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Obama Defends Iran Nuclear Deal; Report: Obama Offered Increased Military Aid To Israel; Greece Votes "Yes" On More Austerity; Report Blames Pro-Russian Rebels For Downing MH17; Modern- Day Trench Warfare In Ukrainian City; Sources: ISIS Leader May Have Been In Raqqa; CNN Reporter Goes Inside "El Chapo" Tunnel; Businesses Consider Plans For Iran Market; Pluto Findings May Shed Light On Early Solar System; An Inspirational Night At The ESPYs. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired July 15, 2015 - 03:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ERROL BARNETT, CNN ANCHOR: As protesters clashed with police in the streets of Athens, there is intense debate inside Greece's parliament over tough new economic reforms.

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Plus U.S. President Barack Obama goes before reporters to try to sell the Iran nuclear deal.

BARNETT: And the dwarf planet as we've never seen it before. What the new photos are teaching us about Pluto.

CHURCH: Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church.

BARNETT: And I'm Errol Barnett. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

We begin with breaking news in the United States. Former President George H.W. Bush is in hospital at this hour after suffering a neck injury.

CHURCH: His spokesman says Mr. Bush, quote, "fell at home in Maine today and broke a bone in his neck. His condition is stable. He is fine and he will be in a neck brace."

The 41st president of the U.S. is not expected to stay in the hospital along time. The injury is not considered life threatening and we will of course keep you updated with any new information that comes into us.

BARNETT: Now the Obama administration's hard sell on the Iranian nuclear deal is underway. President Barack Obama defended the agreement point by point at a news conference on Wednesday.

CHURCH: Jim Acosta reports the president's main goal is to prevent Tehran from building a nuclear bomb.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sounding supremely confident, President Obama brushed aside all the criticisms of his nuclear deal in Iran demanding that opponents in Congress simply read the agreement.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I think if Congress does that, then in fact, based on the facts, the majority of Congress should approve of this deal. But, we live in Washington and politics do intrude.

ACOSTA: Even though he is under fire the president relished the opportunity to answer his detractors.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: I really am enjoying this Iran debate.

ACOSTA: Mr. Obama praised the agreement's convoluted inspection process dismissing doubts that Iran would get away with cheating.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Suddenly something is missing on the back end, they got some explaining to do.

ACOSTA: And he insisted that the agreement does more than just postpone Iran's nuclear ambitions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: None is holding out hope that they will change their behavior?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: No, look, I'm always hopeful that behavior may change for the sake of the Iranian people as well as people in the region.

ACOSTA: But one question did get under the president's skin why Americans currently detained in Iran were not freed as part of the deal.

MAJOR GARRETT, CBS NEWS: Can you tell the country, sir, why you content with all the fanfare around the deal to leave the conscious of this nation, the strength of this nation, unaccounted for in relation to these four Americans?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: The notion that I am content as I celebrate with American citizens languishing in Iranian jails? Major, that -- that's nonsense and you should know better. I've met with the families of some of those folks. Nobody's content.

ACOSTA: The deal's biggest skeptic, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is blasting the inspection process, which could take 24 days to look at suspicious sites.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (via telephone): That is a long time. You can flush a lot of evidence down the toilet it's like telling a drug dealer we're going to check your meth lab in 24 days.

ACOSTA: Warning what the world would look like without a deal, the president asked his critics where is their plan?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: For all the objections of Prime Minister Netanyahu or for that matter, some of the Republican leadership that has already spoken, none of them have presented to me or the American people a better alternative.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: Besides the Iran deal, the president raised some eyebrows when he conceded he won't defeat ISIS or settle the Syrian civil war while in office and when pressed on whether he would revoke the presidential Medal of Freedom for Bill Cosby who has been accused of rape, the president said he didn't have that authority. Jim Acosta, CNN, White House.

CHURCH: President Obama reportedly raised the possibility of increased military aid to Israel when he spoke on the phone with Israel's prime minister after the deal was announced. The "New York Times" reports U.S. administration officials said the president was ready to hold intensive discussions about how to bolster Israel's defenses.

[03:05:04] The paper reports that Mr. Netanyahu refused the offer at this point. The report says one aide told Jewish and pro-Israel groups by phone that Mr. Netanyahu felt accepting the overture now would look like he was blessing the nuclear deal. A spokesman for Mr. Netanyahu said he would not comment further on the substance of the phone call between the two leaders.

BARNETT: Aid could soon be coming to debt-ridden Greece. Parliament has passed a harsh austerity package. The reforms are needed before Greece can receive a multi-billion-dollar bailout. Some other European countries also need to approve the rescue plan. Finland and Estonia are among the parliaments meeting in the coming hours.

CHURCH: If the Eurozone countries OK the plan then formal talks can begin between Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his European creditors. The new measures Greece agreed to are not popular, of course, tempers flared in Greece's parliament as lawmakers debated the reforms Wednesday.

BARNETT: And this was the scene just outside parliament, things getting violent ahead of the important vote. Angry protesters threw fire bombs at police who responded in kind with tear gas. That was some of worst violence in Athens in more than two years.

CHURCH: And with more on this, we turn to Elinda Labropoulou. She is live in Athens, Elinda, of course, we saw what was happening on the streets and in parliament, a very difficult day for the Greek prime minister.

But in the end, he got the support he needed and now, of course, it's all about what happens in the next few days as people wait for the cash to flow back into the Greek economy, but we don't know when that's going to happen.

ELINDA LABROPOULOU, JOURNALIST: No, unfortunately we don't. We expect that the ECB might at least give a signal of what it's likely to do next whether it will increase the liquidity or not in a meeting later today. That will be a first step to possibly restoring liquidity in the Greek banking system at least. And at the same time, the euro group finance ministers are meeting today to try to figure out a bridge loan agreement in order for Greece to be able to meet its bailout payment requirements by Monday when Greece has to pay the European Central Bank.

If it does not do that, it would default to the European Central Bank. So this is a very urgent and pressing need for Greece to find a way to meet those deadlines and also to restore its economy. So although, you know, it appears that this vote has gone through comfortably with 229 votes in a 300 seat parliament.

What really has happened is that the prime minister has lost a lot of support of his own MPs, about a quarter of them have voted not the support him in those measures.

So as a result, we do expect that there will be a reshuffle and we'll see what Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras decides to do next to hold his government together.

That political tension is certainly going to continue. But the economy now comes back to the front because the needs there are really pressing -- Rosemary.

CHURCH: Yes, and Elinda, one of the issues not covered in the bailout deal was the need for immediate cash to allow the banks to open and to pay public sector salaries. What happens next week if this doesn't happen? If there is no money flowing here?

LABROPOULOU: Well, there is no clear indication what happens next. Even hopes it can be resolved in the meantime. It's only reassurances that this will be the case.

But if we get closer to the time and this is not resolved, you know, initially, there have been ideas about IOUs being issued but this is not really something that the government seems to want to do.

So for the time being, that is just not even a plan "b" from the way we understand it. It's just an option that has been considered but not selected. So I think the key issue here is to see the response from the ECB and from Greece's creditors.

In the meantime, to see how these issues can be resolved as soon as possible. And there is some noise from the IMF, which is now pushing for debt relief for Greece overall.

I mean, this isn't probably going to happen in a matter of days, but it could certainly make Greeks feel a little bit better about the deal they got because overall Greeks have not been feeling that they got a good deal, they just got the best deal that was available to them.

This is actually what Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told his parliamentarians yesterday when he spoke ahead of this vote saying this isn't what I wanted to bring home, but it's the best I could do.

[03:10:10] Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[03:10:14] ALEXIS TSIPRAS, GREEK PRIME MINISTER (through translator): I will admit that the measures we are tabling are harsh and I don't agree with them. I don't believe they will help the Greek economy and I say so openly, but I also say that I must implement them. That is our difference.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LABROPOULOU: So this is the feeling that a lot of people seemed to share that this is not a good deal, but at least it gives Greece some hope -- Rosemary.

CHURCH: Yes, and of course, there is concern because of these demonstrations we have seen on the streets, the hope is that people will remain peaceful and calm until some of these cash starts to flow in. Elinda Labropoulou reporting live from Athens, many thanks to you.

BARNETT: Now Friday marks one year since Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot out of the sky over Eastern Ukraine and sources say a new draft report holds pro-Russia rebels responsible.

CHURCH: It also outlines what type of weapon was used and from where it was launched. Rene Marsh has more details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION AND GOVERNMENT REGULATION CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): CNN has learned investigators of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 say evidence points to pro-Russian rebels as the culprit for bringing down the plane.

A draft report by the Dutch safety board also indicates that Malaysia Airlines did not do enough the keep the plane out of harm's way. According to two sources with knowledge of the investigation, the report pinpoints the exact type of missile used.

A Russian BUK surface-to-air missile, the report pinpoints where it was launched and who was in control of the territory where it came from.

PETER GOELZ, FORMER NTSB MANAGING DIRECTOR: The Dutch safety board is very respected worldwide. They are methodical. They are not political in any way and they have conducted this investigation in pain staking detail.

MARSH: The Boeing 777 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was at about 30,000 feet over the Donetsk region of Eastern Ukraine when it went down. U.S. officials have said a radar system saw a surface-to-air missile turn on before it shot the plane out of the sky.

Sources say the report blames Malaysia Airlines for failing to avoid the conflict zone. U.S. airline carriers make decisions about where to avoid flying based on warnings other countries send to their pilots.

Dutch investigators say Malaysia Airlines did not review other countries' warnings and was unaware other airlines were avoiding the area.

GOELZ: It's sloppy. It's not good procedure. It's not -- it shows a certain lack of commitment to a culture of safety.

MARSH: Russian observers say the new details are a blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin's credibility. In the past, Putin has denied any responsibility for the crash of MH17.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is so much overwhelming evidence that, yes, the kremlin can continue to deny it doesn't have involvement, but it just does not stand to any test.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARSH: Well, the final report is expected this fall. We should point out we've reached out to Malaysia Airlines and Russian officials for a reaction to our reporting, but have not received a response. The crash investigation is separate from the ongoing criminal investigation. Rene Marsh, CNN, Washington.

CHURCH: And Ukraine's military is reporting a sharp increase in attacks from pro-Russia rebels. They say the clashes are some of the fiercest since a ceasefire was signed back in February.

BARNETT: And that agreement is so shaky both sides accuse each other of violations. Nick Paton Walsh looks at the modern-day trench warfare engulfing one Ukrainian city.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The village next to Donetsk's ravaged airport, 142 days into a ceasefire. Ahead, he beckons, moments later they seek cover from separatist gunfire.

This is Ukraine's underfunded army holding off much better quipped rebels backed by Russia. Basements of ordinary homes turned shelters, turned homes again. In a place when often you only get to laugh when it's about fear.

[03:15:00] Cameraman Nolan Peterson spent a week witnessing the bizarre trench warfare in 21st Century Europe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Open your mouths.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Open your mouth and it will be too loud.

WALSH: A tiny village fought over inch by inch to get nearer the symbolic Donetsk airport.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Open mouth. WALSH: A regular army taking pot shots at their adversary and running to escape the inevitable reply. The truth is here, this is much like many of the 141 days of ceasefire before it, a stalemate which never grows stale.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ceasefire, yes.

WALSH: Nights where the dark brings no calm. The question ever louder, when does the war begin again in the open?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: We'll take a very short break here. But Japan's government is closer to adopting a bill that could send Japanese troops overseas to fight for the first time in more than 75 years. But many of his fellow citizens are strongly against it.

BARNETT: Plus a CNN reporter enters the tunnel that a Mexican drug lord used to escape from prison.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's very difficult to breathe down here. A lot of dirt, dust, this here for the ventilation system, tight, tight space down here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:21:12]

CHURCH: Japan's lower House of Parliament has approved legislation that would allow the country to send troops to fight abroad for the first time since World War II.

BARNETT: That's right. But thousands of protesters have made it clear they are against the idea. Some lawmakers showed their disdain for a dramatic change in policy. CNN's Will Ripley reports from Tokyo.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Heavy rains here in Tokyo have cut the size of protest crowds just a bit, but it hasn't stopped thousands of people from assembling outside the Japanese parliament building to send a very strong message to lawmakers they are not happy about this new defense bill.

A bill that for the first time since the end of World War II will allow the Japanese military, the self-defense force to essentially join its allies and fight abroad, very unpopular amongst many people in Japan.

The prime minister, Shinzo Abe, has seen his popularity dip from 70 percent at the peak of his popularity to around 40 percent right now. Many of these crowds out here are very concerned about what will happen to Japanese soldiers and what will happen to Japanese citizens if they go abroad, if Japan takes a stand when it comes to global issues.

Will citizens be targeted by terror groups like ISIS? We have already seen one Japanese journalist executed by ISIS as punishment for Japan supporting the coalition. People are fearful that could happen even more and they are also afraid of troops coming home in body bags much like many other nations that have been entangled in global conflict.

But it seems that the prime minister has certainly the votes to push this bill through despite the public opposition and there is what is known as a silent majority in Japan, the people who do feel that the country should take a more active role militarily across the world. Will Ripley, CNN, Tokyo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BARNETT: Here are some of the stories we are following, U.S. officials say there is every reason to believe Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is alive and still in charge of ISIS.

CHURCH: They say there was intelligence indicating he was around Raqqah in Syria, but that information dried up about three weeks ago and wasn't specific or timely enough to attack and kill him. Despite losing track of Baghdadi, officials say they are gaining more knowledge about him and Raqqa, the self-declared capital of ISIS.

BARNETT: A top drug enforcement administration says Mexican drug lord, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, should be looking over his shoulder right about now. El Chapo escaped his Mexican prison cell late Saturday by going through a tunnel underneath his shower.

CHURCH: And footage from inside the cell shows Guzman ducked behind his shower and never reappeared. We now of course know that he slipped down a hole that led to a mile-long tunnel to freedom.

BARNETT: And what's so stunning here is that tunnel El Chapo used to escape was complete with lightning, ventilation and even a modified motorcycle track. CNN's Nick Valencia went down and saw what was there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is the closest that we've been allowed to get to El Chapo's tunnel, the tunnel he used in his brazen escape on Saturday night. It is by all accounts a magnificent feat of engineering.

Let's come in and see exactly what El Chapo here had in store. This is a small little exit. A couple feet wide and a couple feet long with a ladder, a 10, 15-foot ladder that leads down into that tunnel. The room is nothing to brag about. It's empty, full of cinder blocks and containers full of dirt here, the wheelbarrows full of dirt.

[03:25:06] Here we go. OK, here's another ladder leading down to another part, a deeper part, a deeper section of the tunnel. It's a ways down. You can see here this is the modified motorcycle that investigators showed us images of before.

This is on a track. It can roll back and forth. There are buckets left behind and left behind oxygen tanks as well in order for them to survive down here. It is a very tight space. I can't even stand up. I'm about 5'10" and I can't stand up all the way. It's a remarkable, remarkable feat of engineering.

The tunnel stretches for more than a mile, carved out earth here. This modified train tracks for the mini motorcycle. You see here, electricity lines. It's very difficult to breathe down here, a lot of dirt, dust.

This here for the ventilation system, tight, tight space down here, but for a man known as El Chapo, I'm sure he had more than enough room to work with. This motorcycle was on a track here. This is the bike that El Chapo used to ride out of the prison.

It still has gas in it. You can still smell the gas, the overwhelming odor of gas in this tight space. It really is suffocating. Nick Valencia, CNN, Mexico.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: Still to come here on CNN Newsroom, it's a moment months in the making. Caitlyn Jenner, the former U.S. Olympian once known as Bruce makes a major public appearance with a plea for respect. We'll bring that to you next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: A warm welcome back to you all. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Rosemary Church.

BARNETT: I'm Errol Barnett. Your last half hour of the day with us, let's check your headlines.

Former U.S. President George H.W. Bush is in hospital in Maine after falling down and breaking a bone in his neck. His spokesman tells CNN that the 91-year-old is in, quote, "very stable condition." He fell Wednesday morning while at his summer home. The injury is not considered life threatening.

CHURCH: The White House is launching its campaign to win support for the Iran nuclear deal. During a lengthy news conference, President Barack Obama defended the criticisms point by point and challenged opponents to come up with a better alternative.

BARNETT: Greece is closer to receiving a big bailout package after the parliament approved new austerity measures. The reforms have been largely unpopular among Greek citizens and in the government. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said he is against the measures, but he must implement them to prevent bankruptcy.

CHURCH: Well, despite his opposition to the package, Mr. Tsipras urged parliament to vote yes on the bailout package, but he did not have support from much of his own party. Isa Soares reports from Athens.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ISA SOARES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: After a long day of heated debates and spirited discussions, the Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, has passed his measures to start negotiations once more with his creditors.

Here in Greece they voted 229 yeses against 64 nos. All the prime minister needed was 151 yeses to actually pass this through. They were passing tax rises measures as well as pension reforms and spending cuts.

Now despite that win for Alexis Tsipras, he did suffer a sizable rebellion within his own party. Before the vote started he spoke several times trying to tell voters and the members why he had to back, he had no choice but to push for these reforms. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TSIPRAS (through translator): The options that I had to choose from were very specific. One was to accept an agreement to which I disagreed with on many points. The second was bankruptcy. I don't want to refer to its consequences, we all know them.

There was a third choice and that choice is still available. The plan for Greece to exit the euro and to issue a parallel currency, if we want that there is time to ask for it. The offer is still on the table.

In making these choices the responsibility weighed heavily on me as it would on anyone in this position as I would imagine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: While the politicians debated inside parliament, outside was a very different picture. There was music and there was a spirit of what we have seen in the last few days of passion from the Greek people voicing their opinions. But that quickly turned sour.

Three individuals started throwing Molotov cocktails at police. The police retaliated with tear gas. It didn't take long for police to push them out, but it goes to show how the mood here is just so tense. People are so worried.

Worth pointing out, banks are still closed. Capital controls are still in and now it really is all about what happens the next few days. Now these measures are being pushed through they haven't been implemented and the negotiations only just started will the European Central Bank open the taps to Greek banks?

Will the money start flooding in? It's something that the Greeks have been desperate for things to get back to a sense of normality? Isa Soares, CNN, Athens, Greece. (END VIDEOTAPE)

BARNETT: Now whenever sanctions against Iran are lifted as part of the nuclear agreement, foreign businesses will have a new market to consider.

CHURCH: Clare Sebastian looks at the reactions in the business community and the advice one expert is offering.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Many of these are what we call secondary sanctions --

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This lawyer keeps a poster in his office listing the global sanctions on Iran. Now that world powers will be lifting some of those sanctions navigating the list has become even more complicated.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me see if I can find the NDAA. Here, there are some sections of that that are going to be lifted and some that are not.

[03:35:07] SEBASTIAN: It's a measure of the complex calculations companies face as they consider expanding their market to Iran. His best advice to clients, move carefully.

DANFORTH NEWCOMB, INTERNATIONAL LAWYER: Hold your breath. It's not yet. Sort it out. You know, and get ready.

SEBASTIAN: Oil companies in particular are heeding this advice. Shell and Italian oil giant, Eni, both held meetings in Iran in the last few months.

NEWCOMB: That's what I call refreshing your rolodex. At this point, you can't do very much either in E.U. or U.S. company in terms of deals, but you can start to prepare.

SEBASTIAN: Eni told us if the sanctions are lifted Eni would consider investing in the country again. Shell says it's interested in exploring the role Shell can play in developing Iran's energy potential.

And a different kind of energy to tap a population of about 80 million, many seen cheering the deal this week is attracting consumer businesses like Siemens and General Electric, both told us they welcome the deal.

And carmaker, Peugeot, which is until the sanctions came in, in 2011, produced almost half a million cars a year in Iran is now in talks to build a joint venture there.

They told us this is the beginning of a new history for us with this country. This lawyer's clients have a lot of work ahead and staying on the right side of the law is just a part of it. NEWCOMB: You have to have a product that people want to buy. You have to have a service that people will need. It's stupid to ignore the legal piece, but don't let the legal piece drive the process.

SEBASTIAN: Most believed it will be at least six months before businesses can reenter this market. Now is the time to make sure they do it right. Claire Sebastian, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: A day after a NASA probe zoomed by Pluto, scientists are examining the sharpest images ever of the dwarf planet from its mountains to its largest moon. We're back with that in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARNETT: NASA's New Horizon spacecraft is beaming back stunning high resolution pictures of Pluto revealing some of the dwarf planet's long concealed features along with close ups of its moon, Sharon.

CHURCH: Yes, and you can see frozen mountains some 3,300 meters high. The presence of methane, ice and even snow, and this is only the beginning. The probe will be sending data back to NASA over the next 16 months.

BARNETT: Tariq Malik is the senior editor of space.com, he joins us now via webcam from New Jersey to talk about what all of this means. Tariq, thanks for your time.

We have this first stunning close-up image of Pluto showing that it has these 11,000 feet high ice mountains, I guess. There is so much that this discovery will bring, but what does that mean or tell us about this mission so far?

TARIQ MALIK, SENIOR EDITOR, SPACE.COM: Well, so far it tells us that the cameras on board New Horizons worked like they were supposed to. This image of the ice mountains is one little sliver of this heart- shaped feature on Pluto. It looks like an active place.

The regions around the mountains are very smooth. They think that they are not even as old as 100 million years which is much, much, much younger than they thought the surface of Pluto could ever be. There could be a geological process keeping it smooth and keeping the planet young.

BARNETT: We have to underscore just how stunning that is. Up until now the assumption is that Pluto was an inactive, distant, quiet place and this turned it up side down, doesn't it?

MALIK: Exactly. It is a fantastic starting point for the scientists to bite their teeth into. They are already surprised and not just from Pluto. We saw an amazing photo of Charon, Pluto's largest moon, with a huge dark cap on top and big canyons, troughs 600 miles across.

They think that Charon is active now and so they've got these tantalizing bits of information that is only going to get better as they get more photos down from the spacecraft, a higher resolution photos down and to really piece the history of this planet together.

BARNETT: And as we wait for the next few weeks, months, for the series of images to come in, explain why this is important. People will see the time and energy and money that goes into such mission and no wonder why is this relevant to my daily life or my existence? Why is this and the information that we expect to get important?

MALIK: Well, one of the key aspects of this mission is to explore this unknown region of our solar system called the Kiper Belt, left over remnants of the building blocks of the planets and to an extent all the stuff that makes us, us.

And out there is like a time capsule of the ingredients that make up our solar system. Pluto is the largest of those objects. And we thought it was relatively static, a solitary, quiet place.

And what we're finding out now is, "a," they have a lot of active processes going on out there. And, "b" they might be able to see inside Pluto, learn more about what those ingredients of the early solar system were like and how that may relate to how earth formed and what makes us closer to the sun separate than those planets farther out.

BARNETT: And we are learning where we came from, learning more about us as we watch Pluto and the New Horizons probe will continue to head out into the Kiper Belt. Who knows what else we will discover. Tariq Malik will be covering it all at space.com, its managing editor. Thanks so much for your time and speaking with me today from New Jersey.

MALIK: Glad to be here. Thank you.

[03:45:05] CHURCH: And our meteorologist, Pedram Javaheri, joins us again. Of course, it is fascinating looking at those images, but some people question it's a lot of money going towards this. What are the benefits?

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Human intrigue being able to see where we came from as far as the origins of our planet and the outer reaches of our planet as well, but yes, $700 million is what this project cost, but there you go.

BARNETT: All give us dividends for years to come. We don't know the full value at this point.

JAVAHERI: Absolutely.

BARNETT: What's happening in the world of weather? I know there is a typhoon?

JAVAHERI: This typhoon developed back on July 3rd and traveled 6500 kilometers, 4,000 miles to approach Japan in the next couple hours. It will landfall sometime between 10:00 p.m. to around midnight on Thursday. We'll show you what is happening here.

The Japan Meteorological Agency saying that Kochi Prefectures, some of these areas could see upwards of 35 inches of rainfall inside the next two days, that would be 900 millimeters of rain.

Take the city of Dublin in Ireland or Seattle, Washington, the amount of rainfall this amount could see is more than those cities would see in an entire year, Category 1 equivalent so certainly not an impressive wind maker.

But you look at the mountains we are talking about. Japan has 21 mountains over 3,000 meters or 10,000 feet high. The areas in purple, 250 millimeters of rainfall expected. But some of the isolated regions very populated when it comes to the higher elevation remote villages there going to see tremendous rainfall.

Kochi, a lot of rivers and streams and a lot of this coming down the mountains right on the northern side of the city. Any sort of rainfall up stream makes its way down stream to the city. The concern is the amount of rainfall we have seen could be problematic.

In fact, just four years ago, a tropical storm in this region dumped 1800 millimeters, 71 inches of rainfall in a couple of days' time. Here goes the storm system. It is approaching land as we approach the overnight hours.

That is a concern as well as a lot of people are asleep and you get a deluge of water as you are sleeping and the waves approaching 15 meters. This is something that folks in Japan are used to, but this one is packing quite a punch with the rainfall.

BARNETT: All that water at once will be an issue.

CHURCH: Very much so. All right, thanks, Pedram. Appreciate it.

BARNETT: Caitlyn Jenner brought the crowd to their feet. Coming up next, her powerful message of acceptance and respect at the ESPY awards.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARNETT: We have exciting news for fans of Disney theme parks. You see Disney revealed the design for its Shanghai Disneyland scheduled to open next spring.

CHURCH: Officials say the new park will feature six themed lands filled with rides, shows and everything else fans have come to expect in a Disney park. Shanghai Disneyland will feature the first mandarin version of the musical "The Lion King" the last Disneyland opening was a decade ago in Hong Kong.

BARNETT: Now golf's third major of the year, the Open Championship is underway at St. Andrews golf course in Scotland and all eyes are on American Jordan Spieth.

CHURCH: Yes, he is aiming to be the second player in history to win three majors, including the Masters and the U.S. Open in a calendar year. That hasn't been done since Ben Hogan back in 1953. He tees off in less than an hour.

BARNETT: Good luck to him.

And you will surely see a lot of this on social media in the next day. An emotional and tearful moment for one of the most famed U.S. Olympians of all time at the ESPY Awards.

CHURCH: Yes, gold medalist, Caitlyn Jenner, received the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage Thursday night. In her first speech since identifying as transgender, Jenner called for respect and said that the world needs to accept people for who they are.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAITLYN JENNER, ARTHUR ASHE FOR COURAGE AWARDEE: So for the people out there wondering what this is all about, whether it's about courage or controversy or publicity, I'll tell you what it's all about, it's about what happens from here.

It's not just about one person. It's about thousands of people. It's not just about me. It's about all of us accepting one another. We're all different. That's not a bad thing. That's a good thing.

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BARNETT: Now Caitlyn Jenner's speech was one of many highlights from the ESPY's. CNN's Stephanie Elam looks back at a night filled with inspirational and emotional moments.

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STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The 2015 ESPYs were heartbreaking while at the same time inspiring, and a lot of it had to do with what athletes were dealing with outside of the world of sport. There was Danielle Green, the former basketball player turned war hero who lost her arm in battle and came home to work with other veterans. She won the Pat Tillman award.

There was also Lauren Hill, the young basketball player who wanted to play her first basketball game. She lost her battle to cancer. Her parents accept that award on her behalf.

And then there was also Caitlyn Jenner, the one person people were really looking to see and she took her time at the spotlight to focus on issues in the transgender community as she knew that she has a place to do it with her fame and with the safety of her protected bubble that so many young people she says don't have the same luxury.

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JENNER: If someone wanted to bully me, I was the MVP of the football team. That was not a problem and the same things goes tonight.

[03:55:04] If you want to call me names, make jokes, doubt my intentions, go ahead, because the reality is I can take it. But for the thousands of kids out there coming to terms with being true to who they are, they shouldn't have to take it.

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ELAM: Several of Jenner's children were in the audience and a couple of them got emotional. She got emotional as she talked about not wanting to let down her family with the decision to come out as a transgender person.

There were a lot of people we spoke to who for the most part showed support for Caitlyn Jenner, not just in general, but also receiving this Arthur Ashe Award for Courage. A lot of people felt like this was a worthy reason to honor somebody who became the world's greatest athlete in the 1976 Olympics when Bruce Jenner won the decathlon.

But you saw on Twitter some people were not thrilled about it. But at the end of her speech, inside of that live broadcast, she did get a standing ovation. Stephanie Elam, CNN, Los Angeles.

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CHURCH: It was certainly a very powerful and inspirational speech.

BARNETT: There was some backlash online, but that's just proves there is a long way to go in raising awareness.

You have been watching CNN NEWSROOM. Thanks so much, everyone. I'm Errol Barnett.

CHURCH: I'm Rosemary Church. Stay with us. "EARLY START" is next for our viewers here in the United States.

BARNETT: For the rest of you there's another edition of CNN NEWSROOM. Have a great day.

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