human error, the drone was not -- was not
intercepted.
And in addition to that those air raid sirens that normally go up before a threat like this is about to hit did not go off as well, which is why the
first thing that people in this area heard was the sound of that explosion and the glass from windows in the area breaking and falling on the ground.
The Israeli military also said that this was an Iranian made drone, a Samad-3, which they say was upgraded in order to be able to reach this far
distance from Yemen all the way to central Tel Aviv, Eleni.
GIOKOS: All right, Jeremy Diamond, thank you so much for that update. I want to get you up to speed now. And some of the stories that are on our
radar right now. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is hosting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Downing Street. The U.K. government says
it's making strong commitments to crack down on what it calls Russia's shadow fleet of vessels carrying large amounts of oil.
Downing Street says Mr. Zelenskyy will also brief the Cabinet today. North Korean Leader Kim Jong-Un hosted Russian military officials in Pyongyang on
Thursday. The delegation was led by Russia's Deputy Defense Minister North Korean state media says the two sides discussed military cooperation.
Kim also expressed firm support for Russia's war in Ukraine. French lawmakers have re-elected Parliament President Yael Braun-Pivet, a move
President Emmanuel Macron centrist party celebrates as a blow to the left. Attention will now return to who will run the government. Prime Minister
Gabriel Attal has resigned but is staying on for now in a caretaker capacity.
An American journalist has been found guilty of spying by a Russian court. Russian media reports Evan Gershkovich was sentenced to 16 years in a
maximum security colony. Gershkovich was arrested during a reporting trip for "The Wall Street Journal" and Yekaterinburg in 2023 and later accused
of spying for the CIA.
The American journalist had pleaded not guilty of espionage. For more on this, let's turn to CNN's Matthew Chance. He is standing by for us in
London. Matthew, it's a story we've been covering and watching very closely. And finally, you know, found guilty of spying 16 years is what
he's facing. Take us through the reality of what Evan is facing right now.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, well, I mean, it was 15 months in custody before this trial actually started formally to
happen. It only sort of the trial only started to take place three weeks ago.
[09:40:00]
And so it's really remarkable the speed at which the Russian judicial authorities have managed to process what would have been a very complicated
case, if you consider the seriousness of the allegations against him, and to reach a verdict in, you know, in less than three weeks, which I think
raises questions about due process, it raises questions about how politicized the judiciary in Russia really are.
You know, I think, you know, nobody really suspected or expected the verdict to be anything other than a guilty verdict. And so that's one
strand of criticism, if there's a silver lining in all of this, and we're talking about 16 years in prison. Now for Evan Gershkovich, "The Wall
Street Journal" Reporter who was arrested on a reporting trip, you know, whilst working for that newspaper and accused of spying for the American
security services.
If there's a silver lining is that the Russians made it quite clear that when they're talking about a prisoner exchange, there wouldn't be any kind
of deal done until a verdict has been reached. Now, we know that the secret services of both countries the special services as the Russians call them
have been talking to each other about the possibility of an exchange.
Now that verdict has been handed down by the court, it does at least remove that bureaucratic obstacle. And so potentially, some kind of prisoner swap
could take place. But I mean, as a sort of caveat on that, that discussion is not been made public. It could be months or even years before any kind
of a deal like that is agreed. It may never happen. And so these are very stressful times.
GIOKOS: Yeah.
CHANCE: Of course, Evan Gershkovich, "The Wall Street Journal" Reporter, now facing, a 16 year prison sentence in a Russian penal colony.
GIOKOS: Yeah, and absolutely devastating, not only for his colleagues that obviously for his family as well that have been calling for his release.
You know, in terms of the prisoner swap question, and we saw what happened with Brittney Griner and what was at stake for the United States?
And how much they're going to be willing to negotiate and who they'd be willing to give up and give back to Russia? I mean, that's what it's going
to come down to at the end of the day, and who all holds the ultimate power here and ultimate negotiating power?
CHANCE: Well, look, I think it's pretty clear that at least from the United States side, they desperately want to have some kind of prisoner exchange
deal, and indeed, they've exchanged people in the past. You mentioned Brittney Griner, she was swapped for a notorious Russian arms dealer,
Viktor Bout in a very high profile exchange just months after she was detained.
But of course there are other examples of American citizens that are held in Russian jails, where it's not been possible to achieve a prisoner
exchange or a prison swap. Paul Whelan was arrested back in 2018. He's serving a 16 year prison sentence as well, for you know, basically for
spying charges as well.
And it's been six years they've been trying to organize a prisoner swap with him. And that's been unsuccessful. You know, look, I think Evan
Gershkovich trial there are a lot of cases, a lot of pressure on the Russian authorities and a lot of impetus on the part of the U.S. to try and
get something across the line in terms of a prisoner swap. But again, you know, these are very delicate negotiations and it could be some time before
anything is agreed.
GIOKOS: All right, Matthew Chance, thank you. And still to come, anger mounting in Bangladesh as many students revolt against the government quota
system, the latest on the protests after the break. Plus, Donald Trump's RNC speech was full of promises, boasts and several misleading claims.
We're checking the facts just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:45:00]
GIOKOS: Huge protests across Bangladesh have escalated into deadly violence. Dozens of people have reportedly been killed and hundreds more
injured amid widespread unrest. Protesters are demanding an end to civil service job quotas that they claim are discriminatory in a country, where
nearly 20 percent of the population is out of work or school. CNN's Sophia Saifi has more for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SOPHIA SAIFI, CNN PRODUCER (voice-over): Violence as protester and deadly in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka. Students armed with sticks and rocks
clashed with armed police and ruling party supporters after widespread anger erupted across the country. We came here in the morning, soon after
that police and members of the charter league started to attack us protester Ali said.
ALI HOSSAIN, STUDENT PROTESTER: Referring to the ruling party student weighing, two students have been shot in front of me.
SAIFI (voice-over): Plumes of black smoke spilled over an overpass bridge in Dhaka on Wednesday as tensions boiled over. But Thursday marked the
bloodiest day yet. With scores skilled and hundreds injured. A judicial investigation is underway. Students began taking to the streets earlier
this month.
Their demands relating to civil service job quotas, they say are discriminatory. Favoring the Prime Minister's ruling party, creating a two
tier country where a politically connected elite benefit by their birth, receiving job security and higher pay. And anger is rising over high
unemployment.
Now accusations of police and ruling party supporters brutality are rising. Police say protesters attacked police leaving dozens injured and that
officers retaliated. 100 policemen were injured in the clashes Thursday.
BIDISHA RIMJHIM, STUDENT PROTESTER: We want justice for our brothers kills said 18 year old protester Bidisha.
SAIFI (voice-over): Amid the chaos, a moment of prayer for those killed. Symbolic coffins were laid out in the street Thursday -- total internet
blackout now in place in the capital. A ban on public rallies also ordered for Friday after government buildings were torched. Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina has called on protesters to await a Supreme Court verdict on the scrapping of the quotas.
The demonstrations, a serious challenge to her power, the student demands as yet unmet. Sophia Saifi, CNN, Islamabad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GIOKOS: I'll be back with more news in just a moment, stay with CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:50:00]
GIOKOS: Welcome back. Now Republican Presidential Nominee Donald Trump took center stage on the last night of the Republican National Convention. The
former president officially accepted his party's presidential nomination with a historically long acceptance speech and 93 minutes speech filled
with some truths, as well as some falsehoods.
Here to fact check Trump's speech. CNN's Daniel Dale, Daniel, great to have you with us. You fact checked his speech. What did you make of it? And what
did you find?
DANIEL DALE, CNN REPORTER: It was remarkably long, and I thought remarkably dishonest. Many of Donald Trump's speeches are exceptionally dishonest by
the standards of mainstream American politics. And this one was no exception. I counted preliminarily at least 22 false claims from Mr. Trump.
The actual total is probably significantly higher, so, just falsehood after falsehood after falsehood, over this hour and a half of remarks.
GIOKOS: All right, let's do some live fact checking. So Trump made some rather dramatic claims about the state of the world he left to Joe Biden,
take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The world was at peace. Our opponents inherited a world that peace had turned it into a planet of war. We're in a planet of war. The whole
world was at peace, and now the world is blowing up around us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: Wow, OK. So Daniel, I suspect you know you're going to tell us that Donald Trump did not achieve world peace. Am I wrong?
DALE: You are not wrong. This is one of the easiest fact checks I've had to do in my eight plus years of fact checking Mr. Trump. Joe Biden did not
inherit a world that peace from Donald Trump. One research institution based in Sweden counted 51 nation states with active armed conflicts in
2020.
And again, 51 nation states with active armed conflicts in 2021, Trump left Biden and ongoing civil war in Syria and Yemen, of course, an unresolved
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a war in Ethiopia, a bunch of other wars. I won't go on, because we all know the world was not at peace under Donald
Trump.
GIOKOS: Yeah, OK. So, President Trump also made this claim about crime in the U.S., as he argued that migrants were endangering Americans. In fact,
this is sort of one of the big messages that's driving his policy, listen in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Our crime rate is going up while crime statistics all over the world are going down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: Well, is that true that the U.S. crime rate is going up?
DALE: It is not. Crime in the U.S. is going down. Quite substantially, preliminary FBI National Statistics for 2023 showed a 6 percent decline in
violent crime. And it's even bigger for the first quarter of 2024, approximately 15 percent. So we're talking big declines. And a key point
here is that the current levels of both murder and violent crime are now lower in the United States.
Then they were in the United States in 2020 Trump's own last year in office. So not up, they're down and now lower than he left them.
GIOKOS: OK, so I want to talk about inflation that Donald Trump was repeatedly talking about a topic that many voters say is one of their
priorities. And here's what he said about overall inflation and the increase in grocery prices.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: You can go back to any country that suffered great inflation. And we've suffered the worst inflation we've ever had. Our current
administration, groceries are up 57 percent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: Well, 57 percent spike in grocery prices. Is any of that true?
DALE: None of it is true. There has been a 21 percent increase in grocery prices under President Biden, which is substantial, which raises the
question, why don't you just say accurately 21 percent?
GIOKOS: Yeah.
DALE: And the answer is because Donald Trump is a perpetual exaggerator. The first claim was also wrong. He said the U.S. is experiencing the worst
inflation it has ever had. That's nowhere close to true. The U.S. is at 3 percent inflation at present, the all-time record is more than 23 percent
and even the Biden era peak of 9 percent was nowhere close to the all-time record.
GIOKOS: Well, Daniel Dale, great to have you with us doing fact checking in real time we appreciate your inputs.
DALE: Thank you.
GIOKOS: All right, so the final night of the Republican National Convention attracted several celebrities. Well, that was long time Trump supporter Kid
Rock performing on the RNC stage with a version of his hit song American badass. But the Rockstar wasn't the only celebrity showing support for
Donald Trump.
[09:55:00]
It was Hulkamania meets Trump-a-mania when Hulk Hogan call the former president quotes the toughest of them all. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HULK HOGAN, FORMER PROFESSIONAL WRESTLER: But what happened last week when they took a shot at my hero and they tried to kill the next President of
the United States. Enough was enough -- Trump-a-mania run wild brother. Let Trump-a-mania rule again, let Trump-a-mania make America great again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: Well, Hogan says that is, as an entertainer he tries to avoid politics, but now he says he can no longer stay silence. Right, stay with
CNN. I'll be back after a quick break with another hour of "Connect the World".
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
