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Connect the World

Comes After U.S. Envoy Steve Witkoff Met with Putin in Moscow; Higher Tariffs Now in Effect for U.S. Trading Partners; ICE Drops Age Limits as it Pushes for 10,000 New Hires; Russian Media: U.S., Russia Agree to Trump-Putin Meeting; CDC: Ultra-Processed Foods are Half of Most American's Diet. Aired 9-10a ET

Aired August 07, 2025 - 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)

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: It's official, President Trump and President Putin are set to meet in the coming days, but will that

lead to a breakthrough? It's 09:00 a.m. in Washington. It's 02:00 p.m. in London. I'm Christina Macfarlane, and this is "Connect the World".

Also coming up as hunger tightens its grip on Gaza. Air drops have increased. CNN joins the Jordanian air force on its latest mission and

brings you a special report. Dozens of new Trump tariffs are here, and consumers are about to pay more. Where is all the extra cash going?

That is the question we're asking this hour. And operation Trojan Horse, that is what we what ICE named a raid in Los Angeles, Home Depot. We will

tell you what happened next here. And stock market in New York opens about 30 minutes from now. Let's take a look at all three indices there, up and

in the green.

It looks like a higher open as investors seem to shrug off new tariffs and focus on earnings. Returning now to our top story this hour, a high stake

sit down between U.S. President Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin will happen in the coming days. That news announced in Russian state media after Mr.

Trump said his special envoy made great progress yesterday in Moscow.

But the U.S. President also had a note of caution when he was asked about a timeline for ending the war in Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How close do you think you are to some kind of deal?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Well, look, I don't want to say. I've been disappointed before with this one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Let's cross over live to Clare Sebastian tracking developments here in London. So, Clare, tell us what more we can glean, or what more

you're learning about this meeting, and what the reaction has been to that news out of Ukraine?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Christina, we've been hearing from President Putin in the last few hours. He's been holding a meeting

this afternoon in Moscow with the President of the UAE, and he said that that country could be, in his words, a suitable location for this meeting,

not confirming anything, saying the decision.

Well, we know from his aide earlier that the decision actually has been made, but he isn't fully disclosing if it is the UAE. He simply said it's a

suitable location. And he said that, in principle, he's not against the idea of a meeting involving President Zelenskyy, but then heavily caveated

that, saying that the conditions for that would have to be achieved, and we are quite a way away from that.

So, I think what is very clear coming out of this is that Moscow wants two things right. It wants to continue with its stated goals in Ukraine,

essentially subjugating that country and blocking any further expansion of NATO, with the added bonus, of course, of territorial acquisitions.

And secondly, it does want this reset in relations with the U.S., because that allows Russia to sort of resume this superpower status that President

Putin is striving for. And that is why I think we see the eagerness in Russia to hold this meeting with President Trump, these two superpowers

sitting down on an equal level, and why you see so much reticence around the idea of a meeting with Zelenskyy, who Putin does not view as an equal.

And I think for Ukraine, that's certainly an area of concern, and we're seeing from President Zelenskyy today really a show of strength. He's been

holding phone calls with the leaders of France and Germany, saying they need to coordinate the European response. He also, interestingly, held a

meeting on Ukraine's deep strikes, these long-range drone strikes into Russian territory.

Essentially, I think, trying to reinforce the point that Ukraine is not out of options militarily. A critical moment to reinforce that, of course,

going into potential talks next week, Christina.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, and as we consider, you know, the moment at which this is coming during the war in Ukraine, a precarious time on the battlefield,

with that summer offensive gaining ground, we hear daily on the Russian side, how might that impact the way the Ukrainians will approach these

negotiations?

SEBASTIAN Yeah, look, I think number one, we should expect on the Russian side to see attacks continue right up until the moment and beyond that any

talks take place. They've made it clear, very firmly throughout this whole process that they don't want any kind of ceasefire.

They don't want to give Ukraine any kind of opportunity to stop and rest and regroup. But from the Ukrainian side, I think again, we're going to see

these shows of strength just this week, for example, Zelenskyy was emphasizing that it's a year since that Kursk incursion where Ukraine

essentially invaded Russian territory.

They want to make it clear that you shouldn't bet against Ukraine militarily in this regard, that they with now some support, at least from

the U.S. via NATO are also going into this, not in a weak position, even though, as you point out, of course, the summer events offensive has been

inching forward on those front lines.

[09:05:00]

And of course, we've seen an X financial increase in aerial attacks almost every night. And all of that, of course, at the same time as the Trump

Administration has tried to start this diplomatic process.

MACFARLANE: All right, Clare Sebastian there live for us. Thank you for now. And in just a few hours, Israel's full security cabinet is set to meet

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's reported push for a full conquest of Gaza will likely be discussed with sources saying Israel's military chief

is warning against a full takeover.

This meeting is coming as Gaza health officials report the highest death toll in the enclave in weeks, nearly 140 killed over the past day, with

five more deaths from malnutrition. Human Rights Watch says Israel has illegally and indiscriminately used U S munitions to attack schools,

shelters in Gaza, killing hundreds of people in violation of international law.

Families of the hostages are making their voices heard, launching a flotilla off the Southern Israeli Coast calling for the immediate release

of their loved ones. CNN's Chief Global Affairs Correspondent, Matthew Chance is getting an up-close look at airdrop operations from Jordan,

riding on an air force plane that dropped aid to Gaza. He explains here the obstacles and the danger surrounding those airdrops.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: You got these big transport aircraft behind me. These are from the Jordanian air force. But

there are other countries as well, like Germany and Belgium and United Arab Emirates and France and Britain that are all sort of taking part in this

international humanitarian effort to drop aid in Gaza.

And they're loaded up with pallets in the back cargo space. You then take off from this airport in Amman, which is in Jordan head over towards the

Gaza Strip. The back opens up, and then the aid pallets, they parachute off into the waiting crowds below. And you can see on the tail fin of this

aircraft there.

There's a very idealistic scene painted of a Jordanian transporter, actually one of the Jordanian transporters dropping humanitarian aid into

Gaza, and people are gratefully receiving it. The reality is much more chaotic, much more violent. Remember, there's an intense humanitarian

starvation crisis underway in Gaza.

And so, people are absolutely desperate for any kind of food that they can get. And so, these aid drops result in chaos on the ground, people

scrambling violence. There have been multiple stabbings of people as they try to get their hands on the aid packages.

Also, people have been killed by the aid pallets actually hitting them on the head as they drop down and say, look, this is a far from perfect means

of delivering humanitarian assistance into that crisis zone. But having said that, there is intense starvation that's gathering pace in the Gaza

Strip.

And so today, for instance, we delivered 6.5 tons of powdered milk can send food to Gaza from the back of one of these Jordanian transport, military

transport planes. It's not much. It's nowhere near enough to tackle the hunger problems in Gaza, but it's better than nothing, and for some people

in the Gaza Strip, it may make the difference between life and death.

MACFARLANE: That was Matthew Chance reporting. Let's turn now to Senior International Correspondent Ben Wedeman, who's following developments for

us from Rome. And Ben, as we were mentioning just before, Matthew there, there is this security cabinet meeting that is due to happen in the next

few hours to consider this potentially apocalyptic move to fully conquer the Gaza Strip.

And it's happening, we understand, amid a lot of division inside Israel over how this might proceed. What can you tell us?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, the divisions are quite clear. And I think one of the biggest opponents of this is the

Chief of Staff of the Israeli army, Eyal Zamir, who today made a statement where he said, we will continue to express our position without fear in a

professional, independent and substantial manner.

We intend to defeat Hamas and continue to operate with rather rescue the hostages. Know, the hostages will remain at the forefront of our minds, but

he is not clearly endorsing the idea of reconquering, reoccupying Gaza, which is what Prime Minister Netanyahu seems to be in favor of.

And we know that the hostage and missing family members this group that represents the relatives of those who are still hostages, has called upon

the IDF Chief of Staff, as well as the senior staff of the Israeli military to resist this push for a reconquest.

[09:10:00]

And we know that there will be protests outside that meeting that is going to take place in about two hours in Jerusalem. Now this takes place at a

time when the death toll continues to be triple digits in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health there, 100 people were killed.

51 of them were killed trying to get the aid. Of course, the aid that Matthew is talking about, that system of distribution, whether it's from

the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation that U.S. and Israeli backed group, or these airdrops, it tends to be that it is question of the survival of the

fittest, those who are strongest and most capable get their hands on the food.

But the other day, the Danish Refugee Council put out a report in which they said that 70 percent of the population of Gaza is too ill, too weak,

too elderly to actually have any access to this food that is being made available. And therefore, again, we are reporting, according to the

Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, that four people died in the last 24 hours as a result of hunger and malnutrition.

MACFARLANE: And Ben, we were mentioning just earlier that we saw, you know, video images of a flotilla of hostage families setting sail. Do we know

what their plans are, what they're hoping to achieve? We know that the attempt is to try and get as close to the land of Gaza as possible.

WEDEMAN: Well, this is an Israeli Flotilla. We have had other international flotillas of people who are go doing this in solidarity with Gaza, and the

Israelis have not allowed them to get any near to the shores of Gaza. And I think that's going to be the case also with this Israeli Flotilla.

Nobody is going to get into Gaza that the Israelis are, the Israeli military, the Israeli government is not going to allow, and certainly in

this case, they're not going to get anywhere near the shores of Gaza.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, doesn't seem likely, does it? Ben Wedeman there from Rome. Thanks, Ben. All right, still to come, Donald Trump's tariffs go into

effect, some of them the highest since a great depression. And all of it just as economic pressure is surfacing. We'll break down the numbers, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACFARLANE: Higher U.S. tariffs are now in effect for nearly every country in the world that exports goods to the U.S. tariffs long promised and

threatened by U.S. President Trump. In general, countries having a trade surplus with the U.S. now face a 10 percent tariff, and those that have a

trade deficit with the U.S. face a minimum 15 percent tariff.

[09:15:00]

Well governments without an agreement before today's deadline have some of the highest rates, ranging between 35 and 50 percent that includes Brazil,

Laos, Myanmar, Switzerland, Iraq and possibly India, some of which are pressure from Mr. Trump for their domestic policy decisions.

And yet he says he's still not done as negotiations drag on. Joining us now from New York is Senior Reporter Matt Egan to break this down. So Matt,

where does that money go? That $100 billion that Trump has boasted about raising from his tariff war?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Yeah, it goes into the general fund that's operated by the U.S. Treasury. It's been known as the treasury's checkbook.

This is the fund that the government uses to pay its bills like social security benefits. And the president is right. I mean, a lot of money has

been generated, tens of billions of dollars.

This is unusual, and it is a direct reflection of the tariffs that were already in place before today, and there is a lot of debate over what to do

with that money. In part because the president's tariff strategy, it seems to have multiple goals, multiple aims have been voiced here.

Obviously, one of them is trying to revive U.S. manufacturing. But another goal that's been stated has been to try to pay down U.S. debt, and so that

is one of the things that is being looked at, to try to use that extra money to chip away at massive government deficits.

Deficits that could maybe even get even larger because of the sweeping tax and spending cut package that was just signed into law last month. But

what's interesting is there's another idea that's been floated out there. Republican Senator Josh Hawley has suggested that that tariff revenue

should be used to go back to the American people.

The president calls it a tariff rebate or a dividend. Hawley has called it a rebate, and essentially would be stimulus checks that would go out to

everyday people. And this is something that could be popular, could help people who are struggling, but economists, they also tell me it could be

inflationary, because you'd be stimulating demand at a time when there's just not enough supply.

And so, they're worried that if you use the extra money for rebate checks, you could end up making inflation even worse, Christina.

MACFARLANE: Interesting, because it does, on the face of it seem like the right idea when it is the Americans who are going to pay more for these

imported goods. The question is, do we know how much more they stand to pay?

EGAN: Yeah, you know, it varies. We've already heard from a range of companies, Procter & Gamble, Nike, Adidas, Ford, Subaru, all of them saying

they've either raised prices because of tariffs or they plan to soon. But in other cases, this does take some time.

I mean, Goldman Sachs estimates it could take eight months from when tariffs kick in until when people start feeling them in terms of higher

prices, but there are a range of products that are exposed to tariffs, including everything from footwear and toys to alcohol, computers and other

electronics.

All of them are exposed to tariffs in part because the United States does import a lot of them from other countries, and now it's going to be more

expensive to import those goods. And it's just something that we're going to have to pay attention to. I mean, inflation has already heated up to a

four-month high.

It's not through the roof, it's not skyrocketing, but it's just way too early to say what the ultimate impact is going to be, because really, this

has just gotten started, just now, and we're really in the beginning stages of this.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, we really are, because Donald Trump says he's not done yet. You talk about inflation a four month high there. I mean, economists

are fearing that more aggressive tariffs could obviously exacerbate economic problems like higher inflation, slow job growth, like you know, we

saw last week. So, what else do we know what else President Trump wants to do?

EGAN: Yeah, well, so it's the country specific tariffs that took effect today. There are also these sectoral tariffs, right with steel, aluminum,

copper, and then the president's lost launched investigations that could lead to tariffs on other goods, including everything from lumber and raw

pharmaceuticals to semiconductors, critical minerals as well commercial aircraft, drones, trucks.

All of these are sectors that could face tariffs in the coming weeks, months and years. Just yesterday, the president said that he's thinking

about 100 percent tariff on computer chips. Although he said there'd be a carve out for companies that invest in the United States.

He's talked earlier this week on CNBC about a 250 percent tariff on pharmaceuticals eventually. So again, you know, we are really in uncharted

territory, but it's clear that tariffs are historically high, and they're likely Christina, they're likely going even higher.

MACFARLANE: Steel yourselves. Matt Egan, appreciate it for now. Thank you.

EGAN: Thanks Christina.

MACFARLANE: Now Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is criticizing the arrest of 16-day laborers outside of a Home Depot.

[09:20:00]

Video obtained by CNN shows ICE agents getting into a yellow Penske box truck in the store's parking lot, then ICE agents sprang out at the back of

the truck and detained the day workers. An ICE spokesperson says the arrests of those arrested are from Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras and

Nicaragua.

Well CNN's Omar Jimenez has been following this. Omar, many will say here that ICE is clearly crossing a line by using a box truck to essentially

lure and arrest day laborers. What's been the reaction to this?

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this was clearly a very highly visible operation that took place. And as we understand, we showed the

images of that Penske Truck of border patrol agents loading into the back there. As we understand, "The L.A. Times" reported that that truck, which

at the time would have been filled with agents in the back, pulled up to a group of people in the parking lot of this Home Depot.

And said that they were looking for workers, before border patrol agents then jumped out of the back and started making the arrest. The videos that

you're seeing here are when they essentially were loading into the truck. But if you notice, it's a Penske truck, not any form of federal law

enforcement vehicle, or anything like that.

It actually even prompted Penske to say that the use of a vehicle in that manner is not what they did not authorize that and that it goes against how

they typically want their trucks to be used. Now as for the details of the 16 people were arrested, as we understand from the Department of Homeland

Security, these are people from Mexico, from other Central American countries as well.

We still don't know the exact nature of the arrests, but we do know that this type of, again, highly visible operation, is something the Trump

Administration has really pushed for to try to send the image that if you are in this country illegally, that you are not safe from immigration

enforcement.

Again, still waiting to see the exact nature of these particular arrests, because there have been cases where U.S. citizens have been caught up in

raids like these. But as you can imagine, Los Angeles' Mayor Karen Bass, who really has been at the forefront of fighting for her city against the

administration on this front, very upset with what we saw play out. Here's a little bit of what she had to say about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAREN BASS, LOS ANGELES MAYOR: It is hard for me to believe that that raid was consistent with the court order that said you cannot racially profile,

you cannot racially discriminate. This is something that is not acceptable, and we are not going to stand for it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: And the court order she was mentioning was, it was just last week, an appeals court ruled that the Trump Administration could not or it

blocked them from indiscriminate immigration stops and arrests. And Christina, it was images like these that were really at the focal point of

protests that we saw in that city over the course of June.

MACFARLANE: And I guess it's quite specific to this case, Omar, but in reference to the statement you mentioned earlier from Penske

transportation, saying, you know, they had no awareness that their trucks were being used in this way, it kind of raised the question of, you know,

who is accountable when a federal agency uses private trucks without permission?

JIMENEZ: Yeah, I mean the options for a private company to sort of find accountability from the federal government in this case, who the company

says use their vehicles improperly. Their options are kind of limited. I mean, in theory, I guess you could try to sue the federal government, but

there are not many avenues for that.

There could be a potential injunction to stop use of these vehicles, but the federal government does have pretty wide latitude, especially in

enforcement actions like this, depending on what the exact nature of the operation. And so, it's why, I think, once we get a few more details into

maybe who exactly they were targeting, maybe why they were in this particular spot, we could get some answers there.

But it is pretty unusual one to again, see that number of border patrol agents pulling up and what most people assume to be a civilian run vehicle.

And even more unusual for a company to notice that and then come out and specifically say that this was an unauthorized use of their vehicle.

As you can imagine, Los Angeles has really been one of the focal points of at least visible immigration enforcement that the Trump Administration has

prioritized since the president got back into office. So, this likely won't be the last operation of this nature that we will see, but again, that use

of a private company's vehicle unusual even for what we've seen at this point.

MACFARLANE: Absolutely. Omar, appreciate you being with us. Thank you. Now, ICE is increasing its recruitment efforts by scrapping age limits for new

officers. Applicants can now be as young as 18 years old, and the agency also says there's no longer a minimum, sorry, a maximum age for new

applicants.

[09:25:00]

ICE just got a huge payday with the president's new spending bill becoming one of the most well-funded federal agencies. And is set to hire some

10,000 agents over the next few years. Classic Comedy Central Satire South Park is poking fun at the agents and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi

Noem.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTI NOEM, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: Welcome to the team, recruits. I'm Kristi Noem, Head of Homeland Security. A few years

ago, I had to put my puppy down by shooting it in the face, because sometimes doing what's important means doing what's hard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Just the latest, isn't it? In the South Park skits now. And we have still to come, a brand-new report raising concerns about what

Americans are eating. Stay tuned for the calorie concerns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACFARLANE: Welcome back. I'm Christina Macfarlane and you are watching "Connect the World". These are your headlines. Israeli Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with his security cabinet in the coming hours to discuss his reported push for a full military conquest of Gaza.

Sources say Israel's military chief is warning against a full takeover. The meeting comes as the Gaza Health Ministry reports the highest daily death

toll there in weeks. Nearly 140 killed. Russian President Vladimir Putin says he considers the United Arab Emirates as one of the, quote, suitable

places for a possible meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.

President Putin making remarks after welcoming the UAE's Leader Sheik Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to Moscow for a visit earlier today. Five

soldiers are in stable condition following a mass shooting at a U.S. army base in Georgia. Authorities say they were wounded after an army surgeon

opened fire at Fort Stewart on Wednesday.

He was later subdued by other soldiers and taken into custody. Investigators are still looking into his motive. More now on our top story,

Russian President Vladimir Putin says United Arab Emirates could be the possible location for a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in the

coming days.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT: We have many friends who are ready to help us organize events of this kind. One of our friends is the President

of the United Arab Emirates. I think we will decide, but this will be one of the suitable, quite suitable places.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Well Putin also said both sides, quote, showed interest in a summit.

[09:30:00]

Trump on Wednesday, said there was a good chance. The pair could meet soon to discuss a potential end to the war in Ukraine. CNN's Alayna Treene is

following this story, joining us now from the White House. What more are you learning from the White House then Alayna, about this meeting and the

significance of this for President Trump?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah. Well, what we do know, Christina, is that the president had brought this up while speaking to

European leaders yesterday. During that call, he said that he intended and was open to meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin as early as next

week, of course, trying to schedule a trip of that magnitude.

Specifically, you know, knowing the security that would go into all of that, particularly for the United States President, but for the other

leaders coming as well. Makes that timing, you know, kind of uncertain, given it would be a very tall ask. But when we've talked to officials here

at the White House, they essentially said that hopefully they can get this on the books in the next week or two weeks.

So, we have to see really what this shakes up to be. Now, you mentioned that, you know, we heard with the Russian President this morning floating

potential locations. We have been told that no location has been settled on, but that there are several different locations that are up for

discussion.

And again, that the talks could happen in the next week, or within the next two weeks. Now, to give you more of a sense of what the president said

publicly on this, because he did address this, as you mentioned, he said that there's a good chance that there will be a meeting very soon.

And also, you know, tried to be a little bit more vague about what this could mean for the deadline we know that he had imposed on Moscow, if they

did not come to the table and make a ceasefire deal, he had said that they he would be placing, you know, sick secondary sanctions on Russia, meaning

that he would be, you know, really punishing other countries who buy Russian goods, putting that at 100 percent.

So that's still unclear of whether or not the deadline that he gave, which was Thursday, was still going to go into effect. Now, the other thing I

think that's important to note is that this comes, this potential meeting after we know that the United States Special Envoy Steve Witkoff was in

Russia yesterday and met face to face with Putin.

We were told actually, that the idea of having a potential meeting between the Russian President and the United States President did come up during

that and essentially that it was Putin who had suggested a meeting with Donald Trump face to face. And so, we are still, of course, learning all of

the details of this.

I do think it's still very much unclear when exactly this will happen, but we do know that almost immediately after this became, you know, brought up

on that call yesterday, and the White House started to learn more about the president's plans, aides here began immediately working on seeing how they

could make this possible.

And so, there are discussions of where this could be and how they can make this logistically possible, but those details are not yet decided.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, interesting to hear this meeting was proposed, potentially by the Russian President Putin, as you say, and we've been

talking this hour about how this would come at a really precarious time on the battlefield for Ukraine. Do we know, has President Trump spoken to

President Zelenskyy at all in the aftermath of this?

TREENE: So, I have to remember checking. I do believe that you know part of this plan about having a meeting with Putin potentially in the next couple

of weeks. We do know that they would want the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to be a part of that as well.

One of the ideas that's been getting kicked around here at the White House would be to have Zelenskyy, you know, or to have President Donald Trump and

President Putin meet and then open that up to include Zelenskyy, and have it be a trilateral meeting. Zelenskyy was on that call yesterday that the

president was on with European leaders, and so, of course, is being read in to all of this.

And it really is looking like the United States is working with the Ukrainians as they try to work out what exactly this meeting could look

like, but Zelenskyy would definitely be a part of that. And all to say, I think the big picture here, of course, is the timing of this.

I mean, it's only been the last couple of weeks that we've really seen President Donald Trump change his tune when it comes to Russia. The

beginning of this year, the first few months of this administration, the president's ire was actually more trained on Zelenskyy, and he was using

much more favorable rhetoric when it came to Putin.

But in recent weeks, he's been very clear and public about his growing frustration with the Russian President, specifically this idea that he

feels he says one thing to him on the phone and then does another thing with his actions. And so that's all kind of really good context to keep in

mind as we look forward to this.

And also question whether or not the United States is really going to move forward with their warnings on Moscow, that if they do not do more to try

and make a ceasefire possible, that they will face very steep consequences, including tariffs and sanctions.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, be very interesting to see that harsh rhetoric continues as we look ahead to the potential meeting of the two leaders. Alayna

Treene, appreciate it. Thank you.

[09:35:00]

Well let's get you up to speed now on some of the other stories that are on our radar right now. Recent deadly monsoon floods in Pakistan were made

worse by climate change. That's according to a new study. It says the rains were 15 percent heavier than normal. At least 300 people have died due to

the flood since June.

And scientists say extreme weather is hitting faster than expected. In Southern France, 2000 firefighters are continuing to battle a massive

blaze. 16,000 hectares has been burnt. The area is larger than Paris. A massive mobilization, along with calmer overnight weather, has helped slow

the fire, that's according to officials.

And the wildfires that raged the Los Angeles area after this year may be linked to 440 deaths. That's hundreds more than we previously recorded,

according to new research. The study found the additional deaths were likely from a combination of factors including increased exposure to poor

air quality and health care delays.

A major move in Major League Soccer on Wednesday as Spurs Star Son Heung- Min says, welcome to Hollywood.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACFARLANE: Pizza, soda and cake, a brand-new report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control might have you thinking before you take that next bite.

It finds ultra processed foods like this account for more than half the calories that Americans consume. And what's even more troubling, that's

actually an improvement in trends from recent years. Medical Correspondent Meg Tirrell broke it down for our CNN colleagues earlier today.

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Ultra processed foods, we're all learning a lot more about them in the last couple years. These are category

of food that includes a lot of packaged foods, which have ingredients that are industrially processed and created things we can't really make easily

in our own kitchens.

And so, what we're seeing here is we knew that they made up a big part of the food supply, but this really homes in on how much we're actually eating

of them. And it shows that about 55 percent of calories for all Americans over the age of one come from ultra processed foods.

And you can see there's a sort of split here, distribution by age, where kids tend to eat more Ultra processed foods than adults. The 6- to 11-year-

old age group being the highest there. But among kids under the age of 18, 62 percent of calories coming from ultra processed foods. For grown-ups

over the age of 19, it's 53 percent.

[09:40:00]

And -- one of the interesting things here is we see a difference by income level. One of the things about ultra processed foods is they tend to be

less expensive. They're very convenient. It can be more expensive to eat a less processed diet, and we are seeing that in the data among adults with

the highest family income, about 50 percent of their calories came from ultra processed foods, and that was 55 percent for those from lower income

families.

Now it's also interesting to see what the sources of ultra processed calories actually are, and for those, the top category was sandwiches,

including burgers, for both kids and adults. Other big contributors were sweet bakery products, savory snacks, pizza, sweetened beverages, all the

things like that are so tasty, but that perhaps we all need to resist a little bit more if we can.

One interesting thing also in these data is that we see that there's actually been a trend lower over the last five years. If you look at the

data for kids in particular, between 2017 and 2018 the percentage was 66 percent but then in 2021 to 2023 which are where these data are from.

It's down to 62 percent, so this does seem to be decreasing over time. We'll have to see if that trend continues. And of course, this has been a

huge focus of the Make America Healthy Again movement under Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

MACFARLANE: Now South Korean Star Son Heung-Min has made his move from Tottenham in London to LAFC in Los Angeles. The 33-year-old unveiled at a

press conference on Wednesday, amid much fanfare, he said, quote, what can I say? A dream comes true. And I understand, Amanda Davies, it comes with a

very healthy price tag as well.

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN WORLD SPORT: It does. It's actually an MLS record. But fascinatingly, he said, a dream come true, but not his first-choice move.

But seemingly fans of LAFC don't seem to mind, super excitement about this move. He is one of the most liked, loved footballers in the world game.

He's been such a human being, a likable human being in his 10 years at Tottenham Hotspur, we saw the emotion at that press conference he gave in

Seoul announcing his sudden departure. And there's a lot of excitement people talking about this move as perhaps having a similar impact on the

MLS to the likes of David Beckham's arrival, to the likes of Leo Messi, because of the huge Asian fan base that he brings about.

Coming up in a couple of minutes in "World Sport". We're talking to Bradley Wright-Phillips, somebody who made the move from England to the MLS. He's

also got experience of playing in LA, and he's talked us through, you know, the challenges and the excitement about what Son has to face.

MACFARLANE: Excellent. Looking forward to that, Amanda. And "World Sport" coming up for you just after this short break. Stay with us.

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