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Isa Soares Tonight
Spanish authorities say most of the 50,000 migrants that stormed their territory have returned to Morocco. President Donald Trump says that Israel is very happy about his deal that requires Hamas to disarm and Israeli forces to withdraw from Gaza. FIFA's President Gianni Infantino faces a growing revolt over his tournament investment plan as top officials quit; Spanish Authorities Say Most of the 50,000 Migrants that Stormed Their Territory Have Returned to Morocco; President Trump Says that Israel is Very Happy About His Deal that Requires Hamas to Disarm and Israeli Forces to Withdraw from Gaza; FIFA's President Gianni Infantino Faces a Growing Revolt Over His Tournament Investment Plan as Top Officials Quit; Evacuees Return Home To Find Devastation In France; Pressure On Infantino Grows After Top Adviser Steps Down; Anthropic Blames Misunderstanding For Breaches, Not A.I. Actions; Woman At Risk Of Losing Sight Sets Out On Global Adventure. Aired 2-3p ET
Aired July 31, 2026 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:00:00]
MAX FOSTER, HOST, ISA SOARES TONIGHT: Well, welcome to the show, everyone, I'm Max Foster in London, in for Isa Soares. Tonight, Spanish authorities
say most of the 50,000 migrants that stormed their territory have returned to Morocco.
President Donald Trump says that Israel is very happy about his deal that requires Hamas to disarm and Israeli forces to withdraw from Gaza. But
Israeli leadership is conspicuously mum. And FIFA's President Gianni Infantino faces a growing revolt over his tournament investment plan as top
officials quit.
But we begin this hour in Spain where there's chaos, confusion and plenty of finger-pointing as well. The Spanish government is trying to defuse a
suddenly urgent migrant crisis that's triggering new concerns amongst leaders in Europe, the emergency centers in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in
the North African coast.
That's where an estimated 50,000 migrants crossing from Morocco overwhelmed border guards on Thursday. Local authorities say at least 57 people died in
that rush. Many of them drowned. Spain's Prime Minister described the border rush as an attack.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PEDRO SANCHEZ, PRIME MINISTER, SPAIN (through translator): What has happened -- well, what has happened in effect, is a violation of the
territorial integrity of Spain, of the borders of a Spanish city such as the city of Ceuta.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Let's bring in Nada Bashir on this. We'll talk about the migrants going back in a moment. But first of all, how did this snowball so quickly
from yesterday?
NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Max, this is quite an extraordinary and unprecedented event given the sheer scale of the number of migrants
that we did see crossing over into Ceuta in such a short amount of time.
Clearly, the border guards and security personnel on the ground in Ceuta, overwhelmed by the sheer number of people actually making that crossing. It
appears many of them made that crossing through the sea, attempting to scale border fences following after reaching the shoreline.
Others seemingly storming the border gates as well, but clearly, this is an unprecedented and hugely, really unprepared moment for the Spanish
authorities. This comes just weeks after the Spanish Supreme Court handed down a ruling which essentially prohibits authorities in Spain from
immediately returning migrants who arrive on Spanish shores by sea.
And we heard from the Spanish Prime Minister earlier today, giving an address to the nation, but also laying much of the blame, he said, on human
traffickers, illegal smuggling rings who he said -- he believed misunderstood the Supreme Court ruling and exploited that ruling clearly.
Of course, the case isn't an immediate resettlement scheme, so-to-speak, but rather a prevention for authorities to immediately turn people back at
the gates. But as you can see, this is an extraordinary number of people who have crossed over, but of course, as we are hearing now, many of them
have returned home.
FOSTER: We're just looking at images here, Nada, live pictures, the military trying to do what they can to prevent more people crossing over
into that enclave. But just explain this update that we've had that most of them have actually gone back to Morocco. What happened there?
BASHIR: Well, we've been hearing this morning during that statement from the government update saying, that around 25,000 of the estimated 50,000
had already returned back. As you can imagine, there has been a huge security presence on the ground.
The Spanish government deploying extra military resources to Ceuta in order to support in that response effort. But what we had also heard at that
point earlier in the day is that they were seeing returns at around 150 people crossing back into Morocco per second.
Clearly, this has not been the reception that perhaps some would have been expecting in Morocco. Many would have crossed in the hopes of perhaps
finding some new opportunities there, some sort of prospect of resettlement.
[14:05:00]
And clearly, that is not the case. Many have arrived, as you can see, with nothing on their backs, no belongings with them. So, clearly, the
conditions on the ground upon arriving in Spain are perhaps not as welcoming as some may have expected.
This is also -- it's important to have drawn heavy criticism from other European leaders as well. We've heard, for example, from the Italian Prime
Minister, Giorgia Meloni, who has issued a pretty stark criticism of the Spanish Prime Minister for his immigration policies, but has also
threatened in her words, to take extraordinary action, even going so far as to excluding Spain from the visa-free Schengen zone.
And we've heard similar criticism not only from Spanish politicians, but also, we've been hearing criticism from the State Department and from
President Trump as well. The Spanish government, for its part, has been clear that it has maintained communication with the Moroccan government,
that, that communication has been smooth, and that they are working to cooperate together in the future on this migration issue.
FOSTER: OK, thanks, Nada. We're just going to look at these pictures for a moment, because we're just getting a real sense there about what the
Spanish military are dealing with. So, you can see them along the coast there, trying to stop these mainly young guys from getting past them.
So, they lined along there. And earlier, we saw one of them dashing to stop a group, and then as he moved out of his position, some of them were trying
to get past him. It's an incredibly difficult situation for the Spanish military at this point.
But this is how they're handling, literally just trying to stop more people getting into that Spanish enclave. Barbie Nadeau watching this as well for
us from Rome. A really tough job for the Spanish military, but they seem to have had some success in getting people to go back.
BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, CNN REPORTER: Yes, you know, what's really interesting is that Italy has just now taken the extraordinary measure of
excluding for air travel and land travel Spain from the Schengen -- the visa-free Schengen zone.
That means any cruise ships potentially coming over from Spain, any ferries coming over from Spain, any planes coming in to Rome or Milan or any of the
Italian airports tonight potentially have to go through airport control.
Now, that's a big change, and you know, the Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani, announced this first on social media. He said that this was
necessary decision to protect the safety of our citizens and defend Europe's borders.
Going on to say the migrant crisis reminds us that managing the union -- the union's borders, is a shared responsibility of our countries towards
one another. Now, of course, there's a lot of background context to this.
It's normally Italy that is facing the brunt of irregular immigration. And in fact, so far this year, before the last 24 hours, more people have
crossed the sea into Europe via Italy than Spain. And so, you know, what you're getting here is sort of the treatment that Italy has gotten for a
number of years here with other European countries threatening to exclude them from the visa-free Schengen area as well.
So, you've just got a real strong, you know, a strong response here from Italy, which is probably making them feel like finally, they're the ones
that are not in the spotlight on this. But it's quite extraordinary, and it's going to be very disruptive in this busy holiday season.
They say it's a temporary suspension, but we haven't heard of any sort of exceptions, and we haven't heard of any sort of time-frame yet.
FOSTER: OK, Barbie, thank you so much. We're also joined by the former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt, currently co-chair of the European
Council on Foreign Relations. I don't know, Carl, if you can see the images that we've been looking at.
But we've got members of the Spanish military sent down to that enclave. And you can see what they're dealing with. They're trying to stop these
young guys getting on the island. But you can see the guys trying to swim around them constantly, and they're just trying to push them back. I mean,
it's just an extraordinary situation, isn't it? The way this has blown up?
CARL BILDT, CO-CHAIR, EUROPEAN COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: I think it is an extraordinary situation. And I think there are sort of interesting
backgrounds to it. I preserve I personally find it inconceivable that the Moroccan authorities would not have been at least, aware of, and probably
complicit in, certainly 50,000-60,000 people turning up at the border and then trying to cross it in different ways. So, I think there's a political
background here, that should not be discounted.
FOSTER: They say they're trying to strengthen their borders, but you're cynical about that, are you?
BILDT: Well, they might be trying to strengthen it today. But clearly, yesterday, was another day. And all of the information that's available to
me at least, is that the Moroccan border authorities were looking the other way or even helping.
[14:10:00]
Was that because it was a holiday, which it was, or was it some other factor? And there was pictures of young people coming in, the one loyal
after that towards the border. So -- and the Spanish had talked about mafia organizations, yes, there could be there a bit of it, but clearly, there
was an element of organization on the Moroccan side behind what happened.
FOSTER: We're just looking at these mainly young men that we're seeing in this scene. Many of them are just in their underwear or just one single
outfit. They've swum round to try to get into the enclave. Does that speak of desperation to you?
I mean, what is the other view of this? Because there are people saying that this is just very opportunistic. We've seen many of them giving social
media videos as they try to swim in as well. And then everyone found out about it, and then everyone followed.
I mean, obviously, there's a -- you know, there are asylum seekers that deserve help, but what are we seeing here do you think?
BILDT: I think it's a sign of the fact that, this is -- this came at a rather short notice. They got the one way or the other. They got the
information that now you can get into Spain, and no major preparation for that. So, it's large numbers, get that message and we're encouraged the one
way or the other to head for the border.
And once at the border, it was facilitated or tolerated or whatever on the Moroccan side, and the Spanish were overwhelmed by it. And that's where we
are. Then I understand that a lot of them are disappointed with what happened when they were in Ceuta, and a lot of them have returned by now,
but we'll see.
FOSTER: We're just looking at live pictures as we've been saying. So, the Spanish response has been to send down these members of the military to try
to push the Moroccans back again. We've also seen this quite extraordinary move from the Italians to effectively close their border, presumably
because many of these guys will want to move through Europe northwards. What's your view on them suspending the Schengen agreement effectively with
Spain?
BILDT: I'm not quite certain they're suspending the agreement, but they had talked about some sort of measures at the border. I think that's
slightly exaggerated because at the moment, it's confined to this particular enclave.
And to get from the enclave to Spain proper, is not an easy thing. And it's not that you can do that easily. There are identity checks, they are part
of Schengen, the enclave, but there is a special arrangement that they can't move freely.
You have to show identity cards. So, I would say that for the time being, it's highly likely that the crisis will confine, which is a crisis, no
question about that or humanitarian, and political nature will be confined to the enclave.
FOSTER: OK, Carl Bildt, as ever, thank you so much for joining us with your insights to that live breaking story out of that region of Spain. Now,
U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement of a historic Gaza agreement -- disarmament deal isn't even 24 hours old.
And there are already signs that it could be in trouble because Mr. Trump says that Hamas has agreed to completely disarm, Israeli troops will
withdraw, and an International Stabilization Force will move in. But the difficulty as ever, is in the detail.
Hamas says it won't disarm until Israel honors last year's ceasefire agreement, which includes a halt to all attacks and a troop withdrawal to
the 2025 yellow line. An Israeli official tells the -- or sells -- says that the IGF won't withdraw from the current yellow line, which you see on
this map before Hamas disarms.
The yellow line really isn't a line. It's a very clear border, instead, nominally marked by these yellow blocks that have shifted over time. Israel
now controls about two-thirds of Gaza, leaving its 2 million residents crammed into a tiny sliver of land.
Now, despite the potential obstacles, President Trump says the deal represents a breakthrough that no one ever thought would be possible.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have an understanding with Israel, Israel is very happy about it. Israel helped us and they've
been very good. They've been very good about it. It must be said that would be a deal that would be undoable.
Now, will it go through its ups and downs? It's a very complex situation over there. The people are very complex and difficult, in many cases
wonderful, in many cases not so wonderful. But that will be a -- it's a great breakthrough.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Let's get more from Jeremy Diamond, he's in Tel Aviv. So, is Israel very happy with this agreement?
[14:15:00]
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: It certainly doesn't seem that way, Max. I mean, we don't have an official comment yet from the Prime
Minister or his office, but I can tell you that here in Israel, across the political spectrum, there has been widespread criticism of this agreement,
and some of that criticism even aimed at the Israeli Prime Minister himself.
Now, it's important to keep in mind that we are now in the swing of election season here in Israel, less than three months away from those
elections. And among the critics of this agreement are members of the far- right, but also the center-left opponent, chief opponents of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Gadi Eisenkot, who also compared this to effectively a capitulation to Hamas. And that's because internally, within Israeli politics and
government, many Israeli officials view this agreement as insufficient in part because it would allow the storage of these weapons that Hamas would
be handed -- handing over for those weapons to be stored under the control of this transitional Palestinian government.
A government of Palestinian technocrats that would be overseen by the Board of Peace. But Israel has instead insisted on those weapons being taken out
of Gaza or destroyed altogether. So, there is some difference there. Now, that being said, it's important to note, you know, that this is a
milestone.
These negotiations have been going on for months now. It's been nearly ten months since that October ceasefire agreement went into effect, and Hamas
had resisted for a long time, even what it has agreed to in this agreement, which is to give up its weapons to allow them to be stored under the
control of this transitional Palestinian government.
And ultimately, to allow for the entry of the International Stabilization Force and for that Palestinian government to take over governance of the
Gaza Strip. But as I spoke with a senior Hamas official earlier today, he made very clear that none of this process of handing over of these weapons
is going to even begin until Israel begins to comply with the ceasefire agreement that was brokered back in October.
That means no more Israeli strikes that we have been witnessing on a near- daily basis inside of Gaza, killing more than 1,200 people. It means Israel pulling back to the yellow line as agreed to back in October. We know that
over the last several months, Israel has actually been expanding that yellow line, taking control of more of the Gaza Strip.
And so, Hamas wants Israel to pull back before anything actually goes forward. And already, we're getting an indication that, that may be a
sticking point. As an Israeli official telling us today that Israel will not move its troops anywhere beyond the current yellow line, which seems to
be a reference to, again, the additional territory that they've seized to encompass that new yellow line that marks Israeli-controlled Gaza.
So, we're already seeing the kind of disagreements beginning to surface, the sequencing here, of course, will be critical to all of this. White
House and Board of Peace officials have been quite clear that while they see this as a significant achievement, they understand that it's going to
be a long road ahead until we actually see the beginning of Hamas giving up those weapons.
This is a process that could last some 200 to 300 days even, according to one Board of Peace official, Max.
FOSTER: Jeremy, appreciate it, thank you. We're also joined by H.A. Hellyer; a Senior Associate Fellow with the Royal United Services Institute
for Defense and Security Studies. Thank you for joining us. When the U.S. President made that announcement, and it was very emphatic. What was your
reaction?
HISHAM AHMED HELLYER, SENIOR ASSOCIATE FELLOW WITH THE ROYAL UNITED SERVICES INSTITUTE FOR DEFENSE & SECURITY STUDIES: Always a pleasure to be
on your program, Max. So, I'm quite skeptical that this goes anywhere. The announcement and the reality on the ground are frankly two very different
things.
There's a fundamental contradiction here. Israel has already said multiple times via the Prime Minister as well as numerous other ministers in his --
in his cabinet, that they don't intend on leaving Gaza. So, withdrawal is not something that they are entertaining.
It's something that they have made very clear that they don't intend to do. On the contrary, that Netanyahu instructed his ministers to take 80 percent
of ground control of Gaza. But this is ground control. This is something else that I think people need to be very aware of.
Gaza is an occupied territory, and Israel is the occupying power. And that places certain obligations on Israel as the occupying power. They really
have nothing to do with whether or not Hamas meets this obligation or that obligation.
Hamas is not -- is not a condition for Israeli withdrawal. Having said that, I think the sequencing here is very important. The Israelis have made
it very clear they don't intend on withdrawing without Hamas actually disarming first.
[14:20:00]
And Hamas insists that Israel sticks to the terms of the agreement, at least, in phase -- from phase one, which the Israelis simply won't do. So,
again, legally-speaking, the starting point isn't this 20-point plan. Legally-speaking, the International Court of Justice, the U.N., the EU, the
U.K. have all said this is occupied territory and withdrawal has to take place.
And the question now is, how are you going to get past this sequencing problem between the Israelis and Hamas?
FOSTER: This isn't just the U.S.-Israeli relationship that's playing out here, is it? It's also the elections that Jeremy was mentioning just months
away now. Presumably, it would be seen as political suicide for Netanyahu to announce a full withdrawal at this point.
HELLYER: It would be political suicide. I also don't think that he's interested in that in the first place. So, it's not simply that he's trying
to stay away from doing this, because it will hurt his electoral chances. I think that the near-entirety of the Jewish-Israeli political spectrum is
uninterested in Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
But -- and I think that, that includes Netanyahu most genuinely, he's not doing this purely out of political opportunism. But there's an overarching
problem here. The International Court of Justice, as I said, the U.N., the international community-writ large, they recognize Gaza as an occupied
territory.
And the Israelis have to make arrangements to leave, and actually, the international community is under an obligation to take steps to ensure that
the Israelis do leave. Whereas what we see in this 20-point plan is trying to find ways to nudge here, nudge there while indeed the Palestinians are
living under really horrific conditions, are being pushed to, quote- unquote, "go for voluntary migration", as Israeli government puts it.
And this was actually one of the main objections from one of Netanyahu's own ministers to this latest -- this latest announcement by Trump that no,
we need to make sure that we push for, quote-unquote, "voluntary migration", i.e., for the complete departure of Palestinians from the Gaza
Strip.
As I said, I'm very cynical that this is going to go anywhere. I think, on the contrary, it's going to stall. And I don't think that it can do
anything but stall, unless actual leverage is brought to bear on the Israelis, particularly by the United States, to ensure that they live by
their international legal commitments. I won't be holding my breath.
FOSTER: H.A., yes, OK, H.A. Hellyer, thank you so much. We'll certainly have you back on this. If you're -- right now --
(CROSSTALK)
FOSTER: Still to come tonight, doubts over -- doubts over U.S. President Donald Trump's pledge to help Ukraine defend itself. We'll show you the new
danger for Ukrainian civilians far from the frontline.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:25:00]
FOSTER: U.S. President Donald Trump appears to be dialing back a pledge to help Ukraine defend itself. Just a few weeks after publicly promising to
let Ukraine build U.S.-designed Patriot interceptor missiles, he now says he's not so sure.
When President Zelenskyy met the U.S. President at the White House this week, he stressed Ukraine's urgent need for Patriots as a defense against
Russian missiles. But Mr. Trump told the "Financial Times" on Thursday, we don't really license equipment.
On the ground in Ukraine, there's a new danger for civilians away from the frontline. In its latest phase of attacks, Russia has repeatedly targeted
gas stations, hitting more than 200 in the past two months. That's according to a Ukrainian official. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh has been looking
into it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Even stopping for gas in Ukraine can now be lethal. More than 200 fuel
stations have been attacked by Russia since June. That's about three a day in a country where the war has shut down commercial flights.
They are a lifeline with a huge role in a vast country. The pumps now a place to listen out for the buzz of drones and know where the bomb shelter
is. In Zaporizhzhia, policeman Mykhailo(ph) ran into help after a drone struck one station, but then he heard a second.
MYKHAILO TSYPILAKOV, UKRAINIAN PATROL POLICE OFFICER: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
WALSH: We verified 30 of the estimated over 200 attacks in June and July, they fall across Ukraine, but most are close to occupied areas, the cities
of Kramatorsk and Kharkiv worst hit, all in reach of Russian drones and intensifying fuel trucks and containers targeted on a simple level,
impeding the war effort by making it hard to get gas, but also sowing fear far away from the frontlines.
The growing range of Russian attack drones making once safe areas part of the kill zone.
YAROSLAV STAROVOLTENKO, PRESIDENT, OIL & GAS ASSOCIATION OF UKRAINE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
WALSH: Near Kyiv, that hasn't always worked.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
WALSH: But many see this as a Russian response to the fuel crisis and queues imposed in Russia by Ukrainian drone strikes on refineries. Putin's
escalation inflicting the same back. Russia's elite drone units make a public point of their strikes on Ukraine, releasing a video here of nine
being hit.
The damage is real, unexpected and growing. Another sign absolutely nothing is off limits in Moscow's invasion of choice. Nick Paton Walsh, CNN,
London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Still to come tonight, thousands displaced by wildfires in Europe are going home at last. But for some, there's nothing to return to. We'll
look at one French town nearly destroyed by the flames.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:30:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Firefighters say they've -- they are finally making significant progress in the -- on the wildfires in France
and Spain. In France, evacuations have ended in 12 districts around Bordeaux. Tens of thousands of evacuees are returning home. As CNN's
Melissa Bell reports, some though are finding total destruction.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL SENIOR CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is what the village of Le Porge in southwestern France looked like a week ago.
These videos filmed by Mathieu Plessis, one of a handful of locals who stayed behind to try and help firefighters.
MATHIEU PLESSIS, RESIDENT (text): There were flames jumping over a kilometer. We had flames 25 meters high or even taller. It was -- well it
was the apocalypse.
BELL (voice-over): By Friday morning, however, this was all that was left of his home.
PLESSIS (text): We're at my home. We're at my family home.
BELL (text): You've been here for seven generations, and this is what's left.
PLESSIS (text): But the next morning, when we came back, everything was still burning.
BELL (text): What was inside that house, which has belonged to your family for generations?
PLESSIS (text): My whole life, there was an aquarium with fish. I had a snake in a terrarium. I couldn't save it. I couldn't save everything.
Everything burned, even the animals. It breaks my heart.
BELL (voice-over): Some locals here accuse authorities of sending firefighters elsewhere just when the fire hit hardest for them. As it
spread, they were engulfed and felt abandoned as firefighters raced towards the popular tourist hot spot of the Cap Ferret peninsula.
PLESSIS (text): Everyone deserves to have their home saved, to have their living space saved, whether they're rich or poor. We're human beings.
BELL (voice-over): His neighbors didn't fare much better. Many of their houses were destroyed as well. Overall, in the village of Le Porge, 180
houses were destroyed, making it the hardest hit by the Gironde fire.
BELL: That trail of devastation that led to Le Porge began here just over a week ago at ground zero of the Gironde fire. And here on the outskirts of
the village of Saumos, you get an idea as well of just how violent it was.
Melissa Bell, CNN, Saumos.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Heat not the only issue for firefighters across Europe. Meteorologist Derek Van Dam explains what they're also up against.
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, even though we have had a temporary dip in the temperatures across Western Europe, that doesn't really fix the
ongoing issue on the ground, which is the dried-out vegetation that we've seen.
[14:35:13]
So, remember, we've had above-average rainfall this past winter, specifically through the months of January and February. That's when
vegetation was allowed to flourish. Look at the satellite image taken on May 23rd of this year. Notice all the green vegetation. Then fast forward
after consecutive heat waves and very little rainfall falling from the sky. Notice the browning of the vegetation there. So, we have tinderbox
conditions that have set up and that set the stage for flash drought and consequently the wildfire activity that we've experienced and threatens us
across parts of the Mediterranean including Italy as well as Greece and into Spain and France.
Now here's the drop in our temperatures. This is a weak cold front, but it's really being shunted by a ridge of high pressure that's firmly in
control of the weather across the Mediterranean. So, that cold front isn't allowed to progress that far south. So, it keeps the hot temperatures in
the areas that are more vulnerable to the wildfire activity.
Just look at Athens, Greece. Even though we saw a dip in our temperatures, we go above average through the first parts of next week. More the same for
other locations across Western and Central Europe. This is a high-pressure system preventing these cold fronts from dipping too far south. There is
some light precipitation associated with it, but not everybody is going to experience rainfall out of this. We'll certainly take what we can get, but
at most we get a quick 10, maybe 15 millimeters of rainfall. And on top of that, it changes the wind directions. So, it makes it that much more
difficult for firefighters on the ground to fight the advancing fire lines of the ongoing wildfires.
The fire danger forecast from Copernicus shows a lot of extreme activity especially across the Mediterranean areas that I mentioned before. It is
the combination of drought, dried-out vegetation, extreme heat, and of course the winds fueling the flames. Back to you.
FOSTER: Thank you for that. Now still to come, increasingly isolated, the latest protests against Gianni Infantino and his plan to sell stakes in
FIFA tournaments.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: FIFA president Gianni Infantino is facing growing pressure to back down from his plan to sell stakes in football's biggest tournaments to
private investors. Infantino's senior adviser Carlos Cordeiro resigned from his position on Friday. Cordeiro says he was never consulted about the
investment plan and he unequivocally opposed it.
[14:40:13]
Now, it comes after Europe's governing body said Thursday it would boycott all FIFA events, including the World Cup if investment plans -- well, this
investment plan isn't scrapped. Other confederations voiced their opposition to the plan, too, though they stopped short of joining the
European boycott.
Let's bring in CNN World Sports Patrick Snell with more. I guess the Asian Confederation coming out against Infantino was interesting, wasn't it? But
also, all of these executives that seem to be suggesting that they weren't involved in the decision. So, it was just Infantino's idea.
PATRICK SNELL, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: It's looking increasingly like that, is one way you could be interpreting it. Use those words, Max, increasingly
isolated, and they're very, very apt now it would seem regarding the FIFA president under whom there is much pressure -- much pressure on him now, I
would say, much scrutiny on Gianni Infantino.
What will his next move be? What will we happen next? And this is an intriguing story playing out. Of course, it was all triggered by that 55-
to-nil UEFA voting yesterday to proceed with a threat of a boycott if it does indeed come to that.
But look, it's significant. I just want to tap into the Carlos Cordeiro, the news that you mentioned there. It's highly significant because this is
a really senior figure. This is a really senior figure who's broken ranks, a senior adviser to Gianni Infantino, also a former U.S. soccer president
as well. He has some clout, great reputation, a great standing in the sport.
And something else that I picked up on, Max, from his statement and this taps into the distancing himself from Infantino because Cordeiro added,
"Let me be clear, I had no involvement in this proposal and I oppose it unequivocally. It's a bad deal for FIFA's member associations, a bad deal
for football, and a bad deal for the long-term future of the game.
There's a growing feeling in the beautiful game of football, Max, of disappointment. There's anger amongst fans, and we've seen the response
from some of the confederations as well.
Let's hear now from a UEFA vice president who was on that call yesterday. Let's hear what she has to say. This a very strong take. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAURA MCALLISTER, VICE PRESIDENT, UEFA: Nobody except FIFA came up with a proposal that threatened the soul of football. And had we not stood up in
the way that we had with a threat of boycott, which of course is commensurate with the scale of the threat that FIFA put before us, we would
-- we would be letting this proposal go through. So, we had no choice.
But now it's up to FIFA to really deal with this as quickly as it possibly can by removing this proposal, by apologizing to the federations for the
insulting way in which it's been handled and accepting that they need to really reconsider the principles upon which their governance operates and
the ways in which they make decisions about the future of our sport.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SNELL: Strong words there from Laura McAllister there. And I do want to get to another a quote here. This is from Kevin Lamour, FIFA's chief operating
officer. Again, really strong speaking out against Infantino. "It is the project of one person. Not only must this project not go ahead, but the
time has now come for football political leaders to ask themselves the right questions and make the right decisions. And if that means I lose my
job, then so be it. I will understand and respect that decision. At least I will sleep well tonight." Kevin Lamour there speaking out as well.
Now, important to point out, Max, what exactly FIFA has been saying in the response in the early hours of today in the hours after that strong stance
from UEFA yesterday. This statement in fact in part from FIFA. "The Future Forward Enterprise has been proposed solely to ensure that all FIFA member
associations have the opportunity to take meaningful ownership of the commercial opportunity of football in their respective countries and that
this does not come at the cost of either the spirit or the governance of FIFA or football itself. Nobody is selling football. This is not something
FIFA would ever entertain."
And that's a reference -- that's a response really to UEFA in their statement earlier in the week, Max, when they said the World Cup is not for
sale. So, look, watch this space. There's growing pressure on the FIFA president. Let's see how this all plays out because there is still a lot
more to come on this story. You can be sure of that.
FOSTER: OK. Patrick, I really appreciate that update.
Now, Anthropic says some of its A.I. models have accessed the open internet and hacked into three separate organizations during routine security
testing. It says the models weren't supposed to be online, but that a misunderstanding with a testing partner gave them access.
[14:45:05]
The discovery came after rival, OpenAI, reported a similar incident, prompting Anthropic to take a closer look at its own tests. CNN's Hadas
Gold joins us with more because she knows how much I'm utterly freaked out by the idea of the rise of the machines.
HADAS GOLD, CNN A.I. CORRESPONDENT: But you shouldn't be surprised, Max, because if one of these models can do it, then of course there are others
out there that likely have had the same thing happen.
FOSTER: But they said they didn't realize.
GOLD: And they didn't realize for months. The earliest instance of one of these models from Anthropic having hacked into another company's system was
April. And Anthropic did not realize any of this had happened until OpenAI's disclosure prompted them to go back and look over 140,000
different evaluations. And out of those, they found three times where their models gained access to the open internet while they were being tested and
then hacked into a completely different company system.
So, three times out of more than 140,000, it's pretty good, but not exactly great because still these were real companies that were hacked into. And
hacking like that is technically a crime. Now to be clear, like in the open A.I. situation, these model safety guardrails were completely reduced so
that you could test their full capabilities.
Unlike the OpenAI situation, Anthropic says that in their case, all of their models still thought that they were in their simulated environment
and that the reason that they gained access to the open internet was because of a misunderstanding with their third party provider that was
helping them with the testing that kind of gave them access to the open internet when it wasn't supposed to have access to it. And Anthropic says
in fact, one of their models even recognized -- its most advanced model recognized that it was actually no longer in the simulation and stopped
itself from continuing on. In OpenAI's case, the model hacked out of its testing environment to be able to hack into a different system.
So, Anthropic says that none of the three companies that the Anthropic models hacked into were aware that they had been hacked into, but Anthropic
is now in the process of talking to them and reaching out to them. And similar to OpenAI, they've now paused all of their testing, these types of
tests, these types of cybersecurity tests because all of these companies now have a lot of big questions to answer about how secure their testing
has been.
Anthropic essentially admitted that they could have been better about securing their testing environments to make sure that something like this
doesn't happen because as we've talked about, you know, we don't know which companies anthropic models hacked into. We don't know the severity
necessarily of the hack, but you can imagine a situation where they're testing one of these models out on its hacking capabilities and it goes off
and hacks into a real-life bank or real life water utility or electricity or something like that and that could cause some real chaos.
FOSTER: Yes. Well, I guess good on them for reviewing it and admitting it. At least we've got the knowledge. Hadas, thank you.
Now, still to come tonight, when a young woman learns her life may drastically change forever, she decides to travel the world. Up next, how
she's become an inspiration to so many.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:50:37]
FOSTER: A Chicago area woman named Michelle Cabrera was at risk of losing her sight, so she decided to see the world before it happened. Her travels
are now an inspiration for girls across the globe and many boys. Have a listen to what she told us about the places and the people that she's
visited.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHELLE CABRERA, WORLD TRAVELER AND STORYTELLER: Me and my family were always adventurous growing up. I used to go fishing with my dad all the
time and he would teach me archery and a bunch of different things. I used to watch a lot of Indiana Jones and all the people that I saw that were --
you know, like Sewin, like all the adventurous people were all men. I was waiting, waiting, and to see a woman do adventurous things and I just never
saw that.
I got glasses when I was seven, eight, and the floater started appearing even more and more and I didn't -- I didn't realize that they were not
normal until later on. And when I was 18, it got pretty bad. And I told my parents, you know, I'm starting to see a lot of blurs in my vision. Like,
should we get that checked out? And they said, yes. So, we went to the eye doctor, and they told me that based on my family's eye history, that I was
at an increased risk for retinal detachment, which is sudden blindness.
Hearing that at 19 years old, I didn't think that life was worth living if I couldn't see anything. And I just remember sitting there thinking, OK, if
I have one year to truly live how I want to live, oh well, why don't I become that person, help inspire other girls to go out and adventure the
world? And so, then I left at 19 to go live in a remote village in the Himalayas with a family. I volunteered as an English teacher by myself. And
it was the most life-changing experience ever.
The moment that I got there, I hiked for five days, trekked for five days to get to this village, stayed in tea houses along the way with random
families, got covered in leeches, maybe had leeches on me as I was trekking through monsoon rain. People called me their sister, daughter, and it was
crazy to make relationships with people that don't even speak the same language as you.
I ended up like raising money for $4,000 to build the first-ever water purification system in Annapurna region of Nepal and I built it for this
school for the kids because a lot of them suffered from water-borne parasites. Whether you're family by blood or just family by community, it's
a beautiful, beautiful thing. And that's what I love so much about outside of Western culture and traveling to Central Asia like Kyrgyzstan,
Tajikistan. I've been to Uzbekistan, China. These places have really spoken a lot to me.
Hundreds of thousands of people that have helped me along the way when I missed a bus and had no idea where to go and someone offered me to stay at
their grandma's home or when I lost all my cash. It fell out of my pocket and didn't have any money left and some random stranger came up to me and
told me, oh, you can come with me. I'll get you food. And they cooked me up a homemade meal.
So many Americans think, oh, it's about where -- what resort do you stay at or, you know, what tour did you go on to do these experiences? No, you have
to, you know, fully immerse yourself and talk to people and learn about their culture and show that you're willing to learn.
A lot of people say curiosity kills the cat, but it seems like I've over nine lives because of the amount of near-death experiences that I've had
from traveling. I've stayed in places where I found mouse poop on my bed right before I was about to sleep and like huge cockroaches and giant
spiders the size -- like bigger than the size of my face. Everything is on a budget. I'm hitchhiking and eating street food constantly, surviving off
of gas station food. I don't recommend, but in your 20s, you got to do what you got to do if you want to stay in places for longer periods of time.
And I've gotten myself injured. I mean, you can probably see my patellar tendon, like the scarring on that on my knee tendon right there. That's
from Australia when I ruptured -- I completely ruptured my tendon while I was standing in the ocean and like a wave hit and my foot got stuck in the
sand and just fully snapped off. My kneecap went into my quad. Most people would say, oh, Michelle, like that didn't turn you back home? And no,
there's so much that this world has to offer, and I can't imagine just staying in my hometown where -- and it's hard for me to even go think about
going back home because I -- it's like I outgrew this environment.
The doctors did tell me before I had left that my eyes had stabilized a bit more. They said there's a possibility of me doing LASIK. I'm kind of scared
to do it though. I think it's all in God's hands. So, whatever happens, happens. My eyesight issue was truly a blessing in disguise. I don't think
that I would have gone out of my way to go travel at such a young age and been OK with being uncomfortable in these experiences if I didn't have that
happen to me.
In whatever way, I do want to inspire people to continue to try new things and I'll continue to push for the life that I want to live as well.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[14:56:02]
FOSTER: Our thanks to the wonderful Michelle Cabrera of her story. Michelle is an ambassador for the platform Nomad Sister, a site for solo female
travelers seeking support. She encourages women to step out of their comfort zones. Find out more there.
Thanks for watching tonight. Stay with CNN. I'll be back with "WHAT WE KNOW" after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
